Azrie
Yet another shoutout to! Seriously, it's great.
Amelia: The Level Zero [Hero] by MelasD
Ten years ago, Amelia woke up alone and lost in a broken world where she had to fight for her survival.
Now, after reaching the pinnacle of power, defeating the Void itself, and escaping the abyss, she has finally found her way back into the real world. But instead of finding herself on Earth, she is in the land of Vacuos. A fantasy world with magic, monsters, Classes, and Levels. A world that is governed by a System like it were a video game.
And when rewarded with a Class befitting her accomplishments— to become a powerful [Hero] that will forever dedicate her life to protecting this world that is not her own— she only has one response.
“Absolutely not. I’m going to live a normal life now, thank you very much.”
After all, who needs a Class when you're already the strongest anyways?
Seriously check it out, MelasDelta has helped make this fiction possible, and he is also my best friend! Do give it a read!
Matt took a deep breath, minutes later he felt as if he was going to die— no, even now he felt like death. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest. Sometimes, he wondered if it was even worth it, he wondered why did he even fight? His clothes were torn, and his head was bleeding, he almost died numerous times.
To his side, there was the Guardian type monster that he fought. Some kind of crystal spider looking thing, except it was twice as tall as him. Much faster too. But finally, it was dead after numerous hours of back and forth fighting, and he had been rewarded.
[D Grade Prophecy Tier Up Available.]
He stared at the prompt with a bitter smile. He had come really far, tears welled within his eyes as he reminisced for a few moments. He had changed as a person; in the past he would’ve been “hung up” on Dante and his misgivings, but after that day, he simply understood that he had to do his best to survive. He had been spared, whether he liked it or not, and if he ever encountered the demons again, there would be no second-chances.
He had to work hard for that day, he had to work hard to be alive. But more importantly, he had to work hard in order to be someone his companions could depend on. Of course, knowing how The System worked made him wish certain things, such as being a protector of the humans, but one step at a time.
He heard distant breaking sounds, as he sat down and waited. Though he was happy, now level 41, he felt as if he finally was moving up from being a weakling. Soon. Soon, he was going to reach D grade, he could just feel it. In no time—
Pierced by three ice swords at the same time, the crystal wall shattered with a billowing cloud of dust, and in came Andrea and Samantha, followed by their new companion; Lea. A fox sized, sentient monster of white and black fur. They all strutted in, and as soon as their gazes landed on Matt there was nothing but pause.
Andrea gasped. “Holy shit, Matt, what happened to you?”
He rolled his eyes, he could’ve sworn that he heard that before.
Samantha on the other hand, after a small pause rushed to his side and began to heal him.
“How are you even alive?” she asked. “You— you’re missing a good part of your torso. Why are you not even thrashing in pain. Are you Matt?”
He sighed. “Yes, I am Matt, and yes, it hurts a lot, but…” there was a brief silence. “I am simply happy that I can now upgrade my Prophecy to D grade, that is all.”
“That is just great to hear!” Lea piped up. “I will be digging around for fractal— er mana crystals.”
The fluffy friend just received some awkward nods as he went elsewhere. They all had kind of noticed it, but Lea was terribly bad at reading the atmosphere, then again, after getting to know him it kind of made sense. Its entire race was composed of fluffy foxes, if he was terrible at reading human body language then no one could blame him.
Matt let out a long sigh of relief as soon as he stopped bleeding. His entire body still felt pained, but there were other things in his mind as well. Aside from the normal, what he was doing and where his goals lied, he also wondered what others were doing. The emperor, Blair, the two other humans that separated from his group— their names escaped him, he had stopped caring. The mortality of the New World and the Skirmish space was something that he had come to terms with.
Minutes of silence passed, as Andrea finally spoke up.
“So, you are the strongest among all of us. How do you feel?”
Matt shook his head. “Lea is plenty strong too.”
“Among all of us humans.” She shook her head. “Besides, you might catch up to Lea soon, it’s just a three level difference.”
“That is true.” Matt nodded. “But, aren’t either of you worried about— you know, the Prophecy terms?”
Andrea paused and thought. “You mean the Drakanians? A bit…”
He gravely nodded and his gaze wandered over to Samantha. Immediately, she frowned.
“What’s that look? My only condition is to never cause intentional harm. Yes it is hard, but that one time I bumped into you and you fell down the stairs— it was pretty unintentional and I am still here.”
Matt shook his head. “I mean the race situation.”
“They just want the occasional help. Based on what I understand, the race themselves too are pacifists,” she clarified.
There was a brief silence, Matt kind of immediately regretted raising his concerns, but at the same time he feared the day would come in which he would be alone. He dreaded the occasional thought, it was painful and uncomfortable to think about. Who would want to be alone after all.
“Well, let us not worry about such things for now,” Andrea said. “How about we celebrate? We can go hunt some of those boars, they tasted pretty nice.”
“Hunting isn’t much of a celebration…” Matt muttered but he was met by a scoff from Samantha.
“You are just being lazy.”
“Look who's talking.” He rolled his eyes.
She harrumphed. “I cannot hunt, or I will literally die.”
“You could at least serve as a body shield—”
Matt was interrupted by a cough from Andrea. “Let’s just celebrate without bringing up random resentment, yeah?”
Samantha shared a glance with Matt before the two of them slowly nodded at each other.
And moments later, they heard the jingling of a bag as Lea walked in. Matt looked at him, paused and seemingly unsure as he stopped on his little feet.
“Is it a bad time?” Lea asked ruefully.
The three of them laughed.
“No, come here, Lea.” Matt beckoned, and the fox lit up and ran.
* * * * *
The wrath of the Great Machine. He remembered the legends as if he heard them yesterday. One day, it will descend upon all of us and make us pay the price. Fractalites are the gift of the Great Machine, and one day, they will be taken.
Lea stared off into the horizon, as the humans went off to kill some other animal. He felt the heft of his bag on his mental muscles. Fractalites hadn’t been taken, they were in over abundance, they were initially hard to get but as soon as he — adapted — everything had become much easier. That said, he missed things. He missed going to the academy and learning the intricacies of Fractalite energy, learning how their kind had adapted to such energy and learned to use it and cultivate it.
And now… That was all gone.
The System, The Great Machine, had descended and the world had ended as they knew it. Instead, he was lost, all he had was instinct, he had to reconnect with nature. He had to kill for the first time in his life, and now it had become commonplace. He could remember how nervous he felt at that moment, when he knocked on those castle doors. He had been observing them for so long, and they—
They had welcomed him awkwardly, but now they had turned into his only friends. Of course, sometimes he felt disconnected due to cultural differences, but he really treasured them. Sometimes, he wondered how his friends were doing, but he also realized that a lot of people died. He had seen them die with his very own eyes.
With a small sigh, he curled into a ball, and he felt the touch of the human female, Samantha, on him.
“Something in your mind?” She asked with a caring whisper.
“Just thinking about how much things have changed…”
The touch became more pleasant and more affectionate.
“I get how you feel…” Samantha let out a rueful sigh. “But, we have each other. Even if we met you not too long ago, I am still happy that you are here.”
Lea tensed. He wanted to protest, say the only reason they trusted him so much was due to the fact that he was cute in their eyes — a talking animal — but he refrained. Even though his mind told him that rationally, there were a myriad of reasons to their trust, and none of them were from the bottom of their heart but closer to subconscious thoughts, he refrained. He accepted the warm feeling, the irrational one of acceptance, that he had found companions. People to be with. Even if they weren’t his kin, the legends spoke of different beings, reassured that the era after the end would be different, but that if they could adapt, they would thrive.
An era of trust and bonds.
He relaxed.
He trusted the humans.
It was a new era in which things were different, he had to accept it. No, he had accepted it—
A piercing victory war cry interrupted his thoughts as his head snapped in the direction of the two humans. Matt had cleaved through the head of the boar with an ice sword, though its edge was melted, and Andrea had a wide grin. He never understood why the humans consumed food out of joy— it was just sustenance. But at that moment, a different thought emerged in his mind.
Maybe I should join the celebration.
* * * * *
Gazing down from a hill, there stood an old man with a hunched back and protruding horns. Like many others, he had seen the rise and fall of multiple demon emperors. He had seen numerous impressive things during his long life, but nothing quite compared with the laughing girl in front of him. At first, he only saved her for the sake of feeling great about himself, The System had brought him strength he hadn’t tasted in decades, but now— he was unsure about the feeling he felt for the girl. It wasn’t something as stupid as love, he knew for certain, but he felt as if he had something to do with her success, and he liked that feeling.
Meanwhile, the girl simply laughed with flowing fiery hair under the sunlight. Underneath there was a corpse of a Tree Bear, a beast that could easily stand at close to ten meters in height if it stood on its hind lights. And yet, without his help, she had killed the bear, and moreover, she began to laugh hysterically after a bit. He felt happy for her, but also curious.
“What has you so excited, Map.”
“Old man, I’ve told you numerous times that my name is Maple, not a stupid piece of parchment. Well, your planet is full of troglodytes. No matter.” She laughed. “I just got a Feat.”
“Oh, another one?” He asked, much more interested.
“The first, the first damn human to reach D Grade is me!” She chuckled. “What a bunch of losers.”
“Hm, so you must be as strong as me now, then?” he mused with a wide grin only to be met with a very confident smile.
“Of course.”
He inquired her.
[Human. Lvl. 52]
She had come a long way. His heart fluttered a bit as he realized the feeling, he had forgotten it. He felt pride for her. Like a proud father for his daughter. He recalled the numerous hiccups, but also the shared laughs and moreover, both of them just loved to kill things.
“What, cat got your tongue?” She quipped.
The old man smiled. “I am proud of you, Maple.”
Maple froze, as she adverted her gaze and spoke in a low tone. “Geez, if you’re gonna be a grandpa you should at least warn me beforehand…”
He laughed at the sudden delicate side of the girl. “Sometimes, I do wish to be a grandpa.”
She coughed. “Then, how about I become your granddaughter?”
This time, he himself paused.
“Let’s just take it one step at a time—”
“You crossed the line, Grandpa.” She shook her head looking at him. “Not like I mind though.”
Demon and human? He thought for a moment. No, that doesn’t matter. She was walking away from him. Grandparent and granddaughter, huh? He didn’t hold any sort of attachment to the demons nor to the humans, but he certainly held attachment for the girl he saved on a whim.
Hm… It might be time to retire soon…
Azrie
You can read the entirety of book 2 (up to chapter 143) on patreon!
Blair now has a discord server, join here
Azrie
Yet another shoutout to! Seriously, it's great.
Amelia: The Level Zero [Hero] by MelasD
Ten years ago, Amelia woke up alone and lost in a broken world where she had to fight for her survival.
Now, after reaching the pinnacle of power, defeating the Void itself, and escaping the abyss, she has finally found her way back into the real world. But instead of finding herself on Earth, she is in the land of Vacuos. A fantasy world with magic, monsters, Classes, and Levels. A world that is governed by a System like it were a video game.
And when rewarded with a Class befitting her accomplishments— to become a powerful [Hero] that will forever dedicate her life to protecting this world that is not her own— she only has one response.
“Absolutely not. I’m going to live a normal life now, thank you very much.”
After all, who needs a Class when you're already the strongest anyways?
Seriously check it out, MelasDelta has helped make this fiction possible, and he is also my best friend! Do give it a read!
Matt took a deep breath, minutes later he felt as if he was going to die— no, even now he felt like death. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest. Sometimes, he wondered if it was even worth it, he wondered why did he even fight? His clothes were torn, and his head was bleeding, he almost died numerous times.
To his side, there was the Guardian type monster that he fought. Some kind of crystal spider looking thing, except it was twice as tall as him. Much faster too. But finally, it was dead after numerous hours of back and forth fighting, and he had been rewarded.
[D Grade Prophecy Tier Up Available.]
He stared at the prompt with a bitter smile. He had come really far, tears welled within his eyes as he reminisced for a few moments. He had changed as a person; in the past he would’ve been “hung up” on Dante and his misgivings, but after that day, he simply understood that he had to do his best to survive. He had been spared, whether he liked it or not, and if he ever encountered the demons again, there would be no second-chances.
He had to work hard for that day, he had to work hard to be alive. But more importantly, he had to work hard in order to be someone his companions could depend on. Of course, knowing how The System worked made him wish certain things, such as being a protector of the humans, but one step at a time.
He heard distant breaking sounds, as he sat down and waited. Though he was happy, now level 41, he felt as if he finally was moving up from being a weakling. Soon. Soon, he was going to reach D grade, he could just feel it. In no time—
Pierced by three ice swords at the same time, the crystal wall shattered with a billowing cloud of dust, and in came Andrea and Samantha, followed by their new companion; Lea. A fox sized, sentient monster of white and black fur. They all strutted in, and as soon as their gazes landed on Matt there was nothing but pause.
Andrea gasped. “Holy shit, Matt, what happened to you?”
He rolled his eyes, he could’ve sworn that he heard that before.
Samantha on the other hand, after a small pause rushed to his side and began to heal him.
“How are you even alive?” she asked. “You— you’re missing a good part of your torso. Why are you not even thrashing in pain. Are you Matt?”
He sighed. “Yes, I am Matt, and yes, it hurts a lot, but…” there was a brief silence. “I am simply happy that I can now upgrade my Prophecy to D grade, that is all.”
“That is just great to hear!” Lea piped up. “I will be digging around for fractal— er mana crystals.”
The fluffy friend just received some awkward nods as he went elsewhere. They all had kind of noticed it, but Lea was terribly bad at reading the atmosphere, then again, after getting to know him it kind of made sense. Its entire race was composed of fluffy foxes, if he was terrible at reading human body language then no one could blame him.
Matt let out a long sigh of relief as soon as he stopped bleeding. His entire body still felt pained, but there were other things in his mind as well. Aside from the normal, what he was doing and where his goals lied, he also wondered what others were doing. The emperor, Blair, the two other humans that separated from his group— their names escaped him, he had stopped caring. The mortality of the New World and the Skirmish space was something that he had come to terms with.
Minutes of silence passed, as Andrea finally spoke up.
“So, you are the strongest among all of us. How do you feel?”
Matt shook his head. “Lea is plenty strong too.”
“Among all of us humans.” She shook her head. “Besides, you might catch up to Lea soon, it’s just a three level difference.”
“That is true.” Matt nodded. “But, aren’t either of you worried about— you know, the Prophecy terms?”
Andrea paused and thought. “You mean the Drakanians? A bit…”
He gravely nodded and his gaze wandered over to Samantha. Immediately, she frowned.
“What’s that look? My only condition is to never cause intentional harm. Yes it is hard, but that one time I bumped into you and you fell down the stairs— it was pretty unintentional and I am still here.”
Matt shook his head. “I mean the race situation.”
“They just want the occasional help. Based on what I understand, the race themselves too are pacifists,” she clarified.
There was a brief silence, Matt kind of immediately regretted raising his concerns, but at the same time he feared the day would come in which he would be alone. He dreaded the occasional thought, it was painful and uncomfortable to think about. Who would want to be alone after all.
“Well, let us not worry about such things for now,” Andrea said. “How about we celebrate? We can go hunt some of those boars, they tasted pretty nice.”
“Hunting isn’t much of a celebration…” Matt muttered but he was met by a scoff from Samantha.
“You are just being lazy.”
“Look who's talking.” He rolled his eyes.
She harrumphed. “I cannot hunt, or I will literally die.”
“You could at least serve as a body shield—”
Matt was interrupted by a cough from Andrea. “Let’s just celebrate without bringing up random resentment, yeah?”
Samantha shared a glance with Matt before the two of them slowly nodded at each other.
And moments later, they heard the jingling of a bag as Lea walked in. Matt looked at him, paused and seemingly unsure as he stopped on his little feet.
“Is it a bad time?” Lea asked ruefully.
The three of them laughed.
“No, come here, Lea.” Matt beckoned, and the fox lit up and ran.
* * * * *
The wrath of the Great Machine. He remembered the legends as if he heard them yesterday. One day, it will descend upon all of us and make us pay the price. Fractalites are the gift of the Great Machine, and one day, they will be taken.
Lea stared off into the horizon, as the humans went off to kill some other animal. He felt the heft of his bag on his mental muscles. Fractalites hadn’t been taken, they were in over abundance, they were initially hard to get but as soon as he — adapted — everything had become much easier. That said, he missed things. He missed going to the academy and learning the intricacies of Fractalite energy, learning how their kind had adapted to such energy and learned to use it and cultivate it.
And now… That was all gone.
The System, The Great Machine, had descended and the world had ended as they knew it. Instead, he was lost, all he had was instinct, he had to reconnect with nature. He had to kill for the first time in his life, and now it had become commonplace. He could remember how nervous he felt at that moment, when he knocked on those castle doors. He had been observing them for so long, and they—
They had welcomed him awkwardly, but now they had turned into his only friends. Of course, sometimes he felt disconnected due to cultural differences, but he really treasured them. Sometimes, he wondered how his friends were doing, but he also realized that a lot of people died. He had seen them die with his very own eyes.
With a small sigh, he curled into a ball, and he felt the touch of the human female, Samantha, on him.
“Something in your mind?” She asked with a caring whisper.
“Just thinking about how much things have changed…”
The touch became more pleasant and more affectionate.
“I get how you feel…” Samantha let out a rueful sigh. “But, we have each other. Even if we met you not too long ago, I am still happy that you are here.”
Lea tensed. He wanted to protest, say the only reason they trusted him so much was due to the fact that he was cute in their eyes — a talking animal — but he refrained. Even though his mind told him that rationally, there were a myriad of reasons to their trust, and none of them were from the bottom of their heart but closer to subconscious thoughts, he refrained. He accepted the warm feeling, the irrational one of acceptance, that he had found companions. People to be with. Even if they weren’t his kin, the legends spoke of different beings, reassured that the era after the end would be different, but that if they could adapt, they would thrive.
An era of trust and bonds.
He relaxed.
He trusted the humans.
It was a new era in which things were different, he had to accept it. No, he had accepted it—
A piercing victory war cry interrupted his thoughts as his head snapped in the direction of the two humans. Matt had cleaved through the head of the boar with an ice sword, though its edge was melted, and Andrea had a wide grin. He never understood why the humans consumed food out of joy— it was just sustenance. But at that moment, a different thought emerged in his mind.
Maybe I should join the celebration.
* * * * *
Gazing down from a hill, there stood an old man with a hunched back and protruding horns. Like many others, he had seen the rise and fall of multiple demon emperors. He had seen numerous impressive things during his long life, but nothing quite compared with the laughing girl in front of him. At first, he only saved her for the sake of feeling great about himself, The System had brought him strength he hadn’t tasted in decades, but now— he was unsure about the feeling he felt for the girl. It wasn’t something as stupid as love, he knew for certain, but he felt as if he had something to do with her success, and he liked that feeling.
Meanwhile, the girl simply laughed with flowing fiery hair under the sunlight. Underneath there was a corpse of a Tree Bear, a beast that could easily stand at close to ten meters in height if it stood on its hind lights. And yet, without his help, she had killed the bear, and moreover, she began to laugh hysterically after a bit. He felt happy for her, but also curious.
“What has you so excited, Map.”
“Old man, I’ve told you numerous times that my name is Maple, not a stupid piece of parchment. Well, your planet is full of troglodytes. No matter.” She laughed. “I just got a Feat.”
“Oh, another one?” He asked, much more interested.
“The first, the first damn human to reach D Grade is me!” She chuckled. “What a bunch of losers.”
“Hm, so you must be as strong as me now, then?” he mused with a wide grin only to be met with a very confident smile.
“Of course.”
He inquired her.
[Human. Lvl. 52]
She had come a long way. His heart fluttered a bit as he realized the feeling, he had forgotten it. He felt pride for her. Like a proud father for his daughter. He recalled the numerous hiccups, but also the shared laughs and moreover, both of them just loved to kill things.
“What, cat got your tongue?” She quipped.
The old man smiled. “I am proud of you, Maple.”
Maple froze, as she adverted her gaze and spoke in a low tone. “Geez, if you’re gonna be a grandpa you should at least warn me beforehand…”
He laughed at the sudden delicate side of the girl. “Sometimes, I do wish to be a grandpa.”
She coughed. “Then, how about I become your granddaughter?”
This time, he himself paused.
“Let’s just take it one step at a time—”
“You crossed the line, Grandpa.” She shook her head looking at him. “Not like I mind though.”
Demon and human? He thought for a moment. No, that doesn’t matter. She was walking away from him. Grandparent and granddaughter, huh? He didn’t hold any sort of attachment to the demons nor to the humans, but he certainly held attachment for the girl he saved on a whim.
Hm… It might be time to retire soon…
Azrie
You can read the entirety of book 2 (up to chapter 143) on patreon!
Blair now has a discord server, join here
