Chapter 376 The Path beyond
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/Time passed.../
For the remainder of the day, Dale attended to the rest of his daily goals before returning to his room and writing the rest of his 'Event'.
By the time he hit his bed to log off, he felt himself on the verge of passing out.
"Huff…"
'I feel as if I worked an entire week in a day… Not entirely wrong though…'
'I did try to push forward an entire week's worth of events in a day by talking with the right people at the right time...'
'Even then, there's so much more left for me to resolve…'
'It's overwhelming, but fulfilling too.'
/Poof.../
He reached for his bed, tired and sore, his hair still somewhat wet from his shower.
The pillow underneath his head was still the same old, somewhat hard pillow, but today, it seemed somewhat soft.
If there was one thing to be happy about is that soon, with the materials sold by the merchants, maybe someone would be able to make a Pillow, and even though there were many out there with the need for soft, high-quality Pillows, Dale would be the first to snatch one for himself.
"Phew…"
He closed his eyes, ready to throw the rug for the day.
In the darkness inside his pupils, the blue flashes of the System lit up before him, listing up lines upon lines of text he didn't quite want to read but did so regardless.
'Might as well update my list since I made it…' He thought as he began typing his thoughts
Technically speaking, as he was inside a 'virtual space' from his pod, everything he did were his thoughts given movement...
'Tomorrow I'll contact Roger's agents and speak with his granddaughter, building a relationship with them will only make our future interactions smoother.'
'I did send my body double a message as planned, but it would be proper to meet him for once, maybe give him a mission or a Quest so he can grow stronger and to properly thank him for acting as me as I was busy somewhere else.'
'As for the rest, if there's a group of players I should invest in, it should be them, they're all HardCore Elites and I can send them to areas I'm unwilling to go myself such as the other mines left to be explored.'
'They can also Level Up in the process with the buffs as well.'
'Before that, I have to reactivate the clock tower, it'll prove useful, especially if done so early.'
'There are the Unique Loot boxes left to be opened, and although I don't know if the items will be the same, they'll prove valuable regardless.'
'Going through my other unique rewards, I need to find a good spot to plant the mysterious Old Seed, and I need to reabsorb the Memory Shards I bought at the shop.'
'Those shards contain intrinsic knowledge I'm in dire need of, before, I tried to absorb as much of it as I could when I first experienced them, but I have my limits, however, I was given another chance to do so, there can be no mistakes now.'
'For the items Ermin gave me, some of them I already gave to Barme, he'll try his best to fix them in the following days to weeks, and soon enough I'll have my hands full of powerful Artifacts from Zenith.'
'I already know which he'll succeed and which he'll fail, so to cut some time, I only gave him those he can work on.'
'Beyond the Village, I must build a connection with the Karkavan, now that the forest is slowly returning to its usual balance, the Karkavan have begun to retake their Cities and repopulate the expanse of the Horizon Woods.'
'With minimal losses in their clash against the Greater Devil, they can better protect themselves from such issues, and everyone is ready to help them if anything similar occurs again.'
'Aside from that, their manpower is commendable, there's not much to complain about their physical capabilities, and their mastery of the forest could prove essential in gathering resources from within... No, I already know it will, I already did so in the past.'
'However, building trade routes with them should be more than feasible, especially since there is already one to be repaired.'
'The River and the Lake are excellent vessels for this task, they were used before during the times of the Corps and they'll be used again by us.'
'This was something I failed to enforce in the past, but this time, I won't neglect it.'
'Once that's done, maybe I can discuss the White Comet Shard with the Elder…'
"Yawn… So much to do… All the while talking with the Villagers to collect Quests and progress Questlines..."
He rolled in bed from one side to the other, trying to find a good position to sit in and relax.
'Anyhow… Now that the Abandoned Mines can be prospected into lucrative resource lines, the merchants will likely be more inclined to help Resko than before.'
'This is what one may call… An investment.'
'But revealing too much is never good, once they leave the Village there'll be nothing preventing them from speaking their mind outside... If people realize there are still untapped Gold mines buried in the sand this place will be akin to a har of honey being swarmed by ants.'
'People will come and die in droves, it will quickly descend into madness.'
'And although rumors can attract possible settlers, the Village doesn't need strangers…'
'Though… All of that talk will have to be left for later once everyone has had a good night's rest and digested what I told them throughout the day…'
'Not to forget the Mercenaries…'
His thoughts straying into the realm of dreams, Dale quickly pressed the log-off button before he completely lost himself in the sluggishness of his mind.
[Logging Off…]
"ZZ…ZZ…zzz…"
…
/Later…/
/Shower…/
/CLENCH!/
Back at his home, with a serious gaze, Dale bit his teeth as he held in the pain emerging from the center of his chest.
/GRASP!/
/CRUNK!/
"ARG!..."
/SHUAAA!/
/BURN!/
With one last wave of pain, ethereal wisps of energy surrounded his chest, blasting through cracks in his skin as they licked the walls around him, leaving charred marks behind.
Reeling in pain, Dale held onto the register of his shower, only to crush it into mush as his body twitched and convulsed.
/Splash…/
At the end of it all, he collapsed onto the boiling water of his bathtub, submerging within its depths…
/Splash!/
"Huff!... Huff… I swear… One day I'll die from one of these." He said amidst gasps as he shook his head
'Just when I think I've grown out of this painful phase, something seems to pull me back to it, it had been quite a long time since I felt so much pain…'
'And I bet this will happen a few more times in the upcoming weeks.'
It was no wonder he felt so much pain, in the short span of a day, Dale's body went through its entire development within Babylon, him forcibly awakening his Aura, plus ten Level Ups.
It was quite a significant change, enough for this extreme reaction.
/Open… Close…/
Dale raised his hand, opening and closing it with some soreness…
As he did so, wisps of purplish energy jumped between his fingers.
"Well… At least now I can use Aura in the real world…"
But as quick as his happiness came, it vanished as he noticed the deplorable state of his room.
"Damn it all…"
'I've had enough of this, I'll have to procure a residence for myself, otherwise, one day I'll actually demolish this entire apartment complex.'
'The problem is pulling my family with me…'
"Sigh… For now… Where's the Green Box?"
[Initiating]
[Dale Houston (19-year-old)
Body condition: Healthy-6; Very Tired-3; Sore-6; Hungry-7;
Lineology: Mixed race -> North America, South America, European.
Physical Data
-Body: 238 (333)
-Cognitive: 213 (278)
-Mana: 238 (606)
-Prime Origin: 250 (630)
Meaningful Abilities: Spear Technique 8-Star; Knife Technique 4.5-Star; Exercise 4-Star; Mental Boost 3.5-Star; Inner Manipulation 2.5-Star; Study 3.5-Star; Simple Meditation 2.5-
Star; Gaming 2-Star; Analysis 2-Star; Body Mastery 1.5-Star
]
[Recalculating…]
[Overall comprehensive Analysis: 4.9 out of 10, you're getting there champ.
How to put it... In a way not already said?
Not bad, not bad at all.
Those who seek and risk it are the ones who achieve their dreams, every bullet not shot is one missed no?
A future of despair is also one of hope, the choices and risks one take throughout the journey is what defines its essence.
Your path has reached a point of culmination, like a bottle, ready to burst, build up the pressure, fill thy your vessel, and wait for the moment to let it all go.
In death, a Star casts light onto the dark cosmos, aim to do the same, albeit do make sure to keep your life in hand.
The time to cross the line is fast approaching, don't forget to check if you have enough gas to reach the crossing line.
Many forget to reassure themselves of their goals, don't be like them.
Aim for the world above, trust towards oblivion and return with a piece of creation.
]
"..."
'I'm sure of it now, this has to be written by different people... But why are there so many people so intent on Analysing my performance?'
'And they all seem very keen on making fun of me... Though honestly, the last two have been very tame. I would say... Even encouraging.'
'This one thought was just lazy, I can tell whoever wrote it was fed up with something...'
'I wonder what's going on behind the scenes...'
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Notes
Sorry if this chapter came a bit rushed, I was really late for something and only managed to sit down now.
Until tomorrow!
Peace.
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