LiseEclaire

Leveling up the World (Chapter 117)

So much effort, all lost because of a level cap. Apparently, entering a sphere item didn’t guarantee awakening. When people had said that the daggers were similar to the awakening shrines, that’s exactly what they meant—only the daggers were similar to the awakened shrines. Other items, like the one Dallion was exploring now, weren’t. Upon that realization, Dallion for the first time felt as he was supposed to feel—grumpy, like being on a job.

“Had enough rest?” Kallan ask...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 116)

This was the first time Dallion had seen a firebird. He knew of their existence, both from his current memories and those from his Earth life. In all instances, he imagined it to be a large bird with flames for feathers that scorched everything that came near. The creature that filled the chamber utterly shattered those preconceptions. More owl than eagle or peacock, the creature represented one plumb yellowy-reddish flame composed of thousands of smaller ones. However, they weren’t so much...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 115)

Two spots remained for the first level of the kaleidervisco to be completely uncovered. Normally people would be worried that the spot they would go to first might be full on monsters. Dallion was more concerned that they might reach the guardian’s chamber before defeating everything else. Thankfully, the crackling was able to guild him in the right direction.

So far, Dallion had kept the existence of his familiar a secret from everyone. He suspected that a few people knew of it, at t...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 114)

Estezol had been correct when he had said that joining an exploration mission would be very much different from what Dallion would expect. To make matters worse, the bearded man had no way of imagining Dallion’s expectations were. In truth, he hadn’t even come close.

In his mind Dallion saw adventures in deep and mysterious caves, fighting off monsters, gathering loot—or at least monster components—as well as a rare mineral or two. He was well aware that ordinary objects found i...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 113)

The first thought that went through Dallion’s mind upon seeing Jiroh standing there was that he’d finally not have to serve people during lunch and dinner. The second thought was mild curiosity at the tattered state of her clothes; it was as if she’d been on a three-month journey through swamps and forests without access to modern conveniences. Interestingly enough, her face and hair were perfect, as if she’d come out of a magazine cover photoshoot.

“You’re early,” Hannah ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 112)

“We’ll start with something simple.” Euryale walked several steps away until the distance between her and Dallion was thirty feet. “This will be your first lesson.” She raised the dartbow she had taken from him in the air. “How do you use this?”

Dallion wasn’t sure what to say. He knew that the question wasn’t as obvious as it seemed, but at the same time he had no idea what answer she was looking for.

“You point and shoot?” He decided to play it safe.

...

Quod Olim Erat: The Cassandrian Theory (Chapter 13)

Details on the incident were scarce. Several times I tried to inquire for more information, and each time, ‘Bo would change the topic. All I managed to get out of her was that something had happened during sample extraction that had forced one of the facility’s labs to be shut down. Experience had taught me, however, that whenever someone tried to hide details concerning an incident, it always turned out to be more serious than initially described.

Half the hangar was sealed off whe...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 111)

“Make yourself at home,” Euryale said as they entered her workshop. “I’ll change and be right with you.” The gorgon went into her private room.

Dallion looked around. There were quite a lot of changes since last time. The clothes that he had seen were gone. Stacks of worndown armor were in their place, from leather sets to plate mail pieces. Judging by the materials, the armor was quite high end. Jiroh hadn’t exaggerated when she’d said that Euryale was good in her craft.<...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 110)

Nerosal had, as it turned out, thirty city guard barracks. Each was the size of a small fort, taking as much space as half a city block. The fact that Dallion had only been able to see three since he had arrived, suggested that the city was even larger than he imagined. Strictly speaking, the nearest barracks was at the city gate Dallion had entered through upon arriving. After some consideration—and consulting the library echo—though, he decided to go for the second closest, which was ab...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 109)

The next few days were a combination of learning, working, and eating, with moments of sleeping in between. Despite the echo’s insistence, Dallion didn’t set foot outside the inn, choosing to read and train in the library until hungry and exhausted, then sleep until his work shift. In many regards, Dallion was like a student cramming for exams. The good news was that he had finally obtained enough information to determine his “way of development”.

According to the scroll Nil had...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 108)

A world in which things could make themselves be forgotten out of existence. It was as fascinating as it was terrifying. Through the scrolls he read, Dallion became fully aware of the real difference between nobility and the normal awakened. Based on Earth’s history, he had assumed nobility to be a status granting them power. In effect it was very much the opposite—the title was a representation of the person’s power. Being a count pretty much guaranteed the person was the strongest in ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 107)

“I’m really sorry, Dal,” Falkner said. The boy was struggling to keep his tears to the point that one would think it was him that had failed and not Dallion. “It’s not that I didn’t want to help.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Dallion smiled, patting the boy on the shoulder. “It’s all on me. I shouldn’t have pushed it. Besides, it’s not like anyone forced me, right? I could have stopped at any time.”

In the back of his mind, however, Dallion was starting to wonde...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 106)

“Well, I’m out,” Bel said, walking away from the rest of the group. “Sorry, but it’s not worth it. Group trials are tough enough. It was fun, but from here on, you’re on your own.”

The girl disappeared moments later, leaving only Arthurows, Falkner, and Dallion behind.

The odds didn’t seem good. While Dallion knew he could rely on Falkner—who had also proven to be the strongest in the group—he had serious misgivings about Arthurows. To put it mildly, Arthurows ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 105)

Music skills versus music skills… Knowing what the skills could do, Dallion’s immediate reaction was to calm his thoughts. Moments later, he saw how pointless the attempt was. Music skills didn’t grant telepathy, they merely allowed a person to see the emotions of others and manipulate them. Yet in that case, what was the way of countering them? Guard skills protected against attack skills, so if the copyette decided to attack there was nothing he could do. However, that also meant that...

Leveling the World (Chapter 104)

The news that they were facing a copyette had its impact on the group. Dallion wasn’t that alarmed, but the others definitely were. It could be seen in their actions and behavior, resulting in a significant drop in combat efficiency. There had been several more ambushes as the group made their way towards the guardian chamber. At this point, no one bothered to count. Not that it mattered—the creatures were intelligent enough to merge into several groups before attacking.

Copyettes�...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 103)

The third level was quite different from the ones before. Stone gave way to veins of raw quartz emerging from walls and columns alike. Only the floor remained the same old path of grey stone. No one said a word upon entering the first chamber. Everyone in the party knew that this was it—their final trial. The next guardian would determine whether they would earn a mentor or would remain solo until the next selection.

Dallion, too, was wondering what the final outcome would be. Judging...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 102)

Three more bolts sank into the body of the guardian, yet its health remained at a hundred percent. Whatever the creature was, fighting it with conventional methods proved ineffective. Even Falkner was puzzled by the outcome. According to the boy, ranged weapons were supposed to deal just as much damage they would deal to any other creature. And yet, they clearly didn’t.

Aim for the eyes, Dallion thought. That was all good and well, if there were any to be found. The entire pa...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 101)

“Jump on Vend!” Dallion leapt in the direction.

He had to be careful not to destroy the echo in the process, while also making sure to cover as much of his body as possible. Thankfully, a set of green markers appeared suggesting how to achieve that in optimal fashion. This single event brought Dallion to an unexpected realization, one that he had internally been avoiding—he was abysmally unprepared when it came to anything related to the awakened world. So many people had given hi...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 100)

No one but Vend witnessed the agony that Dallion went through. The wave of pain felt as if lasted for hours, while in reality only seconds had gone by. During that brief moment of his lurching in pain on the floor, the rest of the group was preoccupied with an entirely different event—the rectangle announcing the guardian’s defeat.

All of a sudden, the pain stopped, leaving nothing but a lingering memory. Time remained distorted for several seconds longer. When Dallion had regained ...

Leveling up the World (Ctapter 99)

“Done resting?” Bel asked, arms crossed.

“Just a few more minutes longer,” Dallion replied with a smile.

“Okay.” The girl gave him a concerned look. “Better increase your body first chance you get. It’s not healthy being so fragile.”

“Will do.” Fragile? It had only been ten minutes since the last attack had ended. And it wasn’t his body attribute that was low, it was his mind. The first chance he got, Dallion was going to increase that. Hopef...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 98)

“Don’t let them form a group behind us!” Dallion shouted, shooting at the creatures flying towards them.

The last wave of amphibions had turned out far more imaginative than the ones before. Initially seventy in number, they had quickly merged into two monstrous entities blocking the tunnel entirely. In itself that was not too bad—it gave Falkner and Cellano a chance to take out one each. What made things more difficult, or “interesting” as Veil would say, was the fact that ...

Quod Olim Erat; The Cassandrian Theory (Chapter 12)

System XNBBl-2, Cassandrian Space, 625.2 A.E. (Age of Exploration)

The ships were smaller than my estimates. Their mass readings suggested that they were nearly solid—a departure from the existing battleship blueprints I had on record. When I moved closer, I saw that we weren’t dealing with a single vessel, but a cluster of shuttle-like craft. They flew in groups, breaking off occasionally to shift from one cluster to another. The closer they were to the planet, ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 97)

The first level of the dagger’s realm had the appearance of a cave, with one major difference—all the passages were brightly lit up by an invisible source of light. While the effect was beneficial, it also felt unnaturally strange—nothing in the cave had any shadows, including the members of the group. It took Dallion several steps to get partially used to the notion. Not seeing a dark spot beneath his feet upon lifting them from the ground was just too creepy.

“Does anyone have...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 96)

Dallion was placed in group four. According to his ring echo, the group number was selected completely at random. However, based on the conversations of people who’d gone through the process before, there was a certain logic involved in the process. If the rumors were to be believed, the members of a group were selected in such a fashion so as to be complementary.

There were fourteen groups with five members each. The single exception was the fourteenth group, which was composed only ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 95)

“Libraries are not generally used for sleeping,” Nil grumbled. “If you need to, do that in your own room.”

“Sorry,” Dallion yawned.

The night had been intense, and once again Dallion had exerted himself more than he should have. Thankfully, there had been no mysterious finger bleeding, although three customers had requested items to be improved, and Dallion had obliged. Hannah had initially been against it, but given the amount of money offered, she had become more fle...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 94)

The place that Jiroh’s friend was at was several neighborhoods away in the direction of the city center. While not one of the incredibly opulent areas, the people living there seemed pretty well off. The houses were larger, each flawless, with its own gate and garden. When Jiroh had said that Dallion didn’t have enough money, she wasn’t joking. The boy’s pouch suddenly felt a lot lighter.

The two continued for a fair while, then took a turn towards the city lake. Within moments ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 93)

Music acting as a means to freeze people and objects… that was one option Dallion had never considered. He’d always assumed that it might allow him to manipulate people, similar to echoes, though not in such fashion, and he didn’t dream it might affect objects as well. Back when Dallion was learning the basics of awakening, his mother had told him that different people had different connections to objects. At the time, he thought of it as a metaphor. Now, he understood what she really m...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 92)

Returning to the inn with the very same clothes he had left, while bringing in a massive sword, wasn’t the way to create a good impression. The closer Dallion got to The Gremlin’s Timepiece, the more he had visions of Hanna yelling his head off. The woman had been very specific: he had to get some adequate clothes of his own, and instead Dallion had done this.

“What do you think, Nox?” Dallion whispered. “Think she’ll be very mad?”

The top button of Dallion’s shirt...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 91)

A world in which space wasn’t an issue—that’s what this place was for the awakened. Back on Earth Dallion took for granted he had all the knowledge of humanity. All that seemed like a child’s toy here. The library that Captain Adzorg had given him was in fact a very real library, full with more tomes and scrolls that Dallion could count. Knowledge that he couldn’t imagine was held in the awakening realm of a simple ring. Of course, there was a catch. The librarian echo that oversaw ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 90)

“Dal!” the innkeeper shouted. “Got a chipped mug here.”

“Be right there,” Dallion said, making his way to the table in question.

Being an awakened in the city had turned out to be very different. Back in the village, people were in awe of the achievement, even if they were afraid to show it openly. Here, Dallion was treated like a Rockstar, or at least like someone with IT skills after a major system’s update. Non stop people would slam mugs and glasses, kick chairs,...