Braided Sky

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 30 - To War

“Are you ready for the war?” I asked Zavira as I entered her apartment for once.

We’d both gotten messages from our mentors the week prior letting us know about the limited alliance that had been struck between several sects to deal with the revelations pertaining to the Springheart family and their actions.

I’d immediately gone to the library and read everything I could find about dungeon wars – which wasn’t very much – while Zavira had contacted her friend...

PftA Book 3 - Interlude 2 - Limited Alliances

A/N: Edited 6/13/24 to support book 2 changes.

“So it’s decided?” Matriarch Potestetiam asked expectantly as she looked at the other patriarchs, matriarchs, and sect representatives attending the holo conference.

Patriarch Henlen Kairos signaled his assent silently. He’d only been invited to the meeting because his disciple had been attacked by the person responsible for the uproar. As far as the others were concerned, that was the extent of his sect’s i...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 29 - A Hands-Off Interrogation

I repeated my interrogation several times, approaching the young Springheart in a variety of different ways to gauge his response. He was always bound and mostly stripped, so there was little risk involved on my part aside from my mental health.

Surprisingly, the eighteen-year-old was more than happy to brag and threaten, even when he couldn’t see who was talking to him. He was particularly talkative when left in silence for extended periods.

It led to a lot of information that ...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 28 - The Folly of Youth

A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope you like reading it.

It took me several minutes to calm down after I arrived in my apartment. Once I got over the initial adrenaline rush associated with a near-death experience, I spent a few moments considering how to deal with my would-be assassin as I waited for my hands to stop shaking.

A lot of my options depended on who my attacker was since the consequences of my actions could be far different, depending o...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 27 - Beast Waves and Threats

A/N 6/13/24: The book 2 changes voted on have not been fully applied to book 3 chapters. I will be working on that shortly. If something stands out, please let me know! Thanks to all who voted!

“You should watch out for the Springheart family,” Zavira said without prompting as we made our way through the crystalline garden.

As the dungeon entered the last stage of its reset, the desert zone had changed into a strange garden made out of living Crystal. The enti...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 26 - Spa Secrets

Of all the creatures I had to fight in the Realm Dungeon thus far, the crabs in the playroom were by far what I would consider the most ‘normal.’ Aside from having four claws instead of two, they looked almost exactly like oversized King Crabs with their thick, spiky appendages.

I couldn’t wait to see how they tasted.

Once we finished in the playroom, my party entered a long hallway filled with passenger cabins, most of which were empty or inaccessible. Those with hidden thr...

Book Two Cover

I'm tentatively going with 'The Approach of Dawn: Primer for the Apocalypse Book Two' as the title for the second book. Of course, I'll have to change the character's name in the early chapters of Book 3, but she's not a significant character anyway... cough.

If you have better ideas (and don't mind me using them), feel free to share. I like the title, but I'm not married to it. I'm also still pretty early in edits, so there's time to make adjustments.

As far as the book ...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 25 - Mimicked Cruises

There was a lot more preparation needed before entering the underwater zone than there was for the others. The most important was ensuring the ability to breathe underwater since, even at Tier Four, humans and most other humanoid races could not hold their breath indefinitely.

I was tempted to craft something to solve the issue myself, but after looking at what was already available, I realized my efforts would be wasted. The natives who made the fourth floor their home had already spen...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 24 - Signs of Impending Change

Upon arrival, I immediately extended Spatial Sense, focusing primarily on our immediate surroundings. I made sure to look for anything strange, like gaps in my perception, but the only things close by were normal mobs.

“There are mobs nearby,” I whispered, motioning toward the closest creatures I’d sensed.

Without discussion, Niall positioned himself between us and the creatures. Since he was a front-line fighter and we had more ranged options, his positioning made ...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 23 - Surprises and Upgrades

I sat back in relief as I finished the last of the talismans I planned to get done for the night. I stuck with the design I’d already proven worked against Spatial Locks, though I planned to try again against Null Fields before too long.

After Niall left, I had talked to Zavira about potentially inviting him to join our party. Since I’d already basically agreed to a long-term partnership with the Force Mage, I figured it couldn’t hurt to add ...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 22 - A Crafty Reaction

“Do you think it will work this time?” Zavira asked as I stepped out of my apartment a couple of weeks after my near-death experience.

I’d told her what happened with the locusmander, and after hearing how the creature had completely negated my ability to Teleport away, Zavira had whole-heartedly supported my desire to design and create an emergency talisman that could bypass spatial locks.

I really should have considered the problem earlier, given my experience with the cul...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 21 - A Brush with Death

I entered Zavira’s apartment three days later and was unsurprised to find she was still busy working on new projects with the ore we’d collected.

The workshop she’d set up in the spare room of her apartment was almost like my crafting pod, except hers was shaped like a box instead of an oval, filling the otherwise empty space. The walls of her mobile workshop functionally served as a barrier that protected the apartment from potential damage caused by her crafting process.

T...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 20 - Iron Hunters and Connoisseurs

A/N: I often use dinosaur naming conventions (AKA a mix of Greek and Latin) when naming creatures. Ferruvenator roughly translates to Iron Hunter (Ferrum= Iron and venator= Hunter.) Just a little tidbit of random information.

“Is there a reason we aren’t just Teleporting back to the city?” Zavira asked as I expanded my residential pod. “You have a Space affinity too, right?”

I turned to face my new companion as my pod continued growing t...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 19 - When the Boss Says You Need a Friend

Unlike the rest of the Alliance, sects did not dress primarily based on their affinity. Instead, they dressed based on their sect colors, using their affinity colors as accents. Usually, it amounted to the same thing since sects were largely element-based. However, that was not always the case.

Some sects focused on specific crafts, the most famous of which was the Hephaistos Sect. They were famous for Smithing, having produced most of the notable Smiths of any specialty within...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 18 - The Fourth Floor

Welcome to the 4th Floor of the Realm Dungeon!

The rules remain unchanged:

Do not attack anyone within the village.

Do not restrict another challenger’s access to the kiosk.

Upon reaching Tier Five, you have 100 hours to exit the floor.

Reminder: the Accords still apply.

Ascend swiftly, Challenger! 2024-04-04 19:58:45 +0000 UTC View Post

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 17 - Leaving the Third Floor

“Alright, I guess this is goodbye, for now,” I told Aiden after I finished selling the Tier Three items that I no longer had a use for.

I’d already defeated each of the zone bosses once before I tiered up. Now, I just needed to defeat one of them again, and I’d be able to leave the floor for good. Aiden was still a couple of levels shy of reaching Tier Four, and I had no desire to wait around.

As far as Faith was concerned… as far as I knew, she hadn’t gained a level s...

PftA Book 3 - Interlude 1 - Outside Perspectives

The Patriarch of the Epikairos Sect watched as his first personal disciple in nearly five centuries methodically killed the group of bandits who’d dared attack her. She’d given them two opportunities to leave in peace, which was gracious, in his opinion.

He was elated to have made it in time to witness such a moment. He’d only just reached the village a few hours prior. The young-looking Tier Ten Time Mage hadn’t even bothered checking in with the Gatekeepers who managed the tow...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 16 - Repercussions

I felt conflicted about my reward.

I’d gone through each of the Trial’s variations before picking one and practicing it a few times. I went with the first path I’d tried only because it was skewed more heavily toward mazes – mazes that didn’t change between runs and weren’t all that difficult to memorize.

I figured between the water features and the complexity of the mazes, I’d probably do well enough. And I did… But there was no way my performance warranted the re...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 15 - The First Dungeon Trial

We decided to wait a couple of months to challenge the Trial, mostly to allow Faith to gain a couple of levels and assign her points somewhere other than Intelligence. After being knocked out with a single blow, she’d realized the error of being a glass cannon in real life and was eager to shore up some of her more blatant weaknesses.

Adding to her physical stats was particularly important for this particular Trial since it reportedly blocked the use of magic. Six points weren’t a h...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 14 - Ever the Professional

“You know, I totally forgot you were mostly an Enchanter in the game,” Faith commented after our second encounter in the frozen zone. Like my previous fights, I relied heavily on enchanted accessories and tools. Even the spells I cast were run through an enhancement foci.

“I’m mostly an Enchanter in real life, too,” I said with a grin as I nodded toward the [Temperature Control] talisman she was wearing. She rubbed the small charm unconsciously.

“I don’t know why I w...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 13 - Expanded Responsibility

Adding something to the kiosk to sell was simple – especially when it registered as a book. It seemed I was not the first challenger to want to publish a book of some sort, and the dungeon already had an established process for both intra-dungeon publications and those that might be sold outside of the dungeon.

Books were one of the few products that could easily cross floors, though the cost scaled based on where it was purchased. I set the cost to the absolute minimum since I wasn�...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 12 – Some Hard Truths

My timeless moment was interrupted as the reverberations of an [Interdiction] rippled by. I could feel the echoes in the nearby mana from Time magic being forcibly countered, and I immediately winced. I’d experienced the backlash from an interdiction during my training with Master Kairos, so I had little doubt Faith was reeling from the effect.

Though my spell was not targeted by the [Interdiction], I canceled it anyway and fully returned to the timestream.

Faith was spasming on...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 11 – A Glitch in Time

Without a variety of enchantments, the swamp zone would have been miserable. I had little doubt that the residents of the floor would have completely ignored the zone if doing so wouldn’t have led to quasi-beast waves.

I’d been surprised the first time I saw one, having believed the dungeon balanced the zones. After asking around, I quickly learned the third floor was one of the least active in that way. Almost all the other floors had semi-regular attacks against the settlements. I...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 10 - A Long Soak

A/N: Anita was right. 

It took three weeks to find the hot springs. I’d started to think it might be in a different zone by that point, so I was surprised and pleased when Spatial Sense alerted me to the hidden oasis.

Had it been a normal, mundane(ish) hot spring, there would be no real reason to seek it out aside from a relaxing soak. But life was no longer mundane and magicless. The spring, similarly, was not simply a font of hot water nestled wi...

PftA Book 2 - Interlude 6 - Paradise Lost

A/N: This interlude would go after chapter 45 and answers some of the questions posed by commenters. Specifically, it addresses what happened to the stalker - Xavier. 

“What the hell is that dude’s problem?” Jarrid asked in annoyance as he lounged on the beach. Some of the others had been upset by their sudden relocation several weeks earlier, but Jarrid was smart enough to see it for what it was: paradise.

There were no dimensional rifts spewing monste...

PftA Book 3 - Chapter 9 – Messages and More

Having finished the first prototype of Jackle’s prosthetic during my time in the ‘wilds,’ I decided to go to the central village instead of Trinity when the external message exchange drew near. To keep my new friends from worrying, I sent a few messages letting them know my plans. I was quite surprised when my Kastet neighbor informed me she would meet me in the village at Jackle’s shop.

As expected, I got strange looks as I entered the unwalled village. I was not a familiar fac...