An awakening area?
Dallion stepped back. The chief was still standing in front of him, eyes glaring with hatred. The village itself, though, had changed. The crumbling structures had not only miraculously repaired themselves, but had grown to the size of towers, drifting apart from one another.
You are in the land of DHERMA VILLAGE
Defeat the guardian to change the land’s destiny
The realm of the village? 2021-03-03 03:41:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Velenia II, Cassandrian front, 611.07 A.E. (Age of Exploration)
Planet purging was always different. Sometimes the focus was a single contaminated colony, sometimes it would be a whole battlefield, sometimes the entire organic patch of a planet. I didn’t care much about purging. As long as it didn’t involve casualties, I’d just patiently record the event as an outside observer, and wait for the mission to be over so I could return to actual combat. There were t...
2021-03-03 01:38:15 +0000 UTC View PostThere was something different in the air when Dallion woke up. A few short weeks ago he would dread this day, desperately trying to move beyond level three. Now, Dallion was looking forward to it—the day that everything would finally be settled.
The house was eerily empty, which was odd even if it was an hour after Dallion’s normal waking time. Nonetheless, he went to the kitchen to get some breakfast. Looking among the pots he found one with freshly steamed potatoes, as well as a s...
2021-03-02 02:13:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe shrine altar remained dim after the test. Dallion made several attempts to get back inside, to no avail. At one point he even tried to mend the shrine, hoping to trick it into letting him in, but was still unsuccessful. As far as the awakening shrine was concerned, he had become a persona non grata.
While some more explanations would have been nice, the experience had made Dallion reach certain conclusions. For one thing, the shrines were only the first steps to awakening. They prov...
2021-03-01 01:37:53 +0000 UTC View PostThe prospect of being an echo of himself terrified Dallion. As much as he was certain that he was the real him, there was just enough doubt for him to reconsider. If he was the original, nothing stopped him from leaving the awakening shrine. The echo would remain here, or alternatively vanish, and he would get back to challenging the village chief. However, if he turned out to be the echo, then attempting to leave would make him disappear.
“Yeah, it’s a tough one.” The other Dalli...
2021-02-28 01:22:44 +0000 UTC View PostThere was nothing glorious in the way Dallion had become level five—he hadn’t bested the mountain, nor had he achieved a bone crushing victory. Even so, he was remarkably pleased with the result. Reaching this level had proved to be far more difficult than he had expected; it definitely wasn’t as simple as computer games back on Earth had made it out to be. Now, finally, he almost had what it took to challenge the village chief. Only one last step remained.
When given up the choic...
2021-02-27 00:41:26 +0000 UTC View PostFighting the colossus with a dartbow and buckler turned out more difficult than Dallion thought. The more he tried to increase the distance, the more the guardian shortened it, moving as fast as Dallion himself. For every shot that hit the guardian, three were deflected, for every four that hit only one dealt actual damage.
Why didn’t your ears remain big? Dallion grumbled internally as he followed the markers to avoid yet another attack. To make things even more tense, the g...
2021-02-26 01:21:43 +0000 UTC View PostYou are Level 4
The rectangle illuminated the room. Never had Dallion been so glad to be in this small dark room. Finally, he could catch his breath without worrying that a ten-foot hand would slap him on the head… along with the rest of the mountain.
No wonder the soldiers treated all the volunteers differently. Compared to the “fully awakened” they probably were like kittens in a tiger’s den. Thinking back, maybe Dallion could have ...
2021-02-24 23:16:33 +0000 UTC View PostFighting a mountain on top of a mountain, Dallion thought, shooting bolts at the head of the giant colossus as quickly as the dartbow would let him. There had been a time, back on Earth, when he had wondered what it would be like playing the main character in Shadow of the Colossus. Now, he had his wish, and regretted it.
Size really wasn’t considered a factor in the awakened state. Dallion had fought large creatures, enormous creatures, large creatures that could become enor...
2021-02-24 02:52:33 +0000 UTC View PostDirector Sim wasn’t wrong. I was made aware the very next morning, precisely one hour before the start of my shift, via two high priority datapad messages. The first was a standard form order from Ondalov, letting me know where to be. Even through text and bureaucracy didn’t stop the man’s annoyance from leaking through. The second message was from captain ‘Bo, filling in the “pesky technical details” such as what med checks I had to go through, what equipment to take, and an unde...
2021-02-23 23:49:37 +0000 UTC View PostCollected
Being calm and dispassionate often helps in difficult situations, although there’s such a thing as overthinking.
The rectangle brought a smile to Dallion’s face. For one thing it was he knew every “achievement” rectangle to be associated with a stat boost—mind in this case, judging by the wording of the text. Also, described as both reckless and collected, created an interesting existential paradox. Would the two qua...
2021-02-23 03:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe day passed in the medieval equivalent of partying, very much like the time Dallion had first awakened. There was lots of food, by local standards, a healthy number of people, as well as lots of talk and laughter. However, it also seemed different. Lacking the echo, Dallion could feel the fakeness of it all, as if he had been put in a tv drama in which everyone played their own roles. The smiles seemed fake, the questions seemed shallow, even the people’s reactions appeared predictable, ...
2021-02-22 02:23:21 +0000 UTC View Post“Return to your village with the Archduke’s thanks,” Dame Vesivua said with the dignity of a bored city official.
Just like at the previous village, there was no fanfare, no trumpets, or speeches, not even any medals of recognition. The only reward was a purse of coins for the village chief, given to Veil. The notion that the chief had gained more out of this than Dallion himself burned the boy up inside. What called him down was the knowing that there wasn’t anything much to sp...
2021-02-21 02:08:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe mood on the way back was very different from what it had been getting here. The further the party went, the happier and more relieved the volunteers became. People smiled more, joked about during food breaks, even started sharing things from their lives. The soldiers, in contrast, became more and more cranky. For them, each step was taking them closer to the crowded, smelly barracks of their garrison.
Training had also changed focused. A day ago, the volunteers grumbled each time th...
2021-02-20 01:44:54 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re lucky you aren’t part of my troops,” Dame Vesuvia went on. “Rushing towards a chainling with that level of training. If it wasn’t for the Cleric, you’d have been a pile of charred flesh.”
Dallion kept quiet. He’d only been part of the hunting party for several days, and already he felt like some things never changed. After the fighting was over, several people had received praise from the Dame as well as some monetary rewards. It came as no surprise for Gloria ...
2021-02-19 00:45:36 +0000 UTC View PostThe chainling jumped away from Dallion, just in time to avoid a series of glowing red knives that hit the ground.
“I told you to run.” The Cleric said a short distance away, holding several throwing knives. That was both impressive and unexpected. If anything, Dallion thought of him more as a quarterstaff fighter.
Barely had the Cleric made his move than another party emerged. Appearing out of thin air, Dame Vesuvia swung her weapon at the chainling. Faster than the eye could ...
2021-02-17 18:52:10 +0000 UTC View PostLabyrinth section damaged!
Overall completion 37%
“One more to go,” Dallion said in an attempt to cheer up the rest of the group.
The plan, innovative as it was, had been received with a lot more enthusiasm a few hours ago. At this point everyone, Dallion included, just wanted to get it over with. Fifteen floors… five of which had to be damaged in very specific fashion. If there was a definition of poor man’s crafting, this was it. 2021-02-17 02:16:55 +0000 UTC View Post
They said two things were certain in the facility—anomalies and quarantine. I hadn’t seen direct evidence of either since my arrival, but there were traces in the files. Small hints bled through the thought quarantine, events and explanations too small to be caught by the sensor programs and too disconnected for anyone else to see.
Commenting the gaps, I was about to approximate that a hundred and seventeen people had suffered some sort of work-related incident in the last eighteen ...
2021-02-16 16:10:06 +0000 UTC View PostWalking through the bolt was different from what Dallion expected. While sharing a lot of similarities—the starting point, the guardian room, the mending maze—each had its own set of peculiarities. The guardians tended to be a reflection of the item’s owner, or owners. Gloria’s ring guardian was strong, but also fair and kind, those of the items in Dallion’s home were simplistic, but encouraging, and the rocks he had taken from the river were wild. However, it was the mazes that wer...
2021-02-16 01:18:27 +0000 UTC View PostDame Vesuvia charged forward. A large group of soldiers followed, running on foot. What little remained of the volunteers was long forgotten. Neither as disciplined nor as prepared as the main force, they had suffered the greatest number of wounds and casualties.
This was going to be the final confrontation. The chainling realized it as well, for it spun around gathering as much of the wagon remains as it could and throwing them all at the incoming group like an artillery barrage.
The Cleric emerged out of nothing. One moment he wasn’t there, the next the lines of his silhouette appeared, gradually getting filled like a paint by numbers picture. Without question it was very impressive, not to mention very magic related.
From what Dallion had been told, the magic stat was one of those believed to have been lost to humanity. Those born with it should have been treated as national treasures. To be in the presence of such a person, one couldn’t help to feel in aw...
2021-02-14 00:13:47 +0000 UTC View PostIt didn’t take long for Dallion to dash past the protective line of soldiers. All the awakened training he had done had improved his body and behavior to the point he could almost see the guide-markers without them being there. His body strafed and swirled almost on its own, passing by people and obstacles alike. Of course, it was a plus that no one actively tried to stop him—the skilled soldiers had the goal of keeping the chainling from reaching the heart of the group, they weren’t co...
2021-02-14 00:11:01 +0000 UTC View PostGloria didn’t say a word after returning to the real world. Her panic had subsided, but there was no telling whether the talk with Dallion had calmed her down, or she was simply good at hiding things. Not too long after, the group slowed pace. Gloria was called by the Dame and sent off with another soldier to scout on ahead. Everyone else was ordered to stop and rest—a real rest, not the awakened replacement they had done so far.
The volunteers, feeling that this might not get many ...
2021-02-13 00:15:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe bodies were buried without much fanfare. Once they were gathered in one spot, the Cleric did something making the ground open up and swallowed them up. Seconds later a clay tombstone emerged, marking the place and giving a very brief description etched on the surface.
Merchant Caravan
Killed by chainling
Year of the Seven, 1205
Shortly later, the hunting party was on the march again. The group...
2021-02-12 01:47:05 +0000 UTC View PostDallion took a deep breath. Entering the library in his awakened realm became more difficult each time. When his grandfather had told him about it, he’d been curious; the second time-he’d been cautious. Now, after the scribe echo had tried to kill him with feathers, he was outright terrified.
Clutching his emblem with his left hand, Dallion forced himself to cross the threshold. The instant he did, he felt the weight of two mountains on his shoulders.
“So, you decided to com...
2021-02-11 00:45:31 +0000 UTC View PostThe source of the fire turned out to be the remains of several wooden wagons. As the hunting party approached, Dallion was able to see more details of the scene, and just as Havoc had predicted, he wished that he hadn’t. People and beasts of burden were scattered on the ground charred or ripped to pieces, sometimes both. The remains of two large wagons lay smoldering, most of their wheels bashed off. Whatever beast had done this, it had to be fast, strong, and extremely bloodthirsty… just...
2021-02-10 01:00:45 +0000 UTC View PostGamma-Engidea, Cassandrian Front, 608.1 A.E. (Age of Expansion)
“Aurora Borealis has jumped in,” I announced on the bridge. “Three more Ascendants expected within the minute.”
“Show me arrival projections,” my captain said.
There were many things captain Augustus was good at, being easy to work with wasn’t one of them. Even the behavior pattern I had created of him, only was adequate seventy-one percent of the time. When it came to skill, though, there...
2021-02-09 22:38:15 +0000 UTC View PostThere was no way of telling whether Veil succeeded or not. In the course of the day he approached the Cleric, then walked back to the volunteer group without a word. Dallion suspected that a longer conversation had taken place, possibly accompanied with a trial as well, all in the awakened state. The results remained unknown, but based on Veil’s expression they can’t have been too good.
So much for getting to level four, Dallion thought. That didn’t change their previous ...
2021-02-08 22:40:14 +0000 UTC View PostWalking, training, food, and rest—those were the activities associated with the hunting party—as the soldiers called the group. Looking at it logically, that much was a given. What made them different from troops on Earth was the ability to condense everything except the walking in three neat thirty-minute segments. It turned out that an awakened meal was just as adequate as the real thing, provided one didn’t do it for over a real time week, as the Cleric has explained.
Dallion f...
2021-02-07 18:25:47 +0000 UTC View PostThe creature snarled, leaping away from Gloria. Without the status information there was no telling how much health it had remaining, but the damage was obvious. The beast’s movements, although nearly as fast as before, were less precise, as if it had to think and guess where to go before it did.
“The left side!” Gloria shouted as she leapt off the ground, doing a wall run that would make most action heroes envious. “Shoot at its left side!”
On cue, red markers appeared ...
2021-02-06 18:55:24 +0000 UTC View Post