《Sandbox of Interest》Chapter 3
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My consciousness returns. I smell the fresh air that isn’t filtered with a tinge of grass. I open my eyes to see the green grass and leaves and brown wood of the trees. I am in a field of grass that has trees surrounding one of the sides where I came to.
I look behind me and see my aide and the Phoenix Hourglass. The hourglass rotates while the liquids remain at the same place as I first saw it.
As one part of the structure gets close to me, I curiously reached out to touch it. The hourglass’s smooth surface collided with my palm, and continued to rotate surprisingly frictionlessly as if my hand wasn’t there in the first place.
I then looked at my aide who wordlessly stared at me as she had turned to my direction. I stared back, slowly approaching her as a bit of curiosity welled up in me.
I then thought ‘status’ when I got close. Something came up in my view.
Vestrius Nomica Rank: Trivial Race: Human Level: 0 (0/1) Occupation: Fighter Lvl 0 (0%) Age: 20 years old HP: 200/200 Mana Points (MP): 50/50 SP: 350/350 Strength: 40 Wisdom: 5 Endurance: 60 Will Power: 35 Vitality: 20 Dexterity: 70 Agility: 120 Leverage: 40 Base Magical Damage: 5 Armor: 85 Magic Resist: 60 Luck: 150 Base Physical Damage: 70 Perception: 100 Equipment: Bronze Scimitar (Soulbound, 10x Durability: 29D 72H) Leather Hat (Soulbound, Unbreakable: 29D 72H) Leather Chestplate (Soulbound, Unbreakable: 29D 72H) Leather Pants (Soulbound, Unbreakable: 29D 72H) Leather Gloves (Soulbound, Unbreakable: 29D 72H) Leather Boots (Soulbound, Unbreakable: 29D 72H) Condition: - Skills: Novice Sword Art Lvl 0 (0%) Minor Fear Resistance Lvl 2 (11%) Minor Health Recovery Lvl 1 (67%) Titles: Player Aide (New) Systems: null Blessings: null
The many numbers I see confuse me quite a bit. I am guessing the numbers after the 29D is hours? So the amount of hours in one day is seventy-three hours in this world? That is about three times more hours than in my world, Isia. Also, why does she have “unbreakable” equipment while I do not? It also appears she has the tier two occupation that I didn’t choose to get. Would she be able to hurt herself using her physical or magical abilities? I am extremely curious, but for now, I refrained from allowing my curiosity to get out of hand for now..
I would like to utilize what I have now as this is still practically a completely unknown world. I have to find out the distance of the nearest civilization of any sort, a village, a town, or a city. I have to hope that I am not in the middle of a country and am in the wilderness otherwise I will be contesting this place to defend the Phoenix Hourglass.
From what I gathered from Caiyaly that she didn’t tell me is that gods exist in this world. That is what I have to be careful of the most.
I have a feeling that if any of the Gods in this world besides Caiyaly sets their eyes on the Phoenix Hourglass, I will have a major problem that may prove too much for me. I approach the Phoenix Hourglass again and think ‘status’ like last time:
Phoenix Hourglass Rank: Overlord Level: 0 (0/1) Age: 0 years old Durability: 50000/50000 Divine Power (DiP): 1/1 Strength: 0 Wisdom: 10000 Dexterity: 1000 Endurance: 10 Will Power: 100 Vitality: 5000 Base Magical Damage: 10000 Luck: - Armor: 10 Magic Resist: 100 Condition: Charging (0%) (30D 72H 58M 3S) Skills: Smite Lvl 0 (0%) Titles: null Systems: Player Spawner Blessings: Astoria's Divine Protection Boon of Callaly (30D 72H) SYSTEM of Redemption's Divine Protection
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I have 31 days before the World Hourglass fully charges. I will explore the surrounding area to make sure there are no demons.
That is another thing that Caiyaly hinted me at, the bad things in this world are demons. I don’t know what identifies as a demon, but I feel like I will find out very soon.
“Vestrius, follow me.” I commanded Vestrius to follow as I head out to explore the plains.
The first thing I saw in the distance was a huge rabbit surrounded by smaller but still larger than normal rabbits. There were so many rabbits behind those three, that the population seemed to stretch as far as my own eye can see.
I decided to attempt to see their status like I could with the Phoenix Hourglass and Vestrius. I focus in for the biggest rabbit first.
- Rank: Special Race: Jagged-Ear Rabbit Level: 17 Age: 11 years old Path: Field Overseer Lvl 98 - Rank: Extraordinary Race: Rough-Ear Rabbit Level: 11 Age: 8 years old Path: Field Grazer Lvl 291 - Rank: Extraordinary Race: Rough-Ear Rabbit Level: 10 Age: 8 years old Path: Wild Slammer Lvl 99
This... Is kind of confusing... In my earlier years of enduring my sickness, I ended up getting used to being confined to the house I was in, and sometimes one of my elder brothers, Robert, sometimes has a laptop he would bring with him. And one of the games he would play is something called a 'rpg' which I am reminded of by the status windows.
However, I've seen him play many variations of this 'rpg'. But all of their systems are similar to each other, and the system of this one appears extremely unique.
In my later years however, he stopped playing those games on his laptop as he said he had a 'pod' and he now plays 'vrrpg' games now.
This monster, appears to be much more powerful than me. I never knew a small fluffy creature could be such an imposing dangerous monster.
Since it's a monster, is this what a demon is? Either way, I will have to avoid this one for now.
The rabbits, are fluffy like the normal ones. I go back to the Phoenix Hourglass with Vestrius trailing behind me while this note is stuck in my mind.
After walking back a short distance. I just noticed something; when did I learn to walk so well again?
Back when I was confined to bed, I could still walk, but my steps weren't stable enough as my legs could easily give out at any moment. I then recall that I was unconsciously walking like a normal healthy person when I was following Astoria.
I decided to toss back into my mind of what I couldn't fathom very well at this point in time. Anyways, it is time to go over what I have scouted around the Phoenix Hourglass so far.
First, the Phoenix Hourglass is surrounded by forestry on three sides, and has plains covering the last side. The part with plains seems to have a multitude of rabbits.
I could actually only see rabbits all the way to the end of the horizon, and there were certainly many. I arrived back at the Phoenix Hourglass.
At the Phoenix Hourglass I saw a translucent door in front of it. Astoria was waiting outside.
"Welcome back." Astoria greeted me, "I have come out to tell you that my mother has revised her domain and ways of entering. From now on, you can only enter her domain by using this door," she gestured behind her, revealing the entirety of a translucent blue door, "You may use this door at any checkpoints like the Phoenix Hourglass that you have set up yourself, like a bed, a couch, a futon, or any other kind of thing that identifies as a cushion that you can sleep on. Furthermore, You have a time limit everyday of two hours in the domain. That is all." She said, then she grabs a book from behind her back and opens it, turning her full attention on it.
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"What is the point of going to Caiyaly's domain?" Aside from what defines a checkpoint, these people keep on telling me that I can visit the domain. Yet I do not understand why.
"You haven't figured it out yet? Time is frozen in my mother's domain. It's the best place to plan for the entire day and plan battles. You may not realize it yet, but you're at an extremely dangerous place. But that is all, only for now... You should depend on your follower more for information while you still can. Of course, your follower cannot answer any questions my mother refused to answer you, but you have already seen some things in this world. Ask your follower about that." Astoria responds while her full attention is still on the book.
I turn to Vestrius who absentmindedly stares at me. "What book is Astoria reading?"
"I am not allowed to answer that." Vestrius responds immediately.
I look back at Astoria who is staring back at me, ignoring her book. I shift my glance at the book that she is reading only to see that I cannot view any text from the angle she is holding the book.
I shift my glance back at Astoria herself, and she still is staring back at me with a questioning look. I turn back to Vestrius.
"Can you tell me what is the difference between trivial rank and special rank?"
"There is a large difference between trivial and special rank. There is a three rank gap between trivial and special."
"How would one achieve special rank?"
"One requires a Personal Level of 15 which is an accumalative 1640 occupation levels."
"How does one get occupation levels?"
"One would have to perform actions that would create an understanding toward's their own occupaton."
"How would I get occupation levels?"
"You would have to gain experience from combat using your spirit arts. For your current occupation, you would have to use your ethereal power to activate your Min."
I then realize that I am holding a cylinder in my left hand the whole entire time. Was that there ever since I read my status?
"How do I use my ethereal power?"
"Come here." Astoria said suddenly, interrupting Vestrius. "I'll show you how to use it."
I walk over to Astoria without much of a thought in response. She then grabs my wrists and stares me straight into my eyes as she looks up at me.
"Close your eyes." I close my eyes in response. "Sense your heartbeat." I immediately visualize my heart that's connected to the rest of my body inside. "Use your heartbeat to scan for any irregularities inside your body." I then see an orange mist inside my body. "That orange mist is called Ethereal Power. Now guide that mist to both of your hands." I then consciously guide the mist to the top of my chest, where I split it in two and guide one to each hand. "Now grab your Min with both hands. And surge your power into it." My ethereal power surges into the Min, and my eyes were forcefully opened, and Astoria was back at the door, not holding my wrists like earlier.
A bright blinding white light then comes out infront of me. A girl that is the same height as me appears within the fading light.
She hovers in the air as her transparency shows. She possesses pink hair and wears a white frilly dress, her eyes open to reveal a pair of yellow pupils.
My right hand unconsciously lets go of the Min and a long, double-edged blade appears where my right hand was, replacing part of the Min. She stares into me dazedly.
"A Sustainor Spirit User, huh?" The girl said as she continued to stare at me. "My name is Mimi, the Venerable Sword Singer."
"Isn't she not supposed to have any memories?" I asked in confusion. Mimi gives me a weird look.
"That's all she remembers." Astoria replied.
Mimi crossed her arms, "I wish that you wouldn't talk about me like that. How rude of you two."
"But do you remember anything else?" Mimi glared at me for a bit then became confused, her face flushed a bit too.
I then look back at my Min that transformed into a one-handed sword. It's inlaid with metallic patterns and gems.
I thought of giving it a swing before Astoria warned me: "Don't swing that while you're facing the Phoenix Hourglass or you will damage it."
Wondering how I could damage the Phoenix Hourglass by swinging the sword from a distance, I became apprehensive with my thoughts of swinging it then.
"What happens if I swing it towards the rabbits?"
"The rabbits will get hurt and then will retaliate against you."
"Hmm, ok." I thought about it for a while before deciding not to do something so casually. "But how am I going to get experience to get stronger?"
"Well, seeing as you have already scouted the safest area," Astoria started, "I regret to inform you that the majority of the demons here can easily overpower you and your follower. Hence, I have to advise you to use your unique skill every time you fight until the monsters no longer have an extreme advantage over you in terms of power."
"My unique skill?" This conversation... kind of befuddles me. In the way that I didn't really think about my unique skill too much.
"Your unique skill, Pure Saint's Spirit can allow you to deal extra damage when using whatever weapon your Min changed into. This can allow you to offset the power balance between you and the monsters. But this skill can only last for a limited time and it will take a long time before you can use the skill again. Also make sure your follower gets a hit in at least once, or she won't be able to help you much in the future."
"Ok, how do I use this then?"
"You have to find it within you to retrieve that power. I won't be helping you with this one."
"What happens if I can't use it in the middle of the fight?"
"Then you and your follower will get slaughtered."
"What am I supposed to do then?!"
"Figure that out yourself." At that response, I felt somewhat wronged. The only death I've experienced so far is dying to burns while being weakened by a disease made by the system, and now this kid is telling me to experience death again?
I look at Mimi, who is staring absent-mindedly at the sky.
"Who was I?" Mimi asked.
"I don't know?" I responded. How am I supposed to know...
"You don't know? Either times have changed or I am not that well-known as I thought I was."
"Well, I'm not from this planet so I don't know."
"You're not from this planet? How did you get here?" I looked at Astoria, who just ignored me.
"I don't know, she's the one who brought me here."
"This ordinary child?" Mimi stares deeply at Astoria, who is still ignoring the both of us.
"By the way, what is the name of this planet?" I felt a tap on my shoulder, I look back and there's Vestrius.
"The name of this planet is Brumane."
"What's the name of your planet?" Mimi asked.
"My own planet's name is Isla." I responded.
"So you're an otherworlder that was brought here by this ordinary girl?"
"She's not ordinary. She's the daughter of a god."
"Well, I suppose that would be why I can only see her as an ordinary person."
"I do not understand?" I said.
Just when Mimi was about to explain, she paused. "I don't remember how to explain..."
Exasperated, I decided that I shouldn't waste anymore time here. I go back to the open fields to see that rabbit again. This time however, the biggest rabbit spots me.
"A Jagged-Eared Rabbit, that's not something that someone like you can deal with." Mimi identified the rabbit and cautioned me.
"Well, that girl did say that I could win if I were to use my unique skill."
"Unique skill?"
"Yeah... But the problem is that I don't know how to use it."
"Not a problem. Any sort of skill can be easily triggered. They all can be triggered the way you expect them to."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, if you know the skill's name and how you got it, then you can trigger it."
"Well... The problem is that I don't know how I got it, but it's called 'Pure Saint's Spirit'."
"Pure Saint's Spirit? That does not sound bad. From how that skill sounds, you can trigger the skill by channeling your spirit."
"Channeling my spirit?"
"For example, if you were to channel your Ethereal Power, you can trigger the skill."
"How do I channel my Ethereal Power?"
"Well, if I have be honest with you, since you don't know how to do that, it's going to be difficult to do. But the simplest way it to combust your Ethereal Power."
"Combust?"
"You know, explode. What you have to do is spread your power to envelop your entire body. But combusting your ethereal power is dangerous unless you're a magician. So what you have to do instead, is to spread your ethereal power to your legs, and head, besides your arms which you are currently doing. Oh and that reminds me, do keep an eye on your ethereal power. It should be close to full, but as long as you are directing ethereal power into your spirit source, you are losing it slowly but surely."
With that said, I thought 'status'.
Aliyah Vertremes Ayosci Rank: Trivial Race: Human Level: 0 (0/1) Age: 18 years old Occupation: Spirit Novice Lvl 0 (0%) HP: 189/189 EP: 7312/8003 SP: 242/255 Base Physical Damage: 100 Equipment: Min (Active) (Soulbound: 29D 72H) White Cloak (Soulbound: 29D 72H) Condition: - Skills: Lesser Channeling Lvl 0 (1%) (New) Novice Spirit Arts Lvl 0 (51%) Unique Skills: Pure Saint's Spirit Lvl 13 (92%)
She is right... I lost almost a whole 700 ethereal power.
"How do I get it back?" I asked with a bit of impatience.
"It's not like you lost it forever, you just have to stop directing power to your spirit source and you will start getting it back quickly. Ah, but if you do that, I will go away. I don't know if I would like that or not. It shouldn't be a problem right now until you fully channel your power."
The other two rabbits near the biggest rabbit began to also notice me at this point. The biggest rabbit charges straight for me at that moment while the other two follow behind him.
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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 153Hero for Hire
Can a hero be bought? Can he go save you for money?A boy was paid in teaching the heroes. He can insult the king, make a princess cry and only save people at a cost. He is a bastard that everyone hates but why? Find out as we go on a journey with a former hero as he wants his reward, in cash.
8 134Eldingar - The Lady of Golden Steel
We follow the story of a Noble's daughter. Highborn, with everything that she could've asked for. With the status of a Ducal daughter, the wealth of an international business conglomerate, unprecedented magical and intellectual talent that brought her the fear and admiration of her peers... It was certainly quite a life. One where virtually every door of opportunity was open to her. But, of all things. She chose one door in particular. Something that very few her age would've ever decided to do. A path which many more would regret having ever gone down on. But, that was years ago. Surely, it was already behind her. And quite soon, she's to travel across the continent. A trip which she had been planning for the past six years. All by herself. How could things go possibly go wrong from here? And it does, would she be able to pull herself out of it?
8 80The Brothers of Haltria
Twin brothers were born in the Kingdom of Haltria. One was destined to rule. The other was destined to serve. Plots, intrigue, and long lasting rivalry drove them to odds with one another. Now a new power has awakened... or is it an old power born anew? Note: This novel is scheduled for weekly release through March of next year. At that time the schedule may be accelerated.
8 194adVerse Wishes
Rose Smith, living in a poor world struggles to get over her grandpa's suspicious death in South Carolina but soon finds it was a murder...by a piano! Strong willed, Rose displays her determination to avenge her grandpa's death by fighting the piano, but at the same time, she has another battle to face being the new girl. Rose happened to move into her grandpa's house from Ohio after he died and with her old apartment she left all of her friends. With two negligent parents, Rose lacks in social interaction until she becomes best friends with a wealthy girl named Marylyn whom she meets at her new school. After breaking the traumatic news about the instrument in her grandpa's old house, Marylyn and Rose fight the piano with all the power they have.
8 181Corona (The story of a small life in a big universe)
The vast wonderings of life conjured up by an ordinary teenage girl.Readers, please feel free to correct any mistakes that you see by telling me in the comments. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy!
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