《Quest for the Marble of Many realities [Modded minecraft/Pokemon Fanfic]》 Prologue: A story ends, another begins As I write these lines, I can tell my story is almost at an end. We have navigated for almost five days already. Thanks to both Princess and Cutter''s efforts, I am fairly certain we will reach Marble City soon. Those I had asked at the coastal village said it would take between either two weeks to a month of travel in calm seas. Cutter traction and Princess constant magical wind have clearly cut short our travel time. I cannot thank them enough. Once we reach Marble City, we might finally be safe, we might finally find a way for all of us to return to our homes. I I stop as Hound makes a growling sound. The boat is inside a dense fog, stopping our vision at barely a few meters ahead. I sometimes cannot even see Cutter''s golden-green head. The massive haxorus gentry swims ahead of the boat, pulling us along. Behind me, I can hear the constant gentle whoosh of Princess constant Fairy Wind. Her control is as always, impeccable. The sail is taunt, but so hard as to risk a tear. The Florges, her grand collar of orange flowers shimmering with Fairy energy is as hard at work as Cutter. I return my attention to the growling Hound. The grey mightyena has its red on yellow eyes focused at the front. I look and then see it. In the distance, a flash. I squint, trying to make out anything through the dense white fog. Another flash, then another. They all happen along a line and seem to be going up. What is this? I turn back go down from the bow of our little boat. There I find the las three of my companions. All are pokemons. A bipedal blue jackal with spikes on his hands and torso open an eye upon sensing me approach. He gestures for silence and I wait for a few seconds. The aged lucario, Master, is leading Knight and Paladin in a meditation exercise to help them strengthen their powers. Knight, being a ceruledge, a night blue possessed knight armor with purple flaming eyes and purple blue swords for hands, also uses this to better harness his emotions. Paladin is a young looking gallade, he sits cross-legged next to the other two and a faint aura can be seen emanating from his entire body. His green, blade-like arms are brighter than the rest. Master looks at his two pupils pleased and gets up. We both make our way back to the bow. I show him the flashes and he frowns at the sight. He closes his eyes and his respiration becomes longer. His eyes snap open and he recoils. A yelp escapes him. This is not a good news. I gulp and before I can try to ask him what he saw, a growl from Cutter gets my attention back to the front of the boat. We abruptly emerge from the fog, and behold Marble City. Or at least we should have. The sight we are treated to is an apocalyptic one. Upon the horizon is a city of marble encompassing a large island. Its walls that had once been pure white are now grey with ash. The buildings, reminiscent of Greek architecture are all burning and the massive palace has large parts destroyed. It must have looked like a ziggurat once, with six towers high and pointed towers surrounding it, but only four of those remain now. As we watch, one suddenly shatters and crumbles silently. A large shiny layer encompasses the entire island, but some parts are fractured and other shimmer as beams of arcane nature impacts it. I can see large boats in the distance, their crimson sails telling me their allegiances. The crimson church, servants of the dark god Eziakophael. The very one that has dropped me in this hellish world. The same one that made pokemons a reality, just to see them suffer and weakened for his amusement. The reason we wanted to reach Marble City. The city that is now burning. I am about to lose hope when I see Marble City''s answers. For each five beams impacting the city shield, I can see one or two fired back from the walls. Master tells me he can see dozens of lives extinguished within the city walls each seconds. There might still be hope. Then that hope chatters along the city shield. The density of attacking beams thickens, but my eyes are drawn up. And what I see makes me go white. The sky, has turned a disturbing shade of red, and with an echoing bong, cracks starts to appear. Another crashing sound and the cracks widens. Once it rings for the final time, the sky shatters, revealing an endless void beyond a broken sky. Then a red-black paw pulsing with purple-white energy grabs one side of the crack. Another follows soon and they slowly widen the crack, letting a draconic beast emerge from the void. It unfurl three pairs of wings. Energy courses through each of the bat-like wings. It gathers along the beast neck until it reaches its maw. The black-red dragon looks down and unleashes a beam of pure white light edged with purple. The island vanishes in a flash. Master is the first to react. He calls out to Cutter and Paladin. Cutter turns around and start to mount the boat, rocking it dangerously. Princess descend from behind the sail and and gape at the sight that had been hidden from her up to this point. Knight also approach at the commotion and stops at the sight. He quickly orders Paladin and the gallade looks unsure, but a look toward where the island once stood steels his resolve. I realize then what I am looking at. A wall of white light. A rapidly approaching wall of white light. Paladin closes his eyes shut and energy starts to gather energy around itself. I can see the sea start to rise, we were far enough to have a few minutes before even the impact reached us, but they are quickly ticking out. A wall of air almost capsizes the boat, only Cutter''s weight allows us to keep afloat. I look at Paladin, almost ready to urgently tell him to hurry up. I know I should not, but it is hard to keep such reflexes in check in such a situation. Paladin opens his eyes and in a blink, we are above a beach. I don''t have time to try and understand which one as the boat crashes down along with the water displaced with the large scale teleport. I hear a crack, I feel weightless for a few seconds and then I sand fills my mouth. I cough it out and look around. My vision is blurry, but I manage to recognize where I am. One of the beach a few kilometers from the coastal village we visited and bought the boat from. Paladin must have tried to teleport us back there. I cough some more sand and right myself up. I almost fall back as the world starts spinning around myself. Shit, bad fall. I slowly check myself, no blood, just the impact then. Before I can ask if anyone is hurt, I hear a thunderclap and the roar of a dozen voices. No! No. No. NO. NOT NOW! In front of me, a few dozen meters away, the beach is gone, it is replaced by a portal with red-purple rims opening to a blasted red landscape, with purple peaks far in the background. And dozens of armored figures on the foreground. They immediately start charging, their crimson surcoats billowing in their charges. I scramble to my feet as the boat explodes behind me. Cutter roar out her own battle cry and a beam of orange flames shoots toward the the crimson knights. Transparent hexagonal plates appears before the first rank. The blast still penetrates, but the impact is clearly lessened. Instead of most of the first to third rank being reduced to smears on the sand and red floor beyond, only a couple of both first and second rank are hurt. Those only lightly so quickly regain their footing and resume their charges. Cutter knows where her advantages lies and quickly rushes past us. She is the first to reach melee. In seconds, some of the knights start to be broken. Yet only a part of the tide of bodies is stopped. They only have one goal, and that goal is me. Master is the second to rush onward, a blue bone materializing in his paws. Knight follow close by but quickly goes away from Master. His way of fighting often involves large scale destruction. Paladin eagerly accepts a ball of pollen from Princess and quickly get up to join the vanguard, rushing toward Knight''s side. They have always worked well together. Her job done, Princess herself is about to go up and start to support her friends, but a large bolt of yellow-purple lighting hits her dead on. Her brun body fall back down. Only her spasms of pain body indicates that she survived the hit. Hound suddenly takes my hand and tries to usher me toward the forest. They need to get me away. We cannot hold against that many of them. I nod to Hound and we start running. I know my friends, they''ll make it out. We will all make it out. One last look back and I see a gentle green light surround Princess'' body. She''ll soon rejoin the fight. They are strong, and we can make it out. I fall down. Pain and sheer coldness radiates from my left leg. What happened? I look down, and the sight is more than unpleasant. My left leg is skewered with shards of ice. I can even see the frost slowly eat away my skin. Fuck. My leg is done for. Hound has turned back and whines as he look at my leg. "You know what to do" I rasps "Tell Princess to add the events missing. We will make it out. One day, we will make it out!" Sadly, my injury has an unintended consequences. One that makes me scream in denial. Princess may be the main healer, but Paladin as some ways to help with injuries. He senses my pain and tries to extricate himself from the melee he finds himself in. The enemies, sensing his slight lack of focus upon the fight, start pushing harder. He deflects as many blades as he can, but there is always one too many. More and more he takes wounds upon his blade-arms, his torso and legs. He knows Princess will rise soon, but he can sense my pain growing steadily. She might be late. This though makes him slip up one too many time. A blade finds his way to his neck, and although he manages to escape being beheaded, the blow still opens his throat. He chokes on the wound, surprise and pain making him fall on his knees. A second blow finishes him off and his head silently rolls on the ground. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Master and Hound join my cry of anguish as Paladin''s headless body falls down. A massive explosion of fire clears a part of the battlefield as Knight rushes for his fallen camarade. I feel tears slowly welling on my face. Paladin had been the third to join us. He had always been a joyful being, and, if the situation had been different, would have become a happy peaceful traveler. Each hardships had pushed him to become better and stronger. And yet, here he is now, headless and cold. Master rushes away. The Lucario is acutely aware that without him, Knight will not be able to hold our attackers alone. The Ceruledge wails at his closest friend¡¯s death, exploding in another Lava Plume, washing away more attackers, yet leaving Paladin¡¯s body and head unblemished. He rushes back toward the melee where Cutter is destroying all that dare stand before her. Master joins them and I suddenly feel myself getting pulled away from the fight. Hound is trying to drag me away. Princess is finally picking herself up, but I can see the burns on her body. She is in a bad shape, but still starts to float my way. I can feel my consciousness wavering. A bark, a Snarl and two knights in red fall to the ground behind me. A feeling of heat, then my hair starts to move and more bodies fall to the ground. Hound is fighting. This is bad. I can see Princess desperately trying to reach me. A blurry grey body passes over me and crashes into Princess. Hound fur is singed and flesh is blistering underneath. They got Hound. I am alone. I raise my hand toward them both, making a thumbs up gesture and trying to smile at them. This is not the first time I die, and this will sadly not be the last. A figure looms over me and a sword pierces my heart. I scream, or at least I try but what comes out is a wet gurgle. The world slowly fades until... It stops. The world has turned to grey. No sound, no movement. Everything is stilled, yet my consiousness seems to keep fading. This is different. I do not remember any of my previous deaths, nor how many times I have died before meeting Hound. But some strange instinct is telling me: this is different. ¡°Well¡­ Well¡­ Well¡­¡± A whisper at first, but slowly, the voice becomes clearer "You are about done.¡± The voice continues in a mocking tone. ¡°Alas it will be your last.¡± Another voice, cold. What? My last? Why would it be my last? ¡°We cannot answer this, but we might make it not be¡± A third voice, this one sounds predatory. ¡°We propose¡­ a possibility¡­¡± The first voice returns ¡°A contract.¡± The cold voice continues ¡°At a price¡­¡± The third voice warns. ¡°A once in a lifetime opportunity¡± the first voice shouts ¡°Or for you¡­ once in your multiple lifetimes.¡± ¡°Take it, and the nightmare might end.¡± the third voice beckons ¡°Or it will make your current one barely the tamest of bad dreams.¡± The cold voice says. I can do nothing. I cannot talk. Yet I-
Knight cuts through blades of steel and armor of black iron alike, his purple blue fire blades part bodies before him. He can see Cutter up ahead fighting all that stands in her way. He will protect his benefactor. They will survive this new trial. He senses Master slowly getting closer. Then a figure, larger and with more ornate armor smacks him to the side. He tries to understand where it came from, but it was instant, almost like Paladin teleportation. The thought of his fallen camarade deepens his already extensive grief further. Otherworldly energies leak from him and consume those closest to him. He tries to go after the ornate knight but Master rushes the newcomer. The other knights let what seems to be their superior take on the blue bipedal jackal. Master intricately weaves forms of close quarter combat and tries to overwhelm his foe. Hardened Claws, Punches, his bone staff, he strikes again and again, but each time hexagons stop, mitigates or disperse his strength. His foe is also far more skilled than the rabble he had faced to this point. As he tries again and again to go past his foe¡¯s defenses, he starts to take damage himself. A cut on his leg slows him, then a backhand reveals itself strong enough to bruise his paw¡¯s bones. Then he feels his charge die. He cannot stop himself from freezing at the feeling. He felt it more than a dozen times, but it does not get easier. His foe takes advantage of Master¡¯s stop and cuts one of his arms. The Lucario screams in pain but it quickly shuts down, a second stroke cutting part of his neck. As he falls he sends a single message to all of his disciples and friends still fighting. RUN! The word echoes in Knight¡¯s head. But he does not hear it. He is dead. His benefactor is dead again. Flames cover his armor, the sand starts to turn to glass as the temperature rises. Failure. A single word is at the forefront of Knight¡¯s mind. Failure. He let go of his restraint. No more. He lost too much. With an otherworldly cry of both anguish and wrath that freezes all those closest to him, he charges the lines of knights. RUN! Cutter hears the words, looks back for a second and sees the weak friend laying on the ground. He sees the fairy weeping as the dark hyena howls in anguish. He died? Again? She curses, we failed again. A sharp pain makes her yelp. What- An ax blade with a red edge falls on the ground. The knights around her stop as she slowly brings her small arm to the right side of her face. It¡¯s gone. Her right tusk is gone. she looks back down on the floor, at the fallen ax blade, too large to be from the knights. She slowly reaches for it, but one of the knights manages to move and rushes toward her. He steps on the tusk on his way. Cutter loses all senses. All she sees is red. RUN! Princess always liked to act like a damsel, she would stay further back during fights, peppering any who dared challenge her with long distance attacks. She had rarely been hit, let alone hurt. Yet here she is now, the bouquet of orange flowers surrounding her head is almost completely burnt, her slender white arms and stem-like legs are singed, and she has just taken a fully grown Mightyena to her face. When the words echoes in her head, she realizes the situation is far more dire than her dainty predicament. Two of her friends are dead. Her savior is dead. His most faithful has a burnt stomach and might have worse injuries within. One of the- The crazed roar of Cutter makes her correct her thoughts. The two remaining friends that are still healthy have gone mad with anger, grief and anguish. The bluish lights of Dragon pulses are matched by pillars of fires powerful enough for her to feel their heat. She goes to gently pick up the wounded mightyena, but he growls and point to the savior''s journal. A quick pulse of psychic power brings it to her. She picks up Hound and quickly floats away. Now that the savior is dead, the knight simply harass rather than truly target her. They are also more occupied by the two maddened pokemons still fighting. As she hold the journal close to her, she knows it is no over. The savior will return, as he always has before. She will return to the start, and they will look for a way to escape this hellish world together once more. She does not need Hound to tell her to add what the savior has not written in his journal. This journal is the savior''s memories. The memories of his multiple lives. She will make sure it has all that he experience in it.
Far beyond time and space, in a place filled with blue and gray fog, three figures stand above a body of flesh and metal. Above it, a small cyan flame, flickers. It looks incomplete, almost as if bites had been taken out of it. Each figures works on different parts. ¡°Obviously we don¡¯t make it too easy. He will think we are cheating otherwise.¡± The mocking voice starts, breaking the silence ¡°It does not mean he will remain weak, brother.¡± The cold voice answers ¡°With what you are giving him, I sure hope.¡± The predatory voice continues ¡°He will need allies, love ¡± The cold voice asks, warmth almost seeping in his tone ¡°He will have them. I am sure. But from me, he will get, I believe, his greatest. That shall be my gift.¡± The predatory voice answers. A capsule appears, within which a strange creature starts to grow in a fetal position. ¡°He will not have any of our power, that is for sure. But he will be able to wield many arcane powers. That shall be my gift.¡± Lines of colors slowly layer themselves within the body of flesh and metal. "He will need knowledge of the world he will face, knowledge that will slowly help him construct himself. That shall be my gift." Deep blue light fill the missing part of the cyan flame, and once it is full it descend within the body. ¡°His body is finished. it will give him all the tools he needs to become stronger and able to defend himself from all that should attack him.¡± ¡°And within it will be the guide to help him survive and thrive. It shall be¡­¡± ¡°Our¡­¡± ¡°Gift.¡± The humanoid body vanishes. ¡°Now go and win us a bet kiddo!¡± A smack is heard, followed by an expletive and laughter Chapter 1 : Awakening Work¡­ Get¡­ Sleep¡­ Tomorrow¡­ Stra¡­ Astra¡­ Your Name¡­ Astra... Sleep¡­ Ake¡­ p... Wake up¡­ Gotta My eyes snap open. And I am greeted by the clearest of skies I have ever seen. White clouds gently pass above me. I sigh and close back my eyes. What a weird dream¡­ My eyes snap back open. Dream? Wait a minute! Where the fuck am I?? I remember¡­ What do I remember? I can not remember anything! Astra. My name is Astra. Is it? Why does it feels so conflicting? I start to breath faster, panic is mounting. I look around in alarm, trying to find anything familiar. But I am in the middle of a grassy plain that seems to extend forever in every directions. No not every directions, I can see the edge of a forest in one direction. Not that that''s important! Where am I? Who am I? I do not know. I gulp and try to get my breathing under control. I close my eyes once more and put my head in my hands. That action brings another bout of panic. As my left hand makes contact my my head, I shiver at the sensation of cold metal. My eyes open and I am greeted by an arm covered in strange chrome-like metal. I try to jump away from it, and it follows. I end up sprawled on my back and as I get myself back up, I realize there is more than just my arm. Both my legs are also covered in the same material. This time, I burst into hysteric laughter. What is going on here? WHAT! IS! GOING! ON!? I end up falling back down. I spasm on the floor along with my laughter until it finally dies down. My mind feels slightly clearer, but not by much. I am still reeling from my current situation. I stay down for a few minutes, maybe a dozens, who knows. Until finally I feel like I have calmed down enough. So let''s actually look at my situation here. Part one: I am not in my bed and¡­ looking back up on the sky, then at the plains, possibly in another world. A part of me clearly knows there was no floating islands beyond the clouds where I supposedly am from. For indeed, now that I am looking around a bit more, I am starting to notice multiple strange details. Such as the aforementioned islands in the sky. Entire strips of lands gently hovering high above the clouds, almost high enough to be barely visible actually. Then, closer to me, there are the plants. Grass, nothing new here. Dandelions, little red poppies, still common and familiar. Sky blue sparkling flowers? Yeah what the fuck are you? But yeah, with that, I believe I am quite far from home. Where even is my home? How am I so sure I am not from here? Questions for later I decide. Part two: My fucking body. I gulp and look myself over. Let''s start from my feet, more precisely my entire legs. My legs are either encased in interlocked black chrome colored metallic plates or are black chrome metallic plated mechanical prosthetics, with plated gaps for joints. When I look at my knees, ankles and feet, I start to lean more into the mechanical theory. The visible rotating and moving mechanical parts are one thing, but my feet are also a pretty big giveaway. Because my feet are naked, but also still plated with the same material and my toes are absolutely not organic with armor on them. The curved blades that stick out of each of them tells me that rather clearly. It feels like I have vicious claws at the tips of my feet. Going up, we get to the my pelvis and stomach. Full plated too. Same color, Nothing to show. I try to look at my back and see two things. My ass is also covered and a quick inspection reveals nothing but smooth metal, but also the start of a metallic spine. I had managed to seen its end but as I trace it with my right hand, I realize it goes all the way to my head. Interlocked cylinders that I can only imagine match my vertebrae one to one. Going up from my belly, we get a bit of flesh. My torso and right arm are whitish in color. The delimitation between metal and flesh seems to be the start of my ribcage, it almost look like the metal parts are going inside my body, brrr. On my right arm is a circuit like tattoo spanning from my shoulder to my hand. It starts from my shoulder with a strange angry-looking wolf-cat stylized face in a circle. Circuits board connections streams from it to the inside of my elbow, where it connects to a second circle, this one with a simple X inside. More connections starts and ends on the back of my hand, onto a final circle with three eyes arranged into an arrow. The tattoo feels me with awe and apprehension the more I look at it. On the opposite side is my left arm. Another clear mechanical prosthetic. What happened to me to need so many? Did anything even happen? My left arm is similar to my legs in terms of metallic plating and style: black chrome interlocking plates with plated gaps for joints. BUT! There is more. On my forearm is a large cyan glass oval. It seems to emit a bit of light. A similar spherical protrusion is also present on my hand. And this one is clearly blinking. I ignore it for now. Inside my palm, at the edge of my wrist is a circular opening closed by a metallic iris. And just like my toes, my left hand fingers also finish in claw like nails, although they are thicker than the ones on my toes. Finally, I try to find a way to have a look at my face, but there is no convenient water nearby to use as a mirror. I only know I have neck long black hair mostly. I swear I saw hints of pure white strands when I inspected my hair. I also seem to have a two day beard all other my face, but it might be more prosthetics for all I know. I look around once more, taking in the empty view of endless plains and distant floating lands. And finally return to my left hand. To the blinking light upon it.I touch it. Multiple screens suddenly feel my vision. Dozens of lines scroll on each and then they all vanish. I blink, unsure as to what just happened and immediately get jumped by a massive screen with awfully clashing colors.
You are one of the lucky few to have been chosen to participate in a grand quest! The Quest for the Marble of Many realities You wake up in a world not your own, with a body that seems slightly off to you. You do not know what you have embarked upon. Not to worry! WE are here to guide YOU! The world is dangerous! The world is full of wonders! The world is yours if you find the right tools! NOW GO! AND TAKE OVER YOUR FUTURE! Chaos, Knowledge & Hunt
I blink, shading my eyes from the obnoxious screen. The colors suddenly shift and become far more legible.
You are one of the lucky few have been chosen to participate in a grand quest! The Quest for the Marble of Many realities You wake up in a world not your own, with a body that seems slightly off to you. You do not know what you have embarked upon. Not to worry! WE are here to guide YOU! The world is dangerous! The world is full of wonders! The world is yours if you find the right tools! NOW GO! AND TAKE OVER YOUR FUTURE! Chaos, Knowledge & Hunt
I blink once more and slowly read the now legible text. I read it once, then twice, then a third time to make sure. That title card is clearly right one one point: I have no idea what I have embarked upon. I suddenly realize something. I touched my hand and this screen appeared, but¡­ I move my hand to be sure. Yep, the screen does not moves. So is it in my eyes? Can I interact with it? I go to reach it and the moment my hand touches the screen, it vanishes in a shower of pixels. Instead, a rotating icon with the words ''initializing'' appears along with a smaller window pops for a few seconds If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Achievement got: Look Ma, Solid light! (Grabbed or touched one of the system screen)
The little wheel finally finishes rotating and a new screen appears. This one is clearly THE most important screen of all up to this point, not that there has been that many but still. It clearly is a menu screen, one that is clearly linked to my body.
User Interface v3.225a
User ID: Astra - Inventory - Equipment - Upgrade Chips slots - Body upgrades User Status Integrity: 100% Energy: ????? ????? Coolant: ????? ????? MP: Untapped Experience: 0 Bio-reactor clogging: 0% User Party Members: None - Create New Party - Add new member - Remove Member
Submenues Quest logs - Main quest - Hunt''s Quests - Knowledge''s Quests - Chaos'' Quests - Achievements Exploration & Survival - Monstropedia - Pokedex - Fauna - Structures - Materials - Recipes - Consumed foods Others - Ocular display options - Tutorial - Music Player
That¡­ is a lot of things. That window does confirm my name is Astra¡­ It still feels wrong somehow. Like a part of myself is telling me that it is a lie. I decide to keep that fact at the back of my mind, with the rest of the many questions I have no answers nor ways to answers at the moment. Now where to start? I can¡­ touch the screen right? I try it on my name and get a positive on that one. The little mention of ''this is your name'' makes me smile. I then try the "tutorial" option, I might as well start with the basics. A new screen appears and¡­ it''s empty. The screen that just appeared only contains an endless row of dashes with question marks right after. What is the point of a tutorial section if you have nothing in it? Is it for specific things? Wait one just unlocked. ''Welcome to the tutorial section, this section will in time contain informations on multiple aspects of the world and the multitudes of mechanics and science that makes it work. A tutorial will unlock every time you discover something new. It will be a summary of what you have discovered and sometimes will complete you understanding of the world.'' Uh¡­ So I still need to try things before I get the explanations¡­ That seems¡­ useless. Here''s hopping the complements it seems to advertise will help¡­ Anyway, what else can I click? I open all the quest logs and what I find is twofold. First, I can open a lot of screens at once. Second, if they expect me to do all those quests, they expect me to be here for a looooong time because just the ''Main quest'' seems to go on forever. It''s arranged in a decision tree-like fashion, with some quests branching further down the line into multiple different quests. and supposedly that is only part of ''chapter one: the basics''. Most of the quests are locked and unreadable. ''Hunt''s Quests'' and ''Knowledge''s Quest'' are similarly unreadable and ''Chaos'' Quests'' is just empty. The ''Achievement'' has my ''Look Ma, Solid light!'' achievement as well as multiple empty tabs with a large variety of pictures next to them. Multiple look like books, other have strange cubic designs, machines perhaps? I am not sure. The last type of icons are objects I do not recognize at all. I move on to the ''Exploration & Survival'' section and find a grand total of nothing. Which in this case does not surprises me. This section will work more as a knowledge repository from my future exploration of this world. But right now, yeah, I have not moved yet. The only other option accessible in ''Others'' (eh) is Ocular Display Options. I''m calling that option ODO. The ODO option is pretty bare bone at the moment. I can make some things constantly appear on my vision, like part of my status, as well as other things as of right now locked. What I do find that is not locked is a marker. The moment I toggle it, a beam of purple light appears in the some direction, along with a square and a distance: 3.9km. The name of the marker is ''Frend?''. I am unsure if the typo is intentional or not. Or if it means something completely different. I leave the ''User Party'' alone for now. I''ll try it when the time comes to actually form a party. touching the different stats under the ''User Status'' mention gives me a quick explanation which immediately lodges itself in the Tutorial section. They are simple and to the point, almost obvious in hindsight. ''Integrity'' calculates the damage to my body, ''Energy'' is how much power I still have to keep functioning, ''Coolant'' is how much cooling fluid I still have in me, ''MP'' is at this point both magical point and magic potential, maybe it''ll change once I do try magic, not that I know how. Finally ''Experience'' is the amount of experience points I have acquired, which tells me nothing and ''Bio-reactor clogging'' measures how much waste I have in my bio-reactor. ¡­ Wait what bio-reactor? I go look back in the tutorial screen and find a new entry. Oh¡­ Oh I might be even more mechanical than I though. I do not have a stomach, I have a bio-reactor that, depending on what type of food I eat, will recombine it into burnable material and then burn said material fully to produce energy. It produces no waste BUT ingesting too much of the same kind of food can clog the reactor with uncombined remnants of the food. The recombination seems to have limits and needs different food source to work efficiently. Wow¡­ Alright then. I still need to eat and have a varied diet. I''ll also need to find a source of water too right? Another entry confirms it. Great. So let''s resume my current situation. I am a semi-amnesiac in a world I know nothing about with a mostly mechanical body with capacities unknown. Good. What do I do now?
The first thing he feels in his existence is sound. ¡°He will have them. I am sure. But from me, he will get, I believe, his greatest. That shall be my gift.¡± Then silence. For a long time he stays coiled upon himself. Simply dreaming of nothingness. No though. No sensations other than the gentle heat of the fluid he floats within. Then, from beyond his closed eyelids, a little blue spark. Beyond the red blackness of his closed eyes, a little spark of blue beckons. He cracks an eye open, beholding a world of orange glow, and a single small blue rectangle. He looks at it, still groggy from his sleeping state, then closes his eye again. The little spark grows brighter beyond his eyelids and he tries to ignore it. But the damage is done, he is now awakening. Grumbling, the sound coming more as a burble than a grumble thanks to his liquid environment, he opens both eyes and frown. The little rectangle seems to be an envelope of blue light. He looks at it. The envelope bounces a couple times. He just keep looking. It bounces once more, and he just cocks his head to the side. The envelope, seemingly annoyed by the lack of reaction, jumps forward and slaps him on his muzzle. He recoils at the sudden feeling of touch and bat the envelop away. In doing so, he touches it. The envelope explodes in a screen of clashing colors and unreadable letters, along with a little mention about an achievement. What is happening? He wonders. The screen changes and he can now read the letters and words upon the screen. It is reads as a letter of felicitation, yet he does not remember accepting any sort of quests. What even is a Marble of Many realities? His doubts remain unanswered and the screen vanishes to be replaced by a new one. One that contains his name, or what he assumes is his name: Mewtwo.
User Interface v3.225a (redux version)
User ID: N/A (Mewtwo) User stats: Level: 1 Experience until next level: 10 Total experience: 0 Stats: HP: 13/13 Attack: 6 Defense: 7 Special Attack: 8 Special Defense: 7 Speed: 7
Type: Psychic Abilities: - Pressure (Untrained) - Unnerve (Untrained) Stamina 100% (rested) List of learned Moves: --------------[+]--------------
The rest feels like gibberish to him. Statistics, types, moves. He is unsure what any of this mean. Touching the plus under the ''List of learned Moves'' gives him a list of names along with what he assumes to be the type of the moves as well as the stamina consumption each moves would require to be used. Nothing more seems interactive. Unsure as to what he is supposed to do he looks listlessly at the screen until a new message pops up in front of him.
You may think yourself alone, but you are not. You may think yourself weak, but it is only temporary. Strengthen yourself, find the other user and explore together.
He ponders the message for a few minutes and then dismisses it. Something new has appeared in his vision. A dot in the distance, with a mention above: ''Frend?'' and ''3.9km''. Now how can he get there? Chapter 2: Existential Crisis What to do now. That was the question. Because yes, I could look at the quests and actually do as the ones who sent me here want, but do I want to do that? What is in it for me? A way home? To a home I cannot remember? Are my memories also at the end of the journey? I audibly sigh. Am I even at any risks? Beyond the starvation and dehydration. Hold on those barely affect me anymore do they? More like power loss or overheat. I smirk at my own thoughts. What do I do? I still see the beacon in the distance. Maybe go see them? Try to find out together? Maybe they are also an amnesiac and we can not remember our past together. I am truly at a loss So many screens. What can I even do? Wait that''s actually a good question here. What can my body actually do? I know part of what makes it work, but what can it actually do? With my newfound goal, I start to think of things to do. Okay, seeing the mechanical parts, I wonder how strong I actually am. The forest seems far, but that could be a good endurance test. I might as well see how fast I consume power. Let''s try a jog. I seem to remember not being that good at sports before. I give one more look at the distant beacon. I''ll get to them when I know more about myself. And so I start running. I do so at a rather slow pace, just covering distance. I am running parallel to the ''Frend?'' beacon. Still no idea what direction it is. Hold on, I realize as I look up at the sky, if this world follows the same rotation as Earth, then¡­ What is Earth? A planet. Okay, why does it feel familiar, distant and as if I do not know what it is at the same time. I come to a stop, I might be about a fourth of the way to the forest now, maybe less. But let''s step back a little. That sensation about Earth makes me¡­ wow. A single tear has just rolled from my eyes. What the fuck is an Earth and why do I feel so conflicted about it? I stop and really start to think about it. What do I know about Earth? Home to humans, like me, but also not really like me. Destroyed? Not destroyed? Schr?dinger Earth? Okay, I- something is really wrong with my memory here.I try to think more about and then- There! I have finally found why Earth is making me feel so conflicted. I have memories of it being both destroyed and still existing. And both are correct. Are they? I can feel the wrongness in the destroyed one. It feels off. The more I concentrate on it, the more the memory of earth still existing gets stronger. It¡­ It still exists. But somewhere else it does not anymore. Clink¡­ Clink¡­ A sound gets me out of my mind. I look around, it sounds like a rock on metal. Clink- There it is again, so close too! I turn around, and a surprised squeak makes me look down. A small purple rat is looking in bewilderment at my ankle. I look in bewilderment at the absolutely off color rat. The rat, seeing my ankle is no longer moving, approaches again and tries to nibble at it again, it even gets up on its hind legs to do so. Why is a rattata trying to nibble my ankle? Why do I know the specie name?? I mean, its a creature from a game but- A game? That thing is real! This is not a game! It''s still nibbling! A rat-like pokemon, trying to nibble at my ankle. What is a pokemon? An hyper-intelligent creature that may be part of the local fauna or flora/ A creature from a game I played once upon a time. Stop. Just stop! I groan in pain as a sudden headache split my skull. I feel a sharp pain behind my eyes. Something is wrong here. I heave, yet nothing comes up. Another weird thing I realize. I have no saliva, nor digestive fluid probably. Does it matter? The pain in my skull redoubling is telling me no, not right now. I fall on my knees, clenching my head. The cool metal of my left arm is bliss on the side I hold and I quickly lie down on my back, my entire left arm on my forehead. My mind is split. I am starting to realize that now. What happened to me? What the FUCK happened to me? A new lance of pain shoots right between my eyes and I groan in pain again. I slowly empty my mind, focusing on my breath. Why do I even- No no more thinking, only the silence of nature. I stay down for some time, listening to the rustle of weed in the gentle wind. A distant bird calls for its peers. Clink¡­ Clink¡­ THE FUCKING RAT IS BAAAAAACK! I shoot up, the headache flaring once more. My right hand darts for my ankle and I grab the rat by its neck. My vision is crisp and clear even with the pain. The rat is absolutely terrified, looking at me with wide eyes. "What the fuck do you want?" I snarl at the poor rodent. Its fear lessens slightly and it squeaks. I stare at him. I visibly see it gulp. It then points at its two large front teeth. Gnawing? It was trying to wear them out? Wait how am I understanding a rat? The more I look, the more I see actual intelligence behind those red eyes of his. "Fine. Just don''t break anything, try to use the more static parts here." I point at my foot. Most of it is armored and does not have much in therm of moving parts that he might damage. I do not know how I can fis myself, or if I even can. I put the rat down and it resumes its gnawing, this time on my foot. The clinking sound echoes around me. The headache seems to have rescinded. I sigh and take a large breath. Then I expire. Then I close my eyes. Clink¡­ Clink¡­ I let the sound carry me as I slowly let my mind blank. I have¡­ two sets of memories. I inhale. One set is broken, more feelings than anything else. I exhale. The other is sharp, but feels alien, almost added up. I inhale. And I have no idea what I may know. I exhale. I inhale. I exhale. The broken memories must be my actual past. What I was before. I inhale and a part of me agrees with my assumption. It feels as if I am right in speculation. Like the part of me that balk at my name, at the Earth being destroyed, agrees with the broken memories being myself. I am agreeing with myself. Wow that feels weird when me and myself feels like two different entities yet are still both me at the same time. Urgh. The headache seems to be coming back, although much more rescinded. Clink¡­ Clink¡­ I exhale, then inhale and repeat for a couple of times. Alright, the headache is lessening again. Now for the other part. Those¡­ other memories. The ones that make me know things my old memories tell me are wrong or warped. I open my eyes and look at the rattata. A normal type pokemon. One that is currently maintaining its teeth on my foot. From my past memories, it is a wondrous thing, but the implications are terrifying. From my, I am going to call them unlocking memories, it is a rat-like pokemon of the normal typing. The specimen appears weak and male. It is right now harmless and will not be able to damage me much even if it used Moves. I blink. That was absurdly detailed. I know so much about this single rat. Biology, diet, physical needs, ways to heal it, to train it¡­ To kill it¡­ I gulp. The unlocking memories must be linked to the system. I quickly open my main menu again and then the pokedex tab. yup, the rat is here. N¡ã19 on the list. Rattata. I find back all the information that have just flooded my mind. Most of it I seems to actively forget as I read the newly created entry. Not that it is being erased, but becoming closer to something I am reading for the first time. Ask me the exact diet of that rat in a day and I''ll tell you to wait a second, because I will need to check it. The rat suddenly stops gnawing at my foot, looks up at me, nods and take off. Well see you then little rat. What even brought this whole ordeal up? Right! Earth! Directions! I look back up, right at the sun. Oh. It looks like it is at its zenith. I guess I''ll see it when it starts to move again. I even look down at my shadow and it really is like the sun is right above me. My shadow is directly beneath me, barely going beyond my body. Welp, so much for direction. I look at my energy reserve. First off, why are they little squares instead of numbers? Especially while integrity has a numerical value! I am just grumbling for the sake of grumbling at this point aren''t I. There is no way to try to make sense of that system right now. Anyway it seems my little run has¡­ reduced? Yep, my little run has reduced the first square.
Energy: ????? ?????
Hum¡­ so am I above 95% energy or is it something different? I have no clue, but I must have been running for about 20 to 30 minutes at the most. I did not feel winded, I did not even sweat. Can I go faster? Only one way to find out. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I start running again, faster this time. Another funny thing about my body, I have do have feelings in my mechanical parts I realize. They are muted, but they exist. And as I run, I slowly start to feel a low burning sensation. It is not exertion, but I can tell it could become just that. Interesting The forest slowly approaches. As I run I look around, at the endless field of grassy hills surrounding me. I pass scattered trees and bushes, each far from each others. I also spot more of the glistening flowers. I spot more blue, as well as red, black and even a green one. Only the sparkles around it make me see it. But still I run. My arms pump the air in concert with my legs. I see the little square of energy empty and realize they are actually shrinking as time passes until they are empty. Damn, why would someone make something like this? I mean yeah, it looks like a game UI, that is user interface, but why only energy and coolant? Also, speaking of coolant I still have not started to make a dent in the rightest square. Anyway, let''s keep going. I pass by a goofy looking rabbit who looks at me with both his brown tipped ears raised in alarm. I glance at him as I pass, but it scampers away quickly. A bunnelby, a digging bunny. He can actually use his ears as shovels. Neat Some of brown birds with beige underbellies fly past me, screeching and then just going away. I smile at that. They are not majestic in any way, but one of them was bigger than the others, with a pinkish-red crest and a few red-pink tail-feather. A couple of pidgey with a leading pidgeotto. The pideys would have been mostly harmless, but the pidgeotto could have messed me up if it wanted. They can be quite dangerous. As I continue running, I check the pokemons I have just seen. Yup, all there, all three of them. I am starting to guess my eyes are a bit more than normal human eyes. How much of me is actually flesh and blood? Is my flesh even flesh? Or just some sort of flesh equivalent polymer? I sigh and finally stop in front of the forest. I have reached my self-given goal and destination. I check my energy and coolant. One and a half square of energy gone, and although I am breathing a bit heavier than normal, I did not loose any coolant. Is coolant a non-problem then? The sensation of burning in my legs is also subsiding with each breaths I take. Do I have redundant cooling? Maybe? I straighten up and look forest outskirt. I cannot see anything moving in it. I approach the closest tree, its trunk small enough for me to hug it with only one arm. Hum¡­ Alright, I plant my left foot on the brown bark and push. And fall backward. Ouch. But my foot, at a slightly weird angle, is still lodged in the bark. The claws are doing their job and have anchored it in the tree. I wiggle to dislodge it and then sit. This tree is a bit too small to actually climb, but maybe I can find bigger ones. I can climb, run for possible hours, and do not seem to need coolant that much. I will need food however. Let''s go deeper then. Wait! The sun! I go back out and look up, shielding my eyes a little. The sun is setting straight into the forest. So the forest would be west? Then the ''Frend?'' beacon being to my left is south, my right is north and being me is east. IF this world is like Earth.
Achievement got: Knowing left from right. (Figured out the cardinal points of this world. You''re lucky it''s Earth-equivalent) Reward: Compass display option enabled
Wow, I was right? Also, compass display? I immediately check it out. This display only shows part of a circle, with graduations and and direction mentions every 45 degrees. It also appears just above my field of vision. As I look around a bit to familiarize myself with it, I realize it sometimes disappear if I look too much to the right, left or down. Interesting. Well, I now have directions. Let''s go see if I can find something in this forest. Food would be nice.
He looks around the seemingly endless orange. Can he see anything? He squints his eyes and move forward. And bump into an invisible surface. He rub his muzzle, starting to see a pattern forming that he does not appreciate. Something is there. An invisible barrier. As he slowly feels in front of him, he realize his space is far smaller than he first though. he can extend his arms and feel both side of his current space. Where is he? The distant point starts to move. No! Where is it going? He watches as the number goes up. Are we not supposed to work together? Why are you going away? Mewtwo does not understand. He punches the invisible barrier in surprise and slight anger. Maybe it''s something else? What if they are in danger? If this new possibility is true, he really need to get out. He continue to punch the barrier, trying desperately to break it. Yet it seems unbothered by its efforts. He can feel his frustration mounting, and as it grows, he starts to feel something. Unseen to him, his eyes start to burn with cold blue light. As he punches the barrier once more, he feels his entire orange world move slightly with his punch. A small, but visible, crack appears in the barrier. He stops, what did he just do? This was more than just punching, it was as if he forced the fluid he is within to move with him. He looks at his three fingered hands and bunches them, the round tips of his fingers making that action slightly difficult. Slowly, Mewtwo concentrates. He feels the world around him. There is more than just one way to look at this world he realizes. He can feel the flow of matter itself, and he can touch that flow. Not with its hands, no, but with his mind. He nudges the liquid around him and, with his eyes once more surrounded by blue light, starts to push the liquid while making it spin. Slowly, the liquid starts to turn around him, the more force he applies, the more a void starts to form in the middle of his cage. The moment his head is out of the liquid, he almost gag but pushes through. Just a little more. I am almost there. I can feel it. The barrier shatter under the mounting pressure. Fragment of transparent matter flies everywhere. And he falls on his hands, coughing. He retch as his body expels the orange liquid from his lungs. He is free. After spending a few minutes spitting out the liquid, he finally is able to look around. Gone is the world of orange glow. He now see he is in a world of grey rocky floor and walls. He slowly get up and take a step down from the round platform he had fallen onto. Then another. The barrier fragments shatters beneath his feet. He turn around and look back at his prison. He had been inside what must have been a large transparent cylinder connected to a strange assortment of machinery. The machine blinks and beeps, gauges go up and down and unreadable text scrolls on the only visible screen. Then blue and red light mixed with purple lightning engulf the entire contraption and it vanishes. Mewtwo blinks as the machine had been his only source of light up to this point. He now is left in a dark cave. He turns around, trying to find any senses of where to go. I need light. How can I make light? He remembers the screen. It had light did it not? He summons it and realizes quickly that although the screen is bright, it does not illuminates. This confuses him to a great degree. He sigh and dismisses it. He start walking, keeping his hands in front of him to avoid bumping in any wall. As time passes his eyes starts to adapt to the gloom and he can make out a side brighter than the others. An exit maybe? Or at least a brighter part of that cave? He reaches it and find a tunnel going up. It is large enought for him to stand and the light comes from strange crystal growth. There seems to be two kind. The first ones are blue and seem to resonate with part of him, radiating calm and a humid feeling. The other kinds are red and radiate heat and power. Curious, he reaches for one of each. They effortlessly breaks them. The blue one feels cold, like holding ice, but without the bite of it. It radiates the possibility of life, but also death. The other is warm, almost burning, yet also comforting in a way. It radiates power and light, but in too little to be used in meaningful ways. Mewtwo looks at the crystals and decides to keep them. He slowly reaches with his mind and the two crystals start to float above him. He keeps ascending the tunnel and soon exit into a large chamber. More crystal growth can be seen sparsely covering part of the ceiling and walls. Brown vines fall from stalactites. The walls now have dashes of colors. Some parts are brown-red while others have streaks of white on them. He can even see black patches here and there as well as the occasional beige-brown streaks. It looks incredible, almost enchanting. A growling sound snaps Mewtwo out of his contemplation. A strange bipedal being just turned a corner. Tattered clothes cover a decaying body. Two arms, two legs, no tails, one head with hollowed eyes. The figure staggers more than walks. It looks around for a bit then staggers further. Mewtwo has not moved and the thing ignored him. He gulps. He does not know what that was, but it seemed wrong in some unknown ways. He looks up and around, trying to find a new way to go. There! Above him, a passage seems to give more light than the other. But it is high. He looks around but can see no way to climb up. The passage even has an overhang to complicate things further. A little blue bat with purple wing membranes dashes past him with a screech. Its large ears darting here and there. Good for you little zubat. I wish I had wings too. He sits down, looking around, resting his head on one of his hand. How do I get up there? He lowers the crystals he had been carrying whit his powers. He make them orbit slowly. He suddenly drops them. I am an idiot! He quickly get the crystals floating once more and then concentrates. If he can make crystals float, then why not himself? With a bit of focus, he feels his body slowly leave the ground. He smiles. Here we go. He kicks up and¡­ goes nowhere. Did he even touch the ground? He tries again, looking this time. He is floating, but he cannot move. Wait, I just need to push myself with telekinesis. And so he awkwardly moves up. After a minute or so he finally touches down on the little overhang. I will need to practice that trick a bit more. The effort did drain him slightly, but finally, he can see a brighter light at the end of this new tunnel. With the two little crystals still floating around him, he continues to climb toward what he hope to be the exit of the cave. Chapter 3: Experimentations Alright. Exploration. Yeah¡­ Maybe not yet. Because That achievement gave me something. I did not know the system would reward me for random things. What else can I do that might give me rewards? Because if I just got a little function out of a simple brain exercise, what else could I do that could give me bigger rewards? Wait! Of course! The quests! Time to give that tab a more in-depth look. The screen opens back on the same tree-like arrangement with most of the quests being either grayed out or just a question mark. Only one single quest is highlighted:
Humble beginnings. From sticks and stones will your future be drawn. Gather ''large wooden sticks'' 0/10 Gather ''Rock'' 0/10 Rewards: 10xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS, activating WAYLA feature
Oooh, shiny! I should have looked earlier. Welp, better get going then. I should be able to easily gather the sticks in the forest, and stones should not be too hard to come by right? I enter the forest, my eyes looking all around for the coveted sticks and rocks. The forest become darker the deeper I go. I quickly lose sight of its edge and even the sound slowly fades. Birds still sing, but the rustle of leaves drowns their song, making the atmosphere eerie and surreal. I find it strangely relaxing, but the occasional shiver from some random sound does make me a bit jumpy. The fact that I swear I saw a strange pair of red on yellow eyes darting in a bush does not help. I quickly find a couple of sticks, as well as a rock. More sticks follow soon, and I end up with far too much to hold. Didn''t I have an inventory? I DO! and it''s empty! Now how do I fill it? The inventory screen appears as a four rows of nine cells. They are all empty. Now this inventory is part of the system¡­ Do I need to use my left hand? I put most of the sticks down and take longest one I have in my left hand. The uneven piece of wood becomes a brown stick icon in the lower left of my inventory screen. But it is still outside¡­ How do I get it in? I reach and tap stick icon. It pop out and then stick to my finger. I go outside the box the icon stops just at the limit. It simply hoovers between two cells. The stick in my hand is still there. I bring back my hand and the icon immediately sticks back to my index. Finally I plop it into one of the cells. And I almost jump in surprise as the stick in my left arm turns bright blue and dissolves into tiny cubes of light. The cubes are then sucked into the now opened aperture in my left hand. The aperture closes and I now have one stick in my inventory. Wow. that''s awesome. I quickly gather the rest of the sticks and stones. And come to a rather annoying realization. A couple of annoying realizations actually. First: it takes a lot of time to sort things out. I can only hold so many sticks at once. Then I need to drag them to the others to stack them. And there come the second realization: Not every sticks I pick up are sticks. Sometime the system label them as Oak branches when there is too many ramification or leaves on it, or as oak chunks when they are too small or look closer to pieces of bark. I can trim the bigger branches to sticks by hand, but it takes time. And as I continue to gather, the same problem pops up with rocks. More specifically, I have not found a single rock. Oh I have found stones chunks, pebbles, even a singular flint piece, but not a single rock. The sound of leaves rustling together distracts me from my search and experimentation. The sound is too close to be the wind in the trees. I look around and comes nose to nose with a little bundle of leaves. The burmy yellow eyes look at me from the inside of its leaf-covered shell. We both blink at each others in curiosity. A louder rustling noise makes me look up and up above me, a small colony of burmy with a singular wormadam look down on me. They are all holding to a branch by a long black stem growing from their head. The wormadam eyes me cautiously, her bigger and flower covered body trembling a little. Maybe I should leave this area. "Sorry for bothering you." I whisper. The wormadam nods, only her long green tipped nose and floppy ears moving. I move on and look a bit more around. I have had quite the lucky strike with my encounters to this point. Who knows how long this will last. Let us hope it will for a bit longer. I still need to find rocks and some food. I have enough sticks for now. Although if I find any more I will definitely keep them. They might be useful for later. I continue to explore and finally locate my first rock. A piece of stone bigger than my fist. The moment I take it, the inventory display confirms it. That is a rock. Cool, only nine more to find. I keep getting deeper into the forest, I can hear the constant sound of pokemons all around me. Mostly flying types, bug types and grass types. The forest itself seems to be mostly oak. Their brown trunks growing up to a five or so meters and then extending into a thick canopy of bright green leaves. I pass bushes and more glittering flowers. Out of curiosity, I touch one, not uprooting it. It registers as a red mystical flower. Uh¡­ No specie name or anything, just ''red mystical flower''. I spot a more common looking flower and touch it. This one registers as a ''lily of the valley''. So that red glittering flower really is just named a ''red mystical flower''. I spot another glittering flower, this one purple, looking like a mushroom cap made of petals. It registers as ''purple mystical flower''. I will need to check, but I believe I can safely say the glittering flowers are called mystical flowers. I get back up and resume my search. I slowly gather the rest of the rocks. It actually takes me longer than I though. It is harder than it seems to find decent sized stone chunks in a forest. I did find an opening in the ground leading to an underground cavern at some point that helped me acquire the remaining ones. I did not go down too far, it was too dark. Alright, quest completed. Next one! Also, rewards! I open the quest menu and open the ''Humble beginnings'' quest again. A claim button has now appeared next to the rewards. I click it and¡­ not much happens. A quick glance at my inventory tells me the Exp. Candy has landed there, but the 10xp? no idea. Same for the WAYLA feature, although I have a small idea where that thing might be. A quick trip through the screens and my suspicions are confirmed. I have it in the ODO screen. I enable it and look around. And see nothing different. Does it work? I check and yes, it should be, it has the mention ''enabled'' next to it. I think for a minute and then try something. I concentrate on the mystical purple flower. A little screen pop up and a blue digital-like glow lines the entire flower. Yes, I am looking at at a mystical purple flower. A little mention makes me frown however. ''Unlock tier 2 for more details'' That thing has tiers? Where do I unlock that? I return to my main screen and notice two things: the ten xp points have gone to the ''Experience'' line and a once grayed mention no longer is. ''Body Upgrades'', the lowest option on the upper right, is now accessible. Was it tied to the experience? Maybe, let us see what''s in there. The new screen is a list of options. Or it will be a long list of options. Most of them are only marked as a line of question marks, but I have some that are available. I can upgrade all two of my main statistics, coolant and Power, as well as my repair efficiency. I''ll return to that last one later. Most upgrade are shown as percentages and it only costs one xp point to get point one percent in each of the three stats. For the same price and the same result, I can also upgrade my generator efficiency. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. There is also the WAYLA tier 2 upgrade, for 5 points. I might as well grab it. I look back at the flower and¡­ ''Mystical purple flower: A flower radiating weak magical energy. Can be picked up by hand''. That was¡­ underwhelming. I look at a tree. ''Oak tree: requires at least wooden tier axe to harvest''. That''s it? I did not expect that much for a tree but that''s it? I should have looked before I bought the upgrade. Was the harvestability mention there before? Then again a tree is just a tree right? Not much special thing to discuss. Now I know what I am looking at, and I know how to acquire xp, or experience. It is noted as Experience on my main screen. But something in the ''Body modification screen has picked my curiosity. Healing factor? What healing factor? I return to the body modification screen and tap the ''Repair efficiency'' line. A little box of text appears. ''Lowers the heat generation and power consumption of the nanite auto-repair system''. I blink. What are nanites? Really small machines capable of repairing almost any damages and heal most injuries in a matter of minutes or hours for the worst kind. Hello again unlocking memories. Do you go somewhere like the pokedex entries? Oh yes you do. A new tutorial has appeared. Yep, nanites or nano-machines are coursing throughout my entire body, constantly repairing and fixing issues that crop up. They passively consume power and can go into overdrive if I injure myself. Overdrive consume twice to ten times the usual amount of power and produce heat. Wow, I might have more to worry about than just power shortage and overheat in the end. I''ll need to keep a closer watch of my power. Speaking of, I am one and a halfish square down. Hum¡­ I really need food. I have some time, but I do not want to end up without power. Let''s see what the next quest is, maybe there is something that could help me there.
Your first tool No need for hands with a body like yours, but tools will help you gather greater materials Craft a ''Crude hatchet'': 0/1 Rewards: 10xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS, activating auto-gather feature
Uhuh. I like the sound of auto-gathering. Now how do I craft? Because I have not the slightest idea on how to make a hatchet. I get all that I have gathered out and look at them pensively. I have stone, I have sticks. I can kind of envision the crafting of one but¡­ what if¡­ No¡­ I would need some sort of string or something, and even then the result would barely hold together. I sit there, thinking. Then something hits me. "No need for hands¡­" I look at my left hand. "Do I not need to do it manually?" Maybe not¡­ But then where? I quickly gather all the supplies I got out of my inventory and then notice it. There, on the side, almost hidden, is a little icon of a two by two table. I click it a yet another screen appears. Four cells, an arrow and a single cell. Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. Is that what the recipe option is for? A quick look and yep, that''s it. Sitting on the recipe screen is a single new line: ''Crude hatchet'' as well as the material needed, two sticks and a stone. I return to my inventory screen, bring up the crafting screen and put the materials in. And nothing happens. They need to be in a certain configuration uh? Yup. One stick on each cells of the right column, a stone on the top-left cell. And I get a hatchet icon on the cell after the arrow. I click it and almost jump in surprise. My left arm starts to make a whining sound It last for barely a second, then a microwave ding follows. The crafting screen is now empty and I have a hatchet in my inventory. Okay quests and system, up to now you only had my curiosity. You now have my full attention. What is next?
Complexity up Part 1 2 by 2 is nice, but will only carry you so far... Craft a ''wooden hammer'': 0/1 Craft a wooden saw: 0/1 Craft ''wooden pliers'' Rewards: 10xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS
Oh¡­ And I have nothing in the recipe tab. Uhhh¡­ Hold on I have a hatchet now. Let''s see what it looks like. I take it out and... Yup. That''s a crude hatchet alright. It seems to hold only with some wood fiber, a wish and a prayer. The shaft is almost unchanged except for the rock stuck on one end, splintering it. The whole is wrapped in crude fiber... Wait it''s actually just strips of wood! Yeah I have no idea how this is going to hold. Now I presume I need more materials... Maybe go for trees? I will not be able to fall the big ones if the WAYLA harvestability requirement are any indications, but maybe if I find smaller ones?
Mewtwo is giddy. The more he experiences in this strange world, the more he learns. He can make objects float, he can float himself! The two crystals have been joined by four more. He now has blue, green, red, yellow, black and white crystals orbiting around him. He can feel the constant effort he has to make to keep them afloat, but he relish it. The more he keep them, the easier he can feel that sixth way to feel the world. The tunnel he is in is damp, the humidity cling to his skin. The earthy and stale atmosphere is starting to become an afterthought after breathing it for so long. He no longer feel the uneven ground beneath his feet as he now float and go toward the distant sunlight. The growls and rumbles of creatures and pokemons no longer makes him jump. They ignore him, and he ignores them. He has almost reached the exit. He can taste the fresher air. He lands and decide to finish the climb exit on foot. He prefers caution. Just because nothing has attacked or endangered him does not mean it will do the same outside. As he walks, one of the rocks he steps upon starts to shift. He look down and jumps back in surprise. One of the rock just sprouted arms. And eyes! A geodude! The rock pokemon shouts in anger. Mewtwo raises his arm in a placating manner. Then he realize something. Can he talk? He tries, but only growls and hisses escapes his throat. This seems to stir the geodude even more. He launches himself, trying to tackle Mewtwo. Mewtwo floats up, barely evading the move. Can I grab him? He tries to use his powers, he feels his invisible sense of touch wrap around the geodude and lifts him up. They come eyes to eyes, yet Mewtwo realize this situation will barely last. Just holding the pokemon drains him faster than anything else he ever did. He fling him away, and the geodude impact violently against the tunnel wall. I did not mean to throw him this hard. His strength bewilders him. Mewtwo pants with slight exertion. I just held him for a few seconds, yet it feels as if I have just ran up this tunnel. The geodude rights himself up and wraps his arms around his body in a defensive curl. He then charges again. Thinking himself safe, Mewtwo simply watches the rock-type roll in his tackling charge. The geodude fling himself against a slightly angled rock and comes barreling into Mewtwo. He is too surprised to react and get hit straight in his stomach. It is his turn to impact a wall and he crumple on the ground. He can barely breathe. He looks up in time to see the geodude going straight for him again. He manages to roll out of the way and catches the rock-type in his psychic powers again. You like to roll around so much? Let us see how much you truly like it? Mewtwo focuses his powers and make the geodude spin on himself. Faster and faster, the rock type quickly become dizzy and release his curled form. Then Mewtwo releases it and the poor rock type slams into the ceiling. Once he lands on the ground with a thud, he does not rises again. Mewtwo gulps. Did he kill the poor thing? He cautiously approaches and nudges the pokemon with his psychic touch. He is still breathing, only unconscious. Mewtwo sight in relief. He did not want to kill. He had not even wanted to fight. He looks around, the cave walls now sport little cracks where he and the geodude impacted. A bruise is forming on his stomach, turning his already purple skin there a deeper shade. He picks his crystals back up on his telekinetic hold. They were thankfully undamaged during the fight. He then resume his walk toward the surface. He looks toward the marker as he climbs, 7.3km. His ''Frend'' has gone quite a way. After a few more minutes, he finally exit the cave. He shield his eyes and wait for a moment. Once his eyes are finally adapted to the bright outside, he beholds a seemingly endless meadow. No, not that endless, he can see a forest in the distance, with the marker slowly moving through it. All around him is a field of grass, with the cave he just exited looking like a strange dark wound in a sea of green. He can see pokemons frolicking around and even a distant flock of birds. They seem to be pidgeys led by a pidgeotto. He looks once more toward the marker. It has gone even farther, almost reaching 8km away. He will need to speed up if he wants to catch up. Chapter 4: Food and harvest. And so I now quest for trees I can harvest. Easier said than done surprisingly. Most of the trees around me are big enought I can barely put my arms around their trunks. No way I can harvest those with just this puny hatchet. The system even confirms it with the ''axe needed'' mention. I need small trees. And those trees do not seem to want to be found inside the forest. Maybe the smaller and thinner trees at the entrance could be considered harvestable? It''s worth checking anyway. I retrace my way toward the entrance, using the ''Frend?'' beacon as a reference and my compass to ensure my direction. Wait did it move down? Nah, must have been my imagination. I also take the moment to look closer to many of the flora I passed on the way. Other than the mystical flowers, most are names that I am unfamiliar or vaguely familiar with, the unlocking memories simply give me details that do not pertain to my immediate needs. My immediate needs being finding food and water. Wait can I not eat grass? I mean... It''s an organic compound. Maybe leaves could also work? I shrug and decides to try it once I reach the outskirts of the forest. I am, I believe halfway out when I spot something odd. A bush was not given a scientific name. It has been named a ''Shaded garden''. Curious, I approach. Holy! This is a gold mine! It''s... It''s!!! IT IS A GARDEN! Okay yeah, the name did give that away, but I did not expect to find what I have just found! This large bush, reaching all the way to my stomach, contains both edible herbs and vegetables! that''s... that''s insane! That can''t be natural. Hold on even the roots are vegetables! That... that might delay my food problem for a bit. I quickly gather the edibles, ending with a non-negligible yield: three large sweet potatoes, a dozen spice leaves and four tomatoes. It might not be much, but maybe I can find more. This will have to do for now. I quickly resume my walk, keeping an eye out for more of the garden bushes. If there is one there has to be more right? Right? ... I guess not... But good news, I have reached the forest edge and it was a good idea to come here! The smallest trees can be harvested! They all register as oak trees in my sight, but this one has the ''crude hatchet required'' mention. Now let''s break a tree down. I prepare to strike when a though enters my mind. I quickly look up into the branches. Nope, nothing. No nests, no holes and no perched bird or bug pokemons. I nod to myself and ready my hatchet. And strike. My hatchet buries itself deeper than I expected. I dislodge it and strike again. And again, and again. Until I finally hear a creaking sound. The whole tree is moving, slowly bending on the cut I opened on its trunk. I push against it and it slowly swings the other way and topples over with a resounding crack. Dirt and leaves fly around. Alright! One tree down... Now what? Actually... Yeah I just felled a tree, but... Is that it? Nothing really happened. No notification, no achievement... Can I even store the tree? No... Object is too big, upgrade required. Well... I look up, the sun is slowly setting. It must be almost late afternoon now, maybe even the beginning of the evening. No achievement for that deduction either? Do I need to guess the hour? The precise time? I sigh. I might as well collect the wood maybe I could start a fire? Do I even need to keep warm? The day has been rather hot in retrospect. Or is it my body just working? So many questions, so few answers. Alright, let''s cut that wood in logs. Maybe I''ll unlock something. It takes me a few minutes, but I manage to clear the entire tree. And this gave me quite a few insights on my capabilities. First, I can only store items around a meter in length and I assume height too. I tried multiple size of logs and only the ones I made smaller than maybe 15 centimeters...mostly... I do not have any ways to accurately measure anything, were not considered as logs but as chunks. Anything else has been converted as logs. Which brings up another insight, and this one is both disturbing and amazing: my storage does not respects the laws of mass conservation. Or if it does, it does in a weird way. As I have just stated, I tried to separate the trunk in multiple logs of different sizes to find out the size limit. The second realization came when I took out the logs. I made, in the end, ten logs of wood of multiple size. And when I took them out, I found out that they now all had the same size. Except there is now more length total that the entire tree trunk. I then tried with the branches and sticks and found the exact same thing. My storage unifies anything that goes in it. The tomatoes I found earlier are now all the same size and shape too. It is quite trippy. The exercise also cost me more energy. And to see if I could regain power by simply eating grass, I took a handful of the stuff to try. The taste... was the taste of grass, bitter and earthy. It was not surprising, And I had difficulties swallowing it. And I gained nothing. I tried to eat more. Maybe it needed more, I though. That ended up as a mistake. I suddenly had a gag reflex and threw up all the grass along with some water. This actually cost me coolant! I lost two entire squares! So note to self, do not consume the grass, and my bio-reactor is picky. Fuck me I guess. I then tried a tomato and got a far better result. A single one gave me half a square back. It might seem like a lot, but I have barely done anything today. And the next tomato gave me nothing. I had to consume a third one to get another half a square back. Ouch, the efficiency of food drops fast. I am going to need a lot of those gardens. An absurd lot of them. Because if I don''t I am going to run out of power real fast. ... A grey bird with a grey ending orange beak, a starly, flies above me... Maybe I could... No! Bad! They are far too close to sapient to even consider it... Although some might be able to help me find food if I find some ways to help them... That could be an option. An option I will consider when I really need to. Right now I have to figure out how to make a hammer, a saw and pliers with only wood. First of, what can I do with the logs? I can make plank. Four per logs. Interesting. I do just that and after a little whine and a ding, I now have planks. Next, one plank. Nothing. Two logs, vertical configuration, a stripped log... Do I need one? I make one just in case. Also where did the bark go? Why do I need two logs to make one? Mass conservation still goes right out, I guess. Next, two plank, horizontal configuration, a pressure plate. I do not make it, it might become useful later but I do not feel like it is right now. Two plank vertical configuration, four sticks. Good to know I can make more of those, but I have enough. Next the diagonals, up down and down up configurations, give nothing. Conclusion? I need to combine different materials. After much experimentation, I find the configuration for the hammer. It was the stripped log with a stick below along with a stone. why a stone? No idea. Next I stumble on the pliers, a pair of planks on the upper row, then a rock and a stick in that exact order on the lower row. Reversing the rock and the stick do not make a valid recipe. Finally, after much experimentation, I find the recipe for the wooden saw. A stick followed by a plank on the upper row and then a flint on the lower row, either left or right was fine. With that, I am done with the quest. These simple quests gave me a surprising amount of informations. They are more guidelines than straightforward goals. Following them is helping me understand my body more and more. I get the rewards and look at the next.
Complexity up Part 2 If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ... But 3x3 will carry you to endless possibilities! Craft a ''grid extension'' wooden chip: 0/1 Rewards: 10xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS, activating recipe dependents hints systems
Uhuh... Wait recipe hints? That could be useful in the long term. Because I must have spent at least an hour or two figuring the recipe tools! The sun is even starting to set! I can see the sky turning orange, night will be coming soon. I guess I will spend the it under the stars. Actually... I do not feel tired... Do I need to sleep? I guess I will know when I actually feel tired. Now how do I make that chip? I would wager the three tools I have just made and a plank. Nope, that gives me a crafting table... A cube-like tool-station with a grid on it... That might be a component though. But I only had one flint, so I cannot remake the saw if this is not the way to make the chip. And with the night falling, It might become harder to look for things. Let''s think... A wooden chip... What would that even look like? Clearly it is something that will go into the upgrade chip slot screen. Let''s start there then. I open the previously unopened tab and look. I have twenty slots, all empty. There is an option to add a new chip and that''s mostly it. However, on each slots, the icons for what I assume to be the different chips the system accepts are looping over and over. And one of the icons do catch my attention. A square of brown material with holes in it. This might be... How do I make that? I have planks, sticks, logs... Wait! If it is a chip, then it might be a small one... No but is it small enought? I might as well try. I craft the crafting table and then I craft a pressure plate. Clearly law of mass conservation is NOT considered here, so... YES! Crafting table on top, pressure plate below and Voil¨¤! A ''grid extension'' wooden chip! I giggle to myself in joy! I take the chip out... And almost drop it. It is the size of an microSD card! WHERE DID ALL THE WOOD GO??? I did not get the table out but it must have been a one meter cube! And all that is left is what must be a one centimeter by oh-five centimeter strip of wood? The holes are barely visible! I look at that small chip, stunned... My joy seems to have evaporated. So much ressources for only... that? What will the next recipes need of me? I might as well install it. I open the chip tab again and click the add new chip. And almost jump away from my left arm. The armor segments on the upper parts of my arm rise up and then fold under each other, revealing a two by ten row of chip slots. they all rise in unison and open, ready to accept the new chip. I push my wooden chip in one of them and my arm quickly closes back. The weirdest part was the sensation. It was like I was unconsciously using a muscle I did not know I had. That makes me curious. I concentrate on the feeling. And nothing happens. I try for a few more minutes and nothing moves. I am certain I could do it! A hooting cry sounds nearby and I look up. The sun has almost set. And the early nocturnal wildlife is stirring. Now what is the next quest. I need to keep going.
Your first real tools Crude hatchet, tools of wood, will not last. Grow, and grow fast. Craft a ''Stone sword'': 0/1 Craft a ''Stone pickaxe: 0/1 Rewards: 15xp; 2 Exp. Candy XS
No more features uh? Maybe for now. Now how do I do that? And why would I need a sword? It''s not going to fend off the physic defying monsters that live here with me! A distant growl answer one question.
Mewtwo is gently floating a couple hundred meters above the ground. He is trying to evaluate how fast he could go. And theoretically, he could go faster than his own body could survive. He did not try to go that far, but he did try to get high as fast as he could. He stopped after almost passing out from both speed and lack of oxygen. He did not reach the floating island littering the sky above him. After that, he returned to a more confortable altitude and now looks around. The sight he gets is breathtaking. The green plain he is in does not extend forever up there. He can see rivers and mountains in the distance. A splash of uneven brown, not too far away, might even be a village. He stays there for a few minutes, then slowly drift back down. A look toward the marker tells him the other user has stopped moving. Did it notice his flight? Would it even matter? He asks himself. he gently floats above the ground and start to make its way toward it. The colored crystal each orbit him in a different way. The more he experiment, the more he can feel how far he could bend his powers. But he also feels like he has yet untapped capabilities. His flight is uninterrupted for several minutes. Then he notice the marker starting to move. It is getting closer on roundabout way. The user must be making its way out the forest. They will be able to meet at its edge. A sudden fearsome cry stops his thoughs and advance. A massive brown bird lands some ways away. His red punk-like crest sways around as he cautiously and vehemently look around. The fearow is afraid, but more importantly, he is hurt. An arrow sticks out from one of its wings. He looks around once more, seemingly ignoring or not seeing Mewtwo. He then starts to tear apart a little bush close to him. Blue fruits quickly disappear into his gullet. Once he is done eating, he removes the arrow in his wing with a cry of pain. Blood spurts from the hole, but after a few seconds, the wound stop bleeding and closes altogether. He then takes off and flies away. Mewtwo looks at the bird disappearing in the distance. He look toward the destroyed bush, and decide to investigate. If he is not that eager to see me, he can wait a few more minutes. He gently land next to the bush. The fruits, similar in appearance to oranges but with blue skin, litter the ground in different states. Some are broken open, their pale yellow flesh oozing juice into the ground, other are crushed into paste, but a few are still intact. Mewtwo picks one up from the ground. An oran berry. This could be useful. He bites it and immediately feel some of the strains from his previous confrontation vanish. This will definitely be useful. He picks up the few intact fruits scattered around and munch on a couple of broken ones. The feeling of healing echoes with something within himself. It feels like he could replicate this aspect. He frown, then closes his eyes. The feeling is similar to one of the aspect of the blue crystal. He concentrate more and then feels something course along his right arm. He opens his eyes and witness a singular drop of shimmering blue condensing above his three fingered palm. This is... a life dew. This could heal me! Happy with his breakthrough, Mewtwo let the tiny drop splash onto his palm once it is done gathering. He feel little in term of effects, as the orans have already healed most of the damage, but he can feel the potential for emergency first aid. He nods to himself. And then concentrate on the crystals he has brought with him. The blue one gave him a hint for the life dew, could the others also give him hints? He concentrates on each. Neither the red, the green, the yellow or the black one truly resonates, but the white one does. He can feel something, two paths actually. He concentrates on the first, and a feeling gather upon his eyes. He tries to unleash it, but nothing happens. He tries again, but obtain the same result. A small headache do start to manifest, so he let this one go for now. He then attempts the second path. This time, the feeling courses through his entire body. He curls himself up and then extends all his members. Yellow stars shoot from him in every directions, swiftly homing on nothing. Swift! Those are the moves I know! Then the previous one was Disable. I did not have a target, so it failed. I see... He quickly looks at the screen and confirms it. He has just used three of the four moves he possesses. Satisfied, Mewtwo resume his way toward the marker location. His orbiting treasures now more numerous. Then again... These moves feel more like pathways. Maybe I can alter them? He ponders, but decides to leave that for after he meet with the other user. he hopes he has some more inkling as to what the quest is. The sky is losing the last bits of orange and stars start to appear above him when he hears it. The low growling sound he had once heard in the cave. He turns around and witness a single humanoid being, dressed in tattered clothes, his skin a greenish hue. As he look around, more beasts raise from the ground. Most are humanoids like the first, but here and there, other appear. A spider almost as large as he is tall crawl out from thin air, a human skeleton armed with a bow rise from the ground. Strange green creatures, with four little legs, a long neck and a bobbing head walk aimlessly. A few turn toward the same direction and Mewtwo gulp. It is in the direction of the marker. The direction of the other user. Oh no! Chapter 5: Chaotic meeting The last of the light finally disappears and my first day in this confusing world comes to an end. A chill unrelated to the temperature runs through me. My memories are firing contradictory instincts. My broken memories are telling me night is dangerous, that horrors await those that stay out. My unlocking memories are telling me night has fallen. Temperature will drop, certain species of creatures will roam around while others will rest. The broken side of me is starting to get frantic. I need to find shelter. A small cave with a single easily defensible entrance. An abandoned shack with a locking door and barricade windows. Anything! I need to hide! They are coming!! I inhale, and exhale. The other side is mostly calm. New experiment means new unlocking memories. I could find more things to discover at night. Things that would not be visible during the day. A rustling sound make me look behind me. A set of brillant red eyes on yellow stare at me from the edges of the forest. But they quickly disappear when they realize I have spotted them. Nothing too dangerous for now then... I hope I look around, nervous. Why am I nervous? Seriously, what is there to worry about? Yeah the gurgling growl, but that could have been some unknown pokemon. It also sounded like it was coming from quite the distance. Why would it come to me? As I look around a bit longer, I notice something. The ''Frend'' marker is getting closer. It now stands at only 2.1km. Wait, 2 now! 1.9. It''s approaching fast! Was I that fast when I ran earlier? The marker symbol is a bit in the way, but I can kind of see some sort of sparkling thing coming closer. Or is it just a trick of the display? Clearly there is not a large square floating in the distance with a billboard size display above it visible for every creatures to see. Movement on the side of the marker quickly divert my attention. Someone is coming! I cannot make out too much details from the distance, but, yep, that is someone. I am not the only human here after all! It feels strange to realize I might not be alone. I did not realize the need to see or interact with another human before now. Weird. I start making my way toward them, waving my arms. "Heey! Hello?" I shout, trying to get their attention. The figure, maybe a couple dozen meters from me, continue to walk toward me. I wave again, continuing to shout, but obtain no answers. My broken memories seem to go into a pure panic attack and I have a hard time giving into the feeling. This is dangerous. It''s just someone. Not someone! Danger! It''s just another human. Danger! Danger! My thoughs are all over my mind, with conflicting warnings. I am barely able to keep a straight line of thinking. Still, I continue to approach, but something suddenly make me stop. I cannot place it, but there is something off with that person. I try to look closer, to understand what makes me feel so uneasy all of the sudden, beyond my broken memories panic, but cannot- There! What the fuck was that? The human approaching me is doing so in a strange, almost shambling way. Its entire body just jerked up as he took a step. I could not see it from the distance, but he is either unwell, or there is some truth to what my broken memories seem to be suggesting. Whatever is coming might actually be dangerous. I try to focus on it, but nothing come up from the system. Too far? Or maybe I need to upgrade the WAYLA system again? A quick check shows me there is a new tier for the WAYLA system for 15xp, three time pricier than going from tier one to two. I might as well take it. Also, I still have 20 points. I separate them into the four main upgrades I can continuously invest in: repair, power, coolant and generator efficiency. It might not be much of a boost, but maybe it will be useful. Experience might be collected in other, easier ways than just the quests. The boost is minimal, but it should pay off in the long run... If I make it to the long run. No, let''s not focus on that right now. What about our guest? HOLY! It must have taken me maybe less than thirty seconds to do all that, and the shambling man is now far too close for comfort. Did it speed up when I looked away? Or was his speed deceptively slow? He is now close enough for me to realize that, even without the WAYLA display identification, what is coming is not a human. No that is wrong. What is approaching may have once been a human, but not anymore. The thing is dressed in ragged and torn clothes, showing a lot of festering greenish-grey skin beneath. The thing''s eyes are two black holes and a gurgling moan escapes his seemingly ever-opened mouth. I gulp at the horrific sight. he is now less than a few meters from me. "Hello?" I try one last time with a shaky voice. "I am armed!" I also add as I grip my flimsy hatchet with both hands. ''Zombie'' says the header above the zombie''s head. Yep, I kind of expected that. So, mindless walking corpse it is then. Looking for brains? Too bad but mine might be plastic. Heh. I grip the hatchet tighter. And then freeze. What am I about to do? Fight it? Can I? Well it is alone. Would the classic head crush be enough? Why a head crush? What if it bites me? Are the zombies a result of a virus? Could I run the risk of becoming infected? Can I be infected? Five meters. Maybe not? But then could it even hurt me? The fleshier parts I have little doubts, but the metallic parts? Can it bite steel? Two slimy hands fall on my shoulders. I shiver and realize the zombie has reached me. I can smell the disgusting odor of his rotting insides and outsides. On reflex I push him off me. it stumble back a few steps but recovers far too quickly. Another pair of slimy hands land on my left shoulder and pull me. I lose my balance and fall, letting go of the hatchet in the process. Another zombie has sneaked behind me and now I am on the ground. I panic and flail around, trying get the second one off me, to little success. The first one returns and try to plunge his rotted nails in my stomach AND ACTUALLY PENETRATES! Fuck! Shit! LEGS!! I kick him, hard. A quick whine can be heard from my legs. The zombie does not stumble this time, it flies back a couple meters, with a foot imprint with five stab wounds above it on his chest. My leg feels hot, but the second zombie divert my attention by trying to stab my neck. "None of that!" I grab his hand with my left and pull. Another whine, and the zombie entire body flies above me, landing to my left. With the immediate danger gone, I scramble away from both creatures. They are already getting back up!
Mewtwo flies over a dozen creatures, all walking toward the marker. None seems to pay him any mind. Even the walking skeletons are content to just go toward the marker. A few make their ways to the right, toward another unknown destination, but they are few and far between. I will not make it in time. He realizes. Cold sweat start to form upon his skin. I did not get the chance to meet this potential ally, and he is about to be attacked by a horde of horrific creatures. He tries to push himself to go faster, but he can feel the strain growing. Five hundred meters left, I should arrive soon. With the time he still have left to fly, his sight wanders. The monsters clearly ignores him and pokemons in general. A few rattatas dart between the monsters, scavenging bits and parts loose enough to be taken. One monster has a hoothoot right on top of its head. The round brown pokemon content to look around on her shambling perch. With this, this ''Frend?'' must not be a pokemon. Then what could they be? A hundred meters left to find out the answer. The closer he gets, the less of the monsters there seems to be, as if they appear less frequently the closer to their query. I am almost here! I- The marker disappears. Mewtwo stops. No! I was too late? He frantically look around, he had less than thirty meters left to cover. He cries out in dismay. His cry echoing loudly in the night.
The hatchet! I let it go, but I rush for it. I then get back up. Both zombies are also getting back on their feet. This time, I will not hesitate. Actually, let''s not wait! I kick the closest one, the one I flung above me, back on the ground and then slam my foot on its head. With a wet crunch, its head breaks open, splattering dark jellied liquid and rotten flesh on my foot. Yuck. Both my bodies and the corpse shine for less than a second and a little notification appears.
Achievement got: Monster hunter. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. (Slay a monster. We knew you had it in you!) Reward: 20xp, 1 Exp. candy S
Why thank you system, but please clear my vision. I need to see what I am doing. I quickly swipe the notification away and return my attention to the remaining... Am I drunk or are there four of them now? No wait, one is a bit too bony. An arrow zips past my ear and another problem presents itself. "Archers? Fuck off! How do I counter that?" The answer hits me at the same time an arrow ricochet on my left arm, leaving a dent and making me cry in pain. What is that metal? Aluminium? And why did that mechanical part hurt? Another arrow misses me and returns me to the present situation, i.e. I am about to become an urchin if I do not move. I turn around and a distorted, almost like an electronic sound, scream echoes close by. NOPE! Nopenopenopenope. Fuck that, I do not know what that is I do not care. I''ll stay with my zombies and skeletons, I want nothing to do with that scream. Wait where did the ''Frend?'' marker go?
The marker suddenly reappears. Mewtwo head immediately snaps toward it and he jumps toward the new location. It is moving back into the forest. Yet the moment the display reaches 25 meters, it disappear once more. Mewtwo screams again, but this time in frustration. Is this some sort of joke? the marker appears again, 26 meters away. Why make a marker if it disappear when I am too close to its position? He flies towards it and try to look for anything strange beneath the trees. The edge of the forest is not too thick, allowing him to see beneath. He catches movement between branches and descends. And get slammed into the ground by a bipedal creature. his crystals and berries fly in every directions, his hold on them shattered by the sudden impact. "Oof" The creature exclaims. Mewtwo grunts. His stomach still hurt from his little fight with the geodude. That impact reminds him the bruise is still here.
Yep, trees were a good idea. The arrows either miss me or strike bark. Now I just need to get a better position and- I slam headfirst into something that has just fallen from above. "Oof" I exclaim as I bounce back. Squishy. Little luminous crystals scatter around us. A blue fruit lands next to me. I blink away the stars and look at what I have just bounced off of. Sprawled on the forest floor, but already getting up is a humanoid looking creature. The immediate feature that jumps to me are its long purple tail, already swishing around, and its arm, thin with only three round-tipped fingers, one of them a thumb. The creature is rubbing the back of its head, from which there seem to be two necks. One is thin, positioned where a neck should be. The other starts behind the first, a bit higher than normal and seem to curve back on the creature''s back, maybe between its shoulder blades. Its head is feline looking, with stubby flat horns on top of it instead of ears. Its eyes snap open and a purple glare filled mostly with annoyance, but also a hint of curiosity meets my own studying gaze. "Greewileelileelilee!" It growls at me in an almost indescribable, but familiar way.The same, distorted electronic sound. I blink as I realize the implications. I slowly back away. An arrow lands right next to my right hand. "Ah shit." I turn my head behind me and yup, the skeleton has caught up. I had managed to forget about my fucking pursuers. Don''t ask me how, I do not know, I''ll blame that creature from the sky being a weird creature from the sky. The newcomer''s eyes glow and the crystals and fruits start to float and slowly orbit them like a halo. He is up now and, he is tall! Even if I got up, I would barely reach his neck. He stands on two chicken-shaped legs finishing in two-round-toed feet. I notice a darker patch of purple on his already purple belly. An injury maybe?
Mewtwo pat his head from where he impacted the ground. Will that leave bump? He look at the being that rammed into him. Bipedal, each limbs seem thick. the neck is about as large as the head it supports, both arms, should they be put together, would be as large as the being torso, its legs even more so, as they also seem slightly longer than the being torso. What are you? He growls in unison to his though. The most surprising parts are the dichotomy between the pinkish soft-looking flesh and the dark gray, almost black, glossy metal that comprise three of the being limbs as well as part of their lower abdomen. Their thin flat face, compared to his own moves down as a ''twack'' sound breaks both their studies of each others. The neck long black mane atop his head follow the sudden movement. Its bright blue eyes open wide and his mouth turn into a contrite expression. The being turns away, revealing part of another metallic graft. A long series of cylinder half embedded in the being flesh, following their spinal cord. Let us remove this threat first. If my moves worked so well against that geodude, they should work on these creatures. He concentrates and extend his power. He grabs the skeleton and slams it against a tree. Some of the bones crack, but Mewtwo can feel the monster struggle against his psychic grip. He slams the skeleton three more times and finally, the creature shatters and falls apart.
Achievement got: Monster hunter. (Slay a monster. We knew you had it in you!) Reward: 20xp, 1 Exp. candy S
The little blue window is quickly followed by a red one.
/!\ Warning /!\ You are operating under the redux version of the OS. Please update to full version to access the all system features (We do not apologize for the inconvenience)
He blinks in surprise. What does that even means? His thoughs are interrupted by the arrival of a couple of disheveled bipeds.
I look in astonishment as the skeleton that had followed me into the forest suddenly start to shine with a blue aura and float. It then get repeatedly slammed against the nearest tree until it shatters into bone shards and pieces. Some light up as collectibles. Uh... I wonder if the other thing left something behind too. A couple of gurgling sound makes me realize I might be able to find out soon. I get back up and prepare myself. The plan is simple. I get them down and crush their heads. I turn back toward the creature. It helped me, or so I want to believe. A quick motion he does makes me pause. Did... Did he just swipe the air? No way? I look around, but the ''Frend?'' marker is gone. No way! NO FUCKING WAY! This is the ''frend''? I cannot even determine what it is! Which is worrying, because I have been able to get information on a lot of things up to this point. I let that line of thinking stew on the side. Right now, it might have helped me. I will just get rid of my followers and see if it will help again.
The moment he removes the notifications, Mewtwo realizes the being was staring intently at him. Did it understand what his motion had been for? Debatable. But then again, the ''Frend?'' marker was gone, and this being was the sole creature that appeared to have any reasons to be marked. And they were attacked by the monsters he had been following. Maybe he was the ''frend''? This would have to wait until they were safe. The being rushes toward the closest shambling monster and tackles it to the ground. They then proceed to crush the monster''s head with their feet multiple times until it burst open. Mewtwo, curious as to what other ways he could bend his powers, grabs the other monster and slowly start to twist.
Yup, sound plan. Head turned to paste, monster is dead. I prepare to go for the other one, but it starts to float, its body surrounded by the same aura as the skeleton. Its body begin to turn left, while its head turns right. Soon after, with a ripping sound, the head fly on the other side of the body. The congealed fluids running through the monster fly everywhere, some splattering on me. "Ew" I cannot help but exclaim. The creature lowers its right hand and I gasp. Running from its shoulder to its hand is the same tattoo I have. Three circles, one on his hand, one inside his elbow and one on his shoulder, linked together by circuit like links. Shoulder circle has the cat-wolf stylized head, elbow has the X and the hand has the three eyes arranged in an arrow shape. "You... You are the... frend?" I ask, unsure. It- no they look at me, and nod. They growl in their strange way, and I just stand there. Another user! The swipe was him removing notifications! The skeleton must have been their first kill! More gurgling growls echoes all around us, and I look to the other user. "I think we need to go." They nods as the last of the annoying followers appear.
Beneath the bushes, observing the duo, a grey dog-like pokemon looks with suspicion at the newcomer. He exude a strong aura, but not too strong that it would be a danger. The observer''s charge seems to show little worries about him, so she decides to show the same level of caution. She is still unsure if this is pack leader Hound quarry, but up to this point, it could be. For now she remains, making herself as little as she can be. She do not need to act yet. But she stays ready. Chapter 6: Forest run Both me and the other user act at once. I jump at the zombie and they stop it dead with their powers. I slam my hatchet against the zombie''s head and it shatter while taking a huge chunk of flesh with it. The other user''s powers easily rip the head out and I see their body faintly glow. Uh? My body also glows when I kill these monsters. I check my menu out of curiosity and immediately find the something quite odd: 35 points of experience. 20 I can account for, from the achievement, but the fifteen others? Is that another way to gain xp? Killing monsters? Does that extends to other things? An almost silent shuffling sound makes me look right and I come face to face with a green monster''s head stuck in a wailing expression. light starts to shine from inside its skull and I my broken memories scream for me to run away from the thing. I immediately listen to them. A deafening explosion throws me in the air and I land on a soft surface. Which grunts. "Sorry!" I say as I scramble back to my feet. What was THAT? They have explosive monsters? I didn''t even have the time to check the WAYLA descriptor. Where I had been standing a second ago, there is now a small blackened crater. Some trees have even been felled around it. "What the fuck was that?" I cannot help but whisper. The other user points to my right and another one is already approaching. The header reads as ''Creeper''. Yeah that is what the first one did. Creep on me and go boom. "Okay we move! Now!" I exclaim. Where to? I do not know. But right now I am willing to listen to my broken memories. A small cave, an abandoned house? Anything where I can rest. And I need to find it fast because I have barely a third of my energy reserves left. I even lost coolant here. I am down to sixty percent, roughly. I gulp and then chose to go north. Why north? Why not! I go at a light jog, trying to limit my coolant and energy consumption. Coolant seems to not diminish anymore, but energy? Energy is dropping fast! Another value is, however, going up: Integrity. It went down to seventy percent, but is now back to 96. And is still rising. That must be what is consuming energy so fast. I look down on my stomach, the places where that first zombie hands had penetrated the supposedly hardened metal have been repaired. Slight traces are still visible though.
The other user goes to what seem to be a random direction for Mewtwo. It seems strange. The explosion has rattled them both. He had not expected the strange monster to detonate as it did. The meeting with the other user has been, to this point, both surprising and worrying. The other user is different. Mewtwo can sense them, can sense what they want and are about to do to some extent, the other being not hiding any of his thoughs or intentions. And it is a godsend, as he cannot understand the tongue the being speaks. And it seems the other being lacks ways to understand him too. He tried to communicate, but the result is either apprehension or confusion. So for now he follows in silence, and try to think of ways to convey his own intentions to the other user. They pass multiple holes or cave openings, that the other user dismisses after a short investigation. Most open to passageways that go deep within the earth, to what seems to be a large and seemingly endless subterranean cave system. Multiple times, he feel something following them. More exactly, it sometimes feels like a void is close by, but always vanishes when he try to investigate it. He would have dismissed it as his stress becoming greater under the current situation, but after the other user also looks in the same direction he himself feels the void, he posit it might not just be a stress hallucination. Something is following them. And it can easily hide itself. After the user dismisses yet another opening going deep into the ground, Mewtwo resumes his attempts at communication. If I cannot use my words, what about forcing my thoughs? He had been wandering for a while now. What if he used his power not to push the other being physically, but to push his own intent inside the other being''s head? It might work.
Another open cave. Shit! We have been running for what feels like hours, but might have barely been one. My power is still dropping, down to twenty percent now, and I do not have the food to fully replenish it. If I survive the night, I am going to search this entire forest for edibles tomorrow! Where? Where am I going? Where is the destination? Where- WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT! I stop dead in my tracks. That... THAT was not my thoughs. This ''where?'' that was not me, not the broken memories, or the unlocking ones. Where did that come from? I had suddenly questioned the entire reason I was running away. But it was a good question. I was running from monsters. Why north? Because the forest had seemed to go longer up north than south. So more possibility to keep more trees between monsters and me... us. Us... Wait a second. I turn toward the other user. They are patiently waiting. Their long purple tail swish left and right. There is a look of curiosity on their hairless cat-like face. The more I look at them, the more I feel I should know what they are. Yet it seems as if something is preventing that to happen. Are they doing that? Is it the system? But why? No, wrong question here. The better question should be why not. Why not withhold information on a potential ally? Maybe because It makes for more possible tension? What do the creators of the system actually want from me? From us? Where? Where am I going? Do I have a destination? A goal? A- Again? And his eyes shone for a few seconds here. I squint at him and he looks both surprised and pleased. Hear? Do I hear? Can I comprehend? Can I understand? So much in a single though. My head starts to throb. I wince. I have now isolated the errant and alien thoughs. It surprisingly helps when you already feel like three people in a single body. A fourth one gets spotted almost instantly. "Okay, that''s three times now. What that you?" I ask to confirm my suspicions. Affirmative. That was me, it was indeed coming from me. I have done so. Wow this is so weird. "Cool. Please stop trying to impose yourself on me. I already had one existential crisis today, I don''t need another." I say as I start to feel like my cranium is crushing my brain. Apologetic. I am apologizing to myself. I take a knee and take my head in my hand, groaning. "Please stop!" I plead. My integrity actually went down by three points here. But the though seemed less forced, more like a whisper... in some ways. I can see the other user try to reach for me, then stop, as if unsure as to what they can actually do. They then offer me one of the fruits orbiting them. I look at it with dubious eyes. It looks like an orange with blue skin. I look at it with suspicion. It is labelled as an oran berry. A berry that can heal pokemons for a small amount. Would that work on me? It is quite big for a berry. I hesitate, but then why not. I have the coolant to spare another rejection, for now. The skin seems quite thin, so I take a bite. The taste is rather bland, like the diluted taste of an apple, fruity, but not that much. The flesh is actually closer to a pear, grainy and raspy on the tongue. I take a quick look at my energy meter... And it did not move. I take another bite, then another and I quickly end up consuming the whole thing. And am rewarded by... nothing. The meter did not even budge but I now have some new little underside bar beneath the squares. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Energy: ????? ?????
What do these mean? No idea. I''ll have to wait and see I guess. Like with a lot of things with the system. Growls and bony sounds return me to reality. The night is still young, and monsters are still hunting us.
Mewtwo is mostly pleased with his attempts at communication. They worked. They were not perfect, but they worked. What he is less pleased with is the resultant damage he seems to have inflicted upon his fellow user. The attempts resulting in an attempt at overwriting the being''s mind and will was not what he wanted. But he was right in some ways. He can send psychic messages to the other user. He is unsure if the other user understand him. It seemed like it with the last messages, but maybe something else clued him in. The offering of a berry had an unexpected result. On the user''s face, he saw a mix of surprise and disappointment. He is unsure if the berry had any effects on the user''s head injuries. However, they did get back up on their feet and consulted their screens. Or at least it seemed so. Looking at them touch thin air was strange. Had he not possessed a now clearly invisible screens himself, he would have though the user insane. Mewtwo and the user are moving again. Their destination still unknown. Mewtwo is still working on his telepathy. He is certain he is close to being able to communicate. He also scans for the void shadowing them. It still appears, always close and, more often than not now, hidden from view. As he try to refine his telepathy skill, he also experiments on the monsters following them. He send those pulses he sent to the user directly to the monsters. It works, when he send them a message to stop, they do so for a second, sometimes two when he put more power behind the command. But the practice is exhausting and he can feel his stamina depleting. Instead, he uses the monsters as practice to only send messages. If the monster stops, there was still too much will in the message. If the monster does not, then he finally got it. To this point, the monster has always stopped, or at least hesitated. "I might answer your question though." Question asked, answer delivered. "I am looking for a cave we could easily defend from. Or a house. Someplace we can spend the night." Search for safety, search for a rest, search for a fortress. "And going north should help us stay in the forest." Safest direction, evasion of enemies. I see. He understands now why the user went the direction they went. He also understand why they dismissed the other caves. they were too opened, there was too much risk of creatures coming from the deeper parts. But how would they know that. It made sense to Mewtwo as he had seen one of their pursuer below earlier this day, but had the other user seen the same? The other user does not hear his answer. Mewtwo is still uncomfortable to try his current method on them again. The monsters still stop, it might be less than a second, but I still put my own will and intent behind my messages. He frowns as he try to parse what he does, and why his will always accompany his unspoken words. The other user finally stops before a cave. It indeed has a small entrance and stops in a rather spacious almost circular chamber. The user look around the entrance, but starts to swear as it seems they do not find what they are looking for.
FUCK! That place would be perfect! But there is now way to block the entrance! FUCK! "FUCK!" That one could not be contained. What do I do? What do I do? Wait! Inventory! And the recipes! I quickly look up my now growing list of possible recipes and find... Nothing. No wait. What about the planks? I get one out of my inventory, something I should have done earlier. Yep, that''s a one meter long plank by half of one, between maybe five to ten centimeter thick. But I cannot do much with it. Most recipes ask for more items that I do not have yet. Shit! I do not have enough rocks to be able to be stack in any sort of barricades. RAAAAH. And the growling is getting closer. Then a realization hits me. "Hey!" I turn toward the other user. "Can you help with sealing this cave for the night?" They look at me with their big purple eyes, cock their head to the side then start to stroke their chin in though. How human of a reaction. They then point at the trees surrounding us. "Uh... Can you tear them down?" Their answer come in the form of an aura surrounding the closest tree. The large tree start to shake, but remain firmly rooted. The other user falls down, both their halos of rock and fruit falls town behind them. Their ragged breath tells me the effort might have exhausted them almost completely. Shit. What to do? What to do? I no longer have my hatchet, not that it would have helped... Wait... I quickly craft another one. "Hey, I have an idea." They look up at me with tired, but questioning eyes. "I am going to start hacking that tree" I point toward one of the thicker ones close to the cave. "I need you to start pushing above the place I cut. Don''t try to uproot the tree, just try to widen the cut I make." I rush to the tree and... Hold on. I gently tap the tree first. "Hello? Sorry to bother any of you, but I really need this tree. If you are up here, could you move out please?" I get no answers. I try to peer into the dark canopy, but can see nothing. Welp, I tried. I start to hack away. The blue aura, fainter than before, embraces the tree once more. With each swings of hatchet, the tear in the tree widen slowly. I hear the other user grunt from the effort. I can feel my own arms pulsing with the effort. But we keep at it, and after long minutes, the tree finally start to fall. "Don''t let it fall yet!" I cut it so it would fall directly into the cave entrance. "Let''s back up into the cave." Cannot! The word is a whisper of inability. Far fainter than the first ones. I cannot- They cannot. Shit. the other user are barely able to hold themselves upright. Their legs are trembling with the effort, their face is stuck in a snarl. They are even using their left arm to support their right. "If I move you, will it stop you from holding the tree?" Uncertain. Not the answer I expected. "I hope you''re not too heavy." I say as I position myself. I now have the other user in front of the cave. I inhale, then exhale. I focus myself, then dash as fast as I can. I tackle the other user. Holy shit they are heavy! I Almost stumble under their weight, but push through. I can feel my body heating up under the effort. I grit my teeth keep going. A creaking sound makes me redouble my efforts. The other user has released the tree. As we pass the place he first fell down from exhaustion, I quickly activate my auto-gather and collect both crystals and fruits. And then we enter the cave. I jump into it more than anything and with a resounding crack, the tree finally topples, completely blocking the cave entrance. I release a breath I had not realized I had been holding. We should be safe. A wet gurgle proves me wrong immediately. I turn to the lone zombie. Where did it come from? There was nothing in there! I checked! At least it is only one. I prepare to rush him, but my legs suddenly feel like lead. I can barely move. A screen pops up in my vision.
/!\ Warning /!\ POWER RESERVES CRITICAL! Entering power-saving mode. Do note certains abilities will be reduced. (You should really be careful of you power supplies)
NOT NOW! The zombie is almost on top of me. I try to get any of the remaining food I have on me out, but the system is struggling. I won''t make it in time. The other user falls from my shoulder onto the floor, they are also breathing heavy. "Just... Just one... more..." I manage to gasp. They look up from his perspective, and extend one of their arm above their head. Small yellow stars burst from his body and home on the zombie. They crash onto it, one partly severing one of the monster''s leg. The other user immediately pass out out of sheer exhaustion. I slowly approach the downed monster and lift my leg with absurd difficulty. The zombie raise one arm toward me. My leg comes down, shattering its head. And I fall on my knees. I can barely move anymore. I concentrate on my inventory, trying to have it work one final time. A singular sweet potato materialize. I reach for it with my right hand, my left refusing to work anymore, and with a shaky grip, I bring the potato to my mouth. And bite. And and the world turns black.
She looks at the toppled tree. That was a good idea. They are now safe for the night. She finally had to act. The time they took to down the tree had been too long. Without her keeping the monsters from reaching them, they would have both been swarmed. She huffs in both pride and annoyance. If, and that is a big if in her mind, the human is the pack leader''s query, then he has none of the grand memories and instincts from leader Hound''s stories. He has some, different ones, but none of those she heard of from the leader''s tales. She shakes her canine head, and settles on top of the fallen tree. She''ll keep guard for them tonight. Chapter 7: Formal meeting Mewtwo''s return to consciousness is one filled with horrid pain. His head feels as if it is about to split in two. He growls as the pain throbs seemingly endlessly from within his skull. He tries to focus, to calm himself, but the pain keeps going. Finally, after a minute, it becomes unbearable and he passes out again. He return to consciousness again with only a light throbbing. He is unsure how much time has passed. He looks around, he is laying on the floor of a spacious cavern. He can feel small pointy rocks poking his back, tights and tail. The only source of light comes from the blocked entrance. Rays of silver light passes through the leaves of the fallen tree. We managed to do it. He realizes. At least they should be safe. He look around some more and find his newfound companion, the still nameless user. they are unmoving, looking like a doll whose strings have been cut. Mewtwo almost think they are gone, but through his throbbing mind, he feels the other user''s own. They are still alive. Maybe they are recovering too? He observe the strange being for some times. He had gone toward them for two main reasons. His curiosity toward the message left by those that put him in this world, and the hope that they would have answers for him. The meeting had been... chaotic to say the least, and the follow up run had sadly highlighted a problem Mewtwo had not anticipated. Communication. The only way Mewtwo has to communicate is through a slight alteration of his Confusion move. But it comes at a cost, what he communicates becomes the recipient own. Dulled pain races through his mind once more and he stops even thinking of attempting communication again. He overexerted himself, and he clearly need to rest now. Yet that limit seems somehow artificial. A spasm suddenly makes the other user shudder and their head snaps up. Their hands become a blur as they interact with what Mewtwo assumes is their own screens. A flash of light exit their left hand and vegetables and leaves appear from thin air. The sight amazes Mewtwo.
I suddenly recover my sight. The darkness dispels and I behold the ground. I quickly look up as I summon my main screen. I have barely half a square of power left. On instinct, I access the inventory screen and remove all the food I have in it. I leave the berries the other user had with him, they do not seem to help me. I then devour everything. Both of my remaining potatoes, my last tomato and even the leaves which are identified as spice leaves. I almost expect to throw up in response to the leaves, but instead ends up with almost triple my current power. It is NOT much. It seems to be above one and a half square, but barely. I can already feel the difference already. My left arm and my legs have recovered their previous dexterity. I sigh contently. This should be enough to explore tomorrow. I look toward the exit. I am not going back out during the night. Not until I get some sort of gears. The next quest hinted at a sword. I would not say no to a sword. I would have loved a sword tonight. But how would I do that? If I cannot right now, it will be later. I need to secure food as fast as possible! And possibly coolant... I am down to three squares. I hope water works as coolant. I quickly check the tutorial section out of curiosity and find out the list has grown quite a lot since the last time I looked. But later, once I have food, and water as a plus, I''ll check the tutorials. If they work as indicated, there will be little I don''t already know. Now I guess I just have to spend the nigh here. The cave is rather dark, the little bit of light streaming through the tree barely light up anything. And that makes me realize something. My screens do not make light. They are luminous, but they do not project light. They might be only in my head. I sigh. What do I do now? A shuffling sound reminds me of my new friend. Their presence had completely slipped my mind. I look toward them. They seem to be struggling to right themselves up. I slowly get up myself and approach them. They look up at me, curious at my actions. I get down beside them help them. They seem pretty confused at first. But they quickly understand what I am trying to do and let me slowly help them to a sitting position. I then sit before them. I have just realized something. I have never introduced myself. But then again, would they understand me? They seem to be able to from what I have seen so far. I might as well just ask. "Hey, I was wondering something... Can you understand me?" I ask. It feels blunt, but I might as well do it now. They look at me with curiosity, then look away in though. At least that is what it looks like to me. They look back at me and make a wincing face while shaking their hand up and down. "Not really? You do and don''t at the same time?" More wincing. They point at my head, and nod, then at my mouth and shake their head. "Wait you understand my thoughs but not my voice?" They nod with a smile. Holy fuck they are a mind reader. And then some things start to slowly click. "You- You are a pokemon!" I realize. And I should have realized earlier! The aura, the growls. The last attack they did! The star projectiles. That had been a Swift attack! The other user is a pokemon! But that realization brings up another question then. Why can I not identify them? My unlocking memories had been able to tell me what every pokemons I have met were up to this point. I look at the other user again. They seem to be debating something. Their eyes glow and a soft whisper enters my mind. Mewtwo. I blink. There was none of the previous imposition of will. They had gotten that much better in such little time? And the name... the name... "Holy... fuck..." I look at them with both awe, fear and reverence. What is seated before me, what has been conversing and helping me, is a legendary pokemon. I blink. And then start to ponder. They- No, HE is the second user. His little message had come with multiple layers of understanding, like the others before. He is a the second user, the legendary psychic pokemon Mewtwo. My broken memories are completely flabbergasted for some reason, my unlocking memories drop facts after facts about the pokemon before me. I simply let it happen. I... I... I should introduce myself. That was the whole reason I started to this conversation. "Well... Hello Mewtwo, I am Astra?" The name still feels conflicting. Both memories scream different messages at it. Mewtwo look at me with interrogation in his eyes. "I... I am identified as Astra by the system. But other than that... No it''s not important." I give up. I have no idea how to explain what is happening inside my head. He points at me, and another whispered though enter my mind. Astra? It asks. "Yep." I point at myself. "Astra." I smile at him. He nods, crossing his arms with a smile. His stomach starts to growl and a slight blush covers his cheeks. I let out a giggle and removes the berries out of my inventory. "They do not seem to be nourishing to me, but they are for you right?" He nods and extend his arm. Nothing happens, and he winces in what appears to be pain. He sigh and reach for the berries, taking one and quickly devouring it. The next one disappears as fast and the remaining few are left alone. I leave them on the ground between us. What now? Mewtwo looks at me, waiting. If his reaction to picking up berries is any indications, he is weakened or his powers are unusable right now. Maybe overexertion? Wait! Maybe I could get more information from him with the system! Now is the perfect time! He is the other user, we are relatively safe! I should be able to form a party right? Maybe it will help? I look at the party section of my main menue. I quickly create a new party which I unimaginatively call "Users Party" and then touch the ''Add new member'' mention. A new window opens.
Nearby user detected. ID: Mewtwo. Send invitation for "Users party"? [Yes] __________________[No]
I touch the ''Yes'' mention.
Mewtwo finally knows the other user''s name. Astra. Yet he can also feel the conflict this name seems to bring the other user. He had not looked too deep into Astra''s mind, but the moment he mentioned his own name, a storm of conflicting feeling had filled his mind. It had been a disconcerting event to watch. But still, Astra was how he would refer to the other user from now on. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. A little window opens before him.
You have been invited to join the party "Users Party" by Astra [Accept]____________ [Refuse]
A party? A party between users? This could mean more answers. He touch the accept button. All his screens disappear, with a single red one replacing all the others.
/!\ Warning /!\ You are operating under the redux version of the OS. Full version detected. Updating now. 0% done
The percentage slowly ticks up and Mewtwo has no choice but to let it happen. After about a minute, the red screen disappear and multiple screens become visible. His new ones are similar to the first but with a larger selection of submenues, such as a quest list, ingredients, tutorials and multiple encyclopedia on both monsters, pokemons and supposedly local fauna and local constructs. The more he looks, the more fascinating it becomes. There are so many options, so many things to learn. The most interesting part being the tutorial section. It explains so much, but also so little at the same time. He finishes the tour of his newfound screens with the quest section. Some have already been completed, but an entire tree has barely been started. A single quest has been completed on that tree:
More than destruction Hunt will be happy to see you kill things with your powers, but you can do much more with them. Use you powers in a non destructive way: DONE Rewards: Lessened stamina consumption; 5xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS
He blinks at the strange quest. He looks at the others, and realizes he could not have done any of the others. They have both their own quest line, Astra and him. He touch the rewards and feels a light feeling of refreshment somehow. The second reward seems to do nothing. The third reward, however, refuses to appear.
/!\ Warning /!\ No matter condenser detected, please acquire one before trying to claim any solid rewards.
Mewtwo blinks at the warning. Where would he even acquire such a strange device? What would it even look like?
I look in surprise as Mewtwo''s screens become visible. They are just like mine. I watch him as he explores the submenues. Did he not have them before? There seems to have been quite a lag before the "Invitation accepted" notification returned. However, when he accesses the quest submenue and looks through a quest tree I had not seen before, I become curious. I look at it on my own quest screen and my eyes bulge. He has his own quest line. We both have a quest line! I look at the first quest and a little warning sign pop next to the candy reward. I touch it and am presented by a simple question
User Mewtwo is unable to receive solid rewards. You can acquire them. Please be responsible.
I look at Mewtwo. He looks back at me. "I can get the ''solid rewards'' for you if you want." He nods in response. I claim the reward and it goes straight into my inventory, just like the others. I suddenly realize something: I never looked at these candies. I take one out. It is a transparent blue square-based pyramid. ''A candy that will grant a pokemon a very small amount of experience. Unusable by humans.'' The description says it all. I offer the candy to Mewtwo. Oh I can see his level? He has levels? Also, level 3? My unlocking memories tell me that this is low, my broken memories tells me it is surprising. He looks at the candy dubiously, but put it in his mouth after some time. He chews on it for a few seconds before his eyes open wide in surprise. His level go from 3 to 5. "I have a couple more if you want." I take out the four other XS candies and the S one. The Candy S looks just like the XS, only bigger. This one should give a small amount of experience compared to the very small on the XS. He takes all five and gobble them. His level is now 10. I thank you. The voice is crisp, clear and more importantly, closer to a voice than a though, yet I know I did not hear that. "Wow! That was much better than before!" I exclaim. He nods, clearly proud of his prowess. I look at the quest again and see the xp reward is still unclaimed. Can he not use it? Wait! What if that IS the case! This would explain the candies! We work together! Each quest we complete makes the other stronger! "Mewtwo! I-" What am I about to say. I need you to complete your quests so we can grow stronger? Yeah... But that feels a bit... One sided. I need to complete mines too, but... "Do you know why you are here?" The Marble quest. Same as me then. "And... You want to complete it?" You not? Oh not so perfect communication uh? "I... I do not know. I don''t know!" To be perfectly honest, I feel stuck. This world seems surprisingly more dangerous than I expected. Until the night had fallen, I had expected the world to be one of pokemons only, but now there are reanimated corpses and skeletons roaming the night. Strange monsters that can explode and who knows what else? Having a legendary pokemon at my side might help, but do I want to just rely on him for everything? How long before I am just a candy machine for him? I confused too. I hoped you had answers. Guessed wrong. Right, mind reader. Fuck. I Sorry. Your mind, fully open. Yup, mind reader. What now? I cannot lie to him. "Okay, actual question: Why are we here beyond the quest?" I not know. "Yeah same with me. The quests clearly make us stronger. We both gain experience for completing them, you in the form of candies, me in the form of points. Also we both gain experience by defeating monsters." Pokemons. "And pokemons?" Yes. "I have not tried that yet, so I do not know if that applies to me. But you also get experience from battling pokemons." Just like the games, a part of my broken memory whispers. What game? I huff in annoyance, I will try to unravel that mystery when I get in a more stable situation than right now. "Okay, so do we follow the quests to get stronger and be able to live without too much inconveniences here?" Sound plan. "It''s not like we have a choice here." I sigh. "Alright. My next quest is to craft both a pickaxe and a sword out of stone. Oh right! I can build a lot of tools and material from what I forage around." That why you move? "Why I moved?" The lack of context that had accompanied the first psychic messages makes it harder to decipher the full meaning now. During day? "Ah, not really? I kind of distrusted the system at first, still don''t trust it right now. I wanted to see what I could do with that body." Mewtwo looks at me in confusion. You body? "Hum... Okay, this is going to sound weird, but my current body? Part of me is convinced this is not my body. Hell I can barely remember anything from before I awoke today, or yesterday, depending on the time." Understand. I not sure what am too. "Well you are a pokemon, that is for sure. Your entry should be in the pokedex section. Look yourself up." And I realize my mistake the moment I finish my offer.
Mewtwo had been right! His moves are only guidelines! And with the seven new levels, he had a new path to explore, but he could feel the branches of the other paths much easier now. This new level of awareness had allowed him to refine his communication. He now only sent the illusion of sound to Astra. He did not understand his spoken language but he could put meaning on the words the more he heard Astra talk. And now Astra had even given him a way to learn more about himself. Mewtwo giddily opens the pokedex screen and scrolls through the mostly empty list. He sees pokemon he has seen today, other he has not, and after a bit of back and forth, finds himself. He starts to read and almost balks at the description. I am a weapon? A heartless killing machine? This has to be wrong! Had he not felt slight remorse at the geodude''s fate after their battle? Had he not felt pity for the hurt fearow? This entry is a lie! He angrily sends to Astra. "Hey, hum... I do not write anything on this. That''s what the system is saying. There is no reasons to for it to be fully accurate!" Astra answers with slight panic. But his thoughs betrays him. He had realized the risk the moment he had offered Mewtwo the mean to learn more about himself. He is now afraid of him. Ready to try anything to placate what he sees as a possible monster ready to tear him limbs from limbs. I am not a heartless machine. My actions today should prove it! Why would I come to your aid if I was? Why would I help you when monsters do not see me? Astra''s mouth falls open and stays that way for a few seconds. He then collects himself and apologetically bow his head. "I am sorry, you are right. I did make some bad assumptions just now. Maybe that is why the system made me unable to recognize you at first. You are nothing like your entry says you should be." He chuckles then freezes. "Hold on did you just say monsters can''t see you?" Chapter 8: The second day. The monsters we faced ignores Mewtwo? The pokemon nods to me. Always focus you, never me. Hordes seem to go straight to you, but pokemon not cared. That is... something. That would mean I am the only one at risk here. But why? Why would the monsters hunt me and not Mewtwo? Are pokemons considered part of the ecosystem here and therefore ignored? I am most definitely not from here, my broken and unlocking memories seem to agree on that. Then are the monsters some sort of defense mechanism? To remove entities that it considers invades the world? But Mewtwo... "How did you arrive in this world?" Awoke in strange capsule, broke out, capsule disappears, alone in cave. Uh. So it could be a pokemon thing then. Monsters ignore pokemons, but go for humans? Or only me? Some broke away. Some went over ways. "Uh? Where did the others go?" That could help me narrow it down. No cared, too scared you danger or gone. Cool, that does not help. "What do we do now? Are you feeling better?" Headache lessened, can speak easier. Quest helped? How you know I hurt? "I saw you wince and how strained you were while helping with the tree." I chuckle, "You mean the quest reward? The lessened stamina consumption? How does that even work?" Not real numbers. He shake his hand Same as numbers for stats. Not real, approximations of real. "Oh that makes sense. So it''s more a boost to your stamina in some ways then?" Unsure. I nod. A lot of what we have is still unknown. I don''t want to risk looking at the tutorials in case the screens also require my own power to function and Mewtwo is still too tired to concentrate on reading right now. "Okay, I''ll be frank with you, I am almost out of power. I do not know how long fifteen percent would hold me active, And I cannot replenish it. I need food to function, and I have eaten all I had just to return to that bare percentage and the berries you had do not seem to give me power. I can upgrade myself to require less, but not by much right now. I would need more experience points." I sigh as I try to contain my mounting panic. Knowing one''s situation is one thing, acknowledging and sharing it is entirely another. "I do not know what you want to do, now that we have met, but I... I..." You want me help you. You gave better system, you took possessions even if risk. "I kind of did that on reflex there." No matter, you did. You shared quest reward. You keep like that, I help you. I weak. I scared. I know not why I here. You know not why you here. We find together. We find who gave system. And we get answers! As he talks, Mewtwo''s eyes gain a glow of determination. And I realize I too share these very same sentiments. I am weak, scared and do not know why I am here. There is the Quest and the quests, the system, but why me? Why him? Why us? I too gain a determined air. "Let''s find out together!" I answer with newfound conviction. We both clasp our hand with a smile.
Mewtwo had expected doubt and suspicion, but a kindred being, he had not. After their promise of cooperation and help, he settles on the floor as Astra watches over him. He hears the user shuffle. What is he? Astra knows what Mewtwo is, but what is Astra? As he lay down once more, Mewtwo debates if he should ask or not. Sleep claims him once more before he can resolve the question. His last sight are Astra''s two eyes gently shining with inner blue light. He awakes in a strange land of fog. Astra? he calls out, to no answers, his call returns to him with an echo. The fog rolls and turns around him, a soft silence permeates the air. He cannot even see the ground he is standing on. He looks around, trying to find any clue to his location. The more he turns, the less he sees. Fog, he is lost in an endless fog. Nervous, he chose a direction at random and starts to walk. Steps after steps reveals only more fog. Until a sound breaks the silence. The sound of a large animal running passes by Mewtwo. He instantly stops and look around. Nothing has changes. The fog has not even been disturbed. He looks around for a few more minutes, before resuming his walk. His face now creased with caution and worry, he continues to a destination unknown. After some times, he notices a golden glow in the distance. It feels both familiar and alien to him. He starts to accelerate, and the unseen animal passes him again. This time, it passes in front of the light. it appears as a large lean beast by the shadow it casts. Mewtwo goes faster, trying to reach the golden light. He suddenly escapes the fog and beholds the source of the golden light. An egg-shaped construct containing a quadrupedal long necked and seemingly asleep creature. It is the source of the light, its body made of a golden shining liquid that waves and undulates under it own volition. Enthralled, Mewtwo takes a few steps toward the egg. A horns sounds off, rattling Mewtwo to the bones and chains of barbed crimson shoot out and ensnare the egg. A large diamond shaped eye open above the egg. The eye is black as depths the sea, with a burning red round iris containing a second crimson diamond shaped iris, with lighting coursing through it. The pupil is like a black hole absorbing all the light. The eye concentrates on the golden being and shapes escapes from it, coalescing into hundreds of different forms which then disappear. Mewtwo is about to take a step forward when the diamond eye focuses on him. He fall on his knees, a pressure beyond anything he could ever feel crushing him instantly. His own eyes dilates as the eye seems to grow closer, ready to engulf him. He is suddenly pushed down by something massive. A paw as large as he is lands upon his back. With the trance broken, he look behind him, into a large teeth filled maw, smiling at him. White fur with hints of purple at the edge surrounds it, growing all over the creature''s head. He can only see one side of the creature''s head and its single visible eye, cat-like like in shape, glows with a soft orange inner light. the horn sounds once more, and the creature answers with the roar of all the creature to ever exists. It is both challenge and defiance. Two more beings appear before Mewtwo. One is nothing but written pages of many materials, and letters and numbers made of cold blue light swirling around each other, the other is loosely shaped like Astra, but wrapped in ribbons of ever flowing flesh, a malevolent blood colored light oozing between each cracks and gaps. -o0o-NOT YET-o0o- Mewtwo awakes to the sight of the cave ceiling. A dream...
I was right, I think I was right. The night has passed with absurd slowness. I am somehow unable to sleep and thanks to my power issues, I could only stay put and count the rocks on the cave floor. There are 627 pebbles, 201 stones and 64 rocks. HOWEVER! my power consumption was almost minimal. I still lost around one or two percent of my reserves, but not too much. And I even tried to limit WAYLA use. If I could identify objects without it, it might be useful. For the rest of the night, I passed it at first looking over Mewtwo. Which might sound weird because it was. I stopped after maybe ten minutes? Then I looked at the entrance, at the dance of the rays of light It was enthralling, but still time passed so slowly. But finally, FINALLY, the light is turning brighter outside. I am hoping there will be no more monsters and that our only worry will be disturbing pokemons. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Mewtwo''s eyes shoot open and he blinks a couple of time. "Slept well?" I ask. Strange vision. He proceed to share broken images of insane creations to me. "Wow, trippy. You would qualify that as a dream or a nightmare? There is a lot of fear and tension with every images." Dream. Or vision. Unsure. "Well whichever it is, it must have been quite the trip." True. He chuckles as he right himself up. Ready? "Yeah, let us see what the second day has in store for us." Mewtwo, having clearly fully recovered from yesterday, pushes the tree out of the entrance and we exit our little shelter. Too bad I do not know how to make the system markers, I would have liked to have this place marked for the next night. The forest greets us. The trees are as thick and numerous as yesterday, their branches growing high above our head. A leaf falls from time to time, forming a bed of rotting plant matter on the ground. I look around for maybe an early accessible food source, but see nothing. "All right! We are looking for food. Look out for any bushes that have berries, fruits or vegetables." I exclaim with anticipation. I will. We go forward, going in as much of a straight line from the cave as possible. I would really like to be able to find it back. I manage to leave marking on the bark thanks to my left hand, and I hope they will be enough. As we walk, we see no signs of monsters, but more than once, pokemons makes themselves known. A column of five wurmples ascends a tree, the red caterpillars looking for fresh leaves to munch on. A zigzagoon zips away at our approach, the frightened brown and white raccoon-like pokemon clearly wishing to have nothing to do with us. I even spot a couple of pidgeys lazing above us. After maybe thirty minutes of walking, we stumble upon something. A berry tree. FUCK! I mean, it''s cool because it can help Mewtwo, but berries are useless for me. A few of the blue strawberry-shaped berries get taken over by a blue aura and float back behind Mewtwo in a similar fashion to yesterday. He even consumes one to taste. Bitter, but agreeable. Eh. We keep going for a couple more minutes until we finally find something. A pond. One of the lilypads on it looks up, revealing itself as a lotad. It looks at us wit beady eyes, but quickly lowers itself back into the water, appearing once more as a simple lilypad. This is not what I was looking for, but it could help verify something. I lower myself on the edges and take a handful of water. And drink it. And regain a fourth of a coolant square. Coolant is water. My eyes grow wide at the confirmation. Mewtwo collects a hand sized sphere of water with his telekinesis and also drinks it. Of course! I should have though of that earlier. He is a living being after all, he will need water. No harm done. "Yeah but I should have though of that." Many things to think of, little time and experience. "True," I agree. We have barely started to know each other after all. A group of plants gets my attention quickly afterward. On one side of the pond, a patch of bulrushes identifies itself as a soggy garden. "Yes!" I exclaim. As I approach, I realize it is not just one garden but three close to each other! This is perfect!! I start foraging, and quickly tally my finds. more spice leaves, a couple cotton flowers, five cranberries, half a dozen asparagus and two Brussel sprouts. I devour everything but the cotton, it clearly is not comestible and I would rather avoid a repeat of yesterday grass attempt. This small haul netted me almost three full squares of power. I am back to almost half power reserves. Now that I have enough power I decide now is as good of a time to check what I have unlocked in terms of tutorial. The pond being a rather calm location I decide to do it right there. I open the screen and share it with Mewtwo. Tutorial about tutorials, check. Nothing new here. Tutorial about crafting, I would have loved it before I had to look for how it worked. Tutorial about monsters, now that could be interesting... ''... will target user... react to attacks and will target greatest source... not all monsters remain during the day... Incapable of advanced cognitive functions...''. That was... interesting actually. And very informative, more than I expected. Tutorial about inventory. Nothing new. Tutorial about the auto-gather system, self-explanatory. Party tutorial, a small interesting tidbit about the sharing of rewards. Each quest lines have rewards tailored for us, but also a reward for the other user. Every quests will have a reward in the form of xp points and candy, but his quests will reward him with unshackling boons, and I will get system upgrades. Uh. The WAYLA tutorial reveals the signification of the acronym: What Are You Looking At. Nothing new aside from that. The last tutorial I open gives me something and the fact it is the achievement tutorial makes it quite the comedic timing: the moment I open it, I get an achievement.
Achievement got: Well read. (Read at least 10 entries from any of the exploration and survival subsections or the tutorial subsection) Reward: 10xp, 1 Exp. candy XS
I give the candy to Mewtwo and collect my experience points. And quickly assign them. I should have done that before eating! FUCK! I''m so dumb! Well, too late. I groan in frustration and assign most points into both power efficiency and generator efficiency, and a bit into repair efficiency. I now have 3% more power and generator efficiency and 1% repair efficiency. It feels like so little, but a percent is a percent! I then open the monstropedia section and we both look at what we have encountered so far. Zombies, check. Remnants of those that died one too many time. Uh? Skeletons: constructs from a now gone necromancer, good archers. Creeper: explosive experiment by a chimera lord. Giant spider: giant spider. "I did not meet the spiders." I did. "And were they as big as the title claims?" As long as you lay down. Tall to above knees. "Wow that is big." I am not looking forward to meet these things. Not bigger than ariados. "Did you meet one? I don''t see them on the pokedex." No meet, just know. "Oh, just like me!" Like... you? "Yeah I keep getting knowledge about things I should not know." I point at the lonely lotad in the middle of the pond. "Like the fact that lotads only inhabits clear water lakes or ponds." True. I know too. "So we both have absurd encyclopedic knowledge on some subjects then. Wait! You said you never met an ariados, how would you know how big it is?" Just know. You not know? "Before you said its name I had no idea that pokemon even existed." I think for a minute. "You might have more knowledge on pokemons than me. However," I take out one of Mewtwo''s crystals. "What is this?" I ask him. Strange crystal, emits strange aura, similar to one energy paths to me. "Hum... This is an aspect crystal, also called Vis. This one is an Aqua Vis. It radiates the aspect of water mostly." I simply report what both WAYLA and my unlocking memories provide about the crystals. I then take the others crystals out. "The dark one is a Perditio Vis, aspect of entropy and destruction, the white one is Ordo, mostly order and purity, the last three are Aer for the yellow one, air, Ignis for the red one, fire and Terra for the green one, earth. They seem to indeed radiate some sort of aura." Terra also resonates now. New path revealed with levels. "Really? Cool! We need to get you more candies. Or you could fight monsters and pokemons... Would you attack an innocent pokemon for levels?" I ask with a cautious edge to my voice. Only defend, pokemons no threat unless disturbed. If attacked, I defend, if not I do nothing. His answer reassures me. I also feel reluctant to attack creatures indiscriminately. You are safe little lotad of the pond. I chuckle and Mewtwo also laugh at my though. Now it is time to get to work. We need to better prepare for the next night. I open yet another menue: the recipe menue. I never had the occasion to check what the recipe hint system did when I unlocked it yesterday. But the moment the menu opens, I immediately see what it changed. I now have dozens of recipes unlocked. No, partially unlocked. Those I have done are indeed unlocked with their little inventory symbol next to them, but the partially unlocked one only have a shape of the inventory symbol. However, when I click on one, I get which material I need to complete the recipe. Those I have already found are visible, those I have not are also black shapes. I also have no names for the partially unlocked recipes. I look through the recipes and find a couple things that could be what I need. A crescent shaped object asks a strange crafting grid. The grid only has two slots. One with a simple black unknown square, and another with a stack of three stones. I am almost certain that this could be the first part of the pickaxe. It would have been too easy for it to simply be crafted in one step. Mewtwo looks over my shoulder and then points at another recipe. This one needs two wooden sticks and two wooden planks, giving four unknown squares. I nod, and summon my inventory. I quickly arrange the components in the crafting grid and obtain the new item: blank wooden patterns. The moment it is crafted, almost two dozen new recipes unlock. They require the blank patterns to be arranged in different patterns in the crafting grid. Each would only give me a single pattern once it is done. I still have enough wood and sticks to make about sixty patterns, but I would prefer to be economic. I look through the patterns and select one that should give a crescent. Two blank patterns next to each other and one under the rightmost one. I obtain an axe head pattern. Cool... Not what I wanted. I make another batch of patterns and try another one, the mirror of the first one, and obtain a sicle head. Goddamnit! I try again with a triangular positioning and obtain an excavator head. FUCK! Mewtwo grumbles his own annoyance. then he opens the recipe menu and tries something. Something I should have tried. He touch the dark icon. The recipe page opens. I facepalm. With my left hand. I cry in pain and almost facepalm again. Goddamnit. The recipe was actually absurdly easy: a straight line of three patterns. And I get the pickaxe head pattern. Cool, now how do I use this pattern to make a pickaxe head, and how do I make that head into an actual pickaxe? I am about to return to the recipe menu when Mewtwo sharply turn around. Something has startled him. "Why hello there," A cheery voice exclaims. Chapter 9: A glimpse of the world Mewtwo had been experimenting a bit during their walk through the forest. He had started to expend his psychic senses, trying to see his new limits. He had been monitoring what had approached and what they had approached. The few pokemons present in the trees had been harmless, and the lotad in the pond was simply happy to have peaceful visitors. Peaceful, that very distinction had put him on edge, until Astra had found food he could consume and had then started to experiment with his side of the system. The crafting system had been the most incredible thing Mewtwo had seen to this point in his short existence. How easily Astra could weave objects together to create new ones. He realizes he had gotten a small glimpse during their run, but he had been too tired to truly understand it at the time. And thanks to that, to all these untapped possibilities of seemingly unlimited combinations, he had sensed the newcomers far too late. He still had felt them before they had made themselves known, but they were too close, and their thoughs screamed with fear, malice and doubt. There were four of them approaching, but only three come forward. The leading one opens with a fake smile. "Why hello there." It exclaims with false mirth. Three being resembling Astra step from the shade surrounding the small pond. They are all wearing cloth or leather garments and many of their features differ from one another: their heights, their build and many cosmetic features on their faces and bodies. All sport scars, some old, some clearly fresh. One has a strange pair of round glass pieces on his face, making his eyes appear bigger. This one is looking at Mewtwo with envy, awe and terror. The leading one is muscular, more than Astra, with a darker tone of skin. It tries to smile with fake kindness, but it appears mostly predatory to Mewtwo. The last of the three is keeping itself behind the first two, it has long fiery hair obscuring part of its face. The fourth one, Mewtwo can only feel its presence move to their right. It seems to be circling. He keeps an inner eye on it as the contraption wearing one starts muttering to its leader. "Shit dude, that''s really a Mewtwo. We''ve got to-" It yelps as fiery hair jabs it from behind, silencing it. A glare from the leader silence any further comments. "I''m Rick, crazy finding someone else here, ''specially after last night." Mewtwo realize the implication the same moment Astra does. They were the secondary target of yesterday horde. "There were even those explosive assholes" "creepers" Contraption interjects, "Creeper assholes." "You- you''re humans!" Astra exclaims. Mewtwo realize Astra is radiating joy and hope, as well as a bit of apprehension. "I''m Astra. Pleasure to meet you. Last night was kind of rough yeah." Wait, are we the first he meet? The unsaid question ring in all three of the humans'' minds. Mewtwo remains alert, but mentally blinks. Why is that surprising? That fact seems to rattle them more than it should. "Hold on. Since when are you on the Ezian plane?" Contraption asks. Mewtwo feels the data unload within Astra''s mind and sees him stagger for a moment. "Oof. That''s a bombshell." He cannot help but exclaim, scratching his head to lessen the pain. "I arrived yesterday. why?" Fuck! again, a similar though echoes simultaneously in all three of the humans minds. Fiery head looks up and nods to the leader, Rick. "Oh, we-ell. Welcome hell, hand over you soul coins, you won''t need them soon anyway." Rick tones turns from jovial to threatening in a heartbeat. He unsheathes a short metal blade, as do Contraption. Fiery hair unsheathe two shorter metal blades. "My what now?" Astra is utterly confused, which is quite surprising. If one of those humans saying the name of the world they are upon was enough to unlock full knowledge and understanding, why did ''soul coin'' unlock nothing? "Grey coins you arrived with! Don''t play dumb, we all start with a hundred! Quickly now!" Contraption and Fiery hair start to circle them both. Fiery hair holds her weapon with certainty, but Contraption is more hesitant. Mewtwo can feel the fourth unseen human also preparing something. What exactly, he cannot say. "Okay seriously, I have no idea what you are talking about." Astra barely finishes his sentence. Rick Materializes close to him with a crack and a gust of wind. Its blade immediately goes against Astra''s throat. Mewtwo, do you think we have any chances to either take them on or flee? Astra''s thoughs become focused in a single question. He was fast, I barely saw him move. Mewtwo answers. It is difficult to say. Mewtwo try to touch them softly, and feel his powers wash off the humans. He will need to fully commit himself to affect them. I will need to truly go all out. Please let me be able to defuse this situation. Astra pleads to no one in his mind. Be mindful that there is a fourth one hiding behind us. From bad to worse.
This situation is bad. So bad. I had been happy at first to meet humans, even if my broken memories had cautioned me against trusting them outright. And now I can see why. They are not friends, they are thieves looking for money. Well jokes on them, I have none. Or maybe I do? "Okay if I had any how would I summon them?" "How do you not know that? Everyone know that!" Rick explodes, pushing his sword harder against my throat. It surprisingly does not break my skin, but I can feel the pressure. I lean further back, trying to lessen the pressure. If I could, I think I would sweat. I''m actually quite surprised at how calm I feel. And it''s good because I have maybe a plan. I should have quite the angle to do a devastating attack against that man. I have legs of steel. "Just think about your upgrade coins and they''ll get summoned." The feeble glass wearing one answers. Uh? Are coins xp points? I do just that, even closing my eyes to try and make a show of it. Nothing happens at first, then a single screen appears. displaying my current number of experience point, which is zero. I almost sniker a that. Okay it must be their sort of experience point. Is it used as money too? "I don''t have any." I plead. I only need to half-fake my desperation. Can Mewtwo reattach my head on my body if it gets cut off? I mean he could but would it work? I stop that line of thoughs. Rick is almost ready to blow. He removes his sword from my neck and instead grabs me, hauling me up. DO NOTHING!!! I mentally scream for Mewtwo. "You will get your fucking coins out NOW" He roars in clear anger. I am actually speechless. My mouth hangs half-opened at the fact my legs no longer touch the ground. Do I weight nothing? How much stronger are they? I can feel him slowly crushing my throat. I try to claw at his arm. My right hand does nothing, my left leave slight red lines, but only superficial. It does make Rick hiss and he punches me in retaliation. I wince as the metal plates covering my belly actually bend inward slightly. There is only one way out. Question is, can we actually get out? You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Mewtwo, get ready to push me into either of the other two. I have a plan. What about fourth one? You push me, you move up, then you harass. You mentioned a new path similar to the Terra Vis? See if you can make walls. Lots of walls. And with that though, I strike. My legs flail around a bit for show, until my left goes sharply back, before going sharply forward. Right between Rick''s legs. His eyes bulge and he immediately release me. He crumbles on the ground. I feel an invisible force grab me and I go sideways left, straight into glasses guy. Left arm first. The moment I impact him, I feel something crunch and he screams in pain. Turns out I am heavy. And Glasses guy is clearly weaker than Rick. Rocks rise from the ground all around us and quickly create a small maze of stone pillars.. Damn Mewtwo learns fast. An arrow not too dissimilar to the ones from yesterday impact one of the pillars. It would have hit Mewtwo if he had not gone up. I quickly scramble to my feet and spare a quick glance and glasses guy. Yup, broken nose and glasses. And bonus broken arm. I almost pity him, but they wanted this fight, not me. The girl gets flung into a pillar while surrounded by a blue aura, but quickly bounces back up. She then start to jump from pillars to pillars at insane speed. "Incoming" I scream to Mewtwo. On right! He sends back. I jump toward the closest pillar and another arrow barely misses me. This is going to be a problem. "FUUUUUUUCK!!" Rick roars as he finally shakes off his manly pain. And barrels through the pillars straight for me. And his speed is beyond even the redhead. I jump to the side and he misses impaling me, but only barely. And now I am on the ground. Rick turns around and jumps on me, pinning me down. He glares at me with a wicked smile. "That hurt you bastard." And he raises his sword above my head. "Hope you''ll grow some when you return, so I can return the favor." I see the aura of Mewtwo encase Rick, but the man does not budge. And then the sword fall. And a dark grey blur slams into Rick side. The man goes flying and a small grey furred dog lands deftly before me. Its red on yellow eyes dart toward me, making sure I am fine, but quickly return on the man they just rammed into. Which seems transfixed by the apparition. Another arrow flies through the air, but the little poochyena does a somersault and catches it in their teeth. They break it and fire a blast of black and purple energy toward its origins. There is a cry of pain. "Mo'', stop! It''s one of Stradivii''s bastard''s runt!" Rick exclaims. And a pang of recollection strikes me. The name is familiar, nostalgic "Shit!" the word echoes from the bushes, cutting my thoughs. A lanky man exits from the bushes and slowly moves toward Rick. He has one hand up and the other limp to his side. Traces of burns on it makes me realize that was the result of the poochyena attack. Strong. Rick is holding his side and is wincing with every breaths. The poochyena''s attack seems to have been surprisingly effective on him too. "Zoey! We''re moving out!" Rick exclaims. The redhair, Zoey leaps down from one of the pillars and quickly get to the side of her team. Rick nods at her and wince at two new injuries marring her body. Mewtwo managed to do some damage too. It is somewhat reassuring. "Don''t think this is over metal boy. The runt won''t always protect you." Rick snarls. He then turns to the last member of the team. "Get up Jack, we''re moving out." Jack, glasses boy, is still clutching his arm. With difficulties, and whimpering all the way, he rise up. With a final fierce glare, Rick turns around and marches off. The rest of his group follows, but a small snippet still reaches us before they move out of view. "Rick, we need to tell the league about the Mewtwo." Zoey states. "The league can suck a fucking dick. They''ll know soon enough anyway." Rick snarls back. And they are gone. And I flop down on the ground. I... We... Fuck. My breath starts to speed up. Fuck. I''m panicking. Now? Why now? Wait, aftermath! FUCK! I try to get it under control, I only inhale and exhale faster. I start to shiver, then my entire body starts to shake. They were about to kill me. There had been no hesitation on Rick''s eyes. He had been about to kill me. They had not even been afraid of Mewtwo! I slowly hug myself. I feel cold. I- A three-fingered hand fall on my right shoulder. I try to jump back at the touch, but the hand holds me down. I look to my right and come eyes to eyes with Mewtwo. Mewtwo, the pokemon without a heart according to the pokedex, is looking at me with a pained expression. Part of it is his own pain, but also there is also worry for me. You have water streaming from eyes. I blink. You alright? They gone, they beyond my senses. Far. We safe. His broken mental speech alleviates my worries somewhat. "Thanks." I answer, and I wipe my tears. "I''m... alright. A bit shocked to be frank with you." I sigh. "I though I had finally found others, but... Well you saw what happened." Mewtwo nods. I look him up and down and wince when I notice a few shallow cuts along his legs and tail. "You also got hurt." I wince in worry. Not too bad, not bleed or hurt anymore. I chuckle at his headstrong statement. "Are they really gone?" Yes. They beyond my senses, I can sense far now. And I no sense them, I no see them either. "Good." I answer and take out a couple of oran berries. I had collected them before going, we still have about seven in reserve. Mewtwo nods and eat one, offering the other to our little third companion. They nod in thanks and accept the offering. We spend a few more minutes in silence. I glance at the pond, miraculously untouched, and can see the little lotad is still there, but he is trying to be a lilypad really hard. It is Mewtwo that breaks the silence. You like them? "The lotad?" I question, confused. Lotad? The answer is also one of confusion. No. This one is accompanied by laughter from Mewtwo. Rick-being and others. You are like them? "Ooh!" I laugh too. "In a way. They are what humans are supposed to look like. We had the muscular dude, Rick. The one you threw me into must have been more focused on knowledge because he was really weak, but he seemed to know more than the others. The woman, Zoey was clearly athletic, beyond her actual performance. And the last man, Mo''? Was it Mo''?" That is what it was called? There were three males and one female in group correct? "Yup, three guys and one girl. Well, Mo'' was also more on the athletic side of humans. They were quite the selection of humans." I chuckle. "And then you have me. I... appear human. But I do not think I am. I have a human mind, I think, I can''t even be sure." What do you mean? Hey, you''re getting better at communication Mewtwo. I learn fast. He answers my though with pride. "Heh, Well you remember when I introduced myself? I called myself Astra, because that is what the system called me. But when Rick described that poochyena as Stradivii''s bastard''s runt, The name stirred something within me." I sigh and look straight into Mewtwo''s eyes. "I believe I am a machine loaded with three sets of memories. My current self, Astra." I tick one finger up. "The encyclopedic knowledge of everything in this world, but only when I am confronted by something that unlocks it." I tick another finger. "And the remnant of my past, broken for some reason." I tick a third finger. "Part of my body appears as flesh, but I do not know how much of it actually is. So to summarize, I look like a human, but might not be one." We return to resting. The fight cost me less than I though. I only went from below 50% to about 40%. Not too bad. If the rest of the day is calmer, I should be able to manage and keep looking for food. Especially if our small savior stays with us. Speaking of. "Hum... Thank you for saving us. I would have dies without your intervention." The little poochyena look at me and nods. They then bark and growl in an attempt at communication. I try. I really try, but most of what must have been said goes straight over my head. They clearly made the dog equivalent of a shoulder shrug, but then explained something that I did not understand. At all. She says it was task to guard abductees that appear where you did. But to also let them experience world much as possible. Then if signs that quarry is pack leader Hound''s master, then guide to pack leader. Thank you for the translation Mewtwo. I had almost forgotten you are a pokemon for a second here. I listen to Mewtwo and when the name Hound is mentioned, my broken memories send a wave of relief and happiness. Tears start to stream from my eyes once more and I simply let it happen. My reaction makes the poochyena nod in approval. She, I caught that Mewtwo, then growls some more and the transcript arrives soon after. You recognize pack leader name, you come. We go to pack leader. Should we? Mewtwo adds, he is slightly suspicious of the turn of events, and without my broken memories, I would have been too. "Yes, I think we might be able to find more answers to our questions if we follow her. Maybe they can help us gather more supplies on the way too. Food is still a problem." But let''s remain cautious. There are other humans here, and whether that Stradivii is my past or not, they still trained this one''s leader. We do not know what their intentions were. Nor what they are now. I add mentally. Though communication had been a shot in the dark at first, but I am certain it will come as quite the useful trick later on. "All right, little one. Lead the way." I say to the poochyena. She huffs at the ''little'' mention, but beckons us toward the south-east. I nod to Mewtwo and we follow her. Chapter 10: The crimson praetor Our walk through the forest is quite uneventful. We keep ourselves ready for another attack, but none come. We meet more pokemons on the way. Some are repeats of previous encounters, but other are new. We are treated to the sight of sewaddles preparing a nest under a leavanny direction. The tiny leaves covered yellow caterpillars slowly converts a large hollow below a tree into a hidden hideout. The leavanny, A yellow bipedal insectoid covered in green leaves and the tallest pokemon I have seen to this point discounting Mewtwo, keep producing silk and making correction to the ongoing construction. As they see us pass, the leavanny eyes narrow and her stance become slightly aggressive, but a growl from our guide get her relaxed quickly. She then proceed to ignore us until we leave. A couple of pidgeys watch us pass with curiosity and a pikachu scurries under bushes at our approach. The walk however is not spent just sightseeing. Mewtwo and I are hard at work with the system. We may have been interrupted, but I still have to advance the quests, as well as Mewtwo. His next quest is similar to my own second quest, although more... vague?
Tool making Using your powers for more than fighting is a good start, but let us see how far you can stretch that mind. Create a ''hatchet'': 0/1 Rewards: 10xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS
Mewtwo has been scratching his head on it for a few moments already, but has yet to crack what the system wants. I have given him some rocks and sticks, but just like I had no idea how to assemble two sticks and a rock into an hatchet, he too is struggling. On my part, I have made some progress toward the sword and pickaxe. I have both of their templates figures out. At least their heads. I now need two more parts and at least two new crafting systems. One to use the templates to create the parts and another to assemble said parts. I think I know what I need to make both, but I could only make one at the moment. The other seems to require a crafting table and I do not have enought material left to make a new one. It may or may not be from the fact I made a few too many patterns. But on the bright side, I can now make a lot of different tools once I have the materials, and all the parts. OH! That! Okay, I have just found one of the missing pieces: the bindings. A simple x shape arrangement of patterns in the crafting table and there is the binding part patterns. Now I am missing the rod? Three patterns? No that''s a large tool rod... One? Nope. Two? Yep, one on top of the other and here is the tool rod pattern. Now I just need to make the crafting systems. I am almost certain they will have their own wooden chips versions, but right now I cannot even craft the tables themselves. A sudden change in scenery breaks me out of my search. We have exited the forest. And we now stand before the plain I started from. We exited a bit further down from where I first entered I think. I try to see if I can find the place where I cut down those few trees yesterday, but cannot. The poochyena starts walking in a diagonal path from the forest. "Wait," I stop her. "Can you let me gather some supplies? It won''t take long." She growls in annoyance but let me. I quickly cut down a couple of trees, and Mewtwo tries to help, but whatever he does, the system does not consider it as having created a hatchet. I quickly gather the logs and branches and then gives a thumb up to our guide. She huffs and resume her walk toward our destination. I resume my experimentation as does Mewtwo. I finally made one of the station: the tool station. With it I can finally assemble parts into a usable tool. Too bad I still do not have the part station. I am not sure if that will be the name but I feel like it could easily be. Now I just need to figure out how to make said station. While I wrack my head and try dumber and dumber combinations, Mewtwo is playing with a log, trying to figure out how to use his powers as a hatchet. So far he has given me quite a lot of bark pieces, but nothing he does validates the quest. He tries multiple times to shape his powers into sharp psychic blades, but he cannot keep them solid enough. They keep breaking down the moment he tries to use them. I feel so close to be able to use those blades, but it taxes my mind too much to even just hold them together! He tells me at some point, frustration bleeding from his every words. Words he has gotten really good at now. Too bad psychic communication is not a quest. He would have validated it hands down at this point. And that impresses me. Yesterday, he was barely able to send words that would not carry his very will to me, but now it is like I hear him talk directly into my mind. It is still unsettling, but the speed of his growth astonish me. You are also growing quickly, you are getting more and more familiar with your system. You quickly seem to grasp what you need to achieve your goals. "Eh, thanks, I still have a lot to learn." I reply with embarrassment. I still have a hard time reconciling the fact he can read my mind at all time. So do I. This entire world is nothing but a mystery to us. Yup, we have so much to learn still. May it be about this world or its inhabitants. A distant bell echoes in the distance and I stop. Something the matter? Mewtwo''s question stuns me. "Did you not hear it?" The bell chimes again, and a choir of voices start to whisper a chant. "Do you not hear that?" Hear what? Uh? What is this? The bell chimes again, the choir grows louder. You are the only one hearing this. How is this possible? You hear it so loudly! "What?" I blink in confusion as the bell chimes once more and the choir grows louder still. Something shift in the air. I turn around and see it. Mewtwo also sees it as does our guide. The little poochyena places herself in front of us and start to growl. A few meters away from us. A small spark is dancing in the air. Little lightning bolts are escaping from it. The bell chimes, and the spark flares. More bolts escapes, and the chanting continues to swell. What the choir is singing is incomprehensible. The words almost seem to twist on themselves as they are said. The bell chimes again, and again, and again. And the spark suddenly expands. It forms a flaming circle. What appears within the circle is quite different from the plain surrounding it. The circle of flames open onto the interior of a building. Dark stone pavements, pillars and high stained-glass windows are visible. The entire interior is bathed in a sickly purple-red light. One of the stained glass has a strange symbol visible on it: a black diamond shaped eye, with a red round iris containing another diamond shaped iris this one a dark red in color, with a vertical black pupil at the center. However our attention is quickly diverted from the symbol. A massive figure steps out of the portal. A knight, dressed in dark grey medieval armor with golden trim. A long crimson cape flows from behind him and a crimson skirt hides most of the armored legs. He is easily taller than Mewtwo. He steps out of the portal and the portal quickly collapses. He unsheathes a long sword with a crimson blade. He looks at me, ignoring the poochyena and even Mewtwo, and declares... something? If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. His words are similar to those of the choir, it sounds as if he has just said three sentences at once each in their own foreign language, none of which I understand. Is this thing even human? The title given by the WAYLA system is ''Crimson Praetor''- "We run." I could not stop myself. We cannot win. That man is literally a killing machine. An ascended knight from the Crimson order, the cult worshiping Eziakophael, lord of the Ezian plane. The praetor is a highly trained warrior able to wield powerful magic and wards. We are doomed. So doomed that my broken memories have just resigned themselves. My unlocking memories just continue to give me fact about the Praetor. If we fight that man, we will die. A glance at the poochyena confirms it. She had seemed ready to take on whatever would come out of the portal, but now her ears are down against her head and her tail is tucked between her legs. I can see her entire body is shaking and it is not anticipation. Our reaction is clearly not lost on the praetor as he starts to laugh. Nope! We are out. I jump on the poochyena and start running. I do not care that she barks at me and try to make me let go, we need distance and we need it NOW! An unseen force trips me down and a torrent of lightning passes over me. I''ll try to delay it! Go! "Don''t!" I shoot back, "Just run, we''ll have to find each over again later!" I scramble back to my feet and run without looking back. The poochyena struggles in my arms but I ignore it, holding her tighter. The thunderous laugh of the praetor echoes behind us and I go even faster. Power will be an issue soon, but power is an issue I can worry about once I am sure I will survive that encounter! The lightning barrage would have fried me without Mewtwo. After a few minutes of running, I look behind me. I can cover a lot of distance if I go as fast as I can, and thankfully, the praetor is no longer visible. I sigh in relief- The world spins, I feel my arms becoming boneless. The poochyena yaps in surprise. I touch the ground. Once, twice, then a third time where I just keep on rolling. Red screens full of warning clutter my sight and I am barely able to read any of them. Most are about shattered or twisted parts. My sense of direction seems fucked for some reason. I try to raise my left arm, but it only pushes against the floor. What? Why? I try again, looking left, and seeing my left arm made of flesh. What? No! OH FUCK! My head has gone backward. I look to the side and see the Praetor approaching. He... He just punched me so hard my head made a half turn. But I''m still alive? How much punishment can this body take? I quickly push myself upright, the inverted sensation making me slightly nauseous. I cannot run. That much I now know. I also can survive my vertebrae dislocating. Oh hey, I can see what my spine looks like. Not the time though. Once I am back up, I turn around, so my front faces him. I then take my head in my hand and twist. With a clack the sound of metal scratching against metal, I realign my head to face forward. Once I am done, I feel like part of my movement are now limited. I see some warning messages disappearing, but others replace them. I gulp. That just took almost two third of my remaining power. I can feel my body growing hot. The repair system is clearly hard at work. The praetor seems to have waited for me to get back up. And with speed almost as close to Rick, he closes the gap between us. I barely evade the second punch and earn a sound of amused surprise from the praetor. I also glimpse something. His sword is sheathed. He has determined that I would not be worthy of his blade. This gives me an idea. A third punch comes and I barely react in time.Both my hands close on the sword hilt just as the punch lands. I can hear something tear on my neck, and a new slew of windows appear. I ignore them. I sail through the air, my hands still clutching what I have just taken from the praetor. My fall this time is softer, not because I could land better, but because something cushions it. Mewtwo''s telekinetic powers slow me enough for me to land on my feet. I look around and can see Mewtwo floating above me. He sends me a thumbs up and I nod. We will have to defeat the praetor if we wish to continue our existence.
Mewtwo is ready to throw down. As much as the sight of the Praetor had rattled Astra, some sort of instinct tells Mewtwo they can take it down. He saw Astra fall off, he saw his head twisted backward, But he also saw that he survived the hit. There is a chance. And they will take it. The poochyena is gone, it seems to have run off the moment Astra let her go. He takes her out of his mind for now, and summon swift stars aimed directly to the praetor. Ten, twenty, thirty. At fifty, he launches them. The moment they are sent, he duck down, he is almost certain a counter attack will come. The small yellow stars all impact the praetor, most are stopped by hexagonal ethereal shields, but a few manage to pass and impact the Praetor. The Praetor goes to retaliate, but takes a slight second to find Mewtwo. Mewtwo takes advantage of that. As the lightnings coalesces in the Praetor hand, Mewtwo strikes. A glint passes through his eyes and the lightning dies, disabled. The Praetor reels back from some unseen backlash. Astra rushes forward, and slash. The hexagon shields come to life again, but clearly weakened. When Astra manages to strike a second time, some shatters. His third strike is interrupted by the Praetor armored arm. Mewtwo act swiftly. The Praetor is quick, but with a push of telekinesis, Mewtwo is able to push Astra out of the Praetor return punch. Mewtwo hears Astra grunt. He look toward him for a second and what he sees makes him freeze for a second. On his right arm, his tattoo is flaring, unseen energies fighting back against strange dark tendrils burrowing under his right hand skin. The sword he has taken is slowly hurting him. The timer they are under just became even shorter. Think, we need a way to stop that warrior. Changing the terrain will not work. I can only do harassement. And then an idea clicks. The new path he has unlocked with his recent level up has a lot of flexibility. A lot of flexibility he could use. He gathers his strength and pebbles surrounded by a blue aura slowly appears. The Praetor ignores Mewtwo''s preparations and focuses once more on Astra. As he is about to reach Astra, Mewtwo sends the first wave of pebbles. Which are no longer pebbles at this point. Arrows of hardened rock fly toward the Praetor. None penetrates its armor, but some impact with enough force to stagger the warrior. And that stagger is immediately taken advantage of by Astra. The remaining shields shatter and the sword continues. It bounces back against the Praetor armor, but this is the first direct hit Astra has done, and the reaction from the Praetor is telling. The strike leaves a mark on the armor, the Praetor looks down in shock and then act with clear haste. The punch is even sloppier than before, to the point Astra actually manages to avoid it by himself. He ducks beneath it and then comes right up, striking again, this time he goes for the leg joint in the armor. The hit fails to penetrate but tears down part of the crimson skirt, which seems to anger the Praetor even more. They start to speak in their incomprehensible tongue again and flames slowly gather in their hands. Mewtwo quickly moves at the sight. He put himself straight in the line of sight of the Praetor and once more disable their powers. The roar of anger and annoyance that follows tells Mewtwo enough. Their powers have backfired again. He is starting to really appreciate this little ability. Astra capitalizes on the Praetor annoyance and strikes once more.This time the sword bites into the Praetor leg, and he goes down on one knee. Astra dislodge the blade quickly. Go for the neck! I will help! Mewtwo sends as he rushes behind the Praetor. The Praetor head and neck is heavily defended, his helmet covers both completely. Having seen the damage the sword had done to the armor, Mewtwo can gather it will need to bypass the helmet to make a killing strike. And so, Mewtwo moves behind the Praetor. Physically, Mewtwo considers himself weaker than Astra, but he can still compensate with his powers. With a grunt of effort, Mewtwo pulls back the helmet. The Praetor tries to dislodge him, but their bulky armor prevents them from reaching him. GO! Mewtwo screams at Astra. And Astra goes. The helmet has sufficiently come up. The sword slashes and red blood splashes the both of them. The roars of anger from the Praetor turn into wet gurgles. Astra keeps forcing the sword until, finally it completely goes through. Mewtwo falls backward with the now separated head. He roars in victory, a primal urge to declare their win overcoming him.
Achievement got: Raid survivor. (Defeat a crimson raid. They will come next to you every week! Have fun with them) Reward: 100xp, 3 Exp. candy S
Achievement got: Commander killer. (Slay a Crimson Praetor. The bigger they are- EDIT: HOW THE FUCK DID YOU MANAGE THAT ON YOUR SECOND DAY????) Reward: 500xp, 2 Exp. candy M
Both screens pop up at the same time. Mewtwo simply look at them in confusion and worry. They will have to face such a threat every weeks? How? They barely survived that one? A thud makes him look away from his screens and toward Astra. The human has let go of the sword and is swaying on his legs. Astra? "No... Power... left... need... food..." And he then falls forward. Almost all of Mewtwo''s screens immediately wink out of existence. And in the distance, the howl of poochyenas and mightyenas become audible. Chapter 11: Late rescue Astra''s body falls down with a crunch. Mewtwo can only watch it happen in dismay. Gone is the celebratory mood. Gone is the joy of victory. Only dread remains as Astra''s body lays in the grass, motionless. Astra? Mewtwo sends. the though is almost sent with his own fear. Astra does not reacts. Mewtwo has no way of knowing if his though even reached him. Astra! Mewtwo sends more urgently, this time his feelings are attached to the message, but Astra does not even stir at the compacted ball of fear and apprehension Mewtwo just sent. Mewtwo rushes to Astra''s side not even caring to wipe the praetor''s blood covering him, now is not the time. He kneels next to the man''s laying body and shakes him. When nothing happens, he tries a stronger shake. Still nothing. Should I move him? What happened? The last thing he declared was in relation to power. Did the fight tire him to the point of exhaustion? He did mention something about needing human food to survive. Were the few they found by the pond not enough? What more does he need? Mewtwo realizes he does not know the answer. He realizes how little he knows about Astra. Astra. I will help you! Mewtwo declares, more to himself than anyone else. After a few minutes of debating, he decides to at least turn Astra around. being face down into the dirt, even unconscious, is in no ways a good thing Mewtwo reasons. He slowly pushes his fingers under Astra''s metallic arms and curses his rounded tips. They make the action far harder than it needs to be. After a few seconds, he realizes how foolish he is. I HAVE TELEKINETIC POWERS BY THE NAMELESS TRIO!! He does not know who the nameless trio is, nor does he care for the fact the swear came almost naturally to him. He only cares about helping Astra. After his mental outburst, he quickly gathers his mind and gently lifts Astra. He then slowly turns him around and lay him back down. And one of the reason for Astra''s sudden passing out reveals itself. Astra''s body is battered. His flesh parts have dark bruises all over and on multiple points, metallic parts pock from beneath. His right arm has scars running almost to its upper part, the remnants of the sword''s corruption. His face is a mess of dark liquid and shattered metallic bones. Finally, a couple of tubes poke from the left side of Astra''s neck. Mewtwo swallows at the gruesome sight. Are all humans like Astra? No, Astra himself said so. He is different, a machine made to look like a human. Am I the same? Not a pokemon but a mechanical doll made to look, act and think like one? Mewtwo swallows at the possible implications. Another question worms itself within his mind and puts his own existential crisis on hold. How can I help you? Mewtwo questions. Can I even help you? Can he? He knows nothing of Astra''s body. Nothing at all! Then he remembers one of the paths he possesses. One he had seen and only briefly tried. With intense concentration, he gathers his powers into his palm, focusing upon the barely explored path of water, life and healing. A drop slowly coalesces above his open hand, then expands into a large bead. The shimmering blue liquid moves within itself by its own volition. He then slowly lowers it upon Astra and let it go. The drop of water splashes upon Astra''s flesh. It slowly flows along his skin before being absorbed. After a few seconds, it almost looks like snakes start to move beneath Astra''s flesh. It starts in right where the drop fell and moves all over Astra''s fleshier parts. Slight vibrations on some mechanical parts clue Mewtwo to the fact that what he is seeing is happening all throughout Astra''s body. The poking tube from Astra''s neck is engulfed in a light blue aura and reenters the neck proper. The scars left by the sword rescind slightly, but not completely. And a sound Mewtwo had not even realized was missing is heard once more. Astra takes a wheezing, almost inaudible breath. And yet Astra does not wakes. And more worrisome, most of the light permeating his more mechanical parts remains off. Mewtwo''s Life Dew might have saved Astra''s body, but it did not fix Astra''s lack of energy. Mewtwo grinds his teeth in frustration. What else can he do? Look for food? That could be a good idea, but how to feed it to Astra? And can he leave Astra alone? The day seems only half gone to this point, but what about other humans? What if some pokemons decide to have a peck or a chomp at Astra''s unconscious body? A yap breaks Mewtwo trail of question. Right next to him is their poochyena guide. Indignation and anger runs hot within Mewtwo at the sight. And where did you run off to? He lashes out. His eyes flares bright with power. A louder and deeper growl makes him take stock of his surrounding. What must be an entire pack of mightyenas and poochyenas look back at him. He is surrounded by dozens of the black and grey dog-like pokemons. Pairs after pairs of red eyes look straight at him. And all exude the same feeling of strength as their little guide. If they had decided to attack, he would have been defeated almost instantly. Or killed, depending on their goals. A couple of poochyenas and a mightyena are sniffing at the cooling corpse of the Praetor. You''re late. Mewtwo growls. The mightyena looks up at him then turns away in shame. The more he looks around, the more he realize, they all know. They are all keenly aware that they have arrived after the battle. Another mightyena slowly approaches Mewtwo and Astra. Mewtwo looks at the approaching dog with a bit of contempt. Had they come earlier... But they could have come earlier. Had Astra not stalled for wood, had he not taken their guide with him when he tried to flee, maybe they could have gotten closer to the settlement their guide was guiding them to. Mewtwo sigh. The mightyena sniffs at the still unconscious Astra and give Mewtwo a questioning look. He''s alive... I think... He breathes at least. Mewtwo answers the unsaid question. The mightyena gives a mix of bark and growl back, asking if he can be transported. Maybe? But he weights a lot. The mightyena huffs at the declaration. I am serious. The mightyena huffs again and barks at another one. The second comes and places itself alongside the first. The first then motions to Mewtwo. Mewtwo looks at them. They look back, then motion to get on with it. Fine, but do not say I did not warn you. Mewtwo answers with nonplussed expression plastered on its face. Slowly and gently, he floats Astra''s body on top of the mightyenas. Then lowers it. Slowly. At first the couple of mightyenas look sure, but as Mewtwo releases more and more of the weight upon their back, their sure look start to waver. Mewtwo, for his part is impressed. Their legs only starts wavering after half of Astra''s weight. He had bet on a fourth. I told you. Mewtwo declares. The first mightyena sends him an annoyed glare and barks toward the pack. And another two mightyenas join. Mewtwo gently lifts Astra once more and then lower it on the line of four mightyenas. This time, they hold. But they are clearly straining to do so. Those in the middle seems to have the hardest time out of the four. The first mightyena, part of the middle, barks a command and as one, they take one step. Astra wobbles a bit on top of the line of fur, but seems stable enough. Each of the four mightyenas look and nod at each other. The first one then barks once more, then once more. Each bark is accompanied by a step forward. And so, slowly but surely, the pack starts to move. Mewtwo is amazed at the mightyenas cooperation. One paw after the other, they are making their way toward their destination. He looks down at the the little poochyena that had guided them before. That is impressive. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The little one preens upon the praise on her pack. However, she cast a worried glance at the transport line. Their legs are not wobbling, but she can see some strains in each steps. Is our destination far? The poochyena wiggles on herself at the question. Ah... We might have to change porters at some point then... The poochyena reluctantly agrees. And so they go. At a gentle pace pace, they traverse the plains. Mewtwo floats above the pack, trying to any sort of human food source. None seems to be visible, but he does not lose hope. At some point, some poochyenas approach and ask him what he is looking for. Mewtwo hesitates, but decide that their help could only hasten his search and so he tries to explain. Bushes... of a sort. They contain some sort food. Not berries, but human food. I do not have names for them, but Astra called them gardens. His listeners look confused at first then one perks up. It growls and barks at the others and they seem to come to an understanding. They all nod and scatter all around the pack. Mewtwo resumes his upper position and watch as the little dogs scurry and sniff around every bushes and and tall plants they find. They slowly circle further and further away. After some time, one barks, then another, then a third. They all seem to have found something at the exact same time. And all are in quite different directions. Mewtwo signals all three that he heard and goes to the first that signaled. He looks at the find. It is a bush. A bush with leaves and thorns. Nothing else. Mewtwo looks down at the proud poochyena, with a big toothy smile on their face. Where is the food? The poochyena barks in answer, still proud of its find. Ah... I should have been clearer. We need harvestable food, not food sources right now. The hyena''s smile falls and their ears droop down. But that might be useful to us in the future. Thank you. The poochyena''s ears perks right back up. Mewtwo moves on the second one and this one did find an actual garden. He rummages through it and find what he believes to be all there is. First is a couple of long and thick green vegetables, then yellowish seeds and finally, three pointy orange vegetables. He gather all of those and creates a new halo behind him. The third one also found a similar garden, this one having another green vegetable similar to the first garden, as well as twisted red ones. The roots also appear edible, resembling round white spheres. They join the halo quickly and he nods in thanks at his little helpers. They all bark happily and return to their search. The journey continues for a couple more hours. No more garden are found and the little seekers stop as they near their destination. It has finally appeared on the horizon. From up high, Mewtwo had noticed it for quite some time already, but seeing it closer, he is still surprised. What they are approaching is a town. From the distance, the stone building with wooden roofs look quaint and old. He can see movement in the streets and prepares himself. What if there are more humans there? What if they try to attack Astra like the four before? Still cautious, he follows as the group approaches the edge. Astra''s porters had to be changed three times and the moment they reach the town limit, the third quatuor of porters all but collapses under Astra''s weight. Mewtwo is ready and quickly make the human float, avoiding both more injuries to him and crushing the poor exhausted mightyenas. One of the porters look at Mewtwo with relief and barks a thanks. Mewtwo gently lowers Astra down and looks up just in time to see... something approach. Not for the first time since he arrived here, he feels like an outsider to this world, but for the first time, he feels something that actually belongs. Something that has its place here. And that something that looks like a human, and it is approaching the group with confident and hurried steps. As it nears, Mewtwo can confirm it: it is human shaped. Two arms on each side of a torso supported two legs and topped with a head with two forward facing eyes, a mouth... and a nose. A long nose covering part of the being mouth. The almost human wears a leather dress topped by a purple and gold apron like accessory, with a visible hood behind. They approach at speed toward the pack, but stop the moment they spot Mewtwo and Astra. "Which one?" The newcomer asks one of the mightyenas. The hyena points toward Astra. "Hum. The other?" The mightyena gives a dog-like shrug. "Then He will judge. Get the sleeping one to a bed. I prepare." With that he turns around and goes back toward the largest stone building in the village. Mewtwo looks around, trying to understand what just happened. A couple mightyenas whine as they turn toward him. They once more need him to help carry Astra. Mewtwo does so, still unsure. Once Astra is secured on the back of another double pair of fresh mightyenas, they enter the village proper. More of the almost humans look at the procession with either suspicion or curiosity. A couple of smaller versions of the beings come barreling from a side alley and start to pet and hug some of the poochyenas, squealing with childlike glee. No, just squealing with glee, they are children, Mewtwo realized. One tries to approach him, awe clear in his emerald green eyes. But before he can try to reach for him, a harsh voice calls him away. Their parent looking with distrust and fear at the strange newcomer in their midst. Then something new rounds another corner. Something massive, taller than Mewtwo himself. It towers over Mewtwo, making him feel small for the first time in his short life. It is a bulky metal construct, with a face similar to the villagers. Its arms are almost as long as its body is tall and it lurches forward on short legs. The eyes are empty black pits, with a single red ember burning in each of them. It stops as the procession makes a point of avoiding it. The construct''s gaze lingers for a second on Astra, then switches to Mewtwo. Mewtwo holds the soulless stare until the construct stops and moves on. Once it does, a weight seems to evaporate from the entire village. Children cheer and immediately rush Mewtwo. He recoils in surprise and floats away, to the awe-filled ''Ooooh'' and ''Aaaah'' of the little crowd. He looks desperately at the mightyenas and poochyenas for help, but most snickers or shrug with malicious smiles on their doggy faces. Some do offer pity. They know how overbearing these children can be as previous victims of their attention. Mewtwo sighs and keeps floating out of reach. The horde follows him, cheering all the way. Some parents are even smiling now, some laughing at their children antics. The mightyenas and poochyenas slowly scatter across the town, until only the last four mightyenas porters, the poochyena guide and Mewtwo remain. Then even the children stop following, chided once more by their parents. They do so once they get closer to a large building, clearly of different architecture from the rest. It looks like a long cabin made of logs. Some are cut to give air and light inside. Once they reach the door, the poochyena guide pushes it open and a gasp escapes from inside. The building reveals itself as a dormitory. Beds lines the wall left of the door as well as the opposing one. Some are occupied. Others were if the disturbed sheet are any indication. What is occupying some of the beds has Mewtwo immediately on edge. Humans. About seven of them. They are looking at him with awe and fear for the most, denial for one. "Is that?" One whispers. "No way!" "Who captured him?" "Did the league finally find one?" "Is he with the league?" "Wait is that blood??" A whine from the porter breaks Mewtwo stare. The mightyenas are starting to wobble in place. Apologies. Mewtwo gathers his halo into a neat little pile and put them beside the bed right next to the door. He then lifts Astra and slowly guides his body inside. The appearance of his friend launches another hushed discussion among the current occupants of the dormitory. "What the fuck??" "That''s the trainer?" "Wow he looks advanced!" "Why would he be here?" "Wait are those actual robot arms or is it just armor?" "Why is he unconscious?" Mewtwo half-listens, he go to but Astra on one of the beds but then stops. There is no way these wooden beds can hold his weight. He realizes. He then takes one of the unoccupied bed mattress and sheets and arrange them on the floor. He then gently lay Astra on top of it. "Wow look at that level of control!" "Wait look at the tattoos! they both have the same!" "Why does he have one?" "Is there a new kidnapper??" "Nooo! Please no." One starts to whine. Mewtwo takes a closer look at the humans and realize, compared to the previous four, the six ones gossiping look young. The seventh human looks old. He also still seems unable to accept Mewtwo''s existence. Mewtwo keep looking over Astra as the other humans still gossip away. Some of them have injuries, bandaged or scarring. The oldest has a strange gap under the sheet where one of his leg should be. "You''re not real are ya?" The old human finally speaks. Mewtwo looks at him in confusion. "Pfah, though so." "Hans! Don''t antagonise him! He could kill us all in seconds!" One of the younger one scold the elder. "He''s not real! He ain''t gonna do shit!" The elder, Hans spit back. Mewtwo becomes curious. But before he can confront Hans, the purple dressed villager arrives, followed by two others. One is has a white apron and the other wears a straw hat. "I have the healing, they are here for food need." The purple dressed villager declared. "The guardian cleared both, they''re safe." He says to the other occupants of the room. Some sigh in relief, others appear nervous and the elder scowl just get deeper. And the purple dressed villager turns back to Mewtwo. "Which first?" Chapter 12: Discussions with abductees "Which first?" Mewtwo blinks at the question. Then again food would be the right answer for Astra. He will need it to recharge itself. But would that work? I believe food should be provided first. He will need it. Mewtwo answers, making the purple villager shudder. The villager regains his composure quite fast and then looks confused. "Food was for you though. He needs healing first." The villager says as he look down to where Astra lays. He frowns at his position. "Why is he on the floor? Are the beds not good enough?" he asks in fake affront His weight would destroy the frames. I wished to avoid breaking your lodgings. Mewtwo defends himself. "Ah, just pulling your leg here. It just surprised us. Still, you prefer food before healing?" Food should lead to healing, so if possible yes. "If you say so. May I still look him over? I may have some onguents and potions that may help him." The villager asks. By all means do! I tried to help, but I know nothing of his how his body functions. He laments. "That I can, now for food, see with my colleagues here." "Aye, wha'' can we do for ya?"The villager with the straw hat asks. We collected these on the way. Mewtwo points at the pile of vegetables on the side. Could you maybe prepare something he could ingest? "Ah''''ll see what Ah can do." The straw hat villager shudders when Mewtwo''s words enters his mind, but quickly nods. "Do ya need somethin'' special?" Mewtwo considers the question. Get me the same thing as for him. I am curious. "Yer call." The apron villager answer with a chuckle. "We''ll git y''all some soup!" He and his colleague gather the vegetables with Mewtwo''s help and then they are gone. The purple villager kneel down next to Astra and start to inspect him. Mewtwo lets out an exhausted sigh and sits on the mattress-less bed. This day is barely half-way done and yet I feel like it has lasted twice longer than yesterday already. He stretches and then turn to the remaining occupants of the room. The elder and the six young look still have their eyes glued on him. They heard only a one sided conversation. Mewtwo realize. His thoughs have, to this point, always been targeted to a single mind. He had yet to have the opportunity to expand to multiple at once. Is it even possible? Could I do it? Only one way to find out. Mewtwo look at each of the humans, he slowly feel their minds and only the elder flinches when he brushes his. Hans''s eyes grow wide when he feels the ethereal mind probe from what he had considered to this point a hallucination. Before him stands a Mewtwo. A legend. And then the legend speaks. This is a test. The entire room, except for the healer, jumps at the words coming from within their very mind. Ah good, it works. Greeting, I am Mewtwo. "Ah shit you''re real." Hans reacts first, wincing. "Why only now? Where did he find ya?" "Holy shit you can speak!" One of the younger ones speaks above Hans angry questioning. "Are you here to help us?" "How much did you travel?" "How much tokens did your trainer need to be able to tame you?" A grunt from the villager healer breaks the flood of questions and Mewtwo holds his hands before him, an amused smile forming upon his face. Please, one at a time. I cannot answer everything all at once. "Me first then!" Hans bellow above the others, "Where did he find ya?" The healer grunts louder for calm but Hans ignores him. Mewtwo studies the old man. His short white hair is unkempt and greasy looking, his frame seems frail, but toned muscles can be seen on a closer look. Mewtwo can feel the horrors he has seen, but his mind is more guarded than his younger companions. We found each other in the forest from that direction. Mewtwo tries to point vaguely toward the way he came. "In the Woods of Beginning? Impossible! That place was swept so many times! Someone else would have found you!" "But he said they found each other Hans. Mewtwo must have come to the woods to find his trainer." One of the younger one tries to placate Hans. "I''m Emile by the way." "What? But that''s not what I- YOU!" I did answer your question, we found each other In what you call the ''woods of beginning''. Was that not what you wanted to know? Mewtwo asks innocently. Why is Hans so angry at his answer? "Then where were you before you found your trainer!" "Hey no fair! We want to ask questions too old fart!" Another one whines. Why not ask so then? I awoke within a cave beneath the plain. "You''re toying with us right? Ya want us to believe ya were sleeping beneath the fucking Arrival plain ALL THIS FUCKING TIME!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH YOU COULDA HELPED? OR SAVE? WHY AWAKE NOW? WHY CHOOSE HIM??" A coughing fit overwhelm the old man as tears start to stream from his eyes. "Why?" He wheeze once the fit passes. The anger and passion in the old man''s voice takes Mewtwo by surprise. His eyes grow wider with each accusations. What did Hans mean? Why would his presence be so important. Once the old man stops, Mewtwo slowly prepares his answer. I... I do not know why I awoke now. I did so alone, with only a message from a trio of beings urging me on a quest. They left me directives to grow stronger and join forces with another like me. They gave me some sort of direction and what seemed at the time, mostly useless information. I spent most of my first day here exploring and looking for Astra, and once I found him, we only had more questions than answers for each others. The occupants of room let Mewtwo explain himself, and then slowly let what he has just said sink in. One of the unnamed young is the first to break the silence. "Wait, a trio? What do you mean a trio? Are there more gods now?" they ask in worried tone. Gods? What are gods? "You know, the powerful being you just mentioned? Do they serve the evil one or...?" I would appreciate more context here. I am still quite new to this world. "Wait, wait wait. How new are we talking here?" I awoke yesterday, the same as him if that helps. Mewtwo answers while also pointing at Astra. Stunned silence fills the room at that declaration. Every human look at Mewtwo and now Astra almost as they did when they first came through the door. But this time it is not awe, fear or denial. It is pure and unfiltered disbelief. Emile is the first to talk again. "You mean to tell us... That this man laying here... arrived on the Ezian plane yesterday... the same as you... And looked like that?" That is correct. "Wait if it''s his second day he''s going to have a crimson trial soon! Why the fuck did they bring him here!! We need to get him away from the village! NOW!" Ah, that already happened. That is the reason for his current state. Stolen novel; please report. "What? Was he too weak to defeat a lesser disciple? Even if he is almost completely naked, he has you!" Lesser... Disciple? That was not what we had to fight against. "Oh, so a a disciple immediately? Still shouldn''t be too hard for the both of you." If the achievement we both received for our victory is to be believed, we defeated something called a Crimson Praetor. "Achievement?" One of the young looks dubious at Mewtwo "PREATOR??" Hans almost jumps out of his bed, revealing that one of his leg truly is missing. That is what the achievement called it. Although I can not show you, it seems Astra''s state limits my systems capabilities. "Okay what the fuck are you talking about here? Also the fuck''s a Praetor?" "Jocelyn, you are on you eleventh week correct?" Hans asks the girl that just spoke. "Yeah?" She answers with nonchalance "You had to deal with a Crimson leader then." "Yeah..." This time her voice is meeker and she shudders at the memories, unconsciously rubbing some of her bandages. "Imagine something far stronger, with an almost endless onslaught of high tier spells at its disposal and almost impervious armor beneath night unbreakable wards. That is a Praetor." The room descends into silence once more "They are always the bottleneck for the first year. Many successful abductees have been reset by them." Hans adds in a whisper. Then the reason this topic was brought up returns to the occupant and Hans turns his eyes sharply to Mewtwo. "Ya can''t have fought one. On his first week? Impossible, he should be dead, even with ya!" We almost did die. Astra tried to run at first was caught almost instantly. It seems the Praetor did not take us seriously, even at the end. We were lucky, at best. "Nah, luck does not explain how you slain a praetor! Those bastards can shrug almost any sort of punishment many can dish out or heal through almost any injuries." It seems decapitation was quite effective. "How?" His sword was sharp enough, although the side effects in Astra were clearly a harsh price to pay. The entire room blinks. "Ya... Ya stole a Praetor sword and decapitated them with it?" That is correct, it was quite clever on Astra''s part. Again, I believe we were lucky the Praetor decided his fists would be enough. The room blinks once more. And then Hans starts laughing. And all six of the young ones look at him with concern etched on their faces. Even the healer looks up before shaking his head and returning to his examination. Hans keeps laughing until another coughing fit stops him. "Ack, aight, fine. Eh... I will believe ya for now." I could maybe go and get a trinket from his corpse to prove it? Once Astra is awake once more he should be able to show you the achievement notification. Maybe there is an entry within the Monstropedia too... Mewtwo adds that last part to himself, but forgets he is still broadcasting his thoughs. "Okay! Stop! Full stop here. I don''t care about praetor and crimson whatnot, but what the FUCK are you talking about. Why do YOU, a pokemon, and from what I gathered, him receive notifications about achievements? Is it some sort of special magic? What about that system you referred to? What the fuck is it?" "Yeah Simon is right here. I''m curious too about that system you talked about." Emile adds. "How is that more important than information on the stronger members of the crimson cult!" Hans retort. "You got your answer old man, we want ours!" Simon counters. "Now spill. What is that ''system'' you talk about?" Do... Do you not have it? Again, Mewtwo is confused at what these humans are asking him. "Why do you think we ask?" Both Simon and Emile shout back in unison. Hum... I am... I am unsure to be honest. It arrived the moment I woke up. A little envelope of light exploded into screens filled with information. Then once I met Astra, it evolved into quests, guides and knowledge repository. Astra might have had his the moment he arrived I believe, but that is all I can tell you. I know not what the system is, only that I have it and it is helping us grow stronger. "Okay that''s bullshit." Simon deadpans "You don''t have soul tokens then?" Jocelyn asks. Mewtwo focuses on Jocelyn. Those words, again. We... Do not. But we have heard of those ''soul tokens''. What are they? They seemed valuable to our previous encounter... "The Praetor?" Hans asks, confused. Other humans. Mewtwo sends with an acidic tone. "Ah... ya met newbie hunters... How did ya survived dat one?" Our poochyena guide. Mewtwo simply sends. "Make sense. So... Soul tokens. Ya don''t have them but ya still grow stronger." Hans muses. "If I say Eziakophael, what do you say?" Mewtwo looks at the old man, the word he just pronounced bouncing in his head. The symbol of a singular diamond shaped eye seems to answer to that name, but he does not understand why. It seems... familiar yet alien, Hans. "Also make sense. This," Hans brings up his right sleeve up, revealing a scarred arm, but more importantly a diamond shaped mark that is starting to become too familiar to Mewtwo, "is the mark of our cursed kidnapper, Eziakophael, great creator and master of the Ezian plane." The symbol is the same he saw earlier in the background of the crimson church, the same he saw in his dream last night. A diamond shaped eye containing a circular iris which itself contains another diamond shaped iris with an oval pupil at the center. Hans continues. "We all have it when we arrive here. It is a brand to let all know we are his. And with it," He holds out his hand and a couple of large silvery tokens appears out of thin air, "come soul tokens. We all start with a hundred and can give them up to the mark to strengthen ourselves. These are our only way to grow stronger. And it only applies to us humans. There should be no reason for a pokemon to have any. Except if ya kill one." Except if you kill one... "Yeah ya can scavange a lot from mons''... corpses... hum..." Hans sputters out, realizing who he just told about pokemon murder. Mewtwo stays silent with a neutral expression on his face. "I... uh... Not all of us are able to be trainers!" Hans tries to justify himself. The other occupants are trying to distance themselves, even if they were already some beds away. I will keep this information in mind. Is it only food or... The thoughs are like ice in Hans''s mind He gulp at the mounting pressure emanating from the legend. "Erm... There is food yes... But also the tokens and... well... other materials..." He squeaks out. Good to know. Mewtwo nods, a cold smile painting his face. You wanted to know how we grew stronger right? The room slowly nods in apprehension. We get experience. From killing monster, defeating pokemons for me and completing quests. Astra is rewarded with points he can spend like your soul tokens and I am rewarded with levels, making me grow stronger. No idea if killing humans would grant me experience though, I have yet to try. The room remains silent for a couple of minutes, the sound of the village life streaming from outside and the shuffling from the healer the only things disturbing it. The implied threat has been felt by all in the room. Mewtwo takes this reprieve from the questioning to gather his thoughts on the informations he was just given. He and Astra are not here by the will of the same entity as most others. Their ways of operating is different from the others in this world and finally, they are tested in far harsher manners than those brought by the ruling entity, if what he just learned is to be trusted in any ways. And he might have met the ruling entity in his dream. But then what was the egg of light? Why did it feel so familiar, so warm? The sound of a throat clearing brings him out of his thoughts. The healer is looking at him expectantly. Mewtwo looks holds the healer gaze, curious. "I finished... inspecting him... He is not like any other abductees I have ever seen. There is no blood, no organs, nothing of flesh beneath the skin... None that I know anyway." He gives a summary of his short examination. "I am not sure anything I have will help..." I see... Mewtwo is only half disappointed. Astra had hinted at being different from normal humans. This is just one more confirmation. Give him what you have anyway. It could still help. "Best I can do is this." The healer answers, producing a glass flask filled with purple-pink liquid. "Regeneration potion." He says. He slowly lifts Astra''s head and pour the liquid in the unconscious man''s mouth. Strange wisps of purple-pink smoke start to emanate from Astra''s body but disappear less than a minute after. There is no change in Astra''s condition. The healer look around some more until he holds up Astra''s metallic arm. "Is that normal?" Mewtwo squints at what the healer is pointing at. At first he does not see it. Then something blinks. Mewtwo concentrates on the origin of the sudden light and sees it again. A red dot blinks. There, on Astra''s left forearm, where a glass oval takes most of the upper part of said forearm, a small red dot is blinking. I have no idea. Mewtwo finally answers the healer. He studies the dot. The blinking is regular. About a second on, then a second off, then repeat. What could it mean? Mewtwo asks himself. Has this always been here? He tries to remember if he saw such tiny light before. While he was laying Astra down? During Astra''s transport? While he tried to bring him back? Mewtwo cannot remember. He had not really cared for such tiny signs. And he almost feel ready to berate himself. Astra''s body is becoming more of an enigma by the second. What does the red dot means? That is the question right now. No a better question, Mewtwo realizes, is why here? Astra has many places where light could be displayed, so why on this part? What is special about this oval of glass. He had seen it pulse with light multiple times but the reasons fro why had never been too much of a concern for Mewtwo. It had only been one and a half day. Not enough to start questioning Astra about every kinks of his strange body. Out of curiosity, he pokes the blinking dot, and the reward is instantaneous.
???? /!\ Warning /!\ Power reserves critical. System now operating in Power-saving mode Full shutdown of Bio-reactor in : 2:35 minutes Acquire compatible organic compounds ASAP!!
The four dots at the top of the screen slowly deplete and the screen vanishes. Mewtwo looks at the healer. The healer looks at Mewtwo with at least a dozen questions at the tip of his tongue. We need the food. Right. Now. Mewtwo exclaims before the healer cans ask anything. The healer nods and runs out. "Fuck he''s got an honest to god Manhwa system." One of the humans, Simon, exclaims. The others looks at him expectantly and he reluctantly starts to explain. Chapter 13: Sponsor Meeting The space he stands within feels empty. There is no up, no down, or any sense of direction. It is almost like nothing exists around him. Yet it is not emptiness per say. The sensation feels somewhat familiar. Aster Stradivii has been here before. He has felt this sensation of standing and falling at the same time. Something akin to the sound of rushing air passes by him. He turns in its direction, or tries to, and is rewarded by a shooting star. The star quickly passes and falls away. Then another comes, then another. Dozens of them passes Aster. A halo slowly surrounds Aster and he slowly joins with the shooting stars. On his way he passes bodies floating in the unlit void. A shooting star flies close to him, matching his speed, then another and another. He joins them in a dance toward a destination unknown. No, not unknown. This is not the first time he experiences this is it? He died, again. Memories, or most exactly lack of memories he should have rushes back. This entire situation is more than familiar, it has happened before, he is certain. Another shooting star passes him and he sees, for the first time and once again, what is within. A human curled into a fetal position. Each of the shooting stars contain the same thing. Humans curled and rushing to a destination unknown. Just like he is. The journey goes on for what feels like hours but might only be mere instants. Then something changes in the emptiness. Something appears in the distance. A line of light. Each star passes above it and a strange mist is sucked from them before they are sent up. Not all of them though. Some are sucked until they wink out of existence. An ethereal scream of agony always accompany those. Aster shivers at every screams. When he finally get close enough to the line, it reveals itself to be the demarcation of a lake of black water. Its depth is unfathomable. And strange shapes can be seen moving beneath. Aster travels above the lake for eons or seconds, each passing moment feeling as if the dark waters are absorbing the sensation of heat. Then the scenery abruptly changes. Gone is the lake, he now flies above a land of fire and flames. The heat disperse the cold, but quickly becomes unbearable. The flames lick at Aster and he cries out pitifully every time they touch him. But the fire is only temporary and soon he approach a distant chasm surrounded by storm clouds. Lightning strike from the clouds as he passes above them. Some bolts still manage to reach him, shocking him to numbness. Finally, he flies above the chasm. He knows he should not. He knows he has tried every times. He must not look down. He knows, without remembering, what lies deep within the chasm. And yet he knows it is a losing battle. He looks down, into the abyss, and screams. He screams as part of himself, of who he was, who he is, is devoured. His memories, his soul, sucked into the relentless abyss. He screams and screams and screams. Until he falls down. Down into the abyss. He is one of the unlucky ones it seems. His course run. As he approach the level of the surrounding clouds, his memories start to miraculously return. His past, on Earth. the many deaths before he ever met his most loyal friend. The others he met along the way. The dozens, maybe hundreds he walked with, fought with or against. And then it all stops. The fall ends abruptly. The memories become nothing but a distant echo. An echo of something cherished and lost once more. He screams in frustration and anguish. And his scream is echoed by something. A scream of frustration and anger. A primal sound that echoes all around the space. Through seemingly time. A scream he had never heard, a scream he has always heard. Aster falls on his ass. He now has his body back. He stays, naked on the cold floor hidden beneath knee high mist. The room appears white, but it might only be that there is all colors at once. looks around and his mouth opens in mute terror. In front of him, Eziakophael''s eye looks balefully at him. The black watery part of the eye is wracked by waves, the fiery part burns with hatred and the stormy part surrounding the abyss is filled with angry lightning. Yet, the eye is not actually locked on him. No, the eye of Eziakophael looks down on three... creatures. He knows not how to qualify them. From his position, the left-most being ressembles a mix of a wolf, a fox and a tiger. Its coat mostly white, with a long purple mane running from its head to its purple tail. Purple vertical stripes adorns its legs. Its hairs are standing out, as if it is ready to prance at the eye of Eziakophael. The more he concentrate on them... Her, the more he can see details. Dozens of scars adorn her fur in many places. Her eyes are amber orbs slit by almond shaped black pupils. An aura of contained violence, patience and anticipation emanated from her. The right-most being looks as if one had decided to make a human out of symbols, letters, book, cables and light. The shape is here, but ever shifting. Looking too long makes Aster eyes water. The being stand straight, reminding him of a businessman or a politician standing before a competitor. A strange memory here. And that is the crux of this being. He, for that is how he sees himself, radiates knowledge, the first for new discovery, the curiosity to look for something new, but also the cold calculations that comes with the assembly of knowledge, the sensation of detachment from the actual situations and simply commiting the events to memory, simply to further one''s knowledge. The center being is... indescribable. Aster cannot make sense of what he is before he no longer is that. For a second it is a mass of flesh, eyes and mouths. Then a human covered in bandages, then a planet, then... more shapes than he can keep a count of flashes by. He tries to stop looking, his mind feeling as if on fire the more he tries to make sense of the creature, but a strange magnetism stops him from taking his eyes off him. The being stops changing. It turns back to a human shape, only for that shape to start to expand into a kaleidoscope of what a human is. Then the ever expanding and repeating shapes slowly changes to plants, to animals planets atoms. Energy and matter, matter is energy, any actions has consequences. Consequences form new actions and again and again and again until they all collapse and explode in chaotic conclusion. It is madness and chaos all wrapped in utter insanity. The repeat of the same action until something different actually happens. And then a voice Aster knows not and all too well at once talks, breaking the spell. And Aster cries in despair. "DO NOT DARE TO TRY AND STOP MY FEEDING! OUR BET IS OVER! IT IS YOUR LOSS!" The authoritative tone, the despair inducing booming. This is the voice of the god that ripped him from his home. The voice he could not remember, but always could recognize. The voice of Eziakophael. "I do not believe so. What says you, love?" A soft voice laced with violent anticipation soothes the atmosphere. "System critical. Emergency energy reserves depleting. Unit still online. Death is not confirmed. Soul containment compromised due to unexpected interaction. Soul construct has been dissembled for security. Reassembly ongoing. Again, Unit is still active. Recovery ongoing. Unit will recover in [ERROR] [TIME _UNIT]" The cold voice intones. Aster feels like this concerns him somehow. "It does." The cold voice answers his thoughs, However, the voice comes from closer than it should. He looks around and his eyes lands on a human, sitting in a chair, a mere couple of steps from him. The man has raven black hair, and is dressed in a blue-grey suit. He is reading a book with no title. And the moment their eyes meet, he knows who the being is. He looks at the assembled three, then back at him. He is still standing before Eziakophael, he is also standing right next to Aster, reading a book. Within the man''s eyes, eons of informations and books dance together. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. "Greeting Aster. I am Knowledge. Do not worry about the ongoing debate, it is a mere formality." The man says, the voice is identical to the right-most beings facing Eziakophael. A cold and calculating voice. A voice that only seems to take only numbers, information and results into accounts. "IF SO WHY IS ITS SOUL HERE? HIS PRESENCE MEANS HIS DEATH. AS SUCH I SHALL CONSUME IT AND BE DONE WITH YOU UPSTARTS!" Eziakophael voice booms once more above the tone promises death and pain and echoes with the laughter of an uncaring deity. o0o_And now for the fun part_o0o The voice echoes right next to Aster left ear. He jumps and turn to see another human. He is almost similar to the man seating, save for his outfit, and the third vertical eye upon his forehead. Aster quickly averts his eyes. Within this man''s three eyes he can see life and death, birth and destruction. The creation of infinity and the collapse of nothing. Chaos is standing to his left as he is standing center in the assembled Trio before Eziakophael. o0o_AHAHAHAHHh... Oh you little innocent fateless. Do you believe we agreed to your terms in fear? Do you think we are scared of you? Of your powers? We could destroy this entire little playground you made in instants and devour you before you could understand what has happened! We are only playing with you out of boredom. And you, dear little fateless, are not playing fair._o0o The voice echoes all around the room, mocking and with an edge of hunger to it. o0o_Now he is going to try and defend himself_o0o The same voice leaves the human next to Aster. "THAT IS NOT THE POINT. HE HAS ARRIVED INTO THE CYCLE OF REBIRTH, AS SUCH I CAN FEAST! AND IF MY FEAST MEANS HIS DEATH, THEN OUR BET IS OVER!" "Yet you are unable to. We are not actively blocking you. His presence here is a consequence of both our actions and yours, that much we may agree upon, however, your foul play in the Ezian plane has only given you a false positive. One you wish to be true. It is not. He is still alive, you merely triggered a security of the soul containment system. The soul protections are still active and will soon kick in, bringing him back to the Ezian plane." o0o_Moreover, YOU cheated more than us here. A one year raid on the second day. We expected a horde, true, but to send one of your supposed best from the get go? That was low play. Also, if you will play like this, I believe we can take a more active role here can we not?_o0o "YOUR INTERFERENCE IN MY PLANES ARE ALREADY ENOUGH. TRY TO DO SO AND I SHALL NO LONGER HOLD BACK! HE STILL WON DID HE NOT. THEREFORE THIS WAS NOT THAT MUCH OF A CHALLENGE." "Fine, then we shall still operate within the confines of the bet. And I believe his soul will soon return." At the last word, Aster feels the room he is in dissolve. "MAKE SURE HE DOES NOT REMEMBER ANY OF THIS. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AS WITH THE FLESH PUPPET." o0o_This is beyond the purview of the bet, as such, we shall do as we see fit._o0o With this last mocking jab, every beings dissolve away before Aster eyes. "Sorry for that young man, you will return to sleep soon enough." The first voice that had answered Eziakophael speaks to Aster, and the vision of an athletic woman fills his vision. She is scantily clad and smiles at Aster. A bright smile that spreads on her face, revealing rows after rows of sharp teeth. "Now go kick some ass for us yeah? We''ll take care of the issues here." And she joins the other two human, both quickly dissolving into nothingness. Aster cannot help but wonder why she had two cat-like tail on her lower back and fox like ears upon her head. And that question stays with him in the darkness. And for an unknown amount of time, Aster sits in silence. The more time passes, the more he becomes aware that his body now feels incomplete. He is missing parts of himself. This goes beyond memories here. As he looks at himself, he can see entire parts of himself visually missing, his body is like a shell of porcelain, with cracks all over and pieces missing. As he goes to try and look within himself, a soft blue light descends from above and slowly suffuses him. It fills the gaps with glass like blue material and he can feel an almost staggering amount of knowledge just on the tip of his mind, yet none come, only teasing Aster with its existence. Still it only feel like a replacement, It feels alien and so different from what he is. Before he can ponder too much on it though, a human shaped construct of light, similar to Aster in appearance slowly descend onto him. The moment it touches him, Aster feels his will slowly wilt. He feels his consciousness being pushed deep beneath himself. Yet he accepts it, for with the loss of control and dominance, comes peace. And as he falls asleep. I awake once more. My vision is only filled with darkness. I am floating in the middle of nowhere. Like, there is no light, at all. Nothing exists here beyond me. I try to summon a system screen, or something, but nothing happens. I am stuck in the middle of nowhere. Did I die? It does not feel like it. My broken memories tell me I am not dead yet. Simply waiting to return. It feels weird in some ways. Knowledge is flooding my mind the more I concentrate. Who I was... No who part of me was. I am not Aster. I never was. And I never will be him. He knows it himself. He is part of what I am, but I am the sum of the meddling of gods. Made for a trivial bet between divine entities. It... It hurts. I though I was a chosen man. But Aster and I now know. They just needed a base. A Template to make something that could slip back into the realm of the Tyrant of the Ezian plane. My entire purpose is to go to the end of the quests and prove that one could return to their home with the least of the Trio''s blessings. This is what the quest is. A bet. The Trio against Eziakophael. ... Should I continue? Even when I wake up? If I wake up. Should I continue, knowing it is all just a game for being beyond me? Beyond us all? Can the puppet rebel against its puppeteers? Is there even a point? I stay motionless in the darkness. Neither sitting or laying or floating or standing. And yet doing all four at once. The questions turns and turns in my mind. And in the darkness of this strange realm, answers come to me at some point. If I do not continue, the next time I die will be for real. It will mean the end of the Trio''s bet. Not a fluke like they seemed to argue today, I will not recover this time. They will be pissed, but why should I care? Would they even be angry? Now that is a good question. But then there is Mewtwo. His situation seems worse than me. They made him just for me. A companion. An equal. Someone to accompany me in my quest. They knew Eziakophael would try to rig the game in his favor, so they made preparations. Yet he went beyond what they expected. But what does that means for him? If I give up, does he die? Will he be stuck here? I... Can I accept my death with such consequences? Aster is also horrified at the implication here. Can we truly give up and leave him alone in this hostile world? For once Aster and I are in agreement. No! We both refuse to leave him. The Trio want to win their bet? Then we will win it for them. But only so we do not leave Mewtwo alone! With this my decision is made. I will tell Mewtwo the truth of course, but I will keep going. The Trio gave me a body beyond what the normal humans get when they arrive. And I will find ways to make full use of it. A package of blue light appears before me and I blink. I reach out and touch it, and am rewarded by the entire system booting back up. Dozens of screens appear at once then disappear. Lines after lines of shining code scroll before m eyes and suddenly there is a pull, and I gasp. And I cough as something thick is slowly running down my throat. I am awake, and someone is trying to drown me! I try to gasp and only inhale more of the strange liquidy paste. "He''s awake! He''s awake!" A hard surface is removed from my lips and I swallow most of the paste still in my mouth. And I realize it tastes of water, earth and vegetables. Were they... "Ack! Were you trying to drown me in soup??" They called it porridge. I turn sharply to Mewtwo. "Not the point!" I say harshly. But then I see, and my anger melt. His worried expression mixed with relief at my return make me almost tear up. We have only knows each other for less than a day, yet it feels we are connected much more than just the system. Before I can react, he jumps and hug me. Tiny tears fall from his eyes Welcome back. "Yeah... I am back." I answer as I hug him back. Chapter 14: What now? For three days, Mewtwo had helped with Astra''s recovery. The method had been far more straightforward than he and the villagers expected. It mostly consisted of pouring porridge, soup and other liquid foods down Astra''s throat. Mewtwo''s help consisted in psychically guiding the liquid down into his stomach, or more exactly, his bio-reactor. They had not cut him open to verify what was hidden beneath Astra''s flesh, but Mewtwo was rather certain that Astra was human only in appearances. The other humans mostly quieted down after a second round of questions that Mewtwo could only scarcely answer. He did acquire some interesting tidbits of knowledge during that second round. The most important was the existence of the two main groups of organized humans. One was focused solely on improving themselves through the massacring of pokemons or monsters. Their members called themselves hunters. The other group had been formed in opposition to the hunters and focused instead on raising pokemons to be as strong as possible and fighting teeth and claw to eradicate as many hunters as possible. This second group called themselves the league and had loose ties with a man called Aster Stradivii. Knowledge of this man was the second most important piece of information Mewtwo gathered. Aster Stradivii was rumored to have been one of the first to train pokemons and had actually succeeded in bringing all six of his closest ones to their final stages of evolution. He had been advocating strongly for humans to stop their infighting and work together in finding a way back to their home. He was rumored to have truly died. The approximate date of his death however was concerning to Mewtwo for some reason. He had been recorded as truly dead sixty years ago, and if the veteran Hans was correct, then this had to have been Aster''s last life. If not, he should have returned at most two months after his death. The village they were in was one of the many that surrounded the Arrival plain. And this particular village had a guardian pokemon. A pokemon that had once been Aster''s closest ally. His mightyena, Hound. He had been the one to constantly monitor Aster''s arrival point. For each humans always came to the same arrival point whenever they were reset. And for sixty years, the point had never seen a single new human. This singular fact had convinced Hound that Aster might still return, and so, for sixty years, he had sent his most promising descendants to monitor and keep watch over the point, in the vain hopes that Aster would one day return. And someone had appeared on that point. After sixty years, a human looking being had arrived, calling himself Astra. Hans had raised an eyebrow at the possible implications, and the six others had simply speculated. Mewtwo had focused on Hans when that point had been raised. The man looked clearly old enought to have lived during Aster''s time, and the way he had started to look at Astra after that revelation had made Mewtwo suspicious, but he had not pushed the issue. He lacked context and information. And speaking of Astra, for each of the three days, his body had been gently humming every time he was fed. The red blinking dot had turned orange on the second day and finally, blue on the third. Those rather minimal changes still had Mewtwo filled with relief. And the moment he felt that relief came an immediate question. Why was he feeling relief for a being he had barely known for less than a day and half at best? He had questioned himself on that point multiple times during his ceaseless watch over Astra. But no real answers came. The more Astra laid deep in his coma, the more his anxiety rose, even with the possible sign of recovery in the small blinking light. And so, in the middle of the third day, while they were feeding Astra, when he finally stirred once more, Mewtwo concentration broke. The porridge they had made for him that day immediately started filling Astra''s entire esophagus along with his trachea. Which resulted in his cough, and his subsequent struggle between throwing it all up or managing to swallow it all. "He''s awake, he''s awake!" Faraan, the farmer villager exclaims, quickly removing the bowl from Astra''s mouth. This gesture somehow allows Astra to swallow, and with a final cough he blinks. "Ack! Were you trying to drown me in soup??" He half-coughs. They called it porridge. Mewtwo answers automatically and barely manage to keep his relief from his answer. Astra turns toward Mewtwo, faux anger on his face. "Not the point" he snarls, but quickly mellows as he sees Mewtwo''s face. Mewtwo does not bother to hold himself back. He jumps and almost tackle Astra in a tight hug, small tears streaming down his face. He does not understand his reaction, he simply bask in the emotions coursing through him. Welcome back. "Yeah... I am back."
We stay like that, hugging each others for a good five minutes. After two, the stranger that was holding the porridge bowl excuses themselves and leaves the room. "Can''t have a second of peace in this god forsaken- OH WHAT THE FUCK NOW?" A gruff voice exclaims from the other side of the room we are in. Okay hold on, hug time is over right now, analysis time. I am... in a large room, with multiple beds, at least ten on each sides if I am seeing all of them. The walls are made of wood logs, with windows carved into them. the roof is made of planks with resin visible between each ones. Okay. And there are other occupants beyond us two. Mewtwo is still alive and look healthy. I am alive and actually fed. I am going to assume we are in a safe location. Is it a good bet? No idea, but I lack information to make any better judgement beyond a paranoia influenced one. "Ya a fuckin pokefucker? Do it somewhere private!" The gruff voice interrupts my thoughs. Can I not express my joy at having my friend back? Mewtwo retort with annoyance. Although I believe I see a bit of a blush on his cheeks. "Also I don''t think we have much for that down there." I add. "Also, hello? I am Astra." I continue as I get up from the hug and the mattress. Why is the mattress on the ground? Oh wait, weight. Makes sense. On the farthest bed in the room, slowly bringing himself up is an old man. A really old man. His white hair falls around his face in a fierce mane, his piercing eyes stare at me with humor and caution. He looks frail, but it seems to be only looks. The missing leg does contribute to the frail impression. Before I can even read the little WAYLA window that pops above his head, a single name escapes my lips, straight from my broken memories. "Senah?" The old man gapes at me. And I look at him in confusion. The name came so naturally. My broken memories, no, I now know what those memories are now don''t I? Aster''s memories. Aster''s memories had reacted on instinct the moment I saw the man. Hans Senah. Hans recovers quickly and humor leave his eyes. "How do ya know my name?" He snarl. "I... Aster Stradivii knew of you. You were... close?" He once more looks shocked at my declaration. Mewtwo, now upright and standing next to me looks at me with mix of curiosity and surprise. How do you know his name? He asks, echoing Hans repeat of his question. I... Do I reveal it? Mewtwo I know you can read my mind, I have seen something similar to your nightmare last night. Last night? Astra, you have been in a comatose state for three days. How are you even walking? The healer said it would be harder for you for each days that passed! Three days?? THREE DAYS????? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT TIME DILATATION?? No wait, it... it could have been three days. But it had felt so short... but also so long... Oh hello again headache. Why do I even have those? How does one makes a machine simulate a headache? Astra what are you thinking about? I look at Mewtwo and am surprised at how distressed he looks. "Are ya two having a little secret conversation? Quit with tha mind speak. Use yer mouth!" Hans growls at us. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Aster''s memories of Hans seems to indicate a positive disposition toward the man, however, the other six humans are completely unknown. All of them look like either teens or young adults. and they are intently listening and waiting for their time to send a barrage of question my way. I am unsure if they should hear what I might end up discussing with Hans. Wait... Hold on... did Mewtwo just speak to Hans while also letting me hear? Damn he did not loose time on that. Mewtwo, do you think you could make some sort of conference call with only me, you and Hans? I don''t trust the other ones here. That... I think I might be able to. Okay good. I sigh. "Sorry, I... need to sit back down." I half-fake dizziness and sit back on the mattress. I just woke up once more and again I can feel headaches growing by the second. Try speaking. I think I got it. "Mr. Senah?" "We''re doing this the weird way uh? I presume what you have to tell me is better out the ears of the kids?" "Something like that yes. Let''s get the obvious out of the way, I am and am not Aster Stradivii. He died and his remains were used to make me. Me and Mewtwo are pawns to a trio of gods? Yeah the title fit. We are both pawns for three gods. Our only goal is to prove them right." Mewtwo remains silent, as does Hans at my declaration. After a minute of nothing, I continue. "I have parts of Aster''s memories within me and they are the ones that allowed me to recognized you. This world feel alien and yet familiar at the same time. I did not get a good look at the one that was feeding me, but I know they were not humans like u- you. I am not human either. Just a construct of plastic and metal, barely able to survive." Again, they remain mostly silent. What else is there to say. The few tidbit of knowledge I have I would rather keep to myself. The rewards and the matter creator in my left arm I also wish to keep mostly hidden here. Hans is the first to answer. "So Stradivii truly passed sixty years ago uh? His little princess was right in the end. Sad for his closest." Hans audibly sigh, startling the six others. "So what are ya going to do now?" Mewtwo also looks at me. I can see his uncertainty plain as day, I can almost hear his thoughs. What if I give up? What if I do not want to remain here now? I smile at him. "I am not alone in this predicament. And I believe you feel conflicted too uh?" I gently bump Mewtwo''s arm. "I say we continue." I whisper. "We keep going until the end. And then we see what we can do about our strings." Mewtwo look at me with relief, and follows with a serious nod of his head. I get up once more and look around the room. "Hello everyone, I am Astra, you already met Mewtwo. We are here to be the first to escape the Ezian plane." I declare. Mewtwo manages to contain his surprise outwardly. WHAT? What sort of declaration is that? His thoughs scream in my head and I chuckle a bit at them. The sort that could make us friends fast or make other run. And even if it does not, we could still try to argue for a pass. Aster''s memories are pretty definite in this part. Everyone want to return home. And I believe the marble may be our gate out. But maybe we can make it this entire world gate out. Mewtwo looks at me with actual awe. Yep, we are going to get busy once we get out of here. "By the way where are we?" I mumble to no one in the room in particular. A booming laughter erupts from Hans, and Mewtwo start to wince in advance. "Bwahahahah. Ya''re Aster''s reborn alright. Damn kid, this right there were bold worlds to utter. They really took the best and worst parts of that annoying dumbass. Sixty years, and ya''re still tha same dreaming moron eh?" He guffaws. "Listen all of ya. If ya wish to make this yer goal, ya will need to know one thing: Eziakophael will hate yer guts. The one who got the closes were the geeks that made an entire fuckin city for it. They made it on an island and now it''s still a smokin wreck, sixty years later!" His tone turns darker with every words. "So get ready, cause ya''re goin to get mushed by the raids." "What, he has worse than a Praetor?" I smirk. I know the risk of the declaration, but the current ruler of this place knows my goal already. It can only get worse anyways. "Some says he does. It wasn''t the cult that destroyed Marble city some says. It was something big. Bigger than any other creatures many had ever seen." He then snickers, "Not that I would know, I was way too far to see it. I only heard the explosion and the rumors." That does hamper down my excitement. But then again, I managed to survive the first raid. A raid meant to kill me. And I now had a few ideas to as to what to do, beyond advancing the quest. However, before I could even start to formulate an explanation, the door opens and a mightyena followed by a familiar poochyena enters. The mightyena pushes the little one forward and she bow her head. She growls and yip and yaps for a second before looking up, directly at me. She... She just apologized for bailing on us right? Mostly, and for returning late. She tried to return as fast as she could, but they were still too late. "Don''t worry, it''s not like you could have predicted such a powerful opponent. We should also take part of the blame, we stalled too much. If we had just followed you from start to finish, we could have made it closer to the village. But it means little now in the end. Thank you for getting me here anyway. I do not think I would have survived otherwise." I can see my answer wounds her at first, but then she agrees, in the end she still managed to help me survive. She nods and then both her and the accompanying mightyena beckons to follow. I raise an eyebrow at that. And Hans, having eavesdropped on the little talk, seems to know what is up. "That will be some awkward reunion here. Too bad I can''t see it." He laughs weakly. I look back to the mightyena and poochyena pair, both are staring daggers at the old man. But it seems he is right. Wherever they want me to follow, it seems there will be others that will know me. They turn to exit and I follow them. Mewtwo also accompany me and for the first time I behold the village. It is a collection of stone houses with wooden roofs that greet me. As well as a small crowd of villagers. Most wear a sort of medieval leather tunic, with some having more garnements or accessories put on top. Those I know are the specialized ones. A small trinket at their belts denotes their level of expertise in their fields. I see a lot of iron and a couple of gold ones, most others are still novices. An iron golem is patrolling the streets in the distance, its reflective metallic body glinting above the villagers. The mightyena gets my attention back with a growl and then lead us toward the church in the middle of the village. The building is made purely of stone, with colored glass windows all around it. We reach it after a few minutes of walking. At the entrance, we meet with a pair of heavily scarred mightyenas. Their black and grey coats are criss-crossed with fleshy lines, one even has a blind eye. They both look at our approach with suspicion, even with our guides, but still let us pass. The inside of the church is quiet, and this surprises me as the floor is almost covered in fur. It is a sea of mightyena all around. Little poochyenas can sometime be seen looking out from between or beneath the bigger evolved dog-like pokemons. There is single person here, a cleric villager, with an emerald amulet on his belt, almost the highest level one may reach. And next to it, on the raised part at the back of the church is a single mightyena. He lays alone, with the others giving him quite the space. The mightyena at our side guides us toward him, and once we break out into the empty space before the lonely one, they signal for us to wait. The mightyena eyes the cleric and he shakes his head. The mightyena nods and gently nudges the laying one. Now that we are closer, I can see he is also covered in scars and old wounds. He whine gently at his fellow''s touch and opens milky white eyes. And with our guide so close to him, I realize how washed his entire fur is. It is not a shiny. It is old. The two lines of black fur that go from his head to his tail are barely dark grey at this point. His coat is almost white. This mightyena is old. And then something Hans said return to the front of my mind. ''So Stradivii truly passed sixty years ago uh''. This... This mightyena... I... Aster knew this mightyena. I can feel my eyes moisten a bit as the old mightyena slowly gets up, leaning heavily on our guide. With gentle and clearly strenuous steps, he approaches us. I slowly get myself down. The old hyena closes on us and I gently lifts my right arm. He sniffs it and some strength seems to return to him. He stops leaning and whine in joy, jumping against my chest. "Hey, Hound..." I whisper as tears gently roll downs my cheeks. "Sorry I took so long." I gently stroke his head. I can feel his heart beating against my chest. I gently trace some scars knowingly. I just let it happen. For a few minutes, I am no longer Astra. I let Aster''s memories take over. For a few minutes. I simply hold my first and oldest friend in this world. I hold him close as he too shed tears. He has waited for so long, so so long. After a few minutes, he calms down, and gently closes his eyes. I hold him a bit tighter, a part of me has waited for so long to see him again. Once his eyes are closed, his breathe slows as he falls asleep. I guess you''re too old to keep up anymore uh? His breath slows down a bit more, then more, and finally I realize what is happening. "No. No! No! No! Come on Hound! Don''t go!" I panic. But it is too late. For decades, Hound has been by the side of Aster Stradivii. And during his bestest friend last life together, he could already feel the weight of the age on his aching shoulder. And when he had passed once more, he had remained vigilant over the place he would one day return to. And he had waited. The first ten years by himself, the last fifty with his own family. When he had become too old to keep going, his children had, and finally, one had returned with Him, his bestest friend! Hound was happy. He had met him once more. He could finally rest. And I could only watch, unable to do anything, as the first friend Aster had ever made breath his final breath in my arms. I cried as he breathed out his final breath. I held him closer, and in his death, a smile nether left his now frozen lips. He had seen his master once more, he was happy. And the chorus of howls all around me echoed for long minutes. Chapter 15: The journal of Aster Stradivii I do not know how long I stay on the church floor, gently clutching the now lifeless body of Hound. A minute? Two? Ten? I do not care. Aster''s devastation is constantly washing over me, and even Mewtwo has joined me. His own tears fall freely to a pokemon he has never known. Or has he? What did the Trio use to make him? If they needed Aster to make me, what if they used dead people as well or even dead pokemons to make him? After some time, the spell is broken. It is the cleric villager that breaks it. I jump a little when his hand is softly put on my shoulder. I turn toward him and he shakes his head. "I am sorry my child." I nod as I look back at Hound. I am slowly starting to get over Aster''s grief. A part of me, the part that is myself, seems to find solace in this grief and has a hard time letting it go. But I can feel a small colder part of myself reminding me of my situation. And slowly, ever so slowly, the grief ebbs away. After maybe an hour, I finally let go of Hound. I gently lay the battered form of the once mighty Mightyena down on the stone floor. A couple of villagers come from behind me and collect him. "We shall hold a ceremony tonight. We knew how he wished to to honored." The cleric villager declares. He then reaches inside his robes. "He also entrusted us with this." An old book is given to me. The old leather cover is flaky and damaged. The pages are yellowed with age. "It is something that he wanted to pass to you. Welcome back Sir Aster. We... We will tell you when the ceremony is ready." I say nothing. I do not correct him. I accept the gift and slowly rise. I nod and mutter an almost inaudible thank you before turning around and exiting the church. The pack of mightyenas and poochyenas watch us go and soon we are out once more. the villagers that collected Hound are making their way through the villagers, many of which are crying and praying. Hound had been their guardian for so long after all. This was the village Aster had always returned to first after each of his deaths, and Hound would always return here to wait for him. But now, Hound would no longer be here to protect them. And yet, I know that is not the reason for their cries. I shake my head at my clinical way of thinking. They are crying for the loss of a well respected friend and someone that has been part of their lives for maybe generations, not because they lost his protection. Maybe some fears the consequences, but this is not the most prominent of emotions that course through the majority of the gathered. I sigh. Everything felt so much simpler yester- no four days ago when I first woke up... No... they were not I realize. They were already massively complicated. And now? It is just more added on top. I sigh again and slowly, Mewtwo and I make our way toward the dormitory I woke up in. the streets are almost all empty as we pass through them. Those we pass by are villagers hurrying toward the procession accompanying Hound. I... I need a moment alone, a moment to discuss things with Mewtwo. He knows it. We would both have liked to join the procession, but right now we need sadly have more pressing matters. We reach the building, its construction still at odd with the overall style of the village. "Is it empty?" No, all seven of them are still there. "Okay." I approach one of the wall and climb it. The metallic talons on my feet easily give me purchase and I quickly reach the flat roof of the dormitory. Once I am up, I look at the weathered book in my hand. My system is already telling me what it is. The Achievement completion notification had already told me what it is. Aster''s journal.
Achievement got: On the footsteps of your predecessor. You know you are different from the others you meet, but you also feel you were once part of them. Find your first clue to discover you origins. Reward: 20xp, 1 Exp. candy S
Achievement got: Old Soldier Find Hound, one of your predecessor most loyal friend. Reward: 20xp, 1 Exp. candy S
"You got both?" Indeed. He answers, and it reinforce my theory. Mewtwo is like me, an amalgam from those that passed away. But who? That is the biggest question. I leave the question for later, like so many others. We have more to do right now. I summon all the candies I have in my inventory and pass them to Mewtwo. He instantly gobble them and his eyes grow wild. He then chuckle a bit. Before leaning back, his expression returning to one between neutrality and sadness. "We know what we are. I know who I was and you have some doubts on who you were." Correct. "We have three days left to prepare for the next raid. But more importantly, what do you want to do now? I never asked you in the end." Mewtwo is silent. He looks up as the sun shines brightly upon us. The distant shadows of floating landscape sometimes eclipses it. Aster''s dream has value. We saw the side of the hunters, and what I heard about the league bodes badly. Neither groups wish for peace. They only want to overthrow the other and try to take over the world for fleeting moments. "Eziakophael will make sure they are fleeting moments if they ever come to pass." I saw the hunger of the dark god. I know he would immediately consume the victor and return the status quo. He might have already done so for all we know. If we stop, the league will hunt me as a weapon and that pokedex entry you shared might become a reality. The hunters will track me to make sure I am not a problem for them. In the end, I either become a slave or run for the rest of my existence, until I can no longer. You said you wish to try and continue, to be the first to run from this place. I believe we might as well try. I will follow you Astra. Then again, it should have been obvious right? I did nurse you and helped you survive already. He chuckles and I join him. Indeed, he has been taking care of me already. "Then we need to get stronger fast." Let us witness the ceremony for Hound and be on our way then. "Yes. Let us honor him one final time." Parts of Aster''s memories color my last declaration. With that we settle as comfortably as we can on the roof. It is about the middle of the day, we might as well do some reading. I go to open the book, but Mewtwo stops me. Do you want me to read it? "Wha? Why?" I ask confused by his question. I can ''read'' the words aloud and you may be able to continue working. As you said, we need to prepare fast. I had not though of that. That is genius. "That''s genius! Yes! Here!" I exclaim and pass him the book. He smirks at my enthusiasm and gently floats the book away from my hands. While I bring up my windows and start to retrace my steps and taking stock of my inventory, he start reading. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Together we discover Aster''s life. And by the first entry we already realize this will only be a part of his entire experience. ''First life? Day 15 It has been a more than couple of weeks since I awoke in this awful place. Yet the events that have taken place clearly disprove it being the first time. A creature I have named Hound was waiting for me. It guided me back to a village where some inhabitants knew of me. I have been staying there since, only leaving on some days by orders of the village chief. On those three days, what I can only describe as maddened fanatics have tried to eliminate me in the name of an unknown god. Hound fought for me the first time, and the second but I managed to get a sword and fight by his side on the third time. From what I can see, this pattern will continue. Each weeks, a new portal will open and fanatics will pour out and attack. The villagers are, for now, okay with me staying. There seem to be other humans that come and go, most do not pay me attention but a couple tried to coerce me into following them. Hound reaction shut them down real fast. First life Day 23 Second day since leaving the village. We have reached a forest that is filled with strange floating light and mushroom. Flowers bloom in every corners and strange plants grow along the trunks of tree... What am I a poet? The forest exude a welcoming and charming aura. Which has the inverse effect having both me and hound on edge. Strange creatures fly, rustle and move around. More of the strange and sometime cartoony creatures are around, but few of them are paying us any mind. The night is falling. I have decided to camp in a well opened clearing, hoping to be able to see those that lurk in the night fast enough to react. Hound, as always, has volunteered to take the first watch. And I agreed. I cannot go against his overly protective side.'' You know, the mention first life is a little strange. Mewtwo mentions after finishing the passage about the forest camping. "How so?" I ask while I am looking through my crafting menue, trying to find a possible recipe for the supposed part station. Well... he shows me the book. And I notice it too. There is... a slight difference. Not much, but the penmanship is different, more sure, less shaky than the rest of the entries. At least for the first pages. Then the heading starts to correspond with the penmanship on the rest of the entries. "Maybe he added the headers later? Did he miss some lives?" Let me check... Mewtwo quickly skims through the pages, still doing it gently to avoid tearing any of them. Hum... Ah there! We go from life 27 to life 31. hum... Mewtwo reads the first entry on this life. ''Life 31 Day 3 I have read through my past and feel sick. The four creatures that have greeted me when I have awakened have been protecting me from the moment they met me. I doubted them when they made me go outside of the village at some point, but now that I have read the reason why, I can only thank them. They have been my friends through more than thirty lives. Two of them saw me die at least twenty-seven times, if not more in the case of Hound. They still feel completely alien to me, but the reactions of some villagers and the irrefutable proof of my own journal are enough. I will just need to get myself in order. Hound and Princess seems to be mostly adapted to my recurrent demise, but I can see a dark light in our latest member, if my journal is correct. The small little flaming knight, that I have unimaginatively nicknamed Knight has not met my gaze since we have reunited. The dancer looking creature, with the twin ponytails and thin legs is looking quite determined though. He has no nicknames yet, he has refused all I have thrown his way. He said he is waiting for his final evolution. What he is talking about I do not know. But our merry band has a lot of work to do. The supposed last life we had together was spent going far. Farther than ever before. They say it is the reason I have to name that life number 31. According to them, the time it took for them to come back means that I must have dies at least 4 times, if not more depending on how fast I returned.'' "Wow..." Mewtwo nods at my comment. It''s... wow... I am starting to see context for the horrors that returned to Aster when he closed on Eziakophael. This is merely a fourth of the book and we are already more than thirty lives in. Mewtwo goes back a bit, looking for something. Ah... No... Aha! I was curious about the names. Here it is. ''First life Day 25 Today, during our foraging of the forest we found something. Or someone? I am unsure to be honest. It might be a little fairy? It looks like a weird white humanoid creature. It has a big white head with white ponytails on each side, a white body with a green mermaid like lower part. it was clutching at a crushed orange flower when we found it. Something has tried to kill it, but failed. Hound was a bit cautious at first, but he came around. He is sniffing at the resting little one. And little is quite the word, the poor creature fits in my hand. Our meal for tonight is ready, I will try to feed our new friend. First life Day 29 Another raid, another close call. Each raids are getting harder to defeat. Hound is hurt, and our new friend is still healing. She tried to do something, but she was too weak to do whatever it was. Her annoyed expression was fun to watch. Right now we are recovering. Our little friend is getting better. First life Day 32 Today is the day our little friend is back on her feet. Or foot. She only has the one after all. Which she does not use, she is floating. It is weird to watch her defy gravity with such ease. Her flower seems to have healed with her. The small poppy-like orange flower is back to full health as she is. Her attitude really makes me think of royalty sometimes. She huffs whenever we tried to help her and acted all dainty. I am thinking of She shall now by named her royal highness Princess. Hound is absolutely mocking her right now, and her reaction is only encouraging him. I asked what she wanted to do now and she seems to want to come with us. I do not mind, she saw what we have to deal with and still she says she want to. She s Well I''ll be. We have a healer now. Princess just summoned some sort of ball of pollen and forced me to eat it. It healed some of my lingering wounds. It even stopped Hound''s teasing. She also huffed and acted like this was nothing to her, but I can tell she is happy that we accept her with us. With that food is ready.'' "OH FOR FUCK SAKE!" I exclaim, startling Mewtwo. "Sorry, I just found out how to make a part station, more exactly a part builder." I show him, and he snickers. A log, and a pattern on top. And that''s it. I am, of course, out of logs. All have been converted in planks in my search for new combination and my need for patterns. "Sorry for the interruption." I say again. He nods and is about to resume his reading, but an approaching villager stops him. Ah... The sun has ran its course, evening has come and the I presume the ceremony is ready. I jump down from the roof, and Mewtwo floats down next to me. The occupants of the dormitory poke their heads out, wondering what is happening. "Sir Aster, it is time." The villager says. I nod. The time has come to say goodbye for the final time. Mewtwo passes me Aster''s journal and I store it, startling some of the audience. "Outta the way!" A gruff voice calls from inside and out comes Hans Senah, a crutch beneath his arm. He hobble for a moment. "Which way townsman?" The villager hesitates, looking at me. I shrug. He nods, annoyed. "This way please." We traverse the village streets, all of them now empty. After a few minutes of slow walking and the other six humans trying to understand what is happening- Wait I was okay with Hans because he had a connection with Aster but the other six? Not really. But then again, should I really care? I shake my head. They might as well see. So, after a few minutes of slow walking, we arrive at the edge of the village, where the entire population is gathered. they are all gathered at a respectful distance from a pile of wood, on top of it is Hound, laid down to look like he is asleep under a blue blanket. Some villagers are still crying, other have grim expressions on their faces. I notice a group of humans on the side. The ones following me, save for Hans go to join them. Hans remains at my side. "He was a good friend. Ah knew that much." He offers, his tone is surprisingly heavy. The group of humans notice me, or more exactly Mewtwo, and he guesses who they are. Representatives of the League. Or at least humans affiliated with them. They have few pokemons with them, mostly small ones. I look at them for a minute before returning my attention to the ceremony at hand. The cleric villager parts the crowd and Hound''s pack follows. The dozens of Mightyenas and Poochyenas gathers in a half circle around the unlit pyre and all sit, waiting. the cleric villager puts itself before us and starts his speech. "For two generations, our guardian has made sure we were safe. He has protected those that came in peace and chased those that sought strife. Today, after a impossibly long wait, he has met back with his master, and finally accepted his own age. Let us not be sad for his passing, let us honor his deeds and his actions. Let us honor his passion and his heart! Let us remember him as our friend and our guardian, ever present and ready to protect or play." On these last words, two of the mightyenas grab ropes of straw. Their maws suddenly fill with flames and the fire course along the fuses, jumping onto the pyre. "Goodbye oh guardian Hound, you will always be here with us." The cleric finishes. The pack starts to howl as he flames quickly swell and consume the entire pyre. Bright orange glow light the crowd. Many break, crying once more. Hugs are exchanged, consolation given. Neither Mewtwo nor I stop our tears from falling, even Hans sheds some. We watch as Hound form is engulfed in flames, and within their flickers, we see something. Three figures appears within the flames, they watch upon the burning form of Hound, until what appears to be Hound himself made of flames rises from his corpse. He looks at the three figures watching, then toward us, toward Mewtwo and me. He nods at us. Then the figures beckons, and they are gone. Mewtwo blinks, I blink. The pyre still burns, Hound corpse is still atop, slowly being consumed. No one else seems to have reacted. You saw them too right? I simply nods, and keep watching. Chapter 16: Final goodbyes and preparations We both stay until the pyre burns out. We look as the villagers commemorates the departure of their guardian. Food and drinks are passed and stories are exchanged. Times when someone''s grandparent were saved, others when they were forced to help take care of things for the pack. Some are funny, some are sad but most importantly they help everyone remember. Hound may be gone, but his legacy will endure. His pack joins the grim festivities and mingle around. But tiredness slowly comes to all and, one after the other, people disperse. Still we remain. We hear the stories, share the drinks and food. Until only both of us remain before the still smoldering pyre. And still we stay. To the clear annoyance of the league detachment. But I keep them out of my mind. At some point during the night, a gentle rain comes. It extinguishes the remaining embers. We let the rain fall upon us both. The cool feeling water a welcome change. The smell of cold smoke fills our immediate surrounding and we are alone. I look at Mewtwo and he looks at me. He nods. Go ahead. He sends, he knows what I want to do, he wants to as well. I look at the remains of the pyre, a pile of ash and burnt pieces of wood. Nothing remains of Hound, but a memory. "I..." I start, unsure, "I never knew you Hound. Not as myself. Yet the moment I saw you, it was as if I had always lived with you. Your memories were more of a feeling, but I hope in your last moments, you saw your best friend in me, more than the stranger I am. I... I hope the next world treats you well." I finish lamely. Hound, you are an enigma to me. When I saw you, I felt a strong shared kinship toward you, even though I had never met you. I do not know who you were, but I will find out, and I will honor your wish and memories. He may not have been your friend, but I will make sure he will thrive as you wish he would. You have my words. I look at Mewtwo in surprise. He shrugs and turn away from me in embarrassement. From what I have heard, Aster was a great man to many. And... I also felt some sort of kinship to Hound when we met him. I smile and nod, and we resume our watch over the dissolving ashes.
Mewtwo feels... conflicted. When he awoke, he had felt surety in his existence. He had not even questioned it. But now? Now he sees the situation from a new angle. Astra is a strange creation using a dead man''s soul. Then, why is he not the same? Since coming to the village, and then the experience of Astra during his coma, this idea had grown in his mind, and the evidence is becoming more and more glaring. And, as he watches the last of the ash getting washed away, he is now sure. He too is an amalgam of souls. There are things he does not understand yet, but he will. That he promises himself. He and Astra stay silent until the day comes. The dark grey clouds above slowly turn a later shade as the sun rises. And with the morning comes the villagers. And another group. He feels them approach more than he sees them at first. The league. He turns around, prompting Astra to look back as well. The same groupe of people from yesterday approaches. This time they will not be deterred. The ceremony is over, neither Mewtwo nor Astra have any ways to escape this meeting. They could run, but Mewtwo knows it would just be delaying the inevitable. The leader of the group comes forward. He is dressed with a leather jacket and pants, with what appears to be black rubber boots. The clearly handmade hood protects his thin face. But his grey eyes still peek from under the shadow, as well as a few golden bangs. If Mewtwo was to give that human an age, it would be barely thirty when compared to the group in the dormitory. "Apologies to break your... mourning. Sadly, there are matters in this world that supersedes personal grief." He starts with a cold voice tinted with jealousy. His face appears neutral, but one can discern the man barely contained scowl. "I am Garret, and I represent a group that has decided pokemons should help us in this world and in return, we should help them. You, young man, appear to have found a legend, the first we have ever encountered. As such we are ready to integrate you within our organisation, the league and foster you until you can stand equal to your... ally here." Astra gives the man a blank look. As does Mewtwo. He absolutely believes we are just going to agree. Astra thinks. Mewtwo snorts telepathically. Garret''s face turns annoyed at their lack of reaction. "This place is dangerous! You already fought through a raid I am sure, your next might be your last! If you do not get hunted first. Not every humans you meet will be as welcoming as us!" He rants. "Can I ask one question?" Astra finally answers. "No scratch that, a couple questions?" "Of course, but the faster you join us, the faster we can help you!" "Okay, okay. First question then: does he get a say?" Astra asks, pointing at Mewtwo. "I- Whu- What? O-of course he gets a say! Why would he not get a say?" Garret sputters and the rest of his group seems a bit taken aback by both the question and the answer. "Then what happens if he says no?" The entire group freezes. Oh they know what they would do, but are they ready to? the village is clearly neutral ground. That much Mewtwo can gather. He can imagine Garret has some sort of pretty powerful pokemon backing him up, but the answer also paints a sad picture of the true intent of the league. They are not ''friends'' with their partners. The way most of the group reacted it is clear their pokemons are submissive to their masters. They do not truly take into account their partner''s wishes. Only their own and then making them work for it, maybe even making their partner think it was also theirs to begin with. If Aster saw what became of his dream, he could be ashamed. Mewtwo catches himself thinking. He blinks internally and put that though on the ''think of it later'' part of his mind. A part that is growing increasingly larger by the days. The lack of response, this time from Garret, has Astra cross his arms and scowl at the entire league delegation. "I believe that answers that question. Thank you for the offer, but I believe the answer shall be no." And Mewtwo nods along. He has no need to state his mind to Astra. On this point, they share a similar opinion. Some of the group start to move, but Mewtwo straightens up, making himself stand as tall as his height allows him to. And the group recoils. For Mewtwo is tall. And the dark look that comes to his face promises murder and pain to any that may try to cross him. "Yo-you don''t understand what you are about to do! We are giving you a chance to survive here. Even with a legend by your side there-" Garret tries to argue. Is defeating a praetor on our second day not enough. Do we need to defeat an army? I have heard of your way league member, and our little talk sadly correlates what I heard. Your organization is not what we are interested in. Me more than him. Mewtwo cut Garret rebuttal, his cold and commending aura is in full strength, overriding the league members minds. "He''s the real deal..." one mutters "Fuck, so that''s legendary pressure." Another adds. Garret tries to keep his composure but most of his group is losing heart after Mewtwo''s display. "Fine! But this is not over. When you come crying to us, don''t expect the kindness we offered today!" He snarls and turns around, motioning to his lackeys to follow him. All do, but some still glance back toward Mewtwo. Some with awe, some with excitement and all with fear. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Astra exhale. And a slow clapping makes the both of them jump. Leaning against the wall of a nearby house, Hans Senah looks at the both of them with a wicked smile on his face. "Bravo, I say, Bravo. Ya done them right. I would have vouched fer yer autonomy if they had pushed too much." His smile grows, "But I didn''t need ta lift a finger." He peels himself off the wall and walks toward them. "Well youngins, I presume yer about to return ta yer errands right?" He bumps Astra shoulder. "Ya got a big promise to keep too eh?" Astra is unsure on how to react, as is Mewtwo. "Well, I''ll be goin now youngins. Let''s try to know each other better later eh?" He finishes as he turns around and walk away toward the Arrival plain. Mewtwo and Astra watch him go for a minutes before turning around and going back into the village. "What the fuck was that about?" Astra asks. Mewtwo nods but then stops. Hans was walking. Hans did not have his crutch. He was walking without any help. He was walking. He had both his legs. Mewtwo mentally blurts out. Astra stops and they both turn around. Hans is gone, no longer a figure in the distance. "I suppose he still had some tricks up his sleeve? From what we heard, you don''t get to live too long here without some." Astra offers. Maybe... Mewtwo agrees. They both silently agree to look through more of Aster''s journal entries in the future. Hans Senah was supposed to have been a close friend to Aster, or at the very least they knew each other. But now is not the time for that. "Okay, let''s try to see what the villagers can spare for us. We need supplies, mostly food, and directions. Where do we go next?" We should go see Cariato. he is the local cartographer. He asked to see you when you awoke. "You already made friends in the village?" Astra asks, impressed. Less made friends and was acquainted with most of them. Being brought in by the pack has its perks here. Astra nods and he lets Mewtwo guide them toward Cariato''s home. They reach it in minutes and it is no different than the over houses in the village. Cobbled stone walls with wood logs as support frames, with a triangular wood roof. a couple windows on the sides and back, with a door at the front. Astra gently knock with his right arm, afraid to break it with his more metallic left one. "One moment" comes the answer, and they both wait for a couple minutes. When the door opens, Astra, for the first time, takes in the almost uncanny valley form of the villagers. This one, just like the rest, is dressed in the leather tunic. But this one a satchel hanging from his shoulder, filled with papers, feathers and ink pots. Their elongated bald head sports a monocle on their right eye. Their mouth, partly hidden by their long floppy nose open in shock. Their emerald green eyes go from Mewtwo to Astra as they take stock of who just knocked on their door. "Oh He above I am so sorry! You should have said it was you Sir Aster! You could have come in immediately!" They apologizes, almost bowing. "Please come in, let us get you out of the rain." He adds, removing himself from the entryway. Astra smiles politely and enters the small home. The interior is square, with what appears to be cartography table on one corner, a wooden table filled with papers, feathers and ink pots. A bed takes most of another corner and a little table with a flower pot next to a window complete the interior furnitures. "Welcome to my humble abode," the villager declares, still clearly stressed about their perceived faux-pas "What brings you to me?" Before either Mewtwo or Astra can answer, Cariato pokes themselves on the head and laugh "Ah but of course! Just like always when you come, you must wish for the map. My great-grand ancestor kept it in good condition for you. It has the directions for her highness Princess''s forest. I... My condolences Sir Aster. Even if you have little recollections of him. It must still be hard." Astra nods along, closing his eyes for a second. The cartographer goes to his table and retrieves a decent sized wrinkled and folded piece of yellowed paper. After pushing his little flower pot, he opens the it on the table. the piece of paper reveals itself as a map of the immediate region they are in. The Arrival plain barely represent a hand sized mark on the map.
Achievement got: GPS of old Observe a map of any sort. Reward: unlocking the Automated Mapping System.
Mewtwo sees the pop-up and Astra slightly jumps at it. He silently dismisses it, but he will need to look at it later. The villager, unaware of what just happened, continues. "So we are here." He points at an X on the map. The little mention next to it reads ''Hound town''. "If you want to go and meet back with lady Princess, you need to go here." He then points at a large patch of barred land representing woods. "This here are the fairy woods. Do not worry about getting lost of tricked, Princess will make sure you can get in." The woods are east of their current positions. And by looking at the distance, at least two to three days of walk. "Thank you Mr. Cariato." Astra finally says. "This helps us more than you can think." "Please Sir Aster, we may not go through the same harrowing process you abductees go through, but we can at least help those that treat us right. This is the least we can do! Here, take it, it will help you on your journey. Have some ink and a feather too." They gently fold the map once more and holds it for Astra to take. "Thank you." Astra takes the map and cartography supplies and then gives the cartographer a small bow. The gesture seems to embarrass the cartographer even more. Both Mewtwo and Astra turn around and the cartographer rushes to open the door. As the rain still fall, the cartographer looks conflicted. "Do not worry, I will keep it dry." Astra reassures the Cariato as he stores both map and supplies in his inventory. The cartographer looks impressed and nods in satisfaction. "Safe travels," he calls after them. Astra nods and they return to the village streets. They wander around, Mewtwo leading the both of them on a roundabout way toward the village cook, Cellok. The building the cook resides in doubles as a refectory. The style is similar to the rest, but bigger. The inside has more tables, enough to fit at least sixteen people easily. Some tables are occupied by villagers enjoying a late breakfast before going to their tasks. Children play in the large room, chasing each other. They stop to look at Astra and Mewtwo arrival, but quickly resume their games. "Ah, the returned savior" Cellok calls out as he walks out from the kitchen. They have a stained white apron and a white headband around their head. "What can I get the both of you? We have bread and jam for this morning, with some sweet beet juice to go with." they offer. Mewtwo and Astra look at each other and agree. Mewtwo feels a bit hungry and Astra feels like he can store more reserves for later. They both agree to the offer and take a seat. Cellok returns after a minute with two plates. Each have two slices of bread with purple jam on it, along with a glass of reddish-purple juice. "Here you go." Cellok stays as Astra and Mewtwo eat. When they are done, they speak once more. "So, what is the real reason you two are here?" You are quite sharp Cellok. We wish to inquire for supplies. Food mostly, but maybe cooking utensils? He looks at Astra and receives a nod. "Ah... I may have some old things I don''t use anymore, but for the food, you''ll have to look for Faraan. They''re the one that deal with stocks. I simply cook what he brings me. If you bring me the ingredients, I can prepare them for ya. Also, I may have a little cook book lying around for you." Cellok nods and turns back toward his kitchen. After a couple minutes, he returns with his arms full of cooking supplies. He put them down on the table and huffs. "Here, you got mostly everything for a camping trip. Remember to wash it all once you use it though." In the pile are a couple of pans, cooking pots, spatulas and knifes as well as liquid containers and other utensils. It is quite the haul of cooking supplies. Even if some have clearly been well used, they are still in pretty good shape. Astra nods at the pile. "Thank you. This should help us tremendously." He agrees. A smile grows on Cellok''s face but then falters. "Damn it! I should get you a bag! No way you are transporting all that in your arms!" Mewtwo and Astra both laugh. "Do not worry, we have some ways." Astra says and slowly he start storing the supplies away. Each dissolve into piles of blue pixels before getting absorbed by his left hand. Cellok stands there, awed. He then recovers his composure and laugh as well. "You don''t see that every days." They thank Cellok and wander toward the farm at the edge of the village. After Just like the rest, Faraan welcomes the both of them with respect and after the exchange of pleasantries, he gift them enough food to hold out for two weeks. Astra tries to refuse at first, as this might be a bit much, but Faraan insists, this much represents barely a day worth of food in the village. They have enough reserves still to survive any harsh seasons that may come their way. Astra and Mewtwo gratefully thank him and then head toward the edge of the village. They look out toward their future goal. Meeting the second survivor of Aster Stradivii old party, Princess. Chapter 17: Departure After a quick return to Cellok for food preparation, which amazed the both of us at the cook''s speed, and an even quicker goodbye to the six humans in the dormitory, Mewtwo and I find ourselves on the eastern side of the village. A couple of mightyenas as well as our poochyena guide are here to see us out. Pets are given and happy barks are exchanged, and then we are off. We once more walk upon the Arrival plain, but according to the map we should leave it behind us after nightfall. Please never, ever show that inventory correction thing to ANY villagers ever again. Mewtwo says once we are far enough from the village. I snort and agree wholeheartedly. With Cellok cooked food, I discovered that I had ways to know the amount of energy food items could give me. And since I had not tried it before, I asked for raw food to see if it was better to eat a cooked meal rather than the raw ingredients. The answer was that cooked meals were better, which did not surprise either me or Mewtwo, but the fact that the potato that Cellok lent me turned out bigger and a different shape out of my inventory almost had the cook sequester us to improve all their food. We managed to excuse ourselves, but only barely. "Yeah don''t worry, I am going to look for a way to make a bag and I am only storing items once we are far from anyone." I answer. The experience gave me quite the new look on the villagers. Mewtwo chuckles and we continue to walk silently for a while. "should we go faster?" I end up asking. "I am topped for power and we have enough food to hold for more than two weeks." Mewtwo quirk an eyebrow at me and then smirks. Let''s try to reach that little natural orchard they mentioned before nightfall. I smirk back. "On your mark?" Ready? "GO" We start running. Or more exactly, I start running and Mewtwo floats alongside me. I jog just below the limits of triggering my cooling system and Mewtwo experiments with his flight. We cover ground at a fast pace, and with a final look behind me, I see Hound Village disappear in the distance. A pang of grief tugs at my heart, and I smile. I may not be Aster, but I will make sure the trio gives him his happy ending. With our speed, the terrain speeds along with us and I use that time to check a few thing in my system. First is of course the mapping system I supposedly unlocked. And indeed I did. I activate it and instantly regret running while doing so. My vision turns into a pixelated overhead view of my current location, with the edges slowly updating as we move. I can even see an icon representing Mewtwo next to me. Nice, but also quite problematic. As is finally made apparent when my foot finds a rock. And I do a beautiful somersault and land heavily on my stomach. Are you okay? Mewtwo has watched the whole thing and his expression is split between genuine worry and hilarity. I give him a thumbs up and mutter into the ground. "Never been better." He helps me get back on my feet with a few chuckles and quickly sees the problem. You are no longer seeing. What is that overlay? "Yeah, give me a second here, it''s the new map system we got." I quickly scan the new map overlay and finally find a cog-shaped option wheel. Within it are size configuration options, which I instantly use to resize the map. It soon becomes a circle on the upper right corner of my vision. I nod to myself. "We now have a usable map." Interesting. Ah here it- Wow. I see how that was a problem. Mewtwo also find the map display and tweaks it for a minute. This will be useful to find each other again. Oh look, we can put down markers now. I blink and indeed, there is an option to place markers on points of interest. I leave one on Hound Village and when I turn around, a single square indicates the location of the distant village, as well as a distance indicator. Wow this will be extremely useful. After a bit of marveling, we resume our run toward our first stop. The natural orchard. A place where berry and fruit trees grow together without any supervision. We will need to be careful as it is also a known hunting ground for newbie farmers. As we speed along, I continue to poke my system, and I almost stumble down again. Mewtwo looks back at me in worry and I simply wave him off as I restore my pace. First of, I have 740xp. Which should not be a surprise, but I did almost instantly pass out when I received them. Second, I have new perks that can be upgraded. Muscle strength is straightforward, as are Body reflexes and Armor resistance, but Sensor suite has me a bit surprised. What will it actually upgrade? for now all four are 5 point each and give me the same boost as the other four perks I can upgrade. 0.1% boost. It may seem little, but it still felt like more than it appears. The little boosts I already gave myself can attest to that. On top of that, I can now upgrade every perks to a new tier, allowing me to purchase bigger boosts for slightly less experience. The first four efficiency perks are only 200xp each to go to the second tier, but the new four are 1000xp each. Which I do not have. And right now, I do not feel like either of these tier upgrades will help me. Another important bit of information is that each upgrades that boost the physical capacities of my body will come at a greater energy consumption cost. I cannot just leave the whole energy situation alone. "Mewtwo, what do you think I need most? I am thinking strength, but speed might be a better call I feel." I ask Mewtwo for advice. He looks over my screen as we keep going and nods. Speed, or reflexes might be a better call. As well as that Sensor suite stat. It seems to be helping with more than just the basic five senses. Oh right... that could be good. I nod and divides my points. Most go into Power efficiency, the less I consume, the more I can keep going. Another part goes into Generator efficiency, a bit in both repair and coolant efficiency, and then the rest goes mostly into both Body reflexes and Sensor suite. I still invest a small bit into both the armor and the muscle upgrades. Once it is all done, I barely feel any different. I do feel like I can run faster without triggering my cooling system, and so I accelerate. We keep running for some time before I stop. Not because we have reached our destination, the orchard is not even visible in the horizon, but because we have found a small tree. And I need logs. Mewtwo smirks at the tree and stops me from going at it. Allow me. He sends confidently. He orients his free fingered hand behind him and a purple aura flares around it. It slowly morphs into the shape of a hatchet and he then swings it at the tree. Once, twice, thrice, and stops. The tree slowly parts at multiple points. And a little ding gets both our attentions. Quest completed. Yes! Mewtwo cheers, jumping in place, his tail swinging around in excitement. "Wow! Congratulation. Here!" I quickly claim the prizes and hand him the Candy XS. He gobbles it and then floats the neatly cut logs to me. All the levels from the Praetor gave me a few new paths and cleared others. These levels feel more like they are slowly unshackling my powers than powering me up. I think on that. Mewtwo might be on to something here. Maybe all this is not for us to grow strong, but to actually unleash our true potential? Meh. Why even have us so weak in the first place? Or maybe it was by design? To rig their bet? Did the Trio make us so weak because they know how far we can rise? To trick Eziakophael into accepting us as contestants for this bet in the first place? "Mewtwo, how hard is it to find equipment or tools here?" Hum? Most villagers sell some to anyone in exchange for soul tokens. But they are of low quality. One of the humans was trying to become a blacksmith, but it seemed quite an arduous journey, considering that he had to invest token in specialized skills while also growing stronger for the raids. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "I see..." Yeah, I don''t have that problem. I am pretty certain that if someone gave me enough material and I had all the crafting chips I need, I could simply make almost anything anyone would need. I am pretty certain I could cook food by myself as well. I should have concentrated in the crafting aspect of my body earlier. "Let''s keep going, that should be enough to make the tools my quest hinted at." We resume our run and I open my inventory and crafting menu. And finally I have them both. The Part builder and the Tool station. I turn them into chips and install them. I do notice a small yellow bar underneath the crafting chip. Wait that''s a durability bar. Oh for fuck sake why do these chips have durability? Okay maybe the fact they are made of wood might be a good explanation, but STILL! Fuck. I grumble a few more insults toward the sponsors for such a stupid idea. But now I have two new crafting windows. One to make tool parts and one to assemble them. I start with the part maker. Two slots side by side, an arrow toward a single slot. I put the sword blade template on the leftmost slot and then add stones on the one next to it. After six stones are added, they disappear and a grey blade appears on the rightmost slot. I take it out and put it in my inventory for now. I repeat the process for the pickaxe head and after nine stones this time, I obtain a stone pickaxe head. And I am officially out of stones I then move on to the tool assembler window, Right now it is a single empty square surrounded by five others. On the left are a series of icons representing different tools. I select the sword one first and then return to the part maker. The moment I touched the sword icon, the layout of the tool maker changed, and it showed me I need two other parts to make the sword, and it shows the same thing for the pickaxe: I need a tool rod and a binding part. I exhale in annoyance. Do I need those parts to be stone too? Would using wood be better? I wince. I do not really have a choice here, so only one way to find out. And if the quest does not complete, I still have tools to gather more things. I can still use that pickaxe to mine more stone right? Feeling a bit more confident with my reasoning, I make both tool rods and bindings out of wood and assemble them. The satisfying ding once I collect the pickaxe fills me with relief and joy. "Yes!" My turn to shout in joy. I take the sword out and then the pickaxe and look at them. The sword looks like a stone spike with two sides sharpened to a glossy finish. The spike is bound by wood fiber to a wooden handle that fits neatly into either of my hands. The pickaxe is large, with a crescent shaped head. Both points are sharpened and almost glisten under the sun. It is no metal, but the rock is surprisingly well polished. The long handle, almost as long as my arms is made of wood, unsurprisingly. I do little experimental swings with both and unsurprisingly, the sword is a lot better to swing around as a weapon than the pickaxe, but the pickaxe could still be an effective weapon. And I should be able to use both while running. Mewtwo looks impressed at the new tools. "I don''t think it will ever equate to your new psychic blade." I tell him. Maybe not with stone, but who knows what other materials we will find. I nod and look at the next goal. There are a lot actually. This single quest unlocked two new quests for me, and Mewtwo''s earlier one did so as well.
Hot topic Your new tools look fancy, lets start the process to make some fancier ones. Craft a ''Furnace chip'': 0/1 Rewards: 15xp; 2 Exp. Candy XS
Materials and you This world is rich in different ores, gems and other things. Find the most common ones and explore their potentials Collect ''Raw iron'': 0/10 Collect ''Raw copper'': 0/10 Collect ''Raw gold'': 0/10
(+8 more)
Rewards: 50xp; 2 Exp. Candy S
Refining your arts A slash and you cut everything into ribbons, but what if you tried a gentler approach?. Obtain a ''Leaf bundle'': 0/1 Rewards: 20xp; 1 Exp. Candy S
More than a cutting tool. Good job on the psychic hatchet. Now try a pickaxe, or a shovel. Create a ''pickaxe'': 0/1 Create a ''shovel'': 0/1 Rewards: 20xp; 5 Exp. Candy XS
We look at our new quests and both sigh. We have our work cut out for us. "We might need to go explore a cave or something." I tell Mewtwo. I remember the cave entrances I saw in the Forest of Beginnings, some had coal and iron veins visible. They had been slightly highlighted by the WAYLA system. It will be dangerous. Caves have monsters constantly present, and pokemons are slightly more territorial there from what I heard. I raise my sword. "Monsters should be easier to deal with now. And you seem to be able to exude a bit more of a presence now." Mewtwo blushes as I mention the pressure he subjected the league representatives to. True, but some will still attack. "We will try to reason with them, and if that fail, we will try to scare them off." I can see Mewtwo is not fully convinced by my reasoning, but he agrees nonetheless. Let us resume our run. We are almost there. I nod and we run once more. It must be late afternoon when we finally reach the orchard. There are no fences or any delimitation, but I can see a slight change in the color of the grass. Still, the most obvious change is that suddenly, there are trees all around us. It is different from the forest. There the treetops touched each over into a sun-blocking canopy. Here the trees are rather short, most barely reaching twice the height of Mewtwo, and I can see a lot of things moving among their branches. Pokemon, mostly, but also surprisingly, animals. Little birds frolic among the branches along with pidgeys and fletchlings. On a tree, a black headed blue bird look straight at us with suspicions. The chatot eyes us as we pass, but make no moves to follow us. I almost stop in my tracks as a little fennec-looking yellow pokemon peeks from behind a tree. their large red-tipped ears and their red-tipped tail go straight as they notice my attention. They turn around and run away in quick bursts of flames. That had been a fennekin. I blink we continue our run. Mostly exploring the orchard until we reach its edge. Once we do, we stop. So? What do we do now? I look at the map and point at a darker group of pixels. "We go here. This should be a cave entrance." Alright. You do not want to gather some supplies first? I look at my energy bar and quirk an eyebrow. It is still full, but there is a line beneath the three leftmost squares. "I am still full. We have the meals prepared by Cellok. We should be good." Mewtwo nods and we make our way through the orchard once more, until we finally stand before the cave opening. Sadly it is a straight drop to the depths. I can see the bottom, but climbing down or up will be a chore. But I do see some veins already exposed. Coal, mostly, as well as some copper at the very bottom. "Ah..." I still deadpan at the sight. Ah indeed. I can float you down, but if we have to leave in a hurry, I may not be able to get you out fast enough. I think about it. That is a risk. But at this point the greater risk will be the raid in two days. "Let''s take that risk." I answer confidently. We need the supplies and the experience. We really need to get stronger. In the two days before the second day. We need to have weapons and strength at our side. On those though, we both jump into the hole. Just as we pass the edge, I head the surprised squawk of a bird. The chatot must have followed us to keep an eye on us. See you later little bird. Chapter 18: Spelunking We touch down a few seconds after jumping in. The late afternoon sun still illuminate our deep surrounding, but it won''t last. We look at the walls and find our entrance into the depths. The cave change from an abrupt hole to a slightly angled hallway of stone on one side, we will be able to walk down easily from here. I turn to the closest coal marks on the stone and get my pickaxe out. Mewtwo turns toward the green/orange copper marks and tries to find a way to extract the ores. I strike the wall in a slight off angle, letting the tip of my pickaxe crunch against the stone. The wall shows a slight crack, and I keep going. Soon, I have dislodged a piece of coal off the wall. More coal is revealed behind and I redouble my efforts. The moment I dislodge a piece, it instantly vanishes into my inventory. That surprises me at first, but then I remember the auto-gather functionality I unlockede. After a good ten minutes or so of hammering at the wall, I am done, no more traces of coal are visible on the wall, and I have excavate a nice little alcove from the wall. I have also gathered quite a bit of stone. I turn to Mewtwo and just stare in awe. It seems he has found a way to extract the copper vein alright. Raw copper ore orbit in the now familiar back halo spot, but it is the entire cubes of ore vein that have me stare. "How did you do that?" He turns to me, a smirk on his face. The Terra path seemed handmade for the task. I first tried with psychic powers, but the Terra path streamlined everything. "Yeah I can see that. Let''s see if I can store these." I reply as I approach. He gently floats the blocks and ores to me. I easily store them. "Well that completed the copper part of the material quest. As well as the coal line." Good, let us continue then. I nod and we turn toward the descending path. The light barely reaches a few meters in. "This is going to be a problem..." I start to look for recipes or something for light. I could light the way... Mewtwo offers. "Alright, but I''ll keep looking for something." Mewtwo''s left hand light up with a purple glow and slowly, we enter the cave proper. Not much happens at first, we look at the walls for any signs of more veins, and stop when we find some. We quickly gather iron, more copper as well as a bit of aluminum. We gather all, and keep looking around some more. The tunnel is wide and mostly empty. At one point a distant screech gets us on edge, but nothing comes out rushing at us. Another time, we stumble on a half dug iron vein, the more we look at it, the more it looks like something ate part of it. We finish excavating it and then keep pushing deeper. However, after the chewed vein find, we have a harder time finding any more ore veins. The walls around us all bear gashes of chewed stones, but nor more ores to be found. The tunnel, still mostly one singular road, twists and turns until it finally delivers us into a large opened room. Mewtwo''s aura does not even light it in its entirety. We stop and look at the vast arrays of stalactites and stalagmites. The ground itself has changed, from the gray stone we had been walking on to a softer, beige colored rock. The sound of water dripping echoes all around the cave, giving the impression of slow rain. It is relaxing. The ground continues to slope down from there. We squint around as we wander in and can discern more tunnels deeper, some seem to even be quite far above ground. Maybe more accesses from the surface? If so we were lucky to find one that got us on ground level. We will need a way to mark our way. Mewtwo declares and I agree. With so many branching tunnels, if we have to run out of herein a hurry, we need a way to know which tunnel gets us out quickly. I have kept looking at the new recipes that have been partially or fully unlocked and finally found something. "Agreed, let''s try with this." I take a coal, I take a stick, put them coal on top of stick in my crafting grid, and obtain... FOUR TORCHES. "AHAH!" AhAh... Ahah... ah... ah... My exclamation echoes around the cave and I immediately clasp my hand on my mouth. Shit! That was stupid. At first nothing happens. Then there is a distant fluttering, some screeches. We try to find the source, but the echoes of the cave makes the sound bounce everywhere. Then the fluttering grows louder. And we can finally pinpoint its origin. We look up, and the both of us audibly gulp. Above us, between the stalactites, barely lit up by Mewtwo''s purple aura, are dozens upon dozens of tiny blue bodies. They are oval heads mostly made of mouth, the body extending behind the mouth, with large triangular ears on top. They screech some more, and one peels off the ceiling, revealing a set of two leathery purple wings along with two thin tails. After the first comes another, and another, until the entire swarm peels off the ceiling. A swarm of dozens of zubats. They screech angrily at our disturbance, no, my disturbance. Each screeches, I know, is made to feel their surroundings on top of expressing their anger at being awaken. Zubats have no eyes, and as such they rely on echolocation. My sudden exclamation must have been deafening to them. "Shit." I swear, but as quietly as I can. "We need to move. I don''t think they''re happy." You think? Mewtwo, your sarcasm is noted and completely unnecessary. Oh no, I believe it is quite necessary. He answers my silent thoughts, his eyes sending metaphorical lightning my way. Fucking mind reader. As if this very capacity has not saved us multiple times already. I remain silent and let my thought do the same. I know, but now is not the time. I summon a torch for my inventory and immediately store it back. We almost went blind. Why the FUCK are those lit up? Okay, it could help, but not right now. We need our sight. The cacophony of screeches and flapping grows in strength as more and more of the small blue bats detach themselves from the ceiling. Soon enough an entire cloud of them hoovers above us. Some seem to notice us and swipe down to smack us. Get a torch out again, but behind your back. Mewtwo orders. I will take it and try to put it in the wall of our entrance. Then we rush that side passage. He points at a not so distant tunnel that seems to go down deeper. I nod and prepare to run toward it. I put my left hand behind me and summon a torch. Its light instantly extends shadows before us, and the torch quickly lifts off my hand. Go! I start running, Mewtwo floats alongside me. We quickly reach the inside of the tunnel and both duck against the walls. The swarm continue to angrily screech at the now empty room. I glance at our entrance tunnel and can see Mewtwo managed to plant the torch right in front of it. I point at deeper into the tunnel and Mewtwo nods. Together we keep going deeper. Mewtwo lights his hand back up, but I wave him off. I take out a torch and truly light up the area. So we have torches now. How did you light it up? Mewtwo asks, covering his eyes for a minutes. I also cover mine and wait for my sight to adapt. "Your guess is as good as mine here. They come lit up." I answer as I finally can study the torch. Mewtwo does as well and we both look at it for a couple of minutes. We look straight at the flame. Or more exactly the lack of actual flame. What I have made is a stick with a light source on top. It does emit some red and yellow flame, but they seem purely cosmetic as no heat emanates from them. It also does not appear to consume itself. We just look at it, confused and awed. "I am putting that under Trio shenanigans." I declare. Agreed. With that, Mewtwo and I resume our descent. This time, with the light we spot more variations on the walls, ceiling and even the floor. The beige rock is identified as ''limestone (dripstone variant)'' and most of the gray stone as only ''Stone''. I find a long streak of andesite at some point, the rock almost indistinguishable from the stone around it if not for a more visual granularity compared to the stone. We also finally find new ore veins. Some tin, more iron, this time without the chewing marks, a bit more copper. Our strangest find is twofold. A blue ore that, when I mine gives us gems of lapis-lazuli and a red ore that light up a bit when we try mine it. And I say try as my pickaxe simply rebound against the strange stone and red mineral mix. The system identify the ore as ''Redstone ore''... How original... The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Mewtwo also tries to mine it with his powers, but the entire thing crumbles into unusable rock dust the moment he tries to pry it out as a cube. The best he manages is to break a part of it with a psychic pickaxe-shaped blade. It ends up not being much but we do end up with a small pile of red dust called simply ''Redstone'', which I can store in my inventory as is, weird. Before we can marvel too much on it however, a growl far too close for comfort catches our attention. We turn around and, rounding the corner, are met by three rotting and shambling corpses. Zombies. Mewtwo immediately summons little stars around him, but I hold him off. "Wait, this is the perfect situation. I want to try my sword." Please do not run out of power again. "Hey, these guys are not on the same level as the- Wow!" I dodge back as the zombies have closed the distance rather quickly. One even managed to swipe at me. They really are deceptively slow. No, hold on. I avoid another strike and realize something is wrong. I get my sword out and slash. I hit, and leave one of the three with a shallow wound across its chest. Putrid ichor slowly oozes out of the wound, but still it lunges at me. I avoid it again, and then avoid the second zombie swipe coming from the side. "Okay, maybe a little help here." I can see one of Mewtwo eyebrow go up in mock questioning and then a single star strikes. One the zombie''s head instantly vanishes in a mist of flesh and ichor. Here, have fun with the rest. He offers with a little wave. He then turns back to another ore vein we have not touched yet. I restrain myself from insulting him and return my attention to the fight at hand. There is something really wrong with those zombies. The ones I fought on the first night were truly sluggish compared to these. These ones move too swiftly. Is it the cave? Does being underground give them an advantage? Another swipe has me refocus. Strike now, question later. I lunge at the already hurt one and pierce it through my previous swipe. I slip beneath its retaliatory swipe and push my sword up, carving along the wound. Its left shoulder falls down along with a large slab of his torso. Soon after the zombie collapses, unmoving. I then doge another swipe from the second zombie and aim for its head. My sword connects, but I fail to go all the way through. I kick the zombie back and reposition myself. The remaining zombie''s head flop around a bit, only half of its neck remaining to hold it. No less than that, my kick seems to have worsened the the cut. It does not stops the zombie from charging at me once more. This time I aim for one of the shoulders. I slash down and the sword stops half-way through. Another kick to the chest and I free the sword. Neck flopping, right shoulder sagging, the zombie mindlessly charges me once more. And his head is parts from his body with one final strike. I huff a bit, that actually cost me coolant. Not much, but a bit, as well as a some power. I have finally lost the entire line under my squares, as well as about half a square of power. Good fight. Mewtwo approves. Your sword works well. Mewtwo congratulates me. "Yeah, but it still stuck on some strikes." I am happy that the sword is working as... well as a sword. But I can already see some chips and nicks along the blade. As I store it, a little green bar is now visible under the sword icon. Figures. Durability. The same is true for my pickaxe, although the bar under it is half yellow and half black. So already half used? I didn''t mine that much with it though. Then again, they are stone tools. Well, it is a stone blade, better materials will make for greater tools I am sure. Mewtwo echoes my thoughts. Stating the obvious here though, I tease in my head. Hey! I teased in my head on PURPOSE, AH! Mewtwo pouts at my mocking thoughts. Another sound, this one a hissing sound, distracts us from our banter. It refocuses us even more as it came from behind us. From the part of the tunnel we came from. We turn around and there is nothing. I squint into the darkness, but see nothing. A couple tip-taping sounds echoes into the tunnel, with another hiss. I take a step back. I did not sign up for invisible enemies. "You feel anything?" I ask Mewtwo, psychic sensing would be clutch here. No, I cannot sense these creatures. I did not know there were three zombies until they rounded the corner, they have no mind to feel, nothing. Shit. That is not good. Another hiss, another couple of tapping sounds. Not good at all. Mewtwo is frantically looking around, as I am, torch in hand. Where is the sound coming from? Another hiss. We both catch it this time. In perfect synchronicity, we look up. And what meet our eyes almost make us scream. I do not know if Aster was arachnophobic. But the horror show on the ceiling could make me develop that phobia. What is almost above us is a nightmare of black chitin, its glossy finish reflecting the light of my torch. My system only labels it as ''Spider''. I would beg to differ dear WAYLA, spiders are at best the size of my fist, NOT A METER LONG BY TWO LARGE!!! The eight gleaming red eyes lock on me and the spider jumps. Its mandibles spread wide as it is ready to strike us. Mewtwo react first. He catches the spider with his powers. A purple aura surround the horror and it is sent back down the stone corridor we are in. It skitters on the stone floor, its sharp pointed legs leaving little trenches on the material as it stops itself. Note to self, the bite might be the least damaging part of this eight legged nightmare. Before we can do more, the spider skitters on the floor and charges me again. "Hold it down! I''ll try to strike it!" I exclaim, I do not care if that attracts any pokemons attention, pokemons we could try to reason with. This? This has only eyes for me. It barely seems to even acknowledge Mewtwo''s presence or action. Case and point, right now. Mewtwo extends his powers once more and the spider falls flat on the ground. Its legs try to find purchase, but Mewtwo is making sure they only skitter around uselessly. I slash down on the spider''s head, and my blade only bounces back, leaving barely a dent on the arachnid''s chitin. Uh? Oh shit! My attack seems to have disrupted Mewtwo''s hold. The spider jumps at me with all its might and I barely have the reflex to fall down to avoid it. One leg grazes my right shoulder, another bounces on my left. And then the spider lands. It is between the both of us, but immediately turns away from Mewtwo and locks on me. It rushes me. Mewtwo rips a chunk or stone off the wall and slams it on the arachnid''s legs. That stops it charge, but I can see the spider is struggling and is ready to rip its two stuck legs to get to me. I cautiously approach, as cautiously as one can approach a bunch of pointed legs flailing around. Slashing directly on the carapace did not work. I look at the creature and finally spot a possible target. Its two stuck legs clue me on what to do. The joints! I need to aim for the joints. I rush into the storm of sharp legs and get on top of the spider. I can see some of the strikes were stopped by Mewtwo. Once I step on its back, It can no longer reach me. A quick look down at its stuck legs tell me I am almost out of time. I angle my sword and strike down. My blade easily penetrates the joint between it head and torso. With a twist, the head pops free and the spider stops moving. Okay, that... That was scary. Fuck. I exhale and step off the spider. I then sit down next to it. Yeah that little altercation took a good third of my power away. The need for speed, then the strength to make the head pop? Not that much of a surprise here. Still, that was not too bad compared to the first night. I look at the corpse next to me and a little pop-up appears before me.
LOOT MONSTER
Uh? UH?? I look toward the three zombies corpses and the same little pop-up is hoovering above them. UH?! "Mewtwo, we got loot." We got what? Oh. He approaches one of the closest zombie corpses and touch the little pop-up. The moment he does so, I get a new little window.
Zombie looted: x1 Rotten flesh
Said rotten flesh appears in my inventory. Ew? Mewtwo clicks another one and two more rotten flesh join the first. The last corpse is the one I beheaded. I obtain said head, along with another rotten flesh. Okay... What is the use of those even? I look for dependents and find... A few things... The flesh I can both eat and use in craft. I am NOT looking forward to tasting zombie flesh. I can use it to craft a lot of things of which I am missing a lot of parts. But the zombie head is the one that gives me a glimpse of something I did not expect. It seems it can be used for magical rituals, but also to create mechanical contraptions. Which... Hold on here technology? I can create technologically advanced contraptions?? Okay, as I look myself over, it would make sense, but still. This opens so much possibilities. Some absolutely insane possibilities. I then loot the spider and also obtain its head, along with two pieces of string. Does the way I killed it matters? Both beheaded monsters dropped me their head. this will need further study. This fight however, has finally revealed the extant to one thing: my inventory. I had hoped for more space, but clearly not. And right now I am on my last row. Between all the templates, the wood and its derivatives, the stone and the many ores, gems and dust, I am almost full. I can only store five more different items. Just another problem to add to the list. Chapter 19: Clues within clues We continue our exploration for maybe another hour or so? I really need a better way to keep track of time. We are only collecting ores and ressources I already have in my inventory now, to avoid fully filling it up. The walls change again and again, new types of rocks and stone being displayed in a surprising amount of color diversity. Reddish rock, white rocks some blue, some orange, other dark and sometime even black. We also pass veins of ores that neither Mewtwo nor I manage to mine efficiently. My pickaxe barely leave scratches on the stones surrounding the materials and Mewtwo''s attempts result in barely traces of the ore being freed. Still we continue our exploration. As we go deeper, the cave also fills with more life. We encounter more monsters, a couple zombies still too fast, two other spiders, and Mewtwo has a duel with three skeletons blocking our paths through the tunnel. He wins easily by shaping stones into darts and then sending them either into their ribcage or through their head. I have started to lay down torches behind us, to let us know which paths we have taken and which we have not. Our tunnel branched out a couple of times, and this is our only way to leave a track behind us. I just hope the local pokemons won''t mind, or try to eat them, or play with them. That would be a bit of a problem. Speaking of pokemons, we met a few. We finally found out who has been eating all these ore veins. A colony of aggrons, lairons and arons. It seems the armored pokemons have diversified their diets as the pokedex section tells me they are supposed to only eat iron. But here Mewtwo and I watch them go through aluminum, copper and or any metals they find. Each of the pokemons shells has turned into a beautiful patchwork of color, although a hierarchy seems to have formed depending on which of the pokemons has the right to better metals. The first evolutionary stage of the line, the arons are small, barely knee-high quadrupedal creatures. Their small bodies are black covered by a thick shell of whatever metal they have eaten. They have a big round head, with large eyes, blue with a tiny black pupil in the center. Their roundish bodies are supported by four stubby legs. Most of them are happily playing with each others or competing for a vein under the supervision of their next stage: the lairons. The lairons are bigger, getting as high as my pelvis in term of height. Like the arons, their bodies are black and covered in metal armor, but they are bigger and longer, more reptilian in nature than the arons. Their head also now has a more triangular shape. The eyes beneath the armor are still small black pupils in blue sclera. Their armor look to be segmented now, as are their four thicker legs. Their feet now have three claws each. Finally, overlooking the entire assembly are three of aggrons. They stand on their hind legs, looking like armored dinosaurs. The are covered in segmented metallic armor, but somewhat less so than their previous stages. More of their black body are visible, although the body themselves look, like segmented armor no. They tower above their pre-evolution, the two horns on their heads almost scraping against the ceiling.. Still they seem slightly smaller than Mewtwo. One of them spot us and narrows their eyes in our direction. We both bow our head in respect and continue on our way. We do not want to aggravate these pokemons. Just like you did not want to aggravate the zubat colony right? I stare at Mewtwo with mock anger. Please let that go. You really did not think on that one did you? I groan as the teasing continue. After this encounter, we sporadically encounter monsters, and quickly dispatch them out. The strangest one was a smaller version of the zombies. The system identified it as a baby zombie, the tinier version of zombies... and neither Mewtwo or I know how to interpret that. Do the zombies reproduce? Were there children brought by Eziakophael and this is their remains? Or are they just as the system say, tinier versions of zombies? It did give us a bigger haul of experience than the rest thought. Double the normal amount in fact. All and all, our final count as we decide to take a break is eighteen monter slain. I have gone through almost all of my power reserves. We break out the some food out of my inventory and take a meal. I have no idea what time it is. We went down late in the afternoon, so maybe around nightfall? Or maybe the night might have already fallen? I should have asked how the villagers knew the time. Maybe that would have unlocked something? While we eat, I divide my experience point and Mewtwo looks through the new recipes we have unlocked, trying to find one for a furnace. I now have a full additive one percent in strength and resistance, and the other two are almost at five. Once I am done I join Mewtwo in our recipe scouring. I end up finding it first, but Mewtwo finds one of the parts we need to make it before me. A furnace is, surprisingly, not too hard to make. It requires cobbled stone, which I can make by combining rocks together. A cobbled slab, made from the cobbled stones. And finally, a fire pit. This one requires logs, which I have, sticks, which I also have and finally, a block of coal, or some other types which I do not have access to yet. I first assemble the fire pit, then the cobbled stones and associated slab, and then put them all together in the crafting grid. Seven cobbled stone arranged in a n configuration, with the fire pit in the center and the slab just below. And I obtain a furnace. I immediately turn it into a chip and equip it. My upper arm opening still feels strange, but I ignore the feeling as I slot the wooden chip in an empty emplacement. I now have a new window available: furnace window. Also, quest completed. Two XS candies for Mewtwo, 15xp for me. Nice. And of course, new quests.
Hotter topic! You got a furnace, nice. Get ready for its slightly bigger brother now! Craft ''seared brick'': 0/1 Assemble a portable smeltery (0/1 witnessed) Rewards: 30xp; 5 Exp. Candy XS, unlocking ''material and you'' tutorial section.
Time to upgrade You might want to hold up a little on that one. Craft a ''iron pickaxe head'': 0/1 Rewards: 15xp; 2 Exp. Candy XS
I look at the new quest. Are all the quests going to be like that now? One completed, two more to go? I am not really complaining, and neither is Mewtwo, more quests means more rewards and faster growth, and the Trio knows we really need that. Am I really starting to consider them as my gods? I am as well. Mewtwo snorts. We might as well right? That is what they are. Indeed, and if they disagree, I am sure they will let us know. Anyway, back to scouring the recipe book for seared brick. With the addition of the furnace chip, an entire array of recipes has been unlocked as doable. We look, but quickly a huge problem arises. The brick icon is the same as the ingot icon, and there are a LOT of recipes that takes either a block, dust or raw ore and output an ingot or a brick. In the end, we have no choice but to scour the recipes almost one by one. We can quickly discard the raw ores ones, but that still leaves a lot of recipes to go through. This time, it is Mewtwo that possibly finds it first. It is an ingot shape result from the furnace, but what appears to be the supposed portable smeltery seems to bring us here, so that should be it. The recipe asks for a block, which is made out of two other blocks and a weird shaped something... what is that? I have never collected any of those materials. This is going to be a problem. Clicking the weird shaped material gets us recipes we can barely make sense of. They either ask for machines we do not have or other items we never saw. What are we supposed to do here? The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Maybe we should experiment? You still have some space in your inventory right? Yeah I do... Hold on... what if they are guiding us far more than we realize? You made the psychic hatchet, and they they ask you to make both a pickaxe and a shovel! Maybe... Maybe what we are looking for are things that can be easily mined with either of the tools... YES, exactly! Alright, what let''s resume our search, but let''s leave the ores alone for now. We both get up and resume our exploration. Neither of us feel the need for sleep at the moment, which is surprising for Mewtwo. I remember the first night we met he ended up exhausted after helping me out. Hey, are your levels helping with your stamina? It appear they do. I have done a lot, yet barely feel any sort of strain. Our exploration lead us to another large open cave. From where we enter, the path continues along a steep incline. We can see more ores around us, but also a new type of stone. Darker and with a more brick like surface. The system qualifies it as deepslate. As we look deeper into the ravine, we can see the walls slowly transitioning from stone to deepslate, until the entire floor is nothing but deepslate. However, this new material makes the other ones stand up more. All these other variant of stone become easily identifiable, as well as something else. A light grey- An arrow thunk next to me and a spear skewer the archer that just fired. We can''t have a minute of calm. Placing torches has stopped the monsters from coming behind us... Mostly but still they come. Anyway. After that interruption, we look at the new material before us. It sticks our like a scar. Light grey in color, my pickaxe simple goes straight through without ever truly mining it. I only leave deep indents and have a bit stuck on the point of my tool. Well.... We found our shovel candidate number one I would say. Mewtwo nods and I look through my templates. Shovel head... shovel head... Nope didn''t make it. I groan in annoyance. Fine! A quick look almost make me facepalm with my left hand again and I put a singular pattern on in the middle of the top row of my crafting grid. I then make a stone shovel head and then assemble the entire tool. And voil¨¤, a shovel. The time it took me to make it has Mewtwo complete his psychic tool quest, and I am presented with clay. Clay? Clay. Gray soft material, soft due to the humidity of the cave no doubt. I store it and yep, that was the weird looking material. So clay and two other materials that will appear as block in my inventory... We continue to explore the surrounding as I pass Mewtwo his rewards. Mewtwo accepts them and then look at his next quest. He then stops. Uhhh... Astra? Yeah? Look at my next quests... I look. And I also stop moving. The first one is... It''s a fucking grocery list at this point.
ALL THE TOOLS!! ALL OF THEM!! Continue to search for new applications, here are some leads. Create a ''hammer'': 0/1 Create a ''bow'': 1/1 Create an ''axe'': 0/1 Create an ''excavator'': 0/1 Create ''shears'': 0/1 Create a ''hoe'': 0/1 Rewards: 50xp; 3 Exp. Candy S
Wait you already have the bow? Must be with the stone projectiles I have been launching at the skeletons. That one was not too hard to figure. True... but that is also not the only quest Mewtwo has unlocked.
Mind over flesh, apply thyself The path of the mind, the path of the stream, the path of purity and the path of stone. See some others you may unlock for more lie at your fingertips. Unlock the ''path of fire'': 0/1 Unlock the ''path of nature'': 0/1 Unlock the ''path of combat'': 0/1 Unlock the ''path of the dead'': 0/1 Unlock the ''path of frost'': 0/1 Rewards: 200xp; 5 Exp. Candy M
We look at the quest in silence for a couple minutes. We look at it with a certitude that this is not the only paths Mewtwo will have access to. This is insane. Mewtwo finishes my though. Yeah, insane. If these paths can only be unlocked with levels, then it will be a long time before he can unlock all of them. It''s not like there are things that could help him... Maybe other pokemon could tutor him in their own paths? Wait! "Mewtwo, what about the crystals!" I whisper. The realization makes me break the silence we had maintained. My voice, even as quiet as it is, echoes loudly along the walls. Crystals? OH RIGHT! He connects the dots too. I bring out those I had kept stored. We have the terra one, which Mewtwo already has a mastery of in the path of stone, the blue one, aqua, that seems to be associated with the path of the stream, and the white one, ordo, the path of purity. These three crystals, Mewtwo has at least the start of a mastery to them, the lowest one being aqua. Then the ones he has no paths for, for now. Ignis, the red crystal, he can guess would be the path of fire. Aer, the soft yellow crystal he is unsure, maybe another path he has yet to think of? And finally, Perditio, he can feel a darker path from it, one he almost reels from, yet can feel possibilities from. He passes me back the three crystals he already know and has the three unknown orbit him. It is funny to see the three crystals orbiting him once more. I do not see it, but I can imagine his mind slowly connecting to the crystals. I smile and we continue our exploration. I look through Mewtwo''s list of tools one more time, trying to figure which could be helpful for our future, and then compare them to recipe for our two remaining mystery blocks. And I actually find something. The answer? The hammer. Both of the mystery blocks can be made with a hammer and a another block. And one of those block is a block of cobbled stone. I look for a recipe and obviously it asks for more templates. I wince, but this could be huge. I create a stone hammer and then a cobbled stone, and put it into the crafting grid. I obtain a block of gravel. I blink. Gravel? GRAVEL??? WE PASSED SO MANY PATCHES OF THE STUFF!! FOR FUCK SAKE! My internal rant even stirs Mewtwo out of this little trance and he looks at me, curious as to what has happened. Oh not much, we might need to start gathering more types of blocks, but I also need more space and... This is quite the vicious cycle is it not? I need more space to store more items, but for that I need more items, but for that I need more space, and the circle goes round and round and round and... I sigh. One step at a time. Let us see if we can figure which mystery block gives us the last of the mystery blocks to make the mystery block that might give us seared stone. Aaand it''s gravel... This time, I do slap myself with my left hand, and I just let the pain radiate in frustration. So I make another block of cobbled stone, turn it into gravel, notice that the hammer is getting used up and then put the gravel block back into the grid and obtain... sand... I feel so tired, yet... How could have known? How could I have divined that clay, gravel, and sand, combined together would give us... grout? Wha- whu uuuuuh? It''s... It take the block out of my inventory. What the FUCK is grout? Well as it appears, it is a semi-solid mixture of sand, clay, and gravel. The clay acts as the binding for the gravel and the sand, and together they form this squishy, gritty barely holding together light gray block. Mewtwo looks at it, holding it and playing with it for a minute. The result is... not much. The block holds itself well together, it can be separated in smaller parts, but then these can be stuck back together. So... Not much in term of immediate use. I put it back in the inventory, where it rejoins the other one the recipe gave me. Yeah, I get two blocks for one craft. That''s at least a good thing out of this experience. And finally, I open my new furnace screen. There are three slots available, one for the input on top of another one I am unsure what it is for. They are separated by drawn grey flames. Then next to the drawing, an arrow pointing into the final slot, the result slot. I put the grout into the input and wait. And wait... And... nothing is happening. Why is nothing happening? I look a bit more into my furnace window. Ah... I made an assumption here. I though that, since I mostly work with energy, I could just plug the thing in and it would work, but no. I need fuel. Does coal work as fuel? I had to use it to make the furnace so maybe? I take a piece of coal and plug it in. The piece of coal disappear and the drawn flames lit up. The arrow slowly fill, and I start to sweat. Why does it feel so hot here now? I notice Mewtwo moving slightly away from me. Then I look at my left arm. HOLY! My left robotic arm now has orange and reddish light escaping below its armor finish. I can feel the heat radiating from within. It did not suddenly turn hot here, I am the heat! Oh this is bad, I realize and sure enough, my coolant is going down. Fuck. I look back at the furnace window and notice that the recipe is done. I now have a seared brick... Wait only one? Also why is my arm still burning up?? Chapter 20: What we can give. A few things happen all at once. The surprise at a block of grout becoming a single seared brick, the fact that my arm is still somehow heating up, and the resulting depletion of my coolant all come together into a bit of panic. What the FUCK is happening to me? Was the furnace chip a mistake? Should I have made a physical furnace instead? Would the one I created via the system have even worked? The reddish light slowly diminishes once the flame icon stop glowing. What the fuck was that? I mean I know what it was but Trio almighty that scared me a bit here. And the results are in, I have eaten a fifth of my coolant for a single seared brick. Mewtwo is a bit farther away from me than before and I cannot really blame him. Unable to get away from my left arm, I had to endure the heat, and it was quite a lot of it. I take out one of the water gourds the villagers gave us, and take a swing, topping back my coolant. So, what did we learn? That your arm operations might be a bit more ''real'' than we both gave it credit for? Yeah... that... Also coolant has a bit more use than just keeping my body from overheating. Although that much I could have guessed. Also, seared brick. I have one, and I need... I look up the recipe we had narrowed as a possible portable smeltery or part of it at least. Sure enough, I need five seared bricks to make the thing, as well as yet another unknown block that... Hold on a second. "Mewtwo, did we unlock some sort of upgrades for the recipes?" I ask the him, pointing at the fact we can traverse from recipes to recipes quite easily now. Not that I know of... How did we not catch that? Maybe a deliberate act? Or we were just too happy for the inconvenience to be gone to notice it? For some reason or other... Wait. I open my main menue screen and look through it. And I catch it. Something changed, a lot of things changed actually. The screen itself remains the same, however a tiny mention has changed. I clearly remember the version being labeled as 3 point something. It is now labelled the version 4.001b. Did it update after my coma? What else changed then? Mewtwo and I immediately dive into the submenues and secondary windows. The quests are the same, the rewards too, nothing new to claim. There is more information into the different submenues under the ''exploration & survival'' list. The biggest difference come from the tutorials, there is now a massive list of them. No longer is it a list of question marks, some are simply inaccessible with little lock before them, but just the name could steer us toward unlocking them. Was that what they meant by taking a more active role? It seems they want us to succeed in the end. Even if it is merely for their own selfish reasons. Yeah... Well if that can help us survive, we might as well play along. We will survive and make that dumb marble the quests supposedly lead to. But for now, we need that portable smeltery. I touch the mystery block and am rewarded by more seared brick requirement. Fuck... Clay might be the limiting factor here. A growl has us both sigh as a single zombie turns up from the other side of the tunnel we are in. I get my sword out as Mewtwo restrains it. A couple of slices later and the zombie falls down. We both get a small bit of experience and I quickly spend mine to boost my coolant efficiency. That little perk has become quite vital now, even more than power or my own strengths. A nice six and a half percent boost now. I wonder how that will translate in action. And I might see it faster than I think. The new block I am missing is made of a combination of four seared bricks and yet another new, seemingly transparent block, which is made by cooking sand in a furnace. I sigh and get to crafting. I have enough stones to create the necessary grout from sand and gravel, and soon enough I have eight more pieces of grout ready to be cooked, making it a total of nine. Four to join the already cooked brick and four more to create the mix of cooked sand as seared bricks. And one left over... "I''m going to light up again." I warn Mewtwo, and this time he comes closer instead. He takes the ignis crystal in his hand, his three fingers closing around the red crystal, and put his other one on my arm. Ready. he answers. I look at him in worry and curiosity? Ready for what? You literally radiates heat, I am going to try and channel it. I look at him in almost bewilderment. "Don''t burn yourself, we have no way to heal that." He nods and I put the grout into the cooking slot, as well as another piece of coal into the fuel slot. My arm heat up once more, and I look at the speed at which my coolant disappears. It is slower. Far slower than a mere four percent increase should give. I had felt something wrong with these upgrades, but now I have actual concrete proof. I was at 2.5% before dumping forty experience point into the upgrade, and I lost two entire squares of coolant from a piece of coal being consumed. Now, as the grout cooks, I can already see I will consume far less. Maybe a full square and a fourth of a second one? This does not checks out. Not at all. Also, I discovered something else. I can put entire piles of items into the cooking slot. It is not a piece of coal for one operation. Those nine pieces of grout? Yeah one piece of coal was enough for eight of them. Now to cook the sand. Five of them. I will have some residual heat... Wonder if I could use it in any ways... Mewtwo still has his hand on my left arm, and his face is scrunched in deep concentration. His large eyes are held close and twitch from time to time. I let him, his hand is a bit more colored than normal, but I do not think this is a burn. At least I hope so.
He can feel it. The heat, the path of fire. Heat and fire, a single path that lead to mastery of flames. As he concentrates, he can feel both his hands heating up. At first he worries, should he remove his hand from Astra''s arm? Yet that worry is dashed as he feels his friend''s arm cool off. He is done using heat. And with the cool sensation, the heat in both his palms become that much noticeable. He pushes toward it, and he feels the path open. There is... no limit there. He can feel the energy of the crystal in his hand answer his will. He let it go, he knows what he is looking for now. As the Ignis crystal joins the other two behind him, he let go of Astra''s arm and float a bit away. When he opens his eyes, he is treated to an incredible sight. Both his hands are surrounded by an orange-red glow. He can feel the heat radiating from them, the physical sensation surreal. He knows the heat should be melting his skin, yet he knows it will not. He is the one emanating the heat. He controls it. He approaches the closest wall and touches it. At first, nothing much happens, but soon the rock beneath his hand start to glow. Then slowly, it turns soft and little rivulet of molten material start to flow along. Mewtwo jumps back at the result, a single drop of the liquefied rock would have left an actual burn upon him. Yet with this single action, he can also feel something else. Another path, similar to the path of stone, yet different, a more grounded path. He blinks as the heat bleeds off his hand, the glow lowering before fully disappearing. He... He checks the quest. He has done it. He has unlocked one of the paths the trio was hinting at. He even has a new move listed on his own menue screen: Fire punch. The path of fire is now unlocked. And with it, a stark realization. His paths, those he already have access to, are locked. Not fully, but branches of them are unattainable for some reasons. The path of fire, he can see how far he can take it... more or less. But the path of the mind, he can almost feel the moment his thoughs just stop. Just like with the Psycho cut, the blade of the mind. He could feel the path, but it constantly eluded him, until Astra returned, and gifted him with more experience. Mewtwo blinks. Experience, levels. Is that? The realization hits him like a truck. It is an absolute confirmation to his earlier assumption. He is not growing with each levels, he is merely reclaiming what has always been there. But then what about this new path? Why is it almost free of restraints? Why does he feels another path from it, a path that also feels free of restraints? What does it all mean? And more importantly? Is Astra the same? Mewtwo caught upon Astra''s earlier realization about his own upgrades not working in a linear fashion. Maybe there are more informations somewhere? This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. As Astra sigh for the umpteenth time at yet another contraption to build, Mewtwo opens the tutorial section once more. Every single ones are now titled. Some are still locked, clearly to be unlocked at a later time, but it is deep within the lower ones that he finds it. Just as Astra gets two cubic contraption on top of each others, Mewtwo nudges him.
I have now... a portable smeltery. Or at least both main parts? I hope. The moment I created the upper part, the melter, I got a little notification about a little tutorial. Said tutorial leads me to realize I would need a couple more items to complete the portable smeltery structure. For it is an assembly of multiple things. The melter goes on top of a seared heater, which made by surrounding a furnace with eight seared bricks. My water supplies will not last at this rate. But of course, this is not over yet. Because I also need two faucets, which are six more seared bricks, a casting table, seven more seared bricks, and a casting basin, ANOTHER SEVEN SEARED BRICKS! I am going to sweat bullets by the end of all that crafting. I have already completed the melter and seared heater. The moment I take them out, I can only whistle at the size of the things. The seared heater is a cube of black bricks, a meter tall, with a gaping opening on one side. I assume I will put fuel there. The melter is as large as the seared heater, it looks like a large square plate made of black bricks, topped by a graduated glass cover. Together, the ensemble is taller than me, and Mewtwo would barely stay above it. But... Here it is. Also, the glass? Turns out you can cook sand into glass. Don''t ask me how, crushing stone into gravel and then into sand and then cooking said sand makes almost perfectly clear glass, I have not the slightest of clue. I am about to go into the next part of the smeltery when Mewtwo interrupts me. Him being so close to me confirms my thoughts, Mewtwo is a tall one. I knew that already, but using the partly assembled smeltery I can confirm, Mewtwo is above two meters. You are a tall one mister upright psychic cat. Also your tail is as long as your body... funny... eheh... And you are starting to get delirious mister dehydrated human machine. Mewtwo answers back with a chuckle. I am not mind you, I still have a good... Oh... Okay maybe I am starting to heat up a little... Another swing of a water pouch, and I can fill my mind stop swinging left and right. I forgot to refill the coolant tank. Good to know I start to ramble and spout nonsense the moment I reach two and a half square left. Anyway, yes Mewtwo, what is the matter? You need to read this. I blink as he opens one of the tutorials, one that was buried deep beneath dozens of others.
An apology from your sponsors. Greetings young ones, if you are reading this, it means the situation has escalated faster than we expected. Your experience here was meant to be hard, harsh and challenging, that much we will not hide. However the presence of this text means the other side decided to make it impossible, or at least close enough to impossible for us to act further. We are sure the both of you are starting to see some discrepancies between what the system tells you and what results you experience. There are reasons for this, reasons we cannot explain and that are not important to you in the short term. Your theories might be closer to the truth than you think. However, what we can assure you is that your growth will be exponential, at first. This new version of our system you now possess has a lot of new features and guides to help you overcome the impossible odds arrayed against you. Explore them at your leisure. Be mindful not to forget them or lose too much time experimenting with them. Time, after all, is fleeting for you both. Even this letter is a danger in that respect. This will be the last free gift from us, any more will have to be earned, that is what the trials will be for. Grow fast, and prove all wrong Knowledge, Hunt and Chaos. PS: you both got guts kids, keep going, don''t be discouraged by small road blocks, or even big ones. -:]
We stare at the letter, for there is no better descriptor here. The Trio has given us an apology letter. It sheds lights, but also brings more question to the forefront. Who are they? Why are they helping us? They supposedly brought us here, made me from a man''s dying soul, brought Mewtwo along. Is this really only for a bet? To see if they can make something that could overcome the god of this world? Neither Mewtwo nor I have answers. The warnings, however, are clear. The praetor was dangerous, and it will not grow easier from here on out. Only harder. Mewtwo breaks the silence first. This changes nothing. "It indeed does not." I agree out loud. We keep going? He asks with a determined look. "We keep going." I answer back. My own face radiates determination. We will keep going. The Trio seems to be somewhat caring of us, and we will make sure to use that as much as we can. Mewtwo turns around and returns to his meditation, and I return to my crafting. I quickly assemble another load of grout and fire my internal furnace. I care not for the heat. It will be temporary and water should not be that hard to find. I quickly assemble the last components and hear the quest completing. The final contraption is... imposing somewhat. The two meter high combination of the melter and the seared heater is now flanked with a one meter square black table made of stone, and a one meter high cubic basin made of the same material. Two faucets poke just beneath the start of the glass dome of the melter. The fact that notches are already present on each sides of the melter made their installation that much easier. I can even control when they will flow and when they will not, but there also seems to be little links in both table and basin that also link to the flow gates. That should stop the flow automatically once they are full. The entire contraption is quite advanced all in all. Also, *ding* goes the quest. I have the portable smeltery assembled. And... That''s three more percent in the coolant category. And the next quest... Oh... Oh I see now.
Duplicator 10000 (the first) Remember when we asked to hold on the tool upgrading? Yeah, that''s why. Obtain ''iron ingot'': 0/20 Rewards: 30xp; 5 Exp. Candy XS.
As I read the new quest, I am already looking for recipe for the iron ingot. The one through the smeltery makes me understand quite fast why they asked me to hold off just using my furnace chip. It will be more work, but I can get more iron out of my iron by using the portable smeltery. One and a half time more. As Mewtwo seems to be experimenting with something else, I take out an iron ore block out of my inventory and put it into the smeltery. I then add coal into the seared heater and watch as nothing happen. What? Why? Does it... does it need to be lit up? Uh... How do... You have to be kidding me. They really though of everything did they not? I turn toward Mewtwo, just in time to see him make the earth glow and spit molten and heated rocks up. It is messy, weird looking, but it seems to work. "What was that?" I ask, impressed. It looked like the start of a tiny volcano The start to another path I seem to be able to unlock. My experiments with fire revealed it. Although I have not started its mastery yet. He answers, a bit of pride there for figuring out something ahead of the Trio''s guidance. "That''s awesome. What do you think the whole path will be?" Possibly mastery of the ground? Or something similar, it feels close to the path of stone, yet quite similar in some aspect. I will need to experiment more. It feels it could be quite destructive. But did you need something? "Yeah I can see that, and yeah, want to try your path of fire one something non destructive?" Oh that could be interesting. Need me to light something on fire? "Just the coal in the heater." I say, pointing at the still unlit heater. He nods and we both return to the small smeltery. Mewtwo''s hand light up in an orange-red glow and he shoves his hand into the heater. At first, nothing much happen, and I can feel Mewtwo cranking up his heat output. The coals finally catch fire, and then fuels itself. "Wow... you are really starting to have an insane repertoire." And it''s not even the end of it is it? Mewtwo scratches the back of his hand in embarrassement, looking away from me. "What, it''s true, you are starting to have a lot of possibilities to yourself, more than me right now anyway." I add quietly. That remarks snaps him out of his embarrassement. We have different use, you and I. We both have something to give. Stop deprecating yourself. He commands, and I can feel almost pressured to answer him. You really are growing. I sigh... he is right in the end. It feels like we are always circling back to this issue. He keeps growing stronger with each days, and I seem to barely catch up to him. We sit in silence before the portable smeltery. The Iron ore slowly melt, and I add more as space is made. This... this is nice somewhat. Wish it could last... I know it won''t. Chapter 21: Smelt and hunt As both Mewtwo and I sit before the portable smeltery, the iron within slowly liquefies. The process is slow, yet the burning coals provide enough heat in the end to finish the process. Soon enough, a glowing orange-reddish paste settles within the melter. I get up and checks it, looking at the notches along the glass. The little ingot symbol seems to indicate he has smelted the equivalent of one and a half ingot. The tutorial did not lie. The recipe from the furnace would have only given a single ingot, the melter can purify more of the ore, allowing a higher yield from the same source. There is also a darker liquid floating above the melted iron. The WAYLA system names it seared stone. It appears to be stone residues from the ore block. That is interesting... Although right now it might be a waste. No... Hold on... As I look through my recipes, I find out something interesting. I can convert stone into seared stone by simply putting it into the melter. This would allow for easier creation of seared brick, the melted seared stone can be either cast into bricks or blocks. Right now I have about half an ingot of seared brick from a single iron ore. A sound distract me from my observations. A quiet shuffle of feet, one I barely hear. I turn around just in time, right behind me, standing so close I can discern the tiniest of details, is a tall creature made of stone, with a carved crying face on its head. Its stone body barely make a sound as it continues to close on me. It has no arms, only four legs. "Wha-" Before I can go further, a stab of absolute terror flashes through my mind. Aster''s memories scream at me. It had been some time since the last echo, and it startles me more than anything. What it does however, is get Mewtwo''s attention. He had gone back to pursuing new paths, and the terror screaming inside my head is enough to make him look toward me. On reflex, he grabs the monster and shoves it away. He does so the exact moment light starts to appear beneath the stony exterior of the creature. The light vanishes as the monster gets farther, and extinguishes once it is far enough. The monster is labeled as a ''cave creeper''. Wait there are variants? Let''s check later, we need to get rid of it. Especially if it goes like the first we met. OH FUCK NO! "We are getting him as far from the smeltery as possible, I DO not want to learn how the liquids will react." It''s either a complete loss of an unsalvageable mess, i.e. a loss too. Mewtwo grabs the weirdly shaped beast once more and I rush it with my sword. I strike, but my sword simply bounces back, leaving only a chip on the monster''s stone body. The light return and I quickly step back. After only a couple of steps, the light once more vanishes and the monster struggles against Mewtwo''s grip. After some effort, he actually manages to break itself free and makes another beeline for me. Okay... This thing is not too dangerous... keep your distance and it should not be too much of an issue,. However, I am curious now. I keep moving backward, until I pass Mewtwo. "Don''t move, I want to make sure of something." If this is to see if I will trigger a reaction or not, I can already tell you I won''t. I have seen pokemons perch themselves on one of those. The monsters ignore pokemons fully for some reasons. You saw it with the spider. "Let''s confirm it really completely ignores you. Try cutting it as it passes." I keep moving until I am against the farthest wall of our little alcove. The creeper passes by Mewtwo, only acknowledging his presence by going around him. Mewtwo slaps the stone monster as it passes, but is still fully ignored. He follow, slapping harder this time, and still the monster ignores him. After one last slap, the monster collapses. Its body crumbles apart and soon, only a grey dust remains. At first I think it is simply stone dust, but a closer inspection reveals that to not be the case. It is the remains of the cave creeper, and I can loot them. As I do so, I obtain a powder similar to the monster remains. Hold on... What?? I have just obtained gunpowder. I blink. And immediately look to the possible recipes. I can see bullet shaped things... OHOHOHOH. This could be useful. I also see conversions and one recipe that asks for only sand and gunpowder. Multiple actually. Wonder what these will be... My giddiness has Mewtwo look into what I have discovered and he laugh. Finally, something that will make you equal to me. He mocks. I laugh alongside him. Yep. He may be mocking what I know those items can do, but that still cements it. I can also grow stronger. I just need the materials. And then... and then... Nothing will stop us anymore. Mewtwo slaps the back of my head. "Ack- What was that for??" Please do not decide that exterminating our enemies is the only way forward. Your ''guns'' as you seem to imagine them might have a hard time penetrating armor, or even just hurting certain pokemons. Mewtwo chides me. I blink, then sigh. He''s right. The prospect of firearm seems to have given my imagination quite a dark turn. Enough about that then. I do not have any of the necessary materials on me right now anyway. What I do have, is a functional portable smeltery filled with liquefied iron. Also a guide to use it... unsurprisingly, the guide is electronic in nature. It was indicated as a tutorial section after all. However, it is easier to navigate than the normal tutorials. It has a large selection of materials as well as their properties. There is also an explanation on how to assemble a full smeltery. It is, all in all, quite comprehensive and extensive. "Mewtwo, can you stand guard for a few minutes? I need to study this." I ask him as I point a the opened ''Material and you'' guide window. Mewtwo looks at the guide and nods. Not a problem, this seems to be quite extensive.
Mewtwo lets Astra go over his new guide. He also skims a bit through it, curious, but quickly dismisses it. It could be useful for him to learn how to use the smelteries, but not right now. Personally, Mewtwo feels close to unlocking a new path. He can feel his powers slowly attune to the soil and the ground, he can feel his influence spreading through it. He keeps his eyes open even as he concentrates. The sight makes it all harder, yet he still wishes to keep Astra safe. And with the monsters being undetectable with his mind, sight, smell and sound are the only options left. Suddenly he feels it. He eyes dilate as he realizes what he had been missing. To this point, he had brute-forced the attempts with his own, more innate path. But now he can see that this was the problem all along. With a calm breath, he focuses his mind and tap only into the energies of the ground. At first they barely move, but slowly, his will worms itself within the energies currents. Not as a psychic will, but as the will of the ground. He is the ground, and the ground is his to command. A few meters away, the ground starts to bubble, golden energy slowly seeps through cracks, and suddenly, it explodes. From the epicenter rises plumes of half-molten rock and rays of golden light. He has done it! He can feel the path open fully, and with it an immediate realization He turns toward Astra with a mischievous smile. The cyborg has not noticed his success, too engrossed into reading his guide. His smile growing wide, Mewtwo acts. At first not much happens, the ground beneath Astra seems to ripple slightly. Astra does not even realize it. The follow-up is simple, Astra sinks to his waist in the ground. With his new path, Mewtwo has just created a small sink hole, bulldozing the ground under him to the sides. If one were to look closely, they would see where some of the walls now bulge with added materials. Astra at first panic, "Wha- what the?" But then, Mewtwo''s laughter gets his attention. The strange electronic chuckles shedding quick light on what has just happened. "HEY!" Still laughing, Mewtwo approaches Astra and offers him a hand. Astra takes it, his expression now blank. Mewtwo smiles as he pulls Astra out of the hole. Or at least tries to, only remembering too late how heavy Astra really is. His efforts are rewarded by a mocking smile as Astra pulls on Mewtwo''s arm as well. Mewtwo, taken by surprise, fall forward on top of Astra, and then slide straight into the hole face first. His tail impact Astra''s head as the large upright cat pokemon flails in his fall. Mewtwo barely has the time to think of floating to stop himself before his face touches the ground. He let out a muffled ouch as his belly scrapes along Astra''s mechanical spine. Quite a good thing he fell behind Astra, the front would have been a bit more dangerous. Astra lets out a gasp as Mewtwo''s fall slams his stomach into the side of the hole. For a second, neither of the man or the mon move, too stunned by the situation. Then Astra breaks the silence. "Well... good job, now what?" He asks, pushing Mewtwo''s long tail and his own hair out of his face. Mewtwo rubs his snout, having fallen straight on it. Well, give me a second to level the ground again, and then we should be good. As he declares so, the ground slowly rises, and soon enough, Mewtwo flops down behind Astra, and Astra fumbles backward when Mewtwo''s weight removes itself. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "I see you have mastered a new path?" Yep. Mewtwo beams at Astra''s remark. Astra looks down upon Mewtwo, still splayed on the ground. A little bruise can be seen forming on his snout, and superficial scratches now adorns his purple stomach and part of his upper torso. "Seriously..." Astra shakes his head as he laughs a bit more. You have to admit it was an interesting application. "... Let''s... call it that..." Astra eyes narrow, before his smile turns wider. "Good call remembering how heavy I am eh?" They both laugh together once more. "All right, all right. I need to return to the smeltery, I have found most of what I need to do." Astra declares as he returns to the black stone construct. Mewtwo nods. They both needed that distraction. He can feel Astra''s mind more eager to continue now. Not that it had not been earlier, but part of it were getting down quite a strange path. the world may be dangerous, but that does not mean fun is out of the equation. And, as he looks withing himself, he realizes that fun is quite important. For both of them.
Trio''s damn it Mewtwo. A prank? Really? that seemed so unlike him, yet... what do we really know of each other? We have barely known each other for a week at best. I snort, still that was needed. A bit of levity does help with our current situation somehow. Now if I have really understood the guide, I just need to pour sand into the casting table, then create a part I wish to cast, put it into the sand, remove it and then let the material flow down. The sand cast created will not survive, but I will get the part I imprinted. Once I find it, I can make golden casts to allow for easier casting. Right now I will have to make a lot of sand. Thank god for the hammer. I put another three iron ore blocks in the melter and let them melt. Meanwhile, I prepare about a dozen sand casting molds. I have a lot of casting to do. They appear as sheets of sand in my inventory. I place the first one on the casting table and then imprint a wood pickaxe head on it. The crescent shape left behind is a bit rough, but should be good enough, if the guide is to be believed. Then again my inventory will smooth the kinks out will it not? After a minute or so, the iron has melted, I now have enough to cast the pickaxe head. I open the drain and let the molten iron pour into the sand mold. The glowing orange liquid flow languidly until the unseen mechanism of the table automatically cut the flow. The orange slowly cools and soon a silver crescent is left on the table. The sand is... partially melted, and once I grab the iron pickaxe head, most of it comes with it. A quick brush removes it all and I am left with a surprisingly well made pickaxe head. I waste no time in switching the head from my current pickaxe. To do so I open my tool station tab and put my current pickaxe in the center slot of the tab. If I select no tools to assemble, the tool station tab present itself as six slots. One central one with five arranged in a star pattern around the central one. I then place the new head in one of the five surrounding slots, after a bit of experimenting I find out it does not matter which one and obtain both an iron pickaxe and a stone pickaxe head. *ding* goes the quest completion. "Mewtwo" I call out as I throw him the two candies XS. He catches them with his psychic powers and gobbles them. While I cast what remains in the melter into ingots, I assign more points into the reflex upgrade. If the growth is as I expect, the faster I give myself percents everywhere, the faster I will grow at first. The letter from the Trio seemed to confirm that assumption. Once the melter is empty, I start to dismantle the smeltery and check the new quest. And I am... not surprised at the first, but absolutely surprised at the other two.
ALL THE CASTING MOLDS If you read the material and you tutorial, you must not be surprised. Craft a ''gold rod casting mold'': 0/1 Craft a ''gold biding casting mold'': 0/1 ---------------[+]----------------- Rewards: 80xp; 2 Exp. Candy S
The list goes on and on, at least two dozens of different parts. There are weapon parts, tools parts, armor parts. So many parts... However, this quest was expected. Now the next two? Less so.
Magic time! Wanna see a magic trick? We only ever saw some of the mortals here use the properties of these flowers. Acquire any ''Mystical flowers'': 0/10 Rewards: 20xp; 3 Exp. Candy XS
Need some space? The most limiting factor of your adventure (at first). Space. The current solution is crude, but will be efficient for some time. Careful not to loose it though. Craft a ''wooden backpack chip'': 0/1 Rewards: 20xp; 3 Exp. Candy XS
Each quest are absolutely needed at the moment, if only for the experience. However, the magic one seems to be the main path I need to go with to advance further into the quest line. The other two seem to be optional quests. All right, we are going back out... Wait, what do I need to make the wooden backpack chip? Oh. Err... We are not immediately going back out. I need more strings. We are going hunting, and if I find gold along the way, all the better. I fully dismantle the portable smeltery and realize... I am full. Okay we need to find more strings. "Mewtwo, we are moving out." I declare. "Time to hunt some monsters." He blinks at me in confusion. But then I see understanding light his eyes, and a feral grin stretchs across his face. Now that will be fun. He clearly enjoys the chance to test his new paths against live targets. I nod and check our food reserves. At the rate we consume them, we should be good for some time still. We set off once more into the cave, leaving torches behind us, mining some ores I already have within my inventory, and of course, hunting any monsters we find. In a deepslate lined cave, we find and execute two zombies, as we enter a large chamber, we are met by another cave creeper as well as a couple of skeletons. I bait the creeper while Mewtwo dispatches of the skeletons. Then we both team up to kill the creeper. He holds it, I strike it. As much as it would be faster for Mewtwo to kill every single monsters, we both get experience if we work together. As we continue our exploration, we stumble into more vis crystals. We gather some more, as they might be useful in the long run and Mewtwo is clearly fascinated by them. After maybe an hour or two, or more of exploration, we finally find our main quarry. Within another large chamber, with spaced out columns is a spider. No wait, two... uh... Okay a small swarm... hum... More than we can chew you think? "It will be tricky." I get my sword out and plant the torch I had been holding. I will need both my hands to deal with this situation. The spiders screeches and charge. The tip tap of dozens of feet echo all around the cave as they rush us. I go first, and swat the leading one. I then kick another before it can reach me. A third is stopped by Mewtwo and quickly sent careening into nearby wall. The fourth and fifth I manage to fend with sword and kicks. The sixth I somehow instantaneously kill. My sword caught the monster in the space between its head and thorax, and I instantly decapitate it. The seventh is skewered by Mewtwo, also dying instantly. Then the ones we fended off return. The first one is once again first. I parry its legs as much as I can. A few leave little gashes in my skin, but nothing major. As it tries to jump on me, I dodge beneath it. My sword finally pierces its chitin, plunging deep into its abdomen. I apply a bit more strength and section it in two. Hot ichor and insect flesh cover me as the spider falls behind me, unmoving. Four more to go. Correction, three more to go. One is slowly cooking in Mewtwo''s hands. The fourth and fifth rush me together again, and I am barely able to follow the tangle of fangs and pointy legs trying to skewer me. Mewtwo finishes the third with an explosion from the ground, reducing the spider into paste and then turns to help me. On of the spider is immediately yanked away from me. With the acquired breathing room, I start fighting more easily against the third spider. I deflect a leg, then smash its head with my left hand, and finally plunge my sword straight through the spider''s head. And I fall back, breathing heavy. Mewtwo is also done. Seven spiders, we have defeated them. I check my energy reserves and wince. Yeah... half of it is gone. Coolant has also taken a bit of a beating. Mewtwo is also looking a bit tired now. I get out two sandwich and some berries and passes half to him. He thanks me, and we both scarf our meal down in record time. "We did it." I sigh contently after finishing my last bite. That was a bit harder than we expected, but we did do it. He grunts back. I get up and quickly gather the loot from the spiders. Backpack here I come. The experience the fights netted us has already been invested on my part. I boosted my generator efficiency and coolant once more. The only 1xp priced stat lagging behind now is the repair efficiency. As I gather the spider drops, a sound echoes around the cave, and I freeze. Bells. I am hearing bells. Astra? Mewtwo notices my sudden stop. The chanting comes soon after. It is the same. I start to shiver. I cannot talk. I... ASTRA! Mewtwo''s thoughs are filled with reassurance as well as worry. It snaps me out of the spiral of horror. "Mewtwo! A raid is coming." I gasp. The cave is suddenly bathed in an eerie reddish glow as a portal opens in its center. Chapter 22: The dimensional hunter The flaming portal opens in the center of the cave. The same background of a dark stone building is once more visible beyond it, with pillars reaching toward an unseen ceiling and now pews of dark wood. The same purple-red glow filters through the stained glass windows bordering the farthest wall. And now, five hooded human looking figures stand on the other side. Muttering in an unknowns language comes from within their hood, the sound barely audible above the crackle of the portal. None seem to move, none seem to try and exit the portal. Mewtwo and I ready ourselves for whatever comes. I have my sword out, and Mewtwo is ready to unleash any of his moves on our foe. Whatever Eziakophael sends our way, we will be ready. At least I hope we will. The muttering continues. The voices growing louder and louder, the meaning behind the words still unknown. Mewtwo notices it first. I notice it a second later. A hand. A hand has just grabbed the edge of the portal. Then a second one grabs the other side, and suddenly, a tall lanky humanoid pushes itself from thin air. It appears as if he is not exiting the portal itself but the space between the portal and our current location. Both Mewtwo and I take a step back. This is not another praetor, this might either be a stronger foe, or a different sort of danger. The WAYLA system calls it ''Dimensional Hunter''. The humanoid is now fully out, and its appearance is... disturbing. The monster is hunched back, yet I can tell he would be far taller than Mewtwo, easily so. The entire body seems to be only white-grey skin on bones, no muscle are visible. It stands on two legs with long feet. One of its arm is on the floor, maybe helping it balance itself, wicked long and sharp nails leaving little trenches on the rocky floor. Its other arm is just beneath the creature''s head as it behold us, a cruel smile filled with crooked teeth splitting the center of the creature''s eyeless face. Before we can fully take the appearance of our foe, two other creatures appear at the sides of the hunter. The creatures ressemble dogs. quadrupedal and growling, the have the same grey skin on bone build as the hunter. Neither have eyes on their faces, but their maws seem to extend to half of their bodies. Their clawed paws leave sharp indentations on the ground beneath them. They are named ''Dimensional Hounds''. The hunter points with a clawed finger, and the hounds howl before jumping and disappearing into thin air. Mewtwo and I recoil, ready to intercept whatever attack may come our way. I get my sword up, and Mewtwo''s hands start to glow a bright red-orange. And nothing happens. The hunter''s smile grows wider and, as the portal closes, he steps aside, disappearing as if going behind a wall. The reddish light disappear, and we are left in the semi-darkness of the cave, only my closest torch, some meter behind us at the entrance of the room provides any light. A second passes, then another, and another, and still nothing. What is happening? What are they waiting for? It is as if they are gone. Neither Mewtwo nor I move, too afraid to somehow become separated. Instead we move back to back, both of us scanning the entire room. I am the first one to spot something. I see one of the hound slowly prance from behind a stalagmite to another, its eyeless head staring straight at me. The flesh of the creature ripples along its bones as it moves. It stops for a second, and then it is gone behind another stalagmite. I scan said stalagmite, trying to catch the moment it will exit from any side, but it never reappears. Without any warning, Mewtwo suddenly pushes me on the ground. Above! He sends into my mind. From above! Of course! But I have little time to slap myself for such a slip up. The hunter drops from above us. Mewtwo pushed me far enough, but he himself does not have enough time to move away. The hunter''s arm shoot out and stabs Mewtwo, its range surprising us both. The claws penetrates the psychic mon in his tight as he tries to fly away. I try to get up, but a faint growling sound makes me roll aside instead. One of the hounds lands where I had just been, I barely avoided being skewered by its claws. I quickly get back up and slash down on the monster. My blade finds purchase, but barely leave a wound. Shit! This makes things harder. I should have put more xp in strength, or made a iron blade along with the pickaxe. The hound turns impossibly fast, almost looking as if it folds on itself to face me, and jumps, its entire maw opening into a dark void. An idea traverses my head in the second before the beast lands its strike. A stupid idea, a very stupid and dangerous idea that reminds me of crocodiles and alligators for some reason. The beast falls upon me and I switch my sword from my left to my right hand. With my left, I grab the upper part of the hound maw, feeling its teeth shatter against my metal hand, and with a quick thrust of my foot, I pin the lower part on the ground. The hound whimpers as it is slammed on the ground, and I almost fall back from the monster''s momentum. I feel like that should not have worked. BUT HOLY FUCK IT DID WORK ANYWAY! With the beast now pinned and its front legs scrapping against my weight on the lower part of its maw, I strike, or at least try to. My sword thrust into the beast mouth, and finds nothing. It just goes for deeper than should be possible. What? How? A large dump of information suddenly makes itself known, and I almost release the hound under its weight. Thanks unlocking memories, but earlier would have been nicer. I parse quickly what I have just learned. Both the dimensional hounds and hunter are predators hunting between dimensional planes. When they find their preys, they either skewer them or devour them. Their mouth and maws open into a dimension that no creatures can survive, not even them. Shit! Change of plans. I can feel my body heating up in response to the effort in keeping that monster grounded as well as its maw from snapping shut. My sword is useless, I have no other weapons. What to do now? Wait... I have another weapon. Two of them actually. I flex my tows, their talon ends scraping against the monster''s needle teeth. Some of those are actually missing now. They did not penetrate the sole of my metal feet either. Okay, new plan. I let go of the upper part of the hound maw, and it slams like a bear trap on my foot. I wince as pain actually races from it, but nothing too crippling, I hope. Before the hound can move, I slam my other foot upon its head, earning a high pitched yelp for my efforts. I slam my foot again, this time sideways, my talons penetrating deep in the monster''s flesh just behind the creature''s collar. I slam it one last time on one of its front legs, earning a sound akin to crushing glass. The hound finally release my foot and jump away from me, clearly done with taking punishment from me. It holds one of its front paw off the ground, and one of its side is a mangled mess of flesh and dark liquid. Then it steps back and disappear. Shit! Dimension twist. They can hide between nothing. I turn to Mewtwo and am stunned by what I behold. My friend has both fared better and worse than me. Mewtwo is on one knee, burn marks litter his body where he hastily cauterized wounds with his own powers. The hunter is unmarred, his smile, still here. The second hound is circling Mewtwo, red blood decorates its teeth and claws. Yet it also sports a lot of injuries itself. Part of its flesh is blackened, it moves jerkily, as if some bones are either misplaced or fractured, yet it still stands. The hunter''s attention switches to me for a second and the smile falters ever so slightly. Good. A low hiss escapes the humanoid and the hound circling Mewtwo jumps at him. A purple psychic blade shoots out of Mewtwo''s three fingered hand and he barely avoid the monster''s claw, earning another set of gashes on his side. His retaliatory strike however, sections one of the hound hind leg. The monster fails its landing, the sudden missing leg messing its balance. Mewtwo wastes no time, with a snarl and eyes glowing white, he immobilizes the hound in a psychic hold and jumps on it. His left hand glows orange while his right finishes in a purple blade. The smell of cooking meat fills the cave chamber as Mewtwo''s fiery hand chars the monster. He start stabbing it, and the hunter prepares to move. I notice it and move in as well. With greater speed than ever before, I slam into the hunter. "NO YOU DON''T!!" I scream as we collide. We both collapse on the floor and I get back up first. The hunter''s smile is actually gone now. Fully gone. It is replaced with a snarl instead. Another hiss, and something slams on my side. The hound I fought. Its maw closes on my right arm and snaps shut. I scream, in pain this time. I can feel the needle teeth dig into my flesh. Yet through the pain I persevere. I aim my left hand flat and strike down, finger first. Their pointed hands penetrate the hound''s flesh, and with a yelp, it lets go of my arm. The sight is gruesome. My arm is mangled and I can no longer move it. The tattoo that once decorated it is savaged, and I can see the gleam of metal on the deepest gashes. Shit. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The hound is breathing heavy now, more liquid drips from its new wound. The only silver lining in this entire situation is that they do not seem to heal. A cold sensation suddenly spread within my chest. I look down and see five thin claws poking from it. I get my head backward and come face to face with the hunter. The snarl is deeper now, its crooked teeth part and the same void from within the hounds is revealed. Before I can move, its head moves to bite mine off. Void suddenly fill my vision. It is not darkness, nor blackness. It is nothingness. Such nothingness that my mind starts to conjure impossible shapes and non-existent light almost instantly. Before I can dwell too long on what is happening, reality returns. And I am once more in the cave. I drop down as the hunter''s claws are removed from my chest, and a guttural electronic-sounding roar fills the chamber. I cough oily liquid from my throat. I quickly look around, trying to take stock of the situation. The hound Mewtwo had pinned on the ground is dying. Multiple stab wounds decorates it charred body. It still moves but it is out of the fight. The one I have fought has once more vanished. Mewtwo is on the back of the hunter, trying to stab and contain the tall monster. He must have pulled the hunter''s head back. I get back on my feet, I feel hot, my entire body feels like it is burning, my vision is swimming slightly. I am reaching my coolant limits. I take out one of our remaining gourd of water and down it. The heat immediately lowers significantly, but not as much as I expected. I rush the hunter, only to stop and throw myself on the ground. the remaining dimensional hound sails above me and I snag one of its hind legs in passing, stopping it from running away again. With the hound once more on the ground, I get back up and slam my foot lower part of its back. The same sound of breaking glass echoes in the cave and the lower part of the hound stops moving. I jump on top of it, slamming both foot straight in the middle of the hound''s body. The entire beast ruptures and dark flesh and fluid spray from the monster. An achievement notification pops up, but I dismiss it without reading it. Now is not the time. A high pitched howl snaps me from my victory and Mewtwo slams on the ground next to me. The hunter may have no eyes, but the rictus decorating its featureless face speaks of fury and hatred. We have just killed one of its pet and the second is at death''s door and unable to assit him. Yet we are far from having the upper hand. As Mewtwo gets himself back up, I can see his entire posture is sagging forward, his eyes are lined by dark circles of exhaustion, and even with his wound cauterized, he still lost a great amount of blood. I am also not in that great of a shape either. My right arm is slowly healing, I can no longer see my metallic bones, but it is still an unusable mangled mess. The five holes on my chest are still oozing oil and other fluids, and I can feel my internal heat clawing back up once more. A familiar alert makes me wince. Low power. Shit. How do we kill that thing? Mewtwo''s telepathic message mirrors his state. It is a panting though, barely holding together. "Quickly, because we have little in term of recovery options." I get out one of our remaining Oran berries and passes it to Mewtwo. He wastes no time in gobbling it and then summons two droplets of water. One he immediately ingests and the second he throws into my open, panting mouth. I blink as my heat drops even more than when I drank an entire gourd of water. Do not get too exited, that move is far too draining to keep doing it. I can see he appears even more tired than before, but his wounds are now partly healed. The hunter only watches as we make our preparations, a cruel smirk replacing its rage. It falls on all four and start to stalk toward us. It takes a step, and covers almost all the distance between us. We tense, and it disappears with a second step. Mewtwo suddenly falls forward with cry, five new claw marks mar his back. Where? I turn around, trying to find the monster, but it now appears we are alone within the cave. Mewtwo gets back up, wincing with contained pain. Back to back, once more. He declares. Our back touch and I can feel him softly whimper at my touch. His tail slowly circle us both. Together we scan the room, trying to find any traces, any clue to the monster next appearance. We even look up and down, who knows where he will strike from next. The air flickers between two stalactites above us, but nothing comes of it. Mewtwo spots a shadow moving along the wall. Yet it quickly disappear. Where? A dozen second passes, nothing. We keep ourselves tense, ready to act. The cave is silent, only our breathing echoes along its wall. the torch still light up the dark gray walls with flickering light. And we stand, back to back, ready for an attack that has yet to come. Coldness in my chest is the first clue that the hunter has once more revealed itself. The gasp from Mewtwo confirms he has also been attacked. Once more, claws stick out from my chest, and I can feel pressure as they try to dig down. SHIT! From behind? HOW? There was no space! Space... FUCK. I step forward, wincing as I feel the claws rake against parts within my chest. I stumble out of them. I turn around and there it stands. The sight I am treated to is an impossible one. The space around the hunter seems to collapse into him, as if he is focusing what surrounds him onto itself. How? No, not important. Beyond the distorsion, I can see Mewtwo struggle against the claws. I charge and slam my metallic left fist upon the hunter''s face with all the strength I can muster. Crooked teeth fly off the monster''s head and the distraction is enough for Mewtwo to slide out of the claws. The distorsion disappears and the hunter is once more in our plane of existence. Mewtwo swiftly turns around and slashes down with one of his arm. A stalactite above-head extend and skewer one of the hunter''s legs. I step back as the hunter howls in pain and instantly slices the offending rocky spear. Yet the time it takes him is enough for Mewtwo to gather earthen powers. The ground beneath the hunter erupts. It screams in a deafening high pitched tone and stumbles down. I rush back to the hunter''s side and slam my foot on its side. I am rewarded by a crunch and a swift slash from the hunter. Two claws rake across my face, as I barely avoid the absurd reach of the monster, and In retaliation, I grab the offending arm. An up kick from my foot shatters it, and I am rewarded by another high pitch howl. Mewtwo stabs the hunter in the back and almost separated the monster in twain. The hunter tries to stumble back, but we press our advantage. My left arm slams into on of its remaining good leg, making it stop, and Mewtwo takes a hold of the monster''s head and twist. With a strangled cry, the hunter stops. It falls on the ground, like a puppet whose strings have been cut. We... We have won. I fall on one knee, utterly exhausted, hot and with my vision swimming once more. We have won against our second raid. Two more notification appear, and I summon back the one about the hound.
Achievement got: Doggo from outer space. (Slay a dimensional hound. Fickle beasts these ones. Also AHAH OHOH UHUH that''s a second year raid normally. Fucking asshole.) Reward: 500xp, 4 Exp. candy M
Achievement got: They who hunts between planes. (Slay a dimensional hunter. they only need a target and time. None escape their hunt unscathed. And a third year boss, you handled it quite well actually. Good job.) Reward: 1500xp, 2 Exp. candy L
Achievement got: The second raid. (Survive the second raid. Welcome to the start of your second week boyo!) Reward: 200xp, 1 Exp. candy M
Ho... Holy shit? HOLY SHIT???? I turn toward Mewtwo, just in time to see him crumple on the ground. Chapter 23: Surface rush The situation feels like a reversal of the encounter of the Praetor for Mewtwo. He watches with blurred vision as Astra rushes to his side. He can feel the heat slowly leave his body. Each breaths he takes become harder than the precedent. Astra is at his side now, fretting as to what to do surely. Mewtwo can barely extend his senses toward the cyborg. The little he can feel is panic and fear. Mewtwo closes his eyes. What can he do? What is there to do? He feels too weak to try and summon another life dew. None of the paths he knows have any ways to help him. Although... Is that really true? As his consciousness fades, he looks upon the many paths he can walk. Many seem to be closed, but there are branches that are still accessible. As the last of his consciousness fades, he focuses on the path of purity, and rest.
Mewtwo lies on the ground, blood slowly dripping from his mouth and many wounds. Oh shit! Oh no. Oh nononono! I don''t have magic bullshit to save someone! Fuck! His wounds are so severe too. His entire body is covered in burns and claw marks. He has five holes going through his chest that are still bleeding. Fuck is the blood going into his lungs? Oh this is so bad! What do I do? What can I do? Fuck! Out! I need to get out! I need to get to that magical forest. Maybe that Princess lady can help us. Oh please be able to help us. Wait can I even move him? What will happen if I make his wounds worse? Fuck!! Don''t I have any sort of recipes to make some healing items or something? No? Yes? Before I can fret anymore, Mewtwo closes his eyes. NO! NO NO NO! I quickly open my recipes. There has to be something! anything! I go as quickly as I can through the materials I have. What can I do? This? No it looks more like sheet of fabric more than anything. That? Closer to a smoothie than a useful onguent. I have nothing. FUCK! Wait! Here! an oran berry with six strings seems to give out rolls of bandages. I quickly make it, I can always gather more strings later, and this may be our last oran, but if it saves Mewtwo, better use it now than save it! I quickly craft it and take one out. I got three rolls out of the recipe. As I look it other, yes It is a roll of bluish bandages. The name is "Emergency first aid bandage". I slowly wrap the bandages all over Mewtwo''s injuries, moving him as gently as I can. Doing so lets me realize my big friend is still alive. He still breathe, although slower than normal. I sigh in relief at that realization. Thank the Trio for making him so resilient. After long minutes of painfully slow work. Mewtwo''s pinkish white body and purple tail are now covered in multiple streaks of blue, some already staining with red. I breath out, still tense. Will this be enough? I hope so. I take a quick look at the strange little symbol beneath the name of the bandages. A serie of ten pixel hearts, with the first and second filled red, are displayed beneath. I hope they mean they are healing items. But seeing how most of Mewtwo''s wounds have stopped bleeding, it seems they are, or maybe Mewtwo himself has higher rate of recovery? I really do not know. I rest my head against a close by stalagmite and close my eyes for a minute. There are no sounds in the cave, beyond my rapid breaths and Mewtwo''s slow ones. We have succeeded in our second raid. Barely. Again. I clench my jaws, letting my teeth grind against each others. There is barely any time. No. We took our time. If we had gone straight to the forest, we could have had help. But I decided to try and go spelunking instead. I wasted time, again! And now here we are. Mewtwo is incapacitated, we have gone through almost all our food and water reserves. And we still have some travel time still ahead of us. We need get moving. I decide. It might be a risk, but it is riskier to stay here. I will have to carry Mewtwo out and risk aggravating his injuries, but we need to reach the forest as fast as possible. I quickly assign my newly earned points, a third are dumped in strength. I now have 16% more muscle strength, for what that number is worth. The remaining points I assign first to body reflexes, getting that perk to almost 15%, then sensor suite. Still left with a decent chunk of experience point, I bring power efficiency to 50% as well as both coolant and generator efficiency to 30%. The remaining points I put into repair efficiency and armor resistance. With that done, I approach the still unconscious form of Mewtwo. He seems somewhat peaceful right now. It is strange when compared to all the injuries marring his body. Now... How do I do this? I ponder. After a few minutes of indecision, I slowly bend down to Mewtwo and have him sit up. The big mon does not even stir. Good news or bad news? I am not sure. I keep going. I position myself so I can drape him on my back, and then, once I finally have his weight on me and have wrapped my arms around his tights, I push up. Wow. He feels... I though he would feel heavier. I take a step, and hear a slight scraping sound. I look back. His tail. Fuck... Okay how do I do that? I lean forward and secure him as much as I can on my left arm. Then with my right, I try to reach for his tail. And fail... Come... On... Argh! Try as I might, my hand just slip on the large base of his tail. Damn it, I don''t want to hurt him more than he is already. Alright... I swing left to right, trying to get his tail to come forward on either side of me. When I seems good enough, I send my foot to the side, trying to stop the tail from going back. The first time, I fail, the tail slip against my leg and return behind, beyond reach. The same happens the second and third time, until finally on the fourth try, I grab it inside my leg. YES! Wait... I am now on one foot. Uhhh. I am about to fall. Shit, I can even feel Mewtwo slip! Aaah. Woooh. Hup! I jump on one foot, Mewtwo''s weight dragging me backward as I try to remain up. Oh that''s the wall coming up. Nope nope nope. I lean forward, the shift almost making me crash down, wow that''s one hell of a sense of balance here. Finally, the weight settle. Mewtwo is no longer slipping. His tail is still held inside me right leg. Alright. I reach out for his tail and grab it. Please let no one see us like this. This must look either ridiculous, or extremely weird. Urgh. Anyway, with his tail now in my grasp... How do I hold it? If I keep it like this, it will no longer be the end that will scrape down, but the middle section... Why do you have a tail as long as your body Mewtwo? Hum... Can I... I tuck the tail under my right arm and then slowly and awkwardly slide it forward. Soon, Most of it is in front of me. Good, With the bigger section still under my arm, I slung the rest behind me and try to catch the end again. It takes me a couple of tries, but I end up succeeding. I tuck the bulbous end of the tail above the part already stuck beneath my shoulder and secure it. I then grab Mewtwo''s right tight with my right arm again. I now have Mewtwo''s tail wrapping around my torse like a belt. Alright, let''s go. I take a step, everything hold... I take another, then another. And soon I am marching out of the cave chamber we were in. Oh shit the ceiling! I lower myself just in time, barely avoiding a collision between Mewtwo''s head and the ceiling. I will need to be VERY careful here. With that first hurdle passed, I continue forward. As I go, I slowly pick up speed and soon I am leisurely jogging through the cave. I pass the space we stopped for smelting. I feel a bit annoyed leaving the torches behind, but I don''t have time to stop and gather them. And maybe they could help others? Or pokemons will remove them... I hope none have been removed yet... Once the stone transition from deepslate to grey stone, I know I have made half of the journey up. The echoes of my feet on the stone is surprisingly different than the one on the deepslate. So far, none of the torches seems to have moved. I pass close to the aron colony, and notice they are gone. There are some leftover carapaces and chewed holes where there had once been a lot of tiny metallic beasts fighting each other, but no longer. I hope they did not move away because of us... If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Finally, I reach the first chamber we entered. The one where... I made a bit too much sound... The torch is still lighting our entrance tunnel, good. I slow down, and look up. Yup, the colony is still here. So maybe the aron colony moved out toward richer ore deposits? That might make sense. I silently make my way toward the entrance... as silently as steel feet on stone can be. The clinking sound of my hooked nails and metal soles seems like a deafening sound to my ears right now. Even my breath, still even after all the efforts I have just done, sounds louder than it should. Yet all that perceived sound is not enough to stir the swarm of zubats from its nesting area. I sigh in relief and keep pushing forward. Once I enter the tunnel that will lead us to our entrance point, I realize a small problem. I say small, but truly, it is quite a big one. We entered via a hole in the ground, I am about to meet about ten meters of cliff on all sides... How the fuck do I get out of here with Mewtwo? I keep going as I mull other the oncoming problem. I pass our first excavations, as well as what I now realize must have been arons, lairons and aggrons dining spaces before they moved deeper into the cave. After a few more minutes of jogging, I have reached the entrance. The sun shines upon the hole, letting me know it is day. And... yep... cliff... Fuck. What can I do? Can I even get out on my own with Mewtwo? I approach the wall, trying to figure anything out. I have indeed about ten meters to climb to get back to the surface. It may seem little, but I am transporting Mewtwo... I put my one of my foot against the wall. My talons only scrape the stone, leaving little streaks but not much more. I wince at the sound. So that''s a no... What else could I do? Jump? Ah! As if. Although... it is worth a try... I do a small jump at first, barely getting up a meter in height, which is already far more than I expected. I almost fall on the reception. Alright, that was without really trying... And I almost fell. I am not sure if I could clear the height. So jumping out is relegated to plan B for now. What else... Could I put Mewtwo in my inventory? Wait why did I not think of that earlier? I open my inventory screen and look to see if I can find Mewtwo as an item. And don''t. Although I do get an achievement for trying.
Achievement got: No living allowed (try to put a living creature in your inventory. As much as yes, it is a possibility, no, you cannot put living creatures inside your inventory. Unless they are in special inanimate objects.) Reward: Nothing you fool!
Ahah, ahah. Thanks Trio.
Achievement got: If you''re going to take it like this (Be witnessed in a compromising position. You were ridiculous.) Reward: Picture of the moment.
Are... Are they serious? At least that tells me they are always watching. And I will destroy that picture the moment I have the possibility. But back to the problem at hand. How do I get out of here? I look up, at the clouds, at the distant floating island beyond the clouds. I forgot those were there. How do they even float? No! Stop getting distracted. Focus. Jumping is a no go, climbing will not be possible. What else do I have? I look around, trying to find anything to help me. Do I try to run along the wall? Too risky, a slip and it''s back down violently. Too bad there is not a magical staircase, that would be fun. ... Hold on. HOLD ON! My inventory is still open, I look it, at the dozens of materials in it. So much stone... What if... I quickly assemble a cobbled stone and take it out. What should have been at best a hand sized cube comes out as a cube one meter in size. I blink. Do not question the ratio. Do NOT question the ratio! WHAT THE FUCK IS THE RATIO???? As I groan and grumble about impossible ratios and mass conservation, I test to see if it will hold together. After copious amount of kicks, the cube remains a cube. That could work. I assemble more of the cubes and soon have a decent amount. Too bad I can only let them drop in front of me. Well... time to make a pyramid. I slowly lay down the cubes, first a line along the cliff wall, then I slowly climb up, layers of cubes by layers of cubes. Of course, gravity does not make my job easy. I will sometime let a cube drop, and it bounce and fall down. It forces me to craft another one, as I have no way to retrieve it without dropping Mewtwo. I am barely able to lay the cubes as it is. One actually land on my foot, and I am forced to roll it off. Another down the pile. But finally, after maybe ten minutes, I am done.
Achievement got: Builder. (build a structure (not a multiblock structure!) with materials at your disposition.) Reward: Unlocking ''Builder suite'' utility
A quick look at the achievement and then the rewards make me groan in annoyance.The builder suite is literally what I would have needed. Utility tools to make stairways walls and other structures parts from the materials I have, also finer placement of the blocks. But I leave that gripe alone for now. I have reached the edge of the hole. Yes! I step up and behold the orchard. Trio, I did not realize how much I missed the surface until now. The sun slowly warming me, the sound a gentle breeze passing through the trees, the sound of insects, birds, cows... Cow? Wait what? I turn toward the sound and yes. Leisurely grazing on the grass, is an honest to Trio cow. Not a miltank or a tauros. A cow. White and brown fight each other upon its fur, its horns look dulled but I do not want to verify that. Hold on now though... What does that implies? Why would cows exist in a world where animals that can bend nature exist too? How are they not extinct? Or... I take a look through the WAYLA system and sure enough: Cow. Not a monster then... Or can the WAYLA system be fooled? I cannot test that now. A flutter of wing makes me look away from the banality that is that cow to a more absurd sight of a chatot. The guardian of the orchard, with blue feathers covering a green and yellow torso, look at me from a tree. His music note shaped head is cocked to the side, as if surprised to see me. "Cave dangerous! Cave dangerous!" He sings. And I laugh. "No mocking! Cave dangerous!" He screeches back. "I know mister chatot. Thanks for the warning anyway." I answer back. "Why go in? Why go in?" It chirps in answer. "We needed the ressources down below. We got them, but we did not expect a raid to happen." Why am I answering that bird? "Princess waits. Princess waits. Princess worries! Princess worries!" Oh that''s good to know? "Yeah, I can imagine that. Can you point me to the right way?" "Follow! Follow!" And with that, the chatot takes flight. So it was another pokemon linked to Aster Stradivii old team. I''ll need to read more about the man and his pokemons. I quickly follow the chatot to the edge of the orchard, at which point, he lands upon Mewtwo''s head, and points toward a direction with his wing. "Forward, forward!" He chirps. The direction he points at has nothing on the horizon. Only a featureless plain. The grass is slightly more yellow this way. "Forward! Forward!" The chatot urges. And I oblige. I surge forward, faster than in the cave, making the chatot scream in surprise. Mewtwo''s weight has settled upon my shoulders, and with a set of reflexes I slowly realize I have, I manage to cushion my steps to avoid bouncing Mewtwo too much. What the numbers in the perks mean are really weird. As the fields of grass passes us, I think about it. Our current theory is that we are not really upgrading ourselves. We are unlocking our true strength. The Trio also mentioned in their apology letter that whatever theory we might have might be close to the truth... And they are always watching as shown by the achievements I got earlier... And now, as I have unlocked almost 10% or more on most perks, I feel far stronger than just a 10% upgrade should... But why? How could I know that? I just know it. Within me, I know that this strength, this speed, these reflexes, are more than just 10% more. A part of me know what I am capable of, and right now, I am unlocking the true potential of my body. Same goes for Mewtwo. His strength is only locked. And each candies and battles he wins, is another step toward his own full potential. My musings are interrupted by the chatot screeching something and then flying off. Before I can question it, A massive orange beast with a beige belly lands in front of me. And from it hops a human. "Finally! Do you know how long we have been waiting for you?" He snarl at me. I recognize him. Golden bangs, leather attire. It''s the leader of the league group that approached me back at the village. Fuck... Not the time. Chapter 24: Pokemon trainers in name only The man pats his dragonite and then approaches me. I do not miss how the chubby upright standing dragon seems to almost recoil at the touch. The man... Wait he was called Garret right? Garret seems to notice and send a glare at his pokemon. Not a really good start in my eyes. "How did you disappear for a whole day? No I don''t care, I don''t have time. You are coming with us, right now!" He snarls. Oh he is pissed. "What about great Mewtwo? Is he taking a nap? Hold on, are those... bandages? What have you done to him?" His tone shift quite a bit here, from concern to distress to anger once more. I barely give what he says any attentions, more intent on how I can slip past a dragonite. I do not like my odds in term of speed. I still have enough power to maybe put a bit of distance... but- "Stop ignoring me! I saw the chatty coward rush toward his mistress! I have little time, and the rest of my team will soon have their hands full. So give up, and let my dragonite hold the both of you!" At his words, the orange dragon starts to move forward. I might have no choices here. Shit. I gently lower Mewtwo to the ground. Once he is laying down, I turn toward Garret and his dragonite, and take my sword out. "Where did you find that?" He is clearly taken aback by the sword manifesting out of thin air, or by the fact I have a sword, it''s hard to tell. "Never mind that. Do you really intend to fight us?" He asks with a smug smile on his face. I take the sword with both hands. "Well shit, you are. Dragonite, extreme speed, knock him off and take Mewtwo, we''ll explain his trainer died once we return to the camp." I concentrate solely on the dragonite, ready to intercept, only for it to disappear, and for the ground to suddenly become my sky, rushing away at absurd speed. Wha-? Then the crunching sound of my insides ring to my ears. Ah. I feel the sudden drag of air, and close to me is the dragonite, with their chubby fist buried in my torso. Thankfully it did not penetrate my skin, only crushing what is beneath... which might not be that much better. The pokemon expression is unreadable as we travel at absurd speed skyward. I wince at what I am about to do, but I have little choice here. I angle my sword and stab the dragon. They cry out as my sword surprisingly penetrates. Although my surprise turns to dismay as said sword breaks down in pieces, leaving part of the blade buried just beneath the pokemon arm. What? Wait the durability! Shit. The dragonite has now turned their head to me, surprise and pain battle upon their round snout. Yep sorry buddy. Our ascent stop as the wound seems to have affected them more than I expected. With how I angled my strike, the blade might have touched muscles connected to his wings. Still with their fist buried within my chest, he circles down toward the ground. It seems whatever speed they used has waned off. As we close on the ground, the dragonite suddenly pick speed back up and before I can realize what is about to happen, I end up almost a meter deep within the ground, with another worrying crunching sound. That... hurt? Not really... Weird... Is... Wait... I can still move?? I slowly pick myself up from the newly Astra shaped hole doting the landscape and wince as I finally witness the extent of my damages. My chest... is caved in. My breath actually come out wheezing now. I can hear some crunching and clinking sound coming from my back and legs, but they still move as they should. Maybe a little stiff? The dragonite eye me in disbelief, as does a rushing Garret. Before the dragonite can try to move anymore, they stumble on one knee, their hand going to their side, where the blade of my sword is still lodged between their ribs. Garret pales as he sees the wound, and I take the time to look at something that has been bothering me after I noticed it. At the start, Garret had my full attention, but now the dragonite has. A little header above his, for it is a male according to the WAYLA system, shows his specie''s name as well as his level. And I am... surprised because that does not make sense. That dragonite should not be a dragonite. Not when his level is listed as 26! Garret is fretting at his dragonite, although from what I hear it seems to be mostly scolding. And from the dragonite expression, it seems more like he only reluctantly listens to his human trainer than he agrees with him, as if he has no choice but to follow his trainer and accept anything he says. My face turns blank at that realization, my entire expression is only a mask of placidity to hide a growing wish to let my disgust be known. Mewtwo had warned me, and from the way Garret had acted before, I had suspicions. I now have possible confirmation. Time to get to the bottom of this. I quickly take out one of our remaining sandwiches and gobble it. I almost choke on it as the caved chest is clearly not just for show, but manage to get it down. The flush of energy is almost instantaneously absorbed by my ongoing repairs. With my survival assured for the next few minutes at least, I turn my attention back to the duo. "Hey," I start, softly but still loud enough for the both of them to hear me, "Why do you obey him?" Both Garret and his dragonite look at me. One with outrage, the other with confusion. "Does he have something to keep you in line? I do not see pokeballs around." I continue. "Shut up, you freak! You have no idea what our bond is like!" Garret spits out, his face turning redder by the second, but a bit of fear is present beneath the veneer of anger. "If there truly is a bond, I am sure it is not one of friendship." I shoot back. A part of me is outraged at what I am seeing and hearing. The part that once was Aster Stradivii feels violated that people would treat their companions like this, especially after he might have helped train the founder of the league. The rest of me is cold and analytical, if this world is as harsh as it seems, then it is logical that some would rely on violence or worse to acquire allies. "Do not question us! Dragonite, use dragon pulse, destroy that freak!" Garret shouts out. Ah shit, back to fighting it is. An orb of light gather within the dragonite mouth, and freeze. I was about to rush, and use my left hand as a sword, like I did against the hunter, but does that dragonite deserves death? Wait, new plan. The dragonite finishes charging his dragon pulse and fires. A stream of yellow light comes forth in a cone, and I dash to the side. The heat of the move washes over me and I keep going. I am fast. Faster than I gave myself credit for. And it suddenly clicks. I am strong! I am fast! I can tank an extreme speed from a dragonite! Of course I can! Up to this point, I have only been fighting absurd opponents. Beings and monsters I should have only faced year or more into this ordeal, or weak creatures only meant to kill normal humans! But here, I am facing an opponent that might have yet to face any real challenges, an opponent that might be average in term of power compared to me. Not absurdly weak, or absurdly strong. "How long have you been here Garret?" I taunt as I angle myself. I am now making a beeline toward the human. I almost reach him but his dragonite interposes himself in front of his trainer. Sorry, but I need to pass. I punch the dragonite. My left arm buries itself into the chubby pokemon belly. The dragonite eyes bulge, before rolling back and he crumple on me. He is still breathing though. He is only knocked out. I silently breath out in relief, and gently lay the unconscious dragon on his side, making sure the place I stabbed him is up. If Mewtwo wakes up, maybe we can try to heal him up. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. "No! Dragonite!" Garret cries out in dismay, his face turning from red to white. He takes a step back as I now approach him without much hurry. "What are you?" I keep walking, my eyes are cold and I can see how disturbed he is. I can feel the crater in my chest slowly rising. "What the fuck are you?!" I keep walking. His legs are trembling. "Stop! don''t get any closer!" Still I keep walking. And finally, he breaks. He turns around and tries to run. I catch up to him in seconds. "You never answered me Garret. How long have you been here?" I ask him again, my tone almost robotic. My left hand is holding the back of his head and slowly crushing it. Garret is now crying, clearly terrified of me and in pain. "F-Five months... I arrived five months ago," He finally answers between his sobs. Yeah, he would not survive a Praetor in his state. What now? Mewtwo is still unconscious, and I have yet to see the forest. And supposedly the rest of his team, whether he means more pokemons or his followers from the village, will try to stop Princess from reaching us. Yet I have a hard time believing someone from Aster''s old team having a problem with people like Garret. "How could you order that dragonite when he clearly dislikes you. And no bullshit, I saw enough to know it is not respect." Aster within me is fuming, and he wants answers. Garret face is already pretty pale, and yet it somehow gets even paler. For a minute, he is silent. Then finally, he talks. "His... his family is protected at our main compound. But it will only remain so if he listen to the trainer he is assigned to." I barely restrain myself from crushing his head there and then. Protected my ass. They are using pokemon families as hostage to have their stronger members act as little soldiers uh? I no longer hide my disgust, and Garret struggle in my grasp. "Next question, why are you not trying to defend yourself?" "What''s the point? you took out dragonite, I have no way to surpass him!" "What about soul coins? Did you not improve yourself?" "I''m not a hunter! I am a trainer! Our coins go to our pokemons! We''re investing for the future! When I get reset, my pokemons will still be as strong as they were!" Interesting information here. That might explain Aster''s team strength. Too bad I was too overwhelmed to check Hound level at the time. Alright, I have nothing else to do here. Time to bail. "Help me get Mewtwo on my back and do not try anything funny. I can behead you with one hand." I think I can anyway. "Ye-yes..." He stammers out. I let him go and turn toward where I laid Mewtwo down. The big mon is still asleep. Heavy sleeper here, mister Mewtwo. With the help of Garret, I quickly get Mewtwo positioned once more. I give Garret one last look of disgust, but cannot stop myself from giving him one line of advice straight from Aster. "Try to be friendlier and respect your partner. That''s how you''ll grow stronger." With that line, I turn away and take off in the same direction I had been going until the trainer had stopped me. Once I am far enough away, I let out a breath as I feel my entire body unwind. This situation was... Insane. Good news: I am stronger than I realized. Bad news: the league clearly wants Mewtwo, and my death might be of no concerns to them. Which will be problematic to them, because without me, Mewtwo''s growth will be slower... Oh Trio they have arenas do they not? I am practically certain they must have places where they force pokemons to fight one another to grow stronger. I scowl at that. If I ever get the chance, or the ability, I will absolutely try to see how awful the league truly is. Mewtwo might also want to do that himself. As I keep running, I spot shapes in the distance. A thunderclap echoes and I realize I might be approaching the rest of Garret''s team. Yep, they were his followers. I should avoid them- Wait! That''s the chatot! He is flying wildly, trying to shake off a large black white and yellow seagull like bird. His plumage seems darker even from how far I am. The humans beneath them seem to be cheering on the kilowattrel, and whenever the little bird tries to fly away, sparks of lightning shoot from the ground to cut his espace. This is bad... With Mewtwo on my back, I have little in term of fighting capability. How do I help... Hum... I could try something risky... Fuck it, I should survive, and I''ll have to hope the trainers are not as dumb as I fear they might be, but also dumb enough for my idea to work. I rush forward, straight at the group. Before I can truly reach them, one of the ground pokemon notice me, crying out in warning. The houndour squares itself, ready to intercept. His trainer turn to his pokemon and then to me. I can tell by the way he recoils that he is more than surprised to see me. He quickly get the attention of the others and soon they are almost all turned toward me. But at this point it is too late, because I barrel through their group, straight toward the flaafy that has been shouting lighting to contain the little chatot. The electric upright sheep eyes widen at my approach, and before they can do anything, I kick them, making sure to avoid having my talons for toes hurt the poor sheep. They cry out in surprise and land a few meters away. The stunt stuns most of the pokemons and trainers. "Chatot! let''s go!" I shout and take off once more. Seconds later, the exhausted bird lands on my head. "How did win? How did win?" He asks in between ragged breaths. "I''m stronger than anyone realize." I simply answer. "Still that way?" I ask back. "Still that way. Still that way. Keep going. Keep going." "Okay," I acknowledge. I almost nodded, but that might have dislodged the bird. We run for a few minutes in silence, until an angry cry disturb it. The chatot cries in alarm. "RIGHT! RIGHT!" Unsure to what eh means, I look to my right, seeing nothing. "GO!" He adds urgently. I obey, and by the gust of wind passing where I had just been running, I realize we have pursuers. Clearly it is not the flaafy, it would be too slow. A growl clue me on one of them. An electrike is easily keeping up with me. The kilowattrel is also circling again for another strike. That''s what I just avoided. The electrike strike at my leg. I barely avoid the strike as I jump over the green quadrupedal pokemon. Its angular head still clip my foot and I almost falter on my landing. You''re heavy Mewtwo. "Chatot, I can try to occupy them. Is the forest far? Could you fly to it fast enough?" "Not far! Not far! Can do! Can do!" "Then once that kilowattrel passes me, go!" I order. "I''m carrying the one they want." I do not see the blue bird nod, but I feel his body move. he is ready. "Tell me when it is almost about to get me." I keep running, avoiding another strike from the electrike. "Now! Now!" I stop, lean back and then deliver a massive headbutt to the passing kilowattrel. The large yellow bird falls on the ground, one wing clearly hurt. The chatot takes that as his cue and flies off. Alright, now to make good on my promise to hold out. The electrike has also stopped, stunned by my stunt. Try and get me little lion cub, I have a foot with your name on it. It is at this moment that a little notification makes itself known.
/!\ Warning /!\ POWER RESERVES CRITICAL! Entering power-saving mode. Do note certains abilities will be reduced. (You should REALLY be careful of you power supplies)
Oh fuck. Mewtwo''s weight immediately makes itself known. My knees buckle as my entire body slowly shuts down synthetic muscles after synthetic muscles to keep itself powered. I let go, unable to hold Mewtwo any longer and his body flop down next to me. Fuck! I quickly take out as much food as I can from my inventory and gobble it. The crater in my torso is almost filled up, no wonder I went through all my reserves. Between the running, holding Mewtwo and fighting that dragonite, I have spent my energy a bit too liberally. The pop-up vanishes after the second sandwich, but I can see the energy get consumed fast still. My strength returns, and I stand back up. I guess I am making my stand here. The kilowattrel stands back up, both wings seem healed somehow, but he does not take to the sky. The electrike now circle me, slowly closing to her ally. I presume they are either going to wait for their trainers or try to incapacitate me. I look in the distance and I can see the other humans and pokemon coming. The kilowattrel has seen it too. However, something happens to the group. One of the humans suddenly go flying, in a bit too many pieces. Lighting it shot, fire is breathed and soon only one human shape remains in the distance. I try to make sense of what just happened, but the human shape vanishes. Is the hunter back? did we not kill it? No we got the achievement, so what is happening? The kilowattrel squawks in surprise and I turn around just it time to see it vanish in a mist of blood and feathers. What? The electrike vanishes as well, and then reappears with a cry, one leg missing. And before me, a few meters away, stands a human. His grey hair and youthful look clash together, as his piercing grey eyes lock onto mine. "Hi there, long time no see." He starts cheerfully, "I''m Hans Senah." The man casually add as he throw away the electrike leg he had been holding. Chapter 25: Friends or foes Hans Senah. The moment the man''s name leaves his mouth, I grow confused. But then Aster''s journal makes me connect the dots. He returned. Of course. But why come to me? That question is answered as by a pop-up. One that make me immediately get ready for a fight.
Achievement got: Old Nemesis? Meet Hans Senah (the real one). Reward: confusion?
Okay what the fuck? "Ah! It seems you have some knowledge of who I am." Hans gloat, caressing his white goatee. The man only has a pair of ragged pants for vestment. His skin is white, not in pale pinkish, but almost pure white, giving his white hair and goatee a silver gleam in contrast. His grey eyes are stuck on me and a cruel smile decorate his face. He look down at the dying electrike. "You gonna it that later?" He still has a weird accent, but it is less present than his older version. Hold on eat? I look down at the electrike as well, their eyes are dilated in fear, their breath is ragged and growing weaker by the second. Blood keep spurting from their missing back leg. I feel Aster within me recoil in disgust, horror and anger. Before I can do anything, the poor light green pup head splits open, and their struggle cease. I look up to see to Hans, one of his hand held as a finger gun. "Oh come on now Aster, I had already crippled the poor thing. Better cut short its suffering." "Monster..." I mutter, unable to stop myself. Hans somehow hears me and gain a carnivorous smile. "Yep! I have not changed at all!" He beams, taking my word as a compliment. "But you, my oh my! You have changed, and even found a new friend! I know my echo wanted to see how much you would retain, but when I he told me what you had found, I almost tore it in half before absorbing it! A legend! You did it! You found our hope." A boisterous laughter follows, before his smile vanishes and his face gains a darker expression. "Or so I would like to believe. Who are you? What did they do to my little Asty?" I recoil at the menace emanating from Hans. He knows far too much for a recently resurrected man. Parsing quickly through his words, I start to get it though. We never met Hans, only his memories waiting for his return. A clever trick a part of me agrees. Better than a journal maybe. "I am Astra." I finally answer him. "Borne of Aster''s dying wish for freedom from Eziakophael." What the fuck am I saying? How do I... Unlocking memories with Aster''s memories, got it. Hans twitches at my answer. "Astra uh? Well kiddo..." He vanishes, and my head suddenly kisses the ground. "Welcome to the jungle." Before I can move, something connects to my side and I go tumbling away from the man. I cough fluids from ruptured internals, and once more, Hans is already on me. "Sturdy, I like this more!" He shouts as he bring both arms down on my torso as I spin. I slam on the earth, my healed torso caving in once more. He picks me up by the neck, slowly trying to choke me. How is he so strong? His echo must have found him right after we left the village. So How? "You seem confused little toy. This is not my first rodeo, nor will it be my last. I always go on my own way, and when I return, I am always ready." He casually explain. What does he have ascensions perks or something? But now is not the time. I have to do something! I bring my hands to his arm and start exerting my own strength, squeezing it as well. My calm but slightly confused expression must be amusing to Hans, as he burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh my, what a strange body this is. I should have shattered your ribcage with that last punch, you should have a concussion from my first punch and a shattered spine from my kick, yet here you are, still struggling." He squeeze his hand harder. I feel his finger press into my flesh, compressing the internal pipes and cable beneath. Shit. I tighten my grip as well, and for the first time, Hans gains a surprised expression on his face. "Oh! Ow." He exclaims, and punches me. I feel my jawbone bend, my teeth impact with my tongue, biting a piece of. Yet I do not let go of his arm. "Alright now, let go." I keep squeezing, He punches me once more, harder. And I squeeze even harder in response. And I feel something give. His fingers loosen and I let go of his arm. With two quick dash, I put some distance between us. "Uh... you ground my bones to dust... Nice..." He turns at me and a beaming smile spread on his face. "And you took my punches! I just ground to paste medium level pokemons with my current strength, and here you are, tanking it. I really like this new body Astra!" Well he still did a number on me. My energy is plummeting as my body repairs itself as fast as it can. I will not be able to survive much more at this rate. "Alright, you pass. As much as I would love to test the legend as well, it seems you met with some pretty strong foes already right? If your first raid was a praetor, I can only imagine what the second was... Two? Maybe something else... Oh don''t tell me! It was a draconic hunter squad! Those are sturdy and devious. No? Hum... A sorcerer? Or a thaumaturge maybe? Your legend is covered in burns and scratches... Okay I give, tell me! I am curious!" I blink, trying to make sense of what Hans is trying to do. He just attacked me out of the blue, and now he is trying to have a nice conversation with me? "What do you want from me?" "Well~ I could say your coins, but seeing as you are not linked to the local head honcho, I will assume you are worthless in that department. Maybe you will drop a few like monsters and mons? Oh I could try that..." Hans gains a thoughtful expression as he consider that and I brace myself. I cannot win here, but I might be able to stall long enough for the chatot to bring reinforcements. "Nah, I''m more curious about what you actually fought. Also, I saw the wound on that dragonite, where did you get a sword?" Okay I am NOT revealing that I can craft anything in my body. "We fought a dimensional hunter and two dimensional hounds... The sword we found on the way." Hans raises an eyebrow. "That''s why you went in a cave uh? Lucky you to find a dungeon. Too bad it was only a stone one... no enchants too..." Hans sigh in disappointment, then he processes what Mewtwo and I fought. "Hold on, dimensional hounds AND a hunter? That''s like, third year shit!" I hesitate... But then remembers he knows about the Trio. I revealed it to his echo. "Yeah, that is what my sponsors told me as well. They were pretty pissed at the praetor already, and it seems it will not grow easier anytime soon." "Ah! Our lord and savior Eziakophael, playing dirty against three gods. Who would have seen that coming, considering Marble city!" That name again. His echo mentioned it before. "What was Marble city?" I ask, Aster''s memories keep flashing hope and despair at that name. "Marble city? Just the city that almost reinvented technology, but his holiness took offense and erased it off the map. Some say the island ruins still exist. Others that the depths of the island still hold secrets within. I went there a few years after the collapse. Nothing left but charred rocks and glassed sand." He surprisingly explains. "Kid, Aster and I have history, if you''re made from what remains of him, You''re still partly him, and I am the one who still has some debts to settle. You should read his journal, you''ll be surprised at all he experienced. It should be missing a third of his full experience, but it''ll still be good enough to familiarize with he scenery." The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Technology... I can do that... Wait am I going to get instantly smitten by Eziakophael? "Is there a rule against technology? I mean... Look at me..." "Yeah, the fact you''re still standing and not dust in a crater means your gods managed to get one hell of a deal with Eziakophael. Still, I would not abuse it much." He answers, amused. Although that might explain the raids. Absurdly advanced ones to get rid of me as fast as possible. I will need to grow, and grow fast. Once more this is reasserted. I need more power and I need it fast. "So what now?" "What, no more question to your senior?" Hans gives a hearty chuckle look behind his shoulder for a second. "Then we resume!" Before he can jump forward, thorny vines sprout from beneath his feet and ensnare him. Then a beam of light pierce his prison. His smile do not falter even as blood seep between his teeth. "Oh heya your highness." He gurgles out. throwing his head backward. In the distance, a blob of orange and green is approaching rapidly. Little suns seems to orbit the being. Another shout out, turning into another lance of sunlight. This time, Hans screams when the lance pierces him. However, a side effect of blasting Hans'' prison reveals itself. With quick struggles, Hans rip apart the vines and falls down. "Well it was fun catching up new Aster, we''ll meet again." He cough out, he prepare to dash away before stopping, giving me one last look. "Condolences for Hound, I liked that pup." And with those last words, he is gone. Another beam chases after him, but I cannot see if it connected. I am left alone and dumbfounded. What was Hans'' goal? Why did he come to see me? Just to punch me a few time and then go? He knew I might drop nothing, yet he came anyway. He even told me more than I though he would. What was the point? Before I can ponder the last few minutes however, the approaching pokemon reaches me. The distant blob has resolved into a frail plant mermaid. That is the best way I can explain what I see. The lower faded green body is like a fish tail, with the end replaced by leaf like growth sprouting upward. Above the waist of the pokemon, two black diamond shapes cover her chest. Above them is alabaster skin, with two thin arms ending in three fingered hands. A large and voluminous collar of faded orange flower conceals the pokemon''s neck and surround her head. Her face is round, with a pointy upturned nose, long faded green eyebrows droop from the being black eyes along two teardrop shaped ears. Her face is wrinkled, a lot. Her eyes are sunken, and the sneer that mar her face accentuates it all. Pathetic worm! Run! Thou art too weak to be even a warm up! The imperious psychic tone echoes all around me. It feels so different than Mewtwo''s targeted way of psychic communication. Before I can say anything, the chatot land on my head and sings to his mistress. "This one! This one!" I blink as the focus of the florges shift to only me. Her haughty expression is quite telling. I swallow. "Greetings, I am Astra. I was sent here with my friend Mewtwo, to meet with a member of Aster Stradivii team. A pokemon nicknamed Princess." And then Hans words as he was caught echo in my head. ''Heya your highness'' Oh shit this is her. Just to confirm my late realization, the system decides that now is a good time for an achievement.
Achievement got: Her royal highness Meet Princess, the most shy member of Aster''s team. Reward: 20xp, 1 Exp. Candy S
Thanks system. A minute earlier would have been better. Princess looks at me up and down. her expression flickering in recognition at some time but mostly disgust. Thou dare utter mine liege name? Who art thou to speak so casually of someone so grand? "I..." Oh she is going to kill me the moment I utter my next sentence is she not? "I am his... Aster''s death lead to my creation." Yeah okay that might be passable... I feel the chatot tense, and he swiftly take flight. Oh shit. The florges towers above me, floating higher as her expression turns to hatred. So thou art the reason mine liege has yet to return? Dost he above think this funny? Dost he enjoy our suffering so? Then what shall he do, should we cut his amusement short? A slithering sound make me look down. Without me realizing, Princess has been slowly growing vines around my legs, and I am now trapped in knots of plant matter. "Wait! I was not made by Eziakophael! there are new gods in play! They made me." I try to quickly explain. Princess'' ire does not diminish. Instead, the sound if slithering vines is joined by a new one: metal bending under pressure. Shit! A quick look my energy reserves have me almost go into panic. I am almost out! It is only a matter of seconds before the alert pop-up returns and most of my systems shut down. I bring my left arm up, trying to access what remains of our food reserves. a vine shoot up and immobilizes it. No! "No, please! I am about to shut down!" The florges haughty expression is back, and she simply judges me. If thou claims to be our liege inheritor, then show us proof of such fact. Proof? What proof could I show her make her believe me. I have barely any time left. Think! I quickly summon my inventory, trying to go through it with my eyes only. What do I have? Wait! The journal! In desperation, I take Aster''s journal out. In the flash of blue pixels, it manifest within my left hand, and I barely manage to catch it before it drops down. "Here! This is Aster''s journal. The village head priest gave it to me after Hound, Aster''s mightyena recognized me!" Princess actually recoils a bit at my show and almost releases my arm. Her haughty expression turns distraught as she shakily reaches for the journal. I orient it her way, and let her take it. She grabs it reverently and gently opens it. She stares at the content for a few seconds, and a single tears falls along her cheek. That is indeed our liege''s journal... If Hound acknowledged thee, then... thou art our liege reborn. Her expression turns to disgust once more as she continues. Yet thou feel so disgustingly different to our liege warmth. What have these vermin above done to thee? The vines finally release me, and I waste no time. Of our almost two weeks of food, barely anything remains. I quickly take out one of the remaining sandwich and gobble it. A couple others receive the same treatment until my energy expenditure seems to slow. Princess eye me with both suspicion and awe at my display. "Thank you." I sigh contently. If thou art done stuffing thyself like a starving munchlax, answer our question. What happened? And where is the great Hound? I freeze. "Hound... Hound has died. He passed in my arm when I finally met him." I answer somberly. Remembering the moment almost bring back tears to my eyes. Princess brings both arms to her mouth on shock. Oh no. Her thoughs are a whisper as she falls down. Not another one. Tears falls down her cheeks and I stand above her awkwardly. I let the florges cry out. Once she calms down, I say something that I might regret, but she has the right to know. "I believe my sponsors recovered his soul. I do not know if pokemons get sent to Eziakophael on death like the humans, but if that''s the case, then know that he might be safe." I hope what I saw in the flames is what it meant. I had a bit of time to think about it and I still do not understand why the Trio would recover his soul. The florges'' tears dry out and fury return to her face. Thou dare imply false legends have claimed his soul? THOU DARE SAY THAT MIGHT BE A GOOD THING? TO ME? DOST THOU NOT KNOW HOW MUCH WE ALREADY LOST BECAUSE OF THE DARK ONE? I recoil at the volume of the mental message. "They are different!" DIFFERENT HOW? WHAT DOST THOU KNOW OF THEM? OF THEIR PLANS AND PLOYS? THOU ART BUT A PLAYTHING ART THOU NOT? BLINDLY FOLLOWING WORDS FROM BEING THOU HAVE NEVER MET OR EVEN SEEN! "I HAVE MET THEM!" I counter. This takes her aback. Really now? Thou have? Then what lies did they feed thee? Her thoughs slice in my head like vicious blades "They saved me from Eziakophael. I should have died before meeting hound, but they saved me, argued for me to keep existing. Then they sent an apology. They wish for me and Mewtwo to succeed where Aster failed. They took him as he died so even in death, he could still fulfill his dream. Escaping this place with you all!" I shout out. "If I am a plaything, it is to Aster more than anyone else. The Trio is just along for the ride for the possibility of sticking it to Eziakophael." Princess hoovers above me. I hold her judging look, daring her to prove me wrong right now. After a dozen seconds, she deflates. Were we not enough? Why would our liege make a deal with such dangerous beings? I remain silent, and I can feel Aster breaking up at such declaration. "If it can confort you, a part of him is still in me, and he weeps at what he had to do. He had no choice left. His last death was to be the final one." Horror spreads across Princess visage. No... she psychically whispers. Then thou art the same? A single life to accomplish the impossible? "Yes," I answer softly. "But I am not alone." Just as I say those words, a new voice joins us. Urgh, that must have been the worst nap of my sort existence. Chapter 26 : Entering the magical forest. Mewtwo opens his eyes to the sky. He looks for a second at the clouds and the distant floating landmasses. When did we get back to the surface, he wonders. His last memory is of defeating the monstrous human-like beast in the cave along with the two lesser creatures at his command, and promptly passing out. No dreams or visions visited him during that time, only silence and darkness. But he is finally awake. the moment he tries to move, he faintly groan. His torso feels raw, he feels sharp pain within it with the slightest movements. He tries to crane his neck, and the movement comes out stiff and cramped. His entire body feels like he has been rolled over by something. His legs and arms are filled with the sensations of pins and needles poking him just beneath his skin. Did Astra carry him? How else could he have arrived here? He tries to extend his psychic senses, only for a sharp headache to rise within his mind. Great. I have been out for who knows how long and I am still almost fully disabled. Urgh, that must have been the worst nap of my sort existence. He declares out loud, only for more pain to radiate within his skull. With great efforts, he lifts one arm and rub his forehead, his bulbous fingers leaving fleeting soothing sensations where he presses them. Who may be this follower of yours? An imperious feminine voice echoes all around him. Mewtwo blinks. Another being able to use psychic talk? Who could that be? Her talent seems both more advanced than his and paradoxically cruder than his own. He looks to his side, and spot the one who has talked. The small figure of the florges contrasts drastically to her voice. Next to Astra, she appears almost childlike. The first impression is quickly dispelled when Mewtwo notices the aged lines upon the body the pokemon. Who is this? He mutters internally. He is cautious of the newcomer. As much as seeing Astra standing next to her fills him with relief for his companion, no, his friend''s survival, he can see multiple parts of Astra''s body are either bruised, bent or battered. His travels were far from peaceful. "This is Mewtwo, we met on the first day. We were both made by the Trio." Astra answers the florges. A florges versed in the arts of the psychics? This seems to stir something within Mewtwo. He knows, somehow, that the pokemon line has small capabilities for such arts, but to get them trained so much? That is surprising. This florges might be special. Did they stumble upon her garden? Or was Astra able to find this peculiar one wandering? Mewtwo let go of his questioning for now. Answers will come when they shall. Greeting, esteemed florges, I am Mewtwo, Astra''s companion and friend. He politely greets the florges. As his headache subsides, he can start to feel the world around himself with more than his five senses. And he realizes quickly that politeness might be the way to go. This florges feels strong, almost impossibly so. The strength she radiates seems subdued, yet it is still enough to make Mewtwo gulp. Who si she? The florges looks Mewtwo up and down, her imperious expression not softening for a second, until she speaks again. This fellow seems acceptable, although weak. Yet have we not all started at the bottom? She continues to give Mewtwo a judgmental look, before summoning something above her arm. A ball of pollen puffs out above her open palm and she slowly approaches Mewtwo. With surprising strength, she grabs one of Mewtwo''s small horns and lifts him up by the head, earning a sharp electronic cry of pain from the pokemon. Before Mewtwo can do anything, the ball of yellow dust is shoved in his mouth and then promptly swallowed. The ball tastes like flowers, honey and grass. Mewtwo almost chokes on it and cough a few times, small puffs of yellow dust escaping him with each ones. What was that for? Mewtwo shouts at the florges, jumping up and away her. Thou should thank us for thy recovery, instead of shouting at us like a mewling kit! She declares. Mewtwo recoils at the strength of her declaration. Humph. She adds, crossing her arms and looking away from Mewtwo. Astra rushes to Mewtwo side, clearly distraught as well by the interaction. "Are you okay? The hunter did a number on us. I... I though you were gone for a moment there." Astra''s eyes seems to turn wet as he finishes his sentence. I... I am alright, I will recover after some more rest. Mewtwo gently answers his cyborg friend. Astra then suddenly hugs him, and Mewtwo returns the gesture. They stay like this for a minute, simply appreciating each other presence, until the florges clears her throat. As much as thine displays of friendship art touching, night shall fall soon. We can offer better protection should thou enter our forest. We believe thou art recovered enough for the short journey. Mewtwo and Astra separates, and the psychic pokemon almost go to refute the florges declaration, before realizing they are now standing upright, with minimal efforts and pain. Mewtwo looks himself over at the realization. Blue bandages marred with reddish-brown red stains cover multiple parts of his body. Charred parts of his skin is visible at the edge of most covers places, as well as many other left uncovered. Yet the pain is minimal, just a feeling of dull ache. It appears I am. I thank you for your help... Thou may address us as Princess, or your highness. The florges finally introduces herself to Mewtwo. Thank you for your help, your highness. Mewtwo finishes. The name rings a bell and he look at Astra for possible confirmation. The cyborg simply nods and mouth a yes. And the situation starts to make more sense. The imposing aura, the aged appearance, even the mannerism. This is Princess, one of Aster Stradivii old team member. Mewtwo gulps at the realization. Ha, it appears thou have heard of us. Princess taunts Mewtwo. Mewtwo simply nods. Annoyed at the lack of further response, she turns around and floats away. She stops after a few meters, before turning around and simply beckoning Mewtwo and Astra with a simple movement of her head. Both the cyborg and pokemon follow swiftly. Little happens during their fast march. Astra catch Mewtwo''s up on what happened during his short coma, and Mewtwo listens. As he nears the end of the recounting, Astra suddenly remembers he has yet to give Mewtwo his parts of the rewards. "By the way, we got a lot of things from that raid." Astra says as he takes out eight candies out. Six are known to Mewtwo. The pyramid shaped S candy and the cube shaped M candies he had already seen, he quickly gobble those. But the remaining two, he looks in wonder. Astra informs him they are called L Exp. Candy, and Mewtwo takes one of the two and looks at it. They looks like two S candies stuck together at their base forming a blue transparent octahedron. He looks at it for another minutes before eating it, then the second one. The boost makes his eyes open wide. Yes, five M candies were one huge boost, but just those two L candies gave one even greater. Before this fight, he had been labeled as level 22, and now he has reached level 34 in seconds. Two new paths have unlocked, and Mewtwo almost tries them immediately, but the sudden appearance of Princess''s face right in front of him stops any though of doing so. How hast thou done that? She demands, a mix of fury and curiosity courses through her expression. Mewtwo and Astra look at each other in confusion, before they realize what she means. Astra uses the projector in his arm to show princess the system quests and achievements, as well as the explaining the rewards. "The Trio gives us quests to complete as well as rewards us for achieving certain actions. For exemple," he summons the ''Her royal highness'' quest, "Meeting you was an achievement. It rewarded us with experience both me and Mewtwo. Me in the form of the points, Mewtwo in the form of experience candies. I just gave him the rewards from our recent raid." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. So those gods favors the growth of our kin as well as yours? Hum... We shall agree that makes them more... tolerable, possibly. Is there any other ways for thou to obtain such creations, beside doing so through rewards? Astra ponders that question, and Mewtwo summons his own system windows. How could one make such objects? After a couple minutes of fruitless searching, neither pokemon nor cyborg find any clues as to how they could create more experience candies. Princess sigh in dissatisfaction and simply drops the matter. They quickly resume their walk and soon a forest appear in the distance. At first Mewtwo believe what he is seeing is an optical illusion from the distance, but as they approach the tree line, he realize that no, what he is seeing is real. The forest they are approaching, compared to the previous one, is almost like a wall of vegetation. Trunks are hidden behind walls of tall bushes, and where holes in the vegetation appear, a strange thick mist pours out, obscuring what would be within the forest. Princess accelerates her floating as they approach, forcing the duo to speed up as well. The sun slowly set as they reach the edge of the forest, and before either Mewtwo or Astra can contemplate the sheer magnitude of the forest they stand before, Princess enters it. The bushes simply move out of the way, bending sideways to let her penetrate the otherwise impenetrable wall of vegetation. The mist quickly swallows her, and Mewtwo and Astra quickly enter before the the bushes close once more. The moment they are in, the atmosphere changes drastically. The plain they had been traversing had been quiet, true, but it had been a gentle quiet. Now, the silence has turned oppressive. Mewtwo and Astra vision is filled with white and only the large shadowy form of trunks break the monotonous mist. As they look, Mewtwo is certain he has just seen something move from one trunk to the other. When he tries to look at it, he realize the trunks are no longer where they had been. Something is wrong here. He transmit to Astra. "Yeah that mist is not natural." Astra answers, his voice sounds distant and muffled by the oppressive blanket of whiteness. How so? Mewtwo asks. "Temperatures and meteorological conditions should not allow for such a thick mist at this time of day. Something is keeping it here, maintaining it." Astra rubs his forehead after that explantation. Mewtwo checks and senses a slight headache within Astra''s mind. That information must have come with a lot of superfluous data. "Well I can now name every clouds I ever see... So that''s something." Astra laughs a little before turning around. "Where did Princess go?" Mewtwo looks around as well. Princess is gone. The florges must have continued without them and they had lost her to the mist. That was bad. As both of them look around, the forest seems to constantly change. Trees move, the mist unpredictably thickens, and as the sun finally sets, light disappear, leaving the duo in inky darkness. "Shit. Princess?" Astra calls, hoping for her to still be nearby. No answers come forth. Only the rustle of leaves and faint sounds returns Astra''s call. Mewtwo tries to sense anything around him, but nothing seems present. It seems the mist is muting his psychic senses somehow. At some point, it feels like he senses someone, or something, but it is as fleeting as the positions of the trees. Were do we go now? Mewtwo asks. "Well... we entered the forest from the south-east, and the map seems to indicate it just keep going if we continue in that direction. By the way we are facing north right now." Astra explains, summoning the map for both he and Mewtwo. So we just continue the way Princess went? "Yeah, she was going that direction, we might as well follow in her footsteps." Considering she floats, it will be hard to follow her footprints you know. Mewtwo says with seriousness before a smirk shatters his serious expression. Both he and Astra laugh, the joke helping dispel some stress from the two. Astra points at a direction, and they start walking. Or more exactly, Astra start walking and Mewtwo floats alongside him. They both progress through the thickening mist. At the edge of their visions, trees move around, and more than once, eyes seem to open upon their trunks. After a couple more minutes of walking, a new sound echoes through the mist. A low pitched hum, almost a cry. "Monsters?" Astra questions, trying to find where the sound came from. Nothing appears before them, and the sound repeats. It sounds like it is coming from everywhere at once. Mewtwo scans their surrounding, trying to find any traces of creatures, pokemons or humans close to them, but he can feel nothing. No, not nothing actually. The sensation is faint, but it is here. He can feel something, something stopping him. Astra, stop. Mewtwo orders. Astra complies, sending a questioning look his way. Something is stopping my psychic senses. "Ah? So there is someone looking at us. Hello?" Astra shouts to the mist, "We are not here to harm anyone, we lost our guide to the mist by mistake, could you help us?" Mewtwo looks incredulously at Astra. You are crazy. "Hey, if they are friendly, we might as well declare our intentions right?" Astra innocently replies. And if they are not friendly? "Then we fight? I mean, we are far stronger than we both give ourselves credit for." True, Mewtwo relents, But this could still be dangerous. "What isn''t here? We have been in danger since the moment we woke up." Astra sighs. Mewtwo nods, and they resume their march. While Astra guides them toward what should be the center of the forest, Mewtwo tries to track down where the blocking is coming from. Most of his attempts feel like trying to go behind a wall, but he keeps trying. Slowly, he expends his senses further, and soon finds another blockade. This one feels different, another being then. The mist suddenly thickens and Mewtwo almost lose sight of Astra. Then it clears once more, and after a few seconds, Astra stops. "We''ve been turned around." He declares. What? How? Mewtwo is stunned, he felt nothing. Astra summons the map, and shows it to Mewtwo. "We were there, and now we are back almost at the entrance." He point upon the map, showing how their advance revealed more of the forest, and how it suddenly threw them back almost at the edge of the forest. Great... There are more than one being observing us. they might have worked together to obscure our senses and thrown us back. "Hum... But they did not just turn us around. I was looking at the map the whole time. The moment the mist thickened, we returned here. We were almost teleported here." Strange, I did not feel the touch of psychic powers. How did they do it so sneakily? "Maybe it was not psychics? There may be other ways to achieve something similar..." That is worrying. What do we do now? "We try again and experiment with it." Mewtwo nods, and they quickly return to the point that turned them back. "Alright, it was around here." Astra peers into the mist, "I''m going to try and bait it." Before Mewtwo can protest, Astra walks forward, and disappear into the mist. Astra? Mewtwo calls out. No on answers. He did not even have the time to try and feel for anything. The disappearance happened as soon as Astra walked into the mist. Wait... What if... Mewtwo extends his senses into the misty wall and feel through it. He can feel more of the blockades, they seem more numerous here. Yet as he feel around more, he senses that they do not extend all along the metaphorical wall. "Hey" Astra calls out, making Mewtwo jump up with a warble electronic cry. His tail goes straight up at being startled. Mewtwo looks back, mortified at his reaction, to a vibrating Astra trying to keep a neutral face. Astra''s expression holds for a couple second before he bend forward, laughing. Mewtwo glares at his friend until Astra stops, wiping tears from his face. "Sorry, sorry, you were so focused, I though you felt me arrive." Mewtwo looks away in mock resentment. "Come on, I''m sorry. Don''t be mad at me." Mewtwo smirks at his expression softens. I''ll get back to you for that some time. He declares. Anyway, it seems this is a trap meant to send whoever walks through it back to the forest edge, it extend some way to the right, but stops about there on the left. Mewtwo points as he explains. "Alright, let''s try it." Astra takes the lead once more and and walks toward the supposed edge of the trap. After walking forward for a few moments, nothing happens. "Seems you were right." Mewtwo smile at that. And then falls down on all four as an impossible weight settles upon his mind. Something is angry at him. The weight of the unknown mind tries to confine him within his own head. He hears Astra call at him faintly, but is unable to answer. Just remaining awake requires absurd efforts. And then it is gone. The mind hastily retreats as Mewtwo manages to endure the pressure. He huffs, sweat rolls down his brow, and something wet trickles down his nose. He sweep it and his pale hand comes red. A nosebleed. What was that? "-wo! Mewtwo? Are you alright?" Astra''s distressed voice finally snaps him out. He gets up, wincing as his body feels cramped all over. I am... fine. Something did not appreciate me finding the hole in their defenses. "Shit... do you need a break?" Not here. We need to keep going before they try again. Mewtwo extends his senses once more, wincing at the sudden pain of doing so, but persevering nonetheless. There are more traps ahead, let us advance. Indeed, the way forward feels like a maze of trapped walls of mist. Mewtwo steels himself and slowly the both of them traverse the magical forest line of defense. Chapter 27: Welcome to the Sanctuary The walls of fog are invisible to me. All I see around me is a gray whiteness and the barely distinguishable shadows of trees. Mewtwo is the one that guides our way through it all. With the night fully blanketing what little light had streamed under the forest, we can only rely on the slight glow that seems to permeate the fog. I tried to put a torch out, but the result was immediate blindness. The fog turned almost solid the moment the torch was taken out, the barely discernable shadows disappeared and Mewtwo and I almost lost each other. I stored the torch back in my inventory immediately. We walk through the fog labyrinth for who knows how long. We watch as sometimes trees move and try to confuse us. We listen as cries of unknown creatures echo through the forest, their distances impossible to determine. We walk, and slowly, I can see we are approaching the inner part of the forest. As we approach, my map slowly updates. Each meters we traverse inward means a new meter far ahead revealed. And what is revealed is quite interesting. Further within, I can see the shapes of possibly massive trees, possibly bigger than any I have ever seen. Small clearings are visible beneath their canopy. Some seems to have stone structures within. I try to zoom in, but the pixelated view turns into a magnified pixelated view. In other words and big soup of colored squares that become impossible to make out. The journey is slow. The biggest problem seems to be whoever is behind these walls. For every passages we find, Mewtwo suffers painful psychic backlash. Even with one of the new paths he unlocked, whoever is retaliating to his advance is strong enough to bypass the defenses he tries to mount up. But still we persevere. Another passage is found, and another headache strikes Mewtwo. This one, however, seems different. I almost see the form of the strike around Mewtwo''s head. As he wince from the latest assault, strange light dances around his head and leaves him teetering. His eyes are unfocused, and he seems to be disoriented. His tail swipes left and right, his head darts all around him, as if trying to find something. "Mewtwo?" I cautiously call out. My call is ignored. Mewtwo suddenly focuses on something, and jumps. I grab his long tail just in time. I cannot see the walls, but I know roughly where the one we pass are. And Mewtwo was jumping straight at one. Mewtwo''s strength almost takes me off my feet, and I barely stop him. "Mewtwo! What''s happening!" I call louder. Whatever seems to have ailed him leaves, and Mewtwo snaps out of his strange confused state. Astra? How did you move so fast? You almost touched a wall! He sends me, distraught. "What are you talking about?" I answer back, confused, "You''re the one that suddenly tried to jump into a wall." We both look at each other in confusion for a few seconds, before the sound of branches cracking makes us jump. A tree is next to us. "Mewtwo where is the next passage?" I ask cautiously. Mewtwo is silent for a couple seconds, before answering. This way, he points to our right, Not too far. I nod, and slowly we move around the tree. As we make our way toward the hole in the invisible teleporting wall, our eyes never leave the tree. It slowly disappears into the fog, turning into a shadowy stick. We pass the next wall and Mewtwo braces himself. But no headache comes this time. He looks around, confused, before sighing in relief, only for a pulsating ball of shadows to explode against his back. He cries out and stumble forward. He barely stops himself from falling, possibly into a wall. I look back around in alarm. This did not come from the tree, we were looking at it the whole way. Childlike laughter echoes all around us. I gulp. I saw the label on the tree. And I have a good guess as to what is laughing in the darkness. This forest is filled with trevenants and phantumps. The trevenants are the reason the trees around us seem to constantly move, and the phantumps must be the ones crying in the fog. And now that we are so deep within they are acting more violent. But why? Did Princess not inform them? Does she have no control over them? We''ll ask her when we finally pass the wall. Mewtwo is already recovering, looking around wildly. It seems he is unable to see or sense his attacker. The WAYLA header has also disappeared from the tree. Is it because I am too far? Or something else? We need to get to the next passage. How much farther do we need to go? I consult the map, and wince. If the width of the walls are about two meters, and the space between each ones is roughly five, then we might still have dozens of walls to pass. "Maybe thirty to fifty walls, maybe more. That''s the best estimate I can give." Then we are going to pick up the pace. Mewtwo growls. I can tell he is getting frustrated by the constant attacks. We resume our journey, with our pace hastened. We pass walls after walls, the space between each slowly closing each times, making the possibility of dodging slimmer and slimmer each time. This change comes with more attacks against Mewtwo. Each walls we pass come with a slew of weak shadow balls, and with the walls closing in, Mewtwo has a harder and harder time avoiding them. The damage he suffers might not be much, it is accumulating. After another wall is passed, I slam Mewtwo down. Most shadow balls pass above us, but a few still hit. Good news, they do not hit Mewtwo. Bad news, they hit me instead. The icy sensation that seeps from each impact would be almost welcomed, if not for my vision blurring and filling with strange artefacts. I wince at the white noise that fills my head and ears. Mewtwo looks back at me. Are you okay? "I''ll ma-ma-manage." My voice comes out hashed. Okay maybe tanking ghost type moves is a bad idea. But Mewtwo can carry me and I need him to sense the walls. And for the next walls, we take turn in tanking the shadow balls. Mewtwo recovers through life dews, offering me some as well each times. But we can feel we are nearing the limit of our ressources. Our food supplies are exhausted, Mewtwo can feel his own stamina dwindle with each life dews. Yet we persevere. We have come too far to turn back. After a dozen or so more walls, we finally find a change. the walls of fog open up, and we enter a clearing. The fog seems to linger at its edge, and the only light comes from a large ball of fire hovering above its center. Beneath it, sitting atop a large web of roots, is a stocky palm tree, complete with three yellow coconut-like fruits just beneath sparse green leaves. Mewtwo and I both freeze.. The cracks of moving trees echoes all around us, and soon the entire clearing is lined by a wall of trevenants. they do not bother to hide anymore. The black, ghostly matter beneath their hollow trunks is fully visible now. The clearing feels like it is lined with red dots as their eyes lock on us. Tiny wispy creatures fly between them, distorted childlike laughter echoes from them. Their red eyes, beneath stump shaped wooden masks, are filled with glee and anticipation. We are trapped. We both prepare ourselves. I prepare to defend myself and Mewtwo keep scanning the entire place, ready to react to anything. Neither of us hold much hope though. The moment these pokemons decide it, they can end us in moments. The WAYLA headers tell me quite a lot about our chances. Most of the phantumps are surprisingly low level, the highest I can find being level 6. The trevenants on the other end, are no less than level 60, with the highest being 83. What makes me shiver though, is the palm tree at the center of the clearing. It was my understanding that pokemons were limited to a hundred levels. What stands in the center of the clearing is an exeggutor. And its level is listed as 142. Seeing the roots he seems to be connected to, I assume he was the one teleporting us. The three coconut-shaped tree all open a pair of eyes and they open their mouth, as if to speak verbally. INTRUDERS! TELL TRUTH. WHY INTRUDERS HERE? The three voices scream in my mind, even Mewtwo recoils at the violence of the exeggutor telepathy. "We were following Princess, a florges, but we lost her the moment we entered. She was the one guiding us." I manage to stammer, still reeling from the strong psychic scream. THIS TRUTH. BUT NOT ALL TRUTH! WHY INTRUDERS HERE? Why are we here? That... is an actual good question. Why did we seek Princess out? Safety? Mewtwo proposes to my silent question. And maybe answers... And help. We need help. The Trio did not chose Aster''s soul for no reasons. they must have anticipated that his old team would survive and be able to aid us. They must have known Hound would keep watch for Aster''s return. And by finding him, we would obviously stumble upon the rest, wherever they may be. We had hoped Princess could help us as the village of Hound has. We are new to this world, and have been burdened with a grand quest. Any help we can get would be immensely welcome. Mewtwo articulates our thoughts. This is indeed the best way to put it. We are still trying to complete the quest for the marble of many realities, and without Hound help, we would have already been dead. Not sure about Princess right now though. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The exeggutor seems to converse with himself. His three heads hiss and whisper with each other for a few minutes before he turns their attention back to us. THIS TRUTH. CONFUSED TRUTH, BUT ALL TRUTH. YOU PASSED LABYRINTH, YOU PASSED STRENGTH TRIAL. YOU WELCOME HERE. The trevenants on our left open a path for us, and we slowly make our way toward it. The passage looks like a long hallway of bark, with multiple trevenant eyes bordering each walls. I go to take the first step, but Mewtwo stops me. It''s a trap. He flies a pebble into the passage, only for it to instantly disappear. The laughter of the phantumps echoes all around us and then the exeggutor joins as well. YOU PASS TRICK TRIAL! YOU ENTER. NO MORE TRICKS. ONLY FORWARD. A similar passage opens, this time behind the exeggutor, and the one before us shatters into pieces, revealing a foggy hole instead. That was devious. We head for the new passage, and Mewtwo launches a pebble once more. This time, it does not disappear and we proceed into the dark passage. The trevenants close it the moment we step in, and we proceed onward. The red eyes dotting the walls of bark and black ghostly matter soon become our only light, bathing us in their eerie red glow. The oppressive atmosphere makes us shiver, but we continue. We walk for... some time? The hallway, straight at first, start to twist and turn. I try to see where we are going, but our marker on the system map seems frozen, it only rotates in in response to the turns we take. However, as we go deeper, the walls change. Slowly, the trevenants disappear. One after the other, the eyes close, and soon, only a couple remains. We take another turn, and only one remains. One final turn, and the hallway turns dark. No light filters from above, no more glow comes from the trees. We are plunged in utter darkness. Mewtwo makes his hand glow, and I get out a torch. The trees are still there, their bark no longer have cracks or gaps within which the black ghostly body of trevenants flows. They are just trees now, plain and non-possessed trees. We turn around, and there is only the hallway behind us, seemingly stretching to infinity. If this is another illusion, it seems to confuse even Mewtwo. I cannot feel any sort of energies at work. He tells me. "Well, let''s trust the exeggutor then. Only forward." I say, Only forward. He echoes with a nod. Torch in hand for me, hands aglow for him, we carry on. A minute passes, maybe more, and something changes. In the distance, an iridescent glow appears. "The light at the end of the tunnel," I joke. Let us hope it is not that tunnel this expression refers to. Mewtwo jokes back. We both chuckle and each remove our source of light. The closer we get to the new light, the more its source, or more exactly sources are revealed. Glowing patches of moss cover the trees further down the hallway. The patches are small at first, and few and far between, but the closer we get to what appears to be the exit, the more numerous they are. The come in many hues. Ice blue patches coexist along green ones, deeper blue ones mount along the bark surrounding us. Rare pink streaks are sometime visible. Then come the mushrooms. Growing along the bark or between the roots, the fungi glow with a similar low radiance. Bulbous deep purple ones pushes themselves up between the roots, flat orange caps sometime grow along the bark and large yellow plate-like ones stick out in between. Added with the moss, they form a wonderful kaleidoscope of color all around us. As we finally reach the edge of the hallway, the light becomes brighter, and it takes our eyes a moment to adapt to the new light. Once they are, we behold an incredible sight. The air seems to glow before us. Small lights of many hues float all around us. The moss patches and fungi are more numerous than ever before. The trees... the trees. I knew there were big trees in the forest, but there is knowing and beholding. Massive. The trees are massives. I follow one all the way to its top and have to crane my neck back just to see it all. Its canopy is so thick no light filters through it. In the distance, one of the clearing is visible, only because of the pale rays of moonlight lighting it, giving it an ethereal glow. I am speechless. And my wonder only grows as I look all around the flora. Among the trees, in the grass, all around us are pokemons. I recognize the trevenants as well as the phantumps. But I also spot many others. A colony of caterpies is making its way along a dead tree trunk, the green caterpillars waddling cutely along the bark. On the smaller parts of a tree, dozens of yellow cocoons have their eyes locked on us. The kakunas seem apprehensive. A clefairy is looking at us from behind another tree, its chubby star-shaped body not so clearly visible at first glance thanks to the ambient light. Many, many more walk, slide and mingle all around us. Some stop to look at us, all that do shiver at my sight and quickly hide or move away. Why they fear me is obvious. They fear me because I look human. And the few humans I have interacted with are clearly not the kindest to their pokemons or pokemons in general. I offer an apologetic smile at those that look our way. Mewtwo is the one that stops me from my contemplation. He taps my shoulder and silently points behind us. I turn around and see that the passage is no longer here. But somehow, it does not bother me. There is sense of familiarity now. I... Aster came here before, many times, and his nostalgia fills me with wonder and sadness. This place is as beautiful as he remembers, but the reactions of pokemons toward me paint a sad story. Someone clear their throat and we look at the source of the sudden noise. Dressed in a casual shirt and shorts, is a teenager. Although he does not a remains just a teenager for long. The moment I look at him, a header pops up above his head. Zoroark, level 187. Oh... Oh that explains the illusions. "That was you!" I exclaim. The boy jumps back in surprise and even Mewtwo looks at me in confusion. "He''s the one that made us go in circles in the hallway." I explain. The still human looking pokemon looks at me in confusion, but no sounds escape his mouth. "He''s a zoroark." I spell out. Really? Mewtwo I am serious, no sarcasm please. The zoroark sighs, and his human body glows for a few seconds. His form elongates, upper arms and torso thin, forearms gets covered in fur, with three claws poking at the end. A long mane extends upon a vulpine face. The light dims and colors are revealed. The fur covered upright fox is gray, with a long spiky deep red mane cascading along its back. He opens his cyan eyes eyes and huffs in annoyance. That would explain why I could not see through the illusions in the passage. Mewtwo comments. Do not ignore that fact that you did not believe me a second ago. The gray fox preens at that and then gestures for us to follow. He falls on all four and starts leaping away, deeper into the forest. We follow, and almost instantly stop as pop-ups appears in front of us.
You have entered a Sanctuary. Another chosen has spent time and soul coins to create such place. Pa#-@==]) { ()()() } \Err0r\ -Syst3m AcqU@r1m¨´nt- { ~X~ } { =^w^= }
Achievement got: Find a Sanctuary Some of the abductees sometime gather enough ressources to create domains and whatnot that would be safe for them and others. These domains, of course, require upkeep from abductees to conitnue operating for abductees. Only Abductees need to pay. You are not an abductee. (Also hypocrisy much calling your prisoners ''chosen ones''?) Reward: Give us minute, it''s coming.
Notice: Deploying new compatibility patch. -Deploying assets... -Reworking current lattice... -Undoing local restrictions... -Transferring ownership- Error: previous owner presence required. Error: Previous owner present/Not present Error: Please reach Sanctuary Altar to resolve Ownership transfer.
I look at the two new colored windows. What the fuck just happened. I feel a bit hot, and somewhat dizzy. Mewtwo looks as puzzle as I am. Our new guide also growl in puzzlement, as he is unable to see what we are seeing and why we have stopped. A new marker has appeared in both our vision. Its label is simply ''altar''. And, coincidentally, it seems to be where we are headed. Apologies, something just came up. Mewtwo placates the zoroark. We are ready to follow you once more. The fox just shrugs resume his guidance. We walk through the forest for some time, and I can see we are closing on the altar. It really is our destination. We pass through a large hollow log, and finally arrive at the altar. It appears as a large stone structure within a small clearing, with a rotating bowl floating above a pedestal. A blue flame burns within the bowl, and the familiar diamond shaped eye of Eziakophael decorates it. Before the altar is Princess. She looks at us as we enter and huffs. Thou have kept us waiting. No prove thine words. She declares, and she points at the structure behind her. Trio I hope you know what you are doing. Because we are NOT winning against a level 412 florges. What the fuck is the limit of levels here? Chapter 28: Trial of inheritance As much as I want to question the level limit, there is a more pressing matter. I am not even close to the altar but already I can see a little gray window in front of it. Princess moves to the side and gestures for me to go forward. Her sneer is still present, and her distrust plain to see. I look at her. "Was the forest a test as well?" Tis not our fault thou are unable to follow close to us. Thou hast brought the forest defenses upon thyselves. she dismiss my question with a wave. "You could have waited for us, or at least warned your defenders." I counter. Thou still came out on top in the end. It matters not in the end. Now show us that thou are who thou claims to be. I hope our suffering were to your liking your majesty. Mewtwo adds as I make my way to the altar. Why yes they were. Princess answers with a malicious glint in her eyes. I grind my teeth in annoyance while the part of me that is Aster chuckles. Somehow princess has not changed. She still dislike those she considers strangers. And she still tricks and play with any that dare cross her way or endangers those she protects. That explains parts of her reaction. She has most of the forest under her control. She knows all that happens within its confines. She knows every pokemons here fear me. I sigh. Maybe coming here was not a good idea? The zoroark steps next to the florges, bowing his head and then sitting down, a playful smile on his face. I continue to approach the altar. The floating grey window is bigger than any I have ever seen, almost the size of my torso. Mewtwo and I stop before it. Behind, the flaming bowl continue to hoover and turn. Together, we read what is written upon the window.
~ The magical forest Sanctuary ~ Owner: Aster Stradivii Rank S Commandments: Woe upon he who dares to hurt the residents You who wishes for protection, come forth and be welcome Woe upon he who dare steal from the resident A lesser burden for you who seek protection Grand woes upon he who dares steal a resident _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-__-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ No heir selected Takeover possible.
Takeover? Hum... That''s not... I cannot finish my thoughs. A new screen pops to life, wit electric blue colors
Notice: Continuing patch deployment. -Transferring ownership
New entity has reached the altar Scanning... Scanning...
Notice: Continuing patch deployment. -Altar scan initiated... -Please move closer to Altar structure
New entity has reached the altar Scan complete. Current owner signature detected. /!\ Incomplete signature /!\
Notice: Continuing patch deployment. -Scan completed -Initializing full_soul.exe, please hold.
Multiple windows flash before me in quick succession. Some I manage to read, others I do not. Something is happening. I don''t know what, but it is. A distant rumble echoes above us, and we all look up. My eyes widen at what I behold. The sky... I cannot see the sky anymore, instead, a maelstrom of deep gray and red is slowly growing above our head. What is this? Is this thy doing? Princess questions. "I... Maybe? I"m not sure." I answer back. The maelstrom keep growing. Bigger and bigger.
New entity has reached the altar Entity deemed as dangerous. Woe be upon you who threatens this Sanctuary.
Notice: Continuing patch deployment. -Full_soul.exe failed... -Executing admin_takeover.knlg... -Please hold...
A hole opens in the center of the maelstrom. It opens to a strange black-green sky, filled with countless stars. A whine can be heard from within. And then a beam of sickening red light crashes upon the altar. The entire structure shudders upon being struck. What hast thou done? Princess''s psychic voice radiates horror and fear. Before either Mewtwo or I can answer, a wall of blue mixed with yellow lines expands from the altar and engulf us both. I close my eyes on reflex and when I open them back the forest is gone. In its place is a circular arena, large enough to encompass the entire clearing. It is shaped as a dome, with both the wall and floor made of strange electric blue material lined with circuit like yellow-orange lines. The entire arena is empty except for us and the altar. -[Greetings chosen ones. You have entered a special Trial overseen by both me, Knowledge, and Hunt]- I blink in surprise. What? Before I can start to even prepare an answer the altar starts to reform before us. The structure shudders, and the dark bricks that make it up slowly rearrange themselves into a humanoid form. The bowl tips forward and move to the top. After a few seconds, a massive five meter tall humanoid brick golem towers above us. It has short legs and long thick arms. Its torso is thick and it stand hunched forward. -[This Trial will determine if you are able to inherit Aster''s Sanctuary. Each Trials is different, however some rules will be constant.]- I looke around in bewilderment. I recognize the cold voice as Knowledge, although there seems to be a difference compared to when Aster talked with them. If this is knowledge, he is nowhere to be seen. But I can feel his calculating gaze on me. A quick look to Mewtwo confirms that he also hears the voice and feel the god''s presence as well. -[Rule N¡ã1: Death is a possibility. Some trials may be harmless, but others will be designed to test your survival. A death in a trial is final Rule N¡ã2: Before the start of each trials, you will be given two things. A description of the Trial you undertake along with objectives and rewards as well as the possibility for each of you to ask any of us overseeing this trial ONE question per overseer. Rule N¡ã3: A Trial can only be completed, or failed. You cannot leave until you either die or complete all objectives.]- Knowledge finishes enunciating the rules. the altar golem has fully formed. The flame burning in the bowl, once blue, has now turned an abject gray, with a single bean shaped black pupil at its center. A roar escapes it and it takes one shuddering step forward. The entire arena tremble. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. A new screen appears, once more different from every previous ones.
Trial of Inheritance: The peaceful attempt at making you the new owners of Aster''s Sanctuary has failed. We apologize for it. The Altar Guardian has been activated and will now attempt to crush you. Goals: Defeat the Altar Guardian Rewards: Full appropriation of the Sanctuary of the Magical Forest.
-[You may now ask a total of four questions. One from each of you to me, Knowledge, and the same for Hunt.]- "Wait, why only one?" I blurt out before realizing my mistake. Shit that was a waste! -[That is a restriction we were forced to agree upon. What was not agreed upon was how far we can take our answers. You may only ask a single question to each of us supervising you, but know that we each have our own preferred topics. Mine are all subjects related to gaining knowledge. Whatever its subject may be. Hunt will be able to grant you precises advices on hunting, but also caring for creatures of all sort. Chaos... will reveal his specificities himself. Ask your question User:Mewtwo.]- Okay... They are playing with the rules as much as they can. Good to know. Now I only have one question for Hunt left. Why us? Mewtwo asks, and I can only agree with it. It does not help our situation, but we both wish to know. -[...]- -[You were... convenient.]- That''s it? That''s it? Mewtwo echoes my though in outrage. -[Your question has been answered User:Mewtwo. Now ask Hunt your questions.]- <^{Hi~}^> The new voice makes us jump. It radiates kindness yet seems to hide malice and murder beneath. With a single word Hunt has us both shuddering. Our outrage at Knowledge''s dismissive answer is almost drowned under Hunt''s presence. What is our enemy''s weakness? Mewtwo is the first to recover. And his question is one I would have asked if he had not. <^{Oooh~ kitty is pretty to the point. So, I am sure little Astra can see the header and it was name dropped in the trial description, but you are fighting an Altar guardian. That one is ranked S, whatever that means. Numbers are easier, I''ll give that to Knowledge. Now in terms of capability, that thing is slow, whatever its rank, but what is is not, is squishy. You might want to focus on its legs at first, then go for the kill. You only need to destroy the golem''s heart to win, and I''ll let you guess where it is. It''s pretty obvious.}^> That was... one comprehensive explanation. Mewtwo looks at me and he knows what I want to ask. It is a dumb question, but I am hoping for Hunt to go further than just a yes or a no. Mewtwo nods and I ask my question. "Can we win?" Laughter is my answer. Hysterical laughter echoes all around us. It last for some times before finally subsiding. <^{Aahah...ahah... Ooh... After all you went through? You still ask such a question? That thing is far weaker than any other opponents you both have faced. The biggest problem? You both lack true control of your bodies current capabilities. I am not talking upgrades or levels up, I am talking body mastery. You both move like broken puppets. You should take some trials once you are done with this one. It will help you tremendously. Also you are both almost at your limits. Little kitty is barely holding on after traversing that fantastic forest, and you have burned through all your reserves. Still, yes you can win. but it will be harder than it has to be.}^> -[All questions have been answered. The Trial will now commence.]- Knowledge''s voice echoes once more <^{Good hunting.}^> And their presence are gone. Only the golem remains in the expanse of blue and orange. The golem screams once more. A small sphere of light gathers in front of its dark pupil and slowly grows. Before either Mewtwo or I can react, a beam of white light traverses the entire arena. It misses us only barely. A pulsing line of red now decorates the floor and part of the wall where the laser passed. "That was not part of Hunt''s description!" I asked for weaknesses, not a full breakdown of that thing capabilities. Mewtwo retorts. True. Well we are in for surprises then. Speaking of surprises, what''s up with the floor-OH SHIT! Mewtwo and I both jump from the line left by the laser. Said line swells like a bubble only to detonates violently as the golem takes another step toward us. Yeah okay that thing is slow. "We need to get closer!" I call out to Mewtwo, hoping he can hear me after the explosion. I somehow suffer no consequences from standing so close to an explosion. As the smoke from the explosion clears, I can see Mewtwo already gunning forward, floating close to the ground. He gives me a confident nod and I get up and start running toward our foe as well. Bricks along the golem shoulders turn, revealing strange little symbols on them. The symbols illuminate for a second, and large fireballs come careening toward us. I jump out of the way of mine, while Mewtwo deflect the one aimed at him. They both explode the moment they touch the ground, but we have almost reached the golem. Mewtwo summons a long purple psychic blade along his hand and I ready my left arm for a punch. the golem is too slow to react and both our strikes connect. The trunk sized leg I punch buckle under my fist, and bricks explode outward. I feel the punch reverberate along my arm. Steam escapes my arm as I can feel my auto repair kick into overdrive. A quick glance at the other leg reveals that Mewtwo has left a deep gouge in it. Both our attacks forces the golem to fall down on his knees. Its legs are now useless. Okay yeah, I can see what Hunt meant with her laughter. That golem is wea- My world turns upside down as the floor rushes above me. My head is once more at a weird angle, why is it always my head? What even happened? I touche the ground, bouncing up with the momentum, before touching it again, and rolling for a few meters, finally stopping once I hit the wall. Shit. The golem has his eye on me, a new sphere of white light gathering before its dark pupil. He just punched me away. I rescind my previous observation. That golem is not weak. It is slow, which is what Hunt said, but it is not weak. I can see Mewtwo is circling back for another strike. Before he can get too close however, beams of dark light erupts from the golem''s back. Mewtwo is taken by surprise and most impact him. He falls down, his body covered in new darkened spots. Shit. The ball of light in the golem eye has reached its full size and is about ready to be unleashed. I will my body to move, but nothing happens. What? fuck, my neck is fucked more than I though. What can I move? My head. I try to swing my head from side to side, trying to move even a little bit, but I remain where I landed. Okay not helping. I have maybe a second before the golem fires. And that second passes, the beam of light rushes toward me, burning a new trail of red on the ground. I look on, desperately trying to move away, but I cannot. I grit my teeth, readying myself for the impact. Only for the beam to deviates right before reaching me. The golem''s head has been turned slightly by a weak purple aura. I look at where Mewtwo is, Even from the distance, I can see his snarl. His right hand is extended before him, a flickering purple aura illuminating it. Finally, I feel my body responding to my commands once more. I quickly get back on my feet. My movements feel sluggish, but it is better than being paralyzed. I rush back as the golem turns its head bak on me, Mewtwo''s aura breaking with the movement. Another dark beam strikes Mewtwo and he cries out in pain. No! I almost deviates, but I cannot. Even if I get him, I have no ways to get him to safety. There is no cover anywhere in the arena. The previous trail of red detonates, the smoke obscuring my way forward. A fireball comes out of the smokescreen and I barely avoid it. More fireballs fly my way, and I dodge them, their explosion sometime almost destabilize me, but I endure forward. I realize too late they were decoys. as the last one sails over me, I see the new white ball in front of the golem eye. I jump to the side as the beam strikes where I stand. The beam follows. Shit. I move right and left trying to avoid being hit, until I finally reach the relative safety of under the golem itself. Mewtwo is clearly down for the count, it''s only me now. Still, his body rises up and down in sync with his breath, so I know he is still alive. A quick check tells me I will soon run out of energy. Not good. What did Hunt say. We only have to have to destroy its heart to win, but where is the heart? What does it even looks like? She said it was pretty obvious... It''s his head isn''t it? An arm the size of a truck barrels on me and I jump, landing on it as it passes me. I plant my legs and left arm in the dark bricks and manage to stay on it. What the fuck is a truck? Later! I dash forward, gunning for the head. The moment I reach the shoulder, I jump, ready to kick the golem''s head, only to be propelled upward as the world turns white. A brick right under my feet turned, revealing a symbol that ignited into an explosion immediately. Colors return and I can almost brush the blue ceiling of the arena. I blink as I stay there, weightless for a second, then gravity reassert itself. I am still right above the golem. The explosion sent me on a straight path, surprisingly. What do I do now? Well... I am already falling, might as well make use of it. I have a second to reorient myself, but once I am done, I am barreling down straight toward the golem''s head. A new ball of white light is gathering above it, and I know I will not be able to dodge it. Instead, I try to make sure I have as little drag as possible. Both my arms are raised above my head, my legs are extended before me, both feet joined together, talons touching each others. I am a spearhead descending from the heaven. The light almost finish gathering when I reach the golem. With a mighty cry, I impact, barely missing the white sphere. My legs buck under the pressure, but I still manage to do what I aimed to. I pass straight through the bowl, destroying it and scattering the gray flame within. The Altar guardian stops moving, the ball of light disappears. I bounce on the floor once more and slide to a stop a few meters away from the golem. I cough up. Please be over. Seconds passes with nothing happening. Then a brick falls. That singular brick is soon followed by another, then another and soon the entire brick humanoid breaks apart. Once the dust settle, only a pile of dark bricks remains of our foe. I shout in relief.
Trial of Inheritance: Completed. Messier than it could have been, still congratulation. The merge will now resume.
Notice: Continuing patch deployment. -admin_takeover.knlg successful -Designating new owner=User:Astra -Designating new owner=User:Mewtwo -Both users successfully added. -Merging previous upgrades with new Sanctuary system interface... Done -Preparing new interface... Done -Preparing new Altar... Done -Designing new upgrade system... Done -Applying changes... Done -Transferring full ownership... Done -Deployment finished. -Have a nice day- End_Commands
The orange rimmed window remains after the blue one blinks out. I simply lay where I am, looking at the message and my energy slowly draining away. I cannot feel my legs. I look toward Mewtwo, but only see his tail from behind the pile of bricks. I hope he is alright. The arena starts to dissolve, and the clearing reappears around us. Not a single trace of our battle is visible. Somehow, I have ended up the over side of it. Mewtwo is next to the altar, and I can see Princess and the zoroark looking around wildly. Princess'' eyes lock onto mine and I feel her fury. WHAT HAS THOU DONE! HOW DARE THEE DESECRATE MY SAVIOR''S WORK! Before I can answer, the entire altar shudders. Bricks start to float around, and soon, a new altar is built. The previous altar was a tall pyramid with four curves pillars going toward the floating bowl. the new altar is nothing like that. Three rings of bricks orbit on top of one another, each rings growing bigger the further up they go. Above them, three more rings turn around each others, forming a sphere withing which, three flames dance with each others. A dark red flame with blood red accents, a deep blue flame cyan lightning coursing through it and an orange flame with hints of purple at its edges looking like maws and talons. A new beam escapes the structure and hit something invisible above us. A wave of dark red, electric blue and bright orange wash over an invisible dome before disappearing. Princess and the zoroark look on in astonishment, before Princess returns her attention to me. In seconds she stand before me, and once more thorny vines pull me upward. WHAT. HAS. THOU. DONE? Her fury crashes into my mind, and I shut down as my body enters power saving mode. Chapter 29: Convincing royalty o0o_Well..._o0o <^{At least that should give us some time to get the new Sanctuary set up.}^> -[Connection will be established in a few moments.]- I groan as consciousness returns to me. Sight return and a blue sky greets me. A pale and pixelated blue sky. Did... did we not defeat the golem? Are we still in the tria o0o_Nah you won kiddo, But you were running on fumes by the end_o0o I shudder at the new voice. My head starts spinning and pulsing veins of many hues invade my vision. It feels wrong, my body feels like thousands of worms are slithering beneath my skin. And then it stops. The effect is so outlandish I get up to check my body. Nothing has changed. I am still flesh and metal. What was that? o0o_Sorry about that, I have that effect on mortals._o0o I taste sugary dirt in my mouth and colors start to bleed all around me. Body parts start to appear from thin air, duplicating from one another in impossible geometrical patterns, without the slightest sense or reason. Once more the visions only last seconds, yet it feels like hours passed. I look around, ready to find another strange sight, but I am alone. I am in a strange space made of light. The ground is only visible due to the white lines cutting it out into geometric patterns. Cubes of pale blue light float all around me, some fusing with one another as they move around. The entire experience is surreal. -[Connection established.]- Knowledge voice has me fill with calm and cold. It is a stark difference from that new voice. Was it chaos? The visions almost return, but only a loud smack answers my silent question. -[You are in power saving mode. As you are within a Sanctuary you are the owner of, you may edit its parameters. Please do so now.]- A window appears before me, but movement on my right distract me from it. From behind a close by floating cube, Mewtwo steps out. He appears fully healed. "Mewtwo?" I call out. Astra! Mewtwo''s head turns to me and he quickly floats to my side. We both hug each other. "You''re fine!" We both say at the same time. We laugh at our synchronicity and then sit down. So, where is this? The Trio only told me to find you. Mewtwo looks around in amazement and worry. "I... don''t know? I just woke up, I only have this to go on." I gesture to the new window, still open and in familiar tones of color. It feels refreshing after the strange blue and grey ones.
~The Magical Forest Sanctuary~ Owner(s): User:Astra User:Mewtwo [Add+] Number of residents: 1.884
Development Level : 7/10 Current Perks: None [Select Perks]
I look at the window, Mewtwo looks at the window. It is different from the previous window that we saw for the Sanctuary summary. Gone is the rank as well as the commandments. The off comment from Hunt about ranks echoes in my head and I chuckle. They really did not like those ranks uh? But now we have taken over the Sanctuary. Why? Why did they make us take it over? Why did the Sanctuary not recognize me as Aster? Was it due to the Trio alterations? They tried to make the Sanctuary recognize me, but it failed. did Eziakophael intervene to ensure I would not be recognize? Again, there are so many questions, yet so few answers. Maybe we could ask the Trio about that during another trial? There were some quests labelled as trials that we cannot not access yet. Mewtwo looks as pensive as I am. We remain lost in though for some times, until I decide to get things moving again. "Do we look at the perks?" I ask, breaking the silence. We might as well. He agrees. I touch the [Select Perk] option and OH BY THE TRIO! A list of perks appears, there are dozens, hundreds! So many! How do we chose? At the top of the new window, an empty line with a looking glass catches our attention. The moment I click on it, a microphone icon appears, pulsing. We look at it in silence, and it disappears after about twenty seconds. Alright, click it again and try to say something. "Alright." I click the empty line again. "Protection?" The word ''protection'' writes itself upon the line, and the list decreases significantly in size. Oh thank the Trio we have a search bar. Still... "Okay nice, but they could have added a way to sort them." I groan. The new reduced list contains every perks that has the word protection in it. We read a couple, out of curiosity, and some appear absolutely useless while others are too restrictive. Protection against raids, but you will need to fight all the raids the Sanctuary stopped once you exit its influence radius? Good on paper for anyone but me. I can only imagine what two raids at once would entail. Protection against calm breezes? Who would need something like that? Oh you need it to unlock protections against strong breezes so you can unlock a whole chain of perks to fully secure your sanctuary against hurricanes. That seems like a waste. Especially since I do not think we are anywhere close to any sea or ocean. While we search, we find out that we have Sanctuary points. The amount seems absurd at first, but when we find out the price of some perks, we realize it is not that absurd of an amount. After more messing around with the perks search, we finally spot something else. On the side of the list are three little bars, almost impossible to see. The moment we click on it, we both grumble in annoyance. We have found the sorting system as well as advanced search. Our search becomes faster after that. But we also do not acquire any perks. Not yet. Why? Because we are not the only ones that will live under the Sanctuary protection, and we both know who could help us know what those others will need. Princess. But for that, we will need to wake up. Mewtwo is easily able to, he even has a ''leave'' button, but I cannot. I need someone to feed me to regain energy. We keep looking through the perks, trying to remember those that would help us and those that might help the residents of the magical forest. After maybe hours or more, or less, time feels strange here. We have a decent list that would go through more than half of our point reserve, but leave us enough buffer to let Princess choose more perks if she wants to. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Mewtwo nods at me and click his ''Leave'' button and dissolve in a shower of blue cubes. Now I only have to wait. I lie down and look at the not-sky of the strange space, waiting.
Mewtwo awakes. He can hear the flutter of the wind though branches all around him. His body feels stiff and constricted. He can feel something akin to a blanket wrapped all around him, stopping him from moving. Slowly, he opens his eyes, looking at the world around him. Above him is the canopy of a tree of titanic proportions. Little lights of many colors float all around it, tinkling as they go. In front of him are the trees of the magical forest, the inner ambient light is inviting. And finally, he looks down. What wraps his body is a blanket indeed, a blanket of interwoven vines stopping him from making a single move. He sigh. Princess must have though they destroyed the previous sanctuary. A look to his right reveals a cocoon similar to his, this one hosting Astra. Only his head is visible. Before he can continue his observations, an imperious voice fills his mind. Thou will explain what hast happened to our Savior''s Sanctuary. It is now under new management, your highness. But we have yet to finish configuring it. Mewtwo sees little reason to lie. Princess floats into his field of vision, her aged faced stuck in a furious scowl. And why should We trust thee? Princess cold fury colors each words, Mewtwo can feel convincing her will be hard. You cannot, not until we prove it to you. And for that you would have to trust us. For you it would be a gamble. For us it is our future we give to you. Know this your highness, we have been as truthful as we can from the moment we have met you. We have no reasons to lie or try to deceive you. Mewtwo is resigned, either Princess gives them a bit of her trust and they can answer it back, or she refuses, and their journey stops. Mewtwo closes his eyes back, he has nothing more to add. The clearing surrounding the massive tree is silent. No answer comes from Princess. So he waits for her judgement. Yet the next words he hears do not come from her. Instead, a new masculine voice echoes within the clearing. Uncle? The male voice asks, uncertainty paints the word, yet the voice echoes with strange familiarity within Mewtwo. Uncle? Uncle to who? Am I not a construct made by gods? Yet he can feel that something is wrong with his own statement. He is a construct, but more than once, he felt familiarity to this world, the feeling eerily similar to Aster''s side of Astra''s memories. Mewtwo opens back his eyes, finding the source of the new psychic voice quickly. Half hiding behind a tree is a tall feminine figure wreathed in a white robe. Slender green arms rest against the tree bark, and a white face rimmed by green hair pokes halfway from behind the tree. Large expressive red eyes look in hope and apprehensions. At the figure''s feet, two tinier versions of herself hide beneath the figure''s robe. A third being, looking closer to a ballerina, hides behind the robe of the large being. A gardevoir, a kirlia and two ralts look at Mewtwo. Before Mewtwo can try to answer, Princess stands between him the pokemons. Tis dangerous children, thou should not be here. return to the safety of the forest before ill falls upon thee. Bu- But your highness, I- I can feel my uncle from that one! Mewtwo does not see it, but he can feel the gardevoir attention honing on him. She is talking about him. What? Mewtwo thinks, unsure on how to react. What? Princess broadcasts in confusion. I... I can feel uncle Paladin within this one, as well as... teacher Master? The gardevoir continues, Princess turns back around, her fury has abated, and is now replaced with confusion. What are thou, psychic one? She questions. I am Mewtwo, a construct of gods sent here for the purpose of a quest, and a bet. That is all I know about myself. Mewtwo says, before remembering something else. No, that is not all. According to knowledge given by our creators, I am supposed to be an unfeeling killing machine. I have yet to prove that fact accurate. Both Princess and the gardevoir and his entourage look him in wonder. Mewtwo feels the vines imprisoning him slowly loosen. Soon he is standing upon the roots of the massive tree, and he quickly inspects his body. Not a sign of injuries remains. No scars or scabs or burn marks. He has fully healed back. Princess'' eyes are still locked on Mewtwo, and she gestures to the gardevoir. The pokemon rushes forward, his entourage of little ones following. UNCLE! He pleads, taking Mewtwo hand before he can react. Teacher! Can you hear me? I can feel you in here. Please! Answer me! Answer us! Tears start to roll along the gardevoir cheeks. Within himself, Mewtwo can feel a turmoil of unknown emotions. He does not know that gardevoir, yet a part of him weeps at not remembering him. but why would he remember? He does not know him. The turmoil grows and grows, until a tear start to roll down Mewtwo''s face. Uncle! Please! The gardevoir continues his pleading. Finally, something snaps within Mewtwo, and before he can stop himself, he takes one of his hands away from the gardevoir grasping ones, and gently pats him on the head. I am sorry young one, we are no longer who we were. You have grown magnificently. The moments the words are sent, the entire world spins around Mewtwo. And only a couple of vines from Princess and a psychic hold from the gardevoir stops him from falling down. Already, the memories of his previous sentence are fading away, but he knows what just happened. They made us the same. Mewtwo realizes. Yet, he is more himself than Astra is. He knows that now. The memories of his predecessor are not constant, only a distant feeling when experiencing something familiar. Princess looks astounded at what has just happened, her eyes appear to have gained a wetness not present moments before. Thou... Thou art... Thou were saying the truth, thou were both saying the truth... She whispers. She slowly unwraps Astra, laying him gently on the ground. How can we heal him? We tried many healing moves, but still he dost not wakes. Princess asks. Food. He needs food. You can guide it down his throat to his... stomach and once he has consumed enough, he will awake once more. Mewtwo answers. The gardevoir has now taken him into a tight hug, crying out in grief, yet thanking Mewtwo. Unsure, Mewtwo hugs his back gently, patting his head and making sure the red horn on the gardevoir''s chest doe not bend or break. The little ralts and the kirlia are also hugging him. One has jumped on his tail, another hugs one of his ankles, and the kirlia, being taller, hugs his leg. All are crying. He remains like this for some time, noticing how more and more pokemons emerge from the forest. Dozens of them, some alone, others in groups. All have come to witness him and Astra. Princess orders a couple to gather food, and they quickly disappear back within the forest. Ah! It need to be human food! That is the only type that will give him sustenance. Mewtwo sends too late to Princess. Yet his worries prove unfounded. We have traveled alongside our saviors for decades, we know berries do not sustain humans. Our savior tried, again and again. They never filled him. Princess replies, almost offended by Mewtwo''s remark. Thou hast no memories of our time together. She adds with a tint of sadness None, I am sorry. Mewtwo answers the non-question. After some time, the gardevoir finally let go of Mewtwo, and gathers his entourage. Thank you for indulging me. I am sorry for how I have acted. He declares, bowing his entire body low. Please, raise yourself, you helped me learn something new about myself. Our origins are still mysterious to us both, Mewtwo says, smiling as he point to Astra, Any hints we can find is welcome. If I ever find a way to make your uncle speak directly through me, you will be the first he will speak to. The gardevoir''s eyes water once more and he bows again, a slew of ''thank you'' crashing into Mewtwo''s mind. He smiles and the gardevoir go to joins the growing crowd surrounding he and Astra. He bows to princess as he passes her. Once within the crowd, he starts to discuss animatedly with his fellow pokemons. Family... Mewtwo wonders if he will have one here. Or maybe he already has one? Astra might as well be his brother in this world. Speaking of Astra, a couple of pokemons have returned with large bowls of soup and porridge. Astra has been arranged in a sitting position, and Princess has started pouring the liquid food in a single stream directly into Astra''s open mouth. Mewtwo joins Astra''s side and poke his left arm, summoning the emergency screen. Just like in the village, the refueling rate is visible. The more the line of squares fills, the closer they get to Astra''s awakening. A bowl of soup is emptied, then another, then a bowl of porridge, until finally, Mewtwo calls for a stop. Every squares are filled. Astra is back at full power and even has the strange line beneath all the squares, he is unsure what the line means, and Astra never explained it either. The last time, he had realized too late the moment Astra had been fully recharged, but his time he was certain Astra would awake soon. And so Princess waits, as does Mewtwo. Finally, Astra stirs, and opens his eyes.
I wait patiently for what feels like hours, yet passes in seconds. Finally, a ''leave'' button appears before me and I click it. The world dissolves around me, and soon, I am left with only the reddish black color of trying to look through my closed eyelids. I open them, and behold a crowd of pokemons. So many of them. Dozens, hundreds looking at me. At us. Mewtwo is next to me. Welcome back. Had a good nap? "Ahah, ahah. I would like five more minutes." I joke. before getting myself back on my feet. I notice Princess, and bow to her. "You highness, I apologize for my sudden fall to unconsciousness, the takeover of the Sanctuary was... more turbulent than anticipated." Raise thy head revenant. We have been convinced of thine origins. We apologize for our previous behaviors. It... It hast been so long since our savior walked the Ezian plane. The last part sounds almost choked in my head. Wow, I do not know what you did Mewtwo, but good job. It appears I am more similar to you than we think. You have Aster''s soul within you, I appear to have two of his old partners within me. I look at him in astonishment at his declaration. He nudges me to a gardevoir. It appears one of them had family here. Oh... that must have been a shock. It was... for them and me both. Them? Mewtwo points to the little ones frolicking around the gardevoir. Oh Trio. Now, please explain what thou hast done to our savior''s sanctuary, revenant. Princess cuts my line of though. Yeah we need to resolve this first. We will have a lot of time for many things if we manage to get the Sanctuary set up as we want. Chapter 30: Sanctuary Configuration As I explained your highness, the Sanctuary is under new management. Mewtwo repeats himself, The Trio are now protecting this forest, instead of Eziakophael. "Yeah, but... we need to reconfigure it. All the commandments are gone and we need to select new ones." I add with a sense of urgency. Thou hast removed the work of thine predecessor? Why would thou do such thing? Princess asks, appalled. "It was the only way for me and Mewtwo to inherit the ownership of the Sanctuary." I reply, "We need to go back there quickly." Princess looks at us confused and somewhat horrified. How much hast thou killed to think thou can recover all these commandments? Killed? What? OH! "No! Nonono, your highness-" All of Aster''s work is still present, we just need to reinstate the protections. There is no contribution needed. Mewtwo cuts me, he can sense Princess hostility growing once more. The florges looks at us in distrust, but nods. Fine, let us depart then. If our protecting commandments are no longer present, then It hast been too long already. Let us reassure our charges first. She turns to the assemble crowd and gives a quick speech in pokespeak. "What''s she saying?" I whisper to Mewtwo. "-Thank thee all for thine concerns. Tis still unsure what change will be brought by those two newcomers, but rest assured, thy Princess shall still protect all within our domain from arm. Now please disperse and return to thy daily occupations." Princess finishes her speech with a small bow. Most of the assembled pokemons discuss among themselves for a minute before finally starting to disperse in small groups. Once they are gone, Princess signal us and we return to the altar. I whisper a thank you to Mewtwo for the translation on the way, the only sound that punctuate our traversing of the forest. Only the Zoroark accompany us, I guess he must be some sort of protector or maybe advisor? Considering Princess''s level and battling skill, I would guess advisor. We finally reach the hollow trunk beyond which the Sanctuary''s altar lie. Now that I have time to truly look at it, I realize it looks closer to a flattened icecream cone with a sphere on top both made of three rings of bricks. The flames are still within the orbiting rings, dancing among each others, but something I had not noticed before are the runes running upon every bricks. some are clearly the symbols of the Trio, the three eyes, the roman X, the strange minimalist wolf-cat front face, but there are others as well. Some bricks have circuits-like markings running on them, others have what I assume are the profiles of a gallade and a lucario face. There seems to also be a dog-like one... Wait! that''s- Why... Why are... Princess is at a loss for words before the Altar. I guess she did not look too much at it before taking us to the big tree? She turns to us, fury and sadness fight upon her pointy face. Why is there depictions of three of my companions? We did not dream that vision... Mewtwo whispers. "They have him... And you have two..." I complete Mewtwo''s thoughs. I also notice empty circles on some bricks. Are they readying those for each of Aster''s companions? Thou will answer US! Princess screams into our mind. Vines start to creep toward us. Fury has won. "Your highness, either the Trio is mocking your past, or preserving it. From what I have seen, I would be inclined to believe the latter. During Hound''s funeral pyre, the both of us witnessed the Trio recovering a ghostly version of Hound." I answer solemnly. Talking about Hound still hurts, I guess Aster is not over it yet... Princess stops. She looks back at the Altar, then at us, lingering on Mewtwo. She stays silent for a minute, before calming down. She looks back to the altar, a look of longing passing upon her face, before she shakes her head. She regains her regal composure and turns to us once more. Let us get this over with. She states. What will the altar need to maintain the Sanctuary? I blink. "Upkeep? Mewtwo did we see any mentions of upkeep anywhere?" I whisper to my friend. Princess stare drills into us both as she crosses her arms and float above us, just so she can look down on us. He shakes his head and we both quickly open a tab we did not open in a long time: the tutorial tab. A quick look let us find the Sanctuary entries and we begin scouring through them as fast as we can. And finally we find it. There is... a cost... somewhat... "Your highness... The cost is... what was the cost previously?" Does thou not know? She sneers. "Err... No. This is not a memory I have regained." Does thou not have our savior''s journal, revenant? "I really need to read through it when I have the time." I guiltily answer. Fine..., she is clearly disappointed in my handling of Aster''s memories. The cost for this sanctuary is a million soul coins each years. Our savior had made sure we possessed a great reserve in case he would be gone for some time, but sadly... We are running low. We would have had to forfeit the protection in five years... A million... coins... That seems absurd. How did Aster even manage to accumulate that many? I really need to read that journal at some point. "Well... Good news then... the Sanctuary will ask for nothing of the sort... The ''cost''... is that... hrum..." I hesitate to say it... She is going to be so pissed. You are now under the Trio jurisdiction. They will observe all within the confines of the Sanctuary and depending on what you do, they may bestow upon you ''blessings'' or gifts. Those may or may not be helpful and will depend on which member bestow the gift and in what mood they are. No we do not know the range of the blessings of gifts. Mewtwo declares, and I prepare myself for the fury that is to come. There is no longer a cost to maintain this place, as the Trio themselves will maintain it for their own gain. "Yeah... Sorry..." I wince. Princess face remains neutral. A silence stretch for a minute. May they prove their goodwill toward my people? She asks, and the temperature drops with each words she speaks. Both Mewtwo and I look at each other. How do we do that? Can we do that? Can they do that? As if to answer our question, lightnings of many hues starts coursing along the altar. For a second I am certain I can discern letters among the arcs of electricity. They seem to form a sentence, but what I can see is barely intelligible. ''Bo_d _ne t_is on_, _ li_e h_r!'' Is what I manage to make out. Before anyone in the clearing can react, three embers jump from the flames within the altar. They are colored similarly to the flames. All rush toward Princess and even though she tries, all reach her. The dark red one, with blood red light coursing along its surface, impacts the back Princess right hand. The blue one, with cyan reflection, goes inside Princess elbow. The final one, bright orange with purple shadows, lands upon her shoulder. At each impacts, a mark is left. The three eyes of Chaos upon her hand, the roman X of Knowledge within her elbow, and the wolf-cat mark face of Hunt on her shoulder. Circles appear around each marks, and circuit race along her arm connecting them all. Once each circle is connected. Mewtwo and I both gasps. Upon Princess arm is the same tattoo Mewtwo and I have on our right arm. And a second later, the tattoo fades, leaving the florges arm unblemished. Did... Did she just become a user? A little screen pops in front of all three of us and I realize it is the main altar screen. The only difference from before is that there is now a third name on the user list: Entity_Florges:Princess. Princess looks around in panic, wherever she looks, the screen follows. What is this? What is this? She cries out in panic. "Calm down your highness, this is how we can configure the altar." I try to reassure her. What happened? What did they do? That''s the question, uh? What did they do? Wait! "Hey, mister zoroark?" I call out to the zoroark. The black vulpine pokemon is standing, alarmed at his leader''s panic. He turns to me with a look of puzzlement and fear. He clearly want to know what just happened. "Can you see what is in front of everyone''s face?" I ask him. His look of puzzlement deepens and I can see he is about to question if I am mad. "Well that answer that question then." The zoroark lifts his arm, as if trying to say, ''what did that answer?'' If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "Your highness, I believe the Trio has just given you a way into the system they made for Mewtwo and I." I declare. Princess panic recede and she regains her composure. Ah, that does indeed resembles that little red screen thine companion summoned during thy comatose state. She cough, clearly trying to forget her bout of panic. How does one uses such contraption? Simply touch it. Mewtwo then demonstrates, grabbing his own screen and pushing it aside. Princess follows suit, and grabs her own screen gently, almost afraid it might break. The zoroark simply look in astonishment and clear confusion. It must seem like we are grabbing air for him. Alright, time to configure that Trio damned altar! "Your highness, we have prepared a list of commandments, now named perks as you can see, that we believe will be needed." I start. Most are similar to the ones the Sanctuary previously had, but we can expand greatly upon them. Mewtwo continues. He sit down on empty air, crossing his legs and floats closer to Princess. Seeing as this might take longer than she expected, Princess summons a throne of vines and sits down as well, a sigh of contentment leaving her. Seeing as things are settling down, the zoroark sits back down, pouting one paw against his face. He clearly feels left out. Maybe we should start with the vision perk? Also, I would also like a seat... I grumble and stand on the other side of princess. With Mewtwo at her right and me at her left, we start to peruse our choices. The first we propose, she heartily agrees. ''Full Entry Control'', this perks allow users to deny entrance into the Sanctuary to anyone they want. It also allows for the banishment of current residents. Anyone trying to force their entries will find themselves lost in an endless forest, hunted until they either manage to escape outside or they are caught. What happened to caught individual is left vague, but if escaping out is a stated possibility, I can hazard a guess as to what happens to those that get caught. Princess approves as this is merely an extension to her already existing security system. The next one, she also agrees rapidly, especially after seeing her aide''s reaction. ''Shared Vision'', the perk is cheap, and seeing the ''cost'' of leaving within a Trio owned Sanctuary, it might prove vital to the residents. Now everyone can see the screens related to the altar. But only these screens. The moment it is activated, the zoroark jumps up. He points at us all, mouth agape at what just appeared before us. A quick word from Princess has him settle down, and she even invites him to help her in her choices. A couple of protective ones are quickly agreed upon. ''Guardian Angels'', ''Resident Protection'' and ''Resident Form'' are all quickly added. The first one will trigger the appearance of protective entities if users or residents are harmed by non residents, the second will cover residents with a shield able to stop even a class five punch, whatever that means. Finally, the last perk allows for users to mark those within the Sanctuary as residents, allowing them to benefit from the perks within the Sanctuary. They will all have access to a screen that will depict their current status and possible blessings or gifts they may receive. Then princess proposes one we had overlooked at the time. ''Space Folding'', this would allow the Sanctuary to be unreachable in most circumstances, but with ''Full Entry Control'', that restriction is no longer valid. After some consideration, we all agree and the perk is added. Princess calls for a flying pokemon, and a staravia appears. She instructs the bird to leave and experiment with the new protection. After a couple minutes, the bird returns and gives his report. From what Mewtwo translates, it appears the Sanctuary is still visible beyond its limit, but any non-resident the flying pokemon tried to guide ended up on the over side of the Sanctuary. We did receive a couple of notifications about entries authorizations. So it works, but as we wait, a couple more notification appear, more pokemons are trying to come into the Sanctuary and we need to approve of their entries. The same happens to animals, insects and monsters. There is even one for a human. This might turn into a hassle and a massive burden soon... We ignore the notifications for now, and look back into the perks. One that I propose, which is not really to help the Sanctuary protect its citizen but more of quality of life improvement in managing the Sanctuary is ''Perk State Control''. From the description, it allows greater control over every perks that can be added or have been added. It is expensive, but if it works as I hope, it could lessen the need for constant supervision. Princess agrees and we install it. Immediately, little cogwheels appear next to every perks. I click on the one next to ''Full Entry Control'', and pump my fist in satisfaction, we can create filters. We immediately whitelist any entities recognized as pokemons, as well as animals and insects. Almost all notifications for entries disappear. Leaving us with only a couple for humans. We fully blacklist monsters for now. Those seeking entry shall still have to brave the gauntlet of mist. Tis important to judge who we let within our domain. I agree, there could be a risk of spies from the League... it pains me to think of such a possibility. ''Perk State Control'' also allows to turn on and off certain perks, like ''Space Folding''. With that realization, Mewtwo and I both propose the next perks: ''Time Dilatation'' and ''Time Isolation''. Our reasonning is simple here. Our biggest problem to our growth are the raids. Every seventh day from the day we arrived, we will have to face impossible odds against absurd opponents. We are not growing fast enough, we both know it. Seeing the reborn Hans Senah already able to contend with me even though he has been here less time than me has reinforced my opinion. We need time. There is a perk to protect one from raids, but it only postpones the them, and once we would leave the Sanctuary, we would have to face every raids we were protected from at once. Even if we spent a year preparing, we would be completely eradicated due to the nightmare difficulty Eziakophael decided to subject us to. ''Time Dilatation'' would allow us to stretch time within the confines of the Sanctuary, a day outside would become a week, or a month, or even more possibly. The moment we found this perk, we realized we needed it badly. ''Time Isolation'' is more of a failsafe, Mewtwo suspects Eziakophael could still send raids once a week has passed for us, even with time dilatation, but what if we isolate ourselves from outside time? Hopefully it will make Eziakophael unable to reach us, as a week would not have passed for us outside the Sanctuary. Princess is displeased at our choice, it would mean a lot of the residents would age faster than their peers outside, and the gap might turn into a greater problem later on. She also points at the fact that this might stretch daytime endlessly. It would mess with the environnement. She also asks about what will happen to rivers and water sources. With the time difference, water will take forever to cross the boundary, and at the exit, it will be days of water every seconds. We... had not though that deep about it... Mewtwo is the one to get us out of most problems with messing with time: ''Time Correction''. Literally, the answer to our problem. The perk is obscenely expensive and would eat almost half of the budget we had prepared, but it would allow both time messing perks to work without any backlash. Princess asks for us to look through more perks before we take any of those three. We agree, reluctantly, and continue. We add more perks, some we had though of, others at Princess request. ''Fostered Growth'', allowing for faster gains of strength for all residents. ''Altar Growth'', to upgrade the Sanctuary further with the right materials. ''Fertile Land'' is next, securing food sources, and ''Endless Wells'' goes with it, negating any risks of drought for the entire Sanctuary. We scour through the list for a couple more hours, until we Princess is satisfied. Only one more perk is added, ''Meteorological Control''. It needed all of the meteorological protection perks to unlock, but it was still within budget... Barely. Now Princess can decide what weather she wants for any days. And with ''Perk State Control'', she can adjust the likelihood of meteorological events. She has left it to follow the season likelihood for now, although she did boost sunny days a bit. With that, half of the Sanctuary points have been used. "Your highness, we still wish for the time perks to be added." I declare. All three would leave us with less than a third of the Sanctuary points. "We need it." Thou art under our protection, thou should not fear these pitiful raids. We shall defend thee. "Your highness, I do not doubt your strength, not after witnessing and experiencing it first hand. But we will be facing greater and greater challenges. We had to contend with a praetor for our first raid! We faced a dimensional hunter and its hounds for our second! Again, it will only get worse!" I plead. You saw how hurt I was. You even healed me. We barely survived each times. A week is too short for us to gain any substantial strength. We need more time! Mewtwo joins me. Princess sigh, pinching the space between her eyes. Tis true that such raids are unbelievable... the zoroark whispers something to her. Princess sighs, That is true my aide, we have ressources now. Still, there will be the matter of the day/night cycle. "''Time Correction'' should take care of that." I answer instantly. Yet we know not if that is the case. Worst case, we simply leave the perks deactivated. Mewtwo says. Then we would have made a worthless purchase. Tis quite the investment thou both wish to make. T''would be a shame for such an investment to turn to nothing. "We have done nothing but take risks to survive to this point, your highness. In any cases, we have little left to add to the Sanctuary as it is now." In the end, thou can both outvote me. Fine, take thy perks and be done with it. Let us hope they will not be only lines upon this screen. We install all three. For a second, the sky flickers to black and white and light vanishes. Then it returns, at first, it seems nothing has changed. Yet when we look at the sky, we cannot help but feel a sense of stillness in the clouds and floating islands above us. I quickly look at the options for all three perks. ''Time Dilatation'' has little, just a few sliders to adjust how much time is dilated. Worryingly, we can fine tune from micro-seconds to years independently. We do not touch any of the independents settings, only using the general time slider, making time ten times slower within the Sanctuary. A day outside is now ten inside. ''Time Isolation'' surprises us by being the one with the internal day/night cycle option. It is a simple on/off option. We activate it, and all look up as the sky flicker once more. Gone are the islands and previously present clouds. A new sky greet us. It is the same blue as before, but the clouds are different, and moving. We are truly isolated from the outside now. I frown as new options have been added with activating the internal day/night cycle. We can still chose to have a view of the outside sky... Princess gets curious and activates the option. the islands return, along with the frozen clouds, visible beyond the new projected clouds. We stare at the sky for a solid minute or two, before looking at the final perk. ''Time Correction'' has no options. There is not even a cogwheel next to it. I guess it just works to correct the inconsistances from ''Time Dilatation'' and ''Time Isolation''. An achievement pops up before Mewtwo and I, and we both cheer.
Achievement got: Tricked God You madman and madmon! You''ve done it! You have escaped the time constraint of the raids! Eziakophael has rules about when and how often he can send raids, breaking those rules will break his little universe. Do mind the time though. Reward: Calendar and Clock displays unlocked
We have done it! We have gained time. We both hug each over in joy. A tension that had held us both lifts, and we both cry in happiness. Princess looks on, a look of fondness passing upon her face. Chapter 31 : A moment of peace After joy came relief, and tears. A weight we had not realized we carried had just lifted. We... We are free... We are safe. For a time, we are finally safe! We let go of each over, still smiling, still crying. We are free. The sound of someone clearing her throat snaps us from our bout of euphoria. Princess'' stern gaze reminds us quickly that we are still in her domain. We believe all has gone according to thine expectations? We shall observe our forest for the next few days, as well as prepare to formally introduce thee to the residents of the forest. Aide, show them where they may rest. She calls out to the zoroark. The grey upright vulpine its long red mane nods and gestures for us to follow. We thank you for your generosity, your highness. What we have obtained today... it is far more than we could have hoped for. Mewtwo thanks the royal florges. I do not think you truly realize how much this matters to us. Nor do we truly care strange one. Now go, we have matters to attend to. Princess ends the conversation, turning around and leaving to another part of the forest. I bow to the florges, silently thanking her as well. She spares a quick glance, and huffs before floating away. The zoroark guides us through the forest. Even with the day still barely past midday, the atmosphere beneath the canopy is cast in shadows. Yet as our eyes adapt to the darkness. The strange lights of the magical forest are a constant source of illumination, both eerie and comforting at the same time. Mushrooms glow with iridescent colors, lichen lights tree bark, and little wisps of light flutter all around us. We traverse the woods unbothered, spotting pokemons here and there, and even, surprisingly, animals. Before I can wonder too much, we arrive upon a clearing, and within is something I had not expected to find: a house. Nestled between the trees, occupying a little clearing, is a cozy little cottage. Its timber roofs offers shade to the plank walls. The entire structure looks small and well built, but little defects can be seen here and there. This was handmade, and Aster''s memories confirms it. He built it, with help from his team. This was their rest and training area whenever Aster died and returned. I wonder if they made it before or after establishing the Sanctuary... Ah, after. Got it. As we approach, the door opens and out comes pokemons. First are a couple of spinaraks. The green six legged spiders exit along the walls, chased by a angry sounds from a pokemon still inside. Next, still cussing and clearly angry, is an ambipom. The purple and beige monkey is clearly agitated, jumping from one foot to the other, screeching at the fleeing and laughing spiders. Even the faces on the spiders abdomens are styled in a mocking face. Once they are gone, the monkey deflates, the two long tails, with large three-fingered hands at their tips, falling down in surrender. He then notices us and his anger is replaced with anxiety. Neither Mewtwo nor I understand what just happened, but the trembling zoroark next to us seems to indicate this is a rather common occurrence. Getting his mirth under control, the zoroark approches the ambipom, and takes a look at the inside of the house. The ambipom fidgets as we approach. A few growls and grunts are exchanged and the ambipom bows down, leaving soon after. I can see he is still crestfallen at the situation, but I still have no idea what the situation even is. We approach the door, and finally behold the interior. Ah... I see... everything, and I do mean everything, inside is covered in cobwebs. If we ignore the threads going from floor to ceiling, we can make out the little furniture that occupy the cottage. The entire interior seems to be divided in three room. The front door opens into a living room, with a fireplace made of stone on the right, and a wall with two doors on the left. Both doors are closed and covered in webbing. In the room proper are a couple of tables along the opposite wall, with shelves above them. A lot of furniture, like papers, books, and even writing implements are scattered all over them. In the center, a large and battered table stands alone, with seven chairs surrounding it. Five are in good condition, but two bear signs of damage. One has burn marks along its back, and another has marks of strains on its legs, as if something heavy had tried to sit on it at some point. On the right side, right of the fire place, is a kitchen space, although there is little in terms of modern amenities. No sink or stove here. Windows along each walls allows for the forest light to filter in, giving the place a melancholic look. The zoroark, still smirking at the situation, invites us in. We enter and look around. The threads are sticky, but only I am affected, as Mewtwo simply floats above them all. The talons on my feet easily slice the threads they touch, but those I step on stick to my metallic soles. The zoroark grunts toward Mewtwo. Really? Then please carry our thanks to her highness. I am sure this residence will do nicely for our time here. Mewtwo answers him. The zoroark bows down, still smirking, and takes his leave, leaving us alone in our new home for a time. We will need to do some cleaning first. Mewtwo declares, looking around. How did they manage to put threads hanging from these two corners? "Walked on the ceiling?" I suggest. Yeah, they may be spiders, but some of these threads must have been tricky to weave around. I wonder if I can collect them. With that, we start to clean our new residence. The work is hard, and time slowly ticks by. As we work, I put the clock display on. Finally! Timekeeping! We start at around one in the afternoon, and slowly make our way in tearing and removing the threads. Mewtwo''s psychic blade quickly proves invaluable in removing the threads. I join him as well, but my efforts mostly end up destroying the threads. Once me finally free the doors from their weaved prisons, we get access to two more rooms, both thankfully thread-free. One is a large bedroom, with a spartan futon directly on the ground. One of the walls has been changed to a large sliding door, leaving direct access to a patio outside. the floor is covered in a surprisingly well maintained pale green carpet. I guess Aster slept with his whole team. The second room reveals itself as a storage area. Boxes, chests and barrels occupy most of the space. Most are empty, although we do find cleaning tools inside one of the chests. With them, we continue our mission. Neither of us know why we are even cleaning this house. It felt like a silent agreement. The moment we were left alone in this house, we just knew, we had to thoroughly clean it. This goes beyond just removing the threads, as even when we are done with them, we then rearrange the books, dust the shelves and deep clean the entire house. This must be another remnant of both Aster and the two team members that make up Mewtwo. I wonder who they were. Our cleaning frenzy has the afternoon pass in a flash. Soon we go into the early evening. With one final psychic push from Mewtwo, we are done. The house is clean. Every nooks and crannies have been touched. Not a single thread of spider silk remains. Most are in my inventory, only the few that I tried to remove by hand have been thrown into the pile of garbage we made outside. I whistle in contentment, that was some good work. I take two chairs outside, and we both sit down, to rest a bit. Mine does creak a bit when I put my weight on it, but it holds. My power reserves are still comfortably filled, and Mewtwo does not feel hungry right now. So we sit, looking at the magical forest surrounding us. Mewtwo ends up dozing off soon enough, and I simply watch on. I see few pokemons moving around, most seem to retreat pretty fast when they spot me. I am still human shaped, and therefore a potential danger. It saddens me, but there is not much I can do right now. I hope Princess speech and presentation will resolve, or at least help resolve that issue. The sound of something heavy sliding on the ground disturbs the silence, and I look at its source in curiosity. A swalot approaches our little clearing. The pokemon looks like a smooth purple mound with, darker colored diamond shapes decorating the base of its body. Their red eyes, above two short yellow whiskers, freeze when they realize I heard him. Atop their head, a little green gulpin snores gently. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. We look at each others for a minute before I finally break the silence. "Can I... help you?" I whisper, hoping to neither scare them or wake both Mewtwo and the little gulpin. The swalot wobble a bit, as if unsure on how to react. Then they points with one of their blobby three fingered hand. What they point at is the pile of garbage we left next to the house. Oh. "You want our garbage?" I ask to confirm the meaning of gesture. They nod, although not much to avoid dislodging the little gulpin on their head. "Okay, go ahead," I acquiesce. I watch from the corner of my eyes as they slide toward the big pile of dust, broken part and threads. There was a lot of weird trash lying around in the storage room. Mostly broken wood, useless to me sadly. I tried to put them in my inventory, but it came out the same way it went in. Broken, and unusable. So we threw it all out. The swalot nudges the little gulpin, and the green blob stirs gently. They yawn and double in height as they open their mouth. I look on in astonishment. The yellow feather atop the gulpin head goes straight up as he notices me, but the swalot is quick to reassure them. I should have done that earlier, but I take a peek at their WAYLA descriptions. Both females, both with levels below a hundred. Although at his level, the gulpin should have evolved. I''ll need to research the signification of levels at some point. Although... the Trio did say there were discrepancies between the numbers and the reality. More to look into anyway. The little gulpin slides down the swalot, and makes her way toward the pile. She looks around for some time, before settling on a side. She once more opens her mouth wide, and swallows a big gulp of the pile. A third of it is now gone. The swalot asks her something in pokespeak, and she answers. The swalot nods at the answer, and swallows what remains of the pile. Both pokemons give me a little bow, as much as blobs can bow, and slowly exit the clearing. The spot where we left the pile is now spotless. I nod to myself, impressed. With the little distraction gone, I return to my forest watching. The sound of birds, insects, and moving branches fills the silence, along with Mewtwo''s gentle snores. I look at him. He is still seated, with his head slumped forward, stretching his second neck a bit. His thin arms are crossed upon his purple belly. Both his legs are spread wide. With his pear morphology it makes sense. He managed to have his tail pass in the space between the backrest and the base of the chair. It slaps the ground gently at random intervals. He looks so peaceful at this moment. So peaceful in fact, that a little blue and white bird lands upon his second neck. It is not a pokemon. It is a bird, an animal. I observe it for some time, curious. Mewtwo stirs a bit, but does not wakes up. The bird''s head swivel around, its beady eyes locking on me for a second, before looking around some more. His header is simply marked as '' Blue jay''. It hops from Mewtwo''s second neck to his head, looks around some more, then flies off. Mewtwo snorts in his sleep, but does not wake up. This is not the first time I saw this, yet I cannot help but wonder. How are real animals able to exist along pokemons? I remember the cows in the orchard, and I still wonder how they coexist. Maybe it is Eziakophael doing? Maybe neither sides see each others? Or something else? I sigh, whatever the answer is, I will not have it anytime soon. Unless... I wait expectantly, but nothing happens, not blue screen, no achievement screen. Although... I open the tutorial section, looking through all the new entries we have unlocked. I have time after all. My search is only partially fruitful. I find entries about the Ezian plane wildlife, mostly explaining that pokemons are not native to the Ezian plane, but anything else is, even the monsters that appear at night. Although some also originate from Eziakophael personal additions. Wildlife has a chance to spontaneously return to a place it once occupied. After some time, they can just ''respawn''. The mechanic is vague and badly explained. The way they worded the whole explanation, it feels like a voluntary effort to obscure the true mechanic behind how everything ''spawns'' on the Ezian plane. I continue my readings, exploring other sections I have barely touched, if ever. I find out both the cow and blue jay have entries in the ''Fauna'' subsection of the ''Exploration and Survival'' section. Both have a detailed description of the species along with ways to care, hunt or even tame and domesticate them. I look in surprise at the latter ones. I would have needed seeds to possibly earn the blue jay trust. Uh. Wheat would have made the cow follow me around. Letting a cow and, I presume a bull, the name is censored for some reason, would allow them to attempt to mate. There seems to be a lot of strange mechanics around the Ezian plane, and we should familiarize ourselves with them as fast as possible. Evening is coming now, I cannot see the sun, but my clock display is capital, the sun is setting within the Sanctuary. Outside, time has barely moved. Merely thirty minutes have passed. I am pretty happy to finally have a way to see time pass, and Aster''s side is also happy to finally be able to really tell the time. Mewtwo finally stirs, waking from his nap. He looks around blearily, blinking multiple times before stretching and yawning. His back pops at multiple places, and he sigh contently. He lean back against the chair, making it creak a bit. "Nice nap?" I ask him with a smile. Better than the last two, that is for sure. He answers jovially. Did I miss something? "Nah, a swalot and a gulpin ate our trash, and I have been reading while you slept." Did you find anything interesting? "Mostly about animal reproduction and daily life. I read some tutorial entries as well, but they were mostly vague." I then show the entries, letting him read them. Indeed. While it is interesting to see such strange creatures in the Ezian plane beside pokemons, the way they can just... appear, seems strange. I wonder why they are trying to hide how they do that. "I know right? Why is it so vague?" I complain. Maybe we can ask them during another trial? Speaking of, do we have access to those now? "You... want to do another trial?" Then again, he has a point, the trials are supposed to help us grow stronger and obtain massive rewards. So doing them should be important. "You know what? Let''s check." I open all three quest tabs for each members of the Trio. Trials are now available in both Knowledge and Hunt section. The ones in Chaos section are still greyed for some reason. "Should we..." I hoover over one of Hunt''s trial. Why hers? Because it has the least foreboding name of all. Mewtwo wince, then nods. Nothing risked, nothing gained. Cautiously, I click it, but instead of getting instantly pulled into a trial as we feared, we get a little description of the trial.
First Trial of the Hunter: Test your wits and reflexes. Hunt me down and claim your prize. But careful now to take too long, for ressources are scarce within my space. Goals: Hunt me, catch me! Rewards: 500xp, 2 Exp. Candy L, the meat of your prey. [Enter Trial]
Uh... Was the no escaping until death only for the previous one or will we be stuck hunting Hunt until we succeed? Mewtwo echoes my worries and we quickly look at the tutorial section for the trials. Yep, it''s one way until we succeed. We will need to prepare ourselves well then. Before we can look at other trials, a noise makes us look up from our screens. The ambipom is back, with a large basket on held with his tail hands. They, hold on a minute, HE waves at us, and approaches. Once he reaches us, he bows to us, speaking as if trying to apologize. I understand nothing, and Mewtwo quickly tells me he is apologizing for the state the cottage was left in. He then pumps himself and strides toward the door of the little house, a resolute expression on his face. Before either me or Mewtwo can stop the resolute purple monkey, he opens the door, and freeze. He blink in incomprehension. Then turns toward us, and back to the inside. He makes a questioning noise, and Mewtwo nods, looking a bit embarrassed. This causes the monkey to bow down repetitively, as he apologizes again and again. We both try to placate him, but nothing seems to work. In the end, he only calms down once we accept his apologies. The ambipom then points at the basket, once more deflated, and explains that he brought us food. Berries as well as fruits and vegetables. He specifies for me that most are raw, but can be eaten as is. We thank him and look at the contents of the basket. Multiple colorful berries fill it, along with fruits and vegetables. Mewtwo takes an oran eat it whole. I look at the content with curiosity. Do I eat now? Or do I store them for later... Seeing my indecision, the ambipom says that there is more if this is insufficient. I raise an eyebrow at that and thank him, telling him it is enough for today. The purple monkey, finally looking relieved to have done a task correctly today bow to us once more and saunter away into the forest. Mewtwo grabs another berry and swallows it quickly, and I decide to join him, picking up a tomato and eating it as is. The evening turns into night, we silently enjoy our dinner. Chapter 32: Gathering flowers at night Mewtwo retires for sleep. He seems to still need to recover from our recent tribulations. I, however, remain awake. I feel no need for sleep. I never felt the need for sleep here I realize. The only times I ''slept'' were when my power ran out. I wonder if it might become a problem later. I stay outside, taking stock of what I still have in my inventory. The portable smeltery is still here, along with most of the ores we mined. I still have the stone pickaxe, although its durability is almost exhausted, as well as the remains of the stone sword. I wonder if I should fix it or just make a new one. Molds, wood, stone, and miscellaneous monsters remains fill my inventory. Bones, rotten flesh, a skull. Most have usage in many recipes, there are few I can actually make. I leave them be for now. Why? Because My inventory is full, if not about to burst. I have no slots left and no ways to expand it. I mean, I have the ''backpack chip'' quest, but I do not have the materials for it. And speaking of chips, I have none left. How did that happen? Where did they go? I quickly make a new one for crafting, burning through a chunk of my wood, and as I install it, I find out what happened. My left upper arm opens, and reveals the truth. In the previously two occupied slots, only charred pieces of wood remain. I go to pick them up, but they disintegrate to ashes in seconds. The overheat! That''s what the durability on those is for! Welp, changing from wood to something else might become a priority in the near future then. I quickly remake the furnace chip as well, grumbling. Stupid body, stupid overheat. I need more xp, and more stats, so more quest needs to be done. I have the entire night before me. Mewtwo will most definitely sleep through most of it, so... I am in a magical forest. There has to be mystical flowers somewhere right? With my new objective, I step away from the silent clearing. Time to look for those flowers. Wait, no, inventory first. I silently enter into the house and go the the storage room. There, I quietly empty my inventory... as quietly as I can anyway. A bone slips and falls down with a dull thunk. Hope I did not wake Mewtwo. I wait for a few seconds, but nothing moves, and after straining my hearing, I can hear his gentle snores from the bedroom. Okay, safe. I finish making space by reassembling the portable smeltery in the front yard. I am certain I will have use for it soon. With space finally made, I start exploring the surrounding forest. I smile at myself, recalling my first day on this world. Merely a week has passed, and yet so much has happened. It feels like so much more time has passed. I wonder around for some time, looking around. The woods are luminous, even so late at night. then again, except for the altar clearing and the surrounding of the large tree, the canopy completely obscures the sky. As I walk around, I take my time to feel the forest around me. The smell of mulch and humidity is everywhere, but it is pleasant more than overwhelming, filling a part of me with nostalgia. Fallen branches and sticks crunch under my feet and my talons sink into the soft dirt. There is no designated paths here. It is peaceful. The distant sound of kricketots and crickets mix together in a strange symphony. the little wisps of colorful light filling the air seem dance along their tunes. The forest is alive, and although I do not feel like a part of it, I do not feel rejected either. The sound of flapping above me makes me look up. A couple of murkrows have landed on a branch above. the black crow like pokemons, with crooked yellow beaks, look at me tilting their hatted head in curiosity. The hats makes me think of a witch hat. They caw at me curiously, and I wave at them, before continuing my exploration. The murkrows follow me for some time, periodically cawing my way, as if trying to ask me something. I mostly answer with a shoulder shrug as I keep looking for those mystical flowers. I stumble upon one after rounding a large tree. Its bell-shaped purple flowers shimmer in the low light. Little sparks sometimes flow from it. I crouch, looking at it closer. It appears as a ''Purple Mystical Flower''. I look at it for a few moments. Its shimmer is enthralling and distract me for long minutes. Finally, I nod to myself, I found one, time to take it! I go to do just that, but stop. This... this is a florges domain. From what my knowledge tells me of florges, you do not just take something from a florges domain. especially flowers... I should ask her for permission. A caw from the murkrows reminds me of their presences. I get back up and turn to them. "Hey, do you know where Princess is?" I ask them, "I need to ask her something." The pair of crow pokemon tilt their heads, before suddenly cawing in alarm and taking off. Uh? Are they scared of her or something? Thou desire something? Princess voice echoes in my head, making me jump in surprise. "Bwah!" I yelp. I turn around and come face to face with her. Or more exactly, something that looks like her. The florges that stands before me is not the real one, but one made of off-green thorny vines. The light of the forest reflect on the thorns, making her form glimmer slightly. Two pink orbs fill her eye sockets, giving her a threatening look. I gulp, and calm myself. "I... Your highness, I would like your permission to gather these types of flowers." I say as respectfully as I can, pointing at the mystical flower. "They come in many shades of color, and I will need them to further our growth. May I, with your permission, collect them? Please?" The eyes on vine-Princess narrow. She looks at the flower for a few moments, then back at me. Thou may, but do not collect more than thou shall need. We shall watch, and we shall count. And with that, the vines recede into the earth, and she is gone. That went... well? I would say that went well. I breath out, and pick up the flower. It resist at first, but then something that I can only describe as magical happens. As I pull on the flower, the roots slowly recede from the earth and soon bundle themselves under its stem. I hold it up, tilting my head in confusion. Was that normal? Or... That is one interesting way to pick up a flower. Princess voice echoes in my head once more. I almost lose my balance in fright. Please stop doing that. The vine construct is back, looking in curiosity at the flower I have just picked up. Try putting it back. She orders, and I obey. I approach it back to the forest floor, and let it touch the dirt. The roots slowly unfurl from each other, and soon the flower is back into the ground, as if it had always belonged here. Impressive. More testing shall be needed, but we recede our previous limits, take as many as thou may need, but return to the earth those that thou would not use. I nod silently, and vine-Princess disappears once more. Sighing, I resume my search. I have a purple one, just like the one I found in that forest so long ago. I now need to find nine more to complete the quest. And so I resume my walk, looking around in wonderment, As I do so, I realize something else. I will need to ask Princess for wood at some point. That might be a harder ressource to collect compared to simple flowers. Hum... We will see. My exploration continues deep into the night and the forest alike. I find a blue, a yellow, and two red mystical flowers. They all have different flowers and growth shapes. The reds have stout stems and long vertical petals, the blue are similar to the purple, but with more rounded flower shapes, and the yellow looks like a tulip. The murkrows duo came back at some point, and have been cawing at random intervals. However, when they first saw me pick up a flower, I could see they were ready to fly away the moment Princess came to exact her wrath upon me. When nothing happened, they tilted their head in wonderment. I then told them I had her permission, and they visibly relaxed. After that, they have been guiding me to different flowers all night. Some were not mystical ones, and after a trying with one, I realized that every flowers I pick up come with their roots. I can plant them back at any time and anywhere. Wonder if it works everywhere... I''ll try in a cave at some point. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. After a couple of hours, I finally clear the quest. It is now the next day within the Sanctuary, one a.m. to be precise. God I love being able to tell the time. Anyway, ten flowers. Yahoo. On top of the previous five, the purple, the yellow, the blue and two reds, I have found two more purple, a green, a white and a black one. Each have their own strange shapes. The green one makes me think of a mix of a rose and a tulip, while the white one is similar to lily of the valleys, although the flowers come in far smaller clusters, finally the black one is the strangest yet. Its petals twist around themselves, growing to be almost as tall as their stem. he quest validates and I claim the reward. I''ll give the candies to Mewtwo once he wakes up. Since I am done, I look at the follow up quest. Two more quests have unlocked.
Botanical absurdities Welcome to the Botania stage. Hope you have a green thumb, because you''ll need it. From petals to flowers, and flowers to new adventure. Check your tutorial page for new info. Craft a ''Petal apothecary'': 0/1 Craft a ''Pure daisy'': 0/1 Rewards: 25xp; 1 Exp. Candy S
But that''s the wrong color! You will need a lot. And we do mean A LOT. of these mystical flowers. Good thing there is a fertilizer to grow them in bulk. Craft a ''Floral Fertilizer'': 0/1 Rewards: 20xp; 3 Exp. Candy XS
I look at the quest, then at the items it wants me to craft. Fun fact, I can access these directly by clicking on them. Wish I tried that earlier... I am going to click on everything on the screens now. Anyway. So... The floral apothecary is easy enough. Just cobblestone and a flower petal, which I obtain by putting a flower in my crafting grid. I get two petals for one flower. As I start crafting, I ask the pair of murkrows if they saw another of those white mystical flowers anywhere. They look at each other, then one seems to recall something. They caw in unison and take flight, circling me to try and get me to follow. I oblige them and after another dozen minutes of brisk walk, birds do be flying fast, we arrive before another white mystical flower. I thank them and pick it up, and then make my way back to the cottage. I have all I need to start, I hope. I arrive back at the cottage, and not much changed. I check on Mewtwo and see he is still asleep. Maybe I''ll wake him if something interesting happens, but for now I let him rest. He still need to recover from the battles, I am almost certain he is fully organic. Before I start, I look at the tutorial section, finding a new extensive subsection dedicated to this ''Botania Stage''. The moment I start reading the introduction entry, I get an achievement.
Welcome to Botania From strange flowers, create new ones and conquer the world Rewards: Lexica Botanica
I claim the reward, curious, and am rewarded with a thick volume with a green cover, with the title in gold and a little green symbol. There is no author name on it, although part of the cover is scratched. A little mention at the end makes me raise an eyebrow. ''The official guide for all your Botania needs''. The book feels old, its cover creaks slightly as I open it. Within are a serie of entries about what Botania is all about. The more I read it, the more Aster within me feels baffled. This is not a special creation of this world, this is clearly ripped from his old world. I can feel he is trying to remember where he heard of the name and I can feel he knew the author''s name. But then, if that is true, what is this world? What is the Ezian plane? If these flowers and the powers that seem to be within them is from another world, why are they here? Aster does give me a counter question that makes me relativise a bit: Why are pokemons here? For Aster, pokemons were nothing more than imaginary creatures from a game. They were never real, but here he met them, or at least an interpretation of them. The feelings are getting hazy. The more Aster''s part of me think of his past, the more I can feel it grow fainter and fainter. I put the lexica away, and instead take another book out of my inventory. Aster''s journal. I have time, I need to learn who Aster was, and what he knew and discovered here. I skip through most exploration entries, most are how he met a strange new pokemon, then either fought, helped, or befriended them before moving on. OH! Here! ''Life 12, Day 85 I have realized something. And it scares me. My companions share my anxiety at what I told them. I am losing my memories. Not just of my previous lives on the Ezian plane, no. I am slowly forgetting where I came from and who I am. It may appear as little, but I know I had both a brother and a sister, as I wrote about missing them in a previous entry, but I no longer remember having a brother. Was he older than me? Younger? I do not know, I only know I have one from that one line in that one entry. And for my sister? Her name is Bethany, she is 18 20 21 I do not remember her age, not clearly. This entry will be where I am going to put all that I remember of my previous world. I need a way to recall it every time I return.'' After that, there is a long list of things from Aster previous world, his full name, the year back on his world as well as the last date and month he can remember, all he could recall of his family, and finally, the parallels between what he saw on the Ezian plane and what could be found on his old world, Earth. Strange name for a planet. Obviously, pokemons are the first parallel. Supernatural creatures able to bend the rules of nature to their will, now made reality. On Earth, they were one of the biggest entertainment franchise in the world. then comes the monsters. He has many guesses, different games and cultures had such monsters, however, one monster makes him lean toward one game in particular. I have yet to meet a tall black lanky humanoid that looks like he does not belong in this dimension, but supposedly, it belongs to a game called Minecraft. In it a player would appear in a random location, naked but for a pair of pants and shirt purely decorative, and would have the power to break many materials with his bare hands, and then crafting said materials into new items and objects. I blink in surprise as I read this, looking at my left arm and crafting grid in turn. More parallels are drawn, although he does not have any for the raid portals, he suspects this world might be based on what he calls a modded version of the game Minecraft, but cannot recall enough, or did not play or see enough to give conclusive comparisons. The same applies to the flowers, he clearly remembers them from something he calls a mod, but is unsure if their current appearances are truly what they looked like in game. After that I close the book. What... am I? A question I had not asked myself in a long time. Clearly I am not truly real. I exist, that much is certain, but seeing as Aster, a real human is partly trapped in me, I am artificial at best. Why create me like this? The Trio simply said that we were convenient, but were they talking to us or those that were part of us? To Aster in my case, and to Aster''s two companions in Mewtwo''s case? I sit down, holding my head in my hands. What am I? And what would happen in the end? Wait... I never considered this! What happens when we win, not if mind you, we will win. But then what? Do the Trio reward us? Or only Aster and his team? Once our purpose is spent? What will the trio do with us? I sit there, brooding for a long time. Then a though hit me. How powerful is the Trio? Because they clearly went against Eziakophael to recover all three scraps of soul. Then could they no make me real? And still reward Aster? This could be an escape. I will talk to Mewtwo about it once he wakes up. This might be the next questions we ask them when we take on a formal trial. For now, I have to make sure I survive for those questions to become relevant. Can''t get rewarded it I die before the finish line. I take back the Lexica Botanica and start reading more of it. Flower power, here I come! Chapter 33: Flower Power Mewtwo awakes two hours before dawn. He finds me still outside, reading the Lexica Botanica. I am almost done reading the basics. If all that is written in this book can truly be made, then this will be a huge step in greater capability. New powers, new tools, and strange new things. As Mewtwo joins me, I excitedly shove the Lexica on his face. He frown at first, asking me where and how I found such an ancient book. I decide to keep the existential discussion for later, I am more exited about playing with these flowers than contemplating my existence at this moment. But the time will come before we leave this sanctuary. That much I assure myself. I recount my little forest exploration and my latest discoveries. How I can just move flowers, Princess strange vine puppets powers and how I found the mystical flowers. I give him the reward candies and then he start to read the Lexica as well. I can see as he delve into the future possibilities as his eyes open wider and wider and his three fingered hands grip the book tighter and tighter. After a couple minutes of reading, he looks up. If half of what is described in this book can be done, that could change our situation immensely. He declares once he is done reading the first half of the book. Damn he reads fast. "I know right? But we need to experiment first. Step one is the petal apothecary." As I speak, I am already crafting it. A single petal, surrounded by a V of three cobblestones and three more at the base. I use a purple flower to get a petal, seeing as it is the flower I have the most at the moment. With a whir, the petal apothecary comes to rest in my inventory. I get it out, but instead of the item, I get an holographic representation. Uh? Oh! The builder suite! Indeed, what looks like a square bowl on a large pillar with a stone base appears before me in red light. It floats above my hand, turning slowly. As I orient my hand to the ground, the structure half sink into the ground. Uhuh? "Mewtwo you''re seeing this?" I ask him, because if he is not, I must look like a fool trying to understand his hand. I am. New capacity? "Yeah, I had to stack blocks of cobblestone to get out of the cave and I unlocked this." I slowly raise my hand, and the hologram shoots to the other side of the clearing. "First time using it..." He nods, trying to come up with either encouragement or advices. After finagling for a couple minutes, The hologram suddenly changes color. From red, it turns green. Does that mean this is a valid position? How do I set it down then? I try concentrating on thinking ''put it down'', but it does nothing. I am starting to get frustrated. Rapidly moving my arm does nothing but move everything once more. I clench my fingers in annoyance and something changes. A little anchor symbol appears next to the hologram. I move my hand, and the hologram stays where it is. Oh... Good... I locked it. IN A RED POSITION! Because I must have moved my hand slightly, the hologram moved into the ground once more, so now now the position is invalid. Mewtwo start snickering. I send him an annoyed look, and he turns around, trying to hide his smile. Stupid upright cat face alien looking pokemon. Alright, so I can lock it with a move of my fingers. Let''s try and see if it''s the same... Something just occurred to me. I can''t be that dumb right? I think to myself as I open the tutorial section. I quickly find the entries on the builder suite, and I almost scream as I hide my face in my hands. I am that dumb. Mewtwo starts laughing loudly and I cannot fault him. So... There is a control panel... Ahah... Also? Here is the list of all the shortcuts if I want to avoid using said control panel. Moving my hand around let me move the position, that much I knew. Closing my fingers in themselves locks or unlocks the position depending on its current state, that''s what I did. Rotating my wrist left or right rotated the object left or right, and finally, FINALLY, I just need to extend my fingers slightly forward and then backward to place the object I wish to place. On the control panel, beyond finer setting controls, I also find a little option: Avoid Clipping. I activate it and the hologram jumps up from the ground, turning green once more. I can see the validate on the control panel, but I would like to try with the hand shortcut. I extend my metallic fingers forward and then bring them back quickly. With a fizzle sound, the apothecary takes the place of its holographic counterpart. Dear Trio, that took longer than it should have. After Mewtwo recovers from his laughing fit, we look closer at the apothecary. Just like it appeared as a hologram, it is a large stone bowl supported by a singular thick pillar. Within the bowl is an intricate pattern of sculpted roots. "So, the first thing we need is water, and then petals. And then seeds? A seed? Multiple?" I ask aloud as I look at the schematic in the Lexica. The drawing seems to indicate multiple seeds, but the text only speak in singular when referring them. Maybe it''s just the way they looked where the guide was made. In the recipe menu, the seed kept changing every seconds, so I am unsure if it was a one seed or multiples. For water, we take a look at the basket of food we received yesterday. Inside are multiple water skins. We empty three and maybe a third of a fourth before the apothecary is finally full. Okay step one is done. I quickly craft four white petals from my two white mystical flowers and put them in the bowl. They sink in and start to shimmer gently. A little holographic display pops up above the apothecary. It just needs for me to add some sort of seeds. Seeds... Seeds... Where can we get these? We both look around at the grass surrounding us. Seeds... Mewtwo calls me over. Hidden beneath a bush at the edge of the clearing, is something I had not seen in a long time. A garden! Good find Mewtwo. I collect what is within. Cauliflowers, some brocoli, and most important, a handful of quinoa. Now these are cereals, but they might be used as seeds right? Just in case I put them all in my inventory and look at the uses for quinoa. Oh... That makes it easier. Most of everything vegetables and fruits I gather can be turned into their respective seeds. Again, no idea how that would work. I quickly turn everything into seeds, and turn my eyes on the food basket. I can convert more things into seeds... Let''s not get ahead of ourselves here. With what I made, I should have enough to get started. Taking the quinoa seed back out of my inventory, I let it drop into the apothecary. The moment the seed touches the water, the carved roots on the side of the bowl lit up. The seed starts to sprout and the white petals join with the growing stem. The water slowly drains, and soon, only the flower remains. I have made a pure daisy. The quest validates, and the next two unlock.
Livelier materials You now have a cute little flower with you. Time to see what it does! Obtain ''Livingwood logs'': 0/8 Obtain ''Livingrock'': 0/8 Rewards: 25xp; 1 Exp. Candy S
ALL THE FLOWERS FOR POWER! You''ll need to make at least one of those to get started, the rest you can make at your one pace. Craft an ''Endoflame'': 0/1 If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Craft a ''Hyrdoangeas'': 0/1 --------------------------[+]--------------------------- Rewards:5000xp; 1 Exp. Candy XL
And the list goes on and on. No I''m exaggerating, there are only 15 flowers in total. A quick read in the Lexica makes me decide that I will go with the Endoflame to start. I do not have a renewable source of water, and the decay will drain my reserves of petals real fast. But first, let''s set up the pure daisy. As the name indicates, it looks like a daisy, except for four larger triangular petals growing behind the crown of normal ones. It seems to be radiating light slightly. I plant it down a bit further away from the apothecary and then look at what I need to get livingrock and livingwood. Any logs of wood will word for livingwood, but I need actual blocks of stone for the livingrock. Blocks of cobblestones are not a valid target for the pure daisy. And I need to remake my furnace chip to make stone blocks. Damn... I quickly do so and start the stone cooking process. I am slowly but surely running out of logs. I actually have no idea how I can get Princess to agree to let me cut a tree or ten down... Later. I still have enough to advance right now. While the eight blocks of stone are cooking, I get out eight logs and surround the pure daisy with them. Immediately, roots start to travel within the soil and slowly penetrates the logs. Where they do so, the wood slowly start to change color. From gray-brown, the logs slowly turn a vibrant red-brown. After about a minute or so, it is done. The roots retract, and I am left with eight livingwood logs. Alright! And the stones are cooked! I place the freshly cooked stone blocks around the pure daisy, and once more roots shoot from flower and borrow themselves within the rock. The grey stone slowly turns whitish in color, almost looking like marble, but with less of a sheen to it. Once more, after a minute, it is done. The quest completes, Mewtwo gets his candy and I look at the next quest.
Mana manipulation 101 Here are the tools, read the book for more details Craft a ''Wand of the forest'': 0/1 Craft a ''Mana spreader'': 0/1 Craft a ''Mana pool'': 0/1 Rewards: 30xp; 2 Exp. Candy S
Alright... Ah shit. I take out my remaining logs and put them around the pure daisy. I am now officially out of wood. Why does it cost so much to make a single livingwood stick? Two logs for one stick? that''s a robbery! Grumbling, I get to work in crafting next set of tools. Ah... I need copper for the mana spreader. Well... I have copper... In raw ore form... I sigh. Good thing I already assembled the portable smeltery. Knew I would use it soon enough. I do so, make some sand and fire the smeltery. Soon enough, I have three ingots. And less coal. Which is a problem because I kind of wanted to use that coal for the endoflame... Oh well. While that was happening, the last of my wood has turned into living wood. I recover it and then makes all three of the required items. The wand of the forest requires three living wood sticks, which is the equivalent of SIX livingwood logs, it hurts to see them go so quickly, but that wand will be central to my future foray in magical botany. It also requires two petals and I chose to use another purple flower. I still have more of those than the rest. Next is the mana spreader, which also requires six logs, a petal and the previously stated copper ingot. I use my remaining purple petal from when I crafted the apothecary and assemble the spreader. Finally, I assemble the mana pool. It turns to be the easiest by far. Five livingrocks in a U formation and voil¨¤. With everything prepared, I realize I have a problem. I need a light gray, a red and two brown petals to make an endoflame. I only have the red. FUCK! Wait! the ''But that''s the wrong color'' quest! How do I make this floral fertilizer thing? Okay petals and one bone meal for one. Bone Meal? Bones. Okay. I rush back in the house and gather some of the bones we collected. A bone gets me three bone meals, and I sacrifice both my blue and the final purple flower to make one floral fertilizer. What I end up with is a mass of greenish dust with bits of color sticking through. I look at it. How do I use that? Throw it around? Mewtwo suggests. He has been silent most of this time, observing what I did with curiosity. "Eh, why not." I go to another part of the clearing, and throw it around me. the green dust flies in an arc and gently lands on the soil. The entire space shines for a few seconds where the dust touches, and flowers start to rapidly grow. One, two... three... Four... Four flowers appear. And I wince. A red, two yellow and a white one. Not what I wanted. I use the yellows to make a new fertilizer and repeat the process. This time I get only three, and none of them are the color I want! Only two pink ones and a magenta one. I use a both pinks to make another ball of fertilizer. All three turn out the same color. And it''s brown! Awesome. black and green flowers turn into another ball, come on I just need a light gray one. Please... I use a third ball, but no light gray. I repeat the process three more times before finally getting the light gray flower! "YES!" I cry out in happiness. Fucking random fertilizer. Well at least I have more flowers now. In the end, after all the fertilizer I made, I end up with one light gray, one cyan, two purples and one green. Also, I should be able to get more petals from flowers later on. I mean, I can do it now. I just need to plant a petal and fertilize it with bone meal, but the problem comes from recovering it. I need shears. The flower grows too big to be picked up by hand. So that will be for later. Right now? We are making an endoflame! Mewtwo is curious to know if the process needs me or not. I hand him all the ingredients and look at him add them to the apothecary. The moment he adds the seed, the process starts and soon, he is holding the endoflame. How to describe it... The flower is an orange brown coloration, with a yellow pistil at its center. The petals rise up all around the pistil, undulating like flames. We both look at the flower in curiosity. Also The quest validated even if I have not touched the flower. Mewtwo can contribute to some quests as well it seems. Good to know. I plant it some space away from the apothecary and the pure daisy. I not am dubbing this space the botania space, but it is starting to be a botania space. Eh. With the flower put down, I go to install the mana spreader and have to place it the same way I placed the apothecary. Except I can place it on top of the endoflame? Uh? How does that even work? I do so, curious. The mana spreader gets placed. It is a cube of red-brown wood, with an strange glowing green spots on its side and an opening on its forward face. Within the opening, a little cube of copper with a green spot on each side turns slowly. However, the spreader appearance is second to its current location. It is hovering right above the endoflame, slightly a meter above the ground. And it is just... Floating there... Mewtwo eyes are as wide as mine. What the fuck is this? This just... holds in the air? HOW? Hold on, is it just the spreader or...? I go to place the mana pool, right next to the mana spreader. The builder suite does consider it a valid position and let me do it. I do so, and the pool just... floats there. I- uh- Eh- WHAT? We both stare at it for long minutes. This is insane. Absurd. Even Aster is completely dumbfounded. I can feel him sputtering at what I am seeing, making me sputter in turn. WHAT! THE! ACTUAL! FUCK!? I want to touch it. Mewtwo says in dazed thoughs. "Not the spreader, or let me pick up the flower first." I tell him almost instantly. I still have enough to remake it, but I would like to avoid wasting materials. Mewtwo''s hand slowly approach the floating mana pool. His rounded finger trembles slightly as he goes to make contact. He touches the mana pool. Nothing happens. He touches it again. the mana pool continues to float. He grabs it, it remains unmoving. He pulls, he pushes, nothing changes. the mana pool remains stationary where I placed it. Now I have a new question. Both items were made of living material. Are they the reason for these gravity defying properties? Or is it something else? I select a block of cobblestone, and place its hologram above the mana pool. And immediately hesitate. The mana pool is a square bowl, one meter by one meter, about a third of that in eight. The cube of cobblestone I wish to place will be floating about two third of a meter ABOVE the mana pool. "Nothing risked..." I start. Nothing gained. Mewtwo finishes, his though almost fearful at what is about to happen. I place the block. "Eh..." Mewtwo snorts. "Eheh..." Both Mewtwo and I explode in hysterical laughter. It''s not the blocks, or the materials. It is the builder suite. It has to be. As we both bend over in laughter, the cube of cobble stone remains above the mana pool, floating in defiance of gravity. This is absurd, insane and just... just... an absurdly insane tool! I... I start experimenting. I place a block next to the mana pool and then another on the ground, just in front of the second floating block. "STAIRS!" I declare as I climb on the one meter step. I then continue. I have so much cobblestone it barely make a dent in my reserves. I extend from the top block, and soon a line of ten blocks extends above the clearing. "BRIDGE!" Hysterical laughter grips me once more and I slip, landing on the ground, still laughing. We both laugh for long minutes, before finally calming down. "Don''t know if I need to hide that one," I say, breathing heavily. It will be less taxing than having to convert entire barns of produce. "True that!" I agree, getting up, and meeting the wide opened eyes and gaping maw of a zoroark. Oh yeah, that must have been us five minutes ago. Chapter 34: HOW? *shrugs*
Achievement got: Gravity, who''s she? (Discover the true extent of the builder suite.) Rewards: 500xp; 1 Exp. Candy M
The achievement notification arrives a little late. The rewards instantly distract me from the new pokemon in the clearing. That seems quite a lot for such a simple achievement. The zoroark is too enthralled by my gravity defying constructs to notice my sudden surprise. He slowly approaches the floating line of cobblestone blocks. As I toss the candy to Mewtwo, the vulpine pokemon touches the middle of the line. I almost shout to stop him, realizing it is already too late to stop him, but nothing happens. The line of blocks keeps floating. He pushes it, jumps on it and even tries to scratch the material. This last attempt works... in leaving scratching marks on the block. Nothing else. That fox got sharp claws. Finally, with normally triangular shaped eyes opened so wide they appear round, he turns to us. He points at the blocks, then at us. I nod and Mewtwo dismissively points at me. The zoroark looks at me, his vulpine face a mix of bewilderment and awe. He throw his arms to the side in pure astonishment. ''How'' he seems to be screaming. I simply point at my arm and then shrug. "That''s just something I can do I guess?" Mewtwo joins in the wide eye boat, not because of the ''stones are floating'' situation, that boat has sailed for him, but for my gall to declare something like ''it''s just something I can do I guess''. Yeah I stick my tongue to him, if you have a better way to explain it, please go ahead. The zoroark opens and closes his maw for a long minute, trying to come up with something or anything to have me explain more, but gives up in the end. He rubs his face, and growl in frustration. He then explain why he has come to us in the first place. Multiple yips and growls later, Mewtwo translates to me. Her highness Princess is ready to formally welcome us in her domain. He is here to guide us where the ceremony will take place. "Thank you." I answer the zoroark directly, I almost add for him to lead the way, but look at my little endoflame set-up, "Wait, let''s see if the endoflame works first." Looking at the mess of stone now clogging the space around the set-up, I take out my iron pickaxe. Let''s clear the space a bit. I approach the end of the line of cobblestone and swing. And a new neat little trick reveals itself. I have, to this point, only picked up objects I made, or mined already existing terrain. Never have I tried to destroy something with my tools. I was able to pick up the smeltery manually. As I swing on the first block, little glitchy cracks start to cover the entire block, but only the one of the blocks I struck, exactly a one meter cube block. I stop, startled, and after a second they disappear. I strike again and the cracks return, same patterns and same locations. I keep striking, and the block soon dissolve into a shower of pixels. The pixels are then absorbed by the opening in my left hand, and a new block of cobblestone joins those I already had in my inventory. Oooookay? I turn to Mewtwo, who is patting the zoroark on the back. Said zoroark is stuck in a pose of pure indignation. His arms are before him as if saying both ''How?'' and ''that''s not how that should work'' at the same time. His vulpine face is a mix of incomprehension, anger and disbelief. Mewtwo is gently shaking his head, as if saying it is not worth it. Come on it''s not that strange right? To me? No. After how we arrived, and what I have seen you do, it is just another for the list. To any that have lived here and obeyed this world rules? You are literally breaking every previously preconceived rules they though as immutable. You are blowing this poor mon mind Astra. I hope you are proud of yourself. I can feel the sarcasm in his closing thoughs. "Ahah, hilarious. Let me finish here." I grumble. Alright, Maybe I have capabilities that are a bit- A LOT! FINE! Capabilities that are a lot more mind-boggling than I initially though. Maybe I am incredible in my own way. You sure are! Thanks Mewtwo. Soon, all the blocks are removed. Only the endoflame remains, with the mana spreader above it and the mana pool right in front of the spreader. Good, now I jus need to feed that little flower coal and it should start right? I get out a piece of coal out of my inventory and put it right next to the flower. Lightning fast, a root shoots from the ground, grabs the piece of coal and deposits it straight between the flower petals. The piece of coal hoover above the stem, gently rotating. Slowly, it turns from black to red, and soon flames engulf it. I look at the spreader expectantly. If I have set up everything correctly, it should soon start shooting a beam of mana which should be collected by the mana pool. Ten seconds pass, then thirty, then a minute. Nothing happens. Is the flower connected to the spreader? Mewtwo asks me. "Shouldn''t it be automatic... Oh wait." I get the wand of the forest. It should show me the connections. Indeed it does, or more exactly it does not show any connections. The moment I hold the wand of the forest, little bars appear over each of the three parts of my little set-up. The one above flower shows that it is full, while both the mana spreader and the mana pool show empty. A little symbol on the flower confirms the reason mana is not flowing. The flower is not linked to any mana spreaders. Ah... Holding the wand of the forest, I gently tap the endoflame. A rainbow halo surround the plant. I then tap the mana spreader. The halo turns into a line linking the endoflame and the spreader. Green light erupt from the copper cube within the spreader. It shoots forward in a stream of misty green bubbles straight into the mana pool. The moment it impacts the rim of the pool, the bubbles pop, and liquid blue light cascade into the pool, slowly condensing into a shining blue puddle. After a few seconds, the stream slows, and soon, the spreader only shoots once every few seconds. By this time, the coal is almost completely consumed. I drop another one and at first nothing happens. The untouched coal stays next to the endoflame, but the moment the flower finishes consuming its previous fuel, a new root shoots to the sitting coal and brings it to the flower petals. The process repeats, and the mana spreader continues to send mana into the mana pool, although at a more sedated rate. Satisfied, I leave a pile of coal next to the flower, and turn to the once again astonished zoroark. "We are done here, we can get going." I smile at the upright gray and red vulpine. He yips at me, pointing at the entire set-up, then at the petal apothecary and the portable smeltery. It seems he is slowly realizing there are multiple pieces of furniture and structures that were not present yesterday. He is about to question further, but suddenly freezes. He looks down and a full body shiver visibly traverses him. A little green vine has grabbed his foot. The zoroark instantly gets on all four and starts apologizing in his guttural language. Once he his done, he gestures for us to follow. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I guess her highness is getting impatient. Mewtwo comments. I nod with him. We did just make royalty wait... Not that good of an idea. Especially since I am unsure how far we may be able to push Princess'' hospitality. The zoroark bounds into the woods and we follow it at a fast pace. Soon we reach the massive tree standing at the center of the forest. I know it is at the center because my map shows us at the center of the forest. With our travels within the magical forest, I now have a rough idea of how big this forest is. The magical forest is a large oval patch of trees, almost a dozen kilometers in length by roughly seven in width, with the massive one at its center. From above, it appears almost as an eye, with the tree easily covering a almost a circle almost two kilometers in diameter by itself. A new overlay on my map shows that the Sanctuary encompasses the forest in its entirety. Small clearings opened to the sky sparsely appear in the forest from above, one having the Sanctuary visible within it. The large tree casts shades upon the trees below it, yet it seems the lack of sunlight does not stop them from growing almost to the large tree''s trunk. A circular clearing, about a hundred meters in circumference, surrounds the tree. The tree trunk, hundreds of meters large, support its far reaching canopy. Something I had not noticed during our little passage here is the presence of a lake right next to the tree. It is well hidden from the sky under the tree thick canopy. Upon its calm waters, birds and bird pokemons swim. From the big tree base, roots extend. they cover a good couple of dozens of meters all around the tree before they go underground. I spot an opening close to the trunk. Maybe a cave or Princess chambers? Aster claims it is an access to the underground beneath the forest, but there is hesitation. Who knows what changed since his death. All around the tree, patches of colored flowers form paths to different patches of grass. Even with the false morning light from the Sanctuary, I can see the clearing does not get too much sunlight. These flowers should not grow as they do. And they do not grow alone indeed. As the zoroark guides us down a path flanked by colorful blue and white flowers, we can soon see the hunched form of Princess. Little wisps of green and pink flow around her as the flowers slowly gain vitality and visibly grow. Most flowers are ordinary ones, but I do spot a couple of mystical flower patches here and there. Once we reach Princess, we stop, waiting for her to finish. She moves to different spot on the patch she is tending. Every time, she extends her powers and the wilted flowers grow lively again, then the lively ones grow a bit more. After the fourth patch, she turns to us. She does not speak, simply observes us. I can see the zoroark slightly trembling, the smirk he had displayed yesterday is gone now. He expect punishment for his tardiness. Princess speaks to him first, vocally. Mewtwo almost starts to translate, but a quick glare from the elder florges stops him. The zoroark pitifully yips, his body on a low crouch, his read mane splayed all around his hunched body. His forehead touching the floor. After a minute, vines extend from the florges orange collar of flowers. They dig into the ground, and her eyes become unfocused. Seconds later, they refocus, and turn to us. Mewtwo instantly points at me. I look at him in mock indignation. How dare you betray me like that? You''re the one making absurd things here, not me. I am just a legendary pokemon. He smirks. I groan internally, and look at Princess judgmental look. We were about to harshly punish our aide for his tardiness, but his excuses are sound. We too would have balked at the sight thou has left at our savior''s house. Thou shall explain thyself. Now. "Not to appear rude, but do we not have a party to attend?" It is not that I do not want to answer her questions, but more that I do not know how to answer her questions. The party can wait, and will only begin later. We wished to discuss things with the both of thee. But what we have witnessed takes precedence. Now, Explain! Her ice cold tone cut short any attempts at avoiding the subject. Argh! How do I explain this? What is even causing it? Wait... Maybe... "Please give me a moment to gather my thoughs your highness." I say, bowing slightly. Good thing I only sweat when my body need to cool itself. The tutorials. Please let there be an explanation! PLEASE! I open the menu, looking through it as quickly as I can. There! Wait no, that''s just the manual. Does it have anything anyway? Nope, just I already read. Princess inquisitive gaze lingers on me, before she turns to Mewtwo. What is he doing? We can see his hands move, but not what it is he is moving. She asks Mewtwo. The psychic alien-cat is lounging on the air, a smirk on his face at my situation. He is looking for an answer your highness, and he is not finding it. "You know you could help me!" I retort. I am certain you will find it on your own. We should be reading more of these entries anyway. I restrain myself from insulting him. I can still hear your thoughs. Yeah? Well fuck off and fuck you then, I am working. Princess raises an eyebrow at our banter, but still wait for my answer patiently. At least I am mostly certain that is what she is doing. What she appear to be doing is getting ready to vaporize me on the spot should I fail to present an adequate answer. No... no! No. No... Yes! Ah, no. AH! HERE! I clear my throat. "Your highness, right before we met, by the simple act of piling blocks, the Trio bestowed upon me a certain... power." Alright, good start, let''s keep going. My voice grows in confidence as I continue to read and simplify what I found in the ''How it works'' entry for the Builder Suite. "I can now precisely place most blocks, certain materials and even some forms of vegetation. What I was not aware of before yesterday, was that I can do so in almost any directions. As long as I have what is referred as an anchor point, I can extend structures in any of six directions. All four cardinal directions from any faces of the selected anchor point, as well as up and down. There seems to be a limit to the high I can build up to, but none on any of the other directions as long as I have the space for it. Anything I place with that power will be fixed and remain where it was placed even if the anchor point is removed? Hold on WHAT?" I sputter out as I read that little tidbit of data. I read it again, and again. Yep, I have read that right. Run that one by me again? Mewtwo asks, as he brings up the entry to read it himself. Are thou implying... Thou could make... floating structures? Princess thoughs are filled with uncertainty. As much as I tried to simplify it, it is still quite a technical system. Still she seems to have understood most of my explanation. Good job me I guess. The zoroark once more has his jaw on the floor in bewilderment. Demonstrate. Now. Princess orders. "As you command." I say, although I am also curious. It should not surprise me, there was a gap between the mana pool and the block above it, but there was still some sort of support in some way. I had put it under, it just works like that. I start with a tower of three cobblestone blocks, The speed at which I assemble it already astonish both Princess and her aide. Mewtwo helps me by making me float above the second block so I can place the third. Once the tower is done, I start expending from the third block. Two blocks south, two blocks east, and four more to make a three by three blocks square platform. Already the structure should have fallen down due to the unbalanced way I built it, yet here it stand in defiance of gravity. Before I can move to destroy the two blocks supposedly supporting the entire structure, Princess stops me. We wish to try a few things first. Obviously you want to try and make it fall uh? We tried already, and it did not move in the slightest. I refrain myself from voicing those thoughts out loud. Vines shout out from the ground and ensnare the tower of blocks. I can see when they start to pull one way then the over. The green vines extend like rubber bands, but the tower does not move. One vine even tears under the strain, much to everyone surprise. We are satisfied. Please proceed. I nod, and get my pickaxe out. A vine stops me and princess takes my steel hand, observing it for long minutes. How? "I... can turn almost anything into light and store them in my arm?" I answer with a shrug. "That is something I was able to do from the start." I add. Do so again. I dismiss my pickaxe, taking out a petal instead, then switching to a wood pattern. The dance of blue pixels of light enthralls Princess. Fascinating... Master would have had a field day with this... A shadow of longing passes over Princess expression, but vanishes in seconds. Proceed. She declares, distancing herself once more. We will be reading more of Aster''s journal in our stay. But for now, time to defy the laws of gravity more than ever before. I stand next to the pillar. Which block do I break? The upper one or the lower one? Let''s go for absurdity. Lower one it is. Hoisting my pickaxe, I swing to the side. Glitchy cracks appear and I keep going until the block shatters into blue pixels. The platform is still here. It is still floating. The grey blocks of cobbled stones hoover above the ground in absolute defiance of gravity. Thou... art a mage. That is magic, that can only be magic! We saw some master elements, but never to such an extent. None ever showed powers other than destructive ones. How? And that is the question uh? How did the Trio make this? The true explanation is only stated as ''It just works'' when you remove all the flourish yet I can feel there is more to it. What I have is akin to the power to reshape the world. With enough time, I could make buildings, roads, so many things... We could get safe spots for nights! Large floating platforms with walls to prevent skeletons from seeing us. We could make small houses along our way. I stop my daydream. Princess said something and I somehow missed the words in my head. That''s a first. Indeed it is. Out of my mind Mewtwo! I do not miss his snort at my reflection and look at Princess. "Could you... repeat that?" She looks at me in surprise. Getting ignored when your words get straight into your target''s mind must not come up too often. Thine powers are truly astonishing, however, there is more as well. What sort of botanical wonder have thou created? What is that strange flower that consumes fire? Chapter 35: Under new management. Of course Princess, a florges, would be interested in magic flowers. Now how do I even explain that... Wait. Do I have to explain it? "Your highness. May I ask you a question that could appear disrespectful? It is not my intention to be so." I quickly add. The ancient florges looks at me, then gestures for me to ask. "Can you read your highness?" The florges almost balks at my question. But then she calms down and looks at me in disappointment. Did I have any ways of know. Thou should really read the tales of thy predecessor, revenant. Yes I did... Fuck I am fully able to write as well as understand thine species written language. She continues. I do enjoy the few tomes we have managed to find over the years. Most are journals of others like my savior, but few are works of fictions. Although the majority were written by those few literate within the true inhabitants of this world, there are few that were written by abductees with somehow time to do so. So yes revenant. I can indeed read. "Good, that makes thing easier for me." I say with a smile, taking the Lexica Botanica out of my inventory. "This explains almost everything I have done so far and more." I give her the green book, and she takes it almost reverently. Where has thou found such a relic? "Relic?" I look Mewtwo''s way, but the psychic mon just shrugs. "It was a reward for collecting flowers and then reading on how it all would work. The Trio gifted it to me." It is an intact one. Princess says in a psychic whisper, then she explains. We found many similar books, but most were ruined by time. All were illisible or just fully rotten. We never could pierce the secrets within their degraded pages. Princess turns each pages with the utmost care, almost scared she would rip one. Does thine power would allow you to make a copy of this tome? I would be willing to give much to possess such an precious book. That was something I had not even considered. Can I duplicate the book? I ask for princess to give the book back, store it again and then click it within my inventory. There is a recipe. It is an absurd one, but it exists: a book, and any saplings of trees. I look at it again, and yes. A book with a tree sapling. The spaces they occupy matter not, only the presence of both. "Well... would it be alright for me to use some of the books within the cottage? I would also need to find a sapling of any sort as well." Those books? Well most are empty, but please leave those that are written alone. As for a sapling, what would thou consider a sapling? "Uh..." Hold on that''s a good question here. What is a sapling? How is it different from any branches? I never got any from the trees I broke. Do I need a specific tool? "That''s... a good question. Something from which a tree could grow back from I would wager?" Ah, then one of the guardian trevenants may have what thou seeks. Princess nods. We shall tell them to send some thy way. "My thanks. Ah also, could we harvest wood within the forest? I have an almost constant need for wood logs right now." This might be more difficult to accommodate. We shall consult with some of our grass type charges to see what can be done. Now come, tis almost time to present thee to the forest. With that, Princess starts to float away. We follow her, slowly going around the massive tree. Mewtwo and I are both surprised to see a path that goes between and beneath the large roots of the tree. We traverse the tunnels of root covered in moss and glowing mushrooms and finally exit into the shores of the lake we saw earlier. We arrive upon a surprisingly large beach enclosed on each sides by the tree roots. Upon the sand, multiple large blankets have been laid out. Each are large enough to accommodate more that two dozen normal person. The blankets only have my attention for a moment however. What does get most of my attention are the many pokemons busily putting decorations and food on each of the blankets. Multiple gardevoirs along with kirlias are working together, the green and white humanoids dashing left and right, multiple item held in levitation all around them, but pudgy black, grey and white humanoid pokemon are directing most groups. The indeedees, both male and females are the one running the show. They are organizing and controlling the ordered chaos with ease. One redirects a couple of flying types toward a rushing group of kirlias. The brown and beige pidgeotos add the baskets of food they were holding to the blanket that group had miscalculated the quantity they needed. Another scolds a green spider for their rash use of string shot. They then direct a scyther to clean the string covered blanket up. The chaos, however, seems to be winding down as we approach. Most of the blankets are stocked and only a couple of decorations remain. Princess seems to ignore the spectacle, as if completely used to it. And she might be. After all, she must have ordered for all of this massive picnic set up to be made. Princess makes her way toward a more decorated blanket standing near the tree. The zoroark joins her as well as an old male indeedee. He bows to his liege and then stand motionless, his impassive face staring straight at Princess''s own. after a moment, Princess acquiesces and the indeedee bows once more before turning away. After a moment, more pokemons appear. A swarm of beedrills, dozens strong land on some of the blankets. each of the wasp like insect type pokemons have kakunas and weedles on their back or in their drill shaped upper legs. A sawsbuck missing one of his blooming horn enters from another passage within the roots. He bows to Princess and leads a couple of deerling. The little fawn pokemons come in many colors. Some green, some pink a one orange. More and more species joins the large creek nestled between the great tree roots. I recognize a clefairy I think I saw when I first arrived. They look at me, but flinch when they realize I saw them as well. Some pokemons seems to hide beneath others, most definitely from me. Little brown rabbits with tufts of beige fur on their ears and lower bodies hide under a gardevoir robes. The poor bunearies are clearly terrified of me. The most absurd however, is when a snorlax comes out of one of the passage. The obese blue cat with a beige belly stops dead when he sees me next to Princess and almost goes back into the passage. Only what I can only assume are reassuring words from a large tangrowth seems to convince the absolutely massive upright cat to keep going to their spot. The snorlax keeps eyeing me all the way, even as the writhing mass of blue vines that is his tangrowth friend tries to reassure him. It is then that I realize something else. As the snorlax turns, his back is revealed, and I gasp, unable to contain myself. The blue fur on his back is sparse, instead it is scars that decorates the poor mon back. With that realization, I scan the growing crowd and wince as I realize many pokemons bear scars or signs of old injuries. The name Sanctuary suddenly takes a new meaning, one that makes me realize why most of its inhabitants fear me. After long minutes and many pokemons entering the creek. Silence slowly descend into the crowd. They need not be told that their liege will now talk. While we were waiting for her citizen to arrive, Princess had been briefing Mewtwo on a strange form of telepathy. It had taken only minutes for him to understand and master it, and now, as Princess clears her throat to use her voice, her words ring loud, clear and understandable to my ears. He had done something similar previously, but it is now almost perfectly in sync with the speech. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. "Citizen of the Magical Forest Sanctuary, we thank thee for joining this grand party. Some already know what has transpired yesterday." She stops as the crowd whispers among themselves. Some share what they saw at the assembly before the great tree, others gossip at what they heard from friends and family. "Our savior''s Sanctuary... is no longer his." Gasps, cries. The crowd is shocked at the revelation, even those that heard her speech yesterday are shocked. Of course, she had only told them that everything was under control and now she just declared the Sanctuary is no longer under the name of Aster. "Indeed. The Sanctuary has new owners, and we are one of them!." More gasps, followed with curious and exited chatter. "Thanks to these two individual," The Zoroark shoves both me and Mewtwo forward, "no longer do we depends on the whims of humans and the dreadful god ruling this land. The Sanctuary is free of the foul one influence." Cheers erupts from the crowd. Many take each others in their arms, or rub their head together, weeping. "Many of thee have seen the strange new light shine from the altar yesterday. This light signify a grand change for us all. The time within the Sanctuary has been slowed." Silence returns to the creek. Confusion passes from one pokemon to another. "Such change was a compromise to these two who conquered the Sanctuary, making it their own." She once more points at us. "What does that mean?" One of the pokemons asks. "For all of us, little. For those that left for expeditions outside the forest however, they will return far further in our future. Do not fret for them and count ten time the time they should take. Should they have not returned by then, we shall consider their lives endangered and act accordingly." Princess stops and breathe in. The crowd chatters in a mix of worries and excitement. That was something I had not considered. Let''s hope it will all turn out alright... "Now for less... welcomed news. We declared that we are free of the foul god, but we sadly are not free from gods." Dread spreads among the assembled pokemons. Many cry out in despair. "The new Sanctuary is still linked to beings beyond us all. Revenant, legend, thou shall explain." I freeze. What? I can feel the instant translation falter as Mewtwo gets as shocked as me. After a moment, we both turn to Princess, and only contempt meets us. Oh Trio she still despises them so much. We both turn to each other. How do we explain that? We go with the truth? Do we even know the truth? Even if we don''t we have to explain what their safety cost. Okay yeah, let''s go with that then. "H-Hi..." Great start Astra... Stumbling on your first word. "I- I am Astra. I... I was... I arrived in this world about 9 days ago. However, it was not by the hand of Eziakophael." I can feel myself calming down. "Greetings, I am Mewtwo. I have also arrived 9 days ago into this world. Like Astra, my arrival was not by the hand of Eziakophael." Hearing Mewtwo garbled electronic voice turn into coherent words is quite the experience. The crowd has gone silent, flinching every time Eziakophael name is said. Let''s avoid it now. "Those that brought us here call themselves the Trio. As the name imply, they are three gods working together. From what we gathered, we are meant to create an item for them, using the ressources present within this world for the sake of a bet they made with the foul one. We only have a single chance at this." I breath in before continuing. "Both me and Mewtwo have met those gods. Multiple times now. We have means to communicate with them, although at a risk for our safety, but we..." I look at Mewtwo. What I am about to say next is a clear spur of the moment, but I want to know if he will be okay with it. To answer my silent question, he continue my sentence. "We are willing to ask them a question on your behalf. Although do choose that question wisely for we only get one each per occasions." "As her highness Princess has stated, the Sanctuary is now under their control." Many in the crowd flinch at shudder at my words. "With this change comes a new price. The Trio are mostly observers, only intervening, this far, when unfair and unjust attempts were made by the foul one. That said, as the Sanctuary is now under their supervision, they will be observing you." The crowd remains silent. A sentiment of resignation has descended upon it. "How different was it under the foul one?" I ask Princess. She looks at me in confusion. Then understanding light up on her face. "Tis the same..." She mutters. "IT IS NO DIFFERENT!" She belows in almost shock. Every pokemon look at Princess. "Citizens. Nothing has changed. Only the one who judges us from above has been replaced. It changes nothing to us!" The resignation slowly shifts. The inhabitants of the magical forest have been living with a bloodthirsty god above them for decades, and now there are three new ones replacing the previous one, possibly with better morals. More and more the assembled pokemons realize that indeed, for them nothing has changed in that front. Eziakophael was always watching, and now it is the Trio. "What if they decide they want to hurt us?" A voice cries out above the whispers. Ah... "I do not believe the Trio would act to hurt anyone willingly. I do not think they can act much within this world actually." I explain "How would you know?" "The Trio would have aided us far more if they could. They would not have sent a single letter telling us they will do all they can on their end." Mewtwo answers. "But this place is theirs now is it not?" Wait that''s true. o0o_How Astute._o0o A chill runs over the entire clearing. The words float above everyone. Then they congregate on a single individual. An young drowzee. A deep purple glow envelops her for a second and she cries in fear. Everyone recoil from her. The upright tapir pokemon has her shorts arm on her head and her eyes screwed shut. Everybody collectively hold their breath, me and Mewtwo included. What did they do? Fuck that was Chaos as well, right? It was his color, I think. I never saw his boxes, but it was not Knowledge or Hunt that is for sure. After a minute, the drowzee opens one eye. She slowly right himself up and inspect herself. "Wha... What did they do?" She fearfully asks. "Hum..." I clean my throat. "That is... part of the price. If an individual catches the Trio attentions, they will receive... blessings from them." I explain. "Do not expect powers beyond your comprehension however," Mewtwo continues, "These blessings will range from mundane and useful to useless, but never detrimental." The drowzee suddenly gasps. "I- I can see again! My right eye! It''s healed!" She squeals in shock. She closes one of her eyes and looks at everyone around her. Tears slowly gather in both her closed and open eye and soon she falls on her knees. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" she exclaims. The crowd slowly closes back on her, rubbing her back and exchanging words of happiness. Many new discussions spring up all over the creek. Many questions are asked but the uproar drown the individual words. "Quiet thyselves down citizens." Princess says in a soft but carrying voice. The effect is immediate. The discussions die down, calm returns. "Now, one at a time, who has questions?" Multiple pokemons signal themselves by raising head or appendages. Princess points at one at random. "What can we do to gain their attentions?" Many echo that question. Fuck you Chaos, fuck you so much for that. Do you want them to make a cult or something?
Is that how you thank me? You know nothing about us little one.
Uh? Wait did Chaos just answer me? That was the first time one of the Trio answered me directly. Still, I have to answer the question. "I do not know." "Nor do I" Mewtwo adds. "Then how did you get their attention in the first place?" Someone shouts before Princess can point the next to ask a question. "They made us." I answer. Another wave of silence washes over the crowd. Mewtwo is the one to break it. "I am sure many of you have heard of Aster Stradivii as well as his legendary companions." He points at Princess, who huffs at the casual gesture. "For Astra, it is a certitude that Aster''s soul dwells within his body. For me, from what I have experienced here, I have the souls of two of Aster''s dead companions within me." He finishes in a low voice. The silence persists after the loaded declaration. Only Princess seems unsurprised at Mewtwo''s admission. Even I am surprised at his admission. He had shared his doubts about it, but that was completely new. I''ll tell you more later. Mewtwo whispers in my mind. Yeah I have things to tell you as well. "If you wish for the Trio attention, then live your lives as best as you can. They care not what or who you are, only that you may be true to yourselves." Mewtwo states before going silent once more. Where did that come from? He simply points at a deep blue screen. Ah, Knowledge. The distant sound of someone getting whacked on the head echoes in the creek, but only me and Mewtwo seem to hear it. "Are there any more questions?" Most of the crowd mutter to each others, but no new questions arise. "Then let us feast for our newfound freedom!" Princess declares. Cheers echo all around the creek and people start to gather in groups. Princess gestures for us to join her and we sit upon the blanket. Time to eat. Chapter 36: The picnic We gather upon the royal blanket. As do most of the crowd. The pokemons disperse themselves upon the many other blankets, but not all. Some come to Princess, who had not moved yet. It appears they are greeting her in a sign of respect. Most of those that do so eye me with distrust and fear. A few sport scars and old injuries. The process seems like it will take a long time, and I can see those upon our blanket are already seated and digging into the many baskets upon it. The zoroark is here, obviously, as well as a little troupe of indeedee led by the indeedee. The Zoroark aide signal for us to sit down as well. As I join them, I do so carefully. The claws upon my feet catch upon the fabric and I feel like I could easily rip it apart. I gently disentangle the offending appendages and sit down. Mewtwo joins me and we take a look at what is within the baskets of food. The food within the baskets surprises me. There are berries, obviously, this is a pokemon picnic. But it is the more fruits and vegetables that makes me raise an eyebrow. Some raw, others cooked. Do they grow human vegetables on top of berries? Mewtwo is already digging into the basket closest to us. We did forget to eat breakfast this morning. He devours a couple berries before stopping. His face turns red and he starts coughing. Water! Where is the water! Uh? I look at the half eaten tamato he left next to him. A quick description pops up and I snicker. The berry is extremely spicy. It also lowers a pokemon speed but makes him friendlier... How does that work here I wonder. The spiky red berry continue to sit next to Mewtwo. As the upright psychic cat pokemon is finally given something he sigh as the burning sensation recedes. The Zoroark has also taken notice of the little situation and is silently cackling behind his fluffy arm. As if to taunt Mewtwo, he takes another sort of spicy berry, a liechi berry and gobbles it down. He then tries to offer one to Mewtwo, but my friend can see the badly hidden mirth on the zoroark face and kindly refuses the gift. Looking in distrust at the berry basket, he turns to another one for something else to eat. What he finds are human dishes. Sliced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, some white cream and more vegetables greet him. Curious and adventurous, he takes a piece of cucumber and tastes it. His face scrunches into a frown at the taste. Tastes watery. He tells me. I take a piece and yep, it''s a cucumber. The vegetable is not known for its taste, but more for its texture. The slices are thin, but still crunchy. Although after his adventure with the tamato, maybe Mewtwo lost a bit of taste here. You do know I am aware of the WAYLA system right? You could have told me it was spicy! "Did you even know you could not handle spiciness?" I tease him back. He grunts and look away. Eh, though so. "Anyway, pass me the cream and those carrot sticks." I ask him, hiding my amusement. The items float toward me and I catch them. The cream becomes labeled as sour cream, and the carrot sticks as... ''carrot sticks''... Well some things don''t change. That''s good to know. We continue to eat, sometimes tasting surprising things, other times Mewtwo has to do a lip test to make sure he is not about to taste something spicy again. For me, spice does nothing. I can taste the heat, but I am still able to swallow the aliment without much complaint from my body. One thing that I soon note is the absence of meat. I do not need to eat meat to keep on working, but I am pretty sure at least half of the pokemons here are either omnivorous or full-on carnivores. I wonder if Princess has put a ban on it for some reason or another. A yip from Princess'' aide get our attention. He comes to us with a new basket, and when he drops it on front of us, it answers my question. Princess did not ban meat. This basket is filled to the brim with an assortment of cold, dried, salted and smoked meats. As if to convince us, the zoroark takes a couple of the top most ones and devours them in seconds. As I look upon the basket, many names pop up, and I feel somewhat relived to see no pokemon names within. Still, meat. I saw birds and other animals along the way, if they so ostentatiously display such quantities, it must mean they are not banned from hunting them. No, let''s ask to be sure. "Hey, are there any rules about gathering meat and animal products?" I take a piece of raw salted beef and eat it. It taste quite good. The zoroark looks at me in confusion at first. Then, as if a light bulb just lit up above his head, he brightens up. Mewtwo restore the translation trick and I get a full explanation. Animals are actually raised within the Sanctuary. Not in a traditional way, the pokemons do not have farms where they raise herds. Instead, some of the pokemons protect wild herds that were lured within the forest at one time. When said herds become too large, they proceed to do some population control and use any produces obtained in the process. The skin is used to make bags or is stored for later use, the meat and organs are used as either food or fertilizer and the bones are reduced to dust to be used as fertilizer as well. That last one makes me raise an eyebrow. "How effective is that bone dust?" "Pretty good, it doubles the growth speed of our crops, add our local grass type aid, and we can get an harvest once a week." The zoroark proudly proclaims. I nod, but keep on thinking. I will need to try it too. "Could I obtain some? I would like to experiment with it." The zoroark looks at me with curiosity. "Do you plan on making your strange flowers grow bigger?" I snort at that. Almost got it in one. "That would be one of the goals, yes." I do not tell him I want to compare it with the one I can make. I feel like it would end up as a repeat of the village. I will be staying here for the entire time I have before the next raid, but some things I might keep to myself. And until I know for sure, I am keeping the bone meal a secret between me and Mewtwo. Mewtwo gives me a slight nod, agreeing with my thoughts. "I will see with our local crop tenders if they can spare a small bag or two." He agrees. I thank him and pick up a piece of dried duck meat. The fat and salty meat is quickly devoured. The picnic continues, with Princess joining us after a dozen minutes. Those that had gathered to greet her have all come and gone. With a tired sigh, she lowers herself down, sitting like a siren next to us. A couple pieces of meats as well as berries float up from various baskets and she politely eat them. Mewtwo and I cannot help but stare. Nowhere have I seen that florges are supposed to be vegetarian, but even as I reread the pokedex entry, I can only accept what my eyes are seeing. Florges are omnivorous I guess. After that brief scene, the picnic continues. I soon stop eating, My energy reserves are full, and eating anymore makes me feel like I am about to throw up. Mewtwo is also lost to a food coma, much to the amusement of our fellow picnickers. He lies down on the blanket with his arm raised above his now filled belly. His hands sometime twitch, as does his long tail. He dumb smile is plastered on his face. Eh... As the eating dies down, I look around. Most blankets have families or related pokemons together. And there are only pokemons here. I am the only ''human'' around. Few are what one would call rare pokemons. Many species of bird pokemons are present along many insects ones. The rarer ones are humanoid looking pokemons, yet they still number in the dozens among the hundreds gathered. I spot some machops, tyrogues and timburrs play-fighting with each others under the supervision of a one armed mienshao. I shudder a bit at the sight. The white suricate looking pokemon still has a kind smile as he directs the rowdy young ones under his supervision. Down at the lake shore, multiple fish pokemons have congregated and are being offered food by land walking water types as well as other pokemons. The strangest one is the presence of a walrein among the crowd. It is not hot by any definitions, but it should be too hot for the dual ice-water type. How did it end up here I wonder. If thou art curious of our charges, thou should wander and mingle with them. they each have a tale to tell. Thou should also lay their worries to rest. They think thou a human, yet thou art only one in form. Are we not right? Princess voice echoes in my head. She isn''t wrong per say. Most only fear me because I look human. The looks are either disgust and fear only when they look at my face, it becomes curiosity when they look at the more mechanical parts of my body. I consider Princess idea. Without Mewtwo''s translating, it might be hard, but maybe it is time I make an effort. But how do I present myself? Can I just go to the nearest blanket and just introduce myself? No, this will serve no purpose. They will close up or I will not be able to respond to them out of fear of misinterpreting what they ask or say. I need to find a way to interact without too much need for vocal communication. The answer comes in the form of a gathering around a table sized flat boulder. A dozen fighting types are taking turns doing arm wrestling. This could be my door to socialization. Decided, I make my way toward the group. My feet dig into the sand, and I travel through the many gathered by Princess. As I pass, many give me sidelong glances and sneers, but a few glance at me with curiosity. I spot familiar figures among the gathered. The ambipom that had tried to clean the cottage waves one of his large hand tail at me as he sees me pass. I spot further away the swalot family. She seems to be having an animated discussion with a pair of staraptor. The little gulpin, now joined by a couple more, is playing with a couple of starly. Neither of them notice me and I continue on my way. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Something thunks on my leg and cries out in pain. I freeze and look down. One of the earlier bunearies has just run into my leg and stunned himself. As the small brown and beige bunny recovers from the collision, his eyes meet mine, and it is his turn to freeze. He start to look around in desperation and then simply close his eyes, huddling into a ball. Unsure as to what to do, and under the baleful gaze of all the pokemons around me, I slowly crouch toward the bunny pokemon. As softly as I can, I ask him. "Are you okay?" My voice makes the buneary huddle even more and start whimpering. "Hey! Hey! Hey! It''s okay, I''m not going to hurt you! Sorry for being made of metal though!" Shit shit shit! This is bad. I am afraid that trying to touch him will get the onlookers to react negatively, yet it feels like they will treat me the same if I just leave. It''s a lose-lose situation right now. Before the situation can deteriorate any more, something white and purple dashes in front of me and pushes me away. I stumble backward and am treated to the one-armed mienshao. The white suricate with pant and belt-like purple pattern stands in front of the terrified buneary. He growls and takes a defensive stance, ready to react to whatever I do next. I slowly get up, his dark red eyes never leaving me. "Apologies, I did not want to scare him." I say calmly, bowing down. This seems to take the mienshao aback. He stares at me in absolute distrust, but a new voice arrives. A young kirlia is helping the buneary up, and in her shrill voice, seems to confirm my words. The mienshao relaxes slightly and spit something along the lines of ''be more careful next time'' even though the buneary was the one that ran into me. He then return to the group of young fighting type he was supervising. Said group had stopped its activities to watch the scene. I thank the kirlia. The green hair ballerina looking pokemon gives me a stern look and nods before escorting the still scared buneary away. I sigh, and look back toward the group of adult fighting types I was aiming for, and come nose to crest with a machoke. The grey humanoid pokemon wearing only a spandex gives me a predatory smile. He speaks, and then gestures. He wants to invite me over to the group. I agree and he violently slaps my back in a false gesture of friendship. I may not understand them, but I can still read their body language. Although he does regret his slap as he does so on the mechanical spine poking from my back, and ends up hurting himself slightly in the process. He tries to hide an annoyed grunt, but I still hear it. We arrive at the stone, and the crowd of fighting types opens up to let me in. Sitting on the table, munching on a bamboo stick, is a large scarred pangoro. the large panda pokemon smirks as his machoke buddy pushes me forward. The pangoro put a massive arm forward and invites me to do the same. As he put his right forward, I put my own right arm on the rock. We lock hands, and a scrafty acts as a referee. The yellow and brown upright lizard puts his hand on both ours, and then signal to begin. The pangoro exerts immediate pressure, and for a second, I hold. Then comes the groan of metal bending and I silently curse. An instant later, with a loud crunch, my arm bends and impact the rock. I lose. The pangoro lets out a roaring laugh, and I get up. I bow to him. "Thank you for the match." I then move to the side. That makes the panda pokemon stop laughing. He eye me in amazement before gesturing for me to leave my place for another. I move to the side and look at my arm. My arm is broken, that is for certain, yet I feel no pain. I had realized that a while ago, but I can see a lot of pokemons are surprised by my lack of reactions. I let the next couple of matches happen, all the while my arm heals. After about three matches, I have fully recovered, to the astonishment of all the assembled fighting types. As I stretch my arm around and clench and open my fist, I nod. "Ready for another round." Although I do make a bit of preparations. I have some experience points to distribute, and I wish to see if armor resistance would affects my strength in some ways. I pour some points in, bringing it to 10%. I also up the repair efficiency to a solid 20%. This might also help. I once more sit in front of the pangoro, and the panda smirks again. I can see his uncertainty behind his bravado though. He saw how I shrugged the supposed pain of my arm being broken to pieces, and now I have already recovered. Before he can present his arm, I present mine, my left. He raises a bushy eyebrow at that but shrugs, and agrees by presenting his own left arm. We clasp hand and paw, and the scrafty from before starts us. The difference is actually insane. I do not have the strength to push back, but the pangoro is having a harder time pushing at all. With my arm locked, the change in bringing my resistance from a small 1.3% to a 10% makes itself known. It''s exponential. My growth is absolutely exponential. I can feel the pangoro start to actually exert his strength, slowly, the same sound as before start echoing. My arm is once more losing to the pokemon''s brute strength, but that''s alright. I can just heal it up. I have enough energy left, and I can just go get food back on the royal blanket. With a final sound of metal ripping apart, I lose my second match. When my right tore, it only bent in a weird angle, with what looked like bones poking under the skin. Here? The armor plating burst open at the elbow, muscle fiber tears itself apart and metal bones jut out. "Oh wow!" I am in awe at the sight of the inside of my arm. The quantity of electronics and parts stacked in there is insane. That''s the arm that has the upgrade chips slots here, and there a lot more systems now visible within. The pangoro has let go of my arm the moment it broke, and is looking mightily spooked at the sight. He points at me and gruffs something. His shaded eyes then almost burst forth as the cables, metal parts and muscle fiber start to move on their own accord. in less than a minute, the cables return to their sockets, the electronic parts return to their slots, and the muscle fibers knit themselves back together. Finally, the bent plating unbend itself and slide right back in its place, to the wonder of all assembled. "Round three?" I ask, smiling. I present my left arm again and pour my remaining points into muscle strength. It brings me from 16% to 17.9%. The upgrade is so small I wonder if it will actually make any differences. Could I had even matched any of them? Even if I had poured all my points into muscle strength, I am not sure. After all, every pokemons around me have gone beyond level on hundred. The pangoro looks unsure on how to proceed. He just broke both of my arms, and I just take it with a smile. He wanted to scare me, to make me suffer for all of those that suffered at the hand of humans. Yet here I am, shrugging broken arms and healing in mere minutes. He grunts and offers his right arm to my left. I shrug and put back my right arm on the rock. We clasp hand and paw for the third time, and the scrafty, once more starts us. He is also looking a bit pale. The pangoro immediately goes with almost full strength, and I hold. Even more, I can feel his arm giving. Exponential growth for the win baby. I slowly start to push my opponent arm''s away, locking eyes with the panda pokemon. His uncertainty turns into surprise at my sudden greater strength, and something changes in his expression. My pushing stops, midway to the stone, and slowly, the pangoro starts to push back. He had not exerted his full strength yet. I try pushing pack, and I hear my body start to produce a high pitched whine as servos try to offset the pokemon brute strength, but with the sound akin a metal pole meeting a metal fan, my arm once more gives. My right arm impacts violently on the rock, the sudden loss of strength surprising both me and the pangoro. Cracks run along the rock, and this time, my skin gets ripped open. And what is revealed beneath hammers the last nail a coffin I had tried to ignore for some time now. Yet I still knew the truth deep inside. I had known since the moment my neck went backward during the praetor fight. Still, a part of me, as well as Aster''s side of my mind, wanted to believe only the parts visibly mechanical were so. But right now, I can see the truth. I am a machine, not a human. Like my left, my right arm tears itself apart at the elbow. Unlike my left, my elbow snaps in two. The round part that linked and allowed my arm movements breaks into pieces. Some fly off the table and into the sand, and any fighting type close to those take a step back. Okay that might be bad. The muscle fiber and artificial tendons rip themselves apart and flail around like whips for a second. I lose all sensation of my right arm and hand. Stunned silence descend on the crowd of fighting and, I am just realizing now, many other types that had come to observe the matches. Well... shit. How is my body going to react to missing parts? It reacts, surprisingly, as if said parts are not missing. Everyone gathered around, me included, watch in amazement as thin rivulets of silver liquid stretch from my elbow stump and connect to rivulets coming from my forearm. The moment they do, I can feel sensations return all the way to my hand. The small parts that scattered around are fully ignored and the silver liquid simply fills the gaps, hardening into replacements. Nanomachines uh? The part that are ignored slowly disintegrate into fine dust and quickly disappear. Only one does not. A piece that was picked up by a hitmonlee. The brown pokemon holds what appears to be a piece of a small rotor between his beige claws. Uh? He and a couple of other pokemons are looking in amazement at the little piece of me. Then they realize I am looking at them and, scratching the back of his smooth headless body, the hitmonlee gives it back to me. ''Broken part. A piece of the body of a terraforming android. Model X-A0.7.5. Scrap amalgamated nanometal, leave alone for natural disintegration.'' Wow. I look in amazement at the description the WAYLA system gives me. Wait, terraforming android? What the fuck is that? Is that what I am? Wait, later, let''s deal with our current situation. I look at my arm just as the skin finishes to stitch itself back together. No traces of my injury remains. The pangoro asks something, and I do not need to understand pokespeech to answer it. "clearly not a human." I say with a smile. the pangoro is taken aback, and the crowd collectively blinks at my declaration. The pangoro looks at me in absolute disbelief but then start laughing. He points at me and says something with a predatory smile. Before I can react, I am lifted up by a machoke and a hitmonchan. The pangoro gets on the cracked stone and start a speech to all assembled. He ends it by slapping my back violently. I hear and feel my spine bend under the panda''s strength and the only reason I do not fall is only thank to my porters holding tight on me. I am surprised they are not straining under my weight. Ah wait, I can feel the hitmonchan readjusting his hold on me. Soon the crowd cheer and I can see a lot of previously hostile faces have mellowed out. Their distrust have begun to turn into cautious curiosity. Having fun? I hear Mewtwo from the royal blanket. I wave at him from my elevated position and he shakes his head in amusement. I cannot leave you for a minute without you getting into some strange situation can I. Yeah you got me there. I am taken back down and then introduced to other fighting types wishing to try my strength. I oblige all of them and ends up with a couple more broken arms. However, with the situation becoming friendlier, I am treated to food by my fellow competitors and proceed to make a spectacle of every healing, to the cheers of every onlookers. The afternoon passes in a blur, and soon those gathered start to disperse. In the end, I managed to shift the opinion of the residents of the Sanctuary for the better. I bid goodbye to the group of fighting types and rejoins Mewtwo. We then make our way back to the little cottage under the guidance of the zoroark. He seems genuinely surprised that I managed to bring that group to accept me. The pangoro was actually the leader of their most elite human hunting force, and he had seen more than his share of horrors perpetrated by humans. that I was acknowledged by him of all pokemons would go a long way to make the others accept me. We finally return to the cottage as the artificial night falls upon the magical forest. The zoroark bids us a good rest, and leaves. Mewtwo and I both sigh at the return of calm. The picnic was nice, but that was quite a new experience with all the sounds, sights and activities. I feel mentally drained. Yet, I know I have something hard to do. We need to talk. "We need to talk." We both say it at once, and we look at each other. We both realize we have something heavy to share with the other. Chapter 37: Im worried about the future. Mewtwo and Astra both look at each others. For Astra, the weight of their future is the subject he wishes to broach. For Mewtwo, it is what he has now fully confirmed himself to be. Both subjects are quite different, yet intersects in more ways that they realize. Astra gestures for Mewtwo to go ahead. Astra. As I said during our little impromptu speech, and as you found out yesterday, I have confirmed what lies within me. I know you have the remnant of Aster''s soul dwelling within you. I too possess the souls of beings within me. Astra nods, he has started to come to terms with his origins in some ways. When I learned what you were... when you told me what you were, I though i was different, that the Trio made me as a companion from nothing. That is not the case. Within me dwell the souls of two of Aster''s companions. Mewtwo takes a deep breath. He knows that what he will say will not impact Astra per say, but he fears how the remnants of Aster will react. Within me, the souls of Master the lucario and Paladin the gallade sleep, fueling my existence in some ways. Astra remains silent. Within him is turmoil. Aster''s remnants are both appalled and relieved at the news. Although the subject had been broached multiple times, hearing it stated so plainly makes it harder to just ignore or dismiss for later. this is what this discussion is for after all. And Aster? Aster had tried to ignore it every times. For even the slight hope that the souls of his friends might not have gone a different route than the current cycle was too hard to maintain. For Aster knows of the cycle of this world. The tyrannical and sadistic cycle the souls of those living upon the Ezian plane undergo. He knew even before he experienced it once more recently. The cycle only ends to the creator, and Eziakophael is a greedy and hungry god. Humans may go through the cycle multiple times, but pokemons only go in once. They are birthed, live, and then killed. Their souls become the hungering god''s sustenance, making him stronger for each souls he devour. Aster is relieved to know his two dead companions, one killed trying to protect him, the other because of his death, are safe and not gone forever in the dark god''s gullet. Yet he is appalled to learn their souls were put to use in another way. They should have been set free, saved and displaced somewhere else, anything but setting them back within this cruel joke of a world. Mewtwo feels the inner turmoil, he feels his own soul quake at his own admission. Both Master and Paladin stirs at his words, but do not wake. He is different. Where Astra is linked to Aster and can almost freely tap into the man''s memories, Mewtwo barely feels either pokemons making up his soul. A part of him knows like he should be able to feel more from them, yet the same geas that stops him from using certain capacities stops him there. Yet another limitation from the Trio. He reflexively brush his tattooed right arm, feeling a strange tingle doing so. "I... see..." Finally Astra speaks. The turmoil is receding, and Astra is finally able to think as himself, and not as an amalgamation of misty past and broken present. "This... complicates things. I mean, it makes what I had to tell even more dire... I think..." It is Astra''s turn to take a breath. "I have been thinking... about the end. What happens when we succeed? What happens after we make the marble. It seems that this is what the Trio wants of us, but then what? We succeed, and that''s it? Are we the ones that will be rewarded, or will it be Aster, and his companions?" Astra looks down as he tells his last question. And the weight of the implications settles on them both, heavy on Mewtwo''s shoulders and heavier than before on Astra''s own. The implication hits Mewtwo even worse as he realize what they have just done. They just spent the morning convincing the local population that the Trio will be beneficial, that it will be different from Eziakophael, yet... yet... Mewtwo sits down, unable to remain up. His head is spinning and he can taste bile building in his throat. When did you come to this realization? He asks his friend. "Yesterday night, while reading the lexica for the first time. I noticed something and it stirred something with Aster. So I checked in his journal to see what it might be, and I found this." Astra takes the book out, and opens it on the ''life 12, day 85'' entry and let Mewtwo read. Once he is done, he continues. "This entry says it all. This world is fake, made of ripped parts from this planet called Earth. If everything is but a playground for Eziakophael to see us suffer, then... What are we? What will the Trio do once we are done? Will they just leave? Will they save Aster and his friends?" After reading the entry, Mewtwo can understand how Astra came to these questions. How real are they? And will they be allowed to exist after their task is done? And the implication of what this world is makes their situation so much unsure. This entire reality is nothing but an amalgam of fictions, possibly fueled only by the absurd amount of death happening daily. How many humans survive their first nights? Their first raid? How many pokemons are killed daily, either as sport or for sustenance? Mewtwo thinks back to the village, to all he learned from the villagers and the few humans that accepted to talk to him. This new piece of the puzzle makes this world even more ruthless than it appears to be. Yet here they stand, Mewtwo a fictional legend, and Astra, a machine looking like a human. Both were made to complete a challenge as a bet between gods. And now the puppets wonder what they will do once the performance is complete. For in the end, that is what it boils down to. The strings may not be visible, but they are still present. The quests, the trials, the little hints left to guide them. The Trio is guiding them to reach the end of the quests. For what purpose? Neither know. This will be our next question! Mewtwo declares. The Trio gave them a way to acquire knowledge, and they shall use it. "Can we trust they will answer? Or will they dismiss the question like they did the one about their choice?" Astra quells Mewtwo''s resolve. Both slump back in though. ''You were convenient''. the non-answer Knowledge gave still rings in their ears. If they dismiss their concern so easily, why would they answer differently to any other worries they may have. Both can already imagine any of the Trio answering something akin to ''Don''t worry about it'' to any question for their future. As they both sit on the grass close to the cottage, the silence of the forest settles in. We still should ask anyway. Even a non-answer might give us hints as to what they might do with us. Mewtwo suggests. Astra looks up, and nod. Although the dread of their fickle existence has become greater than ever before, they both still exist. "We will ask, and maybe we can try to raise a stink about it if they refuse to answer us." Astra completes, his spirits heightening once more. Ah! We have to try that! Mewtwo agrees. Both their mood lift at the joke. They may be constructs of gods, but they were given some length of free will. And they shall be using that length as much as they can. "Oh right, I also found some idea of what I am." Astra exclaims. He summons his menu and look for an entry. After some times, he finds it. "Here is what I am." Astra presents an entry with the title ''Unit X-A0.7.5''
Achievement got: Who you are! (Discover what the both of you are.) (Damn you got that one fast!) Rewards: 3000xp; 1 Exp. Candy XL
Terraforming Android X-A0.7.5 Imagined by a group of scientist from the [REDACTED] empire, the model Terraforming android model X-A (TOM.X-A for short) was supposed to revolutionize terraforming. Instead of waiting for decades on changes and modifications, this android would allow living being to be at the forefront of the terraforming effort. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. These machines would be sent in batch, with capacities to rearrange weather, topography and even soil composition. As they would use the same fueling method as any other creations of the [REDACTED] empire, they would only need to perform maintenance on themselves. [REDACTED] The project was, however, never left the alpha stage of development after many raised concern about the need of a living pilot linked to the android body. Spending decades in digital reality and seing only through the eyes of a machine was deemed too hard for the user''s psyche and so the project was shelved, to be replaced by [REDACTED] At the twilight of the [REDACTED] empire, only the emperor still remembered the project. Specifications: -Multiple hyper-compression matter tanks -Silver-blood self repair nanomachine system -[REDACTED] alloy plating. -[REDACTED] redux OS version 20.771 -[REDACTED] power source -Disassembly/reassembly array -High resolution scanning array. -Carbon-[REDACTED] muscle fibers -Reconfigurable inner systems.
Both Astra and Mewtwo look at the entry. That... is... a lot. "And we learned... nothing new... except for the origin of my body... which is redacted..." Astra sigh, almost in disappointment. Why would the Trio redact these? Did they steal it or something? Is it a clue to show us they do as Eziakophael does? Why the redacted sections? It makes no sense! Indeed it does not, but neither Astra nor Mewtwo can understand why the Trio would redact such information. It does confirms your strength and that you are indeed, not human. "Yep, that one I can finally put to rest!" Astra says, his cheerfulness feeling fake to Mewtwo''s senses. "Oh here!" Astra says as he pass the XL candy to Mewtwo. Mewtwo eyes the massive candy in his palm with a bit of apprehension. It has to be the biggest one yet. Almost as tall as his middle finger is long, the blue octahedron almost radiates experience. For the first time, Mewtwo let it slowly dissolve on his tongue rather than swallow it whole. He does not feel the rush of energy until the last of the candy leaves his mouth. And when it comes, he can immediately feel that something is different. He has now reached level 40, and something new has just been unlocked. More than a move, it is as if his senses have been suddenly opened wide. Aura. The knowledge of the strange energy spills forth from within and beyond. He can feel Master stir in his sleep. He is almost certain his eyes are widening by the second, but he can only stay where he is, looking all around in pure wonder. He can see the lines of life, the lines of energy of nature, of every living being surrounding them. His sixth sense has grown beyond what it had been to this point. He had always been able to see and sense other creatures beyond their physical forms, but it had never been this clear. He looks at Astra, he can see the fire within his torso. A burning sphere of rainbow flames encapsulating blue-white embers. He can see how they might have been a sphere once, and wonder if that is what his soul looks like. He looks around, finding insects like little stars among the trees. Birds are little suns on the branches. The trees themselves are a network of energy lines. The world is living, its soul beat with every moments. And as he looks up, he sees the oil-like reflection of the Sanctuary barrier, and as he looks on, the barrier looks back.
I see Mewtwo hesitate with the XL candy. It IS a big piece of hard candy. In the end, he let it melt slowly on his tongue. I turn toward the cottage, satisfied that the big talks are over. In the end, it only changed our determination. Before, we wanted to complete the quest because clearly we could and needed to, but now? Now it is even more personal. We will make sure everyone gets what they deserve. And we will make sure the Trio WILL give it to us! I make my way toward the little endoflame set-up. Sure enough, not a single piece of coal remains. The mana pool has a small puddle of blue mana at its base, and a quick check with the wand of the forest tells me it is barely anything. Yep, I need more things to burn. A lot more. I will need to see princess tomorrow about that. Also, I completed the ''Mana manipulation 101'' right? Yep, I did. "Hey Mewtwo." I call to him, only to find him still where I left him. He does not react to my call. I frown at that and approaches him. "Mewtwo?" I call him again, no answers. As I approach him, I realize his pupils are so dilated his irises are almost gone. He is starring at the sky, looking at something only he can see. I try to pass my hand above his eyes, but get no reactions. Then he suddenly screams and fall backward. He looks around, disoriented, and then settles on me. We have to get out of here! "What?" This place is not safe, nothing is safe! Oh Trio its coming! It''s in the trees! It''s on the ground! His toughs are a jumble of panic. He start to crawl backward from whatever he is seeing. "Mewtwo?" I try to shake him off his panic. "Mewtwo!" I actually shake him, physically holding him by the shoulders. His eyes suddenly focus on me, truly focus on me. Astra? What... What happened? Where did the eyes go? "What? What eyes? What are you talking about?" *ding*
Achievement got: Don''t stare, I''m self-conscious about myself! (stare at the fabric of our craft.) Rewards: Don''t! Like seriously, don''t.
"Uh?" Mewtwo is silent. I read and reread the notification, then I look at my friend. Still dazed by what he must have witnessed, he is lost in his thoughs. "What happened?" I ask him softly. I... It... The candy... "Take your time, breathe. Here, I kept that from the picnic" I take out a water skin and give it to him. He thanks me and greedily drinks it empty. Still on the ground, he reclines himself back, using his tail as a backrest. Today is the day of revelations it seems. I... This last candy unlocked more than a path. More than moves or memories of actions. I can see... more. I can see you, and I can see Aster within you, or what might be his soul. I can see lines of power all around us. And... When I looked to the sky, I saw... He shudders as he tries to articulate what he saw in words. I saw colors like oil in water rippling above us, the Sanctuary barrier. Then the field looked back. It felt like eyes opening all over it, and... and... they descended. they tried to get to me... And then... then they were gone. I think you shook me off of it. Thank you. He is shaking, his entire body is shaking. I sit on his left and gently hug him with my flesh-looking arm. "It''s okay, it''s okay." I gently whisper. After a couple minutes, Mewtwo calms down. What sort of being has such disgusting powers? Which one of the Trio possesses such a vile aura? "Chaos" I answer instantly. Mewtwo''s neck cracks as he turns his head to me. How do you know? "Before you joined me to see what we could do with the Sanctuary, I got to talk to them. And... Well... Chaos has this sort of way to make you feel like reality could just collapse the moment he decides to. So yeah. definitely Chaos on this one." Ugh... why do they even need us? "I KNOW RIGHT!" I erupt. Why do they need us? They seem so powerful yet here they are, using us to go against a god. Why? "Okay you know what? We are preparing for Hunt''s trial! Our questions will be: What happens to us in the future, and Why use us when you clearly are powerful enough to go against Eziakophael yourselves. How does that sound?" Yeah. Yeah! Let''s look at Knowledge trial too though, maybe we can prepare for it as well. "Good idea."
First Trial of the Seeker Seek the answer the problem presented before you. No sustenance shall be needed. Only once you complete the Trial shall you be allowed to leave. Task: Problem solving. Reward: Knowledge for future use, 500xp, 2 XP candy L. [Enter Trial]
"Okay, this seems not too hard." The question is, what sort of problem is it? We could be unable to solve it and be trapped for who knows how long. He is right here, if time does not stops during trials, we might end up burning all our time inside the Sanctuary trying to overcome these tasks. "All right, then we do Hunt''s trial first, then once we are done, Knowledge''s. Before we do either of them, we will prepare ourselves for leaving the Sanctuary." Agreed. Is Chaos trial still not available? He shivers as he states the name. I open Chaos''s quest tab, and indeed it is still greyed out. "Still greyed. Should we ask one of the others for a clue?" Can''t we just touch it? Maybe the requirements will be revealed then. The more wa might delay it, the better. "We will need to do it at some point though." I shrug. I touch the greyed icon. o0o_Curiosity... killed the cat..._o0o The words jump from the screen. Cruel laughter echoes all around us. The world starts to spin, colors bleed into each others. And we fall. Chapter 38: ...But Satisfaction brought him back We fall, they fall. The world turns into a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. And we scream, And they scream. For what reveals itself beneath our feet, beneath their feet, is an endless tunnel, its walls pulsing with a frequency akin to a heartbeat. Colors bleed into one another, forming absurd and impossible shapes. Impossible smell assault their nose. Impossible tastes violate their tongue, and in their ears, a melody echoes. Electronic tones and distorsions forming in an ethereal and dreamlike lullaby. A beat, and our fall accelerate, and their fall accelerate. The scenery shift abruptly. Faces, hundreds, millions, innumerable. All different, all screaming. All echoing the melody. Their words might be in a million language but only the melody echoes. Yet the words reach our ears. Screeches, blabbers, non-sensical syllables we hear them in conjonction to the melody, they hear their pleas. The faces range from humans to aliens, and on their skin, as we pass, as they pass, eyes open, smiling and looking. I look at one. And it looks back, and I look back. And within is an eye. And within is an eye. And within is an eye. And within is an eye. Endless. I fall. He falls. Deep into the pupil, into another, and another, and another. I was with someone. He falls alone. Where is this? Where are you? Deeper. Deeper. Deeper. Higher. Higher. Higher. Lie down and rest. And his back touches the watery surface. And his eyes jolt awake. And before them I stand. -o0o o0o- I watch as they slowly right themselves. They behold me, and recoil, as all should before me. But let us see what they see, shall we? -o0o I jolt awake, not remembering falling asleep. Above me is chaos, for there is no other terms for it. Stygian blue, against chromatic purple, bleeding orange devouring dark white. A millions hues shifting in constant war for a second of existence. And within, shapes are formed and vanish each seconds. Faces, eyes, arms. I cannot tell where one begins and one ends. A single blink, and the sky rearranges. And the sky does not end. As I look around, I find Mewtwo. And I look down, and look on, and on, and on. And return to the sky. Where does the sky end? Is it a sky? Or is the ground infinite. What we stand upon is the same as what is above, but here we can feel its texture. Watery, yet solid. my feet sink into the watery surface, yet never enough to be submerged, every movements send ripples that endlessly expand. Each ripples cause the color to shift faster, and I feel my head start to pound. "You okay?" My voice echoes, and seems to distort, as if talking underwater. "Yeah." Mewtwo''s thoughs turn into sound, and his gruff tone surprises both me and him. "What?" Mewtwo tries again, only for him to speak once more. o0o- Difficult to talk with one''s mind in the realm of one''s soul. -o0o We both jump at the voice. Memories of the fall start to returns to me and my head begins to hurt even more. It seems Mewtwo is also experiencing a similar experience. We get closer to each other. Readying for whatever may come, and behold Him . And we stumble back. A few meters away from us, at the epicenter of every color, is desiccated human corpse. How did we miss it when we first look around? The corpse is seated in a lotus position, and still we can see he towers above us both. The grey flesh that covers him appears dry like parchment. A toga, half eaten by moths and time is the only vestment he possesses. Part of the broken garnement flutter behind him in a non existent breeze, looking almost like extra arms. Black strands of hair litters its wrinkled scalp. And above his hollow mouth, above his small nose, stand closed eyes. Three of them. Two horizontal and a vertical upon his brow. We both know what we are looking at, and we both take a step back. o0o- Wise -o0o I swallow, and I can see Mewtwo take a step back, his arms and legs shaking. He is afraid, and so am I, locked in place by the voice and the body before me. "We- We have questions!" Mewtwo manages to barks, His bravado is commendable, and the low echoing laugh tears through the melody surrounding us. o0o- So eager. Yet... -o0o A crack appears along the third vertical eye on the god''s body. Dark red light start to pour from within. o0o- ... You do not know... o0o The crack widens. Thin fingers, grey as the corpse yet somehow fleshier appear along it. Black nails scrape against the flesh, and soon find purchase. And pull. o0o- ...What your task is. o0o The dead giant collapses upon itself. Its flesh liquefies into a dark puddle. Mewtwo take a step back, his eyes reduced to pinprick by terror. And I look on fascinated. A hand, white as a sheet, thinner than can be healthy, extracts itself from the puddle, followed by another, and another, and another. Arms almost flat follow the hands, bending as if no bone inhabit them. They arc and seem to become rigid in an effort to haul something from the black waters. The dark color slowly tints the rainbow beneath our feet, and thin red lines flow like fish along the black. I take a reflexive step back, and Mewtwo attempts to float. He fails, only managing to jump a few centimeters from the watery ground, splashing colors as he falls back. And the black overtake us, and slowly overtake the rest of the room. The black water rises along whatever the arms are pulling up, and once the entire background is painted in black, the water recedes. And the red lines open, a million eyes focusing everywhere and nowhere. And he is revealed. Chaos. The first impression is that his form is a shell only made to contain him. The three eyes are what captures our attention, your attention, their attention. They draw you. They draw them. They draw us like a magnet. One cannot discern any facial features, only the eyes, within the eyes, within the eyes, within the eyes- Chaos closes his eyes, the charm breaks. All around us, some of the eyes observes us while others are drawn to Chaos''s current forms. So many eyes? I cannot count them all. Neither can Mewtwo. With his eyes closed, Chaos current form looks like a regular man, with a white toga, and four extra arms, possibly made of fabric. He appears young, maybe like a man in his mdi-twenties. His face is thin, yet kind. He slowly claps, each pair doing so, the sound almost too clear and unreal, scattering the melody for seconds, yet the melody remains, reasserting itself after each claps. o0o- First of all, congratulation. As the adage fully says: Curiosity killed the cat, But satisfaction brought him back. - o0o He laugh, as if this sentence was some sort of joke. o0o- Second. -o0o He looks upward. o0o- Suck it lovebirds! First official trial is mine! -o0o He laugh again, devolving from boisterous to histerical until he abrutply stops. He barely opens his eyes. and look at us, through us. He looks. o0o- Now, for this little trial of mine. You have already completed it. So good job. -o0o He offers us a thumbs up, before continuing. o0o- The entire point was to force you to challenge the rules established. Never accept anything at face value. Never. Always seek the loopholes, the forgotten paths. Always look for another way. It may not work for everything, but here? Here you will find plenty of opportunities to abuse our system. We may have made it seemingly foolproof on the surface, but backdoors hide behind every corners. Look for them, and your future will become easier. -o0o He closes his eyes somehow even more and smile at us. And it is almost worse than looking at his eyes. Teeth whiter than snow fill his mouth far too numerously. And the smile, it feels like it keeps going, and going, and going. And he stops. And the charm is broken. o0o- Now for the questions, You are supposed to only get one each, and you will get them. But I am Chaos, so how about we throw the rules into entropy for a few moments and play a little game? I will let you ask more than two questions, but there will be a price. For each extra questions, I will reveal more of myself. Ask too much, and you will be reduced to gibbering mindless creatures, and I will gladly devour you broken souls. Ask too little, and you miss a rare opportunity. The choice is yours. Make your decisions carefully. -o0o i look at Mewtwo, Mewtwo looks at me. Do we take the risk? Do we just stick with the two questions? "What if we overstrech ourselves?" I ask him. "I think he already saw us a fraction of himself during our arrival here. It was similar to looking at the Sanctuary barrier. We should take the risk. What we experience might be useful for later." Mewtwo''s stare is determined. I nod, trusting him, and we turn to Chaos. We agree with the terms." o0o- Good, then ask your questions. First ones from each of you are free, then the game begins. Ask away now! -o0o "Why are you not facing Eziakophael yourselves?!" Mewtwo barks, his sudden aggressivness surprises me, and make Chaos cackle in delight. "Clearly you are powerful enough to do so!" o0o- Ah-ah-ah. Good question. Especially for you to ask that to me! You can see more than your little mechanical friend right? Yes, I can see it. You can see the veil that obscures me... for now. Why are we not going against Eziakophael ourselves? Well... Because we do not need to. We have you for that, and your victory will be all the sweeter when you utterly humiliate this would be god. A mere fateless like him playing creator? He barely has the imagination or the power to do so. Pfah! -o0o Chaos spits in utter disgust, his saliva dissolving into strange fumes as it hit the water surface. They... They just don''t think he is a worthy adversary? Then... Why even place a bet in the first place? o0o- Don''t go claim that everywhere you go though, there is a reason we are making ourselves smaller than we are to him. There is more at stake than a simple bet, but that will be another question~ -o0o What? The more Chaos talks, the more questions appear on my mind, and I can see Mewtwo working overtime in trying to make sense of what the god is saying. o0o- Now Astra, your question. then we can start the game! -o0o Chaos voice is sickeningly sweet. "What will happen to us once we complete the quests?" I ask, looking straight at the god''s face. Chaos mouth forms a O, before he start chuckling. Ripples run from him they turns into a dark rumbling laughter. o0o- Scared of the future are you? Oh yes, I can see it. We made such a good choice with you! -o0o He keeps on laughting. Good choice? But that goes against Knowledge''s answer. Weren''t we just convenient? o0o- When you reach the end of the quests, when the marble is made, a choice will be given. Each -o0o He starts pointing at me o0o- And -o0o then at Mewtwo o0o- everyone -o0o Then at me again o0o- Of you -o0o Two fingers at Mewtwo o0o- Will have a chance to choose, so shall your future be decided. It is far too early to tell you what these choices will be, so do not waste a question asking for clarifications. I will only say this, we are not cruel. There will be a path where all shall find their needs met. -o0o He claps, the eyes along the endless surface blinking together at the gesture. o0o- And now commences the game. Ooooo come on! Extra questions time! Ask them while you can, who knows how long that will be? -o0o A predatory smile adorns his face. I look at Mewtwo, but he is already asking his question. "Why us? Why Aster and his two dead companions?" He scream at Chaos, swiping at the air in anger, one fist closed. "Is it really because we were convenient?" He must have caught Chaos little comment as well. o0o- Oooh a repeat for the first question. Do you agree with that Astra? This could be a waste. -o0o He smile at me, looking straight at me through his closed eyelids. I do not need to see his eyes to feel his gaze. "Yes. I am curious as well." o0o- Ah! You know, I get it. My brother can be so cold sometime. ''You were convenient'', ah!.-o0o He laugh for a second before taking a more serioux face o0o-While it is true that both Aster''s death as well his two companions, Master and Paladin, were convenient, there was more.-o0o He swipes his hand and landmasses rise above and around us, a representation of the Ezian plane forms before us. o0o- We scoured the Ezian planes to find one, or maybe multiple worthy humans to sponsor. That was the basis of the bet: choose among those upon my domain, give them one gift from each of you, and see as they fail to ever rise. So we searched. We saw countless deaths, as is customary in this little universe, but saw little in term of potential.-o0o The plains and forests and mountains and seas all passes around and above and within us, then stop. A single human stand surrounded by pokemons o0o- Until we found Aster. The most accomplished trainer on the Ezian planes, considered the founder of the trainer path. And quite the thorn on little Ezia''s side. So we observed him. A brillant man, he made Knowledge reminisce on the past, Hunt loved the way he treated every members of his team, and I enjoy a someone who challenges what is considered as the norm and actually overcome. So we observed, we whispered on each of his deaths, and when the time came for him to die for the last, time, we struck. Oh Ezia was livid, beyond livid even. Yet, the bet had been cast. We chose, and there was nothing he could do. He never told us to stick to humans, so the juicy souls of century old pokemons went directly into your creation Mewtwo. Three gifts, and a fourth one from our combined might. Knowledge gave you well, knowledge, and endless well of it for you to know all that would surround you. Hunt made your body Mewtwo, and I helped make sure the souls that would go within would remain there. New beings from ancient ones. Recycle people, it''s good for the ecosystem. And we gave you both the system, with a slight nudge for Mewtwo to join you as fast as possible. So here, does that answer sattisfies your question better than Knowledge cold one? -o0o An eye opens within each of the eyes on the realm. A slight pounding, almost in perfect synchronicity to the song still echoing, start to build within both Mewtwo''s head and mine. The answer seems to have washed off some of Mewtwo''s anger. What do we ask now? There is so much we want to know, but what is important right now? Mewtwo looks at me, also unsure as to what to ask next. Then eh remembers something. "What was it I saw? During the first night? What was that egg?" Chaos mimics opening his eyes wide without lifting a single eyelid. o0o- Good memory, did not think you remembered that. And... Spoiler~ -o0o Chaos answers in a sing-song voice. "What? but you said we could ask more questions!" o0o- True, but I never said I would answer them. I''m sure you''ll figure it out some day! -o0o His lips part, and remain so. The pounding grows louder, the song grows louder. "What about the levels? And my upgrades? What about Mewtwo''s locked abilities?" o0o- You haven''t figured these ones out yet? -o0o Chaos cocks his head to the side. o0o- Meh, give me your best guesses, I''ll tell you how close you are to the truth. -o0o "There is no limits. Pokemons can grow beyond what is normal in Aster''s world. It''s the only way for them to compete against the ever strenghting humans." I say for the levels. o0o- Eehhh... Close but not quite... What of your levels, Astra? And for Mewtwo''s locks? -o0o "It... it has to do with Aster''s world?" Mewtwo guesses first. "It has to be something like that. He said pokemons grew in strength and abilities with each levels they took in his world, if what he remembered is correct." o0o- ding! Ding! Ding! Ten point for you! Useless at this stage, but hey, maybe they''ll clutch a level down the line! Astra?-o0o "My... abilities... I am not gaining them am I? I am simply... removing limiters?" That somehow felt right. "I already have the abilities, they are just locked for some reasons." o0o- And that is another good answer from our duo. You also gain ten points. Indeed you are right. We had to make you weaker than your body should be and each points gets you closer to your baseline strenght. once you reach it, that will be where the fun will begin. -o0o Another eye opens within the previous ones. An eye within an eye within an eye. All look at us, ever deeper, within us. o0o- Next question? -o0o What now? What could be useful and not something we may learn ourselves? What is our biggest roadblock right now? "The raids?" Mewtwo suggests. "The raids..." I let the word echoes within my head, the pounding is making it hard to think straight at moments. the music is pulsing harsher with each pounds. "Can we stop the raids?" o0o- Nope. Next quesiton. -o0o Chaos''s smile deepens. My vision swims. I taste banana and molten plastic in my mouth. How do I even know that taste? o0o- Is that a question? -o0o Did I say that out loud? No, focus! Mewtwo has slumped on a knee, yet still he looks defiantly at Chaos. His teeth bared and grinding against each others. "Is the Sanctuary really safe?" I do not realize I have spoken. No, this was not my voice. I turn, and next to me stands a man I have never met, yet am familiar with. Short hair, unkempt beard, tattered clothes, Aster Stradivii looks tired, yet his eyes are alert as he looks at the god before him. o0o- Oh my, I must have cranked up the juice a bit much if you are showing yourself my dear Aster. With the selection, they made? Yes, it is as safe as it can be. Your little princess aura is powerful enough to ward the more banal threats that should be able to appear within the forest. You have succeeded in one of your goals. Even if the achievement is postmortem. -o0o The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Chaos''s eyes open slightly, bathing us in their dark red glow. Aster vanishes in wisps of smoke, Mewtwo and I fall on our belly, yet still we try to keep eye contact with Chaos. Chaos slowly approaches us, stalking toward us on his four extra arms. Once he reaches us, he lowers himself to us. o0o- Anymore questions? Or are you done? -o0o Each words ring like a glass bell. Saliva I did not know I have pool like oil on water around my mouth. I somehow know Mewtwo is in the same state as me. "One... final... question." I articulate. Mewtwo articulates. "Can "We "Succeed? o0o- I don''t see the future, but heed my brother''s and sister-in-law''s advices. Grow, and grow fast. Master yourselves more than you already have. For a supposed impossible run, you have done far better than little Ezia expected. -o0o Chaos smiles widely, opening his eyes in full. Eyes Within Eyes Within Eyes Within Eyes Within Ground. Dirt Moss I They You Grass. Grass and dirt. Eyes no longer. Reality. No longer unreality. No longer... I hurl the content of my stocmach on the dirt. Rainbow fluids mix with silver grainy liquid and reddish-pink water. What? What happened. The sound of vomiting on my left signals Mewtwo''s awakening.
Trial of Chaos: Challenge what you know. Try to access this trial. That''s it. Also, you held longer than I expected. Good job, keep honing that skill, you''ll need it later. Also also, don''t worry about any church of the elysian you may or may not see pop up around. It''s not important. Reward: 10 experience point to Mewtwo, 10 points for Astra, A strange sense of disorientation, the taste of molten plastic and banana. See you later kiddos!
I can only watch in utter disbelief at the little window before me. It is not even a achievement, it is just the description of the first trial of Chaos. that''s it. I hear Mewtwo grown and look to see him curl into a ball holding his head. Yeah... Yeah... Ouch. A couple more windows clog my vision, but I close my eyes for a moment. The melody still rings within my head. We fall, they fall. The world turns into a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. And we scream, And they scream. For what reveals itself beneath our feet, beneath their feet, is an endless tunnel, its walls pulsing with a frequency akin to a heartbeat. Colors bleed into one another, forming absurd and impossible shapes. Impossible smell assault their nose. Impossible tastes violate their tongue, and in their ears, a melody echoes. Electronic tones and distorsions forming in an ethereal and dreamlike lullaby. A beat, and our fall accelerate, and their fall accelerate. The scenery shift abruptly. Faces, hundreds, millions, innumerable. All different, all screaming. All echoing the melody. Their words might be in a million language but only the melody echoes. Yet the words reach our ears. Screeches, blabbers, non-sensical syllables we hear them in conjonction to the melody, they hear their pleas. The faces range from humans to aliens, and on their skin, as we pass, as they pass, eyes open, smiling and looking. I look at one. And it looks back, and I look back. And within is an eye. And within is an eye. And within is an eye. And within is an eye. Endless. I fall. He falls. Deep into the pupil, into another, and another, and another. I was with someone. He falls alone. Where is this? Where are you? Deeper. Deeper. Deeper. Higher. Higher. Higher. Lie down and rest. And his back touches the watery surface. And his eyes jolt awake. And before them I stand. -o0o o0o- I watch as they slowly right themselves. They behold me, and recoil, as all should before me. But let us see what they see, shall we? -o0o I jolt awake, not remembering falling asleep. Above me is chaos, for there is no other terms for it. Stygian blue, against chromatic purple, bleeding orange devouring dark white. A millions hues shifting in constant war for a second of existence. And within, shapes are formed and vanish each seconds. Faces, eyes, arms. I cannot tell where one begins and one ends. A single blink, and the sky rearranges. And the sky does not end. As I look around, I find Mewtwo. And I look down, and look on, and on, and on. And return to the sky. Where does the sky end? Is it a sky? Or is the ground infinite. What we stand upon is the same as what is above, but here we can feel its texture. Watery, yet solid. my feet sink into the watery surface, yet never enough to be submerged, every movements send ripples that endlessly expand. Each ripples cause the color to shift faster, and I feel my head start to pound. "You okay?" My voice echoes, and seems to distort, as if talking underwater. "Yeah." Mewtwo''s thoughs turn into sound, and his gruff tone surprises both me and him. "What?" Mewtwo tries again, only for him to speak once more. o0o- Difficult to talk with one''s mind in the realm of one''s soul. -o0o We both jump at the voice. Memories of the fall start to returns to me and my head begins to hurt even more. It seems Mewtwo is also experiencing a similar experience. We get closer to each other. Readying for whatever may come, and behold Him . And we stumble back. A few meters away from us, at the epicenter of every color, is desiccated human corpse. How did we miss it when we first look around? The corpse is seated in a lotus position, and still we can see he towers above us both. The grey flesh that covers him appears dry like parchment. A toga, half eaten by moths and time is the only vestment he possesses. Part of the broken garnement flutter behind him in a non existent breeze, looking almost like extra arms. Black strands of hair litters its wrinkled scalp. And above his hollow mouth, above his small nose, stand closed eyes. Three of them. Two horizontal and a vertical upon his brow. We both know what we are looking at, and we both take a step back. o0o- Wise -o0o I swallow, and I can see Mewtwo take a step back, his arms and legs shaking. He is afraid, and so am I, locked in place by the voice and the body before me. "We- We have questions!" Mewtwo manages to barks, His bravado is commendable, and the low echoing laugh tears through the melody surrounding us. o0o- So eager. Yet... -o0o A crack appears along the third vertical eye on the god''s body. Dark red light start to pour from within. o0o- ... You do not know... o0o The crack widens. Thin fingers, grey as the corpse yet somehow fleshier appear along it. Black nails scrape against the flesh, and soon find purchase. And pull. o0o- What your task is. o0o The dead giant collapses upon itself. Its flesh liquefies into a dark puddle. Mewtwo take a step back, his eyes reduced to pinprick by terror. And I look on fascinated. A hand, white as a sheet, thinner than can be healthy, extracts itself from the puddle, followed by another, and another, and another. Arms almost flat follow the hands, bending as if no bone inhabit them. They arc and seem to become rigid in an effort to haul something from the black waters. The dark color slowly tints the rainbow beneath our feet, and thin red lines flow like fish along the black. I take a reflexive step back, and Mewtwo attempts to float. He fails, only managing to jump a few centimeters from the watery ground, splashing colors as he falls back. And the black overtake us, and slowly overtake the rest of the room. The black water rises along whatever the arms are pulling up, and once the entire background is painted in black, the water recedes. And the red lines open, a million eyes focusing everywhere and nowhere. And he is revealed. Chaos. The first impression is that his form is a shell only made to contain him. The three eyes are what captures our attention, your attention, their attention. They draw you. They draw them. They draw us like a magnet. One cannot discern any facial features, only the eyes, within the eyes, within the eyes, within the eyes- Chaos closes his eyes, the charm breaks. All around us, some of the eyes observes us while others are drawn to Chaos''s current forms. So many eyes? I cannot count them all. Neither can Mewtwo. With his eyes closed, Chaos current form looks like a regular man, with a white toga, and four extra arms, possibly made of fabric. He appears young, maybe like a man in his mdi-twenties. His face is thin, yet kind. He slowly claps, each pair doing so, the sound almost too clear and unreal, scattering the melody for seconds, yet the melody remains, reasserting itself after each claps. o0o- First of all, congratulation. As the adage fully says: Curiosity killed the cat, But satisfaction brought him back. - o0o He laugh, as if this sentence was some sort of joke. o0o- Second. -o0o He looks upward. o0o- Suck it lovebirds! First official trial is mine! -o0o He laugh again, devolving from boisterous to histerical until he abrutply stops. He barely opens his eyes. and look at us, through us. He looks. o0o- Now, for this little trial of mine. You have already completed it. So good job. -o0o He offers us a thumbs up, before continuing. o0o- The entire point was to force you to challenge the rules established. Never accept anything at face value. Never. Always seek the loopholes, the forgotten paths. Always look for another way. It may not work for everything, but here? Here you will find plenty of opportunities to abuse our system. We may have made it seemingly foolproof on the surface, but backdoors hide behind every corners. Look for them, and your future will become easier. -o0o He closes his eyes somehow even more and smile at us. And it is almost worse than looking at his eyes. Teeth whiter than snow fill his mouth far too numerously. And the smile, it feels like it keeps going, and going, and going. And he stops. And the charm is broken. o0o- Now for the questions, You are supposed to only get one each, and you will get them. But I am Chaos, so how about we throw the rules into entropy for a few moments and play a little game? I will let you ask more than two questions, but there will be a price. For each extra questions, I will reveal more of myself. Ask too much, and you will be reduced to gibbering mindless creatures, and I will gladly devour you broken souls. Ask too little, and you miss a rare opportunity. The choice is yours. Make your decisions carefully. -o0o i look at Mewtwo, Mewtwo looks at me. Do we take the risk? Do we just stick with the two questions? "What if we overstrech ourselves?" I ask him. "I think he already saw us a fraction of himself during our arrival here. It was similar to looking at the Sanctuary barrier. We should take the risk. What we experience might be useful for later." Mewtwo''s stare is determined. I nod, trusting him, and we turn to Chaos. We agree with the terms." o0o- Good, then ask your questions. First ones from each of you are free, then the game begins. Ask away now! -o0o "Why are you not facing Eziakophael yourselves?!" Mewtwo barks, his sudden aggressivness surprises me, and make Chaos cackle in delight. "Clearly you are powerful enough to do so!" o0o- Ah-ah-ah. Good question. Especially for you to ask that to me! You can see more than your little mechanical friend right? Yes, I can see it. You can see the veil that obscures me... for now. Why are we not going against Eziakophael ourselves? Well... Because we do not need to. We have you for that, and your victory will be all the sweeter when you utterly humiliate this would be god. A mere fateless like him playing creator? He barely has the imagination or the power to do so. Pfah! -o0o Chaos spits in utter disgust, his saliva dissolving into strange fumes as it hit the water surface. They... They just don''t think he is a worthy adversary? Then... Why even place a bet in the first place? o0o- Don''t go claim that everywhere you go though, there is a reason we are making ourselves smaller than we are to him. There is more at stake than a simple bet, but that will be another question~ -o0o What? The more Chaos talks, the more questions appear on my mind, and I can see Mewtwo working overtime in trying to make sense of what the god is saying. o0o- Now Astra, your question. then we can start the game! -o0o Chaos voice is sickeningly sweet. "What will happen to us once we complete the quests?" I ask, looking straight at the god''s face. Chaos mouth forms a O, before he start chuckling. Ripples run from him they turns into a dark rumbling laughter. o0o- Scared of the future are you? Oh yes, I can see it. We made such a good choice with you! -o0o He keeps on laughting. Good choice? But that goes against Knowledge''s answer. Weren''t we just convenient? o0o- When you reach the end of the quests, when the marble is made, a choice will be given. Each -o0o He starts pointing at me o0o- And -o0o then at Mewtwo o0o- everyone -o0o Then at me again o0o- Of you -o0o Two fingers at Mewtwo o0o- Will have a chance to choose, so shall your future be decided. It is far too early to tell you what these choices will be, so do not waste a question asking for clarifications. I will only say this, we are not cruel. There will be a path where all shall find their needs met. -o0o He claps, the eyes along the endless surface blinking together at the gesture. o0o- And now commences the game. Ooooo come on! Extra questions time! Ask them while you can, who knows how long that will be? -o0o A predatory smile adorns his face. I look at Mewtwo, but he is already asking his question. "Why us? Why Aster and his two dead companions?" He scream at Chaos, swiping at the air in anger, one fist closed. "Is it really because we were convenient?" He must have caught Chaos little comment as well. o0o- Oooh a repeat for the first question. Do you agree with that Astra? This could be a waste. -o0o He smile at me, looking straight at me through his closed eyelids. I do not need to see his eyes to feel his gaze. "Yes. I am curious as well." o0o- Ah! You know, I get it. My brother can be so cold sometime. ''You were convenient'', ah!.-o0o He laugh for a second before taking a more serioux face o0o-While it is true that both Aster''s death as well his two companions, Master and Paladin, were convenient, there was more.-o0o He swipes his hand and landmasses rise above and around us, a representation of the Ezian plane forms before us. o0o- We scoured the Ezian planes to find one, or maybe multiple worthy humans to sponsor. That was the basis of the bet: choose among those upon my domain, give them one gift from each of you, and see as they fail to ever rise. So we searched. We saw countless deaths, as is customary in this little universe, but saw little in term of potential.-o0o The plains and forests and mountains and seas all passes around and above and within us, then stop. A single human stand surrounded by pokemons o0o- Until we found Aster. The most accomplished trainer on the Ezian planes, considered the founder of the trainer path. And quite the thorn on little Ezia''s side. So we observed him. A brillant man, he made Knowledge reminisce on the past, Hunt loved the way he treated every members of his team, and I enjoy a someone who challenges what is considered as the norm and actually overcome. So we observed, we whispered on each of his deaths, and when the time came for him to die for the last, time, we struck. Oh Ezia was livid, beyond livid even. Yet, the bet had been cast. We chose, and there was nothing he could do. He never told us to stick to humans, so the juicy souls of century old pokemons went directly into your creation Mewtwo. Three gifts, and a fourth one from our combined might. Knowledge gave you well, knowledge, and endless well of it for you to know all that would surround you. Hunt made your body Mewtwo, and I helped make sure the souls that would go within would remain there. New beings from ancient ones. Recycle people, it''s good for the ecosystem. And we gave you both the system, with a slight nudge for Mewtwo to join you as fast as possible. So here, does that answer sattisfies your question better than Knowledge cold one? -o0o An eye opens within each of the eyes on the realm. A slight pounding, almost in perfect synchronicity to the song still echoing, start to build within both Mewtwo''s head and mine. The answer seems to have washed off some of Mewtwo''s anger. What do we ask now? There is so much we want to know, but what is important right now? Mewtwo looks at me, also unsure as to what to ask next. Then eh remembers something. "What was it I saw? During the first night? What was that egg?" Chaos mimics opening his eyes wide without lifting a single eyelid. o0o- Good memory, did not think you remembered that. And... Spoiler~ -o0o Chaos answers in a sing-song voice. "What? but you said we could ask more questions!" o0o- True, but I never said I would answer them. I''m sure you''ll figure it out some day! -o0o His lips part, and remain so. The pounding grows louder, the song grows louder. "What about the levels? And my upgrades? What about Mewtwo''s blocked abilities?" o0o- You haven''t figured these ones out yet? -o0o Chaos cocks his head to the side. o0o- Meh, give me your best guesses, I''ll tell you how close you are to the truth. -o0o "There is no limits. Pokemons can grow beyond what is normal in Aster''s world. It''s the only way for them to compete against the ever strenghting humans." I say for the levels. o0o- Eehhh... Close but not quite... What of your levels, Astra? And for Mewtwo''s locks? -o0o "It... it has to do with Aster''s world?" Mewtwo guesses first. "It has to be something like that. He said pokemons grew in strength and abilities with each levels they took in his world, if what he remembered is correct." o0o- ding! Ding! Ding! Ten point for you! Useless at this stage, but hey, maybe they''ll clutch a level down the line! Astra?-o0o "My... abilities... I am not gaining them am I? I am simply... removing limiters?" That somehow felt right. "I already have the abilities, they are just locked for some reasons." o0o- And that is another good answer from our duo. You also gain ten points. Indeed you are right. We had to make you weaker than your body should be and each points gets you closer to your baseline strenght. once you reach it, that will be where the fun will begin. -o0o Another eye opens within the previous ones. An eye within an eye within an eye. All look at us, ever deeper, within us. o0o- Next question? -o0o What now? What could be useful and not something we may learn ourselves? What is our biggest roadblock right now? "The raids?" Mewtwo suggests. "The raids..." I let the word echoes within my head, the pounding is making it hard to think straight at moments. the music is pulsing harsher with each pounds. "Can we stop the raids?" o0o- Nope. Next quesiton. -o0o Chaos''s smile deepens. My vision swims. I taste banana and molten plastic in my mouth. How do I even know that taste? o0o- Is that a question? -o0o Did I say that out loud? No, focus! Mewtwo has slumped on a knee, yet still he looks defiantly at Chaos. His teeth bared and grinding against each others. "Is the Sanctuary really safe?" I do not realize I have spoken. No, this was not my voice. I turn, and next to me stands a man I have never met, yet am familiar with. Short hair, unkempt beard, tattered clothes, Aster Stradivii looks tired, yet his eyes are alert as he looks at the god before him. o0o- Oh my, I must have cranked up the juice a bit much if you are showing yourself my dear Aster. With the selection, they made? Yes, it is as safe as it can be. Your little princess aura is powerful enough to ward the more banal threats that should be able to appear within the forest. You have succeeded in one of your goals. Even if the achievement is postmortem. -o0o Chaos''s eyes open slightly, bathing us in their dark red glow. Aster vanishes in wisps of smoke, Mewtwo and I fall on our belly, yet still we try to keep eye contact with Chaos. Chaos slowly approaches us, stalking toward us on his four extra arms. Once he reaches us, he lowers himself to us. o0o- Anymore questions? Or are you done? -o0o Each words ring like a glass bell. Saliva I did not know I have pool like oil on water around my mouth. I somehow know Mewtwo is in the same state as me. "One... final... question." I articulate. Mewtwo articulates. "Can "We "Succeed? o0o- I don''t see the future, but heed my brother''s and sister-in-law''s advices. Grow, and grow fast. Master yourselves more than you already have. For a supposed impossible run, you have done far better than little Ezia expected. -o0o Chaos smiles widely, opening his eyes in full. Eyes Within Eyes Within Eyes Within Eyes Within Ground. Dirt Moss I They You Grass. Grass and dirt. Eyes no longer. Reality. No longer unreality. No longer... I hurl the content of my stocmach on the dirt. Rainbow fluids mix with silver grainy liquid and reddish-pink water. What? What happened. The sound of vomiting on my left signals Mewtwo''s awakening.
Trial of Chaos: Challenge what you know. Try to access this trial. That''s it. Also, you held longer than I expected. Good job, keep honing that skill, you''ll need it later. Also also, don''t worry about any church of the elysian you may or may not see pop up around. It''s not important. Reward: 10 experience point to Mewtwo, 10 points for Astra, A strange sense of disorientation, the taste of molten plastic and banana. See you later kiddos!
I can only watch in utter disbelief at the little window before me. It is not even a achievement, it is just the description of the first trial of Chaos. that''s it. I hear Mewtwo grown and look to see him curl into a ball holding his head. Yeah... Yeah... Ouch. A couple more windows clog my vision, but I close my eyes for a moment. The melody still rings within my head. Chapter 39: Rewards gallore I just... lie down. My vision still swims, the multiple system windows dance before my sight. I close my eyes. The haunting melody from Chaos''s realm still echoes. It might end soon... I hope. Did we push our luck too far? Are we irreversibly damaged? No, he said he would consume us if we went too far. But what was the limit? Throbbing pain radiates from within my head and echoes all throughout my body. Urgh... I half reopen my eyes only to see the liquid I have just thrown up bubble away into smoke. The windows are still here, the red-rimmed black window for completing Chaos challenge, along with multiple blue ones. It seems we got a few achievements with this singular trial. The music changes, and one of the windows update. Mewtwo groans and look at me with barely opened eyes. Wait. The music changed? Wait what? I focus on the window now occupying the upper left corner of my vision. It... It is a music player. Hold on what?? I concentrate on the pause button and the music stops. The silence is almost deafening. It throws us off hard. Mewtwo almost jolt up when the sound stops, and I freeze. I- What? Were... Were you the source of... the source of this sound from the start? Mewtwo barely articulate. I try to remember, during the start... the melody... eyes... faces... they scream... do you hear it? I heave, my non-existant stomach twisting against the memory. No... The music was from the realm. But now I have it... on command? I focus on the pause button once more, and the music resumes. A small memory jolts down my mind. I open my main menu and sure enough, the once grayed out mention for music player is now accessible. Clicking it opens a new window with a list of about a hundred tracks from multiple artists. I stop it once more, no more music for now. I then access my display options to remove the player from my sight, but seeing the options available, I opt to leave it as a small icon of a music not on the upper right corner of my vision.Should I focus on it, the player will restore itself and I can interact with it. That felt... weirdly instinctive. "Guess we have music now..." I say half-sarcastically. I think two of these tracks will be left out of any near future playlists for now. Mewtwo is back to sitting on the ground, holding his head in one hand and massaging one of his horns with the other. Let''s enjoy this blissful silence for now... please. I can only readily agree. Enough music for now. My headache has almost fully subsided. Time to look at these windows.
Achievement got: Your very first Trial! (Complete any of the trials from the Trio (emergency trials do not count to this achievement.) Reward: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candies L
Achievement got: Embrace Chaos! (Complete a trial of chaos. Bold.) Reward: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candies L, .1% essence
Achievement got: WITNESS ME! (Witness, even partially, the true powers of one of the Trio and survive to tell the tale) Reward: 50000xp; 10 Exp. Candies XL
Achievement got: Song of the sphere! (Listen to the echoes of despair and remain sane) Reward: Chaos''s Mixtape N¡ã4, 500xp, 10 Exp. Candies M
Achievement got: Your very own theme song! (Acquire any music tracks and listen to it) Reward: Music Player feature unlocked, 100xp, 5 Exp. Candies S
That is... a lot. It totals into more than fifty-two thousand points of experience, and I don''t know how many levels for Mewtwo. "That must be the most rewards we have gotten since we arrived here." I say to Mewtwo as I summon all the candies he just earned. Good thing these do not give me stomach ache. He chuckles before wincing. "You alright?" I ask, worried that he might have been more impacted by the experience than me. The headache is persisting a bit, that is all. He rubs his right hand. Between his fingers, I can see the tattoo has gotten a bit more colorful. I take a look at my own hand and see the same thing. The mark of Chaos etched upon our skin has turned from black to a dark wine red color. The change is barely noticeable at first glance but it is here. I look back at the achievements and look closer to the one about completing a trial from Chaos. Is the shift in color the sign that we have absorbed part of their essences? What will that help us for? Wait, maybe the tutorial section has an explanation. I look it up. It does have one, but it is a worrying one. Essence will be rewarded for each trials we complete, and will be necessary to complete certain quests. Welp... guess we''ll have to take on every trials then. Another thing to add to the ever growing list of things to do. I sigh, and look around. Nothing has moved, and time seems to have stopped during the trial. Did it though? It''s not like I have been keeping perfect track of it. Well, time to heed our sponsors advices and get stronger. First, point assignment. With the achievement from before the trial, I have fifty-five thousand points to distribute. So distribute it I do. Only to discover a limit of a thousand levels on each of the tier one upgrades. Even after all these upgrades, I have merely used a third of all the points I received.
Achievement got: Full efficiency! (Reach 100% on all of your body upgrades. You now have the basic strength of your body unlocked. Have fun) Reward: 5000xp
Uh? Wait so I was right on that one? My body was just locked behind limiters for some reason. But then... I purchase the next tier of upgrades, unlocking the second tier of upgrades. They are somewhat cheaper, but require greater payment. The power, coolant, reactor and repair efficiency now cost 9 points of experience for one percent upgrade, a slight discount of one experience point compared to the zero point one percent upgrade at the cost of one experience point from the previous tier. Strength, sensor suite, reflexes and resistance now cost five time more for ten times the effect. It might seem like a good deal, but the more I invest in these upgrades, the more I will need power to back it up. In a sense, I will need to upgrade the power and generator efficiency faster than my more physical attributes, of I risk running out of power faster. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. After a bit of thinking, I decide to upgrade power and and coolant efficiency. Once more I discover a hard limit of a thousand levels. I am still happy with my choice, they are the most important ones in my opinion. I distribute my remaining points almost evenly among my other upgrades. The final result is a total increase of 1100% in power and coolant efficiency, 300% for muscle strength and reflexes and 200% on everything else. Happy with my choices, I turn around and land on the ground. Uh? I try to get up, only to catapult myself on the other side of the clearing, crashing into a tree. UH? What is happening? Astra? Are you alright? I hear Mewtwo call out to me from the the entrance of the clearing. "Uhhh..." I have no idea what is happening. Wait! Oh no. Oh Trio no. I slowly, slooowly, push myself from the tree. And get up almost instantly. Oh Trio, this will take some time to get used to. Astra? Mewtwo is approaching, floating toward me slowly. He seems... slow... I can somehow know he is approaching me cautiously, but it seems to be slower than it should be. Or is it? Wait it isn''t anymore... What is happening? "HeyIdidsomeupgradesbutitmighttakemetimetogetusedtoit." I tell him. The words come out so fast even I am surprised. He blinks and look at me in confusion. I feel something brush my mind and he tilts his head to the side. Oh... Well I guess there is always a period of acclimatization eh? He snorts. Hold on did I just feel his powers touching my mind? "Canyoutry- Can. You. Try. That. Again?" I try to slow my speech, and it comes out chopped. Mewtwo obliges, and once more I feel the phantom sensation of something brushing me within my head. I shiver, and Mewtwo stops. Wow that feels strange. "You tell me!" I exclaim, because yeah, that felt super weird. Oh hey, I spoke normally! "Test? Test, test, test? Seems I cantalknormallyagain.Waitno. Test? Test... Test? And again? Okay... I think I am starting to get it." It requires some efforts, but I am starting to feel my new limits and how to modulate them. This is going to freak out some of the resident if you start speaking at light-speed out of the blue. Mewtwo chuckles. "Yeah I''ll try to avoid doing it, it might be a good way to train my control though." I agree. "I might actually ask that pangoro for an actual fight to see how much stronger I got." Maybe tell him to go easy at first. Wait, you upgraded everything right? How thorough is your repair system? "Good question, wand to try it out?" I propose. Mewtwo hesitates. And I realize what I have just asked. "Let''s try with just a finger for now." I propose, holding my right hand forward. I extend my pinkie finger. Mewtwo winces, but in the end, he accepts. He summons a psychic blade around his hand and, holding my right hand steady, slashes. His blade collides with my finger, and stops. Sparks shoot out as the blade tries to cut through my now reinforced skin. He keeps going for a solid minute before giving up. Breathing slightly harder than before, he dismiss the blade and look at his work. Not a trace. Nothing. Well your resistance upgrades are showing here. You should be almost impervious to most entities now. He notes, impressed. I nod, looking at his level. Hold on, he is still level 40? "Did you not eat the candies?" I ask him, surprised. Only the small ones for now. I am... afraid of what some moves might unlock on top of themselves. He reveals. He grabs the pile he had left when behind. All the M, L and XL candies are still here. "Don''t worry, I''ll be here." I reassure him. "We''ll always be with each other." He smiles and take a deep breath. And start chugging the candies one after the other. With each one he consume, his level goes up tremendously. More and more, until he finishes the last one. 34 levels in one go. He is now level 74. He looks himself over, Physically, he is no different. Yet his eyes swirl with barely contained power. A blue aura seems to be seeping out of his body constantly. He breathe in, and the aura vanishes. He breathe out, and look at me. Let me see that finger again? He asks, a mischievous smile upon his face. "As you wish" I oblige with a flourish. Much faster than before, he slashes. The blade collides with my finger once more. And once again it stops. Mewtwo is not holding my hand this time, yet I remain steady under his strength. Sparks fly out, and I see him tense with effort. He growls as he tries to get the blade through. Slowly, I can see the blade chewing through my skin. Once again, I am amazed at the absence of pain. Mewtwo continues his effort and finally, after two minutes, he does it. With a final scream, my pinkie finger goes flying. Mewtwo catches it in a psychic field and brings it back toward us. Well, He huffs, I have cut it, what now? I pluck the finger from the air, and wait. I do not reattach it, I just let it sit in my left hand, while I look at my right one.
Achievement got: Friendly fire IS on! (Arm each others in any ways) Reward: .1% Chaos essence.
Hold up what? Achievements can give essence as well?? I quickly return to the essence tutorial page. That line was NOT there before! But yeah, under very specific circumstances, we can receive essence as rewards for achievements. The Trio really like to distill information rather than give us everything uh? I though the letter they wrote meant they would stop doing that. Guess I was wrong. Or maybe this is special knowledge? I let it go and return my attention to my missing pinkie. It''s back. Not fully yet, but the silver blood that runs through me has remade its shape and is already hardening. The skin cover grows back in seconds and I end up with a new finger, as functional as the previous one. Wow... I even still have the previous one... Can I do anything with it? No. It just gives me the same description as the piece I collected back on the picnic. I set it down and watch it disintegrate into fine silver dust. The dust quickly disappear and nothing remains. Also? I have barely lost any power regenerating it. Mewtwo also seems barely winded. Are we finally strong enough to stand against Eziakophael thralls? We would need to find monsters and maybe get raided to be sure, but maybe we are finally ready? I can only hope so. So we are stronger, faster and sturdier. Now we just need to advance the quests. And now that ''Mana Manipulation 101'' is done there is... only one remaining? Uh?
Manasteel The sturdiest metal you could ask for, at the start. Obtain a ''Manasteel ingot'': 0/5 Rewards: 40xp; 1 Exp. Candy M, Unlocks ''Chapter 2: Magic Shenanigans''
Uhuh... Hold chapter 2? Where did that come from? Oh wait, right, The quests we have been doing up to this point were from the first chapter ''the basics''... Dear Trio we should have worked on those so much faster than we did. Alright, time to speed up... I said that before right? And then got sidetracked. Uuurgh... Alright, how does one make manasteel? Take an iron ingot, and drop it in a mana pool with some mana in it. Do I have iron ingots? Yes. Do I have five of them? Also yes, thank you past me. I take out five and hand a couple to Mewtwo. "Let''s see if that works for both of us." I gesture for him to follow me. We approach the still floating mana pool and I approach the ingot to the shiny blue puddle at the bottom. The moment the ingot touches the gathered mana, the not-liquid starts to imbue the metal, and soon my iron ingot turns blue. Its WAYLA description updates to manasteel ingot. We got one! I let Mewtwo do the same with one of his, and the same result happens. We can both use certain mechanics as long as it does not involve crafting. Wait... I never tried to put down a crafting table... Could he... Argh! Too bad I am out of wood logs or I would have tried it. We convert our five iron ingots into manasteel ingots and once the quest completes, we look at the new chapter. Just like the previous one, it opens with a singular quest that branches into many others. Unlike the previous one, there are more sidequests? I am going to call them sidequests. Little lonely branches not linked to the main quest. Some are unlocked, others are not. Our first new quest however, immediatly put a damper on our excitement.
Gem Hunting. Yeah iron is nice, manasteel is better, BUT, you can find better. Oh yes, so much better. Time to mine deeper. Obtain ''Diamond'': 0/64 Rewards: 300xp; 5 Exp. Candy M
We need to return to the mines. But... Does the Sanctuary extends underground? Another thing I will need to discuss with Princess. Right now a couple other quests got my attention.
Free Mana Generation Tired of flowers already? Or you need mana on the go? Try this for size! Craft a ''Band of Aura'': 0/1 Rewards: 100xp; 1 Exp. Candy M
Mana Storage. Mana on the go, stored on you. Craft a ''Mana tablet'': 0/1 Rewards: 100xp; 1 Exp. Candy M
It appears the second quest leads to a more space efficient mana storage item, the band of mana. But to do either of them, I need a lot of materials, and one thing I, right now, have no idea how to get: a mana pearl. I quickly go backward trying to find out how to make it, and end up on an item called an ender pearl. Which can be made using different methods all ending up needing an ender pearl at the start. The only way to obtain one would be to find something called an enderman, and slay it. And I have no idea where these could even come from. Still! We need to keep going. Now is not the time to loose momentum. What we will need are materials and better equipment. And a quick read on the lexica tells me why the quest asked for five manasteel ingots. Three need to go into the melter to become a new pickaxe head, allowing my pickaxe to regenerate itself as long as it has mana, and the two remaining ingots will go into making manasteel shears, which will have the same self-regenerating properties as the pickaxe. I even have a quest for it. The shears will allow me to collect big mystical flower bushes for more petals, or maybe even better, grow a mystical flower bush and then trim it when I need it. I will have to try that when I grow one. Mewtwo is already working with his newfound paths and trying to complete his specific quests. We have goals, we need to move forward, and moving forward will require us to explore more. We nod to each other and prepare ourselves. Tomorrow will be busy! Chapter 40: To the Forest underground. Night has fallen upon the magical forest. Yet neither Mewtwo nor I rest. I need to familiarize myself with all the upgrades I have gotten. Mewtwo also has his own work, all the paths he has unlocked along his levels means far too many new possibilities for him to simply rest. I run, jump, even practice some moves by punching and kicking the air. With the full potential of my body unlocked, I actually leave slight ripples at full speed. It feels... Absurd, yet somewhat right. Mewtwo is floating next to the porch of the cottage, deep in a meditative state. From time to time, I can see little flickers of elements manifest around him. Shining green blades of grass, blue drops of water, little red sparks of fire, light blue ice flakes and other more exotic flashes. He seems to be trying all the possibilities he has now at his disposal. His hands are close to each other, each finger tips against the other. His tail twitch from time to time, the only other sign of his work along with his furrowing brow. The more I practice, the more my understanding of my newfound strengths grows. My body was made to be able to operate in any type of environment. High or low gravity, any atmospheres, any weathers. My weight is to counter low gravity, my strength to counter high gravity, the need for energy to counter the need for oxygen, although I suspect my need for food was not in the initial design for some reason, and my resistance to counter hostile temperature, weathers and dangers. The night passes, and the sun rises. The morning finds us changed, ready to go further than ever before. Mewtwo has achieved both his tool based quests and the path quest. The rewards seems small now, but more is always better. He even got yet another level for it. His completion unlocks a new quest with still more paths to unlock, with only two remaining out of all of them.
Further refine what lies within Unlock these paths and realize your full potential. Do not dally, for they all have their use. Unlock the ''path of the ground'': 1/1 Unlock the ''path of lighting'': 1/1 Unlock the ''path of the venomous'': 0/1 Unlock the ''path of the winds'': 1/1 Unlock the ''path of Darkness'': 0/1 Rewards: 500xp; 5 Exp. Candy L
These two paths seems to have him stumped at the moment. The path of the venomous does not call for him at all, and the path of darkness is an anathema to what he is. Still, he is almost ready to unleash hell on anything that dares attack us. On my side, I can now walk as I did before without any problems. I have full control over my speed and strength... Mostly. I only had one night to familiarize with it, but the result is already far more than I could have hoped for. Now we need to meet with Princess and discuss a deal to acquire ressources. We make our way through the forest, greeting any pokemons we meet along the way. It has only been a single night since the picnic, yet my stunt with the pangoro must have spread a bit. Few react with fear, only curiosity. Princess vouching for us and the Trio showing their hand might have helped a bit as well. None stop us, simply waving or acknowledging our greeting if lacking limbs to wave. We reach the central tree, and are greeted by Princess''s helper. The zoroark seems surprised to see us, and once we explain our presence this early, he leads us into one of the many openings between the tree roots. We walk along a half-lit tunnel for some time before emerging into a massive chamber. The sight is breathtaking. Wisps of colors float all around the large room, painting the its walls in rainbow hues. It seems the room was grown more than carved. Networks of roots form intricate patterns all over the walls, and at the center, a dais is held above the ground by a web of thin roots. Within, Princess stands. The florges eyes are closed, and a faint humming can be heard from her. Mewtwo stops, and gawks at something only he can see. The zoroark bows in front of the dais, and a vine version of Princess grows before him. For what reason dost thou disturb our watch? Her voice echoes throughout the chamber. The zoroark remains bowed and barks his answer. The glowing purple eyes of the vine florges looks at us. We asked a question. Thou shall answer now. Her authoritative voice leaves no room to disagreement. We both bow, and I explain. I tell her our need for lumber, as well as question how far deep the Sanctuary extends. I ask her for authorization to scour the accessible depths for any ressources we may find. Once I am done, she remains silent for a long minute. Show them, and arrange for a delivery of logs to our savior''s cottage. Add a few other... products we have an excess of. They may yet find ways to utilize them. Princess decision comes, and we sigh in relief. Now leave, we have duties to attend. The vine florges dispels itself, and disappear into the wooden ground, leaving not a trace behind. The zoroark nods and rises from his bow. he beckons us, and lead us through more tunnels within the roots. We travel for a few minutes, before finally noticing a change on the walls. The wood of the roots becomes sparser leaving ground for packed dirt. After a couple more minutes, we reach a path blocked by brown vines. The zoroark touches them, and they retract. He growls something to Mewtwo and my friend nods. Beyond this gate lies the Forest Underground. It is a large cave system that has been only partially mapped. Some parts have been secured and serve as habitat for cave dwelling pokemons, but most is left wild. No pokemons leave in the wild parts, only monsters. The Sanctuary extend all the way to a strange almost unbreakable rock. At least the old Sanctuary did, he is not sure about the new one. He also warns us that there is some sort of structure buried in the depths, but there seems to be an unusual amount of monsters within. I nod and thank the zoroark. The cave beyond is dark. Gray stone covers most of the walls, with veins of different colored rocks visible in some spaces. I am already seeing ores ready to be collected. And if we can find monsters to hunt, even better. I have yet to make another sword, but I am certain I can deal with monsters with my hands now. I will still make weapons once I have more ressources, but right now, I need to find said ressources. My pickaxe is already pretty damaged, but we need the coal. I get a torch out, and Mewtwo summons little wisps of fire to float around us. With our light ready, we descend within the cave. We begin by mining all the coal we find. And boy do we find coal. With my inventory half-empty, I am happily shovel every pieces of coal we extract into it. This is our greatest bottleneck right now, and I am making sure we have enough to last us a good while. As we go deeper, we stumble upon dead bushes. How plants managed to grow in this environment is beyond me, but the moment we try to grab them, they fall appart into sticks. This is quite the boon. My iron pickaxe is not yet broken, but if I can save it for harder ores, I will gladly do so. I quickly assemble a couple stone pickaxes and we continue our spelunking. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. We come across iron, as well as other interesting metals. Aluminium, zinc, more copper. One in particular gets my attention: osmium. I have no way to use it right now, but it seems to lead to some pretty advanced machines. I collect some, as it could always be useful for something. Our little adventure is not without dangers though, The deeper we go, the more monsters seems to appear. Zombies, skeletons, creepers, they all converge on us whenever they see us. More exactly, on me. They only seem to target Mewtwo whenever he attacks them. Although... None truly manage to present a threat to us. They fall with a couple of punches and barely leave scratches upon my body when they manage to touch me. I have not, and will not try to resist a creeper explosion. Psshhhh~ NOPE! I jump away from the newly arrived creeper and Mewtwo slays it. I leave most the walking bombs to him as he does not trigger them instantly. We have reached the deepslate layer once more. And what greets us on the border make me smile. Gold. We have found gold. This might not be diamond, but finally being able to create the supposedly unbreakable casting molds could be quite important. We mine a few blocks and continue deeper. Something squeaks and we freeze. Nothing has squeaked down here up to now. What sort of creature is it? The squeak echoes once more, and we look around, trying to find its source. Something flies into my face and I scream. My shout startles Mewtwo and he cannot react in time. The thing trashes on my face before flying of. Wha- What? Then Mewtwo starts laughing. What just happened? The squeak echoes once more, and this time, the flying creature passes by us. It''s a bat. I have just been scared by a bat. I join Mewtwo in laughter. A glitchy gurgling noise echoes all throughout the cave. We instantly stop laughing. Mewtwo let his little will-o-wisp float around, extending our range of vision within the darkness of the cave. The sound echoes once more, and something rounds the corner of the tunnel we are in. It is... hunched, too tall to stand upright in the tunnel. It is black with strange purple glitch shrouding parts of its body. I look up at the tall and lanky creature glowing eyes, and notice the WAYLA name tag: Enderman. Before I can express my joy at the find, a loud glitchy noise fill the cave. The enderman jaw slowly opens, its eyes dilate and it screams before rushing for us. Mewtwo tries to catch the creature, but the moment he freezes it in a psychic hold, it vanishes in a shower of purple particles. Two long arms slam into the both of us and we crash on each side of the tunnel. It got behind us! I turn around and punch. I barely connect before the enderman disappear in another shower of purple light. A glitchy scream echoes behind me and I am slammed down on the ground. A cone of fire passes over me and with agonizing screams, the enderman disappears. Mewtwo is up, his arm extended before him, wisps of flames still dancing along his open palm. Where did it go? We look around, ready to finish the fight, but only the echoes of the enderman screams greet us. they echo form everywhere at once. Left, right, above and below. Then silence. We tense. Did we win? Did it die from burning? An enraged scream erupts from behind us and we react in seconds. I swipe low, my leg fully connecting with the otherworldly being. It does not teleport and I feel something break within. Mewtwo summons a sphere of blue energy. The sphere of compressed aura hums with power. Mewtwo slams it into the monster''s torso. With a final glitchy gasp, the creature stops. We have won. The teleportation was surprising. If we had not faced something similar before, we would have had a hard time reacting. I click on the ''loot monster'' pop-up and am rewarded with an ender pearl, along with fragments of another. That... Okay, that was lucky, because the recipe screen was telling me it was NOT a sure chance. But now I have an ender pearl. Now I just need diamond and we can make the both the band of aura and the band of mana. I still have enough food to hold on for longer, and Mewtwo sill has a lot of stamina left. Nodding to each others, we continue deeper. We mine more gold as we go. As well as a strange red powder. The system calls it redstone, and it seems to be used mostly for more advanced machineries. We also find blue gems called lapis-lazuli as well as a couple of saphirs. I have no use for either right now, but still we collect. I am slowly reaching the end of my iron pickaxe durability, and still no diamond in sight. I just need one. Once I have it I can make the band of mana and have on hand mana storage. As we go deeper, we start to hear something bubble. It is faint at first, but grows louder as we approach its source. Up to this point, the cave had been moderately cold. Not that it bothered either me, as I do not feel cold per say, nor Mewtwo, who can simply keep a couple will-o-wisp close to him to stay warm. But now the temperature is rising. The closer we get to the bubbling, the hotter it gets. Light suddenly appear in the distance. Mewtwo dispels his will-o-wisps and I store my torch to make sure. Yep something is emitting light up ahead. We cautiously approach and finally find the source. A small lake of lava occupies parts of an open chamber. The lava lazily bubbles, sending sparks above itself. "Do you think it''s hot?" I ask Mewtwo. Why don''t you try putting your finger in it? He answers me sarcastically. I approach the lava. Wait I was joking! He hurriedly adds. "I know." I mischievously say. I kneel before the molten rock, amazed that the rock surrounding it is not melting. I plunge my right index finger into it, and take it out a second later. Only a third of it remains, blackened and charred. Uh. "Guess I''m not fire-proof yet." Mewtwo looks at me in disbelief. "Hey I had to try! If I was made to resist all sort of extreme conditions, I have to make sure how extreme I can get." He pinches his muzzle. Fine, I will give you that one. I am not testing my body''s resistance to fire though. "Could you not make an aura or psychic shield though?" He looks at me with a blank stare for a long minute. Before his brow furrows in actual though. Maybe... His eyes shine and a pink bubble surrounds his hand. He approaches lava lake bank and cautiously lowers his hand. He closes it in a fist, leaving a good couple of centimeters between the psychic bubble surface and his knuckles. The bubble touches the lava. And as he pushes further, the lava parts before the bubble. Once half of the bubble is into the lava, he stops. It feels a bit uncomfortable. Mostly the heat emanating from the lava itself. I can maybe mitigate it, but it is far from perfect. I might be able to do it after more experimentation though. I nod approvingly. And plunge my left index into the lava. What I get out is another charred third of a finger. WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? "Verifying that both sides are similar." I casually answer. I wiggle my right index, already healed. "Look, it''s already fixed." I then wiggle my left one. "And so is that one." Although we have experienced exponential growth. It might be better to avoid growing reckless now. Mewtwo chastises me. I look away, he is right. As much as I wish to enjoy my newfound strengths, I should still remain cautious. We never knoooooOOOH! I fall forward. Right into the lava. With the bubbling and our discussion, we failed to notice the lone zombie sneaking on us. I say sneaking, but its growls should have alerted us. Still it sneaked on us. My face touches the lava and start to melt. I fall no further, feeling something grab my entire body. In my flailing, I let both my arms enter the lava, and I can tell they are melting as I loose all sensations in them. My vision goes from bright red to nothing, and only the sensation of floating and the barely audible grunt from Mewtwo indicates that I have been moved to safety. Astra? Astra! I''m okay. No need to scream. Okay my tail! I can see your trio-damned skull Astra! Ah... Did you kill the zombie? Wha- OBVIOUSLY I KILLED THE ZOMBIE! Ah, you are starting to recover. Here, have some help. A couple drops of something cold fall upon my head, and my sight fills with a letters. ''Oculars Rebooting - Standby...'' ''Connection checks - Okay'' ''Update Speed - Okay'' ''Refresh rate - Default - Check: Okay'' ''System ready - Rebooting'' My vision returns. Oh that is disturbing... What? Wait why can I not talk? My vocal cords should be fine right? I only melted my face. Watching your eyes grow back, even though they are artificial looked weirder than you could imagine. Also your mouth is still fused, it might be why you cannot talk right now. Ah... Wait I should still be able to make some noise though! Maybe your body does not works like that. Okay... Maybe... Still, that makes no sense. As do a lot of things about us. I groan internally but concede that Mewtwo is right. With my vision restored, I take a look at myself. My arms are melted to slag under the elbows. I summon my system and groan, still in my head, as I notice I have burned my upgrade chips AGAIN! They were not even IN my forearm so what gives? Was the heat enough? I really need to look at a better alternative than wood for these. Already my body is almost done healing itself. After a minute, I finally recover my voice. "Well that sucked." Are the first words I utter. Mewtwo snickers at me at that. But I see he was worried. A couple burns marks also adorn the left part of his body. "Did I..." When you were struggling. You splashed lava. Do not worry, it is only surface damage. I nod with a wince. "Thanks. I would be dead without you." Don''t mention it. He accepts my thanks. But my point still stands. We need to remain careful. I can only nod in shame at that. This little experiment has proven that tenfold. After that, we decide to return to the surface. We have not found any diamonds, but we will return with better equipment and we will strip these mines of all their ore. Chapter 41: New tools, new quests Our return to the surface is rather uneventful. Although we did not find all we wanted, we still acquired more than we hoped. Between all the many ores and the ender pearl, I have enough to start making some new equipment and tools. We even scored quite a few points of experience. Not much anymore but still decent. Neither of us will spit on 800 experience points Speaking of Mewtwo, he is also satisfied with our outing. His new aura sense has been quite interesting to play with. As he discovered, most monsters have faint aura signatures that are difficult to track but not impossible. He has improved his tracking sense during the entire trip. For now, he still need to concentrate whenever he tries to sense anything, but it is still becoming a pretty good addition to his already well established psychic senses. Although our encounter with lava almost ended tragically, its existence is quite interesting. A quick search through my system has revealed that I will need to find a way to harness the molten rock if I wish to smelt stronger ores. I wince as I remember the panic in Mewtwo''s thoughs as he waited for my recovery. I may have grown stronger, but it does not make me invincible. As we near the exit, I realize we did not find the structure Princess''s helper warned us about. We might try to find it next time. The exit is barred as it was when we first entered. Thick vines completely fill the passage. We approach and Mewtwo prepares a psychic blade to cut our way in if needed. The face of Princess appearing among the vines makes him dispel it pretty quickly. Princess vine face sneers at us, then vanishes, and the vines retract from our way. We travel through the underground of the central tree and soon exit back to the dim afternoon brightness of the magical forest. The sight is still breathtaking, the tall trees bordering the massive roots of the central one, the little wisp of colored light dancing between the trunks. A light breeze makes the rustling leaves sound like wind chimes. And pokemons come and go, frolicking between roots, playing with each others, or going about, doing tasks to help maintain the little society they seem to be developing. We pass by a few, and most cheerfully wave at us. I wonder what made them open so much more. Caution and neutrality I could have understood, but cheerfulness? Is it not too early? I put the though to a side of my mind, we will resolve that later. Right now, we have work to do. We wave back with a smile at every mons we pass by, and return to our little cottage in the middle of the forest. What we find there is...a few changes. Princess made good on her words. A full side of the cottage is now blocked by an impressive pile of lumber. Multiple bags of leaves, branches and other miscellaneous plants byproduct rest before the pile. Next to the door, a couple bags of food awaits us, along with seeds and, hold on. Hold on! IS THAT LEATHER? I rush to the door as Mewtwo gawks at the lumber. Yep, a full bag of tanned animal skins. Leather. This... I can make the backpack chip! All right, one thing at a time. First, melting the gold. Second, making as many molds as possible. Third, melting all the ores I have into parts of ingots. Mewtwo approaches the pile of lumber and takes the top one up in a telekinetic hold. His eyes flash with psychic powers and the entire trunk turns into neatly sliced logs. He sends them toward the pure daisy and set them around the white flower. Immediately, roots start to burrow into the wood, slowly converting the simple log into its livelier counterpart. On my side, I have put the coal and started filling the smeltery with gold ore. Although I quickly run out of space. and have to wait for the ones already in to melt before adding more. Mewtwo passes by and lights the coals before returning his attention to the converting wood. Already, another trunk is prepped for conversion. As the gold melt, I turn my attention to the leather, and swear. I have yet to remake my wooden chips. Actually, can I not make them out of anything but wood? Oh Trio yes. Yes I can, and I just needed gold. Mostly... I can use the wooden chips to make golden casts out of, and then use any metal to make metal chips. They seem to be a bit more resilient, but still prone to melting should I overheat too much, and with my new upgrades, I might reach pretty hot internal temperatures, even with my current levels in coolant. I nod to myself, I will still need the old wooden chips first to make anything. "Mewtwo, can you pass me some logs? Not the living ones." I ask my psychic friend. Two dozen logs come flying at me and land in a neat pile before me. "Thanks" He nods and then turn to the endoflame. Can you spare some coal for this hungry flower? I take fifty out of my inventory, and they all go flying toward Mewtwo. I will also need some mystical petals. And a pile of bone meal- No, can you get me some bones? "Give me a minute, I need to remake my chips." I stop him, already feverishly crafting my once more destroyed chips anew. Once I have all three chips installed once more, I make what Mewtwo requested and send it his way, along with flowers on top of the petals he asked for. I turn my sight to the leather and take a couple pieces out. I put them in my inventory and quickly assemble a backpack. I take the result out, curious, and am presented with a very large hiking backpack. Wow, should I put it on my back, it would arrive above my head. I nod in satisfaction. But quickly realize a couple problems. Beyond its size making it a bit impractical depending on the situation, it is also only made of leather. As much as I can hope for it to be resilient, a creeper might be able to destroy it easily, and pokemons and humans may destroy it easily. I guess that''s why the Trio wants me to make it into a chips rather than use it as is. I put it back into my inventory and convert it into a chip. I get the rewards for the quest, along with the old ''Materials and you'' quest. Damn I got all those ores, neat. These two completions give me two new quests to look at
Need more space? You now have expanded your inventory 1.5 times. But is it enough? Craft a ''Wooden copper backpack chip'': 0/1 Rewards: 25xp; 1 Exp. Candy S
Hottest Topic (for now) Good job gathering all those ores, but is your little portable smeltery large enough? Craft a ''Seared tank'': 0/1 Craft a ''Smeltery controller'': 0/1 Craft ''Smeltery drains'': 0/2 (Optional) Craft seared glass: 0/10 Assemble a smeltery (any sizes) Rewards: 100xp; 2 Exp. Candy M
Okay first of, more space? This chip can be upgraded? Oh yeah, I just need to surround it with copper ingots. Thank the Trio I do not need to make a new backpack and then upgrade that backpack into its copper version. Because there are tiers to these backpacks: copper, iron, gold, diamond and something called netherite. That last one has a very specific way of being made... Interesting. If I had to remake a backpack for every one of these chips, it would be quite the waste of material. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Second, what do you mean optional? Since when are there optional tasks? Also, how many quests are actually left in chapter 1? How much did we miss with our non-stop running and barely surviving? That''s it, we need to complete every quests we get. This is beyond the rewards here, there is far more to discover and learned in those quests. I waste a some raw copper ore to get ingots with my furnace chip to obtain enough ingots to upgrade the chip. I could have waited for the gold to finish melting and used the smeltery for more ingots out of the ore, but I I have found enough copper to allow myself to waste a few. Once the chip is upgraded, I take a look at it, and note that except for a change to the position of the holes piercing it, nothing else has changed. The quest validates, and I take a look at the next one.
Need even more space? 2 time your inventory size, but is it really enough? You could go further. Craft a ''Wooden iron backpack chip'': 0/1 Rewards: 50xp; 3 Exp. Candy S
I quickly upgrade the chip once more, and look at the melting gold... Maybe... Why not. I take out one of my remaining seared stone ingots and put it on the casting table. I let what little gold has melted flow upon it and wait. Soon enough, I am left with a pierced golden plate. I have acquired a golden ingot mold. I remove the remains of the seared brick and wait for more gold to melt. While I do so, I upgrade the backpack chip to iron, unlocking the next quest.
More space... 3 time your inventory size, now we are getting somewhere... But there is more... Craft a ''Wooden gold backpack chip'': 0/1 Rewards: 200xp; 3 Exp. Candy M
I refill the smeltery with more gold ore and let it slowly melt. I pour out the already melted ones and barely manages the eight ingots needed for the next tier of upgrades.
More space! 4 time your inventory size. Alright, this is getting pretty spacious. Is there more you ask? Yes, yes there is =) Craft a ''Wooden diamond backpack chip'': 0/1 Rewards: 2000xp; 1 Exp. Candy XL
Yep, that will have to wait for later now. Now the Trio did warn me about making sure not to break that one. It will be the first one I make into a mold. Wait... is that a good idea? Can I upgrade a metal chip? I try to check, and actually have a some difficulties confirming it as I shift through the different recipes. Finally I find my answer, and that answer is no. I cannot upgrade a metal chip. Fuck. This might be a problem... Oh, wait, yes. Yes, I can, but only if it is made from the previous tier material? so I could upgrade a gold ''gold backpack'' chip into a diamond one, and obtain a diamond ''diamond backpack'' chip, which could then be upgraded into a netherite ''netherite backpack'' chip. Okay, and the chip can be molten back into its base metal if needed. So no real loss. Phew, that''s good. I look back to the smeltery and, seeing as it is empty of solid gold, fill it once more with the raw ore. The next couple of hours are spent making molds. With our new supply of wood, I quickly assemble patterns of all possible type, make the parts in wood and then use the parts to create gold casting molds. While this is happening, I look at what Mewtwo is doing.
For Mewtwo, the trip was fortuitous, but also worrying. Although Astra is now strong enough to face most monsters without fear and resilient enough to resist most damage, his actions upon finding a substance as dangerous as molten rock appalled him. Astra needs more protection, or someone to make sure he does not throw himself into traps without thinking. Mewtwo feels like he has his powers well in check, and wishes to help Astra grow faster, finding new ways for him to protect himself. His body may be at its base strength right now, but it appears to still be limited in some aspects. And so, as he beheld the pile of lumber, Mewtwo made a decision. They proved previously that he can interact with the tools and creations Astra can make. So why not try to advance some of Astra''s quests while the android works on other ones? And so he decided to make his own wand of the forest and try to recreate what Astra made. He knows he do not have all the tools to do what Astra does, but with a bit of creative application, maybe his powers can compensate his lack of tools. With his own powers, he is able to create livingwood sticks, and realize why one would need two entire log to even hope to create one. Trying to shape the livingwood log is like peeling an onion. Every layers that Mewtwo removes from the first log decays in seconds, leaving scattering wood dust behind. Once he reach the core, however, he realizes the resultant stick feels too short to be used as is. He quickly peels another log and combines both cores together. He looks in awe as little branches grow to join the two cores together, leaving him with a livingwood stick. But could I infuse Grass energy to make a single core longer? Curious, he tries so. He encases a log in a ball of nature energy, and slowly peels it, all the while infusing the energy into the core. Instead of decaying, the peels seems to reenter the core of the log, slowly elongating it. The process is slow, but after a minute, Mewtwo obtains another livingwood stick, made from a singular log. Now curious to see how they compare, he turns to Astra. His companion is hard at work, pouring molten gold over wooden shapes to create casting molds. "What''s up?" The android asks him. Could you tell me if there are any differences between these two livingwood sticks? Astra takes both, and little WAYLA screens pop up above each. "At first glance, none..." He stores them in his inventory, and take them back out. "And they stack together... So no, no differences here." The two sticks had been slightly different before entering Astra''s inventory, but have now been standardized into similar shapes. Thank you, I wanted to make sure. Leave the stick creation to me for now, I can do it with one log. "Wait seriously? Awesome! How do you do it?" Mewtwo shows him, and Astra watches with rapt attention. "Incredible..." He whispers. "You are awesome. Oh! Here!" Astra takes out a sixteen blocks of stone and hand them to Mewtwo. "If you want to play with livingrock as well." Mewtwo nods and return to pure daisy. He set the stones around the flower and let it convert to livingrock, and while it happens, try to assemble a wand of the forest of his own. He marvels as each sticks fuse with each others, and once he adds two petals, they too fuse and expand. He chose a purple and a pink petal, a reminder of his own colors. He smile at the result, but then frown. If he could do it, why has no humans managed to achieve the same before? He shows Astra his newly crafted wand and shares his worries with him. "Well... Princess did say copies of the lexica exist in this world, but they are almost all unusable, either defaced or decayed beyond reading. So I guess unless someone comes here with perfect knowledge of Botania, they won''t even know where to start with the flower? Or even that the flowers have such hidden potential..." Mewtwo nods, they have a big advantage against the humans and even the pokemons in this world: the Trio and their system. The guidance they give is becoming more and more valuable with every discoveries. Although they still have a scary side to them. He shudders as silent notes of Chaos melody echoes within his mind. He shakes his head and return his attention to the his experiments. The wand he was partially confident he could recreate without Astra''s help. Now the floral fertilizer... First, the bone meal. He takes one the bones he asked from Astra and, using his psychic powers, grinds it into dust. Not a single particule is lost, and soon a ball of bone dust floats before him. Alright. Now the recipe asks for petals to be added directly, but is that all there is to it? He gently puts the bone dust on top of a now converted livingrock block, and takes only the equivalent of a fist full of it back into a psychic hold. He adds petals, and wait. Nothing happens. He expected it. Now comes the thinking part. What more does he have to do? He tries to remember what Astra''s version looked like. A green powder with tiny flakes of color mixed into it... Is it that simple? With his psychic hold, he start to mix the petals with the bone meal, adding a bit of Flying type energy to slash the plant matter apart. He settle the micro hurricane after a dozen seconds, and is left with a similar ball of green powder floating in the air, held by his telekinetic grip. He inspects it. It looks almost identical to the version Astra made. Now for the real test. He scatters it upon the dirt, and wait. At first, nothing happens. Mewtwo feels resigned. It was kind of expected. But then, a tiny shoot sprouts from the ground, followed by another, and another. Soon enough, three mystical flowers have bloomed. He has done it. He has made floral fertilize. He shouts out his success, and Astra looks over, curious as to what has his friend so happy. The sight leaves him gawking, and he gives Mewtwo a thumbs up and a smile. Emboldened, Mewtwo continues his experiments. From a single block of livingrock, he manages to carve what first appears as a mana pool, but Astra informs him the system is labelling it as a diluted mana pool. A quick read reveals it serves a similar function to a mana pool, only with less space for storing mana. Mewtwo''s attempts at a mana pool ends in success after wasting a good couples of livingrocks. Making a mana pool out of a single livingrock always ends up as its diluted counterpart. However, by using four living rocks and carving them together, Mewtwo finally manages to create an actual mana pool. Both he and Astra watch in fascination as the livingrocks contracts upon themselves as each four sides of the pool fuse together. The result is similar to the system crafted one, although little imperfections can be seen. Both know they will vanish the moment Astra stores the pool into his inventory. Mewtwo also manages to create a second endoflame. Using his self-made floral fertilize, he manages to obtain enough flowers to create a second one. He also discovers why a single flower only gives two petals when processed by the system. Plucking a full petal from a flower proves harder than it seems. Some flowers are made of a singular petal, while others end up ripped apart when removed. the pieces decay in seconds, becoming unusable. Even with the energy ball trick, Mewtwo only manages to obtain one or two extra petals every three to four flowers. Still, it is a net gain, and both are happy at the discovery. Astra finally completes his golden mold quest, and Mewtwo realizes he also has a quest he has left alone for a long time. Floating to the tree canopy, he gently uses his paths to gather a neat cube of leaves. The quest validates, along with the new one that it unlocked, and the next, and the next. Four quests in one. No more seem to unlock for him. Only the final paths remains for Mewtwo to complete his side of Chapter 1. Chapter 42: Tinkering away. I am... astonished. Mewtwo''s capacity for replicating what my system can do makes it feel like my entire role has changed. I had though that what I was able to do was unique, that only my crafting system could create such intricate creations, but Mewtwo has proven me wrong. That he can interact with things I have crafted is not so surprising. Anyone could throw petals and seeds into a petal apothecary, but making a mana pool? Making a wand of the forest? Now those things, I though they were things only I could do. True, he needs to exert his power to large extents, and the quests he completed reflect that, but still... I sigh with a smile and look over the four quests Mewtwo instantly completed.
Refining your Art A slash, and you cut everything to ribbons, but what if you tried a gentler approach? Obtain a ''leaf bundle'': 1/1 Rewards: 20xp, 1 Exp. Candy S
Precision Mining Although extracting ore from veins is the most logic option, a far more lucrative option exists Obtain any ''ore blocks'': 1/1 Rewards: 50xp, 3 Exp. Candy S, lessened stamina consumption
Lending a hand Just because Astra made them, does not mean you are unable to use his tools. Interact with any of Astra''s creations: 1/1 Rewards: 60xp, 1 Exp. Candy M
Crafting the old fashion way Your results will be rougher, it will be harder, but you too can create anything Astra makes. Replicate any of Astra''s creations: 1/1 Rewards: 500xp, 5 Exp. Candy L, lessened stamina consumption, unlocking chapter 2: Magic shenanigans
I smile at the stamina rewards. Mewtwo''s explosive growth has made his stamina almost bottomless in some ways, but now he will consume even less? Eh. I guess I am more of a guide now. Here is what you need to make this thing, here is what it should look like... I shake my head, this is just my ego as a human speaking. And I can feel Aster agreeing somewhat. I sigh, and return my attention to the small smeltery. I have finished turning all the remaining gold into ingots, and now have started the process of melting manasteel. I will make the pickaxe first. Mewtwo''s second endoflame has allowed for a faster mana generation, for double the price of coal. Once I have made the manasteel pickaxe head, I will move to melting iron and attempting to make some manasteel armor. The three ingots slowly melt and soon, I am left with a liquid blue steel within my smeltery. I put the golden pickaxe head mold on the casting table, and let it flow out. The equivalent of three ingots pour themselves into the mold, and then slowly cool down. After about a minute, the result is ready. I pick it up, and inspect it. The crescent shaped pickaxe head shimmers as I turn it around. It is slightly bigger than my forearm. Now I just need to have it replace my current iron pickaxe head, and it should be ready to go. Although... Should I do just that? Or should I replace the handle and make out of livingwood? I look at my current pickaxe through my inventory, and my eyes almost bulge at what I find in its description. Hold on... HOLD ON HERE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE MODIFIERS?? Where did they even come from? Ecological? Magnetic? What do they mean? Why does my pickaxe have a level? Why is it comfortable? Am I comfortable with my pickaxe? Well... Yeah... But that''s not the fucking point here! SINCE WHEN WAS ALL OF THIS HERE??? From the moment I made my pickaxe, uh? I never looked at it in my inventory... Only inspected it physically... TRIO! FUCKING! DAMN IT! Okay... Where would information on that be? Since when are tools able to level up? Hold up, what about the other pickaxe I made? Clumsy? All-FUCKING-right then! So each new tools are ''unique'' in their levels. Good, noted. WHERE IS THE INFO?? I open the tutorial section while letting iron ore melt. No, no. No. Nope... No- Wait... No. AH! The ''Materials and You'' section. I did barely skim through it. I just wanted info on how the portable smeltery worked, and barely looked further than, assemble the pieces, put coal, light up coal and put ore, ???, profit. SO... Gna gna gna... Tinker''s Construct... Gna gna gna... Modular tools... Gna gna gna... Ah! Each material brings unique traits to your tools, these may be advantageous or detrimental depending on the material. And then comes a list of all materials, along with their traits and durability and strength modifiers, and how many modifiers can then be applied. The fuck is a modifier? I can tell Mewtwo jumps in shock when he hears my head collide with the smeltery. Still no pain, and I simply groan. Somehow, this did not even crack the glass top of the smeltery. That''s some resistant glass. Anyway... Is everything all right Astra? "I just realized how much more powerful my tools might and could be, nothing new. Should have read the manual..." I deadpan. Ah, the usual then. "Yep!" I confirm, before returning to reading the tutorial section. So... Not sure why the Trio did not make a quest out of this, but hey, I still found out so nothing lost eh? Every materials bring traits to a tool I make with the tool station. Or the armor station once I get to it. These traits are for the most part advantageous, like wood restoring itself over time, and as I check my iron pickaxe, it does have slightly more durability than before. Iron brings magnetism, making everything I mine or break with the pickaxe attracted to myself. How does that works for non-magnetic things? NO FUCKING CLUE! But it should work? I already have an inbuilt magnet thingy with the auto-pickup feature, so I barely realized ores, stone and everything else was attracted to me. Next, each material will change the final durability depending on where they are used. They each add a certain level of durability, and a multiplier. Wood multiplies the final result by one if used as a handle, iron multiplies it by .85. So no iron handles, but I could have used iron for the binding, as it would have brought greater overall durability compared to wood. And finally, modifiers: I can modify my tools, and now that I am reading it, I realize this might have been how I was intended to discover the modifiers. Why? Because diamonds: diamonds can be used to coat a tool. The coated tool will somehow gain greater durability, along with the ability to mine even harder ores and rocks. Although some materials, that I have yet to even find or discover how to make, already possess a hardness similar to diamond, and thus will not need the coating. Anyway, each tools have a limited number of modifiers that can be applied. EXCEPT NOT REALLY! Because here comes the tool levels. Whenever I, or anyone for that matter, use a tool, my level of expertise and handling grows. And for each levels, I unlock a new applicable modifier, whatever I may wish them to be. They range from reinforced durability, to mining speed, somehow, with even greater mining and looting yield or simply perfect mining? I have to reread that last one a few time to get it. It''s like Mewtwo''s ability to pick up whole ore blocks. Less loss of material and greater yield when smelted. Okay, noted. Wait... what if... What if you make a pickaxe with that silky touch, mine a whole bunch of ores, and then, once you return from your trip, you then mine all of those ores with a fortune pickaxe? The fortune modifier is interesting, but it will fill my inventory really fast. With the aforementioned method, I can still carry loads of materials and then obtain even more once I am done and ready to smelt them! THIS IS GENIUS! If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Alright, so, I need a silky jewel, which needs silky cloth, gold and strings I have, and an emerald... Shit... I do not have an emerald. And I somewhat doubt Princess would possess one... I might ask anyway. Maybe they have one stashed somewhere from her travels with Aster... the man is unsure though. Anyway. Done with the iron, onto the silver. Now how do I want to make that pickaxe? And could I still keep the current tool level? Only one way to find out! I put both my pickaxe and the manasteel head in my inventory and switch the iron head for the new one. Oh hey, what is that little window hidden here? Oh, but it''s just all the informations I HAVE JUST DISCOVERED!!! HIDDEN IN PLAIN FUCKING SIGHT! Another bonk echoes in the clearing. Still the same? Mewtwo does not even turns from his attempts at making a mana spreader. "I am a blind android, Mewtwo. And it is tiring to realize it over and over again." I lament. At least you are still finding everything bits by bits. You''re not that blind. I simply groan at that. I return to the tool station screen, and note that the tool level has not dropped with the change of the head... I squint, curious. Could I replace every pieces one by one and still keep the tool level? Only one way to find out. "Hey, can you pass me some livingwood?" I call to Mewtwo. A dozen logs float my way. "Thanks." I quickly make a livingwood handle, noting the two new modifier that it will bring. Well... one new modifier, I already had Ecological. Botanical, a modifier that grants additional modifiers slots. I nod and replace the wood handle, obtaining a boost in durability as well. Now I only have the binding remaining. What do I make it out of? What could be useful? No, better question, what do I have that I could use? I peruse my current collection of ore and materials. Stone and wood are out. Stone because it brings little to the tool, and wood because I might as well use livingwood. But I hesitate, as I already have livingwood for the handle, and after wasting a bit of livingwood to make a binding, I discovered that the effects do not stack if more parts are added. Which is a bit disappointing, but might be to force me to use other materials. So, what to use? Iron? It would bring a bit of durability, and the magnetism trait back, but could I not do better? Gold is not an option, which makes sense. Gold is far too soft a metal to make good tools. Silver? A huge boost in durability and the holy trait... which is not that useful on a pickaxe... Tin is not an option, copper... Copper? More experience? Wait but I do not gain experience from mining... Hum... what about materials I do not have? Maybe I can find some next time? I start looking through the expansive list of both strange, common and exotic materials. That''s a lot of materials finishing in ium... inferium, prudentium, tertium, superium and supremium... I have some inferium essence from the monsters I have slain... Oh... I did not gather any of the prosperity essence... So maybe later? The stats are pretty insane even for the most basic one. And the prosperous trait could be useful in the long run... Uranium? Ah! Hilarious, especially with both poisonous and withering together. Double poison on strike, but it is still not what I need. Bronze? Uh. The more damaged the tool is, the more it lasts? That''s an interesting trait... I''ll keep it in mind. Electrum. Oh... Oh! Oh I this one is good. Shocking: The tool builds a charge the more it is used, and then releases it as a mining boost or damage boost. Okay, yeah, that one might be the one. Too bad I have none. Where do you find electrum? Wait! You don''t find electrum, you make it! It''s an alloy! Same with the bronze. Could I do it? Yep! I have the materials, I just need the infrastructure. An alloy tank, some tanks and a new seared heater. I just need more seared bricks to make it all. Now do I have enough seared bricks? No. Can I make enough? Yeah... Mostly? I am missing a bit of clay, but now that we have a place we are going to stay and some time, there might be a recipe that should allow us to obtain large quantities of clay. And I will need Mewtwo''s help for it. I approach my psychic friend, finding him looking at multiple hollowed livingwood logs. Ah, Astra! I appear to find myself stuck. Try as I might, I have not managed to reproduce the mana spreader. "Did you check the recipe?" I asks as innocently as I can but also expecting the answer. Silence follows my question. And I see him quickly open the mana spreader recipe. Could you spare a copper ingot... I smirk and hand him the ingot. Groaning, he goes to attempt assembling the cuboid device. "Wait, could you help me with something first?" I ask him as I take out a stone barrel. "I need you to fill this with water." Mewtwo quirks an eyebrow, but complies. Ice cold water soon fills the barrel to the brim, and I add the final component. Dust. If you hammer stone, you get gravel. Hammer gravel, and you get sand. But what if you hammer sand? You get dust, and somehow, adding dust to water... turns it into a clay equivalent. The mixture almost instantly hardens. Although harden is quite a strong word. That clay is pretty soft. Still, I am left with a barrel full of clay. I take it up, store it and then separate it in the crafting table. I just got clay. "All right, help me with four more barrels. I am going to try making alloys." I tell him. Oh? Another contraption? Do you want me to try and make it? "Maybe not right now, but you could try to make grout. You might be able to make more than me." I quickly make the four subsequent blocks of clay, and then leave the barrel along with dust for Mewtwo to do as he pleases. I also leave him some stone, just to see if he can somehow get greater yields for sand and gravel. I then return to the smeltery, and load the smeltery with copper ore. While the copper melt, I craft grout and cook it with my furnace chip. Can the furnace chip be upgraded like the inventory one? Yep, sure can. Interesting, but I will look into it later. The grout cooks rather quickly, and I start crafting what I will need. The alloy tank comes first, followed by the two seared tanks. Then the seared heater. I place alloy tank and heater and then empty my smeltery. I put back one gold ingot, melt it and let the result flow into one of the seared tanks. I repeat the same operation with a silver ingot, and then put tin to continue on with the ore processing. While the tin slowly melt, I finish the alloy smeltery. I take an already lit coal from the smeltery and put it into the heater under the alloy tank. I put a couple more coals and watch as the gold and silver slowly flow into one another. The process takes a couple minutes, but soon, I have move the casting table over, along with a drain. I put the binding cast and let the electrum flow. Just like with the portable smeltery, it stops itself automatically, and I once it has cooled, I pick up my new binding. I install it on my pickaxe, and smile as the tool level remains unchanged, even though all its part have been replaced. But here it is. My new pickaxe, strong enough to mine... obsidian? Hold on, I had not realized it, but manasteel can mine up to obsidian level? Isn''t that on the same level as diamond coating? Well I''m not complaining. That will be two diamonds saved for other purposes. Anyway, I have a new pickaxe. Now for the armor. Armor is made out of three parts: the core, the plates, and the trims. I already know I will make the core out of manasteel, both for the mana reparation trait and because it is, right now, my strongest material. For the rest, I believe the best would be a mix of copper and bronze. For the plates, I am leaning on bronze, simply because of the toughness bonus that no other materials grants me without downsides, and also the dense trait might be useful. For the trims, copper is the one of the materials that gives me the most extra durability right now, and the extra experience from monsters might be useful. I could have used silver and electrum, which would have given me greater durability, but I want to see if the Ambitious trait gives me that much more experience first. With my choice made, I get to work. I gather the necessary tin, which is already melted, cast the rest into ingots for later use, and then once more melt copper. Yes, I am wasting coal, but we found so much we are barely making a dent in our current reserves. The ratio I need for bronze is three copper ingots for one tin ingots. It will yield men four bronze ingots. While this is happening, I convert some iron ingots into manasteel. I then cast the copper into the trim casts, take the rest into a seared tank and install it next to the alloy tank. while the bronze is alloying, I melt the manasteel and make the different core armor parts. Helmet, chestplate, leggings and boots. I then look myself over. I am made of metal, and I am about to add another layer on top. It seems almost idiotic, but it will have its use. Any hits deflected or softened by the armor is a hit I will spend less to no energy regenerating from. The core and trims are done, and so are the plates. The remaining bronze is turned into ingot, and then I realize... I need an armor station. Which means another chip. Trio damn it! Grumbling, I quickly look up how to make an armor station, and assemble it. It is just a crafting table surrounded by four blank patterns. I then turn it into a chip, and install it. A new window appears next to my inventory, this one with far less options than the tool station. Each four pieces of armor are present, along with a repair option. I quickly assemble each pieces of armor and then take them out. The full set is impressive, it would cover me almost completely, at the exception of my forearms. Which seems like a deliberate design choice. The helmet will encompass my entire head, with a wide T shaped opening at the front allowing me to still see and eat without removing it. The blue of the manasteel is visible from back to top, with the brass plates covering most of the front and the copper trimming drawing the demarcations between the bronze and the manasteel. the chestplate comes with fingerless armor gloves. The chestplate covers me from stomach to neck, along with my shoulders and upper arms. The manasteel is barely visible, only poking along my ribs. Everything else is covered by the bronze plates, once more bordered with the light orange of the copper trim. the leggings come with an armored skirt made of bronze plates lined with copper. It has separations along the legs at the front and back to allow for wide movements. Here, the manasteel is far more visible, being what makes most of the armor beneath the skirt. Finally, the boots are open ended. Copper lined bronze plates cover the manasteel on top of my feet. I still look at the open-ended finish and then back at my feet. And it makes sense. I have talons for toes, the choice was another deliberate one by the system. I equip it all and try moving around in it. Mewtwo notices and looks up from his completed mana spreader with curiosity and glee. The armor does not hinder me in any ways. It moves with me whatever I do. Even when I decide to do a big jump and twist a bit in the air, it follows, never blocking me. I land back down and look at Mewtwo. "Well, I have armor now, what do you think?" It looks... dashing. He smirks What sort of accoutrement is this? Echoes the voice of Princess, as she emerges in person from the forest, along with her aide. Chapter 43: Looking for diamond "Your highness?" I ask surprised. "Why... To what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?" Why is she here? Did we do something wrong? We have felt the the birth of a new kind of flora, and although we had not had time to come examine it the first time, we have now. So, show us this newborn flora. Oh she wants to see the endoflames. But first, we shall ask again. What sort of accoutrement is this? The elder florges repeats her question, her expression a mix of exasperation, mocking and curiosity. I look myself over, then look at Mewtwo. The alien cat simply shrugs with a playful smile upon his face. "Well... this is a suit of armor that I have just created. It should increase my odds of survival by quite a bit. Once I find all I need, the armor will be able to repair itself with... Let''s go check the flowers Princess, it will make more sense if we start at the beginning." I finish, as Princess eyebrows rise and rise with each words. I hear Mewtwo snicker as we approach the botania space. There is no other ways to call it now this little corner of the front yard is dedicated to botanical experimentation. I am about to start explaining when I realize I could use this occasion to make a copy of the lexica. Princess is here, she wants an explanation. I might as well do it. "Mewtwo, why don''t you explain everything to her, I am going to see if I can make a cop of the lexica." I say as I excuse myself. Hold on what? Mewtwo sputters, but I have already turned around, and am jogging toward the bags of materials. At least leave me the book! I take it out and feel it get ripped from my hand the moment it appears. So while Mewtwo start explaining the process of mana generation, I quickly look over the bags. Branches, no. Leaves, no. Bark? Do I even have use for bark? Yes, but still not what I am looking for. After a couple of bags, I stumble upon my quarry. Hidden in a large sack of branches, a branch registers as something else: a sapling. Finally. I rush inside and take one of the empty books we found on the desk there, and quickly create another Lexica Botanica. I check it over and nod. This is the same. Everything is identical, a perfect copy of the one gifted by the Trio. I get back outside and freeze. Magical flowers litter the entire front yard of the cottage. Magical bushes have even started growing around the smeltery and alloy smeltery. What the fuck is happening here? Quite a potent fertilize indeed. Although one far too specialized. We will have to study these further. We never assumed how much... potential these shimmering flowers possessed. Princess is in the process of criticizing the floral fertilizer. Ah, revenant. Have thou found a way to make a duplicate of this book? We absolutely must have a read! She used a single pinch. Mewtwo''s thoughs arrive like a daze. he is looking around, his mouth wide open, while Princess scrutinizes her work with a critical gaze. Only a pinch... Only a pinch? And she covered almost the entire clearing? She even got bushes of magical flowers?? We''re supposed to use bone meal on already existing flowers for that! I cautiously approach, trying as much as I can to avoid stepping on any flowers. "Err... Here, your highness, a copy of the Lexica Botanica." I present the green book before her. She critically judges it for a second before nodding, and reverently takes it from my hands. She opens it, and read a few passages. At some points, she looks over to the two endoflames, now lost in the sea of magical flowers, and frown. Flowers able to use fire to make energy, how revolting and intriguing. We will need to experiment further. However, how does one makes a petal apothecary? The recipe the book gives does makes any sorts of senses. "The recipe in the book might be closer to a guideline rather than a straightforward method your highness. Mewtwo here is able to recreate some of the tools and structures with his powers, and a different cost in material." I point at the slightly deformed mana pool and the rough looking mana spreader. "You should be able to easily create the tools you will need with your strength." As I speak, she turns pages until, I assume, she reach the petal apothecary page. Humph, rock carving. We never could make use of rock or ground type energy. This will need delegation. Still revenant, we have yet to understand what this ''mana'' is. Your companion was unable to truly explain it to us. I raise an eyebrow at that. Don''t look at me like that, I don''t know what it is. I approach and take back the Lexica Botanica from Mewtwo. "First section of the mana manipulation chapter. It is a form of mystical and ethereal energy, impossible to sense or see until collected. And one of the only ways to collect it is with generating flora. It is a form of natural fuel, that can then be used to power what the book refers as functional flora. I cannot tell you much about them as I have yet to dive into that section myself." Hum... So not type energy... Interesting. This will require much experimentation. We shall take our leave, and let some of our literate subject try to apply what is written within this book. Thou may get more visitors soon revenant. And with that, she departs. Her aide whispers to her as they go, but I do not understand what is said, and Mewtwo does not bother to translate. I look back at the now blooming front yard, and sigh. "I am going to make shears." I state as I slowly approach my smeltery. One manasteel pair of shears coming right up. Mewtwo, meanwhile return to his finished and technically functional mana spreader without a word. The display of grass type mastery shown by the florges has shown him how far he can still go. As for what he is now trying to do with his mana spreader? I am curious if he will manage to replicate the gravity defying function of my builder tool. I would guess no, but maybe he can. So I look at him as he struggles to get the hollow wood cube to float. His attempts continue as I begin the long process of collecting the hundreds of magical flowers. The night slowly passes, and I realize Mewtwo has fallen asleep midway through. He is half-draped upon his mana spreader, the construct still on the floor. I am a third of the way done with my harvest, but decide to take a short break and attempt to carry Mewtwo inside, so he may rest on a more confortable space. His weight is no problem to me, not anymore, but his size is. Mewtwo is big, and tall. Just standing, he is already more two meters in height, without adding his tail that is almost as long as he is tall. I struggle to move him as gently as I can, trying to avoid waking him. In the end, it seems I am successful. I have managed to get him up in a piggyback ride without waking him. I have to admit he is quite the heavy sleeper.. I make my way to the entrance, and thank Aster for neglecting the addition of a door handle, or simply being unable to replicate the technology? Are doorknobs and locks that hard to make? I just have to push it open to enter. I make my way to the bedroom and gently lay the tall psychic mon to rest. I quietly leave the bedroom and spend the rest of the night gathering the magical flowers. I also restock the endoflames at some point and changes the targeted mana pool once mine is full. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The slowly night passes and morning rises. And gone are the flowers. At least I won''t need to harvest any for a long while. With the new day comes a new objective. We need diamond. It is the only thing that is stopping me from going forward. And it will be something we will need for many things. I checked while harvesting the flowers, diamond is used in so many recipes it is insane. But we need to find it first! The door to the cottage opens and a bleary eyed Mewtwo exits. He stretches and look at me with a silent question. "We''re going back to the underground. We need to find diamond." I declare. And he nods. Breakfast first? He asks. And I happily nod. We eat our raw fruits and berries breakfast, still subsisting on the remains of the picnic and what the ambipom left us when we arrived at the cottage. With my greatly lessened need in organic matter, I barely need a couple apples to fill myself back to full, not that I had used that much energy anyway. Once breakfast is eaten, we make our way back to the tree and within its underground. The vine door opens as we approach, and we enter once more into the eerie and silent cave system beneath the magical forest. Monsters come to us in a trickle, and we dispatch them. their materials will be useful at some point, but right now, not so much. The experience they give is ridiculously low compared to our levels, but 5 points per monsters add up quickly when you dispatch them by the dozens. And so we explore. We ignore most ores, only mining coal, iron and gold when we find them. As we now have quite the surplus of coal, I am also making torches and slowly lighting up the cave. This will help us map which tunnels we have explored and which we still have to explore. For the first two hours of cave crawling, we find little more than common ores or gems, but we keep looking. If the coordinates on my mapping system are right, we are almost at almost negative 40m underground, but still no diamond to be found. Still, down we continue to go. Further and further, deeper and deeper. We find many a dead end, along with drops to further depths, but still, not a single trace of diamonds. "Damn it, another dead end." I groan. It is now the third hour of exploration. I have used a good third of my pickaxe, and I have yet to find a singular diamond. Still we continue onward. After going back on our steps and returning to a previous branching tunnel, we choose one still unlit and keep exploring. Is it me or do monster cease to appear when light is present? "What do you mean?" I had not really paid that much attention, but it is true we met few monsters when backtracking through lit up tunnels. We meet monsters as we go into the tunnels, but almost none when we return from them. "Yeah... that''s true... Are the monsters... Wait monsters do not appear during the day! And we have yet to see any appear within the forest." The forest is constantly lit by the little sprites and ghost lights. There always is a source of illumination. "Okay, we''ll need to tell Princess of her aide about that. Maybe they can expand further into the caverns if they ever need to." Mewtwo nods, and we continue on through the new unlit tunnel. Like the others, skeletons, spiders and zombies attack us at almost every turns, we dispatch them off pretty easily now. We keep going further and further in, until we find something new. The tunnel ahead changes. Gone is the raw stone, slowly replaced by stone bricks, with carved murals in between. Moss and vines have grown along some of the stone work, while others have been broken through by thin roots. The growl of large amounts of zombies can be heard within. We have found the dangerous structure the zoroark had warned us about. We behold the unlit corridor, look at each other and without a word, nod. We''re going in. We cautiously advance, placing torches every few meters, until we meet an unexpected obstacle. Brown thorny vines intertwine with each others, forming a massive wall stopping our advance. The plant wall appears dead, yet a quick thug shows us it would withstand a lot of force. Clearly someone wanted something to stay in. "It looks like Princess''s thorns, maybe she made them and then left?" That would explain their state. The growling has grown ever louder now that we stand before the blockade. "Seems there is a lot of them in there. I think that''s why she condemned the place." Maybe we should prepare a new barrier if we are to open that one. I nod, and look at the builder tool. I can make an entire wall instantly. Hum... "Alright we''ll make two walls." I start to explain my idea, and point where I plan to put them. "I will make holes in both, and should we have to run, we''ll condemn either both if we can or the second one only. The inner wall will serve as a funnel to delay any wave of monsters from reaching us." Yes, it could work. I can also delay them with barriers. This should allow you to fully close both walls. "You got barriers now?" I ask, surprised. Although I should not be. He shares his profile with me, something he has not done in a long time, and I look in awe at all the new moves he possesses. The barriers he talks about are called reflect and light screen. One protects against physical attacks and the other from... ranged attacks? No, it states that it protects against special attacks, so maybe magical attacks as well? We will need to try them to be sure. He says, and I nod. Yeah, we will. With the new plan ready, we get to work. I place both walls, using a small chunk of the stone we mined along the way, and make little passages. Big enough for us to easily traverse, but still narrow enough that a crowd would get stuck on each other if they rush into them. Once it is done, Mewtwo sends psychic slashes into the desiccated wall of thorns, quickly cutting it into ribbons. And beyond is revealed a large antechamber, filled to the brim by zombies and skeletons. Every entryway into the chamber is packed beyond capacity. There has to be hundreds of monsters. And the moment we look up, I feel a shiver of fear and disgust crawl through my entire body. The ceiling is rippling with dozens upon dozens of long pointy legs. Hundreds of spiders crawl above our heads, all walking upon each others. Their shiny red eyes twinkle between each others legs. "That''s a lot..." I whisper. Mewtwo simply nods. The horde of monsters all turn toward us."Do you have any things that could do big area damage?" I ask I might be able to slow them or maybe pin them down. It is not a move I have practiced much. But it might work. I will try to make you avoid the effects, but I give you no guarantees. He extends his hand forward, and the horde before us freezes. The air distort slightly at the display of power. Every zombie and skeleton look at us, and then the spiders start to fall from the ceiling. The already packed chamber becomes a mass and mess of limbs flailing everywhere. I take one step into the energy field, and feel my weight quintuple. It changes... little, I only end up consuming slightly more energy to move around, but other than that, no sign of stress or any other problems for my body. I give Mewtwo a thumb up and start punching away into the horde. The process is long, and arduous. Mewtwo has to fully concentrate to maintain the field of amplified gravity, and I let him. It is also during this that I realize... I forgot to repair, or even just make a new sword. This could have sped up the process. I''ll see to it once we return, or maybe I will make another weapon? We''ll see. It take the better part of an hour, but we are finally thinning the monsters out. Although more enter into the room every so often. We do not know from where they come, only that they seem to appear in high numbers from somewhere. However, now that we have cleaned the room, we are noticing a few things. The ground once had a carpet, now rotted and stained by the ichor of monsters. I might have been red once. It seems to lead into each of the three passages as well as toward the entrance. Second, the symbol of Eziakophael is present all around us. The diamond eye with an eye within has been carved upon the ceiling. And as we look around, dispatching monsters as they come, we find more murals with the symbol of Eziakophael. This might have once been a temple dedicated to him. Most show figures kneeling before him. But one in particular gets our attention. above the passageway from which most monsters are coming from, the eye stands above a cage, and spirit can be seen either escaping, or being drawn into the cage. It might be a clue, or a trap, or simply a red herring, but we should check it out. However, one final part of the room gets our attention. A single corpse among the dozens others. The only difference is, compared to the monsters corpses, that there is no loot buttons upon it. The corpses is desiccated beyond recognition, and even then, the missing parts and fractured skull would not have helped in its identification. No one could say what, or as it stands, who it was, no one that was not me. Upon the corpse, a single window shines. And I gulp as I read it. And the system confirms it.
Achievement got: Traces of your past. (Found the corpse of one of your previous lives) Reward: 1 candy XL, 5000xp.
One of Aster Stradivii corpse stands before me. A trace of the past indeed. Chapter 44: The Spawners My- No, Aster''s old body has been trampled. His skull is either caved in or something took a big bite out of it. Both lower parts of his legs are missing, the remaining bones looking chewed on. One of its arm is too far away from its torso. We look upon this vision of the past with morbid interest. Even Aster within me seems perplexed at his presence here. He has little recollections of his many times upon the Ezian [planes]. What he had recalled during our stay within the village has turned into misty recollections. This previous life is lost to the mist for him. Mewtwo is more curious as to why we are observing a corpse, even if it is one from Aster''s previous life. "It could help us identify some greater monsters than the zombies, skeletons or spiders." I say, as I kneel to get a closer look. A tap sees the bones break apart into dust. Damn, and it was not that hard of a tap. I wince at that. I did want to avoid desecrating Aster''s corpse any more than it already is. He tells me he does not mind, and I kindly point out I am more worried how Princess will react. An awkward inner laugh ensues. I actually wish we could get that corpse back to the surface. But right now, zombies and skeletons are slowly clogging the three passages once more. Mewtwo is maintaining reflect barriers on all three passages, blocking them for now. Yet the number of monsters just seems to keep on growing. Something is making them flock into this structure, and I am unsure what it is. If we decide to go further in, you should condemn the passages we are not taking. Mewtwo suggest. I agree with him. We leave Aster''s corpse for now, and turn toward the passages. "I suggest we explore the central passage first. I''m curious of that weird spirit box thing drawn above it." Agreed. It might even be a clue as to what is making these monsters. With our decision made, we turn to the closest passage for us right now, the left one and start cleaning the monsters within its entrance. As we do, we take a look at what awaits further in. The passage extend further and deeper into the distance. Doors can be seen at irregular interval, as well as another large room further ahead. Already more zombies and skeletons are pouring out of the doors and rounding the corners of the next room. Seriously, where are they all coming from? I quickly wall the entrance with cobblestone blocks and we move on to the right passage. It is similar to the one on the left, although tattered banners hang at regular interval along the walls. They make our light sources, my torch and Mewtwo''s will-o-wisps cast shadows along the corridor. and stop us from seeing too far into it. Zombies, skeletons, as well as spiders are pouring from this side. I see something flicker in the distance, but decide to leave it for later. We agreed to start with the central way first. The right passage is walled, and we approach the remaining one. I plant a torch before the entrance, and behold stairs. Zombies are slowly climbing from the depths of the passage. We stroll down, cutting and bashing our way further. "Want to try some music?" I ask Mewtwo. He looks at me uncertain. Can we avoid the one we already heard... a bit too much? I shiver at the memory. Already it feels like I can hear the notes starting. I shake my head. "Yeah no, those two can stay in the library for now." I open the music player and scroll through the proposed songs. There are no categories, no genres or even albums. Only the artist and the song name. None of the names are familiar to either of us, and Aster is of little help. One he thinks he recognize, but cannot place what sort of style it is. I sigh and hit random, making sure to remove both musics that played during Chaos''s trial from the play order. I swear just thinking about these songs makes me see screaming faces on the walls around us. The music that starts playing is another electronic one, mostly synthesizers and beats. The song is somewhat soothing, but also seems to be building toward some tensing. I make sure the volume is not too high. And we start our descent. The way down is long. We cycle through two more songs before reaching the end of the stairs. More electronic songs, with tense undertones. However, now that we are at the base, we behold yet another corridor. Like the right passage, torn banners hang from the walls at regular intervals. The least damaged ones bear the mark of Eziakophael. Clearly this place was dedicated to the dark god. Or dark fateless? Was that not what Chaos called him? What does that title even means? They should have asked Chaos. Zombies are pouring from side doors, coming in groups of three to five at a time. "All right, we push ahead, wall the passage once we pass a door and find out where they are coming from." Mewtwo nods, and we execute ourselves. We quickly isolate two doors facing each others. We then then close one of them, just to see if that would stop a zombie. Surprisingly, it does. A single wooden door is enough to stop zombies. A loud bang make us jump back as one zombie slam its arms upon the door. Okay... Maybe a wooden door might not enough to stop zombies. Still even if it does not hold, it will delay them. The banging continues, and we turn to the other door, killing another group of zombies to enter. The room we enter might have once been quite cosy, but time has done its work, and most of the furniture is damaged in some ways. Still, It seems whoever lived here lived well. The room breaks from the stony walls outside of it by having wooden walls. A large series of bookshelves fill a side of the room. A worn and torn armchair is waiting sideways next to them. On the opposite side, a single desk stands against the wall, with broken writing implements and a single broken chair beneath it. The ground is covered with the same moth eaten red carpet. And as we observe, a new group of zombies crawl out of thin air. They appear next to the farthest wall. This wall has a large painting taking most of it. It depicts an unknown snowy mountain range, with a ghost like white and purple figure figure standing alone and waving at us. We kill the group of zombies, and look around the room. And find nothing. The books are illegible, either by being rotted beyond saving, having their ink completely faded away, or their pages being torn apart. Another two groups of zombies appear and are dispatched during our search, we still cannot find what makes them appear. Mewtwo tries to use his aura senses to see if he can sense anything, but comes out empty. A loud crack makes us look toward the door on the other side, and we wince. A zombie has managed to break it apart. So no, a wooden door cannot stop a zombie, we now have confirmation of that fact. Damn. I leave a torch in the room and we quickly dispatch of the dozens of zombies that have accumulated in the other room. We enter it, and find something akin to a kitchen. Or maybe a laboratory? The walls are only stone here, but it appears different than the grey stone making most of this underground structure, it is whiter, somewhat cleaner. The room has a sink, non-functional. A couple cauldrons with extinguished pits underneath Counters with shards of glass and of some sort of orange rods. In the middle of the far wall, beneath a surprisingly well preserved banner, sits a chest. The maroon container stands invitingly beneath the symbol of Eziakophael, the eye looking down on it as much as it looks down on us. Before we can decide what to do, a new group of zombies appears. We dispatch them, and notice that, like in the previous room, they appeared close to the far wall. One even appeared on top of the chest. I note that little fact for later, I am far more curious as to what is in that chest. Hold on, what it it is trapped? Mewtwo stops me. I freeze as I realize I once more was about to just rush possible danger. "What do you suggest then?" Let me open it. Mewtwo suggest as another group of zombies appears once more. "What? You''re not risking yourself instead of me! I should have better chances of surviving whatever may be inside." I counter right off as I destroys the head of one right off. I meant from a safe distance. Mewtwo adds with a roll of his eyes, crushing another into a meat cube. "Oh... yeah... that should be safer." I concede as I tear the last zombie''s head from its shoulders. I collect their remains, and sigh. We have a lot, and I do mean A MOTHERFUCKING SHITLOAD of monsters remains. Need rotten meat? I have a few couple hundreds. Bones? I hope the surface is ready for some speedy agriculture, because I''m certain I can cover the entire forest in bone meal at this point. And don''t get me started on the strings, the eyes, fangs or any other parts that I gathered along. Oh I also have a slowly growing pile of inferium. I have barely looked at what it does. I groan internally and return my attention to Mewtwo. My psychic friend is telekinetically opening the chest lid. It creaks slightly, but beyond that, nothing else happens happens. No clicking sound, no sudden release of gas, or any traps activating.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. "Well, we''re safe." I say and start to approach the chest. I am forced to stop once more as yet another group of zombie appears. One does so right above the chest once more. It slides back from the half opened lid and tears the banner from the wall, revealing something behind. "What... is that?" I ask aloud as we quickly dispatch of the zombies. Hidden beneath the banner, was a strange metallic cage. Its bars appear to be made of a reflective black and blue metal. A skull with red glowing eyes decorates its center. As we approach, we realize there is something within the cage, something that shifts and pulses. As I squint, trying to make out what is within, it suddenly expands, and contract, taking briefly the appearance of a zombie. Tiny flames surround it and three new zombies appear. That... That was that the source? Mewtwo kill all three in an instant and I realize something. I plant a torch, and we wait for a couple minutes. No more zombies appear. For some reasons, It seems light stops this whole process. We both look into the cage once more. The shapeless thing within shifts, turns, tries to expand, but retract before taking any definite shapes. It appears we have found what was producing all of these zombies. That might also be the source of the skeletons. The system identifies the cage as a spawner. It lists a long list of statistics it possesses. Maximum and minimum time before next spawn cycle, number of entities spawned, even how close one needs to be for it to activate or how far the monsters can appear form it. "There has to be one in the other room." I realize. Mewtwo goes back and confirms it moments later. It was behind the painting. Same shape as the other. Alright, we now know the source of the monsters, and a way to remove them. Light, if close enough seems to completely shut the spawners down. "I think we can safely assume there is one in each rooms." Mewtwo nods. Light seems efficient enough in stopping them, so let us brighten this place up. "Yep, but first, the chest." Oh right! We approach the once more closed chest, and open it. Our hopeful expressions fall as what we find within are glass flask, only one being filled with a bluish liquid along with a bunch of glowing powder called glowstone dust. Mewtwo gathers the dust into a neat ball as I take a look at the one filled flask. A potion of swiftness. For three minutes, I would gain 20% more speed. That''s an interesting effect, but how would that work on me? Would it even work? It might be better to keep that for Mewtwo. I''ll experiment once we have ways of reliably obtaining those. The glass flasks along with the potion and the glowstone dust are all stored, and we move back into the hallway. I open a hole in our little barricade and sigh. The other side is packed with zombies. The moment the hole is made, almost a dozen of hands try to stretch through to grab us. "Alright, just... Can you just wipe them please?" I know that means I am losing on experience, but right now? I just want to go further in. Mewtwo looks at me in surprise, but shrugs and comply. He extend his right hand forward, and a sphere of blue energy burst forth. He lets it grow, and then shoots it. It breaks through my wall without slowing and maws down through the horde of zombies. Good for the speedy removal, bad for the future of any structures I build. Mewtwo has yet to reach level one hundred and already he can destroy... Well they are stone walls. Still that means we''ll need stronger material if I am to make a shelter at any points outside the forest. "Thanks, you take the rooms on the right, I take the rooms on the left." I propose as I take out a bunch of torches for Mewtwo to plant. He takes the torches I get out into a telekinetic grip,and we start lighting up every rooms in our way. We have to remove more zombies, but soon we are done. I have found two chests, as well as maybe something we can take. "Yeah I also found a chest as well as some barrels. Let''s see what we have in them." We return to the rooms where we found the containers, and slowly examine what we have. The final haul is... disappointing. We have found ores, some weird seed that seems to be constantly growing called an overgrowth seed, as well as paper, leather, and other miscellaneous items. And bones, lots and lots of bones, like I was short on them. The thing mewtwo though we could take is a strange extending contraption that seems to have been used as a table. Once I collect it, I find out it is called a piston. Beneath it, we find a red block of glowing material, a block of redstone. We finish looting, and arrive at the end the end of hallway. The room it leads into is large and circular. Its walls are decorated with depictions of people fighting against spirits escaping from a box as well as a line? Above all of it, at the top of the dome ceiling, is the watchful eye of Eziakophael. At the center of the room stands a squat pyramid, with stairs on each sides. Mewtwo floats up, but can see nothing except for a strange decoration at the top of it. It does not appear to be another spawner. I cautiously make my way up as well, curious to see what it is. I never reach the top however. midway through, a beam of red and purple erupt from the top of the pyramid and the shockwave makes me fall back down. Mewtwo land next to me, his ability to fly somehow momentarily negated. YOU WHO DARE CHALLENGE! OVERCOME AND BE REWARDED! The annoncement echoes all around the room, and little wisps of light start to appear all around the room. A semi-translucent reddish barrier appears upon the exit, blocking any hope of retreat. The wisps explode into monsters, more zombies, as well as skeletons and spiders, but also strange floating heads on top of burning tornadoes of rods. These creatures seem to catch on fire and with a guttural growl, launch flaming balls straight at us. Mewtwo is quick with a barrier to stop them, and the projectiles crash harmlessly against his protection. The barriers are then peppered by arrows.Next come the zombies. As they crash against the barriers, cracks start to appear. The monsters all seem to be moving with surprising speed and strength. As I take a closer look, I realize every monster in the room has a strange aura emanating from them. All have a strange auras emanating from them. The spiders and blazes, the name the system gives to the floating monsters, both have the whitish cyan while the zombies and skeletons have mixed ones. Both have the whitish cyan one, with a gold one for the zombies and a brown one for the skeletons. A hiss to my right breaks my musings as a spider bypass our barrier and jumps on me. It sinks its fangs upon my right arm, goingstraight through my plates of armor, and a window pops up.
/!\ Warning /!\ You have been afflicted by "Poison III" effect. Remaining time: 0:10
I swat the spider away and watch with worry as lines of sick green start bulge and spread from the two holes where the spider bit. How did it manage to bypass my resistance? Another one attempts to attack, but I swat it away before it can reach me. It splatters where it lands. I am going after these floating things! Mewtwo announces before he lets go of the barriers and flies toward the closest blaze. An arrow immediately bounces off my shoulder and the zombies close in on me. Hold on, they have swords I realize, as well as armor! The closest one clumsily raises his weapon and strike. I barely avoid the surprisingly swift strike, and end up having to swat another spider off me. Once more the window pops up, and this time I feel a weird tingle where the spider bit. Shit! It''s messing with my nanite repair system. Each bites seems to slow my healing. Another zombie strikes at me, and his blade almost sever my left arm. What? What sort of bullshit is this? How are they bypassing the armor? Never mind my body resistance! I strike back, pulverizing both the monster''s armor and torso in one swift strike. At least my strength still holds up. Another two spiders manage to bite me, and I feel a bit of panic rising as my energy dips below its halfway point. How did I consume that much already? Oh Trio, they are not slowing my healing, they are dissolving the nanites, forcing me to produce more, and while the nanites are not here, the poison dissolve my internal parts! No wonder it feels like I am bleeding energy! I need to kill the spiders in priority. A scream of pain makes me look up. Mewtwo has been struck by a fireball on his leg. The projectile seems to adhere on his skin and continue to brun away against his skin. Already I can see it bubble and I wince at the gruesome sight. Mewtwo sends an aura sphere in retaliation, destroying the offending blaze in a single shot. However, the skeletons beneath seems to take notice and fire a volley toward my friend. "Watch out!" I shout out, hoping to help him. It does, with my shout, he quickly summons a protective bubble around himself. The arrows impact harmlessly against the blue sphere encompassing him, and he aim his hand down, before making a raising gesture. The ground under the skeletons erupts as Mewtwo makes his mastery over the earth powers known, destroying almost all of the archers in the process. I turn back to my immediate opponents as the remaining spiders are already circling me for another go. The zombies are also closing in far too quickly. I have little options, so I chose the most straightforward. I strike first. I charge the incoming zombies, killing two almost instantly, and then crushing a spider that attempts to jump on me. A zombie goes to strike me, and another couple spiders jump. I decide to need care of the spiders, so I let the sword strike my side. I grab both spiders out of the air and crush them, but one still manages to bite me. I wince at that, and then wince even harder as the zombie sword almost goes straight through my abdomen. A quick punch from my left arm sees that threat removed. I hear a guttural whisper and see the last blaze fall from the sky. Mewtwo sports a couple new nasty burns along his body, and he seems to be breathing a bit heavier than before. With the floating monsters removed, Mewtwo is able to come assist me, and we quickly clean the remaining monsters. We finish the fight both exhausted. My energy reserves are at an all time low since entering the magical forest, and Mewtwo has almost burned through his entire stamina reserves. YOU ARE VICTORIOUS! CLAIM THE SPOILS OF WAR! The announcement echoes along with a little reward from our sponsors.
Achievement got: Hey look, it''s like what we do! (Discover and triumph over one of Eziakophael''s trial chambers.) Rewards: 5000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL
As we marvel over the new implications of Eziakophael also having trials, a chest made of red metal appears on top of the pyramid. I opens by itself, and spew forth ressources. We make our way back up, and behold our rewards. Glowing books, gold ingots, iron ingots, even a few manasteel ingots, as well as something called alchemical brass ingots. But most importantly, diamonds, twelve of them. Our first diamonds. We can have self repairing tools on the go. We collect our reward, and decide to call our expedition off for the day. Chapter 45: Inglorious return More trials. Somewhat, it makes sense. If the Trio can give us specific trials, obviously Eziakophael can do the same to his abductees. As we look at the rewards, a timer appears above the pyramid. In twenty-four hours, something will happen. If I have to guess, it will be a reset of the trial. Still, we are running low on food for me, and stamina for Mewtwo. I collect our rewards, and we make our way back to the main entrance. Nothing jumps us. Not a single monster has appeared, making it that clear light somehow disables the spawners. As we near the top of the stairs, muffled groans, hisses and the clicking of bones reaches us. Once we arrive in the main chamber, the sound is almost deafening. The walled passages are still walled, but the monsters have once more started to multiply within. Probably more spawners. Before we depart, we look upon Aster''s mangled skeleton. It feels wrong to leave it here, yet a single touch would see it reduced to dust. I look at my inventory, I have some wood, some stone, a lot of raw materials as well as processed ingots. I could make a chest, it could serve as a good temporary coffin, or at least a way to bring Aster''s remains to the surface. Still, I apprehend Princess reaction. She must have been the one to seal this place, and I presume She did so after Aster died there once. It suddenly hits me that we might have inadvertently opened what was in essence one of Aster''s grave. Still, what sort of grave is the cold floor one dies upon? "I want to try and bring his remains back up. He deserves a better grave." I tell Mewtwo. With our second long pause above Aster''s previous body, Mewtwo had guessed as much already. I could try to transport the bones in a telekinetic hold, I should be able to keep his remains intact. "Would it be easier in a box?" I ask him. Perhaps, yes. You will need to take care of any monsters we meet along the way however. I feel too drained to be able to fight and keep these remains safe. He warns me. "With how well we have ben lighting up the caves, I feel like we should be okay on that front." I make a chest, and put it down. I make sure to avoid using the builder tool. I do not want it stuck where I put it. The chest looks similar to the ones we saw below. Brown-orange with black iron edges along with a single grey clip at the front to secure the lid. I open it, and Mewtwo slowly and gently moves the bones. He places them within the chest, piling them neatly. The bones remain intact, not a single one breaks. He then start to lift the whole thing. I can see his powers continue to hold the bones, making sure they do not move chafe with each others. Quite thoughtful there friend. Once Mewtwo is certain he can hold onto his cargo without damaging it, we begin our ascent back to the surface. As I expected, nothing happens. The passages we take are brightly lit by my torches, and no monsters appear. Once we reach the vine door, it opens without a second of waiting. We return within the tree, and start seeking Princess throne room. This search reveals a small issue with my map system. The system is able to map underground passages quite well, as the more we lit up the cave, the more the passages became registered. However, it displays multiple layers at once. The result of this mapping decision is a mess of overlapping passages impossible to distinguish from one another. This ends up confusing us multiple times, and we end up having to be turned around more than once. We end up roaming through the tunnels of the tree, trying to find back the way the zoroark had led us through. We end up going in multiple circles and even back outside the tree at some point. "Can you not feel her?" I ask in frustration. Too many signals, and I never looked at what hers is like. Damn it. I look around, trying to find any help. We exited at another side of the tree, This side has little hut like structures built, along with what appears to be training grounds. I watch as few gardevoirs spar with each others. The air ripples and shimmers as they exchange moves with each others. On the side kirlias keep a little flock of ralts entertained. Two indeedees are discussing on the side, while keeping an eye on training grounds, clearly ready to fix any messes that may be left behind. I also spot the large and scarred pangoro that broke me several times during the picnic. The large black, white and gray panda is teaching a breloom how to fight, with a few fighting types pokemons watching on the side. The breloom is clearly experienced, and quite agile. Still, his attacks harmlessly smash upon the large panda pokemon. Not because he misses, but because the pangoro is somehow able to deflect a lot of the hits. The breloom extensible arms are swept away every times it tries to hit. We observe the dance for a minute, enthralled by the spectacle, until a questioning growl has us turn around. I am pretty certain Princess helpers is unable to understand why we would look so relieve to see him, but Trio are we glad to see him. We quickly explain the situation to him, and the upright fox expression shift from curious to alarmed. He gestures for us to follow and takes out on all four a great speed. I am not surprised by his sudden mood change. I am almost certain he has reached the same conclusion as us. Princess WILL want to hear of our find, and Princess WILL be absolutely livid at our actions. We swiftly follow the red and dark gray fox and soon find ourselves on yet another exit of the grand tree. One whose front is quite familiar. It is Princess garden. Once more, we find the florges floating above her flowers. Wisps of green and pink waft from her faded orange bouquet framing her head, and the multiple flowers beneath glow along with her. She is not alone, however. A couple of humanoid gray pokemons with bulging pink protrusions on their hips, shoulders and the back of their heads are working with some stones and wood, along with a pokemon that looks like it is wearing a puffy green ball gown. The timburrs and the liligant seems to be trying to assemble a petal apothecary, The wooden beams put to the side must be the timburrs'' signature beam they carry everywhere they go. On the side, holding the copy of the Lexica Botanica, is a drowzee that seems somewhat familiar. The upright tapir pokemon has her eyes furrowed in deep concentration as she tries to understand the contents of the book. Princess has already started working on her own attempts to bring to reality the wonders of Botania flowers. We patiently wait for Princess to finish her work, although the zoroark looks more and more agitated as the minutes pass. Once she is done, the zoroark goes almost flat on the ground as he explains our presence in half-muffled yips and growls. I can see him tremble as he finishes his explanation. Princess piercing glare makes us shiver. Her gaze wonder upon the chest Mewtwo still hold afloat. Follow. Her command leaves no place for discussion. Princess exchanges a few words with her botania team, and then lead us back into the root corridors of the tree. Soon we once more stand within Princess throne room. The air feels electric as we come to a stop half way to her throne. She says something in her sing-song pokespeak, and the zoroark bows his head before swiftly exiting the room. Deposit that box on the ground legend. She orders.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. With utmost care, Mewtwo execute himself. Once the box is safely on the ground. Vines grow and secure it. Before either of us can start to question what she intends to do or why she is protecting the box, two beams of yellow-green light impact upon us. Mewtwo is flung upon a wall by the force of the impact, and I am pierced through the one aimed at me. Before either of us can react, pinkish blades of wind slams upon us leaving cuts and gashes upon the whole of our bodies. Does thou realize what has been unleashed? Dost thou not realize WE had condemned this cursed place for a reason? Princess thoughs slams within my mind with such pressure I can feel my eyes bulge. A cry from Mewtwo tells me he is experiencing something similar. That singular action has endangered the entire sanctuary beyond anything that ever threatened it before. "Wait! Your high- Agh!" I try to speak up, but psychic pressure unlike any I have ever felt slams me on the ground. Silence! We will not suffer thine excuses revenant, nor yours legends. Another cry makes me realize she has stopped Mewtwo from broadcasting his thoughts. Were the endless hordes beyond the vines not enough to deter the both of thee? Hast thine strengths grown so much that thou consider thyselves beyond retribution? Vines slowly slither around the both of us, and we are soon hoisted up and brought back before Princess on our knees. Her arms are locked behind our backs, and our head is held so that we are forced to look at the florges. Mewtwo whines in pain, and I try to wiggle a bit, to no success. Now seeing as thou both sported injuries already, we can only guess how close to catastrophe we are. Now speak. How long until the hordes reach our gates? "Your highness, there are no hordes coming!" I try to clear up the misunderstanding. But thorns start to slowly saw through my joints and neck. My already battered armor bulges in some places as the vines slither beneath. Oh? Ah, but of course thou would not know. Thou must thing that clearing the one left behind hast solved the issue. Sadly it has not. It has only delayed it. Now when has thou returned here? How long ago? Thumping can be heard as the scarred pangoro along with multiple fully evolved pokemons of many types enter the room. They all look at us with disgust and distrust once more. "You do not understand! We solved that issue! We found the source." I plead, looking with dread as what little of my energy reserves plummets toward zero. Princess looks at us uncertainty slowly mixing with her cold fury. Thou has? Then what malefice caused this place to endlessly fill with monsters? Spawners, your highness. Cages that contains... something that makes monsters endlessly appear close to them. We found many within the structure, along with a trial chamber dedicated to the dark god. We overcame the trial, although not without injuries, as you have noticed. Mewtwo explains. I try to corroborate his claim, but the vines finally saw through my vocal chords, or whatever equivalent my body uses. What comes out instead is a garbled screech that cuts midway through my attempt to speak. Thou claims that these... cages were the source? Then how dost thou know no more monsters will come from them? Light, your highness. If you were to send one of your charges to explore, they will find large parts of the cave system now lit by torches. No monsters seems to appear where light shines. Although the light need to remain in order for monsters to stop appearing. At least, that is what we gathered. The same phenomena was observed with the spawners, we left a torch on a room, unaware of the spawner existence, and no more monsters came from this room. Princess fury slowly abates the more Mewtwo explains. What I assume are either her guards or fighting force also look bewildered by Mewtwo''s claim. Are thou certain of thine claim? We encountered no monsters going back up to the surface. We also confirmed that no monsters appeared within any lit room with a spawner. If they could still appear, they would have swarmed us during the trial. I nod at that. With how unfair Eziakophael seems to play, the barrier that would have stopped us from leaving would have let monsters pass through unaffected. We shall confirm thy claim then. Thou will both remain here for now. Princess orders the pangoro, and he in turn selects a couple of quick moving pokemons to go and confirm our says. The pangoro bows his head along with his remaining forces, then leaves the room. Mewtwo, ask her about the remains. He looks at me, clearly hesitant to bring what must be another sore subject in front of an already furious Princess. Might as well get it over with now. He rolls his eyes and groan. Your highness, there is something else. Mewtwo starts, pointing with his eyes at the still vine covered chest. If thou speaks of my liege remains, we shall give him a proper burial next to the Altar. That is... that is the least he deserves. A shadow passes over Princess expression. As much as I wish to know more, Princess clearly is not ready to share what might have happened beneath so long ago. Also we have the Trio-damned journal! If you wanted to satisfy your curiosity, you might as well wait for us to go free! Mewtwo chides me. The journal, I forgot about it again. Mewtwo is right, it must have some answers. The vines slowly recede, and my body start to heal. Mewtwo is sporting multiple cuts and scrapes all along his body, all bleeding, but already slowly healing. I can see the little shiny drops of water falling along his body, making it look like he is sweating. the use of the move seems to cost him however, as he is no longer floating and is barely standing upright. I can see him wobble more and more with each passing minutes. After what feels like hours but has merely been ten minutes, the pokemons sent to investigate returns. Their leader, a small blue gray ninja looking slug with a pink head, reports to Princess, while his two companions, a couple of boltunds await. The canine pokemons wait in a sitting position, ears up, ready to go into action at the slightest moment. Princess expression goes through multiple shades of surprise and confusion before nodding and dismissing the reconnaissance squad. It is as thou has claimed. No monster hordes is coming, although they claim two are stuck behind walls. They also report a two layers of stone placed to stop large crowd from moving. Thou would not know where such constructs came from by any chance? Mewtwo points at me and I raise my hand, still unable to speak. Princess nods, before continuing. They have explored all that was lit, and report floating numbers in a large room. That would be the trial room. The numbers are a timer. Astra speculates the trial may be attempted again once it reaches zero. The florges nods once more. They have also found these strange cages thou spoke of. Most peculiar creations if we are to believe them. We would like to see one up close. I look at Mewtwo, and he looks at me. Could we collect one? Without breaking it? What would even happen if we were to break one? We will have to try the next time we go down. Still, thou were indeed telling a tale most certainly true. No monsters shall come to us it would seem. "You-you-your hiiiiiighne- ne- ness. I was-z-z-z-z currrrious." I try to speak, my regenerated vocal chords equivalent still calibrating. I stop for a couple of seconds. "My apologies." Why am I apologizing? She''s the reason I am like this! "As I was saying, I am curious about something. Is the capacity for light to stop the appearance of monsters not known?" Princess tilts her head to the side, and seems to think for a moment. It... is. However, not all can create what appears as everlasting torches as thou can revenant. Most are made of lit up wood, making them last quite the short time. One needs a fire-type pokemon or a pokemon that knows fire type moves to truly keep fire based light source. There was a rumor of one finding some odd and smelly black liquid that was said to burn quite nicely, although the smell is quite potent. That would be oil. Interesting to note. None has been found within the forest sadly, it could have helped us quite a bit. And that goes from immediately interesting to future endeavors. I believe I need to apologize. Hearing that thou had broken the great protections of the monster dungeon made me imagine the worst. It... Thou should read life seventeen. Thou shall then understand our worries. Now go, return to thine dwelling, I have affairs to return to. With her dismissal said, Princess floats away and we follow her out of her throne room. We quickly find back the path to our exit and return to the cottage. Not much has changed, although the presence of spiderwebs over some of the structures we placed tells us someone came over to play, maybe even a lot of someones. Laughter in hisses echo across the clearing, and we only catch glimpses of green bodies and blue and yellow legs disappearing within the branches. The spinarak gang has visited while we were away. We leave the clearing as it is for now, and head inside. Mewtwo grab a chair and wince as he sits, the burnt flesh of his legs stinging when in contact with the wood. I also go to grab a chair, but stop myself. I instead pull it in my inventory and place it with the builder tool. It becomes fixed, and I sit on it. It does not even creaks. It is, however, stuck in place. Well, too bad. I''ll just remove it, at some point. That was... a day. Mewtwo declares. I only nod at that. I can see my las square of energy blinking. I go look into the storage room and come back with some food. Not much, but enough for now. Mewtwo eagerly bites into a green berry, a lum berry. The effect is immediate as his burns recede all over his body. Damn these fruits are efficient. I take a bite of stale bread, and old fruits until I have at least three squares. "Let''s call it for today." I propose. Mewtwo looks at me and nod. Are you going to try to sleep as well? I consider it, and in the end, nods, yes. I am going to try and sleep. Because frankly? That day was long enough as is. Chapter 46: The lives of Aster Stradivii Part. 1 Turns out... I cannot sleep. And trust me, I tried. While Mewtwo fell asleep right away, I tried to find a way to shut myself down, or enter some sort of power saving mode. I have none of those options. So after about two hours of search and attempts, I give up, and get back outside. Our little clearing is still covered in cobwebs. The silver threads glimmer under the moonlight. I raise an eyebrow at that, and then look up. A large semi-transparent full moon is visible above the cottage. It is mostly here for show, but it feels so... wrong somehow. Maybe it is because I can see the floating islands of the Ezian plane behind it? The night seems to be approaching in the outside world. Although the barrier of the Sanctuary tints everything blue, I can see the colors take deeper and more vibrant shades as sunset approaches outside. Three days have gone within the Sanctuary, and only an afternoon has passed outside. That makes me pause and recalculate. We dilated time to move ten times faster within the Sanctuary, allowing ten days to pass within during one day outside... However We activated the time dilatation feature of the Sanctuary somewhere early afternoon... so... we have... about fifty days left... give or take one. Which is a lot of time left considering how fast we are growing. I nod to myself, we are getting stronger fast, and we are about to reach a new level of advancement soon. But first, let''s clear all those spider webs. Seriously, I am tempted to just ask a spinarak to join us when we leave the Sanctuary. Threads for days! I shake my head, bad thinking here. I can even feel Aster glower at that line of thoughs. Pokemons should only be partners and friends, not tools to be used and abused. Aster nods within me. I go to take out my sword, and groan once more. It is still not repaired. Welp, by hand it is then. Follows half an hour of me struggling to remove as much cobwebs from everywhere as I can. The result is messy, and no strings are acquired in the end. Which is sad, but also somewhat expected. It seems one needs a cutting implement to collect spider silk. Which is why the first thing I do once I have removed all the silk from everywhere is fire up the smeltery. I am going to need a new sword and I am not sure what I should use to make it yet. As I peruse the list of available materials, I also start construction on a new botania structure. The runic altar, which I will need to make the band of aura. It only requires a mana diamond and a few living rocks. Making a mana diamond is rather easy, just dip a diamond into a mana pool and voila. Then five livingrocks, and I obtain a white inverted pyramid looking table. Its surface is scribbled with runes and indentations, and a polished mana diamond pokes through the center. Two cubes rise from the top and slowly start to orbit around the diamond. I open the lexica to search for how the altar works. Place it down, charge it with mana through a mana spreader and add the components on top. Leave a livingrock in the center once the charging process is over and tap it with a wand of the forest. That does not seems to complicated... Let''s try it. I need one mana pearl and five manasteel to make the only component I am missing for the band of aura: the rune of mana. I follow the instructions, putting five manasteel upon the altar. They all start to float and orbit above the altar, the same way the little cubes do. I quickly make a mana pearl, again I only need to dip an ender pearl into a mana pool, and add it to the altar. Finally, I take the mana spreader Mewtwo made. I make sure not to store it, I do not want Mewtwo''s hard work to be erased by the normalisation that happens to everything I store in my inventory. I place it under the floating mana pool, and watch as mana fills it instantly. I was unsure this would work, but it does. Now I just need to aim it. I tap the spreader with my wand of the forest and then tap the altar. A green beam of mana instantly leaves the spreader and impacts the runic altar. The polished diamond at its center starts to shine slightly. As more beams impact the diamond shines brighter and brighter, until tiny motes of lightning start to strike at the floating ingots and pearl. I take that as my cue that the charging process is done and throw a cube of livingrock on top of the alter. The large cube floats up above the altar, and I gently tap it. With a whoosh and a flash, all floating components collapse onto each overs, and something fall upon the altar with a clink. I blink away the artefacts in my vision from the sudden flash and pick up the result. All of those components have disappeared for only an off-white palm sized coin to remain. It feels somewhat warm to the touch. On both sides is a purple spiral that pulses with energy. A rune of mana. Finally! I quickly store it in my inventory and assemble it into a band of aura. Four manasteel ingots arranged in a diamond shape with the mana rune in the upper left corner. I assemble the band of mana as well. Making the mana tablet necessary for it is quite easy, one mana diamond surrounded by eight livingrocks. Then it is a similar shape to the band of aura, with the rune of mana replaced by the mana tablet. Once they are made, I take them both out, and inspect them. Two little blue rings, the aura one has a purple gem on it, and the mana one has a green gem. Now... would they fit either hands? I try on my human looking hand, and unsurprisingly, they fit without any problems. The moment I put both, a new little line appears under my energy energy display. An empty bar. The moment I take the ring of mana off, it disappear. So only the ring of mana makes that bar appear. I try to put the ring on my left hand, and look in amazement as the ring adjusts itself to fit my left hand. Okay that a pretty nice feature. I leave the band of mana on my left hand and wait for the bar to start filling up. I wait for a minute, but nothing changes. I feel puzzled at that, until I feel something move on my flank. I look down and my eyes widen in surprise. The deep cut that one zombie had done on my left side is closing up! My armor is growing back! As I look myself over, I can see little blue lines where the armor is being regrown. I take out my pickaxe, and watch as it glows with a faint blue outline. Slowly, its durability fills back up. It is slow, but it is working! I look in awe as the mana slowly repair all of my equipment. Except for my sword. My broken stone sword is still absolutely broken and unusable. I look it over, I had barely started getting familiar with it, I might just ditch it. Hum... no, I still filled more than a fourth of the accustoming level. I may as well just shift the blade for a manasteel one and keep the wooden handle and guard. I might change them later on, when I really need something more powerful. I put enought manasteel into the smeltery to make a manasteel blade and let the ingots melt. The process is slow, So while it is happening, I look at what else I could do. What do we need right now? More levels, as always, although I am starting to have quite a lot of accumulated experience from all those monsters we have hunted down in the depths. What else... More materials, or some ways to acquire them easily. More diamond is not something I would spit at. Just so we can unlock the follow up on the quests. Sadly, our only source right now was the trial of Eziakophael... Wait... it refreshes right? And we got a dozens from it... We could go do it again right? True the monsters were pretty tough, but we still won in the end. And now we know what to expect! Unless the trial changes every times... Oh that would be bad... Still, it could be a reliable source of diamonds. Why did the trio make us gather 64 though? With how hard it is to find, how did they expect us to have the time to gather so many fast enough to keep up with Eziakophael raids? I know The dark god is playing dirty, but even if it had not, it still feels strange to lock our progress behind such a long quest.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Ah, the manasteel has melted. I leave that train of thoughs behind for now, and pour the molten metal into a cast. I then replace the old blade and behold my new one. Blue sword. Yay. Still this entire process has only taken a third of the night. Mewtwo is still soundly asleep, and We still have little to do right now. I am a bit skittish to advance any further in botania without the quests, I am unsure if I will need to remake whatever the trio asks of me, so I would prefer to see what they want first. Instead I feed the endoflames anew, and take out Aster''s journal. Princess told us to read through life seventeen if we wanted to learn of that corpse origin. Might as well do so.
Life 17, Day 4 I have returned, once more. Hound was waiting for me, once more. Princess is resting at the village right now. I will ask her how long it took me to return when I meet her. I have read the journal once more. And noticed new gaps from my past. It is getting worse with each deaths. Hound, my beautiful hyena, looks at me with worries, which, if I am to believe my previous lives, is par for the course. I feel tired, already I have faced a crazed cultist and watched as Hound ripped it apart. I have collected weird grey coins that the are called soul coins, and I have done so at least 17 times now, maybe more depending on when I started writing this journal. I know it is more. We are on our way to the forest right now. I feel dread within me. None of my past lives have ever been able to get past the forest. Something always kills us there. Sometimes it is monsters, other times hunger and dehydration. Once it was a raid, Life 11 for future reference. Eh... future reference. I am already accepting the fact that there will be a life 28. What has this place done to me? To us? I should sleep. Life 17, Day 15 Once more we are lost. Princess has tried for days to find a way out of the forest, but the fog grows thicker each morning. Something wants us to remain here, and we have no ways to escape. Our food supplies are slowly dwindling. Hound tries to hunt as much as he can, finds little within the fog. Water is also slowly becoming a problem, this life might end with dehydration or hunger, whichever takes me first. When you read this next one, prepare more food, at least two months if possible, same with water. And most imp- Life 17, Day 20 I have not had time to write in so long. The last raid was bad. One of the cultists managed to cut me with his blade, and whatever poison it was coated with left me unable to do much for four days. But Princess has finally figured something new. she can now make little puffs of pollen with her strange powers. They were able to sustain me during my convalescence. Hound also found sugary pink heart shaped berries that seems to have mitigated the effect of the poison. I cannot thank my two companions enough for that. We are enjoying one last night before the next raid. I can feel it will be a bad one, I have been using my coins to strengthen both Hound and Princess as much as I can, but I do not believe it will be enough. This might be the last entry in this journal from me. Life 17, Day 23 Me Princess. Me writing master for. Hope clear. Master dead. Big cave fell. Ran from bad human. Followed we. Found cave house. Many bad things. Too many. Master dead. We lost. We sealed way to cave house. Hound looking for way up. (Water stains the page, making the last lines unreadable)
I reread the last lines, Aster died trying to run from a raid. I look at the next life, and once more, the last entry is written in broken English. Aster must have taught Princess how to read and write. A quick scan shows her slow improvement. The next life is life 19. What happened between life 27 and 31 must have happened then as well.
Life 19, Day 1 Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Life 19, Day 26 I am pathetic. This might be my most useless life yet. I have not gone beyond the village. I do not want to. I have seen a man return twelve times in as many days, each times he did not recognize me. Each times he asked me the same question. If not for my companions, I would be the same. Hound, that large hyena-dog animal is laying next to me as I write. The little white and green creature, carrying a flower everywhere she goes, Princess, is working with the villagers. She has been since they guided me here. I... We found two corpses on the first day, both mine. One I found before they found me, the other we found some ways from the village. Both weeks old, both rotten and half eaten by wild animals. I do not want to be here. I want to go home. Whenever it was on earth. What is america? So many names that no longer have meanings. I do not want to go out tomorrow. I no longer want to be here. I don''t want to die. I am scared. Please... someone save me. Please. (Water stains the page.) Life 19, day 27 I am Princess. I write for savior. He prefers savior title more to master title. He died once more. Bad men used strange moves to kill him from far. We could not save. We are weak. Savior was also weak, weird. We need hide previous saviors corpses. Journal is enough. Life 20, Day 2 What is this world? Why am I here? Who are these creatures that help me? I had so many questions, and then they give me this journal, and now everything is as worse as it is clear. As much as I want to distrust them, their actions either within this journal or since I met them have been nothing but kindness. They love me, and I loved them, once. They have helped me reach this village yesterday, they have helped me fight off this weird cultist coming form a portal, they gave me this journal. Yet now that I am done reading through most of it, I feel sick. They care for me, but maybe too much? The last line on my last life, written by the one named Princess is worrying. This last life in itself is worrying. Seeing corpses of myself somehow left me as a scared shell of what I achieved in my previous lives. That single sentence is making me shudder. I think I will try to make it illisible. I am not sure if this is a good idea, so I will let it be for now. Princess tells me they found a way to traverse a magical forest. I have simply nodded at that. We are gathering supplied and will set out tomorrow. Right now I need sleep, and to think through all the information I have just learned. Life 20, Day 5 This forest is going to make me go mad. Princess keeps insisting that we are on the right track, but it feels to me that we are going in circles. The only saving grace is that no monsters have appeared within. Having to sleep in shift in the planes was awful enough. The natural orchard was a nice find though. It was the first time I ever found it. I have enough dried food for at least a month, but the fresh fruits will be more than welcome for breakfast. Still fuck this forest, fuck this place, and fuck whoever sent me here! FUCK YOU! Eh, I actually startled Hound and Princess with that scream. Sorry friends. Well, I am going to catch some sleep. Princess is certain tomorrow we will find the way out. Life 20, Day 6 Big tree ghost. That was why we could not get out. A big haunted tree was stopping us. A whole colony of them actually. Princess has been spending a long time discussing with it, and it seems they reached some sort of agreement. I need to find a way to protect the forest. Why? No idea. From what? Monsters most certainly. Although she did write humans, rather than bad men. So... I am unsure if she only meant the ones that come from portals once a week or actual other humans. Life 20, Day 51 Savior dead. Biggest raid yet. Twenty crazy, five magic users, and one armored crazy. Armored crazy went for savior, we could not stop. So close to helping trevenant colony. Hound already gone to look for Savior. Will follow soon. Trevenants still happy with progress. Maybe magical forest becomes safe next life?
I close the journal. The fake sun is rising, a new day is coming. And we have work to do. I will relate my readings to Mewtwo while we return to the underground. Chapter 47: Homecoming for the Hunter lord For the following days, both Astra and Mewtwo fall into a routine. They continue to explore the caves in the morning, slowly lightning and securing more and more of the tunnels. Then they return to the dungeon to challenge the trial again. After the first few times, they realize the amount of reward is more like a lottery than a set number. Diamonds still drop every times, but their number oscillate between 2 and 20. Still trials after trials, they gather the much needed ressources. they hold off making anything that may require the diamonds until they have enough, for fear of needing to remake them later. Astra only decided to forgo that risk for the two rings only due to their immediate utility. However, beyond the barrier, time continues, albeit at a slower pace. And someone finally returns to his home.
Hans is giddy. Yes, he had to burn his fast heal ability on his first week. Yes, he also had to delay his return. But what he saw. Oh what he saw. Aster, returned stronger than ever. A new challenge that may only grow. New gods have joined the fray. The current master of their prison has been challenged, and the newcomers seems ready to play ball. The world is changing, and Hans Senah cannot be happier to see it. Their little champion is weak, but can already take on third year raids and come out... unscathed? Now that assumption is uncertain. Hans saw how the cyborg? Android? Freak? Freak. He saw how the freak champion was able to shrug off his own punches. Hans may have only returned four days ago, but thanks to his preparations, he is already as strong as he was during the tenth year of his last life. The only reason he could not save up more was because he still needed to grow stronger then. And yet, Aster... no, the freak... what was the name he called himself? Ast... Asty? Astry? Astra! Yes little Astra took a punch meant to spear through him, but only ended with a bent stomach. Beautiful. Absurd. Fantastic! And not a drop of blood, or oil, or whatever coursed through his veins. And he was merely a week into this world. He survived a Praetor on his second day. Granted, the crimson moron must not have taken the pair seriously, but still, a Praetor is supposed to be the one year filter that reset those unable to grow fast enough. And the legend. The first! Never seen before. He cannot wait to question one of his closest friend about it. And that time will arrive soon, for on the eve of his fifth day of this new life, Hans has finally reached the great fortress of Lodehaunt, the home of the institution he founded, the Hunters. He still remembers, partly, when he founded the entire thing. Their goal was simple. Organize in parties and hunt down any living, or unliving creatures. Provide for those that could no longer fight, and protect those that needed it. Recreate society,. Ah, such grand, and stupid ideals. They tried so hard, yet soon, the Dark god made his intentions clear. When it was discovered that the soul tokens of someone could be recovered upon death, all ties broke down, and all they had striven to work for turned into a battle royale for who would gather the most tokens. Some tried at the time to ally with pokemons, but the Dark God was a sadistic one. You would need to sacrifice your own growth for theirs. Soon, the true Hunters eradicated most trainers, claiming their tokens and disposing of their pokemons. Ah, the olden days. When Lodehaunt was naught but a single village, but now... Now Lodehaunt is the grandest and most active city on the Farist continent. Hans stops some distance away to admire his home. Standing with is back against a large mountain range, the city sprawls forward. Great walls of thick black stone encircle it. Men and women can be seen standing upon the walls battlements, looking out for any city raids or invasions. He can see the crude ballistas have finally been assembled. Seeing them still there reassures him. That is not too advanced for He above. Beyond the wall, smoke rise from many a home''s chimney. He can see the citizen mingle among the locals. At the back partly merged with the cliff wall that is Devaste Peak, stands what can only be described as an hybrid between manor and Gothic cathedral. four belfry towers rises from the sides of the building in a semi-circle configuration, and crenelations crisscross every sides of the roof. It had taken decades to build, and had only been achieved earlier during a previous life. Such an opulent waste of ressources, yet it was a symbol. One that inspires all hunters. Achieve greatness, and you too may dine within the Grand Hall of the Hunters. The man responsible for its construction had sadly not returned after his last death, and had been declared finalized. Satisfied with his sight-seeing, Hans resumes his walk through the empty plain surrounding Lodehaunt. As he approaches the gate, a woman wearing a red scarf walks solemnly out. Hans nods respectfully to her as she passes him, and she barely acknowledge the gesture. Her face is set in grim determination. A monthly raid. Never an easy one. But Hans appreciates a hunter who has the guts to face it willingly. Should she survive, she may enter the Hall with honors. Letting the woman out of his thoughs, he returns his attention to the gate. A pair of guards stand before them, clad in a mishmash of armor pieces. Leather, iron and mail cover them in partial way, letting one see the more casual clothes beneath. One is busy stopping what appears to be a group of freshly arrived abductees, or maybe spawn roamers? He can never tell with those vultures. He despise these types of abductees, but cannot really blame them. It is easier to prey on these freshly returned or first arrivals than any of the horrors that roam beyond the Arrival Plains. Whichever ways one choses, it always ends in a difficult crossroad at some point. Either grow strong fast enough, or die for the amusement of He above. He shakes his head as he reach the gate. The guard not occupied by the group gives him a bored one-over, and return to his default sentry pose, only to look at Hans once more. His stance becomes rigid and far more professional. The other does not notices it, too absorbed in his argument with the group. "And we keep telling you, we have information that is vital! We went through the Grey peaks just to come here! We have to see the Hunter Lord! So let us in!" One of the men of the group argues. Dark skin, muscles, a bruiser. "And again, none of you are hunters, so either give me the intel, and if it''s good, I''ll put a good word for you, or fuck off with whatever bullshit you have- Hey! You think you can just walk in like that." The Guard still notices Hans attempt to enter, and grabs the man by the shoulder. The hand turns into a mess of bones and fractured flesh in a second and the guard screams in pain. "Haw recent?" Hans asks, looking at the older, more seasoned guard. "A week and a half." The second guard answers, his face turning pale. "Rank?" "Lower C." "Not ah huge loss then." His right hand blur, and the guard''s head turns to a red mist. "Send someone for tha helmet, we cannot have gotten ta many still." "Yes Lord Hunter." The guard nods. "Now, ya bunch wanted to see me, well here I am, now speak? What sort of vital information do ya have?" The group of four is silent for a moment. Then one with glasses speaks. How does one remains with his glasses for so long, he does not know. Maybe a mage? "We... we saw a legend lord hunter. A legend has appeared upon the plane." Hans almost vaporizes the group the moment the kid-looking man says his piece. "Yeah, I''m aware. Anything else? And don''t mention his friend, met them already." Silence follows. "Then return to ya carrions. Your kind ain''t welcome here." Hans sends them a death glare, and the group cowers.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. They quickly run away, going back toward the direction of the Arrival Plain. Hans nods to the remaining guard. The guard signals someone on top of the battlements, and soon enough, a horn sound throughout the fortress. Hans moves aside and watch as a dozen rabid wolves passes him, followed by groups of men and women, all as fast as their wolves, all screaming for blood and the hunt. Let the hunters hunt. Once the hunting parties has passed, he enters the fortress proper. Nothing has changed. He has been gone for three and a half week, and nothing has changed. A good sign in his opinion. Lodehaunt is one of the most advanced city on the continent. Once a village, but thanks to the help of an abductee having chosen the summoner route, the entire place was upgraded to a massive fortress city throughout the many cycles of the man. The villagers still live among the hunters, but no longer as free as they once were. Not slave, Dark God forbid, but closer than one may think. Prisoners for their own good. He can see a blacksmith working tirelessly, as a short line of hunters waiting to trade hard earned soul coins, emeralds and metals for armor. The diamond badge at the villager belt denotes the mastery of his craft. No new houses, so still below, or barely at population capacity. He continues through the main road, toward the Gothic styled mansion standing at odd at the back of the city. That summoner had some strange taste. Still, he knows who will be within. He reach the large dark wooden doors and push them. The large atrium beyond is empty. A man enters from a side door and stops when he notices Hans. The man''s physique is the polar opposite to Hans''. The man can only be described as a mountain. His leather tunic barely seems to be able to contains his bulging ebony skin. Black dreadlocks move with his head as he turns to lock eyes with Hans. "Brother?" He whispers, almost not believing it. "Brother!" Hans exclaims, opening his arms wide. "BROTHER!" Jack N''ganda shouts in joy, rushing the final flight to take his blood brother in a crushing hug. "Finally!" Hans returns the brotherly hug, and once he is released, both brothers clasp their arms. "You have missed much!" Jack cheerfully exclaims. "Have I?" Hans curiosity skyrockets. "Did my stunt work at least?" "Work? Hans, they are still recovering! The League is broken right now! They might not even see the new year!" "And ya did not capitalize on that?" "Sheila tried..." Jack expression turns grim. "Don''t tell me..." "She forgot her raid. They managed to hurt her enough." Jack declares, his eyes looking down. His hands tremble in pain and anger. "HOW! Their champion was a moron! Even with a team of what they call pseudo-legendary, he barely managed to old against me!" Hans explodes. "The only reason I died was because I was OLD!" Sheila, his third in command, and lover in this forsaken place, had been reset, again! Which keyword will she have forgotten this time? "He had more, and his lieutenants used them, She killed a few, and those she did not she hurt badly enough, but... she had to retreat, and then her raid started, and we did not get to her in time." "Hold on, where were ya?" "Trying to catch up to her." "She went... ALONE?" Hans is flabbergasted by Jack''s explanation. "Yep." Hans is left speechless. He had warned her, so, so SO often that her recklessness was what always got her killed. Again and again, he had tried tor wean that habit from her, and yet again, it had claimed her. "Send someone to retrieve her." "Way ahead of you brother." Jack reassures Hans "She still has not returned yet." He adds. The man, however, worries. "How long after me did she go?" "Two days after you, we tried to keep your departure from her." Hans sighs in relief. This is still within the time-frame of rebirth then. His own rebirth had happened at about the medium range of time between death and rebirth. "In other news, something weird was spotted close to Aster''s old sanctuary." "Really now?" Hans fakes interest, almost certain as to what Jack is about to share. "Yeah, well, since you always send your echo to Hound''s Den, you have to be aware of the mutt''s passing." Jack almost spit at the mention of one of Aster''s old teammate. "Correct." Hans icily replies. As much as he hates Aster and his beasts, they deserve respect for their achievements. "Well, someone claimed Aster''s journal form him. A weird cyborg man. Old Gayle swears he looks like Aster, but..." "He does, in some ways." "Ah, of course you met him." Jack sounds a bit disappointed with that realization. "Then you know of the legend." "I do." Hans confirms, "did you ask our local expert?" "Yeah, Ronald almost had a heart attack when we described it. At first he though we were describing something called a Mew, rumored to be the common ancestor of all pokemons." Jack clarifies, "Follow me, I have most of the information in my office." Hans nods and both men start make their way to the second in command office. Most of the hunters they meet in the corridors offer deferential nods to Jack, then a more respectful one when they realize who the pale man following their temporary leader is. They quickly clear the way after that, rushing to other places to spread the news of Hans return. Soon the pair find themselves before a door decorated with a vulpine skull. One of Jack proudest catch. The delphox skull still has fire within its skull. Within is a large office, with many more morbid decoration. A set of bone armor stands at one side, its parts clearly assembled from pokemon bones. Multiple trophies lay upon the chamber many shelves. Skulls, entire skeletons, but also weapons, armor parts, heads, even an arm ending in a hand with meter long sharp nails. Above the desk, set atop of the window behind, a massive drake skull look down upon the chair. Jack''s greatest pride, one he never managed to reiterate. The falling of an elder fire dragon. The very act that made the man into Hand second in command. And although many would dare to claim what he defeated was a wyvern and not a dragon, the fact still stand that he defeated the beast, and none ever managed to do it, not even himself after he returned. "Here," Jack says as he takes a few pieces of parchment form his desk. "Mewtwo, psychic type, second last of the kanto dex, whatever that means. Artificial pokemon, made to be a killing machine meant only for death and destruction. From what Ronald told us, he supposedly killed the team of scientists that made him, destroyed their lab and then made a gigantic castle to lure trainers to their doom. That''s it for the legend, in more immediately applicable info, it''s a psychic type specialized in special attack, with great speed and decent defenses to back it up, so mage-like with mind altering attacks. It can learn a pretty big variety of moves, except for fairy ones. It can fly, and can supposedly mega-evolve." "Hum, a rather annoying one to appear first, especially along the possible reincarnation of Aster. His team was already a pain to deal with without a legend, but now he has one? We need to keep an eye on them." "That would be the second bit of strange information brother." Jack declares, "The magical forest sanctuary has flickered." Hans opens his eyes wide at that. After Princess had chased him away, he had decided to return here as quickly as he could, as he was in no way ready to contend with her. He had tried before, at his peak, Dark one knew he had tried. But Princess had reached such heights after Aster''s many lives that Hans decided it would be better to let her exist within her forest rather than risk a reset just to remove her. The presence of Aster''s Sanctuary did not help either. How the man had come upon such an artefact still baffled the Lord Hunter. They had yet to find one for Lodehaunt. "Is... Is it down?" He asks, hopeful and worried all the same. "No, it just flickered, and when it returned... it was different." "Different How? Did ya send some mages to inspect it?" Hans asks in frustration. "We did, the lucky ones simply exploded. The others ripped their own eyes out and screamed of being seen over and over again before we had to kill them. We lost some good men trying to inspect it." Jack deplores. "That new Sanctuary does have a good thing going for it though." "What?" What could this new Sanctuary that killed any that inspected it have going for it? "We can traverse it. One of our scout saw the flicker and attempted to enter. He ended up on the other side without having to go through the forest." Jack declares with glee. "So... the way is open once more. Did Princess grow tired of our invasion attempts? Interesting." Hans muses, "Anything else?" "Well, both the cyborg and the legend entered the forest with Princess as their guide, so we know where they are. We also know they did not exit it yet." Hans made some quick calculations. If he met Astra just after his second week raid, then that means he has been in the Sanctuary for about a day now. His next raid would happen in about four and a half day from now. That would leave him enough time to prepare a little surprise for the little champion. "Princess will evict him when his time comes. Prepare a party to hunt a legend. Tell them to wait AFTER his raid. Tell them The Lord Hunter will open a seat at his table for all of them should they succeed." "Really now? Why not try to support the raid? We done it before." "His presence offenses the Dark Lord greatly." Hans simply says. Jack eyes grow wide in realization. "That Praetor rumor was not just a rumor then." "No, My echo saw its corpse. That was his welcome to the Ezian Planes." "Ah, I''ll get some of our best then. Now should we go announce your return?" "It is time is it not?" Hans agrees, "But let us make the party a short one, I am still far too weak to my liking." "Only you would claim so after returning as strong as you are." With a hearty laugh, Jack leads Hans out of his office. Leaving behind the sketches of Mewtwo as well as a quick one of Astra. Already notes litters both forms. Possible weaknesses, potential strengths. Hidden weapons. One note states the potential for unusual storage, pointing straight at Astra''s left hand. The Hunters are gathering, and soon, their new prey shall fall. Unaware of this, our heroes have finally gathered enough diamonds to advance further toward the making of the marble of many realities. Beyond the Ezian plane, the eyes of gods look down with rapt hunger at what will happen next. And Eziakophael simmers in anger at the duo devious use of the Trio''s gifts. Already he knows what will await them once they exit their little Sanctuary. Chapter 48: Beyond the stack
Endless resources (vegetal version) Tired of going up and down these mines, mining for days and days? Time to begin the the long process of mystical agriculture. Obtain a ''inferium essence'': 458/128 Obtain ''Inferium seeds'': 0/10 Obtain ''Prosperity Essence'': 201/128 Rewards: 400xp; 3 Exp. Candy L, Unlocks ''Sub-chapter: Mystical Agriculture'', Unlocks Mystical Agriculture tutorial section.
Botania (beginner+) Good, the starting point is mana generation, now time to use that mana. Create a ''Runic Altar'': 1/1 Create a ''Rune of Fire'': 0/1 Create a ''Rune of Earth'': 0/1 Create a ''Rune of Air'': 0/1 Create a ''Rune of Water'': 0/1 Create a ''Rune of Mana'': 1/1 Rewards: 500xp; 5 Exp. Candy L, Unlocks ''Sub-chapter: Botanical technology''
Beyond the plane. What, did you think you were going to stay in this boring plane all along? Time to go see what lies beyond the veil. The name ''marble of many realities'' is not just for show. You are going to need many a components from many a reality. Obtain ''Obsidian Block'': 0/14 Rewards: 500xp; 5 Exp. Candy L, Unlocks ''Sub-chapter: the Nether''
Thaumaturgy 101 Ever wondered what the weird glowy crystals all around the caves are for? Did you wonder why they each emit a strange and somehow familiar energy? No? Well time to ask those questions. Obtain ''ANY Vis Crystals'': 6/6 Create ''Salis Mundus'': 0/1 Obtain a ''Bookshelf'': 0/1 Rewards: 500xp; 5 Exp. Candy L, Unlocks Thaumcraft tutorial section, Unlocks ''Sub-chapter: Thaumcraft''
Tinker upgrades You know your tools can be upgraded right? What you mean "uh?" GET UPGRADING! Apply any modifier to any tools: 0/1 Rewards: 300xp; 3 Exp. Candy L
Five new quests. We have unlocked five new quest after a week of work. As the dawn of the of the eighteenth day of our existence rise above us, we finally reach the quota of 64 diamonds. We actually go over, ending with 71. But it is done. The effort it required of us was far greater than we expected. Each trials were the exact same. Eight blazes, ten skeletons, twenty zombies. We went through it seven seven times in total to finally gather the required diamonds. And each times was a close call. The monsters that appear during these trials are imbued with strange strengths, making them faster, stronger and deadlier than the naturally appearing ones. Each times, they did something that surprised us, something they had not done the time before. Each trials felt like a new trial, not matter how similar it was to the previous one. From the trials we got the diamonds, yes, but also a lot of resources in ingot forms, ender pearls when we were lucky, as well as shimmering books. We tried to read them, but they contain nothing but nonsensical runes. The system calls them enchanted books, and each has a different enchantment written beneath. The only damper comes from the fact we cannot apply these enchantments to our gears. For some reasons, any gears made in parts may only be upgraded through the system, and enchantments will only lock every additional functions from my gears. The books have been stored in the cottage for now, maybe we will find a use for them at some point. But now we have our new quests to take care of. The first thing we both notice is that previously made items and structures are still validated. I no longer have the rune of mana, as it is now a band of aura, and the runic altar is still placed in the front yard of the cottage. Seeing this reassures us that, should we need to, we can rush ahead of the quests and unlock something we need at the time. These five new quests however bring some new and interesting future development. The ''tinker upgrades'' makes me scream when I read it. NOW THEY MAKE A QUEST OUT OF IT? ARE THEY SERIOUS?? I let out my rage and then look at the rest. The botania follow-up is the one we are the most interested in. Right now, it is the technology we have advanced the most, as weird as saying that magically making flowers is technology but still. We might continue to develop it further. We read further ahead during our resting periods, and frankly, there is a lot of potential to explore. With Princess endeavors bearing fruits as well, it motivates us to advance further in our botanical researches. However there are two other branches that are of great interest for us as well. The endless resources quest is absolutely appealing. I gave a quick look at what was needed for the inferium seeds and well... seeds and inferium. Of which I have both. So that could be the first path we open. The other, the ''Thaumaturgy 101'' has our curiosity. The crystals have been a great help to Mewtwo in mastering certain moves. the energy contained within have allowed him some grand breakthroughs in his learning of moves, and as such, he is quite eager to learn more about these crystals. Finally, ''Beyond the planes''. It should not have surprised us, yet it did. Another reality. Or plane? Dimension? The Trio seems to mix the terms together so I am unsure.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. But now we need to explore how to make obsidian, or obtain it. For all our explorations of the underground, we have not stumbled upon it once. This quest is therefore relegated to a later time. And so, as we finally exit from the cottage, we come to a decision. We will advance botania first. So let us continue with our flowers endeavor... is what I would like to say. But the moment we look at the required components for the four missing runes, we hit a big problem. We have all the basic materials for the runes of water and earth, and can easily gain the missing components for the rune of air, but the rune of fire requires... nether wart and nether bricks. Boy do I wonder where that could be found. Further more, each require vis crystals of their analog elements. We have them, but using them might stump our attempts at thaumaturgy. We look at each others, unsure as to what to do. "We leave botania for now?" Do we even have a choice? True that, without that nether dimension, we are stuck. That makes two quests that go to the back-burner for now. I will attempt to complete the ''thaumaturgy 101'' quest. I take out the crystals and watch as my friend start to ponder through the dozens of recipes, trying to find the one for salis mundus. On my part, I am thinking of making the inferium seeds and getting that ball rolling. My search is quite fast and the recipe I find appears far easier than I expected. It only requires eight inferium essences to be placed upon a runic altar, then, once they have been irradiated with enough mana, a single seed needs to be placed for the process to finish. I move toward the altar just as Mewtwo does. We look at each other in surprise. "You too?" Indeed, I am in need of mana powder as well, but it is easily made. The recipe is a bit peculiar, but not too difficult. The Trio could have warned us about the need for each crystals to be different. I would have collected more. Mewtwo complains as he sends me the recipe. Indeed, it is quite the strange one.Each crystals keep oscillating between every different types they can be. The recipe also requires mana powder, which can be made from a plethora of different dusts, and a flint, which we have... some of still. I give Mewtwo his missing components and let him go first. He only needs one, while I need ten seeds in total. That makes me realize, I did not take said seeds. I go back in the cottage and rummage through our storage. After a few minutes, I find the barrel of seeds Princess gave us. I take the necessary ten and return outside. Mewtwo is done, and is holding a strange ball of iridescent powder in his psychic hold. I approach and we both look as the powder flows into itself. The quest also recognizes we have made it. even though I have yet to touch it myself. Good to note. Now I just need a bookshelf. "Do you think it would work on the one inside?" The books on it are almost all blank or filled with attempts at writing. They might hold some meaning for Princess, but Aster is rather neutral on them. Then again... "Wait I can make you one with six planks and three books. That might be more economical." I checked to be sure and indeed I have a recipe. We select three books that are empty, and then I assemble the bookshelf. The quest validates and one of the previously greyed out path of chapter two unlocks.
Side chapter: Thaumcraft Well, well, well. Are you ready to reduce existence to its base components? Obtain ''The Thaumonomicon'': 0/1 Rewards: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL
We stare at the quest, then check the tutorial section for Thaumcraft. It''s empty. There is nothing there. Not a single entry is present. What? How do we obtain it then? We do a quick search and find one of the weirdest series of recipes yet. You throw salis mundus at something... and something happens... poof new thing. Whaaaat? We decide to try it. I put down the bookshelf, and Mewtwo let the salis mundus trickle from his psychic hold. As the powder falls upon the bookshelf, it slowly penetrates it, making it shine brighter and brighter. Until all the powder is gone, and with a poof of purple smoke, the bookshelf transmutes into a large tome. The tome floats for a second before impacting upon the ground with a loud thud. Mewtwo physically grabs it and opens it. On the side, I see a new entry appear in the Thaumcraft tutorial section. Upon it are the raving of someone that seems to have gone through the same process as us, although slightly differently. The man speaks of a dream where the method of creating salis mundus were revealed to him, and now that he has followed the instructions of his dream, he realizes there is much he has yet to discover. We read the entry, and look as he seems to want to try using salis mundus upon a crafting table. We nod to each other and I quickly create one. Mewtwo creates a new batch of salis mundus. The moment I put down the crafting table, I realize this might be the first time I have ever done so. To this point I always created them and then turned them into chips. But now I have one before me. It is a cubic construct, on its top is a three by three grid, and on the side are the tools used for its creation. The wood appears as a light brown color, with the top being redder than the rest. I take one of the tools, the pliers, and open them. They may be made of wood, but they work. I inspect the other two tools, the hammer is closer to a wood mallet, and the saw is... well one can only wonder how a wooden saw could cut through anything. And I am not going to try. I would rather have everything in unused condition right now. I also wonder if the crafting table would serve anyone here. With wooden tools, maybe not, but maybe they could slowly expand into new upgraded tools as they progressed? Still that would only apply to humans mostly. Pokemons are their own tools, as Mewtwo has demonstrated. As much as I would like to believe he is an outlier for being linked with me, I feel like many pokemons could do things that a human would need tools for. Mewtwo''s return breaks me from my musings, and without waiting, he sprinkles the table. Once more, with a puff of dark purple smoke, the entire thing transforms. The wood turns to a dark brown hue, almost black, and a green cloth appears on top. The grid pattern is still here, but now a six branch star pentacle is superimposed upon it. At the end of each branches of the star are circles glowing with different light. The tools are moved to a new compartment just above the four legs connecting the upper part of the crafting table to its square base. Because now there is an empty space within it. Why? Why not. Why am I asking questions here? With that done, Mewtwo takes the thaumonomicon again and inspects it. And then shoves it to me. The previous entry is gone. The entire thing rewritten into a new entry detailing our next step. Time to observe. But this will ask for more crystals to make anything else. Indeed, using the table requires vis crystals as well as Vis. Wait... Vis crystals are crystallized aspects of Vis. Oh wow, some unlocking knowledge, it had been a long time since that happened. Also, I am still the center of the quests.
Arcane Complexity You need a special table to interact with Vis, or an attunement. Craft a ''Arcane Attunement Chip'': 0/1 Rewards: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL
Because creating the table was not enough to go forward. The chip is easy though. Just need to take the table and turn it into a chip. But they are thinking of Mewtwo as there is a little side quest for him.
Arcane senses It is not easy to feel a new energy. Try using a focus to hasten your attunement. Obtain a ''Vis Stone'': 0/1 Rewards: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL
A new quest has opened for him. However does one acquire a Vis stone? No idea. Nor do the tutorials seems to know. Even the recipe only shows a pendant with a weird purplish orb on it, but no ways of making it. It appears that is as far as we can go for now. Mewtwo declares with a sigh. He is right. We used all our vis crystals and so cannot advance any further. "Want to see what the endless resources path has in store?" I ask Mewtwo with a smile. Do I now? He cheerfully agrees. We may have reached a temporary dead end with the thaumaturge path, but there is still another one. We return to the runic altar, and I put down the inferium essence. The essence appears as a greenish substance and each time the altar considers I have added on unit of it, it starts to float up. Once I have added all eight, the mana spreader activates, and slowly, the mana diamond embedded in the altar starts to shine. Once we reach the required amount of mana, lightning start to course between each globs of essence. I add a seed and tap the altar with my branch looking wand. The inferium essences all collapses upon the seed, and I am left with a dark green seed. The system confirms it is an inferium essence seed, and so I repeat the process. The next six seeds are made without a problem, but as we start making the eighth, we realize a problem. Between Mewtwo''s and my own usage, we have emptied the mana pool we were using to power the altar. It appears we never switched the target of the current spreader, and as such, never used the mana pool Mewtwo made. The pool is already filling once more. We patiently wait for it to finish our current seed. It takes a good couple of minutes, but it gets there. I put the components for the next one, and let the charging begin again. With nothing else to do, I turn to the modifiers quest. Now what do I want to modify? What would I need? Well I said before that it could be a good idea to harvest the materials as they are and then refine them above, as that would allow for greater haul to be carried, but I need an emerald for that. Of all the things the underground trial gave us, a singular emerald is not one of them. So that is still out of the question. Actually, what sort of modifiers can I put on a pickaxe. Now would be the time to educate myself. While I start reading, Mewtwo keeps an eye on the runic altar. I give him the last seed and enough inferium to make the one remaining once the ongoing on finishes. And read. So... The silky gem is what I would love to do, BUT! No emerald, so no silky gem. Of all the other modifiers, only four catch my interest. Haste, Sharp, Lucky and Reinforced. They are rather self explanatory, as I already though, making a second pickaxe with maxed luck and one with a silky gem will give me the most out of little effort. The Haste modifier I had not really paid any mind, but it seems to allow ones tool to mine or swing faster, or if I were to make a bow, get drawn faster. It requires redstone to apply. Sharp makes your tool sharper, so deadlier, and Reinforced make them harder to damage, meaning less mana needed to maintain my tools durability. Sharp is obtained by applying quartz crystals to the tool, while Reinforced requires Reinforcement plates, which require a gold cast surrounded by eight obsidian. So not for right now. Also, It appears that my armor has similar modifiers applicable. Haste becomes Speedy, still needing redstone, and Reinforced remains Reinforced, still needing reinforcement plates. However there are some other interesting ones. Resistance and then the sub-categories of specific resistances are interesting, each needs their own resistance plates, but they augment how much the armor resists certain types of damages. There are others, but they are more situational right now. Maybe I''ll need them at some point. Mewtwo taps on my shoulder and hand me the two finished inferium seeds. I take them, thanking him, and look at the new sub-chapter. And despair at the literal avalanche of new quests. Oh god, there is a seed for everything. And what the fuck are tiered crystals? Chapter 49: Onboard Agriculture and solo adventuring. I just... We just... Mewtwo is the first to break in hysterical laughter. I am just speechless. This one quest... this singular quest... has unlocked at least a hundred new quests. Most are locked behind higher tier essence, but still. The branches go and go and go, growing more and more branches. so many seeds to make, so many things to create. How does that even work? How do you make the seeds in the first place? Well, that might be what the next quest is for.
The seed of beginning Every seeds start with a single basic one: the prosperity base seed. Make a few, and enjoy the resources Obtain ''Prosperity seeds'': 0/8 Rewards: 300xp; 2 Exp. Candy L
I also check the tutorials to see what else is needed. And oh boy I am starting to understand why botania was the first thing they got us started upon. It seems everything will be linked in some ways to mana. Here for example, we need to first combine a seed with two piles mana powder through the runic altar, first charge the altar with the two piles and then add the seed. After a tap of a wand of the forest, we would obtain a mana-charged seed. That newly obtained seed then needs to be thrown into a flower apothecary containing two prosperity shards. Then we finally get the prosperity seeds. A similar process will be necessary for prosperity ingots and gems. And although any seeds would work for the seed recipe, the ingot and gem will both ask for an iron ingot and a diamond respectively. Yeah I can see how being able to obtain necessary resources from a single plant can be useful. Mewtwo, still laughting at the absurd amount of quests, asks me for the necessary materials to get started. Our store of mana is still less than would be ideal, but we might as well start the process. Especially since the next quest is one that is of great interest for me. As much as being in the magical forest is nice and safe, I know I am still on a time limit. In about a month and a half, we will be forced to exit the Sanctuary to face the horrors of Eziakophael next weekly raid. We could then just return into the Sanctuary and get another seventy days of reprieve, but as the quests reveal themselves, I feel like we are going to need more and more space. As much as Princess has been a -mostly- gracious host. I feel like she might disagree if we were to ask for more space and start expanding our clearing. There is also the risk of attracting the hire of Eziakophael upon the Sanctuary as we grow further technologically speaking. As much as I wish to trust our sponsors, I do not want to gamble the lives of all those taking shelter within the magical forest. The pieces of stories I have heard from both the man named Hans Senah and his echo still play in my mind. The stories of Marble City. If what they said can be trusted, Eziakophael decided that their level of advancement was too far to his liking, and removed them. That is not something I wish to see happen here. However, not having a place to establish myself will be a problem for our long term development. Which is why the quest following the prosperity seeds has me relieved in some ways. the Trio really seems to have though of everything. After an hour of patiently waiting for our endoflames to produce the necessary mana, we finally validate the quest and unlock the next.
Onboard Agriculture Finding the perfect place to settle is not always easy, and without a settlement, resources become harder to maintain. This may help bridge the gap as you travel for your perfect place. Craft a ''bonsai pot chip Tier 1'': 0/1 Rewards: 500xp; 5 Exp. Candy L
Whenever I get a chip, that means a new functionality for my inventory and system, and that one might be the most important one yet. Well... I still need to make it first. And that one asks for a lot of things. First off, a bonsai pot, which in turns ask for terracotta blocks, a flower pot, and inferium farmland. From what I can see, once created, the pot will then ask for a seed and another block of farmland to operate, as well as... water? Wait but then how do I supply it when it''s in my inventory? Oh... Oh that''s what the inferium watering can is for. Wait, it says tier one, does that mean that chip can be upgraded? like the Storage chip? Speaking of chips, I need to turn all my wooden chips into metal equivalent. I am thinking manasteel, in the hope they can regenerate with mana when they get damaged. But back to the current problem. How are they upgraded? The answer is through the tiered essence. Tier two needs a tier one chip, a prudentium farmland block and watering can. Same for the next tiers. I need a farmland block a watering can made with the next tier of essence and chip from the previous tier. It would appear each tiers quadruple the numbers of available slots for growing, as well as speeding up the growing process. Surprisingly, any bonsai pots chips can be upgraded into their next tiers. The need for the previous material gimmick might only apply to the backpack chips. Speaking of, I can upgrade it to diamond tier can I not? Then I should turn it into a chip cast and... Hold on... I just realized something here. Once I make the chip cast... can''t I just... duplicate them? Could I just not have infinite chips? At the cost of material still, but... I could double my inventory space could I not? No, you cannot. Mewtwo answer for me, his tone almost chastising me for thinking such a though. I look at him in curiosity. And a bit of annoyance, It still feels weird to have someone able to read any thoughs you have. But then again, do I have anything to hide form him? As I dwell for a second I realize what annoys me in this situation. I do not really mind his ability to read my thoughs, but if he can do it, who else could? Apologies for the mind reading. Mewtwo snaps me from my inner thoughs. I was curious to know what you were thinking. But to answer your question, You just need to read further into the chip section on the tutorial. I do so and wince, the Trio really did think of everything. Each chips is unique, and only the highest tier one will be applied. There is a blurb of text about how it was attempted to double the reading capacity of the onboard system, but it ended with redundant applications and overflow of the processor memory, leading to either a full system crash in the best case scenario, or complete meltdown due to overheat in the worst scenario. The workaround that was developed consists of ad-don chips, allowing to multiply some chips capacities without risks for the operating system, and only requiring higher energy consumption from the android. I have yet to find a single recipe for ad-don chips Weird, but I guess they are trying to ward me from experimenting too much with my body. I still will mind you! Anyway. I need to make a bonsai pot to start, and I also might just upgrade the inventory chip to diamond. And start the process of turning every chips into manasteel versions. So many things to do, better get to it! As I prepare myself, Mewtwo announces something that, at first leaves me in shock.
I am going back to the underground. Mewtwo announces. Just saying that sentence makes him almost flinch. And Astra reacts in a similar manner. At first, the man is speechless. He looks up to meet his companion eyes, trying to make sure what he has just heard is real. When their eyes meet, Mewtwo almost look away. He resist the urge to do so, and instead nods at Astra. We need more crystals, and I will try to look for obsidian as well.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "I''m coming with you!" Astra declares. No, you have work to do, and I would barely help you as we are now. Instead, continue with this agriculture, see how far you can go. I will be safe, do not worry. The tall psychic mon reassures his partner. Let me try to gather what is needed for us to continue that thaumaturgical path. Astra looks down. And Mewtwo skims through his surface thoughs. Shame, understanding, and fear. Partly one of abandonment, but also more prominently one for his well-being. They have been together for such a short time, yet it feels so much longer. He understand his worries, for similar ones runs through his own head. What if that decision makes Astra decide he can continue without me? Should I really leave him? Will he be alright? Could he defend himself? Yet as much as these worries turn within the tall pokemon head, he knows he has to do it. The Ezian plane is a cruel place, the few days they have spent upon it has been enough for them to realize. Yet he knows he has to do it. Astra has too much to do, too much that needs to be done. He knows what he is looking for, and knows where they can be found, and if he stumble upon obsidian in the process? Then the trip becomes even more beneficial for the two of them. After a couple seconds, the inner conflict within Astra settles. "Be careful out there." He softly says. "Oh and take these, in case you find some unlit passages." He hand Mewtwo dozens of torches. Thank you, be careful as well, do not burn the forest down. Mewtwo half-joke. "Hey! I''m not playing with fire... much." Astra pouts, glancing at both the endoflames and then the smeltery. With a final shared laugh, Mewtwo leaves the cottage behind. He makes his way back to the central tree. And from there, through the labyrinth of roots, to the cave system underground. As he travels, he looks once more at what he has to find. Vis crystals are a priority, but he also wish to find obsidian. The crystals are not too complicated to find. As a matter of facts, there is a large vein of growing Aer crystals just here. As he carefully rips each crystals from the wall, he keeps looking for ways to obtain obsidian. The most obvious is answers is through essence. But for that, one needs obsidian in the first place. Then there is a recipe involving bees, then one with a machine to... wait that one needs obsidian to make something not what he is looking for. Then he stumble upon a couple recipes similar to each others, but requiring a different machine to execute. Add water and lava and obtain obsidian. Then another series where one uses a cold imbued item to freeze lava. This makes Mewtwo curious. As he descend further within the cave complex, he tries to remember where they had found the lava lake. He stops at some points to collect more vis crystals. He once more has his haul float behind him in a large halo. The more crystals he adds, the more rings are added behind him. If a human were to look upon him, he could think of some creature from Hindu mythology. Deeper and deeper he goes. Soon his halos glow with the colors of all six types of Vis crystals. But he has not found the lake again. He still wishes to verify his budding theory, and therefore he continues to explore. He roams through the lit tunnels, going up, going down. Finding shafts that connects to tunnels he has already passed through, stumbling upon an opening to a massive fracture where only its bottom is lit. He leaves a couple of torches on the natural balconies to make sure no monsters can appear. And further he goes. At some point he has to backtrack, as the tunnel he takes delivers him before the barrier of the Sanctuary. He takes his time to observe it with his eyes only, still a bit nauseous at the memory of seeing it through his aura sense. The iridescent barrier is slightly slanted inward where it intersects with the ground. This confirms that the barrier is spherical in shape. It is not something that had Mewtwo fretting, but knowing it seems alleviating in some ways. Still, no lava to be found. For an hour he continues to roam through the lit tunnels, trying to find the place where Astra almost melted down. He does not find it. Instead, he finds a new tunnel, unlit and unexplored. Mewtwo looks at the time, almost midday. He has been down there for at least three hours, yet he still do not feel hungry in the slightest. Resolving himself, he decides to go explore the new opening. He leaves two torches at the entrance, the sign that the tunnel is unsafe and being explored, and ventures within the darkness. Along the dark deepslate, he finds more crystals. He has lost count on how many he now possesses. Two hundred? Three? Maybe four hundred by this point. Still, he feels like this might barely be enough. And so deeper he goes. Along the walls he finds ores ready to be harvested, but leaves them. Astra has collected enough to fill their little storage room to capacity. Iron, aluminium, copper, even gold is ignored. He continues deeper. A large vein of platinum taunts him, but again, they have harvested enough for their current needs. A growl, and a singular zombie exits from a side tunnel. Mewtwo barely pays the monster any minds, killing it in seconds and moving on. They have killed so many, still not enough in Hunt''s eyes. There are quests in Hunt''s part of the Quest log that asks for at least a thousand kill of any monsters to progress to their next steps. They are slowly getting there, but it will take time before they succeed. That seems to thankfully only be for the basic monsters like spiders, skeletons and zombies. They unlocked the quest for endermen, and that one only need a hundred kills for it to complete. Maybe they should try to hunt down enough monsters to see what is beyond this path. They should also try her trial as well. Chaos'' one may have been a horror show, but he somewhat doubt that will be the case with the other two. Or maybe he is wrong? What if they derive amusement from their suffering? That is one dangerous though. Oh Trio they offered an entire community to them. No, they have to be... good... right? Why would they have rescued Hound''s soul? Why help them so much? They may not be good, but they do not appear inherently bad either. How could a god know how their powers affect mortals? Would it even care if the end result favors it? Mewtwo leaves these though for later. When they take on a trial once more. Thinking of trials, he thinks they should do Knowledge first. The description makes it the safest out of the two remaining basic ones. For Hunt... he feels like they will need to prepare more than they have already. As he turns a corner in the tunnel, Mewtwo''s thoughts are interrupted by the strange sight he behold. Before him is a large almost rectangular chamber at the limit between the layers grey stone and dark deepslate. The chamber bisected in half by the Sanctuary barrier. Lichen grows along the walls and water flows through the barrier from an underground river. The sight is mind-boggling. From outside the barrier, the water is almost still. The waves on its surface move so slowly one would swear they are frozen. Yet once the water passes the barrier, it flows like water should. Mewtwo observe the intriguing phenomena for long minutes. They can do that. He wonder as he looks up. They made this work, and Eziakophael may be able to do the same. Yet they use us mortals for a bet. Why? He remembers Chaos answer. ''So that their victory would be much more humiliating'' the member of the Trio had declared. Yet that answer feels incomplete. Why would the Trio need to hide its strength? Indeed... Why are they hiding their supposed ''true strength''? Maybe we should ask this during our next trial. He leaves torches along the wall above the river, and moves on. As he enters yet another tunnel, his head perks up. A distant popping sound echoes along the silent underground. He recognizes this sound. Lava! He accelerates, eager to finally be able to try his theory. Turns after turns, he descends deeper within the bowels of the Ezian plane, until finally, he arrives into a new, massive chamber. A large underground lava lake stands before him. Low arcs of stone makes the entire chamber looks like the interior of a cathedral, half sunken within the lava. More Vis crystals grow along the walls, and ores litter the ceiling. Mewtwo even laugh as he finds a small vein of diamonds. This he collects, for their rarity makes it worth collecting. He collect the vein itself, Astra will extract the diamonds within as he sees fit. But soon he returns his attention to the most important thing for him. The lava lake. Just to be safe, he digs a hole near the entrance to the chamber and dumps his hundreds of crystals within. With a quick manipulation of the rocks around it, he seals them off and turns back to the lake. He start focusing inward. Reaching within himself, he slowly calls upon his energy, and imbues it with the water type. With a little flash, a tiny speck of water appears between his hands. As it grows, he lift it slowly above his head and soon, he is holding a large sphere of chilled water. Satisfied with its size, he lets it fall close to the ashen shore of the lake. The ball explodes in a wave of ice-cold water and sweep across a part of the lake surface. As it does, the lava it touches hiss and hardens into a stone whose dark color is reminiscent of an enderman to Mewtwo for some reason. Black with hints of purple reflections. Mewtwo waits for all the water to finish spreading and evaporating. Once it is done, he psychically grabs the entire slab of newly made hardened lava, and hoist it up. At first, he almost fail, the weight seemingly too much for him. But he perseveres, and slowly, with a wet suction sound, the somewhat triangular slab rises from its super-heated hold. Lava runs along the obsidian, returning to the lake below, and the hole left behind is slowly filled by lava. Waves of lazy molten rock impact against the hardened rocky shore, lifting away the layer of ash from it. Once he is sure the lava is not about to overflow everywhere, Mewtwo settle the slab some distances away from the shore and takes a closer look at it. The material, as stated before, is black purplish in shade, but also reflective somewhat. Slight indentations are visible all over the entire material, giving its surface an rough and uneven texture to the touch. Now can I break it apart to take it back to the surface? Mewtwo asks himself. Making sure the slab is well embedded in the cave floor, he floats to its top. He summon his psychic blade, and slashes at the material. Or at least attempts to. His first strike bounces back from the hard material. Undeterred, Mewtwo pours more strength into his blade. The bright purple psychic aura surrounding his three fingers flares and extends. He slashes again, this time penetrating the material, but stopping half-way through. With a grunt of effort, Mewtwo slowly cuts through an inch at a time. After a minute of efforts, the top of the obsidian triangular slab falls to the ground. The thudding sound it makes echoes throughout the cave. That is some hard materials, almost as hard as Astra''s body currently. He looks down at his hand, and nods to himself. Still, I am sharper now. Mewtwo continue to dice the slab, working slowly but surely. Soon enough, the entire slab rest in cubes and pyramids. Satisfied, Mewtwo levitates every pieces and recover his crystals and diamond ores. As he is about to leave, he wonders how he could mark the way back here. A large redstone vein gives him an idea. Soon enough, Mewtwo is making his way back to the surface, a trail of redstone following his path. Chapter 50: You need training. Mewtwo returns from his solo expedition after a few hours. In this time, I have managed to turn most of my chips into casting molds and then into manasteel chips. The price for a chip is surprisingly low, only a ninth of an ingot per chip. I have already converted most crafting related chips. I have also upgraded the backpack chip to diamond tier and then remade it out of manasteel. I will need to find a way to make one out of diamond to get the next tier, but checking the recipes again seems to suggest a simple coating would suffice. I have also gotten a bit further with the mystical agriculture quests. I have fully unlocked the tier one seeds. Bonsai pot chip is made and already working. It took a good chunk of our resources resources, but inferium production is now ongoing. The current speed is slow, but I have some ways to upgrade it. For now I only have a single slot, but reading through the tutorials for that chip, I have learned that each seed slot has its own accelerator slot, or more exactly slots. I only have one right now, only accepting inferium tier accelerator because It is a tier one chip. However, each subsequent upgrades will unlock a new slot for the next tier of growth accelerators. Finally, while the manasteel was melting, I have tripled the amount of endoflames for faster mana generation. I have also managed to supply a bit more mana to our pool with my band of mana. As I am not damaging either my tools or armor, the mana generated by the band of aura is merely stockpiling, so I decided I might as well use it. While this was happening, I have been preparing the next steps for the actual seed creation. The infusion altar. Similar to the runic altar in function, it is also slightly different in construction. First of, it needs eight pillars named infusion pedestals surrounding it so one can put the items to infuse. Then a single prosperity seed must be placed on the altar. To finally initiate the process, mana has to be supplied. The cost is far lower than most of our previous recipes, but still a good reason to continue expanding the mana generation. I am in the process of finishing the pillars for the altar when Mewtwo enters the clearing. He is a sight to behold. With the a rainbow discs of crystals almost as tall as him rotating behind him, he almost appears godly in some way. The strange black glossy pieces of material held further out do make it a bit menacing. As are the diamond ores held in between. Wait! Wow he found diamond! I had given up on ever finding them naturally. That will be useful later. As Mewtwo approaches, each of the six different colors of crystals begin to fly separately and form neat little piles next to the arcane crafting table. He has gathered so many of them, but will it be enough for all our needs? Mewtwo leaves the diamond ore in its own pile next to the cottage and then approaches with the glossy blocks. And I finally identify them. Obsidian. "Holy Trio you have found obsidian." I whisper. Well... Less found and more made. I... He stops, as if thinking about something. It''s just water and lava... could I... His thoughs are barely audible. Mewtwo frowns as he focuses. A stone rises from the ground, and he splashes it with a stream of flames. The ground below starts to bubble as his mastery of earth makes itself known. The summoned rock slowly melts into a puddle and as it does, Mewtwo then summons a small ball of icy water. With the hiss of dissipating steam, hardened rock is left behind. I look at Mewtwo in confusion, as he does the same to his puddle of hardened lava. Why did it not work? "Uh... you alright Mewtwo?" I question him, still trying to understand what he is attempting. This is a first for him after all. Most of his ideas have worked to this point. He shakes his head and start explaining. Ah, sorry, I had though I had just gotten an idea to obtain as much lava as we would need, and therefore obsidian, but it seems I was mistaken. Still... why did it work down in the cave then? The last part is almost muted, but still he sends it. I try to wrack my brain to understand what he attempted. And as I look at the floating obsidian and then remember his sudden lapse as his idea struck, I get it. "Did you make that obsidian by splashing water on lava?" Yes! Exactly, and I though I could make lava myself. He then tells to me how he discovered it, showing me the different recipes asking for water and lava to make obsidian. As he does so, I also explore those machine recipes, and realize something. If one only looks through obsidian, it would appear the machine only makes obsidian with water and lava, however, that is only half true. the machines are able to make a wide range of stone materials with water and lava, not just obsidian. How does that work? No idea right now, but maybe we will find out when we actually reach such a point of development. Still, we now have enough obsidian to validate the "Beyond the plane." quest.
To the Nether! To get there, make a large rectangular frame and light the inside on fire. Reach the Nether [_] Rewards: 2000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL
"Well... should we?" I am feeling quite exited to discover a new dimension. Although also a bit apprehensive. How much worse will this dimension be? The Ezian plane has not been too kind to us. Mewtwo think for a minute before answering me, and raise an important point. Will the time dilatation effect cross dimensions? "Shit you''re right!" I had not though of that at all. Will the altar protection expend beyond the passage we are going to make? Maybe we should keep advancing what we already can until that Nether dimension becomes absolutely needed for us to continue the quests. Mewtwo proposes. As much as I want to actually go to the nether, maybe he has a point. Rushing there would only expose us to more dangers and risks than might be worth. Right now, us not going only locks out further botania advances. Thaumcraft still has a lot to give us. I do not feel like there is much left to discover for tinker, and the mystical agriculture is going to require time more than anything else. "All right, let''s see what-" Shush! The though is closer to a command, making me stop talking instantly. It has been sometime since Mewtwo imposed his will on me like this. Something has caught his attention. As I look in the direction his narrowing eyes are pointing, I spot something. A shadow flickers between the trees. Someone is coming? Many someones. Mewtwo narrows his eyes. the faint shimmer of blue over them indicates his use of aura sense. And it does not seems to be for a discussion. That surprises me. The only sentient beings here are pokemons, which all obey Princess. Any of them coming to confront us must be aware that they would end up upsetting Princess. So why are they openly coming to us displaying enough hostility that even Mewtwo can sense it? We do not have time to ask that question. A large ball of shadowy matter explodes against Mewtwo''s back, sending him almost into the forest. Before I have time to react, five arrows pierce me almost simultaneously. I stumble forward with each impacts. Once I recover, I turn around and shudder at what I see. Behind us are two pokemons.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. An upright white owl covered in a brown cape with a green hoodie stands on the roof of the cottage. A decidueye. His cape opens, revealing more arrows as well as the cape being his wings. He quickly catches the projectiles and, using one of his hoodie strings, quickly prepare to fire them once more. the second pokemon barely glances at me and rush toward Mewtwo. A spectral creature looking like a floating dress, with its head partly hidden under a pointy hat, a mismagius. Both pokemons by themselves would have been a hard challenge already, considering both are beyond level 350 according to my system, but it is clear they do not intend to let us face them as a team. Arrows are sent, and I barely evade them. Something is impeding my movements. The answer becomes clear when the arrows still stuck in my body wiggle against my auto-repair system. A dark purple aura permeates into them and they start to vibrate, making my movements jittery. I look back toward the decidueye, and catches the ominous purple aura around him as he continues to make sure his arrows remain in my body. He seems somewhat surprised by something however. The wiggling becomes a constant vibration, and still his surprise seems to only rise. I grab one of the arrows, this one sticking out of my belly, and extract it. This seems to shatter the owl concentration, and I quickly remove another arrow. As I am about to remove a third, something heavy smashes on my back, and I fall forward. Before I can even try to move again, something heavy lands on my back and then strikes rain upon my head. Again, and again and again they come, at insane speed. I can feel my cranium giving in and caving with each one. Each impact echoing with a sound of metal against metal. Again, no pain comes from the strikes, only slight annoyance. Although with each strikes, some artefacts and glitches enter my vision. What can I do? My arms are struck, the strikes are too fast for me to attempt a head butt. My legs! But can I even reach my opponent? Could I bend them enough to catch or kick them? Only one way to find out. I first go for a kick, sending my both feet close together. The angle is wrong, and I miss. My kick goes slightly too high, yet the constant striking falters for a second. I may have missed, but I manage to catch them off-guard. I try again, angling my legs in a way I am almost certain would be impossible for a human. Good thing I am not a human. this time I impact on something. Something hard. the strikes are once more disrupted and I can feel the weight on my back move slightly forward. I capitalize on this and try to rise. The weight on my back shift and I push it off. I rise and summon my sword. I turn around and slash, using my momentum to make my strike hit even harder. I realize too late who I am about to strike. The machoke eyes are wide as my blade penetrates his raised arm. The same machoke that escorted me to the arm wrestling contest during the welcome picnic. I am barely able to abort my strike, embedding the blue blade a good three centimeters into his thick arm. However, seeing my hesitation, he strikes without mercy, sending me careening at the steps of the cottage. I rise, ready to strike again, and witness Mewtwo''s own struggle. My tall friend is also fighting against two opponents. the misdreavus peppers him constantly with shadow balls. While an orange punk styled lizard keeps his attention by engaging him in close combat. The dark aura around each of his strikes are enough to indicate the use of dark-type energy. Mewtwo is barely holding on. He seems to keep a constant protective barrier around him to stop the shadow balls while attempting to deflect the scrafty strikes. His body shines white intermittently, and his injuries seems to recover, only for his foes to inflict new ones almost instantly. Before I can even think of doing anything, the machoke charges at me. I ready myself, and half my vision suddenly blinks out. I stumble in surprise, and the machoke strikes. My stomach bends, and breaks. His fist penetrates me, skewers me. Oil and silvery liquid flow freely along the grey pokemon arm. He removes it, and I fall on the ground in a pile of unresponsive limbs. The machoke does nothing more. And I can only watch with my vision half-obscured by strands of my own hair as the second pair quickly overwhelm Mewtwo. His barrier fails, the scrafty manages to paralyze my friend with a thunder wreathed punch, and ghostly flames consume him. He falls on his knees, a silent scream escaping his opened mouth and white out eyes, and then down as unconsciousness takes him. The decidueye jumps off the roof, landing next to me and the machoke. He looks down at me in a mix of awe and horror, then shakes his head toward Mewtwo. The machoke grunts in answer. The misdreavus whispers incoherently and the scrafty nods. The punk lizard then points at me and asks something to the pair surrounding me. They answer with grunts and bird noise, and I can see the machoke shiver from the corner of what I assume is my only remaining eye. The quatuor of pokemons wander around the clearing, looking at our little installations, poking and probing around, but surprisingly not damaging anything. After about twelve minutes, according to my clock, two new pokemon enters the clearing. The quatuor immediately groups together and stand at attention. The pokemon I recognize instantly, the pangoro that I challenged multiple times during the picnic. The large panda looks around the clearing and sighs, shaking his head in the process. When his eyebrow shaded gaze meets mine, he shudders and looks away. I must be quite a mess to look at. Add the fact that I am still alive, and yeah... I can understand their reactions. The second pokemon to enter is one I have seen only in passing. An audino. The plum pink and cream bipedal pokemon with blue eyes, large ears with rolled up extensions beneath, approaches my down friend and douses him in shiny water. I recognize the life dew and am astonished by the volume she is able to pour out of thin air. Mewtwo, however, does not stirs. His skin has returned to his unmarred gray, his tail regaining its healthy purple, but he still remains unconscious. The audino eyes shine and a pulse shoots from her body. Mewtwo''s body shines for a second, and he stirs. His eyes flutter open, and he immediately jumps on his feet. He summons barriers and ready himself for more fighting, but only find peace. Well... defeat more than peace. I am still on the ground and seemingly in a pretty bad shape. Mewtwo notices and sends me a question. What is happening? "nOo IdEa." I croak in a staticky voice, making all pokemon shiver in fear and disgust at the sound. The pangoro regains his composure first and then turns to Mewtwo. He grunts what I can only assume is a request or an order at him. Translation incoming. If I could I would have nodded at him. Instead, I continue to lie down, waiting for my body to recover. Which it is doing. I can actually move again. I am just waiting to see what else they are going to do. "Can he understand me?" The grunts and growls of the pangoro become words in my mind. He can. Mewtwo confirms. "Good, then let me tell you something. You two are DEAD!". He barks out. Mewtwo fists immediately flare with fire. Not yet we are not! He growls and sends back. the pangoro smashes Mewtwo''s head with the flat of his hand before he can even react. "In theory you impulsive brat!" He roars. The fire on Mewtwo''s hand sputters out as he go to hold his head. "This attack was a test, One you have both miserably failed!" The pangoro continues. "After your venture to the sealed temple, her highness asked us, the Forest Defender Force, to keep an eye on you. Each times you went in the temple, you returned extremely battered. This made me question how strong you actually were. I got my answer here, and it''s not strong at all!" The panda pokemon sends us a judgmental glare. "How you survived this long I know not. But her highness trusts you, you" he points at me, "let us break you in pieces for our own curiosity, and you" this time he points at Mewtwo, "are a legend with absurd potential. The fact you have already mastered so many moves is proof of that. HOWEVER! As you are now, you are weak. Legend, you have started in the mastery and diversifying of your moves, but your awareness could use more work. And you, revenant, you have little to no awareness of what your body can do. If you were to set foot outside the confines of the sanctuary as you are now, you would die in less than a week. And it would not even be due to the dark god. The hunters or the league would tear you to pieces. Dark God, even a territorial pokemon old enough would eat you for breakfast." He finishes. "We HaVE oUr owN waYs of GrowiNg strongeR." I reply. "Yeah, Chok tells me you were harder than before." He points at the machoke, then continues "Still you lost, and Owl here managed to bypass that new resistance of yours quite easily. Training yourselves would have made you able to actually put up a fight, rather than the valiant doomed attempt you made." It hurts to hear, but he is right. They did overwhelm us quite easily. The battle must have lasted at most two minutes, maybe three for Mewtwo. They completely got us by surprise and then defeated us without much of a fight. "Which is way starting from tomorrow, you will be training under us. We will be making sure can at least defend yourselves against us." With that, he turns around and starts to leave the clearing, stopping one final time at its edge. "You will come to the east entrance of the palace tomorrow morning at sunrise. Do not be late, or I will send someone to drag you." He warns before quickly disappearing into the forest. His friends, or colleagues, quickly follow. All give me a worried glance before disappearing beneath the trees. For a couple minutes, the clearing is silent. The leaves of the trees rustle gently, the sounds of animals filter from within the forest, and the colorful wisps tinkle quietly. I guess I do not need to pretend anymore then. I get up, with the sound of grinding gears. Okay maybe I am not as fixed as I expected. I also still only have vision through a single eye. Trio you took a beating. Mewtwo sends me with tiredness. "So dID yoU." You still have an arrow piercing your skull. "ThAT woUlD expLaIn thE MisSinG eyE." And your neck. He adds. "ThAt WouLd ExpLain thE vOiCe." Silence returns once more, only cut by the sound of me pulling out the remaining arrows from my body. Mewtwo comes sit under to the porch of the cottage. Once I am done, I join him. We look at the clearing, marveling that the fight did not damage anything. If not for the arrows, no-one would be able to guess the beating we have just taken. "I guess he has a point. We won most of our fight through luck to this point." I whisper. Correct, we always knew we would soon meet something too strong for us. We still have room to grow. Mewtwo adds. He summons the menu, opening both Knowledge and Hunt trials. It might be time to take on another challenge. I nod. "Let''s see what we can learn with the defenders first, then we will take on a trial." Chapter 51: Bootcamp Mewtwo and Astra stay on the porch in silence. Both have much to think about. Once more their resolution have changed. Once more they have been shown they need to concentrate on more than just one piece of the impossible puzzle that is their existence. Try to advance the Trio''s quest, and their fighting capabilities stagnates. But focusing only on their fighting capabilities would leave them with reduced fighting potential. It is one thing to be able to fight someone, it is another to be able to win. This is a secondary concern for Mewtwo, as he could seclude himself and massacre monsters until his level rises enough for him to become unbeatable. Yet, this plan has two major problems. It would leaving Astra to fend for himself. The android growth is too closely related to the quests for him to do as Mewtwo would. And also, as the test by the protectors of the forest has shown, it would be easy for a strong foe to separate, isolate and dispose of one or both of them. He still shudders as he realize that single opening shadow ball had almost ended his fight immediately. If not for his newfound recovery capacities, he would not have lasted as long as he did. Mewtwo does not know what Astra is thinking, but he can guess. His armor did not protect him as he though it would against his assailants, nor did his upgraded body. The arrows went through both skin and plate as if they were piercing paper, and so did the final punch. A pale blue light snaps Mewtwo out of his thoughts. Astra is looking for something within the system. What are you looking for? He asks, curious. "Armor reinforcements. There are ways to strengthen it, but I am trying to decide which ones I want to use." Astra answers as he continue to scrutinize his floating screen. They remain on the porch as the afternoon light slowly shift to evening, and soon night falls. Mewtwo retires himself, and Astra remains.
The night passes quickly, for I spend it like most nights here, working. For all the obsidian Mewtwo has amassed, it turns to be little in front of my needs. Most modifiers that adds resistance require it in their crafts. Along with other things. I was able to upgrade each pieces of my armor with one level of Resistant and one level of Projectile Resistance, using a large amount of both my reserves of iron and newly obtained obsidian. Sixteen blocks of iron is NOT cheap, as are the thirty two blocks of obsidian consumed. I do not even know how much better it will make it, but here is hoping. I have also spent some points in my personal upgrades. I had been accumulating them and it was time to use them. With all the quests and the monsters we massacred during our underground exploring, I had quite a lot ready to be used. And now the sun is soon to rise. The clock tells me it is six in the morning. It is time to wake Mewtwo. As I enter the cottage, I hesitate. Do I wake him gently or... No, The last thing I, or he, would want is for the cottage to be blown up by me startling the extremely powerful psychic type sleeping in it. I gently push open the door to the chamber, and approach my friend. The grey and purple pokemon sleeps on his belly. His cat-like head rest on his thin crossed arm. His long purple tail lazily swipes left and right once every few minutes. He looks at peace. I silently approach him and lower myself next to him. I gently place a hand on his shoulder, and shake him. "Wake up Mewtwo, it''s almost sunrise." I whisper. ''Mrrrweep'' is the answer I get. Mewtwo''s head rise with his large eyes fluttering open. Is it morning already? The thought is slow and lethargic. "Yeah, the sun is about to rise, we should get going." Hrmh. Fine. Do we still have some berries to eat? I shrug in answer. Food is something I have partially stopped caring about. We receive daily baskets of food, each containing bread, meats as well as fruits, berries and water. I have been stockpiling the now excessive offerings for a while now, as they do not spoil once they are put in my inventory. Mewtwo, however, has been guzzling his berries with gusto, leaving few for each morning, if any. Luckily for him, he has left some from yesterday. He quickly gobbles them along with the full content of a water skin and we get on our way. This early in the morning, the forest is rather silent. A haze fills the forest floor, softening the colorful wisps tinkles. Most pokemons and critters are asleep, leaving only the soft rustle of leaves whenever a breeze rises. We still encounter pokemons. Those kin to the night can be seen wandering around. We meet a misdreavus. The purple-blue pokemon, almost a single head floating on top of a short dress greets us happily before continuing on its way. We spot a couple of ghastlies playing among the trees. They do not notice us, or have decided to ignore us, so we leave them be. By far, the most numerous ghosts we meet are the phantumps. The child-like haunted tree-stumps seemingly wander the forest aimlessly during the night. It was quite off-putting at first, but we grew accustomed to it. Sometimes they spot us and wave, before continuing for a destination unknown. Our morning stroll ends before the great tree, as many have before. The machoke that attacked me yesterday, Chok, exits it the moment we arrive. He nods at us and gestures to follow. I do not miss the bandage he now has on his left arm. He spots my gaze and smirk, before launching a serie of jabs at the air with said arm. He does not even wince during his little demonstration. He then says something, that I do not understand. He says he just wants the scar to form nicely. The wound is almost fully healed already. Mewtwo helpfully translates. I nod, still nervous about the fact I could have taken his arm had I not stopped myself. We traverse the tree and exit back to where we had once ended up, the training grounds. Multiple pokemons are already here. The majority are fighting types. But there are others in the mix. I spot numerous of gardevoirs on the side, along with mightyenas, trevenants and a large mass of blue-green vines, a tangrowth. I spot signs of others, but barely have time to recognize them. As we join the group, many send me stares. It would seems my presence here was not as announced as I expected. The large pangoro finally arrives, along with the scrafty, the mismagius and the decidueye that attacked us yesterday. Our machoke guide joins them, and Mewtwo and I are left to wait for the next development. The pangoro sends a glare at Mewtwo, and my tall friend nods. Translation. Is the only thing he sends. "Protectors! Today is a new day to grow!" the panda''s voice fills the entire area. "You all know what to do, but today is a bit special. I am sure all of you have noticed two newcomers to our morning routine." Few turn our way, most have already stared enough. "By order of her highness, these mewling helpless kits are to be turned into roaring gyarados by the end of the week! As such, Blair, you will-" His sentence is interrupted as a beam of yellow light and purple lightning strikes the mismagius. It lasts for a second, but once it clears, the symbol of Hunt now stands atop the ghost-type hat.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The pangoro sends me a glare, and I take a reflexive step back. Why now? Mewtwo sends me in a thought filled with nervousness. "Am I to expect anymore surprises revenant?" The pangoro barks at me. I gulp and shake my head. "Good. I hope for you that is true." He snarls before continuing. "As I was saying. Blair, I want the Legend ready to take on all of us by the end of the week. And I do not mean one on one! Owl, you are taking the revenant. I want him to grow eyes behind his back and to be able to snatch your arrows from the sky. That will be all! Now to work with all of you!" He roars. The assembled pokemons disperse and form new little groups. The decidueye, Owl, and the mismagius, Blair, approach us. Mewtwo goes with the floating ghost, and I follow the bipedal owl. I feel a bit anxious to be once more separated from Mewtwo, but I know he will be fine. He was after his solo spelunking yesterday after all. Owl looks at me with both wonderment and fear. Which I find curious for one meant to be my instructor. He must still remember how broken he left me. We soon leave the training fields and make our way deeper into the forest, quickly reaching its constantly foggy edge. Multiple pokemons have followed us, a few scraggy, a mightyena, and two machops. When we reach the thorn infested edge, we stop. Owl garbles something in pokespeak and I raise an eyebrow before realization strikes me. I am out of Mewtwo''s range for his psychic translation. Shit! Owl cocks his head to the side at my incomprehension. Then he also realize what happened and annoyance creeps on his face. He screech loudly, startling me and the others. After a minute, a large blue bat descend from between the branches. The heart shape hole on its nose takes me by surprise but is a dead giveaway to what pokemon it is, a swoobat. He hoovers before Owl before turning my way and landing awkwardly on my head. The pokemon is still a bat, and would have preferred an upside down perch, but it seems he might need to be close to me. I translator. Goal is to get in safety perimeter, survive for time, get back out. Understood? Exiting bounds sends back to center of training space. Understood? The chopped thought message tells me that yes, he was not the most adept at telepathy. I go for a nod, but stop myself. "Yes" I declare out loud. The swoobat takes off from my head. I return when training over. With that final though, he vanishes within the foggy edge of the forest. With the explanations fully given, Owl the decidueye screech and points at the forest. The thorns and bramble recede and we go in. Almost instantly I lose sight of every other pokemons I enter with. For all I know I have just been teleported. I am alone, in the middle of a dark foggy forest. The sight brings back memories of our first approach of the forest. I look around, but not a single trevenant is visible. Unsure as to what to do, I start wandering. I literally have nothing else to do. The first change happens a couple minutes later. Something shines in the corner of my eyes and before I can react, an arrow made of wood bounces off my helmet. I turn toward its origin, only for another one to impact my back. For the next ten minutes, wooden arrows rain upon me from every sides. Then it stops. All around me, dozens of arrows lay on the ground. I take one, curious, and realize the tip is round. I take a couple others and realize that yes, each arrows are round-tipped, it truly is only training. For the next twenty minutes, nothing happens, then once more, arrows rain upon me. Their directions are random Not one comes from the same angle, or height. Yet as they continue to rain, I remember what the pangoro said. He wants me to snatch them from the air by the end of the week, eh? Let''s see if I can start by dodging them. Sight will not help me here, but maybe sound will. The fog deafens most sounds, but My hearing is far more capable than most. ~-ang~ ~Twang~ ~Twang~ ~Twang~ The sound of the bow firing the arrows is barely noticeable. It is still enough for me to anticipate the possible angle of the arrows. I concentrate, and jump. And avoid an arrow. "Yes!" I exult as I pump my fist in the air. Then three arrows, each from different angles strike me at the same time. My small victory is even shorter as the density of arrows increases tenfold. For the next six hours, the cycle repeats. Ten minutes of getting fired upon, followed by twenty of rest. I try. I try as much as I feel like I can, but I always end up being hit. Not a single arrow misses me after my singular dodge.
Mewtwo looks as Astra goes with the bipedal owl pokemon. Again they are separated. Yet he knows it is for the best once more. They need the training, they need to be able to overcome the horrors and monsters that have yet to come. "Legend, do you know what this means?" the mismagius commanding tone snaps Mewtwo back to his assigned instructor. The mismagius is pointing at the new cat-wolf mark upon her hat. Her expression is a mix of fear and anger. Mewtwo mulls over what happened. He do not know enough about Hunt to be sure, but he is almost certain the message at the very start of his existence was left by the goddess, or fateless. Does Hunt favor him more than Astra? Is it why She chose to bless Blair the mismagius? As the mismagius expression becomes more and more nervous, he decides tell her all he can, which is not much. "I can only tell you that you have been blessed by Hunt. I do not know what it implies or what it will bring you." At least Chaos have the excuse of being whimsical, as shown by his choosing of the young drowzee back at the picnic. For all Mewtwo knew, he just did it to give his and Astra''s speech credence. The mismagius looks at Mewtwo with doubt, before rolling her eyes. "Fine, the future shall tell then. Follow." Together, they join the group of gardevoir. "Ah, so the legend is not as grand as its tale tells." The eldest one declares. She is one that has seen battle numerous times. Her robe is ripped, and almost gone, leaving only a short skirt instead. Her slender legs and arms are covered in pink scars, and both her eyes are white and clouded. She no longer see. "We welcome you, legend, and now we shall test you anew." Before Mewtwo can ask for an explanation, a sudden weight crashes upon his mind. The pressure forces him on his knees. With absurd amounts of efforts, he looks up, back at the blind gardevoir. He expects to see her eyes flaring with psychic powers, but instead the elder pokemon points toward a far younger one. This one is unmarred, his skin pristine, his robe fully grown. His red eyes are ablaze with the blue fire of psychic. He is the one pinning Mewtwo down, and he appears far weaker than the his elder. "Your goal is simple, overcome us, free yourself from our grasp. Once you can do so, we shall move to strengthening your moves." He barely hear the words through the pressure of the young gardevoir power. It feels as if his mind is being clamped down, unable to form coherent thoughts. For long minutes he remains, prostrated before the powerful psychic pokemons. Until something changes. A new sound echoes, directly within his mind. One that should not have happened. A level up. How? He has not consumed candies, nor has he killed any monsters. Curiosity fills him with a newfound strength, and slowly, he starts pushing back against the pressure. Slowly, the tar that seems to fill is brain appears to melt. More and more his thoughts return, clearer, sharper. The pressure is still there, but slowly, he is able to rise against it. Soon he has alleviated enough of it to be able to open his menu screen. And what he sees shatters his concentration. The pressure returns, and his effort are rendered to naught. Yet, as he becomes once more buried beneath the mental pressure, he cannot help but laugh internally. Each seconds he spends under this pressure is one experience point gained. He does not know why this is happening, or how, but he will not question it. For the next hour, he does nothing, only bathing in the pressure. Could he make it his? Could he circumvent it? If so, how? Soon the outside world is gone from his mind. There is only him, and the pressure. It feels familiar in some way. Why? More time passes, inconsequential time. He can feel the pressure, like pushing against a rubber sheet. He can feel himself, confined within this shell of his own self. but what if, once more, he pushed it. Slowly, he pushes back. Once more driven by curiosity. How far can he push? How much can he push? slowly, he expand his awareness of his own self. He reclaims his brain, then his head, his torso, his body. His eyes open, and he rises. And the pressure doubles. And once more he is thrust back within his mind. The pressure is now twofold upon him. No, not really, it is more like a second wall has joined the first, making pushing the first harder. Slowly, he starts to gather his strength, readying himself to push his awareness once more. The next four hours, he does so, yet makes little progress. As suddenly as it appeared, the pressure vanishes, and Mewtwo''s eyes shoot open, seeing once more. He shivers as he registers he is drenched in sweat. A sitrus berry is shoved on his face before he can fully recover. "Eat, legend. You are closer to your tale than we expected. We though you would be unable to overcome young Alkay in a day." The elder gardevoir points at the younger one, also drenched in sweat and eating his own sitrus berry. He waves at Mewtwo with a smile. Mewtwo nods in respect and accepts the berry. It is now midday, and he can see in the distance that Astra is returning. Mewtwo is unsure if his companion noticed the marker they each had at the start is still there. Chapter 52: Training montage We finish our first morning of training exhausted. Physically as for Mewtwo as well as mentally for us both. The forest defenders seems to focus on Mewtwo''s mental capacities for a start, as it seems he should be able to do far more than he is doing right now. As for me, they are trying to hone my reflexes. The following afternoon is spent resting and slowly advancing the main quests while also preparing for ourselves for the next day of training. And as the night comes, Mewtwo decides to go back to sleep, while I continue to advance the mystical agriculture line of quests. And that becomes our new standards for the next week. Morning becomes spent training with the forest defenders, while we use our afternoons to advance our quests. Each morning of training helps us discover more about ourselves. Something neither of us realized we should have done far earlier, but we realize would have been unable to do so without the grace period granted by the Trio Sanctuary. Our bodies are capable of far greater feats than we expected. By the end of the third day, Mewtwo is able to overcome half of the gardevoir coven, while I am able to dodge about thirty percent of the projectiles sent my way. The more we work, the more we realize how shunted our potential is. It is one thing to possess great strength, it is another to be able to use it effectively. Through the task of dodging arrows, I learn to use all five human senses beyond anything I experienced before and even discover more from that have laid dormant within me. I slowly begin to detect Owl, even within the foggy edge of the forest. Even when the fog itself seems to try and hamper my digital senses. At first he is but a different shape in the fog, little more than a trick of the light at first glance, but with each days, that shape sharpens, until I am able to lock on him and follow his absurdly fast movements. This does not help me overcome his onslaught of arrows, but it does help me mitigate it. By day five, I am able to almost consistently choose which arrows should hit me. He changes his method once more after that, mixing real arrows in the volleys of training ones, just so he can confirm my claim. By the end of the week, I am able to discern through noise and speed of approach which arrows are real and which are fake. Mewtwo, on his part, slowly discovers how to shield his mind and even overcome another''s own. Pokemons beyond the Sanctuary only survive by being either fast enough to run, or strong enough to fight back. And not all pokemons are considered equal by the humans outside. Whether it be the League trainers or the Hunters, some types are considered prime targets for materials, partners, experience or all at the same time. Psychics fall into that later case. From what they have seen and what Princess told, psychics drop vast swathe of experience to hunters successful in their hunt, along with materials able to be made into psychic resistant gears, or mind-rending weapons. For the league, pokemons with psychics often become powerhouses able to stop much of their master''s attackers with their minds alone, making them frighteningly effective living shields and weapons to order around. And the easiest way to hunt down a psychic is to overpower his mind. The elder gardevoir relays how some of her scars came from Hunters weapons. Mewtwo felt multiple shivers as she retold the feeling that came with each strikes, a distant melody always followed them, bringing more shivers. Those weapons are parts of the reason her robes never grew back. Yet they also allowed her to grow so much stronger in a a short time. So it came to no surprise that, at the end of the week, with Mewtwo able to consistently overcome the entire gardevoir coven powers all at once, that the elder would unveil one of the very weapons she spoke of. Mewtwo tells me he physically felt the wrongness emanating from the short blade he had been shown. A blade made of translucent grey material shaped like a teardrop with glowing yellow dots within, with sharp white blades on its side and a handle looking more like a tentacle than anything else. A blade that was made from the remains of a malamar. The elder gardevoir, which Mewtwo learned was named Corail, explained to Mewtwo what would be the next step in his training. He would be asked to train his moves while also being, at first, prickled by the knife, then slashed, and finally stabbed. That last part had him worried, but the coven reassured him, they would be making sure he would survive the entire process. After all, each members of the coven had all gone through the same process, and still survived. For me, they would continue to train my reflexes, mostly because they have few ideas on how to actually train me. Few pokemons know how to use tools as weapons. There was a discussion of learning how to fight from Chok the machoke, but I was not made aware of when that would happen. On the quest front, we both managed to advance our self-assigned lines. I did have to unlock the next step by making the arcane attunement chip, but once that was done, most quests that followed were easily cleared by Mewtwo alone. The only thing that chip did for is add six new slots for the six primal vis crystal, while also adding a counter for the local available aura in the air, which allows me to craft recipes that would normally require an arcane workbench. For my side of the quests, I have managed to upgrade my bonsai chip to tier three. The only way to obtain higher tier essence is to combine four of the lower tier with an infusion crystal. The problem comes from the fact that the infusion crystal has a limited amount of uses, and due to its requirement of a diamond, I am already trying to aim for the highest tier of infusion crystals, the master infusion crystal. Once I have it, I will no longer have to bother with crystal durability. Still, that means I need to collect more inferium essence, a lot more of it. And I do mean a lot. The highest tier of essence is called insanium and needs more than a thousand inferium essence just to make a singular one. Still with the bonsai chip, production is ever ongoing, so that is a little plus here. For Mewtwo, with the guidance of both the system and the thaumonomicon, he has advanced enough to begin actual thaumaturgic experiments. He has made a weird lens thing from gold, manasteel and quartz glass that is called a thaumometer. It allows him, and me when he finally let me use it, to see some of the hidden aspects of many a thing we had. Slowly we can see the aspects that make a lot of what we possess. May it be ingots, raw materials, and even ourselves. When I scanned him, I was given knowledge of aspects related to the mind, elemental powers and more, while when he scanned me, he got an onslaught of tool related aspects, along with energy and metal. This tool allowed him to realize how some of our creations work, and that the aspects play some important role in it all. And as he though about it, realizing that we had found crystallized aspects in the form of vis crystal, maybe the aspects could be extracted somehow. This realization lead to the thaumonomicon suggesting dissolving the materials in a special apparatus. Mewtwo though about that for a minute and after scouring our recipes, realized that a cauldron could work. Once the cauldron was made, and following another hint from the thaumonomicon about using salis mundus, Mewtwo created a crucible. The crucible, a large metal pot with arcanic symbol all around its lid, can, with water and heat, dissolve anything thrown within into its base aspect components, which the thaumonomicon calls essentia. Those can then be recrystallized into vis crystals of the corresponding aspect by throwing little slivers of quartz into the boiling. A small worrying part is that each times we do recrystallize the essentia, or we synthesized something, some weird purple smoke is generated. After some more experiments, Mewtwo suddenly declared he was feeling something weird in the air. At the same moment, a little warning appeared on my HUD telling me about something called flux build-up. A new entry consequently appeared within both the thaumonomicon and my tutorial. It explained what the purple smoke, as well as flux are. Flux is what happens when dissolved essentia is released to the atmosphere. It pollutes the local arcanic aura and stops its natural regeneration. The thaumonomicon remains rather sparse and mostly curious as to how this will develop, while the quests give no hindsight into what it is, so... we''ll consider it safe... ish for now.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. However, most of our quest advancement slows down even further when we begin our second week of training. Instead of only the morning, training becomes a full day work. It appears that the new protections offered by the Trio Sanctuary are able to free most of the forest defenders time. So most of our research and advancement stall as we are forced to work on our personal improvements. This time, the routine continues for three weeks, but our improvements are coming faster. That hand to hand training that was in discussion has been confirmed and I have spent my afternoon training with Chok as well as a one-armed mienshao whose name I do not know, and the mienshao does not seem to want it shared. The morning training has become even more arduous, as Owl now mixes live arrows and energy attacks in the dodging training. I no longer have the training wheels, and have to adapt as much as possible to choose which damage to take. Although with each sessions, I feel ever closer to being able to avoid most attacks. In the afternoon, the sessions with Chok and the mienshao often turn into a one sided beating, with me trying desperately to defend myself and them hammering me until my body gives up. Still, with Owl training, I am at least able to dodge their most basic attacks. More and more I learn. As the second week ends, I am able to match the both of them when they hold back, and hold up at least a minute when they go full power. I am also almost able to dodge most of Owl attacks, although I still get hit when he unleash barrages of attacks. For Mewtwo, the second week allows him to develop something he had not really touched on yet. His abilities. Pressure and unnerve, two pokemon abilities that to this point, he had kept mostly shunted, only ever using either once or twice. With a good part of the gardevoir coven having trace, they are able to emulate either abilities to show Mewtwo how it feels and how to react to it. Pressure allows Mewtwo to force his opponents to expand more energy to come after him, while unnerve stops them trying to use items to heal or cure themselves. Mostly berries though, although when he tried it on me later I became unable to even think of eating or drinking, even with either food or drink in my hands. They also begin his training to resist the effects of weapons made to take down psychics. He takes to them surprisingly easily in the eyes of Corail. Neither of us reveal why that is, but we do send a little thank you to Chaos for his trial. When we are alone one night, he reveals to me that the effect is similar to when we gazed upon the god''s eyes, although far more muted than that experience. His training has moved from prickles to slashes almost instantly. Which he easily resists, to the point that Corail decides to forego the supposed adaptation period and moves straight to stabbing. The first time he experiences it, even I hear his scream from within the forest edge. That night I carry him back to the cottage. The spot Corail chose for the first attempt was his left leg, and the pulsing wound left behind made me wince each times I looked at it. Although they did heal it, it still remained inflamed for the entire night, only disappearing in the morning. As this training is supposedly taken by every members of the forest defenders, it makes me wonder how they do it on pokemon of a more frail stature than Mewtwo. In the case of Mewtwo there is a lot of him that is relatively safe to stab, but what about, skinnier pokemons? Do they never move to the stabbing? Is it because it would just instantly kill them? What about more ethereal pokemons ? Do I even want answers to these question? No, I decide, and leave these questions be. While Mewtwo becomes unable to work on the thaumcraft quest-line due to his constant fatigue, I continue to advance those I can. The nether is still left alone, I do not even want to think about it for now, but the mystical agriculture quests are coming along nicely. Thanks to my bonsai pot chip being tier three, I am able to have multiple inferium seeds grow at once. I have also started creating some resources seeds. First on the list were water, dirt, and wood as the easiest I could do, then I made coal, stone, copper and iron as well as nature on top to secure some basic resources. I wanted to make some related to animals, but I need soul jars and a weapon made with soulium metal, which is found in the nether, so that is going to have to wait. We have also started preparing for the trials. We decided that we would do both back to back, so I have started stockpiling food, as well as growing it. Turns out the bonsai chip works for all sorts of seeds, crops and even saplings. So I have slowly been growing our supplies of food. This gives me some peace of mind as it means I will be able to feed both me and Mewtwo when we have to leave the Sanctuary. We have also given a heads-up to Princess about our endeavor. She has started gathering her subjects'' questions and her aide is working overtime trying to assemble them into as few questions as possible. The more we can maximize the knowledge we gain from a single answer, the better. By the end of the third week, we have both learned much about ourselves. While Mewtwo is a legendary pokemon, with abilities that put to shame most pokemons in the Sanctuary, I am a machine with absurd power beneath my skin. As we have worked during these three weeks, we have also been leveling up and upgrading ourselves as I completed as many quests as possible. Mewtwo has finally broached the level one hundred, which immediately catapulted him even further as the achievement for doing so gave him a hundred candy XL. He has been consuming them slowly, to avoid overdosing, but the results are absurd. now beyond level 150, he is able to hold his own against a lot of the members of the forest defenders. For myself, I have been strengthening my defenses, reflexes and my sensors. My development is slower, but the difference is still noticeable. More and more Owl projectiles become easier to see and even predict. As much as the decidueye is trying to be as random as he can, I am starting to see patterns in his attacks. My body is slowly becoming close to impervious to Chok blows, and my reflexes are almost on par to the mienshao. They all seem impressed by my adaptability, and I am as well. When the fourth week starts, we are finally told that the next phase will be joint training. Although the the leader, Ugo the pangoro, expectations were not met as he expected them, he deems us ready to be able to work together. As he knows that us leaving the Sanctuary will be problematic for our raid timer, he organizes little hunting games within the forest edge. Mewtwo and I are dropped in the middle of the foggy barrier and have to return back to the forest. We would be judged by how hurt, tired and weathered we are when we return. The first attempts are only hampered by the forest defenders, and we pass with flying colors. The difficulty ramps up when the defensive lines of the forest are unleashed upon us. The trevenants guarding the edge show us they were merely holding back when we first entered as their true power shine. Each trees become a potential foe, and when the labyrinth made of teleporting walls gets reactivated, and we have to escape somehow while being actively hunted, we start to realize how dangerous the outside could be. And Although we never achieve what Ugo calls an instant death scenario, we still fail more and more as the difficulty ramps up. One time, we spend the entire day trying to navigate the teleportation labyrinth while Owl, Blair and multiple of their subordinates harass us. We get sent back to the start multiple times as we are forced to rush headlong into teleportation walls, and have to avoid our hunters on our way back. Needless to say, that was a fail for us. Another time, we get cornered by Ugo and multiple fighting types, we barely manage to escape and return within the forest, but our potential wounds and tiredness earns us another fail. Where we outside the Sanctuary, such situation could lead to our enemies whittling us down until they could end us. That one was the closest to an instant death scenario we ever came to. However, other times, we shine by our strength and resourcefulness. While Mewtwo can fly, I can build and during one run with the labyrinth, I decide to try a strategy using that very capacity. From beneath my feet, I build a column of stone blocks and then bridge all the way into the forest. Mewtwo floats me down and we pass without a single injury. The next time I try that strategy, flying types harass us and we are forced to defend ourselves. The strategy still somewhat works, but weaknesses quickly show themselves. After the first time, Mewtwo has to dedicate more of his power to defend me as I build, while I am unable to help him back. Also, I am a single step from falling, which may prove fatal in the long run. When Ugo unleash bug types to scale after us, I realize the possible limitations of the method. Yet there is more that could be done, I realize. What about making walls? Marking teleportation spots? Quickly raising defenses against attacks. Hazards, traps, defenses. My builder tool has much to offer. These training sessions last for another three weeks, and by their end, we have learned many survival skills vital to our survival. Mewtwo has also been able advance his thaumaturgic experiments. With his boost in power, and the fact that training stops either once night falls or we manage to complete it three times, we have some days when we can work on our little quests in peace. Mewtwo now sports some fancy goggles when he works, as it allows him to see exactly what is within his crucible at any given moments as well as a pendant which allows him to sense the arcanic aura the air with further clarity. The pendant validates the vis stone quest. However, there is only three days left before the outside the sanctuary, a week will have passed. As such, it is time to do the raids and give the citizens of the Sanctuary some answers. Our first trial shall be knowledge, as Princess has asked for that one first. As much as we have warned her that the answers might be shorts and unhelpful, she still asked for it to be first. And so, as we stand in the throne room of the ruler of the Sanctuary, we activate the knowledge trial. Chapter 53: Trial of Knowledge
First Trial of the Seeker Seek the answer to the problem presented before you. No sustenance shall be needed. Only once you complete the Trial shall you be allowed to leave. Task: Problem solving. Reward: Knowledge for future use, 500xp, 2 XP candy L. [Enter Trial]
Both Mewtwo and myself stand in the throne room, with the Trial window floating before us for all to see. Princess is seated at the edge of her dais, waiting. The forest defenders leader, Ugo, is there along with his four lieutenants. A few citizens have joined the event as well. Some I have seen before, like the clefairy from the first day, as well as the first blessed pokemon of the Sanctuary, the young drowzee girl. But there are many others neither of us have ever seen. The crowd is here to get their answers. Citizens were asked and allowed to submit questions they may have for the Trio. And for the last three weeks, the aide to Princess has compiled them into questions that, should they be answered with details, would allow most citizens to have answers. The zoroark has actually been relaying these questions to Mewtwo for the last several minutes, along with the exact wording that he believes should grant optimal answers. Once Mewtwo finishes repeating these questions back to the aide, the zoroark nods and moves back to the side of Princess. We are ready. Although that trial is said to not necessitate sustenance, we have still prepared. Mewtwo is well rested and ready for anything, while I have a stockpile of food large enough to hold us for weeks, and am actually producing even more as we wait. We nod at each others, and press the [Enter Trial] mention. Before we can blink, the entire room disappears. The root walls and wooden ceiling blink away, and a new harsh white light replaces the soft yellow of the torches, blinding us for a good minute. Once our eyes adapt to the new luminosity, we brace ourselves for horrors beyond our comprehension and maddening sights, but when we finally behold the room, we feel both relief, and slight disappointment. We are standing within an endless space. Our feet rest upon a transparent grid floor extending beyond the horizon. Below the grid, and above our head, is a blue sky, with blue cubes lazily floating around. The cubes are of all size and seems to move without patterns. An unnerving melody plays along the background noise of the place, a grating and repetitive semi-orchestral, semi-electronic tune with slight scratching beneath the notes. -[Greeting chosen ones, and welcome to the Trial of the Seeker. Your choice of order is quite an interesting one. We shall first get the questions out of the way, then I shall explain what this trial entails.]- The voice echoes all around us. Knowledge has come. Yet we do not see him anywhere. -[As much as my brother enjoys the effects he has on others, I consider them detrimental to the task at hand. Now your questions, if you would.]- Alright, so we won''t be seeing him... Not that this changes our plan. "Sir Knowledge..." I start, unsure of myself. this is the first time I am addressing one of our sponsor directly, without it being to answer their questions or comply to their orders. "We have something to propose to you first." -[Address me as Knowledge, no need for any honorific.]- "Thank you, then Knowledge, this proposal we have comes from us on behalf of the citizens of the Sanctuary. After we allowed you, the Trio, to take over, you have manifested yourselves, and proven to those you now protect that you would meddle into their lives. Although from what I have heard, the numbers of blessed is only two. I hope you can understand that some of the citizens were terrified of the previous god they knew about. As such, they also fear you. All of you.." -[We are no gods, merely elevated beings, but you know that already.]- We do, Knowledge, but it will be difficult to convince them, and easier for them to consider you so. However, that will do little to alleviate their concerns. As such, we would propose for us the possibility to ask a third question, devoted solely for them. Mewtwo finishes our explanation. I can feel his awkwardness at addressing directly knowledge. For a long minute, Knowledge is silent. Only the melody fills the empty realm around us. -[Your proposal is bold. And I applaud your courage to try and change the rules we designed.]- I can almost feel the however coming. -[And we are amendable to such change.]- Wait what? -[HOWEVER!]- There it is... Wait am I hearing muffled laughter? -[There will be a few restrictions. First, these questions shall be only for the sole benefit of the denizens of the Sanctuary. Should you try to ask questions that would benefit you more them, these questions shall be either ignored or answered while counting as both third question and one of your own, depending purely on our mood at the time.]- That was... good, we had not really though of using these questions for ourselves, mostly, we had hoped for us to be able to ask more questions on behalf of the Sanctuary citizens. The risk of losing a question in the process is worth taking. -[Second, you may forfeit your own questions to ask one for them. These will not be judged as harshly as the third question will be, but may still be denied if it is judged too personal when it should not be. And third, once you leave the Sanctuary, and until you reach another community that ends up under our yoke, this third question shall be denied. Do you accept these conditions?]- I look and Mewtwo, and he nods. It is mostly what we wished for, although we might need to be careful in what we ask. Looking back toward the cube-filled sky, we declare in unison. "We do." -[Then ask your first question.]- Mewtwo takes a step forward. I wish to forfeit my personal question in favor to one for the citizens. He declares. -[Wish granted. Ask the question.]- Within the information you have given us, you state that should you decide so, a citizen may be blessed. Yet to this day, only two were chosen. The first was chosen, allegedly, for her quick thinking, while the other is still undetermined. What are the actual requirements for someone to be blessed by you? -[Eh...]- Knowledge snorts, surprising us, before clearing his throat. -[Fine, let us clear those pokemons fears and hopes. It is as you have said, should we decide so. There is nothing else to it. As User:Astra has guessed, Chaos blessed blind Yellee because she was the perfect opportunity for a demonstration, while for Blair... well the reason is too personal to go into details. If they wish for requirements, they may be resumed so: impress us by your most mundane actions. Any who go out of their way to earn our attention will most certainly be ignored. We have seen much, consider we have already seen better. We do not seek heroic deeds, grand altruism or blind devotion. Ignore us, and maybe we will find your most unimpressive actions worthy. Next question.]- I take a step forward as well. "Why are you hiding your true strength?" -[Surprising of you to use a question for your own benefit when so many remain to be answered for the citizens.]- "We only stated that we could ask two questions per trials. We came up with the idea of a third question together. They do not know about it, nor do they need to. As much as we promised we would ask questions on their behalf, we still wish to further our own knowledge." -[How cunning. But that justification is only here to appeal to my aspect. I acknowledge the effort. So. Why are we hiding our strength? The answer is simple: to make sure they underestimate us. Final question now.]- Wait, that''s it? that''s your answer? -[Indeed it is. Now ask your final question.]- I grind my teeth at that. Again our question is almost dashed. Who are them? Why do they need to underestimate the Trio? What is the Trio even after? More questions to ask I guess. As Mewtwo is the one who know all the questions, he is the one to ask the final one. What is the complete and exhaustive range of the blessings you may give? -[AH!]- Knowledge exclaims at the question, I can almost imagine a large smile on the face he previously wore. -[Ozo will have this answered when you return. And now for the Trial.]- We do not even have time to dwell on his final answer. Multiple spaces on the grid floor light up and extend into large cube-shaped columns of light. Once the light dims, piles of materials are left behind. Hoppers, redstone components, chests, mystical flowers and saplings, mana spreaders, mana pools, raw materials such as sand, dirt, stone, and ores among the instantly recognizable. The most bizarre is the a of frame cubes made of white lines. It is by far the largest pile. -[Your task is simple. Create an automated mana generator. The test will be considered concluded once the entire process is automated and produces an amount of mana I consider sufficient for its type.]- We both look at the mess of materials littering the ground, speechless. -[The limitations will be that you can only use what is available. No inventory, or equipment will be available to you. You only have the material before you to use. Should you run out, the Trial will start anew, with any progress made wiped. You will be allowed to leave once you complete the task. Until then, you shall remain here, suffering from neither sleep or hunger. Good luck, and may your knowledge expand during your experience]- The first thing I do when he claims neither inventory nor equipment shall be available is to confirm it. And sadly, it is as Knowledge announced. My inventory opens to reveal itself empty, and I realize I have no armor, nor rings on me anymore. No free mana for me. Mewtwo decides to try all of his moves, making sure he can still use them while establishing their potential usefulness. Left with nothing but a grid floor, a featureless blue sky with floating cubes and a massive pile of materials of all sort, we decide to get to it. We fortunately still have access to the tutorial section, and start scouring the lexica botanica in search for a hint or a lead as to how to do so. We have barely started experimenting with botania, the most we did was make sure our endoflames would output the mana they produce into a mana pool. And here we need to produce mana not only automatically, but at an unknown rate? And we are stuck here until we figure out how to do so... Great... I hope Princess won''t be too mad if it takes us days to figure it out. We first take a look at the list of possible generating flora for us to use. Most of the more advanced flowers are out of our reach as we are missing key ingredients to make the runes necessary for their creations. After taking stock of our actual list of material, we only have enough to make four kinds of flowers: the gourmaryllis, the thermalily, the hydroangeas and endoflame. Out of the four, only the endoflames seems like a viable option. A gourmaryllis would ask for as many kinds of foods as possible, of which we have... a very limited amount and no way to obtain more. The seeds we do have will be needed for making flowers. A thermalily needs lava and, if the entry is to be believed, is overall a bad idea for automation. And the hydroangeas seems like a waste when we read its entry. The flower will decay after a set time, making its possible automation even more tedious. Also, we would need a source of water. That narrows it to the endoflame. We need to automate the fueling of the flower, or multiple, to somehow create a fully automated mana generator. Only with endoflames... Mewtwo looks at the entry with curiosity. How do we fuel them? Wood? This feels inefficient. "You''re right here. How do we even bring the wood to them? How is that something that can be done automatically." I turn to the piles of materials, starting to organize everything by types. I am unable to store any materials within my inventory, making me worried that only Mewtwo will be able to create anything. Once I am done, I realize a few things of note. Although the endoflame still appears to be the only viable option, we have access to every colors of mystical flowers. There are also some materials that I am unsure why we have. A pile of pink mix of dust and flakes is the most mysterious to me. The dozens of fishing rods are also up there in therm of mystery. Why do we need so many? And why do we have a melon slices? Astra, come here, I think I have found something. Mewtwo calls me. I return to his side and he presents me with two entries of the lexica. The first one is for lenses. As I look through them, I can start to see what he may be planning. "Okay so... we use mana spreaders, use this bore lens to make the mana beam they shoot able to destroy a tree we grow, then what?" Well... He points me to the second page and adds a third on top, one for a flower, another for something called an open crate. Using this flower, we could get the wood transported to the flowers, allowing for it to be delivered to the endoflames. We need something called a hopper for it to work, but it could allow us to make a space where we grow a tree, then another where we create the mana.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Mewtwo''s plan is sound. Using this method, we could generate mana with partial automation. However, we are looking for full automation. I signal it to Mewtwo, and he nods. True, but we should try to make it work already. We have as many chances as we need. We should experiment. I agree with him. We should experiment. With our first attempt decided, we get to work. We almost instantly stumble upon a road block. A lot of utilities are already ready to be used, such as the floral apothecary, vital to make any sorts of flowers. However... we are still missing a water source for it to work... Wait! I turn to Mewtwo. We have water! Of course we do, did you forget that I have water-type moves?? I nod in shame. I had momentarily forgotten. That still does not the hydroangeas viable, but they could give us a bit of a jump start. And so we begin our work. We prepare the petals, craft our first endoflame- DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! Before we can blink, everything returns to its first state. "What?" Why? Both of us are flabbergasted. We expected a reset, but not at the second we did our first flower! Why did it reset? Clearly we made the trial impossible to complete for some reasons... but how? Mewtwo looks at the piles of materials with me this time. We once more take the needed mystical flowers, a brown, a grey and a red, and try to think why using them got us to a deadlock. We have one of each, which is enough for us to make an endoflame... Oh... "We need more flowers." I realize, and I rummage through the pile of tools, searching for shears I am almost certain to find. Indeed, not two minutes later, I am holding a pair of manasteel shears. "Alright, we did not need to make them at for our current needs, but we need the tall flowers." I say as I go to take some dirt from the large pile of diverse materials. My builder tool activate, surprising me. The feature it wants to use is something I have never used, and might have skimmed through its related entry in the tutorial section. It outlines a cube flashing yellow, half-buried in the pile of soil, with a little dirt cube symbol on it. I validate the action, curious, and the cube fills itself, allowing me to move it as a cohesive block. Once I place it, it almost snaps to the grid floor. And that is when I realize that the entire grid is made of one by one meters cells. The same size that my builder tool operates at. I look at the pile of cubes still waiting to be used, and then back at the floor. I bend down, lowering my left hand on the floor. The edges of the square I touch flash yellow, and I remove a one by one by one meter transparent cube from the floor. Oh Trio the entire floor is editable. Mewtwo realizes. "This should be helpful." I note. Rather than leave the hole empty, I move the dirt block in it, discovering in the process that the floor is actually transparent as sides of the block are visible through floor. I then plant a single brown mystical petal, and Mewtwo makes bone meal from some of the bones we have. He sprinkles it upon the small shimmering mound, and a new plant surges upward, growing as a thick vine-like shoot. Soon after, a second, then third brown flower blooms. We harvest all three, watching as the plant shrivels and disappears once the flowers are gone. I quickly repeat the same process for each flowers, and we are left with small piles of mystical flower petals. Now confident in having overcome the first deadlock, we return to the petal apothecary, and create an endoflame. No announcement comes forth this time, and continue. Now that we have an endoflame, we need livingwood to make the open crate. We also need mana to make our first rune of air, so we can make the flower that will move materials for us, the hopperhock. Another dirt block is moved in the floor, an already built mana spreader is placed above the newly made endoflame, and a mana pool is place before it. I also quickly make a wand of the forest from purple and magenta petals to properly aim the spreader. With that done, we now need to feed our endoflame. And there comes a strange realization. Our plan was for the endoflame to consume wood, but without mana to jump-start everything, we are kind of stuck... We could make hydroangeas and Mewtwo can feed them until we have enough mana, but it still feels like a waste somewhat. What if we grow the tree? "How? Wait, does bone meal works on tree?" Turns out it does. The sapling we plant grows at an exponential rate and a tree truck almost fills the singular dirt block. However, no roots can be seen within the dirt block. Even when I remove every floor cubes around the dirt block, no roots appear. I go as far as to completely remove the block and we are left with a floating tree. "Okay... trials specific physics? Or builder tool physics?" I rhetorically asks Mewtwo as we stare at the floating tree. Hum... would that even help us? "I mean... not really... We still need dirt to plant the tree." After another moments of observation, Mewtwo cuts the tree to pieces and proceeds to feed the logs to our single endoflame. the trickle of mana we obtain is laughable, but still, it is mana. Reassured, we proceed to grow multiple trees until we finally have enough to begin with rune crafting. Which is when we realize we could have just sent the mana directly to the runic altar, we are not trying to store it right now, only prepare for the automation. With a wince, we place a second sapling and grow more and more trees. Until we almost run out of bone meals. DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! Everything we have made vanish, and we return to square one. Again? Mewtwo exclaims angrily. "Okay, the last thing we did was use all the bone meals to get enough mana for a rune... and running out of bone meal stops us from completing the trial..." I summarize. "Can we just wait for a the tree to grow? Mewtwo, could you try to grow the tree faster somehow?" Bone meals are needed for something else... but what? Can Mewtwo accelerate trees growth without our need for our main fertilizer? The answer, as we soon find out, is no. He tries to imbue the sapling with grass type energy at first with energy ball, resulting in the sapling utter destruction, then with life dew, hoping the concentrated life restoring power could be used as a growth accelerator. Neither ideas work, and in the end, we decide to wait. An hour passes, then another, and the sapling remains as it is. We decide to leave it for now and return to the lexica. We must have missed something, we have to. Without the wood, we cannot have enough fuel to make mana, which stops us from making runes which are needed for the flowers to even begin to consider automation. We spend another hour reading through entries, looking at our piles of materials, then looking at the entries again. And we finally find it. We find a few things actually. First, an alternative to the bone meal. Agricarnations. A pretty bright green flower that uses mana to fertilize nearby plants. And bone meal is technically needed to make it, as it requires a rune of spring to make, which in turn requires a rune of fire and a rune of water, and that last rune requires bone meal. That was why we needed at least one piece of bone meal. Another thing we found is the rannuncarpus. A strange flower looking almost like a hand that will place anything it finds close to itself on the surface similar to the one below its roots. So if we were to plant one on a dirt block here, it would instantly try to place anything close to itself on the transparent grid floor as it would be considered as the surface beneath its roots. From these, the beginning of automation is starting to emerge. We use bore lenses to break the wood, have some ways to supply a rannuncarpus with saplings to place a new one on the now supposedly empty slot of dirt and have an agricarnation make the tree grow. Now we just need to figure two things. How do we tell these things to the flowers, and how do we have the fuel to power all of this? For the instruction parts, we have some ideas. Mostly something that neither of us have tried to use yet: redstone. Throughout our reading, we have references to the material multiple times. It appears redstone can produce and interpret signals from many machines and objects. It seems like it should be possible to create some sort of circuits that could read actions and act on it. As the tree has yet to grow, we experiment with our supplies of the stuff. The powder itself is quite inert, and only once we begin putting it in contact with powering parts, does it activates. The first kind of parts we find is a simple button. Simply placing it at the end of a line of redstone powder has the entire thing light up brightly. The same happens when we try with a pressure plate. Even better, as long as the pressure plate is kept pressed, the signal continues. So we can send power to redstone, but what can redstone power? A lot of things it would seem. The main entry for functional flowers such as the hopperhock or the rannuncarpus states that these flowers works as long as they do NOT receive a redstone signal. On the other hand, combining a mana spreader with redstone turns it into a pulse mana spreader, allowing for fine control on when one should fire mana. This might be our main way for automating the tree harvest with the bore lens. Once we do get mana... Automation is figured out, now how do we get the fuel? We look through every entries on the lexica, and come empty. There is a way fuel furnace without the need for fuel, allowing them to operate slightly faster, through the use of an exoflame, but the flower does not makes but it does not fuel an endoflame. With only wood, it appears it would take several logs to break even on the cost of growing the tree, destroying it, and then getting it to the endoflames to repeat the process. We are missing something, we have to be! Let us look into our available materials again, maybe we missed something. Mewtwo proposes. i agree and we once more look through the piles of material. I begin the tedious process of sorting everything once more, aware that any errors would render my efforts moot. It will allow us to see more clearly what we are working with here. After some time, The piles are once more sorted. I begin to list most the things we have, trying to see what could answer our fuel problem. "Okay, so... the nether labelled stuff is for the fire rune... The singular pile of pixie dust exist... We have furnaces, we have wheat, quite an amount of saplings, enough dirt to make multiple plots for the trees... miscellaneous materials that I still am unsure what we need for and ores to make a lot of different runes... mana pools, diluted mana pools, mana spreaders. Far too much redstone dust and contraptions... What is something that seems weird in a list of materials to automate a tree farm to make mana from burning combustibles." Well, the furnaces are a weird addition, as well as the ores... What use to they have? They do not seem to appear in any recipes for the items we need, I would have said the nether bricks to make the fire rune, but we already have them... "The furnaces... Alright, why not, what can we do with furnaces?" We do so. Which of the materials we have could be used in a furnace, and for what purpose? And from that question, we finally find a new piece for our puzzle. No, two pieces! First, another tool for us to further the automation: hoppers. Which explains the iron ores. As we experimented with the redstone, we unlocked a new section of the tutorials centered around redstone circuits and how to use them. And the moment we saw the recipe for hoppers, a new entry became available. An interesting interaction between hoppers and redstone is that, should one get a signal to a hopper, the hopper would lock itself, stopping items from being delivered. So, when combined with an open crate, it would allow us to control items deliveries quite easily. But most importantly, we found a possible solution for the fuel: Charcoal! A coal equivalent made by burning a log of wood in a fire, allowing for more than five times the fuel efficiency. A massive improvement compared to trying to make the farm using solely wood as fuel. Which then clears the reason we have have so much materials for runes of fire. Exoflames! We only need enough charcoal to power the furnaces create the materials for one exoflame, then we only need the charcoal to power the exoflames to continue using the furnaces. Now we just need to design everything. DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! And thus ends our first real attempt. We still need to start the entire process with wood, but somehow, we overused our saplings. DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! Our second attempts goes further, we manage to make charcoal, but then Mewtwo forgets to keep a grey petal to make more tall gray flowers, making us unable to make hopperhocks or more endoflames. DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! This one has us quite frustrated, we had almost finished setting up the auto-harvester. Using lines of mana spreaders, we had made a five mana spreader high looping circuit that should cut enough of the trees for us make enough charcoal for the production to outpace the demand. DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! Okay... something is wrong with the bore lenses. We tried some ways to lessen the need for them, but we still need at least five, and the moment we make the fourth, the trial resets. We end up resetting multiple times because of that. DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! Why do we have pixie dust? That is the last piece of material we have yet to understand the use. Mewtwo is right. The pile of pixie dust... exists. And that is all. There is no mention of what the material is, nor its use anywhere in the tutorial section. Holding it reveals we have enough for it to be considered three units by the system. We look at the possible recipes, and except for maybe sparks augments, which we have no reasons to make as we lack the ability to make sparks, whatever these may even be, the only other one is a lens. A quick skim through the lens section of botania reveals a strange lack of information about it. It is not mentioned, nor is pixie dust. Maybe this is something from outside the botania quest line? It would seem strange considering this trial seems centered around it? "Okay, let''s try to make other lenses, and see what resets us." I propose to Mewtwo. Numerous resets follow, until we find some sort of balance. Three bore lenses, and three warp lenses. Which makes sense considering we had three units of pixie dust. But what use do they have? Three bore lenses is far too little for the wood collection to work efficiently! Mewtwo groans as he looks the purple and glitchy lens over. "Who knows, let''s try to keep going with everything else. Maybe we will stumble upon their use at some point." DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! We had most definitely reached a new record in therms of advancement on this attempt. We had agricarnation, allowing us more mana at the cost of mana. We had tried a possible solution for distribution and collection with the rannuncarpus and hopperhocks. Using pressure plates, we could lock a hopper from distributing more than one sapling to an open crate. this allowed us to make sure only a single sapling was ready for pickup by the rannuncarpus, instead of an ever growing pile that could interfere with the working of the farm in the long term. We still needed to figure out how to manage the eventual overflow, but that should not have been an issue too quickly. We were in the process of preparing the furnaces and the exoflames for the log processing when the reset happened. "Okay what did we overuse this time?" I ask. I think it was the slime? We still had... three or four balls left when the reset struck. "Let''s try it again and figure out if that was it? DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! That was it. we need to keep three slime balls for something else. We put them to the side and get back to our previous state of advancement. DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! "So that worked... until it did not." We had voluntarily stopped this attempt. We were almost there, we could feel it. The bore lenses worked great, destroying tree trunks into logs that would then be picked up by an hopperhock, while the branches would fall all around the now missing trunk. Another hopperhock would then pick those up and sort them in different chests, allowing for the saplings to be returned back to the planting and growing cycle. The logs would end up in a furnace, produce charcoal, and that charcoal would then be distributed to multiple endoflames to produce mana. However, the system quickly backfired in a few places. As the bore lenses would ignore most of the tree branches, destroying a the trunk, and then letting the upper part fall down. It turns out the floating tree was linked to the builder tool. As the falling tree parts would accumulate, it would slow the log collection requiring more mana per trees, or worse fall sideways and stop the rannuncarpus from planting a new sapling, resulting in a tree slot becoming unusable. This would continue until the entire system would run out of mana to sustain itself and stop. We tried multiple things to fix the issue, but as none worked, we decided to just start back from zero. We are missing something. these warp lenses have got to have some sort of use. DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! Okay, what in the Trio do we need pistons for? Knowledge had been generous with his supply of redstone contraptions. After our previous failure, and a few more that followed, we tried the bore lens on different blocks, out of boredom and curiosity. Most blocks got destroyed, rendering them either unusable or in need of repairs. And when we fired upon a piston, we instantly got reset. "Good question." DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! So... Pistons... why do we need them? What can we do with them? We tried to think of some sort of contraption using them to push trees back and forth, which somehow works, but that barely fixed the branch clogging problem. Then we tried pushing the mana spreaders back and forth, which gave some mixed results. One broke, which got us reset. What else can we do with pistons? Can''t really make machines, which appear to be one of their main use, and enchanted books are pretty useless to our situation. We can dip them in a mana pool and get a weird purple brick block called a force relay... Which we have an entry for... Relays piston force through it... Uh uh... DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! THAT''S WHAT THEY''RE USED FOR! Mewtwo exclaims with excitement. We figured it out! The warp lenses! They are the absolute KEY to this trial! "Alright, let''s redesign everything!" I am feeling so excited! DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! "Okay, my bad, I did not expect the sapling reset AGAIN!" DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! I made one too many... DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! DEADLOCK REACHED - RESETTING TRIAL! Deadlocks after deadlocks, we slowly refine the design, until finally, it is done. Three series of three trees, all surrounded with as many agricarnations as we could make. the first two lines of trees have a force relay above them linked to the surface of the next slot in a line until the last tree, at the top of which mana spreader would send the mana to a diluted mana pool with a mana void beneath, removing the slight excess of mana that may be generated by the tree cutting and avoiding a mana clog of the system. Pulse mana spreaders fire once every thirty seconds, which is the average time it takes for all three trees in a line to grow to their full size. Faster wastes too much mana, and slower results in a slight efficiency loss. The need for hovering hourglasses explained the gold ores. Each beam of mana passes through a composite bore-warp lens placed atop each pulse spreader, which explains why we needed to keep three slime balls, it was to make the composite lenses. These beams then hit a yet another force relay placed some distance above the spreaders linked to the surface of the first dirt block on its corresponding line. It goes up any grown tree, destroying its trunk while ignoring still growing saplings. It then continues its way until it either runs out of mana to continue to exist or goes all the way to the diluted mana pool. Every pieces of wood are collected and taken to furnaces operating at a faster rate with the help of a few exoflames surrounding them, and the acquired charcoal is then transported to the endoflames, allowing for mana production and thus fueling the reaction over. the final result is slow but steady mana production. A result that seems to satisfy Knowledge. -[Congratulation chosens, you have managed to conquer this trial. Although you were presented with unknown materials, may it be through research or Pyrrhic experimentation, you made the necessary discoveries that allowed you to overcome. Never forget that many answers are hidden within our system. But also remember to always push the boundaries of what may be possible. You will be sent back to the Ezian plane shortly.]- Knowledge congratulates us, and we reappear within Princess throne room. We stumble slightly at the brutal change, and all eyes are on us. Hast thou fail to enter? Is the first thing Princess asks us. Hold on, what is that sound? Neither of us answer Princess as we are too busy looking at the throne room. It has remained has remained as it was for when we left it, three weeks ago for us. Chapter 54: Hunts Trial The room is unchanged. The crowd is looking at us in confusion. Revenant? Legend? Did thy Trial not allowed you in? Princess asks once more. "No... we..." I try to make sense of everything. "What happened?" Are the thou both alright? Thou both seem shocked. Princess seems slightly concerned at our reaction. Your highness, how... how much time has passed since the moment we touched the Trial screen? Mewtwo asks the florges, then he adds a private thought for me. Astra, the music! None, Legend. thou simply touched the screen, then stumbled back as if slapped. "Your highness... it has been... three weeks since we have been here." I say as I fumble to stop the music player. "We have undergone the trial, and succeeded." Truly? What strange powers those benefactors of thine possess. She says pensively. And what was that strange tune? Were you the one producing it Revenant? "I was... these trials have music playing during their entirety, and once we exit I gain the ability to play it at will, along with others." Time did not move for the Ezian plane. We left for three weeks and it was barely a second here. The same might have happened with Chaos trial, but we were in no state to verify that at the time, nor did it feel like more than a couple of hours... although... did it? Mewtwo sits down on the floor and start to make sounds between laugh and sobs, while holding his head with one hand, and shaking. I gently pat him on the shoulder. Thou appear to still be in shock, maybe postpone thy second trial. We would still wish for the answers thou might have been given. That might be for the best for today. I do not think either of us are in a state to do another one. No, we will do it. Mewtwo declares, rising from the ground. His eyes are slightly red, at the edge of tears, but his expression is determined. He is willing. We will give you all the answers once we return. Before I can even discuss it with him, he has already brought Hunt''s trial window, and touched the [Enter Trial] mention. The room once more vanishes, leaving us in a gloomy forest. Thick dark trees are everywhere, their canopy intertwining and almost completely obscuring the sunlight. There is not a sound, only the silence of the forest. "Mewtwo, we could have waited!" I snap, "Are you sure you''re okay?" I add in concern. No, Astra, I am not okay. These... time manipulation make all the things we go through appear meaningless! He sends me with anger tinged sadness. His expression turns into a scowl. Three weeks! We spent three weeks building this, this, this system and once we are done? Get back home, no proof, no leftovers, only invisible scars! These three weeks happened Astra! And we only have a song and screen to prove it! He breathe heavily, his eyes filled with anger locked on mine, his body tense, almost ready to strike. I have never seen him so angry. Unsure as to what to do, I decide to go with the simplest action I can think of. I hug him. I feel him tense at the sudden contact, but it is brief. Then water falls upon my hair and shoulders, and quiet sobs escapes him. It... I don''t know why... I just... It feels like we are the only one who will ever know what we go through. I saw Princess expression, I saw her thoughs, as well as those of the crowd. It was skepticism. There was nothing else on their minds. Something rustles among the nearby bushes, but neither of us registers it. "I know, I know. We still went through it together. I also feel robbed. It''s okay, Mewtwo, we still did it. We can even remake the entire system when we get all the materials. Or even a lesser version. It''s okay." I pat his back with my fleshier hand, I also feel a bit of disappointment that our experience is not translated to the real world. I... Sorry... He sniffles, I''m OK now. Thank... Thank you Astra. "Don''t apologize, we are both in this together, never forget it! If no-one else will be here for us, we have to be here for each others!" I declare. He smiles, and we free each others. The rustle returns, and this time we both register it. We are still in a trial after all. We look at the origin of the sound, a bush with pointy leaves. We prepare ourselves, ready to react to anything that comes at us. I summon my sword and Mewtwo prepares some psychic moves. And that breaks our concentration. I have my sword. I have my inventory! I have everything! Armor, rings, all the stuff I have yet to use or sort! <^{Of course you do. You will always have equipment on the Ezian plane, and if you don''t, you can make more quickly. No point in penalizing you here.}^> Our attention return to the bush. The warm voice of Hunt did not come from everywhere, like Chaos or Knowledge, only from the bush. A white rabbit with purple streaks going from the tips of its ears to its hind legs appears from the bush. <^{Hi chosen, and welcome to my trial. You know the goal, catch me and you win.}^> We both look at the harmless little rabbit. Its orange eyes peer at us with mischief. Does... that count? Mewtwo asks as he envelop the rabbit in a psychic hold, lifting it from the ground. <^{Hey! Wait! No!!}^> Hunt tries to free herself from Mewtwo''s hold. Her struggle are almost cute to look at, but Mewtwo cut them short as he strengthen his hold, immobilize her. <^{Eh, joking. This one is the template. The one you need to find. It''ll vanish in soon and the real trial will begin. Good luck.}^> "Hey wait, what about the questions?" I demand, surprised they have not come up yet. <^{What''s the point in answering them now if you end up failing? Catch me and I will answer your three questions, with the new limitations you discussed with my love.}^> Hunt''s rabbit form manages to smirk, and then poofs into smoke. Rustling fills the forest, and soon we spot another rabbit in the distance. Then another, and another. Dozens of the critters fill the forest, and we have to find the one that was Hunt. "Okay, how do we do that?" Let''s try to sneak on the closest, and see if it''s her. Mewtwo propose. We look around until we spot the closest rabbit. We both know it is not the one we are looking for, but decide to sneak on it anyway. Or at least we try. The moment we get within ten meters of the animal, its ears shoot up and it turns toward us. He looks at us, and we look at him for an instant, and then it bolts. We try to chase it, but it out-speeds me. Mewtwo manages to catch up with him, but the animal manages to reach a burrow beneath a tree. My psychic friend notices too late, and slams violently on it. His cry of pain echoes throughout the forest. Followed by rabbit chitter sounding almost like laughter. Are they mocking him? I join him only to find him holding his bruised cranium. "You okay?" I ask him. I''ll be, don''t worry. He reassures me. I take out an oran berry anyway and passes it to him. "Here, that might help." He nods in thanks and devour the blue fruit. "Why did you not try telekinesis?"Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I did! It always slipped right through my hold. He reveals. "Shit... Did we get lucky with the example? Or was it because it was an example?" I wonder. Maybe it was because we got it by surprise? Mewtwo adds. "Okay let''s try again. Me or you, we try sneaking on one." We try once more. Slowly approaching another one. Once more, something alerts it, and it bolts away. I think that was you. Mewtwo says. "What do you mean that was me?" I retort. I... am floating... The only sound I make is breathing. Your armor clinks, your body makes a weird whirring sound. I think you are too loud. "I... Okay, then what do I do?" I asks as I am already removing my armor. "It''s not like I have a silent running mode or something..." I check, just to be sure. No I do not. But I could. There is a Silence chip, that is supposed to allow noise cancelling features. I am missing some material for it however. "Well... good luck." I tell Mewtwo as I sit down against a tree. "Not like I can help here." My companion frown at that. And I actually feel like what I have just said is completely wrong. This would not make sense. He says, echoing my own thoughts. "Yeah I''m with you on that one, that felt so wrong to say." I add, making a face. "But what could I do?" Well the trial asks for us to hunt and catch Hunt. It never said anything about her being alive. "And?" You have your entire inventory. Maybe you could make a bow? Like those skeletons monsters, or Owl. I could do reconnaissance, trying to find the right rabbit, and then you shoot it. He proposes. Again, this is Hunt''s trial. If simply coursing and catching was what she wanted, it would be a bit far from an actual hunt don''t you think? I agree with him here. A quick glance tells me I can make a bow, and I swiftly assemble one, along with arrows. I use livingwood for the bow and arrow shaft, spiderweb for the bow string, and a flint and feather to finish the arrow. The resulting bow and arrows are on the weaker side, but I can always improve on it after the trial. I could spend some time remaking another portable smeltery, but I do not think we will need too much firepower to kill a rabbit. While I was doing so, Mewtwo has gone and tried to find Hunt''s rabbit form. He returns after a couple minutes, a bit more worn out than before. They sense my attacks coming. I tried to get one with telekinesis and it dashed before I could hold it. I tried other attacks, and they always dodged them somehow. I cannot do that by myself. So it will be a team effort. I cannot approach the rabbits as they will hear me, and Mewtwo cannot attack the rabbits as they feel his attack coming. We have to work together here. Reaffirming our plan, we get to work. What follows is a long and arduous process of me learning to use a bow, and then hunting some rabbits. What we are looking for is a white rabbit with orange eyes and two lines of purple fur going from its ears to its rear legs. And sadly, there are hundreds of rabbits in this forest. Some are easily eliminated as they are either fully white or the streaks on their back are either the wrong color, or the wrong length, and once we find some that may be right, we stumble upon the next hurdle. Multiple rabbits have the full purple lines, but then it is their eyes that differs. We spend hours. looking through the entire forest to the point we even discover the edges of the trial space. A some point, the forest loops upon itself. The only reason we realize it is because of the map I constantly keep on the upper right corner of my vision. As we were exploring, it suddenly showed that there was nothing in front of us. And when we reach that nothingness, the map slid all the way back to the opposing direction, putting the nothingness at our back. We could have kept going for hours without realizing we were looping through the forest all along. While we look for Hunt, I sometime try to hunt rabbits we know are wrong, so I can familiarize myself with the bow. I get my first kill on the seventeenth rabbit I shoot at. My arrow goes straight through the animal side, immobilizing it. We finish it and collect some materials from it. We obtain its pelt, some meat, and a foot. Each have their own use. Meat can be cooked in multiple ways, the pelts can be made into either leather or accessories. And the foot is a reagent to make luck potions. We also learn of the name of these rabbits: Aura hares. It appears they are able to sense something close to thaumic auras, making them adept at sensing incoming type-energy-based or magic-based attacks of whatever elements they may be. It takes me another few attempts to get my second kill, then I slowly start to become more and more accurate with my use of the bow. Soon enough, I can hit my target every times. Now we just need to find our actual target. Most of the hares either have red or purple eyes. The one we seek has orange eyes. At this point it has to be the only feature that would allow us to distinguish of prey from the rest. More hours are spent, slowly turning into a couple of days. With the Bonsai Pot chip and the Furnace chip, I am able to supply us with food to keep us going, while Mewtwo supplies us with water through either life dew or chilly water. We continue our search, looping multiple times through the arena. We try to avoid killing more rabbits. We only need to hunt down the one, no point in targeting the others. After five days of search, we find it. Alone in a clearing, is our prey. Mewtwo has spotted it from his vantage point just below the canopy, and is silently trailing the animal. Orange eyes, two streaks of purple from ears to hind legs. That''s our query. I signal Mewtwo to meet up some distance away. What? His thoughs are almost whispers. "We should try to cut its escapes. Try to isolate it with walls and pitfalls. Let''s not take any chances." I whisper back. He nods. We tried that method on other rabbits, and used it to gauge their response to Mewtwo using moves. The reactions are as follow: Do it too close, and they consider themselves targets and will flee, do it too far and you risk missing them as they move away naturally. It took us many attempts to find the edge of their detection range. While Mewtwo is busy preparing the isolation barriers, I observe the hare. I am too far for it to hear me, but I can still see it. It remains within the clearing, grazing on mushrooms close to some tree roots. I slowly aim a shot and awaits Mewtwo return. My friend appears a few minutes later, hovering above the hare, and gives me a thumbs up. I let the release the arrow. It flies true, but misses as the rabbit moves away just at the right moment. The arrow thunk against the tree, and startle the rabbit. I ready another arrow, but the rabbit is already running. Mewtwo silently follows it and I follow him by sight and through the map. the moment we get too far from each others, the old marker from the beginning of our journey points us back to each other. After a dozen minutes of chase, the rabbit stops. Thanks to Mewtwo''s walls, we were able to keep it contained. Although it did not fall into any traps Mewtwo laid. Our prey is exhausted. It has stopped next to a small stream and is wildly looking around for us. It only looks around and not up, missing Mewtwo that is still floating above the hare. I climb atop a tree branch some couple meters high to get a better view and aim a new arrow. The moment the hare relaxes and begin to drink to cool off, I let the arrow fly. It strikes the hare in the neck. The poor animal is barely able to let out a high pitched cry, before it collapses. Mewtwo descends upon it and make sure it is truly dead, and then hoist it by the ears. Nice shot! he calls out as I join him. The moment I reach him,the rabbit explodes into smoke, and Hunt speaks once more, this time her voice echoes all around us. <^{Congratulation chosens, you have cleared the trial. Beautiful hunting feats from the both of you. I was afraid one of you would consider himself useless, or that the trial would be too easy, but it appears I was able to make it just difficult enough.}^> Hunt cheerful tone and her exposing her worries leaves us surprised. <^{Yeah I am not that good at designing these trials as my my love and his brother. I prefer direct action. But it appears my first attempt worked great. Well, you won, time for questions!}^> Hunt happily announces. We look at each other, and I gesture for Mewtwo to go first. Why is Knowledge so reluctant about sharing knowledge with us? This was a question we were hesitant to ask, but with the way he answered our questions with the strict minimum while giving more detailed answers for the questions of the citizens, we decided we needed to know if there was a problem between him and us, or something else. <^{Oh crystal, of course you would think that! I am so sorry with how my love has acted with you, but... it is not that he is reluctant to answer your questions. Far from it actually, he adores questions, always have. But... that is part of the problem. He adores questions, so if his answer can spark more questions, you can bet he will give you the most cryptic and convoluted answers possible, just so you may have more questions for him.}^> Hunt cheerfully announces. <^{There is no real limit as to how many trials we may offer you, but there will come a point when you will only take the trials for their rewards, and not to get your questions answered. Knowledge knows that, and wish for you to have as many questions as possible for as long as possible. Ask him more questions, always more questions, until you reach the final question in a long line and then prepare yourselves for a lecture, because he will give you an answer, one that will take a long, long time to be said. Satisfied with that answer?}^> We are. It explains, at least partially, Knowledge''s answers to this point. we always had more questions from his answers. It also reassures that he is does not dislike us or anything of that nature. "I wish to forfeit my question to get one answered for the citizens of the sanctuary." I declare. <^{But of course! Go ahead.}^> "How much protection are you willing to offer in case of an attack, and in the event the Sanctuary shield was to fail?" I relay one of the questions Mewtwo whispers to me. <^{Oh...}^> Hunt tone shift from cheerful to something close to pity. <^{The answer to this is... none. We will not aid the Sanctuary in the events of an attack, we will only collect the deceased souls so that they may be spared from endless hunger of the vermin ruling this world. That will be the extent of our ''help'', if you can even call it that. I am... so sorry but we cannot do more.}^> This has us wince. Ozo expected such an answer and prepared a follow up question. Can this be changed? Is there anything that could be done for you to come to their aid in their time of need? Although these questions should count as two, it is the same question asked twice. <^{Hrm...}^> Although we do not see Hunt, we can almost picture her wriggling as she debates with herself on how to answer. <^{No... not really. With our takeover, the Sanctuary system is a locked, and we have already meddled with it far too much. Little Ezia will not let us meddle anymore without asking for something in return, and it will render our plans moot. So, no. We will only protect the dead from his hunger, that will be the extent of our protection.}^> Hunt concludes in a saddened tone. <^{And that will be the last of your questions. Time to go back chosens, good luck and may your hunts be fruitful!}^> Once more the room shifts and we return to the throne room Princess looks at us, and we look at her. We did not stumble upon our return this time. Are thou done? She asks in her commanding tone. "We are" I answer. And her aide suddenly falls on the ground, his eyes wide, spit foaming at his maw. On his forehead, the symbol of knowledge flashes. Chapter 55: Android studies An audino rushes out of the crowd. We both recognize her as the same one that had come with Ugo after the pangoro''s test. She dashes to the zoroark''s side, her chubby body bouncing with each steps, grim determination etched upon her face. The zoroark convultions are getting worse at this point. his eyes have rolled back inside his head and spit is dribbling along his face. Once the audino begins to inspect the fox pokemon, Princess immediately pesters the nurse pokemon in pokespeak. The audino, at first ignore her leader, but after the insistant asking, she snaps back at the florges, asking something akin to ''Let me work.''. We both observe the situation unsure in what to do or if we actually can do anything. The audino casts Heal pulses after life dew, but results are sparse. After a couple, it seems she is able to lessen the zoroarks tremors if only partially. Princess finally notices Knowledge symbol upon her aide''s forehead and turns to us. She looks at us with a mix of worry and anger, her expression that of arrogant royalty ready to deliver a sentence. What is the meaning of this? What have thy gods done? Mewtwo and I are hesitant, but the thorny vines slowly growing from Princess head bouquet makes us speak. "That might be one of the answers..." I hazard. Explain! Her though are akin to an order, filled with concerns and disdain at my half-answer. "When we asked knowledge for the range of blessing, he told us Ozo would have his answer shortly after our return. If Ozo is indeed the name of your aide, then Knowledge has blessed him with the entire list of all possible blessing they each may gift any of you." I explain before adding in a slighlty somber tone. "It may also be a warning to be careful about what you ask for." Princess scowls at us even more. The thorny vines around her head trash threateningly as she debates what to do. Until she sighs, and the thorns disappear from her vines. Instead, She creates a bed of vines. She slowly and gently moves her aide upon it and then and lets the audino continue her work. Said audino is thankful and redouble her efforts. The convulsions have abated even more, to the point that only small tremors continue to shake the fox pokemon. Fine. It would be unbecoming of royalty to attack a messenger for the sin of their master. What else has thou learn then? Share with us. She orders. We nod and relay what answers both Hunt and Knowledge gave us for the citizens of the Sanctuary. We leave the extra question we kept for ourselves out of the discussion. Many ooh''s and aah''s leave the crowd, as well as a few disappointed growls and hiss. Especially on the part that states the Trio does not care about anyone that tries to impress them. Some ask for clarification, but most answers ends with us repeating ourselves. Once all questions about the answers we got have been resolved, Princess dismisses the onlookers, leaving only me, Mewtwo, Princess, Ozo and the audino within the large throne room. We thank thee for thy collaborations. When will thou take on another such trial? We can both feel that Princess is part eager for more answer, but also concerned for it to turn up like what happened to her aide. "We have not yet looked at the next sets of trials, let us look and we will give you our answer." I say, while Mewtwo summons the newly unlocked trials for our eyes only. Four new trials have been unlocked.
Second Trial of the Hunter: Test your wits and mind. Hunt me down again and claim your prize. Be mindful, not all preys are harmless. Goals: Hunt me, catch me, and remain the predator! Rewards: 1000xp, 5 Exp. Candy XL, the meat of your prey, [Enter Trial]
Second Trial of the Seeker Seek the answer to the problem presented before you. No sustenance shall be needed. Only once you complete the Trial shall you be allowed to leave. Task: Problem solving. Reward: Knowledge for future use, 2000xp, 10 XP candy XL. [Enter Trial]
First Trial of the Historian Witness events of the past, and gleam answers from it. No sustenance shall be needed. You may review this trial as many times as you wish once you complete it. Task: Observation, reflection Reward: Awareness of the world, 2000xp, 5 XP candy XL. [Enter Trial]
Trial of Chaos: Come chat with me. Normal trial here, nothing special, just come have a chat. Reward: More answers, or less, depends on you kids. [Enter Trial]
We take a look at the new possibilities. Hunt asks another hunt from us, but this time the prey might fight back. We feel confident we could do it right now, but might hold out. I still seem to suffer no mental backlash like Mewtwo, but He still needs time to recover, and I am more than okay in letting him rest. Knowledge gives us two new trials, which, upon further investingation, seems to be the new norm for him. Two lines of trials stem from the first one, although they seem to need to be completed in order. We are both curious as to what past events we will be given to witness. and finally Chaos... Chaos gives us the creeps. He is either being absolutely honest and we could spend some free time with him, or it could be the same as last time, and we risk destroying ourselves for potentially unlimited answers. We are definitely shelving this one for now. We take a good look at the trials, then back at Princess. And we answer in unison. "Not for a long time!". If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Princess appears both relieved and disappointed at our answer, but not overly surprised. That is understandable, seeing how thou both returned from thy first trial. Codine, please look them over before they leave. The audino bows her chubby body to the florges and bounces to us. She gestures for us to sit, and gives us a quick once over. At least she does so for Mewtwo. From what he tells me, she asks for him to rest and maybe eat a few razz berries as a supper, to help with mental recuperation. Once she moves on to me however, she seems confused. She scans me with her extensible ear feelers at multiple points of my body, and each times she frowns. She tries a multiple times before asking me somthing. Although once she notices my confused expression at her cute growls, she turns to Mewtwo for help. I am going to translate, it''ll be easier that way. Mewtwo says to the both of us with a sigh. Once Mewtwo give her a go sign, Codine the audino asks her questions once more. "Human, why do you have no heartbeat? Why are you cold as iron? Something makes weird sounds within your torso. Do you know what it could be?" "Err... I am a machine..." I answer. I am surprised she did not catch on that when she came to treat me and Mewtwo last time. Then again, she did not approach me. She tilts her head in incomprehension. "Mewtwo, help me here." Give me your right arm. He asks me with a neutral expression. I comply, and before I can ask him what for, he summons a psychic blade, and cut my forearm in between two pieces of armor. Thanks to his rather impressive growth, the act is now more easily executed. I utter neither a cry nor a sound at the act. Only my facial expression changes as I give him a scandalized look and a silent why. Here, that should give you a good idea of what he is made out. Mewtwo tell the pink and cream pokemon, giving her my freshly cut arm and ignoring my reaction. The audino is equally concerned about my friend cutting my arm, and me not uttering a single sound at the act. She takes the offered limb with a slight reverence and inspects it. Her frown deepens when she looks at the cut side. Carbon wires, electric cables, half of pistons and mechanical parts are visible, all wrapped around two metal bones at the center of the arm. She only gets a about a minute to inspect it before it begins to melt into gray dust. She panics and try to collect it even as it dissolves into finer and finer dust. "Don''t worry, I don''t need it." I reassure her by waving my partially reformed arm. Once more reassured, she observe the phenomena for its entire length, until only my armored gauntlet remains. She then look at the final phases of my right hand regenerating itself. She looks with fascination as cables, mechanical parts and wires rebuilt themselves along metal bones. Once the skin covers everything once again, her eyes sparkle. "Could I get another one? Please?" She asks us in cute voice. I wince, but Mewtwo is already priming his psychic blade. Doctor''s order Astra. He declares igniting his hand with a psychic blade once more and cutting my right hand with smile. You don''t have to enjoy doing that Mewtwo... "Want the left one as well for comparison?" I propose, raising my remaining hand. The audino vigorously nods and Mewtwo shrugs. I sigh, but wait for my right hand to regenerate. I am going to preemptively remove the armor this time. Once both my forearms are nakes, I extend them. Mewtwo cuts my right hand for the third time, but hesitate on the left. He looks at the light blue glass-like parts upon the top of my hand and forearm and asks a question that I should have . Astra, where is your inventory stored? A question I should have asked myself some time ago already. Where is my inventory stored. I never questioned it. I can store materials, tools and all sorts of things in my inventory, but where and how are they actually stored? I know where my chips are, as I my shoulder opens with the slots, but where is my inventory, physically? Is it another chip? Something else? Is it even linked to my body at all? "I have no idea... Hopefully not in my forearm." I joke. What if it is though? Mewtwo stresses. What happens if we destroy it? Yeah I can see his point. "Okay, let''s try anyway, but let me empty it first." I propose. And so, for the next dozen minutes, I proceed to empty the entirety of my inventory, to the bewilderment of all present minus Mewtwo. Each piles of ores, ingots and materials I get out have Princess and Codine''s eyes grow wider and wider. Where did thou find all these things? Princess finally asks, unable to contain her curiosity. Mining, mostly. Mewtwo answers for me. And those are from your own donations. He adds as I start unloading piles of logs after piles of logs. Codine goes to inspect the materials and once more seems confused. "Why do they all look the same? Look your highness, they are completely similar." The audino brings two logs to the florges and the floating mermaid looks in confusion as well. Those are indeed similar. No, those are more than similar, those are the exact same. She concludes. How can this be? That''s a weird quirk of his storage system. Everything gets in different but comes out identical. No idea why or how that works. Sometimes we ga- Ow! I chuck a stone at Mewtwo. Hey! "Remember the village." I hiss, as I continue to unload piles after piles of pebbles. Ah... well... yeah it... harmonizes everything. Mewtwo concludes his explanation. Princess knows I stopped Mewtwo from sharing something, but she does not press further. When I move to the food, she does becomes suspicious once more as the amount easily dwarf what she knows she has gifted us. How did thou come into such amounts of produces? "I can grow more by myself. Recent addition to my arsenal of abilities." I answer. "But those took me about four weeks to accumulate." She nods, satisfied by my answer. That would make thee quite the granary. Something to keep in mind... I shudder at that. It almost sounded like she was ready to sequester me to be a living farm. And to think I just stopped Mewtwo from sharing something similar when I just happily babble about such a dangerous capacity. Mewtwo even sends me an offended glare. Sorry pal, I''m dumb. I finish unloading the inferium essence as well as the other kinds I have grown, and I am finally done. Princess looks at the pile of essences and picks up a handful. We saw someone attempt to cultivate something similar once. They claimed one could make anything out of them... When we returned, his farm had been trampled, and the dark god effigy stood atop his burned house. Was he right Revenant? And did they get punished for it? Will thou also attract the ire of he who looks above? I remain silent. Another case similar to the legend of Marble city. Someone went too far along a path, and was punished for it. "Princess, I think we have both already incurred the Eziakophael wrath." Codine shudders at the mention of the name, "So I might as well dabble in all the forbidden paths I can if they allow me better chances at survival." I declare. "Anyway, my inventory is empty now." I add, and we look at the piles of materials now filling a good tenth of the room. It reminds me of Knowledge trial. "Whenever you are ready Mewtwo." I tell him as I extend my arms. "Ah wait, pass me a pebble or two, that''ll let us know what happens when we damage the storage part if it''s here." Mewtwo nods at that, and floats some pebbles my way. I store them, and he prepares his blade. I extend both my arms once more and he slashes down. Both limbs are neatly cut and caught by Mewtwo''s telekinetic grasp, and we cluster around the audino doctor to see her reaction and what she can glean on my mechanical biology. Codine eagerly takes the two limbs and inspect them. Immediately, she points out some differences. Some I had anticipated, such as the thicker plating on my left arm, as well as the thicker clusters of wires, some looking like glass fiber. She points out how the darker wires are in mirrored positions on each hands, positing that those might be muscle equivalent. What I had not expected, and neither questioned was what was in the projector in my forearm, or on and in my hand for that matter. Mewtwo quickly dissect my left hand under Codine''s request and guidance, and we witness what hides beneath the armor. It is mostly clusters of microchips and tiny wires clustered around the inner projector. Beneath the glass lens are multiple tiny needle linked to each clusters. Those are the parts that must allow me to manifest matter from thin air, as well as dematerialize it. On the more bulbous glass parts on top of my hand as well as the forearm, we find actual printed circuits covering the entire inner parts of the projectors. Beneath the glass, millions of tiny reflective spots cover the inside cover the inner parts. They must be the one that allow for holographic projection visible to everyone. The final thing Codine points out before my arms begin to melt once more is a very specific difference on my right arm. Within it are multiple hollow wires that she declares are almost organic in nature, and seems placed in a similar pattern as blood vessels in a human arm. She asks why I would only have them on my right arm, and I come out empty. I even try to look it up through the tutorial sections, but find nothing. Mewtwo then tells me somthing that he noticed, but is unsure if we should share. These cables seems to be following the tattoo I have on my right arm. I decide to keep this observation to ourselves. As final test, I try to access my inventory, and actually can. The piece I stone I left in is still there, and I can still interact with my inventory, making us conclude the inventory storage is not in my forearm, and that I do not need hands to use my inventory, another thing I only share with Mewtwo. The inventory loccation not being in my arm is aa reassuring realization, but it does not help us narrow its actual location. Once my cut limbs have fully dissolved, Codine asks for another sample. But Princess intervene. As much as we enjoy thy elation at studying such a being, it may be best to let them return to their dwelling today. My aide might also require thy attention soon. As if on cue. The fox pokemon stirs with a groan. The audino rushes to the pokemon''s side, and slowly eases him in a sitting position. Once he opens his eyes, he looks around confused. "Where is everyone?" He asks, and I look at Mewtwo. What? "Did you translate that?" I ask. No? He just said ''where-'' "''Is everyone.'' I understood him." I cut him. Mewtwo looks at me in surprise, then at Ozo. The zoroark mane is sprawled all around him, giving him a mighty look. It would look mightier if not for the confusion in his face as his eyes dart from Princess, to Codine, to us. "What happened? What-" He stops and holds his head in pain. "I... I... I know... so... much... So much." He manages to mutter. "Yeah I understood all of that." I whisper to Mewtwo. The zoroark suddenly jumps to his feet, almost loses his balance, but manages to remain upright. Codine tries to protest at the zoroark actions, but he turns around and meets his queen eyes. "Your highness, I have an answer. I have so many answers!" He exclaims, taking a knee with one clawed hand on the floor. Tis as the revenant and legend stated. Thou has been gifted by our new protectors. Rest my aide, and share thy knowledge once thou feels better. Princess orders. The zoroark looks up, ready to argue, but Princess steely gaze silences him. He bows his head once more, and leave, escorted by Codine. Thou should go as well. Thy help was welcome. Return to thine dwelling. We both bow and, once I collect back my inventory, under the confused gaze of Ozo, we exit as well. Once we are far enough from the throne room, we sigh in relief. Princess may not have pressure as an ability, but sometimes, it feels as if she does. "That was eventful." I comment, breaking our silent ascent to the surface. It was indeed. You have an interesting inner structure. He says, chuckling. "Eh, guess the Trio did give me some pretty good looking internal parts." I joke. We laugh as we return to the surface. We are greeted by the Sanctuary sun at its zenith. Two realizations hits us. Only the morning passed for the Ezian plane, and we have only a day and a half left before we have to exit the Sanctuary for our next raid. "Hey, Mewtwo. Do you want to stay within the Sanctuary once the raid is done?" I ask him. If they let us, I do not see why not. But we will need to expand the space we have. You know that little mana farm might be the smallest one we may have to create. "Yeah, maybe they''ll let us? We did help them quite a lot." We will have ask Princess after the raid. Mewtwo concludes, and I agree. Once we reach the cottage, we sit on the porch, and look at our pitiful set ups. Yes, Knowledge trial gave us access to parts we do not have yet, but it also put in perspective what we could have already done with what we have. "I am going to try and semi-automate the endoflames." I declare. I will return to my experiments tomorrow. Mewtwo says while yawning. Chapter 56: Pollution Mewtwo''s night is not as restful as he hopes. His sleep is plagued by nightmares of buildings collapsing, machines assembled only for them to vanish. When morning rises at last, he is already awake to see it. His mouth tastes dry, his head is lightly throbbing. He concentrates for a minute, and calms his mind. The surge of serenity washes over him, and he slowly gets up. He goes through a couple stretches, both physical and mental, then exit the bedroom. Upon the table in the cottage main room is a small pile of berries, courtesy of Astra. The android may be an airhead sometimes, but he still think of Mewtwo''s well-being as often as he can. Mewtwo quickly devours the lum and chesto berries Astra prepared, then washes them with a swing of water. The berries work fast in dispelling some of the morning tiredness. After splashing a bit of water upon his face, Mewtwo exits the cottage. The morning light blinds him momentarely, but once he regains his vision, he finds the mess of an installation they made in the front yard still present. It actually seems to have grown even more. Astra has been hard at work during the night, and it shows. The biggest changes concerns botania, as Astra said he would work on upgrading their production. And upgrade he has. Where there was once only two endoflames, there is now a couple dozens arranged in a squarish formation. At the center of the square, a two meter pillar rises, with a wooden finish at the top. Mewtwo quickly realizes it is a pressure plate. Above it is an open crate, with a hopper on top. Slabs of cobblestone form an angled path going from the pressure plate to the hopper, and redstone can be seen sprinkled on top of each slabs. A semi-automatic fuel dispenser, similar to one they made during the Trial of Knowledge. The mana storage has also changed a bit. Although it seems to be used yet. New mana pools have been added. A mana spreader sends the endoflames production directly to a mana pool stuck to it, then two more pump mana from that pool to two batches of four mana pools connected with mana splitters. The small meter high tube allow mana to be equally distributed into the four mana pool they are connected to. The system seems ready to be used, but right now, the mana produced by the endoflames is collected into a mana pool on the side, which is then redirected to the runic altar. And observing an ongoing operation atop the altar with his arms crossed, is Astra. Mewtwo''s companion is so engrossed in his work he did not notice Mewtwo''s exit. Morning Astra. Mewtwo gently sends to his friend. Astra perks up at the his friend arrival and greets him back. "Hey Mewtwo, slept we-uuuhh..." He trails off as he turns around. Mewtwo gives his friend a sad smile, certain of what gave Astra pause. Do I look that bad? "Err... yeah, you look like you could use a couple extra hours of sleep." Astra confesses. Mewtwo sighs. He can feel his slight tiredness, even after attempting to alleviate it with berries and moves. But he also know they have little time left. Well... this night could have gone better. But I am not sleeping much more as I am right now. I feel quite rested actually. He only half-lies, he actually feels somewhat rested. "You sure? You don''t really look like it." Astra questions. Mewtwo waves his hand at that. Do not worry, I will be fine. I will take breaks if I need to. He tries to reassure Astra. Astra looks at him with worry, before nodding. "Call me if you need help." The android says before turning back to the altar and swearing. Lightning are erupting from the gem at its center, the runework ready to be completed. Mewtwo smiles at his friend''s worries and makes his way to a less developed corner of the cottage front yard. The Thaumcraft corner. Right now there is little to show for it. Only two apparatuses are present, a crucible that Mewtwo starts heating with a combination of earth power and will-o-wisp as he approaches, and the arcane workbench, a square table with a green tablecloth on top. A six branch star partially encased in three concentric circles decorates the top. At the top of each star branches are bowls where Mewtwo placed vis crystals of the six basic aspects: yellow aer on top, red ignis and green terra on the left, blue aqua and white ordo on the right, and black perditio below. He has already used it to create two thaumometers, an infusedglass pane encased in a hexagonal metlalic frame the size of his palm. The arcane tool allows him to gauge the amount and concentration of aura within the atmosphere, as well as flux. As it has been some times since he did experiments, the levels of flux are almost at zero. Which is good as what he needs to do will release a bit more into the atmosphere. Mewtwo checks the current quest and sigh. It is another list of materials to obtain, although a short one. They are magic tallow, which is mostly used to make candles, alumentum, an longer lasting fuel, nitor, a source of light, and alchemical brass. These can only be obtained through thaumic transmutation in the crucible. And it is not just one of each, the quest requires eight of each of the materials. Mewtwo decides to start with the easiest: the magic tallow, as it only requires a single rotten flesh to be thrown into the crucible while the crucible contains a bit of ignis aspect. the rotten flesh they have loads of, and a single coal will be enough for the eight units of magic tallow needed. Mewtwo fills the crucible with water and then throw a piece of coal in the crucible once the water boils. Once the coal has dissolved, he telekinetically lowers a piece of rotten flesh into the bubbling water. The ignis aspect seeps into the flesh and soon Mewtwo has to adjust his psychic grip as it turns into something closer to goo than a slimy piece of flesh. He inspects the result and is satisfied, as is the system. The line with magic tallow now reads 1 out of 8. Mewtwo repeat the process with seven more pieces of meat before moving to the next item on the list. Now this will require a few more materials. One piece of alumentum requires one piece of coal infused with ignis, potentia and perditio in respective concentrations of ten time for the first two and five for the last aspect. Mewtwo already know he can use a piece of coal to provide the required concentration of ignis and potentia, but the perditio aspect will be trickier. A cube of cobblestone gives one, but it feels a bit excessive to throw away five cubes for only one alumentum. As he reviews the materials he has available, he finds multiple options. He could use a furnace, and cut down on the coal need, but add a bunch of aspects he does not care about, or use sand. One piece of sand would supply the needed amount of perditio aspect needed to make one alumentum. After a small inner debate, he decides to go with the sand option, as he can make the required amount from eight cubes of stone, while using furnaces would have asked for more stone to be used. It takes him some time but he soon achieves his goal. Eight pieces of alumentum ready to be used. Satisfied, he moves on to the last material he can make. Nitor sadly requires something called glowstone dust, which they have yet to find. So only alchemical brass remains. And he is only doing it to get a better feel of how the crucible works. The underground trial has gifted them enough of the material for the line to already be completed. Still, they might run out one day. Also, each times Mewtwo made one of the required materials, he found a new page within the thaumonomicon filled. Right now, there is an entry for alchemical brass, and it seems he needs to create one for the book to acknowledge his advancement. It is more about experiencing the process than simply getting the materials. So he start to look for what he needs to make it. The material that has to be transmuted is a manasteel ingots, and only two aspects are needed within the crucible for the operation: instrumentum and metallum. Metallum is easy: iron ingots. A single one provides enough for almost all eight ingots he would have needed. However instrumentum is trickier. It is mostly derived from tools and some machines they have yet to get. Mewtwo feels like sacrificing tools would be wasteful of materials, but it might be their best and only source right now. Until he finds another option. Arrows, each gives a singular volume of instrumentum, but after all their cave exploring, they have mountains of the stuff. The only details that has Mewtwo hesitating are the plethora of extra aspects that will be brought along the instrumentum. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Mewtwo debates it, but in the end, decides that he might as well go with the easier option. As he goes toward the cottage to retrieve the arrows, he tells Astra his current plan, and the androids nods in agreement. With the amount of monsters there is, five dozens arrows will easily be replaced. Mewtwo returns to his crucible with a tightly held bunch of arrows as well as two iron ingots and eight manasteel ingot. He drops the two iron ingots into the boiling water, and then dumps the entire stack of arrows. Immediately, the arcane cauldron begins to overflow. The water turns a deep purple and starts releasing noxious fumes. Surprised, Mewtwo takes the crucible off the fire, forgetting he could have just cut it off himself. However, as his power touches the crucible, it wavers and warps, and the crucible falls from his grip spilling his contents onto the dirt. More fumes escapes from the spilled liquid and Mewtwo begins to cough. The fit lasts for more than a minute and gets Astra''s attention. When he notices what just happened, he rushes over to his friend and takes him away from the polluted area. As he does so, he warnings pops up in his vision, warning of high concentration of flux in the surrounding area. And seconds later, the ground rumbles. Vines erupts from the ground, shining with green and pink energy. They quickly envelop the area the crucible stood upon and start releasing a greenish and pinkish mist. Before either machine or pokemon can make sense of what is happening, thorny vines entraps them and lifts them up. And soon, a puppet made in the image of Princess the florges emerges from the ground. Dost thou have any clue as to what thou have just done? The imperious mental message crashes upon Astra and Mewtwo with a force they had yet to experience. For the first time since they have entered the sanctuary, Princess is actually angry. And she is making sure to let them know. Astra and Mewtwo attempts to struggle, but the vines only grow thicker and tighter. Of course thou dost not. Thou have yet to read the relevant passage within mine liege journal. Now explain thyselves! What has thou done to bring the Taint to Our Sanctuary? "The taint?" Astra cough up as a vine grows tighter around his neck. Not just a taint, The Taint! Princess stresses the capital T. A vile and ever spreading disease eating this world. Far enough from us right now, but ever growing. Explain thyselves! How did you bring it here? It''s flux! Mewtwo mentally whispers to Astra. She is saying flux is this taint. "Wait, as in, the thing that gets released every time we dissolve something in the crucible?" Astra wheezes. Yes. I just made the crucible overflow, and in my panic spilled everything out. All those dissolved aspects got released in the atmosphere- argh! Thou! Shall! Speak! Princess blazing pink eyes drill into them. Now! The real Princess declares, entering the clearing followed by her aide Ozo, as well as Ugo and the eldest gardevoir. Or they will make you. Princess threatens. "It was an accident! We were experimenting on something and it went wrong!" Astra pleads, trying to scream but his volumes only comes out close to a whisper under Princess'' hold. An accident, thou says? How? I was going to create some new material, but used too much ingredients at once, and caused an overflow. That is what you felt. That is the Taint you claim we have unleashed. It is called flux, and should not... A black tendril pierces the wall of vines. ...be too dangerous. Oh... The gardevoir rushes toward it and her eyes shine with psychic energy. She takes hold of the black glowing tendril and slowly stops its growth. Not too dangerous? NOT TOO DANGEROUS? Thou plays with thing thou do not understand legend. That could spell the doom of our Sanctuary! Princess screams into their mind. I have stabilized it your highness. It should close shortly. The raspy psychic message of the gardevoir reaches all within the clearing, as does the harsh glare she sends Mewtwo and Astra. Thou have my thanks Moonshield. Princess thanks the psychic pokemon, then turns back to the duo. Now thou! Thou are forbidden to touch anything that may have such effect again. Thou will no longer do any experiments down this path should thou wish to remain within Our Sanctuary! And read mine liege seventy-twelfth life! Instruct thyselves. She turns and go for the edge of our little clearing. She stops to give some orders to Ugo, who nods and then she is gone. The vines let Astra and Mewtwo go, and both sports marks all over their body where the vines tighened too much. Mewtwo''s thin arms and thick legs as well as his tail now have rings of bruises all bleeding where the thorns pierced the skin. Moving his appendage makes him wince with pain. Astra''s own are already disappearing, but the bent out metal parts and crushed limbs speak volume of the ease at which Princess could end them, should she ever wish to. the vines surrounding the thaumcraft corner recede, and leave behind a thick wall of pink and green smoke. Only the black tendril pokes out of it. As they are once more alone, Astra takes out his own thaumometer and observes the tendril. Upon this closer inspection, the tendril reveals itself to be a tear in the atmosphere. A tear that seems to connect to another dimension. Unknown stars can be seen shining through. He can see the thick flux smoke through the glass getting absorbed into it. He gives the glass to Mewtwo, and the moment he observes the rift, they both hear a faint scratching sound within the colored smoke. Something new has been added to the thaumonomicon. The smoke created by the vines starts to clear out, slowly absorbed within the rift like the flux, letting them see their little thaumcraft corner once more. It is now ringed with holes. The crucible remains on its side, with the manasteel ingots scattered all around. Although one seems to have transmuted into alchemical brass. The arcane workbench is untouched. Only the rift remains as the single new addition, pulsing slowly. Mewtwo retrieves his discarded thaumometer along with the thaumonomicon and shares with Astra the new entries. And it is as bad as they now know. Flux buildup weakens reality, allowing for dimensional tears to form. Although those tears will suck in the excess flux, they will also cause damages and negative afflictions to all around them. Just like this one effortlessly pierced through Princess vines, they are able to destroy anything they may come across, and will grow as long as there is flux present. Astra winces as he read it, and Mewtwo groan in frustration. The android then takes out Aster''s journal and start reading the seventy-twelfth life, finding the relevant passage rather fast.
Life 72 Day 5664 Today was weird. We have stumbled upon a strange and warped land. One we have never encountered before. We were still following the instructions from the last village, as the inhabitants claimed the abductee with a plan to cross dimensions back to his own was further west of them. This possibility might end shortly now. The land is foul, tainted. Purple veins grow along dirt, while deeper in, the very dirt is turned into something closer to purple flesh than soil. We can see noxious fumes coming from beyond the tainted hills. Hound is anxious at the smell, Knight and Paladin both swear they can feel the aura in the air is warped and dangerous, and Princess refuses to carry on, although I am certain I can convince her. We will attempt to explore into these strange lands tomorrow. Maybe we can find a clue about this abductee. Life 72 Day 5675 Once more we write for our liege. Once more our liege has perished. We should never have entered these lands. Our liege tried to explore the tainted hellscape, but as after three days of exploration, we discovered our rations rotten, and our liege afflicted by a horrific disease. We tried to backtrack yet that decision came too late. Our liege slowly became consumed by the very ground he stood upon. Before we could exit, he crumbled in piles of wastes and tainted flesh. We are on our way back to his arrival point now. It will take us seven more days until we arrive, thanks to Paladin''s psychic prowess. Let us never return here. Let us never attemtp to go through these tainted lands again. IMPORTANT READ LIFE 89 Day 3554 for follow-up! Get the info to others! It is vital as many people know! Aster - life 96
Mewtwo and Astra raise an eyebrow at the note at the end of yet another life and they go the the referenced life.
Life 89 Day 3554 I died there once. And yet I am glad I have returned. We have once more reached the tainted lands, however we have done so far sooner than last time. We were once more directed toward that supposed dimension hopping abductee, only to end up going the same way we had once done. However, I know for a fact we should have had to travel another week south-south-west and reached a village beyond which the tainted lands should have been. Princess is terrified of the implications, while the rest are capital we DO NOT venture into the tainted land. As I have already died a gruesome death within once, so I can only agree with them. Tomorrow we will turn back and look for another lead to get home. It IS growing. We found it again, closer than before. Everyone needs to know! Even the hunters! We have to warn the other abductees. If the Taint reaches the Arrival plain, it would be catastrophic!
They read the last line, the warning, and pale at the realization. They look at the rift, distant and warped skies visible beyond, and wonder how close they were to unleash something similar upon the Sanctuary. If Princess claims that what they did felt similar enough to what she saw so far away, and with the notes within Aster''s journal and the thaumonomicon entries, there is a very distinct possibility that the Taint was caused by an overzealous thaumaturge. Yet, even as that realization strikes, they know they have to keep going. And that makes them come to a single conclusion. Astra is the one that says it out loud. "We can''t stay in Sanctuary." Chapter 57: The Heavenly Challenger We knew it would have to happen. The uncertainty from creating a portal to the nether within the Sanctuary, our ever growing need for more materials, the actual need for exploration, all atop the risks of unleashing a raid. We knew that we would have to leave the Sanctuary at some point. We had though we would be able to stay a little longer after our next raid. As much as the need to explore the nether has us stuck for the quests completions, there were still a few things we could have done, if only to increase our current equipment and abilities. Sadly, our last venture showed us how dangerous we could be for our hosts. And so, we would have to leave. We cannot stop advancing the quests. Our very existence is linked to them. We have to continue, we have to advance further. We will need to continue with the thaumaturgic experiments, and even if we were to be careful, we will still produce flux. So we come to a decision: we will leave. We still have an entire day, and we dedicate it to preparations. I gather as many seeds, berries and a saplings as I can. The seeds will allow for a varied diet, which will be useful for me and beneficial for Mewtwo, as will the berries will be. As I can grow them with the bonsai pot chip, I only need one to grow more. Mewtwo goes back to the caves to gather as much resources as he can. With his speed, he is able to cover much more ground than me. He also challenges Eziakophael one last time, easily emerging victorious. The Forest Defenders training did make us grow. I also collect every installations we have made, giving Mewtwo an apology as I collect his handmade ones. As I had suspected, getting them back out has them normalized, no longer unique but similar to one I would have made. We also sacrifice some diamonds to collect all the remaining mana within our mana pools by crafting mana tablets. The final tally is not much, as I only fill one and a half mana tablet, but still, it will give us a jump start in the wild if needed. I also still have my band of mana passively fill with my band of aura, so I always have some mana on me. Although it might get low quickly if I overuse my manasteel equipment and tools a bit too much. At the end of the afternoon, we go to the great tree to inform Princess of our decision. She is appalled at first, and try to have us stay, even becoming almost hostile when we bring up the subject of flux and our need to advance the quests. Yet in the end, she relents. I can see she still sees her old master in me, and within me, yet through the weeks we has spent within the Sanctuary, she has made her peace with her master final passing. Now she will only carry on his legacy, and protect those that would be abused by the horrors of this reality, may they be gods, monsters or humans. We thank her, for her hospitality, her understanding, and her generosity. Before we go, she asks one final thing from us, to go and assist the team she has working on her own botania set-up. We agree, and spend our final night working with the drowzee girl, Yellee, and a bunch of grass and fighting types into the intricacies of early botania development. I let them study some of the constructs they need to assemble, and share most of what we learned during the Trial of Knowledge. We return for our final night in the cottage late that night. Mewtwo rest soundly, and I finish rearranging as many things as we have displaced. When morning approaches, scratching sounds from the door gets my attention, and I open it only to be confronted by an army of green spiders. I observe them, as they observe me. Then a couple come forward and give me a pile of what I first assume to be balls of yarn. A quick glance through the WAYLA system tells me they are actually balls of high quality silk. Surprised, I thank them, and collect the gift. They thank me as well, and quickly disperse. Once I turn around, I realize the gang of spinaraks did not leave without a final prank, as slam head first into thick cobweb, getting myself fully entangled in it. As I sputter web out of my mouth and try to remain upright, I can hear the spinaraks chittering laughter echo among the trees. I smile, and collect the web for future use. The night passes, the sun rises, and Mewtwo awakes. We know we have to exit before noon or risk unleashing Eziakophael next raid within the Sanctuary, so we take a hearty breakfast, and make our final preparations. Armor? Check. Weapons? Check, I even made a new bow as well as arrows during the night. Supplies? Check, food is getting produced. All chips are made of manasteel and will repair themselves with mana. I have enough cobblestone blocks to make walls, stairs and bridges. Mewtwo is fully rested and ready to unleash hell on anyone or anything that got thrown at us. We are ready. We take a final tour of the cottage, leaving it almost as we have found it, and find something we had never noticed before. Behind it, on the wall, are seven signatures carved into the wood. Mewtwo and I look at each other, and nod. We both gently etch our own names upon the cottage. And finally, we leave the clearing, and make our way to the forest eastern edge. Why the eastern edge? Well supposedly, going south would have us go straight into League territories, north would deliver us upon the Hunters, and west would only have us backtrack toward Arrival plain, which would be a bad idea as going further west from the plain would have us reach the Taint. So our only safe way forward is east. Princess also indicates that, should we travel duly east for long enough, we would reach an ocean. The same ocean Aster sailed during his last life. The ocean where the island that once hosted Marble City is located. Although she does warns us that this could take us months of travel. Again someone mentions Marble City. We have heard of it multiple times, and it is the last goal Aster attempted to reach. All those that uttered the name also claimed it was destroyed, that its advancements lead to its downfall, yet, the more we hear about it, the more we feel drawn to it. For me, it is Aster''s remnants that wish to see how close he had been, for Mewtwo, it is the curiosity of seeing if any traces of the city''s advancements remains. As we near the foggy edge of the forest, we see Princess and her court are here to see us off. The florges thanks us once more for our aid in allowing her to truly own the Sanctuary. She also wishes us safe travel, even volunteering the forest defenders aid for our oncoming raid. The offer is tempting, but we partially decline it. We wish to test ourselves now that we have had the chance to grow and strengthen ourselves. All present nod and as noon approaches, surprisingly both within and outside the Sanctuary, we give our final goodbyes and step into fog covering the outer parts of the forest. The fog only remains briefly. A corridor quickly forms within, and we can see red eyes among all the trees around us. The trevenants have come to see us off. We walk for a couple minutes before spotting the true forest edge. From the distance, the blood red, electric blue, and bright orange reflections upon the intangible wall delimiting the Sanctuary gives it an oil spill aspect . Beyond it, we can see the outside world with its colors faded. Once we reach it, we stop. This is it then. Our last day of peace. Mewtwo comments nervously. "Yeah, but we are ready." I reassure him, and myself. Yes, we are. Mewtwo agrees. We steel ourselves, and walk forward. Passing through the barrier feels... strange. It is almost like trying to pass through a wall of gelatinous material. The barrier seems to stick to us, trying to stop us from leaving. Until it suddenly gives up, and we are out. We turn around, and look within the forest. From the outside, the barrier appears as gray gradient covering the entire forest. Within, things can be seen moving faster than should be possible. A nebulous shadow appears at the edge. It remains still for a second, letting us recognize one of the forest defenders, but quickly blurs as ten seconds passes for him in only one for us. They must be here to make sure we survive our raid. Satisfied with our curiosity, we turn our back to the forest, and behold our new surroundings. It is another plain, aptly named the Fanged plain due to many rock outcropping sprinkled all over it. Traversing it would take a normal human two weeks, but I am not a human, and neither is Mewtwo. We start walking away from the forest, trying to give ourselves some distance from the forest, so that the raid that will soon start appears away from it. On cue, the moment my clock announces noon, the sound of distant bells echo, only for me to hear. We look around, trying to locate the portal. Yet, even among the outcropping, we see nothing. It is only when a shadow falls upon us that we look up. And freeze. The portal has opened high above the forest, yet far below the distant islands in the sky. The same bleeding sky can be seen beyond it, and from it, a massive airship is emerging. From below, the floating ship looks like an arrow head, with two fins extending form its back. Between the fins, a massive propeller turns, driving the ship forward. It slowly emerges from the portal and as soon as it is out, it positions itself above us. Beams of colors start striking all around us, forcing us to move. Flying creatures emerge from its hull and dive toward us. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Are... are we supposed to take an entire ship down?" I ask in disbelief. Mewtwo is already smiling, orbs of elemental energy already forming around him. I am more than ready to try! He exclaims. I smile at his enthusiasm. "Well, get me up there, and I can try to do some damage as-" I do not get to finish my sentence. As I dodge a beam, one of the flying creatures strike me. From up close, tt looks like what a blue manta ray would look like if it turned into a zombie, with an added flat head and two shiny green eyes. Its strike knocks me off my feet. "OH FUCK OFF!" I scream out as I attempt to slash it in half with my sword. I only manage to tear parts of the fabric the creature seems to be made of. Let''s get up there. Mewtwo says, catching me in a strong telekinetic grip. We blast off fast. Mewtwo expertly dodges the beams and soon pass above the airship. Now that we are above, more of its design comes into view. The ship is quite detailed, with curved architecture made of blue-green bricks, orange wood. Stubby wings made of gray wool extend from each sides of the ship. How the ship stays afloat without visible flotation devices, I could not say. But here it floats. Three decks are visible, all populated by knights in dark gray plate armor and crimson tabards as well as crimson robed men with hoods upon their heads. On the top deck, we see a figure that has Mewtwo freeze for a second, and fills me with dread. Heavier armor, more decorated surcoat, a sword pulsing with dark energy, visible even from that far. A crimson praetor. The first enemy we had to face for our first raid, here with his company of knights and cultists to defeat us. We get snapped out of our paralysis by two things. First, the flying monsters, that my system calls phantoms have caught up to us, and one clips Mewtwo, almost making him let me go. The second is the Praetor pointing his sword our way. I warn my psychic friend just in time for him to move us away from the resulting assault. A beam almost similar in color and texture to the dimensional rift tears the sky open momentarily, missing me by a breath. "Okay get me there NOW!" I cry out as another beam of shining black eldritch energy emanates from the Crimson Praetor and almost pierces Mewtwo. Brace yourself! Mewtwo warns me before I am sent hurtling at a terrific speed toward the flying boat. I barely manage to scream before I impact upon the wall beneath the lowest deck. As I do so, I crash through one of the robed cultist as well a couple of knights. Going through the ship''s hull is what finally bleeds enough momentum for me to stop. "I''m good!" I shout, aware Mewtwo might not hear me. Perfect, I''ll try to distract the Praetor and the aerial monsters! Try to get that ship down! My companion shouts back. I shout out an okay and and take a look around me. I am somewhere within the hull of the airship. Littering the gray interior floor, are barrels and chests. And cages. On my right, toward the bow of the ship are stairs going up. Already a knight is rushing down toward me, and a cultist, that my system label as a crimson cleric is entering through the hole I made with my landing. I take out my bow and quickly fire an arrow at the cleric, hitting his shoulder instead of his head. Still the impact has him reeling back, and whatever rune he was trying to conjure sputters out. I turn back toward the knight, ready to parry his attack, only to get struck by something behind me. I rush forward, making sure to distance myself from whatever is behind me. I feel myself heating up as my body starts to repair itself from something. I ignore it for now and smash into the oncoming knight. My weight combined with my speed is enough to send him flying right back at the stairs in a pile of limbs. Blood flows from the silts of his helmet as his his chestplate bends inward. I then turn around just in time to catch a golden axe. A tall skeletal figure made blackened bones looms over me, and rigth behind it, another is already approaching. It holds the large golden axe with one hand. A strange dark aura seems to be seeping from its blackened bones into his weapon. Said aura seeps into my left hand, making dark veins appear along the metal surface. My system starts heating up once more as it tries to repair damages caused by the withering aura. I kick the skeleton back, shattering it, even as more appear out of thin air to replace it. I realize I have misjudged some of the room content. What I first took for simple cages are spawners, and they are creating more of the black skeletons with each passing seconds. I quickly load torches to my builder tool and place them all around the room, trying to stave the oncoming wave of skeletal warriors. A searing ball of fire reminds me of the other crimson cultist present. The crimson cleric has recovered, and he is ready for round two. I send another arrow his way, but a honeycomb pattern shield pops into existence before him, stopping my projectile. Torn between securing the room and dealing with the cleric, I decide to secure the room first. I run around, placing torches all over, while avoiding the many attacks the cleric sends my way. Some still hit, but my armor manages to repel most of the damages, and my regeneration quickly restores any damages I take. My energy reserves are starting to take a toll however. A third of it is gone, and every time a skeleton manages to strike me, the consumption spikes. However my plan works. Soon the skeletons stop spawning, and only the cleric remains. It keeps screaming at me in a grating language and firing spells after spells my way. I zigzag toward him, and after striking his shield with my sword a few times, strike him down. Even then he continues to scream, only stopping once his lungs fill with blood and the screams turn into gurgles. I stab him a second time, to make sure. Once he is dead, I take stock of the situation. I barely cleared a room, and already I am at half power. Nothing that a quick snack can''t fix, but I might need to be more careful. I go for the stairs, arriving in a triangular room. An open hatch faces the stairs, and as I turn around, I realize I have reached the nesting place of the phantoms. Two spawners on each sides of the room make sure more of the monsters appear and are sent out, possibly to fight Mewtwo. The phantoms take notice of me and swarm me. I punch, slash and kick at the mass of wings and maws, slowly thinning them out. Until something bounces off my side. I turn and find myself face to face with another crimson knight. He is so close I can see his maddened glare through his helmet. With the phantoms still appearing and impairing me, I try to fight off this new opponent, and I am barely able to keep the knight at bay. Although the phantoms are not doing too much damages, I can see the mana reserves I have are dwindling fast, as is my energy. This will become a problem soon if I cannot deal with this constant supply of phantoms. I parry the knight once more, and kick one of his legs, hearing a disturbing crunch. The knight screams in pain, and tries to strike me once more, but I move out of his range. I rush the closest spawner, and try to destroy it. I try with my sword first, then my hands, and then with a pickaxe. Surprisingly, the pickaxe makes short work of the cage, and once I pry it open. Ghostly figures rush out with bone chilling screams. No more phantoms seems to appear from it, and I move to the next one, even as the knight tries to limp after me. Once the second spawner is destroyed. I clear the remaining phantoms, and kill the knight. Just like the cleric, it seems to only think of one thing, and that is to kill me. Going through the only other exit beside the stairs, I enter a kitchen area, finding a robed cultist tending to a pot. It turns around as I enter and almost jumps the counter separating us. For the first time I can see what they look like, and the answer is, they are humans. This cultist is bald, with the diamond shaped eye of Eziakophael tattooed upon his forehead. His eyes are bloodshot and he screams in the same language as the other cultists I have met to this point. He tries to strike me with his ladle, and I bat it away with my sword. He tries again, and this time, I punch him in retaliation. His chest caves in and he vomits blood from the strike. He looks at me with nothing but spite in his eyes, and collapses on the ground, gurgling in his eldritch tongue. I feel nothing as I watch blood expand around the man, only cold calculation. Aster within me whispers his wisdom. the cultists are mad, drunk upon the words and power of Eziakophael. Their only goal is to kill any abductees they see, even if such task would be impossible. They have to, and nothing will stop them. He tried reasonning with them, many times. It never worked. A simple tsk escapes me as I turn to the exit of the kitchen area. Already cultists and a couple of knights are rushing in. The cultists only have daggers and small wooden shields, while the knights have broad swords. I try to thin the rushing cultists with arrows, dispatching a few before they reach me. Unlike the monsters, the cultists must have limited numbers right? I hope so at least. Punches shatter shields and sword strikes kill most of the cultists once they reach melee range. Enemies must be dispatched, echoes within my head. And I continue my slaughter. The knights fall quickly, and I enter the next room It is a small prayer room, with three rows of pews facing the aft of the ship. As I stand above the room on a slightly raised balcony, a cleric with slightly more voluptuous robes looks at me from behind a pulpit and points at me. Blackened skeletons appear at his side and rush for the balcony. They separate and start to climb the stairs from each side. Conflicted, I pick one side and meet the first half of the group midway up the stairs. Once more their withering aura affects me, eating at my integrity. I quickly dispatch them, only for another group to appear next to the cleric and rush me. This might be too much. I do not see the spawners, if they come form a spawners. Already the second half of the first group is clearing the top of the stairs and traversing the balcony my way. I turn around rush to another flight of stairs next to the kitchen access. It turns out to be leading to the first deck of the ship. I quickly place cobblestone blocks to stop the skeletons to reach me, only to realize too late there is another access right next to it. I rush to fill it, but knights and cultists swarm me. The follow-up battle is messy, gory, and almost leaves me dry of energy as the skeletons slowly pour upward from the ship''s hold. I quickly gobble some cooked potatoes along with tomatoes and raw carrots once I am done fighting, and move to the second flight of stairs. Already another horde of animated skeletons are rushing up. I try to block them as much as I can, but a few manage to slip by and try to attack me. I try to trick them by running circle around the staircase access, while also attempting to finally fill the access with blocks. It works somewhat, and after a minute of circling and block placing, I succeed, and then turn to the skeletons. They are quickly dispatched, however, I realize that my sword durability is lowering. I have ran out of mana. My armor is also looking rather battered as well. Still, I can see it slowly knitting itself back together. I am still producing mana after all, thanks to my band of aura. With the staircases plugged, and a surprising lack of further attack, I look around the lowest opened deck. No more knights are visible, nor are spawners. Further back seems to be another room, from which I can make out a steady thumping sound. I start to make my way towards it, but the entire ship suddenly lurches sideways. I steady myself against a wall and look outside. A massive tornado is ripping apart most of the phantoms still flying outside. The hurricane is so strong it was able to affect the massive airship. However, it does not last long, a cresent of dark energy strikes it, and the tornado comes apart as Mewtwo escapes it. However its purpose has been served. Only a handful of phantoms remain, and Mewtwo is now the master of the skies. Beams of energy trail after him, but now he can fight back. "Get them Mewtwo!" I cry out, trying to cheer him up. He answers by sending a cone of flame into the deck above me. I can hear screams from above my head, and flames licks part of the ceiling above me. "Okay maybe not that hard while I''m still here." I mutter. Seeing as he is still handling himself, I continue toward the thumping sound. And I find the airship engine room. Chapter 58: To sink an airship After Mewtwo launches Astra onto the ship, he has to fly away in a quick zigzag pattern. The phantoms are somehow homing on him, a first for the psychic mon. With them, and the constant barrage of magic beams from the ship, he is quickly getting overwhelmed. He tries to thin the numbers of manta-shaped monsters, but for each he rips apart, more constantly join the air, exponentially growing their numbers. And on top of that, is the danger of the Praetor commandeering the ship. Like the one that attacked them on their second day, the tall armored human is armed with a sword reeking of corruption, even from afar, and now more than ever with Mewtwo''s aura sight. Unlike the one that was their first raid in this world, this one seems to be using all of his abilities. From his cursed blade, he summons waves of energy unlike the ones sent by his minions. Where the cultists magical attacks could loosely be compared to Mewtwo''s moves, his are unlike anything he has ever felt. Well, almost. They stayed little time close to the flux rift, but he can feel some tenuous connections between the two. He would need more time to study either phenomenon to be sure. Another wave forces him to dodge straight into the forming cloud of phantoms. The monsters bite and batter him, leaving him with multiple cuts and marks. A quick summon of barriers is enough for Mewtwo to force them back, but they quickly charge him once more. He takes off again, spiraling around the ship, taking pot shots at the cultist and the growing cloud of manta monsters. Something has to be done. And surprisingly, something ends up being done. After his latest sending of energy ball within the cloud, Mewtwo realize the cloud is thinning. The phantoms are no longer replenishing themselves. A quick scan of the ship show him Astra is making his way through some lower part of the ship, going to the aft. Why he is taking such a roundabout path, Mewtwo is unsure. Although the moment he reaches the back of the ship, he suddenly goes backward once more and up. Whatever his friend is facing, Mewtwo has his own problems. But now he can see a possible solution. Slowly, Mewtwo has the entire swarm of phantoms gather around him. He baits the monsters, letting them come closer and closer, but always moving just out of reach at the last moment. The cloud is slowly obscuring him from Praetor and the crimson cultists, allowing him a reprieve from their attacks. Once the phantoms are gathered close enough to look like a ball of wings and glowing eyes surrounding him, Mewtwo unleashes a massive hurricane. The sharp winds destroy most, if not all, of the monsters. He maintain it for a minute, slowly ascending within his self-made tornado. This turns out to be a mistake as it places him perfectly in line for the Praetor to attempt a strike once more. Somehow finding Mewtwo within the hurricane, the Praetor slashes horizontally. The wave of eldritch energy crashes upon his wall of wind, and Mewtwo is forced to release it, letting the phantoms remains rain down below. Mewtwo dives down, coming closer to the ship and face to face with the numerous crimson cultists filling its second deck. He feel more than hear Astra''s cheer, and smile as he sends a cone of flames onto the deck, wincing as he witness the men panic and try to put out their flaming robes and garments. Why do they have to be so obsessed with our demise? Mewtwo wonder, ducking away from another wave of energy, and letting elemental magic beams impact him to little effect. He suddenly feel Astra''s thoughs freeze. His friend has found something that somehow bypassed the cold and calculating demeanor he had adopted during this fight. A quick scan reveals he might have found some powerful monster as an amalgam of aura shines bright before his friend, right at the back of the ship. After sending another burst of flame on the remaining arrayed forces, Mewtwo ducks into the third deck, joining his friend. And he freezes as well. What Astra found is no monster. No he has found something monstrous instead. The reason the ship floats, the power source of the airship. Embedded at the back of the ship, is a massive structure of stone and steel. It rumbles with purpose, making the blades of the propeller turn. And beneath it, linked to it with engraved cables of dark stone, is a glass cupola. The more Mewtwo looks, the sicker he feels, and the more details he can make out. Within the cupola is light, and whereas Astra only sees light, he can see what makes the light. Dozens, no hundreds of souls are stuck within the glass prison. The longer he looks, the more he can make out faces, forming and dissolving. The longer he looks, the more he can see how the souls all meld together. The majority of the souls come from pokemons, the energy they liberate predominantly aligned with he flying type. However, those souls alone would not have been enough to power the airship, even stuck together like they are. What acts as the glue to hold them all together, and gives the boost necessary for the pokemons souls to work, are human souls. It is that amalgamation, through some sick and twisted ritual, that allows the ship to remain afloat and powered. Bile rises in Mewtwo''s throat as he makes more and more details. He can start to hear echoes of screams at the edge of his psychic senses, pleas for help, for the pain to end. More and more the screams grow louder, and louder, and louder. Eyes. They look. Help. Help us. Kill us. Please. It hurts. I want to go home. Mewtwo''s trance is broken by a tackle from Astra. "Mewtwo! Can you hear me?" His friend cries out. He must have called multiple times already, but Mewtwo did not hear him. It takes a moment for Mewtwo to come back to his senses, during which Astra drags him once more. Mewtwo soon finds out why when a blade misses him by a hair. Cultists have jumped from the top and are attempting to get them away from the airship engine. Looking up, he can see the Praetor going over the railing of the upper deck. Astra has not noticed them. With a quick psychic push, Mewtwo gets Astra out of the way and then roll away from the massive knight. Landing on three limbs and with his tail raised, Mewtwo snarl. The situation is quickly devolving to their detriment. More knights are jumping down, and the hooded cultists are already preparing spells to send their ways. With a quick psychic grip, Mewtwo kills the closest knight to him, crushing his skull with the man''s own helmet, before turning to face the Praetor. Astra also dispatch a couple of the armored men before turning his attention to the greatest threat. The Praetor armor may hide his face, but Mewtwo can feel his displeasure at the situation. Already he is maneuvering to get between the duo and the soul cage. Astra''s armor suddenly glow with heat as a spell from above hit it. The android hiss, and Mewtwo realize their situation will soon become untenable. With the upper support and more knights coming down constantly, the engine room will become a killbox soon. What do you think happens if we break that soul generator? Mewtwo sends to Astra. Astra does not verbally answers, instead Mewtwo reads his thoughs of the ship either crashing, exploding, or both. As well as his eagerness to try breaking the generator anyway. Mewtwo smirks at his friend thoughs. Then get ready to play either sledgehammer or distraction. He grabs Astra in a psychic hold, and sends the android barreling toward the glowing glass cage. The Praetor reacts instantly, rushing to stop the Astra missile. Mewtwo then gathers his own strength, and a ball of white light appears between his two hands. It takes him a couple seconds to charge it, long enough for the Praetor to be forced to hesitate. Once he unleashes his gathered energy, the hyper beam traverses the room almost instantly. The Praetor tries to redirect his attention, but he is a moment too late. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The beam of energy crashes upon the soul generator, shattering its fragile surface. The Praetor screams in horror and hate, but his cry is soon drown under the wails of the freed souls. FREEDOM! RELIEF! THANK YOU! FREE! FINALLY! Their cry of relief flood Mewtwo. Between this and the backlash of the hyper beam, it breaks his concentration, making him drop Astra, and even land back on the ground. He winces as the onslaught of mental noise grows louder and louder each seconds. Until it abruptly stops. Mewtwo''s regains his senses only to see the Praetor dueling with Astra. The knights are scurrying all over and Mewtwo can start to feel the ground tilt under his feet. The airship is starting to fall. A nasty backhand from the Praetor sends Astra against a wall, where he bounces almost straight into the heavy knight waiting sword. The sword only scrapes against his armored flank however, as Astra twist midair, allowing for him to punch the Praetor in return. The ground inclines more and more, and Mewtwo floats once more, looking for the closest exit. Astra, we need to go. Mewtwo warns, the incline rate is accelerating. With a backward dash, Astra gets some space between him and the Praetor. His landing almost goes wrong as the floor is now inclined by more forty-five degrees. "I''ll need a lift." No sooner has Astra said the words that he starts floating, Mewtwo holding him in a gentle psychic hold. They rush out of the engine room and shoot out the nearest opening, coming out above the left wing of the ship and ascend far enough to be out of reach of any retaliation. They watch as the arrowhead-shaped airship slowly descend to the ground. It takes a good minute for it to finally crash. When it does, it does so with in a large cloud of dust and a resounding crack. The ship splinters apart, some parts jumping up a few meters before falling back down. Something catches fire beneath the propeller, and the wooden blades and ripped wings quickly go ablaze. Mewtwo and Astra remain above for now, as the dust cloud slowly rises toward them, carried by the heat and smoke of the blaze. Mewtwo breath is slightly winded. The fight in itself took a slight toll, but the mental anguish and pressure from the souls was the mos debilitating factor. For Astra, his armor is battered, and in some place possibly broken. Mewtwo cannot see his weapons, but they might be as damaged as his armor. His body seems fine, but as he sees his friend gobble a few cooked potatoes, he can guess his energy reserves might be a bit too depleted. They stay afloat for some time, recovering, and preparing. Astra may not see it, but Mewtwo can sense him. The Praetor survived, and they will have to finish him to clear the raid. Astra signal his readiness, and Mewtwo has them descend. They pass through the dust cloud and the acrid smoke, Mewtwo summoning a safeguard to ward them from the worst of the heat and smoke. They reach the ground and behold their work. The airship came down nose first. The structure splintered apart from its bow to about two-third of the way. The propeller is ablaze, as are the wings. Wood and colored terracotta fragments litter the ground. And yet, coming out of the blaze, with a slight limp, is the Praetor. His helmet is gone, one of his arm is limp at his side. His armor is caved in in some places, yet his eyes are still locked straight into Astra. With a cry of hate, he charges at them, his sword held high. Both Astra and Mewtwo charge as well, each with their own swords. Mewtwo is the one to reach the Praetor first, forcing him to respond to the pokemon before the human. Annoyance roll off the massive human, and makes Mewtwo smirk. Corrupted blade meet psychic blade, and sparks erupt at the point of contact. Even with all his injuries, the Praetor still has some absurd strength left in him, and start pushing Mewtwo down. Mewtwo bulks himself up, bolstering his own strength and slowly evening the contest. However the contest is broken down by Astra. The android jumps over Mewtwo ready to split the Praetor head open. The armored knight seemed to have been waiting for it, as he takes a single step to the side, causing Mewtwo to stumble forward, even as Astra almost land on him. A quick reaction from Mewtwo in the form of a psychic push redirect the android right into the Praetor. Astra''s sword buries itself deep into the Praetor good shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain from the warrior. Still he keeps his hand tight on his sword. Using his now stuck sword, Astra jumps away and calls out for Mewtwo. "Descent Kick!" Mewtwo reacts immediately. A combo of heightened gravity and a psychic hold sends Astra careening down on the Praetor faster than the Praetor can react. With one foot extended before him in a ballerina pose, Astra pierces through the Praetor left shoulder, going straight through his armor and flesh alike. Blood gushes from the wound, and the Praetor falls on his knees, letting out a wail of agony. He remains so for a couple seconds, before falling down for the final time. Two pop-ups confirm their victory, the raid has passed, and they have overcome.
Achievement got: A week already? (Overcome your second week raid. Stronger foes are yet to come *wink*) Reward: 5000xp, 20 Exp. candy XL
Achievement got: Sinking ship. (And again, that would have been what... a ten? Maybe fifteen year raid for anyone else? But hey, I guess those two month to grow managed to close the gap a bit uh? Get ready though, our host might start to get more creative in his raids) Reward: 15000xp, 25 Exp. candy XL
With a shared shout of happiness, Mewtwo and Astra cry out their victory, the first they earned without feeling like they only won through luck.
"Well shit... they did it." Some distance away, atop an outcropping, lay two figures. One observes the rising smoke in the distance through a looking glass, while the other takes notes. "They won? They should still have the Crimson Praetor to dispatch though." The second figure speaks to the first. "Yep, ah, here they are, shouting and laughing. Nope, they won, they overcame the raid." The first figure rises and jump down from the outcrop, soon followed by the second. They join another pair, waiting around a dead fireplace. The first figure, a woman covered in pelts of many hues, sit with the waiting two, two men in heavy and battered armors, the symbols of the dark god scratched from them. "So, they did it?" One asks. "Sure did. They took down a heavenly challenger manned by the crimson cult." the woman replies in a laugh. "I guess the Lord Hunter did not waste our time. This is a worthy prey." "Too bad we lost one of our party already." The second figure huffs in annoyance. the lanky man wears a scowl on his scarred face. His own multi-colored pelts and trinkets clink as he sits down. "Carrie was a dumbass, she was warned, and she decided to ignore it. Too bad, but stupidity will only get you so far." The woman snarls. "Well, I kinda understand her though. Look at this. We never seen anything like that." One of the armored men says, pointing at the distant dome covering the forest. They all look, observing the oily iridescence of the barrier. Carrie was supposed to be their magical support, yet the woman had decided she was better than any other and tried to study the new barrier around the hated flower goddess garden. The result had been her demise by the blade of her own comrades. "Dumbass." The woman snarls.
Princess observed almost the entire fight. What must have been about thirty minutes of fighting outside the Sanctuary, had translated to almost five hours of uncertainty. When the portal first opened above the Sanctuary, she had almost ordered for her aerial forces to intervene. She had been reminded of the last time she had seen a portal open above a location. Of Marble City. Yet when only the skyship had exited, she had relaxed slightly. Although it was not as dangerous as whatever had brought ruin to Marble City, it was still something that had killed her liege more than one time. Aster''s team had always lacked aerial coverage. They made up for it with range, but this very raid had brought Aster low more than one time in the past. The ten year trial, unleashed here for two beings technically only two weeks in the hell of the Ezian Plane. She had once more considered assisting the Legend and the Revenant, but her worries were soon dismissed as both ascended for the ship. They had tried it like that once, a long time ago. It had gone oh so wrong. They had later changed it to be only team members that would go. As these raids only targeted the humans, pokemons were free to attack without much retaliations. In their later attempts, Her and Paladin the gallade would lift Cutter the haxorus to the ship while Master the lucario, Hound the mightyena and Knight the ceruledge would defend Aster on the ground. Princess is reminded of the horrors within the ship as the distorted cries of the dead washes over the Sanctuary. They have found the tortured souls used as fuel, and liberated them. If only it served any sort of purpose beyond bringing the skyship down. She observes as the ship ever so slowly dips forward, and then comes down on the ground. Even though she is floating, she knows the tremor of the crash does not passes through the Sanctuary barrier, and her aides surprise at the lack of quake confirms her own senses. She watches as the two points that remains in the sky descend to the wrecked skyship, a heart accelerating as she hopes they can sense the ship master is still alive. She does not feel him herself, but she know, for they have been tricked more than once in the past. Once they enter the smoke and dust, she can no longer see them, and returns to her throne room. There is little she can do now. She knows her aide has dispatched a staravia to observe and report the final result, and she may work on maintaining the forest while she waits. Two hours later, she receive the report. They were victorious. Once she is once more alone, she let out a breath she had not realized she was holding. "May He who was stillborn guide your steps Legend, Revenant. May the progenitor protect you." She intones. Her eyes then dart around the room, expecting retaliation for her brazen prayer to a being that no pokemons should know, yet all instinctively feel. Chapter 59: To the East Life 27 Day 59 Today is a momentous day. After what might amount to years of work, me and the team have finally managed to create an altar to the local deity. With it, and soul coins, the trevenant colony within the magical forest will finally be able to rest easy. Only those that I allow within will be allowed passage, and then they will be judged by the trevenant themselves before being let within the forest proper. We already have multiple pokemons flocking to us as the word gets spread around. Many bear injuries and scars from scuffles with so-called hunters. With this little self-imposed quest fulfilled, I have garnered many soul coins. This has allowed me to strengthen Hound and Princess like never before. My little hyena even grew in the most surprising way. From a pup-like creature to a full-grown attack dog looking one. He is overjoyed and has been experimenting with his new body. Princess also got a nice boost and claims she has mastered new moves. She also explained that Hound has gone through something called evolution, and that she knows she has another stage left herself. She said her mother was at the stage she alludes to. Her speaking of her family makes me nostalgic of my own. I still remember my mother''s name and face, but not her voice. I had to return to the entry about my memory to remember my brother. My memory continues to degrade. Life 27 Day 68 We have been travelling east for the last five days since the previous raid. We have found a village and learned the name of the plains we have been travelling through. They are called the Fanged plains. An apt name considering the environment. A new companion seems to be joining us as well. Princess has explained they are called a kirlia, and even though they look rather girlish to me, they are male. They look like a ballerina dancer, with long green hair arranged in ponytails. They are small too, barely reaching Hound''s muzzle. Apart from this, I still feel lost. What is the point of this world? Why are we here? Why do we live through this hell again and again? What should I do? Option one: Return to the Sanctuary, hope that with more raids, we can strengthen it enough to have be able to defend ourselves against any future raids. and then what? live until I die? will that free me? Option two: Explore more, find what we are here for, maybe find a way home? Option three: give up Okay nah, from the upset face that Princess gave me, I am not considering that option. Life 27 Day 71 Savior has once more been killed. We are making haste back to where he shall return, but it will take time. Our new companion is confused at our lack of grief and only when he sees our savior returned and amnesiac will he understand. Thanks to Hound new size, we will reach him in time. Please let it be so.
I close Aster''s journal. We have been travelling for a week and a half. We reached the village Aster mentioned and stayed there for a day. The difference with Hound''s village was surprising at first. Whereas Hound''s village was bustling with activity, this one was far smaller. A dozen houses with maybe twice as many inhabitants, two fields by the side of the village, one of wheat, and another a mix potato and beetroots. The villagers were quite wary when we went to inspect it. One of the farmer almost tried to threaten us away, but was to afraid to actually try. There was also a small forge, at which we received the same treatment as in the fields. The blacksmith eyed us warily as we passed. That made us curious, and so we asked them if we should leave. They explained abductees like us were known to ransack villages for every valuable tools, equipment and crops they may have, and since the act did not directly arm the villagers, the golem they had protecting them would not react. This revelation made us quite uncomfortable. We reassured them we would only be staying for the night, and even ended bartering with some of them. This earned us an achievement and a decent pile of emerald, as well as beetroots seeds, which somehow was not part of the seeds Princess possessed. We also asked them what they though of the magical forest and Princess, but we only got half-answers about it being a dangerous place and that bad things happened to those who wandered in. We left the next day, as it would be raid day. We distanced ourselves quickly from the village, almost reaching the end of the Fanged plain when the raid started. The third week raid. We were prepared for so much. Another airship? A fleet? A new monster? Nope, none of those, instead, we were confronted by what should have been our second day raid: a single crimson cultist. For some reason Eziakophael has decided dial down on the difficulty. Why? No idea at the time, but we would soon learn the reason. We were so surprised by that fact that we let the crazed man try to attack us. We waited almost two hours, out of reach of the most nonthreatening foe we have had to deal with since we arrived upon the Ezian plane. Once we realized it would only be him, Mewtwo tried to restrain and read the cultist mind, but the only thing he managed to get out of it was a massive headache and an achievement.
Achievement got: Mind-reader novice Maybe try something or someone with less ties to a fateless first. Reward: 2000xp, 5 Exp. candy XL
After that, Mewtwo broke the cultist neck, and that cleared the third week raid, to the bewilderment of the Trio and our own. We proceeded to leave the Fanged plains behind. We are now travelling through a savanna, and finally seeing pokemons again. The sightings are sparse, but compared to their surprising non-existence in the Fanged plains, it is a reassuring sight. Maybe most go to the magical forest, to avoid the hunters. Anyway, we are resting after two days of non-stop travel. We have found a small cave and built a campfire in it. Mewtwo is resting, as he still needs to sleep some times, and I am reading Aster''s journal, trying to learn more of the Ezian planes. From the information we got from Princess, The savanna should be a month of travel at human speed, followed by a lake large enough to be considered an inland sea. She warned us about the lake, as it harbors some of the strongest wild pokemons in this region. Then would come the Ice Cap mountain chain, the tallest natural barrier discovered on the continent so far. But for now, we still need to traverse the savanna. Aside from a few slightly aggressive local pokemons, we have had little to fear for the past days. The nights are rather peaceful, if you discount the continuous stream of monsters converging on me. And we seem alone most of the time. Mewtwo sometimes swears he feels the presence of other humans somewhat close to us, but this far, they have not revealed themselves to me. Not that I do not trust Mewtwo. I do, I am certain he is feeling those humans, just as he is able to feel every pokemons in almost a two kilometer radius sphere. He tells me it can feel overwhelming at times. But he continue to persevere. After all, the more he trains himself, the easier using his skills becomes. A growl breaks me out of my musing. Night has fallen, time to get rid of the monsters. This is something I am doing every night Mewtwo needs to rest. I get a few meters away from where he rests, to mitigate the sound, and then go on a monster hunt. As they always target me over Mewtwo, I know my friend will be safe as long as I stay far enough. Tonight is no different, Zombies come, skeletons come, spiders come, even the occasional creeper. I eliminate them all. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Time blurs as I continue my slaughter, and soon, the sun is peaking from the distance. The night is over. Already, most of the remaining monsters are scurrying for any shade. The zombies and skeletons start to catch on fire, while the man-sized spiders become passive under the sunlight. Only creepers remain hostile. But I easily- The blast sends me flying forward. I can feel my back being peeled open and shrapnel of armor fly past me and dig into my back. I was careless. I land flat on the ground, and another creeper approaches me. The blow must have touched something inside of me, because I am paralyzed. Shit that''s not good. I wriggle away, to find any ways to make some distance from the approaching walking bomb. But my efforts are in vain. I can feel my body knitting itself together, but the repairs will not make it in time. The creeper looms above me, its green flesh starts pulsing with inner light, quicker and quicker. It''s about to explode. I close my eyes, hoping for anything. And my prayers are answered. A ball of blue energy slams into the monster''s head, completely vaporizing it. The pulsing light stops, and the headless monster falls to the side, dead. With a yawn Mewtwo floats next to me. You really need to watch your back more often. My friend says. I make my eyes go up and down in agreement, the only part of me still able to move. How long will it take? If I could I would shrug, but instead, I make the fact I do not know be at the forefront of my thoughts. He nods, and I soon start to float. Toward the rising sun? I think yes, and Mewtwo takes off. Another day of travel begins. I become able to move less than a couple minutes after Mewtwo starts traveling, and soon, I am running alongside him. The day goes without notable events, as does the night that follows. With Mewtwo rested, we continue travelling. At the eve of our fourth week raid, Mewtwo rests, and I guard, being more careful this time. This nights passes without an itch, and we resume our travels. Far in the distance, we can start to discern the tallest peak of the Ice Cap chain. And yet I know we have at least another week left before we even reach Raging Lake. A testament of the height of the mountain. The bells ring, and I freeze. Mewtwo notices and stops as well. What will it be this time. The answer comes soon. The horizon is replaced by the purple and crimson portal, opening once more to the reddish sky of the dimension from which the crimson cult comes. The portal is large enough to block almost all of the horizon. It remains open for a solid minute before winking out. At first, we are confused, nothing happened. The portal opened, then closed. However, a sudden flock of spearows taking flight in the distance tells us something is coming. Small tremors soon confirms that what is coming is big. Mewtwo takes to the sky, trying to get a view of what is coming for us, and before I can ask him what is coming, I am yanked to his side by his psychic powers. And we behold a tsunami of black chitin. Hundreds, thousands, hundred of thousands of spiders are covering the ground, and rushing for us. They appear bigger than the normal monster spiders that spawn naturally, and there appear to be some variants as well. I can spot splashes of green within the sea of chitin. "Okay, not to be the defeatist here, but I don''t think we can deal with that." Mewtwo remains silent, and I start to think as well. The spider wave is about a kilometer from us, and at their speed, they will be on us in less than a minute. Which gives us little time to think of a solution. We need a way to stay safe, but also still be able to deal with them. What if we changed dimension? Yes, why not change- wait what? "What do you mean?" We have enough material to create that portal to the nether, we could make it, get in and close it. "Okay, and then what? We don''t even know what sort of dimension the nether is. For all we know it could be that red place we keep seeing beyond the portal." Do you think you can take on so many spiders? I can assure you, I cannot. Even if I tried all of my attacks, I would run out of stamina before we would even make a dent in them. "Okay true, but going to the nether feels like a bad idea. Even Aster has no idea what the nether even is!" Well, we are running out of time, and we need to do something quickly. Think, think, think! We need more time... a safe place. I look up, at the island so far above us. So beyond our reach. And suddenly get an idea. "Get me back down, I can give us more time to think!" I declare. How? Mewtwo asks with skepticism. I simply point up. He looks confused at first, before realizing what I intend to do and let out a growl of agreement. He let me fall back down, only stopping me a right before I hit the ground, and I get to work. I quickly stack cubes after cubes of cobblestone, until I reach back to Mewtwo, almost fifty meters above ground. "Alright, get me back down, I need to destroy the tower. Spiders can climb!" He quickly sends me back down, and I can see the first line of spider is almost on us. I can hear their screech and hiss. I take out my pickaxe and start mining out the blocks. Once they become out of reach, Mewtwo grabs me once more and floats me to the next one. I destroy more and more, and when I look down, I wince. I do not have arachnophobia, nor did Aster, but seeing the writhing mass of legs and fangs makes me feel quite unsettled. Destroying the rest of the tower becomes slightly harder as Mewtwo''s grip slows my movements. But still, after a minute of work, I stand on a single one meter by one meter block of cobblestone fifty meters in the air. Thank you builder tool. I quickly extend the singular block into a large platform, and only then do I feel relatively safe. Only for Mewtwo to tell me something that shatters that feeling of safety. They are climbing on top of each others. I rush to the edge of the platform and witness it. The spiders, like ants, are climbing on top of each others, making wobbling towers that are slowly but surely rising for us. "Oh this is bad..." I mutter with a wince. "Okay, okay, we keep your plan as a last resort, just in case I am making the portal." I declare, immediately assembling a five tall by four wide frame of obsidian blocks. "We try to topple those towers, and if we get overwhelmed, we go through with the nether plan." Mewtwo nods, already charging a green sphere of grass type energy. I take out my bow as well, and start firing at another tower. My arrows pierce the climbing spiders, wounding many, but only killing one or two for every dozens arrows. After killing twelve, the tower I was firing upon finally topple onto itself, only for two more to rise toward us. Mewtwo has more luck with his moves, most send the spider towers tumbling in a rain of limbs and bodies. But he is also exerting himself faster than me. As much as I try to hope we can make it, I can see he was right. The spiders will wear us down sooner than we can defeat all of them. I look back at the frame of obsidian, still undecided. The battle carries on for an hour, then another, and another, and still it seems there is no end to the sea of spiders below us. The ground has become a writhing mass of spider bodies, making it look like boiling black soil. With more towers rushing for us like geysers. I have been supplementing Mewtwo with leppa berries, but I will soon run out. My psychic friend is also at the end of his mental stamina. I can feel that as much as the training within the forest reinforced us, this is far beyond what we can deal with at our current level. With a groan, I look at Mewtwo and reluctantly nod while pointing at the portal. The quest says to light the inside of the frame on fire. Mewtwo nods in return and sends a small cone of flame onto the frame. the moment the flame reaches the frame, it extinguishes instantly, and with a crack, the sight from within the frame of obsidian changes. From the blue sky that could be seen through, it now shows what appears to be a massive cave, with its walls made out of blood red stone. The portal seems to lead to a platform upon witch creatures can be seen walking around, too far for us to truly discern. A wave of heat strikes us from the portal. Whatever this dimension is, it is hot. Beyond the edge of the platform, a yellow-red glow can be seen illuminating most of the cave. "Alright, we continue to fight until we run out of leppa, then we get through." I propose Mewtwo nods, and we turn around just in time to see one the tower rise above our little platform. Mewtwo attempts to blasts it, but the tower only looses its upper part, and soon rises back up to our level. Some spiders spew web at me, almost catching me in the process. Mewtwo sends out a cone of flames, and the spiders quickly catch on fire. The tower soon topples as the fire spreads from one spider to another. For some reason, it appears the spider are rather flammable. The fire spreads all the way to the base of the tower. The spiders on the ground recoil from the toppling flaming tower, and form a form an exclusion zone to stop the fire from spreading further through their ranks. We continue fighting for a dozen minutes before Mewtwo finally runs out of stamina once more. I give him one of the last of our leppa, only keeping one in the bonsai pot chip to make more later. And we turn to the portal. "Alright, we go in, and we break it." Yes. We jump through, instantly feeling the air around us turn scorching. I feel my cooling system activate even without me doing anything. I turn around, and start attempting to break part of the obsidian frame. Mewtwo joins me, attempting to cut out another side. We work for a minute, but do not make it in time. The tidal wave of spiders come through, and we are forced to abandon the portal. Mewtwo lift me and we float away, trying to get some distance from the chittering and skittering monster wave. They attempt once more to shoot web at me, but Mewtwo expertly moves me around, making none touch me. We float beyond the edge of the platform we arrived upon and realize why the entire place is so hot. Below us, is a gigantic lava lake. It seems to cover the entirety of the floor of this place. We turn back around and Mewtwo reflexively recoils. The spiders are attempting to create a bridge toward us from the edge of the platform. I look back and realize something. "Mewtwo, keep going back, we need to bait them further above the lake." I exclaim, while pointing at where the spiders are making their bridge. Gravel, loose gravel that could fall at any point with a bit of help. "Hit it whenever you feel like it''s too far." I tell him, and he nods. More and more spiders are flooding in. There seems to be not end of them, even after the thousands we killed. More and more the bridge of spiders grow, coming closer and closer to us. We continue to move back, even as the spiders grow ever closer. Until I notice something at the portal. I can see the other side once more. The spider wave has turned into a trickle. Most, if not all of the spiders have crossed the portal, but something feels off. There are too few spiders making up the bridge for it to be all of them. Something falls next to me, almost touching me. I look at it, and realize it was a spider. I look up, and scream at Mewtwo. "Flamethrower! Up!" My friend looks up, his eyes opening wide as a stalactite of spider is descending upon us. He executes my command without complain, and fire a cone of flames upward. The moment the flames touch the first spider, the entire stalactite catches fire in seconds. With screeches of pain, spiders start to rain around us. The spider bridge stops growing, waiting for the rain to stop, and I realize this is our best chance. "Now! Make them fall!" I cry out. Mewtwo gathers energy in the form of a blue ball, and sends it straight at the gravelly edge of the platform. The ball of aura zooms through the room, and soon impacts the cliff. With an explosion of dust, pebbles and spiders, the entire edge of the platform crumbles, taking with it the spider bridge. the majority of it lands into the lake of lava. They hiss and screech in pain as the molten liquid melt them. Only a couple dozens stragglers are left on the lower lake shore. Now heavily breathing, Mewtwo takes us back to the platform, where a dozen spiders still mingle, now unsure as to what to do, but still following me with their beady eyes. I take out my sword, and prepare myself. The moment I touch down, they rush for me, and I join them in melee. I stab, slash, and punch, and soon enough, I stand caked in rapidly drying putrid ichor, and spider corpses. The fourth raid completion achievement pops up, and we sigh in relief. That was close. Far too close. Chapter 60: Hostile environment. As we let ourselves fall upon the coarse reddish ground, we realize the raid was beyond the scope of the previous ones. A wave of spider. We should not have survived this raid, again. I smash my fist on the ground in frustration. We only won through luck and coincidence. Again! If we had not collected the necessary materials to enter the nether, we would have been swarmed by the spiders. We were lucky that the dimension was filled lava and that the spiders were highly flammable. Actually, that last point might be important. Hold on... "Mewtwo... I think we made the raid harder than it had to be." I pant out. How so? My friend asks, almost fully lying down on the hot floor. "Fire. You could have just blasted the spiders with fire, every time they reached us. Fuck I''m so stupid!" I berate myself. Hey, I did not think of it either. We were in a bit of a hurry for a solution. He tries to comfort me, but a wince of his face tells me he is also internally berating himself. We panicked, and failed to see the easy solution. And now we have gone to the nether, without any preparations. Well... we still have the portal. I look back at that thought, making sure the obsidian frame is still here. Thankfully, it is, as is the passage to the Ezian plane. The blue sky beyond the frame clashes with the omnipresent red of the nether. Even as I look further away into the cavernous ever expanding chamber we are in, a reddish fog obscure the distance.. We stay on the ground trying to regain our breath. Well, Mewtwo is, I am mostly breathing to cool myself off. Yet it seems the longer we try to cool off, the hotter we get. I can even see a sheen of sweat forming upon Mewtwo''s skin. Even I am feeling the heat. Faint wisps of smoke escape from my body in little white swirls. That makes me a bit concerned as Even when I ran myself a bit hot, the smoke swirl never happened. I check my coolant levels and open my eyes wide. "Mewtwo we need to move! I''m going to run out of coolant in a minute!" I send him my dwindling coolant tracker. And he eyes the floating windows with sunken eyes. He tries to come up, but stumbles, almost tripping on himself. I feel dizzy. He complains. His eyes are becoming unfocused. He tries to take another step and wobbles. The heat is also affecting him. "Here, lean on me, the portal is not too far." I offer my shoulder. He gratefully accept my offer and almost falls on top of me. The moment he touches me however, he jumps back with a scream of pain. The pinkish gray skin of his left side has turned an angry red. How are so hot! He sends me as both a reproach and genuine concern. The pain seems to have shaken him enough for his body to ignore his growing dehydration for now. Now aware enough to realize how dire our situation is, he rushes for the portal, and I follow close behind. We manage to make it out without interruption. Mewtwo moves to the side of the portal, letting himself slide against the surprisingly cool obsidian with a sigh of relief. He quickly summons an orb of chilled water and start sipping it slowly. On my part, the moment I clear the portal, my entire body seizes as my mechanical parts are hit by the cool air of the Ezian planes. With a lot of creaking and popping, my entire body cools, and I soon regain my full range of movements. By that time, Mewtwo is soundly asleep, recovering from the scorching heat of the underground dimension. While he rests, I observe the portal, and the dimension beyond. There is so much to say, so much to understand. I look at the tutorial section, finding the new nether subsection. An entire subsection. Another one has appeared, now regrouping all the entries centered on the Ezian planes. From the succinct epitaph written about the dimension, I learn mostly what I am already seeing. The nether is an underground dimension with a scorching atmosphere. The temperature is such that specialized systems, abilities or gears may be needed to overcome it. Something that my system seems eager to provide, at a price. For the low price of 50000xp I may purchase the Internal temperature regulator system. From the short description, it will allow my body to become more resistant to hot temperatures, the drawback however, is that my energy consumption will be tripled while that subsystem is active. It is a drawback that I have already overcome in my opinion, but the price is a bit too steep for my current budget. I almost have enough, but I still come a bit short, about 15000xp short. As I muse on my future upgrades, or if I should wait for the regulator system, Mewtwo wakes from his short restorative nap. Well that was rough. What now? Do we try to go back in? He joins me before the portal, letting the heat coming through roll over him. It feels rather nice right here... He comments. "Speak for yourself. I am actually consuming almost about to start consuming coolant again." I object, Need some? Mewtwo proposes, already summoning another orb of chilly water. "With pleasure." I eagerly accept the free water and let my coolant levels rise back to full. "And for your question, I''d say yes for more exploration, as we have a new quest to fill in there, but I have no ways of countering the heat right now. Unless you got something, it might be too dangerous for us right now." New quest? Show me. I might have a solution, not sure if it will work though. He cryptically answers. I display the new quest that unlocked from crossing the portal, waiting for him to elaborate.
This is Hell! Welcome to one of the hottest dimension that may be. Have fun exploring it. Explore the nether: 1/5 Biomes explored Kill [Blazes]: 58/10 Collect ''Nether wart'': 0/16 --------------------------[+]--------------------------- Rewards: 25000xp; 60 Exp. Candy XL
The quest continues with another long list of materials and items to acquire. "It is a lot of things to do." I comment. This is the first time we had a quest grouping so much different tasks in one singular quest. Wait is that not what we need to make runes of fire! Mewtwo points at the nether wart line. I check the recipe. "Yep, it sure is, and we just need some netherrack to make the nether bricks, which is the ground of the dimension itself." I confirm. "It might be worth exploring a bit. So? What''s your idea for the heat counter?" Instead of answering me, he concentrates for a minute, and a faint shimmer envelops us. My system let me know I am now under the safeguard effect, and so is Mewtwo. It seems to be working, I am no longer feeling the heat from the portal. He declares. Shall we try the real thing? I check my coolant, finding that I am no longer at risk of overheating, and nod. "After you" I jokingly say, taking a bow and gesturing for him to go. He smirks and steps through the portal once more. I follow after him and join his side. The safeguard seems to working. I barely feel the heat anymore. "Okay it works for me. Partially I would say." As I notice the tiniest rim of emptiness appearing around my first square of coolant level. It seems to simply appear, and not move much more after that. I move around a bit to confirm and indeed, it remains mostly stable. "Okay, I''m putting a waypoint on the portal. I do not want to loose our only escape out of here." I open the map and place the marker. Well, we still have plenty of obsidian left for another one. Mewtwo points out. Which is true, he collected enough that we can make about three more actually. Do we leave it open? He adds. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. And I ponder the question as well. Do we let a passage to a dimension that maybe no human ever went to open? As if to prove my point, I notice a slugma slowly sliding toward us. The lava slug pokemon eyes us. Its large yellow eyes look at us in curiosity. Then I notice its level, and my own eyes open wide. Level three hundred, and still it is unevolved. Is it by choice? Are pokemons stronger from the start here? More questions that may remain without answers until our next raid. The slugma suddenly frown, and a hole opens beneath his flat head, letting out a torrent of fire. Mewtwo reacts in time conjuring a protect, but I am too surprised to act. The flames wash over me, shattering the safeguard. Astra! I hear Mewtwo''s cry, but I cannot answer. My vision fills with red and yellow, then white, then nothing. I catch a glimpse of a warning window, before blackness fills my vision. I do not feel the wave of flames peters out after a minute, or see the slugma observes his work. I can do nothing. Somehow I am still alive, but I am stuck within myself. Just me, and Aster, panicking. Do not move! I am trying to lure the slugma away. Mewtwo sends me, and I have no choice but to believe him. Aster soul fragments scream in horror, some already accepting failure, others uselessly banging on invisible walls that do not exist. After some time, maybe a minute, I fell something shift within me, and a sense of vertigo takes hold of me. What happened? Wait, I cannot feel touch either? As I realize the extent of my sensory deprivation, Aster''s fragments become rabid. Screaming for me to do something, anything. Okay, I managed to convince him to leave us. He took you for something called a piglin. No idea what that is- Oh Trio! Astra! Astra? If you can hear me please think so! Okay how bad is it for him to panic like that? I shut down the panic of Aster, and let the thought of me still being alive be at the forefront of my head, and hear a psychic sigh form my friend. Thank the Three. He sends in relief. Eh, that''s a new one. So how bad is it? Well... He then imposes his own vision upon my currently nonexistent one for a moment. And... wow. Okay yeah that might be bad. I am a charred metallic corpse. Well almost. The more armored parts of my body are only warped and slagged. Most of the damage is on the fleshier side of my body. All of my skin is gone, letting what remains beneath on full display. The cables and synthetic muscles are either completely burnt or partially melted. My metallic bones are partly covered in soot, and some appears have partially melted as well. The worst is my face however. The metallic skull half turned downward is a disturbing sight to behold. Also now I know what the vertigo was, my shins have bent in half, and I have collapsed forward. Further proof that my metallic parts have also been heavily damaged. Yep, I''m fucked good. Mewtwo, get us out of here. Nether is a no go. Yes, sorry for trying to go back in. Eh, not your fault, no way of knowing the pokemons would be so powerful here, or so aggressive, but then again the environment might make it a prerequisite to even think of surviving. Alright I am going to move you. Mewtwo warns me. Vertigo takes hold of me once more, and I feel myself floating. After another minute or so, The sensation stops, and I am left unmoving. We are out. I am going to dismantle the portal, The heat might make you worse. I think my approval, as well as a request for him to share his vision with me. A second later, colors return to my world, from a point of view that seems higher than I have become accustomed to. The weird snout barely visible at the edge of my new set of eyes tells me this is Mewtwo''s raw sight. Seeing his three finger hands is also a good giveaway. I watch as he slowly cut out one of the sides of the portal. His sharpened psychic blade slowly cuts through, and once he cuts all the way to the inner part of the portal frame, the passage shatters into purple shards. The jump that happens when it happens tells me there might be more than just a visual effect. It shattered with a sound like broken glass. Mewtwo specifies. It startled me. The shards are ethereal though, the few that fell on me just passed through without any effects. I thank him, and the return to dismantling the portal. He looks back toward me at time, and I can see a slideshow of my own healing process. At first, a faint silver glimmer can be seen within my empty orbits and between the cables still remaining all over my body, growing more and more each time Mewtwo looks back. Until it starts spilling out. The moment Mewtwo notices that happening, he moves closer, inspecting it. Still okay? ''Still okay'' I think hard. With another psychic sigh, he returns to the portal. He has removed one of the sides of the frame, leaving a the portal as an inverted C shape. The fact that he managed to break apart the frame is a good thing, as I created it using the builder tool. Him being able to destroy structures I build is something we had not tried too in depth, and should help us in future situations. Another look at my regenerating body shows I am now covered in silver goo from head to toe. The nanomachines that are repairing me are working hard. A sudden rush of static fills the silent void that is my actual body, making me internally jump, and throw Aster''s fragment into panic once more. I calm them down quickly once I realize what has happened. I have regained my hearing. The static quickly clears, replaced by the faint buzz of Mewtwo''s psychic sword, the chitter of my nanomachines repairing me, and the loud sound of the breeze blowing over our platform. I hear Mewtwo''s feet tap gently as he turns toward me, having sensed my sudden burst of distress. I can hear again, it''s loud. I hear and feel his sigh this time. the faint huff of breath leaving his body as he calms himself. I am surprised spending merely a couple minutes, or is it more? stuck in absolute silence was enough for the return of sound to feel so overwhelming. Yet it is nothing compared to the next sense I regain. One I barely ever acknowledge to this point: smell. The crisp air feels like a burn to my nasal cavity, mixed with a faint sulfur smell, as well sweat and stone dust. Again, my sensitivity lowers back to only being only noticeable if I concentrate on it rather quickly, but the first jolt has me reeling internally. Smell is quickly followed by taste, something I had not realized I had lost, but the metallic taste that fills my mouth is more than happy to remind me I still possess the ability. It appears whatever false flesh normally fills my mouth must not have rebuilt itself yet, as I can taste both the nanomachines and then plastic on top of the metallic taste. No gag reflex though, I simply suffer through the horrendous taste. Then Mewtwo''s sight broadcast becomes covered with a white sheen as my vision returns. Along with a plethora of warnings, messages, and lines of code scrolling at high speed. It takes a couple seconds for my sight to adjust itself again, but soon, I can see myself looking at Mewtwo looking at me, both vision superimposed on top of each other. Hey I can see now. From Mewtwo''s point of view, two eyeballs have filled the empty eye sockets of my shiny metallic cranium. He shivers as they look around, in their glorious wholeness. He cuts the mental feed and I watch him work from the ground. I still cannot talk. So he gets to work in silence. He still glances at me once in a while, but I can see he is a bit more relaxed now. While I wait for my body to once again be mobile, I check the messages, groaning internally when I notice I have consumed almost two third of my power, and at the rate I am still consuming it, might soon run out. As I check my inventory, I pat myself on the back for having converted most of my system chips out of manasteel. Speaking of, I have lost no items from my internal storage. So the inventory storage has still not been damaged, or I have back ups or something. My tinker armor is gone though. I now have a scrapped version of it in my inventory. A glace tells me it is merely broken and may be repaired with the right materials. This reassures me as the armor had gone up a few levels of familiarity, and I would have been a bit peeved to loose that small bit of progress. Also, do I still have the bands? Mewtwo? Can you check? My question reaches my friend, and I watch as he moves next to me and lift my left arm, where he knows I should have the bands. I still feel nothing as he does so. Still there. In a surprisingly good state. He tells me. Well that''s one less thing to worry about. After another couple minutes, my sense of touch finally returns returns. It feels like electricity runs all over my flesh-like parts, while only a mild tickling sensation passes through my more metallic limbs. With touch comes movement. Jerky at first, but quickly becoming better with every minutes that passes. The first thing I do is ingest as much food as I can, just to stabilize my power consumption. This little accident almost left me dry. Thankfully our food supplies are enough to staunch the power drain, and my body safely finishes repairing itself. I am quite amazed at how much punishment I can take now. I still remember how the first Praetor we faced almost got me over my far weaker limit from before. Once I am certain I can move without glitches, I get up. I join Mewtwo and start collecting the obsidian blocks he broke down. While doing so, my voice finally returns, as does my hair, signalling the end of my repairs. "Not going back in there until I can resist your flamethrower." Is the first thing I declare. Mewtwo turns my way in confusion before nodding in agreement. That would be a good way to see how resistant I am. We finish dismantling the portal, then the platform and return to the ground. The savanna floor, once covered in short yellow grass, is now a trampled mess of overturned dirt and spider corpses, some still smoking from being set on fire. I collect as much as I can from them before we turn back east, and continue our journey. If we manage to keep our previous pace, we should reach our next land mark, Raging Lake, in two to three days. It will depend on what we find on the way.
The group of hunters looks at where, two hour ago, they saw a pillar rise to the sky, then turn into a floating platform. A trick performed by a single person. A trick no one had ever done before. And now the platform has gone, nothing remains but their memories of the act. "Again, please tell me we all saw that." One of the armored men asks for maybe the eleventh time. "Yes Joan, we all saw the cyborg build a pillar of stone fifty meters into the sky, then make a platform and, against every rules of physic, destroy the only pillar supporting the platform, only for the platform to FUCKING FLOAT!" The other armored man roars at his colleague. "Now I am more curious about that whole gone and returned shit Rosie. Explain! Again!" Rosie, the only woman of the group, and the hunt mistress chosen to lead the group, covered in pokemon leather and bones gears, looks at where the platform floated. "I... I don''t know Dan. They got to the platform, we saw them defend against the spiders, then they did something, disappeared, and returned then disappeared again. And now they are continuing east. I don''t understand how they did it. I don''t even understand how they destroyed all those fucking spiders. that like a sixth month raid for year 5 to 10 on crack. I''ve never seen the spider wave grow so big! I didn''t know it could grow so big!" "So... let us resume." The man covered in gear similar to Rosie''s starts. "Our preys can, one, create structures that defy the laws of physic, two, do so in a rather short time, and three, somehow disappear as well as make more then half a million spiders disappear with them. Did I miss anything?" "Add that they can fly to the list, Achilles," Dan adds. "And ONE of them can fly, and make the other fly." Rosie corrects. "Dan, Graves, you will need to take care of the half-machine alone, while we Achilles and I deal with the legend. We cannot let them work together. We have got to separate them." She finishes, and her three companions nods. "Would have been easier with Carrie." Graves mutters. Chapter 61: The cabin atop the cliff Life 36 Day 89 Yet another day I live. Another day travelling thought this savanna. Our recent meeting with hunters has left me shaken, and my partners on edge. To think even with the constant threat of the raids there are some that would rather fight with one another rather than work together. And for what? My friends'' lives? I owe them my survival! Still, we had to do what had to be done... I am not proud of what I was forced to do. What I was forced to ask of my friends. I have reread the previous entries, as I had skimmed through the parts about humans hunting pokemons. Now that I have done so, I realize I had left many hints and blatant warnings about other humans. The Sanctuary for example: I wrote about the hunters during its creation. Yet through all my lives upon the Ezian planes, at least the ones written in this journal, this is the first time I have been forced to kill. I It I tried to talk it through, I really did! Future me, do not judge my actions too harshly just yet, for if you read this on your first day, know that you have yet to experience what this world is truly like. Please always try peace first, but be warned it might fail anyway. Life 36 Day 92 Princess writes for me, as I dictate my words to her. The raid was bad, I am still healing. Princess healing abilities are great, and combined with kirlia''s owns I should survive it. I have once more witnessed magic, and once more we were almost found wanting. Yet we prevailed. Knight and Princess were able to approach and kill the sorcerers, while kirlia and Hound protected me. Still one fireball managed to slip through. Still I survived, and we have continued east since yesterday. We have reached the sea I believe. Although the air lacks the salty tang that should accompany the coast, we have made camp atop a high cliff above the water. Here is the composition of the thirteenth week raid: -twenty cultist armed with short swords, -five knights with light armor, -three mages or sorcerers. Be warned the sorcerers might work in tandem to create greater spells. That is how I got injured.
I close the journal, and we look around us. We might be standing on Aster''s footsteps here, literally. We have left the savanna behind one and a half day ago, and have been travelling through a gentle meadow. Flowers of many hues cut through the green grass, giving the place a rainbow hue. Trees sprout intermittently and bushes hide curious pokemons all around. And a buzz fills the air. Insects and insect types pokemons seems to live together in harmony, undisturbed by the world around them. Yet, under the peace, we feel it, something watches, something stares. The moment we set foot upon the meadow, we felt an intense gaze lock on us, yet even Mewtwo was unable to locate its source perfectly. It is as if the meadow itself watches us. Yet this did not deters us. and we continued through. And now, even with the gaze still on us, we have reached Raging Lake shores, and as I read through Aster''s journal, I found out he might have once lied here, getting treated by his friends and companions. Raging Lake, a lake so vast many consider it an inland sea. We stand atop a tall cliff encompassing as much of the lake shore as we can see, going far into the distance left and right. I can understand how the first humans that found it may have confused it with the sea. The edge of the cliff opens to an abrupt drop of many meters if we were to jump. We will have to either traverse through the lake, or go around it to reach our next landmark, and what a landmark. As the sun sets at our back, we can see it in the distance, the tall, and imposing peaks of the mountains considered as the tallest upon the Ezian Plane. The Ice Cap mountain range shines orange against the setting sun, and rising tall at its center, is Icen Sky peak, the tallest peak. As the sun sets, we ware lucky enough to witness the ice mirror flash, as the peak light brightly for a couple seconds. We gaze at the humbling sight before us, taking in all the distance that still needs to be covered, all the dangers that we still need to overcome. And yet, the sight fills us with determination. For it makes us realize that we want to travel for more than our survival, and to have our questions answered. We want to see what is beyond the horizon. We want to see from the top of the world, and what lies in its depths. The nether may have been a bust due to our unpreparedness, but we will return there at some point, and we will explore it to our heart content. But for now, we observe the peak slowly disappear in shadow and mist as the sun dips below the horizon. Once night falls, we sit at the edge of cliff, observing the stars being reflected upon the calm surface of the lake as they appear. Mewtwo yawn, and I cannot blame him. He decided to travel non-stop until we reached the lake, and well, here we are. He chooses a spot to sleep, and quickly summons a large bubble around himself. I shout at him a few times, and he nods satisfied. He closes his eyes, and he quickly falls asleep. The bubble is new, as I have discovered something new. During the last day of travel, I have looked for a weapon that could help me deal with hordes of enemies, just in case the next raid happens to be a horde again, and while looking through my available materials, well... I realized I have a lot of gunpowder... and I can just make sand whenever I want... And it just so happens that one may combine with the other to create TNT... And well... That can be attached to arrows... and hordes do not do too well against explosives... But it is a bit loud, hence the sound cancelling bubble. We tried it yesterday and the result was pretty conclusive. So now I just need to make a tower and let the monsters come to me. And thus the night passes, along with many an explosion. A single arrow is enough to instantly kill or at least completely cripple most monsters. So I get a lot of time when I just wait for them to come to me. It is during one such waiting period that I spot something. In the distance along the cliff, I spot a flickering light. I try to concentrate on it, but the growing horde of monsters distract me. When I look back, it is still here. It remains for another dozen minutes, then disappears. What it was, I have no clue, but now I know where we are going in the morning. When the sun rises, it is at first hidden behind the distant mountain, and so the monsters continue to appear. I am forced to wait another two hours before the sun finally ignites the monsters, and they stop appearing. Mewtwo joins me during that time, and I tell him about the light. Curiosity lights in his eyes, and we set our gaze south of our position, toward the mysterious light. As we travel, Mewtwo informs me the pressure from the hidden gaze is growing stronger. It does not stops us, and we continue along the cliff edge. After a quarter of an hour of walk, we see it. Some short distance from the edge of the cliff, is a wooden cabin. The structure is surrounded by fields of flower. In the front yard, small wooden structure can be seen, although I am not sure what they are from the distance. Surprisingly, most insects and pokemons are gone, only bees and combees remain instead. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. One notices us and looks at us in curiosity. We prepare ourselves for an attack, now aware that not all pokemons might be friendly, and our reaction scares the poor comb pokemon. It flies away with haste. The pressure that had accompanied us since our entrance into the meadow suddenly reaches an all time high, and we almost buckle against its strength. A loud buzzing fills the field, and we look around for what is coming. Mewtwo find her first, and I behold her soon after. She is massive, far bigger than my knowledge tells me they should be. Towering at two meters in height, the vespiquen descends upon us. Colored a warm yellow and black, the pokemon looks like an helmeted bee with a long skirt. Her red eyes stare us down imperiously, and the pressure she exude brings us to our knees. She buzzes at Mewtwo, and my friend attempts to reply, only to be shut down by louder buzzing. The queen bee pokemon points back to the way we came, and buzzes angrily. "Lil'' Bee?" A faint tremulous voice calls over the buzzing, "Do we have visitors?" The vespiquen freezes and urges us away, now looking more scared than dangerous. "Hello? Is Lil'' Bee bothering you? She can be a bit overprotective but please, don''t take that against you." Coming from behind the large bee pokemon, an elder woman walks slowly, helped by a wood cane. We look at her with even more worries, as if she has managed to live this long, then the vespiquen is even stronger than we might have expected. And the four digit number atop her head confirms it soon enough. "Oh wait. You''re not one of those league persons right? I told you before, I-" The old woman start to cough, which quickly devolves into a painful fit. The vespiquen drops her pressure and rushes to what is clearly her companion. A faint flowery scent fills the air and I notice a tiny puff of pollen being passed to the woman. Her cough stabilizes, and she takes a wheezing breath. "My apologies, I am no longer as young as I once was." She offers, leaning on both her cane and the vespiquen. Finding we are once more able to speak and move, I take a step forward. This earns me the glare of the vespiquen, but a quick whack from the woman has her drop it. "Hum... Hi, I am Astra, and my companion is called Mewtwo. We apologize for coming in unannounced. I noticed some light coming from the direction of your house, and we got curious." I tell her, making sure to not attempt to approach any closer. Greetings. Mewtwo offers as well, earning a shiver from the woman. "Oh... A psychic, it has been so long since I felt the touch of one. Last time must have been that young trainer. You sound a bit like him." She rambles. "Oh but where are my manners! I am Lena, Lena Kurrow. I am a humble retired apiarist. Although my dear Lil'' Bee still takes care of the hives. Would you like to taste some? It has been so long since we had guests." I look at Mewtwo, and he looks at me. Do we follow the old lady? Do we excuse ourselves? She did mention an trainer with a psychic type sounding like you... Mewtwo notes. I nod at that, and give the apiarist our answer. "If your companion is alright with us staying for a bit, it would be our pleasure." "Oh, how delightful, I can tell you are young. Keep that kindness in your heart, it will serve you well." She intones. The vespiquen sneer at us, but relents before her companion can catch her. She escorts Lena, and we follow. We pass the fields of flower, soon reaching a meandering dirt path going from the little cabin into the distance. As approach, the wood structure in the front yard turn out to be beehives. Combees and bees mingle together in and out, although we notice some of the bees are a bit strange. I could swear one of the bees that just passed us had a hat. It did! Mewtwo confirms as the hatted be flies away somewhere. Once we reach the door landing, Lena stops, and Lil'' Bee opens the door for her. She steps into the gloomy interior, and collides with the the door frame. Lil'' Bee is quick to stabilize Lena, and then guides her to an armchair. Once she is seated, the vespiquen seems to relax slightly, and then moves to another corner of the small cabin. "Tell me if you need help with anything Bee." Lena tells her companion. The vespiquen rolls her eyes, but she cannot hide the smile that fills them. We awkwardly stand next to the door. Mewtwo turns to the vespiquen and asks her something. Whatever it is, it seems to gain the bee pokemon approval as she motions for him to join her. Mewtwo joins the oversize pokemon, and they start to prepare something in what I now realize must be the kitchen corner. I remain in front of the door for another minute, before the vespiquen angrily signal for me to do something. Mewtwo helpfully translates for her. Get in and close the door. I do so, and plunge the entire cabin in obscurity. Although it only lasts for a second before my eyes acclimate themselves to the gloom, and the few rays that are passing through the closed curtains soon become enough for me to see. "So young man... What brings you to Raging Lake?" Lena asks. "Oh, we are only passing through. We are travelling east." I answer her. "East? Ah, I wonder if my previous visitor reached east. He was talking about a possible solution out of this world. Back to the old... Ah... I was so curious as to what he meant by that." Lena once more rambles. "He told me we were no longer on earth, but I just told him, what''s beneath my feet then? Clouds?" She lets out a wheezing laugh at her joke, and I give her an honest chuckle. "But then he told me he was sorry. Ahh... I was young then, how young was I Bee?" The vespiquen buzzes at her, and Lena chuckles. "Ah yes, I was starting to wrinkle. How old would that be... Thirty? Thirty five? Oh how long has passed since then?" She then starts to ramble about her bees, the hill and the beach some distance away. She tells of the frequent excursion her and Lil'' Bee go on, where she gets to enjoy swimming with some big sea serpents. They go once a week, even in winter. Although in winter, she only holds onto the some sort of sticks on top of the sea serpent she rides. Even in her old age, she still eagerly awaits those occasions, why just three days ago, they went and did maybe four hours of swimming. They had to take a few breaks, as her body is not as resistant as it used to be, but still, she still enjoys it. At some point, Mewtwo and Lil'' Bee join us with a plate filled with little honeyed toasts, as well as four mugs of herbal tea. We thank the cooking duo, and enjoy the food. Well, I only eat a couple of toasts, as any more would be a waste. The tea I fully drink though. Lena continues with her stories, of how she rarely has visitors, yet is happy for Lil'' Bee presence. She was always here. Always... She loops back to her last visitor, a man accompanied by many friends as she describes him. Young at the time, with six friends, although she only interacted with four. She wished she could have seen them. Just like she wishes she could see us. This has her take a tangent about how she wishes she could behold the world around her. Only for her to suddenly rise in panic. "Oh gosh! But you can see!" She declares, as she reaches for her cane. The vespiquen rises to support her, and then guide her back down. "Do not worry, we both have pretty good dark vision." I attempt to reassure her. "Oh no! That will not do. Bee! The curtains!" Lena continues to fret, attempting to rise once more. Lil'' Bee softly buzzes and a faint breeze traverses the cabin. Every curtains open, filling the cabin with light. Late afternoon light actually. Lil'' Bee, upon noticing the time, buzzing softly at her companion once more and goes to exit, motioning for us to follow. "Is it so late already? Oh my, I must have put quite the damper on your travels. I am so sorry. You should have told me, I would not have bored you with so many stories." Lena starts, "The least I can do is offer you my home for the night. There is no shelter around here, and my home is well protected." The vespiquen buzzes her disapproval, but Lena waves her refusal away. "Come now, I made the mistake, I have to own up to it." She declares, before sighing. "Oh all this talking has tired me a bit. I apologize, but I am going to take a short nap. And do not chase them while I sleep Bee!" She threatens the vespiquen with her cane, although if she actually had been aiming at the door, it would have been more effective. The vespiquen still buzzes in resigned agreement, and goes outside. We both get up as well, and join the large bee pokemon out, leaving Lena to rest. As we close the door, we can already hear faint snoring. Once outside, the vespiquen towers above us once more, her arms crossed upon her chest. She buzzes at Mewtwo and he nods. Live translation incoming. I nod, and Lil'' Bee talks. "You have been gracious hosts. You are still unknown, and dangers. What do you plan with us?" She starts. We both look at her in confusion. We... plan nothing. We just came here out of curiosity. We followed the light. Mewtwo answers and I nod alongside him. "Young indeed, you lack the cunning of your peers. What of the rest of your group?" The rest of our... group? What is she... Oh! "Well, I guess you were right. We are being followed." I congratulate Mewtwo. And we guided them to an old lady and her guardian. Mewtwo laments. "We are sorry for that, we did not know for sure. Have they come close?" I inquire. "They have not. They remain outside my domain. They await. They are not with you?" Bee asks in suspicion. "No! No. We... there is only the two of us." I explain. "I shall trust you. For now." She reluctantly declare. "If you wish to stay here, do so under the porch. I protect from monsters. How long until your next challenge?" Five days, but we will be gone by then. We are sorry to impose. "I wish you go now, but Lena will be sad, and think I made you go. Tomorrow, once she wakes up, you go." We agree to that, and settle ourselves beneath the porch as the sun sets. Mewtwo goes starts meditating continuing his training, and I start reading and doing research for our future endeavors. Chapter 62: An old woman final wish Life 341, Day 96 Throughout my many lives, we have somehow never found this location. Today, we have found something that goes beyond logic, something that has all of my friends scared, awed and anxious. We have found a single house, next to Raging Lake, protected by a singular vespiquen, which was able to take on every companions that I am travelling with. most companions I am travelling with, Princess did not wish to participate. This singular pokemon was able to wipe the floor with all my friends, Master got a broken arm, while Paladin is still in a coma. Hound and Knight are somewhat still functional, and Cutter is sleeping off the damages. We should all be dead. The only reason we are not is thanks to a blind lady calling herself Lena Kurrow. Like me, she has not used a single soul coin for herself, unlike me, she was not aware as to what soul coins are, thinking they were strange little shells her vespiquen got her when they went to a nearby beach. Her memory of Earth is somewhat strange due to her disability. It seems she still thinks herself on Earth for some reason, and is ignoring the fact that a two meters tall humanoid bee creature serves as her guardian. Which is also a strange occurrence, I have met vespiquens before according to my journal, but I do not think they towered as this one does. The nickname ''Lil'' Bee'' sure is ironic here. Anyway, this lady was kind enough to let us stay and recuperate, apologizing for her guardian overzealousness in her duty. She did confide to me she was quite scared when her guardian kidnapped her from her garden. As much as I tried to make her understand what her ''garden'' really was, she still denies not being on Earth, stating her father always told her of magical beasts frolicking among the humans, and that she is quite happy to have earned the attention of one such creature. I did not push further than that. Once the team has fully recovered, we will push further East, toward this supposed isolated island where they are trying to recreate technology. I''ll have to warn the vespiquen about my oncoming raid as well. I hope she can help me if my friends are still recovering. Life 341, Day 98 Why is she staying in this place? I asked, I had to. Lil'' Bee, this vespiquen... she is everything I could hope my friends to become. My friends are still recovering, and Princess alone would not have been enough to overcome the fourteenth week raid alone. Lena convinced Lil'' Bee to help me, as she felt responsible for my plight, and the vespiquen begrudgingly agreed. To say she wiped the floor with the raid is an understatement. There was no challenge for her. The moment the portal opened, she sent blades of wind inside and diced an entire army in seconds. Only the leading Praetor survived the first move, but the vespiquen just flicked her arm, and a swarm of... something looking like bees just devoured it. It took less than thirty seconds. And then the portal closed. I had no hope of winning against her, she had been going easy on us from the whole time. I do not even understand how I could have ever hoped any of my friends could overcome her. So I asked Princess to ask her, and here is the answer. ''I care not for others, only Lena. She helped me, nursed me, made me grow without ever seeing me. So I protect her. She will only die when she has to, not because something makes it so. I protect her, always.'' The bond Lena and Lil'' Bee share is something much deeper than the bond I have with my team, and I can only respect it. Once we are healed, we shall head out. Future me, if you ever stumble upon this land, do not expect a kind welcome, but know you shall pass through unimpeded should you remain away from the apiarist house.
Although evening has come, the sun remains on the horizon for another couple hours. After an hour of fruitless research, I took out Aster''s journal and started reading, finding the passages about the meeting between him and Lena in his final life. As he describes her as a young lady, and adding the fact she still remembers him, I realize she has been alive since before Aster''s death. I put away the journal, pensive, and let my thoughs drift as I observe the vespiquen order combees and the bees of this world together. These bees are too big to be normal bees. Most bees on earth rarely exceed two centimeters, and here, most bees could hardly fit on my open palm. And the fact that some have hats makes them even more bizarre. Lil'' Bee spend a good couple hours herding the insects and pokemons, collecting honeycombs, nectar and somehow raw resources like stone and wood logs. This one has me curious, but I refrain from approaching the far too powerful insect type. As the bees slowly retreat into their hives, and the combees join them, the sun finally dips beyond the horizon, coloring the floating islands in golden colors for an instant before plunging the world in darkness. The disappearance of the light has Mewtwo stir, and he comes out of his meditation. Did I miss anything? He asks me. "Not much, just a bee acting as an apiarist." Eh... Said bee approaches us, and take notice of the journal resting by my side. Without even asking, a small swarm of tiny bee-like insects escape from beneath the bee pokemon robe shaped abdomen and snatch the journal off the ground, depositing it onto the vespiquen waiting hand. She buzzes in curiosity as she starts leafing through it. "Hey, careful, these are the memories of my predecessor!" I warn her, and her gaze intensifies. She buzzes a question and Mewtwo quickly set back his psychic translation. "-ur relation to the Stradiv" "Stradiv?" I parrot back, before realizing. "Oh, you mean the author?" The vespiquen nods. "Well, I am his inheritor of sort." My answer puzzles the vespiquen, and she turns to Mewtwo, hoping my psychic friend can help clarify my answer. Do you know the cycle humans go through here? The question offends her, and she buzzes loudly in answer. Right, of course you do. Well, Astra here is the new life of Aster, but slightly different. Just as I am. He raises his right arm, displaying the Trio''s tattoo upon it. We are both chosen by a Trio of gods to oppose the current ruling one. The vespiquen nods. "The Stradiv also was on quest to oppose the dark one. The Stradiv told us he wanted to get us all home. Lena laughed at that. Will you also try to take us home?" Lil'' Bee asks. This has me stumped. "I... do not know. Our current goal is simply creating some sort of object, I guess we will see once we reach that point. It is still far in the future." I finally answer after a minute. A soft silence descends upon us after my answer. Lil'' Bee gives me back my journal, and settles before the porch. Mewtwo returns to his meditation, and I return to my system reading. After another thirty minutes passes, Lil'' Bee jolts awake, and turn toward the house. Her sudden movement takes me out of my reading. Noise reaches us from within the cabin. Something is moving inside. Unsure if I should be worried, I rise as well and try to look inside the house. The noise continue to approach, until it stops right before the cabin door. Lil'' Bee gently approaches it, and slowly turns its handle, buzzing softly. Something shuffle back from inside the house, and Lil'' Bee open the door in full. For a second nothing comes out, and then Lena appears into the soft light from the moon and stars. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. I relax, realizing Lil'' Bee was not reacting to a threat, but to her charge awakening from her nap. "Evening Lil'' Bee." The ex-apiarist wheezes. The aged woman seems even frailer than earlier today. "Please, help me sit by the porch." The vespiquen gently takes the trembling blind lady arm, and guides her to the edge of the cabin porch. After a long minute of groans and soft grunts of pain, Lena is seated. "Ah... Thank you my cute little bee." Lena whispers. Silence returns, but only for a few seconds, as Lena starts humming. The sound has Mewtwo open an eye, and look at me in curiosity. I simply shrug, unsure as to what to do. I do not want to disturb her and break what appears to be a daily ritual. Lena continues humming for a couple minutes, before she a coughing spell forces her to stop. Once she regain her wheezing breath, she extend her arm around her, the vespiquen soon getting into reach of the searching appendage. "I am no longer the scared young girl you kidnapped Lil'' Bee. I fear I will have to leave you soon..." The old woman whispers. The vespiquen buzzes softly, guiding the trembling arm to her head. "I still do not understand why you did that, all those years ago. But it was fun... thank you... I..." Lena falls silent. "Oh dear... Did we not have guests? Do not tell me you chased them out!" Lena seems to regain some composure as memory of our presence rise in her mind. The vespiquen buzzes her denial, and then motion for the both of us to says something. "Hum... evening?" "Oh! How long have you been there!" Lena exclaims. "The... entire time..." I hesitate. "Oh my, and you did not say a thing?" We did not want to break the moment. It seemed important to you. Mewtwo replies. "Humph! Spying on an old woman. Why I should have Lil'' Bee throw you out!" She groan, and Lil'' Bee seems ready to act on her charge threat. "But I should have asked first. It is not easy, you know. You think you get it after so many years of living without sight, but sometime, you still forget the basic for those with sight." She sigh, calming down. "I asked that boy all those years ago, just for a second, or even less. To experience sight. I had that idea because he seemed to be able to communicate with his own friends surprisingly easily, and without needing sound. Well, his friends could not do something like that. They could send words, and concepts, but no pictures. I did not even know if I would have been able to understand it, but I wanted to try anyway. My... My father always took hours describing things in the tiniest of details, so I could imagine it in my mind... it filled me with so much joy and expectation... He always told me it would work one day. I would see... but then he disappeared, and Lil'' Bee took me here." We let Lena talk, but I glance at Mewtwo at the mention of sending pictures or even seeing through someone else eyes. He nods, and get up. Miss Lena... I might be able to grant your wish. Mewtwo declares, to the immediate gasp of Lena and angry buzzing from Lil'' Bee. "Oh shush you! You think I care about danger at my age? I have lived long enough!" She chastises her guardian, "Are you serious? This is an empty promise right? Just to give hopes to an old woman." "I do not think so, Mewtwo did so with me previously. I had lost my sight momentarily, and he shared his own while I recovered." I reassure her. "Humph, then please, do so. Give me sight." She demands of my friend. Mewtwo nods, before answering out loud. I will attempt to. Mewtwo then closes his eyes, and concentrates. I will first send you a picture, and you will tell me what you see. After a moment, Lena speaks up. "Did you send it?" I... did... hum, give me a moment, this might cause some discomfort. More silence follow, broken by a slight groan from Lena. Then she suddenly gasps. "Wha- What is that." That is a picture of the night sky. The dark outlines are the floating islands covering the sky, and the little bright dots are stars. The moon is the large half circle on the top right. "That is incredible. Is this what you see? Constantly?" Yes, yes it is. I will now give you a direct line to what I see. Be aware, you will see yourself. Another moment passes, and sob escapes the old woman, and she barely remains upright. "This- This is me?" She raises an arm, stopping mid-way. "I- " She turns her head left and right, feeling confused. "Could... Could I see you? All of you?" She asks, with tears running down her face. Mewtwo looks to his right, getting me in his field of view. I wave, and Lena waves as well. He then floats toward one of the cabin window, trying to catch his own reflection. I am unsure you can fully discern me, but here. He also waves at his reflection, and Lena giggles at that. "I can see you yes." Finally, Mewtwo turns around, and moves behind Lena. Lil'' Bee buzzes threateningly at that, but the only thing he does he gently turn her and himself toward the vespiquen. And here is Lil'' Bee. A strangled gasp escapes Lena, and Lil'' Bee recoil, afraid her friend fears her form. "You- You are beautiful. I should have called you tall queen rather than Lil'' Bee." She whispers, tears streaming down her cheeks. She stumble forward, missing the step from the porch, and falling into the arms of the rushing Lil'' Bee. The two embrace each others, and even the stoic vespiquen sheds her mask and shows her happiness. They remain so for long minutes, before the vespiquen gently grabs the old lady in a princess hold. Lena has fallen asleep again, and Lil'' Bee takes her back inside to rest. I can only guess that Mewtwo has cut the connection, as he breathes out, slightly exhausted. A little ding grabs our attention, and we raise an eyebrow at what we see.
Achievement got: The cure to blindness (Let''s be clear here, you would need to constantly stay close to the blind person for it keep working, but hey, that works short terms (also yeah that one was made on the fly, enjoy =D)) Reward: 1000000xp, 200 Exp. candy XL
We simply look in astonishment. "I uh... I''ll keep the candies in storage yeah?" Mewtwo simply nods. Minutes later, Lil'' Bee returns and look at us imperiously. And then she bows to us. Mewtwo gets the translation running before she even begins to speak. "You have given a great gift. You may rest for the night. You will always be welcome here." She says, and then settles back on the stairs. We also settle back on the porch, and let the night pass. Surprisingly, no monsters arise, and I can only guess it might be some sort of effect from Lil'' Bee. When the morning arises, I notice Lil'' Bee has gone somewhere. I had been too engrossed in working on my armor to notice. I finally decided to repair and improve it, finishing the modifier quest at the same time. The reward is rather small, but every bits help in the long term. As the shadow of Icen Sky Peak retreats and light fills the front yard of Lena''s home, Lil'' Bee returns from her errand, carrying a semi-transparent white sheet. Mewtwo awakes as Lil'' Bee passes us. He catches a glimpse of the sheet, and gasps. Oh no. "What?" Lena... is dead. I look at him blankly, before realizing what he is implying. "You think what you did..." I leave my question in suspend, and Mewtwo nods. Minutes later, Lil'' Bee exits the house, the shroud now filled with the body of Lena Kurrow. She glances at us, and motion for us to follow. Confused, we get up, and do so. Lil'' Bee begin a slow fly along the road leading to the cabin. From the beehives, combees come out and join our funeral parade and forming ranks on either side of their queen. We traverse the flower field covering Lena''s yard, and then continue along the cliff. The sound of waves has us look down the sharp edge of the cliff, and witness blue and cream serpents joining our parade in the water. Their cries echo along our way. Soon the cliff slopes gently down, and we reach a beach bordered on one side by a forest. At the edge of the forest, fifty-nine tombstones rest. We approach them, and I notice the oldest one is covered in moss and even that a small tree has started growing along its edge. The sea serpents, gyaradoses, come at the edge of the beach, and one slither to us. Its ever angry face judges me and Mewtwo, but a soft buzz from vespiquen has the beast leave us be. He slams his fan-shaped tail on the ground, and a hole appears next to the fifty-ninth grave. Lil'' Bee gently deposit the shroud, and summons winds to let sand and dirt fill the hole. Once it is covered, every gyarados cry in unison, the scream making birds fly in fear from within the forest. They all shout a large glob of water into the sky, and soon after a fine rain begins to fall around us. Lil'' Bee summons a small ball of fire above her, followed by every gyarados as well, and soon the little balls of sunny day creates multiple rainbows all around the beach. Every combee bow forward, and so does Lil'' Bee. We bow as well, and remain so for long minutes. Once the artificial rain stops, the gyaradoses begin to leave, some growling what might be words of comfort to the vespiquen. The combees also dash away, still having their daily chores to go through, and soon, only the both of us remain, along with Lil'' Bee. The vespiquen remains silent for some time, before turning our way. She motion to Mewtwo, and he nods. And then she speaks. "I do not place the blame on you. This life was her longest. The gift you gave her on her final day far outshine the fact it may have ended her. She will return, she always does. I thank you for joining our small ritual to honor her. Go when you wish. But know we will always welcome you. I apologize for my doubts. And I warn you, your followers are still there, at the edge. Be careful, and good luck." And with that, she takes off, leaving us alone with the freshly added sixtieth grave of Lena Kurrow. Aster''s remnant beg me to do something to honor one of the few decent humans left on the Ezian Planes, and I take out a few of the tall mystical flowers we have, a yellow one and an black one, and plant them on top of the grave. Mewtwo then carves her name on the tombstone, and we stay for another couple of minutes, silent. Once we have mourned enough, I consult my map and compass, and we resume our journey to the east. Chapter 63: Into the woods (again) Life 48, Day 150 Raging Lake. Still marching east along the coast. Forest transitioning from oaks trees to birch trees. Life 48, Day 168 Another raid survived. And potential new friends met. 24th raid week composition -5 crimson paladins -20 crimson knights -3 crimson clerics -50 crimson cultists. The raid would have gone badly if not for a couple of eeveelutions joining the fray. Two jolteons, one sylveon and a glaceon came to our aid, alleviating some of the pressure from the numerous cultists and allowing for Knight and kirlia to quickly dispatch the clerics. Then a collective attack was enough to finish the remaining knights and paladins. We have been allowed to rest close to the eevee colony. The sylveon appears to be the matriarch of the nest, she also exude the most pressure out of all the others. We will be resting for a day or two before we resume our journey.
I close the journal, and store it quickly, letting Mewtwo remove the small barrier he made. Today was a rainy day, and as the sun sets beyond the clouds, the rain does not abates. We are planning to rest on the shores of Raging Lake one final time. The gentle slosh of the water is soothing to Mewtwo, and having monsters only come from one direction makes defending rather trivial. A single half-circle wall with a single entrance allows for an efficient funnel. He might have passed here. We are following his footsteps in so many different lives. Mewtwo muses, looking around with a sad smile. We have been travelling along the shore of Raging Lake like Aster Stradivii once did. And from the map I am slowly making with my Automated Mapping System, I feel awed at the sheer magnitude of Raging lake. A week and a half. A week and a half of travel, and still Icen Sky Peak is as far away as ever, yet still imposing in the distance. Our travels have been rather peaceful, if you discount the raid in the middle. Said raid was another short one, with only a single cultist attacking us. Neither Mewtwo nor I understand why Eziakophael has stopped sending massive attacks our way, and it is starting to worry us. The last gap in danger he did resulted in an an army of human-sized spiders being sent after us. Who knows what we will have to face once he decide to send a real raid our way once more? But we try not to worry too much about it. We have tools to prepare for an army, and with some imagination and rational thinking, we should be able to overcome almost anything. Right now we are at a crossroad of sort. The terrain is slowly starting to become too steep for us to continue to travel along the lake''s shores. So we have to make a choice. Either I test out if I can swim, or we go inland and through the birch forest that borders the shore, hoping the residents are still friendly as they were in Aster''s journal. Meeting Lil'' Bee and even the gyaradoses made me realize something. Aster''s team was composed of the strongest tamed pokemons. But that does not accounts for all the wild pokemons having to survive in the wild by themselves. If they have survived this long, it means they have the ability to do so. And whether they are benevolent or malevolent to humans may depends on how their encounters with humans went. Sadly, I have little hope humans have been as kind to pokemons as Aster or Lena. On one side, the Hunters have decided to make it their goal to use pokemons as both a source of materials and food for themselves, causing untold deaths each times they return. And on the other side, the League does not seems too benevolent to their own companions. I still remember the pain on the face of dragonite I battled against before Princess'' forest. Once more, we may have been lucky with our encounters, but it is only a matter of time before we meet truly hostile pokemons, either naturally so, like the slugma in the nether, or due to their experiences with humans. So we debate. From Aster''s journal, we know there is an eevee colony inside this birch forest, and that the matriarch once helped Aster. What we do not know, is whether said matriarch is still alive, and if so, actually still agreeable to human presence. I am not a human, but an angry pokemon will not take the time to verify that, and will most certainly attack first and ask questions later. There is also something else. We still have yet to meet our pursuers. We know they exist thanks to Lil'' Bee confirming Mewtwo''s findings, but they still remain at the edge of his senses. The only thing we know is that there may be at least four of them, and that there is no pokemon with them. Mewtwo thinks they might be Hunters, and I kinda want to agree. There is no way four random humans would be able to survive this far into the wilderness of the Ezian plane without some sort of power-up, let alone keep tracking us. So that also keeps us on edge. And makes us consider going through the lake rather than continue on land. Yet at the same time, we know not the full scale of Raging Lake, and there is also the risk of underwater monsters or pokemons targeting us, well more specifically me, while I am swimming. Because yes, I somehow can swim even with my weight. I can also sink. We tried. I have good underwater vision, and can remains beneath the water for about two minutes before water gets into whatever passes for my lungs and start doing some internal damages. I also need to be mindful about not drowning my bio-reactor, as water seems to have ill-adverse effects on its functions. If we are to continue on land, that means we will need to go through the forest, and possibly meet with more dangers. There is also a third option, which is to forego the Ezian plane entirely and open another portal to the nether. With the recent reward from the achievement, I have had enough to get the Internal Temperature Regulator System. My body is now able to resist both extreme heat and cold at the steep price of triple the energy consumption as well as double the coolant consumption, something that was definitely NOT in the system description before I purchased it. As much as the price for activating this system makes sense in hindsight, I would still have liked to be aware about it from the start. The nether is something we are considering for two reasons. First, we are becoming stagnant. Well, I am. Mewtwo is still able to grow thanks to his own training, and the realization he can gain experience through it, but the quests are still locked behind materials only found in the nether, and the more we complete quests, the more we can unlock new tools and abilities. The second is that there seems to be some sort of special mechanic in the nether. Supposedly, traveling through the nether would allow one to travel eight time the distance one would travel on the Ezian plane. Using this property of the dimension would allow us to drastically hasten our travels, it might even allow us to leave our pursuers behind. But it would also mean leaving behind a portal frame, even if we were to break the portal netherside. I am unsure if I want to reveal something like that to our pursuers. There would also be the problem of the exit. Where will we return? How is the portal location determined? We could open a portal to the nether in the middle of a village, or deep underground. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. So we are still divided on it. If we want to advance through the quests, we will need to return there at some point anyway. The safest route would be to got through the forest, and prepare for the worst. We might as well. We know what we may potentially find if we follow Aster''s steps. We could use the forest to lay a trap. The Hunters must have some ways to track us, they are still on our tail even though they gave Lil'' Bee''s domain a rather large berth. I could no longer sense them while we stayed there. Mewtwo cuts into my thoughs. Let us continue on land. As for the quests, whenever I need to rest you can always make a portal, get in, gather resources, and get out. I raise an eyebrow at that. "You would trust me to get into the most dangerous place we have explored to date and not get hurt?" No, but I can believe you will manage to return. You trusted me going into the caves back in the magical forest, I would be a hypocrite not to let you try things alone. He explains. I wince at his lack of confidence in me, but I understand it. Still, one day I will be equally as strong as him. I smirk at that though. Sure you will. Mewtwo laugh, I am going to catch some sleep. Wake me up if something happens. I groan at his remark, and let my friend float in the air. This is something he has recently figured, passive telekinesis, allowing him to both sleep and float at the same time. This new methods seems to allow him more refreshing resting periods. I quickly erect a small floating platform to protect him from the still falling rain, and let him sleep. And thus the night passes. I slay monsters, and soon enough, morning comes. Well at least the sky turns from black to shades of gray. The rain has kept up through the night and shows no sign of stopping. I hope I don''t rust. As Mewtwo comes to, he find me dismantling the barricades. Monsters still come in a trickle, but with my friend now awake, they are no longer a concern. Still, the sun is up, so why are they still coming? Slow night? He asks me while crushing a pair of zombie effortlessly. "Mostly wet." I answer, shattering a skeleton skull with a single punch. These monsters are no longer a threat to us, as long as they do not come in too large a number. So, the forest? I nod, "The forest." With the both of us being in agreement, we enter the birch forest, leaving behind the shores of Raging Lake. The pitter-patter of the rain of the leaves soon fills our ears, along with distant calls from awakening critters. The black-striped white trees give the forest a luminous aura in the faint light of the day. We are unsure what path Aster followed, and so, unsure as to where the eevee colony may be. Not that we want to see it, but if the colony is now hostile to humans, knowing where it is would allow us to give it a wide berth. We travel for about half a day into the forest without interruption. At midday, we are still on deep enough in it that my mapping system has trouble mapping the shores. It is while I am looking at the full map that I notice a strange landmark. There seems to be a clearing a couple hundred meters south of us, partially hidden by the forest canopy. The moment I turn toward is, a chill runs down my spine, and Mewtwo yanks me backward. Blue-tipped white ribbons crash where, a second ago, I had been standing, sending dirt flying around. And from the top of a tree, an elegant mix of a cat and a fox lands before us. Its elegance sadly only last for a cursory glance however. The sylveon fur, once maybe white, is marred brown from dry blood around multiple cuts. One of her leg is held above the ground, clearly hurt. The pair of ribbons coming from the bowtie on her neck are partially shredded, while of the pair coming from the bowtie on one of her ear, only one is still there. Her glowing blue eyes have a wild gleam on them, and she hisses at us, revealing pointy canine teeth. Before we can do anything, the sylveon hisses turn into screams, and waves of pink crash upon us. The move rattles me, causing my vision to glitch with pink artifacts, while Mewtwo is forced back from the force. I try to open my mouth, but two ribbons strike me, sending me flying back. I crash on the ground, holding my now open stomach, my armor once more broken through. Another crash has me get up quickly. Mewtwo has just been sent flying as well. "Mewtwo, you good?" I am. She strikes hard, I am not sure how much I can take. Comes the distant reply. I turn where he landed, some meters away into a tree. "Me neither, go east, do not look south. I''m right behind you." I shout at him, and start running. This sylveon clearly does not want us here, and who are we to intrude? And so we run. And the sylveon gives chase. Her ribbons crash all around us, sending soil and splinters flying. I realize too late what triggered her. "Did you sense her presence?" I ask my friend as we run. No, she appeared out of nowhere. He answers me. "She must have been trailing us since we entered the forest. I think I accidentally found the colony, and when I looked its way, she instantly attacked." I explain. Well, good job then. How do we explain to her that we mean her and her colony no harm? Mewtwo retorts sarcastically. "We don''t. I don''t think she will listen to anything we say. You saw her eyes." I saw her mind more. She is hurting, and grieving. She sees you as something to vent her anger and sadness upon. "Yeah I figured." I comment, barely dodging a ribbon aimed at my head. The sylveon is deftly following us from the trees, jumping from branches to branches with ease. "Okay we need a plan. Do you think you can take her down?" Not a chance. She overcame my protect with her moonblast. I am not winning in a fair fight. He groans. "Alright, then we-" Something tackles me and I go through almost a dozen trees before we come to a stop. Astra! We have company! Mewtwo sends me from a distance. Something goes pling against my armor, and I finally get a good look at what just ran into me. A human in armor. He raises a sword, and attempts to strike me again, yet the blade rebound against my armor, surprising him and me both. "Harder than you look machine." He comments, before attempting a third strike, but this one imbuing his sword with a strange aura. Finally recovering enough of my senses to move again, I roll out of the blade, and get back up. The man aborts his strike, and swiftly turns it into a rush aimed at me. "But sloppy." Another voice sounds behind me, and a battleaxe buries itself into my back. I fall back on the ground, my legs giving out almost instantly. Shit this is bad. The second attacker plant a boot on my back and yank his axe out. I already know my back is stitching itself closed as I can feel my legs being able to move again. "Well, one down, only the legend to go." The second man comes into my vision, readying his axe to split my head open.
Some time earlier. Rosie stands alone on the beach of Raging Lake. As much as the last few weeks of tracking have been stressful, nothing gets more stressful than the first day of each week since her arrival, or return, or whatever is happening in this cursed world. She swallows, trying to calm herself. Her hands are trembling, sweat is getting mixed with the rain. It will happen soon. If there is one thing they all keep track of, it is when a raid will happen. As always, she wishes her subordinates could help, but she has heard enough horror stories to have them stand back. A raid is personal, and anyone trying to interfere will only make it worse. The first bell sounds, and she tenses. Raids have always been stressful, but since the spider wave crashed on their preys, they have changed, and this makes Rosie even more afraid. The second bell tolls, and the portal opens. She freezes at what comes through. Five praetors, two hundred paladins, thousands of warriors... A impressive army, one she had yet to face. And yet, just like it happened to her subordinates, they do not rush her, they do not send waves of magic at her. No, they simply walk out, and exit. Once the army is through, the portal closes, and one of the praetor approaches her. She gulp, ready to accept her fate should it play differently than the last two. She knows she has only a slim chance of victory here. Defeating a praetor is always a challenge. One first need to overcome its defensive wards, and then best the highly trained warrior in combat. Yet once the monster of a man reaches her, he simply look at her. The maddened glare she spots through the man''s visor makes us shudder. He speaks, as the previous one did, in his impossible tongue. He then draws his sword, and decapitates himself. Once he does so, the entire army follows. And Rosie shakes in fear. Her raid is over. Just like the two precedents. Just like her subordinates own. What is happening? Why are they simply offering themselves? How long will that last? Still shaking she slowly gathers every soul coins the ''battle'' has awarded her. With this, she is now stronger than any twelve year abductees has any right to be. They all are. She joins back with her team, trying to calm the shaking of her body. Once she reaches them. Joan, the axeman looks at her with a knowing look. "They have entered the eevee forest. The local guardian has recently suffered loss, and will attack anyone that dare even look in the direction of her colony. It could happen at any times, so let us get ready." Achilles goes over the plan they prepared the moment Rosie arrives. "I presume it went like it did for us?" Rosie nods, still partially sick. "What the fuck is happening, man?" Joan cannot help but mutter. "It matters not." Rosie finally finds back her voice. "The Lord Hunter gave us two preys, and we shall deliver." She suddenly feel the shift in the distance, and her eyes narrow. "They''ve done it. Let''s move." The Hunter team all nod, and rush further into the forest. Time to hunt. Chapter 64: Battle Theme Neither Dan nor Joan had seen their prey up close at this point. Well, the legend they had a rather detailled picture, but for the supposed reincarnated Aster, only an old drawing half-destroyed by time and water. So when the Dan was able to finally lay eyes on the man, his first reaction was wonder. Where did he get his armor? Who made such a masterpiece of forging? And why wear two layers of armor on his legs and one arm? Then Joan had struck him from behind, and he had witnessed something that made wonder turn into dread. The eyes of the man as he faced the oncoming axe strike had gained an cold edge. One that had been absent to this point. His face had suddenly lost its humanity. As if the man had suddenly turned into an hyper-realistic mannequin. And then the sound had come. Right as Joan had been about to split the man''s helmet and head opened, harsh electronic music had erupted seemingly from the man himself. And with impossible swiftness, he had managed to roll barely out of the way of the strike. With one swift motion, Aster is back on his legs. No, what did the Lord Hunter call him? Astra! As the music fills his ears and head, Dan dart forward, attempting to strike Astra with his sword. Astra parries him with a sword of his own, the weapon to this point absent. Dan''s eyes bulge at the sudden apparition. Where did that sword come from? What material is it made of? Again another moment of wonder, replaced by duty as Joan forces Astra to disengage from him. Burying his questions for later, he moves to attack along Joan. Both men strike at Astra, and with each impossible parries tha man manages, they realize that what they are fighting might not be human.No human should be able to bend their back ninety degrees backward without breaking their spine. And yet like a spring, it comes back up. Realizing they will not overwhelm the being without using abilities, both men give each over a signal. Joan''s axe begins to emit a foul dark smoke, its crimson metal turning a darker shade. Even a graze of the blade would cripple any medium sized pokemons, and even some of the crimson cult madmen. It is one of their weapons after all. For Dan, he start channeling his small mana pool into his armor, feeling its weight lessen. That should give him the edge he needs to overwhelm the man-like thing. As they are both ready, they launch themselves forward, Joan attempts his strike first, swinging his axe with the intent to split Astra in twain. Astra steps aside, avoiding the strike completely, and letting himself wide open for Dan to skewer him. With swiftness granted by his armor, he dashes forward, and buries his sword deep into his prey''s stomach. Yet, Astra only looks right into his eyes, not a single sign of pain on his face, and simply strike down at Dan. The doubly armored fist crashes into Dan''s face, shattering a tooth and breaking his nose with its force, and send the man rocketing backward. Dan''s flight only stops when his back connects with a tree. The shock leaves him breathless, but Joan is quick to join his side, helping him up. "You good?" The bearded man asks loudly, trying to be heard above the music. Dan spits out pieces of his broken tooth along with blood from his mouth. "Been better." He grunts. They both look back at Astra, as the man casually removes the sword embedded in his stomach like one takes a knife out of hot butter. Not a single drop of blood mar the blade. Once it is out, he observes it for a second, before making it vanish in what Dan can only describe as a shower of cubic blue pixels. Once that is done, Astra takes out a cooked potato, and devours it in ungodly time. The most deranged part of the scene to the duo was that smoke could be seen emanating from the vegetable for a few seconds. It was still hot, as if it had been cooked recently. "What is he?" Joan shouts. "No idea, but whatever it is, it''s not human, or pokemon." Dan screams back, unsheathing his second sword. Never go under-equipped. He thinks to himself. As the music continues, harsh and stressful, Astra moves first. He rushes the pair, his sword ready to strike. His emotionless face leaves both men shuddering, but they meet the being''s charge together. This time, Dan stops Astra''s sword, daring to even catch onto the man''s arm. This allows Joan to finally land a strike. but it also allows Astra to tear apart Dan''s left tibia in one devastating kick. Crying under the pain of the sudden amputation, Dan falls backward, while Astra stumbles sideway, Joan''s axe half embedded in his neck. The man does not make the same mistake as Dan, and pries his weapon out swiftly, striking again right after. Astra manages to parry the second strike, but its force sends him flying back a few meters. Once more, both men look in horror as the wound seems to barely stop the creature. And as dark glossy liquid bubbles from the wound, both men come to a conclusion. "He''s... a machine. That was oil right?" Joan screams. Dan barely hears his companion, too focused on his pouch, trying to find a healing vial. Once he finds it, he downs it quickly and then downs a regenerative potion along with it. The consequences will be dire, but to hell with them. He can deal with them if he survive. "Dan! We''re fighting a terminator!" Joan exclaims, pointing at Astra''s neck wound. Joan weapon''s curse has taken hold, and the Astra''s skin is slowly melting, revealing gleaming bones of steel beneath. "Fuck that was not in the briefing!" Dan curses. Astra takes out more food from thin air and devour them in quick succession. This somehow seems to stymie the curse of withering, making both men even less sure of their success here. They will need to hold out until Rosie and Achilles can join them. With the four of them, they might be able to overwhelm and finally kill the android. But Astra seems unwilling to give them the opportunity. He shift his sword for a bow, the motion impossibly fast, making it look like the sword transformed into a bow, and fire a couple arrows their way. The simple flint arrows bounce off their armor, but the sudden range attack take them by surprise. Astra rushes them, firing more arrows as he approaches. Joan rushes forward as well, ignoring the arrows, even when one finds a way into his belly. The moment he reaches Astra, The bow disappear and the sword returns, slashing at Joan''s neck. As the axeman was midswing, he has no way of defending, and still attempts to strike Astra. The axe buries itself into Astra''s armor and flesh-like shoulder beneath, and his sword pierce Joan''s armor. The man stumbles backward, his hands letting go of his axe and trying to stop blood from flowing from both his neck and chest. He looks back Dan, and gurgle a barely audible ''sorry'', before collapsing. Dan''s mind freezes. This should not be happening, this should not have happened. This human machine has barely been here for less than three months, and he has just taken down a man who has fought for two decades along Dan. They should have won, there was no way they could lose. Yet here they are. Joan lay dead on the forest floor, while Dan tries to make sense of the situation. He could try to flee, but the arrows were too precise, and he does not know how many Astra has. His only way to survive is to hope Rosie and Achilles manage to overcome the legend and local guardian mon, and then join him. As grim resolution takes hold. Dan prepares himself. "Want to end me? I''ll make you work for it machine." He taunts. Astra offers no reaction beyond storing Joan''s axe, and taking a stance, sword at the ready. The music drills into Dan''s head, filling him with rage, and he run forward, screaming his hate. Their sword clash. Dan strikes with rage-fueled strength, while Astra parries each strike mechanically. Again and again, their blades meet, manasteel blue against steel gray. Yet, Dan becomes the first to run out of stamina. Sweat is rolling from his brow and into his eyes, making his sight waver at time. In the end, a bead lands into his eyes, causing a reflexive blink and spasm at the sudden burning sensation. Astra capitalizes in it, and disarms his opponent. His blade swiftly cuts open Dan''s neck, and the second hunter falls on the ground clutching his neck. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The final sight of the hunter are of blue outlines all over the android''s equipment, repairing and fixing every bits of damage. We never had a chance. Is the final though to go through the dying man''s mind.
Everything went too fast for Mewtwo. The sylveon sudden appearance messed with his aura sensing. Being unable to sense its presence before it appeared out of nowhere shattered his concentration. And when he realized the four new presence closing on them, it was already too late. Now, even after warning Astra, he is left alone with the sylveon and the two new humans. The wisps of dark aura slowly dissipating from them helps him understand why he was unable to sense their approach before it was too late, and what is revealed beneath has him repulsed. The two newcomers are a man and a woman. The man stand before Mewtwo and the sylveon. His garbs makes Mewtwo sick. His pants are made of the yellow arms of a magmortar, with tissue radiating ghost type energy underneath. His upper body armor pulses with draconic aura, the gray multi-part torso armor fashioned from salamence belly plates. His arms are covered by lairon segments, with the shoulders clearly taken from an aggron''s owns. The helmet on his head confirms it, being fashioned from the very skull of the aforementioned pokemon. The man is holding a spear, ready to bounce at them. The weapon looks closer to a fauchard with its blade being the tail blade of a seviper. The red and black blade oozes poison aura. And right behind it, a small red bead emits powerful ghost aura. The woman is atop a tree, already aiming a bow made of a familiar wood. Trevenant bark. She already has arrows with brown tips notched. The ground aura surrounding them tells Mewtwo many a sandslash has died to fill the woman''s quiver. Her own garbs radiate psychic, steel, dark and fire type aura. The pants are clearly ripped from a delphox lower body, the flame-looking marking unmistakable, while her top is a mix of yellow fur, radiating a fiery aura slightly different from the pants, with red and white metallic parts sewn into it, protecting her torso, elbows and wrists. A garment made from a nintale pelt, and a bisharp body. Disgust fills Mewtwo along with anger and sudden understanding. To this point, hunters had always been a mystery to him. He could understand the humans hunting pokemon for food, but how much would one find to eat some steel types? Or even some rather skinny pokemons? But now he understands. Eziakophael has made it possible to extract parts of a pokemon powers along their parts. Killing pokemons is no longer only for food, now it is also for gears and equipment. Angered by the sudden realization, Mewtwo ignites both his hands with psychic blades, ready to cut his opponent into ribbons. The sylveon eyes move from his previous prey, Mewtwo, and the two newly arrived intruders. All three smell of danger and power, of a threat she has to remove if she wishes to protect her progeny. As Mewtwo''s face contorts into a snarl, music, harsh and electronic explodes from where Astra has been taken. The sudden wave of sound affects all present differently. The humans recoil at the sudden noise, while the sylveon hatred becomes exacerbated beyond what it already was. Mewtwo however, suddenly feels sudden clarity, and reflexively calms himself further. As the music fills his senses, he dispel his blades. And instead, he continues to focus on calming himself. He feels his strength grow, and finally, when the sylveon takes the first move, her scream barely phases him. Both humans seems to barely be phased either, as the man jumps forward, rushing Mewtwo, while the woman sends her arrows the sylveon''s way. As the projectiles strike the earth, they send spears of condensed dirt straight into the sylveon. The fairy type daintily avoid them, and sends her ribbons at the woman, clearly surprising her. She retreats backward, batting away the probing ribbons away with a wicked looking purple and pink blade radiating poisonn and fighting energy. The sylveon presses her, and both disappear into the trees. Mewtwo has little time to notice that however, as the man attempts to skewer Mewtwo with his spear. The psychic type stops the first strike with a quick protective barrier, before conjuring a layer of intangible screens around him. He then lay a thin barrier upon his body as the poison aura upon the spear worries him. With his defenses ready, and his mind as calm as still water. He prepares his counterattack. Aura spheres burst to life behind him and are launched at Achilles. The man takes a step back, and quickly cut through them with his spear, the ghost charged bead hanging from his spear shining with each sphere struck. He mixes in shadow balls, energy balls and even experimental spheres of electricity, sensing an affinity. Apart from the last one the man is able to deflect most, although both energy and shadow balls seems to drain the poison type energy from his spear. Infusing himself with grass energy, Mewtwo suddenly dashes forward, accompanying his last barrage of attack. Either the man strikes him, or he deflects his balls of energy. As the man decides to risk a strike from Mewtwo himself, he falls into the psychic type trap. Mewtwo freezes the man''s spear into a psychic grip. With his weapon frozen, and his hands glued to the pole, he is forced to let the balls of energy strike him along with a fiery punch straight into his mask from Mewtwo. His own strike shatter his psychic hold, and the man is sent into the ground. Yet his grip on his spear remains true, and the man manages to plant it into the psychic mon''s thigh. Mewtwo cries out in pain, and jumps backward. The man still holds onto his spear, and Mewtwo''s retreat ends with the spear out of his wound. Blood gushes out, and Mewtwo winces as he feels cold fire spread from the wound. As much as his safeguard should have protected him, the wound was too deep for it to be truly effective. He has been poisoned. Already the man is getting back up. Beneath his half melted mask, Mewtwo beholds heavily scarred skin. And a smirk. Bruises are already appearing all other his exposed flesh, but it seems to not deter the man. Retaking his previous hold on his weapon, he once more charges at Mewtwo, sending a flurry of jabs the psychic mon''s way. Mewtwo is forced to dodge, lest he takes another debilitating wound, but each move he makes sends the poison deeper into his body. Already he can see his vision swim slightly. In a quick burst of grass infused speed, he moves up, away from the spearman''s reach and quickly recovers. His wound closes, and the effect of the poison lessens, but it does not purges it. A quick analysis tells him a direct confrontation might end in another poisoning, worsening his condition. Yet his long range attacks appear only partially effective. He needs to take the weapon away from the man. Achilles does not let Mewtwo think for too long however. The man he crouches, and then jumps toward the floating psychic type. His spear barely misses Mewtwo, and the man starts to fall back down on the ground. Mewtwo can hear him click his tongue as he passes him, and a sudden epiphany has him act on the passing man. Gathering the fiery feeling of poison onto his fist, he sends a purple tinted jab into the man''s stomach. Achilles lands back on the ground and groans. Purple veins start to spread around the impact point, and he goes for a vial hidden in his belt. Before he can however, pink tipped ribbons made of white furred flesh pierce him. He stumble forward with a cry, and the returning sylveon pounces on him. She opens her maw and bite on the man''s neck. And pink energy flows from Achilles to the sylveon. Mewtwo looks in fascination as the sylveon many wounds close, and the two arrows recently embedded in her flank fall off from her. Once she let go of Achilles, he is nothing but a desiccated husk. The sylveon then lands before Mewtwo, and eye him warily. She growl at him, surprisingly in annoyance rather than anger, and the faint chime of a bell echo around them both. Mewtwo eyes open wide as the poison coursing through his veins disappear, as do the multiple purple veins beneath the sylveon''s fur. Mewtwo sends the fairy type a thanks, and the sylveon barely acknowledges it, turning back to the way she returned from. Rosie falls from a close by tree, and groans at the sight of the desiccated Achilles. She quickly throws a vial onto the man''s supposed corpse, and then fires another volley of ground type arrows. Both Mewtwo and the sylveon avoid the following ground spears, and the dark-tipped arrows that follow take them both by surprise. Mewtwo barely raises a protect in time, while the sylveon simply dashes forward, letting the arrows fly over her head. She sends ribbons at the woman, but they get stopped by the sudden return of the spearman. In a swift motion, he cut them apart, earning a cry of pain from the sylveon. Mewtwo makes the ground beneath both humans suddenly explode with ground type energy, and the spearman is sent flying, while the woman jumps away. The sylveon sends pink star shaped projectiles after the spearman, each aimed to at his chest. Every ones that strike him has him writhe in pain. Mewtwo decides to leave the speaman to the sylveon, and start chasing after the woman. Rosie is trying to get to higher ground. And once she notices Mewtwo flying after her, she goes even faster trying to make more distance between them. Mewtwo notices and uses grass type energy to speed up even more. The woman attempts to throw him off by firing another wolly dark-tipped arrows, but Mewtwo''s speed lets him easily avoid them. Once he is almost on her, he changes focus, from grass to fighting type energy. Rosie lands atop a branch, and ready herself to jump away. Instinct honed from two and a half decade of hunting has her turn around, and dread fills her at the sight confronting her. Mewtwo towers above her, his right fist shining with baleful orange glow. She has no time to disturb the psychic type, and Mewtwo strikes. She attempts to parry him with her bow, but his fist punches straight through it, and then caves her face in. For a second, Mewtwo''s fist remains buried into the woman''s face, before a sudden sonic-boom pulverizes her head and upper torso. Her arms fly away to the forest floor, and gore showers Mewtwo. The psychic type blinks in surprise. He has just killed a human. Then he catches the armor covering the woman''s lower body, and his worry vanishes. He killed a killer, and possibly avanged dozens of pokemons. Turning around from the bottom half of the human, he rushes back for the spearman. Achilles hears the loud bang above the music, and once he sees the blood covered legend flying toward him, he realizes he can no longer win alone. He needs Joan and Dan''s help. Parrying another assault from the aggravating fairy pest. he turns and run toward the source of the music. With the three of them, they should be able to take care of the three preys. He might even be able to finish the reincarnated Aster, for if he is the source of the sound, clearly they are still fighting it. As he burst into the small space between trees where the music is the loudest, he comes to an abrupt halt. The legend companion stands alone, the body of the two hunters at his feet. Both are clearly dead. Before he can even think of running, two psychic blades and three bleeding ribbons pierces him from behind. With a primal cry Mewtwo and the sylveon tear the last hunter to pieces. Astra observes the happening, and simply dismisses his sword as the pieces of the man falls to the ground, and multiple blue screens appear before him and Mewtwo. Chapter 65: Aftermath I watch as Mewtwo turns the last hunter into salsa. His body parts rain all around him and the sylveon. Both ends up covered in blood and viscera. Both cry their victories together. As the last hunter falls, I cut the music, an act almost automatic. The sudden stop has all of us lurching. Our heightened senses return to normal, a momentary vertigo takes me. Mewtwo blinks multiple times, trying to regain his own balance. Even the sylveon looks between the two of us in incomprehension. System windows clutter our sight, but I push them to the side. Now is not the time. The sylveon is the first to regain her bearing, and she hisses in my direction. Her short fur begins to stand up, and her ribbons lash around threateningly. Mewtwo finally regain his bearing and interposes himself between us. Wait, we do not want to hurt you. We did not even want to find you! He pleads. We were simply passing by. The sylveon eyes Mewtwo suspiciously, before extending a ribbon to Mewtwo. My friend swallows at the gesture, and presents one of his arms. The ribbon wraps itself around his wrist, and stays there for a couple seconds. The sylveon nods, and the ribbon is removed. She then takes a few steps my way, and extend a ribbon once more. I present both arms after removing my gantlets from them, allowing her the choice of either my flesh-like one or my mechanical one. She hesitates, and extend a second ribbon wrapping one on each wrists. A tickling sensation traverses both my arms, and the sylveon looks at me in confusion. The sensation repeats, and she lets go, satisfied. As she turns around to go, still avoiding putting too much weight on one of her leg, I call out to her. "Wait," I take out a small pile of berries, mostly orans, but also some lum and leppa berries. "For your troubles, sorry for the mess." I apologize. She eye my gift with suspicion once more, before nodding. She gathers the berries with her ribbons, and then gracefully dash away. We watch her go, and silence descend upon the forest once more. What was that? Mewtwo sends me, his thoughs are tainted with worry. "What was what?" I ask, looking anywhere at the ground. You know what I mean. What happened here? We both know this was not normal. I do not know about you, but the moment that music started, my hesitation to actually kill these humans all but vanished. I do not resent my actions, but it felt like that became the only choice. He sends me, and I start to shiver. The last few minutes of fighting replay before me. What I did, what I though, what I let myself do. The moment the music started, it felt like I just took a backseat to my own body, yet was still in control at the same time. The music moved me, and I moved through the music. I could feel what the two hunters movements would be before they did them. I could have stopped them any times, yet I let myself follow what was the easiest option. How do you make sure a human will no longer be a problem? Easiest solution is to kill them. They are so fragile after all... Aster cries out within me, how could I think that? How could I think that? Why did I let myself do that? Was it the music? "I... I think one of the windows might have the answer." I stutter. We take a look, and I shiver again as I read the four windows before us. The first one has the answer, the second simply confirms the first. The next two I decide to look at later, and Mewtwo does the same.
Special Achievement got: Battletheme unlocked! The power of music. It was proven long ago that music has the power to change one''s brain activity, and the [REDACTED] knew it. They pushed the effect further, until music literally won them battles. The Battletheme system is a strong, but dangerous tool. You will win your battles as you truly intend to. Be careful with its usage. Reward: Extended music library, Battletheme customization options
Achievement got: Battletheme enjoyer. Win a battle with the Battletheme on. Now did that not feel easier? Reward: 5000xp, 20 Exp. Candies XL, Extended music library
So that was what it was? But why now? We went through multiple battles already, some even worse than that one. Why did it unlock now? The power of music... That''s what it was... Wait how does that even work? I was far from you, but got the same effects. I take a look through the tutorial section, curious, and my eyes widen as I realize how absurdly complicated this system is. I can customize the effects, but it means playing with harmonics and frequencies, some of which neither of us can hear, just to obtain different effects on myself and my enemies. As I read further, I open my music player window, and access the battletheme customizer option within. And I find how Mewtwo was affected. "Mewtwo... you... you got something in your head..." I show him the window for customization. On it, both a simplified version of myself and Mewtwo is visible. My head is filled with a simplified brain, but Mewtwo''s brain is less apparent. What is apparent however is a small chip-like shape between his two lobes. From what I can see i appears to be what allows him to obtain the same affect as I do from the battletheme system. It filters what harmonics affect him, allowing only for the positive ones to be ''heard'' in some way. This... this could also explain why I have access to the system. His eyes become unfocused for a moment, and he shudders, growling in discomfort. Yep, found it. I would not have been able to had I not known what I was looking for. Seems like I am closer to you than we both thought then. I give him and awkward laugh. This chip raises more questions. Why does he need it? Why use a purely physical system when the Trio has so much power? Is it to appear weaker to Eziakophael? Or those ''they'' Knowledge mentioned. I file this as another question for the Trio whenever we take our next trial. The sudden smell of dust gather our attention, and we look at the corpses. Gray smoke is emanating from them, and we watch in horror and fascination as the bodies slowly turn to dust. In seconds they are gone, and only empty armor and clothes, discarded weapons, and scraps of fabric remain. Even the blood covering Mewtwo has turned to the same gray fumes. With reluctance, I approach one of the discarded armor, wishing to identify it. My eyes widen in surprise. The armor belonged to a Praetor. The many runes inscribed within are supposed to allow for its wearer to become faster as long as mana is fed to it. I remember when the swordsman became faster suddenly. Speaking of the swordsman, I take out the sword I stole from him during the fight, as well as pick up the one he used after. One appears to have been crafted by a blacksmith, as a name appears in the description. The sword has seen use, a lot of it if the wear and tear visible on it is any indication. It shows as a only having a third of its durability remaining. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The second sword appears to be of better make, but sports similar wear and tear. The description reveals it to have been obtained from a crimson knight. I feel silly to have not tried to loot the knights of the raid, or any monsters from the raids. Hell, I did not look into the spider remains once we finally defeated the wave. How many items and gears have we passed? How much material that may have been useful have we let go unused? Or maybe not? Was that how those two got their armor? Did they loot the remains of the skyship? No way to ask anymore. I move to the axeman''s gears, and find similar equipment. This time it is the axe that was claimed from a Praetor. The weapon is imbued with glyph that makes its strikes apply a withering curse, similar to what those black skeletons on the ship inflicted on me. Nasty stuff. His armor is handmade, once more confirming the hunters have some sort of crafting capabilities. This becomes even more certain when I move to the remains of the third hunter. His gears are made of pokemons remains. Each ones have the name of a specie attached to it, and I shudder at the gruesome sight. Mewtwo soon returns with the torn up equipment remains of the fourth hunter, and I examine them as well. Speaking purely in statistics, the equipment would give me better protection against some energy types, as well as some elements. The delphox pants have fire resistance along with cold resistance. It makes me almost want to keep them for the effects, but I can already tell Mewtwo will not let me. Mewtwo gathers the other hunter torn clothes, armor, and weapon, and begins digging a hole. I nod at that, they may have been our enemies, but they deserve graves. Mewtwo looks at me with a surprised expression, before dismissing my assumption. These graves are for the ones who died for these gears. Not the hunters. Dig the graves yourself if you want. The more I look at their clothes, the more I feel vindicated in my actions. He declares, venom thick in his thoughs. I look at him in shock. Never have I felt him so hostile. We knew, Astra. The villagers warned us, Princess warned us, even Aster warned us from the grave. We knew, but I had not realized how awful it would be to witness the horrors of the hunter firsthand. This could be me Astra. Maybe some of these were made from pokemons from the magical forest. Who knows how many they killed before they found enough material? He growl in unison with his thoughs. I can see his shoulders tense with anger. "Mewtwo, they were still humans. Who''s to say they have a choice? We may have been warned about their horrendous practice, but this might be their only way." I try. Only way? What about trying to work with pokemons. He retort. No, these monsters made their choice, you did not see fight the two I fought. They did not look at me like a sentient being. They looked at me like I look at an animal. They chose to ignore the fact pokemons can be as sentient as humans. "And does that justifies our actions? What use is there in killing them? They''ll return and do it all over again. How are you so sure the choice was theirs anyway?" I thrust the two windows we had ignored to this point at him.
Achievement got: Killer. Abductees have little choices to survive. Do not fault them when they choose the easier way. We are aware confrontation will happen at some point, hence this achievement. Still avoid excessive killing, as the only one this will help is their captor. Reward: Kill tally (but don''t make it a competition, there is no rewards for a high kill score).
Achievement got: The hunter hunted. Defeat a member of the Hunters. Again we do not want to encourage killing, but we know you will need to at some point, so we may as well make it worth the remorses. Reward: 1000xp, 5 Exp. Candies XL.
Mewtwo frowns at the two achievements. He had seen them as well. This changes little. If they come for us, I will make sure they can no longer threaten us. He warns. I wince at his unshakable stance. "We could always cripple them, or try to have them leave us alone." I propose. Which will either get them killed shortly after, or have them come back with stronger weapons of numbers. I saw their mind Astra. The moment they realized they were outmatched, they were hoping for your two opponents to kill you faster so they may get help. The one you saw us kill was trying to get you by surprise to expedite your defeat. They may have few choices, but they still made a choice, now they face the consequences. Mewtwo finishes. He returns to his self-assigned task of digging graves for the long dead pokemons making up the hunters equipment. I can see the whole experience has shaken him. It has shaken me too. The worst part is that, somehow, I have only Aster''s fragments giving partial humanity to my thoughs. I can feel the dichotomy in my thinking. Killing should be bad, yet here it was inevitable. It was not. I could have incapacitated them. But Mewtwo is right, doing so would have simply delayed their deaths. It would still have been better than doing it yourself! Why am I having such a conflict about strangers that tried to kill me? Why should I not? All lives are precious! Each deaths is a victory for Eziakophael, whether they be humans of pokemons. Yet... I take a sharp breath. I feel so conflicted. Both parts are partially right, yet they clash together. I suddenly feel pain radiating from withing me. How? Wait, I remember that pain. I had not felt it since the first day within the Ezian planes. My head feels like it is about to split up. More and more arguments fly from both Aster and that deeper part of myself. What is this. As I fall on my knees, my vision double for a second. Why is this so painful? Why am I suffering for this argument? I am not arguing! Clarity suddenly fills my mind. I am not arguing. Two voices are, but they are not me. My vision returns to normal, and the arguments continue. Yet I no longer feel concerned with them. They are two foreign beings within my mind arguing without me, and I can just ignore them. I let their voices fade. I know I will have to confront my actions at some point, but this point is not now. Right now, I go next to Mewtwo, and help him dig the graves. I decide to make two more, for the two non-pokemon garbed hunters. They may have been strangers, but they still lived. When I start moving the armors around, silver coins shower from within them, surprising me. I take one up for inspection, and my eyes widen at what my system tells me. Soul coins. This is the first time I have seen the currency of the abductees. I inspect them, trying to see if they will ever be needed and come out blank. The coins are ovals of semi-transparent silver. The diamond shaped eye of Eziakophael is minted upon each sides. Blue ghostly afterimages seems to appear whenever I move one too fast. I cannot make them, and have no use for them. But they may still prove useful later. I store them, in the hope we will one day use them. I then help Mewtwo close the graves, and return our sight to the distant Icen Sky Peak. Time to resume our journey.
A day after Mewtwo and Astra have gone, something emerges from the grave containing gears from the huntress named Rosie. A small bird seemingly made out of glass. The magical creature soon takes flight, and traverses the land at impossible speeds. It flies above Raging Lake, goes over forests and small mountains. Until it reaches the second highest mountain range of the Ezian plane. It flies over it for some time, before it descends upon a large pass, littered with fresh corpses of pokemons. It lands upon the black hand of Jack Senah, second in command of the hunters. The moment it lands, it transforms into a glass scroll, and the muscular man swears as he reads its contents. "Brother!" He roars, leaving the pass and moving up the mountain in giant leaps. He arrives at another pass, just in time for the ball of flowing sand covering it to disperse. A massive garchomp falls on the floor, and lance lodged firmly into its cranium. Still holding the lance, and dusting himself is the pale and frail looking Lord Hunter, Hans Senah. "Barely ah work out." He sigh. "Brother!" Jack says to get his brother''s attention. "Ah, done with tha lower pass?" Hans asks him. He removes the spear from the dark blue shark-dragon skull. "I have just finished here." "I have been done for the last hour brother, they were not worth our time." Jack boast, "But this is no longer important. Look!" He gives his brother the glass scroll, and Hans lets his eyes wander along the text. His eyes open in surprise and joy, and a harsh laugh escapes him. "Oh how full of surprises they are. In ah mere two months, they have been able to catch up to ah ten year team of survivor. Oh Dark One, they are growing so fast." He muses. "Rosie''s team was one of Sheila''s protege. She had high hopes for them." "Ya, and they disappointed. I though ya told them to ''Tail'' tha two, not attack them." "I may have given them some leeway. Come now, imagine the power of gears made from a legend!" "Nat important! Send another team fast. We need to keep them in our sight. If they side with the league, it could be a huge problem." Hans voice is sharp, and Jack simply nods. "Now go! And make sure to be clear with yar orders." Jack does not wait for further instructions, and dashes away. Hans looks down at the semi-legendary he has just slain. "There are bigga preys now, Ah hope they will give me a challenge..." Small whimpers and cries have him look to the side at absurd speed. A couple of juvenile bagons and gibbles are exiting from a nearby cave. Hans eye them, before sighing. "Nat even good enough for materials." He groans, before rushing them. The now defenseless young dragons get hacked to pieces in moments, and Hans simply look on with a detached expression as the blood slowly pools around his naked feet. "Grow my little Astra, grow with yar legend, make it so our fight becomes worth it." He pray to the sky, and bells answer him. "Ah? Maybe an actual challenge. Come now Dark One, show me something new!" A manic smile spread upon the Lord Hunter''s face, and he awaits the oncoming challenge with breathless anticipation.