Knowledge was the key they used to live a normal, carefree life. Some of them reached wider, like their current leader, Krovath.
Greed tempts every creature alike. To bypass greed, one has to reach the eternal form. Goblins were among the few creatures who knew they were greedy and embraced the facts to steal more, progressing with speeds even deities couldn’t match as no moral barriers stood in their way.
Tetsu’s first destination was the library. Based on the security measures, he considered it to be filled with gold but was equally delighted to find manuals, another autopilot spell translating the information into English.
“Knowledge is gold,” Kiel had drilled into Tetsu long ago, and because of that, a newfound appreciation settled for the purple freaks until he opened the purple leather-bound books.
Most of them contained useless knowledge of building stuff. His long-term plan of unveiling the universe by himself still prevailed, which made him hesitate, but he still stole them all for the fun of it.
What is costlier than knowledge in a heist?
When the books got too heavy, he smacked himself and ventured out to find the unlimited storage backpacks. Finding the bags out in the open made him hesitate, and after a bit more probing around, he found out most of them were connected to a massive chest, which was also poorly guarded.
“Scavengers’ gear,” he noted with a frown.
In a perfect world, he would sit there for ages to figure out the mechanics, but doing so during a heist made the trope boring. Thus, he ventured off to find the second most guarded spot.
His luck pulled through, making him stumble into a vault filled with high-tier pouches. The complex arrays guarding the loot made the hair on his neck dance with excitement, yet each time they deactivated before he stepped into the vault, squashing his childish dreams.
One look was enough for Tetsu to realize he could never crack the vaults, but the lack of stimuli made the victories seem pointless. At one point, he wanted to leave the loot behind. It took a lot of convincing to push along and steal them for every artifact they had.
Tetsu cleared the vault and moved on to the ones meant to store meat. A smoking-hot, well-seasoned steak in one of the spatial pouches gave him reason to call them beef pouches. After devouring and cursing himself for not savoring the meal, his conscience improved while robbing stingy Krantzes who stored only a single steak amongst the ten beef pouches.
The image of an empty vault felt like retribution for the crime they committed.
One steak! How dare they?
From there on out, Tetsu ignored all morals and filled the pouches to the brim. One spatial storage couldn’t go inside the other, so he fashioned a belt made of spatial pouches around his waist and across his shoulders.
A third of the manuals were left behind because they took up too much space. He also left forty percent of their stored food supplies behind, knowing all too well the importance of sustenance. It had nothing to do with the fact that they tasted awful to Tetsu’s famished stomach nonetheless.
Tetsu stole a few rifles for experimentation. He searched high and low for an additional pair of sneakers, but none were available within the vault. He assumed they were more precious than the rest, as they should be, and left the vault, one happy robber.
On the way out, an open treasury box caught his eye. The rest were closed, and he opened them to confirm the items got extracted, distributed, and arranged in the vault, yet this one vault was left behind in a rush.
“Why?” Tetsu went on a mini heist, and the treasure chest did not disappoint.
Excluding the spatial pouches and perhaps the manuals, which did not count as they wouldn’t benefit him, various herbs, potions, weapons, and two breathtaking axes joined the pile of loot, increasing the value a millionfold.
“Jackpot!”
Stamina potions moved into the first pouch he borrowed from the archer, the two lich staffs fastened on his back, and the rule not to rely on any weapons got thrown into the dustbin, with him embracing the way of the axe.
How can one not? They even shrunk to fit his stature. If that isn’t a sign from the heavens, what is?
The Krantz stopped by several times to pick up more ammo. Tetsu only took a few of those for experimental purposes; also, taking too many would have exposed his location.
He didn’t have time for a proper analysis of stamina potions, but what in these accursed grounds comes without backlash? And even if they did, his luck or the system would find a way to screw him over.
Tetsu relaxed in a secluded spot, hoping to reduce some backlashes he had accumulated thus far while drinking more stamina and health potions to stabilize himself. Most of all, his mental faculties needed some rest, and this short break worked wonders.
This didn’t mean he gave it complete rest; he kept tabs on the events transpiring outside and planned for what was to come. But the main reason he kept himself active was because of fatigue and the negative effects of the Divine seal: Eye of Providence.
One can lose an eye or two, which is still the biggest backlash of the Divine Seal Tetsu considers just another Rune. Yet such a strong Rune comes with plenty of drawbacks.
Divine Seal, true to its name, expanded Tetsu’s spatial awareness by force, in return for perspective. When one perceives themselves from a third person’s point of view for a long enough period, they become disconnected from their body, and one day become a hollow shell, a statue they are doomed to watch over for eternity, a statue of themselves.
Most of us immerse ourselves in a comic, novel, or TV show and live in our favorite characters’ shoes instead of our own. This state is similar, but with an added punch of magic that makes things much worse.
The Eye of Providence, the Divine Seal, had no range except for the single-use and cost of one’s vision after crossing a distance of fifty meters. One can place the eye miles or kilometers—whatever pinches your fancy—far-far away and be able to peer through it once, the location forever etched in their mind.
Only when they activate it a second time does the payoff turn into regret.
To keep it simple, Tetsu conjured ethereal forms of the Eye Rune to have an additional domain-like effect. The backlash reduced to his memory as ethereal runes faded: unlike etched runes.
An urge to place more eyes and constantly blink is more than a tactical move. The forced spatial awareness warps one’s perspective and to counteract the effect, one needs more runes.
One for the effect, another to keep track of the first, a third for self-awareness, and a fourth to monitor all the above. From there, the count only increases in a never-ending cycle where one eye has to be conjured to monitor the other. The cruel irony aside, to get back in control and perceive the world from your two eyes, a sense of one’s true self is required.
The individual has to be someone who can live in their favorite fantasy world and still be capable of discerning fantasy from reality, be confident to step out of the stimulation, and embrace true reality.
A feat that is only possible for those who can stay grounded while marrying their celebrity crush or for those who don’t give a flying fuck. Either way, you are in forty percent clearance.
Add a bit of mysterious luck, a calm mind when faced with imminent death, and the ability to multitask, make split-second decisions during multitasking, and a bit more of that elusive luck, because God knows we need a ton more of that, and you have a chance for success.
A power worth the ultimate sacrifice if used right.
Tetsu had a hunch, no, a nagging suspicion that any means could not circumvent the ultimate backlash, be it medical, artificial, or magical.
“Divine indeed,” Tetsu muttered, getting up with a grunt, his body protesting to take a year-long break.
He pushed himself out of the vault, sacrificing the epiphanies and ignoring his lying body. Defiance and sacrifice were acceptable payments for staying alive.
“Ah, fuck!” Tetsu spotted a group approaching.
The intricate and ever-shifting layout of the castle eluded him, yet the position of the [Eye] with the spatial awareness it provided, allowed him to judge the distance and make a calculating guess. To be safe, he marked one of the Krantz’s shoes and an ammunition box which would help him pinpoint their location once they were within a ten-meter radius.
The shoes weren’t special, but shoes of any kind were a luxury, and he wished to embrace the life of a hoarder.
Tetsu leaped onto the ceiling and embedded the axe head into the tile to get a better grip. The meter-long blade dug into the tile as if it were made of a soft fluffy cake.
Engrossed in the axe’s might, he forgot to keep a part of his mind focused on the approaching party. With the ammunition box crossing ten meters, lacking support from the eye due to Tetsu’s split concentration, they escaped, forcing Tetsu to change plans.
“First things first,” Tetsu muttered, going around collecting different tiles, simply because he could.
“You!”
“A Lich?” Tetsu stared at the Krantz, still suspicious.
“No!”
“Prove it.”
“What... why? INTRU—.” Her yell snapped when an axe slammed into the wall beside her, a web of cracks circuiting along the corridor by the sheer force of the throw.
‘Fuck, that is scary,’ Tetsu muttered, gaping at the scene.
The Krantz’s knees gave out, her voice trembling as she slumped down.
“You don’t want to get on my bad side. Especially when I have a cool-ass axe,” Tetsu warned the frightened girl, cursing himself on the inside when he glanced at the scene from a third-person point of view.
On autopilot, he stole her potions, cursing the situation even more. “Am I the villain here?” he pondered in silence. He placed a stamina potion down, tapped her on the shoulder, and motioned for her to drink.
She accepted the drink, recognizing the flask and their emblem, a classic string phone engraved on it, yet her legs still wouldn’t listen to her.
═─┈─{═E═}─┈─═
Knowledge was the key they used to live a normal, carefree life. Some of them reached wider, like their current leader, Krovath.
Greed tempts every creature alike. To bypass greed, one has to reach the eternal form. Goblins were among the few creatures who knew they were greedy and embraced the facts to steal more, progressing with speeds even deities couldn’t match as no moral barriers stood in their way.
Tetsu’s first destination was the library. Based on the security measures, he considered it to be filled with gold but was equally delighted to find manuals, another autopilot spell translating the information into English.
“Knowledge is gold,” Kiel had drilled into Tetsu long ago, and because of that, a newfound appreciation settled for the purple freaks until he opened the purple leather-bound books.
Most of them contained useless knowledge of building stuff. His long-term plan of unveiling the universe by himself still prevailed, which made him hesitate, but he still stole them all for the fun of it.
What is costlier than knowledge in a heist?
When the books got too heavy, he smacked himself and ventured out to find the unlimited storage backpacks. Finding the bags out in the open made him hesitate, and after a bit more probing around, he found out most of them were connected to a massive chest, which was also poorly guarded.
“Scavengers’ gear,” he noted with a frown.
In a perfect world, he would sit there for ages to figure out the mechanics, but doing so during a heist made the trope boring. Thus, he ventured off to find the second most guarded spot.
His luck pulled through, making him stumble into a vault filled with high-tier pouches. The complex arrays guarding the loot made the hair on his neck dance with excitement, yet each time they deactivated before he stepped into the vault, squashing his childish dreams.
One look was enough for Tetsu to realize he could never crack the vaults, but the lack of stimuli made the victories seem pointless. At one point, he wanted to leave the loot behind. It took a lot of convincing to push along and steal them for every artifact they had.
Tetsu cleared the vault and moved on to the ones meant to store meat. A smoking-hot, well-seasoned steak in one of the spatial pouches gave him reason to call them beef pouches. After devouring and cursing himself for not savoring the meal, his conscience improved while robbing stingy Krantzes who stored only a single steak amongst the ten beef pouches.
The image of an empty vault felt like retribution for the crime they committed.
One steak! How dare they?
From there on out, Tetsu ignored all morals and filled the pouches to the brim. One spatial storage couldn’t go inside the other, so he fashioned a belt made of spatial pouches around his waist and across his shoulders.
A third of the manuals were left behind because they took up too much space. He also left forty percent of their stored food supplies behind, knowing all too well the importance of sustenance. It had nothing to do with the fact that they tasted awful to Tetsu’s famished stomach nonetheless.
Tetsu stole a few rifles for experimentation. He searched high and low for an additional pair of sneakers, but none were available within the vault. He assumed they were more precious than the rest, as they should be, and left the vault, one happy robber.
On the way out, an open treasury box caught his eye. The rest were closed, and he opened them to confirm the items got extracted, distributed, and arranged in the vault, yet this one vault was left behind in a rush.
“Why?” Tetsu went on a mini heist, and the treasure chest did not disappoint.
Excluding the spatial pouches and perhaps the manuals, which did not count as they wouldn’t benefit him, various herbs, potions, weapons, and two breathtaking axes joined the pile of loot, increasing the value a millionfold.
“Jackpot!”
Stamina potions moved into the first pouch he borrowed from the archer, the two lich staffs fastened on his back, and the rule not to rely on any weapons got thrown into the dustbin, with him embracing the way of the axe.
How can one not? They even shrunk to fit his stature. If that isn’t a sign from the heavens, what is?
The Krantz stopped by several times to pick up more ammo. Tetsu only took a few of those for experimental purposes; also, taking too many would have exposed his location.
He didn’t have time for a proper analysis of stamina potions, but what in these accursed grounds comes without backlash? And even if they did, his luck or the system would find a way to screw him over.
Tetsu relaxed in a secluded spot, hoping to reduce some backlashes he had accumulated thus far while drinking more stamina and health potions to stabilize himself. Most of all, his mental faculties needed some rest, and this short break worked wonders.
This didn’t mean he gave it complete rest; he kept tabs on the events transpiring outside and planned for what was to come. But the main reason he kept himself active was because of fatigue and the negative effects of the Divine seal: Eye of Providence.
One can lose an eye or two, which is still the biggest backlash of the Divine Seal Tetsu considers just another Rune. Yet such a strong Rune comes with plenty of drawbacks.
Divine Seal, true to its name, expanded Tetsu’s spatial awareness by force, in return for perspective. When one perceives themselves from a third person’s point of view for a long enough period, they become disconnected from their body, and one day become a hollow shell, a statue they are doomed to watch over for eternity, a statue of themselves.
Most of us immerse ourselves in a comic, novel, or TV show and live in our favorite characters’ shoes instead of our own. This state is similar, but with an added punch of magic that makes things much worse.
The Eye of Providence, the Divine Seal, had no range except for the single-use and cost of one’s vision after crossing a distance of fifty meters. One can place the eye miles or kilometers—whatever pinches your fancy—far-far away and be able to peer through it once, the location forever etched in their mind.
Only when they activate it a second time does the payoff turn into regret.
To keep it simple, Tetsu conjured ethereal forms of the Eye Rune to have an additional domain-like effect. The backlash reduced to his memory as ethereal runes faded: unlike etched runes.
An urge to place more eyes and constantly blink is more than a tactical move. The forced spatial awareness warps one’s perspective and to counteract the effect, one needs more runes.
One for the effect, another to keep track of the first, a third for self-awareness, and a fourth to monitor all the above. From there, the count only increases in a never-ending cycle where one eye has to be conjured to monitor the other. The cruel irony aside, to get back in control and perceive the world from your two eyes, a sense of one’s true self is required.
The individual has to be someone who can live in their favorite fantasy world and still be capable of discerning fantasy from reality, be confident to step out of the stimulation, and embrace true reality.
A feat that is only possible for those who can stay grounded while marrying their celebrity crush or for those who don’t give a flying fuck. Either way, you are in forty percent clearance.
Add a bit of mysterious luck, a calm mind when faced with imminent death, and the ability to multitask, make split-second decisions during multitasking, and a bit more of that elusive luck, because God knows we need a ton more of that, and you have a chance for success.
A power worth the ultimate sacrifice if used right.
Tetsu had a hunch, no, a nagging suspicion that any means could not circumvent the ultimate backlash, be it medical, artificial, or magical.
“Divine indeed,” Tetsu muttered, getting up with a grunt, his body protesting to take a year-long break.
He pushed himself out of the vault, sacrificing the epiphanies and ignoring his lying body. Defiance and sacrifice were acceptable payments for staying alive.
“Ah, fuck!” Tetsu spotted a group approaching.
The intricate and ever-shifting layout of the castle eluded him, yet the position of the [Eye] with the spatial awareness it provided, allowed him to judge the distance and make a calculating guess. To be safe, he marked one of the Krantz’s shoes and an ammunition box which would help him pinpoint their location once they were within a ten-meter radius.
The shoes weren’t special, but shoes of any kind were a luxury, and he wished to embrace the life of a hoarder.
Tetsu leaped onto the ceiling and embedded the axe head into the tile to get a better grip. The meter-long blade dug into the tile as if it were made of a soft fluffy cake.
Engrossed in the axe’s might, he forgot to keep a part of his mind focused on the approaching party. With the ammunition box crossing ten meters, lacking support from the eye due to Tetsu’s split concentration, they escaped, forcing Tetsu to change plans.
“First things first,” Tetsu muttered, going around collecting different tiles, simply because he could.
“You!”
“A Lich?” Tetsu stared at the Krantz, still suspicious.
“No!”
“Prove it.”
“What... why? INTRU—.” Her yell snapped when an axe slammed into the wall beside her, a web of cracks circuiting along the corridor by the sheer force of the throw.
‘Fuck, that is scary,’ Tetsu muttered, gaping at the scene.
The Krantz’s knees gave out, her voice trembling as she slumped down.
“You don’t want to get on my bad side. Especially when I have a cool-ass axe,” Tetsu warned the frightened girl, cursing himself on the inside when he glanced at the scene from a third-person point of view.
On autopilot, he stole her potions, cursing the situation even more. “Am I the villain here?” he pondered in silence. He placed a stamina potion down, tapped her on the shoulder, and motioned for her to drink.
She accepted the drink, recognizing the flask and their emblem, a classic string phone engraved on it, yet her legs still wouldn’t listen to her.
═─┈─{═E═}─┈─═
