"I NEED ONIONS!" My friend said, who was in charge of cooking.
"CAN YOU HOLD ON; I'M STILL CHOPPING THEM UP!" I say as I watch my avatar chop up the onions.
"DUDE! THE ONION SOUP IS GOING TO BURN SOON!"
Our voices echoed in my living room as the three of us played Overcooked. All three of us are a little panicked right now since all three of us are trying very hard to achieve three stars on this particular level.
"PLATES! I NEED PLATES!" My third friend said, who was in charge of plating and serving the food.
The sound of the whistle blowing told us that the timer had finally ran down and all of us finally calmed down. We all waited with tense bodies to see if we've reached the threshold that is required to reach three stars. A celebratory screech escaped out mouths as we finally see three stars on that stage.
"Finally!" One of my friends said.
As if by pure coincidence, my doorbell rang telling us that the pizza that we ordered had finally arrived. Standing up from my couch, I gave a short stretch before walking towards the door and answering the pizza guy. Paying and tipping him appropriately, I came back to the living room with a couple of boxes of pizza.
"Pizza's here!" I call out to them.
"Alright, have a good night!" I call out to them.
I gave them one last look before heading back to my house. Checking my calendar, I noticed that it's a Saturday. A little overjoyed, I jogged back to my PC, turned it on and tuned into Terraria to continue playing.
Going through the menu of the game, I opened my world and continued to play on it. After waiting for the loading to finish, my game finally rendered. I looked around my throne room before standing up from my seat and left my castle. Standing outside of my castle doors was Amber. Before I talk to her, I first thought what to do. As of now, I suppose my next objectives would be to defeat the Brain of Cthulhu and maybe manage Vacuo for a while since I'm sure that place is still swarming with Grimm.
Alright, that is my objective. I'll probably add something on in midway. With my objectives set, I walked up to Amber. So far, I've managed to train Amber's mastery over the items that I've provided her to [Expert] level, just one level behind [Master]. That way, I can be assured that anything that pre-hardmode enemies throws at her, she can handle with ease, she'll probably still have to try a little harder when a boss shows up though.
"Amber," I called out to her.
Her head perked up when she heard me call her and she approached me with a bright smile. "Yes?"
A. "Come with me, we have somewhere to be."
B. "I want you to stay here."
C. "Feel free to do whatever you want to do."
D. "Let's train."
Hm… let's go with option C with this one.
"Feel free to do whatever you want to do."
Amber scrunched her face in confusion. "What do you mean?"
A. "I will be heading over to Vacuo to help out the people there."
B. "I will be exploring this world."
Oh, how convenient. Option A.
"I will be heading over to Vacuo to help out the people there." I say to her.
Amber stepped up with an eager look in her eyes. "Can I come and help them with you?"
I shook my head, she faltered. I walked up to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. "Listen, I need you to watch over Vale. So far, Vale is the most vulnerable city since the Eater of World's attack."
Realizing that has been given a mission, she straightened herself up. "I will not fail you!"
"I know you won't, I've trained you for this, I am quite confident that you can handle anything ahead of you."
She gave a firm nod before I walked away. Flaring my Nebula Mantle, I lifted off the floating continent and made my way to Vacuo. I opened my map and made sure that my direction is heading to the destroyed city. A few seconds of nothing but just flying straight, I just realized that there could be something interesting along the way.
Staring at the map for a while, I noticed a small blip just southeast of Vale. Hovering my mouse over to the blip, a name of the place popped up.
Mountain Glenn
Interesting name, it looks like it's a small city built as an extension of Vale as an attempt at expansion. Since I'm making my way east ward to Vacuo, I might as well pay this city a visit. Turning a little southward, I flew towards the mountain. Floating just above Mountain Glenn, I expected to see a bustling city but what I came across was a wasteland swarming with Grimm.
Seems like there is a lot to unpack in this place. One problem at a time, I'll pay this place a second visit after I deal with Vacuo's problems. I turned my face eastward and flew again, a sonic boom accompanying my departure.
After flying for a few in-game minutes, I finally reached the Vacuo. Flying around and observing the city from a bird's eye view, I realized how much this place is swarming with the Grimm. It will definitely take some time if I wanted to reclaim this place back for myself. However, it would prove beneficial for me since that is another place for me to own. Speaking of places that I own; I wonder how that village that I saved is fairing? Another thing to look into some other time.
It took a while, but I eventually found where the apartment complex that I built is a while back. Seems like there has been some development since I left. Before, it was just an apartment complex with defensive turrets that I summoned to provide protection. Now, it is a small village and a massive apartment complex looking completely out of place. I suppose it would be safe to assume that the apartment complex is considered the town hall of this village.
There were a few makeshift houses in the area; houses that were made from whatever the residents of this place could find in a destroyed kingdom. Some thin wood to make up some walls, plastic tarps or dirtied blankets made for roofs. All in all, it looks like shelters one would find in the slums. The centre of this village seems to be on the destroyed fountain. I'll land there.
Velvet Scarlatina doesn't really consider herself to be 'leader' material.
She knew this herself; she didn't really have the qualities of a leader, she isn't charismatic, inspirational, or motivational. To top it all off, she just graduated from her local combat school, she had little to no idea how to lead. Still, it was a duty that was unwillingly shoved to her since she showed courage during the fall of Vacuo. She walked down the stairs of the apartment complex that was hastily built by an individual with a purple cape before flying away.
Everything that is happening right now is still overwhelming for her. A large worm monster, wreaking havoc in the kingdom, Vacuo falling, Grimm. There were too many things that's currently occupying her mind, but she put them all aside because she is needed at the moment. She gave out a tired sigh and looked out to one of the many windows of the apartment complex overlooking the small settlement that's been slowly growing since word got out of this small safe haven that they have.
Velvet raised her eyebrow when she noticed that there was a commotion near the destroyed fountain. Almost everyone was flocking around the fountain, curious as to what is happening. Leaning forward a little more, she noticed a purple mantle that made her freeze up. Velvet rushed to a staircase and made her way down. When she reached the ground floor, she bursts through the entrance doors and made quick haste towards the fountain.
The man wearing the purple mantle stood by the fountain, his eyes scanning across the environment. His eyes landed on Velvet making the Faunus freeze up. He took a step forward, the crowd parting, making a path that led directly to her. He slowly made his way towards her, eyes not breaking away from hers. As he closed the distance between them, Velvet realised just how big he is. He towered over her, through the darkness of his hood, she could only see two purple lights which told her that those were his eyes. Velvet felt apprehensive as his unblinking eyes stared down at her. Apprehension filled her body as his gaze skimmed across the lay of the area. Is he inspecting the living conditions of the survivors? Are they living conditions enough for his tastes? Panic welled up inside of Velvet when she realised that the people living outside of the apartment complex lived much more difficult lives than the people living in the apartment complex, that includes her.
"Why are these people living outside of the apartment complex?" He asked.
A pit formed in her stomach; she opened her mouth. "W-We…" His gaze slowly turned to her, he was quiet for what felt like an eternity, waiting for her answer- no, her excuse. "T-There are n-no more r-rooms in the building…" Her voice slowly dying as she spoke.
She felt like each individual word that she said dug a deeper grave for her. She dared not meet his eyes, his figure looming over her. This was why she didn't consider herself to be leader material. His gaze alone made her knees buckle, heart pounding out of anxiety and her voice not properly working.
A shout from someone, perked her ears up.
"Hey! Lay off of Velvet! She is trying her best!"
Both Velvet and the purple cloaked man turned their heads to see whoever said those words. Standing in front of the crowd, was a 13 year old boy. He wore a blue hoodie and dark shorts, his long monkey tail swirled in agitation and his face showing a look of rebellion. Velvet's heart sank when she realised that the purple cloaked man's attention was no longer on her but on Sun.
"S-Sun-"
"Oh, is that right? She is trying her best to manage this place." He spoke.
"Yeah! After you left, Velvet helped everyone settle in. Once the rooms were full, she helped new survivors build their own houses! So lay off of her!" Sun shouted.
Pin drop silence graced the whole area, not a single one of them dared to say anything. Carefully gauging the man's reaction. Everyone flinched when his shoulders sagged. His eyes returned to Velvet. Under his gaze, this time, Velvet did not falter. Sun's words encouraged her, and she met his eyes with her own. To her surprise, it was him who first broke the staring contest. He walked past her and made his way towards the broken fountain. Velvet loosely followed behind him.
Everyone watched with awe as the fountain glowed a pleasant light blue. Pieces that were once attached to it reattached, the cracks slowly mending away. Velvet watched with rapt attention when his arms stretched outwards, palms pointing down, fingers slightly curled like a puppeteer controlling a puppet.
"Is there anything that I can do to help you develop this place?"
In a particular area of the Crimson biome, a group of Atlesian scientist accompanied by two Huntsmen and Huntresses squads, slowly rappelled down a cave. Upon reaching the bottom, they were met with monstrous opposition. Disgusting creatures swarmed them by the numbers. Blood Crawlers skittered from the walls and Face Monsters charged at them with wide mouths.
Fortunately, the two squads that were sent to protect the scientists were skilled enough to make quick work of the enemies. Once the cave has gone quiet again, the group proceeded deeper in the cave. Once they reached the deepest part of the cave, they started investigating everything. To the scientists' shock, there were still some Dust ores lying around here and there but are surrounded by Crimson stones. Try as much as they want, they could not damage the cave with conventional means like pickaxes and drills.
They were there for a few more hours before they decided that they couldn't do anything for the moment and leave. As the group got ready to leave, one scientist could faintly hear the sound of a heartbeat.
"Wait…" He glanced over to one of the Huntsmen, a man wielding a collapsible canon that could transform into a hammer. "…could you shoot your cannon at this wall."
The Huntsman gave his team a look of confusion before shrugging and followed. He shot at the wall and to their surprise, it collapsed.
Past the Crimson wall was a large beating heart suspended by thick veins that are attached on the walls.
It's been a while since I've touched this story. Hopefully I still have it and I can still grab your attention, fellow readers. Let me know what you think of this chapter. It's been a while so I certainly hope that the pacing of this story is not too fast and neither too slow.
Honestly, the reason for my delay for this chapter is because I'm hesitating on how to proceed with the story. I've already set up some ways on how to push the plot but the doubt of 'what if I have to rewrite everything again' keeps resurfacing. I am willing to rewrite but I just hope it doesn't come to that.
That being said, I'm really glad that I could post another chapter for this story and that I haven't lost my interest. I love your feedbacks and it helps push me to keep on writing. With all of that said and done, I bid you all adieu.
Peace~
