EdgeCases

Book 3, Chapter 52 - History

"Because I know you," Sev said. "I met you before. I adventured with you. We were friends."

Derivan shifted, and then gently put him down on the ground. Sev took a step forward, not yet completely understanding the memories he'd just unlocked, but working his way through them. There were so many things that were wrong with those memories...

...but there was one thing that was important, and that was the night he had spoken to Illyr in his own tent. They were curled up tog...

DRR 19 - Common Sense

I'm just about to cross the border into the Hotspot. The sun is low in the sky; it's the longest I've survived in the loop so far, and the evening sky is painted in shades of blue and silver. It's oddly familiar — the closest thing to home so far.

I don't let myself feel homesick.

There's nothing particularly different about the area in front of me that I can tell. It's just more endless forest. But I trust the map more than I trust my senses, at this point, and so I reach for m...

DRR 18 - Homesick

When I finish my tale, Mari is silent for a long while. I can see she's struggling with her emotions, and I give her the time she needs. I can't imagine how I'd feel in her position.

The first question she asks surprises me still.

"No raid this time?" she asks. I pull up the Interface, just to make sure, but there's no indication that there will be a raid — I shake my head.

"There shouldn't be one," I say. "It's my first time being here after the raids ended, though, so th...

DRR 17 - Consequences

A Hotspot Tracker, it turns out, does exactly what the Interface says it does — it highlights areas of interest. It's anything from potential raid locations to places that hold boss monsters; sometimes, there are even puzzles that are just built into the world.

"It sounds like they're using the whole planet as a playground," I say, my lip curling slightly in distaste, and Ahkelios inclines his head in agreement. "Any idea if there are any particularly valuable hotspots?"

"I don'...

DRR 16 - Friend

I have a lot of questions, obviously, but it seems more important to answer the mantis — Ahkelios' — question.

"You're on Hestia 307B," I say, and then add, "I'm Ethan."

I assume he's asking about the planet, at least. I don't have a clue what the particular forest we're in is called, and I'd never asked...

I wince before I think about Tarin. I should head back to that village. Soon, I tell myself.

Part of me knows I'm just avoiding it.

"I see. It's a pleasur...

DRR 15 - Fragment

When the next loop begins, I die again.

It's not too much of a surprise, I suppose, with my Firmament drained as severely as it is. I can feel small pieces of it sparking to life, trying to collect into Tough Body and give me a fraction of resistance, but all that happens is that the mantis — or Broken Horror — takes slightly longer to kill me. The scythe stops halfway embedded inside my skull, and I take a little too long to die.

On the other hand, it's more time for my Firma...

Book 3, Chapter 51 - Battle Flow

The skill took effect almost immediately. Misa felt the world slow down around her, like everything was falling into focus; around her was only Vex, Jakos, and herself.

And her remaining clones, of course. There were five of them, spread out in a circle around Jakos, two of them keeping close to Vex in case the lizard needed to be protected — he was still vulnerable compared to her.

Jakos moved, and so did she.

It was a dance. Jakos's eyes lit up with ferocious glee when h...

DRR 14 - New Feature Unlocked

We're on a timer.

I know this because the Lament's neck hasn't healed from the Firmament infusion. She's still bleeding, and bleeding profusely — I suspect it's some combination of Firmament and pure willpower that's keeping her conscious right now. Her neck is ruined, so my hope is that we don't have to worry about the song.

We just need to outlast her. That's the key. Survive until she bleeds out.

The Lament — if that's what she still is — doesn't open with her song ...

DRR 13 - Boss Fight

The ten harpies around the borders of the village pose almost no threat to me now. It's almost disconcerting to think about how quickly I've grown — and yet I don't know if it's enough.

None of the other kills give me a single credit, and it's both disappointing and a relief at the same time. Disappointing because the credits will keep me alive, of course, but a relief because I do not ever want deaths to mean nothing more than a number of points to me. Monsters the ...

DRR 12 - Third Try

This time, I head for Tarin's house immediately. Triplestep lets me reach the crows in record time — I reach the Cliffside Crows in just under an hour, leaving eleven on the clock until the raid begins.

Tarin, I know, is still asleep. But there isn't any time to waste, and so I barge into his home uninvited, and then copy Mari's trick. Firmament flows into my lungs, courtesy of Firmament Manipulation.

"Tarin?" I ask.

...Okay. Maybe using Firmament isn't quite as simple as ...

DRR 11 - Banking Skills

I wake up, roll out of the way, and activate Temporal Echo. With diminishing returns being what they are, it's no longer worth fighting the mantis myself — and besides, I don't trust myself not to make a mistake. My mind is still spinning, going over those last few moments again and again.

It's not just the song. It's not just the implication behind the names of the two monsters. It's also very much those two things, but—

I gained Firmament credits. Why?

DRR 10 - Melody

I spin and charge for the center of the village, where I know both Mari and Tarin are. A part of me desperately hopes I'm not too late, even knowing that I can't be — that there will be another chance. Seven loops, it seems, are not quite enough for the brain to recognize that there will be other chances.

But then I don't want to act like there's always going to be a chance in the future, do I? Sometimes there won't be. The Interface has made that very, very clear.

Whic...

DRR 9 - Take Two

I spar a few times over the course of the next few hours. Tarin is astonishingly spry and quick on his feet, and recovers in mere moments. It's an effect of his Firmament, he's explained, though his manipulation of it isn't particularly involved.

Apparently, basic Firmament manipulation is available to just about anyone on an Integrated planet. The Interface and its access to particularly advanced skills, however, are only gifted to Trialgoers.

Unfortunately, basic Firmament manip...

DRR 8 - Ready or Not

I don't need the skill to do much. I need it to push Tarin off balance and give me an opening.

This version of my past self is more than enough.

Firmament gathers in a sudden wave, and I see the way the old crow's attention suddenly shifts, confused by the sudden manifestation. I don't waste the opportunity. I charge at him, trying to distract him, to push him into the path of my old self.

It just barely works. He lifts a wing to deflect the swing of my fist, and my knuckles...

DRR 7 - Training

Surprisingly, it doesn't actually take much effort to convince him. Tarin gives me a single sharp nod, interrupting my thoughts on what the best means of convincing him will be. "Okay. Raid happening. Need fight. Explain how we die?"

I'm a little thrown for a moment, mostly from how quickly Tarin seems to accept it all. "I... didn't see most of it. I was fighting." I pause, and think back to what happened. The spears the crows were using failed — and judging by how the furniture here ...

DRR 6 - Two More Tries

Awareness filters in, and I force myself to roll out of the way just in time. Something in my body aches, like I've pushed it too hard; I've never started a loop like this before, but I don't have time to think about it.

Two tries left.

I don't bother with Temporal Echo. I can use it — I can sense it in the way the skill resonates, some strange feeling deep in my mind. I can call up the version of myself from the fifth loop and have him take care of th...

DRR 5 - And Again

[ CRITICAL ROLL. ]

The words are vibrant and bright, almost impossibly clear in my fading vision — like it's intruding directly on my mind. I don't have the energy to process what it means. There's more to rolling for a stat-skill than I thought there was, clearly, but whether the possibility of a crit is influenced by the amount of credits banked, pure luck, or something else, I have no idea.

I'm waiting for the list of skills to appear. It takes agoni...

DRR 4 - Determination

A number of the crow-people here are fighters; they all step forward, holding rickety spears that I assume are Firmament-enhanced. There's no guarantee they've stayed that way, though. I remember quite clearly the way the chairs just failed and fell apart, and there's no reason this will be any different.

Something about a Raid disrupts Firmament enchantments, is my best guess. And the implications of that are worrying. I have no doubt this is going to keep happening, and if other place...

DRR 3 - Stakes

I wake with a gasp. The nature of my death leaves me rattled, and I only barely roll out of the way in time; I can feel the wind of the mantis' scythe brushing just past my ear as I do so.

And yet, something is different. It's nothing easily placed, just a strangeness in the way the air feels, in the way it thrums against my skin.

It feels like the record of a Temporal Echo.

I reach for the skill, allowing intuition to guide my hand. Activating it is not quite as simple as e...

DRR 2 - Ripples in Time

The next step is pretty obvious — figure out what these new skills do. There's a thrumming in my body that I assume is this Firmament thing, and it's aggravating in the sense that it makes all my injuries feel worse. The energy courses through my body, and every little scrape and bruise I have feels like it's flaring up.

I sigh, and force myself to sit up, and survey the landscape.

I've made the observation before, but Hestia 307B — I don't know what those numbers are...

DIE. RESPAWN. REPEAT. 1 - Die, Die, and Die Again

Author's Note: Making a quick edit here since this is the first result when searching! I have an edited epub for Book 2 you can download here; the unedited version is also free on RoyalRoad. We're well into Book 3 and usually about 10-20 chapters ahead of what's public. Thanks for you...

Book 3, Chapter 50 - Battle Orc

Jakos was not willing to talk.

Apparently, he wasn't one for words at all. The moment Misa and Vex appeared behind him, he let out a guttural roar of what Misa was pretty sure was excitement — which was disturbing enough as it was.

Then he sped towards them, almost too fast for Misa to react. She blocked just in time, her mace morphing into something that flickered between a sword and a shield. It was a not-quite-possible configuration that demonstrated just how hard it...

Book 3, Chapter 49 - Platinum

"What do you want?" Sev's tone was cautious, guarded. He wasn't afraid. Liz was a Platinum ranker, but his team was more than capable of fighting a single Platinum-ranker, at this point. The biggest issue here was information disparity — he didn't know what Liz could do, but Liz might have a good idea of what they could do, if she had access to Wisfield's information.

Though they'd gained a lot of new abilities lately, so even then...

"I just wanted to talk," Liz said, ...

Book 3, Chapter 48 - Unknown Forces

Sev winced as what felt like a thousand mental cries — maybe more — suddenly slammed into him; if he hadn't experienced nearly exactly this dozens of times by his own volition, his mind might have cracked from the force of it. As it was, his eyes widened and he stumbled back, his back almost shattering a glass case until Misa steadied him.

Her eyes were concerned. "Sev? You alright? The fuck's happening?"

Sev tried opening his mouth, but no words came out. Stupid. Shouldn'...