Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

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/8 minutes later…/

Dale was like the flash.

He had already become used to the pattern of running to a body, paying his respects, carefully removing their badge, and laying the body on the ground before removing its gear.

Thanks to his efficiency, within 10 minutes, Dale successfully cleaned the corridor of all its loot!...

Most of it at least, as there was a section of the hallway he didn't dare approach...

The other end of the corridor... The part that led outside...

Dale didn't want to go near that place.

He could faintly see many more bodies there, but his rationale was stronger than his greed for loot...

If it could even be called that… This bunch of broken and decayed pieces of armor…

It was already a miracle that they lasted this long, certainly over 70 years in these conditions…

In fact, Dale had yet to know the precise time of these events…

He knew that Old man Testros was beyond 80 years old perhaps 90, putting the fall of the Wall at least 60 to 70 years ago…

But could it be that he was older? He never had the chance of asking…

He already knew some of the Villagers were a bit older then they looked, but Testros looked at most to be in his late 60s to 70s, but that depended on one's perspective.

Some may even say he was younger, after all, he was a super fit old man.

Unfortunately... Once again, and for the last time, Dale couldn't read, so figuring out the time through texts wasn't an option…

Regardless, it was a simple problem to resolve, he just had to ask whenever the opportunity presented itself to him.

So with a half-smile, he said:

"Done… But…"

'Surprisingly, my inventory was enough to hold it all, but it's pretty much full now.'

'Meaning… I will have to leave some of the previous loot behind…'

"It's a small loss but one I can accept, it was my fault for not managing it well."

'Between leaving behind loot from a high-Level area, and loot from a low-Level area, the choice becomes pretty simple, even if one is in top condition and the other is in shambles.'

Once Dale was done, he looked towards the other end of the corridor.

There was a massive hole there leading outside, but Dale knew he shouldn't overstep his boundaries.

He was already very close to it and it would be better to retreat before something happened…

'One day... One day I'll be strong enough to just ignore everything and take a step there.'

'Although how long that'll take... That I can't say.'

'Level 70? Perhaps Level 80?...'

'That seems to be about the Level of this area if we take Resko as a base.'

'The numbers tell me I should be able to take everything, especially if I down my armor... But rationale tells me that it's too risky.'

'So before anything sees me...'

Dale took a step back and returned.

…

"You're back." Testros said as he turned around

"Yes, I got it all, I left their Name Tags behind though, so when we return, we can properly bury them."

Testros nodded.

"Indeed... We will..." He said with a smile

"So help me with these books, we'll be bringing everything with us."

Dale nodded.

But before that, he went back to the secret passage and started to remove several items from his inventory and put them on the ground next to his sword.

"What are you doing?" Testros asked as he kept grabbing the books, putting them in an orderly pile on the ground

"My bag… It's full…"

"Ah, that is indeed a problem." Testros said as he scratched his head

"Don't worry, I can manage it. This small loss is nothing comparable to recovering these books."

"You're right, it's a shame we'll have to leave something behind... But it happens."

"There was no way for any of us to plan for this in the first place."

Dale nodded, returning to emptying his inventory.

…

/5 minutes later…/

"Here, grab these as well." Testros said as he gave Dale a pile of books

"These and these as well…"

"How many are left?" Dale asked as he managed his inventory space

'Will I have to leave behind more things? I started by throwing away common gear, but soon enough, I may be forced with throwing away some higher-graded weapons too...'

'I even wore my armor to raise my Stats just so my inventory would increase temporarily... Using the excuse it was for safety.'

'But these books are damn heavy, they do take its tool on my back.'

"About two more shelves… And then we'll go, there isn't anything left here for all I can see."

"The hidden mechanism you found was about everything there was to find out here."

"Okay."

Dale continued to store the books, thinking:

'My hands are getting tired from pressing 'store' so Goddamn times…'

'Don't get me wrong, I love loot, and some of these books are interesting, especially these ones…'

[Revolving Arrow 2.5-Star Skill Book (Not Compatible)]

[Restore 3-Star Skill Book (Not Compatible)]

[Pulverize Flame 4-Star Skill Book (Not Compatible)]

[Twin Stream Principle 4.5-Star Skill Book (Not Compatible)]

'Aside from the many history, documents, and other scholarly books, there were these Combat and Support oriented ones…'

'And among those were these Skill Books.'

'This is my first time seeing one since the Beta.'

'It is indeed possible to acquire Skill books in the Tutorial, however, due to the constraints of time, and the fact most of them weren't really that appealing to me, I ended up throwing that possibility away.'

'I'm sure Ermin got some, but they were likely spread out amidst him and his sisters, and that's not a bad thing.'

'He started as a Fallen Noble too if I'm not mistaken, he said he wanted to go in a Magic Oriented Class, but not that of a mage... There aren't that many Skils that would go in hand with that goal.'

'As depending on the Skills he collects, his Class change once he becomes Level 10 might end up leading him to the right path, otherwise, he'll have to seek it out humself.'

'Any other Skill would only be given to his sisters as a matter of course, he could just learn them too if he wished, though that could be detrimental for the Class change at Level 10.'

'It may be better to just exchange them for other Skills in the market.'

'Of course, I did try buying one of the more interesting ones for a high price, but I underestimated how desperate the players would be.'

'Every single Skill Book that appeared in the market was bought within half a minute, and those put for Auction would reach exorbitant prices.'

'Although I could've bought at least one if I wanted, I wasn't in such a need of a Skill for me to pay over 40 times more for it.'

'And it seems they won't decrease in price anytime soon... In fact, the contrary is more likely to happen.'

'As the player's spending power increases, they're likely bound to compete more over the Skills that do appear in the market, as they are an easy way to increase someone's power.'

'Specially for Rich players, why start with 0 Skills when you can buy all 10 from the start? You just need to be backed by a group, this could even make HardCore players in the future more viable.'

'Alas, currently, I see no point in joining the bidding wars unless a super valuable Skill book appears, something of the likes of Vital Heart...'

''But I have yet to see one such book appearing, and it'll probably never do.'

'Unless a player is really bad or ignorant, they won't sell a good Skill.'

'But it looks like my worries are over.'

"Still..."

'However… All Skills I've read so far are showing as Not Compatible… Whatever that means… I hope there are some I can use.'

'While in the meantime, I must find what I'm lacking.'

'But if I were to think about it, then there must be some conditions in the game System that are preventing me from learning those Skills, there were such mechanisms in the previous game too.'

'A Warrior Class wouldn't be able to learn a Mage Class, even some Mages couldn't learn their own Skills if they did not meet the necessary Stat/Level requirements.'

'But my situation now is different, it can't be just Stats, and HardCore Characters have no Level requirements, at least I found none so far...'

'So it must be my Class.'

'Either way, that would be learning them through the Skill System, what if I were to learn the books manually?'

[Aura Rampage 4-Star Skill Book (Requirements not met)]

'Amidst the ones I checked, this one was different from the others.'

'It doesn't say it's not compatible, it says I simply do not meet the requirements.'

'So... If I can find someone to read the book to me, those requirements should be pretty simple to figure out.'

'Above all, these Skills books will provide me with another income opportunity, as I can possibly copy some of the crappier ones and present them to players.'

'Imagine... If I could set aside some Skill books and put them as some sort of... "Faction Exclusive" Skills?'

'Something like... Uh... Aha!'

His expression brightened.

'Join us, raise your Rank, and exchange points for Skills?... How does that sound?'

'Wait... Not ordinary points... That seems like a bother.'

'Something that is already inbuilt into the game... Can I have the players exchange Reputation points?... Ohh boy, that would be...'

"Okay… We're almost done, a few more and…" Testros said with a smile, interrupting Dale's thoughts

/Tremble…/

But so were his words, as suddenly, the entire office trembled slightly…

"This is…" Testros said as his eyes darted wide

'This feeling...'

He looked at the window, his eyes and hands trembling… His teeth started to grind against each other in a mixture of fear and anger.

The memories of the past were playing on his mind…

These were some of the side effects of PTSD!

[Dale! It's time to go!]

'What?!'

[And grab the old man before he has a Heart attack!]

'What is happening?!'

[Something is coming, something very big!]

'Shit…'

Dale could tell from the tone of his words and voice that he was distressed, something extreme was coming...

So as he heard his words, he dashed to the last few remaining books on the ground and on the shelf, shoving them all inside as David continued to speak:

[I felt its presence quite a while ago... At first, I thought nothing would happen, but it suddenly changed directions making its way to us at high speeds!]

[I am certain it didn't feel us yet as I'm trying my best to mask our presence, but it's possible it sensed something beyond the scope of what I can hide!]

[I'm not in my prime but... That's no excuse]

[So run!]

"Shit..."

Collecting all of the books at the same time David's words resound in his head, he turned to Testros, only to realize he was still stunned.

"It's time to hop out, old man!" Dale said with a bit of worry as he turned around

As he said that, he ran to David, strapping him to his waist before storing the letters in his inventory.

Noticing his inventory was already full, he threw away a pair of leather boots on the ground hastily, opening just enough space for him to store the rest inside.

"I..."

Testros' expression was one of confusion, but after being reminded once again by Dale, he snapped out as he said with certainty:

"Yes, we need to…"

/TREMBLE!/

However, Testros was once again cut by the heavy trembling...

"It's getting closer…" Dale said as he walked to the secret passage

But he suddenly stopped.

"What are you doing?..."

Testros was currently looking at the fallen body of the commander, gazing at it in silence.

"We gotta go!"

/TREMBLE!/

"..."

Testros suddenly raised his head with a determined expression.

He was biting his lips, and blood was now running down his chin…

He went to the Commander and grabbed both the thorn and the sword on his stomach before running to Dale and saying:

"Run Kid!"

"Urg!"

Once Testros passed through the secret entrance, Dale immediately started to it back, closing the secret passage.

/CRUNK!/

Once he was done, he turned around and grabbed the sword, before realizing Testros was nowhere to be seen…

"Where?..."

He looked at the spiral stairs and saw that the old man had actually jumped in the middle!

"Follow me!" He exclaimed as he fell

"..."

/Gulp.../

Dale stared silently at what seemed to be a 100-meter dark fall and at Testros' figure as he vanished within it...

And even if it was inconsequential, he was wearing heavy armor, so he felt a bit... Weighty.

Even if he was strong, back in reality, he had never really tried to test just how strong he was... How resilient he was... Or if he could survive an otherwise deadly fall.

His reflexes and strength were possible to bee tested, but it reached a point where it was hard to test anything without attracting too much attention.

While the rest is... Self-explanatory.

He didn't want to become the headline of a news article about a young boy that shot himself in the chest because he thought a book would be able to stop it.

'How?!'

/TREMBLE!/

The trembling was quite strong this time, he felt as if whatever was after them was just outside…

"Fuck me…"

/Jump…/

Dale also jumped…

…

/BAM!/

Dale finally crashed against the ground, causing the entire place to tremble…

"HAAAA… Haaa…"

'Shiiiit... My legs?... My legs are okay... I don't feel any pain... Phew...'

Dale had actually fallen with his two legs on the ground, squatting slightly due to the speed of the impact.

He was surprised, he knew he was strong but it's not like he would test his prowess by jumping from high places...

Due to this, he was exhaling pretty heavily… It wasn't very well known, but Dale was actually slightly afraid of heights…

Falling down like this and without hurting at all had actually almost cured him of his hesitation... Next time, if the fall was about the same, he wouldn't hesitate much.

In a sense, it made him realize how supper he truly was, and not just because he was in a game.

"You okay kid? How many fingers do I have on my hand?" Testros asked as he raised his right hand

"... Just… Let's just leave." Dale said with a twisted expression as he had the urge to swat his hand away

Testros smiled before turning around and running.

/Fwoosh!/

Dale also did the same, running with all of his power.

/Tremble…/

As they ran away, the trembling echoed behind them…

…

/At the same time, back at the Commander's Office…/

/TREMBLE!/

/Boom…/

The trembling suddenly stopped with a loud sound, as if something extremely heavy had just crashed against the ground.

/Sha sha sha…/

/Crack… Shatter…/

Several black vines slithered inside the office through the broken window…

They made their way inside, breaking and shattering most of the objects on their way before stopping midway through the room.

/Open.../

The end of each of the vines opened, revealing what seemed to be a small brush tip.

They moved around the place like weeds in the wind, it was a rather strange scene...

/Uon…/

After a while, a strange deep sound was produced somewhere outside the office, like that of a whale…

And a massive, glowing orange eye suddenly covered the entire window, looking inside.

Seeing that nothing was there, the giant creature quickly lost interest, pulling back its bizarre vines and leaving to God knows where…

Surprisingly enough, the table and the Commander's body remained intact, as if the Vines avoided it as a matter of course…

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