[Unknown slain]
[+21 exp]
[Unknown has been purified]
[Cold Ember Divinity Cleared]
[You have received a shard]
[Unknown has been purified]
[Cold Ember Divinity Cleared]
[You have received a shard]
[Unknown slain]
[+20 exp]
.
.
Hilde had already learned to ignore the pings of notifications for each piece of information. Her utmost attention was on the Sword of Murrow which was realistically covered with black sludge. A feature that was too real the disgust that Helen should have felt was nothing but awe for Hilde. Fascinated eyes stared at the sludge while her fingers poked at it.
Second time in the game and even after the hot fight before she still felt it all surreal. It was more like a whole other existence and not a game. It would be difficult to convince some players that they had not been transmigrated when logging in. Fortunately, the ping as she decapitated an Unknown was enough to root her back to reality.
'It's only a game' the tone of her voice suspiciously sadder than it should have been.
A trail of corpses both dead and white littered the path from which she came. The white ones lay for only a while before fading off in a haze of white smoke. She noticed this when trailing back to mark her way since she didn't want to get lost.
The spot she had started from had been a very murky ground where she'd been stuck for long after falling splat into it, barely managing to get out. Fortunately, she'd managed to drag herself out of the murk by clinging to a long pillar that she controlled with her Earthen Grace.
Bless the devs.
Atleast for the insight.
For the stink of death and rot that wafted off her, well curse them. Hilde felt it hypocritical to curse them for the same things she found cool. In her defense, Hilde felt like she had the right to complain.
Her armor and gown were now messed up even the cloak was dirtied and had clumps of mud or whatever was in that murk stuck on it. Her hair was dirtied now and parts of her face looked rubbed in by the mud.
Using the blue glow of her sword she trailed her path through the tunnel she had found. A very large round tunnel. One that should have been made by something. Yet Hilde wondered what could have made such a tunnel.
Even Molliwag would cave the place in attempting to make such a precise tunnel. It reminded her of the ones made by worms in her mother's garden.
The long labyrinth which it had become trailed deeper into the earth where she followed. Not so many times she had considered returning and using Earthen Grace to form stairs to get out of the pit. Unfortunately, curiosity won over her, and since it was a game and there was no real death, no permanent in-game death and she needed to work on dealing with terror she encouraged herself to continue.
The devs were surely laughing in their seats.
The Unknown had begun appearing half an hour later. There was a timer to the side of her vision like a HUD showing both real life and game time one above the other. With the time dilation at one to three, she knew she'd have to find a spot to log out soon if she didn't complete this mission by the time it was seven am in real-time.
The game time just showed the number of days, hours, and minutes that passed in the game. It was merely a timer to keep track of duration rather than her Universe's actual time. One of the many things Hildelith knew she had to set once back.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
'It's like Dad used to say. Wisdom comes by the hour.
Sometimes she killed an unknown since well leveling up was as important as getting shards. When the Unknown had begun swarming her she used Divine Cloak to purify them.
Slowly she sort of formed a combo with it. Since purity took moments she used it when almost swarmed choosing to pick off the lone attackers. It also worked to heal her wounds simultaneously since the flow of her blood got her cells agitated and mending faster than Nothingness Embodiment made it. Not that she had many wounds.
Still, she was slowly growing proficient in hunting the Unknown.
After a long annoying walk and fight session, the labyrinth came to a stop at a tall wall and another hole visible on the ground.
"More descending?". she frowned.
A glance into the pit revealed a harrowing darkness that was as scary as it was unsettling. Her adventurous spirit died instantly as second thoughts began rearing in her head.
"Maybe this ..." Almost like the game sensed her intent a panel appeared with a ding.
[QUEST ASSIGNED]
The Drop
Coals of burned-out fire. Ever jealous of its elder's heat. Warmth eluding it. The last touch of heat was only a long time ago.
[Rank - S]
[Rewards - Unascertained]
[Failure - Destruction
- 1 Level ]
"Nope. I'm logging out. I can't complete two quests back to back in such a short period." Hilde took tired but subconsciously frightened steps away from the hole her back hitting the wall before sliding down to sit on the ground.
The Sword of Murre lay on the ground beside her its blue glow dimmed. Head rested on her knees Hilde sighed as she rested.
One minute.
Two minutes.
In the third minute, the girl's head which was full of platinum locks rose, blue eyes narrowed on her arms, and glanced over her body.
The feeling of fatigue in her body was nonexistent. Mentally yes, physically no. It made sense since this was an in-game avatar but Hilde felt that there should have been stamina, fatigue, or a sensation of exhaustion.
Either the devs didn't add it which was unlikely since the game was stuff full of realism. Which left one option.
"Gods most likely can't feel exhausted or we tire slower. The lack of a stamina bar points to the first". she deduced with a grumble. This was both a good and bad thing. Battles between creator players would be unending when both were equally powerful.
"It'd be a game of attrition. With our health being ammo. Whoever runs out first loses." she murmured. "Well amongst those of equal strength".
The mental exhaustion though gave her a pause. Unlike stamina, the mind had a literal stat. One called Focus and one that she felt could affect her mentally. How was the issue?
Infact thinking about it now Hilde realized some things didn't make sense even if it was a game. The most glaring truth to this was her fear. Or more importantly, lack of.
Hilde knew it wasn't that she didn't feel fear but that somehow she lost the fear as quickly as it came. While this was a game it wasn't farfetched to feel real emotions when facing off against a dragon whose paw was enough to turn you into meat paste. While unrealistic, the body was programmed to feel fear even in fake situations. That's why horror houses were a thing back in the past.
But. It was the instant loss of the fear that piqued her curiosity.
VR games while popular and known didn't have this feature that Creation Online did. Full dive? So as one that hadn't experienced it before she didn't know if the possibility of emotional tampering was possible. It shouldn't be. Atleast not according to books right? But the thought was ridiculous comparing real life to books.
It was like finding out vampires actually existed and then getting aggrieved when they didn't burn in. sunlight or sparkle.
"I just have to remember I know nothing. Still, all this could be helpful in various sectors. " she couldn't help but think of casual and professional implementations of a VR pod.
"But. The fear. Unlike before it stayed longer. Why?". she frowned at this realization. " What was different now than before".
Her mind brought up her panel scouring through it for anything that stood out. But nothing did. She was at the cusp of level 10 only held back due to her purifying some of the Unknown. Her stats were normal for a level ten.
Her fear of staying longer bothered her, with the crown of the supreme she thought she'd have a way to not cower before things. But now that the fear was present she didn't understand it or what to do.
Seeing nothing in her panel she clicked on a section of her system that she didn't even realize before showed her complete getup and body as a hologram in her head.
She admired herself in the hologram her blue eyes even shinier than her real-life ones, the platinum blonde locks of hair that fell freely to her waist. Something that still bothered her due to not being black. She did sync her body, right? She was neither tall nor short staying at an average of 5.8 feet. From the hologram, she managed to get a grasp of what exactly she looked like in everything she wore. Cloak, armor, gown, and boots with a belt and a sword to her hip.
"If Vikings were alive they'd be proud of my looks. Hmmh. Greeks too" The fur made her look like some Viking queen while the gown had the soft yet regal appraisal of a Greek royal. The armor equipped took away the sense of a weak yet beautiful egg replacing it with tbe feel of a sharp rock that could cut but not break.
Smiling at her badass look she focused on the first piece of equipment. The Crown of the Supreme was the first thing she looked into first. She stared at its words for just a minute. Then sighed with a displeased shake of her head.
"Seems like I found the issue". She muttered gravely. Her eyes moved to the hole in the ground with a now clear repulsion before looking back to the words describing the Crown.
[Crown of the Supreme - OBJECT
You are one above gods. Absolute and Unmoved.
Effect 1 - Minor aura amplifier.
Effect 2 - A name holds power. The crown symbolizes power. But its truth remains to be grasped. Power fears nothing, power is fear.]
While the words were very eye catchy the understanding in her head was basic. The fear she felt would mold her in ways she didn't understand. Like a sword, she needed to taste the fire to be forged.
"Uh uh ."Her head shook widely. "Not happening. " She removed the panel and quickly navigated to her log-out interface to leave. ". I'm just gonna log out now".
[LOG OUT]
[Y/N]
"Bloody yes please. I'm outta here".
[Logging out now>>]
Waiting Hilde sheathed her sword just to be safe and leaned against the wall in the now complete darkness".
[Log out failed]
[System detects unsafe zone]
[Head to Safe zone to log out]
Hilde heard the sound of her heart-shattering.
She felt something within her, slowly rise from the deepest parts of her mind. Felt it boil and pump with power. Then burst out her mouth and through her moving lips. The words she'd wanted to say for quite a while.
"DAMN YOU BLOODY DEVS!" Her legs kicked about in a raging outburst. "Damn them all".
Her eyes locked on the hole in the ground and then on the path she came from.
The choice was more than obvious to her.