Where I write my poems whenever inspirations strike, or when I'm procrastinating.

Special thanks to Lonelytree for the cover design.

The moment Wang Baole spoke, all the live stream viewers from the Federation were taken aback. That was because, at that moment, the base that Wang Baole had constructed in the form of a gigantic block suddenly underwent a shocking transformation.
The block seemed to have been cut horizontally into layers. However, taking a closer look, perhaps it was already constructed layer by layer, just that it wasn't the focus of people's attention; its overall appearance making one think that it was a solid block.
With the appearance of the layers, it could be seen that the top-most layer was like a cover that was being lifted backwards. Looking at it from afar, the block seemed to have become a book, and the layer that was lifted was its cover.
This was the essence of Wang Baole's design, the unique feature of the Eternal Fortress!
What he had constructed was indeed a book!
With the cover of the book lifted, the first page was revealed. At that instant, everyone from the Federation who was watching the live stream realized, surprisingly, that it wasn't words that had appeared on the first page, but rather rows of Baole Cannons!
At one glance, the first page of the zone's stronghold, which was in the form of a book, was covered densely by a thousand Baole Cannons. Right now, as they all came into view at once, a shockingly loud boom was produced!
As the noise reverberated, light rays instantly appeared above Wang Baole, as if they were occupying the sky, towards the incoming Beast Tide that was roaring as they approached.
The frightening loud boom instantly shook the heavens and earth, and as the Baole Cannons fired all at once, the ground appeared to be on the brink of cracking apart. The cries of the countless ferocious beasts were instantly drowned out as their bodies were visibly pierced and broken apart. As their flesh and blood splattered in all directions, an invisible big hand seemed to have descended from the skies, crushing everything and destroying them!
The loud noise frightened the other candidates in the other zones most, resulting in a sense of fear gripping them just as they were in the process of resisting the Beast Tide. They couldn't help but look towards Wang Baole.
Even before they could react, the Baole Cannons fired in unison for the second and third time!
The noise was even louder, the power even stronger, and the level of lethality was increased significantly. Whatever was happening made everyone from the Federation who was watching the live stream hold their breaths, as the force by which Wang Baole's stronghold had erupted was beyond their wildest imagination. 
However, the military, as well as those who were familiar with the Baole Cannon, knew that even though the force of the collective firing was large, and could, to a certain extent, last longer than the Fire God Cannons, it was nowhere near being limitless.
Resources were secondary. What was more important was that every time the Baole Cannons were fired, damage would occur. Therefore, other than having to prepare more Baole Cannons, more maintenance specialists had to be hired as well.
Even though they saw the thousand puppets from Wang Baole, they still felt that it was a challenging task. Li Yi and Kong Dao quickly calmed down from their shock, having reached the same conclusion.
He's just acting tough and won't last! Li Yi sneered, seeing that after the sixth firing, the Baole Cannons were already glowing red. She laughed, and was about to watch Wang Baole make a fool of himself, but at that moment…
Wang Baole, who was standing just beside his stronghold, revealed a glow in his eyes. He knew that whether his Eternal Fortress had been appropriately named would depend on his following decisions, and on whether the processes of construction and continual perfection would succeed!
It has been proven theoretically many times… Now, it's time to see whether it actually works!
Wang Baole took a deep breath, and raised his right hand seals, pointing towards the stronghold as he fully activated the stronghold so that it was up and running!
"Turn the pages!"
The moment he spoke, the seals were activated. Instantly, the book-like stronghold vibrated, and the first page of it, which was filled with a thousand Baole Cannons, was swiftly lifted as if it was really a page of a book. After turning over, it landed, revealing the second page!
On the second page, another thousand Baole Cannons were revealed. They fired in unison again, creating a loud bang that continued to shock the heavens and earth. Soon, the second page was lifted, revealing the third, fourth, and fifth page…
Every page until the eleventh page was filled with a thousand Baole Cannons. Every time the cannons appeared, they fired in unison, in an astonishing force that covered a large area!
Immediately, a huge contrast was seen between Wang Baole and the other resisting candidates on the battleground. It was clear that even if the other candidates fired in unison, they still needed to pause and recuperate. However, for Wang Baole, from the beginning until now, he had already fired the cannons in unison over seventy times, but still showed no signs of stopping. He even gave people the impression that he could fire the cannons continuously!
That was especially so as the Beast Tide in front of Wang Baole was on the brink of collapse. In their horror and fear, the ferocious beasts dared not near the area around Wang Baole's zone, and could only dash towards other areas. That compounded the pressure on the other candidates, as if applying salt on a wound.
The contrast and the deafening sound produced from the unison firing instantly shocked the people from the Federation. Gasps of shock could be heard coming continuously from the households, and even the military was taken aback. The Governor from Martian Colony was also surprised.
"Every page is filled with thousands of Baole Cannons. This is already the eleventh page. How could he possess so many Baole Cannons… That's over ten thousand of them!" Even though he was the creator of the Baole Cannon, it still requires an unimaginable amount of resources to construct them… That was definitely out of reach for a mere Foundation Establishment realm cultivator!
"Something's not right… Look, of the Baole Cannons that appeared in the later pages, many of them have been used before… I remember one of them was damaged on the exterior cover, and it appeared again on the third page!"
"I understand now… There aren't ten thousand Baole Cannons. In reality, there could only be just over two thousand of them. They were all made and reconstructed from whatever Wang Baole ravaged from the other candidates! The real mystery lay in the stronghold!"
"Every time a page is flipped, a process of repair and reconstruction occurs. His stronghold must definitely harness a formidable ability to restore the Baole Cannons, such that it's instant, allowing the Baole Cannons to reappear with every page that's flipped so that they can be continuously reused…"
As more people gained a brief insight as to what was going on, they grew even before shocked than before. The design of Wang Baole's stronghold evoked strong emotions in them.
To them, the essence of the design lay in the ability to repair and reconstruct swiftly. This way, it could allow the stronghold to fire the cannons in unison, in a seemingly unlimited fashion, as long as there were sufficient resources!
The giant tree stayed silent as it watched the book turn onto its fifteenth page but still not show any signs of stopping. He sighed as he looked at the stronghold that was in the process of unison firing, as well as the exhilarated Wang Baole.
This was indeed something he had never imagined. Even though he saw the blueprint previously, he never thought that it would come to fruition.
As for the Martian Colony Governor standing on the side, a bizarre look appeared on her face, as she spoke softly in a low voice.
So… This is the Eternal Fortress… It does live up to its name! However, I am curious to know whether there are other surprising features of this Eternal Fortress! After thinking about it, the Martian Colony Governor immediately activated her hand seals and the Great Martian Array Formation.
Seeing that he had the capability to resist the current Beast Tide, Wang Baole was delighted. He had even set his eyes on the other candidates, waiting for the moment when they could no longer hold on, which was when he would ravage their territories.
The thought had just popped into his head, and his delight hadn't even coursed through all the veins in his body when a loud boom emerged from the Divine Armament Catacombs once again. The seventh Beast Tide had begun, more powerful than before as it involved even more beasts. That made one of the candidates, who was already having difficulties resisting the Beast Tide, curl under the immense pressure and choose to give up immediately.
That candidate was from the Senate. Even though the candidate felt indignant, he was helpless. After his elimination, there were only three candidates left!
They were Wang Baole, Kong Dao, and Li Yi!
It could be said that the moment that determined who the losers and winners were had suddenly arrived. That caused Wang Baole's eyes to widen immediately.
So sudden!
Why do I feel that it is being done on purpose? Wang Baole took a deep breath, especially after noticing that in the seventh Beast Tide, a two hundred foot tall giant had appeared, one that looked without care or concern for his Baole Cannons. He was like a piece of armor, resisting the Baole Cannons, leading the large beast crowd as it charged at high speed towards Wang Baole. Wang Baole shuddered, hyperventilating at what he saw.
"Second transformation of the Eternal Fortress!" With crisis looming, Wang Baole roared, activating his hand seals yet again!


By the year 3029 CE, Earth's technology has developed rapidly, borders no longer exist, and Earth has been unified, marking the beginning of the era of the Federation.

At that time, a huge sword flew from the heavens, piercing the sun and causing a huge sensation on Earth.

Perhaps because the scabbard of the sword was already in tatters, countless shards have broken off from it following the collision with the sun and spread across the universe. Many of these shards have landed on various places across Earth.

With the arrival of the bronze sword and its shards, a new unlimited energy source has suddenly appeared on Earth. This energy source has since been named Spirit Qi.

Spirit Qi is like air, thick in some places and thin in others. As the Federation and other factions gather more shards, they discover more information on cultivation, pill refinement, Spirit Stone refinement, and other techniques. The words on the shards have an ancient feel to them, making it a trend for people to use ancient language.

The appearance of Spirit Qi rapidly makes the original energy sources obsolete and has completely changed people's lives. Not only has the Spirit Internet been formed, Spirit Qi has also changed the course of Human Civilization, causing the world to enter a civilization of cultivation. This would later come to be known as the Spirit Inception Era.
 


This beautiful line was probably done by Miss Margaret. It seemed the note was never sent out, so this Augustin did not know that Margaret loved him too. The unspoken love was buried here forever, never to see light again.
An image appeared in Angor's mind. Two lovers, who adored each other, could not express their love for some reason. In the end, a disaster came and separated them forever, leaving no fruit, but a wilted and priceless sentiment behind.
These notes told the brief but romantic story of two secret lovers. Unfortunately, the story did not have a happy ending.
Angor commented "how destinies fool people around" and put the notes back.
Angor was an outsider. The Nether City[1] was discovered tens of thousands of years ago, so the lovers' story had to come from that age as well, if not earlier. There was no point minding the grand finale of such an old story.
Nothing else worth noting in these letters. He needed to search the other places.
Angor checked around Margaret's room again. He did not find anything, but he had a question about some details in the room.
Ever since he walked the stairs and explored the rooms, most objects rotted away or decayed over time, apart from some special items.
However, he did not find anything like that in this room. The surface of the desk was bright and clean like new, and the silk blanket on the bed was smooth and comforting to the touch, which still released a mild fragrance. Even the more fragile items like clothing and make-up powders were in good condition as if Margaret was caring for herself just a moment ago.
Did time show mercy here? Or did the Nightmare Realm "projected" the place like this? He would never figure these out now.
Angor left Margaret's room and entered the other bedroom. Telling from the decorations, this belonged to the original owner of the "house".
Angor searched the room for quite a while without finding anything. Being someone who lived in a noble family for many years, he believed the bedroom of a big family should have somewhere to hide things. His deceased father had such a secret section in his bedroom to place valuables.
This was why Angor did not stop looking despite not finding anything in his first attempt.
In the end, he did find a secret passage.
It was located under the bed, hidden under a square cover. A deep and dark tunnel.
Angor crouched into the tunnel and reached a concealed place soon. It was narrow, about three or four square meters. There were a bookshelf and some unknown items inside.
This had to be a "hidden stash" of the owner. With a bit of excitement, Angor went to the bookshelf first.
There were three levels on the bookshelf, full of books. Angor picked up a random one called Comments on How to Extract Valuable Materials (1).
"An alchemy book… Teacher didn't have this one," Angor thought to himself and read several pages. There was deep alchemy knowledge in the book, intended for experienced wizards.
Angor took out some more books, which were all alchemy ones. Most of them were valuable, unique copies which could not be found in Sunders' collection.
He was filled with joy. Now, this was an unexpected treasure!
After recording all of the books, Angor realized they were more valuable than he thought. Some of the alchemy theories were only applicable to legendary wizards or someone in higher ranks. He was sure these books were beyond priceless. Whoever could have collected these?
After finishing the books, Angor walked to the other items with a happy mood. He did not know what these were before, but after seeing some of the alchemy information in the books, he recognized that these things were mostly related to alchemy applications. High-quality ones.
It was a pity that he could not take them away. For one, they might just disappear like all the other previous items. Besides, they were pretty large, he could not possibly carry them with him.
So he had to give up in the end. He was still happy about acquiring valuable books.
Leaving the bedroom, Angor stepped into the last room on the second floor.
The room was to the left. Angor knew that nobles tended to regard "left" as "important", so he was most interested in this room.
The first thing that came into his view in the room was a large bookcase.
Angor's eyes shined. The last room was a study!
The design was simple. One bookcase, one desk, several oil paintings on the wall. Angor rushed to the bookcase and opened its cover doors. However, he was disappointed after checking some of the books.
There were a lot of books. But… most of them were official files about the Nether City, such as construction approval documents, gardening files, books about the arrangement of main traffic roads, and city defense structures. These occupied the entire bookcase.
Angor sighed and returned the books. At least he now knew that this place was called the "Nether City", not the Garden of Labyrinth. At least that was something.
As for the owner of this place, Angor had an idea that he was a high officer of some sort since he took care of such important files. He might even be a core manager of Nether City.
These were unimportant though. Nether City was a bunch of ruins now.
Angor closed the glass doors of the bookcase and slowly moved to the desk. He saw an opened book and a quill placed in an ink bottle when he entered the room. Seemed like someone was writing on the desk.
Angor sat on the chair and read the book.
It was a notebook. The current page was half-finished. Its owner had probably left it here for some reason.
Angor flipped to the first page to check what was written.
The first line on the front page of the book surprised Angor for good.
Singularity Dispersive Meditation.
This was a meditation book?! And the first of its kind Angor ever saw in the Nightmare Realm. This was the center of the underground maze, so could it be the special channeling method book Sunders mentioned?
Angor became excited. If so, he would begin his path of wizardry with the help of this book!
He wanted to read on. However, his teacher's words reminded him that even if he memorized the book down to every single word in the Nightmare Realm, he would forget everything upon returning to the wizarding world.
Angor calmed down, and carefully photographed every page of the book with his hologram tablet. Once this was done, he finally sat down to read it.
[1] The author mentioned the name of this place for the first time here. Maybe he thought he already did in previous chapters?


A young traveler who receives enlightenment from another civilization is on a mission to save his beloved mentor. In his journey to seek the ultimate truth, he travels extensively and along the way, he experiences some unpredictable encounters. Will he be able to save his mentor or will his path be derailed?

When Hue was about to carry the girl, Uoron calmly and leisurely came out of the bushes.

Being reminded that there was somebody else in their midst he took a deep breath and exhaled trying to calm himself. Finally suppressing his earlier feelings, he turned to looked at Uoron.

"Uoron, please carry her things and helped me bring it back. Our house is just below this hill."

He started walking towards the other direction of the red leafed tree even before Uoron could reply. He was carrying the fainted girl in his arms in a princess style. 

Honestly speaking, he didn't care if the stuff was brought back now or not as he can just retrieve it later but remembering that wild animals like foxes sometimes appear here that could destroy her things he asked Uoron instead as his hands were full in carrying Reen alone.

He didn't even he turn back once to see if Uoron was following him or not and just continued walking.

Uoron stared at his retreating back not minding being bossed around. It was a good thing he found out the man's identity before doing anything that he would greatly regret in the end. If it was any other person, he would be battered black and blue [1] by now.

It was not that he was afraid of Hue but he didn't want to risk the relationship that they could form in the future. As he was also trying to relieve his boredom he thus picked up her things such as her glasses, recorder, water bottle and book deciding to just go with the flow for now.

While thinking this way, his eye caught the attractive design on the book. The book was covered in a red sheet with a single puzzle piece symbol in the middle of its cover. There was nothing written on the spine of the book. The book seems to have a lock mechanism upon his assessment but currently it seems to be unlocked. 

"This design... hmmm... " he whispered

He was sure of this description since the sky completely cleared up and the moon was surprisingly bright that night. It was as though the earlier rain specifically showered the scenario.

He wanted to return her things before they truly get out of his site however curiosity ruled over logic, he sat down on the tree root she was previously sitting. He flips the cover and started reading. Only one paragraph was written with a beautiful handwriting.

"For curious seekers reading this book
Turn the next page and take a look
However, a warning I must give
Be cautious and prepare to receive 
The secrets that lies within each word
That will now be unfurled.

- Crimson Puzzle

Mindful of the warning, Uoron still decided and turned the page…


Author's Notes:

[1] A person being covered in bruises

After experience a broken heart and a series of unfortunate events, Reen had remembered everything.  While all this were happening, he came into her life.  Should she forgive and forget everything and live the life she always wanted or should she stay and fulfill her need to be free from her past’s dark constraints? 

Need or want which should she choose...?

The room was brightly lit. The flooring had changed from solid grey stone to smoothed oak wood. The room looked to have six rows of shelves on each side of the room, but those rows seemed to extend forever. Each shelf was built from the same material as the flooring and had approximately twenty-five shelves per bookcase. The books themselves ranged from ancient-looking to more modern. Wool, cloth, fabrics, wood, they were made from all different kinds of material. The fire from the torches on the walls didn't seem to affect the wood and did nothing to threaten them. Sargon looked around the room quickly before sighing.

	"What am I even supposed to be doing here?" He looked at Alina.

	"Looking for information." She responded in a mumble. Alina began walking down one of the pathways and skimming through the books on the shelves.

	"There's a lot to look through." Emily sighed and went in the opposite direction as Alina. Sargon chose to follow Dalton. She had gone down the furthest path from the entrance and was trying to skim through the books. Not to find something to help everyone, but hopefully, something that could give her answers to her own questions. Sargon simply crossed his arms, and kept an eye on Dalton, occasionally glancing over at some of the books. 

	"So are we supposed to find the location ourselves?" Sargon asked her.

	"I don't know. All I know is that this library... probably has every written work ever produced here." She simply said in a quiet tone. Sargon sighed again.

	"Instead of just handing us the book, that prick just puts us in here and pretty much said find it yourselves. We'll need a miracle to find out where it is, in this place."

	Sargon started walking around, looking for anything that caught his eye, or looked as though it could give a hint to the location of the elven temple. Many of the books he passed where older ones. Some about old forgotten spells. Soon, one book did catch his eye. It seemed to beckon him. As he approached it and pulled it from his shelf, he felt a strange power from it. The cover was nothing more then Ageria's universal symbol for dark magic, on a black leather cover. He flipped the book open and looked through the pages. There were spells in that book he had never even heard of. Some had warnings and others were simply crossed out and ripped from the pages of the book.

	"Well, would you look at that." He mumbled, grinning. Dalton stayed with Sargon. She would occasionally pass a book that looked interesting to her and was forming a small pile in her arms. None of which were based on magic, but rather works of fact and fiction. She soon reached into her pocket and pulled out her portal key. She swung it and her storage opened beside her. She still had a large stack of coin, but not as much as Emily. Gently, Dalton placed the books into the portal and closed it. Surely the vampire lord would not mind a few missing books from this infinite library. Sargon noticed this and looked back at her. He saw there was a hint of excitement in her eyes as she slid the books into her personal storage.

	"What are you doing, Dalton?" He asked.

	"With such wealth's of knowledge, how could I resist taking a few. Plus, they've got thousands, if not millions of books here. What do a few missing matters." She shrugged.

	"I honestly don't think it's stealing at all. No one will probably read most of these."

	"Eh, even if they won't miss 'em, still stealing. But... it's got kinda this... thrill to it, y' know?"

	"It's not stealing. Period. We made a deal and they promised to help us. Any knowledge that can add to our adventure counts as help." Sargon shrugged.

Karaline and Violet went their separate ways as well. Lunette chose to stay with Violet and floated just above her as she walked. Violet too had her own interests in mind. She was looking for spell books and actual books that told interesting stories that she could read. She soon came across a section of those books. Somewhere a collection of short stories and others were much longer stories, organized side by side into volumes ranging from three to five. Lunette was a flying a few shelves above Violet. She, could not read, but she found the spines of the book to be intriguing. The wordings on them all looked different. Some shiny, some old and worn. Lunette reached out and grabbed a book at random. One simply on plants and tree life. After a glance down at Violet, she mimicked how she opened a book. Their there pictures inside, and that seemed to be enough to entertain the naive fairy. She was still wearing the same clothing she had gotten from Dalton after their first adventure. A simple silk white cloth wrapped around her breast's, and white panties. They had not been washed since, as Lunette was not aware they needed to be. She simply wore them and treated them like they weren't there, as she didn't like having to wear them. For as soft as they were, the material still itched her from time to time. Her hair had gotten slightly longer, and where now almost down to her knees. Her fairy wings sparkle in the light given off by the fire on the walls, and a small pattern of light was shadowed on the wall's around her because of it. 

	Violet looked up at Lunette and let out a small sigh from under her mask. She tried to get her attention and get her to come back down, not wanting her to get further than her reach, which for her size, wasn't very far. Lunette noticed Violet after a brief moment and happily flew down and sat on her head, crossing her legs and looking back down at the pictures of trees and plants in her book. Violet sighed again, and pushed Lunette's hair out of her face, and continued walking. Lunette weighed nothing, and Violet was starting to get used to being a stool for the fairy. She went on her way and continued to look at books, forming a stack of them in her arms as she walked along the shelves. 

	Emily had gone down her own way. She flapped her wings and climbed up to the higher shelves. She was doing the same as Dalton, only rather than stealing works of literature, she was stealing advanced and forbidden spellbooks. She had already formed a large pile on the ground beneath her and had been coming back to it as she flew around the shelves and found books that interested her. Emily slowly floated down to the floorboards and placed another book onto her growing pile. A book of advanced earth magic. Just as she was about to go looking for more, she felt something cold brush her shoulder. Emily froze and stiffened up, she slowly turned her head and spun around, but there was nothing behind her. The torches on the wall around her began to dim and eventually went out, leaving her in darkness. This wasn't a problem for her, as she could see in the dark quite well, only she still felt nervous. A dark, cloudy fog drifted down in front of her. Despite its shapeless nature, it seemed to curl as if beckoning her.

	Emily simply stared at the dark cloud, before cautiously stepping towards it. She slowly raised and extended her arm towards the fog. Just as her metal pointed fingertip touched it, she heard a female voice. It was soft and echoed in her mind, almost like it was ringing through it.

	"Tell me, little one... how old are you?"

	"W- What?" Emily muttered in confusion.

	"How old are you? How long since you were turned?" The voice repeated.

	"Umm... I'm... 16... I was turned... I don't know... a month ago... two?" Emily spun around and looked to see if the voice could be coming from any other direction. "Who are you?"

	"Who turned you, little one?" The voice asked gently. Emily kept looking around for the source of the voice, though she was starting to suspect it was actually coming from the cloud of black fog.

	"Um, her name is Alina... she..."

	The soft voice cut her off.

	"Oh, you poor child."

	"What do you mean?"

	"Tell me... has she done anything yet?"

	"Again... what do you mean?"

	"Has she hurt you? Or anyone else? Threatened you?"

	"Um, n- no... not me..."

	"You can't trust her. Don't forget that. Believe me..." 	The soft voice let out a small sigh.

	"Why not? She takes care of me." Emily started to get more nervous the more the voice spoke. 

	"For now, maybe... but there's no guarantee that won't change."

	"W- Who are you?" Emily demanded in a quiet tone. There was a long moment of silence. So long that Emily assumed the voice had gone.

	"Her aunt." 

	"Her aunt?" Emily turned again towards the black fog. After another moment of silence, a woman faded into existence out of the smoke. She had dark skin, and black hair pulled back into a braid coiled into a bun, a headband set with a blue gem across her forehead, with a few black feathers arching over her head. Her dress went down to her ankles. It appeared to resemble the design of the more revealing dresses most female vampires wore, only this dress didn't reveal much. Black clothing was worn underneath, covering up any visible skin aside form the face, neck, and hands. Her eyes were grey and silver. Her wings where just like Alina's, with feathers rough and vaguely ragged at the edges. Emily had to step back in shock when the woman appeared before her.

	"You look... just like her?" Emily was confused. This woman looked like Alina, but at the same time wasn't. "You're her aunt?"

	"Yes. Her father was my brother, poor thing..." She sighed softly, looking more than a little sad. "The white-haired one on the council is her sister... they and Ombra were triplets."

	"She... She has sisters?" Emily asked in a soft voice.

	"She had sisters."

	"Had?"

	"Lucilla is the only one still around."

	"Why?" Emily asked cautiously. After a long pause, the woman bent over slightly and looked down at the young vampire.

	"Because she murdered the others. Ombra and... Amy... the poor baby... she wasn't even three." She appeared deeply saddened by retelling the story.

	"W- What? Alina... she murdered her sister?"

	The woman nodded, lacing her thin fingers together.

	"But she is different now." Emily quickly said.

	"Can you be sure of that?" She asked sadly.

	"Yes!" Emily quickly exclaimed. "She's... she is different... now..." Her voice slowed down as she looked towards the ground and thought of it more. "Right?"

	"Well..." The woman pursed her lips slightly. "I'm afraid I likely can't leave. Maybe you're right, maybe she has changed, and I do hope that's the case, but can you at least make sure the others in your little... group... are aware, in case things go badly?"

	"Um, is that really a good idea?" Emily questioned.

	"Should they not know?" The woman asked.

	"Maybe... I don't want them getting mad at her though."

	The woman taped one long-nail finger across her lip, then carefully reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace. It looked like a plain black chain at the moment. 

	"Here... if you keep this on we can at least speak to each other. It has glamour, so you can change its appearance to be one more fitting if you'd like."

	Emily looked at the necklace and hesitantly reached out for it. She held it in her hands and examined the design of it.

	"Um, okay... thanks?" She slowly put it around her neck.

	"Just keep your eyes open, all right? And any protective magic you have ready, just in case. If anything ever happens, just tell me to come and I'll pick you up, and bring you somewhere safe."

	"Y- Yeah, sure?" Emily gave her a nervous smile.

	"Thank you. I wish I could help in some other way." She mumbled.

	"Help with what exactly?" Emily tilted her head.

	"Her? I cannot leave. I am not even supposed to be in here, but I thought you could use a warning."

	"Oh... um... okay." Emily looked back down at her necklace. She made sure it was secure around her neck, before looking back up at the woman. "What's your name?"

	The woman stood there in silence. She looked down at the girl and frowned a bit. After a long sigh, she opened her mouth.

	"Valerie. My name is Valerie."

	Alina walked between the bookshelves of her row. She only had one book in mind. Time had passed and the group had spent almost an hour in the library, and still had no luck. Alina had wandered far from where she started. So far, she couldn't see the entrance to the library anymore. Alina had looked threw geographic books, books on the legend, and books about the gods and their lives. None of which had the answers she was looking for. She slumped down and sat against the bookshelf, and took a deep breath. It was hot in the library. All the torches aligned on the walls, and shelves, and the wooden containment of the library made it an increasingly hot room to be in. After a quick breather, Alina got back up and kept walking. More time passed, and soon two hours had gone by, then three, then four. Alina had not seen any of her allies since she had started. She reached for her belt and grabbed the small flask of blood she always had on it and drank. It gave her enough energy to keep going, but she needed to stock up on more blood. Emily still had plenty, but that was because Alina had basically given her all her blood. 

	Alina browsed the shelf she was on and finally saw another book about Ageria. This one was all about Ageria's desert, and it was piled with a stack of volumes about the same thing. Out of curiosity, Alina took the most recent one and flipped through its pages. Half of them were blank, and the last page is written on didn't look complete. It talked about a small town just being built a ways south of where they were picked up by the ship. She closed the book and put it back, then grabbed the earliest volume. She let out a long sigh and opened it. She skimmed through the pages, and just like every other book she had found, nothing. Another hour passed as Alina skimmed through the multiple volumes of the books, and eventually, she just dropped the current one she was holding, and moved on, leaving it open on the floor, on a page about the creatures of the desert. Alina walked a little further, and eventually spotted an odd-looking book. It was much thicker than all the bothers, and it looked much older then any other book she had seen. Alina approached it slowly and pulled it from the shelf. It weighed a ton and was a lot heavier than Alina was expecting, but her strength helped her hold onto it. The books cover was blank and covered in a layer of dust. She blew on the book and the dust blew off in all directions. She coughed as it entered her lungs. The book has markings on the side of the spine, but they were markings she could not read. Alina opened the book and looked through the pages. It was a book of Ageria's Past. There was nothing new in here Alina had not read in any other book like it, only there was a chapter that caught her eye. 'The Temples of the Gods'. Quickly, she flipped the pages and tried to find the chapter. Once she did, she was greeted by a small table of contents. They're there only four things on it, but they were exactly what Alina was looking for. 

Alina skimmed to the page explaining the Elven temple. The book stated that beneath the sand and under the pyramids, was the location of the Elven artifact. Alina flipped the page and saw a map. The map took up two whole pages, and even then, it was half a circle. Alina tilted her head in confusion, then released both pages were folded. She unfolded them and a whole circle appeared. The details and markings in the circle where hard to make out, but upon closer inspection, it looked like a maze. A labyrinth of sorts. Alina folded the pages again and flipped them. Again, there was another folded half circle. Alina raised an eyebrow and unfolded the pages. It was the same maze, but nothing looked different. She flipped to the next page. It was the same thing, and so was the next page, and the one after that. Alina found a total of forty pages that all had the same maze drawn onto them. When she flipped to the last page she found a small warning. She read it aloud.

"Be warned. For the maze changes every hour." 

Another hour passed, and Alina slammed the book shut. She reached into her pocket and pulled her portal key out. After tossing the massive book into the portal, she put they kept back in her pocket and spread her wings. Like all the rooms in the castle, everything was wide enough for Vampires to fly. She jumped and flapped her wings once, sending her rocketing down the hallway of books. A large, powerful gust of wind followed behind Alina. It knocked books off the shelves and tore the pages out of some of them. Magically though, the books repaired themselves. It only took Alina half an hour to fly the distance she walked, and soon she arrived back at the entrance. Dalton was sitting against one of the shelves, looking down at a book, with Emily using her shoulder as a pillow and sleeping on it. Violet was reading across from them. Sargon and Karaline had stacked books in a pile and had been looking through them.

"Alina?" Karaline said, being the first to see she had returned. The gust of wind caught up to them and hit the group hard. Sending the books, and papers inside flying out and around. The wind woke Emily up, and she looked around, confused. Alina quickly approached the two adults and grabbed the massive book from her portal and began showing them everything she had found out.

Emily sighed and looked forward at Violet. She saw she was distracted and took the opportunity and reach into her pocket and pull out a small pebble. She chucked it at Violet's mask to get her attention. There was a loud clicking sound as it bounded off. Violet looked up and at Emily.

"Hey, Violet... what are you read?" 

Violet looked at Emily with a blank expression behind the mask, before turning the book over and showing her. 

"Could you tell me about it?" Emily teased. Violet didn't respond and flipped her book back around. She sighed and looked back down at it. Emily had been doing this to her quite a lot recently. Mainly when they were traveling. Emily would throw a rock or something at Violet to get or attention, or just to annoy her. She would tease Violet about her height and the fact she couldn't talk. It didn't bother Violet though, as she has been teased like this her whole life. She had simply learned to ignore those people. Emily seemed to get some sort of pleasure out of messing with her teammate, and it didn't help that Violet never fought back. She would just ignore it, and only once did Emily get a response when she tossed a handful of sand at Violet and it got into her clothes. The group had to stop while Violet had to strip and get all the sand out of her clothes before putting them back on. It irritated her sometimes that Emily picked on her, and it was starting to hurt that her teammate continued to do it. Violet did like Emily as a person and wanted to see her as an ally, but it was hard at times. Finally, Violet said something.

"Why do you pester me?" She wrote in the air with her finger, using smoke as a way to communicate.

"Because it's fun to cause trouble!" Emily said with a slightly cheerful tone. Violet put the book in her lap and sighed, crossing her arms.

"Please put out your palm." She wrote in the air. Emily tilted her head and did so, not thinking Violet would do anything. In fact, she didn't Violet reached into her pocket and grabbed the handful of rocks Emily had been throwing at her and dumped them into Emily's hand. She looked Violet in confusion before taking the rocks back and looking down at them. 

"I believe these are yours." She wrote, and with that, Violet went back to reading her book, getting absorbed back into the story. Emily sighed and looked back over at Alina. Sargon had handed her a black book with the simple label of 'Vampires' on its cover.

My stroll through the alleys ended up as just a few steps by how short the area available to me was. Counting the columns, there were four bookshelves in total that I had access to. Even if I somehow managed to unlock greater part of the shop, the number of columns didn't change, only allowing me to potentially browse through the next rows in search for anything my heart would require. 
Just by thinking about how many different elements there was that I could use to make a spell and mindnumbing amount of possible variations between them made it obvious that books and articles located in the shelves didn't even come close to listing out all the possible spells. From there, it was just a short way to understand that each column of bookshelves represented a different kind of things. But what made them vary?
Taking a few steps back, I approached the leftmost bookshelf and started picking out random books from it.
"Weak Armour Spell"
"Basic Flight"
"Rejuvenation"
"Body enchantment"
Quite obviously, just the titles of those books gave pretty 'magical' vibe, despite not being too far from abilities that your everyday cultivator would obtain before reaching the pinnacle of the spiritual realm. 
Take a flight for example. While it wasn't officially quantified anywhere, most cultivators were capable of soaring through the air around establishing dominion level. Even if proficient use of this insane mobility was open only for real saint realm cultivators, I doubted this "basic flight" would fare any better. 
Sadly, all of those books were tightly shut, as if some kind of electromagnet was holding the first and end page together, allowing me to move only the cover part. From those examples, I picked I learned that the title page contained only the title and the cost of unlocking said book.
Most of those that I checked out varied from ten to fifty, making me believe that instead of using my normal attribute points, I would have to buy them with those spell points that so far, I only could obtain from the gift package.
Tough luck… Not only I have no idea how to farm more of those extremely valuable points, but the secret of receiving even more of those gifts is also still hidden!
Putting the manuals back in their respective place, I moved to the second shelf. 
Taking my sweet time didn't seem to be a problem after the last reassurance that Bonger gave me. Considering how this entire place took over my vision and entire consciousness, I think I could safely assume that it worked exactly the same as this spell crafting interface gifted to me in my first and so far last gift package. 
Without any need to worry about the passage of time, I browsed through the second bookshelf. Just like I guessed earlier, it's content was vastly different from the previous manuals I looked through.
"Seed of fire crafting manual"
"Introduction to alchemy"
"First Principle Theorem"
Okay now, I spend entire ten years back on earth abhorring those kinds of words. Introduction to alchemy? Maybe just call it an introduction to physic already? First principle theorem? How about Pitagoeran one? 
No, those books might be useful at some point in the future, but there is no way I will either waste any time - even if its slowed down ten times - or even less likely, my precious points! What I need right now is quick powerup to sate my paranoia before the duel, and let me settle up for a slow and peaceful life with Eve!
Not even bothering to put those books away from where did I picked them up, I moved to the next shelf. This time, however, I was in for a surprise.
While the bookshelf remained exactly the same as in the previous cases, but its content was vastly different. Instead of books, the entire piece of imaginary furniture was filled with tablets, just like the ones recently popularized on earth, but decorated all over.
"Weak mana potion (x10)"
"Weak health potion (x10)"
"Weak training potion (x2)"
"Parasitic core"
Whenever I took the tablet, I couldn't help but marvel at the intricacy of its design. It looked just like if someone took the cover of a medievalistic book, ripped it and then incorporated a small but precise image of the item on top of it. Only after fiddling with those tablets for a while did I realise that just by swiping the image to the side, did it reveal a short description of the items.
That was enough to let me know that I hit the jackpot!
While this parasitic core sounded awful and initially sparked a hope that I would be able to use it on my enemies to steal all of their hard-earned cultivation, it turned out to be something far better suited for my plans! The only drawback was its the price. With all the books costing up to fifty spell points, I couldn't help but inwardly curse when I saw a glowing number of one hundred fifty slapped at the very bottom of its description!
No matter how useful it would be, I can't stand this damn Bonger greed! No matter how hard I work to earn any points, it is simply too eager to rip them off from my virtual wallet!
This time, my manners returned and my hands placed the tablets that I was browsing through kindly back on the shelf. No matter what, I still had one more bookshelf to go, but unless I found something unfairly great, I was already set on buying this parasitic core!
"Crude mana ring"
"Basic Staff Core"
"Mage's apprentice robe"
Compared to the previous tablets, the ones I looked at right now offered items that were clearly of multiple uses. Contrary to my expectations, their prices were far more reasonable than I expected after being surprised by the cost of parasitic core and other consumables. 
I can only hope that those points had some miraculous effects, otherwise buying them would be the dumbest thing I would ever do!
With the last part of the currently accessible area already checked, there was nothing else left for me to do in this imaginary space. Even if the core looked to be an answer for all my troubles connected with the task of creating a mage's tower, there was no way I would splurge so many points on it without properly going through every single manual or tablet on those bookshelves first. 
Bonger, would you be so kind as to bring me back to reality now?
Even if there was a silver of urge in my mind to drop everything and just vert through everything in this shop before going back, I still remembered that passage of time was slowed, but not stopped. Just checking out the titles, description and price of every item accessible for me right now would take me ages, making it outside of my reach to waste so much of my time on it here and now!
Today was my last day where I could either enjoy my time with Eve, explore the city or settle the last minute matters. With the closing ceremony for the first phase of the tournament tomorrow, not only I wanted to watch it, but Eve was required to show herself on the stage as well. 
Even by taking conservative measures, we would have to waste at least half of the day on this, leaving only the other half before obligatory rest and the duel the day after!


Discord link:
https://discord.gg/pJTVGZZ
*******

Did I reincarnate? Or was I transported to an Isekai cultivation world? To be honest, I have no clue!

What matters is that I turned from being useless, bullied, and trash, to fully-fledged garbage in my new cultivation world! 

But what is this strange bleep that keeps ringing in my ears? Is this some kind of system? Oh God! Did you gift me such a cliché, right at the start of my journey?

Wait, why are you trying to kill me? Did I do something to you? Stand back or I will be forced to use unstoppable Exhudia!

Tell me, what did she do for you to treat your significant other in this way? Let me show you how girlfriends should be taken care of!

Wait, everyone was always telling me that demons are bad, so why is this demonic queen trying to seduce me? Wait! KEEP YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM MY PRECIOUS SWORD!

I just came back from a mission and was promised at least a half a year of break. Why are you bothering me again with something as silly as subjugating a devil general?


**********************

While this novel is meant to be a lighthearted mash of all the popular tropes, there will be some real plot later on.

Two chapters daily + bonus!

*********************
DISCLAIMER:
I do not own the cover. It was made with the help of fellow author(ess?) with the usage of possibly copyrighted images. If you own the rights to any part of the cover and want me to take it down, please, inform me on my discord or comment.

Tyler went through the file and saw all his powers and how he will be able to use them. He continued going through the file until he came to a part that said he was powered by something called Tekniom and it was not from their galaxy, according to their research. He also saw a part about Celina, there he saw all her capabilities. 
     "It's too much to take in,"said Tyler 
     "It's better you know it know because you're soon gonna have company,"
     "What do you mean?"
     "I mean people or aliens or whatever are gonna show up trying to kidnap your you to be their power source,"
     "Why?"
     "Turn over to page fifty-nine ,"
     Tyler turned over to page fifty-nine and he read it and there it said that the power in Tekniom cannot be finished. Mr Marcus explained to Tyler how people that have powers that is not powered by Tekniom are in grave danger because their powers can simply be drained by using  some special machines away but since Tyler is powered by Tekniom, his powers can't be drained or taken away. 
     While Mr Marcus explained what was in the file to Tyler, three men came in and dropped a big sack each. Tyler and Mr Marcus noticed that they were bodies inside the sacks. The men opened the bag and Tyler noticed the people. It was Skyler, Jenny and Denis.
     "We found this guys snooping around the building, and when we caught them we took them to the lab for scanning and we found out they had powers,"
     "Tyler, what are you doing here?"asked Denis.
     "You guys had powers and you couldn't tell me,"said Tyler, "I knew about Skyler but, you and Jenny, I can't believe you guys couldn't tell me."
     "I was afraid you might take us to Entomi since we reported you to them,"said Jenny.
     "You guys are unbelievable"said Tyler.
     "Let her free,"said Tyler pointing at Skyler,"Take the other two to a holding cell."
     "That's not what we do here, we help people with powers not imprison them,"said Mr Marcus, "We're not like Entomi."
     "Ok, I'm sorry but I just don't like when people lie to me,"said Tyler. 
     "Sure, we can hand them over to Entomi but that wouldn't be right,"said Mr Marcus,"But that wouldn't be right, would it?"
     "No"said Tyler.
     "Take them to the lab let's run some tests on them and find out their powers,"said Mr Marcus.
     "Ok sir,"said one of the men.
     When the men had taken Skyler, Jenny and Denis, Tyler went to meet Jason to invite him to the island. When he checked for Jason in his room he found out he was not there. Tyler went to the training ground to check for him and he wasn't there either. He used his teleportation powers to teleport to some places in the building and he couldn't find Jason anywhere. 
     He went to the lab where Mr Marcus's lab there he saw Skyler, Jenny and Denis in gigantic tubes. He went over to Mr Marcus and asked him where Jason was training in a special room with a virtual reality machine attached to his head and some wires attached to his body(the wires were used to track his vitals). While Jason trained there was a tablet that recorded his vitals and Tyler went to look at the tablet and his vitals were very good. He went over to the television screen that allowed him to see what Jason was seeing. From what he saw a lot of people were attacking him and he was defeating them one by one.
     "Can I try when his done?" Asked Tyler.
     "You're training is going to be much more advanced than this, this is nothing compared to what we'll be giving you,"said Mr Marcus.
     Mr Marcus led Tyler to a room the room was very large and it was white. He told him to transform to his super-suit and enter the room.
     "I don't know how to transform into my super-suit,"said Tyler. 
     "It's easy just focus and imagine yourself in the super-suit."
     Tyler kept trying until he transformed into his super-suit. When he transformed into his super-suit, Mr Marcus told him to link his vitals to their tablet so that they can watch it. Tyler called on Celina to do that, when she had done it , Tyler was able to see his vitals on the tablet. Mr rMarcus told Jason that the room was a virtual reality room and it was used for training. Before Tyler entered to the room he went to Mr Marcus asked about Skyler he said nothing bad was going to happen to them. When Tyler was about to go he noticed a glass area that allowed him to see what was inside the room. When Tyler finally entered the room he noticed he couldn't see any glass platform and it was very weird to him. The next thing that happened was that the whole place changed from white to a military area and they were shooting at Tyler. Tyler jumped dodged the bullets and ran to find cover. When he found cover he started blasting laser beams at people who were shooting him(Soldiers). He teleported behind one of the soldiers, when he was behind the soldier he used his heat vision on the soldiers neck and the soldier fell to the ground the every body started shooting at him. He used his force shield to protect himself from the bullets. Tyler became very weak and let down the force shield. one of the bullets hit him but id didn't enter him or do anything all it caused was a little pain, but when multiple people where shooting at him it became more painful and Tyler fell to the ground, then the whole room became white again.
     Tyler came out of the room and and he went over to the tablet to see what his grade was, he got a C. He told Mr Marcus that he has to go back to the Island because he would soon be having classes.
     When Tyler had gotten to the island he went to school and he was very silent, he didn't want any teacher to come to him. Lucky for him he had a one  on one programming lesson with Mr Joshua one of the nicest teachers in the school. While Mr Joshua was teaching the basic of web design Mr Adam walked into the room and saw him.
     "After many days of skipping school you finally show up,"said Mr Adam. 
     "I don't know what you're talking about,"said Tyler.
     Mr Adam went to the record room and pulled out Tyler's record and saw it was perfect.He was shocked and so surprised.
     "This is a fake, how did you do it ?"said Mr Adam
     "I don't know..."
     "Mr Adam I wouldn't have you harass my student, I'm gonna file a report against you" said Mr Joshua.
     "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,"
     When Mr Adam had left the room Mr Joshua apologised to Tyler on behalf of him. When their lessons where over Tyler went back the house and he saw Skyler, Jenny, Denis and Mr Marcus. He hugged Denis, Jenny and Skyler.
     "Were you guys the ones that changed my recored ?"
     They all nodded their head apart from Mr Marcus.
     "Thank you so much,"
     "That's what we came over to tell you but you didn't wanna hear us,"said Denis.
     "I'm so sorry,"said Tyler.
     Mr Marcus stayed with them for dinner after dinner he went home and they all went to bed.

Tyler is a boy who lives in a town called Tusayan in Arizona. He finds out he has super power when he touches a machine called the Puvillizer. He becomes afraid but with the help of billionaire Marcus Roy he learns how to control his powers. He joins forces with Skyler,Jenny and Denis to stop crime happening in Tusayan.

Luna has been busy processing all the necessary documents for a new mission. 
 
Thud. Thud. Thud. 
 
"Come in." 
 
Dae came in and sat on the empty chair next to Luna. He slid his finger on his watch. To ordinary eyes, it looks just like a regular fitness watch, but in actuality, it's a state-of-the-art watch exclusive for high-level agents. Only S level agents and above are qualified to use it. 
 
"Look at this."  
 
A 3D version of a woman illuminated above his watch.  
 
"So, this is going to be the new you, what do you think? Huh, huh? Cool, huh?" 
 
Luna looked closer at the model. The model has golden-brown skin, a waist-long hair, freckles around her cheeks, 2 black moles on her collarbone, and one just below her eye, her face was nicely sculpted out. Her high rounded nose and deep philtrum accentuated her thin lips." 
 
"I already have a mole below my eye and my freckles. How long is this gonna take?" 
 
"Well, the moles are going to be tattooed. That can be done in one session but it would still take at least a week to fully heal." 
 
"Okay." 
 
"The sculpting would need 3 sessions. What would take longer was you gaining weight." A scale model of Luna appeared beside the first model. 
 
"With your current body, you're too sharp and muscled. We need to soften you out first for you to look a little feminine." 
 
"Alright. Go handle all the preparations. Just tell me the schedule." 
 
Dae gave her his signature thumbs up. 
 
"Go book a room in an hour. We'll discuss the plan after I finished this. Tell the General to come too." 
 
Dae tapped his watch for a while before saying, "Done, done, and done. I'll head out first." 
 
Luna only nodded her head a little in his direction before focusing on her monitor again. 
 
After an hour. 
 
The four of them are gathered in a room again. Luna preceded the meeting.  
 
"As discussed last time, we'll infiltrate the entertainment industry. Do you all remember Agent 194?' 
 
It was the General who answered, "Is he the one assigned in Hollywood back then?" 
 
"Yes. He chose to retire during his evaluation. He loved the character he played, so he went to pursue fashion design. Now, he's a famous fashion designer and his brand, Louis, is an elite shop in the US and Europe." 
 
"What do you plan to do with him?" Asked the General. 
 
"I need his help for my debut. The cover-up story is that he saw me during a nature trip and took me in as a model." 
 
"Will he agree to it?" Dae couldn't help but ask. 
 
"He's been pleading me for years to walk on his runway. I don't even know for what reason he wanted me to. Anyway, I already called him to ask for his help, and he's already on his way here to process the requirements for field assets." 
 
Luna had to set down her phone and wait for more than two minutes before Louis can stop screaming in excitement when she asked for his help. 

A field asset is someone connected to the Union that assists in missions.
 
"Once, that is set", Luna turned to Sia, "I need an app that we can use to monitor the movements in Capitol. I have sent the blueprint to you." 
 
Luna showed them the initial UI design of the app. 
 
"The app will be called Moments. Every post will be in the form of a 30-second video. It maybe a text, photo, or a video. The posts can only be stored for 50 hours upon posting, then it will be saved on the profile's archive folder that only the owner than access. Its chat messaging is encrypted, but I already created a hack onto it." 
 
"Engagement buttons include react (heart, funny, sad, angry), comment (no bot nor indecency allowed), and sharing to other apps. But contents posted in the app cannot be saved illegally like screen capture or screenshot. All files are DRM and will forever remain in the Union server." 
 
"There are already so many apps out there, how can we be sure that they will use ours?" The General asked.  
 
"Exclusivity." 
 
"How?" 
 
"After my debut, it's the only app I'll use. People who doesn't have an account won't be able to see my posts. Then, for the first time, Louis will be opening a social account for the first time also only in Moments. After that, everything will just follow." 
 
"Will that be enough?" 
 
"Yes. Getting the scoop from Louis himself would shake the entire fashion world. And besides, I created the app with celebrities as my target audience. A platform safe for them to have their personal and business page into one." 
 
"In the meantime, Sia here's a list of gamers I want you to contact as beta-testers once the app is uploaded on the app store." 
 
"Got it, sis!" 
 
"That's it for Phase one. I still need to build my foundation in the entertainment industry anyway. This might take at least six months before we become stable. There are also a lot of people who want to get a hold of someone's dirt for personal gain, so we really need to scope out things out personally before gearing ourselves into phase two."

Yuehai gave her world to the man she loves only to die in his hands. 

After five years, destiny has given her a chance to come back to Capitol to collect the debt they owed her that was long overdue.

Will she be able to end a world-threatening terrorist group and face the monsters of her past at the same time? 

Will she be able to trust and love again?

At six in the morning, a phone alarm wakes the two sleeping ladies. Both greeted each other a 'good morning' and began preparing for the day. An hour and a half later, the two left for work. 

Upon arrival, the two grouped with their other teammates and they wasted no time in continuing where they left off the day before. Their productivity resulted into finishing everything before lunch break. 

Alaine and her team decided to spend lunch altogether. 

Meanwhile, in the middle of their lunch, the head of the event committee comes to them and says, "I saw the function hall just now and I must say; good job everyone. It has been all tough work and tight deadlines this month, yet you all delivered, so as an appreciation, you're all dismissed for the day. Worry not; this will not reflect on your payroll." And everyone expresses their thanks.

Just when everyone thought that the head of the event committee is leaving, the committee head added, "Also, I heard about what happened to Miss Chesney's place. I'm sorry for your loss, Miss Chesney. If there's anything we can assist you with, please let us know;" to which Alaine replied, "Thank you ma'am, I appreciate that. "

The committee head left with remarks, "Alright, enjoy the rest of the day and relax all you like. Just make sure to come tomorrow and oversee the entire event."

Everybody replied, "Yes ma'am."

"So, mates, how about we have a barbecue party at my place with matching Netflix marathon?" suggested Liza.

 "That sounds great;" commented Christie. 

"Yeah," agreed Giselle and Bianca.

"Let's go then," said Liza

"Guys, I'd love to join you but I have to go to the construction firm's office to check with them the total estimated cost for my house's reconstruction," reasoned Alaine. 

"Then, we'll tag along!" responded the rest in chorus

I understand your willingness to assist me in any way possible, given the situation I am in right now, and I really am grateful, but I am fine, I assure you;" articulated Alaine. 

"That's such a waste," reacted Giselle. 

"Yeah," agreed the rest.

"Mates, I'm sorry that I can't go with you for now. I just need to sort things out at the moment;" responded Alaine.

"Can we not help you sort things out?" insisted everyone

"Look, I'm aware of how you all genuinely want to share the burden I carry from the loss; even so, I don't want that. I mean, I'm sure you all have your own share of worries in life and I don't want to add up to that," explained Alaine. 

Everyone answered back with "I see."

"I'll see you all again tomorrow. And Bianca, I will drop by your place tomorrow, after work, to take my things with me for after my appointment with the Construction firm, I will look for a temporary place to live. Again, thank you very much for letting me stay last night." said Alaine

Bianca replied, "Okay, I understand and you're welcome."

And Alaine wished them a good time and then parted from them.

At the Construction Firm's Office

"Good day, ma'am," greeted the project management consultant (PMC) on duty.
 
"Good day, sir," greeted back Alaine. 

"How can I assist you today?" asked the PMC.

"You see sir, my house was totally ravaged by the fire last night; thus, needs reconstruction. I am here to inquire about the estimated total cost for it;" said Alaine.

"I see, ma'am. Well first off, I'm sorry for your loss. As for your concern, actually, pricing depends on the materials and the location. In addition, you will need to hire a residential architect since this will be like a custom home type of construction, but if you're hesitant to hire one, we can prepare a design for you, and the typical cost ranges from $1.50 to $2.50 per square foot." explained the officer.  

"Um, Actually, I have here the soft copy of its design," replied Alaine.

"Oh! I see, ma'am. If that's the case, then the estimation of cost will be simpler. By the way, our price ranges from $100 to $400 per square foot. Let me see first the design," requested the PMC on duty.

"Alright, here you go," showed Alaine.

"Wow, quite an intelligent design here, ma'am."

"Thank you sir," answered Alaine.

"Alright, as stated in the design, the house's lot area is 1,199 square feet and the location is not really considered a prime one so, that will be $250 per square foot. So that's $250 times 1, 199. The total cost will be $299,750. As for the duration, it's going to take around seven months, ma'am," explained the PMC on duty.  

"I see. What about the terms of payment?" added Alaine

 "You can either pay it in cash or installment, ma'am. For installment, you need to pay first the 25% down payment, the rest is payable up to 10 years. As you may be aware though, the longer installment plan you choose, the higher the interest. For cash payment, no interest rate applies. Also, we have a promotion that runs for this month where we give 5% discount to all those who pay in cash. So, should you decided to pay in cash you will only pay $284,762.50 instead of $299,750. Which would you prefer, ma'am?"

"As much as I want to keep my savings untouched, I wouldn't want to get additional charges for choosing installment so, I choose cash payment;" said Alaine.

"Alright ma'am, please wait here while I have the contract prepared."

 "Okay," responded Alaine.

An hour later, the PMC on duty came back.

"So here it is ma'am, take your time to read the contract before signing it. I prepared two copies of the contract that you need to sign three times per page. There are two copies; one for us, the other one for you, ma'am."

Alaine took the contract and carefully read each page. About a quarter later, Alaine signed the 2 copies of contract as instructed.

"Thank you very much ma'am. You have twenty five days to complete the payment. Payment can be thru bank transfer or you can directly deposit your payment to our bank account. Here is our bank account number."

Alaine then left the office after taking her copy of the contract as well as the construction firm's bank account number, and thanking the PMC on duty. 

Following her appointment at the Construction firm, Alaine went to her bank and paid for the construction contract thru bank transfer. Afterwards, she starts looking for a more affordable room for rent offer. 

After almost an hour of walking she finally found one, albeit from her estimation, it will take around forty five minutes of walking before she gets to work from there. 

As Alaine arrived at the place, she immediately inquired for rental terms and because the offer sounded friendly towards her wallet, she accepted it and paid for the rental rate. 
 
Finally founding a temporary place to live in, she decides to shop for some foods and some clothes she will need for the night and the next morning. 

When it's already 5:45pm, she finished her shopping and went back to her newly rented room. Inside her small room, she prepared for her dinner and once done, she ate it. After dinner, she fixed her stuffs. When everything is fixed, she starts thinking about her personal finances. 

A sighing Alaine thinks out loud, "I have a total of $303,795 in my savings account. Thanks to my part time work back in college and my current job that I was able to save such amount. It sucks to have that taken away from me in no time though. Going back, after paying for the reconstruction contract, I only have $19,032.50. I am glad I still have some cash on hand left to pay for this rent and cover my expenses. I'm so glad that my payout will be available tomorrow. Still, that's a lot of money to lose in such a very short time as this. I wonder how I can quickly recover the money I used for the house reconstruction."

Suddenly, Alaine came up with an idea which goes like, "Ah, I know. I'll work part time like I did back in college. It will be rougher compared from before since I had more time then than now. I better start looking for a part time job."

And Alaine actively sought for part times jobs until she fell asleep. 

Morning came and she proceeds with her usual routine. 

She arrived an hour earlier than the actual start of the event to double check with her team if there's still lacking. 

Luckily, all was set and the event smoothly took place. The guests seemed to have enjoyed the entire event. When it was all over, the entire event committee held a meeting regarding the event that just took place, and the future events that they will be holding. 

The head of the event committee started, "The client really liked the flow of the event; he said it was unlike any other anniversary event they had. As for our future events to hold, we have seven more. But relax; they're nothing major compared to earlier as they're all simple lunch buffet celebrations. Furthermore, the clients for those 7 events already picked for a menu and a room setup that fits in our quotations. I decided to only accept those since 2 weeks from now will be our anniversary party. It was already agreed that the same setup and theme will be used. The only change will be the menu. As part of the tradition, each department will offer a short performance. For this year, I'm choosing Miss Chesney to perform on behalf of the event committee. As usual, there's an incentive for that. Miss Chesney, I hope that's okay with you."

"I'm honored to be chosen as our representative, ma'am;" is what Alaine replied. 

"I'm glad. So I think everything's clear;" said the event committee's head. 

Everybody responded with a Yes. 

"Alright, meeting adjourned;" concluded the event committee's head.

Just like that, everyone left the room and went home. 

Alaine joined Bianca as she is supposed to drop by the latter's place to take the stuffs she left the other night. 

Arriving to Bianca's place, Alaine gathered all her stuffs and thanked Bianca once again. 

As Alaine is leaving, Bianca called and asked, "Alaine, are you sure you don't want to stay here until your house finishes its reconstruction?"

"Bianca, it's not like I don't like to stay here; I just don't want to be like a freeloader."

"But Alaine, you're not being like a freeloader; you're an important friend."

"Okay, I get that, but you know yesterday, I already paid for my rent. Though the apartment is neither spacious nor near our work place, I am fine with that. I am truly thankful for your concerns about me, but I don't want to owe anymore favor from you."

Bianca finally gave up and said, "all right I understand, but if you ever feel like staying here for a night or any day, please feel free to let me know and I'll gladly let you in."

"Roger that. Thanks again and goodbye."

"You're welcome, Alaine and take care."

"Thanks; you too, take care."

Alaine took a cab back to her new apartment. Once she's inside her apartment room, she reorganized her stuffs. Afterwards, she had dinner. Before going to bed, she resumes her part time job search. An hour later, she finally found a part time job post that suits her preference. She immediately contacted the employer and sent her curriculum vitae. Finishing such actions, Alaine happily puts herself to sleep.

Alaine Chesney thinks her life is already perfect the way it is, but her thinking goes 180 degrees after her house is consumed by fire. As her house needs reconstruction, she used up her hard-earned savings. To quickly regain her loss, she applies for a part-time job which she fortunately earned. She opted for a taxi for a ride back home which unexpectedly turned into a marriage proposal date with the taxi driver that she naturally rejected. A week later, as she prepares for her new part-time work, she was told thru a phone call that the job offer is off. Dejected, Alaine poured her everything into preparing for the upcoming anniversary party of her workplace. On the night of the anniversary party, following her recital, she heads to the restroom. Upon her exit, Alaine intercepts a suspicious man in tuxedo however, the former gets knocked out by the latter. Hours later, Alaine wakes up and is greeted by her captor, Dashiell Klein, who hands over an item that she believes to have been lost during the fire. What’s more is, Dashiell turns out to be the taxi driver who proposed to her, causing her to attack him until someone dear to her shows up. Who is that person? What does Dashiell have to do with that person? Just what is Dashiell's role in Alaine's life?

His mouth gaped open as he called up his Status page. Much of it remained the same so he skimmed over them entirely. Instead, his eyes narrowed down on his Intelligence score.

Intelligence: 2.1


"Just 2.1?"

The difference of 0.1 at this level actually produced a sea of change. Obviously, the Attribute scores didn't follow a linear pattern of growth.

For example, someone with an Intelligence of 2.0 wasn't twice as smart as someone with an Intelligence of 1.0. Each increment of 0.1 provided a different amount of improvement.

Reaching a score of 2.1 was a vast gulf of difference, especially when it had reached a stable state. Ves once reached a height of 2.2 in Endurance, and that had transformed his body in many ways.

It was a pity that he gained such strength from Dr. Jutland's insane experiments. Jutland hadn't actually been able to break the human limit, so the abnormally high Endurance actually started to break down down his body. If the CFA hadn't reverted some of the changes, he would have died when he reached fifty years old.

"It's far too soon for me to die at fifty years!"

Let alone fifty years, Ves believed he could easily last more than five-hundred years!

Once Ves understood his changes, he didn't hesitate to integrate the immense amount of knowledge provided by Senior-level Physics. What previously took months to digest now took up just a week.

For the next week, Ves did nothing but sit behind a desk while casting his mind inward. An extreme amount of theories with regards to fundamental Physics became understandable over time.

Much of the knowledge enabled him to understand and work with various types of exotics. Before mastering this level of knowledge, the only way that Ves could integrate exotics into his own design was if he obtained a readily available license.

For example, the Veltrex armor system with its three layers of armor plating that withstood different damage types came with several ingenious formulas. The research institution poured a lot of resources into developing these formulas that combined several exotics into special alloys that provided a wondrous effect.

Previously, Ves was purely a consumer of these formulas. Now, he gained the minimum qualifications to produce his own formulas.

"Still, it's not that simple."

The Senior-level Physics only provided him with a broad but fairly shallow foundation. If he wanted to develop an actual formula, then he needed to supplement his Main Skill with several Sub-Skills raised to a certain height.

Right now, Ves didn't hold any ambitious of developing his own component designs. Even though it cost him a lot of money or merits, making use of existing licenses saved him a lot of time and energy.

"A mech pilot doesn't have to know how to build a mech. A ship captain doesn't have to know how to build a ship. A doctor doesn't have to refine his own medicine."

Ves believed that it should be enough to focus on his core job of designing new mechs. Even if the System easily allowed him to unlock a myriad of specialties, he did not have any intentions of imitating the Polymath.

"I have my own way of making mechs come to life."

Even without the relevant Sub-Skills, the Main Skill alone provided a lot of benefits to Ves. He easily understood the heart of each phenomenon and became more proficient in handling advanced technology.

In particular, he gained a comprehensive boost in understanding laser weapons. If before he could only design an average gamma laser rifle design, now he would easily be able to improve the Tainted Sun by more than twenty percent!

Once a week went by, Ves fully integrated his long-awaited boost. Now, he directly met one of the criteria to advance to Journeyman Mech Designer. According to the demands set by the MTA, he only needed to formulate his design philosophy and pass some tests before he could officially leave his Apprentice days behind.

"I still have to design a number of original mechs."

The MTA set a strict bar for anyone who wanted to be acknowledged as a Journeyman Mech Designer. They had to design five original mechs. Naturally, the designs also had to meet a minimum performance standard. In that regard, the Blackbeak already passed the test, so Ves wasn't worried about failing to meet the standard.

Ves first checked his messages again on the isolated terminal. Nothing special had happened although the amount of raids by the Vesians had increased. He figured that the LMC could last a little longer without his presence.

"I've been delaying my next project for too long. It's time for me to make the first step."

He finally felt ready to embark on his next design project. His inadvertent adventure with the crystal ruins had given him a lot of inspiration on how his next design should look like, and he was eager to turn his ideas into reality.

Immediately, he faced an important choice. First, should he collaborate with someone on this project, and second, should he log his every action in detail?

Different from designing his first original mech, Ves faced a lot less constraints this time. He already went through his debut and proved that he could design an original mech without any outside assistance. Now that he gained the mech industry's acknowledgement, he enjoyed a lot more freedom this time.

Ves thought about his gains from the crystal ruins. Once he began to design his mech, it would become obvious that he incorporated alien insights into his work.

"When the MTA checks the logs, they won't care about these matters."

To a behemoth like the MTA, they wouldn't lift their brows if Ves applied some of the principles that powered the alien ruins. His recent upgrade in Intelligence and his acquisition of Senior-level Physics had vastly improved his understanding of the crystal builder's technology. Even if he still couldn't unlock the secret behind the circuits, he still harvested in many other ways.

While Ves had a lot to hide, he didn't mind being stared at by the MTA. Logging his design process would instead insure his claim on his own design and prevent others from accusing him that he stole his design from someone else. That happened more often than anyone thought.

Still, Ves did not entirely wish to rely on himself this time. He knew the challenges of competing directly against the mainstream models and their variants. The market for rifleman mechs was too competitive for Ves to make an impact even with all of his recent gifts.

Ves gently stroked his comm. When the time was right, he'd disable the logs and activate his Superpublish function. He hoped that he could elevate the quality of his design just enough to break into the market.

As for how to explain the jump in quality, Ves could just hand out an excuse that he let an unknown expert make a pass on his own design.

Mech designers with a lot of connections often invited experts to elevate their designs to another level. Most of the time, these experts insisted on being credited by their works, but sometimes they wished to remain anonymous.

In this regard, Ves could easily explain his Superpublish function by crediting an anonymous contributor.

"The only downside to the Superpublish function is that I won't earn any DP from its sales."

This was a very steep price. However, as long as he captured a small chunk of the market for rifleman mechs, the profits would be immense and his prestige would rise well above his fellow Apprentices.

Right now, Ves desperately needed to enhance his prestige and reputation. Otherwise, the Mech Corps wouldn't value him when they eventually called him up to serve the Republic.

Ves moved back to his design project. "Alright, a good design starts with a solid vision."

He aimed to pin down a vision and complete a draft design within a week. After that, he would solicit everyone's opinions before he moved on to turning his draft into a full design.

"I already have a great idea for a vision."

Through his first-hand experiences in the Glowing Planet campaign, Ves acquired a rich perspective on rifleman mechs. As the mainstay of any mech force, they would often be fielded in great numbers.

"Rifleman mechs are rarely sold one at a time to any single customer."

A small-scale buyer like a single-squad mech corps might only ever purchase one knight. As for rifleman mechs, they wouldn't hesitate to buy at least two to four of them in a single instant.

"The market for rifleman mechs is big and profitable. The high volume of sales alone is enough to fight over."

Under these highly competitive circumstances, Ves had to carve out a place for his own design. He set his sights on the upper-premium segment of 60 to 70 million credit mechs.

In the Bright Republic, the vast majority of rifleman mechs sold for fifty million credits or less. The mainstream mechs were no exception, which also made them so attractive in the first place. It wasn't enough that they delivered a higher level of performance, but their pricing also bankrupted many aspiring local mech designers.

Still, the Republic wasn't completely clueless and imposed a number of tariffs and other barriers that made it slightly less attractive to purchase a foreign mech. The Bright Republic wouldn't be able to host such a lively mech industry if they let the trans-galactic corporations operate with impunity.

"The most expensive mainstream mech still costs only fifty million credits." Ves shook his head. "It's hopeless for me to compete directly against them at this price point."

The Blackbeak managed to be successful due to his decision to design a rarely-seen offensive knight. Ves purposefully avoided the crowded market for defensive knights and thereby avoided direct comparisons between the Blackbeak and the mainstream knight models.

He intended to do the same with his second original design, only this time he wanted to differentiate his product through its price category.

"With my existing licenses, I can easily clad my rifleman mech with compressed armor. With the help of my improved Skills, I can also beef up the capability of its primary weapon."

As long as Ves managed to control his costs, he believed he could design a very strong rifleman mech that performed a notch above the mainstream models. Perhaps it would lose out in terms of optimization and refinement, but the boost in raw performance would easily make up for that disparity.

"A rifleman mech that costs at least 60 million credits is absolutely a mech fit for a leader."

With a powerful laser rifle and an ample amount of armor, only the best could make full use of these capabilities. It had to offer a certain level of rounded performance in order to appeal to highly-skilled mech pilots.

"I can take some inspiration from the modifications I made for Fadah's mech. Speed and mobility is essential to a modern rifleman mech. This should be my first priority. I can't skimp on this area."

Firepower was a close second, followed endurance and staying power. Since he intended to reuse most of the licenses he acquired to design the Blackbeak, his next design should also be able to last an entire war.

"Armor is only the fourth priority, but that doesn't mean I should neglect it entirely."

It had to be good enough that his buyers would willingly stomach forking over at least 60 million mechs. That meant that Ves wouldn't be able to cover his mech only partially with compressed armor. He had to give his mech the full treatment without weighing it down too much.

"That's going to be a major challenge."

Even assuming he succeeded in balancing the speed and armor of his rifleman mech, he also had to distinguish his mech from the competition in other ways.

"I need a gimmick."

Humanity has conquered half the galaxy and the Age of Mechs reigns supreme!

Ves Larkinson lacked the genetic aptitude to become a famed mech pilot. Fighting against his fate, he studied mech design in order to express his love for mechs as a builder instead of a soldier.

When Ves graduated from college, he returned to a new but empty boutique. Left with a small, newly founded mech workshop that his father painstakingly built with a mountain of debt, Ves somehow needs to make ends meet with the bank breathing down his neck.

In the midst of his despair, he found salvation from another legacy his father had left.

"Welcome to the Mech Designer System. Please design your new mech."

--Join The Mech Touch's unofficial Discord server: https://discord.gg/APB5KCU

how to design a cover page

Poems.

A World Worth Protecting

Warlock Apprentice

Crimson's Revenge

1

While Others Cultivate, I Use My Unique RPG Leveling System to Cultivate Smut Romance With Their Girlfriends!

The Rise Of Tekniom

A Place in This World

The Trial of Eden

The Mech Touch

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