ERode

Expedition to Isekai

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//Day 2 | Location: Nameless Forest - Lakeside
_{@Vertigo@baraquiel}
Mayumi felt a migraine was inbound. “What is that idiot doing?”

“Mine.” Kunio slipped into the waters of the lake, detouring the boisterous Duncan and his pink-haired catch in order to retrieve the skewered fishes.

Ayano let out a dramatic sigh as she looked up from her task of doing absolutely nothing. “Ugh, fooling around at a time like this…Rin! You can make a rope swing, right?”

Daisuke side-eyed the fashionista, before cupping his hands around his mouth. “C’mon, Duncan! Let’s see a proper jump!”

Tsubaki was caught between conflicting feelings herself, but kept it to herself, a wry smile forming before she got back to adjusting to her one-handed life.

The inclusion of the watchtower-turned-diving tower looked to have improved the mood somewhat, at least. Dripping wet from the initial dunk, Duncan practically hoisted Asahi with him for a second go at it, while Rin made herself scarce, already moving on to her next construction project. It was a warm summer’s day, despite it all. A friend had died in the morning, and yet the world kept turning. They were stuck in the Otherside, but it felt like a camping trip. And all it too for that mental switch to happen would be to throw one’s self off a tower and let the adrenaline take you.

A curious thing, that.

Perhaps Asahi too, would have felt a switch, if only his senses were a touch duller.

But they weren’t.

Ten meters up once more. Breaking past the treeline. Exposed to the entirety of the sky, the horizon so much clearer. The mountain in the distance too, so much closer. Its jagged peak, like a shark’s tooth, gnawing at the heavens. It was entirely unlike the mountains of Kuroshio, wholly barren and malicious, promising no opportunity for life except through the deliverance of death. The sensation had been masked before, masked by closer concerns of shelter and food, of healing the injured. But his classmates were now either healed or dead and others were moving to hunt for larger prey. The shelter had already been built, and it would only approve as time went on.

Now, Asahi could feel it.

A magnetic pull and a creeping trepidation.

Something was there, in that mountain.

Something that would be their ruination and their salvation.

Something…that would have to wait until after this slow-motion journey from tower to lake concluded.

---

//Day 2 | Location: Nameless Forest - Forest Trails
_{@Yankee@Nakushita}
A spinning axe kick!

Though Oros was not by any means the fastest, she had spirit if nothing else, and she had seized the initiative immediately. Both her heels slammed into the crown of the chalk-turtle, the impact like a car crash. Pain shot up her tendons, but the force had driven the monster’s face straight into the dirt. It had to have been effective, right? Even if it wouldn’t be a killing blow in the same way that Shun could deliver a killing blow, Oros had presented herself as a threat and, according to Masato’s own plan, her threat would cause the monster to turn around and run away…right into the tip of Masato’s spear.

Except it was a turtle. And turtles did not run.

She had failed to stun it and had failed to scare it off. Instead, Oros decided to start yapping, while the chalk-turtle itself retreated its limbs and head into the crag-like shell upon its back, completing its transformation into a boulder. If that was it, then the two Awakened could just argue with each other before thinking up a solution for breaking open the shell and getting the soft turtle meat beneath.

But it was Masato who heard the hum in the air first, sensed the danger in the too-many holes, in the multitude of imperfections within the chalk-turtle’s shell. Why those structural weaknesses? What purpose did they serve? How could such a slow creature avoid predation from the hulk-phants and the wolf-bears?

The humming could now be heard by Oros, and its origin became clear.

A symbiotic relationship.

One between the chalk-turtle and the…dragon-wasps!

Wriggling out from the chalk-turtle’s shell, elongated wasps with stingers that looked more like hooks crawled out, before their four wings buzzed and they took flight, a murderous swarm that spread out to dive right for Oros! This was no boulder, this was a hive!

---

//Day 2 | Location: Nameless Forest - The Den
_{@AThousandCurses}
They did not understand human words.

But they did understand the yowling of a mad beast.

Her tendons snapped like rubber bands as Shun propelled herself the second time, Overclock misfiring from lack of energy. She crashed into the neighbouring hulk-phant, feeling its shoulder bones fracture from her head-long charge, but before she could follow up, a wolf-bear lunged for her, swatting her off its packmate. The two of them tumbled away briefly, a tangle of limbs and rage, bloodied teeth and sharpened fangs. Shun could feel the weakness of her own limbs still, the aching looseness of her ruptured tendons preventing her from springing back up to her feet.

Suddenly, the weight of the wolf-bear is gone, the beast springing away to reveal two paws like tree-trunks, raised up in the air to smash into her while she's prone. She had broken the hulk-phant's shoulder, but so what? It had three more limbs to go, and enough mass to smash her flat!

And yet, in that same instant, in the slowed time that was brought by a life-and-death confrontation, Shun could finally feel the flesh she had consumed be distilled into a drop of fuel. Flesh knit near-instantly, her tendons connecting once more as the forge flashed in an ecstatic surge of energy!

It was do or die.

But that just made it another day on the highway.

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Sorta forced it out, but whammo pasted.

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

So she was free now.

Esfir had met the narrowing of Auguz’s eyes with a blank stare of her own. The Head Warrior may have suspicions, certainly, but there was little need to care too much about it in the end. It was the afternoon and she had work to do now that she couldn’t rely on any welfare housing within the camp. Filtering through her memories, the runt strode towards the central firepit instead, eyeing the clusters of orcs that were gathered around there. Some stared at her, others ignored her, none reached out. And the bubbling pots were clearly for personal use.

If somebody will trade ya for it, or ya take it in a fight, then more power to ya!

Wouldn’t be worth it right now, but it was an option in the future. For the time being, she settled by the flames herself, setting her own two kills upon the soil. A medley of pleasant and unpleasant aromas mixed together: sweat, blood, cooking meat, and piss. It made her thirsty, more than anything else. She licked her lips. The greatest loss was the inability to find a source of water outside of the camp. Something else to amend in the future; it wouldn’t make sense to plan out how to leave this place without it. For now, however?

The sharp rock sliced open the belly, and the butchering began. What meat she could easily portion out was immediately cooked over open flame, while the parts that were wholly unsalvageable were tossed into the firepit instead. The Tatzelwurm’s coilbone and the Harpy’s screech valve were played with once the butchering was done, but she couldn’t figure out a particular purpose they could be used for yet. Instead, it was the strips of hide and the wing membrane that were the most promising portions. Her spear offered her the ability to hunt at a healthy range, but when it came to defenses, Esfir had plans of turning her Elwet Antlers into arm guards. Perhaps not effective enough to block a stab, but for those crimson slashes that the harpy had threatened? It’d be great to handle that without having to expend more energy on another blast of blizzard. And with the wing membrane, she could improve upon the frankly pitiful state of her regular clothing or turn it into a larger bag. Maybe even shoes.

Or if she wanted hunting tools that could work better at mid-range, she could tie rocks and those jackalope points to one of the remaining Mycellium lashes and improvise a throwing weapon that’d wrap around an animal and then both hobble and wound it. Could concoct a poisonous paste from the Rotberries and the Pimplestools as well, store it in that Etwelt Beak.

Plenty of options, plenty of things to consider. She ate up the Tatzelwurm as she chewed on her thoughts. Cooked up the Harpy meat too. A shame she didn’t have something to grind up the meat and organs in, something to wash the intestines with. A waste, not making sausage out of this. A sin, to have no spices or salt. But the food, if nothing else, was plentiful and she filled her stomach once more.

Balancing the spoils of her butchering best she could on her spear, Esfir rose up once more, allowing the excess fat to drip off from the Harpy before she strode off to the rudimentary forge she had seen on her way to the firepit. It had to belong to someone, and that someone must own such tools. The state of the pots clued her in on how most things weren’t shared within the camp. So she would trade, of course.

Striding forth, she called out to towards the one-eyed crafter present, lifting up steaming skewers of meat.

“I’m here to give you meat. In exchange, I need to use your tools. It would also be good if you could tell me about these rocks I found.” She bounced her bag, letting the clacking of rock against rock sound out. Couldn’t exactly show it though, not when both her hands were occupied. “I’m Esfir. You are?”

Skills

• Ingestion - After consuming a required amount of biomass from a particular Creature, 1 of that Creature's Skills can be copied at its lowest Rank.
• Frost Arc - Rank I - An expanding spray of icy cold, over 10 feet in one direction and 5 feet wide at its furthest edge. The cold is more intense the closer the target is to the origin, reaching its lowest temperature within a span of about 2 feet. It constantly expends Magic Power the longer the cone is maintained.
• Murderous Intent - Rank II - Focus hatred and the desire to kill through the subtle senses. A creature that is weaker than you must exert its willpower or be Intimidated (Intimidated creatures suffer reduced speed). A creature that is already Intimidated, Shocked, or Unaware may instead become Fearful and be unable to act for 5 seconds. Creatures that are stronger than you can only be Intimidated by this Skill if they are already Shocked or Unaware, but their willpower threshold is higher.
• Empty Skill Slot

Equipment and Inventory

• Swaddling Pelts - Equip, Clothes - Old animal skins used to keep an Orc baby warm as they sleep. Once the Runt is old enough to start hunting, these are usually just enough to cover the parts that need the most covering.
• Sharp Rock - Equip, Weapon/Tool, Material Component - A rock with a slightly sharp edge. Useful as a primitive knife or chisel. Can be thrown.
• Jackalope Spear - 2H Weapon - A decent, if primitive spear. Not suitable as a throwing weapon due to its weight, but made of tough, sturdy materials. Jackalope horn is surprisingly sharp, almost as much so as metal.
• Stomach-Bag - Small bag, improved from an Elwet's stomach.
• Elwet Antlers
• Rotleaves x5
• Rotleaf Seedpods x6
• Gizzard Sparkstone
• Elwet Feathers
• Raw Chalcopyrite Ore x3
• Bufonite x3
• Tungem Branch x3
• Jackalope Point x4
• Broken Jackalope Point
• Pimplestool Mushroom x2
• Crushed Pimplestool
• Mushroom Shreds x3
• Mycellium Lash x2
• Frayed Mycellium Lash x2
• Cracked Tatzelwurm Fang x1
• Tatzelwurm Fang x2
• Tatzelwurm Claws x3
• Cracked Tatzelwurm Claws x2
• Tatzelwurm Coilbone x1
• Crushed Tatzelwurm Eye x2
• Tatzelwurm Hide Strip x2
• Harpy Tooth x1
• Harpy Talon x3
• Broken Harpy Talon x1
• Harpy Wing Membrane x2
• Harpy Screech Valve x1
• Harpy Skin Strips x2

@Zeroth

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Cool. I think you mentioned before that the Tatzelwurm had like, some sorta poisonous vibe going on there. Is that something that Esfir could extract? Or was it actually a consequence of a particular Skill it had?

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

@Zeroth Alright, Esfir's taking a skill rank up and putting it into Murderous Intent.

She'll also, in muh post, be heading off to where the main firepit is in order to process and cook up her kills. Is there a pot that she could make a soup/broth out of, or are things just done meat-on-a-stick style? If you could tell me the results of her kill-processing, that'd be great too.

Children of the Otherworld - An Isekai Story

Alright, enough time has passed that I'm not really feeling this anymore. Peaceeeee.

Iris Ascendis

_{@Nanaya@Estylwen}

Otis’s eyes lit up as Rio explained his own thought process. He hadn’t missed that meaningful look exchanged between Chloe and the shield-slinging boy when Alto spoke of the effects and consequences of utilizing one’s Prime Essence with one’s Personal Barrier, but that was outshone by the concept of manifesting a Personal Barrier utilizing a belief that one’s self had the sole attention of their object of worship. It was a remarkably selfish take on things, considering the collectivist nature of religion as Otis understood it, but the Strigidae nodded along regardless. He could map it well enough, at least, to the concept of a ‘personal connection’.

Davil, of course, almost, almost drew a sigh out of him. Having an Ethos was a rare thing. Getting accepted into Wingram Academy ought to also be a rare thing. And while a Personal Barrier may be something complex, surely the theory behind it was easy enough? It caused Otis to frown then. He didn’t ascribe to the idea that true understanding mastery of theory manifested when one was able to explain it succinctly to children. If the redhead was unable to even withstand a couple minutes of lecturing, he ought to be placed in a special education program.

Ciara’s statement, however, was curious.

‘Simple’, she called it.

The Strigidae tilted his head to one side. The shadow-witch smirked, but there was only an empty interest in the expression he returned to her.

“We should talk about this later,” Otis said. “As far as I’m aware, the Personal Barrier isn’t so simple a spell that one could acquire it without either an obsession with the study of essence or regular encounters with the possibility of bodily harm. Would you say that it’s a feature of primal magic, to be able to oversimplify such a process? Or are you, in fact, a prodigy? A veteran in violence could work too.”

A pause. “You don’t have to answer that for now. I need to attend to my subject.”

Without any more hesitation, Otis strode towards Davil, snapping his fingers to get the boy’s attention. The nature of essence-usage depended on two things. One was the ability to see the words of creation that actually composed of essence. The other was to gain a strong enough visualization that you can guide one’s own essence through. When it came to his arcane studies, Otis employed the former as often as possible, but the latter was useful too, when one had to guide others. If the default of Davil’s mind was ‘emptiness’, then he simply needed to fill that emptiness with something meaningful.

“Match my breathing, Davil, and close your eyes.”

Meditation was first. Deep breaths, but not enough to strain the lungs or the diaphragm, just enough to settle the mind. One minute exactly, before Otis spoke up once more.

“You are running alone.” Matching his past and his present. “This is not a race, nor is this training.” Removing external context in order to not constrict one’s access to this spell. “You can’t see the path, but you can feel the wind.” The element upon which the barrier is interfaced. “It presses against you; you are moving fast.” Establish one’s own position now. “It is raining too. But you do not feel the raindrops. The wind against you flicks the rain off of you.” A wind shield, so to speak.

“Hold that image, Davil. Hold onto the feeling that rises from the image.”

He waited, the Strigidae’s own eyes open in order to watch the development of emotional essence around his roommate. Once it seemed to have bubbled to a reasonable level, he nodded.

“Now, apply your essence to that emotion. Make that wind a real thing.”

Ciara pulled shadows. Iraleth turned light into armaments. Rio danced with an idol. Otis opened doors to empty space. Davil advanced in the eye of the storm.

Perhaps a similar-enough image would work here.

Or perhaps this would be the worst possible way for Davil to discover his Prime Essence, in which case, good riddance to that.

Iris Ascendis

God, Yoneyama Mai's such a fucking MONSTER.



Wish I had the fuck you money to buy that shit.

Iris Ascendis

_@Nanaya

Forty-five minutes.

In one way, it is plenty.

In another way? It wasn’t enough to get at the heart of it.

While others sought their pairs, Otis stood up. It was a class of eight. A small classroom, with only a few whose personalities he could consider as audacious. He had been in groups before, where the moment a teacher sat back, the room exploded with dialogue and conversation. That was not the case here. People did things quietly enough; even Davil was whispering for some strange reason. The Strigidae ignored him for now, settling a meaningful glance upon Alto, before stepping up to the front of the room.

“I will explain and demonstrate my process,” Otis declared. It would have sounded arrogant, perhaps, if not for the neutrality of his tone, the lack of any particular expression on his face. His amber gaze caught Davil’s, then bounced upon Ciara’s, before finally settling vaguely in the direction of Chloe. She would be best suited for learning this particular spell, wouldn’t she? One hand extended outwards, wrist rotating so that the splayed fingers seemed to be moving around space.

“Instructor Alto spoke of understanding, of the collective and the many. That is the key to emotional essence. Envision the fervor of an Astrite choir. The quietude of written exams. Moods mesh together to form an atmosphere, within which emotional essence can be found.” His hand continued to move around that invisible something, before it clenched, forming a fist. “But while understanding such atmosphere is necessary for capturing emotional essence, that understanding must be accompanied by an understanding that you are distinct. You are the user, not the tool. The priest at the head of a delegation. The invigilator at the front of the room.”

He had not clenched his fist. He had grabbed something intangible, something that he could now pull at, manipulate.

“Now, it is simply a matter of understanding what yourself is, and holding yourself as distinct from all others. Empathy is important, but self-awareness is more so. The length of your fingernails. The thickness of your skin. The inflating of your lungs. The grumbling of your guts. Delve into yourself in your entirety, utilizing whatever imagery best suits yourself for envisioning your uniqueness.” A pause, but a short one. “I envision myself colorless.”

That invisible something he grabbed at now seemed to melt into the air around him, a gentle breeze tickling beneath his clothing. Otis’s gaze darkened briefly, drawing upon a sense of ‘distance’ in order to modulate his Personal Barrier. The distance of being unpaired. The distance of being unlike. The distance of being…

“And from that point, maintain that sense of self. Utilize it to enforce a separation between yourself and all else, until the world around you recognizes that. There are many spells that create Barriers, but the keyword for this one is ‘Personal’.”

Otis clapped his hands together. Gone was the knowledge-giver, returned was the knowledge-seeker.

“That being said, that’s how it is done in with arcane methodologies, and it’s based off my own mental model. If anyone else has or finds greater success in a different model of visualization, please, share. There’s only eight of us present, but there are four primary conduits, so I do expect at least three non-arcane students here, for divine, occult, and primal. It’d be interesting to compare and contrast pathways as a result, especially for the divine and the occult, both which historically have a greater sense of 'borrowing' from an entity separate from yourself! I'd also be interested in hearing about how any of you would establish yourself as separate from the world, if you do choose to follow in my example!”

Iris Ascendis

Alright, time to make up shit about Personal Barrier conceptualizations.

And shit has been made.