Sorry about the late chapter. Diablo III is addicting, while Writer's Block is annoying. Also, check out my new story! Y'know, if you want to.
Nerfhearder69: I found a good cutoff point and didn't want to delay the release of the chapter by another day or two.
Temairine: Why, yes, the class rep's INT is quite high.
Random Reviewer: The "punishment from Gaia" is a meta explanation as to why I let the humor get away from me in previous chapters. And, while I don't agree with many of the opinions Prefect Lionheart's expressed in his stories, he's damn creative and gave me several good ideas. If you're worried I'll spend several paragraphs ranting about the evils of Chunbumoon, don't worry. They're going to be a shade of gray, like all characters and factions in the story.
Abel Sephaos: You actually got that reference? Have an internet cookie. And, yeah, that would be a pretty sweet spell. I'll probably have Jee-Han develop it soon. When he gets enough INT for things like that.
Prefect Lionheart: While interesting (and brutal), it's not possible with my rules. In a section I scrapped, I established that everything an enemy carries disappears with the body unless it's a specific drop. So, while he could use the Knight's weapon so long as it lived, it wouldn't be considered an actual item capable of being stored in the Inventory and would disappear as soon as the Knight died or despawned.
x: I'm not a fan of long fight scenes, mostly because I can't write them. Looking back, I should've just skipped over the fight and described it afterwards, like the Legion Zombie fight. Finally, I was going to convey Jee-Han's thoughts about the doors in this chapter.
Chronostorm: It's meant to reflect the weakness of humanity. The only reason humans are the top species on the planet is because they can think and plan. In the Abyss, almost everything can think and plan to a limited degree. Thus, humans are kind of shrimpy when compared to the other races. Their best advantage and worst weakness is their lack of inherent magic; they don't pop out of the womb creating storms of fire, but this magical neutrality means that, given enough time and resources, a talented human mage can learn to cast storms of fire, raise the dead, and empower their body beyond most other races, instead of just ne of those. Also, I wanted to make Jee-Han a glass cannon and figured the best way would be to make tanking virtually impossible.
Guest: I guess I didn't make this part clear enough. Everything was spaced a long ways apart and the Knights don't have the best hearing. They have an instinctive ability to sense life (not a plot point I was expecting to come up), but it's short range. And the locked door thing is addressed in this chapter.
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Dialog Cheat Sheet
Emphasis
Game Text if centered
[Activating game ability]
SHOUTING
Cutting someone o- short
*sound effect*
Written word if centered
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I stood in the library, eying the loose door speculatively. You know, I wonder if I can bust down these doors? It might be trapped, but that's what [Heavy Spiraling Energy Bolt]'s for. Or I could jam a bit of metal in the keyhole and hope to get [Lockpicking].
Eh, why not. The worst that could happen… I don't really want to speculate on that.
Right, [Lockpicking] first. Do I have a pointy bit of metal? Nope. Okay, can I get a wooden splinter of some kind? Maybe.
Pulling my spear out of the Inventory, I let loose with a [Might Thrust] on the bookshelf. While the splinters created were tiny, they were also thin enough to enter the lock mechanism. So, just take one and jam it in there?
A skill has been created through a special action.
Fucking knew it.
A skill to breach physical locks, [Lockpicking], has been created.
Hell yes! Though I notice the door remains locked. I suppose I failed my 'attempt'?
Lockpicking (ACTIVE)
LVL: 1
Allows the user to manipulate a lock's inner mechanisms. Also allows the detection of traps in a lock and their subsequent neutralization.
Active but no effects? I suppose that's the game's way of saying it's not exactly a passive buff, so much as a ridiculously situational skill. But what a common situation. How's the Lockpicking work, anyway?
If it's like Fallout: New Vegas, then it's based on whether [Lockpicking]'s LVL is higher than the lock's difficulty. If it's D&D, then it's kind of like that, but with a random number between 1 and 20 added to your LVL in [Lockpicking]. Or it could just improve my chances of picking the lock, like having a 60% chance of picking this lock at LVL 10.
I hope it's one of the first two.
Aaand it's gone. Now the lock's jammed, great. Fucking splinter. Alright, bash time.
I moved over to the other side of the room and took carful aim with a hand. I've found that, while I can slightly control the trajectory of an attack, that it's still largely dependent on where my palm is facing.
"[Heavy Spiraling Energy Bolt]."
The attack slammed right next to the lock, tearing a hole through the wood larger than my head, rather than breaking the latch. Does this man the door's weaker than the lock? Wow… that… I have no words, except for these I'm speaking right now.
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After exploiting the shitty door design, I entered a long hallway with several side corridors branching off every dozen meters. The remains of several torn-apart books and shattered wooden furniture lined the stone floor. Lit torches spaced intermittently on the walls allowed me to see.
What the fuck is up with the architectural design of this place? First modern apartment, then English manor, then Scottish castle? Am I going to stumble across a Japanese dojo next?
No enemies as far as I can see, but they might be hiding in the side passages. Or be invisible.
Shudder.
Well, I wanted to explore, right? Right. So I'll just keep a shield up and peek down the side passages before going past them.
I gripped the handle of my kite tightly as I peeked around a corner. Nothing but a larger pile of pages and a couple rats, thankfully. Though I wonder why one would build such short halls that have nothing in them but a shattered bookshelf and the previously mentioned items. Are these pages in the same unknown language?
Yep, they are. What would happen if I [Observe]d one, I ponder?
"[Observe]."
Blood-flecked Page (MISC)
A page torn out of a book. It's written in Low Nephling and specked with blood. The back, however, is written in Korean.
'Low Nephling'? The fuck's that? Well, the 'Low' part implies there's a 'High' variation, and the 'Neph-' section makes me thing of Nephilim, the race of half-angels/half-demons used in all kinds of media, from videogames to religious texts.
So whoever wrote this page is a nephilim, right? Well, that's kind of an erroneous assumption; if my theory's right, then all it means is that it's likely that the person who wrote the book can write Low Nephling. Could just be a plain jane human, could be a demon lord trying to take over the world, because Earth's so valuable.
… I've been playing too much Diablo.
Either way, I don't know Low Nephling, nor do I know whose book this is, but it's probably whoever owns this place. There are three theories in my mind that could explain this place and who lives here. First, the apartment out front was rented and connected to here so the owner could go out and buy shit in Korea. Second, the apartment was accidentally connected to this network and the hauntings were made up by the owner so no one would stumble in here. Third, the owner of the apartment built this place and sequestered himself in here.
Fourth theory, all of this was created in an accident and isn't sinister in any way, shape, or form. Though that doesn't explain the human presence I can detect in here.
I honestly have no clue which theory is right and no idea how to prove any of them without talking to the owner of this place.
Great, another unsolved mystery, just what I need. What's the back say?
Dear diary,
Again with the header. Well, I think I know why the apartment was so cheap; it's haunted! Really, banging keeps me up all night and an eerie sense of dread covers the whole place. When mom came over, she told me to exit the place immediately and move back in with her. When pressed, she said the place felt 'wrong' to her. So it's not just me, though mom's not exactly the most reliable person to make decisions on.
I told her that, even if the apartment wasn't 'right', it was cheap and close to my job. She huffed and called me a stubborn idiot. Then she hugged me and pushed a box of cookies in my hand. They were delicious, by the way. I would consider hiring one of those spiritual types, but I don't have nearly enough money for one. And I'm pretty sure they're all frauds.
Gah, what was supposed to be one of the defining moments of my life's turned into this disaster. I would move out, but the deposit's almost all my money. If I left, I'd be homeless or have to move back in with mom. And I'm not going back there just because of a creepy apartment. Maybe it's not something supernatural as much as loneliness and a shitty radiator or something? For the past several years, I've been around at least one other person all day except when showering or using the bathroom. I can't get a roommate, nor do I have friends I can recommend the neighboring apartments to. I guess I'll just suck it up until I can move to a better place.
Okay, now I can definitely say that the last owner of the apartment didn't create this place. I'm growing more and more intrigued by what happened here. Are there any more diary pages?
After a quick search of the pile, I can confidently say that no, there aren't any more here. It's a damn shame, let me tell you.
Anyway, I need to get back to exploring the hall.
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Good news, the walk down the hall was uneventful. Bad news, that just makes me think something worse is around the next corner. I'm going to get gray hairs, I just know it.
I paused before rounding the hall's corner, clenching and unclenching my hand holding the kite. It was starting to go numb with how hard I was gripping. Right, next corner.
The LVL of [Stealth] has gone up by one.
Fuck me. Alright another Knight around the corner?
No… not another Knight. Rather, a giant mass of zombie fused and stitched together to form a monstrously large, fleshy zombie. It stood before an ornate door with several stone steps leading up to it. A few Knights flanked the beast like a twisted honor guard.
I think I'm in shock with how calmly I'm thinking right now. Or [A Gamer's Mind] procced.
"[Observe]."
Zombie Behemoth LVL: 30
HP: 5000 (5000) MP: 300 (300)
A monster formed when multiple partially-decomposed corpses are resurrected as a group. Possessing great strength, surprising speed, and a limited ability to alter its form, a Zombie Behemoth is able to overwhelm multiple opponents with ease. It is remarkably difficult to create and maintain, making it the mark of a powerful necromancer.
Oh wow, more than twice the HP of a Knight. Okay, what to do? I… I'm not sure I can beat it, at least head on. It'll take all of my MP to take out the Knights, and the description said the Behemoth was fast. Not to mention the shape shifting.
Traps would work. Except I have no idea how to make them, lack premade explosives, and don't have a Skill that creates magic mines.
If I had an efficient AoE Skill, or maybe some skill that stunned or paralyzed… but I don't. Maybe I could develop one?
Also, maybe I can get Sun-Il in on this? I mean, he's almost LVL 30, right? And his stats for his LVL are ridiculous. So, with me backing him up, we should be able to demolish this group with ease.
At least this is proof that a necromancer lives or once lived here. It did say a Behemoth requires maintenance, so there must've been a necromancer here recently to keep it running or create it in the first place. Though this is assuming that it requires frequent tune-ups.
Hmmm… this is the perfect opportunity to test whether active [Energy Sensing] actually alerts enemies, or at least these enemies. If it does, I'm confident in my ability to run like a scared little bitch.
"[Energy Sensing]."
Okay, wow, I can actually feel the Behemoth's magical power. The Knights are barely a blip on my radar with how overpowering the Behemoth's presence is. And there's that damn human energy signature again. I guess that's proof that someone's currently in residence here.
The moment faded, returning me to my mundane senses. Fortunately, none of the zombies appeared to have noticed. I guess, before I go, I should grind [Energy Sensing]. It's a golden opportunity, and I'll recover enough MP for an attack should I run into the ghosts again.
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"[Energy Sensing]."
Rather than the explosion of sensations I'd grown semi-used to, a sound reminiscent of a missed baseball swing echoed through my head. I guess I ran out of MP. What was that, 70-ish uses? Maybe a bit more? I kind of lost track a couple times. Well, I got 4 LVLs out of it, making [Energy Sensing] LVL 7, I'm pretty sure it went up so fast because I was sensing 5 enemies at once.
I stretched silently, carefully ambling away from the Behemoth & Co. Though the new LVLs did increase my ability to sense the Knights and guess the distance I was from them, it also gave me a hell of a headache sifting through the gleaned information. Also, some of the stuff I got from it was… random, to say the least. Who cares if Knight 1 is hungry, or if it's been 3 months since Knight 2 was resurrected!
I suppose I'll get more useful information, like their MP and HP, when [Energy Sensing] LVLs some more. I would guess somewhere around LVL 10 or LVL 20. Ability thresholds tend to be a multiple of 5.
Hah, what time is it, anyway?
"Inventory."
I lazily tapped the watch icon and glanced at the still-materializing face: 8:00. Curfew on a school night's 10:00. Since it takes only an hour to get home, I have another hour to fuck around and get some dinner from a street vendor.
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9:49. Wow, that's cutting it close. Now I understand why Mom gave me such a dirty look when I came in. Well, whatever. I still arrived home before curfew. I guess I should study?
Gah, no. First, I'll plan how I'm going to get past the Behemoth, then study.
Again, Sun-Il's a viable option. Though he's been doing a lot of clan business lately, so he might not be free. Then there's the new skills. With my higher INT, I'm pretty sure I can create some sort of crowd control Skill, something to keep the Knights occupied while I whale on the Behemoth. Then, when I'm done with it, I can recast the Skill and beat the Knights down with melee attacks.
I'd still like Sun-Il around, just to have backup in case things go sour.
THE PLAN, if I were to name it, which I am, is simple. Ask Sun-Il if he's busy tomorrow or the day after, then go kick some zombie ass. And, if he is, I'll spend tomorrow creating some skills and studying, level up those skills by summoning and defeating a Legion Zombie, then go to the apartment the day after that. Tomorrow's Friday, so I'll go to the apartment Sunday.
Alright, study time. Tonight's choice is… Korea in the 1800s.
Ugh.
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Oh, Teacher-man Do assigned review homework. Yay me.
Now, where's Sun-Il? Not anywhere in the classroom. Did… did he leave already? I spent one minute putting everything in my backpack for chrissake! What's going on with the Chunbumoon that requires him to head home immediately after school? You know what, fuck it. I'm not going to know unless I ask Sun-Il, and he told me his phone broke a couple days ago at lunch, I think.
Well, this is a great opportunity to actually study, isn't it? After creating some new skills. And I suppose tomorrow I'll LVL them up to acceptable standards by summoning and killing a Legion Zombie.
What could I make, though?
Well, I'm in a decent location to make some skills (read: deserted street), so why not start here?
"[ID Create]."
Empty Illusion Barrier, please.
The LVL of [ID Create] has gone up by one.
Cool. Not exactly relevant to what I want to do, but still nice.
Alright, what could I do? Well, I wanted a skill to tie up the Knights while I take on the Behemoth. So perhaps I could glue them to the floor? But how would I do that… Alright, new idea: tie them up with magic chains or something. How to go about making a magic chain, though?
I'll just take a whack at it. It can't be too hard, right? Operation THE PLAN is a go.
I paused and focused on emitting a rather large amount of mana from my hand and coalescing it into a diffuse blue cloud hovering around my hand. Alright, where to go from here?
Hmm… Form a link? Then another, then another, then another, and continue until the skill's created or I run out of MP, I guess.
I stood there, arm outstretched, trying to form a blue glow into an oval ring. My other hand was used to wipe sweat away from my forehead.
…
Ah, this mana doesn't want to cooperate at all. Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. Perhaps I need to form a cable of mana, then shape it into the links all at the same time? Yeah, let's try that.
This time, the mana leapt eagerly from my hand to create a long blue column, gently waving in some nonexistent wind. Gah, what's this?
A skill has been created through a special action.
Really? That's a skill? [Mana Whip], maybe?
A skill to create a cord of mana, [Mana Rope], has been created.
That's… that's great. Really. If I fail making [Mana Chain], I can use this to create the crowd control skill.
Mana Rope (ACTIVE)
LVL: 1
A rope made entirely of mana. It can be dispelled with enough physical damage, altered according to the user's whim, and requires either significant experience or talent in manipulating mana to create.
Okay, yeah, that could be easily used for what I want. But let's keep trying for a [Mana Chain], shall we?
I ignored how the column of mana grew regular, ropelike grooves and focused on widening and flattening the construct. Slowly, the rope of mana transformed into a plank of mana.
Alright, here's the hard part.
After a minute of concentration, small, regularly-spaced holes dotted the plank. Another minute of focus allowed those holes to grow much larger and more oblong. As a consequence, the construct became much larger, almost doubling in length.
Hoo boy, did that make everything much more unstable. My MP's going down the drain just to keep everything from blowing up. Hey, there's an idea for a bomb-like skill.
Compared to holding the entire thing together, indenting the edges to follow the contours of the holes was child's play. And look, a popup!
Requires 50 INT to create.
Motherfucker. There's really a stat requirement for certain spells. Alright, move on to the next part of THE PLAN, I suppose.
Now, this part I need a target for. Is there a clothing store with mannequins nearby, perchance? Ah, not as far as I can see, at any rate. Damn. I'll just create and improve the skill by fighting zombies tomorrow. Now, didn't I have another skill to make?
Oh yeah, the trap one. I either need to make a magic bomb or a trap-making skill. Preferably with some sort of binding component, like an explosive that also releases Crazy Glue.
Can I make a magical glue out of nothing more than mana? I though of it earlier, but dismissed it for not knowing how to start with such a thing. Let's try anyway.
SOP for creating skills (covering my hand with a layer of mana) was followed and I contemplated how exactly to do this. In Naruto, they stuck to trees by channeling chakra to their feet. But this stuff isn't very sticky at all, I think. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check.
Hmm, nope. My hand slid right off the asphalt. Alright, this is going to be harder than merely giving shape to the mana; I actually have to imbue it with a property. On the bright side, if I can make the mana sticky, there's no reason I can't make it hot or electrically-charged too. [Fireball] and [Lightning Storm] here I come!
Hmm….
I really have no idea how to begin. Think about glue and being stuck to stuff? Alright, glue, sticky, adhesion, duct tape, cohesion, fusing, adhesive, bonding agent…
And… nothing. At all. I think my hand came up even easier than before. Maybe super dense mana'll obtain some sort of sticky property? Worth a shot.
The glow surrounding my hand shrunk to my index finger, taking on a darker, denser blue color.
Now to add more and more mana, being sure not to let it escape my artificial boundary.
The glow became less and less ephemeral until my finger looked like a solid, swirling mass of blue. Then, flashes of a whiter color appeared deep inside the mana.
Agh, that's almost all my MP, I think; I feel a bit empty inside. The only thing to do is make the boundary smaller, I guess.
The lower boundary (only boundary, really) of the mana wavered for several seconds before sliding back up toward the tip. The mana cloud grew unavoidably thicker, though I kept the expansion to a minimum. It took on an even whiter color, until it was pure white, edging to a violet-ish tinge.
I'm pretty sure my finger's being crushed in there, but I don't really have time to acknowledge any pains signals that may or may not have been sent.
Condense further.
The violet hue became more apparent and the solid white began to emit light. Almost like a finger/flashlight. Or torch, as the Brits would way. Fuck, this thing's stopping me from holding my hand steady, even though everything's only up to my last knuckle.
I'm kind of scared to let this hit anything, but I need to test for adhesive properties. And I'm a bit more scared of what'll happen if I get this thing stronger. If it can get stronger. Slowly, almost grudgingly, I let my shining finger drift to the road.
When it hit, my world became white for a moment and I felt a painful sensation on my back. It took a minute for my vision to return and the first sight to greet me was the sky. So I'm on my back. I assume that pain in my back was due to landing on it. Let's see the destruction.
I sat up and stared at where I was standing a minute ago.
Great googly moogly, Batman. I think it was Super Effective. THE PLAN worked!
A crater about 3 meters across and 2 meters deep graced the road. I have no idea how I avoided any pipelines, but I'm glad raw sewage wasn't added to the situation.
What would you like to name your skill?
Oh I am so naming this bad boy. What to call it, though… I think I'll christen it as a certain Gundam pilot christened his similar attack. After all, it's only fair since I created this skill… WITH THE HELP OF KYOJI!
"[Shining Finger]."
Is [Shining Finger] acceptable?
Hell yeah. Now I just need to be able to spawn a giant robot around me and I'll be set. How much damage'd I take, anyway?
"Status."
Name: Han Jee-Han
Title: Apprentice Undead Hunter
Class: The Gamer
LVL: 14
XP: 8010/14000
HP: 67/205
MP: 19/380
STR: 8
DEX: 12
VIT: 8
INT: 42
WIS: 20
LUK: 10
Points: 0
Money: 500450 W
Holy shit. I'm almost dead. Wow… I had no idea, not even the smallest indication. At least I was right about almost being out of MP. Well, I'm chugging down all my healing foods before heading home and making more. Oh god, another popup.
The LVL of [Acrobatics] has gone up by one.
Cool. So I got a twofer from THE PLAN. Success beyond my wildest expectations.
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Unfortunately, I only got up to about 160 HP after finishing off my consumables. Though mom's dinner made up the rest; I checked in my room just before studying. Now's the time to-
*ring*
What's that? It seems familiar… my cell phone ringtone? I haven't been called in… I haven't been called on my cell. Either the house phone's called or I'm texted. Who's calling, anyway?
… I don't recognize the number. Should I answer anyway? Eh, why not. I can always hang up if the person on the other end is a creepy stalker.
"You've reached the National Security Hotline, please state the nature of your emergency," I said in English.
"Wha… Jee-Han, is that you?"
Hey, I recognize that voice. Despite the crappy reception.
"Sun-Il? I thought your phone broke a few days ago?"
"So you remembered. Ah, look, can you come down to the dojo? Something's… come up. And we need to talk to you."
'We'? We as in the Chunbumoon? They wouldn't want anything to do with me right now unless…
"You let my Ability slip, didn't you?"
Sun-Il jumped (I assume) and made several noises into the phone. I think they were either denials or confessions.
"It wasn't me! Look, just come over, would you? You're not in trouble, I promise. Even if I have to use my authority as Heir to ensure it, you'll be getting home tonight unharmed."
His voice became kind of serious near the end. What am I gonna tell mom, though?
"I'm telling my mom that you were injured in a training accident and that I'm coming over to see what happened."
"That's fine, I'll be sure to back that up if she asks. Look, just hurry, alright? I'm in enough trouble for hiding something like this from the clan. The faster you come, the easier this'll be for the both of us."
You aren't making it easy to resist my curiosity, are you? I suppose I can restrain myself for now.
"Sure. See you in, like, 20 minutes? Maybe 30?"
He hummed, I think, and cut off the call abruptly. That was kind of rude.
Well, whatever. I guess I should see what's going on up at Chunbumoon Manor.
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I'm going to cut off here. The next scene I have planned would take up another chapter on its own and I don't want to delay this one's release any longer.
So yeah, Chunbumoon now knows about Jee-Han's Ability. There's really no way they couldn't with how little secrecy Jee-Han had. They already knew he had an Ability, they just didn't know what it was and assumed it was rather weak. Now they know there's more than they thought.
It's probably a bit obvious what happened, but I'm willing to be optimistic about my writing ability. Drop a review with any compliments, concerns, and complaints you have. I'll read them, but I won't guarantee I'll use them.
Name: Han Jee-Han
Title: Apprentice Undead Hunter
Class: The Gamer
LVL: 14
XP: 8010/14000
HP: 205/205
MP: 380/380
STR: 8
DEX: 12
VIT: 8
INT: 42
WIS: 20
LUK: 10
Points: 0
Money: 500450 W