Mirrond: Well… not the timeskip you expected, but the timeskip you deserve… which means AWEEEEESOME. And a bit chaotic. BUT AWEEEEESOME.

Resus: you mean… the first part of the timeskip? We got… a little bit overboard… still, a lot of time passes during this chapter… It’s just that we’ll need few more chapters to get to the point when Varth is 13-15 (not sure yet) without skipping character progression for… everyone xD

Mirrond: We actually considered making it a few part chapter published at once (with no more than an hour long break between next publications)... but well, in the end we decided to publish it more or less normally. So no Part 2 today, sorry ;_;

*************************

Chapter 16: Long and significant years of reconstruction… PART 1

“Where am I? It’s so dark I’d think it’s a dungeon or something. HELLO! ANYONE HOME?!” It’s so dark I can’t see a thing but it feels cold… And it seems like I’m alone.

“Yeah, I’m here. But you don’t have to yell, I can hear you well enough” Or not… A high pitched female voice resounds in my head. I can clearly hear her but I still feel like there’s no one around me.

“Ok. Great. Someone’s here. Could you turn the lights on? Or torches? I don’t know exactly what you use here for illumination…” Let’s try to set some priorities. Light is probably most important at the moment.

“I can’t. I’m not there with you. And even if I was I don’t have a physical body right now. Try searching the walls for a switch. It should be somewhere.” Not here with me? It implies that there’s some kind of technology like speakers in this world. Or some sort of magic like… magic. Which is actually more likely since I got that supernatural vibe from the fire covered lady from earlier. She mentioned a daughter. Is that who talks to me?

Anyway, I take few steps in the darkness… and fall. Painfully. I’ve been standing on a platform and didn’t see the step down to the floor. Eventually I find a wall made of massive stone blocks and after further searching - three walls later - my hand touches a metal button. Let there be light!

“Finally. Wait. This place really looks like a dungeon. Or a basement. A really big basement.” Seriously, everything seems bigger than it should. Even the lightswitch was quite high on the wall.

I look down on my body. I’m not only naked… but smaller than I remember.

“Ok. There’s no need to panic. Con… fle… something… I think she told me that I’ll get a new body. And that it’ll still be quite young. Hey, disembodied girly voice - are there any clothes I could wear? Like, somewhere here?”

“Name is Ashee. There probably should be something to wear, but not in the teleport room. I have no idea where to look for it, so, you know, good luck with your search.”

Search. Great. There are wooden door next to the lightswitch so I assume this place is bigger than just this one room. But before proceeding through said door I take a good look at the chamber I’m in. It’s square shaped with floor, walls and ceiling made of massive stone blocks. Right in the middle of it is the platform I appeared on… and managed to fall of from… Is that the teleport? Not important now, next room please.

I open the door and, let’s just say that the mood is completely different in here. It actually looks livable.

“I must admit, I love the decor. The black stoney everything with red details from bookcases to couches… whomever built this place had a one track mind and a lot of unimaginative ideas. But the colors are my favorites, so yeah - I love it here.”

No answer.

“You’re just gonna stay silent? Ok. It’s not like talking to myself is a novelty to me. Don’t think I’ll shut up just because of some silent treatment. So anyway, I see more doors here, care to tell me what exactly this place is or should I keep guessing while searching for some pants?”

“Well, you are currently in the safest hideout we could’ve find for you - the lowest level of the biggest, deadliest dungeon in the world. I don’t really remember it’s name, something with labirynt in it… it’s just that… I have a really bad memory for things I don’t care about, you know. So, back to the answer - it was created by a crazy sect of sorts. They were basically all paranoid. Something about ‘the world is doomed’. So, they decided to dig themselves a nice little bunker. Somehow they learned how to create artifacts working similarly to what this world knows by the name of a dungeon core so they could build as many levels as they wanted. And now here we are, in the underground dungeon - level… um… I think it’s thirty thousand two hundred eleven. Although that number can be a little misleading, as the dungeon of that size cannot be completely vertical in a straight line. Most of this ‘levels’ are actually many floors not connected with each other, but parallel… for example level one thousand has twenty two sublevels, marked with letters. Like level one thousand A, level one thousand B and so on. Also to avoid digging too deep many higher number floors are located above the lower numbered ones. The number in this case indicates only the order in which you have to pass through them. The size of this place rivals a small country, and it’s powered by three hundred and twenty seven sect-created dungeon cores and twelve original ones. It took them seven generations to finish it. You are ABSOLUTELY safe here, because they made this place so dangerous and deadly that no one ever reached below level eighty. And the rooms you are in were a home for the sect leaders, that you are going to use, as he no longer needs them.”

“Wow. You suddenly became awfully talkative.”

“Of course I’m talkative, it’s absolutely awesome! This isn’t just a mere dungeon, it’s a work of art! Sure, they created it because they were a bunch of completely insane sectarians that believed that the world will end so they dig themselves a hole only to hide there with the deity they worshipped with an intent of never leaving the place again… but IT’S ABSOLUTELY FUCKING AWEEEESOME!”

“And yet you still don’t know the name of this place?”

“Because it’s name isn’t awesome at all! But yeah, I remember now. It has multiple names actually. It’s either ‘Labirynthian’, ‘Great Labirynth’, ‘Great Dungeon’, ‘Infinite Tunnels’ or ‘THIS MOTHERFUCKING DEATHTRAP’. The last one, um, I don’t think it’s official but it’s quite widely used.”

“Ok. don’t get me wrong, I like where this is going. So… to check if I understand what you just said - we’re currently at the very bottom of the most dangerous dungeon in this world… so that I can be safe… from what exactly? The other factions?”

When she speaks again, she’s suddenly much less enthusiastic.

“From other factions, yes and - what’s even more important - from the locals. Self proclaimed ‘Old Gods’ - the enemies of all three factions of… um, I think we are currently calling ourselves Lost Deities, but as I said, it’s not really interesting so I don’t really remember it. You were sent here so that you can spend few years learning magic, combat, and, um, grow up a little. You should have access to the RPG interface with stats et cetera… but I think that it just… well, it just went bluescreen and you’ll have to wait till the leader of the Black Pantheon manage to repair it.”

I guess the lack of clothes can be a little bit aggravating. And while exploring room after room of a crazy cultist slash magician’s black and red apartments I can’t wrap my head around the point of all this.

“I get that you can summon people from other worlds and all, but are you and your fellow Deities… really that powerful? And if so… for what do you need me anyway? I’m here now, I’m not in position to refuse you anymore. Can’t I get real details about my purpose in all this… how your mother described it? Causing even more chaos?”

“Yeah, we are really, reaally, reaaally powerful. Like a nuclear bomb. But after you drop it on a city it’s completely destroyed and no longer usable for anything, even if you technically just conquered it. So we need to assume… how did mother phrased it… oh come on, she told me that yesterday… a gentle approach? Something like that. So we can’t just blow everything up… unfortunately… and we need your help for that.”

“Ok. That’s new. And useful. Still, what’s the big idea? What’s the ultimate goal? What do you need this gentle… Wait, I change my question. What exactly do you want me to conquer?”

“Gods. Old Gods, to be precise. We want all of them with metaphorical collars on their metaphorical necks metaphorically kneeling before us with their metaphorical heads under our metaphorical shoes.”

* * * * *

I am still genuinely amazed that no one was angry with me for what happened to Sabir during the play last week. I think that’s mainly because he simply wasn’t supposed to kick me so hard. Teachers, despite their painfully obvious lack of competences, seem to be fully aware that kids will be kids, and sometimes while playing they can go overboard, but… not that much. And it’s not like they knew I put that plank there on purpose because I’ve foreseen what Sabir was going to do and I wanted for him to feel pain! So, they just couldn’t blame me. Even though they’re still racists, which really surprised me. I honestly thought that I would be neck deep in troubles. Huh.

Even more good news - The Nice Priestess, I forgot her name and codex is still broken, also didn’t have any problems whatsoever after Sabir’s stunt. They couldn’t really push a blame on her either, because she’s not a clairvoyant and couldn’t have known what Sabir was planning at a time. In fact it’s Sabir who got most of the teacher’s ‘attention’, even though he was the one to end up crying in front of entire classroom… I had my fair share of doubts if this whole mess would improve my general standings or put me in even worse position… But it looks like nothing really changed.

Ok, not exactly nothing. Sabir’s attacks at me abruptly stopped as he keeps ignoring me. That’s surely just a temporary change, no doubt about it. He’s a bully after all, and he has to bully others to keep himself happy. So, sooner or later, his need of bullying me will outweigh the fear… or rather the painful memory of his public humiliation, that keeps him at bay for now. Still, it’s good for me and the good news just keep piling up.

Ronta finally started acknowledging my existence. Even more so - four days after the play, this week’s tuesday, he actually joined the girls and I at our table. By ‘join’ I mean that he’s been sitting beside us silently… he’s a really withdrawn kid. Like, an extreme case of shyness. Every now and then he looks like he wants to speak, but at best he mumbles something we can’t understand… I can barely even call it a victory, or a successful ‘conquest’, but hey, it’s something! Now I just need to rehabilitate him.

Oh, and Kaelcy taught him all about the true meaning of The Book. No, seriously, this is getting ridiculous… ok, I admit, it IS an interesting and rather enjoyable read, but she’s treating it like an equivalent of a Bible… One thing’s certain, if I’ll ever have to create a secret religious sect, I’ll definitely make her my recruiter. Or brainwasher…

There is also a much smaller and less interesting matter. Throughout the week I noticed that two hydromancer girls are for some reason Saamor’s friends now… I don’t really want to know what’s happening on their side of the invisible front line, so I have no idea what led to this situation. Well, whatever, it’ll probably change again after few days… weeks… or months.

And finally, RLGS is back online. Sort of. The only working part is the main status screen and even then it looks like it went through a heavy maintenance…

It also makes me wonder who the hell is Demiurge… probably another Lost Deity, right? One thing is sure - his aesthetic sense is much better than Shadow’s…

[table=black]||===================||

||=====Varth Veles=====||

||===================||Race:HumanSubrace:Northwestern RepublicanNationality:ResOccupation:Child[/table][table=black]Attributes:Health Points:10 / 10Mana Points:0 / 0[/table][table=black]Physical attributes:Vitality:1Resistance:1Strength:1Endurance:1Dexterity:2Agility:2Intelligence:5Wisdom:6[/table][table=black]Social attributes:Charisma:3Attractiveness:1Intimidation:1Fear:2Faith:1Fame:1[/table][table=black]Real Life Game System 2.0 by…

Demiurge & Shadow…

Current number of users… 4[/table]

* * * * *

“Ash! Hey Ash!” Walking around all the rooms on this level was, throughout the week, my only occupation. Well, that and talking with Ash… but she eventually got tired of it. I wonder why.

“Come on Ash! I really need to say it. And it’s not valid when I know that you hear me and just choose not to respond…” Oh for the love of… “Fine. Stay quiet. I’ll say it anyway. Those cult leaders were really boring. What did they do all day? Sit on couches and meditated? There’s nothing entertaining is this entire complex! The books are all manuals on dark rituals and advanced enhancements… And, big surprise, the elemental magic you forbid me from learning about.”

Still nothing, huh?

“By the way, say my thanks to whomever’s responsible for my linguistics. Seriously tho, ask me how I know that all the books are just instructions and manuals. I CHECKED! ALL OF THEM! ONE BY ONE! Do you want to know how many there are? Including the library, seven bedrooms, two bathrooms, all twenty seven corridors and fifteen other rooms… and this bad joke of a kitchen… Four thousand two hundred and seventeen useless fucking books.”

Don’t leave me like that.

“And it comes from me of all people! I fucking love books!”

“Oh just SHUT UP for a moment. The interface is finally working again! Well, kinda.”

“Success! The princess spoke! … What do you mean ‘kinda’? And what does it have to do with anything?”

“Kinda, because only one segment of it is currently operational… It’s still something! And it is VERY important, because now we can start your training. At least partially. When they’ll repair the system completely, you’ll be allowed to start learning skills, magic, et cetera. Theoretically you could start even now, but with RLGS being broken into tiny little pieces it could mess something up, so mother told me to wait. Now, if you want to open your status screen just… reach with your hand as if it is already there.”

“Already where? That’s a pretty vague instruction… Never mind, it worked.”

[table=black]||==================||

||=====Nameless=====||

||==================||Race:HumanSubrace:Eastern DarehianNationality:NoneOccupation:Child[/table][table=black]Attributes:Health Points:10 / 10Mana Points:10 / 10[/table][table=black]Physical attributes:Vitality:1Resistance:1Strength:1Endurance:1Dexterity:1Agility:1Intelligence:6Wisdom:5[/table][table=black]Social attributes:Charisma:0Attractiveness:0Intimidation:0Fear:0Faith:1Fame:0[/table][table=black]Real Life Game System 2.0 by…

Demiurge & Shadow…

Current number of users… 4[/table]

“Ok. That’s gamier than I thought it would be. Understandable, nevertheless I have questions.”

“Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. Those are really important questions. And relevant to… a lot of things! So, I understand why I have no nationality, but why no name? Do I get to choose? Or, like, get one later?”

“It’s a local tradition for magicians to choose his own… descriptive name after he finishes learning. A name that is somehow connected to the magic he learned. So, for example, a mage who specializes in fire magic can call himself something like… um… Firestarter? Or Blaze… Or something like that. I don’t know what type of magic you’ll be best at, so I can’t give you a proper name… yet. But you’re going to get yourself one before leaving this place.”

“All the attributes are easily comprehensible… except for faith. What’s the deal with that one?”

“It’s helpful in a few… branches of magic. Mainly helps with summoning supernatural entities the Lost Deities can, let’s say, lend to you. I also gives you the ability to learn spells that have, em, more divine origin. And it has a small, positive influence on things like the amount of your health and mana points.”

“See, questions over. Was it really that bad? Anyway, you said something about training, right? I’m bored to death here… I’ll do anything, just tell me what… and where.”

“Of course… Go to that big empty room with one wall covered with white metal plates. It’s a general training room with all the equipment we need.”

“What equipment? You just said it yourself, it’s an empty room.”

”Right, you wouldn’t notice… They’re mostly in the walls. The installations. Old mechanisms capable of very precise spatial and gravitational manipulations. Little spells to assist with complex and diverse training routine. I hope you are ready for pretty… EXTREME physical exercises.”

* * *

“You… Really… Meant… Extreme…” The floor is so comfortable here. And cold. So pleasantly cold. “How long was it?”

“Thirty seven minutes and twenty two seconds...”

“Holy…”

”Nah… It’s not really your fault. Your body’s just weak as a baby’s.”

“Weak? That’s the most training I did both my lives! I never thought it’s possible to do pushups and situps simultaneously while running…”

”And whose fault is that? It’s just a beginning, I’ll start teaching you properly when you’ll be able to handle it. We have plenty of time… and you have nowhere to run…”

* * * * *

[table=black]=== HUD ===

System Message[/table][table=black]RLGS update 2.1 is now online.

Skills and Spells menus are now fully operational. We thank you for your patience - feel free to try them out.[/table][table=black]Real Life Game System 2.1 by…

Demiurge & Shadow…

Current number of users… 4[/table]

Well, six months passed since it broke, so it’s nice to see that they’re still working on it… and finally showing progress with it. But… Spells are practically useless for me so why the hell would they even make this their priority?! It’s nice to have skills back… although I can’t really look into them right now, because I’m in the classroom in the middle of lunch break. Maybe later?

“No Meri! Moon Knights were just angry because they always got worst jobs to do. You can’t just say that they were bad.” Ignore it, Varth, just ignore it. Keep eating.

“Yes Kel, you said that many times. But they were the ones to rebel in the first place.”

“But Suns were just mean! Remember that one time when they just didn’t want to go into the ruins on the swamps and they sent Moons, and later they were always talking about their bad smell? And it was their fault!” And here it goes again… today’s discussion is obviously about The Book. And today’s main topic is - who were the real bad guys. Quick recap, there were two knight orders - Sun and Moon - and the former treated latter like not-so-intelligent-and-totally-not-useful underlings. So, the Moon Knights in the second half of the story side with the evil forces and, according to the story, are ultimately vanquished. Meritri believes that it was their own fault for becoming the bad guys, while Kaelcy thinks that they wouldn’t become evil if the Sun Knights weren’t treating them so bad and show them at least a minimal amount of respect. So, basically, it’s the Sun’s fault.

“Don’t you remember Knight Gawkin? The Moons almost killed him in the inn! In the epilogue, right after their second victory against evil? They were all talking and drinking… and bam! They just attack him for no reason! THAT was mean!” I’m not even sure if it’s normal for a six year old kid to casually talk about someone dying… cultural differences, huh.

“And whose fault was that?! He and his ‘sunny’ friends treated Moon Knights even worse than Sabir would. If I were in their place, I would do the same.” Oy, saying things like that when people around you can easily count your teeth is pretty…

“Um… I think… The Sun Knights were… um… nicer.” Ronta recently begin talking to us, although he’s still far from the level of talkativeness that Meritri is showing - it’s a progress nevertheless. The notable thing about it is that for some reason he’s also something like Meritri’s follower…

“Not you too Ron! Help me Varth! They are so wrong, right?” I let out a mental sigh. So, I’m pulled into the conversation.

“I think Kaelcy’s right. Moon Knights became evil because Sun Knights were bad for them.” Well, normal adult would be a Sun Knights supporters, but you can’t deny that Kaelcy’s thinking is logical. And she’s alone against the other two, so I decide to support her. The ‘reward’ is her look, full of ‘thank you, thank you, THANK YOU’... Six months ago I would be freaked out, as it makes her look like a starving lion looking at the dying gazelle… but I got used to it, because she looks like that like half the time. It’s actually kinda... cute.

* * * * *

[table=black]=== HUD ===

System Message[/table][table=black]RLGS update 2.1 is now online.

Skills and Spells menus are now fully operational. We thank you for your patience - feel free to try them out.[/table][table=black]Real Life Game System 2.1 by…

Demiurge & Shadow…

Current number of users… 4[/table]

“What the fuck is this? … Really? Six months of nothing and now this? Hey, Ash… Do you see it? Can we finally kick in with the magic stuff? I’m bored to death by this constant P.E…”

“Of course I see it… Yes, it means that we can start with your magic training… although, soon you’ll be doing both this and P.E. simultaneously. But hey, at least you are showing some progress! Don’t worry. Be happy.”

“You know exactly what to say to bring me down in an instant. By the way… Is there a way to deactivate all the mechanisms one by one this time? I really don’t feel like suffering an hour long loss of spatial orientation right before starting all that magic business…“

“Well… probably? I can’t do a thing, because I’m not really there… it all works on independently. You want to train, it knows that you want it, it gets activated. So you just need to very carefully “want” to shut it down in an organized fashion… instead of “DAMN IT, LET ME OFF, LET ME OOOOFFFF” you are thinking normally when there is a time for a break.”

“Ok. Wow… Don’t you think that this information would be really useful like… HALF A YEAR AGO!?” One by one the mechanisms release me from their grasps and without much of an aftershock I once again stand in an empty room feeling just one ‘up’ and one ‘down’. It’s… a somewhat unsettling feeling to transition smoothly from multiple little segments of orientations to just one. The only comparison I can think of would be rolling down the hill… after being dismembered by an insanely pedantic butcher.

“Well, yeah it would be oh, so really useful… But you never asked, and what you just called an hour long loss of spatial orientation I usually call a break from your never ending logorrhea.”

“Did the voice in my head just said that it likes when I’m silent? Shouldn’t it be like… THE OTHER WAY AROUND?! No. Nevermind that. Magic. Training. How do I begin. Teach me!”

”Actually… I have no idea, I’ve never done it before. Give me a moment, I’ll ask mother.”

“I’m honestly flabbergasted. Six months and not even once you mentioned her… Wait. No, that’s not the point here. What do you mean you never done that before? Done what? I know it’s kinda late for that… but again - I never felt like asking that was important… What is it that you do anyway?”

“Normally I burn things… that’s kinda my lifestyle. And, honestly speaking, gods like me just don’t get soulbonded… or contracted, two names for one thing… with a mortal. Normally, when you do that, it ends with said mortal’s soul, or even body getting blown into pieces, but I am so weak right now that we can safely do it. Back to the topic - I contacted mother and I think I have… good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”

“There’s never a good answer to that. The good news are usually all about softening the impact of bad news when the latter comes first… or preparing you for that impact if it’s the other way around. I think I’ll do with some preparations. Good news?”

”I know how you can begin your basic mana manipulation training, and it’s rather easy even if time consuming. The bad news is - you could’ve safely start this training six months ago… so… um… sorry.”

“Did you really expect me to get angry at you because of that? It’s not like you lied to me. And it is my fault as well… I never questioned you about the details of magic training. I just assumed you knew better, and you can be sure I’ll never do that again. Wink.”

”Buuu, that was harsh… well whatever, let’s proceed to step one. Find a small object. It doesn’t really matter what it is, as long as it isn’t something organic and you are ready to, em, sacrifice it for growing in power.”

“Not a problem, there are tons and tons of decorative garbage in here. Let me get one… And in the meantime, can I get more details about the procedure? As I just said - no more trust for you. Now talk.”

”Nah. If you don’t want to do this, then you don’t have to. Give me a call when you will be ready to move to second part.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did my concern about our mutual involvement in enslaving this world’s current gods felt bad? Did the fact that we’re both gonna get thoroughly fucked if this whole project fail… You know, the project of reclaiming your power during the chaos that will hopefully be unleashed by other three reincarnates… Did my concern about that felt bad? WE ALREADY SORTA FUCKED UP ONE THING AND… Ok, I found… something. A small, wooden ball, no idea why it was on the shelf here, so we can start the training, right?”

”Let’s get one thing straight - only you are gonna get thoroughly fucked, for us it will only be… a serious disappointment. Not first and not last. And be so kind, and do NOT speculate about what our plan is, because you are far from understanding everything that is happening… I really miss the times, when all “heroes” we dealt with were happy to serve us simply because we are gods… well, ok, so let’s proceed to step two. Right now you should feel... something, right?”

“Something? SOMETHING?! What in the name of seven hells are you doing?! It’s tingly… and itchy… everywhere… STOP!”

”Right now I am repetitively emptying and refilling your mana - that’s what you feel as tingling and itching. The word ‘emptying’ is actually an overstatement, I’m taking only a small fraction of a single mana point. If I took more, the effects would be even more severe. So, now you need to catch that ‘feeling’, and put it into the object you’ve got in your hands. That’s how you can learn basic mana manipulation.”

“Put a feeling into the object… do you have any idea how ridiculous it sounds?”

* * * * *

“It worked this time. Finally. And surprising as well. Shadow, did you hear me? It works!.” Nervous looking teenager shouted that in direction of the door to the next room.

“Sweet. But, you know… Are you ONE HUNDRED PERCENT sure that it works and that there will be no problems? I still remember the sword you gave me. You know, the one that suddenly exploded when I wanted to stab someone with it. Just like all the things I got from you. EVEN FUCKING PANTS, seriously what the hell did you do with them?!.”

“I told you that the sword had a slashing enhancer and when you applied too much pressure on its tip it overloaded the compressors inside the blade… It was your fault, really…” The teenager said that while constantly switching his focus between the mighty figure clad in thorned, black set of armour and a console sticking from a machinery occupying most of the room.

“Totally not trying to avoid the topic of exploding pants.” The third voice resound in the room, this time it comes from behind the windows. Calling it a ‘voice’ is actually rather imprecise as it sound more like thuds and clashing of working machinery that forms itself into words and sentences.

“Yeah, I agree with your pet, Demiurge… Well, whatever, I survived that, so let’s get back to the topic. 2.2 is ready and stable?”

“Yes. Somehow it works. We still need to program the Codex, and I can already tell you that your glorious plan of making it into a portable Encyclopedia. Is. OBSOLETE. We’ll have to throw out plenty of things, but this should be the end of all stability problems of RLGS. Honestly, it’s still a mystery even to me how it worked for so long in the first place before getting blown into pieces. Not to mention the fact…“ Demurge looks at Shadow accusingly for a moment only to get back into his routine of switching focal point of his vision every two seconds. “… that you were too busy adding security holes to properly optimize the code only made things worse.” Shadow is silent for a long moment, before answering.

“You told someone?”

“Only Sararkaar.” He points with his finger in the direction from which the mechanical voice was coming earlier. “Honestly speaking? I don’t care that much. You’ve told me to make it work, so the security holes you’ve added are still there, I only made it so they don’t interfere with integrity of the the code anymore. I prefer to distance myself from your scheming. Even now I only mentioned it to point out why the RLGS broke down before. The fact that it was based on surviving Old Empire’s military communication systems didn’t help. They are like ten thousand years old, it’s a miracle that at least a fraction of them is still alive.”

“So, is that why we spent three months hacking into the computer systems of imperial Southern Army headquarters, that are now located in the middle of Corrupted Lands, which basically preserved them as new? Which I originally prefered to avoid, because the corruption makes them… unreliable?” Shadow somehow managed to say that mock in tone of a genuine question.

“Unreliable? That’s a pretty soft euphemism. You leave a short text document there, and after a month you have it rewritten with different words and added rhymes, all the while the main point of what you’ve wrote remains the same. And it’s exactly the same situation with coding a proper spell system. It’s more than unreliable. It’s the only thing worse than Demiurge’s inventions! “ The voice from behind the window comments again, but Demiurge ignores him and continues on his own.

“So, I had to make like, fifteen copies of RLGS spell system and make them run parallel to one another on fifteen separate hardwares, with a caretaker program that optimize them according to a majority rule… Basically it means that if few copies get sidetracked and their data or decisions deviate from the rest, they are forcefully rewritten back to the same state as the rest… So, it SHOULD work now. I mean, probably, because if there will be any serious fluctuation in Corrupted Lands it still might end with more than half copies of RLGS spell system randomly mutating and causing, I don’t know, the heads of all connected people suddenly imploding?”

“More like exploding, just as most of the things you make.” Sararkaar comments yet again.

“Yeaaah? And what if I make YOU explode? I was TOTALLY insane when I thought that creating a giant steam powered killer machine in form of a dragon and making it my pet was a great idea. TOTALLY.” At that moment Shadow starts loudly laughing at Demiurge’s outburst of anger.

“No, you were totally insane when you made it sentient.” This time Sararkaar joins the laughter.

“Oh, you too huh?. Wrrrr... Anyway, diverting from your fun and getting back to the topic - when I saw your security holes…“ Shadow is nearly sure that latest topic of their conversation weren’t security holes, but, oh well, Demiurge is Demiurge. An eccentric combination of a god of inventions and progress, and a mad scientist. “… I just felt that I have to make them… better! And greater! So… open them now!”

“I sense another explosion incoming.” Sararkaar comments, laughing again. Shadow only sighs and opens it. And then…

“Holy shit, seriously? What is this, you’ve added a fucking INTERFACE to a security hole? Wow, I can switch from one Reincarnate to other with a click… I can browse their entire interface?! And… wait, does this button allows me to record a video of their lives?! What the hell, Demiurge, you are a genious!”

*************************

Resus: So, that was PART 1 of the big timeskip xD What are your thoughts on this… redefine of Varth’s importance in the chapter? He is the main character, yes… But not the only character. And foreground in this story is pretty crowded :P

Mirrond: It will be now the story of Varth and our currently nameless boy that for a strange reason is written exclusively by Resus :V that way there should be no more boring parts, because whenever I will be doing something less interesting he will take over… and vice versa.

Resus: And while it was all planned that way from the beginning…

Mirrond: Well, let’s just say that in the beginning he was suppose to get a body that was… more like… fourteen years old or something…

Resus: But the story was visibly boring… and we had to make that change of pace come quicker.

Mirrond: Not boring! It was simply emotionally deeper… well, who am I kidding, it was getting a bit boring.