Azimuth: The Elden Throne

Hey guys, we still have a lot of bonus chapters left to post!!

I did say I would be stopping with the Power Stones goals... But you guys really outdid yourselves with the Golden Tickets.

Not that I'm complaining, thank you all very much! I'll keep doing my best.

Though... Cough... We may have to make some alterations to this rewards system...

Otherwise, once the Power stones come back... I'll die.

I'm not kidding, right now, we're already posting more chapters than before with two chapters a week thanks to these bonus chapters.

If Power Stones come back and with the fact, I'll be making those chapters from scratch... I won't be able to keep up.

I would like some ideas on that, but right now, I was forced to make some severe decisions regarding this situation and came up with this:

First, all rewards are not additive, meaning, we can only get one tier for each of the Bonus collums.

350PS - 1 Extra Chapter

550PS - 2 Extra Chapters

750PS - 3 Extra Chapters

1000PS - 5 Extra Chapters (I don't actually think we'll ever get here...)

50 Golden Tickets - 1 Extra Chapter

100 Golden Tickets - 2 Extra Chapter

130 Golden Tickets - 3 Extra Chapter

I'll still post all bonus chapters we got this week no problem, but I had to once again rise the bar because we were rising a bit too fast...

I really did not want to complain, but if we go this fast I'll really fall onto the ground with cramps in my hands.

In comparison, we are around at 350 Power Stones and 80 Golden Tickets, so these numbers are an indicator that we'll definitely have more than 2 Bonus chapters a week.

In comparison, even without the Power Stones, we already have 3 chapters to be posted.

I would like suggestions of course, like if this is abusive, manipulative if I should decrease the numbers, increase them, and so on.

Aside from that, I don't want to have you guys too fixated on this, go on to the chapter and tell me what you thought of it at the end.

It's a fairly large chapter, 3.9K words.

Peace!

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/A few minutes later…/

/Splash... Splash.../

"Urg..."

"I barely even got inside and I already hate this place."

Dale entered the Submerged Sewers, immediately noticing the difference.

The deeper he went into the sewers, the higher the water level rose, to the point that the entire ground became submerged in a few fingers' worth of water.

"My boots are fucking wet… This is super uncomfortable…"

'I'll have to prepare a special pair of boots if I wish to raid this place next time.'

'Until then, I'll have to be happy with this, as I can't even take them out else I would lose the set effect.'

He looked around, trying to figure out what made this place different from the other section of the sewers.

But apart from the water on the ground, everything looked the same, it was still the sewers, although everything looked a bit moldier.

The walls were filled with moss and strange fungi, some so big they covered the entire ceiling.

Sometimes, he would stop to collect a few of them, for no real reason really apart from doing so.

Anyone can harvest materials, albeit some, like ores, need special tools or higher requirements to be collected.

However, despite all being able to do so, it doesn't mean all are equal.

Some are better than others, and some have better tools than others...

Standard Mode players would need to have special Skills to properly harvest these without decreasing their value, because different from HardCore Mode players, they didn't go through a manual process to harvest them, but through an in-game progress bar that filled up over time.

The simple but reliable "press 'this' to loot".

It was very fast so it wasn't that boring, and if they wanted to, they could disable this feature and do it manually, however, the chances of screwing something up increased.

If they believed their real Skills surpassed the ones their character had, then why not?

HardCore players on the other hand needed to know what they were doing on a much more fundamental level to harvest a "Perfect Quality" material.

Albeit, even though, in a real-life scenario, denting one of these fungi a little wouldn't really make a difference on their overall quality and effects, by the game's evaluation mechanisms, that was a flaw that reduced its overall value.

But for Dale, that wasn't really his priority right now.

Previously, he had to gather High-quality materials to get a High Score in his Quest Herb Chain, so it was safe to assume such a thing might happen again as he progressed in the Questline.

Yet, he couldn't waste most of his time researching how to harvest these, it would take too much time and unfortunately, wasn't worthy compared to the other things he could indeed spend his time on.

So he would just grab a knife and carefully cut them out as he walked around, his method of choosing them was simple, the stranger they looked, the better.

On that note, by pushing the mold and moss around, he could see clear marks of water on the walls, a few high up, enough to submerge him, probably caused during the rainy season, and a few others closer to the ground, probably the water level during the drought season.

Still, despite all of this, why was Dale in this Dungeon? Well, it was simply due to his instincts.

The Submerged Sewers were a secret area of the Sewers, so he thought that, if he was going farm levels, why not in this place since he could explore while he was at it?

He had already figured out that hunting in the forest was simply not possible as it was too dangerous, and hunting in the Catacombs is inefficient due to the scarcity of creatures and the fact that their drop items are complete trash.

Hunting in the normal Sewers isn't any faster than doing so in the Catacombs, although the loot there might be a bit better…

So taking all of that from the equation, the only possible place is this one.

At the very least, even if the conditions within were similar to the normal Sewers since this was a Hidden Area, he expected to see something a bit unusual.

So he decided to visit it and see for himself if it was a good place to farm a few Levels or not.

If it wasn't he wouldn't mind going back to the sewers and hunting the creatures that live there, it wouldn't change things much.

He didn't know what to expect from this Hidden Area, in fact, he didn't even know much about the Sewers themselves.

What kinds of monsters spawned there and their frequency, the materials he could farm there, and what kind of loot to expect...

Would this Hidden Area be harder? With tons of Variant monsters? Or something completely different?

So because of this, he equipped his best armor, and sure enough, due to how abandoned this place was, he gained the boost to all of his Stats, pressing forward into this unknown location.

/Fwoosh/

As he did so, Dale took out his metal spear, swinging it around.

"It's light… Perhaps too light, I feel as if this doesn't have any power…"

'This Black Iron Spear isn't good enough.'

/Unsheath.../

/Swoosh!/

He then unsheathed the Glyph Blade, swinging it around rapidly.

'The sword feels a bit better at the very least, but it feels... Lacking.'

'My gear is already starting to fall behind my level... No, it already has.'

'I'm almost Level 30 but I'm using Level 5 gear… Worst, I'm a sole player using armor geared towards raiding.'

'The only reason the Commander of the Vault Guardians set is still my main one is because of its buffs, but overall, it's not really that significant anymore.'

'The Set is focused towards Team play, and it's a complete waste to gear myself like this just to get +25 to all base Stats and 2 Temporary Skills from the Sword.'

'The Stat boost is nice, but now, it's just lacking for what I should be able to wear.'

"This armor is almost a detriment to me due to how bulky it is." Dale said as he moved his arms around

'The gear requirements of this set haven't changed, but my Stats are almost 5 times that if not more by now, so I should've been wearing something appropriate.'

'There is the impact factor, but now, I don't think that's enough anymore considering the Villagers already consider me highly, I don't need to look overly cool anymore.'

'And wearing this could also pose as a risk since, if the players tried to dig around, they could eventually figure out that the items I got from the players during their failed raid of the Church weren't enough to make a full set of this shit.'

'Previously, I was overgeared, but now, I'm severely undergeared...'

"At least, I have arranged a new Set to replace this one."

'The equipment I got previously during the adventure to the Southern Wall is still being repaired by Barme, and it'll probably take some time for enough pieces to be fixed to form a full set.'

'Everything points out for that set to be amazing.'

'Though... Albeit laughable, I'm worrying that I may not even meet the requirements to use it in the first place...'

Dale stopped, suddenly having a 'Eureka!' moment.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that!"

'Equipment wasn't the only thing I got in the Wall!'

Dale opened his inventory and sorted it by using a Keyword: Trinkets.

Or in other words, an accessory.

But what was even an Accessory? What was its point in the overall scheme of things?

Considering all of the armor pieces one already had access to, was it really necessary to have more slots to etch things to?

Remember, there are about 7 slots for Trinkets and 8 slots for armor.

(N1)

Even if all couldn't be worn at the same time in most circumstances, it was still quite a bit of extra slots for items to be worn.

At least, that was the case for Standard players… Hardcore players weren't limited by equipment slots.

And as some tested, it was indeed possible for them to wear 5 rings on each hand, albeit, if their effects were too far apart or contradictory, the player in question could end up dying or suffering a huge debuff from what was literally an overwhelming amount of power.

Some may say that's unbalanced, but Hardcore players have only one life, if they fall, it's game over.

In any case, in essence, an accessory was a wearable piece of equipment whose main purpose was to boost one's Stats.

In the Beta, they were available to be acquired and experimented on, but once the game launched, no matter how much a player searched, they would only be faced with failure as they weren't acquirable in the Tutorial anymore.

At least not in a usable state...

It was probably done so as an attempt from the developers to have all players start on more equal ground, even if that didn't change things much.

"Here it is…" Dale mumbled as he grabbed a small Ring

'I forgot about those, but I did collect some Accessories from the soldiers' corpses…'

'And although a few are completely unusable, some are in a somewhat decent state.'

'I'll have to properly inspect them and see if there's someone that can fix the rest when I'm done with this…'

Dale smiled and walked deeper into the Sewers.

…

/Around 4 hours later…/

/SPLAT!/

Dale swung his metal spear and crushed a large, ball-shaped moss-like creature, sending it back onto the water where it slowly dissolved.

[Ding]

[You slew a Moss Giant]

[2% Level xp]

[Level up]

[You were the first player to reach Level 30!]

[You have achieved Level 30, your previous special privilege has been worn off]

[For being the first to reach Level 30, all Quest rewards will be improved and the likeness of triggering one has increased significantly]

[This privilege will last until the player reaches Level 40]

[Would you like to leave your name in the Hall of Fame?]

"No." Dale said loudly

'So the privilege this time is centered around Quests? I'll have to see how much of an improvement that actually is, but for now, it seems quite underwhelming.'

"In any case, for now, I won't have to worry about Levels for a while."

'I leveled up about 3 times in 4 hours, even if the privilege wore off, if we take that out of the picture, if I were to farm here, it would've taken me 8 hours to do the same.'

'So 8 hours to go from the end of Level 27 to 30, which can be rounded up to 2 levels, 28 to 29, and 29 to 30, about 4 hours per Level.'

'Considering the progressive increase in difficulty as you Level up, I would imagine that if I were to remain here for the remainder of the day, I would definitely be able to reach Level 33 before midnight.'

'And this is a leveling speed in an already discovered Dungeon, most people in the top 1000 are likely farming Hidden Dungeons with the boosts from first discovery, just like my GrandUncle.'

'And they have teams to increase the efficiency of everything, from monster gathering to loot collection, I do everything alone.'

'Even then, I'm faster, there is no need to worry about it all.'

'With this new privilege, I'll likely gain more XP from Quests as well, so I should focus my attention there.'

'But just to be safe, I'll keep paying attention to the rankings, and if they start to catch up to me, I'll spend a few hours in the Dungeon and that should be enough get me in the clear.'

'Because different from them, as I Level up, the expectation is for my Leveling speed to increase, while in their case, it's only downhill from there.'

'Meaning that... I should use this time to train more.'

"Still... A goal… I need a goal."

After thinking for a small moment, Dale thought:

'Alright, my Short-term goal will be to grow strong enough so I can start hunting in the forest.'

'The current Village Event will last 2 weeks, so that will be the time I'll set for myself.'

'Technically, I can already hunt there, but the danger of me meeting something I can't handle is high.'

'Until then, I can raise my Level and wait for my Armor to get ready while also fixing these Trinkets, pretty much, get myself in top condition.'

'Perhaps get more Skills from the books, or raise my current ones...'

'So that will be my goal, to become strong enough so that I can at least flee if things take a bad turn in the forest.'

'This ties well with my Mid-term priorities as I also have many Quests that need me to explore outside, so getting stronger goes well with those.'

'I could also use the time to study the old books more, gather information, and...'

"Create a Clear Strategy." He said with a small smile as he closed his Quest Menu

With a small nod, Dale turned around and left the sewers, making his way to Testros' house.

…

/At the same time, deeper in the forest…/

An old man could be seen sitting on top of a large rock, staring at the bright sun in the sky.

He would watch the birds fly away and the insects sing under the golden sun.

He seemed at peace and in harmony with the world around him, until another man approached him… Disrupting his thoughts.

He was old as well, about middle-aged.

"Now that we're alone... Answer my question, and don't lie..."

"Not to me." He said emotionally as he put his right arm on a tree nearby

"Tell me the truth, how long will the rations last?"

"..."

The old man remained silent. Ignoring his question as he raised his head to stare at a cute red bird as it danced around another bird.

'Nature sure is beautiful...' He thought deeply as he saw the strange scene

/Step.../

The middle-aged man approached him with a frown, a mix of pain and anger.

"Don't feign ignorance now, just tell me the truth, there's no point in hiding it from me!"

"Just what... What is the truth about this operation?" He said as he closed his eyes deeply

The truth was that... He already knew things were bad.

He didn't want to hear the truth, he didn't want to face reality and bear these responsibilities...

But he had to, he had to know just how long they had left.

"... A little over a month." The old man replied in a raspy voice after he let out a sigh

"A month?!... W-What about the cost?" The middle-aged man asked as he realized things weren't as 'good' as they seemed

"To last that long... We'll probably have to abandon the old and the weak, if we don't, at most 3 weeks."

"If we abandon morals and resort to everything we can, it should be possible to have everyone last for around a month and a half."

"If the children..."

"SHUT IT! DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT... Dammit!" The man exclaimed as he kicked a rock on the ground, sending it flying toward a tree like a bullet

/Caw caw.../

The startled birds flew to the skies as the stone crashed against the tree.

"Three weeks... So we only have that long… How despairing."

"..."

But the old man remained silent.

"We only have one shot at this." The old man said deeply without turning his head from the forest in front of him

"But things don't look promising, that's why we must push it harder."

"Now, more than ever, the forest is in chaos, and traverse has become nigh impossible."

"Previously, we could guarantee a safe pass to all of our warriors to the other side, but our plan was to safely move everyone together…"

"We stuck to that for years, decades, we were making progress... But not anymore."

"What we know about the forest has been thrown out of the window, and now, even some of our strongest warriors may die out there."

"However, if enemies outside weren't enough we have to face internal disputes as well, and some are now willing to abandon the weak to save themselves... Not that they're wrong."

"It is already difficult to keep them here, they want to leave but we can't afford that, because if they do, they'll all die."

"The longer we take the bigger their distress will be."

"... So that was why you pushed the plan forward?" The newcomer asked as he calmed down a little

'The old man nodded slowly.'

"Yes, it is harsh and cruel, but if they leave, we die, but if they remain, they'll die as well, and at most we'll live for a bit longer."

"They know that, and they'll not allow themselves to perish like this, they're not Legendary Heroes, they're people like you and me."

"If it wasn't for us making use of their families to hold them here... Can you take responsibility for that?"

"..."

"That is why I was forced to send them on their way, a last mission, a do-or-die situation."

"And this time, if they fail, then they'll likely leave as we won't have the strength to hold them back anymore... I won't have the heart to do so..."

/Tremble.../

"What's the purpose of all of this then?!" The newcomer asked as he stomped on the ground, making the area tremble

"Wasn't it always the same? Survival." The old man replied slowly

"For the past few decades we tried to reach the other side, many methods were employed, some went further than others, and the Apex of these attempts was Project Burnout, that at the time, was on the verge of completion."

"Alas, fate had other ideas for us..."

"Our time has run out, and now, our only hope of escaping has been cut."

The old man turned his face for the first time, facing the newcomer.

He looked to be on the verge of death, he was so old even his eyes were now gaping holes, his nose was twisted, his skin was soggy, his hair was extremely thin...

"You'll have to make a choice soon, for the others, Project Burnout was scrapped so we could live longer of its husk, but that isn't the truth."

"What?! Be clear with me!"

"The project never ended, we never scraped anything, we just made use of our reserve resources to give that impression, materials no one even knew we had, and never will..."

"The simple truth is that we lost access to the Main base when 'that' appeared in the forest and we were forced to evacuate or endanger losing everything we worked for the last few decades." He said as he touched his empty eyes

"The project itself has already finished, at the time we were only finishing the final check-ups to make sure nothing bad would happen."

"This operation is meant to check the condition of the project, and hopefully, start it."

"But at what cost? What about the fucking cost!?" The man asked angrily as he tightened his fists

"... Don't make me say that, you know very well how I feel." The old man said in a depressed tone as he looked at the towering wall in the distance

He turned his face towards the sun once more and said:

"Make your choice, participate in the mission, or remain behind."

"... But if I go, who will protect the Village? You're all throwing all of your cards into a single basket! What if it fails?!"

"Nothing changes then."

"We all die." The old man replied plainly

He seemed calm, no fluctuations could be heard in his voice...

"..."

The other man seemed conflicted, biting his lips in anger.

But he raised his head once more, convinced.

"I'll stay, someone has to, otherwise, all of this will be for nothing."

/Chuckle/

The old man laughed a little.

"I expected this to happen, though, at the same time, I wished for you to go." He said as he got up from the rock

He took out a small dagger, passing it on to the man.

"Everyone has agreed to participate in this mission, and this includes me... As I'm the last of the original Division Commanders..."

"Even if that holds no purpose anymore."

"Only I have the authority to open the Bunker, so I have to go, don't make me repeat it."

"From our Scavengers to our Warriors, you'll be left alone to fend for everyone else."

"I imagine you know why right?"

"..."

The man closed his fists in anger.

'They are more worried about their own lives than the welfare of the people that raised them… A bunch of cowards!'

'But I... Can't blame them, they already did a lot... Too much in fact...'

The old man gave him the knife, closing his hand around it as he placed it on his hand

"... This knife... It contains a special purpose."

"Inside my house, you'll find a small blue obelisk stone, it's now all covered in dust and grime, but that is irrelevant."

"Stab the knife there, and you'll know what to do."

"You must resist for at least 2 weeks, alone, without any help, and lacking supplies since we'll bring most of it with us as if we fail, we won't be coming back."

"Do you think you can do it?"

"..."

/Grasp/

The man held onto the knife with everything he had.

"I'll make it happen."

"Good."

"As the Commander in charge, I give you the authority to make whatever decisions you find appropriate for the sake of the preservation of the legacy of the Southern Corps..."

/Shine.../

In the middle-aged man's chest pocket, something seemed to shine momentarily as the old man turned around, walking away.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to meet again..."

"I won't die old man." He said with a smile

"Neither will I."

"... I outlived many, Champions... Heroes... Legends, people of conviction and power..."

"And I don't plan on meeting them in the afterlife yet, I would be too embarrassed to do." The old man replied with a small chuckle

"I promise you that, no matter what happens outside, I'll be back." The old man said without turning his back

"..."

The newcomer stared at the blue sky with his knife in hand, it was heavy, it was the weight of his responsibility.

…

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Notes

I hope you liked the chapter!

Before you go, remember what I said about premium? I'm still thinking about it, if I should do it or not.

How would you guys react if I did it? Would you guys drop, and continue following with one chap a day?

I'm seeking some feedback on it to know how I should proceed.

I particularly would like to try this as it's a new experience, but I wouldn't want to kick some of my old-time supporters in the nut by suddenly blocking everything.

If I do follow through with it, I'll leave a post in all chapters like an announcement just in case there are some readers trying to catch up, as it would be very sad to suddenty be locked up from a story you were following for the last few days.

That's about it.

See ya!

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