...Hallo all! Welcome to any new readers, and welcome back to those glorious souls who've waited patiently (or perhaps forgetfully) since my last release! It's been a long hiatus indeed-but still not as long as those loyal readers of Berserk, who surely constitute a modern-day miracle.
As always, Log Horizon is exclusive property of Mamare Touno and his chosen publishers/animation studios/table-top RPG makers. As if a modern-day Socrates, I might profess that I am the richest man in Athens: For I know that I own nothing. Or something like that. Enjoy!
Lv. 5: Destination Acquired
Walking through New Jersey felt like attempting to swim at the bottom of an oppressively sunny ocean. With every step, perspiration drained in stinging rivulets across Wander's eyes, pooling in the small of his back and turning his already-cheap cotton shirt into an almost-unwearable soaked rag. Of course, it was entirely possible that was just the humidity-with each breath, Wander was having greater difficulty deciding if he was inhaling airborne water or waterborne air. If that wasn't enough, schizophrenic thunderstorms seemed to roll in every day or so with a great hullabaloo, absolutely drown the landscape, and leave just as abruptly as they'd arrived. In fact, between the omnipresent schools of overly-friendly gnats and the shark-like pods of ravenous goblins, Wander wouldn't have been entirely surprised to see a friggin' octopus jet by.
"Honestly," one Adventurer had confessed, "It's been sort of a nice change."
After making it out of the forest where xxDestroyer had attacked, Wander had spent some time asking the throngs of merchants along the goblin-free road for directions and maps of any sort. The result: Wander had concluded that Pattonville was, in fact, situated in the (highly degraded) ruins of Baltimore, which put him at about 100 Half-Gaia miles south of the Big Apple. Interestingly, given the hours he'd walked after his awakening, that put his initial spawn point rather close to the Old Capital (Washington, D.C.). Why he'd spawn near some ruins was a mystery-like so many other elements of this world-but though he'd heard about a breathtaking cache in the network of secret tunnels and bunkers beneath the White House, it was more important to obtain proper gear and supplies. So, towards the Big Apple he'd went, traveling over the past eight days or so in the comfort and relative safety of merchant caravans in exchange for regular guard duty. Which itself had benefits; thanks to exp pots and a number of well-timed attacks, he'd at last hit Lv. 30, which meant a lot less harassment from lone, weak monsters. The merchants had even thrown in a couple of magic scrolls to sweeten the deal!
They'd parted ways just across the Island of Staten-the cities were home to monsters, and the Lander merchants were going to detour East and come in from the much-safer North side of Manhattan. Crazy Adventurers were free to go whichever way they chose.
And now, after what felt like an eternity on foot and alone with the humid air, Wander had arrived at the last hurdle to the Big Apple-the ruins of the City of Jersey.
Walking along a broken road following the shoreline, Wander spotted packs of briar weasels burrowing in the loam around ruined train tracks, which-warped by unknown ages of disuse-twisted serpentine through the city streets towards the horizon. High above, a small family of lesser drakes screeched indignantly before launching out of a tree-swallowed skyscraper. Even now, in the middle of the day, the Adventurer could spy a couple surprisingly well-dressed revenants shambling towards the financial district, waiting with a peculiar sort of irate patience for the New York Stock Exchange to open; the questions of "how" and "why" it would do so didn't seem to bother them. Maybe they knew something he didn't...
Or maybe they were just revenants.
Despite the danger all around him, Wander couldn't help but to grin. After all, alongside him lapped the blue, miraculously pristine, sahuagin-infested waters of the Hudson River-and just across it, at last, towered the majestic walls of the Big Apple.
Wander allowed himself to pause for just a moment to soak in the view. Across the George Washington Bridge a few miles up the road and behind those walls waited supplies, allies, and maybe even the answers he'd need to make it in this world. And food... Oh yes, real food. No more apples or pears or cardboard-tasting travel rations; no more charcoal potatoes or charcoal soup or irritating cooks who somehow turned everything they prepared into charcoal-from now on, Wander would feast! He thought he could almost smell the luxuriously rich pizza waiting for him across the river, the invitingly warm pretzels, the impossibly putrid miasma of... Salad, maybe? Vegetable medley? Screaming compost heap?
With a most unbecoming yelp, Wander tumbled backward, just barely rescuing his upper torso from the slavering maw of a Triffid. A quick roll to the side carried him past a second set of lashing vines, but the oncoming bulk of a third plant-monster threatened to crush him before Wander had the wits to call his blade and inelegantly bash it away. While the monsters were still off-balance, Wander willed his sword to ignite. Cerulean crystal blinked into living scarlet flame, enabling the Adventurer to spin around himself a small, fiery perimeter that forced his assailants back further and gave him a chance to inhale.
Triffids. While he'd been daydreaming like an idiot, three of the massive carnivorous plant-monsters, each Lv. 40, had surrounded and very nearly eaten him. A n00b mistake, and one that he couldn't afford-despite what Destroyer had mentioned about death and cathedrals, Wander was still fairly concerned about the effects dying would have on his health. Besides, he'd not yet set foot in a cathedral, so there was no telling where he'd end up during his respawn.
The Adventurer returned his attentions to the problem at hand. His three foes were recoiling from the sudden heat for now, but they'd undoubtedly regroup soon. He was outflanked, outnumbered, and out-sized; however, Wander had mobility, speed, and the elemental advantage of fire.
And those were things he could use.
Leaping through his impromptu defensive barrier, Wander charged towards the closest of the three triffids, sword ablaze in one hand and seemingly off guard. When he was almost upon it, the creature's vines shot out in an effort to incapacitate its madly-sprinting assailant. The instant they did, however, Wander swerved and dropped into a slide tackle, shooting below the monster's grasp and slicing through a cluster of its exposed roots before jumping to his feet on its far side. A shriek of outrage and the smell of burning cabbages suggested he'd successfully set the thing ablaze, but there was no time to check.
As soon as they registered the pain of their compatriot, the other two triffids launched a counterattack, sending their roots racing underground until they erupted through the fragmented asphalt around Wander's feet-only once they'd drained nearly half his health and almost pulled him entirely underground was the Adventurer able to shear through them with a single swipe of his now-tenebrous blade, freeing himself and eliciting another howl from his foes.
The Adventurer had half a second to take in the situation while he sprinted around the triffid perimeter, making himself a harder target for more grasping roots and vines. The first monster was still focusing all of its attention upon the fire that had now consumed 3/4ths of its health and was still growing in magnitude-at this point, the thing was good as dead. The second monster was still recovering for the apparently more complete severance of its roots, but the third seemed to have shaken off the damage and was readying another attack.
That monster it was, then. Ignoring the rising burn in his thighs and sprinting even faster than before, Wander jabbed his sword through the broken ground and used it as a pivot to swing ninety degrees around and go flying feet first towards his angrily screaming foe. Still in the air, he called back the Arcana and flung it forward and cried the name of his intended skill: "Blazing Tiger Echo Wing!"
The blue crystal flashed red once more and ignited, transforming into a mad, burning contrail of radiance that crashed into the unprepared monster and ripped it bodily from the earth. Then, using the throwing motion to plant his leading foot on the ground, Wander took two more bounding steps and howled the name of one more move while raising his right foot high to his chest: "Wyvern Kick!"
What was originally just a flying sidekick flared with emerald energy and smashed right through the uprooted triffid, blowing it into a cloud of xp and a small pile of loot.
The other monster was starting to regain its senses, but too late-the not so hapless Adventurer had already closed the distance between them. Lashing with a sword of pure, biting darkness, Wander dismembered the monster with a storm of inaccurate, savagely powerful, and mercilessly effective shears, until this beast too was nothing but progress towards another level. Wander turned to deal with the final triffid, but it had already succumbed to its mounting burns-where it stood was simply a pile of ash and gold. Wander took a deep breath and went to collect his rewards.
"Hail, Adventurer. Your blade is wondrous strong indeed!"
Wander wheeled around and nearly decapitated a finely clad Lander soldier, whose approach must have been masked by the turmoil of combat-as it was, his crystal blade hovered inches away from her gilded gorget before he drew it back in a closer, more defensive stance.
"Who the hell are you!?" The Adventurer tried to keep his composure, but he feared his question came out less a manful bellow and more an alarmed bleat. Still, it seemed to have gotten the point across-the visibly shaken Lander backed gingerly away and replied slowly.
"Easy there. Believe me, I pose no threat to one of your caliber, even with your lack of proper equipment. Here; you might need this." The soldier cautiously pulled a small red vial out of her pack and tossed it to him. Wander analyzed it through his menu; a lesser health potion, and just what he needed. "I'd offer you a mana potion as well," the Lander explained, "but I'm afraid I already used my last one."
"Don't worry about that-this is more than enough," Wander assured her. It was true: over the past week of guard duty for the caravan, his mana recovery had leapt obscenely in comparison to the rest of his stats, which themselves exhibited more-than-impressive growth. Indeed, maintaining either of the Arcana's elemental forms no longer visibly affected his MP bar, while after even higher-level monk techniques (which, admittedly, were designed around chaining rather than nuking) his mana would be fully charged in a matter of seconds. That, however, was something this stranger didn't necessarily need to know. "You still haven't answered my question, though. Who are you? What are you doing here?" Wander uncorked the potion with his teeth and started sipping while waiting for her answer.
"I'm, ah... A member of the King's army. I was stationed here to steer honest folks like yourself from the, um, George Washington Bridge-it's been occupied by a bandit clan, and we've sealed it off until reinforcements from my division can clear them out."
For some reason, this soldier seemed to be struggling with some of the more obvious details, but Wander was more distracted by the last part of her answer. The now-empty vial slipped from his slackened grip and his eyes widened with shock.
"Wait, the bridge is closed? How the am I supposed to get to the Big Apple? The next bridge is dozens of miles up the river!"
"Not to worry," the soldier assured him. "There's a tunnel a mile or so south of here that will put you right in the heart of the city."
"The Lincoln Tunnel? I thought that was sealed off, because it was full of monsters."
"We have, ah, cleared and unsealed it for the purpose of this attack. It's open, for the moment." The soldier looked suddenly unsure again. "It's a little hard to find, and there's still some time before the attack, so if you'd like me to walk you to it... I can, uh, help answer any other questions you have-" Wander cut her off.
"That would be great, thanks!" As weird as this woman was, she'd been genuinely helpful-at the very least, she certainly wasn't a threat. And it was true, he needed any information he could get; this seemed a good a chance to get it as any. "So, what's the news from the city?"
"Strange tidings indeed..." The soldier turned and began walking south along the road. Wander grabbed what was left from his fight with the triffids and followed.
"...Well, when we woke up after the third 'party,' Guild Gamish announced that their 'liability waivers' had been swapped out for magicked contracts ceding complete governance of the city to Gamish himself! He declared himself king, and that was that."
"Well, damn. That's actually rather impressive. Still, the other citizens couldn't have been too happy about that, could they?"
"Actually, the declaration was accompanied by explosive fire magic, dancers, and yet another 'party,' so most everyone was alright with the change in leadership. But hold a second." The knight paused, looking first ahead and then to either side. "We're here."
Wander, who had been letting his attention rest comfortably on city gossip and tall tales, now focused upon the decrepit semicircle of darkness that squatted over the crumbling road just a few hundred feet ahead.
"The Holland Tunnel." As a faint wind blowing across the tunnel's entrance made a resonant hum like the groan of something long dead, Wander turned skeptically towards his guide. "You sure this is the right place?"
"There can be no doubt about it. My, err... regiment... marched around that very bend. And speaking of which," she continued, fidgeting with her pauldrons, "I need to be getting back to them. The operation, and all."
"Right!" exclaimed the Adventurer. "That. Best be out of here, then. Good luck, and all that!"
"Same to you!" With that, the Lander turned and started into a light jog back north.
Wander watched her go. She'd been a tremendous help, that knight, and despite the odd blanks in her answers, had made good conversation. When he finally met this Bram fellow in the Golden Spire, he'd have to be sure to give her a recommendation or something. The friendly knight, by the name of... Whose name began with the letter... Who was... Um... Huh.
With a start, the Adventurer realized he'd never actually learned his benefactor's name. In all the confusion of her appearance and the distraction of the walk to the tunnel, never once did he remember to ask her name, or even pull up her status window.
It seemed she was still in range. Wander concentrated on the clanking armor now a small distance away and focused, reading her now-receding profile.
"Valkyr. Lv. 40, of Theives' Guild Big Apple. Nice name." Wander faced back towards the gaping tunnel mouth, then froze. "Thieves' Guild? What-"
The Adventurer froze. This was a trap. Either the rest of the clan was waiting around the bend of the tunnel to take him down, or they would move in from behind and seal his escape between their armaments and the dead end that was doubtless still in place. Either way, there were most likely archers trained upon his position already-they were just waiting for him to enter the tunnel to finish him off out of sight from any other wandering Adventurers. If he tried to run, though, they would probably have no qualms about shooting him where he stood. For all his supposed caution, Wander had been fooled by a potion and some friendly words. Yet another n00b mistake.
And perhaps, with enough skill, one he might also walk out of alive.
With a casual ease that concealed his mounting nervousness, Wander summoned his blade and willed its tip to ignite before stepping lightly into the abyss of the tunnel. For anyone ahead or behind, it would seem he had simply drawn a rather cheap torch. As the darkness surrounded him, Wander waved the point of fire in wide arcs in front of his path, as if to illuminate the road as much as possible with its limited and inconstant glow. By the time he walked a few yards in, the afternoon glow of the city was just a bright white square of New Jersey summer sun, which meant, at best, those behind him could only see a tiny orb of fire to indicate his position, and those in front would focus on the same.
This was the tricky part. Concentrating upon the Arcana's small flame, Wander allowed it to slip off the end of his blade and wove it in the same pattern he had before. It was now an artificial will-o'-the-wisp-and assuming the rest of his would-be hunters were Landers like the one that had brought him here, they would be unable to tell it from the Adventurer it had been connected to. The two continued their forward momentum, but Wander began making the will-o'-the-wisp drift to the outer side of the road, while he began making for the inner. By the time the tunnel's curvature had almost blocked off the square of daylight from whence they'd came, Wander and the light were moving on opposite sides of the asphalt, and the light would've disappeared from view.
In one smooth motion, the Adventurer shifted the Arcana to its shadow form and held it between himself and the would-be torchlight. Now as shadowed as the rest of the tunnel, he turned around-and indeed, in the square of daylight on the wall behind him Wander could see a row of silhouettes advancing on his position. In that instant, while his stalkers had a sightline on the flame orb but not on the Adventurer himself, Wander plunged the tenebrous Arcana hilt-length into the wall, which yielded with the consistency of cloud, and swept it from the height of his head to the level of the ground. Noting the uptick in mana drain that absorbing the solid stone required, he made carefully carved a few more slices from the wall. His mana was now temporarily depleted, but he'd been rewarded with a rectangular alcove just wide and deep enough for him to hide bodily within. Wander slipped into his hiding spot and ceased the motion of his will-o'-the-wisp.
"Hello?" he cried, his voice echoing against the tunnel walls. "Who's there?"
Immediately, a flurry of arrows ripped through the flame's position. Wander faked a howl of pain, masking the arrows' subsequent clatter against the cold concrete, and let the fire hit the ground before dispelling it altogether. Convinced that his hunters would be racing to confirm their kill, he raised his still-ebon sword and waited.
The archers never came. Wander could see their shadows upon the wall, but they simply lowered their bows and remained in place. Instead, to his alarm, a new, discrete set of footsteps began echoing from further in the tunnel. His mind raced through question after question-Had there been an interior party as well? No, this was just one person. Since they hadn't fired before, did that make them a melee fighter, or a mage? And because they weren't moving now, was this person their leader? Wander needed answers. Cautiously, he wiggled his head out from his niche in the wall and looked into the darkness of the inner tunnel.
There, glowing with a digital light, floated the status bar for Lv. 50 Sorcerer JeoMan96. There wasn't time to think-if this Adventurer could see him, then that meant...
"FOOLS!" the mage screamed. "YOU WERE DECEIVED!"
Wander dove out from his niche towards the sorcerer's glowing profile just as a pillar of stone smashed up from where he'd been standing, crushing his former hiding place with a violent bang. Feeling similar tremors beginning in the ground beneath him, he zig-zagged to avoid a row of razor stalagmites that somehow managed to emerge almost in line with his every step. Of course-this earth wizard was trying to hit him based on his footsteps and status bar! Seeing that the mage was almost in range, Wander threw him off by using his sword as a pole vaulter's pole, depriving his foe of a definite target besides his glowing health bar. Still in the air, Wander recalled the Arcana to his hand, using the flash to gauge JeoMan's location before throwing it into the ground and jumping off, staying away from the hostile earth in anticipation of a final blow.
"NO!" the sorcerer cried in alarm. As Wander flew in for the kill, JeoMan was suddenly illuminated by an auburn light that emanated from a small crystal at the top of his upraised staff, before a thick slab of rectangular stone slammed into the ceiling of the tunnel from below. Not like Wander would let that stop him.
"Orion Delayed Punch!" Letting muscle memory serve once more, Wander bashed the wall with a full thirteen strikes before clapping his fists together, allowing the accumulated energy to shatter the wall with one accumulated blast. He was rewarded with a pained howl, as at least some of the rock crashed into the mage himself. It wasn't enough though-a stalagmite punched into his shoulder and sent him spinning towards the floor.
The mage was right in front of him. With one more moment of concentration, the Adventurer recalled his sword and threw like a javelin in the direction of his foe. He waited until the blade had flown into the mage, as indicated by another howl and a significant drop in the enemy health bar, before igniting it.
It was a good thing that damage, rather than physically interacting with foes, merely affected health bars, or else the terrible odor of burning flesh would've filled the cavern. As it was, the blazing effigy that had been Jeoman96 stumbled and fell to the ground, hard. Five seconds later, he was gone, and all was dark once more.
Wander, finally feeling safe, drew upon a trick he'd learned from one of the merchants' magic scrolls and conjured a pure white magelight, which shone like a high-intensity lantern for some distance all around. Much better, especially since there were no more archers to set their arrows on him...
Wander wheeled one-eighty toward the tunnel entrance, remembering abruptly that there were still plenty of archers to set their arrows on him, but there was no need-the pack of Landers behind him had all dropped their weapons and had started kneeling with their hands behind their heads.
"We're sorry, yer lordship! Spare us, please!" One of the archers had set himself in front of the others, and was not presenting a purse of gold with his head held low.
"I am no lord," Wander asserted, confused. "And why did you not attack?"
"My apologies, sir," the lead archer continued. "The other one, 'e made us call 'im as a lord. We'd ne'er attack yer kind normally, swear on ma life! Ye'd just come back and slaughter us prompt-like, anyway. That one made us do it! Caught our whole clan with his rock magicks and threatened to kill us if we didn't play along with 'iz schemes. Opened thiz tunnel with that staff and everything!" He nodded towards the now-charred staff-all that remained of JeoMan96 and his geomancy. "Ye just take it and this here gold and leave, right through the other side o' this tunnel. He won't mess wiv us no more, and we won't mess wiv you no more either!" The tied his purse shut and tossed it to Wander, who caught it and dropped it in his bag.
"And what about all the other stuff you've stolen?"
"Err... That's... Well..." The archer looked distressed. "The bossman, 'e did always keep it in his secret chest, y'see? I mean, no, well, we can get it, but, ah..." He shrugged. "Maybe, think of our families to feed, or-"
Wander cut him off. "Forget it. Just get out of here, and don't get mixed up with any more Adventurers!"
"As you say it, yer lordship! Thank ye!" The thieves scrambled to their feet and sprinted back towards the tunnel sunlight.
"I'm not a lord!" Wander hollered, but they were already gone. Now truly secure, he walked over to JeoMan's staff. As strange as the mage's bandit scheme had been, Wander couldn't understand why the staff had remained, even though the rest of his foe had been sent back to the cathedral. And that magic was a fair sight beyond what a Lv. 50 mage should be capable of. Was it because of the strange crystal he'd seen? If so, could it be?...
As he got closer to the staff, a strange buzzing started to shake his chest. He tried to grab the burnt wood, but it crumbled away; apparently, it had just been a stick to hold the crystal in place. And the crystal itself-a perfect, tiny sphere that felt like it held the weight and pull of a planet in and of itself. Finally, Wander pulled up his menu to examine it.
"The Earth Crystal: It glows with an arcane force."
As his fingers made contact with its pleasingly solid surface, the crystal vanished in an flash of amber, and a quest notice appeared in the top right corner of his sight.
"Quest Progress: 'Arcana,' 3/?"
The Adventurer grinned.
As he'd expected, at the end of the tunnel sat a massive boulder, which completely plugged the road into the city. Thanks to his newly acquired crystal, however, it wouldn't block the road for much longer. Wander beckoned the Arcana into his grasp and now willed it into a new form-the sword's normal blue glow faded, and now the Adventurer was holding something more akin to a sword-shaped rock than a true blade. He swung, and the boulder slid outward just a couple feet; enough to usher daylight into what had been long-forgotten darkness. Welcoming sounds of birdsong and far-off raucous cheering echoed into the tomb-like tunnel walls.
Beyond that boulder were answers, lights, food, and friends. Wiggling around it with barely contained excitement, Wander slipped sideways into the light.
Bonus Lv. 5.5: Another Destination
Beneath the rippling barrier of light between sky and sea, it lurked. Abyssal spawn, birthed of darkness and the water itself, many moons had passed since its last meal-and overhead, it could feel at last the sweet vibrations of hapless prey. The tiniest, feeblest of rowboats, quivering with the voices of two surely-hapless Adventurers. After eating them, it would be the best-fed of even its most plump kin. The crunch of their little armor pieces would be as delectable nut candies between its jaws. Their greatest struggles would be hollow-in the face of its unopposable hunger, everything from the most fun-sized dinghies to the king-sized vessels were mere wrappers around its sweet, sweet prize. Perhaps it would play first-knock against their boat and swim away, playing a trick on its treats. Meanwhile, at any time, it could rise from the deep, breaking past their puny gourds-
Guards. It definitely meant to say guards. That was really weird. Perhaps hunger and boredom were just messing with it. Really, it should just eat these Adventurers and try to clear its head.
The creature stirred, and began to rise. Very soon, it would be giving thanks for this feast... And it would be a thanks-giving time indeed...
"Potions; Another one to starboard in twelve seconds." Ironsides dropped his I Ching coins, which glittered in the high noon sun, back into a makeshift pocket sewn into the front of his shirt and held out his hand expectantly.
"Again?" Lovespotions sighed and started rummaging through a heap of potions behind him. "Here-your turn." The more-than-usually tanned alchemist passed him an opaque, faintly glowing bottle, which the guardian tipped into his mouth and began swishing it between his cheeks. LovesPotions leaned back into his pile of highly volatile alchemical refreshments and began soaking in an additional supplement of vitamin D.
With 'no warning,' a sea scorpion burst out of the waves and plunged towards the Adventurers' little sailboat, a ravenous glint in its many eyes. Entirely nonplussed, Ironsides spat in its direction-only, instead of an alchemist's brew, a dozen bolts of wildly arcing plasma blew the monster back against the water with an almost sickening shriek. The thing was still convulsing as it dissolved into iridescent experience points.
"Hey, a few more of those and we'll hit Lv 91." Lovespotions noted, smirking. "Now, aren't you glad we managed to score a ride across the Atlantic on this here luxury sailboat instead of that noisy, ill-maintained galleon?"
"No," Ironsides replied cooly, drawing a couple dowsing rods from the magic bag at his feet. "And just because we put a sail on it doesn't mean it's not still a lifeboat from said galleon."
"If you ask me, it's kind of a promotion. Here, we're captain and first mate. There, we were just some hired muscle to deal with that mutiny you predicted."
"A mutiny you incited just two days into the trip by convincing half the crew that the captain's daughter was aboard."
"Hey, how was I supposed to know that "captain's daughter" referred to a cat o' nine tails?"
"See, this is why I can't go anywhere with you. Without Wander distracting you, you're a walking disaster."
Lovespotions frowned, then looked off across the sparkling waves. "Yeah, I guess."
Their little vessel became quiet. Ironsides pointed his dowsing rods beyond the prow and waited. The alchemist started fiddling with a potion bottle, then dropped it and rubbed his neck with a sigh. "Hey, he's still in New York, right?"
The guardian nodded. "Seems so, unless he managed to ditch all his equipment and change his aura. Again."
Lovespotions groaned. "Don't remind me."
"I'm pretty sure I just did."
"We wait a whole day for him to teleport back to us at the Athens cathedral, and he never shows! So we hightail it back to Tel Megiddo, only to find those crazy-big ruins where the doors got all glowy and sealed shut behind us!"
"I'm beginning to think I made a mistake in doing so."
"We think he's going to be stuck at the bottom or something, but no-it's just his stuff, a couple cool relics, and that energy you used to re-tune your dowsing rods, or whatever."
"Regretting my decision here."
"'Call of Home' gets us outta there, but then you say Wander's somehow disappeared until, almost two weeks after we got here, you announce he's appeared on the east coast of the friggin' U.S! So we hitch a ride with some smugglers, get kicked off, and end up here-"
"It's funny how much of that I remember, having been there myself."
"Three days through a seven-day trip across the North Atlantic." Lovespotions continued. "A time I calculated-"
"Based on your bizarre knowledge of transatlantic monohull sailing records and the fact that Elder Tales is half the size of Earth. Again, hardly Fields Medal material. Now, will you please stop talking and focus on making this boat move? Your wind spirits are leaving again."
Lovespotions collapsed back into his heap of potions, muttering darkly about 'damned guardians' and 'having to do all the work around here' while renewing the spell that continued to make sure his overtaxed nature spirits did all the work. Ironsides put away his dowsing rods and looked toward the horizon. Soon...
Well, how was it being back! I must confess that I had originally intended this to be published a lot closer to Halloween-however, due to a family celebration, I pushed back my work until now. Thus, a few nods to Thanksgiving have been mixed in like oh-so-much cranberry sauce.
This chapter has been under semi-continuous progress ever since June. Though words came to the paper with determination, with vows, and most helpfully with a separate piece of paper, I have finally come to embrace the only thing that can truly and permanently stave off procrastination on the things I want to do: namely, procrastination on the things I don't want to do. After waiting a whole month and adding multiple-thousands of words to a chapter I feared I'd never finish, it seems there can be no more excuses to put off work on my 1.8k political science paper. Yet, I somehow know I'll find a way... Probably to your benefit!
Meanwhile, I'd like to extend my thanks to those who followed and favorited my work back in the beginning, when I was somewhat reliable. Thinking of your wait kept me going. But a special thanks goes to those surprisingly numerous souls who started following this story at seemingly random intervals-like last week. What? What strange and wonderful impulse inspired you to do this? Regardless, you kept reminding me to come back to what I'd promised to continue.
But yeah, I'd be miserable at Nanowrimo.
On Log Horizon: Season Two has been, I confess, somewhat disappointing for me.
As you might tell from this story of mine, what fascinated me most about Log Horizon was its innovative take on the video-game world premise, and the fantastic explorations thereof. In addition, the presence of a schemer as a main character is always a plus, and the fact that his schemes incorporate those very mechanics is a thrill.
However, for much of this season, Shiroe (and many of the more interesting characters) have gone on a raid. While the scenes of their raid were honestly fantastic, almost all of the season has since been dedicated to the angsts and heartbreaks of moe-ninja Akatsuki. The dynamic then devolved into standard anime fair, and began to make me word my recommendations very carefully. Episode 8 was the first I've seen in a while that was truly back on course-and I only pray that it continues as such, even given Shiroe's upcoming flashback episode.
All of this said, it's things like seeing an online role-playing site for the series (one complete with its own lore, unique classes, and detailed monster descriptions/class breakdowns) that keeps me going. Though I haven't joined, the site itself can be found at
Additionally, an extremely helpful database I've found in my search for lore-friendly storytelling is .me/wiki/Main_Page
Although lacking some character detail, this wiki is extremely thorough in its investigation of mechanics and skills, and features a complete chronology of events and background information for other servers beyond Japan. In short, it's invaluable for any Log Horizon afficianado.
Now that I have things to procrastinate, I hope to write to you all again soon! Please read and review-it's what keeps me honest, and keeps me going!
~Forkive Out, 11/22/14