The ring isn't filling up nearly as quickly as I would like.
The Forest Slimes aren't difficult to kill, exactly. Color Drain nearly instantly takes care of them, although I use it sparingly because it's more taxing to use than my other skills; a well-aimed punch full of Firmament through their heads also seems to do the trick, as long as they don't react in time. If they do, they can split themselves apart before I even hit them.
But it's taxing. It takes all my concentr...
2023-05-22 15:04:51 +0000 UTC
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I act quickly. There are puddles of color rising all around us into oozing monsters — it's almost disorienting. They're the only sources of color all around me. There's a heavy, thickset ooze-creature a few steps ahead made of a deep, mauve sort of purple, the same purple that tints the wood of the Hestian trees; there are whip-thin creatures that are barely humanoid, with stringlike arms and legs made of all the different shades of fall. The forest detritus combines into a muddy brown, cre...
2023-05-14 23:32:38 +0000 UTC
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I dig into my soup as Virin lies back into his bed of straw — but almost immediately, he sits up again, his eyes wide. "You fix my bed!" he says. "How you fix?"
"I just... kind of tried to move the Firmament around a bit?" I say. "It all settled once I did. I'm not sure."
"It not easy to move other people Firmament," Virin mutters. "It hard, actually. And this bed experimental. I use new Firmament. Harder to anchor. But you anchor it?"
"Not on purpose?" I certainly hadn't ...
2023-05-14 23:32:03 +0000 UTC
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The sheer exhaustion that washes through me after I finish that imbuement isn't something that I'm prepared for. I join the crows for a quick dinner — most of my disgust by the more insect-based diet has begun to settle by now — and then one of the crows invites me back to his hut, seeing as I don't have a place to sleep. He's the father of the little crow that brought me over to their campfire, I think.
"Are you sure I won't be intruding?" I ask again, and he waves it off.
"N...
2023-05-14 23:31:21 +0000 UTC
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The problem with logistics was that they took a lot of time. Getting people to organize, especially any large number of people, was a process that could take hours — and when their time was limited to seventy-two hours, every single one of those hours were inconceivably precious.
All of this was the reason Misa was working overtime in a job she hated. Having a dozen copies of herself was useful for tasks other than combat, it turned out, even if that wasn't anything Misa preferred...
2023-05-08 00:11:03 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Three chapters today, so make sure you read them in order. :)
—
When I get closer to the Cliffside, I stop using Triplestep and pull in my Firmament again. I still have no idea if that actually does anything — clearly it didn't stop that thing from tracking me down back in the Fracture — but doing something feels better than doing nothing. I'm no forest survivalist, either, so while I make some attempt to cover up my tracks, I doubt I do a very...
2023-05-08 00:08:56 +0000 UTC
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When I wake up, I roll to the side. It's an automatic reflex by now, and it's only when I crack my elbow against stone that I realize that I'm not, in fact, about to be stabbed in the head by a giant mantis; I breathe a sigh of relief, and then look around, trying to take in my situation.
I'm in... no small amount of pain. The ache is only obvious when I move and my skin scrapes against the stone, and then I wince as I realize that I feel like most of my skin is sunburned. It's an angry...
2023-05-08 00:08:17 +0000 UTC
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I'm running through a number of plans in my head, discarding most of them as quickly as they come. Mental Acceleration helps me and gives me more time; the robot isn't moving particularly fast, so the full second it takes gives me what feels like a minute to think.
Barrier and Crystallized Barrier are both useless here. Crystallized Strength is probably useful, but also unlikely to be enough against something like this — the robot looks heavy even before putting its ...
2023-05-08 00:07:20 +0000 UTC
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Hey all!
I want to thank you all for the amazing support for DRR, first of all. It's been a journey watching it rise on RR, and I couldn't have done it without you all.
Discord server update:
I'll be switching over from my personal discord server to the COTEH server, and updating the Patreon bot as necessary. I've chosen to do a joint server because I unfortunately can't spare the time to moderate, and the kind folks there have agreed to help.
2023-04-30 17:02:37 +0000 UTC
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There's a part of me that thinks I should attack immediately, before the Guardian has had time to power up. There's another part of me that hesitates, because I know now that the Guardians are not all hostile, and I don't want to force myself into a fight I don't have to fight.
In the end, I gather all the Firmament I can and wait. I still have a headache — I'm not fully recovered from defending against the Firmament blast — but I'm capable of fighting. I can still use Seco...
2023-04-30 15:51:42 +0000 UTC
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"Occasional downtime indeed," I say dryly. I stare at the chat interface. It's a list of every single other Trialgoer, labeled by planet, Trial, and number; some of the names are crossed out, which is a distressing thing to look at, and the others...
Well, the problem with the chat feature is that I can't interact with it. The entire screen is grayed out. There's a message sitting right on top of the screen.
[ Temporal band interference too great. Please stand by. ]
2023-04-30 15:51:13 +0000 UTC
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This time, instead of color draining from everything around me, most of my surroundings dissolve into nothing. I see only a small circle of stone around me, and beyond that is empty darkness.
Gheraa appears before I can question it. "Back so soon!" he exclaims. "I was ready for you this time. Got all the temporal bands lubed up and ready."
I stare at him.
"You're in a strange spot this time, aren't you?" he adds, looking around curiously at the darkness that surrounds us. "B...
2023-04-28 16:04:58 +0000 UTC
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The biggest question for me is whether or not the Fracture is populated the way the Cliffside is. Everything indicates that it isn't. I imagine that at least one person would have responded to the sound of me fighting the Fractured Guardian if it were populated, and the floor in here is covered in a layer of dust besides.
It doesn't look like anyone's been here for... I don't know how long.
"This place is creepy." Ahkelios shivers against an imaginary cold. I frown slight...
2023-04-27 16:32:14 +0000 UTC
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The worst part about fighting a golem is that it doesn't really have any emotions I can exploit. It's not like fighting Naru, who I can goad into anger and pretty easily — or the harpies, who seemed focused on causing as much pain and misery in Cliffside as possible. As far as I can tell, these are either the natural defense mechanisms in the Fracture or an entirely new type of monster that I haven't fought before.
I'll find out, soon enough. Color Drain.
This time, I p...
2023-04-24 15:44:48 +0000 UTC
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"We?" I ask. I'm not sure when she's inserted herself into my plans for what to do next. I'm not exactly opposed to it, but I'm a little thrown off.
"We!" Mari says, and gives me a look that can only be described as a cross between legitimately concerned and dumbfounded. "You decide yourself?"
I grumble. More minds are better. I take a moment to summon Ahkelios — the mantis had decided he was bored about halfway through my attempt to imbue the stick with Firmament...
2023-04-23 15:25:32 +0000 UTC
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When I wake up, I roll to the side immediately, my eyes snapping open as I prepare for the mantis' arm to scythe down towards my face — but instead of dodging an attack like I'd expected, I just fall off a bed of straw and onto the ground.
"Ow." I groan. The straw isn't exactly far off the ground, but I'm pretty sure I banged my elbow on a rock.
And my tailbone. And most of my other bones, really. I've never really paid attention to how unreasonably rocky dirt usually is.
...
2023-04-23 15:24:10 +0000 UTC
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Mari and I are positioned across each other in a makeshift arena. She's come up with rules for this spar, this time — it's different from the time I trained with her and Tarin in preparation for the Raid. According to her, it's because this time I don't need to get strong as fast as possible; I just need to understand the skills I already have.
And the Inspiration, which throws a whole other curveball into my Firmament skills, if Gheraa was telling the truth about them. I don't think ...
2023-04-22 15:10:24 +0000 UTC
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Gheraa snaps his fingers, and the air pulses; this time, it's strong enough to make me stagger beneath the weight. The two initial options are still there, but the two new ones that appear feel strangely heavier. Gheraa holds one in each hand, and he does it carefully, reverently.
Above one hand, I see shards of glass, divided into four perfect quadrants. They shimmer with a strange light, and the Interface's name for it is the longest I've seen yet.
[ The Mirror ...
2023-04-22 15:09:45 +0000 UTC
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I try to ignore the text about the Inspiration, and focus first on the choice I have to make. I have no idea what an Inspiration is, but it sounds important. A part of me is excited — but that doesn't mean I want to rush my choice.
The problem is the names are so vague.
It helps that I know that they're associated, in some way, with everything I've been through. The names make it obvious, even. Color Drain is clearly associated in some way with the strange, col...
2023-04-20 14:32:54 +0000 UTC
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As one of my patrons very kindly pointed out, I forgot to mention anything about starting my next series on here. >_> I started it because Edge Cases is close to ending; we're at the climax of Book 3 and then we'll be on to our final book. Check out the next series here.
I do apologize for the ongoing delay in chapters lately. Most of that is because we're at a section of the story t...
2023-04-18 15:18:10 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Second EC chapter of the day. Make sure you read the first!
---
Sev reached out and froze time.
Something in his demeanor had changed — no doubt from the memories he'd just clawed back from the Void, something that shouldn't have been possible to begin with. Even the spread of the Void slowed down under the effect of his skill, though it was incomplete. The end of the universe didn't really need to respect a concept as trivial as time.
...
2023-04-16 15:43:02 +0000 UTC
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A/N: This chapter took forever, partly because it's so short and I kept wondering if I should make it longer. In the end I feel like it stands better by itself, even though it's short - it's too important to pad stuff behind it, and I don't want to artificially inflate it by adding stuff to the front.
---
The doors were silent when Misa pushed them open. They slid open easily, like they had been oiled.
That was the first sign that something was wrong.
...
2023-04-16 15:41:50 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Published three chapters today, so make sure you read them in order!
-
I was, unfortunately, right about having a glaring headache in the next loop. It's all I can do to roll to the side and activate Temporal Fragment, and even that takes a lot out of me; the pulse of pain in my head spikes, and I lie there on the ground doing nothing, letting my temporal clone do all the work.
It's a choice I regret slightly when the mantis-monster half-collapses onto ...
2023-04-16 15:39:08 +0000 UTC
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Naru looks thoroughly unimpressed, except for the part where he sputters and waves his hands around at the pest flying repeatedly into his eyes.
It's more or less in line with my own expectations. I dart backwards quickly, wary of retaliation, and even with that preemptive dodge his strike slams me in the chest hard enough that I can feel my ribcage caving in. It's only Second Wind that keeps me alive, heart and bones quickly forming out of Firmament and keeping my blood pumping.
...
2023-04-16 15:37:48 +0000 UTC
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I need to figure out my plan. I've revealed myself, in a manner of speaking, which means that no matter what happens a confrontation is probably inevitable; I'd like to be ready.
In fact, I'd like to make the first move. This is an opportunity for me — the fight with the mantis-monster at the start of the loop no longer gives me credits. I need to push myself to earn more, especially now that I know my time is limited. If I'm going down here, I need to go down earning as many credits ...
2023-04-16 15:37:06 +0000 UTC
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The color drains away the moment we step into the Hotspot, just like before. Unlike me, Mari doesn't seem impressed at all — she barely gives it a glance before she stomps her way deeper into the Hotspot, like she's planning to tear her way through it. I stay a good distance behind her, as per the plan that I'm absolutely not planning on keeping to.
"Are you sure about this?" Ahkelios whispers to me. "This could go really wrong!"
"About as sure as I can be," I whisper back.
<...
2023-04-12 15:44:27 +0000 UTC
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Mari's standing outside her hut when I return, and from the look she gives me, I assume she's been waiting for me for a while. She doesn't seem angry at my absence, at least — she just nods at me, all business-like, and gestures with a wing into her home.
"We talk," she tells me. "What your name? You know me, I not know you. And who that?"
She points at Ahkelios, sitting on my shoulder and looking incredibly nervous.
At least she's not trying to eat him.
"My name's E...
2023-04-11 14:55:19 +0000 UTC
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Sev had a lot to deal with concerning whatever he'd just figured out about his memories — but Sylix was sitting on the ground, holding his head, and Sev felt a little responsible for that.
"Are you alright?" he asked. He cared, he really did, but he didn't know how to deal with this. The way his memories were scrambled didn't help. He would have helped past-Sylix in a different way, gathering him into his arms and allowing the lizardkin to cry into his shoulder.
Something told h...
2023-04-11 13:10:01 +0000 UTC
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As early as I am, the Cliffside Crows are still pretty active. I see the kids playing in the town center as usual, and just like before, Mari approaches me while I'm looking around the village, seeing as I didn't head directly towards Tarin's hut.
"You!" she says. It's just like the first time she greeted me. "Trialgoer?"
"I need to talk to you," I say. I know from experience her force of personality is overwhelming; if I just say yes, she's going to drag me to Tarin before I get ...
2023-04-10 15:54:00 +0000 UTC
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Naru stumbles backwards, clearly stunned. It's not like I've done any actual damage to him — the raw Firmament pumping through him is enough to deflect my fist, and it's only the use of Barrier that prevents me from breaking my fist again.
It's satisfying, though. Especially the look on his face — this combination of stunned and outraged, his feathers puffing up around his face in a way that looks utterly ridiculous.
The Firmament I tried to inject into him is, unfort...
2023-04-09 13:11:55 +0000 UTC
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