LiseEclaire

Leveling up the World (Chapter 38)

PRACTICE GUARDIAN

Species: UNKNOWN

Class: UNKNOWN

Statistics: UNKNOWN

Skills: UNKNOWN

Weak Spots: UNKNOWN

The cage burst open, releasing the darkness within. Black strands whirled through the air, giving form to the unknown creature. This was the first time that Dallion saw something unknown. Even when his perception was low, the white...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 37)

Walking turned out to be far less fun than expected. Initially the trio was fascinated by everything, as if they had stepped across an invisible barrier at the village limits and earned themselves a taste of freedom. As time passed by, the sense of wonder faded away. The grass was just as green as in the village, the surroundings just as empty, and the roads mostly nonexistent. The entire village began to look like a bubble of civilization in the wilderness.

Another interesting thing, a...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 36)

“Here’s your emblem,” the cleric handed Dallion a pendant on a silver chain. The pendant was composed of six gems placed on a circle of pale blue metal. “Wear it all times, don’t lose it.”

The materials alone were probably worth more than the entire village and everything in it. Dallion could see how a less scrupulous person would be tempted to grab a few pendants and run off to enjoy their ill-gotten gains. As the metal touched his skin, a sudden warmness enveloped him, fee...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 35)

As time passed, interest in the soldiers began to wane. While the children and some young adults remained on the edges of the village square, most of the rest had gone back to their everyday chores. Bread, fruit, water, and what little other provisions the villagers had were brought to the soldiers only to be grumbled and accepted with such disdain one would think the soldiers were doing the locals a favor.

Even the horse had initially ignored the hay given to it with a series of snorts...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 34)

The arrival of the Order was accompanied by the calm type of confusion that Dallion had grown to expect. For the most part the people seemed vaguely intrigued, just as someone would be if a distant relative suddenly showed up on the door. On her part, the members of the order had annoyed contempt written all over their faces.

“I am Dame Vesuvia, here by order of his grace Archduke Lanitol,” the woman said loudly. It was impressive that her horse didn’t budge an inch as she did, as...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 33)

“Brother, brother!” Linner shouted loud enough for half the village to hear. “Look what I got!”

The child never seemed to get tired, making Dallion wonder whether he was the only awakened in the family. If stamina was any indication, his younger brother definitely had him beat.

“Look!” Linner rushed up to him, holding a small scaly fish. “Isn’t it great?!”

“Wow, that’s a winner.” Dallion smiled.

If he were to be honest, the fish wasn’t anythin...

The Cassandrian Theory (Chapter 4)

Veterans I’d served with like to say that the more things change, the more they remain the same. In a way, they were correct. Technology advanced every few years; better, faster, and larger ships were flying through human space, connecting colonies that didn’t exist decades ago. The overall goals, though, remained the same—do what’s needed for humanity to survive. In a time of constant war, that thing was better weapons.

When my thought quarantine ended, I found myself in a five...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 32)

Life slowly returned to normal after Dallion’s first “village task”. It was outright astonishing how quickly everything around the events left the villager’s consciousness. After just one day the only people who referred to the improvement of the well, were the boy’s fathers. After one more even they hardly mentioned it anymore, carrying on as if that had always been the case.

The village chief and his family also ended all interactions, remaining in their mansion. On a few oc...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 31)

Wow. It really worked!

Dallion had managed to enter the awakened state without focusing on an object. The room was just as he remembered it from before. The only difference was that this time there was a doorway, as well as two framed items on the wall—a buckler and a short sword. Looking closer, he could see a word beneath each.

“Attack six, Guard nine,” the boy read out loud. The moment he did, a blue rectangle appeared in the middle of the room.

...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 30)

“Here,” the elder put a bowl of freshly baked potatoes on the table. “Your mother made these.”

Dallion nodded while stuffing his face with the remaining few pieces of bread left. He had been gulping down food with the speed of a vacuum cleaner for the last ten minutes and was only able to reduce the craving. Up to today, the boy didn’t think that such hunger was possible. The experience in the realm of the Well, though, had taken a lot from him.

“She sends you her best...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 29)

“Huh?” The village chief blinked as Dallion let go of his hand.

That wasn’t the only change. The stone well had become completely transformed. Nearly double in size, it now had two separate sections as well as a fountain head pouring water directly without the need of a bucket.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. The well challenge should have been the end of Dallion. Even with his second skill—a feat that Aspion had no idea how the boy had gained—improving the well had to...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 28)

The boy rushed to the spot. There was a small hole in the rock, no larger than a punch bowl. In it, curled up, was a small panther-like cub. Sensing Dallion, the cub opened a lazy eye, then suddenly jumped up, hissing with the ferocity of a YouTube kitten.

“You’re the last beast?”

The boy blinked. He knew that the creatures were bad—a representation of the cracks and decay in the well’s surface. Killing it would be a good thing, not to mention earn him a hundred percent ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 27)

Stars. Until now Dallion had never realized how much he missed them. Not the few pale dots he saw from the city, real stars, covering the sky like salt on a black napkin. Even the moons had lit up, emanating a crisp colored glow. Lying on his back, Dallion raised his hand up, as if stretching to grab hold of one. It was childish, but right now he wanted to be a child, at least for a little longer.

The fight against the pack had exhausted him—more physically than mentally—to the poin...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 26)

Whoever said that the larger a creature, the slower its actions clearly had no idea what they were talking about. As Dallion found out, the pack-panther was not only big—roughly the size of an elephant—but also rad reflexes rivaling his own. The first time it attacked, the boy barely had the time to evade by following the guard skill markers that had appeared. What was more, the beast had no intention of letting him make use of his specials, interrupting the boy mid sequence with further ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 25)

As night fell and Dallion prepared mentally for his inevitable battle against the pack, one thing became alarmingly apparent: while wounds didn’t require medical attention while in the awakened state, the pain and discomfort remained. Doing a few mocks attacks, even after a bit of rest, remained sluggish, especially the attacks. The annoying creature that had annoyingly managed to wound his sword arm had significantly reduced the boy’s flexibility.

The boy focused his attention on t...

Rush to Level 0: The Game (Chapter 15)

My phone was ringing when I logged out. No notifications had managed to penetrate the game, simply stacking up and awaiting my response. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel the usual desire to respond. All my life, I’d had a near obsession to respond to any and all unmarked notifications that made their way past my spam and block filters. Now, it felt like a distant echo. In the hour I was gone, the game had felt more real than reality ever could.

“Who’s calling, Twinkle?” I asked...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 24)

The attack footstep markers lead on into a chamber where they split into dozens of options. The chamber was more den than lair—the creatures had grouped in one giant blob in the center, snoring away. By crude estimates there had to be at least six creatures there, possibly more. If he caught them by surprise, Dallion could kill at least half of them, six if he used his attack skill adequately... and that’s what he did, charging forward without a moment’s thought.

2021-01-23 16:04:35 +0000 UTC View Post

Leveling up the World (Chapter 23)

Adequate light made Dallion appreciate the realm of the Well a whole lot more. Maybe it was due to him killing off—or “mending” as the awakened term went—a lot of the area’s creatures, or maybe it was the effects of morning, but the unwelcoming feelings of fear and dread that hung in the air the previous day were gone. If it wasn’t for the complete lack of plants or forest animals, this would easily pass for a perfect hiking trip in nature—again, minus the actual nature.

T...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 22)

Fighting a pack was very different from fighting a group of creatures. An individual creature, even a strong and intelligent one, had one course of action. Thanks to the markers his skills provided him, Dallion could see that action and react in the most suitable fashion. Whether it was one, three, or five panthers that attacked, he had the speed to protect himself then counterattack, usually resulting in an instant kill.

The pack had a wholly different behavior. At this stage it was no...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 21)

The realm of the Well turned out to be quite real, and very very large. Dallion spent hours walking in the direction of the large mountains before it became obvious that it would take weeks, if not months, to reach them. If there was a way to escape this place, that wasn’t it. Apparently, the village chief hadn’t lied when he had said that the only way to exit was to defeat the guardian… or fail trying.

“Kill the monsters, defeat the guardian,” Dallion said. His football coach...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 20)

When the village chief appeared from his mansion, the entire crowd fell into a subdued silence. While not imposing in figure, an invisible strength emanated from the old man crushing the spirits of everyone around. Almost immediately everyone’s glances fell to the ground. Even the Luor guards trailed a few steps back, trying to distance themselves from their leader.

The procession made its way to the side of the mansion, then continued towards the so-called village square. The place w...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 19)

Everyone from the village had gathered to witness Dallion’s walk to the chief’s mansion. The atmosphere was noticeably different from last time. Then everyone had accepted the fact that he’d lose his gift and had remained in their homes. Now there was hope he could actually stand up to the Luor family, something that no one had done in decades. Even the other village elders—awakened in their own right, some of which were in good relations with the chief—had appeared to witness the s...

Restructuring Question

Hello, all!

Hope you are well. After some though I decided to as your thoughts on some important matters.

First of all, would you prefer for tiers to be restructured based on fiction? I’m still not 100 sure that would be possible technically, but with the fictions being so distinct from one another readers can only follow the type they enjoy the most.

Second, what are your thoughts of having a discord server? I’ve been hesitating on this for over an...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 18)

Fighting a creature with no weaknesses turned out less difficult than Dallion expected. Having to deal with a slime that shot “bullets” of water, though, was extremely annoying. The projectiles themselves weren’t nearly destructive as the boy imagined. They didn’t cut through objects, nor did they explode. What they did was smart like a baseball hitting the thigh.

One would have thought that a shield would be enough protection. While that was true at first, with each minute the ...

The Cassandrian Theory (Chapter 3)

Eight battleships surrounded the battleship, placed in strategic positions a short distance away. I noticed one more patrolling the system. As far as I could tell all of them were Taurus class, built exclusively to defend deep space stations. Their standard armament included five hundred launchable mine clusters, seventy thousand missiles, at least a few hundred of which were with artefact heads.

As Ve flew by one of the battleships a series of probe protocols bypassed my software defen...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 17)

Increasing one’s awakening status, as it turned out, had a considerable number of advantages. Apart from the improvements and the new skill Dallion had gained, he found that he could use his powers twice per day. Quite the welcome surprise, since it avoided him to explain what he had done that night. It also allowed him to improve things he wanted in secret.

The attack skill turned out to be exactly the way Dallion imagined it would be—instead of green markers, he was presented with...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 16)

Sneaking back in proved much easier than sneaking out. The first thing that Dallion did was curse himself for closing the door in such a way so that the bar would bolt it from the inside. The second was to knock directly on it and wait for someone to open.

Dallion’s parents turned out to be sound sleepers, so it came to his younger brother to do the honors. The naivete with which the boy opened the door without even asking who was knocking, was borderline surreal. Back in his previous...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 15)

You are at a crossroads.

Choose the item that will serve you best.

Two rectangles floated in front of Dallion. One had had a realistic picture of a short sword, the same the boy had seen upon waking up in this world. The other had a blacksmith’s anvil. From what Dallion’s grandfather had said, crafting skills were quite rare and among the most valued; getting one would set up a person for life. They opened the path to app...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 14)

The sand dragon entered the sand with a splash, though not before Dallion could see its status rectangle. Seventy-nine percent of health remained—not bad for a single attack, although after all the damage bonuses he had hoped for more. Without a doubt this opponent was beyond anything he had faced before.

“Careful.” Gloria landed a few steps away. “It’s bound to come for another run.”

“Right.” I gathered as much. “How did you do so much damage?”

“My att...

Announcement

Hello all!

Unfortunately, I’m going through some health issues, so there will be a delay of Rush and Cassandrian stories.

If things don’t improve it’s possibly that Leveling is delayed as well a bit.

Sorry about this. I hope things return to normal soon.

Lise