MasterEnvi I guess since I'm putting this on all the stuff like Patreon, RR, and Discord I'll post it here as well.
Howdy folks! I hope you enjoyed your weekend! I come bearing some news this week.
So I believe I mentioned this a while back about the possibility of me picking up another project. Well, that has become a reality. Before talking about that I wanted to allay any possible concerns.
I am NOT planning on scaling back SoD releases at this point in time or for the foreseeable future. SoD is my primary concern, I will always focus on getting chapters out for this first and then working on anything else secondary.
I can't promise that this mentality won't change in the future, but right now this is how it is. So don't be concerned.
As it is right now the project I'm working on has about 15k words that I wrote over the weekend, however that's basically all prologue. I'm still working on a lot of storyboarding and power analysis and stuff like that so there isn't all that much to say about it other than what exactly it is that I'm writing.
Specifically, I'm writing a fanfiction. It's going to be in the Worm fandom. If you haven't heard, I'm a huge Worm fan. It's easily my favorite fiction of all time.
Coincidentally I got into writing before reading Worm, so it wasn't the inspiration for this. What's ironic about that though is that there are more than a few parallels between what I'm writing and stuff that takes place in Worm. And all of the story-crafting parallels in SoD happened before I even knew Worm existed which is extremely funny to me. Almost like it was fate that I was supposed to like Worm.
Nevertheless, if you haven't read Worm I'd really recommend doing so. I told that to my beta's as well, I didn't want their first introduction to Worm being my fanfic. I doubt I'll even be able to remotely do the worldbuilding justice and I'd hate for the twists and turns of the story to be spoiled by my writing when Wildbow did a much better job.
I could talk about this a little bit more, but I'll end it here. If you'd like to possibly know more, about either Worm or the fanfic I'm writing or really just anything in general my DM's are always open. Discord is just the fastest way to get a hold of me tho, I don't always check Patreon, but Discord is always up. Link to the Discord here!
Link to Worm HERE!!! (btw it's completely free to read!)
Anyway, that's it! Enjoy!
(p.s. probably means a little bit less to y'all reading here, but I figured I'd include it just because I care about y'all as well :). Right now RR is on chapter 108, so there's still roughly two and a half to three weeks of 5x daily releases before we're down to 1/day M-F.)
Waking up the next day wasn’t any easier. My mind flashed back to the last time I’d been with Penny. I instantly felt anxious, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. With what felt like a monumental effort I managed to push myself up out of the bed.
Fiona had mentioned that she wouldn’t be coming by today, but that she expected me to still go about my day like a normal person. I wasn’t in the mood for it, but I was less in the mood to let down another person who was helping me out.
I started with my daily effort of forming an arm. I still wanted to get this skill up, I had tried several different ways so far to make the arm but none of them seemed to function any better than just making one based on my actual arm. So it seemed that it really just came down to the level of my skills and how good I was at using them.
If anything I was starting to streamline the process, I was finding which parts were actually completely unnecessary in the arm structure to make a working prosthetic that was magically enhanced. So there was that at least.
A little over an hour later I managed to finish and was rewarded for my efforts with a level up in the requisite skill.
‘Ping’ [Wood Manipulation] Has leveled up 6 > 7
Very nice. A few more levels and I’d be able to try and push it into the first tier. Hopefully, that would make a large difference in how it operated.
I stood up and got dressed for the rest of the day, putting on my clothes and the armor I had. Raylith had made it perfectly clear that he still had a grudge against me for being a smartass, so the least I could do was be prepared to be jumped in an alley or something. The man definitely had a chip on his shoulder for some reason.
I could never understand people like that. Antagonistic by nature, but when you dish it back to them they throw temper tantrums about it. Made me want to beat the shit out of him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite strong enough to do that at the moment. Maybe one day though.
I planned to follow through on what Fiona had suggested for today. Going back out to that clearing outside the capital. I hadn’t properly paid attention when they had taken me outside the city. I believe it was to the north. I guess I’d figure it out along the way.
I was planning to stay there the rest of the day so it would probably be a good idea to get something to eat while I was out there. I walked down the stairs from where I was staying and entered the common room of the inn. It was well past when breakfast would’ve been served. Talking to the innkeeper it was pretty easy to purchase some bread and some dried meats to take with me.
I stepped out onto the streets and already I felt extremely lost. I really should’ve paid more attention yesterday. I tried to see if I could make use of my new skill to maybe get my bearings, but there was practically nothing I could significantly latch on to. The best I had was a floral shop a few hundred feet down the street, but that didn’t allow me to figure out where anything was.
It took me longer than I cared to admit to even be able to retrace our steps to the place we had eaten before leaving. From there I was able to roughly figure out the rest from muscle memory. Barely.
After several hours of pointless wandering, I was finally on the road out of the capital. I made a conscious effort to try and pay more attention to my surroundings this time. Now that I was outside the capital it was a little easier since I was able to use [One With Nature] to help see or rather feel things, around me.
I could feel a slight headache starting to build as I walked. This skill really pumped tons of information through my head constantly. It was definitely going to take some getting used to. Maybe there was some skill that could help with dealing with the stress? I guess I would keep working at it and I’d see what happened, either leveling the skill would make it easier to handle or I would die from a brain hemorrhage.
After about thirty minutes of quick walking, I made it back to the clearing. I immediately flopped myself onto the grass and just sat there for a moment. There definitely was something about being in nature that was soothing to my mind. I immediately felt more calm and in control of myself, less overwhelmed.
Although my head was still hurting, the overall view was nice but it definitely wasn’t very user-friendly.
‘Ping’ [Disciple of Nature] Has leveled up 10 > 11
Well, that was certainly convenient. It also told me that I could gain levels in classes outside of combat. Which I guess made sense for a healer or crafting classes. I assumed there had to be crafting or artisan classes. All though that wasn’t necessarily a given I guess.
I could immediately notice two things, one the feedback of what I was getting increased in quality. It was easier to make out the shapes of things around, albeit only slightly. The other was that it immediately put more strain on my poor head. I was going to have to tone down the range if I was going to be able to handle this at the current rate.
I played around with the skill for another few minutes before I stopped and sat up. Since I seemed to be doing better today I really needed to put some effort into figuring out what I wanted to do next so I could provide an answer to Fiona.
I let out a sigh. Everything had happened so suddenly. It felt surreal like it hadn’t really happened. It just felt… Forced. Unnatural almost. The whole situation. Garrus’ behavior didn’t seem normal in comparison to how he usually acted.
It all just seemed strange, I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. I guess I did need to find a way to gain levels. While an education would be nice, I wasn’t sure if that’s exactly what I needed. It seemed a bit too early in my career for the school arc. On top of that, going to a school like that seemed like a great way to refine my technique, but the problem is I don’t even have the skills to really refine it yet.
What I really just need are levels and pointers in the right direction to get those. Ideally joining another party would be the big maneuver. But after what happened with the last one I was in, I wasn’t too keen on just joining another group that would dip out at the first sign of real danger.
…
I guess I was a little resentful of them.
I was probably going to have to travel by myself for the foreseeable future then. I might head north and visit some of the other countries, try and get an idea of what was around me culturally. Fiona had also mentioned something about a cave or something in Alixia? I’d have to find out what that was.
I nodded to myself. Really I just needed to do the simplest thing. It was the same thing I did in every RPG that I ever played. Grind levels. If I followed the main quest I’d get weapons, levels, and skills. So long as I didn’t die in the process. I was putting way too much thought into it, either I’d succeed, or I wouldn’t. No in-between.
With that sorted I activated OWN again. I started out small but quickly built up the range ‘till I was starting to get a headache and just halted there. The distance that I could handle was shorter than before thanks to the increased visual definition of the skill.
I sat like that for several hours before I stopped again, both my head really hurting at this point and I was getting pretty hungry. I pulled out the food I had gotten earlier at the inn. It wasn’t the best I had ever had, but it was definitely better than nothing.
A short lunch later and I was back on the grind. Although I’m pretty sure the exp gain from using this skill like this was negligible at best. I didn’t really have anything better to do though so I just continued.
Seconds into minutes into hours I continued. The headache never really lessened, as far as I could tell I wasn’t getting more used to the information coursing through my head. I was stubbornly pushing through this in hopes that I could deal with it. But this might end up being something that could take days to learn how to handle if there wasn’t going to be a skill or something to help deal with it.
Through OWN I could tell that it was starting to get late and that I should probably head back. I pushed for just a few more minutes though.
Right ‘til the very end though, using this skill was a struggle. I let out a sigh and started to pull myself out of the skill.
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Accelerated Thoughts] - Your mind works more quickly allowing you to think faster than those around you thus allowing you to react more quickly to new information. 5% increased speeds per tier 1% increased speeds per level.
…
Hah. Hahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
YES!
I started laughing maniacally as I read the description. Ah, this was just too easy. I wanted a skill that could handle higher loads of information and I got a skill that does just that and more! It really was just that simple.
What’s even more amusing is that I’m now 99% certain that this is a gateway skill. Something like parallel minds definitely exists in this world, and it’s definitely something I want. Oh, this was going to be great.
I stopped laughing as I luxuriated in the use of the new skill. Or at least I tried to. It’s kinda hard to tell a difference of 1%. I frowned slightly. I had asked about general skills I should know about when I was with the Earth Raiders. Why wouldn’t they have mentioned this skill? Skills like these are generally just kinda force multipliers. Sure they aren’t the be-all and end-all of skills, but they’re pretty damn good.
So why wouldn’t it ever come up, especially when the concept was almost explicitly brought up? Quite strange honestly. Whatever, we are here now. That’s all that matters I guess.
I pushed myself up with a slight grunt and gathered my things to begin my trek home.
I felt much better on the walk home than I did on the way out here.
Waking up the next morning I felt a little lighter. I was still in the same shitty position, someone four tiers above me had a grudge against me, and I was kicked out of my party because of that, I was completely on my own again in a world I didn’t fully understand, worst of all I was weak. Maybe not by comparison of people at the same level as me, but compared to the world at large? I was painfully weak.
And yet I didn’t feel it dragging me down like I had the previous days. Overall I had good hopes for my future. I rolled out of bed and got to work on my arm. It took me an hour almost on the dot to get it done. I stretched it and flexed it making sure it was satisfactory.
While I was doing that I received a knock on my door.
“You awake yet, Alex?” I heard Fiona call out from the other side of the door.
I was about to walk to the door to open it when I stopped. The door was made out of wood. Mostly. The important bits were all wooden mechanisms since it was relatively cheaply made. And I had a skill for manipulating wood, didn't I?
I subtly gestured towards the door activating the skill. It took a little bit of effort but I managed to pop the latch and swing the door open. I snorted slightly to myself. Pretty cool. I had an automatic door opener. At least if the door was made out of wood.
Fiona gave me a slightly confused look.
“What’s got you in a good mood this morning?”
“Just realized I can use my wood manipulation to open the door without touching it,” I replied.
I turned around and reached for my shirt pulling it on over my head before moving to my armor.
Fiona let out a chuckle as she waited by the door with the rest of her party.
“Yeah, I guess you can. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
I gave her a brief glance, “Yeah I guess I kinda am. I’d say it’s more like I’m trying not to let it bother me. You were right to a degree, I can’t mope about it forever. Which I guess helps me realize something else I had forgotten, which is amusing cause it’s something I have already learned painfully clearly before.”
She gave me another inquisitive look, “Oh?”
I nodded, “You can’t depend on other people to be there when it matters.” I held up a hand to forestall her as I already knew she was going to try to say something.
“There’s a saying where I come from, ‘If you want something done right do it yourself.’ If I want myself taken care of I can’t rely on the goodwill of others to see me through, in a way that’s what I was doing. I was counting on the Earth Raiders to be with me when it mattered, no matter what. Because that’s what I’d do. But once again I was reminded that people aren’t like me and that I can’t count on them to be with me through everything. Maybe that’s a pessimistic way to look at it, but the evidence speaks for itself I think. Garrus was justified to retreat from a problem that was too big for him to handle. I’m also justified to think he’s somewhat of a coward for doing that.”
I let out a sigh as I finished wrapping the rest of the belts together, “Neither one of us is wrong at the end of the day, all I’m saying is that I would’ve never done what he did. I was just wrong to suspect that this would be any different than everything else in my life. This will at least be the last time I make that mistake.”
Fiona opened her mouth to say something when I stopped talking, but before she could Kaylith placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.
Fiona let out a sigh, “Alright then. Well let’s go sit down somewhere and eat, I’m sure you’re hungry as well.”
I nodded and followed her out of the inn.
We ended up going back to the same place we had the last time. This time instead of a bland soup I got eggs, bread, and bacon. The staple of breakfasts everywhere. Marcie was definitely the chatterbox of the group, she always had something to say.
Not in an obnoxious way though, she was just an excited person. Fiona was the only one who really matched her energy. Kaylith mostly just nodded along with whatever was happening and Striga practically never got herself involved unless it was absolutely necessary. Which was never.
It didn’t take long for us all to finish eating at which Fiona prompted the next segment of our meeting this morning.
“So, I don’t know how much you remember from the other day of what we discussed, but our initial thought was to help you get started on heading towards Alixia and going to the Imperial Academy.”
I nodded, “ I remember a little bit. I don’t think that’s what I want to do at this moment. Currently, my limiting feature is just that I’m low-level. Going to a school and being forced to adhere to a curriculum would only slow down my leveling speeds at this point. And we both know that I’m only a slight time crunch. I think it would be better to just focus on heading into places where I’m going to be able to fight monsters.”
Fiona nodded slowly, “I guess that makes sense. Then I think going to Alixia would still be your best bet. The Tunnel is a pretty good place for pretty much anyone of any level. It’s a multi-layered dung-”
Fiona was cut off mid-explanation by a deafening clang that reverberated through the entire city. The sound was so overwhelming it shook the table.
It took me a second to recognize it as a bell.
A second clang sounded out causing the faces of the women around me to pale. The city was now deathly silent as it listened to the call of the bell.
A third clang rang out through the city. Everyone waited with bated breath, when a fourth one didn’t come everyone nearby broke out into nervous chatter gathering their things and moving away, going indoors and closing everything down.
Fiona let out a sigh, “Well you just might get your chance to level here and now.”
“Why? What was that bell?” I asked with a sinking feeling of dread in my stomach.
“Emergency bell,” Kaylith answered. “One ring is a declaration from the royal palace. The second ring has no meaning other than you better start paying attention to the number afterward and pray that it doesn’t reach four.”
“What’s three though?” I asked prodding her to give me an actual answer.
“It means war has been declared. More specifically it means they’re pretty much sitting at our front door.”
I sighed.
Well, shit.
MasterEnvi I guess since I'm putting this on all the stuff like Patreon, RR, and Discord I'll post it here as well.
Howdy folks! I hope you enjoyed your weekend! I come bearing some news this week.
So I believe I mentioned this a while back about the possibility of me picking up another project. Well, that has become a reality. Before talking about that I wanted to allay any possible concerns.
I am NOT planning on scaling back SoD releases at this point in time or for the foreseeable future. SoD is my primary concern, I will always focus on getting chapters out for this first and then working on anything else secondary.
I can't promise that this mentality won't change in the future, but right now this is how it is. So don't be concerned.
As it is right now the project I'm working on has about 15k words that I wrote over the weekend, however that's basically all prologue. I'm still working on a lot of storyboarding and power analysis and stuff like that so there isn't all that much to say about it other than what exactly it is that I'm writing.
Specifically, I'm writing a fanfiction. It's going to be in the Worm fandom. If you haven't heard, I'm a huge Worm fan. It's easily my favorite fiction of all time.
Coincidentally I got into writing before reading Worm, so it wasn't the inspiration for this. What's ironic about that though is that there are more than a few parallels between what I'm writing and stuff that takes place in Worm. And all of the story-crafting parallels in SoD happened before I even knew Worm existed which is extremely funny to me. Almost like it was fate that I was supposed to like Worm.
Nevertheless, if you haven't read Worm I'd really recommend doing so. I told that to my beta's as well, I didn't want their first introduction to Worm being my fanfic. I doubt I'll even be able to remotely do the worldbuilding justice and I'd hate for the twists and turns of the story to be spoiled by my writing when Wildbow did a much better job.
I could talk about this a little bit more, but I'll end it here. If you'd like to possibly know more, about either Worm or the fanfic I'm writing or really just anything in general my DM's are always open. Discord is just the fastest way to get a hold of me tho, I don't always check Patreon, but Discord is always up. Link to the Discord here!
Link to Worm HERE!!! (btw it's completely free to read!)
Anyway, that's it! Enjoy!
(p.s. probably means a little bit less to y'all reading here, but I figured I'd include it just because I care about y'all as well :). Right now RR is on chapter 108, so there's still roughly two and a half to three weeks of 5x daily releases before we're down to 1/day M-F.)
Waking up the next day wasn’t any easier. My mind flashed back to the last time I’d been with Penny. I instantly felt anxious, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. With what felt like a monumental effort I managed to push myself up out of the bed.
Fiona had mentioned that she wouldn’t be coming by today, but that she expected me to still go about my day like a normal person. I wasn’t in the mood for it, but I was less in the mood to let down another person who was helping me out.
I started with my daily effort of forming an arm. I still wanted to get this skill up, I had tried several different ways so far to make the arm but none of them seemed to function any better than just making one based on my actual arm. So it seemed that it really just came down to the level of my skills and how good I was at using them.
If anything I was starting to streamline the process, I was finding which parts were actually completely unnecessary in the arm structure to make a working prosthetic that was magically enhanced. So there was that at least.
A little over an hour later I managed to finish and was rewarded for my efforts with a level up in the requisite skill.
‘Ping’ [Wood Manipulation] Has leveled up 6 > 7
Very nice. A few more levels and I’d be able to try and push it into the first tier. Hopefully, that would make a large difference in how it operated.
I stood up and got dressed for the rest of the day, putting on my clothes and the armor I had. Raylith had made it perfectly clear that he still had a grudge against me for being a smartass, so the least I could do was be prepared to be jumped in an alley or something. The man definitely had a chip on his shoulder for some reason.
I could never understand people like that. Antagonistic by nature, but when you dish it back to them they throw temper tantrums about it. Made me want to beat the shit out of him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite strong enough to do that at the moment. Maybe one day though.
I planned to follow through on what Fiona had suggested for today. Going back out to that clearing outside the capital. I hadn’t properly paid attention when they had taken me outside the city. I believe it was to the north. I guess I’d figure it out along the way.
I was planning to stay there the rest of the day so it would probably be a good idea to get something to eat while I was out there. I walked down the stairs from where I was staying and entered the common room of the inn. It was well past when breakfast would’ve been served. Talking to the innkeeper it was pretty easy to purchase some bread and some dried meats to take with me.
I stepped out onto the streets and already I felt extremely lost. I really should’ve paid more attention yesterday. I tried to see if I could make use of my new skill to maybe get my bearings, but there was practically nothing I could significantly latch on to. The best I had was a floral shop a few hundred feet down the street, but that didn’t allow me to figure out where anything was.
It took me longer than I cared to admit to even be able to retrace our steps to the place we had eaten before leaving. From there I was able to roughly figure out the rest from muscle memory. Barely.
After several hours of pointless wandering, I was finally on the road out of the capital. I made a conscious effort to try and pay more attention to my surroundings this time. Now that I was outside the capital it was a little easier since I was able to use [One With Nature] to help see or rather feel things, around me.
I could feel a slight headache starting to build as I walked. This skill really pumped tons of information through my head constantly. It was definitely going to take some getting used to. Maybe there was some skill that could help with dealing with the stress? I guess I would keep working at it and I’d see what happened, either leveling the skill would make it easier to handle or I would die from a brain hemorrhage.
After about thirty minutes of quick walking, I made it back to the clearing. I immediately flopped myself onto the grass and just sat there for a moment. There definitely was something about being in nature that was soothing to my mind. I immediately felt more calm and in control of myself, less overwhelmed.
Although my head was still hurting, the overall view was nice but it definitely wasn’t very user-friendly.
‘Ping’ [Disciple of Nature] Has leveled up 10 > 11
Well, that was certainly convenient. It also told me that I could gain levels in classes outside of combat. Which I guess made sense for a healer or crafting classes. I assumed there had to be crafting or artisan classes. All though that wasn’t necessarily a given I guess.
I could immediately notice two things, one the feedback of what I was getting increased in quality. It was easier to make out the shapes of things around, albeit only slightly. The other was that it immediately put more strain on my poor head. I was going to have to tone down the range if I was going to be able to handle this at the current rate.
I played around with the skill for another few minutes before I stopped and sat up. Since I seemed to be doing better today I really needed to put some effort into figuring out what I wanted to do next so I could provide an answer to Fiona.
I let out a sigh. Everything had happened so suddenly. It felt surreal like it hadn’t really happened. It just felt… Forced. Unnatural almost. The whole situation. Garrus’ behavior didn’t seem normal in comparison to how he usually acted.
It all just seemed strange, I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. I guess I did need to find a way to gain levels. While an education would be nice, I wasn’t sure if that’s exactly what I needed. It seemed a bit too early in my career for the school arc. On top of that, going to a school like that seemed like a great way to refine my technique, but the problem is I don’t even have the skills to really refine it yet.
What I really just need are levels and pointers in the right direction to get those. Ideally joining another party would be the big maneuver. But after what happened with the last one I was in, I wasn’t too keen on just joining another group that would dip out at the first sign of real danger.
…
I guess I was a little resentful of them.
I was probably going to have to travel by myself for the foreseeable future then. I might head north and visit some of the other countries, try and get an idea of what was around me culturally. Fiona had also mentioned something about a cave or something in Alixia? I’d have to find out what that was.
I nodded to myself. Really I just needed to do the simplest thing. It was the same thing I did in every RPG that I ever played. Grind levels. If I followed the main quest I’d get weapons, levels, and skills. So long as I didn’t die in the process. I was putting way too much thought into it, either I’d succeed, or I wouldn’t. No in-between.
With that sorted I activated OWN again. I started out small but quickly built up the range ‘till I was starting to get a headache and just halted there. The distance that I could handle was shorter than before thanks to the increased visual definition of the skill.
I sat like that for several hours before I stopped again, both my head really hurting at this point and I was getting pretty hungry. I pulled out the food I had gotten earlier at the inn. It wasn’t the best I had ever had, but it was definitely better than nothing.
A short lunch later and I was back on the grind. Although I’m pretty sure the exp gain from using this skill like this was negligible at best. I didn’t really have anything better to do though so I just continued.
Seconds into minutes into hours I continued. The headache never really lessened, as far as I could tell I wasn’t getting more used to the information coursing through my head. I was stubbornly pushing through this in hopes that I could deal with it. But this might end up being something that could take days to learn how to handle if there wasn’t going to be a skill or something to help deal with it.
Through OWN I could tell that it was starting to get late and that I should probably head back. I pushed for just a few more minutes though.
Right ‘til the very end though, using this skill was a struggle. I let out a sigh and started to pull myself out of the skill.
‘Ping’ You’ve acquired a new skill [Accelerated Thoughts] - Your mind works more quickly allowing you to think faster than those around you thus allowing you to react more quickly to new information. 5% increased speeds per tier 1% increased speeds per level.
…
Hah. Hahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
YES!
I started laughing maniacally as I read the description. Ah, this was just too easy. I wanted a skill that could handle higher loads of information and I got a skill that does just that and more! It really was just that simple.
What’s even more amusing is that I’m now 99% certain that this is a gateway skill. Something like parallel minds definitely exists in this world, and it’s definitely something I want. Oh, this was going to be great.
I stopped laughing as I luxuriated in the use of the new skill. Or at least I tried to. It’s kinda hard to tell a difference of 1%. I frowned slightly. I had asked about general skills I should know about when I was with the Earth Raiders. Why wouldn’t they have mentioned this skill? Skills like these are generally just kinda force multipliers. Sure they aren’t the be-all and end-all of skills, but they’re pretty damn good.
So why wouldn’t it ever come up, especially when the concept was almost explicitly brought up? Quite strange honestly. Whatever, we are here now. That’s all that matters I guess.
I pushed myself up with a slight grunt and gathered my things to begin my trek home.
I felt much better on the walk home than I did on the way out here.
Waking up the next morning I felt a little lighter. I was still in the same shitty position, someone four tiers above me had a grudge against me, and I was kicked out of my party because of that, I was completely on my own again in a world I didn’t fully understand, worst of all I was weak. Maybe not by comparison of people at the same level as me, but compared to the world at large? I was painfully weak.
And yet I didn’t feel it dragging me down like I had the previous days. Overall I had good hopes for my future. I rolled out of bed and got to work on my arm. It took me an hour almost on the dot to get it done. I stretched it and flexed it making sure it was satisfactory.
While I was doing that I received a knock on my door.
“You awake yet, Alex?” I heard Fiona call out from the other side of the door.
I was about to walk to the door to open it when I stopped. The door was made out of wood. Mostly. The important bits were all wooden mechanisms since it was relatively cheaply made. And I had a skill for manipulating wood, didn't I?
I subtly gestured towards the door activating the skill. It took a little bit of effort but I managed to pop the latch and swing the door open. I snorted slightly to myself. Pretty cool. I had an automatic door opener. At least if the door was made out of wood.
Fiona gave me a slightly confused look.
“What’s got you in a good mood this morning?”
“Just realized I can use my wood manipulation to open the door without touching it,” I replied.
I turned around and reached for my shirt pulling it on over my head before moving to my armor.
Fiona let out a chuckle as she waited by the door with the rest of her party.
“Yeah, I guess you can. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
I gave her a brief glance, “Yeah I guess I kinda am. I’d say it’s more like I’m trying not to let it bother me. You were right to a degree, I can’t mope about it forever. Which I guess helps me realize something else I had forgotten, which is amusing cause it’s something I have already learned painfully clearly before.”
She gave me another inquisitive look, “Oh?”
I nodded, “You can’t depend on other people to be there when it matters.” I held up a hand to forestall her as I already knew she was going to try to say something.
“There’s a saying where I come from, ‘If you want something done right do it yourself.’ If I want myself taken care of I can’t rely on the goodwill of others to see me through, in a way that’s what I was doing. I was counting on the Earth Raiders to be with me when it mattered, no matter what. Because that’s what I’d do. But once again I was reminded that people aren’t like me and that I can’t count on them to be with me through everything. Maybe that’s a pessimistic way to look at it, but the evidence speaks for itself I think. Garrus was justified to retreat from a problem that was too big for him to handle. I’m also justified to think he’s somewhat of a coward for doing that.”
I let out a sigh as I finished wrapping the rest of the belts together, “Neither one of us is wrong at the end of the day, all I’m saying is that I would’ve never done what he did. I was just wrong to suspect that this would be any different than everything else in my life. This will at least be the last time I make that mistake.”
Fiona opened her mouth to say something when I stopped talking, but before she could Kaylith placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.
Fiona let out a sigh, “Alright then. Well let’s go sit down somewhere and eat, I’m sure you’re hungry as well.”
I nodded and followed her out of the inn.
We ended up going back to the same place we had the last time. This time instead of a bland soup I got eggs, bread, and bacon. The staple of breakfasts everywhere. Marcie was definitely the chatterbox of the group, she always had something to say.
Not in an obnoxious way though, she was just an excited person. Fiona was the only one who really matched her energy. Kaylith mostly just nodded along with whatever was happening and Striga practically never got herself involved unless it was absolutely necessary. Which was never.
It didn’t take long for us all to finish eating at which Fiona prompted the next segment of our meeting this morning.
“So, I don’t know how much you remember from the other day of what we discussed, but our initial thought was to help you get started on heading towards Alixia and going to the Imperial Academy.”
I nodded, “ I remember a little bit. I don’t think that’s what I want to do at this moment. Currently, my limiting feature is just that I’m low-level. Going to a school and being forced to adhere to a curriculum would only slow down my leveling speeds at this point. And we both know that I’m only a slight time crunch. I think it would be better to just focus on heading into places where I’m going to be able to fight monsters.”
Fiona nodded slowly, “I guess that makes sense. Then I think going to Alixia would still be your best bet. The Tunnel is a pretty good place for pretty much anyone of any level. It’s a multi-layered dung-”
Fiona was cut off mid-explanation by a deafening clang that reverberated through the entire city. The sound was so overwhelming it shook the table.
It took me a second to recognize it as a bell.
A second clang sounded out causing the faces of the women around me to pale. The city was now deathly silent as it listened to the call of the bell.
A third clang rang out through the city. Everyone waited with bated breath, when a fourth one didn’t come everyone nearby broke out into nervous chatter gathering their things and moving away, going indoors and closing everything down.
Fiona let out a sigh, “Well you just might get your chance to level here and now.”
“Why? What was that bell?” I asked with a sinking feeling of dread in my stomach.
“Emergency bell,” Kaylith answered. “One ring is a declaration from the royal palace. The second ring has no meaning other than you better start paying attention to the number afterward and pray that it doesn’t reach four.”
“What’s three though?” I asked prodding her to give me an actual answer.
“It means war has been declared. More specifically it means they’re pretty much sitting at our front door.”
I sighed.
Well, shit.
