《Plumbing the Depths》Chapter 6
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ACHIEVEMENT: [DUNGEONEER I] UNLOCKED
SKILL INSIGHTS GAINED
EYE FOR FLAWS
ACROBATICS
ENDURANCE
BASIC MAGICAL ART THEORY
PROCEED TO THE GATE TO RECEIVE ADDITIONAL REWARDS
A terrifying moment in the void while the System gave me information that I couldn’t use, and then I was back in reality, standing over the shattered remnants of the skeletal mage. Only the staff was even vaguely interesting - and I could already tell that it wasn’t of much use to me.
Maybe to sell. Memories that weren’t mine indicated that it was basically a fuel rod, similar to my scalpel, but… it wouldn’t be good for a person to use the power directly. I found it good to lean on.
Now that the fights seemed to be over, my limbs were beginning to shake, and my eyes grew heavy. It was weirdly quick, at that. It made reaching the softly glowing Gate annoying.
And then I stepped through the gate, into… an office?
“Simon! How nice of you to finally join me.” There was a man sitting on an extremely comfortable looking chair. “I thought I’d catch you up on one or two things before you go back to that lovely new Deathzone of yours.”
There was a man, so aggressively plain and obviously fake sitting on a chair that practically oozed comfort, in a room that was aggressively office shaped. I felt a tear run down my eye as all the Flaws in the illusion briefly jumped out at me - and then everything solidified.
“None of that now.” The man said, jovially. “It’s rude to peek.” I shuddered, uncomfortably.
“What… What do you want?” I rasped. The man grinned. “I just want to ensure that we are very, very clear to whom you your first debt, between my master and the Lords and Ladies of the Third Sky.”
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“Your… master?” I hated how weak and breathy my voice was, but my vocal chords had gone through some abuse lately - I would have to live with it.
“The Devil!” The man exclaimed, cheerfully. “After all, a Knight of the Third Sky will happily kill a Dwarven Necromancer at any time, but someone had to tell him where one was…”
He suddenly frowned, angrily. “And then, you go and become a Hero of Chaos, after all the effort we went through.” Then, all smiles again. His face changed instantly, as if he was swapping masks.
It was yet another creepy encounter, but at least he wasn’t actively trying to kill me… yet.
“So, Simon-my-lad. Here’s what’s going to happen. You owe us your life, or at least your bodily integrity. We have a variety of servants in the Upper Planes. When they ask, you will help them, so long as the matter they need help with doesn’t require bloodshed. That, and when I or one of my colleagues asks, you will end a life for us - not your own, and no more than three times a decade.”
I stared at him. He looked at me, smiling jovially. “Or we can just take your soul?” He offered. I vigorously shook my head. “I’ll take the other offer” I said, quickly.
“Exc~ellent. Please note there is no escape clause, beyond the obvious. Now then… toodles!” He waved, the fake world fell apart, and I was hanging in the void, blue fire drawing itself together in front of me.
SKILL INSIGHT SUMMARY:
EYE FOR FLAWS - YOU SEE THE GAPS BETWEEN BREATHS, THE MISSING NOTES IN A SONG, THE SNARL IN THE WEAVE. SKILL EFFECTIVENESS INCREASED WHEN DETECTING FLAWS IN EPHEMERAL THINGS. SKILL EFFECTIVENESS DECREASED AGAINST INANIMATE OBJECTS.
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ACROBATICS - YOU MOVE TO LIVE, YOU LIVE TO MOVE. DECREASED BODILY STRAIN ON SKILL USE.
ENDURANCE - ALTHOUGH YOUR MUSCLES TEAR, YOUR BONES BREAK, AND YOUR BLOOD FLOWS LIKE A RIVER FROM YOUR BODY, YOU ADVANCE. SKILL EVOLUTION TO JUGGERNAUT UNLOCKED. IT WILL BECOME AVAILABLE WHEN YOU NEXT ADVANCE YOUR CLASS.
BASIC MAGICAL ART THEORY - YOU SING, YOU PRAY, AND YOU CARVE. YOU DRIVE AWAY THE DARKNESS, AND YOUR WORDS UNMAKE THE FOUL THINGS THAT CRAWL FROM THEIR GRAVES. ACCESS LOST TO NECROMANCY AND DARKNESS MAGIC. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON COUNTERMAGIC, MONUMENTAL MAGIC AND SACRED MAGIC PROVIDED.
PARTIAL RESTORATION GRANTED: RIGHT AND LEFT LEG, RIGHT AND LEFT ARM, ABDOMINAL MUSCLES, NECK MUSCLES RESTORED TO SUFFICIENT FUNCTION TO SURVIVE ORDINARY G-FORCE IN PLANAR DEPTH 0. HEART RESTORED TO FULL FUNCTIONALITY. NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF AGING REMOVED. REMOVED 2 POISONS.
THE MOTHER OF ORPHANS SMILES ON YOU. THE LADY OF SINGULAR KIND SHIPS SMILES ON YOU. FOR ONE JOURNEY OF YOUR CHOICE YOU WILL BE IMMUNE TO SEA-SICKNESS.
And then I was on earth, next to the Gate that had originally killed me. A moment later, a bolt of energy twisted past my ear, and detonated inside the head of a zombie. I dodged the gore splatter with the judicious use of [High-Speed Reflexes]. Pain flickered through my legs, and suddenly darts of power were coming my way from both sides.
I found the many flaws in the attack pattern, and stepped into the gap they created, and looked about. Corpses that were slowly dissolving into a weird fog were scattered about the place, four guardian pillars around the gate I had just stepped out of…
A group of colourful looking Gate… whatever the hell. Big man with a hammer and a glowing spherical shield, two women in combat clothes, a man in a business-suit with a sword in his arm.
And a group of fuckers covered in skulls.
I glared at them, and pulled the plate out of the satchel with my free hand, leaning on my pilfered staff with the other.
There was a veritable boneyard around me, after all.
“[ANIMATE DEAD]” The skull-heads exclaimed. Skeletons rose. Zombies stirred.
“Kendra… when… emanation?” I heard the big guy behind me say. “5…”
“The progression of all things towards the Final State is as the rains of Spring, and the winds of Autumn - it touches all things” I declared, as I rapped on the plate, and Synthesised a Spell.
Transmutation, Corpses>Earth, Destructive Matrix: Vortex of Returning Earth flashed through my vision, and I grinned.
The corpses that hadn’t been animated began crumbling into black earth. Resource denial was important, after all. The animated corpses also began to stumble - the animations weren’t all perfect, so some of them lost small bits here and there.
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AS LONG AS IT'S INTERESTING, ISN'T IT FINE TO LIVE AS A DUNGEON? (Hiatus)
[This story is now in Hiatus and I dont know if I'll come back to work on it again.] The story of a girl with a flare for creating a show that’s willing to let a lot of things slide so long as it’s interesting. She is summoned as the core of a newly birthed dungeon. With the power to create and destroy, what poor thing will her curiosity draw her to next? What interesting things will she show us? Note: This is just something I'm doing in between doing things. Please expect shoddy quality, a poor updating schedule, and significant rewrites. Thanks.
8 224lord fear
abandoned, not exactly knowing what he is, vile finds himself left in the most deadly forest on the continent mulfur. waking up with the mindset of conquest and the power to tame, control and summon legions of monsters. will he rise and bring fourth rule over mulfur or fall. NOTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is my first story and i am not good at spelling and all that good stuff. im just trying this out. im not proof reading nun cause i write during my first period and dont have the time. prob will just get dropped around the end of my first semester. but still enjoy and always use your common sense if i spelled or said something worng, i know we are not stupid and can figure out what people my mean. anyway enjoy!!!! cover art:macadamia_art_paren_anime_96791_200x300
8 61Ode to Fallen Angels
Jericho, the land of humanity, squirms in pain. Magic has been forbidden for so long in this so called "Age of Silence", that all Arcane knowledge has been presumed lost and irrecoverable, and the echoes of God's Will grow fainter with every passing year. The sight of Demihuman caravans is less frequent every day, as the likes of orcs and elves have learned to no longer beg for help from those who despise them. Clearly, they can expect more from the voracious wild lands than from humankind. Many have succumbed to despair, some driven mad by their fruitless efforts to bring back a Golden Age that they only ever read about in books. And in the middle of it all, in an old chapel lost in the Eastern lands, young Gabrielle lives in complete ignorance. She is another orphan living under the mercy of the Church of the Saints; one bearing the mark of evil in her red hair, the telltale sign of a Witch. In an Age of the Silent, the Prejudiced, and the Hateful, she clings to a single hope: that one day, be it in life or maybe after it all ends, she may find herself forgiven of her sin. The sin of being born.
8 190LARRAY TWEETS
:)
8 151dangerous // bakugou x reader
what is it going to take to become a hero?will they be afraid of your quirk? or rather, will they shut you down? those were things you constantly thought throughout the years. what will happen as soon as you enter UA? will this certain someone change your life forever? or is he going to think that you're dangerous, like everyone else.*this book may contain manga/anime spoilers, read at your own risk!* #1 on #bakugoxreader (9/3/2021)#2 on #bnha (22/3/2021)#1 on #katsuki (19/10/2021)#1 on #xreader (10/9/2022)#4 on #fanfiction (10/9/2022)
8 126Tablets and Confidentiality
i should really just change my bio because literally all i write are destiel drabbles.i suppose this one is sad, but meh. angst is what i live for. ehehehehe. fret not, however, there is happiness. :> **TRIGGER WARNING: DRUG USAGE**i also kind of wrote myself into this one because it's almost 2am and i hate my life and i wanted to. deal with it.inspired by this post: http://swxshbucklingcats.tumblr.com/post/120985182721/vyles-ray-inspired-au-where-human-cas-cant
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