Beta'd by Seerking
Replying to reviews at the bottom.
Genesis 1.4
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The forest was quiet, not even birds sung.
That was the one thing Macro Brandy learned many years to fear over all else. It was a sign of danger that even the wildlife fled in fear of.
Standing in the shade of a tree he looked over his gear, his bow was in good condition and his throwing knives were as well.
Shifting a bit he reached back for the dagger he always kept on him. Twitching a bit he almost drew it before he realized who it was that was sneaking up on him.
"Gods be damned Nathan don't do that!" Turning to him, Marco spotted the rest of the party a short distance behind Nathan making their way over.
Nathan was a young blond kid about seventeen, one that was far too eager and was gonna die sooner or later. He wore the iconic light leather gear of gloves chest pieces, boots and gloves most thieves did along with several daggers on him and the standard cloak. Why someone as hyper as him was a thief he doesn't know.
Without a word and a cheeky grin, the brat wandered back over to the party.
The clang of metal lets Marco know the Warrior of the group was here and he turns to the heavy hitter of the group.
Clad in plate metal and standing at over six feet tall, the guy stood a foot taller than him and he was built like a mountain. The dude had more muscles than most other warriors and was still green as grass. It was so weird to him and with the thick helmet he wore it was hard to tell what the dude looked like. On his back was a massive greatsword. Now that he thought about it he still needed the guy's name.
"Oi, Tiny." Marco said grabbing the warrior's attention. "What's your name?"
Turning to him the warrior tilted his head and pointed at himself unsure; when Marco nodded back he spoke, "Rocky".
Good lord, the kid's voice even sounded rocky.
Quickly waving him over he spoke, "Ok, you are with me taking point. The forest is way too quiet to be natural."
With a nod, Rocky came up ready to draw his blade in case any nasties popped up. Looking back Marco saw the last five members of the party lagging behind.
"Oi! Quit lagging behind! Something's up and I don't want to be the one to tell Britney why you lot were killed on a simple scouting mission."
Soon they joined up with the group, and Marco got another good look at this motley party.
Two of them were twins, brother and sister, with matching brown robes that covered their bodies and had hoods attached were the mages of the party. Rarely far apart the two wore their hoods up and played mind games, confusing people just for shit and giggles. He still hadn't seen their faces. The brother Loki specialized in what Marco guessed was thunder magic, though he never saw the guy use any spells. His sister Hel specialized in fire magic and was one of the strongest fire mages of her age group if the rumors were to be believed.
Behind them was the cleric, a mousey little red head holding a collapsible staff and wearing the usual white and blue outfit. The brat keeps to herself and never says shit so he had no clue what she was like nor what her name was, he just called her cleric. At least she listened to orders.
Next to her was a young man by the name of Ronnie. He had shaggy orange hair, he wore brown shirt, and shorts and had leather chest, gloves, and boots on. Over that he wore a light green hooded cloak. The boy was a hunter just like him and had a bow, quiver and a strap full of knives.
The last party member had the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. She was a young thing, eighteen at the most and had long brown hair that reached to her lower back with light blue eyes. Her skin was pale cream, almost white color. She wore a white short sleeved dress that was black around the chest and had a design on the bottom right side. It reached down to her knees and she wore tan boots. On her right arm was armor that led to her wrist and at her wrist was a short sword.
It wasn't her appearance that got him on edge; no it was the magic that permeated the very air of the girl. This was someone who had a lot more experience than any of these kids with magic and had more power than the twins did together.
Sarah…just the thought of her name unnerved him. Why did she have that much power? Shouldn't the mainlands be safer? Bah, questions for later.
"All right everyone's here right?" Seeing all of them nod he continued. "Our primary objective is locating the disturbance in the area. It could be a pesky goblin messing with magic, a mutant plant or, even a dragon." Turning around he took out his bow and started making his way further into the woods. "Our secondary objective is to eliminate the source or, failing that, to gather as much information as possible. We were sent to scout, remember that. Now on the off chance I'm killed or MIA, Sarah will take over as the leader, understood?"
Hearing the group's acknowledgement, he motioned for them to follow and they made their way deeper into the woods.
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Sarah wasn't sure to make of this mission. If it just a scouting mission then why send such a large party? Pushing those thoughts to the side, she moved up to Marco.
Taking a good look at him she noticed the similarities in his and Ronnie's outfit, though where Ronnie had simple armor, Marco had a mix of heavy leather armor over his clothes and his bow was worn but well cared for. Though Marco had a lot more throwing and combat knives holstered on him.
"What can you tell us about the disturbance?" Going in blind wasn't something she preferred if she could help it.
"Not much. Just that the local monsters, the kobolds and goblins, have been avoiding this area or fleeing from it. It's making them upset and a lot of the rookies have gotten hurt because they are so agitated." He grunted out.
"I see. So we are going in blind."
"Yep."
"Swell."
This was going to be interesting. It wasn't the first blind mission that she had taken, but with so many rookies it seemed so strange. Why not get a fully trained and experienced squad to investigate this?
She had her theories but no proof to back them up. It was odd, first the demon attacks, then the various surges in monster activity. She needed to look back on her notes but if she was right…then things were about to get dangerous.
"What the hell?"
Her thoughts were disturbed by her leader's cursing. While he wasn't an overly polite individual, he also wasn't one for crass language for no reason.
Though the sight of the cause had the blood in her veins chill and her heart skipped a beat.
It was what looked to be a cave entrance in sticking out of the ground, that wasn't too out of the ordinary as caves formed on and off throughout the country in random places.
What set her off was the set of doors inside of said entrance. They were pitch black slabs of metal with two rings as handles. Above them though was a message, 'Leave all who dare, for death is all that awaits you, forget what you see and never return.'
"Well ain't that obvious."
"Marco, we should head back and report what we found." She suggested in an undertone. If they entered, there was a good chance they could die. They didn't know the level of danger that dwelt in its depths.
"Not just yet. He's been on edge all week and he's having a meeting tomorrow night. He wants information by said meeting. So we either kill the source or get as much info as we can by tomorrow's meeting."
Great. He was dead set on this. Well she had warned him.
"All right everyone, let's get a move on. We are investigating what's behind this gate and once we find enough info, we are hauling ass back to Alterna."
This was gonna end badly. She just knew it.
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Well, this would be interesting. A group of adventurers were raiding her dungeon.
Taylor was curious as to how they'd react to her recreation of Brockton Bay. Though she was a bit sad that it wasn't a full recreation. Apparently the size was too big for a floor this early so it was only about one-third of the size of the original, maybe a bit less than that. The buildings weren't shrunken down, thankfully, but a lot of buildings were missing.
Still, the floor should keep them occupied for a day and a half without any opposition. With the monsters, it should take them even longer if they kept fighting.
Sitting on her throne, Taylor watched the entrance to the dungeon from a screen. Maria stood to her right, standing patiently and watched alongside her.
"Maria, please get a small table and a pot of tea ready. My throat's gonna be hoarse for a bit. If I'm lucky, I'll get one or two of them."
With a nod, the maid headed out to make some. Turning back to the screen, Taylor looked over the motley crew. Out of them, all she had to say on a first glance was that the girl in white and the one giving orders were the only real threats. The ones in robes were unknowns and were to be treated as such.
She might be overestimating their strength, but she'd rather overestimate them only to find out they aren't threats. At least she'd be alive.
"Let's see how you like my singing, little adventurers." She said with an ominous tone in her voice.
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Marco wasn't sure what this gate was connected to but for some odd reason it was making Sarah a nervous wreck. Sure, she kept a calm façade up for the rookies, but she left several subtle hints that gave her away to the discerning eye. The questions about leaving, the way she was looking around, and how she subtly shifted her footing. She was very nervous. It was beginning to bother him and everyone else nearby. If this thing was scary enough to make her act like this, then it must be dangerous. But he didn't make it this far playing things safe; sometimes you had to take risks.
Turning to the group he made his choice. "Ok, here's the plan. Rocky, Nathan and I are going in head first."
"Roger that, boss." Nathan chirped, with Rocky just giving a thumbs up in answer.
"Loki, Hel and the cleric are staying in the middle."
"Understood." The twins chirped giving faux salutes while the cleric nodded.
"Sarah and Ronnie will be in the back. We don't want any surprises sneaking up on us."
"As you wish" Was all he got from Sarah, while Ronnie just grunted at him.
Turning to the door without a word, he pushed them open and made his way into the depths of what may be hell. Then within seconds his world was filled with light.
He was honestly expecting hellfire and ash when the light cleared. Instead, it was a rusted-over metal room with dirty windows and a rusted doorway letting some light into the otherwise dark room. The briny smell of the sea, one that he rarely experienced, filled the air. Flashes of light behind him marked the arrival of the rest of the party.
"Where the hell are we? We went from a cave to the inside a metal room."
"This looks to be the inside of a ship, but I don't think I've ever seen one made of metal." Looking over he saw Sarah looking at a steering wheel connected to a metal box near the center of the room.
"Let's get out of here and see where that door dropped us off at." Heading to the door he heard the other follow him out. Forcing the door wide open they were greeted to a world completely different to their own.
"What the hell…?" were the only words that filled his thoughts. In front of him and the party were the ruins of a city. The room they were just in was a part of a massive ship. One of many tossed onto the land in a massive pile upon and along what might have once been a port. The entire area was trashed to hell and back, with massive stone and metal buildings and the ruins of several others littering the area.
"This is place is a wreck." He muttered. Looking around to see if he could spot anything strange (stranger than what he was already seeing, that was), he spotted what looked to be a massive wall of fog out on the body of water. It circled around to the other end of what he believed was the coastline. But the mist and fog made his view blurry so he didn't want to assume anything. Out in the distance on the mainland was a grove of massive trees that seemed to border the horizon.
"I was right…" a voice whispered right next to him. He didn't need to look to know it was Sarah. The fact that she knew or had any idea where they were meant he was going to interrogate her first chance he could.
Spotting a pathway down made from the sides of the wrecked ships, he couldn't help but wonder what the hell they were getting into. He was used to getting involved with strange stuff, but this seemed a bit out there.
Hearing the sound of feet on metal made him smirk as they got into position. Good, they understood not to get caught up in the unknown. Drawing his bow and an arrow, he kept his eyes peeled for anything lurking in the shadows.
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For the next half hour they walked along the ruined coastline. It would have been far more ominous if the trip was quiet. Though there were birds chirping and he saw a small herd of deer drinking from a stream that led into the bay. So there was some life here and some wild animals they can hunt if they need food.
But that didn't stop the feeling that they were constantly being watched no matter where they went.
Holding his hand up, the group stopped and turned to give him a look.
"Got a reason why we're stopping here?" Nathan asked, with 'here' being the ruins of some sort of businesses that bordered a shoreline.
"Yeah, anyone else get the feeling we are being watched?"
"Now that you mention it…I guess I do." The thief responded, now looking completely unsure about how to react. Not surprising, since thieves usually became unnerved or unsure on how to react when watched. They were usually the watchers, not the watched.
"How about the rest of y'all? Have the feeling of eyes staring at you?"
This seemed to prompt everyone to stare or look at each other like they weren't sure, but one by one they started to nod.
"Is it a monster?" Rocky's rough voice made him look over at the walking tank as he started to look around with his grip easing and tightening on his sword repetitively.
"No clue," Marco admitted, "but what I do know is that we have been watched from the moment we entered this place. Been feeling eyes on me ever since."
It was then that his sixth sense, the one the elder hunters referred to as one's higher instincts, kicked in and he leapt to the side. Good thing he did because a fire ball had detonated where he was standing, causing the rest of the party readying for battle.
"Well, it looks like the welcoming party is here." He growled.
Running out of an alley was about five wolf monsters. Two of them were grey colored wolves with spikes running down their spines, while the next two vaguely resembled the previous wolves, but were bigger and had red fur. The last one was massive thing; it was three times larger than the grey ones and lacked the spikes.
"Shit, move! Rocky, Sarah with me! Loki, Hel you two take care of the red ones! Ronnie, Nathan, and Cleric, you take care of the grey ones. Keep them separated from each other!" Marco ordered rapidly as he notched an arrow.
Drawing his bow he fired three arrows in rapid succession, causing the wolves to split up. Rushing the biggest wolf, he drew three throwing knives and launched them at the beast's legs, only for it to dodge with a leap and a snarl.
"Tch, guess it was asking too much for it to work on one of you."
"You know what this beast is?" Rocky asked standing in front of him with the flat of the blade held in front of him, ready for anything. Sarah was by his side blade drawn.
"Yeah. It's a pain in the ass to kill even for pros and earned the nickname, the rookie killer. Rocky, Sarah, meet the Dire Wolf, a Rank-C monster."
As though in response, the Dire Wolf charged forth ready to rip them apart, a howl emerging from its muzzle as it moved.
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Yelling was all that filed Nathan's ears as the small cleric yelled at the top of her lungs, smashing her staff into one of the wolves' skulls with a meaty thwack.
There was a reason he never challenged her to an arm wrestling competition, and there it was on show for all to see. Turning to Ronnie, he gave a subtle nod as he bum-rushed the other wolf with knives in hand.
The wolf met his charge with its own, its fangs glistening as it bared them.
'Okay, [Flinch]!' Ducking he grabbed a handful of sand and tossed it into the wolf's face as he slid under its jaws, blinding it and leaving it exposed. "Now!" he yelled, knowing Ronnie would understand.
All that followed was a yelp followed by gurgling as he looked over to see three arrows lodged into its throat.
"Nice shot Ronnie!"
"You doubted me? I'm hurt." The hunter replied with a mocking tone, holding his hand over his heart. The dude was such a ham.
"Please, if you were a lousy shot we'd be taking you to the healer to get you checked out." Nathan scoffed.
Before Ronnie could reply, they were startled as the wolf turned to dust, leaving a few fangs behind and a small purple crystal that had white lights flickering inside of it.
"The hell is this?" Picking it up, he couldn't make heads or tails of the stone.
"Yours dropped one too?"
Turning he saw the cleric walk over with a similar stone in hand.
"Yeah, don't know what these are so I think we should hold onto them." Pocketing the stones the trio made their way to assist the others.
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'This is not going to plan.' Sarah thought. No matter what they tried, the Dire Wolf leapt, dodged, or rammed right through anything they threw at it. Her magic wasn't any help either as her ice shattered like glass against its back and it dodged any lightning launched at it. For a C-Rank monster, it was ridiculously agile and resilient.
Dodging another charge, she landed by Marco and Rocky, both of them looking scratched up, but thankfully unharmed.
"I can see why it's called the Rookie Killer." She said holding her blade in front waiting for the beast's next attack. It was far too dangerous to have it leave her sight for too long, should it happen she's sure its fangs would find perch around her arm or worse.
"Yeah, the bastard is smart and powerful. While Dire Wolves lack the more esoteric abilities most C class monsters have, they makes up for it with slightly greater than average cunning and strength allowing them to be ranked as such. Plus their ability to lead a pack can end a fight with the unwary and unprepared in a slaughter." Glancing back she saw him notching three arrows into his bow. "We are way underequipped and in a bad area to fight it. It has the room to move freely, and we can't match it enough to counterattack. Rocky here isn't capable of moving fast enough to clip it, though if he can then we can turn the tables easily. But thankfully I have a plan, just do me a favor and close your eyes…"
With that last retort he let loose the arrows and they soared at the beast glowing- wait glowing? Shielding her eyes, Sarah felt the arrows go off, releasing the magic that made them glow.
The beast's howls were music to her ears as those arrows must have blinded or harmed it.
The ground shook as something rushed passed her in a blur, the air shrieking in protest. It didn't hit her that it was Rocky until she saw his blade slam into the beast's forelegs, lopping them off with a spray of blood. But the Dire Wolf would not let him walk away unscathed, for as it fell, it lashed out and sank its fanged jaws into Rocky's leg, tearing right through the thick plated metal as though it were wet paper. If it was going down, it was evidently going to try dragging one of them with it.
This was bad. Rocky and the beast were struggling, each trying to either gain the advantage or to hold the other off. Marco couldn't fire more arrows or throw any knives without running the risk of hitting Rocky. Armor always had a higher threshold before it gave way, and Marco used very well made arrows that were meant to pierce thick hides and plates. She would have to leave it up to chance with her attack.
Holding her blade before her, she reached within for her magic and channeled it through her weapon.
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Marco had seen many tricks of the trade from various guilds and their members. But never has he witnessed an attack like the one Sarah just used.
One moment she was standing still, holding her sword blade pointed straight up and it started to glow. No skill outside of magic produced any type of light, yet this was like both yet neither. A golden light covered the blade and made it seem much more powerful.
Then she was gone, from where she had stood to right above the wolf and Rocky with her blade shining golden and she yelled one word, "Salvation!" and the world was filled with light. It was almost blinding yet it wasn't enough to hurt his eyes or force him to shy away.
When the light cleared the wolf was no more. Only sparkling black dust and a large gem stone were left where the beast once was. As much as he wanted to ask for answers, Rocky was badly injured and there could be more wolves out there. Blood was in the air and they had to get him treated.
"We should move," Sarah said. No shit.
"Not without the others." He'd be damned if he would leave the others behind.
"Hey, you guys alright?" Thank whatever gods actually gave a damn. It was the trio he sent after the Lesser Wolves, perfect timing too.
"Oi, Cleric! Rocky's injured pretty badly." He had never seen a cleric move so damned fast in his life. He swore he saw an afterimage standing right next to the trio.
"Okay, while she's fixing up his leg let's find the twins. Let's hope they haven't blown themselves up with magic."
The world shook immediately after the words left his mouth and a several buildings collapsed from a massive explosion.
"Me and my big mouth. Whelp, let's hope they're okay." He had hopes they survived, but he wasn't optimistic on their chances if they were that close to the blast.
"Hey sis, think the boss man was worried for us?" Speak of the devils and they shall appear.
"It could be. Maybe we have wormed our way into his oh so cold heart." Relief turned to annoyance at that snippy comment.
Turning around the two had an arm wrapped around the other's shoulder as they walked over. He did notice their cloaks were singed and covered with soot.
"Ok you jokesters. Now that everyone is here, we can move somewhere safer. Rocky isn't going to be moving much due to the wound and I don't want to run into another wolf pack. I want Sarah and Ronnie to carry his blade while Nathan and I help move him. Oh, and grab that stone too." With that said they all went to work.
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Sarah was a simple girl. Sure, she liked some nicer things once in a while but rarely did she ask for much. But today, she wished it hadn't played out like it had.
This mission hadn't gone the way she would have liked, at all. It was supposed to be a simple scouting and possible extermination. Now they were crawling around *here* and she wanted to leave. Oh, how she wished she could tell them, but they would laugh her off like she was a loon.
Now they sat on one of the upper floors of a rundown building surrounding a fire made from dry debris. It wasn't comfortable, but at least they were in a secure location that the wolves couldn't reach easily.
"So, you all found strange gemstones after you killed the wolves?" Marco broke the ice and pulled out the stone from the Dire Wolf. The twins, cleric and Nathan did as well. "I thought so. They aren't a native species to the area, in fact they live incredibly far north of Altera to the point you won't see them much or at all. They also don't turn to dust and leave behind gemstones when they die either." An ugly tension filled the area, turning it incredibly uncomfortable and caused a few others to squirm. "There's also the matter of our guest holding back information and I'm not talking about your light show. You recognized the stone the moment you saw it, not to mention how nervous you've been since we entered this place. You hid it well but I caught the way you shifted and acted. So tell m-all of us, because gods above if people start dying because you held out information…"
Well, the jig's up so she might as well come clean.
It was with great hesitation that she began. "Very well. I do know what you are talking about. But I kept silent because I doubted you would believe me." This gained her some odd looks, like she spoke a foreign language.
"Something is better than nothing and you have that something so spill." Marco directed her.
"The stones and this place all match the records pertaining to a Dungeon." Sarah answered simply.
"A dungeon? Like in the fairy tales the old folk tell the children?" Rocky spoke up out of nowhere; pausing from the maintenance he was performing on his blade. "They say 'great treasures lay inside the great pits of the world if you dare brave the dangers within.'"
"Kind of. Dungeons do possess treasure of sorts, but it mostly comprises of magic stones. Like the ones you all have on you, though weapons and armor can be found there as well." The Warrior-Mage answered.
"So these stones are valuable are they?" Nathan said, peering into the glistening gemstone he held, trying to assess its value. Typical thief.
"Depends on the size, but yes they are." Sarah stated. "But it's the fact that they exist that brings me worry. Dungeons haven't been seen in some time. Then there's the overall appearance; never has a recorded dungeon ever had a design like this. They are usually are a themed room by room set up with corridors in-between them, not a ruined city."
"Maybe they decided to switch it up? Try something new?" Nathan had a good point, but there was a flaw to that.
"The dungeons run on, what is believed to be, a magic set up. This usually manifests as a core in the deepest part of the dungeon. This set up is very… simplistic. The core is like a golem, it's a construct that fulfills the orders the magic inscribed into it gives."
"So you're saying it's not smart enough to build something like this?" Nathan surmised.
"Exactly. They are believed to have some sort of free thought when it comes to design, traps and monsters as records say they all vary. Meaning there's no real standard when it comes to them."
"How come we are only hearing about these dungeons now? If they have a lot of treasure and monsters this would be a goldmine to farm and harvest materials." Loki asked with a glint of avarice in his eyes.
She would have responded had Marco not cut her off. "There are several reasons why."
Was he aware of dungeons? Then why had he demanded answers from her if he knew.
"The first is because they haven't been seen in over 90 years, they stopped appearing since then. The second is because they are hunted down and destroyed as soon as possible."
"I wasn't aware you knew about the dungeons, Marco. Have you been holding back information?" call her petty but it was hypocritical if he was also holding info back and calling her out.
"Not as you were. Most of what I said was what I heard in passing from Britney and was I missing a lot of context. You just helped fill in the gaps I couldn't."
Well she couldn't fault him there. If all he had was bits and pieces then there was no point in saying anything if he didn't understand them himself.
"But, where was I? Oh yeah, apparently the reason they destroy them is because they upset the environment by riling up the local monster and animal populations. They also feed off the energy released from fighting in the dungeon and use that to grow, enhance the monsters or set new traps."
This was pretty detailed for something missing context and she asked him about this.
"He said most of this without mentioning the term dungeon, the only thing he referred to was the core. The last bit is mainly guess work based on how you said the dungeons set themselves up." Shrugging he looked over to her. "Anything wrong or want to clarify with what I said?"
With a small shake she responded, "No. All of what you said is the truth. Dungeons are seen as the disasters due to the destruction that monsters cause. But I believe we have gotten a bit distracted. Even the Grand Archive didn't have records on the dungeons designs matching anything like this."
"Grand Archive? The hell is that?"
Realizing she spoke that last bit aloud she decided it would be easier to explain than ask them to ignore her. "It's a library temple dedicated to the god of knowledge, Rapostalen. His followers are allowed access to the library and several gifts. It's a lot like your guilds in how it works; we act as scholars, researchers, and field agents in order to expand the library's knowledge."
"So a bunch of book keepers and the like? We need to stop getting off track, let's stick to talking the dungeon. We can interrogate you later about being a bookworm. Is it possible for anyone to control the core? If that were the case, then it would explain the city."
Shaking her head she immediately shut it down. "Dungeons are hostile to anything originating outside of it. The only way anything close could happen would be if a… a… Oh god…" with that the fear that filled her earlier returned with a vengeance and she started to feel sick.
"What? What's wrong? What were you going to say?" Marco's yelling brought back her attention.
Gulping the spit and bile that was building in her throat she steeled her nerves. "A Demon Lord."
"A what?"
"A Demon Lord is in control of this dungeon. A being of immense power and the rulers of some of the most powerful dungeons, if the tales are correct. It's the only reason why the dungeon would look like this."
Anything else that could have been said was halted as an eerie song filled their ears, then it all went to hell.
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Sorry this was so late, the semester was winding down and between my internship and two group projects i had to knuckle down and focus on them, so this wasn't much of a priority. not much to say atm regarding the story. Got somethings planned out to hopefully implement later on while i work out the details for the endgoal of the story.
the references in the last chapter were the ghost girl whose name is a homage to the main protag of the series Kara No Kyokai, The living doll is the plain doll from bloodborne, named after the character thats believed to be the inspiriation of her design, the last refferance i hav decided to hold back on revealing as it wasnt a very good one for people to figure out. it will return and ill mention it when i do.
in this chapter there is one reference to another series.
now the next update might be a while since i'm gonna go back and work on Moonglade, my bloodborne/Danmachi crossover as well as a few other ideas i just want to get written down.
oh yeah, are there any magic lessons you guys want to be covered after chapters? Please speak up and i would be happy to do so as it can help me avoid having exposition dumps in the main story