Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

Yay, more chaps!

The first Bonus chap of the week.

This is related to Golden Tickets goals.

There are 2 chapters to be released on that and one more on the Power Stones goals.

Let's keep aiming higher!

PS: Also, it's chapter 100(99) yay!

No Power Stones?

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"It's just you and me now..." Dale mumbled as he stared at the book

But as he noticed the book's thickness, he let out a sigh of helplessness.

'Looks like this will be the end of my day...'

'Not as bad as I expected, as it's better than staying in bed doing nothing.'

'Once again, I'm thankful for Yumi and my body's natural regeneration, and all the consumable items I used.'

'Let's see... Written by... I can't read this signature... It's not even translated?'

'Well, who cares? It's not really that significant.'

'10 chapters and... 420 pages... Welp, this will take a little while.'

(N1)

"Looks like even in a fantasy world, I still need to study if I want to amount to anything."

'What a grim reality...'

With a helpless smile, Dale cleared his mind and focused on his book, flipping its cover and reading its first page...

...

/Later.../

Time passed as Dale read his book…

The Afternoon passed, marking the completion of the first full day of Azimuth's release in the outside world.

With each hour that passed, videos, gameplay, and streams of people playing the game flooded the web like waves in a high tide.

The marketing of the game also continued to increase, and the stories of the adventures to be found within started to spread to all.

Many started to hop into the game for reasons, wealth, fame, fun, and more, while others were satisfied simply watching as they ate something for lunch or were incapable of playing the game due to a variety of reasons…

And some simply decided to stick with their own games, not everyone is a fan of MMORPGs, and such was how life went.

Each had their own preferences and tastes, even if they were bad overall.

But one thing was in the head of many:

That this game was really something else.

Compared to the others of its kind available, it surpassed them in every single way, so far, the reviews have been extremely positive, apart from the people that got either unlucky or were simply trolls.

Or those that went with the HardCore option...

For a game that excelled in every way, from the game interface to the mechanics, choosing to be a HardCore player was the same as throwing it all away to stay with a standard simulation game...

It was safe to say most weren't having fun.

But apart from those people, every time someone talked about the game, it was mostly praise.

Not only the game, but the new generation of Virtual Reality pods was starting to get famous as its specs and features were released into the market with a full analysis of it.

It truly seemed that the promotional material about Azimuth being the start of a 'new era' were actually correct…

…

/In the real world…/

/Shua.../

"No no... It's nothing serious... Yes, everyone is okay..."

In a simply decorated white Office on the 18th floor of a high-rise building, a middle-aged woman was currently talking with someone on her Cellphone as she stared at the rain through a window leading outside.

"Huh? Can you repeat that?... You too dear? How odd." She asked the person on the other side of the line

"Yes, it seems today is going to be a bad day." Replied a man on the other side

"I was called off work earlier today due to a major gas leak while your work building had its light cut out due to a rat, and almost at the same time at that…"

"I don't think the day can get any worse." The man joked on the other side of the phone

The woman let out a sigh, it seemed this was one of those bad days, but still, she maintained her calm despite the blackout.

"Hopefully not, although they did say it was going to rain today…"

"What about the kids? Did Eddy return from school already?"

"Yes he did, quite fast in fact, barely hit 1 Pm and he was home already."

"He was all sweaty, must've come back running from his school to play his game… At these times he can be quite determined..."

"Sigh… What about Dale? Is he still playing?"

"Not even a single step out of that room of his…"

"Really now, he's been there for almost a full day… Remember to have him out of that damn machine to eat and walk around a bit."

"I'll try, but I doubt he'll listen to me, his personality took a change ever since his school ended and University started."

"He started to hit the gym and play games madly, so much so he even started to make more money than me... I think he's going through his rebellious phase…"

"You know how it is, we also grew up with those things, and it was just like that on our time… Albeit now, they are fairly more impressive and amazing…"

"Well, if we look at it from another perspective, he's a well-behaved young man, a polar opposite to you when you were younger." He joked slightly as he remembered the past

"What?" She asked annoyed

"Oh come on, don't tell me you forgot? During high school weren't you quite the troublemaker? Causing minor infractions and all of that?"

"During one of those 'anger episodes' you even broke my finger, wasn't that the entire reason we started dating in the first place…"

"..."

She remained silent.

"Ahh… Brings back memories… I can still hear your mom screaming at you when my parents went to visit you… What did she say again?..."

"..."

She chuckled a little, those were some good memories.

"Thankfully, it seems Dale took after me more, although I'm concerned about Eddy… He took a lot from your side of things… Especially your mom…"

"Stop it... Sigh, when you talk about those times it makes my head spin…"

"My mother always scolded me for causing trouble and I was so happy I didn't have to go through the same she had…"

'Only after having my own son did I understand why she was always annoyed when I caused trouble.'

"But that doesn't mean I'm in favor of having Dale spend his entire time inside that machine like a pickle in a jar, I was quite happy that he was spending a lot of time working out and studying..."

"Yet sometimes, I actually wanted him to cause some trouble, he does absolutely nothing. No late parties, he doesn't drink, he doesn't drive, he doesn't even have a girlfriend, nothing at all."

"And his friends are also like him... A bunch of weird kids."

Although, different from him, they do drive, drink, and have girlfriends, but I never heard of them causing trouble at all...

"I can understand you... If he goes like this he'll never find a girlfriend like his brother..."

"Anyway, can you come pick me up?" The woman asked as she looked out the window outside

"Me? But you're the one with the car…"

"Uh! I forgot…"

"So… Come pick me up, I think it has started raining, and looking outside, I don't think it'll be a good idea to go to the station, I'll get my suit drenched." The man said on the other side of the phone

"I'll be there in half an hour then…" She replied as she started packing her things

…

The two gave each other goodbye after a bit more small talk and they went on their ways…

She looked everywhere one more time, but it was a bit hard due to the darkness.

"Keys, documents, papers... My cellphone... Where's my cellphone? Shit!... Oh, it's here... Phew." She said as she checked her handbag

Dale's mother got inside the car and left her work…

...

/Outside.../

"..."

/Buzz.../

A man grabbed a small walkie-talkie, bringing it to his face.

"Brime 2 reporting. Over."

/Buzz.../

"We can hear you loud and clear. Over."

"Reporting, M-Omega has moved from Position W-1, likely heading to position W-2. Over."

"Copy that Brime 2, stand by for further instructions."

/Shuaaa/

But little did she know that in an apartment complex right on the other side of the road, a man clad in casual clothes and a pair of sunglasses watched her every move while the rain continued to fall.

It was hard to notice, but his sunglasses allowed him to zoom in and out like a pair of binoculars, multiple lines of information passed through them quickly, making it very hard to discern what was going on...

Yet for the man, those lines of information made it all that easier to understand.

"..."

The man stood there, hiding in the shadows as he saw the rain pour down…

…

/Around half an hour later…/

"It's getting cold..."

"They said a cold front was coming, guess this is it."

Inside a small bar, a dark-haired man and a blond woman, a couple most likely, were currently discussing the forecast while drinking coffee…

They seemed just like any ordinary couple...

Until a car left the garage of a skyscraper.

When that happened, their expressions sharpened.

"Brime 7 reporting. Over." The man said in a low tone

The moment he saw the car, his expression changed, but only for a single moment as his calm smile returned to his face.

"Report. Over."

"... M-Beta and M-Omega have left W-2. Over."

He then turned to the blond girl in front of him and asked with a smile:

"Would you like some sugar?"

She smiled and replied:

"Thank you, but this is already enough for me, you know it isn't good for my diet."

"Copy that Brime 7, stand by for further instructions..."

But before the person on the other could finish his line, a girl interrupted him:

"... And that Brime 7-2 is getting fat! Over!"

"..."

"..."

The blond girl's expression started to turn red, seemingly pissed, and despite having a smile on her face, her forehead was tense...

'That little bitch...' She thought as she tapped on the table

"..."

The man on the other hand was tense, he knew that if he were to do something out of line, the one who would suffer her wrath would be him.

'Of everything, she could've said... I'm not paid enough for this...'

'I want to smoke... Ah... This place forbids it... Shit.'

Despite it all, they still kept their professionalism and facade...

The man and the woman smiled at each other, 'enjoying' their coffee under the faint rain from the outside.

One angry, and one tired.

…

/Another half an hour later…/

Dale's parents finally arrived at their home, and without complications, they got inside and parked their car, ready to take a rest after a 'hard' day of work…

Honestly, they barely worked.

...

"..."

At the same time, somewhere not so far, a woman pressed her hand against her ear, listening to something…

After she listened to whatever she was being told, she turned her face to the sole man in the room, an old but strong grandpa, and said:

"... Sir, we have gathered them as requested."

"Has something happened on the way?" He asked seriously

"Yes, it wasn't completely smooth."

"Brime 3, 4, 4-2, 6, 6-2, and 9 have met with varies degrees of resistance."

"Brime 4,4-2 and 9 have successfully warded off the trouble, while Brime 6 sustained severe injuries and Brime 6-2 suffered mild ones, but no casualties."

"What about Brime 3?" The old man asked deeply

"... We have lost contact with Brime 3."

"..."

/CRUSH!/

The old man frowned, and from his previously composed personality, he completely crushed the metal can in his hand into a small ball of iron.

But after a few seconds like this, he calmed down and said:

"Make sure to track them down, even if just a finger, we'll recover their bodies."

'I'll tear them apart... But later, now, I need to focus on the present...'

'In any case, the operation was a major success...'

'Since they are all now safe in the same place.'

"Send in Strike Force Bullet, and have them clear out all third parties in a 5 km radius of our current location, regardless of who it is, but remind them to enforce caution."

"We wouldn't want to clash with local and governmental forces that are merely watching these events unfold, there's no point in creating tension over nothing."

"Yes sir!"

The woman turned her face to the side, relaying orders to multiple people at the same time far away, while the old man remained calm. Breathing in and out slowly…

Before he could think of a plan, he first had to make sure there would be no interference from the outside.

He looked towards the window of his room, staring at the rain as it fell on it.

"Looks like I was faster this time."

'Did they underestimate how many resources I would be willing to pour into this?'

'Or did they simply undervalue this situation?'

'Perhaps both... Or perhaps... They have something on their sleeves?'

"..."

'Show me what you are hiding.' He thought as his eyes lit up in blue light

…

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Notes

N1

With an average of 200 words per minute, a person can read a 200 pages book (55 thousand words) in about 4.5 hours.

Let's double this to 400 pages, so it becomes 9 hours.

Let's say Dale can easily read 4 times faster than that, to about 1000 words per minute due to his Stats.

Then, let's slow this speed down a notch since he has to concentrate greatly.

So in the end, it's just 3 times faster.

It would still take 2 hours to read the whole book, and he would likely read it several times.

Not to say the other books...