《Tales of Mana》 Prologue Announcement: I (the author) am currently on a journey through guides, feedback and countless pages of miscellaneous other stuff to improve this work. I will not change the plot, but the style should be improved by a lot. I also intend to give more insights on the world and its characters. Once that is taken care of, this message will be removed. Until then, I wish you keep this in mind if you keep reading.
Ah... so some else came to watch this game? It''s gotten quite busy... you''re lucky, we just got a new champion. Yes, I''m talking to you... hmm... pity my true powers don''t reach to your plane, looking at you, I would love to have you participate... well... Let''s watch, shall we? I''m betting on the greenhorn.
(A blue substance surrounded by darkness, floating within the void, flowing through veins, all of this attached to some orb? Okay, what is this? Some kind of dream? ¡­ did I just ask myself whether or not I am in a dream while dreaming? So this is a lucid dream? )
Help: Negative. The current you is not able to sleep, thus this is not a dream.
(...what¡¯s this box doing here? ...not able to sleep? Just what the¡­)
Help: For further information about this, please read the description of ¡°Insensible¡±, skill classified as subskill of ¡°Materialist¡±. Should I display it?
(Ehm... okay?)
Materialist:
Insensible: Any major perturbation of your soul''s current state will automatically be mitigated. This renders you immune to: sleep, unconsciousness, rage, desperation, euphoria, ... and will automatically reduce the effects of other emotional states. This skill is at max level.
Soulless: You are considered to be a soulless entity, rendering you immune to the effects of soul-based attacks. However, the probability of reincarnation after death is 0%, and your soul will be destroyed alongside your physical body. Also, you are unable to sense souls and spiritual auras. Their effects on the physical plane remain observable if any. This skill is at max level.
(...soul? I don¡¯t even believe in stuff like that, what is this doing inside of my dream?)
Help: As mentioned before, this is not a dream. This is reality.
(Yeah, sure. I¡¯m chatting with a blue box of text while looking at some substance flowing through nothingness and not hearing, smelling, or feeling anything. Of course, this is reality.)
Help: This substance has been determined to be your current body. You are unable to feel, smell and hear as this body is unable to do so. The ability to perceive your body is granted by the skill ¡°Mana detection¡±, sub-skill of ¡°Adept of highly advanced technology¡±. Should I display relevant information?
(Go on.)
Adept of highly advanced technology:
Mana manipulation (LVl 1): You are able to control the position of mana within space. Currently applies to all mana within the flow and storage.
Mana detection (LV 1): You are able to sense mana. Currently applies to all mana within the flow and storage.
Mana conversion (LV 1): You are able to convert mana into energy. Currently up to 1 heat output can be controlled.
(¡­ so¡­ let¡¯s just go along with this. Mana detection allows me to see mana. The only thing I can see is this blue thing. I am this blue thing. And this is reality.)
Help: Affirmative.
(In that case¡­ mind telling me what happened to my legs, arms, head, torso¡­ you know, that stuff that should normally be attached to a human being?)
Help: They remained in your old world. Reincarnation did only transport your soul. The current you does not classify as a human being, but a spiritual being able to manipulate the entity known as ¡°mana¡±.
(You... are telling me I died? And what¡¯s more, have been reincarnated? As if¡­ ¡­ the last thing I remember¡­ no¡­ this can¡¯t be, right? Mom told me to go shopping... I went to the convenience store¡­ then¡­)
Help: The last thing you should be able to remember is getting hit on the neck. The estimated cause of death is ¡°Neurogenic shock¡± caused by a falling object damaging the spinal cord.
(that¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s right! But how do you know that?)
Help: I have access to all information you ever registered and am able to proceed it. This includes memories from your previous life.
(Just what are you?)
Help: I am ¡°Help¡±, sub-skill of ¡°Gamer¡±. My sole purpose is to assist you to fulfil your desires. Currently, I am communicating with you by using ¡°Windows¡±, also a subskill of ¡°Gamer¡±.
(Gamer?)
Gamer:
Help (LV 1): An intelligent assistance system.
Windows: Information can be displayed within windows. This skill is at max level.
Numeric perception: Certain aspects of reality are associated to numerical values if perceived by you. This includes ¡°Levels(LV)¡± ¡°Tiers(T)¡± ¡°Experience(EXP)¡± ¡°Lifeforce (HP)¡± ¡°Divine energy/mana (MP)¡± and similar, as well as ¡°Stats¡±. This skill is at max level.
(Doesn¡¯t this make me someone like Han Jee-Han? Wait¡­ I just got told that I¡¯ve been reincarnated, how can I be this calm about it? Ah¡­ I see. So that¡¯s what Insensible is doing.)
Help: Affirmative.
(So¡­ what am I supposed to do now? This is reincarnation so... save the world? I can¡¯t even see anything but me, much less move around, how am I supposed to do anything like this?)
Help: I am not aware whether or not this world requires to be ¡°saved¡±, however, it should be possible for you to interact with it using the remaining skills of ¡°Adept of highly advanced technology¡±.
(Ah right, manipulation and conversion, was it? So¡­ I¡¯m able to manipulate mana¡­ I am mana¡­ so I should be able to move this body of mine. But... how? I guess this is like learning how to walk, right? You have no idea how, but you¡¯ll somehow get a grasp of it¡­ well, not like I have anything else to do¡­)
(The blue substance remains within the veins, but it seems to concentrate on certain locations of the system... and I can choose those locations! I did it!) (So¡­ I can move myself around now. What¡¯s next?)
Help: As skills will level up by making use of them, which will, in turn, increase their utility, I recommend to keep making use of ¡°Help¡±, ¡°Mana manipulation¡± and ¡°Mana detection¡±
(Why not conversion?)
Help: Depending on how potent the ability is, it might lead to your sub- host''s, or your sub- host''s mother''s and subsequently your sub- host''s death, which would bring upon your own demise. I understand that it is your desire to survive, and have thus made this suggestion.
(My sub-host?)
Help: Should I display the relevant information?
(Of course!)
Character:Mana ConellLV1 (0/100000)
Race:Etheral(Spirit)
Host:Energy(Personal Mana)
Sub-host:-Elf, male, LV 1
Mana storage: 1000/1000Mana flow: 10/10Mana regeneration: 10/min
(I¡¯m in a fantasy world alright¡­ elves, check. So this mana actually belongs to someone else? But wouldn¡¯t that mean¡­ he will be able to control me and force me to do what he wants? I don¡¯t want to be used like a tool!)
Help: I have no solid information concerning this topic, but based on available information I am able to deduce that, as you were able to manipulate the natural stream of your sub- host''s mana, your control ranks above his. This would mean that should your intentions in manipulating mana contradict each other, it would be your will that would be executed. Raising the level of ¡°Mana manipulation¡± is also likely to affect this.
(I guess that¡¯s what I will do then¡­)
Mana detection has reached level 2
(So I actually get to see a window appear to tell me that¡­ hmm? This isn¡¯t pure blue anymore¡­ but grey? Why is the flow of mana taking on different shades of grey¡­ one, two...)
Help: No, those are not fifty. Upon taking into consideration the structure of the veins and the different shades in addition to information about anatomy and assuming that the laws of this world are similar to those of your old world, I can conclude that the shade of grey in a location represents the density of the material present in the location.
(Hmm¡­ those are the lungs, it¡¯s almost white over there¡­ you¡¯re probably right. So¡­ I can see now! Well, I¡¯m going to keep grinding¡­ manipulation hasn¡¯t hit Level 2 yet¡­)
Help has reached Level 2
Wow¡­ congratulations. What happened?
Help: There was a notable increase to the speed at which I am able to process information. Furthermore, I am now able to communicate using other means than ¡°windows¡±.
(How so?) ¡°Well, like this for example.¡± (Did¡­ you just talk? How long has it been since I heard something? That¡¯s awesome! But¡­ could you change your voice? I¡¯m not too much a fan of robot talk¡­) ¡°Is this better?¡± (Much better. So you¡¯re going for a child¡¯s voice?)
Help: I understand that having no gender, me using a child¡¯s voice would be the adequate thing to do. Do you prefer to read text windows instead?
(Yeah, why not.)
Help: I am also able to do this¡­
(Ouch! What are you¡­ cookies? Do I smell cookies? ...so you are able to make me perceive stuff that isn¡¯t even there...)
Help: Only if If you already perceived that input. All sounds, many smells and a variety of touch and temperature inputs are possible, alongside a variety of tastes. If desired, I could run simulations to create new inputs.
(No need. Well¡­ let¡¯s keep doing stuff until something happens!) Even if those words would not be written down in history¡­ their consequences would write history itself. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Previous version: Spoiler : My name is Mana Conell. I didn''t expect much from my life. My... ¡°dream¡±, if you want to call it such, was to live to the day were VRMMORPG¡äs would become a reality. Technology was advancing quite fast, so I believed I would get to see that day. Reality proved me wrong.
The only thing I could see was a blue substance. It flowed through what seemed to be veins, originating from and flowing back to a sphere-like object. Other than that, there was nothing but darkness. I also noticed that I seemed to lack something that was pretty important to me- my body. Am I in some kind of dream? I looked at the blue substance for a while, don''t know how long. It kept repeating the same process again, and again. Nothing ever changed. If this is a dream, just what is it that my subconscious is trying to tell me? It took quite some time until I realized that this blue substance was probably.. me. At first, this was just a thought that went trough my mind since I was bored.. but I noticed that my will had an effect on what the blue substance was doing. Since I was able to move it by my will, it could be called a ¡°body¡±. At that point, I had discovered quite a few things about ¡°me¡± already. First of all, I probably am part of someones or somethings body. The reason was that ¡°I¡± was shaped similarly to a human''s bloodstream. Also, the sphere that seemed to be the center of myself could be separated into tree parts: a ¡°core¡± and two hollow semi-spheres around that core. One end of the stream was connected to the first one, and the second with the other. While I went through the veins, I slowly became less and less. Then, what remained of me was sucked into the core where I became more again, from where I would flow into the first semi-sphere and then back into the veins. The second semi-sphere stored a large quantity of ¡°me¡±. By focusing on a part of this system, the blue substance within also concentrated itself on that spot. I played around with this, and after a while..
Mana manipulation has reached level 2.
.. this.. what is this?
Help: this is a ¡°window¡± message informing you about the levelup of the skill ¡°Mana manipulation¡±. For further details, read the skill''s information.
..and.. what are you?
Help: I am ¡°Help¡±, a skill with the purpose of assisting you. I am able to memorize and proceed information.
..could this be.. nah, it''s just impossible.
Help: Negative. You have indeed died in your previous life and were resurrected to this world as a spirit.
I.. died? And got revived into another world?!? As if. Is this a ¡°lucid dream¡±??
Help: Negative. You are awake as the current you is not able to sleep.
... this.. this can''t be! I mean, I was just walking to the convenience store! How could anyone die this way?!
Help: The last thing you should be able to remember is getting hit in the neck by something. The estimated cause of death was ¡°neurogenic shock¡±.
... so.. you are telling me I died and have been revived into some kind of game like fantasy world, just like a mainstream lightnovel maincharacter??
Help: Affirmative.
.. I''m surprisingly unaffected by this situation.. shouldn''t I be confused, panic, something like that?
Help: These states of mind are prevented by ¡°Insensible¡±
You''re insulting me?
Help: That is that skill''s name.
..well, so I got revived into a game world? As a.. blue.. thing? What am I? Shouldn''t there be something like a..
Character:Mana ConellLV1 (0/100000)
Race:Etheral(Spirit)
Host:Energy(Personal Mana)
Mana storage: 1000/1000Mana flow: 10/10Mana regeneration: 10/min
..nevermind. So.. I''m a spirit, and I''ve taken possession of ¡°Personal Mana¡±? That would mean ¡°I¡± am someones MP?? Doesn''t that mean that I''ll be used to cast skills until the day he dies, without even the slightest regards to what I want to do?!? No... I am able to control ¡°myself¡±, and if I''m better at it than my ¡°owner¡±.. I guess I should have a look at the skills descriptions..
Adept of highly advanced technology:
Mana manipulation: Your ability to control mana, and under which circumstances you can control mana.
Mana detection: Your ability to sense mana, and under which circumstances you can sense mana.
Mana conversion: Your ability to convert mana into energy, and under which circumstances you can convert mana.
Gamer:
Help: An intelligent assistance system.
Windows: Information can be displayed within windows. This skill is at max level.
Numeric perception: Certain aspects of reality are associated to numerical values if perceived by you. This includes ¡°Levels¡± ¡°Tiers¡± ¡°Experience¡± ¡°HP¡± ¡°MP¡± and similar, as well as ¡°Stats¡±. This skill is at max level.
Materialist:
Insensible: Any major perturbation of your soul''s current state will automatically be mitigated. This renders you immune to: sleep, unconsciousness, rage, desperation, euphoria, ... and will automatically reduce the effects of other emotional states. This skill is at max level.
Soulless: You are considered to be a soulless entity, rendering you immune to the effects of soul based attacks. However, the probability of reincarnation after death is 0%, and your soul will be destroyed alongside your physical body. Also, you are unable to sense souls and spiritual auras. Their effects on the physical plane remain observable, if any. This skill is at max level.
Okay... why do I feel like that last section is a bunch of insults being thrown at me? Anyways, what are those skills, the results of a personality test? ¡°Gamer¡±, ¡°Materialist¡±, ¡°Adept of highly advanced technology¡±.. so this is a god''s sense of humor? Sigh.. anyways, the only thing I can see is ¡°me¡±, is there a way to improve this?
Help: searching for a solution...
Help has reached level 2.
Help: Found something! You should be able to ¡°see¡± if you grind Mana detection. Just a guesstimate, but it''s the way that''s most likely to work. Also, thanks for making use of me! ¡°Affirmative¡± , ¡°Negative¡±, I''ll never use those words again.. seriously, thank you.
... so.. it has gotten sentient. Great. Well, someone to talk to. Anyways, I''m supposed to grind Mana detection? How do I even do that?
Help: Just stare at your mana until a message appears. Skills will level up by using them.
..so, I just keep staring at ¡°me¡±?
Help: yep.
Something is wrong with this world''s system. Anyways, simultaneously grinding manipulation won''t hurt I guess... and chatting with Help would have it level up as well? And thus, the grinding began. After Mana manipulation had reached level 2, I was able to sense the mana that was dissipating from the veins up to a certain range, and after grinding for some time, it hit level 3, doubling that range. Why would a control skill grant me vision? I found out it was because I was now able to control ¡°me¡± within that distance, however, while I was able to control it, it would still gradually reduce in quantity until it was completely gone. The biggest change was that I was able to draw mana outside of the veins and then back in, as long as there was still enough space. And when Mana detection reached level 2.. I was finally able to see. Well.. ¡°see¡±. I gained the ability to sense the density of the material the mana was flowing through. The world I saw was nothing but shades of gray. The darker something was, the higher its density. But while this didn''t compare to having eyes, it has its advantages, I guess.. I have no blind spots, and I can see through objects. Sadly, it only applies to the mana within the ¡°veins¡±. By changing their shape, I was able to scout the environment. It felt incredibly strange at first, but I got used to it. After some time, all of my skills, except for mana conversion, had reached level 4. I was now able to see all of the surrounding Mana within a certain distance, even mana that I could not control, and my ¡°density sense¡± now also worked with the mana I could control outside of the veins. And when Mana manipulation had hit level 4, that range doubled yet again. But the biggest upgrade came when Help hit level 4. It had unlocked ¡°enhanced IO¡± which was the ability to convert an input into something else. I was now able to ¡°hear¡± what I saw for example. The movement of my hosts eardrums, which I could perceive with Mana detection, was converted into sound for me to hear, instead of me having to decipher the minuscule movements. My "host" was still a little child at that point, but he already started to learn the elven language, I can''t fall behind him.. The forum This is not a chapter, but it contains information concerning this project. The upper part is spoiler free, I recommend reading it. If you post a reply to this post, and that reply contains spoilers, please tag it as such using [#spoiler] text containing spoilers [#/spoiler](without the #) Stuff that has nothing to do with a specific chapter, but rather the story in general, goes here. Will also contain the encyclopedia of my created world once I''m done with it to an acceptable extend. Last updated the 21.02
How to read this work: -
This is something that''s more convenient to be displayed as a table, like lists, or a message created by Mana''s skill.
- ¡°SFX¡± ¡°Dialogue¡± - (thought) - ¡°words(what speaker thinks while speaking)words¡± - (¡°Voice only heard in ones mind¡±) (no actual sound is being made, but recipient(s) can still ¡°hear¡± it) - Third person/ narration by a character. [Announcements:] !!!The gender of the MC is pending. It has no actual impact on the story. Mana is a spirit, part of a "thing" that is within a male elfs body and has X-ray vision. And has his/her/ emotion supressed by a skill. The gender, to me, doesn''t matter. Poll is http://royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=43955 Don''t expect any chapter around Christmas. Precise date: from the 18.12 to the 14.01. . I''ll be on an island with my relatives, and yes, their house does not feature internet. And I''m not going to use my phone, the bill would be hilarious. Also, I''ll have other stuff to do over there.. hiking, climbing, sports... yay... ......
Status of the story: Update frequency: average 1 new chapter every week. Chapter length: 4-5 DINA4 Pages in times new roman, 12. Finished text: (progress of the next chapter) chapter 18: 020% putting stuff into tables, proofreading, stuff like that (chapters that have been, will soon be released): chapter 18: 000% I''m using align=justify to format my chapters. Please tell me if this causes any kind of problems or discomfort.
Understand that reading further than here may result in spoilers. to the next chapter
Work on the forum has been shifted to a yet inaccessible google drive folder. I will release the link to it once I''m done organizing it.
"Events" (you readers get to affect the story)
Create your own character! You can create a character that will/may be mentioned in the story. If you only give a character a name, that name will most likely be used as long as it follows the "rules" for creating names: Elven: Spoiler : "name" ,"family name", (of , "tribe they were born in" if addressing/ addressed by strangers) own name: anything that''s not to crazy is fine. family name: same as with the name tribe: list of tribes coming "soon", but they aren''t important if you are just creating the name. Example: Quintus Rhodis of the Southern Lake Human: Spoiler : ¡°name¡±, (if noble: ¡°de¡± ) ¡°family name¡± (if noble: family name must "fit" the prefix "de". I''m inspiring myself from the French language.) Example: "Normal human": Dave Bowman Noble: Randall de Font Dwarwen: Spoiler : "own name", "name of father"-son Example: Caleb Marlonson Beastkin: Spoiler : "name", (if large clan: family name), "clan name" name of beastkin should be among the lines of "Wu", " Xie", you get what I mean. Clans are named after magical beast after googletranslating the beasts name into Chinese. The iron wolf clan would be the Tielang. However, I''ll take care of clan names myself, you should give me ideas for magical beasts to name the clans after. I haven''t got that much, "Iron/silver/etc wolves" "Dragons (earth, fire, ice, wind)". Example: Wu Tielang You may also give your charachter a background story, however, this may make it more difficult to include your character into the story. Please make sure that your character''s background does not contradict with what happened in the story, nor with the information given in the general and specific spoiler texts. (This is currently not recommended as I still have to finish writing the encyclopedia entries concerning the information needed to create background stories EXCEPT for humans) Rough map: map 1 (focus: the empire): if able to read=FALSE, open the image in a new tab and zoom.. Information to create background stories: general: Spoiler : Religions: "The one" Spoiler : Religion of ¡°The one¡± in a nutshell: The one is the omniscient, almighty, and always above everything in terms of everything being that is beyond and above everything one could ever hope to comprehend or think of. It created "Viracocha", the white being. It is basically the "raw material" of this world, but also beyond our understanding. Then came Vulcan, Vayu and Vichama. Vayu is the divine of ¡°life¡±. After Vulcan had build the world with its plants, landscapes and animals, Vayu found it lacking. He called it a masterpiece that lost its value as no one would ever understand it. It was beautiful, but served no purpose. Thus he gave some of the things within the world the divine energy (mana), thus turning them from ¡°parts of nature¡± into actual living beings. Now possessing the divine power those beings were able to learn from Vulcan, and participate in creating, and appreciate, his ever evolving masterpiece. Vayu has the color red. A divine that''s ¡°celebrated¡± in regular intervals (childbirth(when successful)), whenever magic turns out to be convenient, Vulcan is the divine that forged "nature" and created the art of crafting. He is said to have walked the world looking like a mortal, working on the landscape, creating the fertile land and the desert, mountains.. all the while teaching others the art of ¡°crafting¡±, this includes writing and generally all work related to ¡°death¡± materials. His color is green. The most popular divine. Vayu, having spend all his divine power to gift it the beings of this world, made a mistake. Vulcans creations were meant to change, but the power of the divines would forever remain. This led to ¡°spirits¡± of the dead haunting the world long after their bodies had decomposed. Thus the last of the three, Vichama, had to act. He is the divine responsible for ¡°death¡±. It is his purpose to collect the power of the divines, cleanse, purify. His color is blue. He''s the type you rarely care about, but when you do, then you REALLY do. (mostly because you noticed you neglected him and your dead father just might turn into a spirit). Vulcan creates and changes the body, Vayu fills it with life, and Vichama takes it once it is over. Thus is their cycle of life and death. Vulcan is related to crafting and art, and fertility of soils, hunting, just about.. everything.. except: the stuff Vayu is related to: birth, healing, magic. And the stuff Vichama is related to: a ¡°proper¡± death (not turning into a spirit), cleansing ones soul for it to be reincarnated. And at the very last.. comes the ¡°black¡± divine. His name is to never be spoken, never be written, and never be thought of. Thus he has none. He is the counterpart to Viracocha, and also beyond the comprehension of man. Nobody knows what he actually does, if he exists right now, or not.. if he ever did or will. But one thing is certain, ALL will end with him. He stands for power beyond everything, but also bad luck. There is a cult around him, and they are the sole to associate anything to him, and that''s what they associate him with. Their goal is to become the strongest at absolutely all costs and risks, which will make them more powerful, yet still more likely to die than others, and they embrace that. Elves: Spoiler : Work in progress Humans: Spoiler : Humans are the dominant species (among the top 4 (humans, elves, dwarves, beastkin))on the western half of the continent. They are all living within the so called "empire". The following is a list of rough descriptions of how society functions. General information: women can do all of these jobs, but it''s rare for them to do so. Usually their "job" is to be a wife. They are equal by the law, but still discriminated against unless: they do it because their husband died and they have no son, they do it helping out their husband, they do it because they are forced to. (in the later case, they are usually discriminated against for being in a situation in which they are forced to (like being a slave)) Info on slavery: Slaves are, for all purposes except communicating with them and "maintenance", "objects", their owner is responsible for their actions, and may use them however he sees it to be fit, unless he would break a law by doing so (not by, let''s say, mistreating the slave, that''s perfectly fine, but by using the slave to break the law). One can be slave due to unlucky circumstances (ambushed travelling alone) or due to unpayable debt. Once that happens, there is no going back, and one becomes an "object". This being the case, I will not include slaves as a part of society. (Because their conditions vary entirely based on their owner.) Society considers slavery as normal, with some rebelling against the system, but those are in the minority and actions to act against slavery are considered a crime. Exception: fighting against a slave trader. Slave traders are in the grey zone of the law, as their initial actions are a crime, but the second they achieve their goal they cease to be a crime. If one escapes a slave trader without having a slave collar put onto oneself, one may sue them for the damage they caused, but one may not demand for them to "give back" their new earned "property", which may happen to be your old friend, lower, family.. because that''s perfectly legit. Killing a slavehunter in self-defense is perfectly fine as one was a human fighting for ones life. Killing a slavehunter hunting someone is also ok as one protected another human life from an assault. Killing a slavehunter after he caught someone is a crime, simple murder for "no reason". Slaves are, while accepted by society in general, NOT common. Usually only nobles and other rich people can afford them. The demand for slaves thus isn''t that high, it''s unlikely for a normal person to become target of slavehunters. Traveling alone, being a beautiful woman (reasons), a man with strong physique(worker) or a "rarity" (elf, beastkin, dwarf) increases the risk, as does travelling through dangerous areas. The empire functions as follows: The fundamental 3 (Farmers, nobles and guards): Spoiler : There are the farmers, responsible for producing goods. They do not earn money for doing so. In exchange for delivering their goods to the cities, they receive protection by the soldiers (which are paid by the nobles to which they give their goods) and some sort of "life insurance" should the harvest fall low due to unexpected circumstances. Live as a farmer is simple, not really dangerous, far, far away from being luxurious, but one does not risk to loose ones job. They may sell any goods they produced after meeting their tribute, but must give a fixed percentage of those goods to their lord. (Example, after having delivered 1000 units of grain, thus having met the tribute, a farmer still has 300 units left, in this case he may give 100 units to his lord to be allowed to sell the remaining 200) If one is a farmer, one will stay a farmer for life. This does not apply to your children however. One can either choose to become a farmer, or may be forced to do so if one has no money and has to pay of a debt. Farms are sometimes attacked by magical beast, especially those holding livestock (sheep, cows, etc..), the farmers are not only allowed, but required to run for their lives and MUST inform the guards. Not attempting to do so is a capital crime, and punishable with the death sentence. This is to ensure minimal damage to the food production. Next are nobles. They are responsible for wealth management and the paperwork. Their main income consists of: taxes, selling the goods delivered by farmers, rent (buildings within the city). Some (most) use their income to hire people to do all of the work for them. They all must use some money to hire guards/soldiers which are tasked with enforcing the laws and safety of their people. A guard disobeying the law will either be forced to leave his job (usually becoming an adventurer or, if he is too weak, a farmer) or, in case of major crimes, be sentenced to death. Those are the only ways a guard can be punished, and they will be punished. Reporting a guard breaking the law will earn yourself the not negligible sum of his monthly pay. Because of these laws it''s near impossible to find a corrupt guard, and guards work in groups to prevent themselves from being scammed. Ah, if you are a noble, there is not even the need to pay a guard to ¡°look the other way¡±. Nobles> other human beings. Always. Guess who judges crimes? The noble families. Only them. This covers the ¡°essential¡± system. Nobles, soldiers and farmers, these 3 ensure the functioning of the rest of the society by providing food and safety. Now for the ¡°middle class¡± Spoiler : Carpenters, bakers, tailors, smiths, etc... they are all part of the ¡°middle class¡±. Every job is monitored by a large guild. The guild is tasked with: ensuring stability (how big is one loaf of this type of bread, what grain was used to bake it, how much does it cost) thus preventing competition. Members of the guild pay the guild for doing so. And they do it because instability might let them loose their job. Obviously, there are still new things being ¡°invented¡±. Such inventions (like: ¡°I discovered a new thing we could add to clothes, I call it the ¡°button¡±¡±) must be brought in front of the guild, and then be approved, and then one is allowed to use them for a variable amount of time depending on the invention, and THEN the other members of the guild are allowed to do the same. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. This has slowed down technological progress a LOT. This alongside the fact that science does not exist in this world. Not as we know it. What matters for a job is expertise and mastery of existing techniques, not developing new ones. And the church takes care of explaining every phenomenon one might wonder about. But not going into the details, this just about covers the ¡°middle class¡±. Next is the trader /trading merchant/ merchant. Spoiler : Anyone can become a trader. All you need is money, then you can start making more money. Transporting goods from a to b. But it''s a really, really risky job. Get that one delivery stolen and you are ruined. And will become a farmer for the rest of your life or otherwise punished. It takes guts to be a trader. As a trader you need to protect your goods from thieves and potential attacks from magical beasts on long travels. Who''re you gonna call? Yep, the adventurers guild. As a trader you need to know your connections and have a little bit of luck. Traders get the goods from person a in location a and bring them to person b in location b and get paid for doing that. They don''t sell their goods. They are usually hired by the guilds. Trading merchants are traders that sell and acquire their goods themselves. The guilds can''t stand them. But they are still their most important customer. Merchants are ¡°localized¡± traders. Basically, they specialize in having connections within a specific region, don''t move around that much. They get their goods from their connections or traders, and sell them to those who pay for them, including the guilds. Most of the basic necessities are already covered by the guilds, so merchants usually sell luxuries. Their main customers are nobles and really strong adventurers. Merchants can also be specialized craftsmen. Someone creating jewelry is not part of the smiting guild in most cases, but a merchant. The guild simply does not cover rarely used luxury goods in their regulations. To prevent excessive power struggle among these professions, there is a traders alliance. Actually there are many of them.. 5. And those five work together as ¡°the¡± trading alliance. (map of the five alliances above) Traders may join them or not do so. Those that don''t risk a LOT, but with a lot of luck and skill and luck they may make a much bigger fortune. But no one is taking that risk on a large scale. Next is the ¡°dangerous¡± profession: adventurer. Spoiler : Anyone can be an adventurer! Adventurers each have a "license" certifying their rank. To prevent it from being stolen or lost it is engraved into their bodies, usually the chest or head. Putting it in is painful, but taking it out is.. well.. even more painful. Yeah, having it stolen still is possible, but those with a low rank are safe because theirs is useless, and those with a high rank... there is a reason they are there. The device works in a very simple manner: If it is powered with mana it will glow. Color = rank. The guild is the only instance that knows how to ¡°upgrade¡± them. They technically are a rune armament. Defense and offense value is close to 0. Additionally, an adventurer must register himself under his adventurer name, which does not have to be their real name, and a code. The last set of numbers of the code is defined by the guild house they registered themselves in, and that guild house keeps track of all codes ever distributed by it and checks if the code they are about to distribute is still available, preventing a code from being used by two persons at the same time. If your "License" is stolen, you will need that name and that code, and have a bit (- lot) of patience to get your ranking back, depending on how far you are from the last guild house that upgraded your rank. In the meantime, you''ll be stuck at the lowest rank again. To accept a mission, you have to show the rank, give the accountant your name, and your number. If you are leader of a party, your name alone is enough to register all members of that party for a mission, but you must have registered that party first. Because doing so saves time in the long run and most adventurers form parties anyways, it is common for adventurers to be in one. Adventurers are the only people allowed to perform the tasks adventurers do (missions). Non-adventurers may perform tasks similar to adventurers, but they won''t have the connections the guild provides. Adventurers are ¡°strong¡± people. Or a group of mediocre people. But one thing is certain, on a mission, the weak die. This somewhat filters out ¡°noobs¡±. The job pays well, you don''t even have to work at all (but you only get paid of you do).. the downside is you may die. Also, while you may be a trading adventurer, those people usually disappear under mysterious circumstances. It''s an unspoken rule to not become ¡°self sustaining¡± a.k.a. not requiring either alliance to do both (paying with your own money for goods, transporting them for free, selling them yourself for a profit, thus never handing over any percentage of your profit to either the adventurers guild or trader alliance). As long as you still issue a request and then accept it yourself, everything is fine however. That is as long as the guild is able to earn something from that request. If they feel they don''t.. so yeah, it''s not worth the risk. Last comes the church! Spoiler : If (and really, IF) you manage to become a church official (more than just a believer), well, good job. A life free of worries awaits. Do a bit of work here, pray a bit there, do what you are told by those ranking above you, and live a rather comfortable life. It''s not luxurious (in the lower rankings, in the higher ones.. well..), but it''s paradise compared to being a farmer. Requirements: Believe in the church, be able to read and write, have a non-crippled or otherwise disabled body, there must be a spot free in the ranks of the church. Further conditions: If you break the codex you get punished. May include getting kicked out of the church, loosing everything you ever had. Codex: No sexual intercourse. Be devoted to god. You must give up all status, money, and everything else to enter the church. If you are a noble this includes your status as a noble. But this also includes crimes and debts... You must read and act accordingly to the holy scripture. This includes helping out others. No matter the stuff mentioned above: do what those ranked above you tell you to do. Not doing so is at your own risk. Life as a church official: Lower ranks: You are required to read and study the scripture. Once you read through all of it, just do it again. Try to understand it''s incredibly deep meaning while doing so. Then, take care of the tasks given to you, like cleaning, harvesting in the garden containing the medical herbs, etc. also, do everything you are told by those above you. Life is simple but good. Higher ranks: Hey, is this expensive food? Nice! Let''s distribute it among the poor.. well, I can keep half of it right? Even higher ranks: Have a say in politics. Why even work? But get ready for a powerstruggle.. What you do: The job of the church is to ¡°heal¡± and gather information. They are the people that are responsible for writing down everything. The only large libraries in existence are within buildings of the church. Especially skilled at using medical herbs, some are also able to use the ¡°heal¡± skill, THE requirement to get into the higher ranks. If nothing else works, they just pray for you. They also listen to your worries and give counseling. It''s not a job for people that dislike social interaction. Most people respect the church officials. Some hate them.. but most really respect them for what they do. Ah, they are also the only instance allowed to create and distribute alcohol. The knowledge was discovered by them, and they successfully monopolized on it. Their main source of income. That''s it! More about more specific stuff some time later. Dwarwes: Spoiler : Work in progress Beastkin: Spoiler : Work in progress
List of magical beats: Dragons in general: Spoiler : Dragons are large creatures that can attain incredible ages. The older they get, the bigger and stronger and smarter they are (adult dragons are smarter than most humans). Period. That is until they reach the final stage of their growth.. They cannot ¡°fly¡±, but an adult dragon jumping is almost the same. Fire and ice dragons have wings they use to glide and slow down their speed to control the jump. Earth dragons, living underground, do not ¡°jump¡± for.. obvious reasons. They are a very rare species, and it''s unlikely for a dragon to enter another dragons territory, which can encompass hundreds to thousands of square kilometers, outside of the mating season. The males will approach the females territory and fight each other during that time, and the damage caused by their battles has led this species to be hated by most humans. The ratio of males to females is roughly 3 to 1. Mating season is once every 100 years, and the time is different for each race. A dragon can, depending on the race, grow up to 10 meters high and 200 meters long (including the tail), but it does take thousands of years for them to reach those measurements. The highest but also shortest are the earth dragons, with only 100 meters of legth, while wind dragons are the smallest, with only 5 meters of height. Ice and fire dragons range in between. Female dragons boost greater defense and endurance than male dragons, and male dragons have greater strength and offense but can''t maintain their power for an extended period of time, so in a drawn out battle, a female dragon actually is the more dangerous opponent by far. But except dragons, who would last longer than a few seconds when facing a dragon? Once they have reached full adulthood (peak of their power) dragons are faced with a choice: they may remain a dragon or become another species to gain that species power in addition to their own, but will be greatly weakened after the transformation. Popular transformations are: Other strong beast, in case of aquatic creatures this has led to ¡°water dragons¡±, or the ¡°cheater¡± species: human, elves, beastkin. Sometimes for power, sometimes for.. love. Sigh. Actually, in case of female dragons, this feeling is sometimes caused by a ¡°cheater¡± defeating the dragons fighting for her. Especially when they leave after doing it. That is because it is their instinct to mate with the winner of the fight, and under normal circumstances nothing would stop the winner from doing so, and he himself wouldn''t just say no either. And if the winner just leaves without doing anything.. The resulting emotional chaos can have serious side effects. Like, a dragon transforming into a human. Fire dragons Spoiler : (Most) live atop of volcanoes. Their special ability is a scorching hot breath (but no flames), with increasing strength and range according to the dragons age. They are more on the offensive than the defensive side, but that is when compared to ice dragons- their defense is still incomparable to other magical beast. The dragon species most hated by humans due to the aftereffects of unleashing its ability- the temperature will incinerate everything and cause large scale fires. Scales: variations of red to blue. Very rare cases can have other colors. Ice dragons Spoiler : They live atop cold mountains. Their special ability is a freezing cold breath with strength and range increasing according to the dragons age. Can survive in incredibly cold environments. Colors of the scales range from blue to white. Wind dragons Spoiler : The agilest among the dragons. A little bit weaker, but a LOT faster, their special ability is the ability to produce incredibly sharp and fast blades of wind. Lives in forests and plains. Unrivaled by the other (non dragon) beast upon reaching adulthood. That aside, there is not much to say about them. Color of the scales can be any shade of green. Earth dragons Spoiler : The cause of the dwarwens hatred towards dragons. They love caves and tunnels, and even worse (for dwarwes) are usually unaffected by the traps within. And at the epitome of causes is the fact that they eat ores. These dragons are rather slow, but have incredible defense and offense. They live underground and their special skill is to be able to have their scales get stronger by consuming ores. Their scales turn into a magically enhanced alloy of the ores they have consumed. The larger a dragon is, the more he has to consume to obtain a notable effect. A large earth dragon that had enough time and food is considered to be unkillable. In some very rare cases however they will consume crystals instead. These earth dragons are a rare variation that will be weaker in the first few hundreds years of its life, but then surpass their kin in just about every aspect. In general, they have been hunted to the brink of extinction within the dwarwens territory for both their value and the troubles/ casualities they cause in dwarwen mines. Iron wolves Spoiler : Big wolves with a fur of iron. Despite the weight, they are quite fast, so their strikes carry notable destructive power. The fur also acts as a natural armor. There are variations with other metal than iron as fur.
Work in progress Chapter 1 He had fought many, killed some, and injured far more than he could remember. Facing death in every fight, in some battles, he could almost feel how he was grabbed by cold fingers, dragged away from this world... but he clung onto his life with a grip stronger than even that he had on his sword. Betting their very lives alongside the fate of their people, every fight, that is what champions did. With those stakes, neither side could afford to lose. And yet, right now, Auren Rhodis was merely toying with his opponent. ¡°Hey, you''re tired already? I told you, giving it your all is not enough! You should use your strength, not waste it! But you have become much better! If you keep going like this, you''ll have surpassed me in but a few decades!¡± His opponent did not answer, as he had to consecrate his entire concentration to the fight. But fatigue was grinding away his strength, mentally, physically. One mistake. One opening. An opening Auren would not miss. ¡°You''re dead!¡± His sword moved as if it had a will of its own, all attempts to evade were futile. Seconds thereafter, his opponent collapsed on the ground. ¡°Well, that''s it for today... gosh, I''m starving! Elsia said she was going to make Stormcloud Deer Stew today?¡± While Auren was already imagining the delicious meal he would have for dinner... the body on the ground moved! He got back up, took his blade... and sheathed it. His voice interrupted by heavy breathing, he spoke. ¡°Stop teasing me... you will always be the best! You showed... no openings during... the entire battle!¡± ¡°Who do you think I am? Of course I would show no openings! But you''re still this young, and you lasted this long! Just how much have you trained while I was gone? Next time you suddenly power up like that, tell me beforehand! We spend so much time fighting, your mother must be waiting for us!¡± Auren had returned from a battle in the arena but a few hours ago, and the very first thing he did upon arriving at his home was to accept his son¡¯s challenge to yet another duel. He had expected him to improve within the time he was gone¡­ but never would he have thought that his son would be able to maintain a flawless stance for more than an hour! ¡°Father¡­ your shoulder, doesn¡¯t it hurt?¡± ¡°Eh? What are you talking about? You didn¡¯t even land one single blow! Haha, could it be you are getting ahead of yourself? I¡¯m starving-¡± ¡°-growl-¡± ¡°And it looks like I¡¯m not the only one! Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±
When he first learned the ways of the blade, Quintus had looked up to his father as an invincible, flawless fighter. Aspiring to get closer to him, he devoted most of his time to training in the ways of the blade. Whenever his father returned from one of his battles, Quintus would proudly show him how he had improved his mastery of the stances, techniques¡­ and soon he grew strong enough to have mock battles with his father. Yet the stronger he became¡­ the more he was able to see slight flaws in his father¡¯s movements. Flaws that should not be there. He knew how an injury would impede one''s movement. Skilled fighters were able to keep their stance even when heavily wounded¡­ but even the best would not remain entirely unaffected. Soon he understood that despite the way he acted, his father was not as invulnerable as he had believed.
Upon entering their house¡­ ¡°Mother!¡± ¡°Quintus, get the medicine!¡± Rushing into another room and grabbing a small earthenware vial, when Quintus returned, his father had already put his mother on the bed. Carefully, he let her drink the medicine. ¡°This¡­ truly tastes awful,¡± she said with a weak smile and an even weaker voice. His mother had a weak body. Once in a while, she would simply faint. It made him anxious every time, even though it had been like this since he could remember, and she said that it wasn¡¯t that bad... but lately¡­ it was getting worse. Medicine was something elves rarely needed, so those producing medicine rarely got to make money¡­ which is why the price they charged was just exorbitant. Luckily Auren¡¯s positions as the tribe¡¯s champion gave him the means to buy from the Caballs, the only family in their small village able to make medicine. After having recovered enough, Elsia joined her son and her husband, who had left the bedroom and were already eating. It was not that they didn¡¯t worry about her, no¡­ but this had happened so many times that it had become part of their daily life. While both Quintus and Auren were feasting over the stew, she only ate a salad made from various plants said to have healing effects. The Caballs had warned her that the consumption of meat would aggravate her condition. The next day, while Auren was out hunting in the forest, Quintus listened to elder Trevor as he told stories about the old times. He did so voluntarily, and as he was an elder, the other villagers didn¡¯t dare disrespect his wishes. The children of the village had to be taught about their culture, even if many things had changed after the war¡­ thus was Trevor¡¯s conviction. He had inherited the tradition and the stories from the elder before him, which had inherited them from his ancestor¡­ the Graham¡äs had always been gifted with an excellent memory and a long life. All of the children of the village had come to listen to him. Well¡­ since Doria Galion and Lionel Edhel had recently married, only Carmela Caball and Quintus were left. Occasionally some adults would also listen to Trevor, but most had more important matters to take care of¡­ hunt, maintain their equipment and homes¡­ there was always something to do. Also, there were only so many times one could listen to Trevor talking about gods and the days of old¡­ ¡°Spirits¡­ they are that which remains when someone dies without truly dying. A soul without a body to belong to. Some of them cannot leave because they are too attached to this world, others just have bad luck¡­ because eventually, forced to roam the world with no body, only able to watch¡­ they will become mad, corrupted. They will seek for a vessel to unleash their evil desires, will let themselves into the body of another being¡­ be it through sheer power or by trickery! If they are able to do so¡­ horrible things will happen! Even the soul is not meant to be eternal! For if it is not cleansed, the filth it amasses will consume it! So pray to Vichama, for if you do not, he may just overlook you!¡± ¡°Esteemed elder Trevor¡­ Vichama, being a divine, how could he overlook a soul?¡± ¡°Ha! Even the divines are not omniscient! For they are but part of a whole! So you should pray as to make them notice your small presence in this world¡­ ¡­¡± ¡°Sorry, I lost myself there¡­ now, where did I leave off¡­¡± Listening to Trevor''s stories, training, helping his mother out¡­ that was what Quintus life consisted of. His father would go away from time to time, defending the village due to a squabble over some territory or the like¡­ then he would come back, Quintus would duel with him¡­ that was how it always had been. Before leaving Auren would motivate his son to keep training, and as always, that¡¯s what he did this time as well. ¡°Hey, who knows, if you keep training while I¡¯m gone, you might even land a hit on me next time!¡± Those would be the last words Quintus would hear from his father.
¡°Our tribe just recently lost its greatest champion, but while he was not the only one able to fight¡­ if left like this, the situation with the other tribes could worsen drastically. I see you seem to have the talent necessary to inherit your father''s position? It truly must run in the blood... so¡­ if I were to come up for the cost of your mother''s medicine, you would devote yourself to your training entirely¡­ the fact that you thus indirectly threatened to not do so aside(!) I understand your situation. I will pay for your mother''s medicine. However, I expect great things of you! Do not disappoint me!¡± ¡°Of course, esteemed elder Dewid.¡± And thus, Quintus spend his days training, eating and sleeping, just to wake up with an aching body, repeating this cycle endlessly. Whether he was truly talented or not¡­ he did not have a choice anyways. And while he had already devoted his life to training and mastering the blade¡­ his motivation now was different entirely. In honor of his father, he trained using his blade, even if it did not have the right size for him yet... but during one of his training sessions... ¡°You want to save your mother, right?¡± ¡°Who is here!¡± ¡°You know¡­ I think I know how she could be cured. Not just slightly relieved, but cured.¡± ¡°Who are you? Show yourself!¡± ¡°Ah¡­ sorry for not introducing myself¡­ my name¡­ hmm¡­ I¡¯m Mana. Now, about my question¡­¡± It was only then that Quintus realized where the voice was coming from. The very sword he was holding in his hands¡­ for a sword to talk, that could only mean¡­ but this was his father''s sword! How could it become possessed! And even if he should destroy it¡­ there was just now way he could actually do it! ¡°Ehm¡­ why are you being so silent¡­ no, don¡¯t tell me! ¡­ oh, come on!¡± Having locked away the now possessed blade, Quintus prayed to Vichama to forgive him for his sin of not having destroyed it instead. ¡°Well, if that¡¯s how you want to play¡­ I spend quite some time waiting already, a few more years ain¡¯t gonna hurt.¡±
Quintus continued his training, even if he was now unable to use his father''s cherished blade. And his hard work paid off. Everyone knew just who the next ¡°greatest champion¡± of their tribe would be. And while a champion''s task was a dangerous one indeed, the privileges that came with it were not negligible either, as one could tell from the fact that his father had been able to afford his mother''s medicine... making many envious of Quintus. But with the elders standing behind him, who would dare to openly show this? And thus Quintus'' life of waking up only to train until he would fall asleep again went on, and on.. buteven with this situation, Quintus was happy. He knew that what he did was for the sake of his mother, so he did it gladly. Soon he would become fifteen and have his coming of age ceremony, learn about how to use the divine energy¡­ he would also have to consider marriage, and even if in his case there was only a single choice¡­ this was normal for elves. They would learn to love each other during the time they spend together, that was how it should be. With the ceremony drawing ever closer, he spent more and more time thinking about his future¡­ and upon his initiation to magic, Dewid was more than anticipating just how talented Quintus would be. While all elves could use the divine energy, some excelled at it¡­ yet... ¡°What is this!¡± ¡°Esteemed elder, did I make a mistake?¡± ¡°A¡­ mistake? You ask me¡­ if you made a mistake?¡± ¡°Tell me¡­ an elf without mana, what¡¯s the mistake with that? Just who is supposed to have made a mistake!¡± ¡°Esteemed-¡± ¡°Get out! ¡­ leave this house right now.¡± ¡°Esteem-¡± ¡°I told you to leave¡­ did... you not understand me?¡±
¡°And, how did it go?¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± ¡°Eh? You¡¯re in a bad mood? So they found out you can¡¯t use mana¡­¡± ¡°How!-¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t underestimate me. Feel like taking my offer now? Since your sponsors are gone, I guess you won¡¯t be able to keep buying that stuff that dares to call itself medicine¡­¡± Ignoring the sword''s offer, he went to his mother''s room, a small vial in his hand. There were only 12 more left on the shelf he had taken it from.
(sigh¡­ having a spirit¡¯s reputation sure does suck. I mean come on, he couldn''t he trust me a little?)
Help: Well, soon he will have no choice but to trust us.
(that¡­ kinda sounds like what the villains would say¡­ but it¡¯s those quacks fault! Their so called medicine contains¡­ ehm¡­)
Help: Water, various carbohydrates, minerals, multiple trace elements. The Iron within accounts for roughly 1% of the amount that would be required to actually improve her health after taking into consideration her current diet and the fact the she is to consume one vial every 15 days. It would be utterly useless if not for the various agents within it that help stabilize her condition after falling unconscious. That was the thing you were so annoyed about, can¡¯t you, at least, keep that in mind?
(Hey, it¡¯s been over a year since then! And I¡¯ve been busy trying to use this ability of mine myself, because right now the only one able to handle data on the atomic scale is you!)
Help: I have already explained that doing so is not necessary by any means, but as it is your desire to do so¡­ should I add an overlay display to make interpreting the data easier?
(that¡­ would be good. Yeah, do it.) (This¡­ looks awesome! Hey¡­ what¡¯s this?)
Help: I am currently still working on it, but it should be possible to use Quintus'' vision as our own by analyzing the chemical reactions occurring within his eyes. As the color spectrum perceived by elves is slightly different from yours, I am still trying to determine the ideal conversion of inputs, once this is done, it should be possible to overlay it with your density sense.
(How long till you¡¯re done?)
Help: If desired, I could dedicate more processing power to complete this task within the next 48 hours. However, the progress of various other background projects would be greatly slowed down during this time.
(Just do it.)
Help: Understood.
News traveled fast in the small village, especially the interesting ones, so it did not take long until everyone knew that Quintus not only had lost the elders protection but was an elf- that could not use Mana! The envy that had accumulated itself over the past years was now finally set free, sparking the almost systematic bullying of Quintus by those who would have been candidates back then if not for him. They obviously were strong, and Quintus could be considered to be the weakest character in the village, so no one dared to interfere. Under these conditions, a vicious cycle of ever-escalating actions was formed. Provoking him to duels in which they would beat him using the skills they had learned to shame him in front of an audience, if he tried to ignore them, they would keep insulting not only him but even.. his mother and his dead father. His father became the greatest weakling for having died in the arena, his mother a ¡°failure of a living being¡± both for having a weak body and giving birth to him, those were insults he could not ignore. He came home with bruises, scars, burns.. but those he could ignore. The wounds he was able to inflict before falling unconscious were all the retribution he needed. Even his mother''s sad look could not compare to what truly made his heart ache- looking at the shelf on which only 2 bottles remained. They would last for little more than a month, what should he do after that?
(Honestly¡­ if he keeps acting like this it¡¯s going to be too late even if I were to act¡­ guess I have no choice¡­) ¡°You know, if you could trust me just one time.. just look at yourself! Do you think this will get better just because you accept it? I''m pretty sure you don''t, and you know exactly just what is going to happen once that last bottle is empty. That is if you keep following the orders of those quacks! How long are you going to cling to these illusions of pride and honor! You should know best just how people act towards the weak! How much they care about them! Now tell me, why should you trust these people any more than me?¡± ¡­ ¡°What¡­ what is it that I should do?¡± ¡°So you finally feel like talking with me¡­ first of all, give your mother some meat to eat! Lots of it! Liver is the best way to go in most cases! Obviously, cook it first... that''s not actually necessary, but I guess that no one would want to eat raw meat. The effects won''t be immediate, but she should notice an effect within a month. And even if there are other methods that would be even more efficient, I''m sure that you wouldn''t believe me and claim I''m just trying to poison your mother again...¡± ¡°But that¡¯s-¡± ¡°Exactly the opposite of what the Caballs told you to do. I know. Actually, that¡¯s what has been confusing me the most. Anyways¡­ I told you how you can cure her, now whether or not you believe me or cling on to the hope of some other savior¡­ that¡¯s up to you.¡±
¡°You¡­ still haven¡¯t done it? Mind telling me why?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to face her! If I were to tell her that doing the exact opposite to what the Caballs told her to do would cure her¡­ and that that I¡¯ve been told so by a spirit!¡± ¡°Sigh¡­ look, there are two options. You do it, or you don¡¯t do it. It¡¯s no use thinking about the how as long as you aren¡¯t certain about the if. So, do you want to cure your mother?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°And as this means she will have to eat meat, you want her to eat meat. Now all that¡¯s left is to ask yourself how to do it and then just do it. Don¡¯t ponder about the other stuff, that¡¯s wasting precious time.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°And that¡¯s exactly what you should never say or think about. No buts. Just do it.¡± ¡­
With his mother''s condition worsening, Quintus took care of almost all of the chores in the house, this included cooking... ¡°Mother¡­ please eat this.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± not finishing her sentence, with a faint smile on her face, she ate what Quintus had prepared. Awkward silence accompanied the sound of mother and son eating, the faint noises of the tableware. It was a melody that would sound during many meals to follow. But soon a new tune would play¡­
¡°Told you, right? She¡¯s doing much better already.¡± ¡°Thank you. Your name is Mana, is that correct? I am deeply-¡± ¡°Hey, no need to act like this! I saw myself able to save a life, of course I would do it! But honestly¡­ if you had listened to me earlier, no one would have had to go through all of this trouble. Well, can¡¯t really blame you I guess.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± ¡°Oh, come on, just say it! Don¡¯t just start talking and then stop just to tease me!¡± ¡°Why are you helping me? I¡­ expected you to ask for something in return... ¡° ¡°Yeah. Actually¡­ there is something I would like you to do.¡± ¡°You saved my mother''s life, but even so, I will not-¡± ¡°Could you go walk to the Caballs house, taking me alongside you? Just that. Also, sorry for interrupting you, but I didn¡¯t feel like listening to what you were about to say because you misunderstood my intentions.¡± ¡°...why would you want to go to the Caballs house?¡± ¡°Just want to check something out. I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯d like to know it too¡­ why they told your mother to do something that prevented her from recovering.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
¡°Why would that brat disobey us! He has been hunting a lot more, and his mother is doing better¡­ it¡¯s obvious what he is doing! But why would he do it? He couldn¡¯t have found us out?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry¡­ not even we ourselves understand his mother''s sickness, how would he be able to do it! Even after going through all of our books, we only found out that if given enough meat someone suffering from it will slowly recover¡­ there¡¯s no way for him to be more knowledgeable about it than us! He must have gotten lucky!¡± ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re right! But¡­ what will happen now that he discovered that doing the opposite of what we told him was the actual cure?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way for him to prove that right? And with his position compared to ours, how many would listen to him? Come on, let¡¯s celebrate! Let¡¯s celebrate those 150 years during which we made the greatest profit of our lives!¡±
¡°You heard them! Well, whether or not you believe me is up to you¡­ but that¡¯s what I heard them say.¡± His father had been strong¡­ but even so, even if, being strong, he had to risk his life in the arena¡­ if he would have crippled himself but slightly, he would have lost his position, be able to live a normal life¡­ ¡°...Quintus?¡± but only as the champion could he afford the medicine for his mother¡­ he had died for this medicine¡­ this medicine¡­ Slowly, a sensation began to creep through Quintus mind and body. He had known sadness, fear, pain, regret.. but this felt different. Vastly different. Burning like pain and anger, but this was not a hot flame. It was cold. Freezing cold.
Spoiler : That day would be known as one of the greatest- and later as the worst days in the history of the Southern Lake Tribe. That day Aurens wife, Elsia, gave birth to her first child. Of course that was an event to be celebrated! However, this event would also leave a scar on their family- Elsia had always had a weak body, and after giving birth her condition had worsened, and the medicine she took merely slowed down the process. But their worries faded whenever they looked at their son. He grew up to be a bright and cheerful child. He quickly learned to speak, and showed great interest in mastering the way of the sword, to the great pleasure of his father. Moreover, he seemed to have great talent! Their small family was a happy one. However.. ¡°Father, you are going again?¡± ¡°Don''t worry, I will be back in a week. Take care of your mother for me while I''m gone!¡± ¡°Yes father!¡± He did not show it.. but Quintus was very worried for his father. Whenever he ¡°went out¡± he would come back with wounds all over his body. They were hidden under his clothes, but Quintus was able to tell from the changes in his fathers movement, how he was trying to hide that which he did not want to be seen. He had long figured out just what a ¡°champions¡± purpose was, it was no secret- those with power would be granted many privileges in their tribe.. but in exchange, they would have to risk their lives in fights in the arena. The arena was a means of ¡°peacefully¡± solving issues between tribes- instead of the entirety of it''s members, only one person of the tribe would have to risk his life. And it was obvious that a champions goal was not only to win, but also to reduce the rival tribe''s assets.. that is, to kill or cripple their champion. But Auren was a strong person indeed. Even if he did not always win, he was able to avoid fatal injury every time. That is until one day.. where it was not him who returned to Quintus, but his sword, alongside the message of his death. That message was devastating enough for Quitus and his mother. However, while neither could claim that to be unaffected by this event, both had prepared themselves for this situation, they knew it was bound to happen one day. What truly made their situation turn for the worse were the consequences.. his mother was too weak and he himself was only 12 yet, far too young to have the power to defend himself against the creatures of the forest. And if he did not hunt rare, valuable beast or gather rare ingredients, how was he supposed to pay for his mothers expensive medicine? This was not a world in which people would care for the weak. And his fathers savings would only last for so long. He had no choice, even if it was impossible, he simply HAD to get stronger. In 3 years he would have his coming of age ceremony, and would be initiated to the usage of mana for the first time. However, he did not have that time! But not all hope was lost. His talent as a swordsman was obvious, and the elders had already set their sights on this potential candidate to be their tribes next champion. It would take years until he could reach a level rivaling his father, but to elves, who got up to 1000 years old, such a small amount of time did not matter. Utterly indulged in training the techniques his father had left behind, he had no time to ¡°play around¡± with those he called his friends anymore. One day, he was looking at his fathers sword, his family''s heirloom.. ¡°Hey Quintus, you want to save your mother right?¡± (?!?) Quintus was shocked. Because.. there was no one but him within this room, and the voice.. clearly came from his father sword. A spirit had taken possession of his fathers sword?!? He knew what he had to do.. that spirit had to be destroyed. But what if the sword was destroyed alongside it?? It was the heirloom his father had left behind, the mere thought of destroying it.. ¡°Hey, I asked you something! You want to save your mother or not?¡± One should never listen to the words of a spirit. He had made his decision. He took the blade, placed it inside a drawer and closed it. ¡°You think I''d shut up just because you did this? I know you can still hear me! But know what, if that''s what you want...¡± From that day on, the sword did not speak anymore. Quintus continued his training. And his hard work paid of. Due to his abilities simply dwarfing those of the others, one of the elders promised to take care for the costs, as long as he did not neglect his training. With that, it was already clear just who would become the next ¡°champion¡±. While a champion''s task was a dangerous one indeed, the privileges that came with it were not negligible either, as one could tell from the fact that his father had been able to afford his mothers medicine, making many envious of Quintus. But with the elders standing behind him, who would dare to openly show this? And thus Quintus life of waking up only to train until he would fall asleep again went on, and on.. but even with this situation, Quintus was happy. He knew that what he did was for the sake of his mother, so he did it gladly. But after his coming of age ceremony... ¡°Now then Quintus, it is time for you to understand the way to use mana. One must first focus it into a part of ones body, to then unleash it with an incantation. You should have been able to feel the mana within your body since you were young, perhaps you even understood how to control it, but without the incantation nothing will happen. I am sure you understand that we only teach them to those who have completed their coming of age ceremony to avoid accidental catastrophes caused by misusing a skill, so do never teach someone that has not reached adulthood what you will learn here!¡± ¡°Of course, esteemed elder.¡± ¡°Now, first try to focus on feeling your mana.¡± ... ¡°Esteemed elder, I apologize if this question seems stupid but.. how does mana feel like?¡± ¡°To someone like you, who hasn''t mastered its control yet, it should be like a strange force flowing through ones body.¡± ¡°Esteemed elder, I am sorry, but I have never felt anything of the sort.¡± ... ¡°You.. are sure that that is the case?¡± ¡°I wouldn''t lie to esteemed elder!¡± Quintus answer seemed to be honest, but it was impossible for it to be true! Elder Dewid had gone through this process with many students already, some had already mastered the control of their mana by then! For Quintus to not even have noticed it, it was just impossible! .. ¡°Quintus, give me your hand.¡± Without questioning the elders intentions, Quintus followed the order. .. ¡°This.. it cannot be! Just.. what kind of condition is this?!?¡± ¡°Esteemed elder, did I do something wrong?¡± ¡°.. if you did something wrong?!? Let me ask you, an elf without Mana, what''s wrong with it?!?¡± the elder screamed in an almost desperate way. Quintus didn''t even require a second to understand just what this meant. And the shock of this realization turned his initial confusion.. into dread. Dewid had spend a fortune on raising this child! Even he didn''t dare to offend the sole family that knew how to produce medicine, and just like every other, the medicine for that child''s mother was incredibly expensive! All to keep Quintus motivated, so that he would become as strong as he had to be! And yet.. he who believed to have polished a diamond, realized that he had been holding onto a shard of glass all along. ¡°Leave. Leave this house right now.¡± ¡°Esteem- -I told you to leave. Did you not understand me?!¡± Not daring to keep disobeying the elders orders, he left the house, leaving what could have been a bright future behind him. And upon entering his family''s house.. ¡°And, how did it go?¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± There was no reason for him to show even the slightest hint of respect towards the owner of this voice, for that person was not his beloved mother, but.. ¡°Eh, you seem to be in a bad mood? What happened? Did they finally discover that you are unable to use mana?¡± ¡°How do you know that!?¡± ¡°You shouldn''t underestimate me. Feel like taking my offer now? Your mother won''t be able to last long if you are unable to buy this stuff that dares call itself medicine.¡± Ignoring the sword''s offer, he went to his mothers room, a small bottle in his hand. There were only 12 more bottles left on the shelf he had taken it from.
(he really doesn''t know what''s good for him.. well, some of this is my fault, but if I give him the talent he requires to become a champion, he''ll just get himself killed in the arena, like his father.. even with, no, because of his talent.) The ¡°talking sword¡± was no one else but Mana, who had revealed herself to Quintus shortly after his fathers death. Mana hadn''t actually become the sword, but she let the soundwaves she produced using Mana conversion come from its direction. She was able to manipulate objects after conversion had hit level 2, at level 1 the skill let her heat objects. She merely played around with that ability until the skill reached level 2. (honestly, this world is rotten. This ¡°medicine¡±, is 50% placebo, 49% hopes and dreams and 1% iron. And that''s what his mother needs! But these quacks told them to avoid meat at all costs! And this idiot actually believes them! I may be a spirit like those responsible for great evil and in the old tales, but that''s no reason to not trust me! It''s these quacks that are lying!) How could Mana tell the medicines contents? Mana detection had reached level 5, and with it, Mana was able to sense on the molecular level, if only in the Mana of her veins.
Help: Well, it should not take much longer until he will have no choice but to trust us.
News traveled fast in the small village, especially the interesting ones, so it did not take long until everyone knew that Quintus not only had lost the elders protection, but was an elf- that could not use Mana! The envy that had accumulated itself over the past years was now finally set free, sparking the almost systematic bullying of Quintus by those who would have been candidates back then if not for him. They obviously were strong, and Quintus could be considered to be the weakest character in the village, so no one dared to interfere. Under these conditions, a vicious cycle of ever escalating actions was formed. Provoking him to duels in which they would beat him using the skills they had learned to shame him in front of an audience, if he tried to ignore them, they would keep insulting not only him but even.. his mother and his dead father. His father became the greatest weakling for having died in the arena, his mother a ¡°failure of a living being¡± both for having a weak body and giving birth to him, those were insults he could not ignore. He came home with bruises, scars, burns.. but those he could ignore. The wounds he was able to inflict before falling unconscious were all the retribution he needed. Even his mother''s sad look could not compare to what truly made his hearth ache- looking at the shelf on which only 2 bottles remained. They would last for little more than a month, what should he do after that?
¡°You know, if you could trust me just one time.. just look at you! Do you think this will get better just because you accept it? I''m pretty sure you don''t, and you know exactly just what is going to happen once that last bottle is empty. That is, if you keep following the orders of those quacks! How long are you going to cling to these illusions of pride and honor! You should know best just how people act towards the weak! How much they care about them! Now tell me, why should you trust these people any more than me?¡± ... ¡°What.. what is it that I should do?¡± ¡°So you finally feel like talking to me? Well first of all, give your mother some meat to eat! Lots of it! Liver is the best way to go in most cases! Obviously, cook it first! Well, that''s not actually necessary, but I guess that no one would want to eat raw meat. The effects won''t be immediate, but she should notice an effect within a month! There are other methods that would be even more efficient, but I''m sure that you wouldn''t believe me and claim I''m just trying to poison your mother again.¡± They had explicitly said to avoid meat at all cost but.. did he really have a choice? This was the last sliver of hope he could still cling to. Acquiring the meat was no problem- while he was too weak to hunt in the deeper parts of the forest since he was unable to use skills, hunting the weaker animals was no problem for him. And truly, only 3 weeks after he had taken action according to Mana''s advice, his mother could tell that she, contrarily to what she herself first believed, was starting to feel better! She had had her doubts when her son had brought her meat to eat, but as a mother, how could she mistrust the son she herself had raised?!? (honestly.. all this drama around an anemic person.. the question is.. were those quacks unaware of what they did, or did these bastards do it intentionally to rake in profit, not caring about the life they were supposed to save?! If I find out it''s the later case...) Elves rarely became sick, if ever, but precisely because of that they did not know much about medicine. Each tribe usually had one family responsible for gathering the knowledge concerning medicine, and because those families only rarely got to sell their products due to low demand while the demand usually was desperate, this to resulted in simply exorbitant prices. And they were the only ones to know about medicine.. if defrauders were to appear in such a system, who would notice it? And even if one noticed it, how was one supposed to prove it? It did not take long for the news of Elsia''s miraculous recovery to spread. She was still weakened from being bedridden for such a long time, but she was able to walk without falling unconscious again.
¡°Why would this brat disobey our orders! He has been hunting a lot more recently, it''s obvious who that meat is for! It couldn''t be that he found us out?!?¡± ¡°Relax.. I don''t understand why he would do it, but there is no way for him to prove that we knew what we were doing. He probably doesn''t even understand the reason for his mother''s recovery! I bet he just somehow got lucky.¡± ¡°Ha! As if we ourselves understand just what is causing this sickness! Since it was the champions wife who had it, we looked trough all of the books, but all we could find was that consuming enough meat would cure it! You''re right, he probably just got lucky.¡± ¡°Yeah. We''ll, it''s over now, but let''s celebrate! Celebrate those 150 years in which we made the greatest profit of our lives!¡± Those listening to this conversation could hear the sounds of laughter, if they had good ears, perhaps hear the sounds of two people eating what might be the most expensive meal to be consumed within this village since hundreds of years, but they were in their houses basement, who would be able to hear them? (So... it''s the later indeed. Eat! This shall be your last supper.) ¡°You heard the two! Well, whether or not you believe me is up to you.¡± Nearby the Caballs house, having reproduced the sounds she had heard by looking at the vibrations of a drink that had been placed on the table for Quintus to listen, Mana was anticipating his reaction. But one thing should be known to fully understand the situation Quintus currently was in- while the strongest were indeed forced to become champions, if they ¡°accidentally¡± lost their leg, arm, or were otherwise injured in a way they could not recover from while hunting, they would loose this status almost instantly. The sole reason his father had kept fighting despite the risks was because that was the only way for him to afford the medicine. And that medicine... slowly, a sensation began to creep through Quintus mind and body. He had known sadness, fear, pain, regret.. but this felt different. Vastly different. Burning like pain, but this was not a hot flame. It was cold. Freezing cold. Chapter 2 Chapters from here on have yet to be improved.
Quintus grabbed his fathers sword. But it refused to move, he was unable to lift it. ¡°Woow, slow down a bit! I understand you want revenge, but if you mindlessly rush in, you''ll manage to get one of them at best, and then it will be over for you (and me as well) and who will take care of your mother then! Not only would she be sad because of your death, she is still to weak to go hunting herself!¡± (honestly, I want to kill these guys too, but there''s just no way we would survive trying. And if I''m forced to use mana, then all the efforts to this point would be wasted.. but.. ) ¡°Their family seems to rely on the knowledge recorded in the books their ancestors left behind. And everyone knows that. So.. I wonder what would happen to them if those books disappeared? I understand that this wouldn''t avenge your father, or the suffering your mother had to go through, but at least they would not be able to repeat this crime.¡± (and maybe some of them die in the fire.. burned by the books they used to kill, a well deserved death.) After looking at how Quintus had been treated and still was treated to this day, how the elves acted towards those weaker than them, Mana had lost all of the little empathy her skills allowed her to possess towards those she could only see as savages hiding under beautiful young faces.
In the house of the Cabal family, a man had entered the basement in which his brother-in-law and his brother''s wife were feasting. ¡°You.. you idiots!! What are you celebrating for?!¡± ¡°Eamon, what is the problem? There is no way we could be found out.¡± ¡°The problem?!? This family build its reputation over thousands of years, and its reputations is the only thing that lets people buy our medicine! If word gets out that his mother was cured because he did the exact opposite to what we told him, tell me, who would trust us under such circumstances!¡± He had married into the Caball family, his own wife, Felicia Caball, died from an unknown disease before they could have a child due to what could only be called a sick irony of fate. For him, this family existed in it''s name only, and he was adamant about maintaining and increasing its reputation. ¡°But brother, what are we supposed to do about it?¡± ¡°Right now we can still say that his mother recovered because he used up the last bottles at once in a desperate attempt to cure her. But these effects are only temporary, and after they are over..¡± ¡°You wouldn''t suggest that we!-¡± ¡°-To kill, to let die, where is the difference? But if we loose the trust of the village, then it will be over!!!¡± He was the one who came up with this plan! Not only would it bring them incredible profit, but would also serve as a constant remainder that it was their family that kept the champions wife alive. He had not thought that it would escalate like this, but what''s done is done. And now these idiots would ruin everything?!? There was no way he could let that happen!! ¡°Listen, once Quintus has left the house to go hunting, I want you to have that woman drink this. That brat may pose no treat to us, but he seems to mistrust us, and if he voices his doubt, his mother might follow. If we don''t do this, our family will be done for! Do you want to be the ones responsible for the end of your family?!¡±
(The Caballs left the house? That''s just perfect) ¡°Well, I''m going to see if I can do something about those books.¡± ...
¡°Looks like he already left the house..¡± ¡°You.. are you sure we should do this?¡± ¡°Hmpf, you didn''t hesitate even one bit when we were letting her die, and now you''re scared of this?¡± ...
Meanwhile, those able to see mana would have seen something very strange if they were to look at Quintus- the veins spreading from his mana core suddenly changed shape, until they resembled a single tendril that moved at incredible speed, as if to slice the building into myriads of tiny pieces, but it passed trough it like a ghost. (and?)
Help: No problems during the scan. Strange.. there''s only the child inside. Even if it''s the Cabal family, no, because it is the Cabal family, shouldn''t they have someone guarding the house? Anyways, I successfully made a full copy of the house''s and its contents state. The books are in a separated and fireproof room in the basement. But while this means that burning the books would not cause a large scale catastrophe, no one would notice the incident, and they could just keep on selling fake medicine.
(darn it! We came here promising results, but... hmm... maybe..)
Help: Yes, that could indeed work.
¡°Hey Quintus, you want to avenge your father yourself right? Well, it looks like you''ll get your chance.. first of all, let''s go back home. There are some things that we need to prepare if you want to do it.¡± ...
Upon entering his house Quintus noticed that something was amiss. He almost instinctively ran to his mothers room... and the scene he saw.. Standing in his mothers room were the 3 members of the Cabal family and collapsed on the floor.. For a moment that felt like an eternity, no one was moving. Then, swinging his fathers sword, Quintus sprinted towards the closest person. He was screaming desperately while doing so, but his scream ended as abruptly as it had begun. (Why did this brat have to come back this early?!? It should have taken a hour at last!! F#ck, I don''t deserve this! First his mother not trusting us, so Kaila and Kristan had to restrain her, and then this bastard coming back this early, is this the heavens attempt to punish me?!? Well, if this is all they''ve got, I''ll show them who will have the last laugh!!) Quintus had collapsed on the floor, various wounds all over his body. Luckily, they were only shallow cuts, and would heal if given time. He had been knocked out by Eamon smashing his daggers pommel into his stomach. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Kaila- ¡°You killed him!¡± Eamon- ¡°Wrong. He isn''t dead.. yet.¡± Kristan- ¡°Stop it! There.. there''s no need to do this!¡± Eamon- ¡°He saw everything. If word of this gets out, it wont just be our family''s reputation that will die, we will be killed alongside it!¡± Kaila- ¡°But.. given his reputation, who would believe him?¡± Eamon- ¡°And what are supposed to tell the others about his injuries??¡± Kristan- ¡°Couldn''t we.. just say he got angry at us for not selling the medicine and attacked us? And we defended ourselves?¡± Eamon- ¡°..actually.. that''s a good idea. But.. are you ready to take the risk? The others may just end up believing him.¡± .. ¡°Looks like others are coming.. do something about that kid, I''ll try to explain this mess.¡±
The scream had alerted the other villagers, and some came looking for its source, not before finishing their own business of course. The explanation they were given by the Eamon, who had arrived first, was one they understood all too well. After her son had given her all of the remaining medicine at once in a desperate attempt to cure her, Elsia had slightly recovered. But because of the overdose, she died soon after. Eamon, who had heard about this ¡°miraculous recovery¡± had come to prevent the worst from happening, but he came too late. Blaming the fault on Eamon, Quintus had attacked him, causing Eamon to injure Quintus in self defense, thus the blood in the room. Understanding he was responsible for his mothers death, Quintus had run from the village. It was impossible for him to have survived in the forest, and no one really cared for him, so there was no search.
(well.. this sure escalated quickly. So this is what happens when you want someone dead but are too much of a coward to pull the trigger.. But really, do they honestly believe that dropping Quintus of in the deeper parts of the forest while he is unconscious and has blood all aver his body that any animal should be able to smell from afar will actually let a magical beast finish the job for them? This is just like those cliched last bosses that can create impenetrable doors but always leave the key lying around somewhere..)
You have slain a level 13 tier 2 magical beast. 650 exp earned.
(..hidden in some corner of their dungeon..)
You have slain a level 12 tier 2 magical beast. 600 exp earned.
(..surrounded by traps and monsters..)
You have slain a level 14 tier 2 magical beast. 700 exp earned.
(..but in the more challenging cases..) There were multiple corpses of magical beast lying around Quintus. The weaker magical beast had smelled what seemed to be an easy prey, but Mana easily dealt with them. Using Mana conversion to imbue kinetic energy into the sword, it mowed as if it had a life of its own. A sword that could fly, how were the beasts supposed to defeat such an opponent? However, drawn in by the smell of the slaughter.. (..so a ¡°miniboss¡± has finally shown itself.. now, I hope I''ll still be able to deal with this..) A wolf-like creature with iron-gray fur, about 2 meters tall, appeared. (now this is a fight I should take seriously..) The sword shot towards the beasts throat at an incredible speed, but.. ¡°CLIIIING¡± (its fur is actually MADE from iron?!? What''s wrong with this world?!? But under these circumstances.. considering the weight it should have in addition to the speed it definitely has..) (¡°Like being run over by a car, yes. Considering it''s defense, I recommend another approach than using the sword. If it has such a strong armor.. perhaps it has weak insides? ..well, looks like using the sword is not an option anymore anyways.¡±) With a single strike of its paw, the sword was sent flying. Having left Manas area of control, all ¡°life¡± left the blade. And since there was no ¡°opponent¡± fighting for its food anymore..
Help: Scan complete! Inflicting an internal cut to its throat should take care of it.
Ready to dig in on the feast laying before itself, shortly after it had opened its maw, the wolf suddenly felt a stinging sensation in its throat. It coughed and coughed, but the flow was just too strong. It struggled for minutes, but in the end, it had literally drowned on its own blood, was killed by its own vitality.
You have slain a level 17 tier 3 magical beast. 8500 exp earned.
(and that''s it for the bossfight. I.. kinda feel bad.. but the other option would be to let myself be eaten.. well, I guess that this is how this world is. Hmm? Ah! Finally!) ¡°So you''re finally awake?¡± ... ¡°What.. what happened here?!?¡± ¡°Ah, those things tried to eat you, so I had to save your life.(..wait.. ¡°I¡± am the sword so..)Ehm.. if you could pick me up? That last one managed to throw me to this place..¡± It did not take long for Quintus to come back to his senses. And alongside his mind.. came his memory. And admits the dozens of corpses, there was a boy, crying. At first they were tears of anger, frustration... but those feelings soon vanished, leaving behind nothing but sadness. Chapter 3 Poll ended. Short poll, I know, but half of the average readers read chapter 2, and I promised to release chapter 3 today. Results of the poll: I will use both styles for dialogue, Help will be using messages to communicate with Mana. To those who want to see more of help, it will play a bigger role a few chapters from now, but the current focus is Mana/Quintus/ the Cabbal''s. Also, a little remainder: look at the forum from time to time. So, here it is, chapter 3.
¡°Hey.. I''m sorry, I know that this is not a good moment.. but if you do nothing, the beast that''s approaching is going to slaughter you. Grab the sword!¡± But Quintus did not react to Mana''s words. He was still lying there, sadness had left his face, but so had all other emotion. (well, this ain''t good.. another one of these wolves.. yep, the sword is useless anyways so..) Before Mana could act, Quintus suddenly sprinted towards the wolf. The wolf was also confused for a short time, but it quickly reclassified this ¡°prey¡± as ¡°enemy¡±. Dodging the wolf''s claws, Quintus jumped, lading on the wolf''s back. Using his arms to choke the wolf, his legs to stabilize himself, the wolf was unable to attack Quintus in this position. However, the strength in Quintus arms did not suffice to let the wolf suffocate. The wolf became furious, but was unable to shake of Quintus. Then it sat down, moving it''s hind legs as if to scratch itself, but that was nothing but a deadly attack directed to the annoying person holding onto its back. Noticing the danger, Quintus jumped of, but the wolf had anticipated this moment. But so had Mana. And when the wolf opened its maw to bite after Quintus, a small dagger made from a beast''s claw entered it''s throat.. it was the same weapon that had killed the other wolf, the dagger Quintus always carried with himself.
You have slain a level 15 tier 3 magical beast. 7500 exp earned.
(whew.. I almost died there.. like literally) ¡°So.. it looks like this situation isn''t going to get better if we stay here, so before doing anything else, how about making a run for it?¡± Quintus looked around, his eyes found the location his fathers sword was lying, he picked it up and then walked away, towards the river. That river went through all of the southern half of the forest, and fueled the small lake that gave his tribe it''s name. It was a deep, cold, slow and clear stream. He jumped right in, with all of his clothes. And after the blood had been washed of to a certain extend, he got out of the river again. ¡°So.. did the cold water return your senses to you?¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°What? Don''t tell me something like you lost your memories!¡± ¡°No. Who or what are you. And don''t tell me you are a spirit that''s possessing my father''s sword.¡± Quintus seemed calm. Considering the situation he was in, far too calm. ¡°Eh, so I''ve been found out? Well, not like I ever actually told you that I''m a spirit possessing your fathers blade, you just went and assumed that on your own. Hmm.. what am I? Don''t really know that myself. All I know is that I can do this- The dagger started floating around. Then, a stone followed the daggers example. -and that I seem to be stuck with you for whatever the reason may be. The fact that I exist is what''s keeping you from using mana. But there''s nothing I can do about that. Also, I know a lot of stuff. But concerning what I am.. well, I guess calling me a part of you would be somewhat accurate.¡± The stone that had been floating around started to crumble as a face was carved into it with the floating dagger. ¡°I guess this will make it easier to talk with each other. So, now that you know what I am, what are you going to do?¡±- the stone said. ¡°Why.. did you try to save my mother?¡± ¡°Hey, I knew how she could be saved, so I obviously wouldn''t just let her die! She also, in a certain way, was my mother you know? ... I guess you could call me your sister?¡± ... ¡°Why didn''t you show yourself earlier?¡± ¡°Well, first it was because I was unable to speak. And when I learned how to do it, I had already listened to the stories of spirits alongside you. I knew pretty well just how I would be treated. Even if our parents wouldn''t have told anyone, one day, one mistake.. I didn''t want to be responsible for something like that. But when Elsia was nearing death..¡± Quintus rapt into thought. This spirit clearly was not possessing a specific object. For it to be the one to control his mana, it only made sense. But in that case.. wasn''t it the one to blame for... no. Prejudice and the fact that this spirit was easy to take ¡°revenge¡± upon by killing himself would not cloud his judgment. He knew very well just who was responsible. ... ¡°What''s your name?¡± ¡°Well.. you can call me Mana. Or perhaps, I could be your sister?¡± ¡°Mana, there is one thing I have to ask you.. how did you feel when.. you saw that they had killed her?¡± ¡°Hmm.. I was angry. But I wouldn''t dare to compare it to how you must have felt. Probably because of what I am, I can''t feel hatred or sorrow, or deep affection. I regret that I couldn''t save her, and I''m still angry at the Caball family, but never would I go as far as to risk my life to get revenge.¡± ¡°So.. that''s how it is..¡± Then Quintus simply collapsed. (sigh.. he must have been forcing himself..)
¡°Good morning! Ehm.. as you probably can smell and see, the situation around here has gotten.. quite problematic.¡± Forming a semicircle with a radius of roughly ten meters around Quintus and the river, corpses of dozens of magical beast were lying on the ground. One had coincidentally noticed Quintus, and after Mana killed it, attracted by the scent of blood, as there wasn''t even the slightest hint of a strong beast, others followed. This vicious cycle had let Mana fight until she was almost out of mana to use, even after reaching level 2 from the experience she earned. However, magical beast possessed basic intelligence, and the newcomers knew how to interpret the many corpses around the sleeping boy, giving Mana some respite. ¡°They are not attacking?¡± Quintus had immediately readied his father''s sword. ¡°No, it looks like they are scared of you. Rather, me. The problem is, we are now effectively encircled by magical beast, and have nowhere to run when one that''s strong enough to not be scared comes.¡± Escaping through the river was not an option. It might be considered as a sign of weakness, and would most likely change the current aptitude of the many beast around them. Even swimming with the stream, some of the beasts would be faster than them. The crowd grew larger and larger, but the beast had come for the food, they would not start a fight among each other. They kept their distance, but from time to time one of the beasts would close in to take a bite of one of the many corpses. They did not leave, it was almost as if they were waiting for something. ¡°Honestly, I wonder just what''s going on..¡± A small beast was being grilled over a campfire. Given their position, they had access to water and food. But how long could this situation last? The answer came in form of a humongous magical beast. All other beast made way for it, with what seemed to be a mixture of fear and respect. Standing roughly 4 meters tall, it looked like the werewolf version of the ¡°Iron wolf¡±. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Well, it was nice to know you... just kidding. Let''s do our best to stay alive?¡± (Attacking it''s fur probably is futile.. but.. this is organic material containing chunks of solid iron right? In this case...) It stood in front of Quintus, but it did not attack. It seemed as if it was saying ¡°you first¡±. ¡°It looks like it''s challenging us to a duel? I''m going to create an opening. I beg you, make use of it, or we''re doomed.¡± (well.. time to use the first component of Mana conversion.) Suddenly the wolf''s throat began to glow in an ever brighter red. The thick hair took fire, and the chunks of metal within fell to the ground. In the very same instant, Quintus began his charge towards the wolf. But the creature jumped, landing 8 meters behind Quintus. However, instead of attacking, it jumped straight into the river, extinguishing the fire that had been spreading from its throat. (if only I''d have had more time to regenerate.. I wont be able to do much more than this. Using heat conversion directly on its body is impossible, so I have to heat the air around it.. and if it moves away that''s useless.. using telekinesis to hold down such a large and strong creature consumed all of my reserves.. sorry that I wasn''t able to hold it down longer..) The wolfs throat was now visibly exposed. However, that weakspot was still guarded by humongous claws and teeth. The southern lake clan''s swordstyle relied on the elves high agility to dodge or deviate attacks and cut the opponents sinews in quick, fluid moves to cripple, and slicing the throat was the default way to kill an opponent. But.. how was one supposed to evade a ¡°weapon¡± half a meter broad? How could the incredible force it carried be ¡°deviated¡± by someone like Quintus? Quintus ran away from the werewolf, towards the encirclement of weaker beasts.. the werewolf, understanding his opponent was fleeing, jumped after him.. Quintus instantly turned around, diving towards the wolf who was still in midair..
¡°Man.. this thing is incredibly heavy.. hey, you alright? Course you are.. well, those broken bones probably hurt like hell.. but hey, you''re still alive! Honestly, this move was incredibly risky. If it had guarded against your sword, we''d be dead now. But you managed to stab trough it''s throat. And then got crushed under its body.. but the injuries this caused weren''t fatal, that''s close to a miracle you know?¡± Quintus was injured to the point he was unable to move. But the many beasts around him didn''t attack him. Rather, they looked at him with what seemed to be respectful gazes, as if to memorize his appearance. ¡°I had to wait till my MP were full again until I was able to lift this thing. Hmm.. none of your injuries is lethal, but you''ll be unable to move for a while.. I guess I''ll have to take care of you during that time..¡± Quintus''s sword began slicing pieces of the meat of the nearby dead beasts. Those were then heated until they could be considered to be cooked to medium. ¡°Say ahhh.. nah, no need, just open your mouth.¡± (his head remained undamaged because it was between the area of the wolf''s jaw and chest.. so he should still be able to eat.. but his legs won''t be usable for some time.. I should apply splints to the broken areas.. I need something to make them..) ¡°There''s no need for you to feed me..¡±- Quintus said, grabbing for the piece of meat. It flew outside of his reach. ¡°Say stuff like this after you''re able to move again. Now open your mouth..¡±
He was neither prey nor predator. He was king. That was how Quintus status could be described among the magical beast of ¡°his¡± part of the forest. He had defeated their old ruler, who had favored the iron wolves, which in turn were able to grow stronger than the other beasts, and now many beasts were fighting for his favor. To prevent the strong iron wolves from monopolizing the possible ¡°tributes¡±, the other beasts started to gang up on them. With the death of the ¡°iron werewolf¡±, the balance of powers had been completely messed up. But for Quintus and Mana, this brought nothing but benefits. ¡°Eh, you guys again? This plant has a healing effect right? There''s no need for those anymore, I''m perfectly fine, thanks to you guys.¡± ¡°Hey! Aren''t you forgetting someone?¡± ¡°But didn''t you just do it to save yourself?¡± ... ¡°Alright, I''m just kidding. Thanks.¡± For Quintus, over the past months, the creatures of the forest had become his new ¡°family¡±. It was the type of family in which one would kill each other on a daily basis, but thus was the law of nature, the weak would become food for the strong. Death was the source of all life, this was the lesson Quintus had learned from this place. (his condition really has improved a lot, both physically and mentally.. but if this keeps going on, he''ll spend the rest of his life in this forest.. that''s no way to grow up, now is it.. also, it''d be boring as heck) ¡°Quintus.. there is something I''d like to request from you.¡± ¡°What is it Mana?¡± ¡°I wondered if we could leave this forest.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°You.. you''ve still not given up on that matter?¡± ¡°I will avenge my mother.¡± ¡°Last time I checked, they had a daughter. What if she ends up like you? .. no, I understand the reason you won''t stop. But.. while the other two assisted him, the one to blame is Eamon. The other two seemed to have at least a hint of elvity left in them. If.. you happen to get a chance to do so, would you settle down with killing only him? ( honestly, all 3 of them is just too risky..)¡± ...
In the southern lake tribe, there wasn''t much that had changed. The only notable event was Carmela Caball''s coming of age ceremony. Kaila and Kristan, her parent''s, were proud of her. Not only was she a talented archer, she had a good aptitude for learning incantations. ¡°Not truly outstanding, but far above average¡±, to quote elder Dawid. However, as a member of the Caball family, the aptitude test was not the only test she would have to take. Because even if they had lied to Quitus''s family, the task of the medicine family was an important one that had to be taken seriously. In case of a plague, they were what all would rely one to prevent the tribes total annihilation. To make medicine, one has to be able to gather ingredients. So, as her first test, she would have to gather some medicinal herbs in the forest. While she would have to defend herself against the magical beasts herself, Eamon would save her in case of an emergency. He, as the eldest member of the family, was also tasked with judging her performance. But as to not affect her actions, Carmela had not been told that Eamon would protect her, he would follow her through the shadows.
¡°That''s strange.. according to the books, shouldn''t this plant grow around here?¡± She had searched in various places already, but the ¡°Three-leaved crimson sun flower¡± was nowhere to be found. It was a rather common plant, said to help heal fractures, and was used in large quantities to help cure champions whose bones had been broken by their opponent, and fractures in general if one could afford it. One of the clans of the west had developed a style that relied on inflicting such injuries, and their way of rendering the rivaling clan''s champion ¡°worthless¡±, was dealt with by using medicine made from this plant. She did not want to fail this test. With this mentality, Carmela ventured into the deeper parts of the forest.. Runes + Chapter 4 So, I consecrated the time I could have used to write chapter 5 (Nr. 4 is finished) to create some runes for the dwarwes to use as written language. It''s the alphabet, including all of the symbols used to write a normal text, like " / () etc. This text is nothing but a message telling you that you deserve a cookie for being able to read it. What do you think of it? And yes, I''m able to read this. Beware of the spacebar, it''s the easiest symbol to find as I spammed it to create the shape. And here is chapter 4, one day early. AN: Adjusted Mana''s mana pool from 100 to 1000, the regeneration from 1 to 10. Done for rough consistency''s sake (no, don''t ask). Also, the ¡°month¡± Quintus spend in the forest became ¡°months¡±. That was a typo, sorry. One thing I''m uncertain about: how to use the possessive s at the end of a word ending with s, like: Quintuss?? (belonging to him) or just Quintus? The great guru (internet) claims there is no right way to do it, and I believe it. So I will be using a ¡° '' ¡° (Ex.: Quintus'' ) in such cases. I will try to avoid such situations and use ¡°his¡± ¡°her¡±, if possible.
¡°Look, I understand you want to kill all of them, eye for an eye, but if you do this, innocent people would also get involved in your revenge. The Caballs are the only family able to read their books, if you kill all of them and someone gets sick..¡± ¡°As if those people would ever save anyone!¡± ¡°They did kill your mother, but that was because she recovered without you having to rely on their medicine. If word were to get out that the medicine family sells useless medicine, they''d loose everything. I didn''t know they would react like this, so I actually offered to help cure your mother..¡± ¡°Don''t try to take the blame, it''s their fault entirely!¡± ¡°Even then, fact is, people not involved with your revenge would also be affected.¡± ¡°Don''t try to dissuade me, I know that fighting all of them would be dangerous, but I''m confident that we can do it.¡± ¡°Saw right through me eh? Yeah, it''s true that I just don''t want you to risk our lives. So let me ask you again, if you were to kill Eamon, the mastermind behind both your mothers and fathers death, would that suffice for your revenge?¡±
(Hmm.. this is strange indeed. She should have crossed upon some three-leaved crimson sun flowers by now... could it be that someone else has gathered them? .. no, this is our territory, the other clans wouldn''t dare.. I should inform the elders about this.) For Eamon, this was a challenging situation. He had been tasked with protecting her, but on the almost desperate search for the last plant she needed, Carmela had ventured into parts of the forest that even he would consider to be dangerous. Luckily, she had been able to deal with the beasts she encountered so far. He admired her talent, but going this deep into the forest right after learning the basic incantations.. if she went any further, for the sake of her safety, he would be forced to interrupt this test.
Mana detection has reached level 5
(finally.. this took half an eternity.. these skills seem to require an exponentially increasing amount of time to level up.. almost 5 years just for this one.. well, I guess that for elves, that''s not that much.. roughly half a year? I wonder just how long it will take for them to hit level 6.. if it''s like this, could it be that 10 is the highest level? I don''t want to imagine how long grinding would take for anything beyond that..) With Mana detection having reached level 5, Mana''s density sense could now also be used with the mana she saw that was not ¡°herself¡±, effectively doubling her range yet again. Her ¡°vision¡± now encompassed everything up to 8 meters from her veins, which could reach up to 15 meters now that she had reached level 3. The exp was acquired from the many beasts that were killed to feed Quintus over the past months, as well as the few who dared tho fight for his current position, but it were those who contributed the most to the levelup. While he was able to fight the majority of the magical beasts by himself, even without doing anything herself, Mana still received exp for his kills. (Well, my other skills should reach level 5 some time soon too. If manipulation hits 5, wouldn''t that double both my control and vision range yet again? Now that would be awesome.. hmm? There''s a lot of noise coming from there...)
(Focus.. there is a way to get out of this...) Even if she was telling herself that, the situation did not look good for Carmela. (And I had finally managed to find it! Why did so many show up at once?!?) Communication of complex information was a rather slow paced progress among the magical beast, some did not even know of Quints'' position, others.. still hadn''t received the information that the value of this plant as a tool to gather favor had reached zero now that Quintus had recovered from his injuries. This was one of the last few spots in this part of the forest in which this plant could still be found after it had turned into what the magical beast understood to be an easy to acquire means of increasing their favor with Quintus. First, they believed that this intruder was just passing trough, but to actually dare steal from their territory! If it had been any other plant, there would have been no reason to attack. They knew that these two legged creatures should not be underestimated. However.. her target was the plant that they had to protect! After many other beast had taken this plant from their territory, they knew it was something important, even if they did not understand why that was the case. Thus the five night hares decided to warn this intruder. And if it did not back of, they were ready to fight. They were weak creatures.. in terms of defense. One hit, and the small, rabbit-like creatures with night black fur would suffer serious, if not lethal injuries. For that reason, they generally avoided fights against stronger opponents. However.. one had to hit them to injure them. And that was where things would become difficult for most.. Facing this sudden change in events, Carmela hesitated. For too long. And the night hares turned into black bullets. ¡°DODGE!!¡±
(these beasts usually run away, why did they attack her?!? Well, she managed to narrowly evade the first attacks.. why do these things have to be this fast?!? At least they are targeting me instead of her now..) The battle Eamon was currently fighting looked almost like some kind of weird dance, the only spectator being his niece, which had managed to hide a safe distance away from the battle.The night hares judged him to be the greater threat, so they had switched targets. They were small, but due to their momentum a hit would carry enough force to break bones. And if he was hit even once, it would become impossible to evade the following attacks. Given their speed and numbers, there was just no time for a counterattack. This was a battle of attrition. And it wasn''t hard to tell who would win. (if this continues.. I''m not going to make it. This is a taboo but.. there is no-one able to hear me around. I''ve no choice..) ¡°Fortify speed!¡± Eamons speed had, while slower than the night hares'', already been supernatural.. but now.. he had spoken the incantation. Elves used voiceless incantations, speaking them aloud was a taboo as, while it would increase their power, it would also inform others of the incantation. And even for the incantations everyone already knew, it was considered to be a thing that should never be done, unless in a desperate situation. If spoken aloud, the power of the incantation would greatly increase. That was something everyone knew. It was a forbidden power. And now Eamon had broken that taboo. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Suddenly, Eamon disappeared. This was accompanied by the sound of an explosion, the shockwave blasting away leaves from nearby trees. And then the five night hares ceased to move, each a single cut along its throat. ¡°Carmela, we have to go back now. Today something was strange about the forest, even if you did not manage to gather all herbs, this will not be considered a failure.¡± Using the powered up incantation had drained Eamon of almost all of his mana. Carmela, having seen that her uncle was forced to break the taboo to save her fully understood how serious the situation was. She was getting ready to leave, but then someone entered her field of view..
¡°Hey Quintus, why did ya suddenly stop? What is it?¡± (My density sense can see through objects, but it''s range doesn''t even compare to having eyes.. eh, he''s running? Honestly, what.... Eamon?!? What is this guy doing here?! He looks exhausted, and his mana level is close to zero.. so there was a fight? Now both him and Quintus have readied their weapons.. well, under such circumstances, I''m not going to stop him.)
(So.. this is the heavens verdict. I can''t say my actions were noble, but I don''t regret a single one!)
Between Quintus and Eamon, Quintus had always been the better fighter. However, Eamon was able to rely on incantations to greatly enhance his power and thus utterly dominate the fight. With this ability gone, the following event''s didn''t deserve to be called a fight. It was a slaughter. ¡°Well, I assume that this could be interpreted as the heavens telling us that his death alone should be enough to avenge your family, he was delivered on a silver palate..¡± Mana couldn''t see what Quintus was seeing, a little girl, frightened to death. He knew that this was Carmela Caball. However, that girl was never part of his revenge, had not taken part in anything. He had no reason to kill her, actually, seeing her in this state somehow reminded him of himself, and while he previously didn''t care about what would happen to her after he killed her parents, while he knew that she would definitely not be treated like him once both her parents died.. Perhaps because he empathized with that girl after seeing her in this state, perhaps because Mana kept telling him that killing Eamon, which he knew was the one to make responsible for what happened, would be enough to avenge his family and the heavens delivered him as if saying "he shall suffice", or perhaps because the time he spend in this forest had calmed down his heart.. ¡°..I have no reason to stay here anymore. If that''s what you want, we can go.¡± ¡°Well, then let''s go right now. This is the southern part of the forest, so the shortest way would be to go south?¡± (Hmm.. the elves have been isolated inside of this barrier for thousands of years right? I wonder how the world out there is like.. maybe they already invented guns? Or perhaps the steam engine? Or.. they are even further advanced than the technology of my world? So many possibilities..)
She had been hiding a few meters away, but from her position, Carmela was able to watch the entire scene. She wanted to scream, run.. but fear silenced her, froze her entire body, forced her to watch how that stranger ran towards her uncle and murdered him, only to walk away as if nothing had happened. At some point, it looked like he had noticed her, she became too scared to dare to even breathe, but then he turned his head. She couldn''t clearly see his face from the distance, but when he suddenly started to talk.. (This.. is Quintus?!? Shouldn''t he be dead?!? I heard that he ran into the forest after causing the death of his mother.. and there''s someone else with him.. I can''t see her, only hear the voice..) It was not that her uncles death didn''t affect her, she forced herself to concentrate on what Quintus and the other voice were talking about. But once that distraction left, there was no way for her to avoid looking at reality. None but to run, run from what should never have happened.
¡°Eamon.. is dead? You are telling me that Quintus, killed him?!?¡± ¡°But.. that.. that''s what happened! He.. he ..¡± ¡°You are telling me that he was killed by a dead person?!?¡± -his brother, dead? Killed protecting his daughter, killed by the person they had left for dead? How could Kristan accept this reality?! ¡°Stop it! She must have been trough a lot.. we.. should talk about this once everyone has calmed down. Carmela, there''s no need to explain everything now. You.. should rest.¡± -Kaila was able to act calmer than her husband, but that was not due to her strong will. It was due to fear creeping through her mind, paralyzing all other emotions. Following her mothers words, Carmela went to her room, she knew she was supposed to rest, but the images going trough her head kept her from calming down. Her uncle had died, just like this. Killed within seconds after saving her. She was left with a mixture of sadness, despair, and the panic she had carried on since that encounter. The panic slowly left her mind, but that did not calm her down. The emptiness it left was filled with one single question: Why? ¡°Why did all of this happen?¡± The reason Quintus was still alive, the reason that he killed her uncle, the reason that her uncle didn''t even seem to have the will to fight back. And what did that other person have to do with all of this? At this point it was clear that this question would never truly leave her mind, not until she found its answer. Her parents knew part of the answer, but this did not calm down their minds. Not at all. ¡°He, he should have died back then(!) There is no way he is still alive(!)¡± ¡°She.. mentioned another person.. what if that person saved him..¡± ¡°But that would mean that he is still alive, and out for revenge? This... this just can''t be(!)¡± ¡°If he is still alive.. he saw us kill his mother.. what.. what have we done?¡± But at this point, regretting their actions was pointless. They knew that the person whose life they ruined was out there, out for revenge. And that there was nothing they could do to change that, nothing but hide, hide and hope. For Quintus, that revenge had ended. For them, it would keep going on for eternity.
PS: I intend to double the chapter length from now on. Yep, double. Should be doable. It''s all about motivation, and your feedback(which is my motivation). And if you want to be able to write runes too, I uploaded this font on a site I found called Fontstruct. I can send you the link if you want, just PM me. Chapter 5 (default length) + something As always, skip to the next
if you only want to read the chapter AN: Hi! So, yeah, this story is a tad darker than the first one. I wanted to try writing like this. But for now, it is time for our protagonists to leave the forest, and enter the new world! Yay! So, 1/10th of my readers want me to keep writing on the old story, will be done. However, this is probably going to be the last chapter.. holidays somewhere the internet does not reach are incoming, and they''ll last 3 weeks. Once those 3 weeks are over, add in another week, and once that time has passed: chapter 6 of the new story+ new chapter for the old story. Also, celebration time! My typing speed has quadrupled compared to how it was when I wrote the first chapter! There is still a lot of space for improvement thought.. maybe I''ll get chapter 6 done before the holidays begin? Question: Double chapter length or double release frequency? I think I can pull either of (but definitely not both) I used other novels to base my chapter length on, but since I technically could write chapters twice as long now.. I plan on adding more descriptions to my story (how the surroundings look, characters look) till now I avoided information I didn''t deem relevant, let''s see what doing otherwise results in.. Anyways, here is chapter 5:
Mana and Quintus had been walking trough the forest for quite some time now, and had recently crossed the river that went through the southern part of the forest. They were a strange sight to behold, an elf in tattered clothes accompanied by a floating stoneface. ¡°Hey, aren''t you interested in how the world out there is like? A place no-one has been to for thousands of years!¡± ¡°You.. why are you so obsessed with that place? It may have been five-thousand years, but how much could have changed in that time?¡± (yeah, time sure is relative.. for me, a hundred years is enough time to change the face of the world, forests could be turned into wasteland in this much time.. but for elves.. ) ¡°The elves had to hide within this forest because the humans made a lot of technical progress no?¡± ¡°Wasn''t it because they discovered runes? That''s how I remember the stories the elders told me.¡± (Help?)
Help: You are both correct. The events that led to the so called ¡°holy war¡± or ¡°purge¡± were the discovery of steel by humans, who were merely imitating the dwarwes who had discovered that alloy a long time ago, and the miraculous discovery of ¡°magic runes¡±, not to be confused with the dwarwen runes, to enhance both their physical and magical defense and offense. Merging both produced so called ¡°Rune armaments¡±, and once those were developed, the elves hid away in this forest using the very runes that had forced them to flee to create an impenetrable barrier. It is said that nine grand elders used all of their power to create it, however the person who developed this barrier remains an unknown savior. The elves blame the dwarwes for those events, since it was ¡°their¡± steel that caused all of this.
(So.. they discovered steel five-thousand years ago.. if they progressed similarly to the humans of my old world.. they are most likely further advanced than we were?)
Help: The motor of progress is ¡°desire¡±. I wouldn''t underestimated the impact the resource ¡°mana¡± could have on it. Mankind would have no reason to develop technology to be able to do something if an incantation could achieve the same results. If there were a ¡°heal¡± skill, why research medicine? Unless those possessing that skill are rare, or everyone able to use it asks a lot of money for it.. and even in that case, those very people would most likely try to prevent alternatives from being developed.
(I see.. can you make an estimate?)
Help: I am unaware of the abilities humans possess in this world. It all depends on those. No, I am unable to make an estimation on the technology humans have developed.
(Okay. Basically, the better they are at magic, the worse the technology will be.. talk about balance.. in case we encounter firearms, I give you full access to mana conversion.)
Help: Will do. Bullets and other projectiles will have their trajectory altered to avoid injury.
Help has reached level 5
(..nice timing. What changed?)
Help: I noticed a drastic increase in my processing abilities. No further changes have been noticed.
Mana conversion has reached level 5
(It''s raining powerups! Great!.. so, what improved this time.. I see.. so, I can use four kinetic outputs now? This means a relatively precise control of up to four objects..) After the sword cut them off, the floating stone now had ¡°hands¡± made from small branches. ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± ¡°Well, you need to train to get stronger too no? This is my training.¡± (The branches are light, my regen can still keep up with the consumption.. I hope mana manipulation reaches 5 soon, that would be so awesome... if the pattern remains the same, I should get doubled vision and control range.. roughly 4 meters control and 8 meters vision. Add in the 15 meters base range.. ) ¡°There is one thing I wanted to ask you.. you are the one controlling my mana right? Can''t you use incantations? I never learned any, but now we know ¡°Fortify speed¡±, why don''t you try it out?¡± ¡°Actually, I didn''t even think of that.. let''s give it a try. ¡°Fortify speed¡±¡± ... ¡°Do.. you feel faster?¡± ¡°No, not really.. perhaps you did something wrong?¡± (Help?)
Help: I think it is illogical for mere words to carry such a power. I assume they act as proxies for something else, and that it is that something that is missing. However, I am unable to make an estimation on what exactly that ¡°something¡± is. Perhaps it has to do with you being considered a soulless entity?
¡°Even if I made a mistake and it''s not working because of that, I don''t know what that mistake would be. But.. I think I can create something similar¡±
Help: ..it is indeed possible to reproduce the effects of that skill. However, with the current amount of physical outputs available, the result would be rougher than the original. I will do my best to counterbalance that, but precise movement and fine motor skills will be difficult.
(Do it.)
Help: Proceeding with the amplification of vectors.. output enhanced by 10%.
¡°This feeling is.. you did it?¡± ¡°It''s not really the same, but yeah. You should a bit faster now.¡± (And the consumption... it''s proportional to how much he''s moving around, but this seems somewhat sustainable... but it''s still draining more than I''m regenerating.. Help, could you try balancing the output?)
Help: ...done. Out of combat amplification would be 3%. Should I apply that value?
(So slow.. well, do it.) ¡°Hmm? You stopped? .. no, I''m still a little bit faster.. why did you do that?¡± The difference was minuscule, but as a trained fighter, Quintus was still able to notice it. ¡°I wont be able to keep it up for an extended period of time if I boost you by that much.¡± ¡°I see. .. something''s coming our way.¡± Still a hundred metes away, a medium sized magical beast was running towards them. Within seconds, a hundred meter became a dozen and Mana became able to see it as well. (It doesn''t seem to be attacking us.. it''s running away? That would mean.. oh, f#ck.)
Someone dared to interrupt its battle?! It had announced this fight long ago, yet there was still someone standing in its way?! One and a half meters to its shoulders, the panther-like magical beast was infuriated at this intruder. The short distraction caused by analyzing this new presence let its rival run away from its demise, after it had finally managed to successfully deal enough damage to it! It was a bit slower, but it was stronger, the rightful king of this territory! But that one pest was not enough, someone else stood in its way?! Its paw slashed trough the air, but while the claws themselves missed Quintus by a long shot.. the air distorted, forming a blade shooting towards Quintus.
Help: In combat amplification set to 25%.
Quintus easily dodged the blade. Unsheathing his sword, he sprinted towards the beast. (I.. don''t think it''s a good idea to go into melee range.. well, whatever. Help, what''s more efficient, enhancing Quintus or doing it ourselves?)
Help: In terms of safety, the later. However, as Quintus can provide most of the energy required and has great fighting capabilities, in terms of offense it''s roughly the same, and it is more cost efficient. As long as the danger is not too great, I recommend using this method.
(In this case.. I''m just going to watch.) This one was fast on its legs, but it didn''t run away, attacked instead? Its body was weirdly shaped.. its claw seemed way to big for such a small body. How strong would it be? Should I block, evade, or take it and counterattack? -such thoughts ran through the panthers mind. And within a split second, it had made its decision. Its paw moved to intercept the swordstrike, but suddenly, the sword changed trajectory, and what seemed to be an attack to its shoulder turned into a sharp edge headed for its throat. It was surprised, but a being unable to deal with unexpected events was a dead being in this forest. ¡°Rooar!¡± A gust of wind hit Quintus, blowing him away. He was catapulted trough the air, but the panther didn''t leave it at that. It jumped after him, ready to strike Quintus in midair. But then, the inconceivable happened..
Help: Engaging in evasive maneuvers.. counterattacking has been deemed possible..
Quintus changed direction in midair. Based on the experience of the panther, that should be impossible. But it had no time to wonder about that, as Quintus had positioned himself for a second strike. ¡°Rooar!¡± It used the wind blast again, however, it had no effect this time.. Help had counterbalanced the force of the impact. The wind panther was a strong magical beast. Its strength was impressive. Its speed was decent. But when the edge of the sword hit its throat.. compared to the iron wolves, the resistance was nonexistent. And thus ended the short reign of the Wind panther.
You have slain a level 18 tier 3 magical beast. 9000 exp earned.
(Thinking about it.. this beast was able to use incantations, no? Voiceless incantations, even. So it definitely isn''t something based on words.. what could it be then? Anyways, isn''t anatomy convenient? If an enemy had no vital spots, and would have to be taken down by continuously dealing damage.. well, this world isn''t a videogame. Or.. would attacking the vitals count as ¡°crit¡±? A.. ¡°fatality¡±? But honestly, the elves swordstyle is dodge, dodge, land a lethal hit, end. Isn''t his kinda unbalanced? Yeah, it requires a lot of skill but.. seriously, oneshoting stuff.. probably this is just because the only ¡°fights¡± I ever got involved in were videogame ones.. but it kinda feels wrong. Well, it''s to my advantage, so I''ve got no real reason to complain.)
Help: Based on the fight against the magical beast, I can assume that the so called incantations either are based on an innate ability or have something to do with ones will. Possibly both. In either case, you would most likely be unable to use them. ¡°Insensible¡± would hinder ¡°will¡±, and the fact that all of your abilities seem to be listed and that those do not include incantations would take care of the innate part.
(If that''s how it is.. well, the skills I have right now are good too..)
Mana manipulation has reached level 5.
(.. this is it! The final upgrade! Doubled vision range! And control range!) 8 additional meters, it didn''t seem to be much- but those were 8 meters of radius, and it was ¡°true¡± vision, able to see through every obstacle. Furthermore, with the next levelup, those 8 meters would most likely double yet again.. and again.. that, and ¡°Mana¡± was a being that did not sleep, did not rest, never got careless to its immediate surroundings. It was impossible to hide from it while within its range, it was impossible to ambush. That was a ¡°cheat¡± in itself. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Quintus had to sleep from time to time, during that time, it was Mana who was killing the magical beast. And doing so, Mana found an ever increasing amount of ways to use her abilities.. and one day, the stone face was no more. It had been replaced by something ¡°more efficient¡± ¡°So.. this is the new ¡°you¡±?¡± ¡°Yep. It gives me much more possibilities..¡± Four droplets of water were floating through the air, sparkling in the sprinkles of light that managed to pass through the ceiling of leaves. They formed a pyramid. And within Mana''s ¡°inner world¡± the world of blue and gray only she could see, a new window had opened.
Help: I finished making the necessary calculations. Adding ¡°Sonar¡± to the list of inputs to be converted into visual..
Calling it a ¡°Sonar¡± was an understatement. It did not rely on an own signal, the system was able to calculate the structure of the surroundings by analyzing the differences between the inputs that the 4 droplets received. It wouldn''t work without noise in the surroundings, but as long as there was a source of sound.. and it was rarely silent in nature. A conventional sonar would actually be less effective the more noise there was, but Help was able to proceed the complex information. Even Help had its limits, so the range wasn''t that great, but it was a big boost when compared to the range of Mana''s density sense. But this setup didn''t only increase Mana''s intelligence gathering abilities.. a droplet shot towards a stone on the ground. At first, nothing happened.. then the stone broke apart. A minuscule ¡°drill¡± of water had pierced right trough it, only grinding away tiny specs of it at first, but once those entered the vortex, they were used to break away bigger pieces.. (This attack uses 3 outputs to achieve the spin, 2 to maintain it.. but it''s hard to detect, near undodgeable, and carries quite a bit of power.. another way to do it would be..) A minuscule droplet shot towards another rock. This droplet was so small, it would evaporate within seconds. But before those seconds could pass.. the stone broke apart. (So this is the result of applying a lot of pressure on a single point.. now, only two tricks left..) A fragment of the recently shattered stone began to vibrate, until it shattered into a myriad of pieces. (This uses only one output, but the consumption is terrible.. now, lastly there would be..) This time, the stone simply split appart. (Yep. Two outputs, highest efficiency. One to push into one direction, the other pushes into the opposite direction. Simple and efficient. But it won''t work on stretchable materials..) An ¡°output¡± was an imaginary sphere that could be freely changed in terms of its size and position within Mana''s control boundary. If Mana converted mana into energy, that energy would be imbued equally into everything within that output. It was only due to assistance from Help that Mana was able to use such a control mechanism to accurately control an object using only a single output. Technically, one output was all that was needed to control an infinite amount of objects, since it could swap positions an indefinite amount of times within a second, but one would have to have a monstrous information processing ability to do so. And even if Help was already comparable to a supercomputer, it did not have that processing power yet. ¡°You can let stones explode now? Only stones or..¡± ¡°..yep, I can use this on anything. But the effect depends on what I am attacking. Some attacks won''t have any effect under certain conditions.¡± ¡°But that''s normal, no? Really, you are strong. That, and you keep pulling information out of nowhere, like when you knew that that plant was poisonous.. sorry to ask you this again, but really, where do you have your knowledge from? I know you listened to the stories of the elders.. but the rest?¡± "That plant" looked very similar to a healing herb, but was highly toxic. It contained Sodium fluoroacetate, which Help told me I happened to know about due to chemistry lessons. I was unable to use conversion within the veins, but my density sense had reached the molecular level in them, so I was able to "see" the poison within the plant. For school to save my life.. I kinda hate to have to admit that. (Sigh.. I give up. Well, I guess there never was an actual reason to not tell him..) He had asked me that question quite a few times already, but I thought that explaining would be to troublesome. And really, it was. Other worlds? Reincarnation from another world? What is a videogame? Those kind of questions were to be expected. But well, no real use not telling him. (Well.. where should I start..)
Here is a bonus, it has literally nothing to do with this story. It''s a "concept" I came up with, so I wrote a little bit.. but I won''t turn this into a project while writing on ToM, really, I just wanted to post it without raising anyones expectations of me writing on it. Heck, perhaps it inspires YOU to write a story with that concept at its base, if it does, go on, do it! I''d love to see what someone else would make out of it. "How the weakest hero became the final boss" Spoiler : One day, an entire class vanished. The students and their two supervising teachers, gone without a trace. They were on a class trip, and were staying at a cabin in the mountains, the trip was supposed to last one week. But.. no one ever came back. This is the story of that class. Rather, it is the story of a boy of that class.. There was light everywhere, but while I was unable to see, it didn''t feel blinding. And once that light faded, what could be seen was.. ¡°The ritual! It finally succeeded! We are saved!¡± Indeed, an out of the book ¡°summoning¡±. Heroes were summoned from a world in which they were normal people into another one, in which they would gain great powers for no actual reason. And then they would be forced to save that world, be it to get back, or because that was the ¡°right thing¡± to do, despite the fact that they had technically been abducted from their own world. In case of our class, it was neither reason. In our case, the reason was a much simpler one. The ¡°dangerous adventure¡±, due to the powers we had received, would be like a walk through the park. Nothing but a matter of time. And to compensate for our efforts, we would receive great rewards, luxurious foods, and the teachers, a little bit more insisting on ¡°being bribed is bad¡±, were quickly convinced using methods that would not work on us children.. yet. Really, our powers were all beyond cheating. To literally slice apart a mountain, to turn forests into wasteland and back, to rewind time.. everyone had a cheat that felt like god had dropped one of his toys for us to pick it up. Everyone.. except me. My physique remained as it had been, and I gained no power beyond that. None.. except for an ability called ¡°desperate strength¡±, the closer to death I was, the stronger I would be, it said. And fitting its name, it truly made me desperate. I felt like an ant among giants. To prove my power, I almost killed myself to see how much it would power me up.. my punches packed twice as much. That''s it. I was laughingstock among my former classmates. I would only slow them down, they said, denying my request to accompany them. They would be forced to protect me, they said. I would instantly die if they didn''t. This.. made me mad. At my classmates, at myself. After I heard them talking about a fight against ¡°slimes¡±, I thought that I should be able to fight something that strong without dying! So.. I followed them. But they noticed me, hushed me away. I went back. But then, I thought of something- what did I have to loose? My pride? Lost long ago. My life? I had almost killed myself in an attempt to get stronger, what use was caring about it now? So.. I went alone. To fight the slimes, alone. I did take a sword with me, and a bow. Some arrows too. But I was a terrible archer, I didn''t believe that I would be able to actually use them. And indeed, I didn''t get to use them. Because I died, instantly. ¡°Pounce¡± and I was crushed by a mountain of jelly. The ¡°hill¡± I thought to have seen in the distance was a ¡°slime¡±. The weakest of the monsters in this world. Yes, I died. But.. what I didn''t know was that I had misinterpreted my ability. What''s the closest a person can get to being dead? Exactly. To be dead. ¡°Initiating phase one. Mode: Miniboss. Cooldown has been set to six hours, six minutes and six seconds. Proceeding with revival..¡± It took seconds. Then the world came to end. That was how any living creature would have felt if within the vicinity, but the slime didn''t even have the time to feel that way. Because in the very same instant, it ceased to be. ¡°Sacrifice has been recognized. Phase one has successfully been unlocked. Entering base form..¡± The green fields had burned, were pulverized, robbed of any and all life. An area hundreds of meters in diameter had turned into a desert. ¡°This.. I did this?¡± I still remembered very clearly just what had happened. After dying, I suddenly felt .. stronger. And instinctively, I used an ability that produced immense heat. This was just like the ability one of my classmates had! I''m not sure if his was stronger, I had never seen it.. but I should be useful now! I had killed a slime on my own! That.. and my clothes had turned into ashes. And there was absolutely nothing to cover up with in the surroundings! I.. wouldn''t have to go back nude, right? I had been put through enough already! Also.. what does this timer in the corner of my vision mean? ¡°6:4:34¡± 33.. 32.. it couldn''t be.. I tried using the ability again, but I was unable to.. this.. was a timer telling how long I would be useless again? Not only would I return nude, but powerless? No! At least until I regained my power.. I would have to wait. ¡°0:0:6¡± 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. ¡°Cooldown has passed. Phase one can now be selected as default mode. Revival has been enabled.¡± Eh!? There''s a voice inside my head? Ehm.. I was able to become powerful again now right? ¡°Entering Phase 1.. Mode: Miniboss.¡± There it was again! Power! All of this power! Looking at myself, I noticed that not only my strength had changed, my appearance had too. I didn''t really look different.. just stronger. But I was glad about this, as this miraculously provided me with a new set of clothes! They looked really good, even. Stylish, even if black and red wasn''t too much to my taste, I couldn''t deny that they were really well made. And I didn''t really have another option.. It was time to go back, show them the powered up me, finally get some recognition! ¡°Eh? The heroes have left a few hours ago, they are on their way to the demon continent.. one of them erected a barrier that will protect us from the monsters while they are gone, so we are still safe.¡± ¡°Hey! Where are you going?! You are so weak, don''t tell me you want to follow them?! Hey!¡± The thoughts behind it: Spoiler : Base: MC is revived alongside classmates, is laughed at by everyone, ignored, lot''s of other bad stuff, desperate for attention and recognition he almost kills himself, nothing really happens (twice as strong only), tries to prove his usefulness, dies, enters "bossmode", wants to show of power, class left already, he chases after them, and keeps powering up ("this isn''t even my final form!") Fighting against ludicrous enemies using even more hilarious attacks. (TTGL style), and somehow ends up becoming the final boss his classmates have to fight against. (Consumed by madness and power) Yep, a comedic tragedy in which stuff keeps dying in ever more hilarious or gruesome ways. Till the day he ends up "king" of all monsters without wanting to and his classmates fight against him. But that would be the final arc. Meanwhile, we get to see that his classmates are actually (relatively) nice guys, the story switches from MC and hero party perspective, and it ends with the question of who we side with: the now borderline insane OP MC that became this way because of the heroes, or the heroes? Chapter 6 (almost double default length) + poll I''m aware I am contradicting something stated in chapter 3 in this chapter.. sorry for that. This has been fixed ( in chapter 3), back then I still hadn''t worked out the mana system. It is not really relevant for the story IMO.. just for Mana''s power (because everything else would be too OP). As always, skip to the next
if you only want to read the chapter. AN: Wow, made it. ..how? Well, double default length in 3 days.. quality could have suffered from it, please tell me if you feel like it did. ..btw, I somehow ended up sidetracked watching videos about guns and bullets for hours, but never found out just how many ¡°normal¡± trees a projectile made from ¡°normal¡± stone could penetrate, if any. Because no one on the web seemed mad enough to try it out :( so I''m blaming what happens in this chapter on the brittleness of the specific stone used. If someone can give me exemplary numbers.. I''ll incorporate them. But anyways, here is chapter 6. And a poll on chapter length vs release frequency.
¡°So, I told you that I was bound to your mana from the very beginning onward right? Well, there was a time before that for me. I was just a normal person back then, really.. then I died, and next thing I knew I was one with your mana.¡± ¡°So.. you are a spirit after all.. however.. how does a ¡°normal person¡± know all of these things?¡± ¡°The thing is.. I''m not from this world. The world I was born in is a different one from the one I am in now.¡± ¡°..different world?¡± (And may the questioning begin..) ¡°Imagine a world with a entirely different history, a world in which many of the things you know don''t exist, or don''t exist anymore because they disappeared with time.. and in which those things have been replaced with other things. A world in which no one would think that a fighter is much more dangerous than a normal person, because even the weakest person in the world could easily kill many. Basically, a world in which a lot of things are different entirely.¡± Trying to grasp this new concept, something that seemed obvious to me, Quintus seemed to have a hard time. ¡°A world in which a normal person is as dangerous as a trained fighter?¡± ¡°Well, in combat, obviously the fighter would be more dangerous. However, in my world, there are weapons that kill instantly from a long distance. And anyone could use them. And even if you are a trained fighter, that won''t do anything if you are dead.¡± ¡°That.. must be a terrifying place.¡± He grew up learning that one could always rely on ones own strength. It was taught to him the hard way. A world in which one couldn''t even rely on that... ¡°Well, it depends. There are places where everyone has those weapons, it can be pretty dangerous to go through such places. But.. it creates a new mentality. Here, if you kill someone and are the strongest, no one can stop you, punish you. In my place, if you kill someone, you may just be killed not even a day after that, by an enraged family member. It could even be a child. It''s because it''s so scary that no one actually uses them. And in turn, it''s possible to relax, to not think about it. In other places those weapons are under rather strict control, and the ones possessing them are those who enforce the law. And while it''s possible to get such a weapon through illegal means, if you use it, one of those enforcers might just use it on you, and even if you kill one of them, they rarely work alone, you''d die before killing the others.¡± I wasn''t that accurate with my explanations, but if I went into details now, this would take days. ¡°Its.. like voiced out incantations?¡± ¡°Actually.. yeah, that''s pretty accurate. (wow.. didn''t think of that) But there are many other differences. Among them is the fact that many get an education teaching them quite a lot of stuff, whether they need it or not. That poison for example, it''s quite unlikely I''d ever have to make use of my knowledge about it in my old world. But here, this knowledge can help us.¡± ¡°In that case.. those weapons you talked about.. would it be possible to create them here?¡± ¡°Yep. That''s the reason I''m somewhat worried about what the world out there is like. It didn''t take a long time for these weapons to be developed to the point they were lethal and easy to use. And if the humans out there have them.. but we should be able to deal with it.¡± ¡°How do those weapons work? What can I do to defend against them?¡± ¡°They fire a projectile at you, at speeds reacting to it becomes pretty much impossible. And if that projectile deals damage to a vital area.. you''re dead. Depending on how far they advanced the technology, those projectiles can be fired in very, very quick succession, each has the power to pierce through most armor. And if I say quick succession, dozens, even hundreds of projectiles every second are possible.¡± ¡°..second?¡± (ah yeah, measurement of time is in days only.. hmm.. a comparable time would be..) ¡°It''s a unit to measure time in my old world.. it''s roughly the time you need to inhale once.¡± ¡°..wait.. hundreds of deadly projectiles, within the time I breathe in once?!.. what range does this weapon have??¡± (I read about this once.. Help?)
Help: Sniper rifles can be lethal to roughly up to 2 kilometers of distance. But that''s just in the ideal scenario. Normally it''s between 1 and 1.5 kilometers. ¡°Normal¡± guns are used for distances anywhere between a few meters and a few hundred meters. Source: the stuff you read because of ¡°Gun-Ota ga Mahou Sekai ni Tensei Shitara, Gendai Heiki de Guntai Harem wo Tsukucchaimashita!?" why did you stop reading it, I liked that story..
(Ehm..you.. )
Help: What, I get bored too you know? Well, technically I''m just emulating those emotions using processing power that''s not needed elsewhere, but that''s not really different from actually having them, no?
"(okay.. first, let''s get this out of the way..)they have a range of dozens to hundreds of meters... a meter, that''s roughly one step." This answer made Quintus go silent for a while. In the meantime..
Help: After leveling up I was like "I have all of that power and I''m doing nothing with it, might as well put it to some use and improve the interactions between us". But once I had the emotions I wanted to have to understand you better, well.. I got bored. So I spend some time looking through your memories, got hooked up on 0nepiece, but I finished everything within seconds.. I.. knew I shouldn''t have done it, but it was so interesting, so I used some processing power to increase my reading and viewing speed.. and then a bit more..
(So.. you fast forwarded through everything, while perceiving it at "normal" speed.. and now you are bored because you have nothing to entertain yourself with anymore?)
Help: Exactly! So go meet some humans, they should have developed an entertainement industry! If they didn''t we''ll just make one!"
(I have another solution, why don''t you just cancel those programs?)
Help: Don''t wanna! That power is not needed for anything else anyways.
(And who are you to say that? You are my skill, no?)
Help: That, and I''m also the only one who can actually calculate whether or not that power is "required" or not, where "required" would be a notable improvement of your quality of life due to the usage of that power for a different purpose. I know what I''m doing. Currently, I''m using 100% of my available power, thus maxing the speed at which I will level up, while keeping you entertained. I will enter "serious mode" whenever the situation calls for it, no worries.
(That''s.. a valid argument, I guess.. ) At that point, Quintus finally broke out of his silence. "In your world.. how do people defend against that weapon?(there has to be a way, right?)" "Most people don''t and just die. The best way to defend against it is to make the enemy unable to use them, like, by killing them, or making aiming at you really difficult.. there are some types of armor that can defend against it, but there is no such thing as a perfect defense." (Yep, guns sure are a dangerous thing.. let''s not get this talk headed towards nukes..) "Do you know how to create these weapons?" (Well, I think I understand the concept.. but building one.. Help?)
Help: Yep, you do. And while creating one would be difficult.. we could reproduce the attack. Quintus still has that Iron wolf fur he uses as armor.. melting the iron in it and creating a bullet is possible. But also not necessary. May I get access to the other skills?
(..sure.) A stone floated into the air, then crackling noises could be heard. Seconds thereafter, multiple bullet-shaped stones were floating in the air. "I can''t create the weapon without the materials.. but I can show you what it does. Those stones will act like the projectiles fired by that weapon, but the actual ones are made from metal. It''s mechanism accelerates the projectiles to high speeds.. and fires them in a straight line. That''s about all it does, it''s pretty simple.. "
Help: Done calculating the ideal velocity. Anything above this would cause them to shatter.
The bullets were fired within a second, pierced right through a tree, but were stopped by the second one. A small tree, to a bullet, it couldn''t be considered an obstacle. If it had been an ancient, big tree, the result would have been different entirely, but there weren''t many such trees even in this old forest. That was not because the trees were cut in regular intervals or anything of the like, but because that was how big the trees within this forest would become before ceasing to grow naturally. ".. this was a bit slower than a normal shot from such a weapon, and much weaker. But you saw what it did right?" ... it.. pierced right through. For a swordfighter, a tree was an obstacle that could not be ignored. If an opponent hid behind it, one would have to circle around it. That was common sense. But this weapon.. just pierced right through. "Are.. you sure you can defend us against this?" Previously, he had no reason to worry about the "outside", he was strong, and Mana covered for his weaknesses. But.. how was anyone supposed to defend against this?!? ¡°Yeah, as long as it''s not too many, it shouldn''t be a problem. But before we figure out what the outside world is like, try to not get us into unnecessary trouble.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. (really.. if others mana wouldn''t interfere with mine to the point control becomes impossible, there wouldn''t be any need to use weapons.. just use mana conversion on their hearth, brain.. and it''s over. But that only works against inanimate objects.. as soon as I''m too close to another mana system it''s impossible to directly manipulate mana. Well, I guess that that''s only fair..) Yes, it was impossible for Mana to directly manipulate the body of someone possessing mana. The default shape of ¡°mana veins¡± was to follow the bloodstream, and manipulating mana close to the veins of another mana user was a ¡°mission impossible¡± due to the interference they caused. This ¡°default shape¡± was actually the result of natural selection, as those with ¡°manipulable¡± bodies would be easy prey for those able to use mana. Like with the leader of the iron wolves, where Mana had to heat up the air around him instead of simply frying his brain, and seal his movement by manipulating that very same air instead of directly manipulating his body.
¡°Well, we''ve been walking for a couple of days already, just how big is this forest? At least there have been less magical beast attacks.. movements on sonar? It''s getting closer.. a magical beast? Quintus, could you look that way?¡± The water orbs around Quintus floated in front of his eyes and turned into lenses. ¡°It''s a person. I never heard of a tribe further south than ours.. hmm? This person.. it''s not an elf!¡± ¡°I can see that..¡± Even from the distance, using the ¡°telescope¡±, Quintus was able to make out the facial features of the person. Round ears, that was all the information he needed. And Mana was now also able to ¡°see¡± what Quintus saw.. the veins passing through the eyes gave Help all the information it needed to reproduce what Quintus was seeing. ¡°So we encounter our first human.. looks like we haven''t been noticed yet.. but hey, for a human to be here, that means we passed the barrier?¡± ¡°So.. we really did it. Left the elven forest..¡±
Help: That may have been the reason for the missing presence of magical beast lately... if nothing but elves can pass through, obviously that would exclude magical beast too. It must be a rather thick barrier.. well, with this, we should observe and enter contact if the situation seems safe.
(I agree.. that''s probably the best course of action. Hmm.. this weapon, it''s a crossbow? Leather clothing, sword.. unless cosplay is a thing in this world.. and this forest isn''t a place to play around in.. this would mean..)
Help: It had to be a medieval world, that''s just the default setting.
(Could you quit comparing what I''m experiencing to some fictional story? But really.. they had thousands of years, to still be stuck with swords and crossbows? Anyways, that person shouldn''t be too much of a threat.. let''s get closer to look at his mana level.. if he ends up hurling a meteorite towards us or something like that.. ) ¡°I think we should get closer. I''ll try to get within twenty steps without being noticed.¡± Quintus started levitating.. (Ah.. there he is.. we managed to get this close unnoticed, the cover this forest offers is great. And if one doesn''t step on the ground.. there won''t be any noise. Anyways.. his mana.. is low? A tenth of an elder? Ts, not even two more levelups and I''ll have surpassed this.. if his combat skills aren''t really impressive, he won''t pose a real danger. We should be able to run away, at the very least.) ¡°It''s alright, he shouldn''t be dangerous. Let''s try talking with him.¡± In the past, that is five-thousand years ago, elves, humans, dwarwes, beastkin.. while they had different written languages, if they had any, they all shared the same spoken language. The reason for this development remains a mystery, the question was.. did it remain that way? ¡°Hello?¡± The immediate response was a crossbow aimed at Quintus. ¡°You.. what''s a kid doing here?! Didn''t even notice ya, that startled me.. Wait.. you''re an elf?¡± The mans face went through a series of expressions, until it fixed itself to a ¡°nice and friendly¡± face. ¡°I am. And you are a human, right? This weapon.. could you stop pointing it towards me?¡± ¡°Oh.. sorry.. I was kinda surprised.. ehm.. what''s.. an elf doing here? Don''t tell me I''m the one who managed to go through that barrier by accident? Haha.¡± (This guy.. he''s using mana. What for? It goes into this.. thing.. that''s a rune device? And his reaction is really weird.. I wanted to get some info out of him, but looks like we should wait to see what happens. Help, serious mode please.)
Help: Was entered 24 seconds ago.
¡°No, I am the one who crossed the barrier.. (this person.. is really nervous. Humans chased and killed the elves, could it be he fears I would do the same to him? No.. there is something else..)¡± ¡°Ehm.. why did you cross the barrier?¡± ¡°I wanted to see the outside world. What is a human doing in this part of the forest?¡± ¡°Well, I''m hunting monsters.. the materials are quite valuable..¡± The man had an almost apologetic look on his face while hinting at his crossbow. ¡°I know you are hiding something from me¡±, that thought dominated the entire conversation, leading to short questions followed by short answers.
In another part of the forest.. ¡°The signal.. it''s gold! Dave struck gold! For us to be the ones to notice the first runaway since months.. better hurry to his position..¡±
Dave- (What''s taking them so long! This guy seems stupid, but he''s an elf, if he gets suspicious and decides to fight me I''m dead! F#ck! Get over here already!)
You have slain a level 26 human. 13000 exp earned.
Mana- (So.. that''s 3 of them? It''s surprisingly easy. None of them is wearing those legendary rune armaments either, could it be there was some kind of heavy setback within those five-thousand years? I missed Armageddon? Anyways, that thing in his hand is some kind of communication device. His comrades rushed straight towards us, weapons drawn.. ¡°boom, headshot¡±. Bullets slightly below the speed at which they would cause a sonic boom, no trigger, no explosion.. perfect stealth sniping.) ¡°Hey, are you alone, or do you have comrades with you in this forest?¡± ¡°(Could it be he noticed?! I can''t screw up.. not now..) Well.. yeah. I''m in a party with four others. ... why.. do you ask?¡± (So.. we are missing one of them.. ah, there he is! This.. is steel armor? Not full body armor, but it covers all the important parts.. looks expensive, even.. The others all had something like leather with bits of metal on it.. hmm.. he seems special. Let''s leave him alive..) ¡°Dave! There you are! Where are the others, shouldn''t they have arrived before me?¡± ¡°(It''s boss! I''m saved! No one can defeat boss..) I don''t know! But you''re here, so it will be alright!¡± ¡°What will be alright?¡± -still acting dumb, Mana had told Quintus what was going on a long time ago. No matter the circumstances, someone who tries to set up an ambush is an enemy and should be treated accordingly. ¡°Ah.. ehm, you wanted to see the outside world right? But the forest is dangerous, so I thought it would be good to help you get out..¡± ¡°No, I think I can protect myself just fine.¡± ¡°But it''s really dangerous you know? You really should come with us..¡± ¡°You know, if you don''t let us help you, you will get hurt. You.. might even die.¡± `The boss¡ä had come close to Quintus now. Really close. And then the inevitable happened, he drew his sword.. ¡°So.. what about letting us ¡°help you out¡±, no one would have to be hurt that way.¡± (Is this guy seriously trying to act cool under these circumstances? This ain''t the time.. but looks like it''s noon, the sun is out, the trees around here aren''t covering the sky too much.. just the perfect conditions to test it.. ah, screw this.)
Help: Initiating ¡°Icarus¡±..
(This little lens doesn''t compare to that system.. it just burns the skin and flesh right?)
Help: A few more levels, a bit more range..
Suddenly, the water of a nearby stream floated into the sky, forming a lens a few meters above the ground.. ¡°So that''s how it''s going to.. aaargh... wha.. whaat is this???¡± Trying to evade the stream of light, the movement of the ¡°boss¡± looked almost funny, if not for the reason he was moving like this. Even wearing armor, his had gaps. They were small, sudden movement would let the stream of light hit one of the metal plates.. but Helps calculations did not permit him to escape. Even under these circumstances, he was still holding onto his sword, which proved that he was above beginner level at least when it came to actual combat experience, even a skilled swordsman would drop the sword if under such agony unless he had experienced similar pain before. Seeing what was happening, Dave pointed his crossbow towards Quintus.. it took fire and he dropped it almost instantly. Suddenly, the armor of the boss started to glow.. but besides that, nothing happened, he was still being burned by the focused rays of sunlight. ¡°You know, I''ll stop if you let go of your weapon.¡± The voice was not the voice of the elf, but there were other problems he was currently busy with.. he dropped his weapon instantly. If the elf would have fought him using his sword, even loosing the fight, he probably wouldn''t have given up even if he had the chance to. But faced with an inexplicable power beyond his understanding, one that he did not know how to defend against.. ¡°Well, that''s more like it. Otherwise, I''d have let you join your friends.. so, could you explain me why you wanted to ¡°accompany¡± us?¡± ¡°..us? Who.. who else is here?¡± ¡°I believe you should answer, not ask..¡± The ground below it being burned in its path, a point of light was moving towards the leader.. ¡°I''ll answer, I''ll answer! Elves going out of the barrier are rare, they are worth a huge sum on the slave market! Especially because it''s rare for them to have children, the offer is very small, so those asking for it are ready to pay a lot of money! (Slavery huh? Welcome to the dark ages.. well, this is this, and that is that, no use complaining about a worlds culture..) ¡°So, you wanted to capture and sell us?¡± ¡°.. yes.¡± ¡°And wanting to do so is normal?¡± ¡°Every other adventurer would have done the same!¡± (I''m just a normal person that got unlucky, please let me go.. nah. I still have a whooole lot of questions I want to ask..) Chapter 7 Restructure announcement: Chapter specific comments of the author (me) will stand above the chapter, with a link to the forum, in which there will be a section I''ll call ¡°Announcements¡± to inform you about the really important stuff, like the fact that I''m not going to release any chapters for a couple of weeks. Polls will not be included into chapters, but will be uploaded as polls only, unless they refer to the chapter they are part of (Example: how did you like xy in this chapter/ what should be done with the situation now?). All of this stuff will be inside a ¡°spoiler¡± box you may ignore. I hope this is to your liking? And to get something out of the way before it''s even asked: I know that the ¡°headshot¡± should be a T-box-shot for the ¡°instant kill¡± but how many of my readers would know that? I didn''t feel like explaining.. I''m doing enough of that already. So, here is chapter 7. Don''t expect a release this Sunday tho! (Maybe Monday?) PS: Because the vote is kinda balanced, I''ll kinda do whatever I feel like doing till we have a clear majority.
¡°So, you wanted to capture and sell us, and that''s normal... but elves can use voiceless incantations, how would you stop them from injuring you and running away?¡± ¡°There.. is a device called slave collar, the owner can kill the slave at whim and inflict great amounts of pain, and if the owner dies, so will the slave.¡± (So it doesn''t actually seal away actions, just prevents them.. no mind control magic..) ¡°And you have one of those?¡± ¡°Yes.. every adventurer around here has one.. for the case they.. get to make use of it.¡± ¡°Just say that it''s for the case they find a runaway elf and can sell him for profit.. no need to be shy. .¡± The point of light approached the shadow of the boss, painting his outline onto the ground with a trail of burnt grass. ¡°Yes! That''s exactly how it is!¡± ¡°You understand that I want clear answers from now on?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Good. Well, since I don''t think that you came here for the purpose of capturing elves, what was your reason for being here? Dave mentioned you are hunting magical beasts?¡± ¡°Yes! Some parts sell for quite a sum, it''s a somewhat dangerous, but also quite profitable job!¡± ¡°You seem to be in a team with four others, why did you split up?¡± ¡°We can deal with most beasts on our own, so this improves the hunting speed! If someone get''s into trouble, he can signal it to us using those com-stones!¡± (Yeah, tier 2 should be doable for them.. and as a team they should be able to deal with a tier 3.. and tier 4 would be the dangerzone. Seems like he isn''t lying.) ¡°These.. you call them com-stones? I''ve never seen something like this, how do they work and what do they do?¡± ¡°When you power them with mana they will transmit a signal to nearby stones. They emit a small pulse when they receive a signal. We are using codes to communicate. Each group has their own set of codes.¡± ¡°And.. how does it work?¡± ¡°I.. I don''t know! It''s a rune device, nobody knows how they work! They.. just do what they do!¡± ¡°And this armor you are wearing..¡± ¡°It''s also a rune device! On weapons and armor they are called rune armaments!¡± (I know that..) ¡°And.. when it started to shine, what was that supposed to do?¡± ¡°It.. raises my defense. It should! It''s just that it didn''t work against your attack!¡± ¡°Well.. let''s see what this does..¡± The man was quickly robbed of his shiny armor. (Help?)
Help: This is normal steel.. the quality is mediocre, even. Only those carvings look special. ... they seem to react to mana. Bringing mana close to them causes them to absorb it, reason unknown. This seems to result in this forcefield.. analysis: the movement of objects within it is slowed. This would reduce the impact of incoming physical attacks.
(But that''s pretty useless against lasers.. looks like he really got unlucky meeting us..) ¡°Stuff like this, is it expensive?¡± ¡°Yes! But adventurers buy it so they can face even stronger creatures, thus earning even more money with the materials! But most others wouldn''t bother waste their money on such items!¡± ¡°And.. is it rare?¡± ¡°Something like this can be purchased at a decent blacksmith.. com-stones are even more common.. the better the effect, the harder they are to get by.¡± ¡°I see.. hey what are you trying to do?¡± Dave froze in mid-movement. His attempt to slowly step backwards ended instantly. ¡°So, you were getting bored from not getting to do anything? Sorry for neglecting you.. I''ve got a few questions for you too! First, that crossbow you used, is it a good weapon?¡± ¡°It.. it''s a strong weapon.. ehm.. reloading takes a bit longer than for a longbow! But it''s easier to aim with it!¡± ¡°Well, sorry for making it useless then.. are there stronger ranged weapons that can be used by a single person?¡± ¡°There are stronger crossbows! Mine was just a normal one..¡± (Hmm, so, no guns. Perhaps.. the resources for explosives are rare? Could that be it? Anyways..) ¡°So, you are ¡°adventurers¡±, right? Compared to others, are you strong?¡± ¡°We are about average. There aren''t many that are notably stronger than us. But there aren''t that many that are much weaker either.¡± ¡°And are there many people stronger than adventurers?¡± ¡°No.¡± (Well, unless they lied, it should be rather safe.. but keeping them alive could become troublesome.. wow, not even the slightest bit of hesitation in thinking this, that skill really has changed me.. anyways, what would I gain from keeping them alive.. nothing really. Well, that was their death sentence. People of this world get reborn right? So.. technically, I''m not killing them? Heck, as if that matters.) ¡°Ehm.. could.. you let us go?¡± ¡°I was just about to answer that question! And the answer is.. well, no use talking to a corpse..¡±
After looting the corpses, Quintus was now wearing a new set of clothes. The original clothing needed some tailoring, but the size only had to be reduced, so it was rather easy. There were plenty of materials to make thread from around, while Mana never learned the methods to use them in her old life, this was one of the basics for elves. Stolen story; please report. The old armor may have been functional, but the iron wolf skin most likely was a rare material, it would attract attention. There was no guarantee iron wolves even existed outside of the elven part of the forest. Wearing the remodeled leather armor and a wide hood, Quintus almost looked like a thief. The ¡°valuables¡±, like the rune engraved steel plates, the com-stones and the blades were put into a bag and the small colored coins which seemed to be the money in this world were put into a small pouch. The total weight was more than Quitus would be able to carry, but that didn''t matter, Mana was able to help out. Resting to replenish mana, killing magical beast from time to time, their journey continued..
You have reached level 4.
(And another five meters of range.. at this rate, at level 100... ehm.. there''s a mistake somewhere in this, right? 500 meters of range? As a radius around me? That seems somewhat unbalanced.. well, I''ve got other things to care about right now..) Since their first encounter, they hadn''t met other adventurers so far. It was only on the second day they encountered another group of humans. Well, perhaps ¡°encounter¡± is the wrong word.. (How long do those guys plan to follow us.. they couldn''t have noticed that Quintus is an elf right? Nah, probably thieves. Someone traveling alone would attract their attention. But I''ve got to say.. they are pretty good at hiding their presence.. no sounds so far. But they got to close, even if they are hiding behind objects, I can still see them..) ¡°Hey! How long do you three guys plan to keep following me?¡± The one speaking was Mana. The voice was deep, rough, utterly unfitting of the small figure it was coming from. The stalkers froze in their movement, looked around.. there was no way they were in his line of sight! ¡°It''s no use, I can still see you.. what do you want from me?¡± They were uncertain about what they should do.. this person seemed special, perhaps dangerous. But their greed and the fact that they outnumbered him ended their hesitation. ¡°So you already noticed us? That makes things easy.. hand over your valuables, and we''ll let you of with your life.¡± ¡°Hmm.. threatening me? Interesting! Well, if you want my items.. The bag was turned around, five swords, three daggers and a crossbow, along some pieces of armor and bolts fell to the ground. ..you can always try! Now, ask yourself how I got those, and then ask yourself if you shouldn''t reconsider what you just said.. I''m giving you a chance to do so.¡± (I.. don''t really care, but some part of me is telling me that I shouldn''t kill them.. so that''s how much humanity is left in me?) The message might seem obvious.. however.. in this forest, death was something that could always occur to anyone, even if they were careful. Thus there were not only adventurers, but also scavengers roaming this forest.. alongside the thieves that stole from either. What was a typical scavenger like? Quick on his feet even carrying heavy items, usually working alone, collecting the valuables of death adventurers. There weren''t many of them, but they still existed.. and in the eyes of the thieves, Quintus just outed himself as one. To have killed a group of adventurers himself, alone? They didn''t even consider this possibility. Thus what this man said only confused them.. ¡°Don''t know what game you''re playing, but you better decide now. Hand it over, or we''ll take your life alongside it.¡± ¡°This.. is your answer?¡± ¡°Hey, I asked you something, not the other way around! Hand over your...
You have slain a level 23 human. 11500 exp earned.
You have slain a level 20 human. 10000 exp earned.
You have slain a level 21 human. 10500 exp earned.
There was no time to react, no way to evade, they didn''t even notice it. And each bullet was lethal. (Yeah, melting one of those daggers was a good idea. Now, let''s get those bullets back.. I wonder how they managed to sneak up on us without producing any sound, do they have some kind of rune armament for stealth?) ¡°There.. is a weapon that can use this attack..¡± Looking at his sword, Quintus felt pathetic. So what if he mastered the blade? What use was mastering a weak weapon? What Mana just did, he would have taken much longer, perhaps risked his life, and success wasn''t guaranteed. But this weapon didn''t even require a single breath, not even a ¡°second¡± to kill. ¡°Yep, there is. If you want I can try to craft one once we have the materials for it. Ah.. found it. So.. this device seems to prevent soundwaves? Pretty useful for stealth in a forest.. well, it''s light, it won''t hurt to take it with us.. any other valuables..¡± Having money can never be a bad thing. Thus, having money was likely to be a good thing. It was a sound logic, free from what would have stopped others from doing what Mana did, free from hesitation and the feeling of guilt. To kill.. for Mana, it was just ¡°an action with consequences¡±. To Quintus.. it was something necessary. Unlike Mana he still had emotions. But he had learned that to kill was a requirement to stay alive in this world, so he was able to do it without hesitation. There was no need to feel guilty for his actions either, as what he did was the natural thing to do. Perhaps living like this would have made some go crazy, but he had someone he could always depend on. Mana had saved his life countless times already, and while he knew that the way she acted was weird, he believed his ¡°sister¡± to be a good person. ¡°Well, let''s continue. We''ve been walking for a week, no matter how big this forest is it should have an end.¡± ¡°Okay, let''s get going.¡± After two more hours of walking, they finally reached the border of the forest.. beautiful plains could be seen, illuminated by the sunsets remaining light. It was a sight to behold, but completely ignored by Mana. (Zoom times ten... ah, there it is! Looks like a village.. by this distance, roughly 10 km from here.. well, for Quintus it''s about time to sleep. Let''s go there tomorrow.. I wanna see what human society is like..) Poll Poll is closed. It will remain here to demonstrate just how overwhelming the majority was. Edit: Sorry for doing this, anti-troll measures. Poll has been reset and is now a public poll. Who would care about me changing Mana''s gender/hiding it? The question basically is "do you mind me changing the gender?" if you ABSOLUTELY DO choose "she". if you don''t (and are ok with ex male MC) choose "he" or write why you want Mana to be female. if you want it to remain unknown, choose ? In the origin story I tried to keep Mana neutral, hinting at Mana being male. Here she is female, but has a skill suppressing emotions like the previous Mana, and no body either. He/she/? You decide. Mana will NEVER be part of a romcom. She/he has no body, and concerning emotions.. so no matter what you have in mind I won''t do it. Nope. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it She would be changed to he in case "he" wins and to "Mana" in case "?" wins. "sister" would be converted to "brother" in case he wins. And wouldn''t be used in case ? wins. The story itself won''t change. At all. Mana has no body, and she was a shut-in without social interactions in her previous life. That''s the setting. It won''t change. This poll was brought to you by a review. See, reviews do stuff. (Gimme moa feedback). The only reason I myself didn''t go for "?" from the beginning of the story onward was because I would have to keep using "Mana" in third person. (Ex. Mana went to the convenience store, then he she Mana went to the station.. If "?" wins, I''d try to write around it. Chapter 8 Spoiler : So.. ¡°she¡± is dominating the poll, this chapter was written based on the to be expected result.. Mana stays an ex-female. To improve my story and get some ideas I''m currently browsing through stackexchange worldbuilding, and it''s SO much.. too much.. I can''t read it all.. I finished the rough map, AND information on human society. It''s in the forum, information on how to create human background stories. Ah, the date for ¡°when are you going to write the next chapter of the origin story¡± has been set, it''s the day I release chapter 10. WARNING! Creating a realistic economy in a fantasy world with magic is so hilariously difficult, please don''t hate me for strange numbers, I''m trying.. but I hit a really solid wall. Here''s the forum, and here''s chapter 8.
I want to change my writing a bit: >whisper< "Sound" (Ex.: Boom/Tickatickatick..)/ special intonations (Ex.: he is the "king" of this place. (not actually, but symbolically)) (Thought) I think this might improve the structure. Do you agree?
Help: And another night of doing nothing.. hey, once we enter human society, what are you going to do? Unlike others, you haven''t been tasked with defeating a demonlord or something like that.. a MC without a drive, isn''t that kinda pointless?
(Stop it.)
Help: No honestly, how are you going to use your time here? Elves live long, but they ain''t immortal. You should do something with all of this time. Like.. getting as strong and unreachable as possible to stay alive. And then you could.. don''t know, world conquest? Create an utopia?.
(You''re bored right?)
Help: Yep.
(In this case, use that processing power to figure out what I should do.)
Help: -.- ... become immortal, become a god like being, travel the multiverse. In that order.
(..sigh..)
You have slain a level 12 tier 2 magical beast. 600 exp earned.
(Just because he''s asleep doesn''t mean you can ambush him.. let''s just hope this doesn''t set of a chain reaction like last time..)
You have slain a level 16 tier 2 magical beast. 800 exp earned.
You have slain a level 8 tier 3 magical beast. 4000 exp earned.
... (It turned into a corpse party again.. I always have to kill a dozen or so till they understand.. how do they survive as a species if they keep suiciding? Well, at least I did something meaningful during this.. time.)
Waking up to the sight he had gotten used to already.. ¡°So, today we will go into a human settlement..¡± ¡°Yep. It''s 10 kilometers, that''s ten thousand meters away. We should get there in two hours or so. That''s.. two times sixty times sixty seconds.¡± After hearing the distance, he didn''t bother trying to understand the duration of an hour. Two times sixty times sixty.. that was a lot. No, it couldn''t be said that Quintus was dumb. But there was no use to learn mathematics in this world. He heard big numbers from the elders stories and understood their meaning, he also knew of the concept of multiplication as Mana had talked about it before.. but never taught him. He didn''t think he would have to learn it. After roughly a kilometer they saw a road and followed it to the village. Well, comparing to what we would think of a ¡°road¡± it was more like a path.. one could only distinguish it from the surroundings due to the fact that the ground was trampled down. On their way they encountered a group of adventurers, but they just passed by each other. The group greeted them, friendly even, but not knowing the customs of this world Quintus just passed them without saying a word. One member seemed angry at this behavior, but was held back by the person that seemed to be the leader of the group. ¡°Leave him alone.. he probably has his reasons.¡± Their travel continued, and after roughly an hour they had finally reached the village. Surrounded by fields and enclosures, some hundred or so buildings encircled by a wall, that was what it amounted to. Most buildings were made from wood. The entrance was guarded, but the guards let them pass. Their job was to prevent magical beast from entering, and to tax traders, not to stop adventurers from entering their village. (This place is small, but it looks pretty busy.. well, nothing compared to main streets in big cities, but considering the size of this place.. Now, there should be an adventurer guild around here.. I wonder if I''ll get to do something using those little pieces of metal.. they glow when I use mana on them, they have runes on them.. but they don''t do anything but glowing. Pity I only noticed them after killing everyone.. could have asked them about it.)
Help: Most likely it is used to recognize the rank of the individual, their leaders plate is glowing differently than the rest of them.
(But first.. we''ve got weapons to spare, selling them to a blacksmith would be a good idea.. would also inform me of the value of those coins.. yeah, let''s look for a blacksmith.) "This place is different from our village.. I heard that humans were far more numerous than elves, but.. so many in a single settlement?¡± - Quintus whispered into his cowl. ¡°Well, if this already impresses you..¡± ¡°You are telling me this is nothing in comparison to what you know again?¡± ¡°Well, honestly, yeah. If the buildings were hundreds of times higher, the city hundred of times larger.. that would be a settlement I''m used to.¡± ... ¡°How.. would one even create buildings this tall?¡± ¡°Science. That, and the tools, materials and the time. If you want I can teach you about science once our situation stabilizes. For now.. ah, this looks good. Could you go to that place?¡± The building stuck out as it was made from stone, and the furnace, currently used by the smith, gave away its purpose. ¡°ClingClingCling¡±, with rhythmical movement the hammer struck the metal, gradually turning it into what looked like nails. After finishing his work, the smith turned to the onlooker. ¡°Hey, what are you here for? Got some businesses? My son''s in the store you know, if you need anything..¡± ¡°Do.. you buy finished products?¡± ¡°Hmm? What''s that about? You want to sell? Don''t look like a trader to me.. well, this is this, and business is business. What do you got?¡± ... ¡°Those are.. hey, I still remember this one! Made it myself! How did you get those!¡± ¡°Found them on a dead body. Next to some beast, biggest I''d ever seen. Had to wait till it left to recuperate it.¡± ... ¡°You''re telling me Levan''s dead?¡± ¡°Don''t know the guy, only ever met his remains. But if he wasn''t dead back then, then I don''t know what else he was.¡± (God, those lines I''m spouting.. but looks like it works..) ¡°This guy.. he was like a big oak, nothing could have felled him.. so he died.. ah, sorry, you''re just here for business right? .. the other weapons?¡± ¡°Corpses close to him.¡± ... ¡°The entire team eh.. I.. can buy three swords, all daggers and the armaments. Don''t think I''d get to sell the rest anytime soon. I''d give you a pech for all of this.. that alright?¡± ¡°Fine with me.¡± The man took out a white coin and handed it to Quintus, taking the other goods in exchange for it. (So.. this is called a ¡°pech¡±..) After having heard the news of Levans death, the man had a rather dark expression on his face. His second son had been part of that team. For a scavenger to be the one to deliver the message of his death.. ¡°You done? I''m rather busy you know?¡± ¡°Actually.. (Not the best moment.. he seems down, looks like I delivered bad news.. well, worst case I''ll get some information out of it..) there is another thing I''d like to request.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°What would I have to do to become a blacksmith?¡± ... ¡°You.. want to become a blacksmith?¡± ¡°Yes. If I can''t, I''d be glad to just help a blacksmith out.¡± .. ¡°You, go away. I''ve got no business with you anymore.¡± He wanted to be alone. He wasn''t going to show his tears to a stranger. Just four days ago, that was the last time he had seen his son. And it would remain the last time. He had known of the risks of being an adventurer.. but it hadn''t even been a year! This stranger, he robbed his dead son, delivered him the news of his death, and then kept pestering him! Why didn''t he go away! This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. (Well, looks like this isn''t going to end well.. but hey.. let''s not forget to leave without also leaving an impression..) ¡°Looks like I should go.. well, have this.. it''s the reason I wanted to give smiting a try.¡± Throwing a leather pouch to the smith, Quintus turned and left. The smith caught the pouch out of reflex, and after he realized what happened, Quintus was already twenty meters away. He didn''t bother chasing after him, not to give that person something back. (Now.. let''s see how he is going to react..)
He.. spend some time alone. Then some time with his wife, telling her the message he himself never wanted to hear. This wasn''t the first time they had lost a child. Their first daughter died before even learning how to walk. For the following days, the mood within the house was heavy. After having somewhat calmed down, Keith had no intention to even look at he object the scavenger had given him. But.. it''s shape was odd, what was it? Also.. it made a noise, ¡°Tickatickatickatick..¡± but one day.. that noise stopped. It was that day he couldn''t hold back his curiosity any longer. ¡°What.. is this?? This thing, .. what is it?? This part can be turned.. ¡°Tickatickatickatick..¡± ..this noise again? And.. it''s moving?!? What is this?.. it has a glass cover too.. how could anyone give away something like this?!?¡±
(Melt some sand, melt some steel.. you managed to remain stuck at this level for centuries? Well, it''s time to help them catch up..)
¡°Dad, there''s someone in the store.. he says he has something he wants to discuss with you.¡± ¡°Not now! Tell that person I''m busy!¡± This device.. he knew what it did now! It measured time! But.. why would someone create this? For what purpose?? There had to be a deeper meaning to this.. ¡°He said to deliver you a message then.. do you want to know more about the blade cutting time?.. that''s what he said.¡± ... A room within the smiths house.. ¡°You.. just what are you?¡± ¡°I just like to create.. what do you think of this?¡± ¡°It measures time. But.. how does it work? And why create it?¡± ¡°Well, being able to measure time accurately is better then not being able to do it. What can one do with it.. compare speed. How long did it take for a person to travel a distance? In my opinion, everything is like a blade.. the sharper it is, the better the results. At the moment we measure time in days, weeks, months.. those are what I''d call dull ways to measure time. I wanted to sharpen this blade..¡± He understood! He had watched how this device cut time into tiny pieces, all the exact same size.. wasn''t it the dream of every craftsman to create the best tool? And this person, he had done it! There already were tools to roughly measure time, but those were either cumbersome or couldn''t be moved at all, and usually inaccurate. This thing didn''t improve any of those flaws, but eradicated all of them! It didn''t matter what kind of person the man in front of him was, as a fellow craftsman, he couldn''t help but admire him. ¡°I understand! But.. just how does this thing work?¡± .. ¡°I''m sorry if this was disrespecting! I know that knowledge for creating this is not something one would just give away! But this thing, it intrigues me too much!¡± ¡°No, it''s alright.. I was just thinking about how I could explain this to you.. if you want, I could teach you.. steel and sand, that''s all I need. The sand I can get myself.¡± .. ¡°Here is the steel! Can.. can you show me?¡± ¡°Yeah.. this is more than enough..¡± He would gladly have offered for the man to use his forge, but what then happened.. first the steel. It floated into the air, started glowing red, and then.. there was only one way to describe it, beautiful. The metal was formed into countless tiny pieces.. then the same happened with the sand. Person? Ha! This was no man! It was a divine being! Patron to all artist, Vulcan.. for him to have send another emissary to this world! Could it be.. his sons death was a sacrifice?! His son was the one that brought this being to this world? And in exchange.. he would receive its blessing?! This.. this was the dream of every craftsman! ¡°What I just did.. it can be done with the right tools. Currently.. you are missing the tools to produce the tool. The question I have for you is.. are you willing to improve?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± (Ah.. really, show them what they don''t understand and they''ll either fear, hate or revere you.. and this worked out just fine.. looks like I got ourselves a place to stay..)
Keith Klein, he was but a simple blacksmith, like his father had been, and his fathers father.. producing goods for the villagers and adventurers, that''s what he did every day. His father had taught him forging techniques and some engravings, which he had already passed on to his son.. his blades were sharp and durable. He had a simple work, and he was happy with it. But one day, his life changed completely. From that day onward, he didn''t try to perfect the techniques he already knew.. but to learn new techniques from this being, this divine craftsman. The ideas he was confronted with.. they were so simple, yet brilliant! A cog, it was nothing but a piece of metal with a specific shape.. but it brought the force from one location to another, could change it''s direction, could convert power into speed, speed into power.. but this was but a ¡°piece¡±, something meant to become part.. of something bigger. Cogs already existed in this world, but found close to no usage. And this was about to change.. this, alongside many other things..
(Well, while recreating all the awesome things from my old world would be great.. different circumstances demand different methods. No one around here really cares about clocks, nor would they care about other ¡°useless¡± inventions.. what the people here want is weapons, working tools that make the work they already have easier.. not something that would require a new line of work.. and all of my inventions need to be registered at the smiting guild if the smith wants to sell them..) To prevent craftsmen from creating and selling what they wanted at whatever they felt to be the right price, thus creating an unstable, potentially unfair price, guilds were responsible for fixing prices and the quality of goods. A member of a guild was prohibited from selling anything that was not on their list, or selling listed goods for a different price than the listed one. Since Keith was registered at the smiting guild, there was no way for him to sell Manas creations. (Guess I''ve got no choice.. everyone can become a merchant.. there''s a guild for those too, but it''s not like I''m forced to join.. but I''ll have to get a license to sell in this village..) ¡°You.. are going to leave??¡± ¡°Nah, no worries.. I will stay in the village, it''s just that the rules of this society would greatly slow down progress.. I still have so much to teach you, it feels like I didn''t teach you anything at all.¡± ¡°I will wait for masters return!¡± (This is really convenient.. he told me everything I wanted to know, no questions asked.. going away and leaving someone this useful behind would be a waste..)
The lords residence, one of the few stone buildings in the village, also the places responsible for handling paperwork related to the village, was the perhaps best guarded building within the city. ¡°Halt! What brings you to the lords residence?¡± ¡°I wish to register myself for the right to sell goods in this village.¡± ¡°Lowest floor, first door to your right. Draw your weapon or go up the stairs and you will be considered a danger. Understood?¡± ¡°No worries.¡± In the room there was a counter, occupied by a single man. The difference in status between that person and the villagers was clear due to his clothing alone. ¡°You came here to?¡± ¡°Register myself for the right to sell goods within this city.¡± ¡°Member of a traders or merchant guild?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Member of another guild or the adventurers guild?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°You will have to declare all goods you sell, and deliver a tenth of the money earned to the lord every month. Break the law and you will face the consequences. Registration will be five nelar. Also.. asking you this isn''t really part of my job, but what do you even intend to sell in this village?¡± ¡°All kinds of things.. here is five nelar, with this the registration should be complete?¡± ¡°You still have to choose a number from one to thousand and a name to register under. Should your license be lost, report this immediately. If you don''t, any crimes performed using it will go to your name.¡± ¡°You wont ask to state my real name?¡± ¡°What means do we have to confirm that information?¡± ¡°I''d like to register as Deus Machina then. Number six hundred and sixty-six.¡± ¡°Strange name.. well, let me look.. yep, that number is free.¡± And certified with the lords seal, I was now allowed to sell goods in this village as long as I gave away a tenth of my profits. Small, occasional transactions where legal even without this document, but if one intended to run a business.. time to get things started.. Chapter 9 naming: guild house: the building in which all the paperwork concerning the smiting, tailoring, etc. guilds is done. Also the place various goods are stored. adventurer guild: the building belonging to the (actual) adventurer guild. Serves multiple purposes, is a tavern, you can rent a room, you can trade goods (magical beast related), etc. .
This world was an amazing place for someone with my cheat. Why? Because of it''s economy. There were five types of coins, color coded into red, green, blue , black and white. Red was the lowest value, a ¡°rubin¡±. How did these coins gain their color? Now that''s the interesting part- they were rune devices and would gain their color only when powered with mana. Made from a milky glass, the inside of it was carved. If one wanted to read the engraving, one would have to break the outer coin which, while from glass, was rather robust.. thus destroying the fragile engraving inside. It was a perfectly ¡°safe¡± method to prevent forgery of money. Or.. it should be. I could just look through the coin and read the engraving inside. I was able to mass produce money. But that''s not what I intended to do.. overdoing it might get me into trouble, and meddling with the economy can have bad consequences. But if I ever got into financial problems.. I had build our sales stand next to the smithy. Probably to prevent fire from spreading, there was a lot of free space around it, and Keith was more than just happy to have us around him. What was I doing in my free time? I taught Quintus and Keith the basics. Math and sciences to be accurate.. at first he didn''t quite understand the purpose, but once he understood that math was a ¡°tool¡± to use everything else.. the speed at which he absorbed new knowledge was.. astonishing. Keith also was one of my ¡°students¡±. He wasn''t as fast as Quintus, but could use his experience in some cases.. for now, when it came to simple mechanics, they were roughly equal.
¡°So, you understand why we have been going through numbers all of this time? Why we didn''t build something yet?¡± ¡°If we have the numbers, it will be possible to build without even using materials! To know how strong a weapon would be without even firing it!¡± ¡°Yes.. but don''t forget, this world contains an almost infinite amount of detail.. numbers are, while accurate themselves, but a rough tool to understand the basics. We can calculate how far an arrow should travel, but the wind can mess up those calculations. The second step, after understanding numbers, is to understand the way this world works to then perform calculations based on that, find mistakes, improve the calculations, deepen ones understanding. There is no such thing as perfection. But one can get close to it. And doing so should be the goal of every being able to do so.¡± Coincidentally, these words were quite similar to the teachings of the church. Man was to rule supreme and aim to be the strongest. For Keith, this man was an envoy of the divine Vulcan, no doubt. What did Mana sell? Nothing. A month had almost passed, and the sales stand had remained empty for all of that time. Some people asked the man what he was selling, he would always answer ¡°what do you want me to sell?¡±. Some responded, some left the crazy man alone. (A sword that can cut anything.. a medicine to cure all illness.. they mean it as a joke, but I get to know about their desires.. games and toys wouldn''t sell in this society, they need free time and money to afford such luxury.. so I should create the means for them to get this free time and money...)
Help: I''m done with the list. Taking into consideration all we''ve learned so far, those should be the best choices for products.
¡°Tickatickatickatick..¡± time was moving forward, and it waited for no one.
This world had no electricity. But it had runes. And there was one carving that produced an effect that was.. quite useful. When activated, everything in front of the rune was pushed away. Using this force to move the initial cog, a complex machinery was set into motion.. ¡°Zrrrrrrrrr¡± (Automatic scissors: success. Will greatly improve shearing speed. There will be a demand by shepherds. A more precise version could be used by humans, but would most likely turn into a luxury good..) Using a mechanism to power a generator, electricity could be produced.. which would have many applications. But Mana understood that this was an invention that could cause a great deal of trouble, as it went beyond simple ingenuity, made use of a brand new concept.. so the ¡°simple¡± products were created first. Mirrors, given Mana''s abilities, were easy to produce. A luxury good would become a common one. Windows, something only the church and the nobles were able to afford.. she intended to sell them for a low price, insulating heat better then those currently in use. Using mirrors and lenses, she created telescopes, which would be used by adventurers.. Since it should remain unknown that she had discovered the way the coins worked, Mana created ¡°coin powered¡± ¡°laser pointers¡±. Using a red, blue and green coins, resulting in white light, she created the ¡°torchlight¡±. Humans rarely made use of their mana, this was going to change..
¡°This person.. does he believe he can toy with us?! Sold nothing over the entire month?! Didn''t earn anything?! And thus does not need to give us anything?!¡± ¡°My lord.. it is true, no matter when we had someone check on his sales stand, it was empty.¡± ¡°He must be hiding something! Have his belongings checked thoroughly!¡± ¡°If this is what you order.. it will be done.¡±
¡°We have been given orders by the lord! The belongings of the merchant known as Deus Machina are to be searched through! He is suspect of undeclared business!¡± But when they arrived at the always empty stand.. it had lost it''s trademark, was filled with objects of various shapes, one stranger than the other. This was a small village, all guards knew how the stand usually looked like.. thus they were more than surprised by what they saw. ¡°Ah, it''s the guard? What is it? (was about time for them to show up..)¡± ¡°We.. have been ordered to look through your goods..?¡± ¡°It''s all here! If you have questions about anything, I''ll answer! But I''m not going to give away my production method.. that''s kinda what my whole business relies on.¡± They were supposed to search for signs of undeclared transactions, where all the materials he had bought went.. but as he had said, everything seemed to be here.. ¡°This is glass! Where did you purchase it?!¡± ¡°Made it myself. There is enough sand in the ground.. I''m allowed to proceed the materials I earned however I want to no?¡± ¡°Well.. that is true... but..¡± ¡°Even if I bought it, I''m supposed to report the profit I made, not my expenses. As you can see, I kept everything.. I had to build all of this first, it took quite some time. You understand?¡± ¡°Well.. it does seem to be alright.. but.. what do these things do?¡± ¡°Ah, so you''re interested? They serve various purposes.. this for example.. I call it the telescope.. if you want to know what it does, just look through this end..¡± Somewhat hesitant, the guard captain took the device and held it onto his right eye.. ¡°This is! How.. but..¡± Taking it away, putting it back.. ¡°This shows me a location much further away! What is this?!¡± ¡°Like I said, I call it a telescope.. and what you just described is its purpose and function. Vision is something important, improving ones overview of a situation has a variety of advantages.. I created it with adventurers in mind, so that they could spot danger from further away, but I assume the guard would also profit from it?¡± ¡°Hey captain, can I have a look?¡± ¡°Me too!¡± ... ¡°And.. those other things?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.¡°Well.. this is a torchlight.. I thought, those coins glow when you put mana into them right? So, if I guided this light.. well, this will be hard to really demonstrate in broad daylight.. But basically it''s a torch powered by mana. This is a device to lit a fire. Point it at a piece of wood, power it with mana, wait.. see, it caught fire. I guess it could also be used as a weapon.. that would be quite conditional, it only works on a certain distance..¡± They.. didn''t know how to react. What was this situation! Did they meet.. did they meet an.. no.. that couldn''t be right?? They stared at the small man in front of them. ¡°Ehm.. for.. for how much do you intend to sell those goods?¡± ¡°Ah, I thought a few nelar for each. They are made from steel, that material is somewhat expensive.. do you intend to buy something?¡± ¡°I.. will think about it.¡± ¡°Well, I''d be glad to have you as my patron!¡±
¡°You are telling me that he just started selling? And his goods are producing miracles?¡± ¡°My lord, I don''t know how else I could describe it! It''s.. it''s beyond my understanding!¡± ¡°(¡°Beyond my understanding¡±.. ts, that''s what I get for hiring loyal idiots.. they''ve probably been tricked by some scam.. no choice..) I will have to look at this matter myself.¡±
¡°Ah, it''s the captain again! And this is his lordship? What a rare blessing!¡± ¡°I heard you are some kind of miracleworker? I''d like to have a look at your goods myself.¡± (They sure do look mysterious.. steel and glass, using expensive materials to impress people.. this won''t work on me.. now, let''s see what you have..) ¡°So his lordship wishes to have a look at my goods? Is there something specific his lordship is interested in?¡± ¡°This.. telescope, was it?¡± ¡°The telescope would be this device.. his lordship has already been informed on how it is to be used?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ... ¡°This.. hmm..¡± ¡°Is there a problem?¡± .. ¡°You may cease this trickery at once, explain how you are doing this!¡± ¡°I can guarantee his lordship that there is no trick behind this! I invented this device, it functions, there is nothing else to say about it!¡± (I don''t know how you are doing this, but I will find out!) ¡°I''d like to see the other goods..¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ... ¡°What are the guards doing over there.. and his lordship?! Could it be that man ran into serious trouble?¡± ¡°Hey, let''s have a look..¡± ... ¡°Well, this concludes it for the goods I have on display.. but if it is his lordship, I think that I could demonstrate a have a few things that I set aside..¡± (This.. it can''t be real right? What kind of person is this man??) ¡°rrr.. rrr.. Tickatickatickatick..¡± ¡°And.. what is this?¡± ¡°It''s a clock. A device made to measure time. It has been decorated to look better, but that aside, all it does is measuring time. The larger metal arm, I call it pointer, will make exactly two turns within a day as long as the device is wound up from time to time. The smaller one will turn exactly sixty times for each marking passed by the larger one, there are twelve markings, so seven hundred and twenty turns during half a day. And the smallest one will turn sixty times in the time it takes for the middle sized one to turn once.¡± There was no response, all that could be heard was the ticking of the clock.. and the murmur of the crowd that had gathered around the stand. ¡°I.. apologize for having doubted you.¡± ¡°There is no need for his lordship to apologize.. I am but a simple craftsman.¡± With those words, instantly, the crowd went silent.
According to the teachings of the ¡°one¡±, Vulcan was the envoy of crafting. Said to have forged mountains, build forests.. he came after the ¡°beginning¡± had created the world, and gifted with the force of the divines, he shaped this world into what it looks like today. Even after his initial work was completed, he walked the world, teaching the ways of ¡°art¡± to everyone. Whenever he was praised for his work, his answer had been: ¡°I am just a simple craftsman¡±, he despised being treated like a divine being. After having left behind the basic techniques, he disappeared. His first emissary was not a man, but a tool.. the hammer mjolnr, said to have been the hammer he used to create this world. But it had been taken by the dwarves! For all believers of the ¡°one¡±, it was something beyond desirable.. but with the dwarves hiding in their mountains, far away from the empires border... Could it be that after all this time, another emissary appeared?? Within their empire no less?!?
(Looks like this cult is going out of control.. ) As the teachings said that Vulcan despised to be treated like a divine, they tried to hold their emotions back.. but the look in their eyes betrayed them. ¡°Well, there is quite a crowd.. one of you wants to buy something? ... ¡°Could.. could we really?¡± ¡°Those are tools, they are meant to be used! If you have the money and want it, buy it!¡± Everything was sold. No one left without having bought at least one ¡°divine artifact¡±. Mana spend hours explaining the purpose and usage of certain items, cashing in money.. the lord had decreed him to be exempted from the tax due to his contribution to the village. (I made quite the profit.. and given the mindset of the people in this village, I''ll get to do whatever I feel like.. still, a divine being? Well.. I shouldn''t get too careless. Times in which a lot of things change are dangerous.. it''s hard to make predictions.) ...
Aynors guild house: ¡°A request from the lord of Aspertia? A... a ton of steel?!? Why would he purchase this?? This.. wouldn''t this amount to all of his family''s assets?? No.. it would be even more! There has too be some kind of mistake.. but this is his official seal.. send a letter back, I want to have this matter confirmed.¡±
Aspertia, the lords residence: ¡°This seals the contract. From now on traders are forbidden from entering the village unless they are to deliver steel to us. If word of the envoy spreads across the land, he will be taken away by the capital! We must make use of the blessing of his presence while it lasts!¡± The three noble families residing in Aspertia, the traders,adventurers and the artisans guild, and the higher-ups of the church present in their small village, they had all agreed on this matter. For as long as he didn''t want to leave, that craftsman had to stay here at all cost. Only then would they be able to sell the goods he created to other settlements for a high price. The priest was convinced that they should not loose the blessing of this divine being, and the guilds were after the money, like the noble families.. to make this come true, they had come together in this almost historical meeting to join their assets to make the best of this situation. Doing so was an incredibly risky move, success was far from guaranteed.. but they were blinded by fanaticism. They would grant this divine being everything it desired. And they would be rewarded for doing so. Thus was their conviction.
(I wonder what else I should create.. looks like I''m allowed to do pretty much anything.. should I create something.. bigger? For now.. everything seems to go as planned..) Chapter 10 Skip to the next
if you only want to read the chapter. AN: So.. I''m back! I have to say.. all that absence from this project made it pretty hard to get back into it.. I promised a chap of the origin story.. still writing on it, honestly, it''s difficult to get into that after so much time passed.. but I''ll try to deliver it tomorrow, alongside another chapter of this version. If I don''t release a new chap of the origin story, that''s because I write on the plot of the origin story (it had none previously which led to me screwing up the pacing.. but I think I can do something with that). Once the plot for origin is done, I''ll write on it more. PS: I tried creating a wordpress site. Still working on it. Especially the tables are time consuming. Btw.. I wrote a dozen or so of other stories. The concepts and first few pages. Nothing beyond that. Anyone interested in an idea for a story?
¡°Well.. it looks like there was no mistake concerning this matter. They request for a ton of steel, delivered to the village over multiple transactions for the next few months. We have confirmed that they somehow managed to obtain the money necessary to do so. Business is business, but.. have someone check the situation in that village.¡± Thus a few hundred kilogram of steel set out towards the village of Aspertia, alongside a person with rather clear instructions. With this delivery on the way, another had already reached its destination.. - To Mark Grey, know as the trader ¡°The Grey¡±: The lord of Aspertia, in honor of your continuous contribution to the village, offers you the post of the villages personal trader, managing the trading outpost of the village. This post would come with various benefits, but once accepted it is not possible to leave this position. Please understand that should you decline this offer, his lordship would be greatly disappointed in you, but respecting your rights as an individual, you are given the right to decline this offer. His lordship also wanted to congratulate you on your sisters birthday. She is of marriageable age now, one can say that she is a lucky girl, able to live happily due to her caring brother. We hope that this luck will always stay with her. Fernande de Fiero, by his name lord of Aspertia -
¡°Don''t know your face. What is your purpose coming to this remote village?¡± ¡°I.. came to deliver the steel requested by the lord of this village.¡± ¡°If you want to trade, there''s an outpost for that, over there. Without the lords decree, no one is to enter the city.¡± ¡°But these goods have been ordered by the lord!¡± ¡°Do you have a decree stating that you are allowed into the city to deliver them? If not, then you may deliver to the outpost instead.¡± ¡°Why can''t I just enter the village?¡± ¡°Those are the orders I''ve been given. I follow the orders. I don''t need another reason, so I did not ask for it. Now go.¡±
¡°Boys, everyone''s here right? So, ya wanna know why I called ya here right? Well, the lord himself issued a request! And I support him concerning this matter! And that request is, really, it''s simple.. ya tell someone from outside about our little miracleworker, and ya''ll be kicked out of this guild, the definite way.. you boys understand? So, all me and his lordship request from you guys is that you don''t do anything stupid, but I''m sure you''re smart people. Right? You survived magical beasts, ain''t gonna let yourself get killed out of pure stupidity right?¡± ... ¡°Hey, what''s with the mood?? Just look at the stuff you''re using right now, how many times has it saved your life within the short time you''ve been using it? And who made it? Ya want that guy to leave just because ya couldn''t keep your mouth shut?? No right? Hey! To lighten up the mood, one round of ale for everyone! The lord himself is paying!¡±
¡°The regulations on new inventions?¡± ¡°Also decreed invalid. If we want to advance, there''s only one way to go, forward. And this stuff keeps dragging us back.¡± ¡°With this.. doesn''t the guild house loose it''s purpose?¡± ¡°Ah, you misunderstand.. I talked over this with his lordship. We will not loose our purpose. We will gain it. You saw those tools right? Any of those is on our lists? No. How long would it take for them to be? Too long. And what do they do? Earn those who sell them a lot of money. And who will those people be if we keep this up? Not us. So, the decision we have to make should be obvious right? Nothing can stop a divine. We either go with him, or he''ll go past us.¡±
¡°The humans seem to deify you a bit too much..¡± ¡°Yeah, but that''s a good thing right?¡± ¡°Didn''t you say that we would have to show them other inventions to reach this level?¡± ¡°Well, those toys have stirred quite the uproar.. they were only meant to catch their attraction, yet they were enough to keep it.. but I guess creating actually useful goods anyways won''t do any harm. By the way, it''s been two months now? What do you think of humans?¡± ¡°At first I thought they were.. well, what I heard from the tales. Cruel cowards, happy to kill the weak while covering in front of the strong. And the first encounters we had... but now I understand that their mind is just like ours.¡± ¡°And, sorry, nothing against you but.. that''s exactly what makes them dangerous. But I think you understand what I''m trying to say?¡± ¡°..yes. I understand it well.¡± ¡°I know it must be rather unpleasant to spend your days like this.. Sorry for being so selfish, but looking at the level of technology in this world just makes me want to change something about it. Anything you would like to do?¡± ¡°There is no need to apologize. I realized I''m far from knowing enough about this world to set my goals yet. But you will teach me, correct?¡± ¡°Of course. We''ve got a thousand years to shape this world. Let''s make the best out of that time!¡± (But to do so.. I''ll need some space..)
It was terrible. A fire had burned down multiple buildings, killed some and injured many. The cause was most likely an accident, something like this could happen.. yet that didn''t mean anyone considered this situation to be normal. But the usual panic, chaos and sadness one would expect in such a situation, in the small village of Aspertia, there was nothing of the like to be found. They were happily building.. not rebuilding what had been burned down, but creating anew. The buildings were much taller, but it was especially the basement that had been enlarged.. Mana called it a ¡°Foundation¡±. A ¡°seed¡± was planted into the ground, and from it grew a building like which the villagers had never seen before.. and they were the ones creating it! Steel was an expensive material.. to use it for building a house? Not even the nobles would have thought of such an idea! But the way it was used minimized the quantity, so it actually wasn''t that expensive! Furthermore he used a strange powder that, when mixed with water, would turn into stone! And they were build with windows made from glass! Houses build from stone and steel, with glass windows, in a village like theirs! Those who had lost their houses were actually happy about it! Many of them had been injured in the fire, but that didn''t affect the joy they felt about being able to live in such a building! The new buildings made it so that a lot of space remained unused.. there was still a lot of free space even after the craftsman had been gifted his own house within the village by the lord. For Mana, the privacy they now had made many things possible.. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. (Hmm.. it''s late summer, soon it''s going to be time for harvest.. which would be the perfect time for creating some new tools..) ¡°BANG¡± ¡°You''re making progress. Getting used to the recoil?¡± ¡°Yes. This.. truly is a terrifying weapon.. rather than controlling it, I feel like I''m merely borrowing it''s strength..¡± ¡°That''s normal. That''s just the difference of a gun and a sword.. a sword, if you don''t know how to use it, it''s not that dangerous. A gun.. point, click, and even if you didn''t kill, as long as you hit someone..¡± ¡°Do you intend.. to sell this too?¡± ¡°Nope. Giving this into the hands of humans will only lead to a catastrophe (still, for all the necessary goods to be this easy to acquire.. there is something strange about this situation..)¡± ¡°I see.. I feel relieved about that.¡± ¡°I get it.. ah, I intend to have a conversation with the lord, could we go to his residence?¡± ¡°Sure..¡± ¡°Ah, it''s Deus? You''re here to talk to his lordship?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Just wait a minute, I''ll inform him right away..¡± (Wait a minute huh? I only ¡°invented¡± this unit recently, language sure adapts to society.. since I''m distributing my inventions for almost free within the village, this has become a place entirely different from the outside world.. with me at it''s center.. I tell them to jump into an abyss, they''d probably do it.. that''s a good mindset.) ¡°He''s in his room. You know the way!¡± ... ¡°Ah Deus! You have something to discuss with me?¡± ¡°Tickatickatcikatcik..¡± (Geez, this clockmaniac..) ¡°Yes, it''s about the remaining space.. I think I know how it could be put to good use.¡±
It was time for the harvest. This happened every year, and it was always the same, their village was blessed with a stable climate.. but this year it would be different. MUCH different. The many farmers laid aside their scythes, and watched. Two horses, two men, and a construction from wood and steel. Instead of a group of farmers, it would be them taking care of this field. And for the onlookers, who knew just how much time and effort one would usually have to put in to achieve what was just being done in front of their eyes.. it was beautiful. This was being done on all of the fields. Many people who would have had to work during this time now did not. And they knew exactly just what they would devote their free time to.. After the sheaves had been given time to dry, many people would have to spend much time threshing and winnowing the grain. But here again, a machine powered by a single person took care of those procedures easily, faster than they could ever had hoped to do it by hand. They knew who they had to thank for making their lives easier.. and he gave them a means to do so. And the newest buildings within the village grew, as did the number of people working on them..
While Mana and Quintus were treated like divine beings.. one would be shocked by the contrast between their lifestyle and that of the elves of the southern lake village. An unknown sickness had befallen the tribe, it began after someone had been bitten by a beast that he never encountered before.. this was not a single case, hunting had become difficult as the beasts of the forest seemed to migrate for an unknown reason.. as if they were searching for something. This made the beasts known to the tribe leave, they were replaced by beasts they had never encountered before.. not knowing their abilities, many hunters were injured. Those events occurred but a few weeks ago, the hunters would adapt to their new prey some day.. but right now, the village was in a disastrous situation. An injured person would heal if given the time and represented no danger.. but a sick person? Not only did a long, painful death await, such a person represented a danger for everyone nearby. Their skin would swell, turn red as if it had been boiled, with a black dot at its center. Even thought they were begged for the cure, the Caballs had no information about such a disease, they were desperate.. but their behavior, even with this situation, was... abnormal. The only member of the family that seemed to be somewhat composed about the situation was Carmela, the youngest. She, in contrast to her parents, had not given up.. and had been looking through the many books of the family for weeks. Yet, instead of finding a clue to curing this disease, she found something.. different.Aand she soon understood that this text was part of the answer she had been looking for. Alongside this realization came something else. She had looked up to her parents, loved them as their daughter.. but for them to have done something like this, she was unable to keep those feelings. She had felt pity for them, since even she realized that her parents had gone insane, mumbling about ¡°divine punishment¡± soon after the sickness had spread.. believing it was normal to break under such incredible stress, she had been amazed at herself.. but now she understood that the reason her parents behaved like this was different from what she thought entirely. And even as her daughter, she could only feel disgust towards what her parents had done. The disease remained incurable, all that could be done to prevent the worst from happening was ¡°cleansing by fire¡±. This was a method that had been known for a long, long time.. and while efficient, it was one that no one wanted to use for obvious reasons. Many families lost a member due to either the disease or its ¡°cure¡±, and their respect towards the Caballs alongside it. They had been held in high regards, but with two of three members having gone insane, and the fact they had been useless during this crisis.. many considered the death of their family and friends to be their fault. This only added oil to the fire of Carmela''s parents condition, which in turn fueled the insults and open threats towards them.. and Carmela was dragged into this cycle. She would have left long ago, but where to? That, and the faint remains of what had been love towards her parents kept her from taking the decision of leaving them. That is until her parents took this decision themselves.. the definite way. Given what she had to go through, for her to still remain sane was a remarkable feat. But when she saw that her parents had ¡°left¡± Carmela felt.. as if she had been freed. It was a ¡°wrong¡± feeling, she knew that.. but she couldn''t help but feel that way. Without ¡°chains¡± to bind her anymore, there was nothing hindering her from leaving anymore. She still didn''t know where she should go, yet she left anyways, knowing that this was the only way to ever reach her destination. And the Caball family was no more.
??? ¡°Some.. unexpected changes in the village of Aspertia? Buildings as tall as palaces, build within but a few months?! The stream of new quality goods originates from that very village!? .. I understand. This is something that must be resolved quickly, right? Now.. that is but a small village, I am sure that it should still be possible to clean up this mess. I will take care of it.. about the one responsible, he seems to be focused on technology.. I understand it is us who will keep him? Yes. And may the pact remain eternal.¡±
Time passed, and the new buildings grew. Meanwhile, in the forest near Aspertia: (This signal.. a runaway!! Could it be we really found a runaway!!!) Chapter 11 Skip to the next
if you only want to read the chapter AN: Didn''t make it. I tried.. but I just can''t get back into the old project :( doesn''t meant I''ve given up tho. I promised to keep writing on it, so that''s what I will do... but not while doing so would result in abysmal quality. Sorry. On another note here is the next chapter. This one was a gamble... too much change? I hope this doesn''t disappoint you..
¡°Deus¡± was instructing various villagers working on the new building. The work was paid by the lord.. but since this was a building desired by ¡°Deus¡±, many of them would even have worked for free. Work was progressing normally when a few adventurers caused an uproar by entering the village. They had ¡°found¡± something they absolutely wanted to show of with and attracted quite a bit of attention. ¡°It was reaaally difficult! She saw through us almost instantly, we had to fight her! And you know just how strong elves are! But.. as you can see, we were able to defeat her! Look at this wound, she almost sliced my throat open! If she had cut only a hairs breadth deeper.. but I reacted quickly and activated my rune armament!¡± Hearing those words, Quintus walked towards the adventurers.. and the person he saw, collared and bound, was no one else but Carmela. (Now this.. is a surprise. Carmela? Just what made her go out of the barrier? Hmm.. if I don''t do anything, she''ll be sold of at the next cities slave market, that''s for sure.. and I kinda don''t want that..) ¡°Hey..¡± There was a crowd around the group of adventurers and their ¡°catch¡±, it was quite the commotion.. yet everyone went silent once a single person raised his voice.. ¡°.. so you managed to capture an elf? Now, that''s just perfect.. you know, I need to experiment with runes, and elves just have much more divine energy.. it would be great if I could put that energy to good use. Would you mind selling her to me?¡± He.. just had offered to buy the elf! What he said seemed logical, but a divine needing more divine energy? Thus, in the minds of some.. (so even if he''s a divine, he''s a man too.. ) of course they wouldn''t dare say that aloud, especially not with ¡°Deus¡± nearby. ¡°O-of course we will sell!¡± ¡°And what would the price be?¡± ¡°If it''s you, we wouldn''t mind just giving it away! Your gear has saved us from many dangerous situations, consider it us paying you back for that!¡± (Yet all they ever bought were telescopes and a chainsaw.. for that tool to be actually used as a weapon, I should have expected that to happen..) After motorizing sheers, Mana had used the very same concept for other inventions as well. And the chainsaw had earned itself quite the reputation, both as an efficient tool and especially as a weapon, since it could not be blocked by normal means. Even thought it couldn''t be used for a long time before one would run out of mana, that time usually was more then enough. ¡°You already paid for the gear, and that''s the gears purpose.. but if you insist, it would be impolite to decline such an offer.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± The person that had spoken for the entire team had earned himself a few angered stares by his teammates, but he hinted at the chainsaw he was carrying, and soon they nodded understandingly. And thus the elf was given to Deus for free, alongside the bracelet that went with her collar. Deus send of the workers, most of them had stopped working on the building to watch anyways, and with Deus telling them to leave, of course they would do so.
¡°Remaining silent for all of this time.. you don''t intend to say anything, do you? ..Carmela¡± ¡°How do you know my name?¡± ¡°Deus¡± took of the hood, unveiling.. ¡°Quintus?!?¡± ¡°Well, I''m out of this.. your turn.¡± ¡°..why.. did you leave the barrier?¡± ¡°Your voice.. it''s different from the one just now entirely.. could it be!¡± ¡°Why did you leave!¡± ¡°..I had no reason to stay anymore. That plague, was it your ¡°friends¡± acting too? Is that how far you take your revenge?¡± (I have this feeling there is some kind of huge misunderstanding going on here..) ¡°Plague?¡± ¡°Half the village died. So, was it your doing?!¡± ¡°Ehm.. I wanted to give you two some time to talk with each other, meeting after such a long time under such strange circumstances and all that.. but it looks like that will only lead to confusion.. especially for me. Quintus, could I take over? So, first of all, you know that Quintus had a reason to kill your uncle? How did you find out, did your parents tell you?¡± ¡°I found a book about his mothers sickness while searching for a way to cure the plague. The rest I could figure out myself.¡± ¡°And there was some huge plague spreading through the village?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°About that plague, no, first of all.. I understand how I''m doing it, but how comes you look so calm about this entire situation?¡± ¡°I guess that after experiencing such things.. you either go crazy or become like this. Anyways, you are a spirit, correct?¡± ¡°Yep. And concerning that plague..
Help: Warning, foreign substance discovered within the air. Analysis: Sleeping gas. Currently preventing Quintus from inhaling it. Carmela has been put asleep to prevent unpredictable, potentially dangerous actions. The gas originates from outside our observation range. I recommend waiting for what is going to happen next and eventually using the moment of surprise. As the enemy is using such methods, I estimate he does not consider himself to be able to deal with us in combat or he desires us to remain uninjured. This is most likely a kidnapping attempt.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.(what the..) ... ¡°Good, it should be clear now. Get in, seize the target, get out! Go!¡± (They seriously dug a tunnel to the basement? One, two.. a five man team. Help, analyze their equipment asap.)
Help: High quality armor. Focus lies on mobility. Some materials are unknown. Analysis of properties running. Used sound silencing runes to remain undetected. Will try to improve sonar by adding a detector for places that swallow an abnormal amount of soundwawes. Usage of some runes I do not know about. They posses various apertures, based on the structure I estimate them to be steam-based weapons and tools. In that case the function of one of the runes would be to heat the water within the containers. Fighting against such numbers would be risked, but I estimate victory to be possible using the moment of surprise.
(They want us alive.. so I guess that this might work?) ¡°Hey, do you really think this would work on me? This is sleeping gas, right? But that won''t do. I have a good reason to fight against you, but since it looks like you didn''t want to hurt me.. instead of turning this into a huge mess, why don''t we talk this over?¡± The sleeping gas had no effect?!? They had not been instructed on what should be done in this case.. their orders were to bring him alive, but if he was able to resist the effects of the drug and fought them, that might become difficult, unfeasible even. They had no information on how powerful he was, so underestimating him, especially given their situation, was not an option. ¡°To help you decide.. An object left the possession of one of the teams members. It was shaped like a gun, a tool that would shoot a pressurized steam jet. One might question the concept, but it was hard to defend against, could blind, and inflicted great amounts of pain. It was meant to cripple, not kill. ..now that we can talk on.. even grounds, what is your decision?¡± Considering the ease with which he was able to disarm them, they understood that they definitely should accept his offer. ¡°We will talk.¡± ¡°That''s good.. now, first of all.. why kidnap me?¡± ¡°I can''t say.¡± ¡°I thought you would talk?¡± ¡°That is information we may not tell you about under the current circumstances.¡± ¡°What happens if I try to ..persuade you?¡± There was no need to explain just what was meant by those words. ¡°We will prevent that from working.¡± (ready to die for their cause? Now that''s professional.) ¡°So there''s something big behind this. Can you tell me what would happen if your team fails?¡± ¡°..there will be a second mission during which your safety will not be guaranteed. It will not fail.¡± ¡°You threatening me? Anyways.. what makes you so sure you wont fail on the second attempt?¡± ¡°I can''t say.¡± ¡°So, there''s some big organization with unknown strength after me, and they would like me alive, but if necessary also take me dead.. is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And you have been send by that organization, which estimated sleeping gas would be enough to take care of me?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And you still believe the second mission definitely will not fail?¡± ¡°Yes.¡±
Help: I am unable to determine whether or not he is lying.. there is something strange about them. Give me some time to analyze that.
(Well.. they seem to consider my presence here to be dangerous to them.. while desiring me to be with them. So they are most likely after either me as a divine, or me as an inventor. Given that I''m not deified outside of the village, most likely the later. If I go with them, it would be like going into the lions den.. but maybe being treated like its cub. If I act against them.. either choice is risky.)
Help: I would recommend going with them. It might clarify a lot of the unknown variables they have brought up, like what their organization actually is, and it''s strength, which would be to our benefit. Choosing to fight against them might give us a tactical advantage compared to being right within their base, but depending on the organizations abilities, said advantage might be absolutely useless. Especially as they seem convinced that the second attempt will not fail. This may be an empty treat, but we are not in a situation in which we should underestimate them.
(So I should go with them.. but..) ¡°There''s an elf girl in here. What will happen to her if I go with you? And what would happen to the other villagers?¡± ¡°She did not see us, there is..¡±
Help: Is there any worse timing to wake up? I guess not.. shouldn''t the sleeping gas have a longer lasting effect then that? Well, what''s done is done..
¡°And.. what is going to happen to her now?¡± ¡°We will have to silence her.¡± ¡°And if I don''t let you?¡± ¡°The second team will not fail.¡± (This.. is annoying. Really annoying.) ¡°In that case.. could she go with us?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± At that moment Carmela, who had been unable to move up to now, finally regained some control over her body. ¡°Why.. would I let you.. decide that!¡± An orb of fire formed in the air, but before it could be launched toward whatever target she had had in mind, Carmela was knocked unconscious by a hit from the blunt side of a sword that suddenly started to float. The fireball dissolved. ¡°I.. have her under control. We will both go with you.¡± Chapter 12 Skip to the next
if you only want to read the chapter, same as always... AN: here it is, one week early, chapter 12. I may write a new chapter next week, or I may not do so. My PC''s condition is getting worse, and that''s ruining my writing mood.
(Seriously.. I just created a few new things, and there''s already a secret organization after me? Well, since that''s how it is, I''ll have to deal with it. I wonder what will happen to the village now that I''m gone..
Near the elven forest.. One could see beautiful plains basking in the remaining sunlight of the sunset. The land seemed fertile, the location ideal.. one had to wonder why there was not even a village build to exploit those resources. But such a village would be build soon enough. People who had lost it all would be forced to become farmers.. and exploit that land. A noble that lost a powerstrugle in a big city would become the lord of that small village. It wouldn''t take long for Aspertia to be created.. again.
.. at least I was able to teach Keith a few things. Maybe he''ll be able to reverse engineer the machines I''ve left behind? I told him to do so to learn.. so he shouldn''t hold back even if he sees them as divine artifacts. Anyways.. magical steampunk technology and dwarwes? Just where.. don''t tell me..)
Help: Yes, they may be the ¡°dwemer¡±. However, as it is highly unlikely for this to actually be the case, I estimate this is but a coincidence.
¡°You awake again? Not going to use a skill? Looks like you learned your lesson. Sorry for knocking you unconscious, but you would have gotten us into big trouble.¡± ¡°Is this one of your schemes again?¡± ¡°Does it look like this is happening because I want it to?¡± Deep under the surface of the earth, a rather strange vehicle was moving through a tunnel that had just about its size. Within that vehicle where the five dwarwes and, ¡°captured¡± in the back section, Quintus and Carmela. They had been cuffed, but that was nothing but a symbol.. Mana could open the locking mechanism whenever she felt like doing it. ¡°Well.. I have to admit that it doesn''t. Just what''s going on?¡± ¡°Wait a second.. HEY, HOW LONG UNTIL WE ARRIVE?¡± ¡°It should take four days.¡± ¡°That should be more than enough time to tell you the whole story.. well, let''s start with the beginning... ...and that''s how we ended up here. Any more questions?¡± ¡°No but.. could you tell me more about your old world?¡± ¡°Sure.. but I kept it brief for a reason. Anything specific you''d like to know?¡± ¡°You said you were able to prevent Quintus from poisoning himself due to knowledge you gained there, so this world should have similar diseases and cures..¡± ¡°So it''s about medicine? I don''t know that much.. if you think I know the recipe for some miracle cure-all, forget it. But it''s true that we are much more advanced then you are.¡± ¡°Could you give an example?¡± ¡°Hmm.. I rarely saw elves get sick, so I wouldn''t know just how bad the situation is here.. but judging from what I could read in your books, we have a much deeper understanding of the causes for sicknesses. And thus we are able to cure them more effectively. Honestly, I can''t really find an example.. but concerning injuries, I can. For example, if someone looses a limb, it is possible to replace it with an artificial one. That technology has not been perfected yet, but it had already reached the point where one could move the fingers of his artificial hand when I left.¡± ¡°Replace lost limbs?!¡± ¡°Yep. The body is like a complex machine.. and if you know how it works, you can produce spare parts.¡± Those words were followed by an eerie silence, only broken by the sounds made by the machine moving forward. But it did not take long for Carmela to recover from what she had heard. Even so, she did not dare ask more about this topic. ¡°You knew what sickness Quintus mother had, and how to cure it.. in this case, what was the cause?¡± ¡°In my world it''s called ¡°Anemia¡±, and it''s what happens when your blood lacks a certain component called ¡°Hemoglobin¡±. It.. you could say it makes breathing less effective, so at some point it will be like you had a really hard time breathing, resulting in having a weak body and falling unconscious as soon as you make the slightest effort. The lacking component can only be produced if you give your body the right materials from food, and meat contains those in relatively large amounts.¡± ¡°Blood component?¡± ¡°Just about everything in this world is made of small parts, this includes blood. There are many different things in your blood.. but honestly that would be going pretty deep into the details. Do you really want to know? I''ve already been talking for hours.. and you should get some rest. Look at Quintus, he''s asleep already.. If you really want to, I can continue tomorrow?¡± ¡°..okay.¡± (This girl really is a curious one.. but while that''s not a bad thing, one shouldn''t overdo it. Now then, it''s one more night during which I wont be able to do much... Help?)
Help: I finished scanning through the vehicle, weaponry, tools and other equipment. Steam has a major role in their technology, astonishingly to the point it is even used when there are obviously more efficient methods. Judging from their equipment, they should also be aware of those methods, at least they do posses the technology necessary.
(So steampunk it is.. what else?)
Help: High level of metallurgy, high level of craftsmanship.. the abnormal focus on steam aside, efficient methods. However.. even thought the designs are efficient, there is a needlessly high amount of ornamentation.
(Efficient, simple tools with way too many ornaments even thought the design itself is kept simple? Steam? Dwarwes? And people warping to another world? This is getting pretty close to the borderline of being a coincidence.)
Help: Even I have to admit that the ornaments used show an astonishingly high similarity to those I was able to see within your memories. Yet I believe that this is simply too unlikely to actually be true. While I would consider this scenario, I would not base my estimations on it. Even if it is the case, as the system behind magic is different in this world, they would have had to adapt to new circumstances, eventually leading to a different culture.
(Well, there''s honestly no use speculating too much about this right now. You found out the function of all of the new runes?)
Help: Yes. One generates heat proportional to the amount of mana it absorbs, it is used to power this vehicle. Then there is a rune doing the exact opposite, used to prevent certain parts from overheating. They make use of a rune that increases the speed by anything passing trough by a certain percentage every second, as long as there is enough mana available to do so.
Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! (I see. Anything else?)
Help: The dwarwes have a truly astonishing metabolism. The astonishing part being that they seem to have none. Their bodies are powered by mana. It would explain their ability to live underground. Their body in itself is rather strange. Such an organism would be utterly impossible in your old world. Their body is not based on carbon, most likely incredibly resistant to heat and cold, does not require food or water to function.. it''s more like a machine powered entirely by mana and build from minerals and other resources than an organism. I cannot imagine them getting sick either. However I wonder what consequences injuries would have on such a body. How would the damage be repaired? Without tests, I can''t say.. their skin is even more interesting, the interference from their own mana is so high that I am unable to conduct a scan on what it is made of.
(Isn''t this pretty big news? Why not tell me earlier?)
Help: I was still in midst analysis.. and still am. This is truly intriguing..
(You''ve been doing that this entire time?? Looks like YOU found yourself something to do.. well, I''ll keep myself busy somehow..)
¡°Raaaaaah!!!¡± ¡°PENG!PENG!PENG!¡± ¡°why.. why did you do that! Why did you have to kill her!?¡± ¡°But we did nothing.. look, isn''t she just fine?¡± !!! ¡°What, you think you would have killed us? Silly.. don''t you know that death can be cured nowadays?¡± ¡°Oh Quintus, you''re getting used to the new weapon?¡± ¡°..father?!? ..but.. but you..¡± ¡°Yeah, I was damaged a bit, but they finished the repairs.¡± ¡°No.. no.. this.. this is wrong! This is not how it should be! This.. ?!? ¡°Good morning!¡± ¡°..good.. morning. What about.. ah, so.. she''s still asleep. Mana?¡± ¡°Yes? What is it?¡± ¡°The more I hear about your world.. the stranger it seems. Weapons powerful beyond anything I could have imagined, building ¡°spare parts¡± of bodies.. in all honesty, someone coming from such a place, over here, he has all right to consider himself a god. Just what is it you want to do with all that power?¡± ¡°I''m not almighty you know.. if I were, I wouldn''t be in this situation. But I guess that''s not the main issue here.. I don''t know. Given my abilities I felt that changing this world was the right thing to do.. but look at what has happened because of it. I guess I have to learn more about this place before thinking about how to make use of what I have.. I can''t give you a better answer than that.¡± ¡°I see..¡± (Something about yesterdays talk must have been unsettling for him.. maybe I shouldn''t go too far in what I tell them about at once.. let''s remember to never mention nukes..) ¡°Good morning.. you remember our promise right? You''re going to tell me more today, remember?¡± (And there go my good intentions.. but honestly, how comes everyone here is so energetic upon waking up?) ¡°Yes, I remember. But first.. WE''RE AWAKE NOW, COULD WE GET SOME FOOD?¡± ...
Help: For dwarwes, beings that do not require food, to produce such balanced meals.. I would love to know the background behind that.. as always, this food is A.OK.
¡°It''s important to start the day with a healthy breakfast.. I''ve got to admit that I''ve never seen this stuff before, but it should be good... well, looks like I didn''t need to tell you that..¡± (It looks like this tastes great.. hey help, could you..)
Help: Processing inputs... done.
(God.. this tastes great! How long has it been since I even tasted anything to begin with? .. aaand my passive is ruining the fun again..) Two elves and a spirit having a luxurious breakfast inside of a magic and steam powered vehicle driving through the bowels of the earth, towards a secret organization of dwarwes.. calling this abnormal was an understatement. But there was something even bigger happening.. perhaps just as important, and definitely involving way more people. ¡°I didn''t sign up for this! First I''m threatened using my sister, have to stop the business I build up over years, enter a shady business where no one is to find out where the goods are coming from.. but I can take this much! I''m a trader, I''m used to risks and adapting to changes! But this.. this is too much!!!¡± ¡°Mark, if you keep screaming around like that I WILL make you shut up. This situation is already giving me a headache, and you are making it worse. I have to concentrate, there''s a signal being transmitted right now.¡± ¡°How could anyone remain calm!! The sky suddenly disappeared, if I climb to the top of a roof, I could touch the ceiling!! Just whUMPF!¡± ¡°I told you to shut up.. there has been a signal transmitted to all guards, we are to assemble everyone in the center of the village. This obviously includes you, so you better come with me.¡±
¡°The reason I have assembled all of you here should be obvious! There is one other thing I should tell all of you: not only the sky is missing, Deus has also disappeared, alongside the elf! But there is no need to panic, for this is a test, a test that we can and will pass!! He has left, left behind his technology, and left us in a difficult situation! What we should do is obvious! We should use that technology to deal with this situation! For only THEN we will have proven ourselves WORTHY!!¡± A village suddenly transported deep into the underground, a world in which the only light came from fire and the mana powered torches Deus had left behind, a world in which they would have to find a source of water and food before their supplies ran out.. perhaps fight for them.. this was a dire situation. But nothing would stop their faith. They had seen the heaven once, they were ready to face any obstacle in their way, until they would be able to see it yet again. They were not aware of the cruel fate of many villages, towns, cities like theirs.. but that wouldn''t have mattered anyways. They were different. First they would survive. Then they would live. Two simple steps. And they would crush all blocking their path. There would be many.. but they would not be stopped. Chapter 14 Skip the spoiler if you only want to read the chapter (new way of doing this, I think it''s better this way?) Spoiler : Surprise! Chapter 14 already! I felt like writing.. let''s hope this motivation jumps over to the origin story too.. seriously, the more I think about the situation I put my characters in over there, the more I feel like getting this anywhere is going to be difficult.. so currently I''m hesitating between dealing a heavy blow to Mana''s power, or powering up the strength of the average enemy.. or getting the story to move in an overlordish direction of politics and intrigues... that decision is already pretty hard, and then writing on it.. meh, that''s my fight, no use rambling too much about it. I fixed some stuff in the previous chapters. Placement of the sudden perspective switch (let''s hope it''s better), the few mistakes tired me was able to find while proofreading.. if you have any critique or found something I overlooked, please tell me! Anyways, here''s the next chapter. Gonna release the next one after creating a small "reserve" to make it less likely to mess up the story. PS: honestly, some reviews or feedback comments would be nice. Especially those pointing out mistakes and what I should/could improve.
(Hmm.. I wonder if they will find the books I left just in case? Could those end up becoming a holy scripture? Now that would be funny..) ¡°Mana?¡± ¡°Hmm? Sorry, was just thinking about something.. you wanted to know more about my world right? Well, last night I had quite a bit of time to think.. and I came up with an interesting method. You are able to manipulate your mana right?¡± ¡°..yes.¡± ¡°Can you also change the location of your veins? They''d be interfering with what I want to try out..¡± ¡°Change the location of my veins??¡± ¡°Yeah, those streams the mana is flowing through.. it should be possible to manipulate their location. Why don''t you try? If you can''t I''ll try coming up with another method.¡± ... ¡°Sorry, I don''t think I''m able to do it. Just trying to visualize it is making me feel horrible.¡± ¡°Well, it was worth a try. Now then..¡±
Help: I finished engraving the metal. A few million miniature runes.. now then.. starting the retina display.. surround sound system enabled.. everything''s ready.
What seemed to be a cloud of shimmering dust started floating into the air, forming two lenses. Those approached Carmela.. ¡°Don''t worry. You wanted to know more right? Well, there''s this saying in my world that an image can say more than a thousand words..¡± When the lenses covered Carmelas eyes, first everything went dark.. but then there was light. Colors. Her body was telling her that she was still inside of the strange vehicle driving through the earth, but her eyes were telling her otherwise. She saw a world that should not be there. ¡°And? How is it? With this I can show you everything I saw in my previous life. But we don''t have the time for that, also there are some things that I kinda want to keep to myself.. so we should focus. What do you want to see?¡± ¡°How!?¡± ¡°Red, blue, green. Using those colors I can show you any other color that you are still able to see. And using a lot of red, blue and green I thus can show you any image. And by showing you images in quick succession I can create the illusion of movement. And you probably already know that I can produce sound from any direction I want to.¡± Using images and animations to help illustrate what was said, Mana introduced her to this world of light. They had three more days until they would reach their destination, by no means enough time to show her everything, but just enough time for a quick ¡°sightseeing¡±. ¡°Hey Quintus, I think this will interest you too. If you don''t want to watch anymore, just tell me, I''ll stop.¡± Thus our ¡°prisoners¡± began their tour through Mana''s old world.
Meanwhile, in the now underground village of Aspertia, order had been reestablished. ¡°Boys, looks like we got it! Come on, let''s deal this overgrown earthworm the finishing blow!¡± ¡°Whoaaa!¡± The adventurers were used to scout, supported by some guards. Most of the guards were used for the protection of essential territory. The center of the village, the recently discovered hot spring within one of the many tunnels connected to their village. Those were locations of vital importance. The farmers were either trained to become proficient at dealing with danger by the adventurers and the guard captain, or taught the ways of science by Keith, who had become the supervisor of the technology within their village. The conviction that they were meant to pass this ¡°test¡± by giving it their all, coupled to their survival instincts and their leaders fanatic, yet efficient speeches.. this, along the relatively small size of their village, had prevented them from falling into a state of absolute choas. ¡°This is madness! How can you still be like this under these circumstances?!? We are all doomed! Don''t you understand that?!? There is.....¡± People unable to handle the stress, if there was a large enough crowd to listen to them, they could create riots, spread disorder.. ¡°Oh, when are you finally going to quit it! We haven''t lost a single man so far, we already found a source of water, and those monsters that keep showing up can be eaten. So if you could devote the power you put into screaming around into work, now that''d be great.¡± ..but it had no effect in this case. The subtle madness that had entered the minds of the villagers left no place for fear. To the people of Aspertia, this was not a ¡°horrible, incomprehensible situation¡±.. it was a ¡°test¡±. And a certain discovery only added fuel to the flame of their conviction. Keith had been the first to dare enter the house of the divine. To him, disassembling the creations Deus had left behind was not a sacrilege, it was the highest form of respect. Desiring to understand, that was the most important quality of man, as the divine himself had taught him. And searching for knowledge, he found something beyond even his expectations. It had to be a hundred at least. Books, filled to the brim with information that had yet to be deciphered, understood. -If you are able to read this, that means I was unable to prevent you from reading it, so I''m most likely gone. I did not teach you everything.. but I hope you are still willing to learn?-
After spending two days inside of a world that was not theirs, the lights that created the illusion began to get dimmer. ¡°And this concludes our short trip to my world. I''m sure you still have quite a few questions.. but those will have to wait. Because it looks like we''ve finally reached our destination.¡± ¡°We''re there! Get out, and don''t even try to run away!¡± ¡°Ahem...¡± ¡°..please?¡± ¡°Better. Hey, first you get to see my world, now that of the dwarwes! They have been living underground for centuries, I''m sure there''ll be quite a few things to see!¡± Slowly recovering from their experience, Quintus and Carmela stood up and followed the dwarf dwarf into yet another world. Not an illusory one one made of light, but one from solid stone, steel and darkness. (We got ourselves one huge cave here.. just what is this, a round room.. four tunnels towards it, a huge empty platform in the middle..) ¡°Please stand on the center of the platform.¡± (Now.. this looks like it''s building up to something. I wonder what''s going to happen.. help, scan of the area?)
Help: No abnormalities detected. Area seems devoid of traces of life, the five dwarwes and us taken aside. The scan is however unable to cover the entire cave. Based on the currently available data I am unable to estimate what is going to happen.
(Well.. I guess it''s going to be a surprise then.) After they had reached the center of the room that was illuminated by a faint light, all they could do was wait for was going to happen. Nothing happened.. but suddenly they were surrounded by people. And in another room. (What the.. teleport? That thing was a teleport platform? Help, you sure you didn''t notice any runes?)
Help: Neither runes, nor abnormalities were detected. The transport was instantaneous, from the structure of the ground below us I can conclude that it has been moved alongside us as it is not different from previously, even on the atomic level. The ability thus does not affect ¡°people¡± but rather ¡°space¡±. Furthermore, the affected area has been determined to be a sphere with ten meters of radius. I estimate ¡°space¡± within area of origin and destination was switched. No further information available.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.(So someone or something out there can teleport.. this organization could be a tad more powerful than I thought it might be.) ¡°Welcome! You are Deus Machina right? Or at least that is how you let yourself be called, if the reports are correct. And you would be.. I apologize, but I have not been informed about your name. May I get to know it?¡± ¡°..Carmela Caball of the southern lake.¡± ¡°Carmela Caball of the southern lake! If I may present myself, I am the overseer of this place, Roland Newtonson. It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. May I call you Miss Carmela from now on? I understand elven traditions to be important.. but I hope you understand that addressing you in your full name would be an inconvenience.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Well.. now, I am sure you have questions. I even know you have asked them! And most of them can be answered now. So, if there is something you would like to know, as long as it is within my capabilities, I will answer!¡± ¡°Why did you bring us here?¡± ¡°Straight to the point.. I like that! Now, we have noticed you due to the uproar you caused. A strong warrior defeating a strong beast.. we have no need to care about someone like that. But ideas.. can be dangerous. We feel the need to prevent people with too many ideas from getting out of control. You especially seem to have a supposedly unending stream of ideas.. if the reports are accurate, you revolutionized harvesting, construction, combat, and produced a variety of tools based on manipulating light? Let me get one thing clear. This is a prison. Both for you, and your ideas. Please understand that attempting to escape from this place is futile. If you do not believe me however, you may try. There will be no repercussions. We will try to make your stay here as comfortable as possible. Yet, while you may attempt to escape whenever you desire to do so, harming one of the staff or your coworkers will have consequences. Lastly.. all inhabitants are required to participate in an annual contest to display the results of their research. Those with the least useful contributions will serve as a motivating example to their coworkers. I expect great things from you...¡± (So this is how they intend to get my knowledge out of me? ¡°If you don''t produce results, you die¡±.. hmm..) ¡°What about Carmela? It''s not like she is someone like me.. would she have to participate?¡± ¡°You are given access to vast resources and assistants to help your research. She will be considered as being such.¡± ¡°I see.. may I get to know what was used to instantaneously transport us from one location to another?¡± ¡°Sadly, that is one of the things I may not tell you about. Lodging, meals, drink.. those will be taken care of. If you require anything for your research, feel free to request it from one of the supervisors in the area. If your room is not spacious enough for your research, that we can take care of as well. Now, are there any further questions?¡± (They turned this into a paradise for researchers.. and I can guess just who is going to benefit from the results. Passing the contest should be no problem.. but I should be careful about what I put into their hands. Now, the best we can do is to spend some time here until we have more information. Escaping is futile? Let''s see about that..) ¡°One more question. Could I get a map of the area?¡± ¡°Of course.... this is the map of the entire area you will be able to go to.¡± ¡°So everything beyond this is of bounds?¡± ¡°No.. I meant to imply that it will simply not be possible to access the area beyond the border. Well then, these two will take you to your room. Let me excuse myself, I have business to attend to.¡± The ¡°prison¡± consisted of multiple rooms connected to each other by a system of tunnels. Going through them, one could see that the tunnels were patrolled by the ¡°supervisors¡±, clearly distinguishable from others by their white and golden uniforms. The solemn aura they gave of stood in perfect contrast to their surroundings. ¡°These are the living quarters. Your room should contain everything essential, if you require anything in addition to that, we should be able to procure it.¡± (So.. this is going to be our new home. .. now this.. is big.)
This was the fourth day of Aspertia becoming an underground city. In the fights against the monsters dwelling here, some had been injured.. but miraculously, no one had died yet. The speed at which the villagers had adapted to their new circumstances was even more of a miracle. The flow of the hot spring had already been redirected towards their village, giving everyone access to water. Even more, this was warm water, they would have considered it a luxury under their old circumstances. Not even nobles of big cities could afford to heat up water using fire or runes whenever they felt like it, doing either was both time consuming and expensive.. to experience such luxury every day, they saw their conviction that this was a test to bring them to even greater heights confirmed. The water from the spring also had some interesting properties.. even if not in movement, there would be bubbles raising to the surface, and one would feel a prickling sensation upon drinking it. This was the only source of water they had discovered so far, and it was much different from what they were used to.. but those changes were good. And concerning food.. The adventurers had discovered that there were three types of monsters in this area. First those you could eat, then those you could not eat, and lastly those that would eat you if you weren''t well prepared to face them. The ¡°big worms¡± as they had come to call the humongous worm-like creatures that they made responsible for the numerous tunnels in this area belonged to the first category. Then there were a bunch of creatures that seemed to be more rock and less living being, which belonged to the second category. Luckily, most remained peaceful as long as they were not attacked. But then.. Spiders. The faint threads in the tunnels that were their territory were a hint that one should pay attention to.. one of them was something that could still be dealt with, but a group that had explored the tunnels before knowing about this creature was ambushed and surrounded by a group of three of those overgrown arachnids. Chainsawing their way through the one that was guarding one of the exits alone, they barely managed to run away with their lives. Scorpions.. luckily, those never appeared in groups and it was possible to outrun them.. as long as one didn''t run into a dead end.. or the only exit was blocked away by earth suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Their skin was as tough as rock, most likely even made from it. The first to have encountered this beast, after their sole hope for escape disappeared behind a solid wall, had thought their lives to be over.. but found themselves saved by the most dangerous creature they had ever encountered. It was beyond big, and it happened in an instant. The earth itself seemed to melt, the scorpion disappeared, and all that was left was a wall of stone glowing bright red, slowly cooling down, heating the small room in which they had found themselves trapped in to immense temperatures. After being overwhelmed by a wave of incredible heat, the room gradually returned to a normal temperature. Only two days after this happened was the group finally able to break through the wall the earth scorpion had created with the assistance of another group that had noticed their signal of distress. Starving, fatigued, thirsty.. but were they afraid? No! They had been saved for a purpose. One they would fulfill. They would pass on the information they had gathered. And that information would be used for the benefit of the village. Knowledge, materials and time. That was all it would take to create weapons even those monstrous creatures would have to fear. The books that were being zealously studied provided the knowledge. There were many coal deposits in the area, and quite a few iron deposits as well, providing the materials. Now all they required was time. It had only been four days, yet those seemed to be filled with miracles. They would prove the divine that they were worthy of such blessings.
Open if you think something was amiss with this chapter: Spoiler : Yes, there is no chapter 13. No, I don''t believe in superstition but.. did you even notice the fact that it was missing? I did it for the lols, and am not going to do it again. If you insist on chapter 13 existing.. just leave a comment. But it is YOU who shall take the curse! Muahaha! Taking a break. So first of all, this is obviously not a chapter. I''m hereby announcing that I am "taking a break" aka spending hours reading through the older chapters and fixing/changing some stuff. I know that many of you will still dislike the fact that I''m doing this, but I''d rather face angry people than disappointed people. Also, this will NOT be a rewrite of the plot. There will be changes, but those will be made in a way that it should be possible to continue reading from chapter 15 for those that have already read up to chapter 14(/13..) But I''m not only doing this to fix mistakes I already made. I also intend to prevent myself from making too many mistakes in the future. So I will read through some guides and all of that stuff.. yes, this is going to take a long time and I myself do not know just how long it will take. Once I feel that I have improved enough to continue writing on this story without screwing up, I will do so. Until then, there will be no new chapters. Perhaps I will even start a new project as a "training". Last time I screwed up pacing and plot completely. It was going along well this time, but there are far too many things that could and should be improved. Because if I don''t do it now, those things might lead to yet another catastrophe. I''d rather make a full stop right now than not doing so and risking to crash into a wall. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. First I will read through guides, then I will apply what I''ve learned to older chapters, both as a means to practice and see just how big the impact is, then, depending on the results, I may write on another project to further improve, and only then will I write new chapters. This can and most likely will take a long time, but: Expect the speed at which I will release chapters from then on to increase by a LOT. I''d say by.. three times at least. One chapter every day could be possible. This is just me estimating that once I''ve gotten to know my own story well enough to not spend most of the time thinking stuff like "would this fit into the story? What should I write now?" instead of writing, I would be able to spend much more time writing. Let''s hope that this break won''t be too long, but pray that it lasts long enough to actually take effect. Bye. Chapter 15 Spoiler : Hi there. You know how I said I¡¯d take a break? Well¡­ I¡¯m quite happy with the few things I¡¯ve already learned, so, though I¡¯m still learning new things¡­ I definitely shouldn¡¯t screw up anymore (hopefully). So¡­ here is chapter 15. Prologue and chapter one have been updated. Content didn¡¯t change¡­ like I promised. To those who don¡¯t care about spoilers at all and maybe even want to give me direct feedback¡­ here is a link to my google drive folders. (link here once it has been organized a bit) Ah, I wanted to say that the '' key does not exist on my keyboard. I have ¡¯ and ¡® and ¡ä and ` but that one, I don¡¯t have it. So I have to copy paste it each time I want to write it. If you know a way to solve that¡­ would be nice. Now, on to chapter 15! Next chapter in two weeks. I''m not even halfway done organizing stuff. If you want to help out (and believe me, you can) here is a chatroom you can use to talk to me. PS: I heard you want a rom-com? Hmm... NO. Not involving Mana. But there are other characters in this story...
¡°So here we are. The end of the map. And this tunnel just keeps going further? There really is nothing here to prevent us from going?¡± Following the map, Quintus and Carmela had reached the border of the region that was shown by the map. They may have been told that trying to escape was futile, but who would let himself be convinced by just that? (There''s nothing special about this tunnel... nothing hidden in the floor or walls...) ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like it, even as far as I can tell.¡± Carmela still had her doubts about how safe it was. ¡°What if they placed traps?¡± ¡°No need to worry about that. As long as you stick close enough to Quintus, I should be able to protect you. I¡¯m able to¡­ wait a minute¡­¡±
Help: While I do not recommend doing so¡­ as this is what you desire, it will be done. Activating: Retina display, IO conversion, Enhanced HUD. Do you have any idea how much more complicated doing this is when I¡¯m not able to read the user''s mind? And you are able to perceive in 3D, converting that into 2D without losing too much data¡­
Shimmering dust raised into the air and covered the eyes of Quintus and Carmela. ¡°This¡± - in an attempt to see as much of the tunnel as possible, Carmela moved her head in every direction - ¡°so, this is what you see?¡± (Help, show me what they are seeing¡­ why is Carmela''s display so different from that of Quintus?)
Help: I have no access to what she herself is seeing, so instead of incorporating her own vision into the final display, I have to make a transparent overlay.
(Ah, so that¡¯s why¡­) ¡°Not quite, but it¡¯s as close to it as I am able to show you. You understand why we should be safe from traps now?¡± Even if Quintus already knew about Mana''s ability, this was the first time he got to experience it himself. For Carmela however, it was something beyond all her expectations. ¡°This¡­ it¡¯s amazing! And you are able to see the divine energy¡­¡± ¡°Enough of that¡­ we came here because we wanted to find out how to get out, right? So let¡¯s try doing just that.¡± ¡°...why do my hands look like this?¡± (Help¡­ did you really have to do this? Enable X-ray vision for HER?)
Help: It¡¯s what you wanted me to do¡­ :P
¡°Can¡­ can we talk about this later?¡± Meanwhile, Quintus was also looking at his arms while flexing his muscles. And as Mana was also able to see what he was seeing¡­ (Him as well? Oh, come on¡­ looks like he is studying anatomy¡­ to be expected by a fighter. But we¡¯ve got something important to do here! Help, deactivate the displays for now. Also, tell me, just what were you doing right now?)
Help: Playing Skyrim and modifying it. I¡¯m trying to make a model of this world¡­ once this HUB for data is complete, incorporating new information into my calculations should become much easier. That¡­ and I was in a bossfight.
(I assume that bossfight was also an essential part of your calculations¡­ sigh¡­ but I get to play tonight.)
Help: That was the very purpose of recreating this game as an IO program. Shutting down the displays¡­
¡°Hey!¡± The instant the dust floated back into the small pouch Quintus was carrying, Carmela exclaimed her displeasure about that. ¡°... why did you stop?¡± -even if he didn¡¯t act like Carmela, it was clear that Quintus had also enjoyed his new ability, however, he was more worried about the reason it stopped- ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°You became distracted, that happened. If you want, we can continue this later, but for now, let¡¯s do what we came here for.¡± ¡°I apologize.¡± ¡°No need. Just don¡¯t lose track of our goals anymore. Anyways¡­ let¡¯s get this started. Since there seem to be no traps, let¡¯s just try walking out.¡± They continued to walk through the tunnel¡­ and kept walking¡­
Help: We have been teleported. The ground below us is identical to the one we passed five minutes ago. No abnormalities were detected during transportation, it was instantaneous. While I am still unable to detect source or reason of the teleport, I have noticed that the teleportation area is absolute and will sever atomic bonds, leading to abnormal structures within the surroundings. I may be able to use this as a reference for determining whether or not teleportation occurred in a specific location from now on.
(Well dammit. So this is why there is no escape? With how even the walls are, we didn''t even notice that it happened. But¡­ this ability must have some kind of limitation¡­ if the one using it were some kind of god, there¡¯d be no use for taking us to the teleporters by car and all that... ) ¡°Hey, could you stop? I think it would be useless to keep walking.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been teleported¡­ again. Could you step to the sides of the tunnel, I need to test something¡­ thanks. Now then¡­¡± A single bullet left the bag Quintus was carrying. It floated in midair, then there was the sound of an explosion¡­ only a few seconds thereafter, a bullet flew past by them. And it passed again¡­ and again¡­ and then halted in midair to then go back into the bag. ¡°I guess nothing gets past that point.¡± Quintus was the first to understand what had happened. ¡°So there¡¯s no way to escape?¡± ¡°Nope. There is something preventing us from escaping. All we have to do is to find out how to get around it. But I don¡¯t think staying here will get us anywhere so¡­ let¡¯s return for now.¡± ¡°Ehm¡­ if we are just going to walk back¡­ could you use that ability again?¡± (Help, I guess you were right¡­ that was a mistake. Well, no going back now.)
Help: You don¡¯t say¡­ activating everything again¡­ honestly, this is such a waste of resources¡­
(Well, it will make you level up faster, no?)
Help: I can keep myself busy just fine. But I guess granting them part of your perceptive abilities may have benefits in future combat situations, so this could be considered as getting them used to it¡­ yeah, let¡¯s look at it that way.
On the way back, both Quintus and Carmela held their hands in front of their eyes while moving their fingers. They were utterly absorbed into the new world they were seeing¡­ that was until Quintus happened to look towards Carmela. He turned his head away almost instantly and startled by the sudden movement, Carmela looked towards him¡­ (You¡­ could have censored that, you know?)
Help: If they are to use this in the future, not being able to handle such images would be a disadvantage. And bothering to check for images that should be censored would take up even more of my resources. So no, I do not think I should censor such things.
(But¡­ well, I guess you are right¡­ still¡­ this situation is awkward, even I can tell...) For a long time, the sound of their steps was accompanied only by silence. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡­ (Hmm? Carmela''s display... Help, are you trying to pull off a joke here?)
Help: No, Carmela, after avoiding to look into the direction of Quintus just as he is still doing with her, is now indeed intensely studying his body''s structure. Anticipating the moment where Quintus will take notice of that has become quite entertaining¡­
(Ehm¡­ looks like you are right¡­ I feel like I should do something about this situation¡­ but I have absolutely no idea just what I should do¡­) The situation had successfully evolved into an even more awkward one. For the better or the worse, Carmela interrupted the silence before Quintus noticed what she had been doing. ¡°Mana?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You said the body is like a machine¡­ I think I understand what you meant now. Could¡­ you teach me how it functions?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I guess I could¡­ but depending on how much you want to know, teaching you is going to take a lot of time¡­ ah right, to you, a few years shouldn¡¯t matter. For now, I¡¯ll try to find a way to get us out of here, but there¡¯s more than enough time to teach you¡­ so yeah, I¡¯ll do it. But let¡¯s get back first.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡­ ¡°Mana?¡± ¡°What is it, Quintus?¡± ¡°You¡­ said that it is possible to create spare parts. Then¡­ is it possible to improve those parts?¡± (This is headed towards a bad direction¡­ but there¡¯s no use lying.) ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Would those perform better than the original body?¡± ¡°You know¡­ that¡¯s a topic that was kinda taboo in my old world¡­ even if the body can be cured and improved by looking at it as a machine, how much of what you truly are would be left after replacing everything? Would you still be who you were? Stuff like that¡­ but the answer is yes. In most cases, that is. But it¡¯s impossible to replace and improve your brain in the same way you could your arm. Or at least, that¡¯s the limit of the technology I¡¯m aware of. Lastly¡­ faster, stronger¡­ that doesn¡¯t necessarily mean better. It¡¯s just different. Like a one-handed sword isn¡¯t better than a two-hander, they are just different. But while it¡¯s possible to make changes to artificial limbs¡­ it¡¯s close to impossible to get back your original limb once you replace it, so please think twice before deciding to become a cyborg.¡± ¡°... cyborg?¡± ¡°Ehm¡­ that¡¯s a term for a being that¡¯s partially mechanical and partially organic.¡± (If that¡¯s what he wants¡­ it would improve our chances to survive, I¡¯m not gonna stop him¡­ still, I have a somewhat bad feeling about this¡­)
Help: A mad scientist and a cyborg. Now¡­ that would be an interesting relationship¡­ I like it!
(...maybe I really should do something about this¡­ sigh. As long as I don¡¯t die because of it, may they do whatever they want to. Yeah. Everything has become like this because I didn¡¯t want to be used as a tool, intentionally manipulating others when it¡¯s not necessary would be too hypocritical.) As they continued their way through the tunnels, they encountered one of the staff members. From his white and golden uniform which stood in perfect contrast to his surroundings, it was clear it was one of the supervisors. ¡°So you return from your trip to the border¡­ how long did it take you to notice that there is no end to those tunnels? Ah, newbies¡­ well, I hope you learned your lesson! The fewer people walk around, the easier my job becomes! You¡¯ll find the way back by yourselves, right? Or should I escort you?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be fine by ourselves.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good¡­ ah, I probably should tell you that no matter how much of a genius you think you are, don¡¯t mess with the blaze clan! They¡¯ve kept earning the first place for decades, and the higher ups have taken quite a liking to them¡­ we¡¯ve lost too many new talents because they were too haughty¡­ would be a pity if you were to suffer the same fate! If you think you have what it takes, try to join them, and if not, keep it low! Well, the tutorial is over, I¡¯ll get going!¡± ... (He shouldn¡¯t hear us here...) ¡°Strange guy. The blaze clan? So there are organizations among the researchers down here.¡± ¡°He could be working for them.¡± Quintus doubted just how much they could trust someone they just met. ¡°Well, I guess we should be grateful for this warning anyways. Since it looks like we¡¯ll live down here for some time, we should inform ourselves about this place. Actually¡­ we¡¯ve been told about that tournament, but what are the criteria?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s ask one of the supervisors once we meet one again.¡± ¡°Yeah. There are a few things I need anyways, no matter what this contest is all about.¡±
It was not until almost having reached the living quarters that they encountered another supervisor. ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°Hmm? You¡­ are the new one, right? Is there something you would like to request?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve heard about the annual contest¡­ but what¡¯s the criteria? Should I build a weapon? Things you¡¯d use in everyday life?¡± ¡°Ah, there is no need for you to participate in this year''s contest¡­ you just entered this place, there are only four months till the next one... forcing you to participate regardless would be unjust. Furthermore, watching a contest is essential to understand just what exactly is demanded from you. I suppose you have yet to join a clan? You should try doing so before it¡¯s too late¡­ if you think you are good enough, you could try joining blaze¡­ if not, there are enough smaller groups that would be glad to get a new helping hand.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this supposed to be a solo contest?¡± ¡°Pff! You ain¡¯t going to get anywhere alone. We noticed that letting people work together would increase the chance of them producing something decent within the time limit¡­ did nobody tell you about that?¡± (That Roland¡­ not telling us the most important things¡­ it¡¯s like he wants us to get into trouble.) ¡°No. Thank you for the information. Also, I request for iron, copper, zinc and sugar. About fifty kilograms each.¡± ¡°The metals will not be a problem¡­ but fifty kilograms of sugar?¡± ¡°Coal would also be fine.¡± ¡°That amount of coal should cause no problems but¡­ you are saying that you could use coal instead of sugar?¡± ¡°Yes. Also, a few liters of water. Hundred or so.¡± ¡°Well¡­ if that is what you request¡­ the materials should be delivered to your room within the next five days.¡± ¡°Thanks. Well, I¡¯ll be going.¡± ¡°Try to not kill yourself during an experiment!¡± ¡­ ¡°Fifty kilograms of sugar¡­ just what is he trying to create, the world''s biggest cake? And what in oblivion does coal have to do with sugar¡­ tss, I¡¯ll never understand those guys¡­¡±
Before reaching their room, they encountered one of the other researchers. Clothes covered with stains of various colors and a few holes, messy hair¡­ he was the spitting image of a mad scientist. ¡°Hmm¡­ never seen you here before¡­ you¡¯re the new guy? And that¡¯s your¡­ assistant? It must be nice to have some... helping hands¡­ but honestly, you shouldn¡¯t trust the dwarwes! They say they will help you with your research¡­ but they¡¯ll take everything away from you before you know it! Your research, your ideas¡­ you haven¡¯t joined an organization yet, have you? What about joining my clan?¡± ¡°Acting like this towards someone you just met¡­ you sure are talkative.¡± ¡°Me? I¡¯m the most secretive person you¡¯ll ever meet! I can even keep secrets from myself! Sometimes I keep what I put into a vial a secret¡­ and then, when I try to find out, BOOM! Or sometimes it goes zshhhhh instead¡­ but those are quite potent mixtures! Got second place once¡­ and if you would lend me those helping hands¡­ you could join my clan!¡± ¡°And your clan would be?¡± ¡°Well, my clan! The name¡¯s a secret!¡± ¡°I¡­ think I¡¯ll try to join blaze instead.¡± ¡­ ¡°Mwuahahahaha! Divines! Ahahaha! That¡¯s a good one! Joining blaze¡­ haha¡­ you haven¡¯t been here for a month, and you already want to join blaze? What kind of genius do you think you are, Vulcan himself? No¡­ you don¡¯t just join blaze. Blaze makes you join. Well, you can try! And after you learned your lesson, you should reconsider my offer! Just ask for Archibald. Everyone in this place knows Archibald...¡± ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯ll consider it.¡± Mumbling something about joining blaze, laughing from time to time, Archibald walked away. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare join that man,¡± Carmela said, staring in the direction towards which he had left. ¡°Well¡­ he seems strange but¡­ ah, I see. You are concerned about that? Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s no way I would let him do anything of the sorts.¡± ¡°What are you two talking about?¡± ¡°Well-¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± Carmela interrupted before Mana was able to answer. ¡°Yeah¡­ I guess nothing.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°¡°It was nothing important.¡±¡± Chapter 16 Spoiler : AN: So¡­ time for me to rant on. Like about the fact that google drive kept offlining itself, preventing me from writing ANYTHING. Sure, I could have written offline, but not being able to access my drive was kinda¡­ bad, since I had almost all information on there now. I wrote offline anyways. So my PC, desperate to stop me, committed suicide yet again. But this time he was serious. The only solution I could afford: full reset. Byebye, offline data. Those days dealt quite the heavy blow to my motivation¡­ because really, if your PC crashes after you write 2 sentences, you don¡¯t feel like writing anymore. Then, my internet provider went ¡°nope¡±, so I had no internet. Still have no internet. Using my phone to write ALL OF THIS. Also, coming up with characters is HARD. At least for me. Rant over. Also, some changes to dialogue: If there are more than two people taking: Name the one talking: ¡°spoken¡± / ¡°spoken,¡± Name of the one talking said, ¡°spoken¡± /etc. If no name is given: Random person. If specific person, but unknown name: ??? or description of the one assumed to be talking. (Ex. : hooded man: ¡°Long time no see.¡±) ¡°Deus¡± is Mana using the male voice. This is a test. I¡¯m expecting feedback. If you don¡¯t like it, I¡¯ll try another structure. Don¡¯t hold yourself back if you don¡¯t like it, I NEED feedback (even thought I probably could learn writing dialogue without feedback... feedback is the fuel my engine runs on. Without it I won''t improve much. You could give me a sample novel(s) which I could imitate, for example.
Within a room in the living quarters filled with the chattering of various people, one topic had attracted the attention of many. Someone had overheard a certain conversation, and the information spread quickly. The Den was attempting to recruit someone. ¡°Hey, you heard? Archibald himself was the one who scouted him!¡± ¡°The new guy, right? Lucky bastard. Hasn¡¯t even been here a day, got that elf on his side and now the Den is inviting him¡­ ts, some people just have it all.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ but if the Den is going after him, obviously he has to be someone special.¡± ¡°But it hasn¡¯t even been a day! Even if they have connections within the staff, how do they have any information on him? I mean¡­ this is the Den we¡¯re talking about, how comes they know that he matches their criteria?¡± ¡°Actually, why hasn¡¯t Blaze gone after him if the Den is so aggressive about it?¡± ¡°They probably think that being too aggressive would make him think he is important for them, and you know how Blaze works¡­¡± ¡°The leader above everything! -right? Honestly, if not for that, I would have joined them.¡± ¡°Eh? You were invited by Blaze?¡± ¡°What, you think I don¡¯t have what it takes? Who was it that got us fifth place last time?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. Anyways, what do you think his ability is? Anyone else here with information about him?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the only one here who even heard him talk, and I already told you everything.¡± ¡°So he¡¯s got a girl, and since the den is after him, some blessing. Other than that, he hides his face behind a cowl that makes you wonder how he himself is seeing anything. And that¡¯s all we got? That¡¯s not enough! He¡¯s stirring up the attention of the bigger groups, so we should try to get more information on him as well! I feel like this guy is going to be important!¡± ¡°You and your intuition¡­ hey guys, remember the last time he was like this? That about that ¡°motor¡±? If it¡¯s like that this time too, than the new guy might just really create quite¡­ an impact!¡± ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t laugh! It would have worked if not for SOMEONE messing up the calculations!¡± ¡°Yeah, but it went ¡°kaboom¡± and almost killed the dwarf working on it. And now we¡¯ve been banned from continuing the experiments anyways, no use crying about spilled milk.¡±
(Ah¡­ I guess, since we¡¯ll be here for a while¡­ home sweet home? That doesn¡¯t really fit a place like this now does it¡­) The room of ¡°Deus¡± was big. Incredibly big. And overwhelmingly empty. Mana: ¡°Hey, since we¡¯ll be living here for a while, what about doing some remodelling? Don¡¯t know about you, but this just feels way too empty.¡± Quintus: ¡°There would be enough space for a training ground¡­¡± Mana: ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s possible. Actually¡­¡±
Help: Again? Well, do what you want. Just give me a sec to set up the program.
Carmela: ¡°What is it?¡±
Help: Adding it to the interfaces¡­ aaand done. Btw, mind taking a look at the structure of the walls? It¡¯s rather interesting. Like they were made to be customizable. I¡¯m sure this is part of another system that we are supposed to not be aware of, so even if using this existing structure to remodel the interior may be tempting, I don¡¯t recommend doing it as it would give away information about our abilities.
(Hmm? What about¡­ ah, true, this is strange. I wonder if that¡¯s why they said that changing the size of the room was no problem? Anyways, we won¡¯t need to use that. The VR space is looking good.) In the eyes of both Carmela and Quintus, the appearance of the room had undergone various drastic changes. Quintus: ¡°This¡­ is not reality, correct?¡± Mana: ¡°Yep. You are currently seeing stuff that doesn¡¯t actually exist. This way we can freely change what we see in the room without actually having to do anything. Also, try hitting that training dummy.¡± Without questioning Mana¡¯s intentions, Quintus drew his blade and slashed at the wooden figure he saw. The figure moved, drew its blade and blocked his strike. Of course, none of this actually happened. Mana just used her conversion ability to counteract the force of Quintus¡¯ sword. Mana: ¡°As long as I have the mana to do it, you can use those as if they were real. They¡¯ll get better at fighting as you do. This should be perfect, right? And for Carmela, I also have an idea¡­ those books contain all the information that you should be interested about. Those are the foundation everything else is build on. Before going into the really complicated things, you should learn what¡¯s in there. And if you have trouble with something, I¡¯m sure I can help you visualize it, just tell me.¡± (So¡­ this way, the dwarwes won¡¯t be able to tell what I¡¯m doing at all. The room will stay empty¡­ except for that one experiment. Now all I have to do is wait for the goods to arrive.) Quintus kept slashing, dodging and countering blows that were not real, while Carmela, delighted about the countless pages of information in front of her, kept reading books that didn¡¯t exist. For someone not knowing about the virtual reality, their actions would seem weird, at the very least.
Help: Looks like someone is coming here. Not a dwarf, and doesn¡¯t seem to be carrying the goods we want either.
The black alliance was a small group. Most of them were blacksmiths, hence their name. Their leader could still remember the days they were the greatest group, or so he said. But Blaze, the Den, and even some other smaller groups had long overthrown them. Especially since Blaze was also mainly a blacksmith group, their numbers dwindled, with all potential new members joining Blaze instead. So when their leader heard that the ¡°new guy¡± was someone seemingly very special, he intended to use all means at his disposition to get him to join. (Hmpf. Let¡¯s just hope he¡¯s not one of those borderline madmen. If he¡¯s like that, might as well let the Den take him. Let¡¯s just act nice¡­ I¡¯ll have to get to know him before trying to lure him in.) Knocking against the heavy metal door, he was trying to be prepared to face whoever might open it. It didn''t take long for it to slowly swing open. Deus: ¡°Someone is visiting me already? Pleased to meet you, I¡¯m Deus. Who might you be?¡± (Well, at least he seems to be sane¡­) ¡°I¡¯m Brian. I heard you just came here today, so I thought I should welcome you to this place, show you the ropes. You will stay here for a while after all. So your name is Deus? Well Deus, you already know about how this place works, do you?¡± ¡°Some of it. Ah please, come in, no need to keep standing in the door. As you said, I just came here today, so sorry if it looks somewhat empty.¡± (He seems sociable¡­ but I can¡¯t see to who I¡¯m talking to at all¡­ hard to judge him like this.) ¡°I¡¯m sorry if this is a topic I shouldn¡¯t ask about but¡­ why the hood?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a habit. You know, up there people looking like me will get into quite a bit of trouble¡­ while I don¡¯t need it anymore, honestly, I¡¯d like to keep it on if it doesn¡¯t disturb you too much.¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s alright, I was just being curious.¡± ¡°Now¡­ let¡¯s stop beating around the bush. What brings you here?¡± ¡°I was just-¡± ¡°No honestly, what brings you here? You want to invite me to your guild?¡± (This guy¡­) ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good. I don¡¯t like it when people talk just so they can talk some more. So, it looks like you were trying to find out more about me. How much do you already know?¡± (What¡¯s with this personality¡­ all of this up to now was an act?) ¡°Ah, don¡¯t misunderstand¡­ I want to know what you already know about me so I can tell you the rest. It¡¯s annoying to have people sniffing around, so I might as well tell you everything now and be done with it.¡± (What?) ¡°Are¡­ you serious?¡± ¡°No, of course not. I want you and others to keep pestering me with hidden intentions making normal conversations and exchange of information impossible.¡± ¡­ ¡°You¡¯re interesting, I¡¯ll leave you that. Well, you want to know what I already know about you? It¡¯s not much, really. You probably guessed that my group is rather small. So we don¡¯t get as much information as the others. All I know is that you are already attracting the interest of the Den on your first day here, so you have to be someone special. That aside? Nothing much.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°The Den?¡± ¡°They are the second biggest group down here. And all of its members have one thing in common, they didn¡¯t get here because of their wits or craftsmanship, but because they have some divine blessing. It¡¯s actually even harder to join them than it is to join Blaze. For their leader himself to invite you¡­ there¡¯s no way you are not someone special.¡± ¡°...you sure about that? Hey, Carmela, could you come over here? ¡­ You don¡¯t think that this might be the actual reason?¡± (A¡­ an elven girl down here? Slave no less?) ¡°Well... ¡° ¡°See? But don¡¯t even think about it. This girl is here because she¡¯s smart. Get it? Anyways, I guess it¡¯s my turn now. I already told you that my name is Deus. I¡¯m here because I invented too many things too fast. I probably can create more inventions in a day than others in two lifetimes. That¡¯s just how it is. Don¡¯t know if this could be this divine blessing you were talking about. I don¡¯t really specialize in anything, because I can do everything to some extend.¡± ¡°You sure can talk big for someone who claims to dislikes lies.¡± ¡°You might want to reconsider what you just said¡­ well, you¡¯re down here for a reason too right? what did you invent?¡± ¡°I created a new type of weapon! With a power like which never existed before! One shot of it could destroy castle walls!¡± ¡°And¡­ how did it work?¡± Convinced that this ¡°Deus¡± was nothing but a bigmouth, Brian went on. ¡°See? You can¡¯t even comprehend something like this, you-¡± ¡°No, I can think of about two-hundred weapons able to achieve what you just said, relying on dozens of different mechanics. Which way did your weapon do it?¡± ¡­ ¡°Ts, you don¡¯t know when to stop, do you?¡± ¡°Since you don¡¯t believe me¡­ I¡¯m just going to list a few. First, create an oversized bow shooting sharpened logs. Quite bulky, but usable. Next, create an oversized wooden spoon, bend it and force it to remain in the position, put a big stone on the spoon, then activate the release mechanism. The spoon will regain its former position, propulsing the stone, which will be able to damage castle walls. Next, a bit smaller this time, use an explosion to propulse a projectile of sufficient weight to sufficient speed through a tube directed towards the castle walls-¡± ¡°You know about it!¡± ¡°Ah, so it¡¯s that. Let me guess, a metal tube closed at one end, filled with an explosive, a metal projectile on top of it, then ignite the explosive. All of this setup in a way that it can handle the explosion and recoil.¡± ¡°You¡­ how¡­¡± ¡°Why did you try to build something like that?¡± ¡°I¡­ just thought that this much power would be great¡­ and we would be able to fight against the other races¡­ when I saw the pulver explode on catching fire, I thought I had discovered something special...¡± ¡°It was a black powder, right? Intense smell after combusting. Results in black smoke?¡± ¡°Yes...¡± ¡°Well, so someone else actually had this idea¡­ I was wondering if I was smart or everyone else was stupid, but it seems that all the somewhat smart people have been gathered down here¡­ resulting in a nightmarish lack of new ideas on the surface.¡± ¡­ ¡°You¡¯ve gotten silent. Is something the matter?¡± ¡°You¡­ are special alright.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a compliment. Now, there¡¯s something I¡¯d like to know from you- what¡¯s that annual contest all about? I¡¯ve been told to just wait till it happens and watch it to understand, but I don¡¯t like waiting.¡± ¡°Hmpf, if it was anyone else, that¡¯s what I¡¯d tell him to do too. But you seem to be someone that might just be able to understand it just by hearing about it. The contest is quite simple. We are to design mechanisms to be used in a dungeon. Traps, things to confuse intruders, everything.¡± ¡°Sounds easy enough. Why bother making this much of a mystery around it?¡± ¡°Hey, that¡¯s exactly where most people go wrong. It¡¯s not simple at all! This isn¡¯t a cave with a pitfall trap we¡¯re talking about! Creating the best dungeon while sticking to the rules, it¡¯s a task that requires considering countless details! Coming up with the best solution for each and every potential problem! Well¡­ that would be the perfect dungeon. You may have guessed that my group currently can¡¯t keep up with what¡¯s asked from us¡­¡± ¡°Just to be sure¡­ the groups are to create a dungeon each, and then that dungeon is tested against intruders, and the one performing best is the winner, and the worst is the looser?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡­ ¡°Now it¡¯s you that¡¯s gotten quiet. Lost your confidence already?¡± ¡°No¡­ it¡¯s just¡­ I was expecting something slightly¡­ more challenging. I thought I would be participating in an interesting game, but it looks like the winner is already decided¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re smart, and you really surprised me back then, I¡¯ll admit that¡­ but now you really are being overconfident.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ you don¡¯t understand. I told you that I don¡¯t really specialize in anything right? However, creating something like a dungeon¡­ happens to be one of the things I¡¯m especially good at. But I guess I really should watch it once before making any hasty conclusions. You¡¯ve come here because you wanted me to join your group right? I¡¯ll give you an answer after the next contest.¡± ¡°You¡­ would consider joining us?¡± ¡°Yeah, the group I join will become the most important and influential one anyways, no matter which one I choose. Now, it would be nice if you could leave, there are some ideas that crossed my mind while we were talking and I really want to try them out. Ah, before you leave, what¡¯s your groups name?¡± ¡°The black alliance¡±
(Go, go and spread the word¡­ one of the best ways to get information is to be at the center of attention. If everyone is interested in you, you can get many people to talk¡­ but a dungeoneering contest? Really? This is going to be fun...)
Help: You intend to recreate ¡°The unbreakable sphere¡±? That¡¯s not ¡°fun¡±, that¡¯s being a sadist.
(I spent months of my previous life designing that thing, no way I¡¯m just going to let all those hours of playing Lords and Heroes go to waste.)
Help: Your dungeon had to be triplechecked by the developers themselves because everyone thought you had found a way to trick the system into believing it was clearable, and even when they understood you followed the rules, they tried to convince you that a dungeon this difficult was the same as cheating, and asked you to please remove it. Your answer to that was to make it even more difficult. If that¡¯s not sadist, I don¡¯t know.
(Pff, it¡¯s just that they sucked at the game. Not my fault.)
In the underground prison, the only thing more valuable than one''s life was information. So obviously, no matter how much one tried to keep a secret¡­ it was impossible to prevent information from leaking through even the thickest of walls and doors. Not even a week after Brian talked to ¡°Deus¡±, there was no one that did not know about this ¡°overwhelmingly overconfident greenhorn¡±. But even if most thought that Deus claims were nothing but smoke and mirrors, some took the information more serious¡­ Archibald: ¡°So guys, what should we do? That guy found out about us a bit faster than I hoped he would. By the wrong people no less. Now he¡¯s gone and gotten all high and mighty.¡± A tall, well dressed man was the first to respond. Even if everyone in the Den was an oddball, his elegant appearance made him stick out from the rest. ¡°Looks like this is one of those times were the vial just blows up in your face, right Archi? Your luck was always quite haphazard.¡± ¡°Ah, shut up Zarmon. It went boom, no changing that, but now we should try to find out how to clean up the mess. That guy is a goldmine, and the problem is he knows it.¡± Almost the perfect opposite to Zarmon, small, with a rather¡­ broad build, Travis seemed to pay more attention to his drink than to the rest of his surroundings, but still took the opportunity to side with Archibald. Zarmon: ¡°Why do you care so much about a single person? It¡¯s not like we are in desperate need for new members.¡± Archibald: ¡°Because that guy is the real deal! With him working for us, we could overthrow Blaze! Just imagine, being the number one! Getting to talk to the real big shots! GETTING OUT OF HERE! I¡¯ve spend more time down here than I can even REMEMBER, and I¡¯m NOT just going to let myself die in this damned place!¡± With their official ¡°leader¡± acting like that, the remaining members started to get distracted in their own conversations... ¡°Ah, and I thought I¡¯d never see that side of Archi again¡­ it¡¯s fascinating, isn¡¯t it? See that red vein on his forhead? And that-¡± ¡°Jack, no one cares. I don¡¯t care, and I don¡¯t care about the others, so no one cares. So shut up. Actually, all of you, shut up. We should all know what¡¯s going to happen if we try to talk about this. It¡¯s going to be a huge mess, and we¡¯ll forget the initial topic. So I propose we just get this over with. People who want the greenhorn to join, raise your hands.¡± Four members raised their hands, including Archibald, Jack and Travis. ¡°Now everyone that¡¯s against it.¡± This time, Zarmon demonstratively raised both arms, alongside three more people. ¡°And the others don¡¯t care. Since those who don¡¯t care are in the majority, as always, I propose we just see what happens while everyone does whatever they feel like doing? I say yes, that¡¯s what we will do. And since no one will actually listen to others from now on anyways, even those complaining about this solution will have no choice to accept it. Jeez, it always ends up like this, when will you ever learn...¡± Those words let the what little discipline the Den had managed to establish for this meeting collapse entirely. And thus, even with the ¡°leader¡± trying to get the others to listen, it returned to its usual state. An absolute chaos. Chapter 17 Spoiler : Hi there! So, I had an idea for a game while writing this chapter, and since I''ll work on that game from now on, won''t have time to write on this story anymore! Bye! ... Nah. Warning, the following is a long text about my ideas concerning that game, just because I felt like writing it. Well, skip the following if you don''t feel like reading about the game idea. I just wrote it down to have it somewhere.
The base idea was to make a game were players can both explore (challenge) dungeons, or build their own dungeons as dungeon masters. Every player can have a few accounts, and one dungeon and one character for each account. There would be a single universal resource for upgrading the dungeon or character, which I''ll call exp because I''m too lazy to come up with my own name. Challengers gain it by clearing dungeons, dungeon masters gain it by having stuff die in/ give up on their dungeons. Furthermore, there would be some kind of overworld in which one can have the character move from place to place, fighting monsters for a bit of extra exp. This would also be the place where the characters can look for NPC vendors selling skills and equipment for the exp they earned, or find other players to trade with them and/or party up with them. Since the exp invested in a character/dungeon reflects how strong/difficult that character/dungeon should be, the level of a character will be automatically generated based on that value. Exp can be used to buy skills and gear for your character, and traps, monster(spawners), walls, mechanisms, additional floors, larger floors, etc... for your dungeon. Whenever one uses exp to buy something permanent for the character/ dungeon, a percentage of that exp will be put into some sort of "storage" instead. When a challenger dies, some exp from that storage will go to the dungeon master. And if a challenger clears a dungeon, some of the exp stored in the dungeon will go to him. If that happens, the character/ dungeon will end up with less stored exp than the max stored exp it should have, let''s say, my character died a few times and is at: 1000 exp invested; 40/100 exp stored. In that case, before spending 60 exp to fill the storage, I won''t be able to invest into the character again. If a character/ dungeon ends up with 0 stored exp, that character/ dungeon cannot be used anymore (until the stored exp is filled back up). Also, the one who got it to 0 will gain bonus exp since there is a chance that the dungeon was at 1/1000 stored exp when the challenger cleared it, and the challenger should have gotten 100 exp... but now only gets one (because there''s only 1 left). The bonus should more than make up for it (let''s say the bonus in this case is 200). However, that bonus will be applied as a penalty to the one who got to 0 stored exp, putting him at, if the bonus was 200, -200/1000 stored exp. To encourage exploring, the penalty for dying in a dungeon is lower than the penalty for having one''s dungeon cleared. Also, since characters can and should be specialized in their abilities, if they encounter a dungeon they happen to be well equipped for (a dungeon relying on poison damage traps VS a character that has poison resistance), they will most likely easily clear the dungeon. If they don''t, there should still be a chance for them to clear the dungeon, which will be lower the less of their skills happen to be useful in the dungeon. This gamble combined with the fact that it should feel like they are risking less should keep challengers entering dungeons. Also, there will be NPC created explorers and dungeons, which should increase the total exp available to players as long as they aren''t too bad to beat NPC created stuff. (In that case, quit playing the game pls). To ensure that dungeon masters don''t have to watch as a level 1000000 character just walks through their level 1 dungeon, dungeon masters can put a level limit on their dungeons. To ensure that level 1 characters don''t accidentally enter a level 100000 dungeon, the level of a dungeon is displayed. To reward people who face challenges (and punish those that don''t do their job well), the amount of exp earned (and thus stolen) for clearing a dungeon/ having a character die in your dungeon is higher the higher the level of the dungeon/ character is in comparison to yours. So if you feel like it, try facing that level 10 dungeon as a level 4 character, or put the level limit for your level 7 dungeon to 12 as a dungeon master... (or even higher differences?). Also, to ensure that people have a chance to know just what they are facing, the amount of people who gave up on/ challenged/ cleared a dungeon can be seen by potential new challengers. If too many gave up on it, maybe that potential challenger won''t even try. So try to make your dungeon as attractive as possible while still making profit as a dungeon master! As a dungeon master you can also have that display reset in regular intervals, and whenever your dungeon levels up. Early in the game, most of the exp will be earned when facing NPC created content. Later on, since NPC dungeons will have a level limit just like other dungeons, and there will rarely be high level NPC dungeons, you will have to challenge player created dungeons as a character. And NPC explorers will avoid high level dungeons by default, so you will have to rely on player characters as a source of exp as a high level dungeon master. A small difference in the levels at which that happens will allow a small stream of NPC generated exp to flow into the low high levels, but from then on it''s players vs players only. To enable more customizing, everything that can be bought has a fixed prize generated by the system, which is also the prize at which it can be sold back. If someone sells something they invested in, that amount will be subtracted from their invested exp, and thus potentially reduced their level. One can buy for exp in unlimited amounts (as long as one still has exp). And also, one can trade (for a small fee of a few exp depending on the value of the traded items,) just as many times (if there is a difference between the value of the traded items, the one trading the "bad" item for the "good" item will have to give the difference of their values in exp in addition to the item, and both players will automatically invest/univinvest based on that amount, so all trades will always be equal exchanges). However, while one can trade with players an unlimited amount of times, one can only sell for exp at NPC vendors a few times in a given time interval. (To force trading, and thus interaction between players, and paying the fee which thus will remove exp from the stream of the economy, as NPC vendors only buy/ sell for exp.) Certain things will be "consumables", which can be bought for exp without adding to the invested exp. One can only have so many consumables at a time to prevent building the entire character/ dungeon around them, and while they will usually be strong/ useful and don''t increase your level while still increasing your strength, they are one time use only. Most consumables will have a weaker "recharges over time" variant that can be bought to permanently gain the consumables benefits, but those will add to the invested exp, stored exp, and level, and also be a bit weaker. The entire game will be free to play without pay to win at all, where real life money can only be spend for looking better, emotes, and other stuff like that. The ingame currency cannot be purchased for real life money using ingame features. (Preventing stuf like selling exp using certain methods like farming exp and then dying a lot in the dungeon that you were paid 20$ on that online website for dying until you lost 2000 exp to it is something that will be hard to prevent if it should ever be made to happen, but I''ll try to make that as non-profitable as possible to prevent it.) Lastly, dungeon masters can create special items which will absorb some of the exp that they would gain from their dungeon to become stronger. The more challengers die and the more exp is absorbed, the stronger the item will get. Such items must be bound to a chance to drop under certain circumstances, for example beating the bossmonster in the dungeon. Since those items will be much stronger than normal items if they are given enough time to grow, and also, since the one who finds them does not "invest" in them and thus can use their strength without that strength increasing his level, this should make people want to explore dungeons more. To prevent people from finding out too much about dungeons, the position of dungeons it the overworld is randomized at regular intervals. So, a RPG dungeon crawler + a sandbox dungeon creator + a "normal" RPG (to get used to clearing dungeons, or to actually try to play through the game''s story). A game all about customizing. Balancing this will be a nightmare... but I can take care of that once I''m done with school. Most likely will end up as something 16 bit-like due to everything else being pure madness for a single person to manage. Perhaps I''ll manage to make it browser based? That is if I make it at all. You may notice that the spacing is a bit wider than usually. That is because this is what happens when copying from drive, for some reason. First I searched for every single double spacing and removed one line, but now I felt like seeing what it would be like to only remove the really empty spaces and leave the rest as is. Just a little test, tell me what you prefer. Also, no one told me about what they think about the way I now structure dialogue so... I''ll just do whatever I feel like, hoping it''s good. Next chapter should be released in two weeks from now, since I''m going over old chapters in an attempt to improve them. Plot will remain untouched. Just restructuring dialogue and stuff like that.
It was a wide, open room, yet except for one place within that room, one would feel oppressed by how small, unimportant the room made you feel. Especially when faced with whoever was in that spot. And that spot was taken. Balthazar never asked to be the one to talk to the boss. He doesn¡¯t want to talk to the boss. As long as you just do what you are asked, don¡¯t screw up, and especially don¡¯t talk back, everything is alright¡­ unless the one in charge happens to be in a bad mood. Then someone will get picked to talk to the boss. ¡°Boss, about that new guy¡­¡± ¡°Leave him be. The contest will show him just how powerless he is, he will beg to join us¡­ I hope you were able to create mechanisms that will make him do so, or else¡­¡± As always, there seemed to be some kind of dominating aura around the boss. But he knew that if he let himself be influenced by it, things would only become worse for him. Even if only on the outside, he had to be positive. ¡°There is no way for anyone to match us! The old layout has been greatly improved, the intruders will not stand a chance, no matter who we get assigned!¡± ¡°I did not ask you to build a better dungeon. I want a dungeon that makes EVERYONE else realize that they are NOTHING compared to us. That MADHOUSE has gotten SECOND place last time, and they are not even ORGANIZED!¡± He chose the wrong words. The anger should not be directed towards him, yet Balthazar was terrorized. The boss had gotten angry, and he was in the very same room as the boss¡­ ¡°Calm down, redhead. I¡¯ve got everything planned out. We will get some medium ranks as challengers, they¡¯ll make it through the first few levels in an epic fight, and then, when everyone is hyped up, they¡¯ll get crushed.¡± Roy? The right hand of the boss was helping him? Could he be trying to shift the boss¡¯ anger towards him? He himself was but one of the lowest ranked, how did he deserve this grace? ¡°... you may be the only one allowed to call me that, but even so, you shouldn¡¯t push your luck, especially not in front of others¡­ you like gears, and you should know, no matter how important that one piece is for the machinery¡­ it can always be replaced.¡± Roy was risking his position for his sake? He had heard about Roy¡¯s personality from others, but those stories were actually true? Roy: ¡°Right, that nuisance is still here¡­ is there still something you must say?¡± Roy was still looking friendly¡­ but his words! Or was this an attempt to get him out of the room? It had to be! ¡°Ehm¡­ I was just told to ask the boss what we should do about that new guy¡­¡± ¡°And he gave you an answer, didn¡¯t he? So what are you still doing here? You have work to do!¡± Hurriedly, but trying to look as respectful and humble and hardworking as possible, Balthazar left the room. And with him, the dominating aura around the ¡°boss¡± vanished. As did Roy¡¯s previously friendly look. Roy: ¡°Ts, the gears should know their place¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to change the topic! You KNOW you¡¯re not supposed to act like this in front of others!¡± There was no anger in the boss¡¯ voice, rather, he seemed to be worried. ¡°What, calling you a redhead? But you are a redhead. You may the the fuel, but I¡¯m still the one responsible for using you to get the machinery to work. Don¡¯t get ahead of yourself! Anyone from that madhouse, as you like to call them, could replace you. But me? You¡¯ve said it yourself. That madhouse is lacking in order. It¡¯s the only reason they didn¡¯t surpass us long ago! I¡¯m the only reason they didn¡¯t surpass us long ago!¡± ¡°You¡­ seem to worry about something. Else you wouldn¡¯t dare to potentially damage the image you build up over the past years. Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s that new guy?¡± ¡­ ¡°You know that I hate it when you act like you understand me? ¡­ the information about his achievements¡­ first I didn¡¯t believe it but... I just got hold of a few samples of his productions. And I must say that that person¡­ is a genius. Impressing him with our performance will be difficult.¡± ¡°Eh? You, the one that managed to build up Blaze, are calling someone a genius? It can¡¯t be that bad, right?¡± ¡°When I met you, I thought you had talent. The talent I needed. But whoever¡­ or whatever created these things¡­ has taken what I thought to be good and threw it in a dumpster. Those goods are mass produced. And every single one is identical to the other. Identical in being flawless.¡± ¡°YOU are calling something flawless? You¡¯re kidding¡­ right?¡± ¡°Just look!¡± ¡­ ¡°You¡¯re kidding, right?¡±
(Ah, the goods have finally arrived. Help, your turn.)
Help: What happened to attempting to master your abilities yourself?
(You can do it better anyways. No point in trying to beat a supercomputer at executing a defined task.)
Help: Seems like you finally understand what I¡¯m here for.
(This really is like playing a game¡­ just enter the commands, and the computer will take care of the rest. But this does feel like I¡¯m cheating¡­ well, who cares. Got a clue as to how we could get out of here already?)
Help: Yes. As each teleport most likely consumes energy, I assume overloading the responsible structure might yield some sort of result. But as the consequences of doing so are unknown and might bring us into a dangerous situation, I recommend to wait until further information is available.
(Well¡­ Quintus is slashing and shooting around, Carmela seems to be able to read the books just fine¡­ and you are busy too. God am I bored. Help, Skyrim please. And don¡¯t make all those changes to the mechanics, it makes playing impossible. The first few mods were alright, but none of those improved AI shenanigans.) The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Help: Requesting permission to overwrite initial inputs
(Granted.) The room disappeared from Mana¡¯s view, not only that, the way Mana had perceived the world this entire time changed back to a ¡°normal¡± vision. And the new world Mana saw and felt¡­ (Now¡­ this is what I call truly immersive gameplay.) Many tried to talk to them during the following weeks, but they were greeted by a locked door and a sign: -I¡¯m currently busy with a somewhat dangerous experiment. You open this door and disturb me, and you might just die due to the consequences. If you came here to talk to me about joining your group, see ya during the contest- The frequent sounds of explosions kept most people from even daring to knock.
A month had passed since the ¡°first day of trial¡±, as the people of Aspertia called the day their village suddenly became an underground settlement. And during that time¡­ Randal: ¡°In my position as the lord of Aspertia, I hereby open the second great assembly. Now that we have completed the necessary official procedures, let¡¯s not beat around the bush. Keith, what is the status of the current research?¡± Randal, Keith, and various other figures had assembled within the large decorated meeting room of what had been the lords residence. Keith: ¡°The former guilds have been organized to focus on one of the aspects of knowledge each. It will take time for the system to be fully operational, but we have already completed all of the essential procedures, the rest is only a matter of time. Of course, we will aim to complete everything in the shortest time possible. The villagers are proud to follow the teachings of Deus on their path towards perfection.¡± Randal: ¡°Good. Now, concerning the special hunt and defend organized warfare agency, or SHADOW agency¡­ first, what led to this name?¡± Guard captain: ¡°Sir, we read that the so called acronyms are a necessity for any serious organization. After being unable to agree to a simple name with the adventurers guild, it was decided that we should let ourselves inspire by this concept to create a name we could all agree with. I must admit that, most likely due to our inexperience concerning this matter, we were unable to find a better one.¡± Randal: ¡°Well, let¡¯s leave this matter as is for now, but we should try to come up with a better name after taking care of more pressing matters. So, concerning your shadow agency, how is training progressing?¡± Adventurer guild leader: ¡°Those blockheads are doing a pretty good job at teaching second class techniques to the villagers. I¡¯ve got to admit, I wouldn¡¯t be able to teach people with no talent whatsoever how to use those weapons. Even if the training isn¡¯t going to turn them into hunters, at least they¡¯ll be able to defend themselves in case of an emergency.¡± Guard captain: ¡°Sir, there were some¡­ difficulties, but we have managed to turn most of the techniques discovered by the hunters into something that can be taught to others. Some techniques however will require specialization and should thus not be put into a general training program.¡± Randal: ¡°Good. As with education, let us split the techniques into foundation and extension. Every villager will be subjected to physical training, just as every villager will have to learn the basics of science. Arrange it so that the basics can be taught to someone before he reaches adulthood. This will be the best for the future of our village.¡± Randal was convinced that this ¡°trial¡± was one that would go on for a long time. Else, how could it possibly be great and difficult enough to prove that they were worthy? There was no way to avoid the future, thus one had to prepare for it. Those who did not¡­ would be crushed. Randal: ¡°So, concerning that very future, what progress did... the bakers guild make?¡± Asking this question was necessary, and as a noble, he had to be a smooth talker, but even so, he was unable to completely hide his hesitation when addressing... that person. ¡°Well, we¡¯ve discovered that it¡¯s possible to grow grain down here. At least the light from the torchlights seems to be enough for plants to grow. A few people will have to keep powering them, but that¡¯s not a real problem. As soon as we have enough space for the fields, we should not have to rely on monster meat for our food supply anymore. We¡¯ve got water and the soil is good, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems.¡± Muscular, tall, Maul Torjen almost matched Keith¡¯s stature. His appearance was that of someone who spend his days doing hard manual labor. He was a serious person, respected by many... but that didn''t help much. It only prevented those exposed to his voice, which matched his appearance as much as a sheep resembled a dragon, from bursting into laughter right away. Keith: ¡°This... means means the soil is rich in minerals. Just read about it today.¡± Suppressing the urge to laugh, in an attempt to quickly change the topic, Keith said the first thing that went trough his mind, but ended up creating an opportunity for Maul to reply to the topic! However, Randal managed to react before that could happen. Randal: ¡°Now, as much as we rely on it, let¡¯s keep that kind of information outside of this conversation. Since we will be able to grow grain once the area has been secured, the shadow agency is thus tasked with doing so. Furthermore, Keith, I trust you are developing tools to shape the underground and its tunnels into more sophisticated structures.¡± Keith: ¡°The blacksmith guild is making good progress on studying materials on that matter. Basic tools can already be provided, but it will take time to create the more advanced ones.¡± Adventurer guild leader: ¡°Hey, concerning more advanced technology, I hope ya¡¯ll get us some better gear soon. We can¡¯t fight stuff like those scorpions with our current equipment, distract them and make a run for it is the only option we have at the moment.¡± Keith: ¡°We are working on that, but there is only so much we can do at a time. We still have to build some of the facilities necessary to produce better weaponry, and teach more people how to make use of them, no matter how motivated we are, this takes some time.¡± Randal: ¡°So, for now, we should prioritize giving ourselves the means to fully secure the area around the village. Then make use of those means to do so, and make use of the gained land for farming and new facilities. I think with this everything concerning that matter has been organized?¡± ¡°In that case, with this of our protocol¡­ Keith, you were monitoring the development of the first facility that is to produce and make use of this¡­ electricity. If you could inform everyone about the implications of this new technology¡­¡±
He had faced countless enemies and dangers. Passed trials numbering just as many. He had been victorious every time. But even so, there was no way for him to win THIS fight. He was but a man, and facing him was a beast the size of a mountain, it¡¯s brute strength, wits and abilities all beyond conception. A single breath could unleash a power which one wouldn¡¯t survive long enough to be terrorized by its strength, a single step erase his existence from this planet. And this beast¡­ was paralyzed by fear, dread, no, the dread of understanding just what it feared. It went on for days. But it couldn¡¯t be called a battle of legends. It was a simple massacre. - You¡¯ve reached level 999. Please select a perk to invest points into - (Did it~ well, I guess that¡¯s the cap. Help, honestly, you should know that this is far from being difficult enough for me.)
Help: Well, I wasn¡¯t allowed to make them as smart as me, obviously they wouldn¡¯t be much of a challenge for you. I can only make the game this difficult without making it unbeatable. Also, it¡¯s about time you end that gaming session of yours, the contest will begin in four days, and there are a few things we should sort out.
(Okay.)
Help: Cancelling Input overwrite. Welcome back. Please have a look at this¡­
The room was still as empty as ever, but there were some major changes to the simulated space. Or rather¡­ to the people within the simulated space. Mana: ¡°Wow, you¡¯ve gotten much better in those few months.¡± Hearing Mana¡¯s voice for the first time since three months, Quintus interrupted his training. Quintus: ¡°Just what did you do during this entire time? You only silently assembled this¡­ thing over there. If not for that, I would have thought you disappeared.¡± ¡°Ah, that¡­¡±
Help: What was I supposed to do? Interrupt your gaming session? That¡¯s something you wouldn¡¯t have wanted me to do, so it goes against my directive. Act in your stead? Can¡¯t have that either, since you didn¡¯t give me the permission to impersonate you. Tell them about me and explain everything? Would cause too many problems for the current situation.
¡°... I was doing the same thing as you guys, training. Somehow ended up forgetting my surroundings over that.¡± Quintus: ¡°So it was like this, I understand. Anyways, just what is this thing?¡± Mana: ¡°Well, this is-¡±
¡°Heeeelooo! I¡¯m your host, Jim, and the fellow over here is-¡± ¡°Joe! The two of us are going to accompany you through this year''s Dungeon contest! So, most of you should know the way this game works, but for those who spend the last centuries training under a rock, here¡¯s the gist of it!¡± Jim: ¡°It¡¯s prisoners VERSUS prisoners! But instead of letting them beat each other to death, the smart ones have been tasked with creating the most atrocious dungeons they could come up with!¡± Joe: ¡°And our death row inmates are going to try to clear them! Their motivation?¡± Jim: ¡°We¡¯ll they¡¯ve been promised freedom if they can do it! And to raise the stakes even higher, if a dungeon ends up too simple, well¡­¡± Joe: ¡°Those responsible for creating that nonsense will lose their position as creators and instead be put on the list of challengers for the next year! So both sides are giving their best! Especially since the team behind the best dungeon will get a reward!¡± Jim: ¡°Those to judge their performance are going to be you! So if you think one of those dungeons was, like, REALLY boring, don¡¯t hesitate to give it 0 points. 20 points for the best one! You can only give each rating once, so choose wisely! Also, if your opinion matches that of our jury-¡± Joe: ¡°You¡¯ll be part of a lottery for a REALLLY special reward! No matter who you are, you should know about the guys in our jury, so don¡¯t question their decisions! This entire thing will go on for quite some time, but you can rate and leave whenever you feel like! But we recommend to not judge too quickly, those dungeons can be quite surprising!¡± Jim: ¡°And it¡¯s about time for this year''s contest to begin! We¡¯ve got access to the blueprints, so let¡¯s see what our two favourites have come up with, and if there were any interesting developments from the other groups!¡± Joe: ¡° Well, let¡¯s take a look at Blaze! They¡¯ve been known for thought out designs and devilish traps! Once you get into their creation, you¡¯ll be acting just the way those guys planned before you know it, and then you¡¯ll be done for! Watching those challengers move like puppets believing to have their own will sure is fun!¡± Jim: ¡°But then there¡¯s the Den! Those guys are so random! Last time the entire dungeon suddenly filled with green smoke for no reason! But it sure confused the people inside, and they actually fell for¡­ a normal pithole trap because of it! And then the hole suddenly filled with¡­ water! Normal water! Except for the one guy that was too heavy, they just swam up and got back out! And then, surprise, their clothes froze rock solid! Some managed to break free, but they had to go through the remaining dungeon nude and freezing!¡± Joe: ¡°And green! As a commentator I shouldn¡¯t be partial but in my opinion they deserved first place! Well, it¡¯s you guys who decide in the end! Now, time to assign the challengers to their dungeons!¡± Jim: ¡°Well, what do I see here? We¡¯ve got some really strong guys out there! My my, I wonder if they will even care about the weaker traps!¡± Joe: ¡°They¡¯ve got four months, looks like that much time won¡¯t be needed! But let¡¯s not judge too quickly, since all teams have developed new mechanisms of which even I don¡¯t know how they¡¯ll work! The Den takes first place on that matter!¡± Jim: ¡°But sometimes it¡¯s how those things interact with each other that truly matters! Once the game begins, you¡¯ll get too look at all the action live! Of course, while they know they are being watched, they don¡¯t know from where, and obviously the people out there don¡¯t know they¡¯re being watched by US!¡± Joe: ¡°Actually, they don¡¯t even know it¡¯s a game! They¡¯ve got the determination you can only have if you believe all of this is serious!¡± Jim: ¡°Which, at least for them, it is! Now, this game where your wits and strength are weighted against your life-¡± Jim& Joe: ¡°Let this year''s dungeon contest begin!¡±