《Hatake Pride》Part V
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~KAX9N~
~Thump thump~
Loneliness is dangerous, it's addictive once you see how peaceful it is, and once you do, you never want to deal with people again...
~Thump thump, Thump thump~
It's the worst feeling in the world, knowing you were used and lied to by someone you trusted for someone else's gain...
~Thump Thump, Thump thump, Thump thump~
Some people aren't loyal to you... they are loyal to their need of you... but once their needs change, so does their loyalty...
~Thump thump, Thump thump, Thump thump, Thump thump~
"I'm sorry XN..."
'Mmm, sensei?' I open my eyes slowly to see my mentor standing next to my bed, hovering over me with a kunai raised above his head.
My eyes widened and I quickly pushed at the wall behind me, sending myself sliding along my bed to the other side of the room just as my mentor thrust the kunai down, right where my heart would have been.
"W~What are you doing sensei!?" I question as I jump out of the way of yet another attack.
My mentor didn't answer me, just pull a giant shuriken from his back and hurl it at me.
I scrambled to my feet, running for my door before the shuriken embedded itself in the steel slab, centimeters from my face. I snapped my head to face my mentor as he looked at me. I was already panting heavily while he breathed calmly, his face was stern but his heart was beating out of rhythm and at a painfully fast pace.
"Hold still, you're just making this harder for yourself." He sheathed beginning to weave hand signs.
I pulled the shuriken from my door, spinning it in front of me to try and create some form of wind barrier as my mentor blew a fireball at me.
"AHH!" I cried out as the blast hit the shuriken and push me back, the force breaking the steel door from its frame and sending both of us crashing into the wall opposite us.
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I groaned, pushing the piping hot tool off me and brushing rubble from my body. My mentor slowly walked into view, a murderous look surrounding him. I rushed to my feet, skidding and slipping as I ran down the corridor.
"Plan A failed, fall to B" I heard my mentor say before he came running after me.
I ran the familiar corridors, turning every which way to try and get away from the bloodthirsty ninja behind me. I tried heading for an exit but skidded to a stop as more ninja appeared in the corridors, all throwing kunai, and shuriken my way.
'Damn it!' I think to myself as I end up in the training room.
I look around at the walls and water before turning back to the entrance, dozens of ninja flowing in, followed by my mentor.
"Resistance is futile KAX9N." He spoke.
I watched him weave more hand signs before jumped back onto the section of water and did the same.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!/Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" We yelled in unison.
His fireball flew toward me while the water dragon surrounded me and took the blast for me, dissipating into steam and leaving me sitting there breathless.
"Take him!" My mentor tells the ninja around him.
They all ran toward me, grabbing wire and rope to tie me down. I dropped my head so my bangs covered my face before taking a breath. The first ninja grabbed my arm and I pushed off the water, grabbing his arm instead and hopping onto his shoulders.
"Watch him!"
I pushed off, backflipping onto the next ninja's shoulders, landing roughly and using my foot to push his head into the water. Looking around at the other ninja as they raced forward to execute their attacks. I growled at them, my eyes scanning all of them before they fell to my mentor. He was once again stood still, staring me down with a cold neutral face, hand on his hip, absolutely no remorse. I clenched my teeth, feeling my arms get grabbed and pulled.
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"HAAA!" I pulled the ninja who had the best hold of me forward, spinning around and knocking the other ninja away before throwing him into the wall.
I hissed, panting with a slight growl in my throat, waiting to see what they did next.
"XN..." I snapped my head to my mentor.
"You understand we have to do this right?" He slowly walked forward.
I took a step back, watching the fallen ninja around us slowly stand back up.
"You are a failed experiment, damaged goods, you are of no use anymore." He stated, walking closer.
I stared at him, my mouth hanging slightly open as I listened to everything he said.
"I know you tried, you tried so hard, and you've come so far, but in the end, it doesn't matter," He continued, walking closer and closer.
I gritted my teeth, tears stinging my eyes as my mentor placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I am... sorry about this... XN," He whispered.
"How could you..." I whispered.
My mentor took his hand from my shoulder, pausing as I spoke.
"I don't care that I'm not good enough for your boss, for Torune, or that stupid scientist..." I sheathe looking up at his eyes.
"I don't care you don't think I'm good enough," I add making his eyes widen.
"But I trusted you, you pushed me to my limits, pushed my body to its limits, all for the hope that some guy would find me worthy, all these years, and you didn't give a damn about me!" I rage.
"You were just using me! My strength! All to get the favor of that guy!" I roar making him step back.
"Well, now I don't care! Not about this place, not about its ninja... and not about you..." I add straightening my stance so I looked bigger.
"You are all dead to me now, but I refuse to die here, this will not be my end!" I run at my mentor, knocking him in the stomach and backward to the other side of the training room.
"KILL HIM!"
Multiple ninja ran at me again, some using tools while others used ninjutsu. I knocked some off their feet, knocking others back into their comrades while dodging wind, water, and earth attacks. Going into a joust with one of the ninja, two more ran at me, throwing chains at me that locked around my wrists and ankles. They yanked the chains, causing me to fall forward onto my stomach. I cried out as my chin met the concrete floor before ninja began to jump on me, trying to hold me down and tie me up.
'If they get those sealing sheets around me it's over!' I shut my eyes, gathering all the strength I had left before going still.
My eye burnt and my back shifted uncomfortably. I could hear bubbling/molding noises before a sharp pain thrust throughout my lower back and all the ninja that were on top of me were thrown off. I opened my eyes, raising to my feet and looking around with my new eye. All the ninja backed away, looking to my mentor for instructions. I smirked, roaring an ear-shattering cry before jumping over all of them in front of the door, so no one could leave.
"I am... sorry about this everyone," I taunt them before jumping at them.
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Restarting life as a peasant
This is a kingdom building story with deep moral questions. A person who has been fallen into hopelessness in his previous life gets a new chance at life in a fantasy medieval world. He isn’t from first world countries. His first life wasted fighting noble but hopeless causes like fighting against corruption. When he restarts as a peasant he decides not to fight evil, just join the flow. Although he starts as a peasant one thing is sure he will become great and powerful. But will he become a hero or villain?
8 202Stepping Stones Saga
Update frequency: Daily Chapter length: 1350-1500 words Dartelo Vilruhn was born to a loving farmer’s family in the Holy Pietra Empire. Over four centuries have passed since The Fall, and like the other great kingdoms of the Estoch Continent, the Empire is now a place where one's birth does not determine one's future. A young man's fate may hold many surprises, for these are interesting times. Dartelo is now faced with what seems to be the penultimate challenge as he must put his past behind him and move forward. The question that remains is where will the winding road that is his future take him? Will he study for countless years to become one of the Holy Mages? Will he strive to become a knight and fight his way up to the fabled Throne of the Battle Saint Pietra? Will he become the finest craftsman to have ever graced Estoch? Will he put on the cloak of a travelling adventurer and face the beasts that roam the vast continent? Or maybe, like so many before him, he might wander astray into the depths of hell itself...
8 248Luck And Chronomancy
Time Magic is the best magic as everyone knows, although there are lots of unique Talents in the world. Most people only remember Haste because it is hard to get to higher Phases of Chronomancy. That is still enough to make the Talent iconic. A lucky enough Aleatory Talent can position you for greatness or leave you languishing in obscurity. The only true equality in the world is when that glowing message pops up at 8 years old. Even if it doesn't activate until you are an adult at 16 you still know. Sure you can find a new dungeon spawn and get another chance at a rare Talent, even this one, but you have to already be ready to delve into the *Far Wilds*, which is far easier with wealth or family power. This is the story of where my good fortune took me and the difference it made, even among a party of 7 others including an Arcanist. It is a journey of magic and monsters but also math, which some think is actually worse. Luckily I was born with Intelligence and Focus as my personal traits, and my parents were scholars. Of course Chronomancy can also be a frontline combat talent. Versitility well beyond other Elder Talents like Gravity, Abstraction, or Arcana. Might could have worked for me, too. I also met a runaway princess. All the best adventures have a princess. She hated being a noble and we didn't get married but it still counts. Besides she really filled out our front line. All that Leadership training came in handy. I still don't know where she's from. Who cares? How well Haste goes with giant hammers is what's important. I never learned much about anyone in the party, except the one I grew up with. I'm not a people person. I just wanted to optimize dungeon clearing time. *******Story Details******* No romance, politics, or traumatizing content, slice of life, or even dialogue. 1st person narration, like a guide/adventure log. 2000-7000 words a day, maybe 40-60% rpgish combat log with some reasoning on combat decisions, with the rest character Talent discussion and progression stuff. 8 person party with a decent variety in roles. Party members usually have 2 primary functions. Told from the support/control Chronomancer's perspective. Each party member will have 6 Basic/Background Traits, then 3 actual Talents with abilities. Capstone from their Educational Institution, Arbritrary as a gift from the temples, and Aleatory which is decided at birth, revealed at 8, and activated after adulthood at 16. Aleatory Traits ignore requirements and are random why is why they are so important. They'll gain new Talents from finding Dungeons to consume in the *Wilds*. Mature dungeons in cities can provide *Challenges* to raise the Phase of a Talent, up to 3 times from 1 to 4. Each character will get to roughly 8 non-Trait Talents. Attributes come exclusive from Talents, are required by Talents, and provide various effects as well. I designed about 220 Talents with abilities, 4 in each of 4 phases. "Traits" are just Attribute stuff. I'm not sure how many will be detailed in the story, more than 100 for sure. I used Talents because I want to be free of the legacy of tabletop. Half those rules are just because of the limitations inherent in a pre-computer ttrpg. This story mostly uses combat Talents, although like 1/3 of the 220 are for crafting and other society and economy stuff. If you really wanted to be a Thief you might take Intuition, Awarness, and Might for Basic Traits and Deftness, Manipulation, and Trickery for Family/Education. Then you'd pick Acrobatics, and Climbing for Educational Capstone and Arbitrary traits. You Aleatory Trait might be Shadow(Light/Dark) Magic, Umbramancy. A Bard might swap Dexterity for Charisma, Music for Acrobatics, and have gotten Illusion(Shadow/Sound(Air/Force)) for their Aleatory Trait.
8 177The Kodoku Game
In Japanese folklore, there once existed an ancient technique among alchemists for harvesting the strongest poison known to man. A poison so vicious, so horrendous, that a single drop could incapacitate an entire nation of humans, several times over. A poison so intense that a single drop could turn the tides of a war on its head. As potent as it appeared however, this poison could be harvested from the blood of a single insect alone- an insect the alchemist’s called the ‘Kodoku’. As lucrative as was attaining this poison however, the problem lied in identifying this insect- its appearance, shape and size changed from region to region and from continent to continent. Sometimes it took the appearance of a ladybug and other times a horned-beetle. In order to determine the identity of this special insect the alchemists came up with an ingenious method. They created an impregnable jar of clay out of the best sandstone they could find and placed hundreds of different insects into the same jar. The jar was made with such great mastery that it allowed no insects to escape and allowed no objects to enter. The laws of nature dictated that the insects would remain together in the jar forever. However, it turned out that as time went on, the insects’ hunger for food and power caused them to turn against each other- one insect ate another until only one remained. This sole insect contained a poison that far surpassed that of all the others and became stronger as it ate more and more insects. The alchemists at this point had succeeded in identifying the Kodoku and could extract it’s poison as long as they continued to feed it regularly. Although this folklore ends here, the actual story does not. One day, as the alchemists cheered in joy of having identified the Kodoku they so eagerly wanted, they forgot to close the lid on the very jar that was considered to be completely impregnable. This small gap was just large enough for the Kodoku inside to crawl out. Famished from not having been fed for weeks, the Kodoku ended up eating the very alchemists that nourished its growth until not even the bones remained. Yet, the Kodoku’s hunger didn’t seem to subside in the slightest. So it traveled to the next village and began eating whatever it could find there. Its poison made it unparalleled in strength and slowly but surely it began to dwindle down the population of the entire city. Yet its hunger only continued to grow. So it traveled to the next city over and ate all it could there. Very soon, the Kodoku couldn’t find any more food to eat. There was no one left to eat and no one left to spectate. So it stood there, by itself pondering what possibly was left to eat that could satiate its hunger. But there was one thing left that Kodoku realized it had never eaten. Itself.
8 104Surge
In Shulvar, a world of sword and sorcery where most of the northern and the southern hemispheres are a no man’s land called the Dense Mana Zones, only a thin strip of land is left for mankind, elf-kind and dwarf-kind to share. Yet, for nearly ten years after the defeat of the tyrannical king Arkosh, peace reigned. Until emerged from the northern dense mana zone, a sanguine army of hellish creatures, half-goat, half-men, on a far greater scale than anything ever seen. Furthermore, a familiar figure is leading them…Lynch, after single-handedly ending the war ten years prior, must immerse himself in the arcane arts once more and find the hope within this hopeless struggle.
8 171twitter / jikook
"i'll block you""I'll kiss you"
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