Mature Content Warning: None Really

Author's Note: So, here we go with today's update. :) Feel free to enjoy.

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Chapter 13.3: The Awakening

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A soft yawn escaped soft pink lips. Shara lifted her dive-tiara from her head then twisted from side to side. She pretended that she was a little sore after that lengthy stay on Earth. The red haired goddess of ninjas and night-time cuddling stood up. It had been quite some time since she had spoken with her.

Her twenty year stay on Earth had come to an end roughly one Earth year ago, and the time axis had shifted to a modest four-to-one ratio that ran opposite of the ratio that Earth Humans dealt with when entering into their so-called Dream World. Since that time she had spent her twenty hours of community service each week in the performance minor maintenance to the world and help in the test phase for various skill sets.

After Earth became connected with the open license version of ARS used by Indie game development companies, she had been evaluated on her performance. The project leaders had been impressed with her dedication toward helping to solve the problems inherent with a forced update of a long-standing Earth reality and the fact that she was a member of the family that ran Origin Entertainment. She had been granted elevated status and given a role as a goddess. A variation of her voice was even used when people who tread a dark path achieved a status, skill, or level update.

Shara had been given extra duties because of that, but that was fine. It had allowed her to play with her childhood friend a little, even if he did not realize who she was. Shara had been able to make overtures and offers that he could refuse, but had accepted. He was well on his way to becoming a powerful figure in the world. She was happy for him, even if it still burned her up a little inside that he had dealt with such a horrible childhood after they had parted.

She looked at her screen for a moment then checked a few things. Shara shook her head. Things were escalating and they would soon go from bad to worse.

“I still can’t believe those idiots screwed up that Earth so badly.” It took a special sort of idiot to perform a world update directly on a long-term planetary cultivation project instead of creating a copy of the current world. That was how most companies made a new world project, and they could populate the empty reality with any number of contracted souls in order to maintain a realistic atmosphere without destroying the native culture of the source world.

While she looked over her latest data packet, and her new update she cringed. “How can they do that?”

It was even worse than she had thought. She read through the information presented to her then shook her head.

<<< Update Notice >>>

You recently requested information on the status of monster spawn locations on Earth-1123-Beta-0.

The world engineering branch of our project has been unable to change much of the source code of the monster generation program due to errors in the system. We regret to inform you that monster spawning inside of private homes and well-traveled areas will still be in effect.

We have managed to curtail some of the damage by getting into the code that focuses on monster power and levels. High level monsters will not appear inside of towns or private houses near a town.

However, there is little else that can be done if the building owners and town leadership do not enact sanctuary areas to prevent monster spawn. The engineers have determined that further attempts to tinker with that aspect of the code will have to be minor, any major redistribution

Time until first monster spawn is slightly over eight Earth days.

>>

Shara hissed at the message screen then sighed. At least her childhood friend had been smart enough to enact a sanctuary zone. Hopefully everyone else who owned a house or business had been smart enough to understand what was about to happen. The project leaders and various alpha testers had tried warning people and governments over a year ago, but most of the leadership on Earth had proven to be incredibly short-sighted. Now the people would suffer for their stupidity.

Soon, even the project leaders would not be able to control what was to come. They could regulate systems but the chaos that would occur on Earth would be quite beyond any simulation’s capability to predict.

***

The armorer looked over Blackthorne’s new equipment then quirked his eyebrow upward. “Live armor, not bad. I figure it’s about as good as low-grade steel.”

Blackthorne nodded. He had figured it would be something like that. His equipment could increase its level, but the maximum level increase available as low due to his equally low synergy skills.

“So, you defeated a big daddy scorpion in the upper mines? I had wondered why no one went out there much anymore. There are plenty of raw materials left to mine.” said the man.

“Yes, it has kept me from trying to fulfill our bargain till I beat the thing.” said Blackthorne.

The armorer nodded. “That’s fine. I received a shipment of iron recently. If you still want the wire, I can make you some for a price or if you’re still interested you can go bring me those units of iron.”

Blackthorne shook his head. “It’s fine. The wire was for a project I planned to work on, but I found out that it was easier to get materials in another way.”

“I’d say you’re probably, right. Creating chainmail by hand takes a lot of time and effort.” replied the man.

The dark knight rubbed his chin. “I would like to buy those tools, though.”

“Ah, sure. You got rid of that scorpion. Tell you what. Either bring me a cuirass similar to yours, or I’ll take twelve thousand Jerin.” suggested the armor.

Blackthorne grunted slightly, that was a lot of money. He could make another cuirass, but he was not sure when he would get the materials again. He was about to part with the money when a disturbing and interesting thought crossed his mind.

“Would you mind holding off on that for a while, I need see if I can make another cuirass.

The armorer smiled. That certainly sounded promising.

However, Blackthorne was not certain that he even wanted to buy the tools here anymore. He might be able to get them for a much cheaper price elsewhere. It would require a little bit of experimentation, first.

“I would like to pick up a few other things, though.” said Blackthorne. He discussed his needs with the armorer and soon he had the rest of the items that he needed to complete his new ensemble.

Between the bits and pieces of armor he had scored from the zombies, and the items he had acquired from the armorer, he now had the capacity to have a full-suit of heavy armor. Strangely, it was not much heavier than the equipment he wore before, even if there was more of it. The material was a strong as steel, but far lighter.

Blackthorne returned to his room at the inn then worked to synergize all of his various components until his armor was complete. He now wore a full-suit of glossy black scorpion plate armor over black scorpion chainmail. Underneath it all he wore a dark blue set of padded armor.

“I don’t have a handy little screen to tell me how high my defense is...” He frowned. That was annoying to be honest. He would be forced to do math and hope that he was correct.

Blackthorne did just that. He checked each piece of armor individually, including his shield, then ran the numbers in his head. He blinked. “Holy shit.”

His defense was nearly six hundred points! After all of his items leveled up to max they would be nearly twice that amount. That was ridiculous. He was not certain that he understood the mechanics of how things worked here, but he knew that between his weapon attack stat, his strength, and his weapon damage, the numbers do not come anywhere close to the level needed to damage his current armor set up.

“Maybe it does not combine, though?” he asked to himself. It seemed far more likely that his armor did not have a handy little combined defense screen because the defense did not stack. It was only per armor piece.

“So, either I have a defense that is insanely high, or I have decent defense per piece of armor.” He decided that the latter was most likely the case. His cuirass could withstand an attack force of sixty-four, and the rest could withstand whatever they withstood.

Blackthorne continued to consider the possibilities for a moment. He had a lot of time on his hands still. Four hours happened here for every hour on Earth. Sonja would probably be asleep for at least another five or six hours. That meant that he had nearly a full day to himself before he would feel right summoning her to his side.

Until then, he had a few things to pick up. He wanted to hunt some more, but he also wanted to get a nice backpack, something that she could equip. If his theory was correct, his temporary slave girl would be quite useful for the time that they shared together.