Volume One: Departure from Kingdom of Athea
Chapter Four: Zero's world
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Livia disappears into the crowd while I open my map. It enlarged itself and shows a huge portion of outerwall; the southern part of outermost of the Capital. Although the map is almost transparent that you can see the scenery behind it, the default full screen size take 70 percent of my field of vision. I touch the edge and try to resize the window into smaller. It works as I expected it.
There are three kinds of lights on the map while major roads and structures are labeled on the window. White for neutral, blue for ally, and red for the enemy or any person who already had a crime record.
There's also a small star placed at the top left of it; next to the «Isometric view». It is a legend for all icons placed around the map.
I filtered the map by selecting only the blacksmith shop that can be shown around. It shows the exact location of some shops that are closer to me. There's apparently one right at a few steps corner here.
I quickly move out of the crowds and find the shop. The name of the shop is written as ["Colen Blacksmith"]. It was a small shop that was situated at a slight back of two food stands.
*Clang, clang*
The bell rang announcing the customer entering the shop.
There's a few customers already selecting and buying some stuff for their adventure. While two seemingly part-timer assist every customer come into the counter.
You can see the division of items like sword, spear, armor, boots, etc. on the shelves and boxes. I walk closer to the sword section and observe some of the blade displays here.
In a split of second looking over the item, the status appears before me.
[-][Short sword(109/109)
A sword made by blacksmith Doran. It is properly sharpened and has enough durability to last long.
+15 atk
+8 eva]
I scan the section till I find one that looks better.
[-][Joan's Light Sword(150/210)
A sword that is imbued with light magic. It had been created with a small amount of mithril to make the flow of magic smoother and faster.
The handle has been replaced by an unknown blacksmith with a branch from the [world tree]. In produce an additional properties that blend well with the small mithril content. In which further enhanced every magic formulation and casting speed. It is also help strengthens the sword durability through continuous mana flow and helps mp regeneration.
The properties of mithril and wood handle makes the sword lighter but stronger than normal sword.
However, having the sword not being maintained for too long greatly reduced the durability and the effectiveness of the sword properties.
+Light magic
+5% magic damage
+2% mp regeneration
+Magic deflect
+3 eva
Sword skills:
«Flash»
«Light burst»
«Light sword»]
I went and search for an extra sword that I can use in case the first one went and break apart. A chipped sword with very faint reddish hue on the blade can be seen beneath of the other old swords.
[-][ Avice's Crimson sword (210/340)
A custom made sword for the person's name "Avice". She was known as the red flower of the battlefield. Once she entered the battle, the path she walked ended in a crimson lake.
The sword will inflict «Bleed» to the target. It is also turned into a full ["Crimson sword"] after hitting a certain amount of target which induces [explosive power] to the user that amplifies magic and physical attack.
Though, the sword were badly damaged up to the breaking point causing some of the swords properties to be forever lost and the effect of imbued sword skill weaken.
[Hidden] The inscription written on the blade of the sword will be enable at its «Awaken state». Gives additional buff and unlock hidden skill.
+20 Physical damage
+5% movement speed
+Water magic
+8% HP and MP absorption
[Hidden stat]
+86% Physical damage
+135% Magic damage
+12% additional absorption
+«Blood Manipulation(weak)»
[Sword skills]
«Blood Aura»
«HP drain»]
This is the best swords I could find within their stock but the sword were battered halfway to their end.
I look around the shop and hear the sound of metal being hit a few times on the other side of the room. I can see one blacksmith keeps hammering the heated metal to mold it. I waited till he put it back inside the furnace again. I approach him to ask if its possible to fix this two swords.
"Excuse me, mister."
"Hm?"
"Can you repair this swords?"
He shift his sight on to me. Then, move on to the two sword to check if he can do it. He contemplate for a few second to only nod and say in apologetic way.
"I can do the repair kid but returning the whole sword into its original form are impossible for the level of my skill. Will that be okay to you?"
"Yes, please do so."
The blacksmith went to work with the swords. He start adding some fuel to the furnace and put the blade of the swords into the fire. He also begin melting another ores in different casting. Since it will take some time, I left him with the foundry.
I went back to the shop to select other equipment. For the rest of armor, I pick a [breastplate IV], [Black Scale Armbrace], [Melceed's Boots] and [Zordak's Magic Cloak]
The total cost was around 8 gold and 75 silver. The repair still not included. After paying at the counter, it seems like the rate is like this;
1 platinum=500 gold
1 gold=1000 silver
1 silver = 100 copper
1 copper =50 bronze
I have at least 5 platinum coins.
The windows release a 1 platinum from its digital coin storage. It spawns inside my pocket and I pull it out to pay.
After the transaction, I placed the changes back into the windows and it created a section for gold and silver without taking any slot on my inventory. Quite convenient.
I equip all of the bought items and leave the store for now. I take a haste to buy some food for the journey.
*Tang, tang, tang*
The third bell echoes everywhere announcing the halfway of the afternoon time.
*Sizzle* *Nom, nom*
I first bought something to eat while looking around the stalls and food for our stocks and ingredients.
The stalls and bars you can find have almost the same situations. You can notice that the food around the area has either no taste, overcooked or hard to chew but I know this is a normal staple in this kind of environment. I also went to the wet section to buy some raw meat to be cooked later. I didn't forget the condiments. They also have honey, salt, sugar, and almost the same type of plants used as spices. But there's also a lot of stuff even I can't recognize but it smell so nice and taste so good on its own. So I buy as many as I may needed.
It comes into my mind if she had some goods from the palace itself. However, I recall that her space storage have the same flow of time as the real world.
"... probably not."
The day quickly passed by on my simple strolling from business to housing area, passing through multiple alley while avoiding the area where crime might happen and dodging the red dots that keeps entering my minimap. The sky that covered in orange before, already goes dark and the sea of stars begin to twinkle above the capital.
Before the bell rang, I picked up the repaired swords and already sat at the huge fountain located at the center of the southern plaza which we were supposed to meet.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
On the way here, I went to one of the bookstore I saw along the way. The books contained some travel journal, location and monsters information but there's also grimoire such as incantation, elements and mana manipulation mix within the bundle. I initiate this time to get some basic knowledge as soon as I can despite knowing Livia can simply give or let me borrow the book inside the library itself.
"I'm gonna read it later"
Then I notice the blue dot getting closer to me. My eyes went in that direction and I saw her make way on the crowd swiftly while reading a small book on one hand. She close the book after reaching a certain distance to the fountain and look for me.
She stopped in front of me and store the book in «Item Box»
"Did you buy everything you might need?"
"Yeah."
I nodded and she went in a certain direction while saying 'follow me'.
In most alleys we passed by, the last path was only a road with 1 to 2 people can be seen walking in and out. We went to a seemingly small hidden inn only few regular customers might know.
There, a young girl at the counter noticed and greeted us quickly. She seems to know who Livia. The kid brighten and happily talk after seeing her. The transaction went smoothly and guided us on our room. She open the door and handed the key to us. The room apparently contained only one large bed, one desk with lamp lighten dimly. She immediately left us alone standing at the front door.
" So it is a one bed room for the night?"
I haven't slept with a woman in my whole life so this is making me slightly nervous.
Livia entered as if it was nothing and placed the other item she carried over.
"Yeah, the room with two beds were quite costly. Our expenses probably hit hard our allowance, so I'm thinking this room will suffice for this one night before we depart tomorrow morning."
"*Fuwahhh...*"
She resigned herself at the bed showing her tiredness from all of the events that happened within the whole day.
I closed the door and went to the other side of the bed. After sitting on the bed, she asked.
"Hey...can I ask you something?"
"...Sure."
I urge her to talk.
"It is about your previous world. How was your world? Does that place better than mine?"
Peeking at my side, she was only looking at the ceiling emotionless. I honestly said to her.
"That place almost the same as the situation here. Yes, we are much more advanced compared to this era but the situation such as war, discrimination, crimes and other problems were still the same-- no, it keeps getting worse."
"Worse?"
Her eyes met mine. I continue my talk.
"Yes, you can say we also went sufficient at doing bad stuff such as killing one side more precisely and efficiently, the gap between the poor and rich only gets wider, and different views and belief as new one always caught on clash intensely."
"Hm."
She's getting curious while deeply thinking every words I say to her.
"May I know how precise and efficient are you talking about?"
Livia stares at me and waiting for the answer. I think for a moment before I briefly tell the history to let her understand the concept itself.
"Let me start it at this; My world also went from this kind of era. Where sword and bow; except magic, are the prominent tools of fighting. This era know from my world as cold weapon. But it ended and shifted into the so-called "hot weapon". This "hot weapon" are using the power of explosion to propel one object into the enemies. This is like a bow, but much stronger force and lethal."
I use a charcoal to draw something into the paper. The illustration where like this; a cylinder where only one side open and at the other blocked end shows an explosion. With nothing for the force to go, it will push the object next to the explosion out of the cylinder with much force. It will then fly much faster than an arrow while containing the transferred raw strength of the explosion.
Her eyes seemingly twinkle after learning the basic principles of gun. She ask me again for more information.
"Oh? From what I can see from you, that place probably doesn't have any magic right?"
I nod to her.
"Then, how did your people get ahold of such profound knowledge?"
It piqued her interest as she flipped over while waiting for my answer. I explained it by firstly continue the brief history telling and breaking the knowledge into pieces. Then connect it in front of her in an easy way she can probably understand based on this era.
"That world enter the renaissance era where it promote the arts and true knowledge about the world. With that unity of mindsets, this follow by the next era called "the industrial revolution". This next promote the use of inventions and machineries, that are much more efficient at doing repetitive task and the use of exerted power stronger than the human and animal capable to produced."
I remind her the use of explosion and draw a piston which move through the explosion and illustrate further which ended up a simple grinder and refinement of wheat and a vehicle that's move without the help from animal or human. She gasp as if being enlightened and keep staring at it intensely.
"Amazing..."
"That's not the only use of the explosion. Since this follow the basic rules of nature called to my world "Newton's third law of motion" where there is equal and opposite reaction. Through the use of this simple phenomenon of natures, mankind begin to conquer the land, sea and sky."
I went and draw another piston and propeller for boat to move without relying on the wind. Another illustration shows a chamber with continuous explosion to spit fire at the end with wings to fly while I demonstrate the paper falling slowly due to air resistance and make some paper plane to point at its rear; the location where the chamber can be implemented. This will cause the plane to move forward, cause air drag and make the plane fly. I throw the paper plane to make it fly for a few second into the air and drop at one corner. Livia went silent but her face shows extremely shock about the way of simple knowledge being used in different way ended up improving anyone lives into the next level.
(A/N: I used jet thruster rather than plane with propeller to show the explosion can be used to fly too)
"Another thing about the sky, we also manage to go to different stars above the night sky."
I pointed at the open window where the sea of stars can be seen twinkles. I draw a rocket and how it will pass the planet gravity through different phases and manage to enter the space.
Her mouth agape and mesmerize on such fascinating situation probably thinking what if they finally managed to enter that era too.
I only nodded.
"And this is what I meant by proficient and efficient at killing one another."
What I shows next is like pouring a cold water upon a person.
I first show her that the plane and the rocket can be used to carry a time or detonating explosion which can be launch from far land or continent and drop to one kingdom to explode. The moment I reach that words and drawing, her face went shock to almost pale.
"Remember that it can mass produce through repetitive process of machinery."
I also draw some layout for the weapon mass production which probably wrong but the essence can be transfer to her. It means that an enemy or them can drop as many explosive they want in a single attack. I also tell her that the world contain a small seemingly round object called atom. What people breath, the water, the charcoal, rock and all of the creation have built throught the formation of it. This formation contain energy in which when release all at once, an explosion can occurs. I try to show the effect of atomic bomb through drawing its deadly and annihilating effect; vaporize at the center for sudden heat and energy expansion, thermal and physical shockwave, and the silent killer called radiation.
Livia face shows stunned, astonishment, and dismayed after understanding that lots of people can be killed in that single bomb. She finally understand that the progess is both relative on good and bad effect upon the civilization.
" This what I mean when I say my world gets better at doing bad stuff. My world went to two world war. You can imagine where all kingdom or even an empire all over the planet join on an all-out war. Casualties are so immense that my world enter peace treaty since almost all of countries heavily suffer on such abominable acts. The end of that war led to the discovery of the explosive power of atoms."
"..."
We both look at it for a while before she flop down into the bed. She's probably thinking another things related to the topic. While her face buried into the bed, she flipped up front and look at the ceiling with a caring smile.
"You know that it depressed me that my world was already at its end before this reset and I doubt we can barely do anything to change the fate of my world. At first when the reset happened, I'm very glad that I can meet the people I lost during the war. The one I visit this time were a very close friend of mine. She was shock to see me cried a little bit after seeing her. I force myself to hold it back since they were safe for now. However, with what you tell me, in the beginning and halfway gives me hope. The world can even shone brighter than that darkness."
She raise her hand as if trying reach the ceiling. The flame keep waving due to wind which make the shadows within the room move as if they were dancing together. She add to me.
"But after the last part, it makes me realize that the responsibility to hold such vastness of knowledge and power are tremendous. The burden to carry that treasure is much heavy than I can put upon my shoulder."
Livia tell what person is she to them.
"I am not a person that do not want anyone to be killed since there are people deserve for such judgement due to their cruelty. Though, learning that we can also threatening the very existence of our own people even without the use of magic already makes me shiver."
Livia's hand falls down and contemplate because of the newly knowledge I bestown upon her. I also laid down in an opposite direction next to her. The dimly lighten ceiling. I peek at her and she close her eyes for a moment. Suddenly, she wants to show her gratitude on the goodness of allowing her to take a look at a future that no one on her world could see.
"Zero, thank you for listening to my request and giving me a new path I can pave no one haven't created here yet. Is there anything you want? If it's within my power, I can grant it to you right now."
"....anything I want? No, I haven't?"
After answering her, Livia move atop of my face. A strand of her hair tickle some part of my cheek. Her eyes lock onto mine while asking some personal information.
"You haven't sleep with any woman even in your previous world, right?."
"Huh?"
A words that seemingly pulled out of nowhere is now being throw at my face. I know what she mean by that question but I answer her in funny way.
"Um, no... When I was a baby, my mother always sleep next to me."
She is stunned and giggle before pinching my nose.
"That's not what I meant by that."
"I know."
We then back looking at each other. As if the coldness of the night fills the room, our body desire some heat and we both know where to get it. She say that will cast some magic to fully enjoy our first hot night.
[Notice: «aphrodisiac» has been detected]
[Notice: You have been inflicted «Charmed»]
[Notice: You have been inflicted «fascination»]
[Notice: You have been inflicted «Great Vitality»]
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-end of chapter four