LiseEclaire

The Cassandrian Theory (Chapter 8)

Velenia II, Cassandrian front, 611.07 A.E. (Age of Exploration)

Planet purging was always different. Sometimes the focus was a single contaminated colony, sometimes it would be a whole battlefield, sometimes the entire organic patch of a planet. I didn’t care much about purging. As long as it didn’t involve casualties, I’d just patiently record the event as an ou...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 63)

There was something different in the air when Dallion woke up. A few short weeks ago he would dread this day, desperately trying to move beyond level three. Now, Dallion was looking forward to it—the day that everything would finally be settled.

The house was eerily empty, which was odd even if it was an hour after Dallion’s normal waking time. Nonetheless, he went to the kitchen to g...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 62)

The shrine altar remained dim after the test. Dallion made several attempts to get back inside, to no avail. At one point he even tried to mend the shrine, hoping to trick it into letting him in, but was still unsuccessful. As far as the awakening shrine was concerned, he had become a persona non grata.

While some more explanations would have been nice, the experience had made Dallion rea...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 61)

The prospect of being an echo of himself terrified Dallion. As much as he was certain that he was the real him, there was just enough doubt for him to reconsider. If he was the original, nothing stopped him from leaving the awakening shrine. The echo would remain here, or alternatively vanish, and he would get back to challenging the village chief. However, if he turned out to be the echo, then...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 60)

There was nothing glorious in the way Dallion had become level five—he hadn’t bested the mountain, nor had he achieved a bone crushing victory. Even so, he was remarkably pleased with the result. Reaching this level had proved to be far more difficult than he had expected; it definitely wasn’t as simple as computer games back on Earth had made it out to be. Now, finally, he almost had wha...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 59)

Fighting the colossus with a dartbow and buckler turned out more difficult than Dallion thought. The more he tried to increase the distance, the more the guardian shortened it, moving as fast as Dallion himself. For every shot that hit the guardian, three were deflected, for every four that hit only one dealt actual damage.

Why didn’t your ears remain big? Dallion grumbled inte...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 58)

You are Level 4

The rectangle illuminated the room. Never had Dallion been so glad to be in this small dark room. Finally, he could catch his breath without worrying that a ten-foot hand would slap him on the head… along with the rest of the mountain.

No wonder the soldiers treated all the volunteers differently. Compared to the “fully awak...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 57)

Fighting a mountain on top of a mountain, Dallion thought, shooting bolts at the head of the giant colossus as quickly as the dartbow would let him. There had been a time, back on Earth, when he had wondered what it would be like playing the main character in Shadow of the Colossus. Now, he had his wish, and regretted it.

Size really wasn’t considered a factor in the awakened s...

The Cassandrian Theory (Chapter 7)

Director Sim wasn’t wrong. I was made aware the very next morning, precisely one hour before the start of my shift, via two high priority datapad messages. The first was a standard form order from Ondalov, letting me know where to be. Even through text and bureaucracy didn’t stop the man’s annoyance from leaking through. The second message was from captain ‘Bo, filling in the “pesky t...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 56)

Collected

Being calm and dispassionate often helps in difficult situations, although there’s such a thing as overthinking.

The rectangle brought a smile to Dallion’s face. For one thing it was he knew every “achievement” rectangle to be associated with a stat boost—mind in this case, judging by the wording of the text. Also, des...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 55)

The day passed in the medieval equivalent of partying, very much like the time Dallion had first awakened. There was lots of food, by local standards, a healthy number of people, as well as lots of talk and laughter. However, it also seemed different. Lacking the echo, Dallion could feel the fakeness of it all, as if he had been put in a tv drama in which everyone played their own roles. The sm...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 54)

“Return to your village with the Archduke’s thanks,” Dame Vesivua said with the dignity of a bored city official.

Just like at the previous village, there was no fanfare, no trumpets, or speeches, not even any medals of recognition. The only reward was a purse of coins for the village chief, given to Veil. The notion that the chief had gained more out of this than Dallion himself bu...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 53)

The mood on the way back was very different from what it had been getting here. The further the party went, the happier and more relieved the volunteers became. People smiled more, joked about during food breaks, even started sharing things from their lives. The soldiers, in contrast, became more and more cranky. For them, each step was taking them closer to the crowded, smelly barracks of thei...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 52)

“You’re lucky you aren’t part of my troops,” Dame Vesuvia went on. “Rushing towards a chainling with that level of training. If it wasn’t for the Cleric, you’d have been a pile of charred flesh.”

Dallion kept quiet. He’d only been part of the hunting party for several days, and already he felt like some things never changed. After the fighting was over, several people ha...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 51)

The chainling jumped away from Dallion, just in time to avoid a series of glowing red knives that hit the ground.

“I told you to run.” The Cleric said a short distance away, holding several throwing knives. That was both impressive and unexpected. If anything, Dallion thought of him more as a quarterstaff fighter.

Barely had the Cleric made his move than another party emerged. A...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 50)

Labyrinth section damaged!

Overall completion 37%

“One more to go,” Dallion said in an attempt to cheer up the rest of the group.

The plan, innovative as it was, had been received with a lot more enthusiasm a few hours ago. At this point everyone, Dallion included, just wanted to get it over with. Fifteen floors… five of which had to be ...

The Cassandrian Theory (Chapter 6)

They said two things were certain in the facility—anomalies and quarantine. I hadn’t seen direct evidence of either since my arrival, but there were traces in the files. Small hints bled through the thought quarantine, events and explanations too small to be caught by the sensor programs and too disconnected for anyone else to see.

Commenting the gaps, I was about to approximate that ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 49)

Walking through the bolt was different from what Dallion expected. While sharing a lot of similarities—the starting point, the guardian room, the mending maze—each had its own set of peculiarities. The guardians tended to be a reflection of the item’s owner, or owners. Gloria’s ring guardian was strong, but also fair and kind, those of the items in Dallion’s home were simplistic, but ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 48)

Dame Vesuvia charged forward. A large group of soldiers followed, running on foot. What little remained of the volunteers was long forgotten. Neither as disciplined nor as prepared as the main force, they had suffered the greatest number of wounds and casualties.

This was going to be the final confrontation. The chainling realized it as well, for it spun around gathering as much of the wa...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 47)

The Cleric emerged out of nothing. One moment he wasn’t there, the next the lines of his silhouette appeared, gradually getting filled like a paint by numbers picture. Without question it was very impressive, not to mention very magic related.

From what Dallion had been told, the magic stat was one of those believed to have been lost to humanity. Those born with it should have been trea...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 46)

It didn’t take long for Dallion to dash past the protective line of soldiers. All the awakened training he had done had improved his body and behavior to the point he could almost see the guide-markers without them being there. His body strafed and swirled almost on its own, passing by people and obstacles alike. Of course, it was a plus that no one actively tried to stop him—the skilled so...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 45)

Gloria didn’t say a word after returning to the real world. Her panic had subsided, but there was no telling whether the talk with Dallion had calmed her down, or she was simply good at hiding things. Not too long after, the group slowed pace. Gloria was called by the Dame and sent off with another soldier to scout on ahead. Everyone else was ordered to stop and rest—a real rest, not the aw...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 44)

The bodies were buried without much fanfare. Once they were gathered in one spot, the Cleric did something making the ground open up and swallowed them up. Seconds later a clay tombstone emerged, marking the place and giving a very brief description etched on the surface.

Merchant Caravan

Killed by chainling

Year of the Seve...