Level Up Legacy Chapter 9
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"In an arcade? Huh, that's novel." Arthur's sarcastic remark didn't affect Si at all. He continued talking like he was used to being doubted. "Not really. Games these years are different after virtual reality runes came into existence.
What's the difference between reality and virtual reality?" Si's voice was clear, as if he rehearsed his words already. "That's why I scout people in arcades and gaming tournaments for any promising rookies."
"Rookies?" Arthur furrowed his brows, showing a façade of displeasure. Although it was true that he recently awakened, he didn't like that Si was analyzing him.
"Why would any awakener visit the arcade instead of a dungeon?" Si wiggled his thumb as he rotated the silver ring on his finger. Silence followed as Arthur stared at Si, and the latter stared back. After a while, Arthur sighed and dropped his head.
"Okay. Tell me what is it that you're recruiting me for."
"Oh, don't overestimate yourself. I still don't know you enough. However, have you done your Union's ability test yet?"
***
The Union's building was engineered by the first founder. Although current technology might look more sophisticated, no one can match the first founder's array system.
From the outside, the building seemed to be 600 square meters at best. It had thirty-three floors and ten basements as well. This was not even the headquarters. Furthermore, using arrays doubled the space inside each floor. One might wonder why would the Union need so much space.
In summary, the Union had its workforce that needed space to monitor and regulate the awakeners. They also had floors for artifacts transactions, monsters' carcasses dismemberments, training arrays, lounging, and even an academy.
However, most floors were for the Temple, a division that defended the public from disasters and criminal awakeners.
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That was the reason Arthur was filled with awe by the magnificence of the skyscraper he witnessed. Runes glowed on its floors as flying mounts and private jets flew in and out of its ports. The security check was also controlled by runes, so there was only a small number of guards, although they looked elite.
After passing the front door, Arthur felt the disharmony of space as if he entered a less compressed area than before. What greeted him was a large hall where chandeliers laced with gems towered the crowd of people idly chatting or lining up in front of the reception desk.
He chose one of the shorter lines and waited for his turn, where an oval-faced receptionist greeted him with a thin smile.
"Welcome to the Union, how can I help you?"
"Hello. I have an appointment at three for an awakener test. Here's my batch number." Arthur showed her his shabby phone, being conscious about its bent edge and cracked screen. The receptionist read the number and placed her hand on a tablet.
There was no screen, but it seemed the receptionist was looking through some data as she kept looking around. After a short moment, she lifted her hand off the tablet and turned to Arthur.
"Welcome, Mr. Arthur Silvera. Your batch is waiting in testing area number 3, please take a left from there and keep heading straight. You won't miss it." It seemed she recognized him from the photo in his application as she didn't ask for an ID. Arthur thanked her before following her instructions.
After walking for a few minutes, Arthur entered a small hall with a Testing Area 3 label. He found it to be half full, so it was easy for him to find a place to sit. He couldn't see anyone too eye-catching as he looked around, but there was this one kid with glassed, gesturing with his hands as if he was holding a ball. Arthur guessed it probably had something to do with his ability.
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As he was waiting, the clock struck three. The door slowly opened, and a middle-aged woman came in. Her high heels made a distinctive clank against the marble floor. She stood in front of the awaiting sitting crowd and held her hand up with her thumb touching the ring on her index finger.
Arthur could see some runes on the ring and realized it was a famous artifact that the awakeners used instead of phones and smartwatches.
"Welcome, everyone. The test will be conducted in a moment. Before that, my secretary will hand out forms for you to fill. You must fill the form with your personal information and your preferences." The woman continued to talk even as her secretary started distributing the forms.
"Your test results would be released in 24 hours along with your Awakener ID if you pass. Please read the clauses carefully before signing the contract so that you can have a better image of your privileges and your restrictions. Violations would be severely punished."
Arthur read the form he received. The first section required his personal information, contact information, ID number, and how he awakened. The second section was about how the applicant liked to be tested, whether he wanted to join the Union, and if he wanted to release his information to the public.
He remembered Si's advice about only taking the awakening test without evaluating his ability for confidentiality. This policy was implanted after an information leak scandal several years ago. He filled the form and only signed up for the awakening test.
He didn't want to deal with the aftermaths of people discovering his Legacy currently, as he was powerless. Therefore, for now, he decided to stay low-key until he can work his way up and grow stronger.
After handing the form, Arthur was sent to another room where a magic-resonance device detected the magical energy in his body. It was a magical feeling as Arthur felt his energy vibrate inside his body.
The awakening test was only that, and it didn't require any other tests. Arthur sensed some hostility from the secretary as she led him back to the reception hall, leaving the others behind for an evaluation test.
Although the Union would complete his ID, Arthur has turned down several privileges by withholding his ability. Since he did that, The Union would refrain from including him in teams and any future internships.
Leaving the Union's building, the worry was the furthest from Arthur's mind. He can always take the evaluation later and enjoy the privileges offered, but he needed some time to grow.
If the Union acknowledged his ability to be useful to the Union, Arthur doubted they would let him go so easily. He might have let go of his privileges, but he gained more freedom than others.
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Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
8 153Terrorizing Conqueror
Once, there was a boy filled with love for his family and his people. Alas, all of it was taken away from him on a certain day. Deprived of his blissful life, he was left powerless and brimming with inextinguishable flames of revenge. Hate and conviction being his only salvation, the boy treaded a path no one had ever before, just for the sake of grasping onto every bit of strength possible. The boy has now turned into a man, his overwhelming rage transforming into mind-boggling determination that threatens to consume everything in its wake. What will happen when such a being, who will stop at nothing, unleashes his fury onto the war-torn world? ************************************ Desclaimer: I do not own the image.
8 86The Lone Prospect
New rules. New girl. New home. Ex-military and werewolf, Gideon Vonrothe is looking for a place to belong. His first and last hope for a pack to call his own is the Heaven’s Heathen’s Motorcycle Club. Being the new prospect isn’t going to be easy. Rebels with a cause, the members of the Heaven’s Heathens motorcycle club regularly risk life and limb to rescue those in need, all to protect their greatest secret, that they’re all werewolves. Now a new member has petitioned to join the pack… The Heaven’s Heathens are supposed to be a big bad motorcycle club, a brethren of tough as nails hard asses. Formed out of necessity after the Cascading War, the Heaven’s Heathens have the reputation of being the toughest sons of bitches in Colorado. Their membership filled with those that have little use for society’s rules and pay lip service to laws outside their own. Insular and hierarchal, a new member can throw off the entire group. And they’re Gideon VonRothe’s last hope for a life that feels familiar or else he’s resigned to go back to the family farm. He doesn’t know anything about the Heathens, or motorcycle clubs. He doesn’t even own a motorcycle. An outsider, ex-military and unsuspecting sucker, Gideon is the latest victim of the Club’s brotherhood appeal. Vice President Savannah Barker knows better. The Club is a bunch of party loving, thrill seeking adrenaline junkies with a nose for mischief. Their idea of playing hard is a good brawl and involves the words trigger happy lunatics. Her Grandfather, Brand, President of the Club is the worst of the lot. It’s the officers’ jobs to keep the rest of the world from find out that they’re more than a group that loves motorcycles and explosions. They’re werewolves. The Club is the pack and the pack is a family with siblings that squabble. Their outlet is Heaven Has Mercy, private security for hire. No wars. No assassinations. Before the new prospect can change the rankings, Brand sends the ignorant Gideon on a rescue mission under the supervision of Savannah and her team. Soon the bets are flying on if Gideon has what it takes and how long this lone prospect is going to last. The routine snag and drag turns complicated when it turns out the client lied, and an attack on their home turf makes some believe that the new Prospect is involved. The Heathen’s have a responsibility to the man they rescued and their reputation is on the line. Is this a new beginning or the beginning of the end for the Heaven’s Heathens?
8 177Industrial Strength Magic
Perry Z has a Magical Destiny.Born to a Magical Fantasy Princess and a nine-to-five Supervillain, Perry's never felt...adequate. He's completely magically dull, and without a scrap of superpowers.When The System boots, he's forced to follow in his father's footsteps, but he'd rather take after his mother.Maybe there's a way he can do both... This is Macronomicon's take on a lighthearted slice-of-life superhero story. It is one of mine, though. So...you should know what you're getting into =P The Worldbuilding is primarily inspired by Superminion, which was in turn inspired by Worm.The explicit content tags are so if I decide to dip a little dark later down the line, you can't say I didn't warn ya. Except the cussing. That's there from the beginning. I tried to tone it down but a little just slipped in there.
8 1957Amaryah's Awakening
Join Amaryah as she discovers new worlds, new species and a new love in this sci-fi adventure! *****It's been 400 years since World War III's radioactive fallout poisoned Earth and crippled mankind. The remaining population on the globe exists within Bio-domes to protect them from what lies beyond. Noone is allowed to grow sick for fear of spreading their illness throughout the dome - at the first sign of disease persons disappear without a trace. ******* *******Amaryah's been hiding her sickness for a while now and exists solely to survive and hide from the government. When someone she trusts outs her secret, she flees for her life and finds herself outside the dome for the first time in her life.Prepared to meet her end as she faces the unknown charred lands of the place humanity once called home, she soon realizes that she is not alone and more so that WE are not alone.#1 in Aliens 4/8/21🎊👾#10 in Romance 7/8/21 💕--------------------------------------------------Copyright © 2018 - La Shon RichardsonAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner unless permission is given by the author.This is the original story with the original characters written by the author.
8 79The devils wife K. MIKAELSON
"𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝗲?"Meet Klaus mikaelsons wife, Leah Estrid Mikaelson. She was the definition of beautiful and everyone knew it, including her husband of a Thousand years. She hadn't seen her husband in over fifty years. What do you think will happen when Leah comes back and her husband is having a child with another woman. How do you think always will react when she knows her husband has broken their promise?
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