《The Timebender》 1. Summon Rays of sunlight filtered through Adrian''s glasses, he found himself cursing the mask that fogged his vision. He didn¡¯t matter the actual state of the world, he already accepted a long time ago that things happened, and his mood shouldn¡¯t be affected by it. At least he had a job. Not a lot of people could tell that in these times. He considered himself a liberal thinker, deviated from common sense, but not by much. Thoughts like communism is good in theory, bad in practice; or people can do whatever they want with their bodies were common occurrences in the retorted thinking field that was his mind. That was obviously magnified by the epidemy that was assaulting the world at the moment. A prove that history repeated itself one more time. Working as a delivery man was a tedious job, and now, a busy one. Every household was buying a lot of their luxuries from the web, but he couldn¡¯t help to agree with them. Those people were the ones who gave him a job when he was crippled by student credit. Maybe an irresponsible thing to do at times like this, but job positions were highly required now. His turn had finished, now the sun was setting, and he sat at the ground of a park which he didn¡¯t know the name of. Another man had the same idea as him. The man sat on a bench in front of Adrian. He found himself sighing, it wasn¡¯t because of exhaustion, but nostalgia as the man looked like a student. Sometimes a person just needed a moment to rest and breathe, sometimes times weren¡¯t right¡­
Welcome, Player! You were selected randomly through the Arcane Records to participate!
Adrian was¡­ calm. He first saw a blue screen in front of him, but that wasn¡¯t the problem. The park where he was just vanished in a blink and now he found himself in an infinite-looking white room, no horizons to be seen. No thought flew through his head other than¡­ ¡°What the f-¡° His voice was silenced without his consent.
Do you wish to enable the bad words filter?
¡°What the hell are you talking about?¡± Adrian cried, without being sure pf who or what he was talking to. ¡°What the BEEP does that mean?¡± He cried once again. Adrian did notice that his voice had been substituted by a beeping when he tried to swear. ¡°BEEP, go back!¡±
Bad word filter disabled.
¡°Hmm¡­¡± Adrian stayed pensive once the blue box vanished. ¡°Fuck y¡¯all!¡± He swore just to prove if the beeping was gone, and also because he felt like crying. ¡°Okay¡± Adrian took a deep breath. ¡°What the fuck.¡±
Welcome, Player! You were selected randomly through the Arcane Records to participate!
The message repeated itself once more when Adrian recomposed.
Your [Status] will be shown to you once you allocate your [Base Statistics]
¡°Wait a second¡­¡± Adrian called the message. ¡°I think you are going a bit too fast; don¡¯t you think? I understand that there is something about an Arcane Records, but could you at least explain to me, I don¡¯t know¡­ Why the fuck I am in this room?¡± Adrian cried while pointing to the floor he was standing on. ¡°That, that would be appreciated, thank you.¡± An instant later the Records answered back.
Welcome, Player! Do you wish to play a brief tutorial?
¡°Fuck yes, god, thanks!¡± Adrian was crying with joy, and he did not know why.
Many of the race Homo Sapiens Hestia from planet Earth, stellar system Sol, have been summoned to Mundompio to be adapted to the Arcane Records.
Perfect, thought Adrian. He now was more confused than before. Being summoned to another world, some divine entity, the fact that it said stellar system and not solar system¡­ In the end, Adrian decided to keep reading the notifications.
The Arcane Records now hold influence over planet Earth, therefore, some Homo Sapiens Hestia have been moved to Mundompio while Earth finishes its record-forming. As a member of Homo Sapiens Hestia, or colloquially known as Humans, you are now to be reformed by the Arcane Records. BEWARE: This is a mandatory process and you have no opinion whatsoever.
''Free will? Nah, that¡¯s a joke.'' Although Adrian founded in a situation like this, he couldn''t avoid joking. That little brief of information gave him a whole lot more information than he expected. But still, he was in the dark.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Now, proceed to assign your [Base Statistics].
The message from the Arcane Records was replaced for a table full of information. Game-like statistics appeared in front of him. Ten [Base Stat Points] remaining: [Fisica]: 0/10 [Constituta]: 0/10 [Destretza]: 0/10 [Procesa]: 0/10 [Experenta]: 0/10 [Atravesta]: 0/10 [Voluntat]: 0/10 [Celeratio]: 0/10 [Fortuna]: 0/10 ¡°These names sound¡­ false?¡± Adrian said to himself while looking at the skill table. ¡°All of them feel like Italian or a weird as Latin. Except [Fortuna], that looks real. It isn¡¯t Fortune?¡± Adrian said while examining again the table. ¡°Record? I think I should call you Record, shorter you see. Record, could I get more information?¡± [Fisica]: Measure of how physically strong you are. [Constituta]: Measure of how resilient and sturdy you are. [Destretza]: Measure of how agile and precise you are. [Procesa]: Measure of your mental-processing. [Experenta]: Measure of your knowledge and insight. [Atravesta]: Measure of your attractiveness and persuasion. [Voluntat]: Measure of your mental resistance and soul stability. [Celeratio]: Measure of quickness and time perception. [Fortuna]: Measure of luck and fate. Adrian read the new table, not once, not twice, not thrice, but three times until he decided that he couldn¡¯t understand it. This wasn¡¯t enough information to dictate a choice. ¡°How can you measure these things?¡± He asked once more to no one in particular. ¡°[Fisica] and [Constituta] still, but [Procesa] and [Experenta] how? It¡¯s measured like an IQ test? And what happens if I assign a point to [Experenta]? Do I get knowledge? that? These descriptions are worthless!¡± Adrian sighed, he already accepted that he couldn¡¯t escape, but the Record did not put it easy. ¡°This looks like D&D stats, more or less.¡± Adrian was a fan of these old forgotten games. ¡°I can find Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. Some of them just a bit modified. But what happens with [Voluntat], [Celeratio] and [Fortuna]? [Fortuna] is easy, just Luck from any RPG. [Voluntat] is probably Willpower. Maybe. I don¡¯t know what soul stability means. Still remains [Celeratio], tho.¡± Adrian stood there, thinking before assigning any [Base Stat Points]. He tried asking the Record for more information, only to be responded with silence. ¡°So¡­ is [Celeratio] Celerity? Like from WoW? The words look alike. If I remember correctly, Celerity increases your character movement speed and reduces your cooldowns, it this what this means?¡± Suddenly, Adrian was answered.
[Base Stat Points] are a multiplier of the Player¡¯s future [Stats]. NOTE: If a stat is left with points unassigned its base value will become 1:1
¡°You could have said that earlier!¡± Adrian cried to the skies. ¡°If that¡¯s so, I can max a stat and the rest will be set to 1 automatically, or that is what I understand?¡± Adrian meditated for a second. ¡°Yes! Maxing is the best strategy, it¡¯s maximum efficiency! The question is what to choose?¡±
[Base Stat Points] dictate the base stat line from the Player. Growth may be different depending on your choice. The ten points gifted at the tutorial won¡¯t be the norm upon leveling up.
Adrian thought for a long time. He did not want to max physical stats, he wanted to be something like a mage. [Atravesta] didn¡¯t seem to work exactly like Charisma, and he wasn¡¯t sure of [Experenta]¡¯s knowledge. [Fortuna] was tempting, but he finally decided. The fact of moving at insane speeds and reducing cooldowns was absolutely tempting.
Are you sure you want to assign all your [Base Stat Points] to [Celeratio]?
¡°Yes,¡± Adrian affirmed calmly. And so, his [Status] was revealed. A blue screen filled with his personal information.
Status Name: Adrian Dewitt Race: Homo Sapiens Hestia Class: - Level: 1 Experience: 0/100
[Fisica] 1
[Constituta] 1
[Destretza] 1
[Procesa] 1
[Experenta] 1
[Atravesta] 1
[Voluntat] 1
[Celeratio] 10
[Fortuna] 1
2. Celeratio Adrian¡¯s [Status] looked inspiring, just a bunch of 1¡¯s and 0¡¯s. He could only obtain a bit more of information from his [Status], which was the existence of levels, classes, and experience. Every bit more of Record that he found, Adrian thought it was more like a game. ¡®I mean, look at those words and numbers, this is min-maxing at its purest form!¡¯ And it seems that the Record thought the same.
Congratulations on receiving your [Status] player Adrian Dewitt. You will be teleported to Mundompio soon.
Congratulations! You have unlocked your [Titles] and [Skills] windows from your [Status]. [Titles]: List of passive abilities and benefits obtained by the Player. [Skills]: List of active abilities or knowledge obtained by the Player.
Adrian wasn¡¯t sure if he should be happy or not. On the one hand, he obtained skills like in a game; on the other hand¡­ ¡°What the fuck does knowledge mean?¡± Yeah, that was his reaction. He was infuriated because of the repeated appearance of knowledge in the notifications, and the fact he couldn¡¯t understand it. There was some piece of information there, and it gnawed him. Adrian calmed a bit after seeing the next message.
Congratulations! Through your thinking and rapid decisions, you have Maxxed a [Stat] in the tutorial settings. Not only that, but you also are the first member of your race to have Maxxed [Celeratio]. Two [Titles] will be received: [Min-maxer]: The Player who was chosen to max a [Stat] and forget the rest. We do value that, so we are going to make your strength stronger and your weakness weaker. Rate of [Stats] have been modified to 2:4 for your common [Stats], [Celeratio] now has a rate of growth of 6:4. [A-celeratioed]: He who has Maxxed [Celeratio]. Now [Celeratio] will have a growth rate increase of 15% and you will always know the time relative to you.
¡°Ah, yes. Math. My archenemy. I won''t ever escape you, will I?¡± Adrian wasn¡¯t an enemy of math but being kidnapped and then be forced to do math felt a lot like school, which he wasn''t a fan of. And he totally ignored the word games of the [Titles]. ¡°My [Stats] are shitter and my [Celeratio] is better, right, balance. He thought of it as a game trying to keep the meta balanced. 2:4 rate I guess it means a 50% normal rate and 6:4 a 150% rate, I really guess? If that¡¯s true, there¡¯s a 100% difference between [Stat] growing. Is like the Records are telling me ¡®Min-max! Min-max!¡¯, and sure, that¡¯s what I am going to do.¡± Adrian''s [Status] opened once more as the previous tutorial notification vanished from his sight.
Status Name: Adrian Dewitt Race: Homo Sapiens Hestia Class: - Level: 1 Experience: 0/100
[Fisica] 1
[Constituta] 1
[Destretza] 1
[Procesa] 1
[Experenta] 1
[Atravesta] 1
[Voluntat] 1
[Celeratio] 10
[Fortuna] 1
[Titles] [Skills]
[Min-maxer]
[A-celeratioed]
¡°Nice, my [Status] is gaining shape, now it is loooonger..." Adrian said while being moved out of the white room.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Adrian found himself in a cozy wooden house, your ¡®mountain cabin¡¯ type. The first things he saw were a red carpet, a lit fireplace, and wood walls made from logs. He then noticed that he wasn¡¯t alone, there were five other people. A brown tall tough-looking guy, a woman that was drinking tea, a small guy looking out the window, and a pair of siblings. The siblings were disputing, but something was off. Their lips moved slowly; the sound of their not-whispering conversation also felt slow. Now that he observed, the woman was still sipping from the cup. Adrian noticed one thing ¨C [Celeratio]. There were two explanations: The quickness bonus from [Celeratio] or whatever the time perception meant. He was fonder of the second one. The movement from the siblings felt like they were a media player that had been put to 0.5 speed. It was more likely that his perception of time changed instead of becoming that quick. One thing was clear, he wasn¡¯t quicker. When he stood up from what he was sitting, Adrian noticed that he felt a bit slower, but not like the others. ¡®Record? Can I get a normal time perception? You know, living in seconds, not slow-motion.¡¯ Adrian told to the Arcane Record in his mind when he felt that his mouth was slow, somewhat heavier.
Time perception set to International System. Now time is measured in seconds instead of gooseplanks lifetimes.
¡®What the fuck is a gooseplank, and why would you use its lifetime as a unit of time?¡¯ Adrian thought. ¡®And why was that the default option?¡¯ Now that time was right, the one he had lived his life, the towering beast of a man that was the brown guy approached him menacingly. ¡°Fight me!¡± The guy said to Adrian. ¡°No! Why! What the hell is happening?¡± Adrian asked back. The woman left the cup at a coffee table and answered him. ¡°Neither of us knows, we were transported here like you,¡± Her voice was calm and wise, Adrian joked in his mind about her maxing [Experenta]. ¡°Okay, but why this guy wants to fight.¡± Adrian said, calmer than before, but pointing the guy in question. The woman shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d like to test my [Stats]!¡± Answered the guy while showing muscle, like a bodybuilder. He had the body, to be honest. ¡°Is he serious?¡± Adrian talked to the woman, ignoring the poses of the man. ¡°Yes. He already traumatized that child.¡± The woman said while looking at the little boy at the window. ¡°Bro, what the fuck,¡± Adrian told the man. ¡°Not cool.¡± ¡°He accepted to duel, and he lost.¡± The man said while looking directly to Adrian¡¯s eyes. ¡°You know what, muscle head? I accept your duel.¡± Adrian said while getting ready. ¡°Oh shit, here we go again.¡± Said the woman to herself while facepalming. The siblings stopped arguing and sat next to the woman to have a better look at the fight. ¡°Come to me!¡± The towering man cried, and Adrian answered with his fist. Adrian dashed to the man, but something felt off once again. He felt as the world became slower, but he also became faster. He started punching the man in rapid succession without giving him a chance. One second has passed. A rain of blow fell upon the man. Two seconds have passed. The man started moving, charging a powerful-looking right jab. Three seconds have passed. Adrian back-stepped, not because of the jab, but the face of the man. He was smiling, Adrian was sure his fist had no effects on him. ¡°You are a fast boy!¡± The man said after punching the air. ¡°And you a tough one,¡± Adrian called back, without noticing he was also smiling. ¡°Did you Maxxed [Constituta]? ¡°Yes!¡± The man affirmed. ¡°I can suppose you Maxxed out [Destretza]?¡± Adrian did not answer, instead, he readied his fist and smiled with more grin. This was going to be a battle of attrition. 3. Humans Already five minutes into the duel, both fighters were worn out. Adrian started punching, like a machine gun, but now he was focused on the evasion. Adrian was thinking his stamina had been boosted by [Constiuta]. The man probably had that strength before he got summoned, and [Constiuta] had no effect or whatsoever. Strangely, the more time Adrian spent in the fight, he didn¡¯t tire as much as he thought. He was tired, sure, but [Celeratio] made his body faster, and also required less energy to move. Adrian reached maximum efficiency once more. His thought about breaking the laws of thermodynamics was stopped by a considerably more powerful jab. Adrian dodged it, of course. Adrian took this chance to assist a hit. First, he waited until the arm was at full length. Then he feinted a right jab to force the man to block it. Adrian sidestepped and got back. And finally, he rose his arms, targeting the man¡¯s neck, discombobulate. It obviously didn¡¯t work, and Adrian got prized with a punch to its stomach. ¡°You know, big boy,¡± Adrian said between breaths. ¡°We should stop the fighting here. We won¡¯t achieve anything.¡± ¡°It pains me, but you are right¡± The man lowered his fist and combat position. ¡°A good fight.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Answered Adrian, already recomposed.
Congratulations! For getting into a stalemate versus a stronger opponent than you while on the effects of [Celeratio] you have unlocked your first skill. [Battle Timing]: Consume mental power to boost your reflexes and responses in a battle situation.
Adrian wanted to inspect this skill but he was interrupted. ¡°This is it?¡± Said an unknown voice. Adrian noticed a bit later that the voice¡¯s origins were one of the siblings, a boy. ¡°I wanted to go for longer.¡± ¡°Me too¡± Now talked the female sibling. She was playing with her blond hair and then looked at Adrian. ¡°You didn¡¯t max [Destretza], did you?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Adrian affirmed. He could examine the skill latter. ¡°Uh?¡± The man made a strange sound in response. ¡°You didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Nah, I Maxxed [Celeratio]¡± Adrian told while sitting in the chair where he woke up. ¡°I was right!¡± Told the female sibling. ¡°Fuck!¡± Cried the male sibling, they probably did a bet or something.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°One question. Why did all of you suppose that I Maxxed out a [Stat]?¡± Asked Adrian to the people in the room. ¡°Oh, right. You don¡¯t know¡± Said the woman between the siblings. ¡°All of us here have Maxxed a [Stat], that¡¯s why they thought like that. I¡¯m Aby, and I Maxxed [Procesa].¡± ¡®Holy shit` thought Adrian. ¡®I was joking but she really Maxxed a [Stat]¡¯ ¡°Nice to meet you. I am Adrian, and I Maxxed [Celeratio].¡± ¡°I am Kayle, and he¡¯s Dale,¡± Said the girl next to Aby while pointing at her brother. ¡°We Maxxed out [Procesa] and [Fortuna], I think it¡¯s obvious who Maxxed what.¡± Kayle told to Adrian as a ¡®Hey!¡± was cried at the back, coming from Dale. ¡°Big Boy?¡± Said Adrian to the man. ¡°Axel.¡± He responded seriously. ¡°And what about the traumatized kid?¡± Said Adrian, looking at him. ¡°I-I am Mike,¡± Said the kid, while trembling a bit. ¡°And I Maxxed [Voluntat]¡± ¡°[Voluntat]?¡± Adrian said and Mike shrunk. ¡°I understand the rest, but why max [Voluntat]? It looks like the worst to me; it is the one with the least information we have about it.¡± ¡°I-I am a bit shy, so-o I thought it would make me braver.¡± Mike answered. ¡°Right, the mental resistance thing,¡± Adrian said. ¡°Well, it¡¯s your decision, not mine.¡± ¡°Hey, Adrian.¡± Called out Kayle. ¡°Did you noticed that thing with the [Status]?¡± Adrian asked himself what she was talking about but soon he realized. ¡°You are talking about the fact that there aren¡¯t any life bars.¡± ¡°Yes, and nor mana bars.¡± Kayle said. ¡°Isn¡¯t it strange that we have stats, skills, levels, and experience but no HP or MP?¡± ¡°True.¡± Adrian said while giving it more thought. ¡°What does that mean?¡± Dale asked. ¡°Basically,¡± started Adrian. ¡°this is not a game. All of this is real¡± Although Adrian said those words, he was the first of them to think this was a game, or at least, a game inside reality. ¡°Can I ask you a question, guys?¡± Everyone nodded. ¡°You should have received a [Title] for maxing your [Stat]. Which is yours? Mine is [A-celeratioed], it increases my growth rate, and lets me know what time is it.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a pretty nice ability,¡± Said Aby. ¡°Could you tell me what time is it?¡± ¡°9:44 A.M at Mundompio.¡± Said Adrian while reciting the knowledge that the [Title] granted him. ¡°I would like to hear your [Title] now.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called [Parallel Thinking]¡± Aby told. ¡°Also has a growth rate increase and make me able to do simultaneous complicated tasks.¡± ¡°That¡¯s odd,¡± Said Kayle. ¡°I have also Maxxed [Procesa] but my [Title] is [Augmented Process].¡± This was odd, indeed. ¡°What does it do?¡± Adrian asked her. ¡°It also grants me a boost to my growth rate, but it gives me the ability to do harder and more complicated tasks.¡± Kayle explain. ¡°Strange¡± Aby said and all of them were silent, thinking why that happened. Adrian opened the [Status], searching motives for this [Title] difference. He could only think about certain text lines. ¡°Does anyone of you has a class?¡± Adrian asked. All of them shook their heads in denial. ¡°Ok, this will be weird, but please answer. Which is your race?¡± Aby and Kayle talked at the same time. ¡°Homo Sapiens¡± ¡°Homo Sapiens Sapiens¡± Now, that was weird. ¡°No, that can¡¯t be right,¡± Said Mike. ¡°It would be okay if you are evolved, but the last of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens were extinct a long time ago. It doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± Now, this was getting weirder. ¡°Mike, your race?¡± Aby, the Homo Sapiens, asked. Her worries were crystal clear. ¡°Homo Provectus?¡± Mike said with doubt. ¡°Holy fucking shit, we are all monkeys and neither of us is the same!¡± Cried Axel while laughing. ¡°Homo Neanderthalensis Sapiens, by the way.¡± Now, all gazes were upon Adrian, the last unrevealed Homo. ¡°Why are you looking me like that? I am a Homo Sapiens Hestia.¡± Adrian told them. This was going to be a very long day. 4. Weapons ¡°Let me get this right,¡± Said Dale, who was sitting on the sofa. ¡°Except for my sister and me, all of us are a different type of human?¡± He started confidently but every word he spoke, more doubts glanced. ¡°That¡¯s what it seems like.¡± Answered Aby. ¡°I got an idea,¡± Said Kayle, grabbing everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Why don¡¯t we do a brief introduction to our world and history? I¡¯ll start, my brother and I are from planet Earth-¡° ¡°That won¡¯t work¡± Interrupted Adrian. ¡°I think everyone in this room is from Earth.¡± As he told, people nod their heads. ¡°Okay, what about history?¡± She said. Kayle and Dale¡¯s world history was pretty similar to Adrian¡¯s, if not the same. Roman Empire, Charlemagne, Mongols, Ottomans, etcetera. History didn¡¯t just look the same but felt the same. Until one date changed it all. ¡°We had this thing called moon landing, I don¡¯t if you had it,¡± Kayle continued. ¡°well, the USA landed in the moon at 1969-¡° ¡°That¡¯s not right.¡± Said not one, but three people at the same time. ¡°Huh?¡± Kayle jumped in surprise. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Aby started talking. ¡°The first moon landing to be successful was in 1970 by the Soviets.¡± ¡°Not mine.¡± Told Mike. ¡°Japan achieved the first moon landing in 1968.¡± ¡°In my world, Spain achieved the first moon landing in 1972!¡± Said Axel. Three of them tilted their heads in doubt. ¡°Wasn¡¯t Spain under a dictatorship back then?¡± Called out Adrian. ¡°Yes¡± Confirmed Axel. ¡°But the dictator got something like dementia and was really enthusiastic about a space program.¡± ¡°Huh. One of the least likely countries to have a space program managed to have one. That¡¯s alternate history for you, folks.¡± Dale joked, but he was listening closely to everybody¡¯s history. ¡°And you, Adrian?¡± ¡°In my case, it would be a stalemate.¡± Adrian said at Dale. ¡°The USA and the USSR managed to land at the moon on the same day. I remember hearing about the arguments of who really made it first in a documentary.¡± ¡°I think we have lost the point of the conversation,¡± said Aby. ¡°We still don¡¯t know the guys [Titles]¡± She told while looking at Kayle. ¡°Mine¡¯s [Whim of Fate], ¡°Said Dale. ¡°boosted growth rate as the others and a note: ¡®Fate shall give you a hand, maybe.¡¯¡± Dale shrugged and pointed to Mike. ¡°Your turn.¡± Mike sighed. ¡°My [Title] is [Unwavering Will], it doesn¡¯t grant the growth boost you are talking about, but it says I am totally immune to mind control and soul attacks.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°First anomaly,¡± Said Aby. ¡°If we ignore the [Title] changes of [Procesa]. Axel, could you tell us your title?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Axel told. ¡°[Efficient Body], [Constituta] growth is increased, and my body uses less stamina to all actions.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you didn¡¯t break a sweat at our fight.¡± Adrian said. He was crying inside, hearing all those cool [Title] names and his being a bad word game. He used [A-celeratioed] to see what time was now. 10:35 A.M at Mundompio. A foreign knowledge whispered to him. ¡°We should get out of the house,¡± Adrian said. ¡°We need to explore the surroundings.¡± ¡°Agree.¡± Said Aby. ¡°We don¡¯t know anything about this world, we need to explore, but most importantly, we need to stay together.¡± Everyone nodded to Aby¡¯s words. ¡°What are we waiting for then?¡± Said Axel while rushing to the door. ¡°Eh, guys. The door doesn¡¯t open.¡± ¡°Try twisting the knob.¡± Told Kayle between laughs. ¡°Nah-nah. It won¡¯t move¡± Said Axel after shaking the hell out of the knob. Then.
Please select your starting weapon.
Suddenly another blue box appeared in front of Adrian. This one contained drawings of basic melee and ranged weapons like swords, spears, bows, blowpipes. The choices seemed limitless. ¡°Did anyone else see the message?¡± Said Mike, who fell on his butt. ¡°I think we all did.¡± Answered Adrian. ¡°So, what are you gonna pick?¡± Said Dale. ¡°I think I will pick the blowpipe; it looks dope.¡± ¡°Really? A blowpipe?¡± Said his sister. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you pick a more useful weapon? Something like a spear?¡± ¡°I have a gut that this weapon could synergize with my [Fortuna]¡± Dale said, even though he didn¡¯t have a clue about what he was talking. ¡°I will pick a two-handed sword!¡± Axel said with enthusiasm. ¡°Then I¡¯ll have a bow.¡± Said Mike. Then he talked to the two women that were whispering at the background. ¡°What about you two?¡± ¡°Aby and I¡± started Kayle ¡°decided that we will pick the staff. We believe that it could be the path to magic!¡± ¡°Makes sense.¡± Said Adrian. ¡°If the Arcane Record has a game-like system, you could unlock magic thanks to your [Procesa]¡± He told to Kayle and Aby, while he was still looking at the weapon menu. ¡°I will go with dual daggers. The faster I strike, the more damage I¡¯ll make.¡± Once everyone selected their weapons, they got another Record¡¯s message.
Congratulations! For choosing the way of the daggers and maxing [Celeratio] you have obtained a [Rare] skill. [Fast Stab]: Consume low stamina to make your stabbing with daggers faster and more precise.
¡®Nice¡¯ Thought Adrian, he now had two battle skills. He didn¡¯t know exactly what was the mental power that used [Battle Timing], but it sounded like a resource. Adrian now had two skills that used different types of resources. When all of them obtained their weapon skill, the door automatically opened. They now were at a dense forest, an emerald green canopy and a dark green undergrowth prevented them from seeing the sky or the ground. Although the woods were pretty thick, there was an open path, clearly crying ¡®this way¡¯. ¡°A briefing before we go?¡± Said Adrian to the rest of the group, he saw as everyone else looked at nothing, they also probably got a [Sklil]. ¡°Got deadlier stabs.¡± ¡°I have a chance to poison with my blowpipe.¡± Told Dale. ¡°I do extra damage to weak spots.¡± Said Mike while checking the string of the bow. ¡°Heavier hits.¡± Told Axel, bluntly. ¡°I have an aura that boosts people¡¯s accuracy.¡± Explained Aby. Now they got their first support skill. ¡°Also got an aura. It¡¯s a speed boost.¡± Kayle was the last one to talk. Adrian had several questions about how it works the skill system, and also if all of them got a Rare Skill, but he just said, ¡°Are you ready?¡± And the group took their first step at Mundompio. 5. Experience ¡°Could y-you slow your pace a bit?¡± Said Mike to Adrian. ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± He replied. Adrian didn¡¯t notice that [Celeratio] made him move that fast. Maybe because he didn¡¯t need to put the same effort as before, Adrian actually felt like he was walking slower than he usually does. ¡°[Celeratio] really shows up, eh.¡± Told Dale who had his blowpipe in one of his trousers¡¯ pockets and the darts inside the other one. ¡°Yeah, I calculated that I move almost as twice as fast as before.¡± Adrian said as his time perception gave him some hints. ¡°Jeez.¡± Said Mike who had to catch up to the group. ¡°How do you manage to speak like a normal person when you are that fast?¡± ¡°The Record helps me,¡± Adrian answered. ¡°It also keeps things balanced. It fastens me but slows everything else too.¡± ¡°Now I wish I had Maxxed [Celeratio].¡± Said Kayle while using his staff as a walking stick. ¡°Hey, I just stab things, you are a support,¡± Told Adrian. ¡°You are more important than me.¡± ¡°You could look it that way,¡± Said Aby, the other support. ¡°I think it¡¯s time we talk about strategy.¡± Aby told the group once she saw that the woods were opening up, the space between trees growing with each step. Everyone except Axel and Adrian sat on the ground. Axel stood like a warden, meanwhile, Adrian leaned his back on a tree. ¡°I should be the explorer!¡± Started Adrian. ¡°Oh, he who recognizes the terrain and alerts the group of the dangers of the unknown.¡± ¡°No objections. Just,¡° Aby sighed ¡°lower that drama of yours.¡± ¡°I will be the vanguard!¡± Told Axel, everyone nodded instantly. ¡°Dale and I should stay at the backlines with Aby.¡± Said Mike. ¡°Giving the accuracy boost to the ranged?¡± Commented Adrian. ¡°Exactly.¡± Mike answered. Adrian no more saw a coward boy, but a tactician. No, he was still feeling melodramatic. ¡°I have no problem with that.¡± Said Aby. ¡°Me neither.¡± Followed Dale. ¡°Now the most troublesome part,¡± Adrian said. ¡°What shall we do with Kayle? Do we put her with the ranged? Or with Axel?¡± They did notice the void that was the frontlines. While Adrian was scouting the area and the rest were at the back, Axel was the only one who protected the frontline. They don¡¯t feel like putting a girl who didn¡¯t know how to fight at the first line of fire, even more, because she Maxxed a mental [Stat] instead of a physical one.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°What if I rotate?¡± Suggested Kayle. Adrian adjusted his glasses until he was comfortable. ¡°That could work. Axel is a beefy boy but giving the boost to the ranged attackers is also good. You don¡¯t mind, right Axel?¡± ¡°No,¡± he answered. ¡°That means I have more action for myself.¡± Axel really was a muscle head. Not just Adrian, but everybody, even Axel himself thought that way. They kept marching through the forest. Now, the sky was visible and if one paid attention they could listen to the birdsong that flew across the place. Even if the woods were more visible now, the sun ¡ªor whatever it was called at this world¡ª shone upon the leaves, leaving a dark shadow, perfectly for ambushes. But that was only Adrian¡¯s paranoia. ¡°I will scout ahead¡± Adrian cried to the group. ¡°Keep them safe, big boy.¡± And then, after talking to Axel, Adrian went into the woods. It wasn¡¯t that he wanted to be alone or abandon them. It was the opposite. Adrian wanted to protect them and stay together, but there was a thing he wanted to try. ¡°[Battle Timing]¡± Adrian whispered. Suddenly he felt a strain upon his head. ¡°So that¡¯s mental power being consumed.¡± That feeling vanished quickly and his mind felt a lot faster. He now noted more sounds than before. Adrian heard a clicking, it was noiseless, a faint trail of sound only made it possible to be heard. Maybe a quiet sound, but a constant one. And it was getting closer. Adrian hid behind a tree, in the opposite directions from the sound¡¯s origin. He then saw. A human-sized praying mantis, or at least, something that resembled it. The advantages of [Celeratio] were that when he moved slowly to avoid making noise, he truly was sneaking even though he was moving at a walking pace for a third party. Adrian stayed about twenty meters behind the monster, not risking being noticed. He could have daggers, but he wasn¡¯t a rogue. Adrian quickly realized that the praying mantis was steering towards Axel and the group. Adrian waited, still chasing the creature of course. He was waiting for his window of opportunity. Adrian heard a war cry, probably coming from Axel. That was his chance. Taking advantage of Axel¡¯s cry, Adrian rushed towards the monster, giving up his position. The human-sized praying mantis noticed Adrian¡¯s footsteps, but Adrian was only twenty meters behind, and his movement was greatly augmented thanks to [Celeratio]. He went so fast towards the creature that when he was at range the cry from Axel was still echoing through the woods. Adrian had unshed his daggers while he was running and now, they were pointing towards the creature as if they were a sabretooth¡¯s teeth. Adrian whispered in his mind [Fast Stab], activating the skill for his two daggers. He felt a bit tired, a chunk of stamina was drained from his body, but now the weapons moved even faster than before and they had an objective. Adrian¡¯s daggers, as if his body was boosted by it gaining extra speed, stabbed the monster¡¯s compound eyes before it could defend itself. The creature fell to the ground, huge sockets were its eyes were, now clearly dead. No typical twitching that a lot of insects had when they died. It lay there, and the Record confirmed his death.
Level 2 [Archimantis Homicida] has been slayed Participation Rate: 100% You have earned 100 experience Level Up! One [Status Point] rewarded
As tempting as it was to open his [Status] and see the changes, another matter required his attention. Axel had cried and that could only mean one thing. Enemies. 6. Enemies ¡°Jeez, he moved so fast that I couldn¡¯t even see him.¡± That¡¯s what Dale said after Adrian walked into the forest. It was clearly an exaggeration, but no one could deny that Adrian was fast when he went seriously. Axel wanted to say goodbye, but he couldn¡¯t. ¡°What should we do?¡± Asked Mike a bit nervous now that the group¡¯s members were reduced by one. ¡°Walk¡± Said Aby as a matter of fact. ¡°Adrian is plainly faster than us, even if we were to walk a whole hour meanwhile he rested, he will still catch us. Let him move freely.¡± Aby talked like if Adrian was a disobedient child. ¡°What are we waiting then ¡ª Let¡¯s walk!¡± Axel told vigorously. And that¡¯s what they did. Everyone stood up and starting marching. Axel knew that this forest couldn¡¯t be infinite, that idea was reinforced by the fact that the woods were opening slowly. No one was tired, their march was slow, and the climate was nice, only one problem was present at everybody''s minds. Water. There was no pond to be seen or river to be heard. Since they left the cabin, they have been walking for about an hour with little to no rest. All of them were taken when they least expect it. Hunger may be no problem at the moment, but thirst was. ¡°Dale.¡± Called out Kayle. ¡°What, sis?¡± Said Dale back. ¡°Try eating that conspicuous mushroom over there. Surely your [Fortuna] will help you.¡± Kayle was pretty bored, she needed every bit of entertainment she could get. ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Dale responded. ¡°Why?¡± Asked Kayle without stopping. ¡°I am not going to eat an unknown mushroom of an unknown world just to satisfy your boredom.¡± Explain Dale to his sister. ¡°Damm, I am easy to read.¡± Exclaimed Kayle out of enthusiasm. Kayle was now thinking if her [Procesa] was making her bored more easily because he had nothing to think about. Aby seemed to be fine, though. ¡°Watch out!¡± Axel cried suddenly. ¡°W-what.¡± Exclaimed Mike after waking up from mindless walking. ¡°I sense danger.¡± The brown man warned. ¡°How can you sense danger?¡± Asked one of the blond siblings. ¡°[Warden¡¯s Taunt]!¡± Axel cried out loud out of nowhere. This was the skill he obtained after fighting with Adrian, a battle cry that snatched enemies'' focus and made them attack him. Shadows emerged from the trees, clearly rushing towards Axel. ¡°Attack!¡± Axel told to the group. In an instant, both Aby and Kayle activated their auras. Mike and Dale felt like their shots would never miss and Axel sensed the strength emerging from his arms. There were five enemies, all of them were a strange type of humanoid praying mantis, with huge black eyes and large scythes instead of arms. The monsters rushed Axel without a doubt. While they were charging mindlessly, Mike exploited that to make a shot. The arrow flew with great mastery, perfectly going through both eyes of a monster. That one fell to the ground. Four remaining. One of the mantises lost the aggro, now marching towards Mike. Aby stood in front of him, making space between the monster and her. Dale didn¡¯t stand still and rapidly shot darts at every single creature.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°All of them are poisoned!¡± Dale cried; he had a stroke of luck. Axel was holding three of the monsters with his two-hander, making the timing for his team to strike them. Axel noticed that the praying mantises became slower after being struck by Dale¡¯s poison. He tried to cut one of them with the sword, but the monsters didn¡¯t give him any chance. Seeing that her buff was useless, Kayle went to the backline to help the ranged attackers instead. Kayle ran to Dale, but another of the mantises lost aggro and rushed towards her. Axel couldn¡¯t move, now her life was one her own hands. Kayle shrunk in fear when the monster jumped with the intention to kill her, but then the mantis fell to the ground with a huge thud, its legs were missing, A shadow was standing on top of it and stabbed its brain. ¡°You should be more careful¡± Adrian scolded Kayle. The girl wanted to cry but Adrian talked first. ¡°Go with them, you are in danger here.¡± Aby was still holding the mantis with her staff, but finally, Mike managed to kill it right when Kayle came. Mike¡¯s first shot seemed nothing but the luck of the novice. To be fair this praying mantis was a higher level than the other ones, as it withstood one poisoned dart and two arrows. Without talking, Adrian stole the focus of one of the two creatures that were attacking Axel by throwing one of his daggers. His right dagger was now stuck at the mantis abdomen. Now that Axel was free, he went apeshit onto the poor mantis. He started swinging his two-handed sword as if it was a short sword, merciless attacks landed on the creature¡¯s arms that were concentrated on the defense. Adrian used his last dagger to parry the scythes of his enemy. Once a pair of blows were blocked, a dart and an arrow penetrated its left and right eye, respectively. Without no one interrupting, the group let Axel unleash his bloodthirst upon the insect. Now they were watching it as if they were an ancient Rome citizen at an amphitheater gladiator show. Within second the battle was won.
Level 2-4 [Archimantis Homicida] x5 has been slayed Participation Rate: 22% You have earned 240 experience Level Up! One [Status Point] rewarded
Now that the battle had finished, Adrian talked. ¡°Did you all level up?¡± They all nodded. ¡°I leveled up twice.¡± Told Axel. ¡°How much experience did you obtain?¡± Asked Adrian to him. ¡°320.¡± He responded. ¡°Jeez, being the tank is worth.¡± Said Dale. ¡°Do you want to be at the frontlines?¡± Axel joked. ¡°No, sir.¡± But Dale responded very seriously. Adrian opened his [Status] and dropped his two [Status Points] in [Celeratio] without thinking.
Status Name: Adrian Dewitt Race: Homo Sapiens Hestia Class: - Level: 3 Experience: 40/400
[Fisica] 1
[Constituta] 1
[Destretza] 1
[Procesa] 1
[Experenta] 1
[Atravesta] 1
[Voluntat] 1
[Celeratio] 13.3
[Fortuna] 1
[Titles] [Skills]
[Min-maxer] [Battle Timing]
[A-celeratioed] [Fast Stab]
¡°So that¡¯s how the growth boost applies, huh,¡± Adrian thought out loud. ¡°Now my [Status] looks like shit.¡± 7. Tarot ¡°When will we gain a [Class]?¡± Asked Dale once everyone put their [Status Points] at their Maxxed [Stats]. ¡°I think it will be level 5.¡± Told his sister who seemed like she was on the verge of crying a few minutes before. ¡°Me too,¡± said Adrian. ¡°That sounds like a nice number to have a [Class].¡± ¡°Ehh, guys I gained a strange skill.¡± Axel said while looking at nothing, but subconsciously everyone knew that was how the [Status] window worked. ¡°What does it say?¡± Adrian asked him. ¡°It so rare to explain, better if I read it out loud,¡± Axel said with a confused look. ¡°Congratulations! For merciless killing your enemies with brute force without receiving any damage plus maxing [Constiuta], you have obtained a [Unique] Title. Note: [Unique] skills or titles are only obtainable by one user.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Asked Dale. ¡°That seems pretty normal to me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not finished¡± Growled Axel. ¡°The problem is the title itself. [War-bond Tower]: Your body has become an unbreakable tower that brings chaos whenever you walk. You receive 50% less damage when you are at critical health. If fighting a large group, when an enemy dies its allies must roll a [Voluntat] will save, if they fail they may be inflicted with [Fear] or [Berserker] status alignment. Note: This [Title] is from the [Tarot] set. [Tarot] titles or skills became more powerful when more of them are present.¡± During the narration, the group could tell that Axel¡¯s voice was cracking, and Adrian even could feel the colors of the [Status] interface as some weird kind of synesthesia. ¡°That was a mouthful of [Title].¡± Commented Adrian. ¡°Yes.¡± Affirmed Axel, who needed to take a breath. ¡°That¡¯s a good [Title].¡± Said Mike after being silent for a long time. He was recollecting his arrows while listening to Axel¡¯s monologue. ¡°Indeed¡± Added Aby. ¡°Not only he receives less damage and makes enemies go crazy, but if we manage to obtain [Titles] or [Skills] from the [Tarot] series they will become more powerful.¡± ¡°Anyone knows all tarot cards?¡± Asked Dale who was retrieving darts from the mantises¡¯ eyes after watching Mike do so. ¡°The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Justice, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Strength, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World, and The Fool. That would only be the Major Arcanas, of course.¡± Recited Mike without catching breath, everyone looking at him, deadpanned. ¡°What?¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Nothing, nothing.¡± Said Aby. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t make any sense, then.¡± Continued Mike. ¡°What does not make sense?¡± Asked Adrian. ¡°Axel¡¯s card¡± Mike responded. ¡°It should be The Chariot or Justice according to his role. Chariot or Justice are more accurate to his actions but¡­ O, no. Yes, The Tower makes sense. ¡°What did your inner monologue mean?¡± Asked Dale once he put all the darts in his pocket. ¡°The Tower can mean chaos or a sudden change if it''s lifted upright. And didn¡¯t the Record message told something about bringing chaos? It may be more suitable than I thought.¡± Mike explained. ¡°Riiight,¡± Dale told him. ¡°And why do you know that much about tarot cards?¡± ¡°Personal interest.¡± Mike answered honestly. ¡°Seems legit.¡± Said Dale without giving it more thought. ¡°What card do you think I am?¡± Kayle asked overly excited. ¡°Tarot Cards don¡¯t work like that; I cannot say you¡ª¡± Mike''s explanation was interrupted by Kayle¡¯s watery eyes. Mike sighed. ¡°¡ªmaybe The Fool or The Sun.¡± He gave up. ¡°The Fool?¡± Kayle said surprised, that sounded like a bad card. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad.¡± Mike started. ¡°The Fool can mean free spirit, but also recklessness. And The Sun can be positivity or one¡¯s inner child. ¡°The Fool then, I am no child.¡± Kayle said. ¡®Oh, yes you are.¡¯ Thought Adrian. Obviously, he kept that to himself. ¡°Are we done then?¡± Asked Aby who was backing up in her stick. ¡°It is time we move on.¡± ¡°Can I least know my card?¡± Requested Dale. Aby assented with her head and then sighed. ¡°Go on, Mike.¡± ¡°Wheel of Fortune without a doubt.¡± He explained. ¡°It not only means good luck, that you have with [Fortuna], but it also can mean change or a turn in your life, which I must say, it is obvious at our current state.¡± Adrian thought that Mike looked intellectual once you get past his cowardness and social awkwardness. He did not talk much, but at the last minutes, he dominated the conversation flow. ¡°Should we do something with those guys?¡± Said Axel who was pointing at the dead humanoid praying mantises. ¡°We could grab them as emergency rations.¡± Adrian suggested. ¡°Thanks, but no¡± Said Aby. ¡°I rather starve before eating one of those¡­ things.¡± She was clearly repulsed by the idea of eating the human-sized insects. With that, the group departed once again. They kept walking the open path for half an hour according to Adrian¡¯s [A-celeratioed] title. Now the density was low enough that one could look up to the sky and see that it was already noon ¡ª if the star being at its highest meant noon at Mundompio¡ª except that it was 2:00 p.m. Adrian¡¯s [Title] was excellent when one was stranded, but now it only present doubts of the world''s astrology. After a five-minute walk, the group could hear the sound of water flowing. ¡°It¡¯s a river!¡± Called out Dale, happy to be able to drink after so long. ¡°It sounds like it¡± Commented Adrian. ¡°Stay here, I will scout the terrain.¡± Everyone listened to Adrian, they could not afford to be ambushed by another crowd of monsters, after one of them almost died last time. When Adrian left the party sat in a circle, watching at all angles. Adrian approached ¡®slowly¡¯ at the sound¡¯s origin. Even though his speed was a trout pace, he left no sound behind. Soon Adrian arrived at the sound, it was a river. Nothing strange, clear water, no signs of algae, fungus, moss, or frogs. A clear and beautiful river. Except for that [Archimantis Homicida] that was decapitated by Adrian¡¯s daggers while it was drinking from the river. Only a bit of experience was given since it was only level one, but Adrian did acquire something nice.
Congratulations! For stealthily executing your foe with your daggers, you have obtained a new skill. [Assassinate]: When attacking your objective without being detected and aiming for a vital point, your attack damage will triplicate without any additional stamina consumption.
8. River After killing the mantis, Adrian came back to the group and confirmed to them the existence of a river and its safety. They arrived in less than five minutes as everyone was happy to finally drink. Adrian used this time to ask Aby about the cup of tea she was having earlier. It seems that she was summoned with her cup, that was weird because no one of them had phones, keys or wallets, just their clothes. ¡°Oh, why does it smell so bad?¡± Dale said while putting his hand on his nose. ¡°Oh, fuck!¡± Dale jumped when he saw the mantis corpse. ¡°Jeez, you fucking decapitated that bastard.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Adrian said as a matter of fact. ¡°Why I would risk getting discovered when I can execute them instantly.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know¡± Told Dale. ¡°But at least you could have removed the corpse from the river.¡± Adrian wanted to say something but closed his mouth. ¡®No, he¡¯s right. I think this situation is showing my worst.¡¯ ¡°Well, Dale,¡± Kayle said while pointing at the river with both hands. ¡°Drink.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t Axel drink as he has Maxxed [Constituta]?¡± Dale said after a flash of inspiration. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t be he immune to poison?¡± ¡°Fuck.¡± Kayle swore under her breath. She just wanted his brother to drink that conspicuous water. ¡°What do you say, big boy?¡± Adrian told Axel. ¡°I see no problem¡± Axel responded. ¡°I don¡¯t even think the water is poisonous, it smells right,¡± Axel kneel to put his hand into the river. ¡°¡ªand it has a nice temperature and viscosity.¡± ¡°Right. O, your wilderness expert. Are you going to do it or not?¡± Adrian asked once again. ¡°Sure.¡± Axel affirmed and put water in his mouth. Adrian wanted to comment that the absence of flora and fauna in the river was suspicious and it could kill small organisms, even if the praying mantis was drinking from it. But it was already late, Axel had already gulp it. ¡°Are you right?¡± Dale asked Axel. ¡°No strange symptoms or poison?¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Nah¡± Axel responded while having another sip. ¡°Water¡¯s fine.¡± As he said so, everyone jumped to the river, metaphorically, of course. The party started to drink from the part that the mantis¡¯ corpse didn¡¯t touch. The stream of the river wasn¡¯t strong, but it wasn¡¯t weak neither. While Kayle, Aby and Dale were drinking, Adrian and Axel cleaned the blades of their weapons to stop any corrosion that the mantises¡¯ blood could inflict. Mike did the same for the tip of his arrows. Dale didn¡¯t need to clean his darts; he just wiped the blood as the darts didn¡¯t penetrate that much and only poisoned the praying mantises. ¡°Does anyone have a waterskin or something like that?¡± Adrian asked once he was fine with the shininess of his daggers. No one didn¡¯t have anything like that, of course. The closest thing they had was their shoes, but none would drink from a shoe, or walk barefoot in the forest. Aby still had her cup, but it could only transport so much water and would leak at the minimum movement. ¡°I don¡¯t think that would be necessary.¡± Aby said she was sat next to the stream of water. ¡°And that¡¯s why?¡± Axel asked, who was still cleaning his two-handed sword. The blood was sticky and everywhere after he beat the devil out of the mantis. ¡°This is a river.¡± Aby stated. ¡°Yes, I know that.¡± Axel contested while tilting his head. ¡°Cities are built next to rivers, there are people in cities.¡± Explained Aby. ¡°Should I clarify more my intentions?¡± ¡°No, that won¡¯t be necessary.¡± Adrian said to her. ¡°Axel got it. But now the million-dollar question. Where do we go to? Upstream or downstream?¡± ¡°That is the question.¡± Aby answered without answering, she just quoted Shakespeare. ¡°I think we should follow the river¡¯s mouth,¡± Mike told after cleaning his three arrows and putting them into the quiver he was gifted by the Record. ¡°There¡¯s no mountain in sight, that means that the river¡¯s origin is far away or is a lake. It would be safer if we go to the end of the river, that way we could find a coastal city.¡± ¡°I understand your reasoning, but¡± Adrian started ¡°for that exact reason we could go upstream.¡± ¡°I have an idea,¡± Axel said once his enormous blade was clean. ¡°Why don¡¯t we try using Dale`s [Fortuna] to guide us?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not an extremely horrifyingly bad suggestion¡± Aby said. ¡°Dale¡¯s [Title] did say that he could be helped by fate. I think it¡¯s worth a try.¡± ¡°Okay¡± Dale himself accepted. ¡°But how do I do it.¡± ¡°Here,¡± Adrian said while giving him one of his daggers. ¡°Give it a spin.¡± Dale grabbed Adrian¡¯s dagger and then search a good spot to spin it. He saw a rock with a plain enough surface that it wouldn¡¯t affect the movement of the dagger. Dale then pushed the handle of the dagger with all the might he could summon with just his finger. The dagger started to spin. Dale put so much force that the dagger rotated for half a minute before coming to a stop. The blade¡¯s tip pointed exactly as the direction of the downstream of the river. ¡°That¡¯s a good sign, isn¡¯t it?¡± Adrian said as he watched the place where his dagger was pointing to. ¡°Guys, I obtained a new skill.¡± Dale explained while reading the invisible Record window. ¡°Is it a Tarot skill?¡± Mike asked excitedly. ¡°Better than that.¡± Dale answered. ¡°A double Tarot [Skill].¡± 9. City Dale started narrating his new [Skill]. ¡°Congratulations! For foolishly and blindly depending in your luck and maxing [Fortuna], you have obtained a [Unique] Skill. Note: [Unique] skills or titles are only obtainable by one user.¡± ¡°Wow, even the Record is insulting you.¡± Kayle said sarcastically. ¡°Oh, shut up,¡± Dale told her and then continued. ¡°[The Fool¡¯s Wheel of Fortune]: Even though you are a free spirit; you know well the threads of destiny. You can survive lethal damage once a day. When being overwhelmed by numbers, the enemy¡¯s accuracy will downgrade. Your own accuracy is now increased by [Fortuna]. Note: This [Skill] is from the [Tarot] set. [Tarot] titles or skills became more powerful when more of them are present. Your skill is also a Double [Tarot]. You cannot longer obtain [Tarot] skills or titles. Your Double [Tarot] Skill counts as two for the [Tarot] party bonus.¡± ¡°He stole my card!¡± Kayle pointed at Dale. She was referring to The Fool card Mike talked about earlier. Adrian ignored Kayle as he felt again that weird synesthesia when someone recited a Record¡¯s message. Dale threw himself on the ground, trying to catch back his breath after that long description. Dale was muttering something about wanting to die, but that was interrupted by a Record message. ¡°Nice.¡± Said Dale between breaths, giving Axel a thumbs up. ¡°Nice, indeed.¡± Told Axel back. ¡°What?¡± Asked Kayle after being left out of the conversation. ¡°What¡¯s nice?¡± ¡°Our skills and titles have been upgraded,¡± Axel explained. ¡°Now I received 70% less damage at critical health.¡± ¡°Congrats, you are immortal.¡± Said Adrian. ¡°What about you?¡± He talked to Dale. ¡°My get out of jail card now works on allies,¡± Dale told. ¡°But it¡¯s still once a day.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t we obtaining this [Tarot] series too easily?¡± Aby asked a doubt everyone had. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that if Dale got it first,¡± Adrian started. ¡°you know [Fortuna] shenanigans, but even then, we know nothing about this world or how does the Arcane Record even work,¡± Adrian told her while revising what time was now, he sighed. ¡°But I can only speculate that this is because all of us have Maxxed our [Stats]. Can you look at your [Min-maxer] title? It says that the Records values Maxxed people. Maybe the Record is just taking pity on us.¡± Axel shrunk his shoulder. ¡°I dunno. But we should get going and start looking for a city.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°You are right.¡± Adrian said. The group marched downstream, with the intent of finding a coastal city, but it didn¡¯t really matter to them if it was a common one. The march was uneventful as marches in another world could get. The party was ¡®ambushed¡¯ by another swarm of mantis, Axel¡¯s sixth danger sense worked pretty well to evade getting caught off guard. Even though there were eight [Archimantis Homicida], the party managed with ease as Adrian insta-killed one of the mantises and when Axel did kill one of them, thanks to Aby and Kayle¡¯s buffs combined, his [Title] activated and they fled in terror. Then the mantises got insta-killed again by a combination of Mike¡¯s arrows to the only mantis that was inflected with [Berserk] status alignment instead of [Fear] and the other ones by Adrian¡¯s [Assassinate] skill spam. ¡°That¡¯s a sick combo.¡± Dale told Adrian, who was resting at a nearby rock. ¡°Yes¡­¡± Adrian said back. He was tired even if the [Assassinate] skill said that it didn¡¯t cost any extra stamina. That didn¡¯t mean that his other four rush and stab combos did not cost stamina. Adrian had walked for about four hours today only on Mundompio, but he was at the end of his turn on Earth, plus various uses of [Fast Stab]. Adrian was low on stamina. ¡°I think will take the next fights more chill.¡± Adrian said incoherently. He felt at his limit. He did not even care that he leveled up to level four. ¡°Sure.¡± Axel said, now cleaning his two-hander again at the river. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we take parts of the mantises with us?¡± Asked Mike while recovering his arrows. Mike could feel Aby¡¯s death gaze upon him. ¡°I mean, if this is a fantasy world and we are going to a city maybe they will buy the bodies?¡± ¡°I know what you mean,¡± Adrian told him, laying on the rock. ¡°But we are in no conditions of carrying more load at the moment. Hell, we don¡¯t even have any bag to store them in.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Mike said in affirmation with a growl. ¡°Let¡¯s get going.¡± While they were still walking down the river, a new conversation topic arose. ¡°How it is that there are only praying mantises at this forest?¡± Dale asked out of nowhere. ¡°We should think of it as a game,¡± Adrian said. ¡°This is the Mantis Territory, so there is only mantis to hunt.¡± ¡°But we did hear birds, but we haven¡¯t seen anyone.¡± Kayle joined the conversation. ¡°True,¡± Adrian added. ¡°I did forget about that. Not also animals we should be paying attention. There are mushrooms, it wouldn¡¯t be strange to find some herbivores at the woods.¡± ¡°I remembered something,¡± Aby told. ¡°Normal mantis can ambush small birds and eat them, and there are birds that eat mushrooms. So, a human-sized praying mantis could base its diet out of common birds.¡± ¡°We are in another world.¡± Mike counterargued. ¡°We did see that Mundompio resembles Earth.¡± Aby added. ¡°We come from different Earths.¡± Mike continued. ¡°Listen here you little¡­¡± Aby¡¯s voice was interrupted when she collided with Axel¡¯s back. ¡°Ow, what did you stop?¡± ¡°Holy shit.¡± Said Dale before Axel. ¡°A city!¡± ¡°Wait!¡± Adrian cried to the group which started running towards the newly found city. ¡°We don¡¯t know if the city will be friendly.¡± Adrian¡¯s argument made sense and the party stopped at their feet. ¡°What we should do then?¡± Axel asked. ¡°Let me go inside first.¡± Adrian explained. ¡°We don¡¯t even know if we will understand the language of Mundompio or we will be attacked on sight. I will enter the city as a traveler or something like that and confirm if it is a safe place. I don¡¯t want to sound pessimistic, but if things do go south, I will use my [Celeratio] and flee to later regroup with you guys. What do you think?¡± Everyone nodded. ¡°Bon Voyage.¡± Aby told Adrian as he marched towards the first town they had ever found on Mundompio. 10. Streets Adrian went with high hopes to the city but then he remembered something. ¡°What will I do with my clothes?¡± If he was going to go to a medieval city, he would stand out like a sore thumb. ¡°My T-shirt is okay, I guess. But my jeans and shoes? That¡¯s a no go.¡± Adrian wore a blank shirt so he thought that could go unnoticed. His trousers and shoes were another matter. ¡°Should I go barefoot?¡± Adrian asked himself once he was close to the city walls. ¡°It¡¯s a medieval town definitely,¡± Adrian said while looking at the walls. ¡°it will surely have a lot of shit and rats on the floor. To barefoot or to enter, that is the question.¡± After a moment of thought, Adrian said. ¡°Fuck it!¡± Took his shoes off and headed to the dirt path that led to the city¡¯s entrance. It seemed to be a queue at the door, and the guards (which wore standard full plate armor and longsword) were revising the papers of the merchants who wanted to enter. ¡®Well, fuck.¡¯ Adrian thought as he quickly made up a story that seemed believable. ¡°Papers, please.¡± Said the guard. Adrian was both concerned and alleviated when he understood the guard that talked. He did understand the language at Mundompio, but he did need papers. ¡°Oh, right.¡± Adrian talked back. He started looking at his pockets with eagerness and then opened his eyes when he found nothing. All of this was a charade, of course. ¡°Emm- It seems that I have lost my papers. One of the two guards looked at him and said. ¡°You are traveling a bit light, don¡¯t you think?¡± The guard told both to Adrian and his partner. ¡°I was attacked by the mantis, even though I killed a bunch of them, I had to flee as I was overwhelmed,¡± Adrian answered to the guard. ¡°I had to abandon my bag there, maybe I left the papers there¡­ ¡°The last part was said almost blubbering as part of Adrian¡¯s theatrics. ¡°You killed mantises?¡± The guard asked Adrian in doubt. ¡°Yes, I can defend myself.¡± Adrian pointed at his daggers. ¡°I lived in the woods and I wanted to take a quest to kill some of those insects.¡± ¡°So, you want to become an adventurer?¡± The guard said and Adrian nodded. ¡°You look a bit old to enter now at the world of adventuring, but your life is only yours.¡± The guard told him and moved out of the way. ¡°The guild is the big-wooden building at the plaza, straight forward, there¡¯s no way to get lost.¡± ¡°I can go in?¡± Adrian asked.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Go.¡± Said the other guard, clearly molested that Adrian wasted his time. ¡°Clean the queue.¡± ¡°Welcome to Czecheri.¡± Said the nice guard once Adrian stepped inside the walled city. Czecheri cried fantasy medieval burg to Adrian. Houses made from wood and stone, people that didn¡¯t look very nice or happy flowing the streets, walkways made out from rocks that ranged from pebbles to large slats¡­ It did smell bad, but not as bad Adrian had imagined. ¡®Maybe thanks to magic people can dispose of their wastes? I don¡¯t know if Mundompio is supposed to be a high or low fantasy setting,¡¯ If Adrian recalled correctly, the Record tutorial message when he was summoned told something about being transported to Mundompio while the Earth was being reformed by the Record. So, it wouldn¡¯t be excessive to suppose that people at Mundompio could use the Record. Adrian lefts those thoughts and went right to the plaza. A huge fountain, approximately ten meters in radius, marked the center of the plaza. Adrian saw a great number of merchants selling their fresh goods at their makeshift ambulant store. He did also saw a bard that was in the middle of a song. ¡°Beware, oh beware, the daughter of the spring, ¡®cause she poison brings¡­¡± Adrian had no interest either in music nor the bard, so he walked past him to go to his errand. Adrian¡¯s stomach growled as he moved in the middle of the plaza. ¡®I need to become an adventure as fast as I can, or we will be forced to eat mantises for dinner.¡¯ The plaza was massive, the city looked bigger at the center of it than outside. Adrian looked for the big wooden building that the nice guard told him about. Adrian supposed that the guild was that considerably bigger building that had a large bow and sword signboard in front of it. ¡®None of the buildings have names displayed on them, could this be because of analphabetism?¡¯ Adrian thought while he observed carefully the plaza. Without more delay, Adrian went towards the guild building. Adrian wouldn¡¯t lie if he said he was nervous. Adrian made a huge breath and let it out slowly. In less than a second, he was decided. He entered the building of stereotypical fantasy stories. When Adrian entered the guild, he did notice two things. First, the fight between order and chaos that were the adventurers that were drinking at the bar-saloon-restaurant and the ones who were reading carefully the information from the quest log. Second, there was a long, very long, queue at the guild¡¯s secretary. Adrian pondered if he did enter at rush hour when he saw twenty people distributed between two guild officers at the desk. The problem wasn¡¯t the number of people in the queue, but the time that the officers took which each person. This was going to go for long. After five minutes and only one person being attended, Adrian became stressed at the fact of waiting fifty minutes to begin his adventure. ¡®Fuck that.¡¯ He thought. ¡®System, change my perception of time so times flows faster relative to me.¡¯
Time perception set to Elthary Rule. Now time is measured in mana drops instead of seconds.
Now Adrian saw as time flew in front of him, literally. ¡®[Celeratio] does have its advantages.¡¯ Adrian thought as the queue started to decrease significantly faster, and then walked in this strange time as it was now his turn. 11. Guild
Time perception set to Metric System. Now time is measured in seconds instead of mana drops.
Adrian changed his time perception back to normal once he was the next one at the queue. It did feel strange to him, seeing everything move so fast and himself thinking so slow when his body was accelerated as well. Even though Adrian wanted to try one more time this strange phenomenon, he had things to do. ¡°Next!¡± Cried the female officer at the guild reception. Adrian stepped to the counter. He saw how the officer was smiling but her eyes were very tired. ¡®I am tired too.¡¯ Adrian told himself. ¡®I did a full day job and then I got summoned to kill insects that wanted to kill me.¡¯ Adrian sighed. When Adrian was in front of her, the officer talked. ¡°What do you wish?¡± She said, clearly a rehearsed formal greeting. ¡°I want to register myself as an adventure.¡± Adrian responded. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a bit too old to start?¡± The woman at the desk asked. ¡°I need to work.¡± Adrian replied. ¡°And I have these.¡± He pointed at his daggers. ¡°You say.¡± The officer said as she moved some papers. ¡°You need to complete one basic task to be registered at the lowest rank, do you agree with it?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Adrian answered. Adrian thought while he was at the queue that there may be an entrance fee that he had to pay. But it did seem that the guild asked a starter mission to be recognized as a guild member. Adrian thought it was no different from voluntary work, just at a fantasy setting. ¡°Are you experienced in combat?¡± The officer asked a question that looked like something out of a manual. ¡°Yes, I am,¡± Adrian said. ¡°I had to kill a bunch of [Archimantis Homicida] to get to the city.¡± ¡°Oh, thank the pantheon!¡± Exclaimed the female officer. ¡°That makes things a lot easier. Do you live at the city or a traveler?¡± ¡°I would say I am a traveler, but I do live in the woods.¡± Adrian followed his makeshift story. ¡°Could you lend me your daggers for an instant?¡± The officer requested. ¡°Sure.¡± Adrian gave her his two daggers. ¡°Hmm, seems legit.¡± She said, murmuring to herself. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Adrian asked her calmly. ¡°I was inspecting if there were trails of mantis blood, which there was.¡± She replied. ¡°I did clean them.¡± Adrian talked about his daggers. ¡°The scent and viscosity are hard to remove.¡± The female officer explained, she did have knowledge about the monsters. ¡°You did kill the mantises near Czecheri, am I right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Adrian told her plainly. ¡°Consider yourself a member of the guild.¡± The officer congratulated him, without any hint of joy in her voice. ¡°Just like that?¡± Adrian asked doubtfully. ¡°You killed them, no?¡± The officer stated. ¡°Yes, but isn¡¯t this going a bit fast?¡± Adrian had his doubts about this recruitment system. ¡°One of the basic tasks are killing mantises, I am just too tired to sign a document later, better to do it now.¡± The female receptionist said.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡®The guild does have competent workers¡¯ Adrian joked in his mind. ¡°Now what?¡± Asked Adrian. ¡°Here.¡± Said the officer while passing him his daggers and a small copper plate that had a string going through it. ¡°This is your guild rank identification, wear it.¡± And so Adrian did. ¡°Now it should show another information line at your [Status], watch it. Adrian opened his [Status].
Status Name: Adrian Dewitt Race: Homo Sapiens Hestia Affiliation: Copper Guild Adventurer Class: - Level: 4 Experience: 60/700
[Fisica] 1
[Constituta] 1
[Destretza] 1
[Procesa] 1
[Experenta] 1
[Atravesta] 1
[Voluntat] 1
[Celeratio] 14.95
[Fortuna] 1
[Titles] [Skills]
[Min-maxer] [Battle Timing]
[A-celeratioed] [Fast Stab]
[Assassinate]
¡°Oh.¡± Adrian let out a sound. ¡°Now get a quest and get out of the line.¡± Said the female officer. Adrian rashly got out of the queue as the officer¡¯s gaze penetrated him. He was a bit sad because he got no instructions or whatsoever, but observation was also a key element at the guild. Adventurer picked up quests from the quest log, they didn¡¯t ask anyone and just took the paper with the information. Once the adventurers finished their missions they got back to the guild and joined the queue. There they deliver the quest paper and the quest objective. ¡®Just like a game¡¯ Adrian thought as he walked to the quest log board. Even though Adrian could understand the details (there was a lot of imagery since he did notice the high rate of analphabetism) but the words that he could read weren¡¯t ones he knew. There was this quest for example. Exterminate 20 [Archmantis Homicida] Bring back their left scythes as prove Reward: 25 copper The language wasn¡¯t syllabic based nor any language that Adrian knew for that matter, but it was weird to him when the words made to his brain. ¡®More than one copper per mantis, it would be useful if I knew the currency value.¡¯ Adrian thought as he grabbed that quest and left the guild. ¡®It¡¯s shitty that the quest reward isn¡¯t divisible by 6, but money is money.¡¯ Adrian meditated as there could be some fighting while distributing the recompense. While walking down the streets to exit the city, Adrian saw not-that-bad-looking bread by only two copper. He supposed that a meal could be worth five copper. With the quest money, they couldn¡¯t eat a proper meal today or even pay an inn. They would to endure with bread and camping outside. Adrian walked out of the city and went towards the campsite, without before putting on his shoes. ¡°Why did you take so long?¡± Aby asked. She seemed pretty worried. ¡°There was a long queue at the guild.¡± Adrian replied. ¡°Guild? Guild like an adventurer¡¯s guild?¡± Dale questioned excitedly. ¡°The same.¡± Adrian told him. ¡°I became a copper plate adventurer, and I brought us a quest.¡± Adrian gave them the quest paper. ¡°Should we go to the city?¡± Mike asked once he read the paper. ¡°I think you should wait outside for the moment,¡± Adrian explained. ¡°Your clothes are too modern. Today we will finish this quest and I will buy food. Tomorrow I will pick another one and buy us some clothing or at least a coat so you don¡¯t become the spotlight.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay for me.¡± Axel said. ¡°Just need to smash more critters.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that we will sleep outside? At this monster-plagued forest?¡± Kayle asked a bit scared. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine.¡± Adrian comforted her. ¡°Axel, Aby, and I can make shift night turns so we don¡¯t get ambushed. And it won¡¯t be difficult to light a campfire. Does anyone know how to make one?¡± Dale and Axel rose their hands. ¡°Then we are set, let¡¯s finish this quest!¡± Adrian told the party. 12. Quest [A-celeratioed] whispered Adrian that now was exactly 5 p.m. He did not expect to be this early after walking that much and then having to wait for an hour at the guild. Time messed people¡¯s perception, and [Celeratio] more so, even if he did have a mind clock at all times. ¡°Do we need to do something to complete the quest?¡± Dale asked meanwhile the party was searching for their preys. ¡°Apart from harvesting their left scythes,¡± told Adrian as if the mantises were nothing more than crops. ¡°I only have to deliver the quest paper at the guild desk and that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°So, killing is what we need?¡± Dale said. ¡°Yes.¡± Adrian replied. ¡°Was that a reference?¡± Adrian asked him as Dale¡¯s wording and tone sounded weird. ¡°Perhaps.¡± Dale responded vaguely. The group continued marching, trying to complete the quest by this evening. After they had killed the first group of three mantises, Dale had asked if they should separate to cover more terrain. ¡°Horrendous idea.¡± Explained Aby. ¡°Axel and Adrian may be well alone, but us? I can defend myself, but I doubt your or Mike and Kayle, for that matter, can. We do need a solid vanguard.¡± ¡°She¡¯s right.¡± Added Adrian. ¡°And also, I am beat, I have no energies to fight alone.¡± Adrian said as he sighed. ¡°Must be tough to be melee.¡± Mike said. ¡°Sure.¡± Replied Axel. ¡°But I am more though.¡± Axel joked about his [Constituta]. ¡°I hate you.¡± Adrian told Axel. ¡°The squishy guy is grumpy.¡± Axel continued joking. ¡°Beware, this squishy might bite.¡± Adrian continued Axel¡¯s game. ¡°Oh, I am trembling.¡± Axel said. ¡°What will I do¡­¡± Adrian, Axel and later Dale continued joking until they found another [Archimantis Homicida]. That one was alone, so Adrian insta-killed it before they were detected. And then Adrian proceeded to cut out the mantis left scythe. ¡°Argh, gross.¡± Commented Aby as she seemed to puke any moment now. ¡°You have to get used to it.¡± Adrian said while swinging his dagger to wipe the ichor from the creature. ¡°Also, because we need to carry twenty scythes and we don¡¯t any bags you will have to carry at least some of them. ¡°Argh- ¡°Aby grunted even louder at the notion of grabbing those monsters¡¯ arms. ¡°Do I have to?¡± She asked as she was a kid.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Yes, you do.¡± Responded Kayle. ¡°If one has to carry those things, everyone will.¡± When Kayle stopped speaking, Dale changed the topic. ¡°How many exp do you need to level up, sis?¡± ¡°Uhu,¡± she made a funny sound and looked at the [Status] window. ¡°About 3 mantises and I will level up to 4.¡± ¡°Is everyone lower than level 3?¡± Adrian asked once the party started the hunt again. No one said anything. ¡°Right.¡± Adrian told them. ¡°I am close to the magical level 5.¡± ¡°Do you think we will gain classes?¡± Dale asked Adrian. ¡°It¡¯s probable.¡± Adrian answered. ¡°The people at the guild knew the existence of the [Status] and treated like everyday stuff.¡± Adrian told Dale while remembering the various cases of adventurers looking at nothing, reading the air, when he was at the accelerated time perception. ¡°It is sure that we will obtain classes, if it is at level five, that¡¯s another thing.¡± The party continued the hunt, searching and killing the mantises systematically. In one hour, they achieved half of the quest. It was different avoiding fighting that seeking it, and they noticed the number of encounters in doing so. Even if they had killed six more mantises since Kayle said she only needed three to level up, it was obvious that she referred to the hypothetical case that she had received the full amount of experience instead of a participation rate. Because Axel and Adrian had the higher participation rate, while Aby the lowest (as her accuracy aura was a bit useless because the mantises didn¡¯t tend to dodge). The difference between highest contribution and lowest ended up almost with a level differential. ¡°It would be nice if we got more [Tarot] cards.¡± Mike commented as he was recovering his shot arrows. Six dead [Archimantis Homicida] laid on the ground, only three had arrows on their bodies. A large group had succumbed this time. ¡°Yeah.¡± Said Dale who was also recovering his darts. ¡°Imagine If my [Skill] could save various people from death.¡± ¡°How does your [Skill] even work?¡± Kayle asked. She was leaning her head on her staff. ¡°I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t want to try it.¡± Dale told her honestly. ¡°Yeah, it would be better if we stayed alive.¡± Axel said while helping Adrian cutting the mantises. ¡°Here.¡± He said while giving Kayle four mantis scythes. ¡°Eugh.¡± Kayle complained but took obediently the monsters¡¯ arms. ¡°Lasts four are four you!¡± Axel shout to Aby. ¡°Don¡¯t remind it to me!¡± Aby cried, it was easy to see she had a severe entomophobia. As they only needed four more mantises to finish their quest, the party gave their all with one last sprint. They started looking menacingly for those monsters so they could finally buy food after a day or more without eating in some cases. After wandering like starved predators, the group found a group of six mantises, they did not care if there were two more than they needed, they party only wanted their left arms. Even thought they wanted to end this quest once for all, they did not charge without a plan. Instead they wanted to try a need strategy. Aby and Kayle buffed Mike and Dale, who were skulking in the shadows, waiting for a clear shot. Axel defended them in case things went south. While Mike and Dale were aiming to insta-kill them, Adrian was hiding until they detected them. Adrian kept hiding until the enemies noticed Axel and the rest, so he could spam [Assassinate]. At the end of the skirmish, Adrian managed to kill two mantises without getting noticed and the party from Earth completed their first quest. ¡°Oh, you gotta to be shitting me!¡± Adrian cried out loud. ¡°What, what happened? Are we under attack?¡± Kayle jumped out at Adrian¡¯s voice, clearly scared. Adrian didn¡¯t say anything and just looked at his [Status].
Status Name: Adrian Dewitt Race: Homo Sapiens Hestia Affiliation: Copper Guild Adventurer Class: - Level: 4 Experience: 699/700
Now Adrian hated with all his might the contribution experience distribution. 13. Shopping ¡°Well, I am done.¡± Adrian said after viciously cutting the left arms of the critters. ¡°With what? The system or the quest?¡± Dale joked. Adrian sighed. ¡°With both.¡± He got up, letting the corpse of the two extra mantises rest in peace. ¡°We should get going before it gets dark.¡± Even though the party had traveled a lot in the last few hours, they had a save march as Aby remembered the way back to the river, even if she was now trembling a lot while walking. Half an hour was enough to get back. Then Adrian dropped his left mantis arms and removed his shoes. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Aby said and instantly threw the mantis parts once she stopped. ¡°My trainers are too modern,¡± Adrian explained. ¡°So, I decided to go barefoot to Czecheri.¡± ¡°Czecheri?¡± Mike asked, also dropping the arms and making a pile with Aby¡¯s. ¡°That¡¯s the name of the city.¡± Adrian answered. Then he extended his own arms to make as a gesture so the rest could give them directly the quest¡¯s objectives. ¡°Are you going to carry all that trash to the city while being barefoot?¡± Kayle asked, wiping her hands at the river. ¡°Yes. Yes, I will.¡± Adrian told her. ¡°Even if I don¡¯t like the idea.¡± Axel collected the remaining arms that were at the ground and gave them to Adrian. ¡°I should be back in an hour or two.¡± Adrian said optimistically and marched towards the city. Though Adrian was tired and hungry, the walk was easier thanks to his [Celeratio]. He also modified his newly discovered Elthary Rule time perception. So, the tedious hike became a short walk by the forest. Once Adrian saw Czecheri¡¯s main door, he set back his time perception to the metric system, trying to avoid looking to weird to Mundompio¡¯s citizens. The guards didn¡¯t stop him this time as they were the same as before, now they only looked with frowned faces at Adrian and his pile stock of mantises¡¯ arms. In less than five minutes, Adrian was back at the guild. It seemed that rush hour had ended as there were a whole less people at the guild. Adrian thanked that to whichever god exists at Mundompio, as there was only one person in the queue beside him. In no time it was Adrian¡¯s turn, he chooses the desk where he went before because the female officer was still there. ¡°Back already?¡± She asked as she looked at the mount of monster¡¯s arms that were wrapped in Adrian¡¯s arms. ¡°Yeah, I am tired, though.¡± Adrian replied. ¡°Where do I leave these bad boys?¡± ¡°Leave them there.¡± The female officer pointed at a clean space where there was a linen rug covering the ground.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Adrian did so, finally getting rid off that weight and walked back to the desk. ¡°Here you have.¡± Said the officer as she put five huge copper coins in front of Adrian. He supposed that those counted as five copper coins each one. Adrian almost left after grabbing the coins, but he rapidly turned back to the officer. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you know a place where I can buy some provisions and shoes?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± She replied with a not friendly grin. ¡°There¡¯s a guild-sponsored shop next to this building. There you can buy all the basics: food, clothes, and weapons. Everything is cheap, but the quality is horrendous.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you say that as a guild worker?¡± Adrian asked her. ¡°They don¡¯t pay me enough.¡± She sighed, tired after endless hours of bottomless paperwork. Adrian left the counter, except that he turned again and talked to the female officer. ¡°Last question, I promised.¡± She gazed at Adrian with the might of a thousand banshees but finally agreed with her eyes. ¡°What do you do with the mantis¡¯ arms?¡± ¡°The guild uses them as grinding stones and some parts of the keratin as light armor.¡± The officer replied. ¡°Now, go away.¡± And so, Adrian did. He didn¡¯t want to wreck the woman¡¯s day even more; she did seem stressed. Adrian walked out of the guild, he could have grabbed another quest but decided against it. ¡®Better to catch them fresh¡¯, he thought. It was obvious which store was the one that the guild sponsored, it had a square wooden sign hanging in front of the door with the logo of the guild. The sign wasn¡¯t as large as the guild¡¯s signboard, but it did its job. Adrian entered the store. The first he noticed was the smell, it was like a men¡¯s bathroom at a gas station on a very hot summer day. Adrian wasn¡¯t alone although it was 7 p.m. There was a girl, probably a teenager at Earth, that wore a light leather armor over a dirty brown linen shirt. She only was there a moment as she bought survival rations and a few small bolts. Once she went to the exit, Adrian came to the store counter. ¡°What rations do you sell?¡± Adrian asked at the wide and hairy clerk. If he was shorter, Adrian could have mistaken him for a dwarf. ¡°Dry bread and jerky.¡± The clerk told Adrian. ¡°Sometimes cheese. Not today.¡± He told in a very caveman sounding wording. ¡°How much is it a full day ration?¡± Adrian asked about the price. ¡°Five copper a two-day meal.¡± The employee told. ¡°Better to sell them in a pack. Not the first time someone dies of hunger by being greedy.¡± ¡°How much a pair of shoes?¡± Adrian said while looking at his feet. ¡°Sandals one, proper footwear five.¡± The man at the counter said while making the numbers with his hand. ¡°Nice.¡± Adrian commented. ¡°How much for a cloth cloak?¡± ¡°Three copper each.¡± The clerk responded. ¡°What will you have?¡± ¡°One moment.¡± Adrian said. ¡°I am doing the math.¡± ¡®Everyone needs to eat, so I should spend 15 copper in food. That will make a total of six days of food for a person, or one just for us. Next the shoes, sandals, nothing fancy. That leaves me with nine copper remaining, enough for three cloaks so we can four to the town.¡¯ Adrian quickly thought thanks to his unconscious change of time perception, making his train of thought just half a second. ¡°Three ration packs, one pair of sandals, and three cloaks.¡± Adrian said in the next instant. ¡°Marching.¡± The clerk told Adrian. He came briefly after walking in the back shop and left the items at the counter. ¡°Could I get a bag for the food?¡± Adrian asked the employee and he raised one finger. Adrian sighed. ¡°Remove one of the cloaks.¡± The clerk did so and put the rations in one enormous sac. ¡°Pay.¡± ¡°Yes, yes.¡± Adrian said and put the five big copper coins at the counter. Adrian then wore the sandals, grabbed the food sac, and put the pair of cloaks at his shoulders. ¡°Change.¡± The clerk passed him two small copper coins and a pouch. ¡°And this?¡± Adrian asked when he saw the small bag. ¡°Purse.¡± The clerk said. ¡°On the house.¡± Adrian stored the coins on the purse and then put it inside his trousers¡¯ pockets, holding back his thoughts of ¡®Yeah, you gifted me a small bag, but you charged me for a normal one¡¯. Adrian then left the guild shop and later Czecheri. He activated the Elthary Rule to make his time fly once he crossed the main gate. 14. Class Adrian¡¯s first impression of [A-celeratioed] was ¡®what a shitty name¡¯, the second one was ¡®only a 15% growth increase?¡¯, and now his impression was ¡®I love time perception¡¯. Adrian not only became an acquaintance with the [Title] but actively went on date with it. Ignoring the strange analogies, Adrian enjoyed changing his time perception. Not only to swift the wait but also as a form of entertainment combined with a new change of view. Even then, Adrian only used the time perception change at mundane events, he wanted to use it at combat in the near future. Adrian stopped his train of thought when he saw a stray mantis. ¡°Come here you little bastard!¡± Adrian cried as he rushed to the monster in order to level up. He forgot that being detected by the enemy would nullify his [Assassinate] skill. Adrian dropped carefully, but quickly, the rations and the cloaks. Adrian unsheathed the dagger, putting them in front of him while pointing them towards the critter¡¯s neck. The [Archimantis Homicida] also rose his scythes, reaching for Adrian¡¯s weak points. ¡®It is time¡¯ Adrian thought as he decided to change his time perception to the one when he was summoned at Mundompio.
Time perception set to Cygna Law. Now time is measured in gooseplanks lifetimes instead of seconds.
The mantis and Adrian¡¯s moves became suddenly slower. Even if Adrian moved slower, he was thinking at the same speed. The time perception combined with the [Battle Timing] skill made a great synergy that induced a slow motion by a factor of two, while Adrian¡¯s body was moving almost at normal speed. Adrian didn¡¯t even try to block the mantis¡¯ attack, he just feinted his dagger between the monster¡¯s arms, sneaking his weapons like a serpent. The daggers were addressed to the neck, but Adrian moved one in front of his enemy¡¯s eyes to block his vision. Adrian attempted to cut the neck, but the monster¡¯s keratin armor was sturdier than other [Archimantis Homicida] he had killed. Adrian now was grateful that he decided to block the monster¡¯s vision, and then hacked its eyes. The creature shook in pain at the loss of its eye, but it wasn¡¯t over. Without any delay, Adrian sliced the other eye with one dagger and used [Fast Stab] with the other dagger, right to its heart. An instant later the mantis was lying on the ground with a small cavity in its torso.
Level 5 [Archimantis Homicida] has been slayed Participation Rate: 100% You have earned 300 experience Level Up! One [Status Point] rewarded
¡°Yes! Finally!¡± Adrian cried on top of the deceased monster. ¡°Jesus-fucking-Christ why the fuck I was left with one experience point.¡± Adrian¡¯s celebration was interrupted by a message from the Arcane Record.
Congratulations! You have reached the first milestone that is level 5. You can now select a compatible class from the Class Selection Interface!
¡°Oh yeah, baby!¡± Adrian rose his bloodied daggers up to the sky, quintuplicating his celebration spirit. Then the selection was in front of his eyes.
Class Selection Interface
Scout If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Requirements: Be the scout of a party or have bow skills Effects: 100% Growth rate to [Destretza] Levels: 0/5 Rogue Requirements: Have dagger skills or have stealth skills Effects: 50% Growth rate to [Fortuna] and [Destretza], and dagger skills effects are boosted by 25% Levels: 0/5 Shadow Dagger [Rare] Requirements: Insta-kill an enemy from the shadows with a dagger Effects: Unlock the [Shadow] series and dagger skills effects are boosted by 50% Levels: 0/10 Tarot Confidant [Rare] Requirements: Be a member of a party that has a [Tarot] skill or title. Effects: Unlock your [Tarot] card, this one will be greatly boosted. Levels: 0/10 Velocitas [Rare] Requirements: [Celeratio] is Maxxed Effects: Movement Speed increased by 200%, own kinetic damage is nullified, greater momentum applied to attacks. Levels: 0/15 Time Weaver [Rare] Requirements: [Celeratio] is Maxxed Effects: Total control over own time perception, [Celeratio] Growth rate increased by 100%, unlocks [Time] magic. Levels: 0/15
¡°Oh ho ho ho. This is so cool.¡± Adrian told himself as he read the class selection interface. ¡°Scout sure has a powerful effect for being a standard class. Rogue, it¡¯s the same but has skill boosts. Will it boost [Assassinate]- wait that would be almost quadruple damage while being hidden. Jeez.¡± Adrian talked like Dale while thinking of the opportunities of having skill boosts, even if he wasn¡¯t going to pick that class when there were better. ¡°Just because I Maxxed [Celeratio], Shadow Dagger is infinitely better as I don¡¯t need [Destretza] or [Fortuna]. I am curious about the [Shadow] series, could it like the [Tarot] series? And that 50% increase is really juicy.¡± Adrian stopped to read the three last classes. ¡°Tarot Confidant is useless. I can obtain a [Tarot] card only by being next to Axel or Dale. And there¡¯s only one buff. Velocitas and Time Weaver are another matter, though.¡± Adrian started to drool while reading carefully the effects of the skills. ¡°Being The Flash and literally receive no damage by collisions or fucking time magic. I mean, there¡¯s no option. I feel like my free will has been removed.¡± Adrian didn¡¯t notice the fact he could have total control over time perception or even the extremely juicy 100% growth rate increase. Before instantly picking Time Weaver, Adrian halted and mindfully examined the last phrase of every class. ¡°What does levels out of something mean? Is it the level cap? ¡®Cause it looks like.¡± Adrian meditated about the whole message. ¡°Now that I fix on the requirements, I have to base options just for having Maxxed [Celeratio], while the other classes require certain triggers to be fulfilled. Hmm¡­¡± Adrian reflected about this fact. ¡°What does happen if you have reached level 5 but didn¡¯t do any objective? Are you classless? You can¡¯t level up until you meet a certain goal? Do you have a default class? So many questions¡­ neither of them answered.¡± Adrian sighed. ¡°Well, here goes nothing.¡± And selected Time Weaver as his class.
Congratulations! You have now become a Time Weaver. Your overall [Celeratio] is now 265%. You have total control over your own time perception. Similar effects detected. Time Weaver¡¯s time perception passive and [A-celeratioed] will be combined. You have unlocked the skill [Time Magic], this is a [Grimoire] skill and can contain multiples types of skills within it. A Unique Title has been obtained. [Ultimum Celeritas]: He who has dominated his own perception of time through the fusion of a Rare Class and Title. Now [Celeratio] will have a growth rate increase of 50% and you will always know the time relative to you. There are no limits to oneself own flow of time. You can affect the way of your own time. [Celeratio] growth is now set to 300%. Note: Try not to kill yourself or reset the universe when accelerating your own time. [Time Magic]: Anciently known as the Arts of the Chronomancers, time magic is about bending the flux of the dimension of time. You have unlocked two skills. [Time Dilatation I]: You can give a 10% of your own [Celeratio] to your allies. Consume a great amount of mental power to apply this effect for 10 minutes in a five-meter radius. [Time Lapse]: Consume a specific amount of mental power to skip the time of an enemy by an equivalent time. Warning! Similar or synergistic [Skills] have been detected. Do you wish to fuse [Battle Timing] and [Time Lapse]?
After reading that huge Record message, Adrian could only say one thing. ¡°Yes!¡± And so, the fusion started. 15. Growing
[Skill Fusion] has finished. Congratulations! For succeeding in the rare and difficult process that is [Skill Fusion] you have discovered a new type of skill: [Growing]. [Growing] skills will evolve along with the user, upgrading each time a milestone is reached. [Court of the Broken King]: O, lord of time, you have done the impossible, reaching new heights that the ancient chronomancers couldn¡¯t. [Celeratio] now reduces any cooldown the user might have and shortens the duration of crowd control effects. Consume a specific amount of mental power and stamina to walk between the time that has been broken. Inside the broken time, you are the only one who can move, this is absolute. Any damage within the shattered dimension will be nullified. You cannot affect any world, but the other worlds cannot impact you. Note: This [Skill] cannot be used until 50 [Celeratio] is reached.
Adrian now felt an immense touch of power within himself, time had now lost its importance. The effect vanished in an instant, his omnipotence gone. Adrian forgot about the feeling quickly and decided to open his [Status] and assign his points, not even trying to curse the Record for not letting him use his new [Skill]. Except that he kicked the nearest tree and started shouting things like ¡®Then why the fuck you give the skill!¡¯ or ¡®Are you fucking kidding me?¡¯ for two minutes straight.
Status Name: Adrian Dewitt Race: Homo Sapiens Hestia Affiliation: Copper Guild Adventurer Class: Time Weaver Level: 5/20 Experience: 299/1400
[Fisica] 1
[Constituta] 1
[Destretza] 1
[Procesa] 1
[Experenta] 1
[Atravesta] 1
[Voluntat] 1
[Celeratio] 17.95
[Fortuna] 1
[Titles] [Skills]
[Min-maxer] [Court of the Broken King]
[Ultimum Celeritas] [Fast Stab]
[Assassinate]
[Time Magic]
Before returning with the party, Adrian decided to try his new [Ultimum Celeritas] at its maximum power. Suddenly all stopped. ¡®What the fuck¡¯ Adrian thought as he couldn¡¯t feel his body. Time no more flowed, the river of events stopped, not even an instant was happening. A single frame of the universe was before Adrian as he couldn¡¯t move his eyes. He deactivated the increased time perception.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Not cool¡­¡± Adrian told himself, breathing hard as he never had breathed for years. He now felt the absolute power that was time. ¡°Okay, second round!¡± Adrian recovered fast and tried to use [Ultimum Celeritas] one again. This time Adrian only slowed significantly the pace of time. Even though he couldn¡¯t move, there wasn¡¯t the ominous feeling like when the time had vanished. The world became blue as light had a difficult time moving through the air. Because Adrian lowered this much his time perception, now he could see a specific frequency of light were only the color blue existed. ¡®Cool¡¯ was his only thought. Adrian suddenly felt exhausted, not physically, but mentally. He hadn¡¯t used any mental power while activating [Ultimum Celeritas], but he felt tired, nevertheless. Between fighting monsters, all day long and still haven¡¯t eaten anything; his body accumulated a lot of stress. ¡°I should stop playing and going back with the boys.¡± Adrian said as he grabbed the sack of food and the pair of cloaks. ¡°I hope they managed to make a campfire.¡± Adrian sighed as he started walking upstream. Adrian thought he was moving slowly just because his brain did move slower at the moment, but in reality, he was going a lot faster than walking speed as he now had almost eighteen points on [Celeratio]. The increase seemed minimal, but it was stacking up. One thing that Adrian did like about his new class is that he no longer had an awful sounding [Title] like [A-celeratioed]. Instead, he has now one a cool, badass one. Sure, it was more powerful, but he liked more the name change. While following the river, Adrian meditated about his time perception, ¡®If I can literally change my time perception to whatever value I want, then how is [Procesa] useful at all?¡¯ Adrian was right, [Procesa] measured the mental processes that one could make, so if he did modify his perception to uncanny levels, [Procesa] user couldn¡¯t even phantom his train of thought. That notion was a really juicy one, and also Adrian now felt sorry for Aby and Kayle. Adrian made it to the encampment, the party managed to make a campfire. But he thought that appearing normally would be boring. Taking advantage that the sun was almost set at Mundompio (or whatever the star¡¯s name was), Adrian sneaked from behind. He now regretted not grabbing any mantises¡¯ legs, because he now came with a great idea. Adrian moved slowly, even for his standards, staying occult in the shadows. Without even breathing, Adrian approached Aby from behind and shrieked at her left ear. ¡°Arghhh.¡± She jumped up from the ground to later fall on her bum. ¡°Get them out from my sight!¡± Aby started hitting the air like there were wasps bullying her. Everyone now looked at Aby who was rolling like a tumbleweed and Adrian who had a huge grin on his face. ¡°Should we tell her?¡± Kayle whispered to her brother. ¡°Nah, let her bee.¡± Dale told her. ¡°Your jokes suck.¡± The sibling commented while watching her party member hit invisible enemies. ¡°A good joke worms a person¡¯s heart.¡± Dale continued with his game. ¡°I hate you.¡± Kayle answered honestly. ¡°She really has a strong entomophobia.¡± Adrian joined them. ¡°I mean,¡± he pointed at Aby ¡°that shit ain¡¯t normal.¡± ¡°Aby! There are no insects nearby!¡± Mike was the one who finally talked to her. Aby stopped wiggling and looked at her surroundings. Her face became a hot red but later fixated her eyes onto Adrian. She stood up without saying anything and picked up her staff. Then proceeded to obliterate Adrian¡¯s crotch with a low blow. ¡°I- didn¡¯t see- that coming¡­¡± Adrian fell to the ground, moaning in pain. ¡°Thanks for the food.¡± Aby told him coldly as she started searching the bag and grabbing a loaf of bread and dried meat. ¡°Oh! Food!¡± Kayle jumped with excitement while ignoring Adrian¡¯s body squirming in agony. 16. Camping Everyone was sat on the ground, beside the campfire, when Adrian decided to stop crawling on the ground. The party saw the scarce quantity of food, but they sensibly took only the rations that each one got. ¡°This jerky tastes like shit.¡± Dale commented while gnawing the piece of dried meat. ¡°I think it¡¯s actually pretty good.¡± Adrian said after getting himself comfortable and grabbing his serving. ¡°What the hell do you eat so this can be tasty?¡± Dale was surprised by that statement. ¡°Food. Duh¡± Adrian joked. ¡°I always liked dried meat. At Earth I had different kinds of inlay hanging out on the walls of the kitchen.¡± ¡°A meat lover?¡± Mike entered the conversation after taking a bite at the bread without yeast. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say so¡± Adrian responded and took a bite of the bread as well. ¡°Argh, this bread is truly the shit food.¡± ¡°Still better than moldy bread.¡± Axel said as he put the whole loaf of bread in his mouth. Adrian got up to drink from the river and remove the taste of the bread from his taste buds. ¡°Oh, yeah.¡± Adrian commented, took a sip, and continued. ¡°I got a class.¡± ¡°You got what?¡± Dale stood so fast that it looked like he was the one who Maxxed [Celeratio]. ¡°A class.¡± Adrian reiterated as he drunk more water. ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± Dale said. ¡°I understood that. What I am asking and how and which?¡± ¡°Our theory was true.¡± Adrian told him. ¡°You can select a class from a menu once you reach level five.¡± ¡°Are you telling me that I can have a class in just one level up?¡± Dale asked excitedly. Adrian nodded and kept drinking. He was pretty thirsty after completing the quest and going back and forth from Czecheri. That wouldn¡¯t happen if he remembered to drink constantly, but today was a strange day for all of them. ¡°So, which?¡± Dale interrogated Adrian. ¡°Which?¡± Adrian said without thinking and later looked at Dale¡¯s eyes. ¡°Oh, right. The class. There were some basic options like Scout and Rogue, typical RPG stuff. I also saw a class that gifted a [Tarot] card, but it seemed useless to me.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t ask the options; I asked the results.¡± Dale told impatiently. ¡°I was getting there.¡± Adrian thought to himself ¡®kids these days¡¯, even if he wasn¡¯t in his thirties yet. ¡°My class is Time Weaver.¡± ¡°Wait¡­¡± Dale exclaimed. ¡°Am I understanding right what the class does?¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°If you are thinking that I can do time magic, then you are right. I can do time magic.¡± Adrian dropped the bomb as if it were nothing. ¡°A-are you saying that you can stop time?¡± Dale questioned Adrian while his voice was trembling. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that¡± Adrian denied. ¡°I said that I can do [Time Magic], look.¡± Adrian casted [Time Dilatation I] and everyone suddenly felt their bodies lighter but also the world slower. Even though it was a tiny boost, the other Maxxers were puzzled as their flow of time was altered. ¡°What did you do?¡± Mike asked, almost biting his tongue because he wasn¡¯t accustomed to the speed. ¡°I gave you all a tenth of my [Celeratio]¡± Adrian explained. ¡°And now my brain is hurting. Oh, fuck. To much m-mental power consumed.¡± Adrian felt as his mind melted. ¡°I think I am have an stroke.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if you are having a stroke,¡± Aby talked for the first time. ¡°but you aren¡¯t talking coherently.¡± ¡°Yasss.¡± Adrian said. ¡°Exactly my point.¡± Aby added with a huge grin. She was enjoying the moment. Before anyone could react, Adrian submerged his head into the river. ¡°What the fuck is he doing?¡± Exclaimed Axel and rushed to help him. Adrian took his head out an instant later. ¡°Ah, much better.¡± Adrian looked at the rest of the group. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Why did you do that?¡± Aby asked, clearly not happy. ¡°My brain was literally melting.¡± Adrian explained her. ¡°Imagine if I tested the [Skill] in the middle of a fight.¡± ¡°How much does this lasts?¡± Kayle asked Adrian. ¡°Ten minutes¡± He answered. ¡°But I think I can extend the length. It says it¡¯s level one.¡± ¡°Wait, [Skills] can level up?¡± Mike asked with curiosity. ¡°I suppose.¡± Adrian answered honestly. ¡°But I do have something similar.¡± ¡°You have more?¡± Mike asked once again. ¡°Nah, I only have one [Time Magic].¡± Adrian told him even if that was a half-truth. ¡°Only one spell? Boring~¡± Dale said. ¡°I still have another [Skill].¡± Adrian added. ¡°Well, what it does?¡± Dale really wanted more information about Adrian¡¯s time skills. ¡°Well,¡± Adrian talked like him. ¡°I can¡¯t use it.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah your nor- Wait, you can¡¯t use it? What do you mean?¡± Dale was really confused right now. ¡°It has a [Celeratio] requirement.¡± Adrian explained. ¡°So¡­ what does the skill?¡± Dale continued asking. ¡°It¡¯s basically a Get Out of Jail card.¡± Adrian told him. ¡°But it looks really taxing to use according to the description.¡± Adrian opted to not tell them the totality of [Court of the Broken King], basically because he didn¡¯t even understand how the [Skill] works or whatever it means. ¡°What about of the skill that levels?¡± Mike said. ¡°You said you had something similar.¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s the same skill I talked about, in fact.¡± Adrian told Mike. But before he took another sip from the river, because so much talk made him thirsty. ¡°It¡¯s a [Growing] skill. I don¡¯t understand how it works exactly but it says it will evolve with the user.¡± ¡°That sound really dope.¡± Axel commented. ¡°Yes, looks like it.¡± Adrian told him while checking the [Court of the Broken King] skill description. ¡°But we can leave that for once I actually have fifty [Celeratio].¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay for me.¡± Mike told. ¡°But I have a doubt. Where are we sleeping?¡± Adrian patted the ground. ¡°Here.¡± ¡°Without blanks?¡± Now Kayle was the one who talked. ¡°We do have the two cloaks and the bag.¡± Axel added. ¡°Yeah, we could leave them to the children.¡± Aby told Axel and Adrian. ¡°I am not a child!¡± Kayle, Dale and Mike protested simultaneously. Aby, Axel and Adrian started laughing at that sight. In the end it was decided that Kayle and Dale would have the cloaks and Mike the food sack. The rest just decided to sleep at the ground. Before going to sleep, they set a watch schedule. Aby volunteered to be the first one as she didn¡¯t do as much as Adrian or Axel. ¡°So, the turns are Aby, Axel and me. Objections?¡± Adrian asked but no voice was heard coming from the party. ¡°Right. If you excuse, I am going to sleep.¡± That moment, Adrian fell asleep in a matter of milliseconds. When he woke up, he didn¡¯t even remember going to sleep. 伪. Stranded ¡°Hi, student,¡± Mr. Collins told the group of students. ¡°Welcome to the first year of Anthropology. Ben did not have any expectations of the first class if one considered so. Ben already assisted the faculty welcome speech, but now was the turn of every subject he was enrolled in. Ben did like anthropology, or he wouldn¡¯t be here otherwise, it just was that introductory classes felt awkward and slow, it didn¡¯t matter if this was high school or college. ¡°As you know,¡± Mr. Collins started speaking to the class while looking at them from his desk. ¡°Our race is classified as Homo Sapiens Hestia. We weren¡¯t always that way, and the change wasn¡¯t a long time ago either. It is an interesting story about how we changed our taxonomy.¡± Mr. Collins and the whole class got themselves comfortable as this looked like it would be a long story. ¡°In the last century alone, humanity has faced a lot of natural disasters: typhoons, earthquakes, two pandemics, one catastrophic meteor rain, and the almost collapse of the ozone layer. I could go on, of course. But what matters is that things didn¡¯t stop there. We also confronted socio-political human problems. It wasn¡¯t a good century, but humans came stronger once the storm settled. We have progressed scientifically and technologically, but we didn¡¯t stop there. As a result of so many hardships, humans have suffered a spontaneous evolution, similar to a metamorphosis of a tadpole to a frog. As you know, evolution is a long and constant process, it is not something that can happen in a single generation. Which it did. Jean-Pierre Borges, an anthropologist-biologist, was the first one to discover this sudden change.¡± Mr. Collins stopped to drink a bit of water and continued. ¡°Does anyone know what this change was?¡± A blonde girl with an ¡®I-want-to-speak-with-the-manager¡¯ haircut raised her hand. ¡°Our extended lifetime?¡± ¡°That was more of a side-effect.¡± Mr. Collins explained. ¡°Even then, people dying less wouldn¡¯t be the fastest nor easiest way to find this. What Mr. Borges found is that babies started to be born with more healthy bodies, but also frailer bodies. This may sound paradoxical, but it has some sense. This new type of humans was named Homo Sapiens Hestia by Mr. Borges when he saw that no-more babies were born with deformities, but they had weaker lungs. Not only that, but the new humans were more resistant to heat and sunburns, a consequence of the new ozone layer. Because the new humans were more resilient to UV rays, the formation of carcinogenic cells by this source became nigh-impossible. But the weaker lungs meant that children had to stay more time at home than previous generations. Therefore Jean-Pierre Borges called the new generation Homo Sapiens Hestia, in honor of the Greek goddess of hearth and home, as the new humans had similar qualities. There was a lot of discussion back in the day about the name. Some people thought that the name should be Homo Sapiens Vesta as taxonomy is written in Latin and Vesta was the Roman counterpart of Hestia.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. In the end, it turned out that Anthropology was the best class of the day, or so Ben thought. Because he had a lot of subjects today and started late, so Ben finished at sunset. ¡®I don¡¯t want to go home yet.¡¯ People now tend to stay at home, but Ben tried to be outside every time he could. Before going out of the university main building, Ben put on his mask. Ben did not need at the classes because they had air purifiers and extractors every room and corridor. He wished that someday he could breathe outside without the need for any machine or mask. His destiny when he got out of the university¡¯s perimeter was the park that was nearby. Ben sat at the bench, his mask still on. He watched a man who was sitting on the bench in front of him. The man looked tired, his glasses were foggy, and he didn¡¯t seem to matter. ¡®I am tired too, buddy¡¯ Ben thought with empathy. Ben took a deep breath, but before he could exhale something happened. The man who was in front of him vanished. He did not walk away, but disappeared out of thin air, leaving a puff of white smoke. For an instant, Ben thought that he was some sort of magician or illusionist, but he thought otherwise when he saw another puff of white gas next to a dog which leash was thrown at the ground, no sign of the owner. ¡°What the f¡­¡± Ben stopped himself from finishing the sentence or was forced to stop. The world that he knew started to break apart, white smoke pouring out of the soil, trees, concrete, everything. The world was evaporating. Ben looked at his hands, no sign of smoke. The bench beneath Ben was also gone, and Ben closed his eyes when his butt hit the ground. The next time Ben opened his eyes, Earth disappeared. Instead, unlimited Earths were in front of him, floating in endless space. Ben pondered if he just saw more humans floating in space just like him, but they vanished in an instant, just like all Earths. He was now alone with his own planet. ¡°What the fuck.¡± Ben cried now. He did notice that he heard his voice even though he was in space. The sight reminded him of a really old movie, Interstellar. The scene when the main character was at the tesseract, where time and space seemed to collide and the laws of physics disappeared. Surprises didn¡¯t stop there.
Hi, Ben. You were randomly selected by the Arcane Record to be the representative of the Homo Sapiens Hestia. You will administrate the future of your whole race.
Now Anthropology wasn¡¯t the most interesting thing to happen to Ben today. 17. Morning Darkness. An unlimited world of shadows was presented to him. No boundaries were to be reached, because they never existed. As time moved, so did space. The inverse was also true. As movements were made, time flowed. Even if there was nothing at all, the absence of everything gave rise to the void, the nothingness. ¡°Move.¡± A voice whispered. It felt close, but also distant. Like if it came from another world. Those meanings were lost in the journey. ¡°Move!¡± The voice was closer, but paradoxically further. Reality couldn¡¯t sustain itself anymore. ¡°Move, you lazy bum!¡± Axel cried as he kicked Adrian in the stomach. ¡°I am awake! I am awake!¡± Adrian jumped out of the ground and told Axel. ¡°Yeaaah, you weren¡¯t.¡± Axel explained to him. ¡°I hit you for a minute straight and you kept sleeping.¡± ¡°Why the fuck you hit a person who¡¯s sleeping?¡± Adrian asked but sighed before he could get an answer. ¡°Go to sleep, I will do my turn.¡± Axel lay down on the ground. ¡°Wait¡± Adrian talked to him before Axel went to sleep. ¡°Next time don¡¯t shout. You are going to wake them.¡± Adrian looked at the night sky, it was still dark even though [Ultimum Celeritas] said it was 6:00 a.m. ¡®Why is everyone hitting me? Ouch!¡¯ He thought as he wiped his eyes and then reminded him that he didn¡¯t remove his glasses before going to sleep. ¡®Wait-wait wait a moment. I didn¡¯t remove my glasses when I went to Czecheri, did I? Why no one said anything? Then why the fuck I walked barefoot all that time? I fucking hate my life¡¯. Adrian meditated if he should stay there, without doing nothing. It wasn¡¯t that he was wasting his time, he was on watch duty, but Adrian felt he could do something more. ¡°What if I try how mental power regeneration works?¡± Adrian told to himself then opened his [Status] to see which [Skiils] he had that consumed mental power. ¡°Only [Time Dilatation I] and [Court of the Broken King], huh? So that¡¯s only one then. I really want to have access to that [Skill], damm requirements.¡± Adrian cast [Time Dilatation I] to the group. Not everyone was covered by the radius of effect, but that didn¡¯t matter to Adrian. An idea flew through his mind: ¡®Can they sleep faster with the boost?¡¯. That sounded plausible, but also stupid, so Adrian discarded the idea and continued to do what he wanted to do. Even though last time Adrian cast this spell his head started smelting, right now he felt okay. Maybe it was because he had some rest and could have recovered all his mental power. ¡®[Procesa] must increase mental power because Aby and Kayle cast their auras multiple times. I am already getting distracted, first, let¡¯s start the experiment.¡¯This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. This was Adrian''s train of thought. ¡®I can¡¯t move my body in the stopped time, but I can think normally, so technically, I can recover mental power.¡¯ He didn¡¯t consider recharging stamina because his body would feel the time like everything else, even if his mind was greatly accelerated. Said so, Adrian didn¡¯t want to go to the stopped world yet. It was an unnerving feeling, constantly experiencing the same frame of the universe for a time that didn¡¯t exist. Philosophers could throw themselves at Adrian¡¯s throat just to be able to experience such notion, but he doubted anyone could understand the limitless influx of information that he experimented in no time. ¡°Record, set the Blue World time perception.¡± Adrian told the Record, even if the effect was made by his [Title].
Time perception set to Blue World Template. Now time is measured in 1.49 femtoseconds per second.
Adrian didn¡¯t know were the Arcane Records took that data from, but Adrian couldn¡¯t care less right now. Still sleepy, Adrian waited in the Blue World while his sleepiness vanished. After one hour at the Blue World, or five picoseconds at the real world if Adrian calculated correctly, Adrian felt as his mind wasn¡¯t as tired or heated as before. ¡°Nice, unlimited mental power source.¡± Adrian thought to himself as his body couldn¡¯t even work at this speed. ¡°The catch is that this is boring, oh fuck I am bored.¡± Although Adrian said that, being in the Blue World wasn¡¯t as tedious as it seemed. Because the electricity that went through his nervous system was much slower than light, he couldn¡¯t feel pain nor tickles nor temperature. That meant he was at a comfortable place as he did not feel anything, not even the drums of his ears though there was silence everywhere. People would be freaked at such idea, don¡¯t feel anything and be trapped inside your mind, like a comma. But the fact that he had total control over the phenomena made him feel safe. He deactivated the Blue World after a few minutes and started viciously scratching his body when the sensations returned to his body. Adrian wouldn¡¯t admit, but he spent those extra minutes trying to figure out what a femtosecond was. He didn¡¯t remember anything from high school, and he couldn¡¯t afford to go to college. The last day didn¡¯t help either. Two hours later nothing worth of a highlight happened. There was a stray mantis that was nearby, but Adrian executed it in a fast combo involving [Fast Stab] and [Assassinate]. The mantis was only level two, so it only granted him a hundred experience points like it did the first time. Adrian cleaned his daggers, counted the food that remained, and cleaned his body without getting into the river, all of this to spend his time a bit faster. He obviously activated the Elthary Rule time perception to make everything go faster. He thought of accelerating his time even more, but that seemed counterproductive to his watch job. The first one to wake up was Mike, at exactly 8:13 a.m. ¡°Ahh.¡± Mike yawned, he got up and removed the food sack that he had for a pillow. Adrian was actually surprised that no insect came to eat the food that was outdoors. But then again, the only insects they saw were giant mantises. ¡°Good morning.¡± Adrian told him. ¡°Good morning¡± Mike said back. ¡°Should we wake them up?¡± ¡°Nah, let them rest.¡± Adrian said as he watched the clear blue sky of Mundompio. 18. Meditation Adrian wanted to increase his mastery with time perception, or more exactly, he needed it. He did have total control over the perception of [Ultimum Celeritas], but Adrian couldn¡¯t activate it by reflex. If he could do so, he could have avoided, or at least, partially dodge Aby¡¯s blow last night. Even if that was a mundane situation, Adrian was sure he could use it later. Now that he had lost [Battle Timing], he only had reflexes like normal people, just that they are a little faster. His time perception alteration let him accelerate or decelerate his own flow of time, but Adrian knew that was only to his mind. He did move faster than other people, more than double the speed, but that didn¡¯t matter to the universal constant that was light speed. He should have a trillion levels before he could reach that speed. And nothing said that he would just disintegrate once he reached that speed. Maybe Velocitas passive would nullify that, but Adrian had already chosen the path of the Time Weaver. Following the data from the [Celeratio] when he was level one, he did obtain a 100% speed boost every 10 [Celeratio]. If that was true (which it sounded too good to be it), next level he would have over 20 [Celeratio] and be 200% faster than when he was summoned. Adrian¡¯s hypothesis was based on pure speculation, he had no real way of measuring it other than his gut feeling. His speculation was interrupted by the over the top Dale¡¯s yawn. ¡°Argh!¡± Dale made a weird sound while laying at the ground. ¡°I slept so well.¡± ¡°Jesus, what the hell are you? A velociraptor?¡± Adrian asked him while he was sitting on a rock. ¡°Jesus, apparently.¡± Dale joked as he got up. ¡°I am going to murder you.¡± Adrian said in response with a deadly gaze. ¡°Go on. I can resuscitate.¡± Dale affirmed. ¡°Oh shit, it¡¯s true¡± Adrian remembered Dale¡¯s [Tarot] card effect. ¡°So, you can technically be Jesus.¡± ¡°Just what I said.¡± Dale shrugged his shoulders. The rest of the party woke up a bit later, Axel and Aby being the last ones as they had to watch duty. Everyone had their last food rations without chatting. They cleaned their faces with the river¡¯s water to be totally awake, and then Kayle talked. ¡°Then, who¡¯s going to the city?¡± She asked while swinging happily his staff side to side. ¡°We leave it to luck¡± Everyone looked at Dale when he spoke. ¡°The idea doesn¡¯t seem to please you.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Playing a game that will be rigged from the start? Yeah, I love them¡± Aby told him sarcastically. ¡°Even then, what game are we going to play? Coin toss? With what coin?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good point¡± Dale commented. ¡°Rock, paper, and scissors?¡± ¡°We already said no.¡± Mike said. He was not letting away his opportunity to go to a city from fantasy books. ¡°Axel should stay here with the two that will remain, are you okay with that?¡± Adrian asked to Axel. He nodded in affirmation. ¡°That leaves Aby, Kayle, Dale, and Mike. I don¡¯t want that two rangers stay here, so I suggest the staff users and the ranged attackers have a rock, paper, and scissors match.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Mike did cute eyes while looking at Adrian¡¯s. He just shrugged his shoulders. The result of the matches was Aby and Dale as winners. The second one wasn¡¯t that surprising as literally every part of his build helped him. ¡°The game was rigged from the start.¡± Dale said maliciously. ¡°Yeah, we saw that.¡± Axel said while giving Aby and Dale the cloaks. ¡°So, what are we going to do?¡± Aby asked Adrian once she put on the cloak. ¡°We are going to register you two in the guild,¡± Adrian explained. ¡°It probably won¡¯t be automatic, and we would need to take a starter quest, but we are in no hurry.¡± ¡°Excepting the need for a clean bed and warm food.¡± Kayle said deadpanned. ¡°Yeah, except that.¡± Adrian responded. ¡°Oh, before I forget.¡± Aby interrupted everyone. ¡°I got a [Tarot] card while on my watch.¡± ¡°How did you obtain it?¡± Mike was more interested in the trigger condition than the card¡¯s content. ¡°I was¡­ meditating, I guess?¡± She said doubtfully. ¡°You guess?¡± Dale questioned. ¡°Yes,¡± Aby confirmed her words. ¡°I had my mind in blank while on duty when suddenly a Record message popped up.¡± ¡°What card was?¡± Once again, Mike had more interest in the Tarot than the effects. ¡°[The Hermit¡¯s Meditation]¡± Aby responded and then started to explain. Adrian felt once again the synesthesia, even if it just was the name of the card. ¡°I don¡¯t think it is necessary to recite the Record message, but basically, it¡¯s a basic [Tarot] title like Axel¡¯s and lets me gain mental stats while meditating.¡± ¡°Neat.¡± Adrian added. ¡°Do you know what the [Title] refers to mental stats?¡± ¡°No, I can only guess.¡± Aby told him. ¡°I am sure that [Procesa] and [Experenta] are mental stats, but considering there are three physical stats, I think there should also be three mental ones.¡± ¡°Then which is the last one?¡± Dale asked. ¡°That¡¯s the question.¡± Aby said. ¡°[Atravesta] boosts persuasion and [Voluntat] does the same with mental resistance. Both are ¡®mind-related¡¯, and even if [Voluntat] looks like the right one, [Atravesta] is next to the mental stats.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Adrian started. ¡°Time will tell.¡± ¡°Was that a joke?¡± Dale asked Adrian. ¡°Perhaps,¡± He evaded the question and moved away from the group. ¡°Let¡¯s go! Czecheri awaits us!¡± ¡°What about the ¡®We are in no hurry statement¡¯?¡± Aby asked him. ¡°I can¡¯t hear your complains!¡± Adrian cried to her; he was already fifty meters away. ¡°Yes, yes you can!¡± Aby shouted back at him and then sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s go Dale.¡± The group of Adrian, Dale, and Aby marched towards Czecheri in order to start the last two adventurer¡¯s carrier. Adrian thought that it may be okay to go everybody to the city as none was alarmed by his glasses, but he decided otherwise as having a big group could highlight unnecessarily, yet. 19. Registration Adrian had a lot of questions about how the Record worked, or even how it was incepted. His main doubts were the true effects of the [Stats] and what they meant. Adrian knew that [Celeratio] made him faster, but mainly his body. He thought a bit faster, but that was mostly from the time perception effect. Questions were killing him, so he asked Aby and Dale. ¡°Do you feel anything strange thanks to your stats?¡± Adrian asked straightly. ¡°Something strange you say?¡± Aby stopped walking and rested her weight on her staff. ¡°My [Procesa] makes me think faster, I guess. Everything becomes slower when I meditate. Also, my aura is like a mathematical equation that I must solve to cast it, but it is nothing complicated. It¡¯s like feeling like the world is a problem and everything can be solved with math. Exactly like that blackjack scene from The Hangover. Do you know that movie?¡± ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t ring any bell¡± Adrian told as he listened to the fantastic point of view that Aby had. ¡°As for me, I just see things slower, even light. Nothing fancy like you, but it¡¯s cool. We can talk while we move.¡± Adrian started walking and so did the rest. ¡°You can see light moving?¡± Aby asked Adrian. ¡°Well, technically yes. But no.¡± He responded ambiguously. ¡°I can see that light is moving ¡®slower`, I just watch `faster`, if you catch me.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Aby said, she didn¡¯t catch Adrian¡¯s joke, ¡°What about you, Dale?¡± ¡°Now I feel basic¡± Dale said without context. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything like you too. I only have a cool [Skill]. I don¡¯t see fate as [The Fool¡¯s Wheel of Fortune] suggests. It would be nice, tho.¡± ¡°Maybe your view of the world hasn¡¯t changed.¡± Adrian added. ¡°But you are our trump card.¡± ¡°Even then, I prefer if I don¡¯t trigger the skill.¡± Dale commented. ¡°No one wants it.¡± Aby agreed with him. The trio continued walking for ten minutes until they saw a mantis. Dale wanted to fight, but Adrian whispered him that was useless danger. Because of their previous talk, Dale couldn¡¯t do anything but agree. Adrian rushed to the monster and insta-killed with a combination of [Assassinate] and [Fast Stab] before he was noticed. ¡°Huh?¡± Adrian mumbled. ¡°I only have 99% contribution, why¡¯s that?¡± Adrian found his answer when he saw the devilish grin on Aby¡¯s face. ¡°I activated my accuracy aura.¡± She confessed while laughing. ¡°And that¡¯s how you carry the supports.¡± Dale commented and Adrian sighed. ¡°By the way, how much is left?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡± Adrian responded. ¡°I already should be there walking.¡± ¡°Damm your speed.¡± Dale said jokingly. ¡°Damm your immortality.¡± Adrian followed his game. The conversation died out fast and the small group continued their march in silence. A quarter of an hour was enough to reach Czecheri. In this time period, Adrian realized that he couldn¡¯t change time perception while around his group or he wouldn¡¯t understand anything if they talked to him. That meant one thing: waiting.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Adrian grunted in his mind once they reached Czecheri¡¯s main gate queue. Maybe because it was early in the morning, but thankfully there weren¡¯t a lot of people. Adrian and the rest entered directly once he showed his guild identification. The guards asked Aby and Dale to remove their cloak¡¯s hood, which they had no problem with. ¡°Wow,¡± Dale exclaimed once they entered the city. ¡°Everything looks like shit!¡± He commented with grace. ¡°What did you expect?¡± Adrian asked him. He walked in front of the group, going towards the guild. ¡°It¡¯s a medieval town. Didn¡¯t you pay attention to your history class?¡± ¡°No.¡± He told with ease. ¡°But that¡¯s another matter. Shouldn¡¯t everything look nicer if they got magic?¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Adrian commented as he looked at a man who was sitting at an alley, he showed grave signs of malnutrition. ¡°But we know nothing about this world. It does get better at the plaza.¡± ¡°At least they could make the main entrance less demeaning.¡± Aby said and then got closer to Adrian, just in case. Aby and Dale accelerated their pace a bit after they noticed the aspect of Czecheri. To Adrian, that only meant that they would arrive at the guild faster. ¡°Oh,¡± Aby watched at the lively scene of the plaza. ¡°It did get better.¡± She especially looked at the beautiful stone fountain in the middle of the square. Aby felt like a tourist in some European city. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Adrian told them so they stopped contemplating the place. ¡°The guild building is right in front of us.¡± Thanks to being morning, there were a lot of adventurers looking at the quest board, but the desk queue was empty except two citizens. There was only one desk open at the moment, so they would have to wait a bit. The officer at the desk was the same as yesterday. Adrian could understand why she was so grumpy. ¡°Hello there!¡± Adrian told the female officer once it was his turn. ¡°Oh¡­ it¡¯s you again.¡± Adrian thought she would be more amicable since the day just started, but no, she was still herself. ¡°Yeah, I am me. It¡¯s a chronic illness that involves me being myself. A weird one, eh.¡± Adrian joked and he could clearly see the woman¡¯s soul going out of her body. ¡°I am here to register these two.¡± Adrian pointed at his companions. ¡°Would you like them to take a starter quest?¡± She asked monotonously. ¡°There¡¯s none.¡± She said. ¡°But I don¡¯t care. Here, takes this quest that nobody wants, and I will register both of them.¡± The officer slipped a quest paper to Adrian. Exterminate the [Archimantis Homicida] lair An increase in the population of the mantises has been acknowledged. Clean the lair of the monsters and a guild officer will inspect the place briefly after this paper is delivered back Reward: 1 silver and 50 copper The reward was so good than Adrian thought there was a big catch between those lines. ¡°Okay, what¡¯s the catch.¡± ¡°Straight to the point I see.¡± The officer said. ¡°Do you know how mantises reproduce?¡± Adrian shook his head in negation. ¡°Male mantises need to rape female ones, so they don¡¯t get killed. This means that if the male fails, he will be killed. That was alright to the guild, but recently, male mantises stopped dying as often as they did before.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± Adrian asked after she stopped without any more information. ¡°Well, no.¡± She responded. ¡°Because male mantises stopped dying, there are more mantises and the lair is probably full of old corpses and young mantises. Not a good place to do your delving.¡± ¡°Do you have an estimate of how many mantises are?¡± Adrian asked her once again. ¡°In total? Millions. In that lair? Probably thirty.¡± She responded. ¡°You need to know that there are only newborn mantises in the lair, so all of them will be level one. Think the lair as a mating spot and not a residence. [Archimantis Homicida] are socially awkward, so they prefer to stay in small groups at most once they¡¯re adults.¡± She finished and then looked at Adrian¡¯s eyes. ¡°Are you going to take that quest?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Adrian added. ¡°Can I take an extermination quest and combine them?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine for me.¡± She gave Adrian the lair quest and pointed the quest board. ¡°Next!¡± Adrian and the group went to the quest board and picked up the same quest as Adrian¡¯s first one, the only difference is that the reward increased by 5 copper since the last one. ¡°Are you ready to do some home cleaning?¡± Adrian asked Aby and Dale. ¡°No!¡± Both responded the same, one with repulse and the other one with enthusiasm. 20. Exploiting Before leaving Czecheri, Adrian and the band went to the guild store and bought one emergency ration with the two spare copper they had. The party must finish one of the two quests they had picked up or they would spend the day without any food. As expected, nobody asked about Adrian¡¯s glasses. He still didn¡¯t know why that didn¡¯t attract foreign attention, but he had more important questions to take care of. The trio went back to the camping site, twenty minutes were enough to make all the way back. Adrian gave the rest who stayed the quests¡¯ papers. ¡°So, we are going to exterminate an insects¡¯ nest.¡± Mike commented after reading both quests. ¡°Basically.¡± Adrian responded. ¡°Do, we have any plan?¡± Mike said as he passed the papers to Axel. ¡°That¡¯s what we are going to talk about,¡± Adrian explained while sitting on a nearby rock. ¡°I don¡¯t have a plan yet, but I am worried about you and Kayle. Aby, Dale, and Axel have [Tarot] cards and I have a class and extra [Skills], while you two are the same as you started.¡± Mike¡¯s face became grim. ¡°I know it, but what we can do?¡± ¡°I have an idea, it only applies to you, though,¡± Adrian told Mike. ¡°You need to insta-kill an enemy.¡± ¡°But I already did that.¡± Mike justified. ¡°As a matter of fact, I was the first one to insta-kill an enemy and the first to ever kill one.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know that,¡± Adrian said calmly as Mike¡¯s tone was a bit disturbed. ¡°But you need to do it alone just like I did.¡± ¡°Alone? How I will do that?¡± Mike exclaimed alarmed. ¡°Calm down, boy,¡± Adrian said. ¡°I am telling you to snipe a mantis from a safe distance, not to kamikaze into the lair.¡± ¡°I just need to snipe one?¡± As Mike talked, Adrian nodded. ¡°Come with me, Mike,¡± Adrian said as he stood up. ¡°We are going to find a mantis and you are going to kill it alone.¡± Mike followed Adrian without complaining. ¡°You can try to devise a plan while we are out.¡± Adrian told the group. ¡°Sure,¡± Aby told him. ¡°Just, be careful.¡± Adrian and Mike marched into the woods in order to force the unlocking of a new [Skill], whether it was [Assassinate] or a new one. The duo found a group of two mantises, they could have let them go because it wasn¡¯t their objective, but free experience was free experience. Adrian decapitated one using his two-skill combo and Mike sniped the last one that had Adrian¡¯s focus after killing its partner. Both, Adrian and Mike, got 50% contribution as they killed a mantis each one. Adrian made a note to himself to bring the food sack if he was going to hunt. He was wasting the quest¡¯s rewards this way.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°How much experience you need to level up to five?¡± Adrian asked his partner. ¡°About 400.¡± Mike responded as he retrieved his arrow. ¡°You will level up once we start the lair quest.¡± Adrian comforted him. ¡°I am two thirds away from level six if you wanted to know.¡± After a three-minute and fifty-six-second walk, Adrian and Mike found their prey. It was both useful and a bit creepy to Adrian that he could tell exactly the time relative to him with his new [Ultimum Celeritas]. ¡°What should I do?¡± Mike was nervous even though he had killed alone a mantis only four minutes ago. The feeling of being totally alone in a fight overwhelmed him. ¡°I am no archer,¡± Adrian started. ¡°But focus its weak points: neck, heart, head¡­ I don¡¯t care which one. Just tense your string and have a clear objective. Let it go once you think it¡¯s the right time.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Mike stated simply. ¡°I will walk away in case the Record detects you are at a party,¡± Adrian said. ¡°Worry not, I will still keep an eye on you and rush if things go south. ¡°Thank you.¡± Mike told Adrian, his shaking was appeased and slowly fade away. Mike waited thirty straight seconds without moving, securing his shot. He couldn¡¯t see where Adrian was, as he vanished into the shadows. In reality, Adrian was a hundred meters away, in sprint position, ready to intervene if Mike got nervous again. Without any more delay, Mike let the string go, his arrow flying away, beelining towards the mantis. The monster noticed the vibrations in the air and turned his head, which sentenced it as the arrow penetrated further than it should have. The projectile flew across the insect¡¯s head, sinking in the bark of a tree. The mantis body fell to the ground. After reading the air, Mike cried out. ¡°Yeah! Oh, yeah, baby!¡± He celebrated with ecstasy. ¡°Well done.¡± Adrian congratulated him after appearing from the woods. ¡°Did you get an [Skill]?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Mike confirmed happily and then explained it. ¡°Congratulations! For stealthily executing your foe with a fatal headshot, you have obtained a new skill.¡± Mike breathed and then read the [Skill] description. ¡°[Bullseye]: When aiming for a vital point, your attack damage will triplicate after consuming mild mental power. ¡®Similar to [Assassinate] but better in some ways.¡¯ Adrian thought and later talked to Mike. ¡°That¡¯s a nice [Skill], but we should go back.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Mike told briefly, but he couldn¡¯t hide his joy. Before reuniting with the party, Adrian cut the mantis left arms in order to cross off the list one of the thirty arms needed to fulfill the quest. Adrian talked back to Mike as it seemed they still had sometime before they reached the campfire. ¡°Your [Title] for maxing [Voluntat] didn¡¯t give you any growth boost like us, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Mike responded. ¡°It is called [Unwavering Will] and makes me immune to mental or soul attacks, but no extra growth to [Voluntat].¡± ¡°Mike,¡± Adrian told the archer beside him. ¡°You should assign points towards [Destretza]. No, yet.¡± Adrian added as he saw Mike moving his finger through the air. ¡°Wait you have unassigned points?¡± ¡°Eh¡­ yes.¡± He said in defeat. ¡°I didn¡¯t know if I should assign points to [Voluntat] as I didn¡¯t have the same advantages as all you do. So, I save them after I got a class.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fantastic, Mike!¡± Adrian congratulated him. ¡°There are classes that give stats boosts, so you will have, without a doubt, a class that boosts [Destretza] and [Voluntat]. Save the points, then you will have more total stats than we will do.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Mike replied. ¡°Oh,¡± Adrian added. ¡°And don¡¯t select Tarot Confidant when you reach level five, it may look tasty, but I have a feeling that you will obtain your [Tarot] card when the time is right.¡± And with that, Mike and Adrian came back to the party. å°¾. Hundred The jungle was silent, only the sound of the wind grooming the leaves and vines were the only noise. Except that of the three-meter tall exoskeleton running at full speed, of course. ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck!¡± A man, no older than twenty, was running away from the piloted power armor. He ran with all his might, trying not to step on his tunic. ¡°I am a fucking mage! I was supposed to have the late game!¡± He cried to himself will running away from the man in the suit. You are probably wondering how he got himself in this situation. Everything started just a few hours ago¡­ Chris was sitting in his gaming chair while playing a game that launched a year ago, Grand Via. The game was revolutionizing as it used the features of a Battle Royale game and an RPG system while giving them a clear objective. A hundred players spawned in The Great Spire, the land of the forgotten masters. But before spawning, they had to select a class. They could be either espers, scientists, or mages. These roles represented early, mid and late game respectively. Espers started with powers like telekinesis or teleportation, which gave them a head start, but later fell off. Scientist could loot bases around the map in order to get better armor or weapons, the gear had a decent scaling so they could still be powerful on the late-game, or the mage stage. Mages were useless all game unless they were extremely lucky. They could loot ancient ruins to try to find some decent spell, and if they were lucky, a piece of gear of the forgotten arcanist. There was an unwritten pact between the espers and the scientists that they couldn¡¯t let any mage alive. Call it bad game design or intentional features, but when a mage arrived at the Spire, the spells they could learn and cast could easily eradicate all remaining players, except other mages, of course. Chris was playing Grand Via as his favorite role, Mage. It was funny to him to run all game and latter becoming the apex predator of the game. A more gratifying mouse and cat game. But then a message appeared in front of him.
Welcome, Player! You were selected randomly through the Arcane Records to participate in The Climb!
Chris had no idea what that was, but he suddenly felt everything moving and an instant later he was at a jungle, on top of a stone platform that had a magic circle. Then, another message.
Please select your starting role.
Then, in front of Chris, an interface with three different silhouettes showed up. The blue screen showed him a person with casual clothes, one with a gun and a lab coat, and finally, one that had an orb floating above him and wore a tunic. Chris could recognize this; it was like the selecting screen from Grand Via! His illusion was short-lived.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
The Arcane Records now hold influence over planet Earth, therefore, a lot of Homo Sapiens Sapiens have been moved to The Climb scenario while Earth finishes its record-forming. As a member of Homo Sapiens Sapiens, or colloquially known as Humans, you are now to be reformed by the Arcane Records. BEWARE: This is a mandatory process and you have no choice whatsoever. Those who are in The Climb must fight to the death in order to climb the Spire! Only one of them shall survive and will be recognized as the administrator of his own race! Face the other ninety-nine players and achieve true victory!
¡°Oh, shit,¡± Chris said after reading the overwhelming quantity 7of messages from the Arcane Record. ¡°What I am going to do?¡± Chris asked exasperated. He was enrolled in a death game and his win condition was to survive and kill. Chris instantly knew this was reality and not a dream. The ground felt real, the dirt was porous, tangible. He could tell that the wind was fondling him. He took a deep breath. His only way of survival, or so he thought, was to stay into the charted terrain, namely, the Mage role. He didn¡¯t think it a lot. He didn¡¯t want to kill or to be killed, he wanted to run, as he did in Earth. Now, he was on The Climb. Before exploring his surroundings, he did not leave the circular platform that he assumed it was the spawn point, instead, he tried to open a menu. Grand Via had an inventory, a skill interface, and an HP and Resources UI. Suddenly, a red health bar, a blue mana bar, and a green stamina bar appeared in front of him. ¡®One thing out of the list¡¯ Chris thought. He tried to say a lot of things: Inventory, Character Sheet, Menu, and then¡­ ¡°[Status]!¡± Chris felt as his voiced crisped like it was modified by some foreign entity.
Cristobal Cabanellas HP: 100/100 MP: 50/50 SP: 100% Inventory: - Skills: [Mana Sense 1], [Arcane Bolt 1]
¡°Yes!¡± Chris celebrated the summoning of the [Status]. ¡°Oh, the skills are the same as Grand Via¡­¡± Chris read the description that the Record gave him and were practically identical to Grand Via. Mana Sense let him manipulate mana and have it, aka, it let him be a mage. Arcane Bolt was the basic attacking spell. Not a lot of damage, but fast and mana friendly. He took the first step into this new world and left the stone platform. His strategy was only one: Survive. That¡¯s the story of Cristobal Cabanellas, the man who was summoned to participate in The Climb by the Arcane Record, and now was trying to survive while running away from a Scientist who had luck while looting a base. 21. Planning Mike and Adrian made it back to the campsite. Everyone was sitting at cut logs around the campfire. By the looks of the nearest tree, Axel has made makeshift seats with his double-handed sword. It was a crude job, but the part where the party was sitting was cut clean, no splinters in sight. ¡°Nice place you have here.¡± Adrian commented as he sat on one of the free trunks. ¡°Was your experimentation useful?¡± Aby asked at Adrian. She was tapping at her staff, which was laying on her thighs. ¡°Yeah!¡± Mike responded to her once he sat. ¡°I got a new skill!¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s lovely, isn¡¯t it?¡± Aby told. ¡°What about me?¡± Kayle asked while looking at Adrian. ¡°Will we do an outing like him?¡± She said leaning her head towards Mike. ¡°I believe not,¡± Adrian explained. ¡°Mike could easily kill a mantis, you cannot. I don¡¯t want to offend you.¡± Adrian added that after a brief delay. ¡°No offense taken.¡± Kayle responded. She knew Adrian¡¯s words had sense. Adrian continued talking. ¡°Even then, your weapon is a staff. If you don¡¯t know, the only ways of hurting someone, let alone kill, with a staff is either having a lot of brute force-¡° Adrian took a not subtle at all sight at Axel. ¡°-or have mastery with the weapon. And to be honest, you have neither of those.¡± ¡°Then when I will obtain new [Skill]?¡± She asked concerned. ¡°What are you even asking?¡± Adrian said with a smile. ¡°That¡¯s today.¡± The party was reunited around the unlit bonfire, sat in uneven and raw logs. Everyone had read at least once the description from the quest and Aby used the time when Adrian and Mike left to explain the details that the guild officer told them. It was time to organize the attack to the lair. ¡°So,¡± Adrian started. ¡°Did you plan something while we were out?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Aby responded. ¡°According to the locating that the officer gave us the lair isn¡¯t far.¡° Adrian then remembered that he didn¡¯t ask for directions when he picked up the quest. Thankfully, Aby asked the female officer while he was looking at the quest board. ¡°The first step of the plan is to execute all the mantises that roam around the place. The idea is that Dale and Mike snipe them while I and Kayle have the auras active. Neither you nor Axel should intervene so those two can have a class faster.¡± Adrian nodded after hearing Aby¡¯s explanation. She clearly gave it some thinking. ¡°What about after that?¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°It will depend on Mike and Dale¡¯s classes,¡± Aby responded with a less defined plan. ¡°We have some contingencies prepared, though. Adrian, you shall enter the lair once external monsters are taking care of. Nothing fancy, just scouting, count the numbers, don¡¯t get killed. If there are more insects than we had estimated, we will run without thinking twice.¡± Adrian looked at the eyes of Aby. She had a spark of intellect, of seriousness. It seemed his fear to insects had disappeared, at least for this moment. ¡°I think that¡¯s okay. But,¡± Adrian came with a but. ¡°Have you thought why the decrease in male mantises¡¯ deaths is happening?¡± Adrian''s doubt was justified, and the siblings nodded to his question. Kayle was the one who talked. ¡°We think there¡¯s a male leader that has appeared among the lair.¡± ¡°Are you thinking what am I thinking?¡± Adrian asked her. ¡°A boss.¡± She responded with seriousness and Adrian nodded. ¡°Wait, I¡¯m lost.¡± Axel said after hearing her. It looked like this was argued only between the siblings. ¡°A boss.¡± Dale reiterated his sister¡¯s words. ¡°A stronger enemy, normally with different patterns and design.¡± ¡°A bigger guy?¡± Axel asked. Dale sighed. ¡°Yes, a bigger guy with bigger hits.¡± ¡°Hey, technically he isn''t wrong,¡± Adrian added. ¡°And not everyone has played videogames.¡± ¡°Should we go over what we got?¡± Mike suggested to the group. ¡°Right,¡± Adrian said. ¡°We got three auras if we count my spell, three [Tarot] cards with one of them being useless in combat, and three people that can insta-kill a mantis. Huh, that¡¯s a lot of threes.¡± ¡°Oh fuck,¡± Dale said as he put his hands on his head. ¡°Yo, we got a new [Tarot] card and we didn¡¯t revise the adjacency bonus of the cards.¡± Adrian wanted to say something but then closed his mouth as he totally forgot about that. ¡°Spit, what are your new effects?¡± ¡°My chance of fearing the enemies after killing one is increased.¡± Axel said after reading the invisible Record window. ¡°Do you remember my bonus when I am outnumbered? The one that lowers enemy accuracy?¡± Dale asked rhetorically to the party as he did not give time to answer. ¡°Now even if they hit me, I have a chance to avoid the damage.¡± ¡°How does that even work?¡± Aby asked him and he just shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. Huh, that¡¯s neat.¡± Aby said after reading her upgraded [Tarot] card. ¡°I no longer need to sleep; I can just meditate. This does not affect my health, mentally or physically, and also counts toward my [Status Points] gains while meditating.¡± ¡°Ah yes, why level up and kill monsters while you can sleep to became stronger.¡± Adrian joked when he knew Aby¡¯s [Title]. He was jealous, truth be told. Sleeping and getting smarter sound like the best of both worlds but combined in a single activity. ¡°It¡¯s ironic,¡± Mike commented. ¡°That the card that means loneliness becomes stronger when more [Tarot] users are around. I think The Hermit should be one of the only, if not the only, card that is stronger when there are not [Tarot] cards around. ¡°Which could be the others?¡± Dale asked him. ¡°The Moon or The World,¡± Mike responded. ¡°But I am no Tarot expert. I am just talking about my own personal thoughts on the matter.¡± ¡°I think we got derailed out of the conversation.¡± Aby said towards the group. ¡°You are right.¡± Adrian talked. ¡°Are we ready to do this?¡± Everyone was ready and they nodded their heads in affirmation. Adrian then stood up. ¡°Then let¡¯s do this!¡± And then the first experience of dungeon delving on Mundompio by the earthlings would set a start. 22. Lair The party was ready to assault the mantis¡¯ lair. The new [Tarot] buffs were useful, as the battle would become easier. Adrian wasn¡¯t the head of the march this time, that paper was delegated to Aby. After all, she was the only one who got the details of the location. Adrian could understand why the lair was a peril to Czecheri. They walked for an hour and based on the position of the star, the lair was also about an hour to the city. And then, it wasn¡¯t pretty to have a monster breeding post next to a town. ¡°How many?¡± Aby asked Adrian after he came back from giving a tour around the lair¡¯s exterior. ¡°Not many,¡± Adrian responded. ¡°I only saw six across all the perimeter. Two of them were... well¡­ screwing. And I am going to tell you one thing, it was disgusting. I now understand why no one wanted the quest.¡± ¡°Did you stay to watch?¡± Kayle asked with a face full of repulsion. ¡°Hell no.¡± Adrian defended himself. ¡°But I had to do a full circle to come back here and they stood in my field of sight a long time.¡± Even if Adrian wanted to accelerate his time perception, he had to stay focused just in case. The party looked at the mantis¡¯ lair. It was a huge boulder with an opening to the side that worked as a doorway. It was more alike to a mine that was excavated than a hole that any insect could have made. That made Adrian think if maybe this was an abandoned mineshaft. ¡°Come on.¡± Adrian made a hand gesture to the party. ¡°What?¡± Dale asked. ¡°You and Mike need to take that pair of mantises while they are distracted.¡± Adrian explained to them. ¡°Eugh, I don¡¯t wanna,¡± Dale complained. ¡°Ah, the mental image.¡± He added after imagining the scene. At least he kept himself silent, without raising his voice. ¡°Neither do I, believe me,¡± Adrian told. ¡°It¡¯s far worse being up close. Come on, stop being a child.¡± ¡°I am no child.¡± Dale replied. ¡°Then kill the fucking mantis.¡± Adrian told him, almost raising his voice. ¡°I will,¡± Dale told with annoyance. ¡°You come with me, Mike.¡± Mike followed the pair without saying a word. He wanted to kill those mantises before his imagination flew free. The rest stayed there, guard up. The trio got there in a pair of minutes. They went slowly as they didn¡¯t want to attract any attention. ¡°Take your time, secure your shoot.¡± Adrian told the ranged attackers while they looked at the gruesome act of the mantises, one impaled at the ground while the other one was swaying back and forth. ¡°I want to puke.¡± Dale commented. ¡°Concentrate,¡± Adrian told him. He was watching that no mantis was to approach from behind. Then addressed Mike. ¡°What about you? Are you okay?¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Oh, yes,¡± Mike said as he was focused on his shot. ¡°So, this is how [Voluntat] works.¡± He muttered to himself. ¡°Are you two ready?¡± Adrian asked at both. ¡°Yes.¡± They responded simultaneously, without getting their eyes of the mantises which were copulating. ¡°I am going to do a countdown. When I say 1, shoot. Got it?¡± They didn¡¯t respond but Adrian knew they got it. ¡°Here we go. 3, 2, 1!¡± Both arrow and dart flew straight to their objectives. Due to Dale¡¯s [The Fool¡¯s Wheel of Fortune], he didn¡¯t need to aim to nail his target, but Mike had to use his bow and aim like everyone else. Either way, the arrow penetrated the head of the mantis that was on the ground as it was the less mobile target; and the dart went through both eyes of the mantis that was on top. The first one died instantly, the second one moved for a split second but died before it could alert the other mantises. ¡°Good job.¡± Adrian praised the two snipers. ¡°I doubt that neither of you has leveled up, no?¡± ¡°Nah, almost.¡± Dale responded reading the air. ¡°Same,¡± Mike told. ¡°That mantis was a higher level than the rest, so I will level up once I kill another one.¡± ¡°Should we gather the ammo?¡± Dale asked Adrian. ¡°Yes, we should.¡± He replied. ¡°But I am going to do it myself. That way it will be safer.¡± Adrian rushed to the boulder where the lair was. His feet were fast, but the noise was non-existent. With ease, Adrian recollected the dart and the arrow and came back to Mike and Dale. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Adrian told them. ¡°We shall reunite with the rest.¡± Aby, Axel, and Kayle stood there. They didn¡¯t move from the spot. Because the lair was at a clearing, everyone needed to stay behind the trees, or they would be visible. No shrubbery or mud was nearby so they couldn¡¯t do any spec-ops shenanigans. According to Aby, who spoke according to the guild officer, mantis¡¯s sight was movement-based; so the party wouldn¡¯t highlight if they stayed still. ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± Adrian asked once they were back. ¡°We need to take down those four guarding the entrance,¡± Aby told while looking at the monsters in question. ¡°Adrian, you must take silently one of the back lines. If you are not detected, and I must repeat; if you are NOT detected, you will kill the other one in the back.¡± Aby said with all seriousness. ¡°Mike and Dale will take down the ones in the front, Axel will be ready if he needs to taunt any survivors, and Kayle and I will buff.¡± Everyone nodded and the plan started. Adrian went to the back, he got ready to execute the mantis at any moment. The idea was the same as always, a rapid [Fast Stab] and [Assassinate] combo. And that¡¯s what he did. Adrian quickly killed one of the mantises. He was so fast in fact, that the mantis body fell on him. But that didn¡¯t alert him. Instead, he slowly and surely dropped the corpse on the ground, and he avoided all noise that could have been caused otherwise. Without hesitating, Adrian went to the other mantis throat. Another combo was enough to execute it. A second later came two shots from the trees that killed the mantises at the frontline. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Aby asked at Adrian, whose clothes were full of mantis ichor. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m alright.¡± He responded, but he wasn¡¯t looking at her. Adrian looked at the Record message instead.
Congratulations! For merciless and swiftly killing your enemies, you have obtained a [Rare] skill. [Kill Streak]: After killing an enemy, you will receive a 5% damage increase boost that lasts twenty seconds for every enemy you kill. Only the first kill counts towards stamina use. Consumes mild stamina.
Adrian read the message. A nice [Skill] indeed. Even so that his most valuable weapon was his speed. But then, things got better.
Warning! Similar or synergistic [Skills] have been detected. Do you wish to fuse [Kill Streak] and [Fast Stab]?
23. Scouting
Warning! In addition to [Kill Streak] and [Fast Stab], do you wish to also fuse [Assassinate]?
Adrian was going to select yes but backpedaled once he remembered the time he obtained [Court of the Broken King]. ¡®The message, if I remember correctly, was something like [Skill Fusion] being a difficult process. What happens if I fail? Do I lose my [Skills]? I certainly don¡¯t want to lose [Assassinate].¡¯ In the end, Adrian refused the second fusion as he wasn¡¯t sure if the process would go well. Even then, if the process succeeded, he would have lost the incredibly useful ability that was [Assassinate]. In the end, Adrian declined the last fusion but permitted the first one between [Kill Streak] and [Fast Stab].
[Skill Fusion] has finished. Congratulations! For succeeding in the rare and difficult process that is [Skill Fusion] you have successfully fuse two [Rare] skills into a [Unique] one. [Rampage]: He who gets deadlier and faster as the battle rages, drowning in the blood of enemies. After killing an enemy, you will receive a 5% damage increase and a 5% speed boost that lasts twenty seconds for every enemy you kill. Only the first kill counts towards stamina use. Consumes severe stamina. Later kills restore low stamina, mental power, and mana.
There were a lot of things that Adrian enjoyed while reading the [Skill], but one highlighted above all. ¡®Mana? Like in videogames? Can I gain magic if I kill enough of those things?¡¯ Adrian''s last question wasn¡¯t that strange. Even though he had a skill called [Time Magic] he couldn¡¯t exactly consider it magic as it only provoked headaches. Adrian decided to tell the group of this skill after the quest was done. Why? First, the skill didn¡¯t give him a great boost if he only killed one or two mantises. Second, it was funnier this way. Adrian was imagining if he managed to kill ten mantises and suddenly became a go-kart. ¡°So, where are we dropping?¡± Dale¡¯s question woke Adrian from his train of thought. Kayle sighed, loathing his brother¡¯s comment. ¡°Obviously that way.¡± Kayle gazed at the rocky doorway. Adrian was sure he had lost some jokes in translation. Well, not exactly on translation, but in context. These small jokes that were happening every now and then confirmed to Adrian that everybody came from different places. It was somewhat painful to know that there was a joke there but couldn¡¯t be able to understand it.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. As accorded, Adrian entered alone to the lair. His first impression was the stench. O, the humanity! The pestilence was not horrible, but borderline terrifying. Adrian could feel as his psyche was degrading as he marched, his sanity dying away every second. His next thought was: ¡®A debuff?¡¯ Adrian wasn¡¯t the type of person that got affected by strong smells, but right now, he felt as his mind was being defiled. According to the guild officer, [Archimantis Homicida] didn¡¯t possess night vision. But they did have a special vision that let them accumulate light in their eyes to see in dark places or at night. Adrian didn¡¯t know if mantis on Earth also worked that way, but that didn¡¯t matter in the end. The cave (or mine) was filled with moss. It was a light green, near yellow, that emitted light. It was faint, but light, nonetheless. Even then, the moss wasn¡¯t the responsible to illuminate the whole cave, that paper was delegated to a mineral. A strange iridescent crystal, similar to quartz in structure, but closer to aquamarine in color, reflected the light coming out of the moss. It was a beautiful and interesting sight. Little and tenuous beams of light filled the way as if someone was looking at the insides of a cheese grater. Those bluish crystals also looked like they converged the light. The moss did spray brightness across the place, but those crystals condensed the light, making the intensity and brightness higher. Adrian stalked slower than ever. He knew that if he triggered some alarm, the place would be flooded with mantises. He found no monsters before the mine started bifurcating. It wasn''t the typical Y intersection that you could see on novels or movies, but a T one. A new path opened at the right, perpendicular to Adrian. He moved with great care, expecting a mantis trying to ambush him in the corner. Maybe he was paranoid, but he preferred to be cautious than dead. He didn¡¯t even know if Dale¡¯s revive range would cover over here, they didn¡¯t expect the lair to be this big. Adrian took a fast look at the corridor and moved his head back. No mantises on sight. He decided to continue that path. If this was a videogame, this would be the secondary path. Washing away those thoughts, Adrian advanced through the passage. He quickly saw the end of the path and two mantises along with it. There was no extra chamber or chest, but two mantises copulating harder than those who were outside. Without thinking twice, Adrian directed one dagger to each mantis. Both times aiming to the head. Probably because they were making a lot of noise and were facing the wall, they didn¡¯t detect Adrian even after death. Adrian activated his new [Rampage], he felt as his stamina depleted and the went up again. The buff of killing those beasts felt great, his body got stronger. ¡°Oh-oh!¡± Adrian cried alarmed as he almost slipped. Even though Adrian was nearly three times faster than he was on Earth, the sudden 10% speed boost felt weird. [Celeratio] was gradual and felt natural, but [Rampage] speed was as if someone gave him a push on the back. Adrian was worried that his cry could have alerted any enemies, so taking advantage of his temporary speed, he cut the left arms of the [Archimantis Homicida] and swiftly got out of the lair. ¡°How did it go?¡± Axel, who was sitting on the ground, asked Adrian. ¡°I couldn¡¯t explore the whole lair.¡± He explained. ¡°I killed a pair of mantises that were fucking in an alley. Here are the arms.¡± Adrian threw the pair of arms into a pile that was made from the arms of the mantises that were at the exterior of the lair. ¡°Are you going back in?¡± Aby asked him as she opened one of her eyes. She sat with the legs crossed and the arms relaxed, she was clearly using [The Hermit¡¯s Meditation]. ¡°Yeah,¡± Adrian responded then took a look at the time. 2 p.m. showed his [Title]. ¡°Let me take a five-minute break and I¡¯m going in again.¡± ?. Providence They call me the Traveler, he who travels. Actually, the call me in many ways, the vast majority of them are insults, but this name is the most the one that stood the most at The Existence. To me, space is not an obstacle, but a medium. This world made of planets, stars, stellar systems, galaxies, galaxy clusters, universes, multiverses, multiverses superclusters, and then seven Creations that shape The Existence, traveling is not a journey, but an instantaneous fact. Obviously, these facts, or realities, did not matter to the actors that were part of this spectacle of mine. Elsthenia, the world of the worlds'' desire, at the sixth creation. That little rock in the totality of The Existence was the cradle of two Great Ones as myself. Trillions of stories habituated that planet, those which were common or those which exudate power and myth. But those tales were already told, so once again I went to another world, for this, I am The Traveler. Seventh Creation, the most recent one, still without a name as this moment of now no Great One was born to name its natal Creation. This could change anytime soon, to be fair. This was a place of sword and magic mostly, as the humans of the first Creation, Terra Nova, would say. This reality was not born of sheer causality, because the seventh Creation was nothing but a playground of the Great Ones until the moment would be right. But I would not inquire in matters that are yet to be seen if you understand me. Things will be far more interesting once the spark of the cradle ignites in that Creation. ¡°And why would you tell me this?¡± The human that was sat in front of me finally spoke. ¡°I am bored, of course.¡± I mangled my arms as space ripped itself apart and instantly restructured. ¡°Can gods get bored?¡± He asked. The restlessness was present, he was out of his world and now talking to superior beings. That disconcerted a lot of everything. ¡°O, please. Don¡¯t call me a god.¡± I told him. ¡°We, the Great Ones, prefer to be called Divinities. It rolls better of the tongue, you see.¡± ¡°Right¡­¡± He responded. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t answer my question.¡± Oh, I loved this manling. I carefully selected someone who would dare speak me without dying thrice while his soul is ripped apart. But this one. This one even ignores me! Genius! ¡°Think about us as an evolved entity.¡± I explained to him, making his seat of the fabric of the cosmos just a bit more comfortable. ¡°We did not escape mundane matters, to be honest, we worsened them.¡± ¡°And why did you kidnap me? I can¡¯t understand where this is going?¡± Superb. Talking me like an equal. This manling is made of a great solid wood. A lot of time has passed since someone talked to me this way. ¡°If truth were to be told, your lives do not matter to us.¡± I said without even moving lips, just moving the cosmic background closer to that supernova. ¡°You are nothing more than a show at best. Sure, Ybisel would defend you all as the Goddess of Life, but I am not her.¡± I gave him more information. ¡°She even calls herself ¡®goddess¡¯. That¡¯s lowering her status.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t see a problem in the God/Divinity discussion.¡± He spoke blasphemy, but then, he was he. ¡°You would not see it at your level, but it does not matter. You were not even born under the influence of the System. Accompany me.¡± The cosmos fold itself when I gave the order. Time hadn¡¯t passed but we were already in another place. He did not question, because deep beneath him, he knew that was only a small tap of my power. Green hills and a metropolis were in front of us. Thousands of skyscrapers populated the city, showing the great perseverance of humanity. ¡°Welcome at Earth!¡± I said raising my arms in exclamation. ¡°Not Earth Aleph, nor Earth Alpha, nor Earth Zero, plainly Earth.¡± His face contorted as I gave that bit of information. He could not know any Earth as he came from my own Creation, the one that does not exist at this time. ¡°Do you remember about the Creations I talked about?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He responded taciturnly. ¡°Those places made of whole multiverses?¡± ¡°Superclusters of multiverses, but right.¡± I specified. ¡°Earth is a special place, you see. It does not belong to any Creation, but exists alone, separated from the cradles of the Great Ones. We call this place the Nexus.¡± I liked how he could follow the lecture even though he shouldn¡¯t acknowledge this knowledge. ¡°The perimeter surrounding Earth is small. Infinitely small compared to The Existence. We are talking of just one universe in radius.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Isn¡¯t a universe enormous?¡± My newly found student asked. ¡°Maybe for you. But it is just a spec of an atom to all that exists.¡± That was a statement. All arrived at one point that size did not matter anymore. ¡°The Nexus is a fantastical place. It is covered behind a wall of space-time crystals that distort space-time continuum. That difficulted anything that wanted to get through that barrier. Only I and the Lord of Time achieve it. And the reward was incredible!¡± Once again, I show this manling this planet. Its beauty was founded thanks to the similarity to all that has existed as if the Earth was the foundation of everything. ¡°You are now one of the only beings of the Creations that have visited the Earth.¡± I congratulated his impossible achievement. ¡°Why did you take me here?¡± He asked once again. ¡°The truth? Because I wanted. The reality? I wanted someone to look at this world.¡± I walked into the city; one step was enough to be in the middle of an ordinary street. People flowed across the sidewalk. We were not detected, of course. ¡°This world,¡± I told the manling. ¡°is ruled by strict universal laws that are unbreakable. This makes it difficult to the existence of some beings and practically nullifies magic. Even though magic is a core part of a lot of cultures from Earth.¡± ¡°And why this is great?¡± He asked as he followed me. Dodging the insane amount of people at the street. ¡°You cannot really know what means to nullify the powers of a Great One. We are constants. We are incarnations of aspects itself. This world irradiates power, and yet, the inhabitants don¡¯t use it. They did not even try to colonize the space yet!¡± One more step and space wrinkled as we moved into a neighborhood that was filled with lights, games, books, and strangely, maids with cat ears. ¡°Welcome to Akihabara, Tokyo. One of the weirdest places of all The Existence.¡± I told him with a smile on my face. ¡°I love these Japanese people. They went from being fearless warmongers to experts in pornography.¡± I laughed out loud and yet people were walking without looking at us. Damm myself, I love this place. ¡°You are nothing but chaos.¡± He stated as we arrived at a stop, a place called Shibuya Train Station, before the statue of a dog. ¡°You are not the first one to tell me that.¡± I said as I sat on the air at the top of Mount Fuji. ¡°Fun anecdote. I once saved a man that wanted to kill himself. An irrational impulse. But I did it just because I could. I decided to transport this man to another world, and after he killed a ruler that called itself the Demon King, I brought him back to Earth. He now had a will to life, but then I noticed that I created a monster. He created this novel genre called Isekai. It looked inoffensive but it rapidly degenerated into a pornographic weapon under the skin of a good story. I love that I created that monster.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just me or are you obsessed with pornography?¡± He asked for a funny matter. ¡°Perhaps.¡± I told him with a laugh, and we were back to Akihabara. ¡°The Lord of Time did something similar once. To put you in context. We are now in the year 2020, following the Anno Domini. The Lord of Time picked a random human from the year 2030 and moved him back to the start of the millennium, at 2000. If I recall well that human was called John Titor. But then, I am not known for having a good memory. Well. What happened is that the man shouted at the forums, on the internet. Do you know what the internet is?¡± The manling nodded. I loved this spell of translation. He probably had a different terminology in his world, yet he understood me. ¡°This mad lad said that he had a time machine. O, the humanity. You gave them a bit of power and they become delusional.¡± ¡°I am starting to see a pattern here.¡± The manling told, maybe he found out my intentions. ¡°You are going to leave me here.¡± ¡°Right on the nail.¡± I confirmed him. ¡°I want to see how a stranger in a pure world can affect its course. Call me an idealist or crazy, but I like my chaos spicy.¡± ¡°You talked to me like this planet was exotic.¡± The manling started, he looked down on Earth from our lunar watchpoint. ¡°But to be honest, I see no difference between this planet and mine.¡± I laughed as we descended the terrestrial atmosphere. ¡°Maybe that is the point. But there is one little difference between your earth and this one.¡± I said, putting emphasis on ¡®earth¡¯. ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡± The manling was getting used to the change of scenery, pressure, gravity, light, and countless factors that could kill him instantly. ¡°That this planet exists.¡± And then I vanished. I gave him the tools, the information. I showed him the environment and the truth. I wonder what he could do to this place. Could he be the first Great One born out of the Creations? Will he be able to change the world even if his power consists only of inapprehensible knowledge? Ah, so many questions that only can be answered as the show goes on. I rested my mortal carcass at a beach of some world in the seventh Creation. Mundompio was its name. Weird looking elephants ran above the water while fighting a kraken. The mammoth creatures humidified the air, my skin absorbing the saltwater that splashed every time those creatures collided. They wouldn¡¯t even know that the real enemy was beside them. The system that manipulated their actions subconsciously, slowly alternating their thoughts. And even then. They had true power before them and yet ignore it. I sighed; my breath fed the star of the planet. I could feel my skin get that tan while I slide across the stellar plasma. ¡°Wish immortality and you will want to die. Wish power and you will never be able to use it.¡± I remembered wise words as I went back to the sixth Creation. Maybe I was never wise because those words didn¡¯t apply to me. The story, or history for that matter, of these worlds would end; and then I would be already traveling across the Creation to find new tales. Well, for this I am The Traveler. 24. Wound Eight minutes have happened since Adrian sat, instead of five. He didn¡¯t tell his party, of course. He wanted to rest, and it was pretty stupid to say that he had rested three minutes more than he had said beforehand. Knowing the time all times made Adrian a bit paranoid and obsessed. The Time Weaver entered the lair once again after he restored his stamina. [Rampage] had an absurd stamina consumption, and its restoring effect was minimal. At least it restored three types of resources: stamina, mental power, and mana. ¡®Talking about mana¡­¡¯ Adrian spoke to himself in his mind. Talking out loud would be a death sentence. ¡®I don¡¯t have any [Skill] that uses mana. I only have ones that consume mental power, stamina, or both. I wonder when I will have a true spell.¡¯ Adrian left that train of thought as he progressed through the faintly illuminated cave. He quickly arrived at the T intersection where he had left before his intersection. He wanted to slow his time perception to have more margin of error if a mantis attacked him, but he discarded the idea after a brief time. The near-undetectable echo that reverberated across the cave reminded Adrian of his physics class. He couldn¡¯t afford to go to college because of his economic situation, but he wanted to be a telecommunications engineer. When he changed his time perception, he not only made light slower to his mind but also sound. If he remembers one thing right about his physics class is that sound and light were frequencies or worked like it. That meant that if time was extended, the frequency of that second would lower. Lower light frequency meant different colors of the light spectrum, but lower sound frequency meant lower volume. This messy physics lesson meant that if Adrian slowed his perception of time, he wouldn¡¯t hear as well as he did at the normal time. The opposite would be also true. If he accelerated to an absurd point, he wouldn¡¯t be able to listen anymore. ¡®I actually keep a lot of knowledge in this rusty mind, uh.¡¯ While Adrian was thinking mundane matters, he didn¡¯t lower his guard and proceeded his way without a stop. ¡®Or. A big or. I could be a fucking moron and I am misleading myself with the knowledge that isn¡¯t true. That would make more sense, to be honest.¡¯ Adrian started to hate this place. He was moving considerably fast for a quarter of an hour, but he still didn¡¯t find any mantis except those two that were near the entrance. Mantis, according to the guild officer, weren¡¯t nocturnal nor diurnal. That meant that they could be asleep right now, or awake, for that matter. A beam of light moved before him and Adrian¡¯s body swiftly stuck at the cave¡¯s walls subconsciously. He hid at the first spot he found. From his hiding spot, he couldn¡¯t see the place where the light deviated, but that meant neither the enemies could. Adrian breathed slowly and then hold its breath once the steps were getting closer. The pace was tranquil, it did not have any rush. That implied to Adrian that the creature didn¡¯t detect him.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The steps became more frequent, not by the acceleration of one creature, but for the presence of various ones. Adrian wielded his daggers, away from any light beams, ready to go all out the moment he could see one of the mantises. He could hear some clicking, they were communicating. The fact that the sound of the steps continued could mean that it was casual conversation instead of tactical discussion, that if mantises talked without a motive and had intelligence. All that speculation was founded by Adrian¡¯s paranoia more than logic, but they did have sense. The grip on his daggers was becoming constantly stronger, his tension rising. The steps were infinitely closer. Adrian still held his breath, reaching its limits. He was beginning to doubt his strategy. He wasn¡¯t even hiding; he just was sticking close to the stone walls. He could insta-kill the first enemy thanks to [Assassinate] and [Rampage], but he doubted that the later ones would die fast enough if they were higher than level three. Adrian was so distracted thinking that he didn¡¯t even notice that the first mantis passed in front of him.
Congratulations! For avoiding the- [Shadow Mantle]: As one becomes one with-
Adrian dismissed instantly the Record message as he looked the back of the mantis. Listening closely to the interval between steps, he guessed that there were two more mantises apart from the one in front of him. He waited until the second mantis had gifted his back to him. He used his new combo of [Assassinate] and [Rampage] to execute the mantis. Promptly after, he slowed by a factor of two his own time. His mind was pumping a lot of dopamine as he threw his left dagger to the mantis in the front, killing it instantly as he triggered his second [Assassinate]. Then without hesitating he stab in the head the last mantis. His [Rampage] speed and damage bonus were at 15% now. Adrian thought he had killed the last mantis, but he almost shat his pants as he found that there were two more about ten meters behind. Telling himself ¡®fuck it¡¯, he grabbed the dagger he threw as the distance was cut to six meters. Taking advantage of his triplicated movement speed thanks to [Rampage] and [Celeratio], he dashed towards the two enemies. They were half as fast while he was one and a half times faster at this specific time perception. His ichor-tainted daggers pointed at the necks of the mantises. He had no triple damage boost, but 15%. That wouldn¡¯t matter to the mantises if their heads were separated from their bodies. Adrian¡¯s right dagger cut through the monster¡¯s neck, but his left one was slower. The mantis at the left achieved a deep cut on Adrian¡¯s arm before it quickly died. Adrian, now with a twenty-five percent increase to his speed and damage, was bleeding as he got hit for the first time since he arrived at Mundompio. 25. Grimoire
Level 2-5 [Archimantis Homicida] x5 has been slayed Participation Rate: 100% You have earned 700 experience Level Up! One [Status Point] rewarded
¡°Not now.¡± Adrian told the Record and the message vanished. Subconsciously, Adrian assigned his [Status Point] that became three once it was applied to [Celeratio]. Between his augment speed from [Celeratio], now surpassing the triple movement speed milestone, and the 25% increased speed from [Rampage], Adrian moved a total of a factor of 3.75 the normal speed of a human. Even if Adrian himself didn¡¯t notice, he was running at almost sixty kilometers per hour to the lair¡¯s exit. That being approximately the highest speed limit at residential zones or twice the speed of a bicycle. The would-be the fastest man in the Earth ran as he feared death from bleeding out. To be fair, humans at Earth normally don¡¯t experiment near-death scenarios so its first case, like Adrian¡¯s, could be greatly exaggerated. [Rampage]¡¯s boost wore off when Adrian finally saw the light of the tunnel''s exit. He got out as his party watched him disconcerted. ¡°Oh my god, Adrian! You are bleeding!¡± Aby exclaimed as he saw the copious amount of blood flowing out of Adrian¡¯s wound. ¡°Yeah, I can see that.¡± Even though Adrian was scared, he couldn¡¯t just forget his sarcasm. Maybe it was some sort of escapism. ¡°Let¡¯s calm down,¡± Mike stated calmly whilst his body was shaking. ¡°Ehm¡­ Axel! Tear your shirt so we can¡¯t stop the hemorrhage.¡± Mike¡¯s restlessness made him eat some of the words, but the message was carried. Axel ripped off his left sleeve in order to stop the hemorrhage. ¡°We should clean that wound before,¡± Mike commented. ¡°But I doubt we can¡¯t without water.¡± In the end, Axel also tore Adrian¡¯s left sleeve so he could clean hastily the blood on his arm. Then Aby wrapped the wound with Axel¡¯s torn shirt. It looked like the blood stopped coming out. ¡°You should clean that at the river before it gets infected,¡± Mike advised Adrian. ¡°Let me accompany you.¡± ¡°No,¡± Adrian told. ¡°I should go alone. It will be faster.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t tolerate that,¡± Aby responded to Adrian. ¡°Look how much blood you have lost! And that¡¯s not even considering that you hadn¡¯t had a nice meal for two days. You could pass away any moment now!¡± Aby grabbed Adrian¡¯s right hand. ¡°I am going with you. The rest stay here. We¡¯ll be back once I treat him.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Adrian didn¡¯t try to protest.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Then he casted [Time Dilation I] in order to arrive faster at the river. He thought it would be no problem since it consumed mental power and not stamina. He got scolded by Aby about overexerting, but he felt just as bad as before. They got there faster than usual, Adrian thought that he could cast constantly [Time Dilation I] to make the party go faster. He did not have any more [Skills] that consumed mental power, so he found no problem with that idea. Adrian and Aby knelt before the river as she splashed some water into the wound. She removed the makeshift bandage first, of course. Aby cleaned the bandage, washing away all the blood that it had absorbed. After draining the water, she tied up the cloth once again. ¡°Are you alright?¡± She asked Adrian. He took a sip of water before answering. ¡°Yeah, just a bit dizzy. Nothing severe. Especially considering the amount of blood I lost.¡± ¡°I am sorry I can¡¯t provide you any more help.¡± Aby said sincerely. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± He told her with a smile. ¡°None of us can do anything else.¡± ¡°Either way, I am sorry.¡± Aby told him. Adrian didn¡¯t know why she apologized, but he was a bit too tired to continue talking. Instead, he decided to take a look at his [Status]. He couldn¡¯t see the message when he obtained [Shadow Mantle] but he could still look the [Title]¡¯s description.
[Shadow Mantle]: As one becomes one with the shadows, its ability to conceal is facilitated. Allows [Stealth] skill without any cost while being at shadows or dark places; and the user passively merges with the shadows, reducing any possible enemy focus.
The [Title] disconcerted Adrian a bit. He didn¡¯t have any [Skill] about stealth, so how could he use this [Title]? Maybe [Stealth] is some kind of status effect instead of a streamline [Skill]? The phrase also presented him with some doubt, but it was just the wording. He supposed that enemy focus was aggro and its effect was the opposite of a tank role. Adrian also looked at a message that he wasn¡¯t notified.
As you progressed the path of the Time Weaver upon leveling up, you have upgraded a spell of your [Time Magic] grimoire. [Time Dilation I] has been substituted with [Time Dilation II]. [Time Dilatation II]: You can give a 15% of your own [Celeratio] to your allies. Consume a great amount of mental power to apply this effect for 10 minutes in a five-meter radius.
¡®Nice.¡¯ Adrian plainly thought as he read the [Skill] description. ¡®The Record could have saved the text and just wrote the 5% increase to [Celeratio]. Even then, that¡¯s a mild increase. Well, if the grimoire upgrades every level of the fourteen remaining of Time Weaver, then there would be plenty of increases. I would like more [Skills] rather than upgrade existing ones. I mean, isn¡¯t that what [Growing] skills are supposed to do?¡¯ Adrian meditated as he thought of his unusable [Court of the Broken King]. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Aby asked once again, provoking a d¨¦j¨¤ vu feeling to Adrian. ¡°Oh, yes¡­¡± He responded while he was distracted. ¡°I was reading some things after I leveled up my class.¡± ¡°You leveled up in such a short time?¡± Aby asked as Adrian leveled up recently. She did notice that leveling was getting harder with each level. ¡°Yeah, between those two that I killed at the beginning and the five I killed now; I had enough experience.¡± Adrian told her as he tightens up his bandage as he felt it too loose. ¡°You fought five mantises?!¡± Aby cried with fury. ¡°How can you be so reckless?¡± Aby was now mad that Adrian got injured because he fought that of an overwhelming battle alone. ¡°To be fair,¡± Adrian started. ¡°I only counted three mantises and I executed two of them before they could detect me. I didn¡¯t expect a duo to be walking meters behind.¡± Aby didn¡¯t seem to like that response, but she left the matter as she thought it would only get her more enervated. ¡°Let¡¯s go back with the group.¡± She stated without force backing her words. 26. Magic
Status Name: Adrian Dewitt Race: Homo Sapiens Hestia Affiliation: Copper Guild Adventurer Class: Time Weaver Level: 6/20 Experience: 200/2800
[Fisica] 1
[Constituta] 1
[Destretza] 1
[Procesa] 1
[Experenta] 1
[Atravesta] 1
[Voluntat] 1
[Celeratio] 20.95
[Fortuna] 1
[Titles] [Skills]
[Min-maxer] [Court of the Broken King]
[Ultimum Celeritas] [Rampage]
[Shadow Mantle] [Assassinate]
[Time Magic]
Adrian couldn¡¯t help but sigh when he saw his [Status]. He did obtain some good [Skills] and [Titles] but he had yet to level ten times more to unlock [Court of the Broken King]. And what¡¯s even more frustrating is that .95 [Celeratio] that would remain there till the end of times. It was basically a point on [Celeratio] but it didn¡¯t count towards reaching 50 [Celeratio]. He also thought that it was strange that the [Time Magic] grimoire appeared in the [Skills] section, but [Time Dilation II] did not. What would happen if the grimoire contained ten spells instead of one? Should he remember all of them? Maybe that¡¯s why [Experenta] existed. So mages could remember five different overloaded spellbooks. ¡®That actually makes sense¡­ kinda.¡¯ Adrian meditated as he walked back to the lair with Aby. ¡®Why is [Time Magic] colorless while others are [Rare] or [Unique]? [Time Magic] sounds pretty rare to me. I mean, why was [Fast Stab] even [Rare] but [Assassinate] that is a more useful [Skill] is colorless? I hate having so many questions but little to no answers. Adrian also felt a bit ¡®tingly¡¯ as he revised what he had thought. There where multiple words that contained [...], but only he felt affected by those which had color. That synesthesia, that made him sense colors with other senses that weren¡¯t his sight, was still there; becoming commoner.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Oh, hi guys!¡± Dale saluted Aby and Adrian. ¡°We had a bit of fun while you two were out.¡± Dale pointed at a bunch of extra corpses at the ground. More mantises constituted the pile. Adrian thought that Dale sounded like Axel for a second. ¡°Yeah,¡± Axel started. ¡°You alerted the guys out there. They didn¡¯t stop coming, but we were lucky. Both [War-bond Tower] and [The Fool¡¯s Wheel of Fortune] proc a lot and the bastards were massacred. Mike and I leveled up and we got ourselves a class.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice,¡± Adrian commented after taking another look at the pile of dead mantises. It was actually bigger than it looked like at first sight. ¡°What did you get?¡± ¡°I got a [Rare] class called Durum.¡± Axel explained to them. Adrian laughed. ¡°Durum, you said?¡± And laughed once again. ¡°It actually means ¡®tough¡¯ in Latin,¡± Mike told. ¡°But, yes. It sounds funny.¡± And then he laughed too. ¡°Why are you all laughing?¡± Axel asked. He wasn¡¯t infuriated, he only felt lost. ¡°Nothing,¡± Adrian told between laughs. ¡°It¡¯s just the name of an Arabic plate. It¡¯s like a taco.¡± ¡°What does it do?¡± Aby asked Axel about his new class while Adrian was still laughing. As a matter of fact, it looked like he was laughing in pain as he endured the pain on his left arm. ¡°Nullifies critical strikes on myself and returns a fraction of the damage I received.¡± Axel explained to her. ¡°That is somewhat better than my class,¡± Adrian said after stopping his laughing spree. ¡°Did you get any [Constituta] growth boosts?¡± ¡°Nah. There was one, tho.¡± Axel responded. ¡°Just like my second option then,¡± Adrian added. ¡°What about you, Mike?¡± ¡°I did what you told me.¡± He told. ¡°It¡¯s a [Rare] class called Unwavering Arrow. Grants a 150% increase to [Destretza], [Voluntat] now affects accuracy, and my arrows can inflict negative mental [Status Effects]. Well, the later is a [Title] that I obtained with the class.¡± ¡°Was a result of a [Skill Fusion]? Well, I suppose it would be [Title Fusion].¡± Adrian later corrected it. He had yet to see a [Title Fusion]. ¡°This one not. The [Title] is [Maddening Tip]. I can inflict [Confusion] or [Madness] effect.¡± Mike explained while fiddling with his bow¡¯s string. ¡°I lost a new [Skill] and the one when I obtained my weapon and I gained [Foul Shot]. I can shoot two arrows, if one misses and the other one hits, it will do damage the one which stroke. If both hit, both deal damage. It synergizes with [Bullseye], which is nice.¡± ¡°So always hit, sometimes double damage, and if it¡¯s a vital point then¡­ sextuple damage? Jesus¡­ That¡¯s a one-shot combo.¡± Adrian did have a triple damage combo, but Mike now duplicated that record. ¡°It does consume a lot of mana and mental power, so it isn¡¯t that strong.¡± Mike explained. ¡°Wait¡­¡± Adrian interjected. ¡°Did you say mana?¡± ¡°Yes, I just did,¡± Mike affirmed. ¡°[Foul Shot] is a spell-¡° ¡°There we have it, folks!¡± Adrian exclaimed with pure joy. ¡°There¡¯s magic!¡± ¡°And why it would be a surprise after everything we saw?¡± Aby asked doubtfully. ¡°We were transported to another world, we have superhuman power, and you move faster than any person I have seen. Why a spell would bring you so much joy?¡± ¡°I think you don¡¯t understand it,¡± Adrian explained. ¡°I had abilities that consumed mental power, but Mike¡¯s consumes mana. So, it¡¯s magic! Actual wizard-like magic!¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why you are so happy, but good for you, I guess.¡± Aby told with a thumbs up. ¡°What about you, Axel? Any new [Title] slash [Skills]?¡± ¡°I did get one, [Martyr Mindset].¡± He said. ¡°Consumes severe stamina to take half of the damage of allies in an area.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound that good, to be honest,¡± Dale told as he laid on the ground, looking up the sky. ¡°You take more damage and then stamina is consumed. I don¡¯t know chief, that sounds a bit flawed.¡± ¡°I see no problems,¡± Adrian said after calming down. ¡°Axel¡¯s [Constituta] makes him not only beefier but¡­ fuck I can¡¯t remember the word,¡± Adrian as he tried to spit the word at the tip of his tongue. He gave up seconds later. ¡°¡­ well, it gives him more stamina. So that [Skill] isn¡¯t as harmful as it would be to us. He clearly can take more damage and endurance than any of us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Dale said after meditating a bit. ¡°Do we enter now as a party into the mantis¡¯ den?¡± He asked out of nowhere. ¡°Sure, why not.¡± Adrian replied. Aby had a lot of why to not go in that place, but she finally gave up as Axel entered the mine without even listening to her. He was a fearless tank. 27. Chance ¡°Wow!¡± Kayle was left breathless after she delved a bit into the mines. ¡°This place is so beautiful!¡± If Kayle wasn¡¯t this young, Adrian couldn¡¯t have resisted doing a ¡®but you are more beautiful¡¯ joke. The classics never die. ¡°Those rocks are toxic.¡± But that didn¡¯t stop Adrian with his jokes when he saw Kayle¡¯s hand approaching the light crystals. ¡°For real?¡± She quickly removed her hand. ¡°Nah, how I would know it? Do you think I poisoned myself?¡± Adrian told with a rhetorical question, but Kayle¡¯s face was telling him ¡®yes, you would¡¯. Adrian was hurt a bit by her expression. Nothing his cold dark heart could solve. ¡°You can touch then if you will. I will take no responsibility.¡± ¡°No, thanks.¡± Kayle responded as the group started moving again. Kayle¡¯s words contained truth. The cave was, in fact, a fascinating place. Light green moss that emitted a soft and lustrous light, and those crystals that converged that lustrous into a dense beam. Adrian was sure there were sites like this on Earth, but he never left the city. He thought that water dropping from the ceiling or some pond would make this sight even more incredible. Crystalline water reflecting the light on its little drops. Mesmerizing, perhaps. But in the end, it would only difficult even more his vision. The party¡¯s pace was constant and fast. After killing so many mantises and now being in formation, they doubted that an ambush would surprise them. There shouldn¡¯t be many enemies left then. It also made things easier that Adrian casted [Time Dilation II], giving a small boost, but considerable in the long run. Aby¡¯s only condition to enter the cave together was that Adrian wasn¡¯t on the lead. Maybe he was faster and had a higher level than them, now two levels higher than Mike, Aby, and Kayle; but he was hurt. Axel took the vanguard¡¯s position as it seemed the most logical solution. Even then, Adrian was right behind Axel, as he was still being a melee attacker. Not only Adrian, but the whole party asked themselves how long this lair was. Adrian¡¯s [Time Dilation II] had already worn off when they reached the T-intersection and he hadn¡¯t casted it again as it thought it would be dangerous to find mantises with his mental power pool empty. That made Adrian question the Record again. How big was someone¡¯s resource pools? They had no statistics that showed them their resources. Nor health for that matter, even if Axel had a [Skill] that made him receive less damage at critical health. What was considered critical health? Having a foot in the grave? Adrian wasn¡¯t molested because he got hit but having so many questions was destroying him.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°I heard something.¡± Aby said out of nowhere. ¡°Me too.¡± Kayle added. ¡°Huh? I did not hear anything.¡± Adrian told them. ¡°Me neither,¡± Mike spoke. ¡°How weird¡­ Did you hear anything?¡± He asked Axel and Mike, they shook their heads in negation. ¡°Are you telling me that [Procesa] makes your hearing better?¡± Adrian asked after thinking what the two had in common apart of being women. ¡°Shh¡± Aby put a finger in front of her mouth. ¡°Let me listen to.¡± Aby positioned her hands behind her hears. Trying to listen closely to the sound from beyond. ¡°Clicks.¡± She said. Mike and Dale readied their weapons. They were prepared to take advantage of the distance. ¡°How many?¡± Adrian whispered to Aby, recalling the moment he had listened to the steps of the monsters. He ignored the part when that strategy failed. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She answered, still listening. ¡°Get to the walls,¡± Adrian whispered to the party, then grabbed Aby with his right arm and moved her with him to the left wall along Mike. ¡°You can still listen to hear.¡± The sounds became louder, not by much, but a detectable augment. Adrian was now able to listen in the steps of the monsters. Taking in question the period between the movement of the feet of a single mantis, he noticed one thing. ¡®Those motherfuckers are walking at the same rate!¡¯ Adrian was indignant, but he theorized it could be something instinctual and not a premeditated move by the [Archimantis Homicida]. The echo on the cave was enough to confuse Adrian¡¯s senses to think that there were multiple mantises walking at different rhythms, and not a single group at unison. As the steps got closer, Adrian made a gesture with his right hand to Dale and Mike to rain hell upon the monsters. Dale shot darts one after another, as he was some sort of primitive machine gun; while Mike casted three [Foul Shot] that became six arrows flying across the tunnel. After the pair of ranged attackers stopped shooting, Adrian talked to Aby. ¡°Do you hear any mantis remaining alive?¡± She waited a second before responding. ¡°I do not.¡± ¡°Neat.¡± Dale called out. ¡°I got a class!¡± ¡°Good job.¡± Adrian congratulated him. ¡°What did you choose?¡± He still peeked at the tunnel just in case. ¡°Slow a bit, cowboy. I am still reading.¡± Adrian didn¡¯t catch Dale¡¯s joke, but he waited. ¡°Oh ho, this is dope,¡± Dale said to himself. ¡°I already choose, [Rare] class Ad Fortunis.¡± ¡°Huh, another Latin name class.¡± Mike commented. ¡°What does it mean?¡± Axel asked the archer. ¡°I¡¯m not versed in Latin, but I think it says ¡®fortune¡¯.¡± Mike told with some doubt on his tone. ¡°Just fortune?¡± Kayle asked. ¡°I guess?¡± Mike was less sure about his own words. ¡°It may not even mean anything. Just like the [Stats]. I mean, words like [Destretza] or [Celeratio] doesn¡¯t exist.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. Stop with the Latin chit-chat. It¡¯s time to talk about my class.¡± Dale said happily. ¡°It¡¯s a banger. No growth boost but jeez¡­ [Fortuna] can now do random damage that scales upwards. I also gained the [Skill] called [Tombola]. It substitutes the [Skill] that I obtained with my blowgun, but now every attack that I consume extra stamina OR-" he remarked the preposition "-mental power has a chance to apply any debuff.¡± ¡°You are a fucking walking casino-¡° Adrian said as he heard a shriek coming from the tunnel. 28. Stacked More mantises came through the cave. Adrian could count six, but he wasn¡¯t sure that was all of them. Dale blew his five-remaining darts to the mantis, it was hurried, but he managed to hit them all. Adrian noticed that one mantis stood still, without moving; and another one felt to the ground. ¡®Paralysis and Sleep?¡¯ He thought as he unsheathed his right dagger. Mike casted two more [Foul Shoot], but he stopped to recover his breath. Adrian could visibly see the fatigue in Mike¡¯s face, a constrained look that gave out the feeling of pain. He probably used his mana for his first time, and now he had an empty mana pool. Adrian underwent empty stamina and mental power pool, but he had to feel yet a mana one. It seemed even worse than the other ones. Adrian accounted for Mike as out of combat for the time being. [Foul Shoot] hit three mantises, almost the best-case scenario. Mike had taken into account the fact that he didn¡¯t have a lot of mana and preferred to hit various mantises better than a few. Between Dale and Mike, three mantises were instantly down. The downside was that Mike was in pain and Dale out of darts. Axel put himself in front of the group as he also noticed this fact. The mantises would have to bring him down in order to attack the rest of the party, and that wasn¡¯t probable. Adrian took advantage of Axel¡¯s [Warden¡¯s Taunt] to approach Dale. ¡°Here you have.¡± Adrian tossed his left dagger to Dale. ¡°Use it to protect yourself.¡± Adrian didn¡¯t have any use to that dagger while his right arm was still wounded. Even if he wanted to use the dagger, his arm was too numb to do so. The only safe strategy that the party could do now was to cast all the auras, accuracy, damage, and [Celeratio] so Axel could kill a mantis with ease and then, if they had luck, [War-bond Tower] would proc. Axel maintained a defensive posture until he felt a mantis was close enough to get smashed by his two-hander without striking the ceiling. ¡®Note: Large weapons do not work well in caves.¡¯ Adrian noted as he saw Axel struggling with his weapon. At least they had been lucky that the mine was big enough to even wield a massive sword like his. After-ages, Axel managed to kill a mantis. It wasn¡¯t because it was strong, but Axel had plenty of difficulties alternating between defense and offense. And then they were lucky. The two mantises next to the dead one fled in fear thanks to [War-bond Tower] and Adrian backstabbed them with swift. The fear counted towards not being detected and let him use [Assassinate]. That combo could prove useful later. Adrian also killed the mantises that were paralyzed and asleep. He could not use [Assassinate] in the paralyzed one, but the asleep one it worked perfectly. He used [Rampage] in all four cases, now he replenished a chunk of his pools and had that sweet bonus standing at a whopping 20%. That wouldn¡¯t last long, only 20 seconds from now on.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [War-bond Tower] was incredibly useful as it did proc also with allies, but Axel¡¯s kills looked like they had a higher chance to [Fear] or [Berserk] the enemies. But as Adrian knew, the [Skill] only activated when they were outnumbered, and that was no longer the case. A shame, but that meant they now had the upper hand. Darts flew next to Adrian, close to his head. Instead of being surprised, Adrian made a thumbs up to Dale, who had recovered some of his darts and shot them. Mike also joined the fray once again as he shot one arrow to a mantis. That arrow had endured so much stress and split as it collided against the monster¡¯s keratin. Adrian was more worried about having to pay for new ammunition rather than one of Mike¡¯s arrows breaking. Either way, Dale¡¯s darts hadn¡¯t applied any debuff or at least one noticeable. Adrian executed the mantis that was shot by Mike as it had survived. His damage and speed bonus were now at 25%. As only three mantises stay alive and Adrian¡¯s body was pumping loads of adrenaline and endorphin to maintain him working well, he charged with little to no thought whatsoever. Mike assisted Adrian with killing one of the mantises. He had two to go. As he was going extremely fast, he lowered his time perception. He decided that half perception was too fast, so he set it to a third of a normal human. Between [Rampage] and [Celeratio], Adrian felt as he was speed itself. Maybe he was dramatizing it, but the duo of mantises that were trying to hit him were moving too slow for him. Adrian dodged the attacks, not wanting to get hurt again. He couldn¡¯t activate [Assassinate] but between [Rampage] and Kayle¡¯s aura buffs, he didn¡¯t need it. Whoosh. One swift, fast stab at the head ended the life of one of the mantises. The one which was still alive tried to stab him as well. It only ended up being a try as Adrian dodge the attack as if it were a limbo stick. Then he pierced the heart of the monster with a charged attack. ¡°Oof¡­¡± Adrian said breathlessly at his 35% counter. Then looked at the Record Message.
Level 2-6 [Archimantis Homicida] x13 has been slayed Participation Rate: 32% You have earned 624 experience
Adrian noticed that even after killing more than half of the mantises, he only got a third of the participation rate. To be fair, Adrian had killed some mantises that were already knocked, or he had been assisted. He couldn¡¯t ignore Kayle¡¯s damage aura or Aby¡¯s accuracy one. ¡°Someone has to have leveled up.¡± Adrian state as he did some quick math and then remembered that the only ones left without classes were Aby and Kayle. ¡°Almost, but no.¡± Aby told him. ¡°No luck here either.¡± Kayle spoke after reading the invisible Record interface. 29. Larvae Dale gave Adrian¡¯s dagger to Axel so he could cut the left scythes of all the mantises they had killed. Between those from the outside, they had almost completed one of the quests. They had to obtain more scythes, thought. It is true that they could have cut the arms later, but they decided to do it now as Mike needed some well-deserved rest. Adrian also appreciated the intermission. [Rampage] had refiled his stamina and mental power pools, but he still felt like he was sick. His body wasn¡¯t tired, his mind was alright, but an oppressive sensation told him that he should take a break. Adrian thought of this like being rested but wanting to sit, just like you went across the IKEA and you wanted to sit on that cool-looking furniture. The difference being that he felt a bit forced to do so. Even then, if Adrian wasn¡¯t tired, he still had a wounded arm that hurt like hell. It wasn¡¯t infected and they had covered with makeshift bandages, but he couldn¡¯t take any risk. Nothing told them that there may be diseases that could infect him. ¡°Ooo¡­¡± Mike sighed as he grabbed his broken arrow. ¡°We can buy more.¡± Aby cheered him up. ¡°There could be even better arrows at Czecheri.¡± ¡°Yeah, you are right.¡± Mike stored his arrow at his quiver even if it was split in half. He may have a use for it later. Adrian got up and talked to the party. ¡°We should get going.¡± ¡°Oh, shit,¡± Dale said and then hastily got up. ¡°I forgot to pick the darts.¡± Adrian watched him with a stern gaze and then sighed. ¡°Get them fast.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Dale put his hand in front of his forehead and promptly got to recover his ammo from the dead bodies of the monsters. Now that Adrian wasn¡¯t a motorbike once [Rampage], he could appreciate the speed or the slowness. [Celeratio] made him faster, he calculated that a point was an equivalent of 10%, but he had no real way to confirm that data. If the aforementioned was true, Adrian was now moving almost 210% the speed of a normal person. This caused that he felt like a tortoise when he had to march along with the group. The Record helped him, but it was tedious, nonetheless. [Time Dilation II] now looked like a good [Skill], but for reasons, he hadn¡¯t thought. Only ten minutes of a party that had a 31.5% movement speed increase ¨C if Adrian had done the calculations right, which he doubted ¨C arrived at an open room. It was a poorly illuminated cavern, unlike the corridors. They couldn¡¯t see where the place ended, but sure they did see what laid on the ground.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Hundreds of larvae filled the floor of the place. Some of them vibrated, while some were completely still. Adrian looked back at Aby. She appeared to be limiting herself, trying to not freak out like a maniac. ¡°That¡¯s a fuck-ton of insects,¡± Axel commented as he tried to see the other side of the chamber. ¡°There¡¯s normally this many?¡± ¡°I think so,¡± Mike responded. ¡°Insects tend to lay hundreds of eggs, and that¡¯s just a couple. If I dare say, there should be a whole lot more.¡± Dale looked at Mike. ¡°Jeez, you¡¯re a fucking wiki. First the tarot, then Latin, and now insect reproduction.¡± ¡°First one: I am interested in Tarot,¡± Mike started. ¡°Second: I am somewhat good with languages. And third: didn¡¯t you left the documentary channel and watch how to create a flying machine or something like that?¡± ¡°He never liked Discovery Channel.¡± Kayle responded instead of his brother. ¡°She¡¯s right. I always got asleep five-minutes in.¡± Dale added. ¡°What are we going to do now? There¡¯s a lot of eggs here.¡± ¡°Larvae.¡± Mike corrected. ¡°Whatever.¡± Dale said. ¡°I am going to do the muscle head strat.¡± Adrian explained. ¡°And what is the muscle head strat?¡± Dale asked the Time Weaver. ¡°Axel give me your sword.¡± Axel handed his sword to Adrian. He instantly recognized it was a bad idea after he rose the two-hander with just one hand, but he continued. Then obliterated one of the larvae with a descending blow. ¡°That¡¯s the muscle head strat.¡± Adrian said as he pointed the exploded larvae with the sword. ¡°Axel approves.¡± Axel joked by talking like a caveman.
Level 1 [Larva Archimantis Homicida] has been slayed Participation Rate: 100% You have earned 10 experience
¡°Is this an exp farm?¡± Adrian asked rhetorically after reading the Record message. ¡°Someone wants to beat the pi?ata?¡± ¡°Ew, no.¡± Dale commented. ¡°It gives candy experience~.¡± Adrian said melodiously. ¡°You son of a bitch, I am in!¡± Dale said as he marched to the nearest larva. Before Dale killed one of the defenseless baby mantises, Adrian stopped him. ¡°Have you never heard the saying ¡®ladies first¡¯?¡± Adrian spoke and then looked to Aby and Kayle. ¡°Nononononno¡­¡± Aby disagreed instantly. ¡°You two are the ones who don¡¯t have classes yet. You need it.¡± Adrian told a solid argument. ¡°How much experience do they give?¡± Aby asked while supporting his trembling body on her staff. ¡°Ten.¡± Adrian shortly said. Not only Adrian heard Aby grunting that moment, but also saw as his body complained in repulsion. Axel, Mike, Dale, and Adrian laid on the walls ¨C as they weren¡¯t sure if to sit in that larvae-filled floor ¨C while the girls were playing a really unfair game of Whack A Mole. There were hundreds of larvae, but as they only gave ten measly experience points, the real value of the massacre was only of a few thousand experience. That wasn¡¯t much as Adrian needed two thousand experience points to level up, but surely it was enough so Aby and Kayle could obtain their classes. Adrian reflected on casting [Time Dilation II] to swift the job but decided against it. ¡®It may do things faster, but I will leach them of their much-needed experience¡¯ was his thought on the matter. Judging by the fact that the girls were smashing a larva every five seconds with the staff and that they didn¡¯t need to move much as the larvae were close to each other, Adrian calculated that they would spend a lot of time here. 30. Healer ¡°Pinball.¡± Adrian said. ¡°Check.¡± Dale responded. ¡°Tetris?¡± Mike now asked. ¡°Check.¡± Axel answered. They were doing this improvised game to check how different or equal were their worlds while they waited for the genocide to end. They found that most of the things ¨C videogames, movies, shows, songs ¨C that exited over a century ago were there. But if they went to a date like fifty years ago, there was a chance that one of the four didn¡¯t know the existence of that. The first thing Adrian asked was this The Hangover movie that Aby talked about. The only one who knew about it was Dale. It made sense after they contemplated that Dale¡¯s race was Homo Sapiens, while Aby¡¯s was Homo Sapiens Sapiens. According to Mike the Homo Provectus, Homo Sapiens Sapiens wasn¡¯t technically an evolution but a mutation that was relatively different from the standard Sapiens. That logic only applied to his world, of course. The strangest members of the party were Axel and Mike for that matter. Even though Axel had been an evolved version of the Homo Sapiens cousin, Homo Neanderthalensis, history was pretty similar to the other. Adrian saw some documental of some Neanderthals living along Sapiens in some tribes of Europe, but in the end, the Neanderthals died and Sapiens prevailed, he could not remember the cause, though. About Mike, he was like, from the future? After all they said, Mike told things that sounded plausible to Dale even if they didn¡¯t happen. They all knew they had different dates, all of them based in the Anno Domini system, but Mike¡¯s wasn¡¯t that far from the other when he had been a fully evolved species. ¡°So,¡± Dale started. ¡°If we combine Adrian and Mike¡¯s information, humanity tends to evolve after some hardship once the two-thousands starts.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Adrian affirmed. ¡°As the world became more polluted and hotter, humanity became more tolerant of the heat made by the greenhouse effect, but its lungs suffered greatly.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t seem to have respiratory problems, tho.¡± Axel commented. ¡°The air here is pretty clear,¡± Adrian explained. ¡°I always wanted to be outside without needing a mask.¡± ¡°Wait,¡± Dale interjected. ¡°You had to wear a mask every time you went outside?¡± Adrian nodded to the statement. ¡°What about you, Mike?¡± ¡°As humanity ascended both technologically and scientifically, the use of physical bodies became less common.¡± Mike lectured like he was some professor. ¡°The Homo Provectus presented less muscle mass than its progenitor, but his cranium and brain were expanded. It also adapted to muscular atrophy, making disabled people less needed of physiotherapy. ¡°Mike dropped some trivia fact and continued. ¡°I was one of the few that still conserved musculature similar to Sapiens. I was bullied in school because I was bulkier than my schoolfellow.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Ha,¡± Dale laughed. ¡°My sis was bullied in school by being smart.¡± ¡°Different world, different costumes.¡± Adrian said, almost whispering. ¡°Lightning round,¡± Dale said. ¡°Was Caesar Salad invented by Cesar in your world?¡± ¡°Wait, it wasn`t?¡± Axel asked confusedly. ¡°Nah, fam,¡± Adrian said. ¡°I think it was made in some trattoria like a century ago.¡± ¡°I think it was made by some American,¡± Mike answered. He wasn¡¯t really sure about this random fact that actually look like it came out of a game of trivia. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought,¡± Dale said. ¡°It was created by Caesar Cardini in 1924 in Mexico. So it doesn¡¯t have any relation with the Roman emperor Julius Caesar.¡± ¡°How the fuck do you know this stuff?¡± Adrian asked the Ad Fortunis. ¡°Trivia, duh.¡± He responded as there wasn¡¯t any more possibility. ¡°Arghhh!!¡± Adrian and the rest could hear Kayle agonizingly screaming as she killed a [Larva Archimantis Homicida] for the last time. There was still one alive but Aby quickly took care of it. She was speechless, as she was lost inside her mind. ¡°Y¡¯all okay?¡± Axel asked the girls. ¡°I¡¯m good, thanks for asking!¡± She cried out sarcastically from the other side of the chamber. Aby just made a light head tilt. Adrian talked to them once they got closer. ¡°What class did you get? You did get enough experience, right?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Kayle said without her last remaining forces. ¡°[Rare] class, the name¡¯s Battle Priest. I also got a [Tarot] Card, [The Priestess¡¯ Star].¡± Mike stood there waiting for a continuation that never arrived. ¡°What do they do?¡± ¡°Oh, right. Sorry.¡± She apologized. ¡°Battle Priest gave me [Light Magic] grimoire and a 50% growth boost to [Atravesta], [Voluntat], and [Procesa]. Also, the [Tarot] card.¡± Adrian was impressed by the effects of her class. It gave her a total of 150% growth boost, a [Tarot] card, and a grimoire. Even if the time perception from Time Weaver compensated the [Tarot] card, she still got a 50% growth increase higher than him. ¡°[The Priestess¡¯ Star] duplicates my healing abilities plus making me more physically attractive,¡± Kayle said all of this as she was a robot. ¡°It also makes an invisible aura that comforts people around me.¡± Now that Kayle said it, Adrian felt as his arm pain was highly mitigated. ¡°What about you, Aby?¡± As Adrian talked, Aby felt to the ground, she fainted out of exhaustion. ¡°Holy shit!¡± Axel cried. ¡°Carry her to the campfire.¡± Adrian told Axel and he accepted as Aby¡¯s health wasn¡¯t the best at the moment. Kayle wanted to ask Adrian if he could carry her, but the wounded arm would make it impossible, and she doubted that his brother or Mike could carry her. So, she casted a spell. ¡°[Renew].¡± Golden light surrounded Adrian¡¯s arm, focusing on the wound. Seconds later, his wound closed. ¡°Wow,¡± Adrian said as he watched his arm and move it a bit to see if it hurt. ¡°It is healed.¡± His words were pure awe. ¡°I am thankful.¡° Then she collapsed from mana exhaustion after using such a powerful spell in her current status. Adrian piggybacked Kayle while Axel did so with Aby. Then he casted [Time Dilation II] to make things swifter. ¡°Carry those,¡± Adrian told Dale and Mike as he looked at the staffs of the girls. They grabbed the weapons and the party walked out of the lair. Today had been a heavy day to the earthlings. 未. Pax The bumps of the dirt road hurt Daniel bum, a ten-day journey across the world in a wagon wasn¡¯t a delightful experience, to say the least. He had been elected as the diplomatic in charge of the Hispania-European negotiations at New Brussels. He was honored to be here, but even after so many years, he couldn¡¯t stand those wooden carts. As a diplomat of the greatest country in Terra Nova, Hispania Invicta, he had been sent by the Consejo de Sabios to ease the exchange of supplies with the European Union. He could never imagine himself two years ago as a spokesperson of a great powerhouse. The arrival of the Arcane Record and the end of Earth had really changed history forever. New Brussels was an outstanding city, planned by the greatest minds of old Europa and built with state-of-the-art magic. Even if Hispania Invicta was the greatest commonwealth of countries, the European Union had held the stakes after directing all its efforts into magic development. New Brussels wasn¡¯t composed of houses, but magic-born trees that could accommodate humans. These plants rose up to even twenty meters high, making this city the cradle of proto-eco-skyscrapers. ¡°You must be Daniel Negro.¡± A man that wore a white tunic that flashed with purple light and held a mighty bear talked to him. ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± He said. Daniel that the man had the [Translator] skill, or maybe the title if he was fancy. Daniel loved this ability as it let him talk without speaking English. He wasn¡¯t bad at it, but between the man¡¯s accent ¨C who looked German ¨C and his, they probably couldn¡¯t understand very well. ¡°I am Paul Weber and I will be your escort for the duration of your stay.¡± Paul said with a bow. Daniel recognized the EU insignia on Weber¡¯s chest, marking that he was also a diplomat. Daniel felt bad as he wasn¡¯t as polite as Paul. Negro followed Weber as they walked across the dirt road. ¡°I am most impressed with the organization of your city.¡± Daniel told his true feelings. ¡°I am glad you like it.¡± Weber continued. ¡°We are proud of being the center of human development here at New Brussels.¡± ¡°Sure, you do,¡± Negro replied. ¡°This place is wonderful. A city made of trees.¡± ¡°We have a saying,¡± the EU diplomat said. ¡°New Brussels is not a city in the woods, the woods are the city.¡± ¡°I can see that.¡± Daniel was still amazed by New Brussels. Not only because the trees were housing, but the branches worked as elevated walkways, and separation and organization of streets between the houses reminded him of the Roman city-building organized style.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°We are nothing but maintaining an old alliance,¡± Paul said as he turned over a corner. ¡°What you did with the foundation of Hispania Invicta is certainly more incredible.¡± ¡°Your own words could be applied to our case.¡± The diplomat of the Consejo de Sabios told. ¡°We unified all Spanish-speaking countries under one banner. We only rekindled the old ties we shared.¡± ¡°But the fact you did so only with words and peace is worthy of praise.¡± Weber said. ¡°The times after the Record were uncertain and chaotic, the union was the better way.¡± Negro told with certain proudness in his tone. ¡°You speak the truth,¡± Paul turned and looked at Daniel. ¡°If only every country could have gone a peaceful transition as you did.¡± Daniel let out a mild laugh. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Nothing, nothing,¡± Daniel replied. ¡°I remembered something when you talked about the peaceful transition.¡± ¡°What did you remember?¡± Paul asked with interest. ¡°After the recent dictatorship period of Spain known as Franquismo ended, there was a peaceful transition between the monarchy and the government to establish democracy, this was called La Transici¨®n.¡± Daniel looked at the foliage of the trees with melancholy. ¡°It reminded me of when I was teaching History.¡± ¡°You were a History teacher?¡± The bearded man asked. ¡°Oh, yes,¡± Daniel responded. ¡°It was because of the job that I ended up here. Nothing better than a historian to keep history from repeating itself. The fact that I am negotiating a food sharing agreement between our countries is a demonstration of how history can guide us to a better place.¡± ¡°I fear I do not follow you,¡± Weber told him. They already arrived at EU Terra Nova Peace Building, but Paul and Daniel sat as he enjoyed the talk with the Spanish diplomat. ¡°How both facts are correlated?¡± ¡°There are moments that should never be repeated again, like the World Wars, but they are still are movements that need to be encouraged. Globalization, democracy, union, peace, and ecology are ones that need to be kept close to us. I just remind them that we need to follow that path.¡± ¡°Even so, that you rose from a teacher to such an important figure in foreign politics, show how much did you work for humanity, Mr. Negro.¡± Weber had known the doings of Daniel over a year ago. It is said he was a keystone in the unification of the Spanish world. ¡°I am not worthy of such words,¡± Daniel told sincerely. ¡°I preserved peace when the times were at its darkest. Now humanity prospers in a new world, untouched by the damage made by our predecessors.¡± ¡°And we must keep it that way,¡± Paul stated, his voice exuding confidence. He stood up from the bench made from tree roots they had been sitting and then continued. ¡°Would you like to visit the Flemish Gardens after we are done with the meeting?¡± ¡°That would be fantastic,¡± Daniel told, also standing up. ¡°Maybe when we are there, we could stop talking like we are doing.¡± Paul laughed a bit. ¡°Yeah, we could.¡± That day, the seven-hundred and eighteenth day after the Record abducted the inhabitants of Earth, the New European Union and the commonwealth of Spanish nations that was Hispania Invicta signed an agreement of agriculture ceding in exchange for workforce and a peace enforcement treaty. 31. Tavern Adrian grunted as he carefully laid down the now asleep Kayle on the ground. He sat on one of the logs around the campfire and looked at the extinguished fire. ¡°Man, I¡¯m beaten.¡± Adrian said while he stretched his arms. ¡°You are not the only one, my friend.¡± Axel responded after putting down the collapsed Aby. She didn¡¯t look to have passed out from exhausting, just stress. ¡°Yeah, but what about us?¡± Dale sarcastically told as he dropped on a free log. ¡°Mike and I had to move their staffs and a bag full of fucking mantis arms!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be a winner,¡± Adrian said. ¡°You shared the weight, Axel and I had to carry human beings. You could tell your sister if she might be able to lose some weight, she¡¯s heavier than it looks.¡± Adrian joked and the sighed. ¡°Well, at least we have the thirty mantises¡¯ scythes,¡± Mike commented with positivity. ¡°That¡¯s one quest out of the list.¡± ¡°Two actually,¡± Adrian added. ¡°I only need to notify the guild and the lair one will be completed. Give a minute to rest and I will go back to Czecheri so we can get some food.¡± ¡°What about me and Aby?¡± Dale asked Adrian. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we go so we can become official adventurers?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Adrian soothed him. ¡°I foresee that will only happen after the lair quest is revised by a guild officer.¡± Adrian felt awfully thirsty after talking so he took a sip from the river. ¡°Jesus-fucking-Christ that water¡¯s freezing.¡± ¡°Should we start the fire again?¡± Mike asked. The Time Weaver used his favorite [Title] to check the time: 5:21 p.m. ¡°It¡¯s still early,¡± Adrian answered. ¡°Wait after I¡¯m gone.¡± Then he looked at the two sleeping beauties. ¡°Nah, now that I think it twice, yeah, you should ignite it. They will be better if they woke up with a cozy fire.¡± He said while looking at the girls. ¡°I was thinking that too.¡± Axel said and promptly stood up to harvest some dry wood. He did not even take a rest. ¡®Unrelenting as you show¡¯, Adrian though, and sat once again. Maybe it was his natural physique or the [Constituta], but Adrian couldn¡¯t follow Axel¡¯s pace. He was tired after all of that. Some part was physical, but most was mental. Stress. He only needed a short rest and he would spring once again towards the walled city. Adrian waited till Axel came back and lighted the fire. At mid-way from Czecheri, Adrian wished a mantis would appear so he could kill it and obtain that sweet speed boost. That was foolish, and he knew it, only a twenty-second 5% boost wasn¡¯t worth it. Not even considering the absurd stamina consumption that was the first kill of [Rampage]. Still, being faster than before had worn off a bit of his patience. He wanted to be even faster. It would be awesome if [Time Dilation II] affected him.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Changing his time perception had done the trick, though. He saluted the guards and walked directly to the guild building. No distractions whatsoever, even if he saw an uncanny number of bards at the plaza. Adrian stepped inside the guild. The place had a queue, as always. It didn¡¯t matter when he came, there would always be someone at the line. He hadn¡¯t deactivated his accelerated time perception and only did so after it was his turn. ¡°You work here every day, every hour?¡± Adrian asked the acquaintance female officer. ¡°Only when you come, looks like.¡± She followed his joked. It seemed that she was in less bad humor now. ¡°Did you complete the mission?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He simply stated. ¡°That was fast.¡± The guild officer replied. ¡°I had my wannabe adventurers, didn¡¯t I?¡± Adrian said as he wiggled the thirty mantis arms that he put on the food sac. ¡°Are they alright?¡± She asked. It did not seem it was because she was worried, but she was being professional. ¡°O, yes. They are safe.¡± Adrian told her. ¡°They are resting at the moment. I will come back tomorrow with them to collect the lair reward.¡± ¡°If you already did it,¡± The officer spoke with doubt but proceeded either way. ¡°You should come in the afternoon. Guild field officers take their time.¡± ¡°Will do.¡± Adrian responded with a smile and then passed the mantis extermination quest paper to her. The officer got out of her desk and went to the linen mantle where Adrian dropped the scythes. ¡°Well, that¡¯s all of them.¡± She stated after counting them. ¡°Here you have.¡± The guild officer gave six big copper coins to Adrian. ¡°Next!¡± After he was kicked out by the woman at the desk, Adrian looked at the quest board. There were quests that seemed easy like herb collecting, but he did not have any experience with the flora of Mundompio. He decided to take an extermination quest. Not a fancy one, only ten mantises for five copper. The reward was trash, but there wasn¡¯t any more mantis related quest at the moment, and he didn¡¯t want to pick up a different type while the party wasn¡¯t at Czecheri. Instead of going to the guild sponsored shop, Adrian directed to a place that looked like a tavern. Judging by the number of floors and the name ¡®The Mean Mussel¡¯, he thought it could also be an inn. He entered the place without any expectations. He knew Czecheri was like a medieval town, so he definitely won¡¯t be seeing any spectacular fantastical tavern. As expected, the place was made of pure wood. Drunkards drinking at benches and some of them eating. There was a second floor, a steep staircase that directed to another place filled with more people drowning in beer. As he saw no doors on the second floor, Adrian discarded the possibility of this place to be an inn. ¡°How much for a jar?¡± He asked the man at the bar. The muscled man raised one finger. ¡®A copper?¡¯ Adrian thought. He didn¡¯t know if that was cheap or not. Considering that a two-day ¡®meal¡¯ was worth five coppers, it was maybe too much. But after seeing the size of those jars, it could be worth its price. ¡°Do you have change?¡± ¡°An adventurer?¡± The man talked. ¡°Yes, how do you know?¡± Adrian asked the bartender. ¡°Ignoring the fact that you are armed,¡± The man stated with solid facts as no one else had a weapon. At least no one on Adrian¡¯s field of view. ¡°Those guys at the guild tend to pay with great coppers. I still don''t know why.¡± ¡®Great coppers, noted.¡¯ Adrian would stop calling them big copper coins in his head. ¡°Give me one.¡± And then tossed a great copper to the man. Promptly, Adrian got a big jar filled with beer and his four copper, then he drunk. ¡®Oh, fuck. This shit ain¡¯t worth its price.¡¯ He reflected on his decisions as the beer tasted horrible. But alcohol was alcohol, and he wanted to leech the price of that drink. 32. Support ¡®Sometimes, I question my life decisions.¡¯ Adrian talked to himself while he finished his beer. Considering the size of the jar, he had drunk more than a liter of that junk. The drink tasted more to alcohol than barley. Adrian needed to drink some water, or he felt he could pass out. Initially, his plan was to rent a room in an inn and bring the party to Czecheri. But between the beer and the fact that they still needed to eat, it was wiser to reserve that privilege once they collected the lair quest reward. Adrian went to the guild shop and bought another three two-day adventurer rations. After paying for them, and another food sack because he didn¡¯t want to put the rations in a place where had been mantises¡¯ arms had been laying, he was left with fifteen copper, or another day worth of rations. When he opened his purse to pay the shop keeper, he remembered that he still had two copper coins laying around when he was at the tavern. He didn¡¯t need the change for the beer, but well, he at least learned something with the conversation with the bartender. As the Time Weaver left the city, he repeated the activity that had become a routine: changing his time perception. It not only was useful but also had spared some boredom. Slow time at combat, fasten time when doing nothing. Before going to the campsite, Adrian stopped at the river. Not only he was thirsty, but he wanted to remove the beer smell that haunted him. He expected that the group wouldn¡¯t take it well if he spent their money on beer, even if it was only one copper. After he was satiated, he continued his march. The party was gathered around the lit campfire, everyone was talking except Aby, she still was sleeping. ¡°She will have the first watch turn.¡± Adrian announced his arrival while looking at Aby. He then sat at the closest log. ¡°Everything okay?¡± Dale asked Adrian. Adrian had the sensation that Dale wasn¡¯t asking about his wellbeing, but he was worried about his future adventurer status. ¡°Yeah,¡± Adrian responded as he left the ration sack on the ground. The shop still had no cheese in stock. ¡°The guild officer told me that another one will examine the lair tomorrow and we should come back in the afternoon. I also bought food.¡± ¡°Ah, thank god. I was starving.¡± Kayle said as she leaned towards the sac. ¡°Yeah, thank god and not the actual person that brought the food.¡± Adrian joked. ¡°It¡¯s a saying.¡± Kayle frown at him, but she was also joking. ¡°Nye, nye.¡± Adrian responded with a weird sound and facial expression and then grabbed his corresponding ration.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The party had finished eating their rations when Aby finally woke up. In the end, she had slept for almost three hours. She grunted as she rose up from the ground, the cloak that Axel used to cover her falling to the dirt. Aby blinked twice and then looked at the party gathered around the fire. ¡°Did you eat without me?¡± ¡°Really, Aby? That¡¯s the first thing you asked after you collapsed?¡± Adrian asked her. ¡°We were hungry to be fair.¡± Dale¡¯s voice could be heard in the background. ¡°Toss me some food, I am starving.¡± She told to Axel, the one who had the bag closer to them. Aby then noticed that her cup was next to her. Someone had filled it up with water from the river. ¡°Why, thank you.¡± And then she munched the bread and jerky once he gulped almost all the water in the cup. ¡°So¡­?¡± Dale asked at Aby. ¡°So, what?¡± Aby spoke when she finished her jerky. ¡°The class,¡± Dale specified. ¡°What class did you obtain?¡± ¡°Oh, the class. I forgot. Let me see.¡± The party waited as she read the invisible [Status] window. ¡°Did someone obtain a [Tarot] card?¡± ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± Kayle told her. The party had commented on the upgrades they got while Aby was still sleeping. Axel¡¯s [War-bond Tower] debuff now could be applied by party members, Dale¡¯s [The Fool¡¯s Wheel of Fortune] chance to evade attacks now applied to allies, and finally, Kayle¡¯s [The Priestess¡¯ Star] reduced the cost of her light-based abilities, plus converting 20% of her [Procesa] into [Atravesta]. They didn¡¯t know the exact cost reduction, but at least it was something. Also, if [Atravesta] worked like Charisma in RPGs, Kayle would be the one doing the shopping now. ¡°Huh? The buff is good.¡± Aby referred to her own [Tarot] boost, not the others. ¡°If I am separated from [Tarot] users, my previous boosts are kept.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice,¡± Mike commented. ¡°A bit useless, though. We are not going to actively separate.¡± ¡°True,¡± Aby said as she read her new class. ¡°[Rare], Mentalist.¡± She briefly spoke and returned to reading, probably she got new abilities. ¡°100% boost to [Procesa], accelerated decision-making, and whatever a grimoire is. That¡¯s just the class effect.¡± Adrian recalled that he didn¡¯t mention them that [Time Magic] was a grimoire. The rest of the party probably heard it first from Kayle at the lair. ¡°That¡¯s pretty good.¡± Adrian told. Her class was pretty similar to Adrian¡¯s Time Weaver. ¡°Now the abilities.¡± Everyone noted that she used the plural. ¡°[Forgotten Horror]. I may interfere in enemies¡¯ casting and casting upon enemies has a chance of inflicting a [Madness] debuff if they fail a [Voluntat] check.¡± Adrian thought that Aby was a bit scary, but she went from a strict teacher to a Lovecraftian god in a second. ¡°And [Mind Magic]. Two spells came with it. One fused with a [Title] to create [Forgotten Horror]...¡± ¡®So [Title Fusion] does exist.¡¯ Adrian thought as he had yet to see or know one. He also noted that Aby¡¯s [Title] was [Unique]. That meant that it was powerful in some way, at least to his previous knowledge. Maybe the [Madness] debuff was better than it seemed. ¡°¡­ and the other one is [Mind Tick I]. It consumes mild mental power to lower the accuracy of the target. It has a chance to slow the enemy that scales with [Procesa].¡± ¡°Well,¡± Dale commented. ¡°We now have a debuff support.¡± 33. Advancement Darkness. An unlimited world of shadows was presented to him. No boundaries were to be reached, because they never existed. As time moved, so did space. The inverse was also true. As movements were made, time was flown. Even if there was nothing at all, the absence of everything gave rise to the void, the nothingness. But then it moved, its body flowing. Then¡­ ¡°Wake up ya¡¯ lazy bum!¡± Axel cried out. Adrian woke up suddenly. Forgetting anything that had happened in its sleep. ¡°You know that you don¡¯t have to shake the devil out of me to wake me?¡± ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s funny,¡± Axel told with a devilish grin. ¡°At least you won¡¯t be bored ''til we awake.¡± Axel went to sleep after that. ¡°What does that mean?¡± Adrian asked but Axel was already in the dreamworld. ¡°Okay, thanks.¡± Adrian sighed as he watched the extinguished fire.
Class Advancement Overview (Time Weaver) [Ultimum Celeritas]: 132 [Time Dilation II]: 420
Adrian was surprised by the pop-up. He had no idea what this meant, but a gut feeling told him to open his [Status]. Then he saw it. His experience had risen up from 824 to 1376. The numbers that appeared next to the abilities mentioned in the overview were, in fact, experience points. That meant one thing, actively using his [Titles] or [Skills] would grant him experience. ¡°That¡¯s cool,¡± Adrian told himself. ¡°It¡¯s like Proficiency or Mastery from other games. Only happens it is applied directly to the class experience instead of an ability level.¡± He noticed that [Ultimum Celeritas] had gained less experience than [Time Dilation II]. Maybe [Titles] granted less experience than [Skills] because they don¡¯t consume resources, but he was speculating without foundation. This would be useful if someone wanted to level up without fighting. One thing that strange Adrian was that he hadn¡¯t seen this Class Advancement Overview when he obtained Time Weaver yesterday. He had used both [Ultimum Celeritas] and [Time Dilation II] but no overview had shown. He had three theories at the moment. Either he hadn¡¯t done enough to gain experience, it may need a day to actualize the class or something like that, or they could only gain experience when used at a combat scenario. The last hypothesis broke with the conception of leveling up without fighting. The second one meant that the Record had a lag of some sort, which it had failed to happen yet. So, the first one seemed more plausible. He had unlocked the Blue World Template then, but he hadn¡¯t used it. Also, he only used [Time Dilation I] to show it to the group, they stayed at the campfire without moving. That may be another factor to add.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. It was true that yesterday, after waking up, he had exploited the Blue World in other to restore a tiny bit of mental power. He also slowed his time perception in combat and accelerated during hours in total when he was bored. Plus, he had used [Time Dilation], both I and II when he was with the full party and at combat. There were a lot of factors, but one thing was sure, he had obtained 552 free experience points. As a way to test if slowing in obscene amounts his own time gave experience through [Ultimum Celeritas], Adrian decided to cast [Time Dilation II] to consume a bit of mental power and then activated the Blue World Template. Adrian¡¯s plan was to stay in the near stopped world for two relative hours and cast [Time Dilation II] every time he had recovered enough experience. That presented him with another question. Will the previous spell dissipate, or the effect will be combined, either if it¡¯s the effect or the duration? It was difficult to test those scenarios as he needed the party to be awoken as the spell didn¡¯t work on him. Even then, it would prove tedious as the boost wasn¡¯t that big and they had a way to see if their [Celeratio] had increased- ¡®Have I asked them if their [Celeratio] shown in the [Status] had increased while on the effects of [Time Dilation II]?¡¯ It now seemed obvious, but he hadn¡¯t thought about it. In the end, the spell was giving 15% of his [Celeratio] to the rest. It made sense that the numbers in the [Status] rose as a response. After one hour and a half, Adrian was tired of being totally still, so he deactivated the time perception. To make things more enjoyable, he set his time perception to the triple. Adrian believed that he would have no problems fulfilling his watch turn in a perception three times higher than the usual thanks to his high [Celeratio]. While waiting for the party to rise from their sleep, Adrian casted a pair of [Time Dilation II] when his head started to hurt. He had casted a total of five time spells. If the duration stacked, the group should have still about forty-five minutes remaining, but they wouldn¡¯t wake up long after the duration finished. The time was 6:23 a.m. and everyone was tired. Adrian made a mental note to try [Shadow Mantle] as he didn¡¯t use it yet. The [Title] let him lose enemies aggro at badly illuminated places and he could use the ability [Stealth] without any cost as long as he was in the shadows or the dark. The applications were endless, but the [Title] was oriented to make a nocturnal predator out of him. It made great synergy with [Assassinate]. Adrian questioned why [Shadow Mantle] did not proc a fusion with [Assassinate], but Adrian supposed that the answer was that there was no title-skill fusion. Only passives and actives could fuse together with their types. The Time Weaver¡¯s train of thought was stopped when he heard a mighty yawn. For a second he thought that a beast had made its way to the camp, but then noticed Aby standing up. ¡°Good morning.¡± Adrian told her. ¡°Oh,¡± Aby yawned once again. She stretched his body. ¡°Good morning.¡± Using his favorite [Title], Adrian saw that it was 6:50 a.m. It seems that Aby didn¡¯t need much sleep after yesterday¡¯s siesta 34. Timelines ¡°Reeeeee!¡± Dale woke up crying out loud with a piercing sound. ¡°I slept well.¡± He stretched his body after he had jumped out of the dirt. There, Aby and Adrian stood, watching deadpanned the boy who awakened like it was an angry frog marking its territory. ¡°So, I was saying,¡± Aby ignored Dale and continued talking with Adrian. ¡°There never was a World War 3, it stayed as a tense time that it¡¯s called the Cold War.¡± ¡°So, no nuclear boogaloo?¡± Adrian asked her. ¡°No nuclear boogaloo.¡± She responded. ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t ignore me!¡± Dale cried to the pair. They stared him shortly and Adrian spoke once again. ¡°How did that work out?¡± ¡°It became an arms race that never saw war and ended up as a war of espionage and intelligence,¡± Aby told to the Homo Sapiens Hestia. ¡°That period ended when the USSR fell.¡± ¡°That sounds fairly pacific.¡± Adrian told. ¡°Or you can just ignore me, fine!¡± Dale gave up and sat on one of the logs around the campfire, but not before going to the river and taking a sip. ¡°It really wasn¡¯t.¡± Aby explained. ¡°It does seem to me that way.¡± Adrian started. ¡°World War 3 started when Fascist Spain seek to conquer Portugal, which was under soviet protection at the time. It quickly escalated into a world war. Spain joined the UN and Portugal the Eastern Bloc. The war only lasted two years after the nuclear bombings of St Petersburg and L.A. People reminded the horrors of nuclear warfare and after some hastily-made peace treaties, the war ended with Spain losing its dictator but taking a part of northern Portugal.¡± ¡°There were only two nuclear bombings? I recall being hundred of nuclear warheads made in this period.¡± Aby asked Adrian. ¡°No, there were more.¡± He explained. ¡°Those were the ones that ended the war, but I remember places like Vladivostok, Portland, and Oporto being nuked.¡± ¡°Where is Vladivostok?¡± Aby asked as she didn¡¯t know the place of that city. ¡°It¡¯s near the point where Korean, Chinese, and Soviet frontiers collided. It¡¯s situated at the Sea of Japan.¡± Adrian added the latter after reminding the details.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Now that I remember,¡± Aby started. ¡°You said the first day, when we arrived at Mundompio, that the USA and the USSR arrived on the same day on the Moon. Does this World War 3 have something to do with it?¡± ¡°Yeah, now that I think about it.¡± Adrian while cleaning his glasses. ¡°After WW3, the Soviets, which they didn¡¯t exactly fall as you told, made a treaty with the USA to have a friendly space race. There wouldn¡¯t be any espionage and the rockets would be launch on the same day. It was supposed to be a competition to show who got better technology. In the end, they were close. I think the Soviets landed an hour earlier than the Americans, but it was a scientific probe instead of a manned ship. Hence why the discussion of who landed first. A scout Soviet robot or the manned American Lunar Module.¡± ¡°Huh, it¡¯s fascinating how the course of history changed.¡± Aby sighed. ¡°A peaceful war and an aggressive space race, or an aggressive war and a peaceful space race.¡± ¡°It sounds cooler if you put it that way.¡± Adrian commented. They stayed talking about the difference between their timelines. Each time going further back the history. As they already told, history was practically the same when they went to times previous to the twentieth century. One thing that was different centuries down the timeline was the fall of Constantinople. Aby said that it was in 1452 while Adrian said 1453, Dale told that he didn¡¯t remember. Two possible theories: history changed or one of the two had a bad memory. Both were probable, and to be fair, both of them could be actually true. They didn¡¯t know the exact day so maybe it fell on January 1 on one world and December 31 at another one. They already spoke about Columbus discovering the Americas in 1492, and it didn¡¯t seem to have any discrepancies between the three. They wanted to analyze more events, but in the end, neither of them was a historian and had forgotten all they learned in school long ago. The remaining members of the party awaken between 8 and 9 a.m. Kayle being the last one. Then they had their delicious breakfast that consisted of salty jerky, bread without yeast, and river water. A basic one, but it filled their bellies. ¡°What are we going to do now?¡± Kayle asked after having her breakfast. ¡°Questing.¡± Adrian told as he swayed the quest paper in his hands. ¡°Only ten mantises?¡± Axel asked after he read the wavering paper. ¡°There wasn¡¯t more mantis related quest,¡± Adrian explained. ¡°So, the question should be: what are we going to do after the quest?¡± ¡°I want to explore the city!¡± Kayle answered with excitement. ¡°I can enter without problems because I am an adventurer,¡± Adrian told. ¡°So, I could go with Mike and Kayle to the city to deliver the quest. What do you think, big boy?¡± Adrian asked about Axel¡¯s opinion as then he would be the only one that hadn¡¯t visited Czecheri. ¡°No problemo.¡± The towering brown guy responded. ¡°So,¡± Adrian started. ¡°We kill ten mantises and then we do a tour around the town?¡± ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Mike told. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we buy more cloaks?¡± Aby made a good question. ¡°We could even buy native clothing,¡± Adrian said. ¡°I want to have a money margin just in case. I was thinking that we could sleep in an inn after we receive the lair¡¯s reward.¡± ¡°That sounds amazing.¡± Kayle said. ¡°I¡¯m tired of sleeping out in the open.¡± Adrian thought about telling her to stop being such a whiner, but he also wasn¡¯t having the best of nights here. Everyone in the party would kill to have a bed, literally. As a matter of fact, that was what they were going to do right now. 35. Madness It proved difficult to find mantises after their little rampage over the mantis sanctuary. The population was scarcer, hence the added difficulty of the hunt. It seemed that dwindling their numbers made the monsters more cautious as they now traveled in greater packs. Adrian separated from the group to do a little scouting. Benefits of beings faster. Now it was impossible to see mantis loners, the smallest group he found was of three mantises. Although it wasn¡¯t mathematically rational to affirm that was the lowest size of a group as he did only find two trios. That presented Adrian with one question. Were the mantis monsters like in videogames or animals? A creature that spawned from the darkness and miasma or an insect that needed to reproduce to sustain the species. Adrian wanted to believe it was the second one, not because it was difficult to fight an ever-respawning enemy, but as humans were professionals on eradicating species. They had a shtick for insects, too. It was painful for Adrian to couldn¡¯t stop asking questions he was unable to answer. He decided to put them apart like the others. In the end, he wasn¡¯t a Greek philosopher that had all the time in the world to think so hard that things became true, but a human that wanted to live. Specifically, he wanted to stop surviving and just live. Adrian reunited with the party after tracking the two groups of mantises. As the monster¡¯s patrols were slow and cautious, that permitted Adrian to localize them and bring the hounds, also known as their party members. Now Adrian thought the rest to be dogs, and to be honest, Axel would be a pretty scary bulldog. He stopped his inner distractions and casted [Time Dilation II], giving a decent speed boost to the party. ¡°Follow me.¡± Adrian said briefly as he walked into the woods. As the party scout had observed, three mantises were marching before them. The creatures were unbeknownst of the earthlings. Adrian did notice that [Shadow Mantle] proved useful for scouting missions, at least in the woods. The tree¡¯s shadows were enough to activate the [Title] passive. It seemed overpowered to Adrian, but he then remembered it would be useful in a flat. Like Spider-Man in the Low Countries. Dale was going to shoot one of the mantises, but his sister stopped him. ¡°Hey! I almost shot you.¡± Dale told her. ¡°No, you won¡¯t. I grabbed the pipe by the middle.¡± Kayle told as she set free Dale¡¯s blowpipe. ¡°I and Aby want to try our new [Skills] and [Titles].¡± Dale looked at Adrian like a son who wanted his father to punish her unruly sister, but Adrian just shrugged his shoulders. ¡°I want to see that too.¡± In the end, Dale was the only one who was bloodthirsty.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°[Smite]!¡± Kayle casted her offensive light spell to one of the mantises. She didn¡¯t need to cry the name, but it was more spectacular that way. Also, stealth wasn¡¯t an option. Once that light projectile that resembled a blade was noticed by the monsters, they would be detected. ¡°[Mind Tick I].¡± Aby casted her spell right after Kayle. Aby¡¯s magic ¨C for the moment being ¨C wasn¡¯t offensive. Her [Forgotten Horror] could be used to attack, but the spell was only a debuff. Not that mattered as the mantis which she had casted the [Mind Tick I] failed its [Voluntat] stat check and became affected by [Madness]. The next seconds were worthy of a thriller movie. The deranged mantis commenced attacking its companions, without any objectives at mind. It swept the air as it was trying to kill it, or the inverse. The maddened mantis decapitated one of the others, the remaining one attacked at the crazy one and managed to cut one of its arms, only to be decapitated by the other one. The last mantis, still under the effects of [Madness], knelt and started banging its head on the ground. Each knock accompanied by a louder thud, that was until the mantis fell dead on the ground. Everyone stood there, silent, watching the suicidal insect. And then Adrian talked. ¡°What the fuck, Aby?¡± His voice contained more doubt than inquietude. ¡°To be fair,¡± Aby started. ¡°I did not know what the [Madness] effect did.¡± ¡°I know, I know¡­¡± Adrian told in affirmation. ¡°It¡¯s just that¡­ wow. It was brutal.¡± And it indeed was. That creature, monster or not, had murdered his companions and then killed itself. Kayle was saved from puking on the ground thanks to her aura of comfort that was provided by [The Priestess¡¯ Star]. Mike bypassed that directly and felt that if he hadn¡¯t obtained the [Title] for maxing out [Voluntat] at the tutorial, he would have fainted. Dale, the last minor, stood there watching. It was gruesome, but he had seen worst in movies. Plus, they weren¡¯t human, just insects. ¡°Thank god that we already had breakfast, because I lost all appetite.¡± Kayle commented while looking at the mantis¡¯ rampage. ¡°Look at the bright side.¡± Adrian told her. ¡°What bright side could be at... this.¡± Kayle signalized the scene with her arms. ¡°I have one arm less to cut out of three.¡± As Adrian spoke, Kayle grunted. She couldn¡¯t have expected anything serious to come out of Adrian¡¯s mouth. Kayle and Aby walked back to the campsite. They weren¡¯t proud of the scene. Axel and Mike were the next ones to follow the pair. Dale stood with Adrian and then whispered to him. ¡°Was that a Monty Python reference?¡± The boy asked. ¡°What? No.¡± He told. ¡°Oh, you say it for the bright side. Nah, I haven¡¯t thought about it. But now it seems like a wasted opportunity.¡± ¡°Yeah, they should always look on the light side of life.¡± Adrian rolled his eyes after Dale¡¯s words. ¡°Do you still wanna hunt?¡± Adrian asked the blond sibling. ¡°There¡¯s a group of three out there.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Dale responded. ¡°Free experience is good experience.¡± Adrian cut the two remaining mantis¡¯ arms and put them in the old food bag, now the arm sack. Then, Adrian and Dale went on a short hunt. 36. Discussion Fun fact: the arm that was cut by the maddened mantis was the right one and not the left one. That meant the whole ¡®now I have one less arm to cut¡¯ parade was useless. Either way, Dale and Adrian went to assassinate the last mantis squad in spec-ops mode. Nothing fancy, but it was cool to them when they imagined being special agents. Adrian could get close to his enemies without getting detected, and Dale could snipe them from the distance. Each one killed one mantis, the remaining one was shot by Dale and killed by Adrian in order to balance the experience. It wasn¡¯t a perfect system ¨C as Adrian got a 60% contribution ¨C but it worked. Adrian should have factored the fact he had [Time Dilation II] on, but both him and Dale forgot it was still working. The guys did a little experiment with [Time Magic] while they were walking back to the camp. Tracking the mantis group had taken more time than expected as they walked far away from the previous spot. The experiment consisted of casting [Time Dilation II] two times in a row. If the effect duplicated, great. If not, they had to prove if the duration stacked. So, at 10:16 a.m. Adrian started his countdown. If the spell wore off at 10:31, the time didn¡¯t add. Even then, if the spell did add, that only meant he could cast it one time and forget about it without paying attention to the remaining time. It actually wasn¡¯t useful as he could cast another one if the party felt the effect ended, but hey, at least they would have found the boundaries of [Time Dilation II]. ¡°The effect is gone.¡± Dale casually said to Adrian as they walked in the woods. He felt his body becoming slower, the spell no longer worked. Adrian used his [Ultimum Celeritas] to watch the time. 10:32, the information was introduced directly to his thoughts. ¡°Fuck.¡± Adrian swore. ¡°Only one worked?¡± Dale asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Adrian confirmed. ¡°Sixteen minutes had passed since I casted the first spell, so when I casted the second one, the first vanished.¡± ¡°Oof,¡± Dale sighed. ¡°That was a waste of mental power.¡± ¡°Sure, it was.¡± Adrian replied. It was a shame that his resources were wasted, but there went his plans of stacking [Time Dilation II] until he used all his mental power and then recharge it in the Blue World Template. Truth be told, Adrian didn¡¯t want to wait tens of relative hours, but that would have been ease experience without any risks. ¡°Yo!¡± Dale saluted the party once he and Adrian arrived at the river. ¡°We have hunted a bit since you weren¡¯t in the mood.¡± Dale pointed at the bag that Adrian was carrying.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Only four to go.¡± Adrian added. Aby made signs of wanting to speak, she stopped, swallowed her words, but finally talked. ¡°How can you two be so energetic after that?¡± She asked about the massacre she provoked. ¡°They were just insects,¡± Dale explained. ¡°Even then, didn¡¯t you kill hundreds of baby mantises?¡± ¡°That was different.¡± Aby defended herself. ¡°I see no difference.¡± Dale argued. ¡°That moment I actively killed,¡± Aby started her explanation. ¡°But now¡­ now I forced a living being to kill its compatriots.¡± Aby hated insects, and she showed that. That didn¡¯t prevent her from being influenced by the scene. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t give it that much thought.¡± Axel advised her. ¡°Yeah,¡± Mike agreed. ¡°Also remember that Dale has The Fool. He isn¡¯t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.¡± Mike knew the Tarot card did not work quite like that, but he wouldn¡¯t tell Aby that. ¡°What about you, Adrian?¡± Aby sought Adrian¡¯s explanation. ¡°Maybe my world is more fucked up than yours?¡± He responded with a question as he sat on a log. ¡°I dunno. Perhaps I¡¯m cold-blood or insensitive to those matters.¡± Adrian responded sincerely. He didn¡¯t know if their Earths were lighter in relation to traumatizing topics. But Adrian recalled learning not family-friendly things in History classes, even for his world¡¯s standards. Adrian wasn¡¯t a person that hesitated, either. He had killed the first mantis he saw without a doubt or remorse. ¡°I wish I was like you.¡± Aby whispered, her voice was faint, but the feeling genuine. ¡°What are we going to do now?¡± Kayle asked as she casted [Renew] on Adrian. He wasn¡¯t hurt, but it was probably to squeeze experience from the Class Advancement Overview. ¡°Well, first we need to hunt the four remaining mantises. Then Mike, you, and I will go to Czecheri.¡± Adrian cleaned his glasses as he explained. He contemplated the idea of buying some silk or a similar cloth for cleaning the glasses. ¡°I am a bit tired.¡± Kayle explained. ¡°And I¡¯m not in the mood to hunt.¡± The rest of the party nodded to her words, even Dale. He was probably more tired than psychologically unwell. ¡°Alright,¡± Adrian told. ¡°I¡¯m gonna hunt those monsters and then we submit the quest at the guild.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± Mike responded. The Time Weaver left the party in order to complete the quest. As he walked, Adrian presented himself with a question. ¡®How it is that [Celeratio] makes me faster but I consume the same energy?¡¯ That broke Adrian¡¯s basic understanding of physics. He wasn¡¯t an expert, but more movement meant more calories burnt. Well, he had seen a lot of things that literally broke the rules of the universe, but he was worried about the first principle of thermodynamics. He discarded the question by thinking that the Record did as he read on the tutorial. He was quicker, period. This procedure could make sense, physics wise. One only had to think that he was more energy-efficient, needing less energy by meter walked. Still, that train of thought was a dead end. Adrian couldn¡¯t explain how something like the Arcane Record could work, he needed to play along. And right now, killing mantises to complete quests was the priority. The next objective after that was to reach 50 [Celeratio]. 37. Sides Dale sat there on a log, recreating the posture of The Thinker with the log beings its pedestal, trying to figure out a question. As he couldn¡¯t achieve a satisfying one, he asked the party. ¡°How is it that there¡¯s birdsong in these woods, but we haven¡¯t seen any birds?¡± He wasn¡¯t the only one that meditated that question but now seemed a good moment to resolve it. ¡°I mean, this is our third day in the forest, and we haven¡¯t seen anything beyond trees and mantises.¡± ¡°What do you want to do about it?¡± Mike asked him. ¡°Search for the birds?¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I am going to do.¡± Dale got up and approached a tree. ¡°You aren¡¯t going to do what I think you are going to do, right?¡± His sister asked him. ¡°I¡¯m gonna do that.¡± Dale responded. ¡°You are a fucking idiot,¡± Kayle told. ¡°Go on.¡± And then motivated her brother to do it. ¡°What¡¯s he going to do?¡± Aby asked her as she took a sip of water from her cup. ¡°He wants to climb the tree in order to see the birds.¡± Kayle explained Dale¡¯s train of thought. While those two were talking, Dale already proceeded to climb the tree. The forest was composed of high trees, similar to oak, but with the height of a pine tree. Falling from a tree like that could prove lethal, but Dale had his high [Fortuna], and Axel was watching his back. Leaves moved around as Dale traveled across the branches, trying to find any bird. If this was Earth, birds would already have flown away when they sensed the danger. But here, he couldn¡¯t find anything. The birdsong was there, now more vibrant than ever, its rhythm accelerated. Dale was getting nervous, so he climbed to the treetop in order to see if the birds were resting at the highest point. It became harder to keep balance as Dale climber the thinner branches that composed the summit. He finally got his head up over the forest, only a sea of green filled his vision. No sight of an unidentified flying animal. When he decided that the birdsong was a collective hallucination of some sort, he started descending through the branches, then he saw it. ¡°Bloody hell!¡± Dale cried out. ¡°What? What happened? Are you okay?¡± Aby¡¯s words were as fast as a bullet, her concern over Dale was clear.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯m good.¡± He responded even if no one had a clear line of sight over him. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe it.¡± Dale said as he grunted. ¡°What?¡± Her sister asked. ¡°Did you find the birds?¡± ¡°Yeah, I find the culprits. No birds, tho.¡± His answer surprised the rest. ¡°They are insects like cicadas fused with crickets. It¡¯s weird af when you see them sing. I mean, it¡¯s like a bird was trapped inside an insects¡¯ body.¡± ¡°Crickets that sing in the day, that¡¯s close to one of my worsts nightmares.¡± Aby joked, some truth hidden in her words. ¡°Why? I don¡¯t see a problem there.¡± Kayle responded to her as he saw her brother climbing down the tree. ¡°Look at it this way.¡± Aby started. ¡°If there are diurnal crickets, the normal ones would make a sound at night. It would be 24/7 torture.¡± ¡°Yeah, I think you are the one who is watching it wrong,¡± Kayle told Aby. ¡°If there are cicadas and crickets, they would sing all day long.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Aby said. ¡°Cicadas sing at day, while crickets do it at night?¡± Kayle explained to her. ¡°Do they?¡± Aby had no real knowledge of insects thanks to her phobia. ¡°Axel, is that right?¡± Aby decided to ask the man who seemed to have more awareness of the subject. ¡°Yeah, I think so.¡± Axel responded while he kept looking at Dale, just in case. ¡°Huh.¡± Aby now knew why she heard the cicadas all day during summer. They were combining to terrorize against her person. ¡°Why those stop singing during the night?¡± Aby asked as she pointed the tree. ¡°I dunno.¡± Dale answered once he got his feet on the ground. ¡°But I think that shouldn¡¯t the first thing you ask if you saw an insect that sounds like a bird. Exactly like the real deal.¡± The conversation between the two was broken by a whisper. Mike¡¯s whisper. ¡°Sides of the same coin¡­¡± His voice was low but captivated the attention of the party. ¡°Now that I think about it¡­¡± His monologue was cutting in parts as he kept thinking out loud but also in his mind. ¡°That¡¯s odd.¡± ¡°Nah, fam. What¡¯s odd is the serial killer vibe you got on right now.¡± Dale told Mike. The boy jumped out of his log as Dale approaching scarred him. ¡°Jeez, you were really hitting the brains,¡± Dale commented Mike¡¯s jump scare. ¡°What were you mumbling about?¡± ¡°Nothing, really,¡± Mike told. ¡°It just seemed strange to me that all the [Tarot] cards we got are more based on the upright side.¡± ¡°Hold on. I don¡¯t know anything about Tarot, could you explain yourself?¡± Axel explained at the little guy. ¡°Sure,¡± Mike answered. ¡°There are twenty-two cards in the Tarot deck, but even then, the cards have another meaning depending on the side it was revealed. That means there are forty-four different outcomes, technically. But all the [Tarot] cards we got so far are closer to the upright side than the reverse. Even though both sides of The Hermit are pretty similar¡­¡± That last part was whispered to the point no one could understand it. ¡°And?¡± Dale intervened. ¡°Nothing, just a curiosity. A coincidence that can be funny.¡± Mike explained. ¡°I also want to say again that I am not a Tarot expert sooo I could get a lot of things wrong.¡± ¡°Ignore Dale.¡± Aby said with some poison in her tone. ¡°Surely there¡¯s some message hidden.¡± She comforted Mike a bit. ¡°I mean, there could be,¡± Mike told. ¡°Upright meanings are mostly positive, while the reverse, well¡­ are the reverse. It makes sense if we consider these are useful abilities that we use.¡± 38. Evolved While Adrian cut the arm of the last mantis, he thought about the damage he dealt. [Celeratio] didn¡¯t gave him more firepower like [Fisica] would, it only made him faster. That presented the question if the momentum gained by [Celeratio]¡¯s speed would be equivalent to more damage. The other class that had the requirements of having Maxxed [Celeratio] during the tutorial, the one called Velocitas, said that more momentum would be applied to his attacks, or something like that. Recalling his Physics class, a higher momentum translated into a higher force. So technically, when Adrian increased his [Celeratio], he would do more damage. This wouldn¡¯t be directly caused by the Arcane Record, but by basic physics ¨C if they worked. After obtaining the four remaining left mantis¡¯ arms, Adrian marched to the campsite so he could go with Kayle and Mike to the town. But then, he felt a presence of some sort, a killing instinct. Without hesitating, Adrian changed his time perception to a tenth of the normal as he felt half speed wouldn¡¯t be enough. Slowly, he turned his head to see an enemy. ¡®Oh, shit.¡¯ He thought. A bigger mantis was in front of him, a more vicious one. Its scythes were longer, the tips having a vorpal shape; its eyes bigger than the [Archimantis Homicida] counterpart, and finally, long wings glued to its back. The monster was faster than any mantis he had seen, moving relatively fast in a perception were time moved ten times slower. Adrian was fucked, a lot of his [Skills] and [Titles] worked when being undetected. Right now, at a fight like this, he could only use [Ultimum Celeritas] and his daggers. He kept calm and analyzed the situation. The big mantis had jumped in the air, giving him a window to strike at its weak points. Adrian could still use [Assassinate] if he positioned himself at the mantis back or broke the line of sight. Adrian eyeballed that the real mantis speed would be like his when he was at ten [Celeratio], double the speed of a normal human. Although the mantis was fast, Adrian was a bit more. And even then, he had ten seconds to react to the mantis¡¯ movements, while the monster only got one to react to Adrian¡¯s. The Time Weaver decided to duck the first swing of the mantis, as he aimed for the free scythe, trying to cut it with one dagger strike. That didn¡¯t work as planned as the dagger couldn¡¯t cut through the monster keratin armor, but it received a serious hit in the right arm. Adrian dodged to one side as aiming for another strike could be risky. As the human evaded, the mantis landed on the ground and did a sweep attack around it. Adrian could have gotten seriously wounded if he stayed to clutch another hit. The mantis cried, Adrian thought it could be a [Skill] as it was weird to cry when you were in a fight, then he remembered he was fighting against an insect.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The problem of moving in such a slow time was that he had to calculate his speed. [Ultimate Celeritas] helped him a bit, but it still was an alien feeling even if he had used the [Title] every moment since he got it. Adrian was scared of the monster, that speed, those attacks, the movements¡­ ¡®It was a [Skill].¡¯ Adrian noticed when his thoughts became foggy. He didn¡¯t know if he had passed a [Stat] check, if he did it was probably [Voluntat], but the Record did not give any notification. For the moment, Adrian stayed in the defensive. Maybe the mantis would think that its [Skill] affected him, but at least Adrian could counterattack the monster¡¯s movements. The mantis flipped its wings, they were clearly not potent enough to make the insect fly, but they gave them more force and acceleration to its jump. The monster pounced over Adrian, and he responded the same way as before, cutting the right arm. The blow now hit harder than before, splitting the mantis arm. Adrian was splashed by a bit of ichor as the mantis¡¯ scythe was hanging from a thread, clinging to the body instead of falling to the ground. The scenery was gory, the mantis shrieked in pain, the arm swinging from one side to the other. Either way, Adrian did not approach the monster. Maybe he was paranoid, but he had a gut feeling that getting closer to the mantis now would be bad. And he was right. The monster became angrier than before, losing its capability to think rationally. Perhaps it was inflicted with [Berserk] status effect as it saw its arm eviscerated by the human. As rage take over the mantis, Adrian backstepped. The monster started slashing the air in front of it with its good scythe. The hacking was so potent that the insect was consuming a huge amount of stamina with each swing. Adrian waited eagerly the moment when the mantis stopped to rest or got out of stamina. The Time Weaver was fully concentrated on dodging every attack, patience was now the key to victory. Seconds passed as the monster devasted the air. The period between each slice became greater and greater, and when the frequency was equivalent to one relative second to Adrian, he attacked. He threw a mantis arm, one he had cut before, as a distraction. The enraged mantis cut through the arm as it was butter, but it gave Adrian some precious instants. A brief tenth of a second was enough to break the line of sight. Adrian sidestepped and situated at the mantis¡¯ back and stabbed it. He activated [Assassinate] as his right dagger flew across the mantis wings to the heart and the left one aimed to the head. The critter fell to the ground, and with a thud, a Record notification came.
Level 11 [Archimantis Occisor] has been slayed Participation Rate: 100% You have earned 800 experience
That mantis was different from the other ones, and the Record confirmed it. It also gave eight times more times than a common one. But then Adrian checked [Ultimum Celeritas] and realized one thing. Only thirty seconds had passed actually, but for him, he had battled to the death for five straight minutes. Time perception was scary sometimes. 蔚. Gravity Day 23: I found my self in the workshop, building a useless machine out of sheer boredom. It¡¯s been more than three weeks since I woke up and my best idea was to build a machine whose only purpose in its existence was to shut down when someone turned it on. Day 31: A month happened since my awakening and for the first time, I was able to sense my libido. Being alone in a spacecraft tended to affect people both psychologically and physically, so I am somewhat glad that my little friend also had awakened. Thanks to the downloaded database of the internet that the ship¡¯s records had, I have able to search for some porn to help my problems. Day 35: IVA is still reproaching me about my decision of self-loathing that was ¡®human sexual self-pleasure¡¯. I told her that it was only a one-time thing, but four days in and she doesn¡¯t stop drilling me facts. It arrived at one point I didn¡¯t care. The ship was equipped with the best recycling systems in the world. I don¡¯t only recycle waste, but also food, water, oxygen, energy, heat¡­ This ship was almost a perfect machine, technology-wise. It had a performance of a 99%, while it wasn¡¯t a perpetual motion machine, it was damn near close. Day 60: I think I am growing closer to botany, no pun intended. IVA was the one that managed the hydroponic farms, but since I didn¡¯t need to do anything at the ship, not a single chore, I decided to help myself with growing my own food. Day 63: Finally, my first cabbages and potatoes have grown. I think they are a bit more delicious after I was the one who cultivated them. That ¡®day¡¯, since time was relative at these speeds, it occurred to me to ask the meaning of IVA¡¯s name. I don¡¯t know why it took me so much time to ask, to be honest. She responded that the acronym stood for Intelligent Virtual Assistant. She also told me some fun facts about the brainstorming during her name¡¯s inception. In the end, her actual name was some sort of joke. Day 64: Now I understand the joke, not a good one, but still, a word game. IVA was the Spanish term for VAT. I think the joke lies that the project was sponsored by the world government, but it was strange as I didn¡¯t pay taxes here. Day 90: Start of the third month. Well, technically there would be a 31-day month between those three, but for my own sake let¡¯s say month are thirty days long. I asked IVA if communication with Earth would be possible, but she dismissed the idea. I already knew it was impossible, but I wanted to talk to a living human for a change. The craft moved through the space vacuum at near light speed, which meant I was already out of the Solar System long ago. Considering Alpha Centauri was at four light-years, I should be there around the fifth year of travel. Day 123: Lights out.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± I asked IVA while lifting weights in the gym at two times the gravity of the Moon. ¡°What were those turbulences?¡± Since the beginning of the travel, nothing like that had happened before. ¡°We crossed a meteoroid belt.¡± IVA responded in her robotic but melodious voice. That didn¡¯t make much sense. We had already flown across the asteroid belt and the Oort Cloud at the Solar System and I hadn¡¯t detected such disturbances. I directed towards the cockpit, the only place that contained windows to outer space. ¡°Open the curtains.¡± I demanded to IVA as I saw the metallic protectors covering the front windows of the spaceship. ¡°I am afraid I can¡¯t do that, Eiichiro.¡± That was the first time IVA called me by my name in a long time. That phrasing scared me a little as it reminded me of the HAL 9000. ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± I sat in the only chair in the room, the captain¡¯s chair. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be ready.¡± IVA responded. I sense a spec of wariness on her tone. ¡°Open the curtains.¡± I demanded once again, but I kept my voice calm even if I wasn¡¯t. I heard some beeps and boops until IVA deign to speak to me. ¡°Reveling confidential information of the Mission Adam from the Project Ark,¡± IVA said some interesting things before calling the name of the mission and the whole project. ¡°You never knew the full detail of the operation, did you Eiichiro?¡± ¡°No.¡± I responded blatantly. ¡°You were selected as the male human responsible for the Mission Adam.¡± She explained. ¡°While your female counterpart from the Mission Eve was selected to colonize Alpha Centauri, you had been charged with other plans.¡± ¡°Wait,¡± I told her. ¡°Wasn¡¯t I going to Alpha Centauri? Wasn¡¯t the second spaceship a form to maximize the survival rate?¡± ¡°You were tricked,¡± IVA stated, and then she rose the metallic curtains. Beyond the window, nothing could be seen except light accelerating at stupid rates. I knew what I was watching. ¡°You were selected to verify the possibility of black holes as wormholes. What you see in front of you is the accretion disk of the black hole.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± I lost my voice in such a view. ¡°Wasn¡¯t the closest black hole from Earth a thousand light-years?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± She responded, my body trembling. ¡°Then¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t mutter my words. ¡°You were in cryo-sleep for a millennium, Eiichiro.¡± IVA reveled the sourest truth. ¡°According to my calculations, life on Earth will have perished according to the predicted disasters and Proxima b is the new home of humanity.¡± Strength left my body; my arms hang out of the chair as I looked the object of infinite density in front of me. Everyone I knew died. Hell, the civilization that I knew had also died. ¡°There¡¯s no turning back, I suppose.¡± I spoke with IVA, I no longer cared. ¡°No.¡± She responded. ¡°We¡¯re are getting close to the event horizon. Once there, we won¡¯t be able to escape. Further down, time and space will swap and the dimension you are familiarized will break.¡± I readied myself as the light started to vanish until there was none. I couldn¡¯t even hear the monotonous voice of IVA. But then, in midst of total silence, a blue light appeared.
Welcome, Player! You were selected randomly through the Arcane Records to participate!
39. Dragging ¡°Oh, man. I¡¯m tired.¡± Adrian said as he stopped dragging the [Archimantis Occisor]¡¯s corpse. As it was a rare monster, he thought of bringing it to the campsite and ask for it once he went to Czecheri. ¡°Arghhh.¡± Adrian half-grunted half-sighed when he looked at his [Status]. He was close to leveling up, and his sixth sense told him the next level would be special. As a matter of fact, he was just bullshitting in order to ease this task a bit. The thing about dragging corpses is that time perception doesn¡¯t help. ¡°Better be juicy, this reward.¡± While Adrian did his tugging shenanigans, he thought of ways to obtain more experience from the Class Advancement Overview. At the moment, he had gained experience from [Ultimum Celeritas] and [Time Dilation II], which both were abilities unlocked after becoming a Time Weaver. ¡°Motherfucker!¡± Adrian cried as he noticed something. ¡°Why the hell [Rampage] didn¡¯t give me any experience?¡± Adrian recalled that the [Skill] was created thanks to one of the spells that were given with [Time Magic]. ¡°Ah, no I¡¯m just a fucking idiot.¡± And then remembered that [Rampage] was created with [Kill Streak] and [Fast Stab]. ¡°It was [Court of the Broken King] that consumed the other time spell.¡± Adrian didn¡¯t even remember the name of the spell as it was short-lived. Literally. He hadn¡¯t even used that magic. ¡°I am walking on circles,¡± Adrian spoke metaphorically as he was dragging the mantis in a straight line. ¡°I need experience to unlock CBK,¡± He said to abridge the mouthful of [Skill] that it was CBK. ¡°But CBK is one of the three ways I had to gain more exp from the Class Advancement Overview.¡± Adrian couldn¡¯t help but sigh once again. Changing time perception to the old gooseplanks lifetimes made things more enjoyable, but Adrian still needed to do the hard work. It was interesting as to his own perspective; he suddenly applied the same force in half the time. Physically speaking, that wasn¡¯t the case. But to Adrian, to seconds passed instead of one. Adrian thought that Einstein¡¯s relativity may take place here but hastily discarded the idea. The only things Adrian knew about light physics were how to calculate the frequency or relative time to lightspeed. There were some things still there, but even if Adrian enjoyed his physics class when he was a student, that was a long time ago. Even then, he had forgotten a lot of the formulae and he wasn¡¯t exactly a human calculator, so everything he could theorize or compute, wouldn¡¯t be exactly reliable. The old relative time formula wouldn¡¯t apply to its case even if he wanted. That formula used speeds to resolve the time dilation, and Adrian knew [Celeratio], and more specifically [Ultimum Celeritas], didn¡¯t work that way. He could dilate his own time, but there may be any speed to factor if he stayed still. The lesson of the day: Record couldn¡¯t care less about old relativity.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Didn¡¯t I pass Physics by the length of a hair?¡± Adrian recalled his notes at high school. ¡°I may be speaking nonsense here¡­¡± Adrian kept himself from rumbling until he arrived at the campfire. These days at Mundompio had magnified his sense of geolocation greatly. Sure, the river did help him find the way, but it was a little prowess finding the site every time he delved into the sea of trees. ¡°What the fuck?¡± Aby asked the man dragging a man-sized insect corpse. ¡°Oh, hey there. What a welcoming greeting.¡± Adrian saluted Aby. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Aby cried at him. ¡°Just some jogging, you see.¡± Adrian trotted a bit to show her. ¡°I mean with the body!¡± Even if she knew Adrian was joking, it wasn¡¯t the commonest thing to do so while still grabbing the corpse. ¡°I killed this bad boy now,¡± Adrian explained. ¡°It was an epic battle that exuded emotion, anger, angst, and finally, glory¡­¡± He liked to be dramatic once in a while. ¡°The glory was mine, obviously.¡± ¡°Relax a bit.¡± Axel told. Adrian didn¡¯t know if he told that to him or to Aby, but both of them chilled out. ¡°Well,¡± Adrian started. ¡°This looks like an evolved version of the mantises. It was level 11, so I theorized that mantis evolves at level 10.¡± ¡°Like some Pok¨¦mon?¡± Dale asked. ¡°Perhaps.¡± Adrian responded. ¡°Actually,¡± Mike explained. ¡°Pok¨¦mon evolving is a misconception. They suffer a metamorphosis, an individual change, and not evolution. Evolution is a constant process that affects generations.¡± He lectured with his professor''s vibe. ¡°Right,¡± Adrian said. ¡°Its name was [Archimantis Occisor]. What can you tell us, walking atlas?¡± ¡°Firstly, I am no atlas. I just know some concrete things that casually appeared here.¡± Mike told Adrian. ¡°And secondly, I don¡¯t know what the name means. I just know some Latin conjugation and vocabulary.¡± ¡°Yeaaah,¡± Adrian elongated greatly the a. ¡°Either way, that monster was powerful. It ambushed me so I couldn¡¯t use my stealth related abilities.¡± ¡°Are you okay?¡± Aby asked him with wariness. ¡°Now you asked about my wellbeing?¡± Adrian said as he stared at the woman. ¡°But, yes. I am fine, thank you.¡± ¡°Did it fly?¡± Dale questioned after he saw the wings of the evolved mantis. ¡°Sort of,¡± Adrian responded. ¡°It used them to assist in jumps and air control, but not a true flight.¡± ¡°Now, the million-dollar question.¡± Dale started. ¡°How many experience?¡± He asked as he rubbed his hands like some evil capo. ¡°Eight-hundred.¡± Adrian answered blatantly, no jokes whatsoever. ¡°Holly molly!¡± Dale said in awe. ¡°That¡¯s eight mantises in one hunt.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah the mantises,¡± Adrian said as he collected the other arms into the sack where he had the four that he had just collected. ¡°Should we get going?¡± Adrian asked Kayle and Mike. 40. Information ¡°So, you were a delivery man.¡± Kayle said as she walked alongside Adrian and Mike. ¡°Yes, I was.¡± Adrian responded. ¡°I imagined you were a PE teacher.¡± She added. ¡°PE teacher? How?¡± Adrian asked her. ¡°You are energetic, and you are always telling jokes, that sounds PE teacher-like to me.¡± Kayle justified. ¡°Following that train of thought, Axel would be the teacher.¡± Mike joined the conversation. ¡°I figured Adrian would be a salaryman, or he had a boring desktop job.¡± ¡°I wish,¡± Adrian told. ¡°My family couldn¡¯t afford college or having student loans, and even then, the global situation wasn¡¯t the best one.¡± ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± Mike asked him. ¡°A pandemic,¡± Adrian responded. ¡°Considering how humans evolved in my timeline, it was the worst-case scenario.¡± ¡°Ah, yes,¡± Kayle commented. ¡°You said your species evolved to be more heat resistant.¡± She recalled a scene from yesterday when Aby was still sleeping. Adrian got his hand close to the bonfire to prove the difference in tolerance. ¡°But in exchange, our respiratory system suffered a downgrade.¡± Adrian added. ¡°Now that I think about it,¡± Mike told. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you have delivery drones if your world was as fucked up as you said?¡± ¡°We do have those,¡± Adrian responded. ¡°The problem of living in a metropolis is that there wasn¡¯t a lot of space so they could land. To be eligible for drone delivery you had to have a small heliport, so you needed to have a yard, a balcony, or an open rooftop. Which they were difficult to come by. A lot of marketing in real-estate agencies was promoting drone-compatible housing.¡± And then he whispered something. ¡°Those were a real-scam.¡± There weren¡¯t any encounters in the way to Czecheri as they stuck close to the river. Kayle was a bit frustrated by this because she wanted to use her [Smite] once more. Adrian wanted more experience to level up too. It was interesting how he stopped considering the mantises as foes, now no more than prey. It was true that in order to kill Adrian they would need an [Archimantis Occisor] as the normal ones, no matter their numbers, Adrian could outrun them. The process was the same as before, once he arrived to Czecheri¡¯s gates he showed the guards his guild copper identification. The guards were different than before, though. A tall strict-looking woman and a brown and wide man were the guards. The man wasn¡¯t short, but next to his partner, he looked like a dwarf. Adrian thought if the guards rotated between gates as this was the third pair he saw. But then again, he didn¡¯t know how many guards were needed in order to protect a town, so he went on his way.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°It¡¯s so¡­ ugly.¡± Kayle said once they crossed the entrance to the city. ¡°Funny, Dale said something similar,¡± Adrian told. ¡°And to be fair, medieval cities weren¡¯t good looking in our world. A touristic photo from Berlin¡¯s old district isn¡¯t the norm for a medieval house.¡± Adrian remembered those rustic and cool-looking German houses from the medieval. ¡°Still,¡± Mike commented. ¡°Look at this place. We, in some way, can see how the people from centuries ago lived.¡± He said with the enthusiasm of a historian. ¡°Yeah, I can see your point.¡± Kayle told, but she wasn¡¯t a fan of the idea exactly. Kayle tried to get in the lead but Adrian stopped her. Even if she wanted to explore the city, they should stay together. Also, Adrian was the one who knew where the guild was. Not that it was hidden, but still. Before going out in a tour, Adrian and the rest went to the guild. They had to submit the mantis slaying quest and ask about the evolved one. The time was nearing noon, 11:59 a.m. showed on Adrian¡¯s metaphysical clock. He had a let down as he could have got an exact hour if he had waited a bit, but he couldn¡¯t control time. Anyhow, they queued for six minutes until it was their turn. ¡°Oh, hi there!¡± Adrian cheerfully said to the female officer. ¡°You know that it isn¡¯t afternoon now, right?¡± She responded with sarcasm. ¡°Do tell me. If someone knows the time, it is me.¡± Adrian basically spoiled his most [Title] to the guild worker but she ignored it as a joke. ¡°I came to deliver a quest and ask you a thing.¡± Adrian rose his mantis arm sack. ¡°I have a boyfriend.¡± The officer instantly answered. ¡°I think we had a tiny misunderstanding about what I wanted to ask.¡± Adrian told as he dropped the arm at the cloth on the ground and handed her the quest note. ¡°You don¡¯t?¡± The clerk doubted. ¡°How many people try to flirt with you to be so¡­ you.¡± Adrian wanted to say another word, something like viperine, but his mind went blank for a moment. The word was at the tip of his tongue but never reached the outside. ¡°Oh, wow thank you.¡± She used her sarcasm once again. ¡°Anyway,¡± She started once again as it seemed that this adventurer was a tiny bit different from the others. ¡°What did you wanted to ask?¡± ¡°I have found this bigger mantis, one with wings, called [Archimantis Homicida]. Do you know anything about it?¡± Adrian explained. ¡°Wait,¡± The officer said with surprise. ¡°You have found an Occisor and you are alright?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Adrian said. ¡°Didn¡¯t you start as an adventurer two days ago?¡± She asked. ¡°Yes, I did,¡± Adrian answered. ¡°But I did have some levels before registering.¡± ¡°Right,¡± The officer told. ¡°You wanted to know about the Occisor. [Archimantis Occisor] is the evolved form of the [Archimantis Homicida]. They evolve at level 10 and are considerably more dangerous than their more basic counterparts.¡± ¡°I did notice that. It was a rough one. Fast, especially.¡± Adrian explained. ¡°Did you kill it? Wow.¡± For the first time, the officer left her bitter face and change to one of surprise. ¡°I suppose you already have a class, then.¡± ¡°I do,¡± Adrian responded. ¡°Do I get promoted?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get full of yourself.¡± The officer said. ¡°It counts toward promotion, as questing does, but their body parts sell at a higher price.¡± ¡°Which are the good ones?¡± Adrian asked. ¡°I certainly don¡¯t want to carry the corpse of that large insect here.¡± ¡°Neither do I, believe me.¡± It seemed that some adventurers had done that before and didn¡¯t end up well. ¡°The wings and the scythes are the most valuable. If they are in a good state, I could give you fifty copper.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± Now it was Adrian¡¯s turn to be surprised. Adrian collected his reward of five copper and got out of the guild after not finding any interesting quest. ¡®Offer and demand is real in this world too. Five copper for ten mantises, but fifty for a big one.¡¯