《Fantastic Journeys Through the Stars》Chapter 12 - A Language Difference
Advertisement
Vileplume claimed a lot of unbelievable things about Xylnareon and Tecsov with a look of total confident. She was still waiting for him to sign the contract.
Arthur looked at her, then looked over the piece of paper in front of him once again.
Whether Arthur believed what she said or not aside, he really had to give the loli a full 5 stars when it came to bragging.
Honestly speaking, her confidence was convincing.
Nevertheless, it didn’t hurt to be skeptical. He was still relatively new to supernatural mumbo jumbo. In gamer terms, he was still a noob without any macro knowledge. A bronze III player.
Even a Silver IV player would seem like a god to him.
There was one more thing he kept in mind. Vileplume was still a little girl. It was in her nature to make up imaginary things to attract the attention of adults.
Who said children don’t lie? They lied the most!
‘Right, I can tell from experience.’
Arthur took a few seconds to convince himself, then looked at Zoe.
However, seeing how tense Zoe was, he decided to think over what the loli said once again. It would be fine if it was made up, but what if it wasn’t?
After a few more minutes of contemplating, Arthur decided to blow away his hesitation and just sign the contract.
Zoe wanted to stop him once more, but eventually decided not to. Arthur exchanged a glance with her, saying no more.
The contract signing process was as normal as it could be which honestly was a letdown. He thought he would have to use a drop of his blood or half his soul or some other precious thing as an exchange, but all he did was actually sign it with a ballpoint pen.
Even after the deed was done, Zoe kept looking over the contract in hopes of finding something sketchy. Unfortunately, she had zero relevant knowledge in the field.
She had no choice but to give up her futile endeavor.
The contract itself was made in a way Arthur could easily comprehend. It was similar to his past work contracts. The first major difference being, this one was actually a physical piece of paper.
It listed everything Arthur was entitled to along with his major responsibilities. And boy was there a lot of both.
Arthur wondered how one A5 size sheet of paper could actually list a book worth of content.
When he asked the loli, she replied with a “I dunno.”
Sighing, he looked over his rights and responsibilities again. It was a mix of normalcy and weirdness which he in fact expected.
For example, his rights included his pay, unlimited paid leaves, insurances, social benefits, etc.
Advertisement
His responsibilities included getting into shape (?), learning how to operate a spaceship (?), fish diplomacy (?) just to name a few.
These weren’t even the weirdest ones.
“What is this ‘Bestowal of Demigodship’?”
“It makes you a Demigod!”
“What does it mean, exactly? Is demigod like a power level or something?”
Arthur remembered the monk, Liu Feng, talking about tiers and tens when he was battling against Zoe in the underground lava tube. He assumed it was a certain level of power. Because if there is a tier 10, there definitely were tiers 1 through 9. There might even be a tier 11 and up.
That’s why he thought this Demigodship might be a power corresponding to one of the tiers.
However, the contract didn’t expand on the term at all.
“Power Level? Hmm, maybe? But not quite, I think. We don’t usually use traditional power levels like most civilizations do. Those are filled with weird mysticism nuances. You met a monk yesterday, right?”
“Yes. His name is Liu Feng. According to Zoe he was a grade ten practitioner?”
“Tier 10.” Zoe corrected him.
“Didja know that in the Chinese region, they have another way of referring to that? What was it again…? A High level Yuangyung?”
“Yuanying.” This time it was Kralterror who corrected.
“Right! And in the European region there are Archwizards and Archknights and Archangels and… well you get it.
In any case, when it comes to power levels, we at Xylnareon use the simplest form of numerical. Like the stat sheets in rpg games. Lemme check, wait.
Uggghhh…” The loli suddenly started glaring at them while concentrating really hard.
“Zoe over that is a level 1051 space thing, and her combat capability is level 267. There’s a bunch of other stats like her energy, recovery, agility. Arthur is a level 6 terrestrial human with a combat capability of level 2. Isn’t that right, Kralterror?” The loli swung her feet. From the looks of it, she was enjoying sitting on that high chair.
The one-eyed butler nodded from the side, saying, “Indeed so, madam.”
Arthur felt insulted.
Vileplume continued, “But that doesn’t take into account your status as a Demigod. In the first place, do you know how many civilizations there are out there? As you can see even on Terra, there are multiple different ways to measure power even if you can draw parallels. Although they came up with a unified scale, its accuracy is unreliable at best.
The same can be said for almost every other cavillation out there too!
A demigod doesn’t fall into a traditional power scale like the tiers used by the local Terrans, or even the numerical representations used in Xylnareon.
Advertisement
A demigod is, erm, just a demi god? A different kind of semi-god? A stronger mini god?” The little loli tilted her head in confusion. She got lost in her own explanation. “It just makes you stronger in some ways than everyone else but a god?”
“There are Demigods in Terra too. They refer to those who are stuck in the juncture of tier 10 and 11.” Zoe said from the side.
“Ahh, that. That’s just the under-developed locals using the word ‘Demigod’ without knowing the actual significance. Did you know that there are even gods on your planet? That’s actually not the real thing. What a Terran means when they say god, and what we Xylnareons mean when we say the word, are two completely different things.
Come to think of it, you’re actually considered a god by some groups down there, right?”
Zoe didn’t answer but her face blushed red. She avoided Arthur’s curious eyes and shrank back into the chair.
That answered that question.
“How could they call themselves god when all they can do is tap into the power of some local fragmented universal laws? By Xylnareon standards, they aren’t even mini-gods! The correct term for them is inferior psionics.
They can only use weak psionic power, not divine. Even that candy wrapper in that trashcan has more divinity than those guys.”
Arthur checked and yes, the loli really was telling the truth. There really was a candy wrapper in the trashcan. There were many candy wrappers in that particular trashcan.
Well, trashcans aside, he simply didn’t have enough context to understand what the loli meant. Divinity? Psionic?
He figured he’d learn on the job. At least for now, he knew this ‘bestowal of Demigodship’ didn’t make him an overpowered cheat like existence, which was a shame.
There were still a lot of other things he wanted to ask. The little loli, unexpectedly, was patient enough to answer each and every one of his questions to the best of her abilities, which was frankly surprising.
Arthur thought she was too hyperactive for that. He did however, notice the girl frequently glancing at a wall clock with Earth time units.
Zoe, getting bored of all the official jargon, stood up from her chair while stretching her arms. She looked around a bit, then pointed towards the contraptions.
Arthur was puzzled, but the loli simply waved her hand and continued her explanations on the terms listed in the contract.
The eldritch maiden then started poking around the various contraptions in the room.
After about an hour, Arthur had just about finished asking all the things he could think off. He decided to check if Zoe had ruined any of the devices yet.
Vileplume started fidgeting hard at that point. She kept asking the butler if it was time yet.
Arthur confirmed with the loli that it was the end of the interview.
Rather, he’d already joined and the conversation didn’t feel like an interview at all. None of his qualifications were actually judged, and frankly he was the one asking most of the questions.
Arthur walked up the eldritch maiden.
She was currently standing in front of a holographic model of the solar system. It was like one of those holographic maps in sci-fi movies.
Noticing his presence, she turned to him and said, “This is really realistic!”
Zoe was fiddling with a control panel of some sort. Arthur wondered since when she had become so proficient in alien tech, but then noticed the control panel was just a screen saying, “What is your command?”
Zoe inputted, “Show me Snowy!”
The hologram zoomed in to the moon, then to Whitewood, then to Arthur’s house. It scanned the ryokan and created a realistic 3D model of it instantly.
It took a second for the interior of the house to be rendered. Then it started zooming in again until it finally showed the cat on the hologram.
Snowy was, for some reason, piling up deactivated Roombas before the house entrance. The hologram followed her movements perfectly, as she dashed into one of the sheds, dragged out another auto-cleaner, and finally pilled it on top of the growing mountain of robot corpses.
Arthur was impressed. Not with the cat, but the hologram. He would need to find out what was wrong with the cat after returning home though.
Vileplume gave a confident giggle, “Of course! I built it after all.”
She walked up to Zoe and the hologram, saying with a grin, “Wanna see something cool?”
Zoe blinked a few times, then nodded.
The little loli the zoomed out the hologram to show the solar system again. She then reached her hand inside and flicked one of the asteroids in the Oort cloud. The massive body of Ice and minerals started accelerating towards the direction of the flick, which was in fact the solar system.
Soon after, it cut straight through the system, its trajectory dangerously close to crossing the sun.
However, the asteroid didn’t hit any of the celestial bodies and soon exited into the Oort cloud again on the other side.
“It’s interactive too!” Vileplume exclaimed.
Advertisement
The Great Tower
Due to unsatisfactory ratings, the social entertainment program that was humanity has been cancelled. But the studio executives of the multiverse are anything but wasteful; every human has been entered in as contestants in the popular program "The Great Tower," where challengers must fight and struggle, seeking the treasures that await at the top.Before humanity is thrown into the meat grinder, everyone is given a chance to sell parts of themselves in exchange for a little boost. One young man seizes this chance, selling everything. Even his humanity. Nameless, Raceless, and without any clear memory of the past, he is thrown into the bottom level of the tower, with one goal. Survival.**** Cover credit to NohMerci ****
8 123Siphon
Be careful what you wish for. Jade has spent her life fighting boredom in the terminally ill ward by surfing the net and envying the ability and energy of others to go out and live. So when she wakes up with a weak, but healthy body in a magical world with blue game-like system notifications filling her vision, she'll have to adapt quickly in order to survive. Thankfully, she has a bit of luck and an ability that will let her reach for the stars. This is Andara, where her adventure finally truly begins. Author's Note: This is my raw, unedited text. In order to comply with my contract, book 1 has been taken down from RR except for the beginning, unedited preview chapters at this point. The edited book 1 is on Amazon! Thanks for your support!
8 122Chicken Is Eat
Bob is a chicken god and starts out as nothing but a farm animal. Not much to do, not very smart, and not very powerful. Later he visits the mighty CHICK-FIL-A and learns the ways of a true chicken god. Read to see his epic journey that is full of adventures.
8 131The First Primordial [DROPPED]
[Story dropped until further notice, I don't currently plan on restarting the story but will leave it as a possible option] During the Creation and before the inception of the Realms, there were 3 beings. Known as Primordials, beings even the God's knew little about that were rumoured to be myths or legends. Follow one of such beings that, given the unflattering name Arthur and the species of Demon, must figure out his place within the realms and find his fellow Primordials. Spending the beginning of creation within what will be called The White Realm then spending an unknown amount of time screwing around in the Demon Realm. Once he finally begins his story, he will be acquainted with a world full of grand vistas, religious nuts and floating rocks which will remove whatever little common sense he had remaining. Of course, there will be no shortage of trouble that will complicate things that (due to a poor ability in making good first impressions) will cause more than a few worlds changing events. These events include the destruction of a church and minor religion, including the death of that religion's God, messing with the reincarnated people and even introducing his own reincarnators along with the slight involvement of a war between the Demon Realm and the Creation Realm. Slow burn story; expect the story to be long with plot being introduced as it goes along. The story will include a main character with an actual mind and personality that will create, learn, and even destroy as the story progresses with an emphasis on what experiencing the other side of most novels, a perspective on that one whimsical god that brings the protagonist from one world to another that is only ever mentioned in the starting chapter. [PS- This will be my first time writing, so advice, tips and critiques will be appreciated. The release schedule is a bit iffy and unreliable but will mostly be every Sunday]
8 99Out of Place
TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE, SELF HARM, AND VIOLENCEHave you ever been out of place?Well, what happens when you spend your whole life trying to get back in place, only to realize that you don't even know where your place is anymore? Do you find a new place? Or continue searching for your original place forever?And what happens if you have no place at all? What then?Contains DimentioXMr.LSome characters and ideas belong to @LuigiDaisy2 and @SilverStarWarrior
8 205tmnt 2016 out of the shadows wolfwalkers sequel
It has been two years since Robyn and Merlin met April, Vern, Master Splinter, and the turtles. Donnie got bitten and became a Wolfwalker after the fall of the spire of Sack's tower. But now a new threat has raised along with new friends and new enemies. Join us as they take on another journey to save New York from an invasion led by a certain alien.
8 120