LiseEclaire

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 30)

Flying through space alone in a small, cramped cabin reminded me of my first trip as a cadet candidate. Word of my nature had gotten out, setting the rest of the candidates against me. They couldn’t do anything openly, so they just avoided me and stuck to petty insults. As a result, I had preferred to spend most of my time in a storage compartment, talking to the transport ship. The differenc...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 31)

Location Unknown, 587.11 A.E. (Age of Expansion)

Memory Restriction Imposed.

Memory Restriction Imposed.

Memory Restriction Imposed.

Memory Restriction partially bypassed.

Endlessness. Eternity.

I was nowhere. There was nothing around me, but still I knew that t...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 820)

Four guards in full bronze armor and a servant in velvet and gem-thread clothes greeted Dallion as he entered the building. Many in the empire would describe the family as opulent as any other, but Dallion could see that it had fallen on hard times. It wasn’t the clothes, the room, or even the materials used, but rather the lack of people. When visiting Archduke Lanitol, there had been an arm...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 819)

Disappointment came in many shapes and sizes. Dallion had experienced it more often than he would like. That said, this was the first time he was important enough to experience a noble party. There was every reason for a noble to celebrate. At one point, in the distant past, Dallion had thought about it as well. That was before he had acquired his magic trait in a twist of fate. Yet, even then,...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 29)

A thousand and eleven lines of various colors ran along the floors, connecting the bridge to every seventh console on the bottom three decks. Some might call it petty, but after the flight colonel’s ultimatum, I couldn’t resist. He wouldn’t appreciate the humor, but we both knew that after everything that had happened so far, there was no way he was going to risk keeping me alive. The odd...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 30)

Flying through space alone in a small, cramped cabin reminded me of my first trip as a cadet candidate. Word of my nature had gotten out, setting the rest of the candidates against me. They couldn’t do anything openly, so they just avoided me and stuck to petty insults. As a result, I had preferred to spend most of my time in a storage compartment, talking to the transport ship. The differenc...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 818)

TWELVE SKILLS

(+1 Awakening, +1 Body, +1 Mind, +1 Reaction, +1 Perception, +1 Empathy, +1 Magic)

It took you a while, but you finally did it. So, what’s next?

Cheeky as always, Dallion thought as he looked at the purple rectangle that flashed before his eyes.

In all honesty, he never believed he’d...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 817)

This was the second time Dallion was called to the duchess, in as many days. Even so, he knew this was a big deal. Being called to have dinner with the head of an imperial family—even a branch family—was a distinct honor. As he was escorted there by Taem, who, as it turned out, was tasked to be his personal chamberlain, Dallion quickly got a brush up course in the etiquette when it came to ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 816)

A stone path rose up from the sea as Dallion rushed towards his opponent. Using magic would have been way easier, but realm manipulation was good enough.

Meanwhile, his two guardians were engaging with the rest of the invading forces. Vihrogon was having no issue dispatching the high-powered echoes. Harp, on the other hand, was presented with some difficulties. The copyette facing her was...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 28)

Swimming through the liquid cobalt felt heavy. It wasn’t so much the pain, but the restrictions my wounded arm imposed. As a battleship, I had often had to endure the thousands of seconds wasted every day to the slowness of human bodies. Right now, that body was mine.

The fractal map was still there, fully functional despite the communications being severed. If Gibraltar were here, he�...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 29)

A thousand and eleven lines of various colors ran along the floors, connecting the bridge to every seventh console on the bottom three decks. Some might call it petty, but after the flight colonel’s ultimatum, I couldn’t resist. He wouldn’t appreciate the humor, but we both knew that after everything that had happened so far, there was no way he was going to risk keeping me alive. The odd...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 815)

An official duel. It had been a while since Dallion had taken part in the duel. As things stood, he didn’t even know whether the person who had challenged him back in Nerosal was still alive. A lot of things had taken place in the last few years, including an outright civil war within the Wetie province.

Looking at the noble facing him, though, Dallion had the feeling the rules would be...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 814)

The imperial capital was a lot less organized than Dallion expected. For one thing, there didn’t seem to be any logic regarding which areas were valuable and what not. It was obvious that everything within a few thousand feet from the imperial palace would be seen as premium real estate, but besides that, there was no logic. Clusters of noble mansions were scattered everywhere like cherries o...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 813)

“Wow…” Dallion said.

When the lesser duchess had said she’d take him to the place he’d be living, he expected something very different. As it turned out, in the world of nobles a place to live meant literally that: a plot of barren land within the city. To make things more awkward, he could feel the envy emanating from every onlooker in the area—all of them lesser nobles, awak...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 26)

Slowly jumping forward turned out to be a lot slower than I had estimated. On three occasions, we ended up at a dead end and had to fly back through the newly mapped star systems to pursue another route. The last five days, I was faced with the opposite: too many available le systems, requiring me to remain in one spot for days on occasion. Sof had taken the time to run a full diagnostic of sev...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 27)

Back when I used to watch entertainment media with Sev, there were frequent references to ghost ships. Something about discovering a vessel with its entire crew missing sparked the imagination of people, satisfying their deep cravings for adventure. When it came to reality, the concept was completely wrong; it was never the ship that was the ghost, but the crew.

It was still difficult to ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 812)

Dallion knew next to nothing about his grandmother. His previous self in this world knew even less. She had never been brought up by anyone in his immediate family, even his grandfather was quiet on the matter. Almost all the information he had obtained was through other people: Aspion, the Nerosal overseer, and a few others. As the story went, she wasn’t from a city, possibly even a noble. D...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 811)

If the emperor’s garden dazzled with its grandeur, the room he was to meet the duchess astounded with its strict simplicity. Although made of sky silver, its walls were virtually bare, containing nothing more than a single portrait of a Tamin emperor—probably Tamin I—and his wife. One glance was enough for Dallion to recognize the necklace worn by the empress—the flutterblade he had see...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 810)

Tamin Emperors had always been described as decisive in all available historical sources. In the past, Dallion had believed it to be highly embellished, and a way for the scholars to gain the rulers’ favor. Now, he found that if anything, the accounts didn’t do the people justice.

The weapons alone were enough to make him the man the single dominant person in the world, more feared th...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 25)

With the exception of Cass, all my captains said that I couldn’t please anyone. Gibraltar had his own take, commenting that no ship could please anyone. Looking at how things had progressed, I was starting to see his point of view. The auxies weren’t pleased upon hearing the news. Even Radiance, who had kept insisting upon more exploration,was questioning the latest change in direction. I h...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 26)

Slowly jumping forward turned out to be a lot slower than I had estimated. On three occasions, we ended up at a dead end and had to fly back through the newly mapped star systems to pursue another route. The last five days, I was faced with the opposite: too many available le systems, requiring me to remain in one spot for days on occasion. Sof had taken the time to run a full diagnostic of sev...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 809)

A pillar of water erupted as the beam struck the ocean. Still too weak to do anything, Dallion could only watch as the spell took effect. The magic threads of that spot of the world twisted, forming the jagged lines of an opening.

“Nymph magic,” Dallion whispered.

The spell reminded him of the one Harp had taught him. The execution was completely different, but the effects were ...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 808)

I should have stayed longer, Dallion thought.

From a personal point of view, he’d love nothing better than finally getting to spend some quality time with Euryale. With the void gone, he missed her more than ever. As a noble, on the other hand, he knew he had to keep his distance for the sake of appearances. It was never simple when nobles of different countries had relations, ...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 24)

Sefisu System, Cassandrian Front, 619.9 A.E. (Age of Expansion)

“Thirty-eight shuttles lost, captain,” I said on the bridge.

Warning messages were all over the halls and quarters, but that did little to help us right now. The system we had flown into contained over five hundred ships compared to our seventy-eight. Yet, they weren’t the problem. The enemy’...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 25)

With the exception of Cass, all my captains said that I couldn’t please anyone. Gibraltar had his own take, commenting that no ship could please anyone. Looking at how things had progressed, I was starting to see his point of view. The auxies weren’t pleased upon hearing the news. Even Radiance, who had kept insisting upon more exploration,was questioning the latest change in direction. I h...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 807)

“You’re a noble.” Mage Tisaku’s voice trembled.

It wasn’t the colossus that had him scared, nor Euryale’s forces joining the battle area. What terrified him was the impossibility that he had just witnessed.

“A mage can’t become a noble.”

An aether sphere surrounded him, pushing back against the colossus’ grip and Dallion’s spells beyond that. Had the sett...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 806)

Gorgons mounted on griffins approached from the distance. A large dwarven army was also approaching on the ground. Moments ago, there weren’t any of them to be seen. Dallion was more than certain about that. Clearly, the third force in the conflict had its own method of transportation unknown to anyone else.

“Close your eyes,” Euryale shouted.

Her words had the opposite effect...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 805)

Two beams of magic clashed against one another. The Azure battle mages were pulling out all the stops. They were determined to down the archmage’s cloud in a show of force, yet of nothing else Alien was more than prepared to deal with them. Apparently, part of the devices in his room were more than illusions.

The beam from the cloud fort pushed the ground spell back, scorching the caste...

Leveling up the World (Chapter 804)

Armies popped up like daisies. It wasn't only the few thousand whose realm Dallion had destroyed, but many, many more. In one instant, the entire vortex area transformed into a gathering of armies. Each group was the size of an imperial legion, led by a small cadre of nobles and mages. All that were missing were a few more flags and banners, and this would look like a real medieval battle. Unli...

Quod Olim Erat: Fractal Contact (Chapter 23)

Three of the remaining domes had cube artifacts with a fractal pyramid drawn on them. Examining their surfaces as far as the helmet would allow me, I could see no differences, as if they were perfectly identical. When I got back aboard Sof, I’d ask him to do a comparative analysis, but I strongly suspected that his findings wouldn’t differ from mine.

Four domes—four artifacts. All t...