Name: Logan "The S.P.E.A.R of Québec" Howlett
Age: 39
Height: 5 foot 3
Weight: 267 lbs
Appearance: Canadian Man with Black Hair, Blue Eyes, and a permanent Scowl.
Personality: Annoyed looking most of the time, Stern, and Crudely Friendly.
Backstory: He was born in Québec in a forest where he was raised by Wolves until he was found by a couple who decided to take care of him and he was pretty much a savage boy until he learnt how to speak English then soon years later he would go off to school where he would mostly get into fights(Always winning cause he's built different) and soon after School was over he went into the Military and became a great Commander and after his Military Service he became a great MMA Fighter as he trained in Boxing, Savate, Gouren, Fencing, and Sambo that he mixed into his S.P.E.A.R. System gaining an incredible winning streak of 38 wins.
Fighting Style: Boxing(Slugger), Savate, Gouren, Fencing, and Sambo mixed into S.P.E.A.R System.
Special Moves: A.R.E.S.(Always Ready to Eat Something)- He's uses his enchanced senses of touch, smell, sight, and hearing and his enhanced reaction time to dodge an opponent's attacks.
Z.E.U.S.(Zizanie Égal Faux pas Sage)- His movement becomes like 2 rapiers swishing acrossed the ground making the opponent unable to know where they might move to next while also increasing their speed of movement.
H.A.D.E.S.(Hound Appearing Down East or South)- An attack that can be a Forward Kick or a Right Hook thats used after a feint to hit the opponent.
Sense Sight- A form of Foresight where Logan uses his heightened senses and enhanced reaction time to predict the opponents attacks.
S.P.E.A.R of Québec- With a Similar attack to Ironbreaker, Logan tightens up his muscles on the arm he's hitting with and strikes full force on the opponent and mixed with his bones that are almost as strong as Titanium he strike with a similar force to being hit by a Wrecking Ball.
Feats: He can smell a person from 6 feet away, tastes the exact ingredients in food, hear 2 miles, see the muscles moving on a person, and feel movement through the ground.
He has a skeleton almost as strong as and almost as tough as Titanium.
Weaknesses: Short.
Anger Issues.
Representing Dr. X's Hair Growth Supplements.
Theme Entrance: Neptune's Eye by Blut Aus Nord

This has happened twice so far: During Boetha's Proving, I can't damage/kill the follower stuck to the Pillar of Sacrifice, and I can't damage Vilkas when sparring at the beginning of the Companions quest line.
I'm assuming some mod is to blame, but I can't find anything similar that anyone has asked about before. Any time I look it up, people are saying that the fight went wrong, or killing the follower does nothing, etc. but nothing about not being able to do any damage to them.
I would appreciate if someone could see whether my load order has problems? It's being managed by Vortex, so I doubt it's the \*order\* itself, but maybe some incompatibilities:

Automatically generated by Vortex

*Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp
*HeimskrOnlyPreachesWeekends.esl
*Expressive Facegen Morphs.esl
*HSResources.esl
*High Poly Head.esm
*Landscape and Water Fixes.esp
*LegacyoftheDragonborn.esm
*Water for ENB.esm
*Lux - Master plugin.esm
*Natural Waterfalls.esp
*Obsidian Mountain Fogs.esm
*Lux - Resources.esp
*Lux Via.esp
*Natural Waterfalls - Dawnguard.esp
*Natural Waterfalls - Dragonborn.esp
*Praedys_Soulcairn.esm
*PraedysSkeletons.esl
*SmoothCam.esl
*UnreadBooksGlow.esl
*AHZmoreHUDInventory.esl
*Particle Patch for ENB.esp
*SkyUI_SE.esp
*Immersive Sounds - Compendium.esp
*SMIM-SE-Merged-All.esp
*EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
*Fabled Forests.esp
*Relationship Dialogue Overhaul.esp
*RDO Updated.esp
*ELFX Fixes.esp
*JKs Skyrim.esp
*Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods.esp
*Lux Via - Brighter lighting patch.esp
*AI Overhaul.esp
*SoundsofSkyrimComplete.esp
*Cathedral Weathers.esp
*Cathedral Weathers - Patch - Rudy ENB.esp
*Store Quest Items.esp
HPP - Vaermina's Torpor.esp
*FNIS.esp
*PAN_Initiates.esp
*JK's Understone Keep.esp
*Lux Via - plugin.esp
*JK's The Bards College.esp
*JK's Markarth Outskirts.esp
*TCBM.esp
*Embers XD.esp
*JK's Whiterun's Outskirts.esp
*JK's Castle Dour.esp
*JK's Blue Palace.esp
*JK's High Hrothgar.esp
*JK's Solitude Outskirts.esp
*JK's Temple of the Divines.esp
*JK's Sky Haven Temple.esp
*JK's Windhelm's Outskirts.esp
*JK's Riften Outskirts.esp
*JK's Arnleif and Sons Trading Company.esp
*JK's Jorrvaskr.esp
*JK's Mistveil Keep.esp
*JK's Temple of Mara.esp
*JK's Palace of the Kings.esp
*SoS_ELFX_Patch.esp
*TrainAndStudy.esp
*Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
*Guard Dialogue Overhaul.esp
*Weapons Armor Clothing & Clutter Fixes.esp
*JK's Temple of Dibella.esp
*JK's The Hag's Cure.esp
*JK's Sinderion's Field Laboratory.esp
*JK's Dragonsreach.esp
*Remodeled Armor - Vanilla Replacer.esp
*Guards_Armor_Replacer.esp
*HearthfireMultiKid.esp
*JK's Silver-Blood Inn.esp
*JK's Elgrims Elixirs.esp
*ImprovedCompanionsBoogaloo.esp
*ElderOutfit.esp
*ElderOutfit - AI Overhaul.esp
*Bijin AIO.esp
*Bijin AIO - YBMT.esp
*100pMaxPickpocketChance.esp
*dkad_AdoptionWithoutMurder.esp
*AcquisitiveSoulGemMultithreaded.esp
*Bears of the North.esp
*JK's New Gnisis Cornerclub.esp
*zMirai.esp
*JK's Riverwood Trader.esp
*JK's Riverwood.esp
*JK's Radiant Raiment.esp
*JK's The Bannered Mare.esp
*JK's White Phial.esp
*Run For Your Lives.esp
*SaveTheIcerunner.esp
*Fabled Forests - No Aspens Outside the Rift.esp
*JK's Angelines Aromatics.esp
*JK's Temple of Talos.esp
*JK's The Ragged Flagon.esp
*JK's Septimus Signus's Outpost.esp
*JK's Bits and Pieces.esp
*JK's Arcadia's Cauldron.esp
*JK's Temple of Kynareth.esp
*Recorder Follower Base.esp
*Recorder Follower Patch.esp
*DBM_JKSkyrim_Patch.esp
*PROTEUS.esp
*Better Courier.esp
*Bijin Warmaidens.esp
*Bijin Wives.esp
*Bijin NPCs.esp
*cs_soulfragmentstosoulgems.esp
*3BBB.esp
*CBBE.esp
*RaceMenu.esp
*RaceMenuPlugin.esp
*RaceMenuMorphsCBBE.esp
*SOSPhysicsManager.esp
*AutoConsumePotions.esp
*ThievesGuildShortcut.esp
*College Of Winterhold - Quest Expansion.esp
*CathedralWeatherMCM.esp
*PrinceandPauper.esp
*ColovianNobleClothes.esp
*DBM_ELFX_Patch.esp
*crimson nirnroot cheat.esp
*Carry Weight x100.esp
*Bad Slaughterfish.esp
*BetterThirdPersonSelection.esp
*DaedricPunishmentForSweetrolls.esp
*DragonPunishmentForCloudDistrict.esp
*Lux Via - He-Man patch.esp
*Katana.esp
*The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp
*Embers XD - Patch - Lux Via.esp
*JK's SkyHaven Forge.esp
*JKs The Drunken Huntsman.esp
*Recorder - JKs Skyrim Patch.esp
*My Home Is Your Home.esp
*MBW Dragon Souls to Perk Points - v3.esp
*ColovianLeatherArmor.esp
*Ars Metallica.esp
*DwemerCrapTweaks.esp
*ENB Light.esp
*ELFX Fixes Ragged Flagon Fix.esp
*Embers XD - Patch - ELFX.esp
*Embers XD - Patch - JKs Dragonsreach.esp
*Embers XD - Patch - JKs Skyrim.esp
*ELFX - NoBreezehome.esp
*Extra Effect x3.esp
*IcePenguinWorldMap.esp
*FNIS_PCEA2.esp
*FNISSexyMove.esp
*FemaleOutfitReplacer.esp
*Fletching - Craft Arrows Anywhere.esp
*DBM_JKDragonsreach_Patch.esp
*Golden Rings Of Craft.esp
*ImGladYoureHere.esp
*DBM_ISC_Patch.esp
*VisualAnimatedEnchants2023.esp
*DBM_WACCF_Patch.esp
*imp_helm_legend.esp
*GuardsArmor - ImprovedClosefacedHelmets Patch.esp
*DBM_JKBluePalace_Patch.esp
*GDOS - Glorious Solitude Door - Rotation Fix.esp
*GDOS - Splendid Mechanized Dwemer Door.esp
*HearthfireMultiKid_LastName.esp
*HeimskrOnlyPreachesWeekends.esp
*Hun Lovaas.esp
*High Poly Head Vampire Fix.esp
*Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp
*ISC WACCF Patch.esp
*IA CBBE Patch.esp
*HelpfulLoadTips.esp
*JK's Belethor's General Goods.esp
*IFDL_BijinWarmaidensAIO_Patch.esp
*LydiaPatchForLOTD.esp
*JS Armored Circlets SE.esp
*Jewelry limiter.esp
*JS Barenziah SE - Johnskyrim.esp
*KatanaCrafting.esp
*KS Hairdo's.esp
*KSHairdosSMP.esp
*JK's Bee and Barb - Katana.esp
*JK's Drunken Huntsman - Katana.esp
*DBM_RelicNotifications.esp
*DBM_GuardsArmorReplacer_Patch.esp
*LOTD_TCC_GuardArm.esp
*DBM_IA_Patch.esp
*LOTD_TCC_ImmArm.esp
*DBM_JKArcadia_Patch.esp
*DBM_JKBannered_Patch.esp
*DBM_JKBelethor_Patch.esp
*DBM_JKDrunken_Patch.esp
*DBM_SMIM_Patch.esp
*DBM_VAE2_Patch.esp
*LustmordVampireArmor.esp
*[Imp] Modular Mage.esp
*Leveling Freedom.esp
*Muiri.esp
*HT More NPC Pocket Money.esp
*NoBSAIProjectileDodge.esp
*Praedy's ShrineOfAzuraSizeX3.esp
*Praedy's SoulEssenceGem.esp
*Praedy's SoulGems.esp
*Noct_Adze.esp
*PAN_Frea.esp
*PAN_Frida.esp
*PAN_Sovngarde.esp
*PositiveUndressedReactions.esp
*PraedysElderScrollSoulCairnFix.esp
*MoonGlowSize.esp
*PlantableNirnrootv03.esp
*DawnGuardDoors.esp
*DawnguardBanner.esp
*PnP - HFMultiKid Patch.esp
*Project ja-Kha'jay- Khajiit Diversity.esp
*JKJ - AI Overhaul Patch.esp
*RaceMenuHH.esp
*Remodeled Armor - Elder-Bijin.esp
*Remodeled Armor - ISC.esp
*RichMerchantsSkyrim_x5.esp
*RiftenRumbleFix.esp
*Rumble - Beasts.esp
*Rumble - Crafting.esp
*Rumble - Crafting - ISC Patch.esp
*Rumble - Items.esp
*Rumble - Items - ISC Patch.esp
*Rumble - Jumping.esp
*Rumble - Jumping - ISC Patch.esp
*Rumble - Swimming.esp
*Rumble - UI.esp
*Rumble - UI - ISC Patch.esp
*Rumble - Weapons.esp
*Rumble - Weapons - ISC.esp
*Skoglendi - A Grass Mod.esp
*SimplyKnock.esp
*Shiva's Vanilla Hair Replacer.esp
*Landscape and Water Fixes - Patch - ELFX.esp
*SmartHarvestSE.esp
*SSoB.esp
*SoS_Cathedral_Patch.esp
*Praedy's StavesAIOLotd.esp
*RiverStaff.esp
*TGGiveGoldToBeggarsPatch.esp
*True Scholar.esp
*UIExtensions.esp
*UnequipQuiverSE.esp
*Vampire Clothing Expansion.esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - JKs Bannered Mare.esp
*AHZmoreHUD.esp
*XPMSE.esp
*cathedralbrighter100.esp
*Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp
*nwsFollowerFramework.esp
*Water for ENB (Shades of Skyrim).esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - Rudy ENB.esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - JKs Ragged Flagon.esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - Landscape Fixes for Grass Mods.esp
*Lux.esp
*HSPlayerHomes - Breezehome.esp
*Lux - Katana Follower.esp
*Lux - Brighter interior nights.esp
*Lux - No grass in caves patch.esp
*Lux - USSEP patch.esp
*Lux - CC Fish patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Angelines Aromatics patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Arcadia's Cauldron patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Arnleif and Sons Trading Company patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Bannered Mare patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Bards College patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Belethor's General Goods patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Bits and Pieces patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Blood Inn patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Blue Palace patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Castle Dour patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Dragonsreach patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Drunken Huntsman patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Elgrims Elixirs patch.esp
*Lux - JK's High Hrothgar patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Jorrvaskr patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Mistveil Keep patch.esp
*Lux - JK's New Gnisis Cornerclub patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Palace of Kings patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Radiant Raiment patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Ragged Flagon patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Riverwood Trader patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Septimus Signus Outpost patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Sinderion's Lab patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Sky Haven patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Skyrim.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Dibella patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Divines patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Kynareth patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Mara patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Talos patch.esp
*Lux - JK's The Hag's Cure patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Understone Keep patch.esp
*Lux - JK's White Phial patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Whiterun Outskirts patch.esp
*Lux - Live Another Life patch.esp
*Lux - Saints and Seducers patch.esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - Lux - JKs Ragged Flagon.esp

I will try to provide as much detail as I can remember
This was an online monster card game I played back around 2010 ish which has definitely shut down by now. I would really like to find this out as Its one of the first video games I played and it was with my dad. I haven't seen any mention of this game ever since I last played it which would have been over a decade ago and my memory from then is very fuzzy
So this game was a monster card game, the cards had cartoon monsters such as zombies, slimes, mummies and skeletons for example. The monsters would be mishmashes of all kinds of monsters which made the cards look unique from eachother for example one would have a zombie head, skeleton arm and slime leg stuff like that. The background of the cards could also be different.The art style for the cards was a classic 2000s cartoon style with the sharp edges and boxy shapes. It is VERY reminssant of the MEOW animated music video by cyriak which is the closest thing I can compare it too. I would spend a lot of time simply looking through peoples cards because I loved the artsytle so much, there may have been a section on the website where you could look at newly made cards and such.
The point of the game from what I can remember was to battle with your cards. The battle system wasnt anything crazy and was simply a spinning wheel and if you landed on red your opponent would get to keep your card and vice versa if you won. There was definitely some sort of power system but I am unsure how it worked as I was too little to understand. Either way some cards where extremely powerful and usually where owned by those who had memberships. Me and my dad where not very good at this game and often had little to no cards :(
Another thing I remember is the way you would log into the website which is engraved in my mind, you didn't have a word password it was a symbol password. So for example the password could be a scorpion shape, skull, fire and brain. A rectangular board with all the symbols would display then you'd click on your symbol password.
There was a membership system which I never got but from what I remember it made cards more unique looking and gave them fancier boarders and more unique monsters parts. There was also a monster card making system for members which I unfortunately never got to try.
I really hope someone out there can find this as it would make me so incredibly happy to look back at this. It was one of the first games I ever played and I loved playing it with my dad together :) he'd love to rediscover it too

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The Grand Dining Hall. Local time: 1210
Emma
The dining hall was, for all intents and purposes, the den of gossip.
[Grand Dining Hall. Add: Alternative Designator - DEN OF GOSSIP]
This was proven true by the incessant and rampant whispers, most of which were eventually hidden under privacy screens.But some of which were allowed to permeate through the air like a foul and sickening stench.
“What’s he trying to prove?”
“Usurpers. Tepid-blood minor nobles thinking themselves bigshots in their ill-gotten castles. This is all they know — power through brute strength.”
“Do you think this could be some sort of a roundabout statement for the House Choosing Ceremony?”
“Could be, or maybe the newrealmer is rubbing off on him. I heard those savages live in hunting-packs that deal exclusively in violence.”
“Poor Lord Ping… the man’s been dealt so many blows both to his ego and integrity. He truly is the victim in this upstart’s rebellion.”
“Let us hope the pious Ping prevails over his undeserving trials and tribulations. The man’s a saint, a pious soul that must hold fast for those of us adherent to the eternal truths.”
“Or perhaps we should wait and see how things develop. I, for one, wish to side neither with the narrow-minded bull nor the aggressive upstarts.”
“Lord Qiv may prove to be the more suitable candidate for class sovereign… but only time will tell.”
“Never in my wildest of imaginations would I have ever considered that the one to threaten our position, our place, our image, and our very survival in this sky of feral drakes to be you — Prince Thalmin.” Ilunor managed out incredulously, breaking me out of my long-range acoustic reverie. Though unlike his prior confrontations with myself, his current voice lacked the same intense vitriol. Instead, that was replaced with what I could only describe as a genuine sense of disappointment, as if confronting a friend who knew better than to commit to a dumb decision.
“That’s an understandable statement to make, Ilunor.” Thalmin replied uncharacteristically calmly, as if he hadn’t even registered the Vunerian’s assaults. Or at least, that seemed to be the case, until he shot the deluxe Kobold a predatory side-eye. “Because creatures that lack honor, integrity, and personal dignity, often conflate sacrifices and risk-taking, for foolishness and idiocy. For within the heart of a Nexian, lies only compromise for the sake of convenience. Whether that be the convenience of survival, the convenience of continuity, or the convenience of the status quo, you will sacrifice everything to maintain it — even if it means allowing your honor to remain sullied and trodden when there exists a pool to cleanse away that shame.”
Thacea’s eyes grew wary with concern at that statement, one of the few instances I’d seen her genuinely worried about an Ilunor-Thalmin interaction. In fact, even I didn’t dare to interrupt, especially after both parties had shot death-glares towards our elven waiter as he arrived with the lunch platter.
“Restraint, Prince Thalmin.” Ilunor responded with a deep and calculating breath. “This isn’t the adjacent realms, this isn’t Havenbrockrealm.”
“Oh that much is very clear to me, Ilunor.” Thalmin interjected with something just short of a growl. “In Havenbrockrealm, we would sooner slash, stab, flay, or lash our enemies in fair and open combat, than reduce ourselves to cowardly attempts at assassination or retreat with our tails between our legs at the earliest signs of defeat.”
Ilunor took another breath, placing a small hand atop of his snout. “I… empathize with your desires to follow through with what you believe is a morally sound decision.” The Vunerian responded in a surprising display of maturity. “However, and this goes for you as well, newrealmer—” He paused for a moment, taking the time to glare at me before shifting back to Thalmin. “—we are not acting as independent actors anymore. For better or for worse… which, mind you, I still strongly believe this is very much for the worse in my case… we are now a peer group. And as such, the actions we take and their resultant fallout, should represent the interests of us all.”
“These are bold claims.” Thalmin began with a restrained snarl. “Even bolder when considering your actions the week prior. If the measure of a man were dictated by his words alone, then I would be inclined to acquiesce. However, considering the measure of a man extends beyond the weightless chatter of an exhaled breath, I feel far more inclined to reserve such actions for those far more deserving of my respect.” At which point, the lupinor turned towards both Thacea and I, following that up with a dip of his head. “I apologize, Thacea, Emma, for conducting myself in the way I did.”
Thalmin took a moment to pause, side eyeing Ilunor as he acknowledged him once again. “Whilst his character may sully his words, there is some truth to them. I have, admittedly, overstepped my bounds in committing to an action which undeniably affects the group. However, I genuinely hope you understand the reasons behind my otherwise brash decision. For I must stand on principle, lest I decide to stand at all.”
“Given the crap Auris Ping pulled last night, I’m inclined to agree with you, Thalmin. More than that, I would’ve gladly taken your place and dueled him the good old fashioned way if I could. Besides, the look on his face when you chose him to be your dueling partner? It was just priceless.” I offered with a snide grin. “In all seriousness, I’m really not in a position to chastise anyone on the issue of just gunning it with your gut instinct anyways. Heck, the entirety of last week was one long drawn out escapade for my sake, which came at the expense of the group after all.” I chuckled nervously. “So… yeah, this is incredibly tame by those standards, Thalmin.”
“Whilst… unexpected, and indeed a risk, I can understand the reasons behind it, Thalmin.” Thacea nodded uneasily. “However, I do not advise any of you to make a habit out of this.” She commanded, making an effort to make individual eye contact with each and every one of us.
Thacea’s group-mom vibes were definitely showing at this point, which was probably for the better. Given the group seemed to be a magnet for this sort of thing, it was good to have an anchor of sorts.
Sure thing, mom. Was what my gut instinct screamed at me to say.
But instead, I decided to tone it down a notch.
“As you command, princess.” I dipped my head in acknowledgement, garnering a look of abashed confusion from Thacea, and just plain-old confusion from the other two.
“In any case… I… believe you wished to discuss matters outside of classroom priorities, Emma?” Thacea quickly attempted to shift past that little bit of prodding, which I obliged with an affirmative nod.
“Yep. Well, it’s more of a small change of plans that I think is worth discussing with you guys. So, you remember how I was planning on deploying an infil-drone on Mal’tory after the end of class right?”
All three nodded, urging me to continue.
“Well, since Mal’tory was a no-show, and with Larial taking the reins instead… I think it’s best if we stick with the plan anyways, just swapping out Mal’tory for Larial. I honestly don’t see any other way we can continue the library’s questline, or any other way to find evidence to support the Auris Ping-Mal’tory hypothesis we have going on. I know it’s a huge gamble since there’s no way of knowing if she’ll even head to Mal’tory’s office after class. But honestly? This is our best shot right now.”
“I concur, Emma.” Thalmin announced with a nod.
“Given her proximity to the professor’s orbit, we may in fact gain a greater bearing on his actual state. Which in itself may prove useful.” Thacea offered, more or less acknowledging my change of plans implicitly.
“We don’t seem to have any other choice, earthrealmer. So a shot in the dark is better than stowing your wand.” Ilunor acknowledged in a rare display of solidarity.
“It’s settled then. I’ll deploy the drone right after class is dismissed. Then, we wait and see what the drone comes up with.”

The Grand Concourse of Learning. The Hall of Light. Local Time: 14:00 Hours.
Emma
Mana field perception was, as one would expect, dry, bland, and utterly nonsensical.
Throughout most of it, the lesson was taught as if it was referencing something obvious, something mundane, something so typical that a lot of the topics were all but overlooked as ‘self evident’.
A lot of what was taught reminded me of a mix between perception-theory, and situational awareness training. However, instead of relying on your eyes, ears, heck, even your nose or sense of touch… it was instead relying on something completely outside of the human experience.
“Mana field perception, is at its core, a subject that is inherent to the sapient condition. However, the extent to which it is appreciated, understood, and most important of all — applied — varies exponentially. To an untrained mind, and an untempered soul, the world feels tepid.”
The apprentice paused, gesturing to Sorecar, who answered his cue by pulling out a massive painting of a beautiful mountainscape that seemed to play through a closed animation loop; the effect was like a high-definition e-ink display.
“To a trained mind, but an untempered soul, the world feels… distant, unaccommodating, and frustrating to emotionally comprehend.” Larial continued, prompting Sorecar to pull out yet another painting. This one, the exact same as the first, with literally no differences between them.
“To an untrained mind, but a tempered soul, the world feels… unpredictable, erratic, and frustrating to logically put together.” Once again, another painting was brought out. This one, just like the previous two, looked completely identical.
“But to a sufficiently trained mind, and a tempered soul, with enough time invested into both theory and practice… the world becomes open, expansive, and above all else… it becomes rich with sights and sensations that would be impossible to feel with the physical form alone.” Larial concluded, just as Sorecar pulled out what looked to be yet another identical painting.
The EVI’s analysis concluded that there were absolutely no differences between the four paintings. Moreover, the mana radiation signatures for each were likewise exactly the same.
It was only after slipping a note towards Thacea with a question written in High Nexian did I finally get my answer.
‘What’s the deal with these paintings? They’re all identical.’
Thacea quickly slipped me a blank piece of parchment in response.
Though it didn’t remain blank for long, as words and sentences started appearing on it; mirroring Thacea’s furious ‘note taking’ in her own notebook.
‘They’re artisanal pieces imbued with the purposeful manipulation of the subject’s aura, mana-field, and the surrounding mana. They were brought out in order to demonstrate the different degrees of mana-field perception by exaggerating the most common shortcomings found in those training in the magical arts. The first piece was, similar to your memory shards, lacking in any mana-fields or auras. The second and third pieces demonstrated a failure to imbue one or the other of the two fundamental tenets of mana-field perception. The fourth piece is representative of a perfect balance of both tenets, and is an exquisite work of art that completely outshines the first. It radiates beauty, whilst the first is flat and lifeless.’
It took a moment for me to really register all that. Longer still, as I eventually became fixated on that last line in particular.
Flat and lifeless… is that what the world is like from my eyes?
It was around that time that a thought hit me, and a realization truly sank deep into my very being.
The world that Thacea, Thalmin, Ilunor, and the rest of the magical beings across the interdimensional plane experienced… was one that I was utterly blind to.
It’d been referenced before.
In fact, it’d been drilled into me time and time again by the likes of Ilunor that I was lacking in something fundamental.
But up until now, everything was either circumstantial, or outside of my general focus. So much so that I never was able to digest the implications of it.
However, as much as a pit formed in my stomach, growing tighter by the second as Larial went on and on about the ebbs and flows of mana, so too did a very human resolve suddenly dawn upon me.
“I’m going to see what you guys see one day.” I wrote down on Thacea’s magic paper.
“How?” Was the message I received back.
To which I only had one thing to reply with.
“The same way we overcame all of our other shortcomings.” I wrote cryptically, garnering a look of confusion from Thacea as she read the note, to which I only had to point at my armor for added effect.
By once again defying nature. I thought to myself.
If we weren’t born with the ability to ‘see’ this beauty, we’d find a way to break it down into its fundamental components, dissect it, analyze it, and then reinterpret it for ourselves.
The class continued on after that exchange of notes, as we touched upon what Ilunor had so eloquently described on that second day of the grace period:
One: that manastreams were everywhere around us.
Two: that manafields generated by living organisms were akin to rocks that not only parted those streams, but at times, interacted with them.
Three: that using manafields, one could make out the presence of other manafields through the manastreams, and thus detect and extract information as is pertinent to the context of the situation.
And while Ilunor would’ve blabbered on and on about the ability to see and sense the emotional state of others through the manastreams, what Larial seemed to be focused on instead were the practical applications of this natural ability. Namely, she focused on exactly how to detect a spell being cast, what sort of spell was being cast, and most importantly — she focused on how it all tied back to Light Magic.
“In summary, only when one is proficient in the detection and analysis of manafields, can one finally start to dissect the intricacies of a manafield during spellcasting. And only once one masters the detection of spellcasting, can one even hope to begin the process of dispelling. The first step of which is to know exactly what a manafield looks like during spellcasting. Is there anyone in the class that can tell me what that looks like?” The professor asked, looking around, before picking one of the many raised hands.
This one belonged to Qiv.
“Yes, Lord Qiv?”
“Influxes and effluxes, Professor. One will see the influx of ambient mana through the manastreams into a manafield, and the potential efflux of mana through a manafield back into the manastreams in the form of a controlled mana-construct.”
“Very good, Lord Qiv! Five points! Now, hold your thoughts on that latter part, because that ties into my next question!” Larial responded with a giddiness and chipperness that seemed to be lacking in every other class up to this point. “The fundamental means of detecting a spell being cast is by looking out for a point of influx, and a point of efflux. Influx being the more difficult of the pair to detect, for what you have to look out for is mana is being funneled into a manafield. A weak spell being cast, will incur less disruptions in a manastream. However, the opposite is also true. As the more powerful the spell, and the more powerful the mage, the greater the rate of influx, as the amount of mana needed to fulfill the requirements of the spell increases. Paradoxically this would mean it will be easier to detect a powerful spell before it is cast, as the reduction in the concentration of ambient mana will be more palpable as a result. Efflux however, is rather straightforward, and will be the primary vehicle through which Mana-field Perception will be taught. As it is through efflux that we can ascertain the most useful details of a spell, or as Lord Qiv so eloquently puts it — the mana-construct. Does anyone know what this next point may be referring to?”
Surprisingly, and out of a clear bias towards Qiv, Larial once more called him up.
I couldn’t blame her though.
The man, despite being a certified bully and teacher’s pet, was one of the few students who didn’t openly doubt the apprentice’s capabilities during the start of class.
“Yes, Lord Qiv?”
“The mana-construct refers to the skeleton of a spell; the arrangement and unique form it takes before manifesting into a proper spell.” The gorn-like lizard responded confidently.
“Outstanding, Lord Qiv! Five points! Now, whilst a mana-construct is indeed a vital step in the process of spell casting, its manifestation is rarely the point in time in which a spell can be intercepted — save for those who have mastered the art of Light Magic. As a result, a spell can be halted before it even has the chance to form. To most however, the mana-construct acts as a cue to prepare. It is a signal that demonstrates the irrefutable start to a spell. And as a result, it provides major structural clues as to the form of Light Magic that must be employed to combat it. Which leads me to my next point.”
The apprentice once more paused, as she manifested literally nothing visible to the tune of more than a dozen mana radiation warnings.
“When broken down to their basic components, every spell is a complicated meshwork of mana, channeled and contained within a dynamic pattern that continuously evolves throughout the duration of a spell. Because unlike artificing, the casting of magic evolves with unpredictability and thrives on organic change. No offense to you, of course, Professor Pliska.” The apprentice turned towards Sorecar worryingly, who simply responded with a bellowing laugh.
“None taken, my aspiring understudy!”
With that, Larial continued, her hands moving through an empty section of air that everyone seemed to be focused on; as if manipulating a hologram that I wasn’t privy to. “However, in spite of this unpredictability, the goal of Light Magic and Mana-field Perception in particular is to untangle the aforementioned meshwork of mana. For every spell is a puzzle and a series of knots to untangle. Your goal in this class, if I am to be reductive, is to untangle the complex mesh that comprises a spell, unraveling it to a point in which it can no longer maintain its form — collapsing it and thus, rendering it inert.” The apprentice emphasized this by miming what looked to be tiny little motions with her fingers, before pulling both hands backwards, garnering a series of affirmative nods from the crowd. “And with that, we now reach the conclusion of today’s class.”
“Or more accurately, the leadup to the climax of this class.” Sorecar quickly chimed in with a wave of his hand, prompting the room to change once more. Section upon section of the front of the classroom’s floor was dragged down into the impossible void, only to be replaced just as quickly by an elevated stage resembling that of a fencing strip. “Will the aspiring duelists please rise and approach the stage?” Sorecar turned back towards the crowd, prompting both Thalmin and Auris to stand, the pair giving each other some strong side-eyes before both marching up and towards the front of the class.
From there, with not a single word exchanged, they took their places, Thalmin at the far right, and Auris on the far left.
“The purpose of this demonstration is simple.” The apprentice began, as Sorecar began moving towards both Thalmin and Auris, insisting them to pay attention. “It is to show that even in spite of the complicated principles behind Light Magic, that there exists far simpler, far more basic principles that can achieve similar means. A precursor to more contemporary methods; spell-breaking. A maneuver that involves overpowering the structure and flow of a spell using a concentrated burst of pure mana irregardless of the type. However, unlike traditional dispelling seen in contemporary Light Magic, spell-breaking oftentimes requires a user to concentrate a disproportionately larger amount of mana in order to properly break a spell. It is thus highly inefficient, and as a result becomes rapidly impractical upon encountering spellcrafts of sufficiently advanced tiers. This demonstration will be aptly limited to a simple barrier-spell for the likes of the reciprocator, so as to not overburden the initiator with this simple task.”
The apprentice quickly passed on the torch to Sorecar, who quickly took center stage with a few steps.
“Now, as this is not a traditional duel for dominance, nor is it a sporting duel for the purposes of victory, I will explain the narrow context by which this duel will be held.” Sorecar continued, his hands clapping together, generating an empty and resonant CLANG in the process. “To our right, is our initiator, who will be demonstrating the principles of spell-breaking in an active capacity. To our left, is our reciprocator, who will be taking on the role of demonstrative spellcaster, casting only barrier spells for the duration of this short demonstration. Remember, there is to be no additional spells cast or demonstrated outside of these parameters. Is that clear?” Sorecar paused, making sure to meet both of the opponents’ gazes with his empty helm.
“Yes, professor!” Both parties shouted simultaneously, barely containing their frustrations beneath a veneer of calm and restrained fury.
“Then we shall begin on the count of three.” The apprentice continued, taking the reins over from Sorecar, as she stood just a few steps away from the stage’s combat-lines. “One.” She began, as Auris began moving into position, practically grinding his booted hooves into the stage, and taking on the posture of some unknown martial art. “Two.” Thalmin reciprocated by taking a more aggressive posture, as if positioning himself to leap towards the bull in a ravenous rage at the drop of a hat.
“Three.”
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 225% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 350% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
Nothing seemed to happen.
At least, not to my eyes.
Within a matter of seconds, all I witnessed were two mana radiation warnings timelogged as only a few seconds apart from one another.
No physical effects were evident to me. Nothing, except for the flinching of a few muscles, and the waving of arms. As if they were conjuring make-believe magic spells, without the added special effects that came with it.
Ironically, this was how I was expecting most Nexians to react to the reveal of laser weaponry. Silent, invisible, but otherwise omnipresent and deadly threats.
Though despite the lack of any physical effects I could discern, there were certainly more than enough context-clues to go by when it came to exactly what had just occurred.
Auris’ features had more or less swelled up into a fury. His nostrils flared just short of snorting out fumes, and his teeth were bared clearly holding back a few choice words for the now-grinning Thalmin.
“Again.” He demanded, and barely a second after a nod of approval from the apprentice, came two more mana radiation warnings.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 300% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 425% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
Once again, no noticeable physical effects had manifested. Though judging from the bewildered and shocked expressions of the crowd, something was definitely happening within the invisible world that was accessible through mana-vision.
“Again!” Ping announced, barely garnering approval from the apprentice this time, as things took a sudden enough turn that even I could notice them.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 400% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
It started with that ‘barrier’ again.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 500% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
Followed by Thalmin overpowering it.
However, instead of letting things go, Ping instead pushed towards a frenzied series of attacks.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 375% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
As one—
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 400% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
—after another—
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 400% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
—after another—
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 400% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
—after another ‘barrier’ spell seemed to actually be causing Thalmin some pushback now. His movements now resembled someone attempting to dodge invisible projectiles, yet Auris made no moves to actually fling anything at him, only maintaining his prior stance.
Though of course, this came with the same expected response.
As Thalmin retaliated with his own attacks. Or rather, one, very large attack that truly outclassed what Auris could currently muster in his furious state.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 550% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
This spell that mildly shook the room seemed to be enough to ‘break’ the sudden incursion, prompting both Ping and Thalmin to turn towards the apprentice — the former blasting steam from his snout and the latter slashing his tail in the air — for yet another round of fighting, only to have Sorecar step in, placing a hand on both of the duelists who were barely a foot away from each other now.
“Wonderful! Excellent! Put your hands together for our introductory duelists, everyone!” The professor quickly coerced both of the parties to face the class, actively grabbing them by the small of their back, and thus effectively entrapping them with his iron grip — forcing them to face the class who cheered on with a series of applauses.
Not a second later, the pair of them bowed, though it was unclear how much of this was Sorecar’s doing, and how much of this was done out of their own will.
“In any case, seeing as both of our aspiring duelists have gone above and beyond in their demonstration, and seeing that this is merely a demonstration, and not a challenge—” Sorecar emphasized that last point, forcing the pair to sweat in his over-shoulder grip. “—I believe it would be prudent to award them each a fair share of this duel’s fifty points.”
“Given the enthusiasm shown, I am inclined to agree, Professor Pliska.” The apprentice quickly nodded, prompting the armorer to quickly push both of them off-stage, and back towards the staggered raised steps of the lecture hall.
“Twenty-five points for both of our duelist’s groups.” Larial reiterated, and with a final round of reluctant applause, barely overpowering the incoming band marking the end of class… the apprentice made her final statement. “This concludes this week’s first lesson. Considering the house choosing ceremony coming up this weekend, along with the Elaseer school supply shopping trip to town… I am inclined to grant this class some clemency. No homework will be required. So please, enjoy the rest of the day, and prepare yourselves for what could be the most decisive day in your academic career here in Transgracia. Class dismissed!”
No sooner were those words uttered did my eyes quickly turn towards my HUD, and a flash of commands came through without a second of delay.
INFIL-DRONE01a ACTIVE, STATUS: NOMINAL. OBJECTIVE: PRIORITY TRACKING AND RECONNAISSANCE OF SUBJECT A109. MISSION PARAMETERS: TRACK, OBSERVE, MAP, AND RETURN-TO-BASE WITHIN PREDETERMINED PARAMETERS. CONFIRM COMMAND Y/N?
“Command confirmed.” I replied vocally, prompting the newly-printed replacement drone to pop out of its docking bay, before charting a course parallel to that of the apprentice.
The drone’s signal was lost just as the apprentice left the room through that dark threshold behind the lectern, at which point, the entire class began shuffling out to the tune of the encroaching band.
Only time would tell what would come of this mission.
But hopefully, we'll get our answers sometime later this evening.
However, instead of blending right into the crowd, or more specifically… being ignored by said crowd, quite a few eyes managed to find their way onto our group. Moreover, the chatter seemed way too interesting to ignore.
“You were right, Cynthis… perhaps there is something about this mercenary prince after all.” A female voice spoke from an all-girl group, eliciting a series of giggles, which were promptly silenced by a privacy screen the moment Thalmin craned his head around.
“Lord Auris Ping has yet again demonstrated his integrity. Let us ensure his pure-hearted determination is lauded this evening, lads! The fearsome strikers shall band together with the most pious of intent!” A tortle-like-turtle jeered, moving strategically to position themselves around Auris Ping’s group, as the expected schmoozing began in full.
“Newrealmer.” Ilunor began, generating a privacy screen in the process.
“Yes, Ilunor?”
“How long do you expect your insect to take in its dastardly escapades?”
“Last time it took a good few hours. So, given this probably isn’t a one-and-done deal, I’d say… maybe three to four hours at the least this time around?” I offered.
“Well then. Splendid. I shall be off, and return within that time frame.”
“Wait wait wait wait. Hold up. Where do you think you’re going?” I inquired firmly.
“I have my own life to lead, newrealmer. Now please, I shall return to our group’s escapades in due time.”
“Where, Ilunor?” I reiterated.
To which the Vunerian could only sigh in response. “The student lounge. Top floor today, if I am to be interrogated for every ounce of information…”
“Then let’s go. Together.” I proclaimed, garnering a few looks of surprise from both Thacea and Thalmin. “Perhaps it’s time we start getting a feel for the lay of the land. We’ve been cooped up in our own little world for far too long, maybe, just maybe, we should all expand our horizons just by a little bit.”
First Previous Next
​
(Author’s Note: The much anticipated round two between Thalmin and Auris has concluded! And following its conclusion, we also get quite a few reactions to Thalmin as a result of his daring display of magical prowess! We also get a pretty hands on demonstration of Light Magic this time around! This is perhaps one of the more hands on class, and indeed one of the more straightforward classes so far! Moreover, the end of classes marks not only the beginning of the little spy drone adventure, but also a little peak into exactly what Ilunor has been up to! I hope you guys enjoy! :D The next Two Chapters are already up on Patreon if you guys are interested in getting early access to future chapters!)
[If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 81 and Chapter 82 of this story is already out on there!)]

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/5FQLT06
Pics and serials: https://imgur.com/a/cd1CZIJ
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Bundles > Dibs.

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Clone Correct URGI 10.3 Upper

Here i've got a clone correct URGI 10.3 in a smooth shade of DDC. All parts are unfired except for the BCG/CH and Upper receiver. Had this assembled and sitting in my closet for close to a year now, i love looking at it but it's time i sell some extras.
Parts List:
Surplus Colt 13629 Keyhole upper
Daniel Defense 10.3 Barrel NSN Marked w/ DD GB and Tube
Colt C stamped BCG
Geissele 9.3" MK16 DDC
Geissele DDC ACH, NSN Marked (shade matches MK16)
Surefire 4 Prong, NSN Marked
Cosmetic Condition: Like New, minimal salt.
Asking $1199 shipped

Sig 516 Full Auto 14.5 P/W Upper

SIG 516 OEM Upper, 14.5 P/W to 16" with SF3P Warcomp.
Catch and Release, 200 rounds total.
Not fired by me but swapped in Full Auto Cut BCG from a different 516. Comes with OEM CH too.
Cosmetic Condition: Like New, minimal salt.
$869 shipped

BCM BFH 14.5 P/W Upper

BCM OEM Upper with BFH ELW profile barrel
P/W 14.5 to 16 with SF3P Warcomp
Comes with Radian Raptor CH, BCM BCG, FCD EPC.
400-500 rounds
Cosmetic Condition: low salt
$799 $769 shipped

Geissele MK16 9.3" Black

Blemula but re-nitrided so the blemula logo is barely visible.
No salt like new. Barrel nut has some marks.
$199 shipped

Larue MBT2S

BNIB 2x flat (not skeleton).
$105 each

FCD Crap 🦆

• 2x BNIB CNF Black, $20 each
  
• 4x ABC/R serrated bolt catches, $55 each. 2x center, 2x forward biased
  

AR15 Spare Parts

• H&R A1 Upper Stripped (Grey): Mild salt from being thrown around in parts bin, $129 shipped
  
• Sig 3 Prong: $29
  
• Odin Works Carbine length Tube + Adjustable Gas Block: $49 shipped (100ish rounds)
  
• Daniel Defense Mid length tube + MK12 style Pinnable gas block: $69 shipped (500ish rounds)
  
• Mini King Comp from Strike Industries: $49 shipped
  
• 1x K2 Grip BNIB ODG: $20 shipped
  
• BCM BCG: $149 shipped, 300 rounds
  

BRN4 Parts from Forsaken Build

2x BNIB Operating Rods, $59 shipped each
1x Mounted unfired operating rod, $55 shipped

Mounts

Weaver Extra High 34mm Rings: $79 $49 New
Aimpoint PRO Riser spacer:, $10 addon
Nightforce 30mm 20MOA ultramount 1.54": $249 $199
Aimpoint Micro OEM Mount: same as this one https://aimpoint.us/micro-standard-mount-for-h-1-h-2-kit/ very light salt, $69 $49 shipped
ADM 30mm Mounts, one is 1316, one is 1324 and has 3 in cant. Comes with quality McMaster high carbon content screws.
$169 $159 each
Aimpoint Pro low Mount: $49 shipped
Looks like this but with a picatinny mount https://aimpoint.us/aimpoint-30mm-top-ring-fits-qrp2-tnp-lrp-not-required-for-compm4-series/

Sig MSR 1-6x

Sig MSR 1-6 with Mount
Light salt on mount and one of the turrets due to crowded safe. Glass is clean everything else looks great.
$239 shipped

Glock Stuff

Glock Sights: all takeoffs, $15 each. Tritium rear one is $30. $59 for all.
CAA MCK Microroni for G19/23/32: Mild salt, comes with flashlight. $169 shipped
Safariland 6360 ALS/SLS FOR g17/G22, Right Handed: $99 $79 shipped

AK Stuff

JMAC: Non-Folding Stock/Brace Mount for MRKT Trunnion: lnib $29 shipped
1913 Adapter for MRKT Trunnion: lnib $29 shipped

NVG Stuff

Norotos Mount + Head Mount + J arm + Infrared tag for dog leash: $99 $89 $79 shipped

Random Shit

Magpul Sling Mount RSA: $24 shipped
Bushmaster Commercial Spec Stock: $29 shipped
Tenebraex M68-ARD, works with Aimpoint PRO: $30 light salted but no structural damage to honeycomb
Aimpoint P2 Cap OEM: free addon
Benelli M4 Mesa Tactical Stock with comfortgrip, cheek riser and newest lock washer: $119 shipped
Geissele buffer tubes: 1x ddc, 1x odg, $59 each. Light salt
A2 Stock: $39 shipped
Hera Arms CQR Gen 2 ODG kit: $99 shipped
VLTOR IMOD Stock, Standard Butt SOPMOD looking thing: one of the plugs is missing, slightly salty, $69 shipped
Badger J-arm plate for RMR: $19 shipped (anodize is a bit light, looks dark greyish)
KAC Rear Sight (missing bolt screw and bolt clamp): $79 shipped

Patches

Also patches if you would like some: https://www.reddit.com/GunAccessoriesForSale/s/NzKFRKbgjL

We see a magical monster jump around a bloody building happily. It seemed extremely happy as it found the manager of the building who threw things like pencils, papers, and a chair at it but nothing in the office could harm this creature.
Creature: Nehehe! Kahahahahahaha!
Manager: HELP! HELP MEEEEE! HELP ME NOW!
The creature went to grab the man but its arm was cut off at impossible speeds. It gasped in shock. Even the man couldn’t tell what happened as he looked around the room and saw an older woman.
Woman: Heh… monsters like this have been popping up a lot. Tell me assassin what might be the cause?
The creature would regrow its arm and send a raw blast of pure mana at the woman who would easily step out of the way. A woman in a white multi-layered kimono with black hair appeared behind the monster and stabbed it through the throat.
Creature: NEGHEGharajafa!
It turned into dust being easily killed by the black haired assassin.
Assassin: I presume it’s the work of a servant and or master.
Woman: That’s correct! Good job!
Assassin: So you already know the cause behind this?
Woman: Correct! I even know the servant and master responsible!
Assassin: Alright then…
Manager: What’s going on?! What’s happening?!
Woman: Assassin.
Assassin: Yes master.
She threw her dagger into the manager's skull killing him in an instant. Assassin sighed at her order and the kill. She picked up the dagger before placing it back within the scroll she normally used to conceal the small blade.
Assassin: Master who did this?
Woman: I'm not telling~
Assassin: Ugh… fine then master.
The two women walked out of the office building the master smiling brightly.
Woman: Hmm… I wonder what Saber’s master is doing?
Assassin: Is he of interest?
Woman: I knew his father! Would you be a dear and spy on him for me assassin?
Assassin: As you wish master…
Assassin bowed and quickly disappeared leaving the woman all alone as she laughed to herself.

Leo was reading a comic book while lying on his busted-up blue couch. He didn't have a single thought on his mind aside from the words and the images placed on each page.
Just then Ky walked into the room with an immaculate keychain in his hand. He held it up and passed it towards Leo who grabbed it as it flew above his head.
Ky: Here it was made back in Japan’s Heien Era.
Leo: What is it?
Ky: A cursed chain. While you have low mana it converts the lack of mana you have into physical strength. Therefore-
Leo: I can be super strong!
Ky: Basically. Just keep it in your pockets. I had the pull a lot of strings to get this from my sensei.

Elegant: You want it? Beat Shine in hand to hand! No powers just skills!
Ky: HOW AM I MEANT TO DO THAT?!

Ky: Ugh…
Leo would shove the chain back into his hoodie pocket. He gave a bright smile and placed his comic book down crossing his arms and leaning over the back of his couch.
Leo: So! What is the plan to win this war?
Ky: We need to get you trained up preferably. And we need to exterminate every master in the war.
Leo: Can’t we just… let them all kill one another and pick the last guy off?
Ky: Nope. Most likely they'll come for you while you try this strategy anyway. Even worse is the possibility the final master and servant standing could be an extremely bad matchup for Saber.
Leo: I guess you're right…
Ky: Now then… GUNPOWDER!
Guns appeared behind Ky who shot at a wall next to the bullet manifested the black-haired assassin servant.
Ky: Assassin!
Leo: Oh shit!
Ky’s technique is “Mental Recreation” This powerful ability has him use up his mana to create objects based on certain topics. These topics are gunpowder, transportation, death, nature, and war. These objects are limited to what Ky subconsciously associates with these words whenever he hears them. He can summon these objects with a hand sign or by saying the topic of origin. However, he can not create actual life. But his technique is based on his own interpretation. So if learns to interpret his limits differently his technique will respond in kind!
Ky: Death!
Skeletons appear from the floor but Assassin cuts both their heads off in a moment using her scroll.
Leo: Woah… she's fast…
Ky: If I had to wager a guess… I would say she's faster than Saber and closer in speed to Lancer.
Leo: You can tell that just by her attacking once?!
Ky: I am good with my eyes…
Leo: Saber!
Saber from the front porch came rushing into the living room switching from her casual clothes to her armor and pulling out her misty blade ready to fight.
Assassin: It would seem I'm outnumbered.
Ky: Wow she can even count!
Leo: Why are you even hear?
Assassin: I am here solely on orders from my master. I have no intention of fighting but if you force me to…
Leo: Oh fuck that!
Leo went to punch her in the face and Assassin ducked under grabbing him by the throat and personally slamming him through a wall the sunlight now radiating through the hole made within the wall.
Ky: Gunpowered!
A canon ball appeared a mere 2 inches from Assassin’s face and the second the canon shot she managed to dodge out of the way within an instant. She ran up and shoved the scroll into Ky’s shoulder stabbing through and making him bleed as she jumped onto the coffee table.
Ky: Damn it… some kind of concealed blade…
Saber: I don't wish to destroy Leo’s home… but I want to take out Assassin as soon as possible!
Saber sighed and rushed forward at incredible speeds that still were outmatched by Assassin who managed to dodge each slice of her blade before kicking Saber in the gut before roundhouse kicking her in the face sending her into another wall and cracking it.
Assassin: Strong as you all are I'm simply too fast for you all.
Leo then just grabbed a potted plant in the corner of his room as she wasn't paying him any attention and hit her in the back of the head with it stunning her so Saber could get back up, run, and stab Assassin in the shoulder.
Assassin: AHHHH!
Assassin cut Saber’s arm and elbowed Leo in the face before running out of the hole in the wall she made earlier.
Saber: Master!
Leo: What did I say about calling- actually I do not care…
Saber ran towards Leo who'd been sent to the ground on his ass. He seemed fine as he stood up holding onto Saber.
Leo: I am fine don't worry ok?
Saber: If you insist master! But should I give chase to Assassin?
Ky: Would not recommend it. She's clearly highly skilled. Even if you are probably stronger than her chasing her down might be a bad idea.
Leo: Yeah what Ky said! But what am I gonna do? Am I not safe in my own home now?
Saber: I'm afraid it seems you are not Leo…

Assassin walked into a large mansion on top of a hill and entered a bedroom.
Assassin: Master!
The woman turned to her with a sly grin pasted upon her face. She was currently sitting on her wooden chair while writing something in a notebook.
Woman: Assassin!
Assassin: I am afraid they spotted me rather quickly.
Woman: Did you kill any?
Assassin: No master…
Woman: Perfect! I don't want them to die before they know my name… Isda!
Assassin: Why?
Isda: That is for me to know Assassin! Me and me alone!

Gilgamesh sat upon his throne. Among all masters and servants in the holy grail war, he alone stood as the honored one. He viewed through on of Pat’s crystal balls the events that transpired between Assassin and Leo’s group.
Gilgamesh: That Saber… she's quite strong. Even with the master holding her down. And the Assassin is quite boring to me.
Pat: A-Archer-
Gilgamesh: You know nobody is watching us use my true name peasant!
Pat: Forgive me Gilgamesh! But why are we sitting in this pocket dimension?!
Gilgamesh: Simply to protect you from getting killed. You are quite weak and well I won't have any fun if you die. Even I can't sustain myself without a master!
Pat: O-oh I see…
Gilgamesh truly was a king!

Not a super bad horror story but one that’s followed me for a while.
I started playing tabletop games around 14 years ago and I’m honestly surprised I still love them with the way I was treated at first. So I met a guy who introduced me to a group because he heard I wanted to try out roleplaying games. I had dabbled a bit in middle and high school but nothing stuck so hearing I had another chance made me really excited. He went on and on about his Shadowrun game and how all of his friends had stories about their characters and how they’d been playing for years. That really excited me because I wanted to be apart of a long running campaign and really develop a cool character. So he gets me involved and I thought that I had made friends with a really cool group of people.
First session happens and I come up with a slick talking face for the group who focused on being a getaway driver. Unfortunately some bad decisions and rolls later and he ends up getting gunned down trying to protect the group during our first run. Honestly it was a bit disheartening but then understood this was part of the game and just shook it off because everyone told me “that’s just part of the game.” I still had a really good time.
I really wished I knew what was coming.
Fast forward a bit and I got to play a new character but our GM wanted to try a new game and enter Scions.
For those of you not familiar, it’s a really fun game where all the PC’s play children of Gods from a bunch of different pantheons. You can also make your own birthrights to make magical items and such to give your characters a bonus.
My first one was a street tough who was a follower of Baron Samedi. A dude who was all about causing havoc and having fun. No one really involved him or liked him so I just took it up as me being new and trying too hard. So when the time came I made another character.
This one was a doctor who really wanted to help every single person who he could regardless of income and became a child of Athena and my plan was play him as a more passive character. So a point came up where a bunch of skeletons where stuck in the river stix which was transferred in this sewers. Nothing was working so I tried to “heal” the river. Bad idea but what else could we do? It ended up with my character’s arms being turned into bone. Another character down and the laughter ensues. Okay, yeah not the best idea but I tried.
That was when it all started. Everyone thought it was hilarious when I died and then made it a point to kill me whenever they could. A tank character? Oh here’s a magical being that kills you with one blow and vaporized you. A fighter? Oh he got past your armor and cuts you in two.
It got so bad that during Christmas another player made a bag for me that said “Make a New Character” with a reticle on a person’s head as if they were being targeted. Everyone laughed and so did I to not make a scene but I kept asking what was wrong with me or my characters.
I carried that with me for years that I was bad at games until I realized it was just a bad group. They bullied me constantly with so many work arounds and rules breaking to make a joke at my expense.
These days I tend to be the forever GM and always and I always remember those moments and try my best to be fair when it comes to my player’s characters because I still remember how much that hurt

TLDR; I conducted a lot of tests based on community feedback after my first batch of test results (and recommendations) were perceived as controversial. I ran additional simulations and used chi square analysis to see if any equipment stood out.

• The polearm was observed to be the best except in very niche circumstances, where it still does well in general
• Assassin's Rags appears to be the best general armor in the game for melee
• Heavy Armor consistently loses to White Plate & Assassin's Rags
• In field battles you're probably better off not using ranged weapons at all
• For top tier characters KLR limbs remove the need to prioritize a shirt with high coverage; reducing damage to the chest & stomach may be more important even if limbs are less unprotected
• Crossbows don't appear to do very well in field battles

Introduction
Assertions about the best equipment in Kenshi are innumerable, but few of them are driven by data. A previous post based on repeated combat simulations and statistical analysis indicated that the Polearm outperformed other community favorites, sometimes by a remarkable margin.
Additionally, the recommendation to use crab armor was challenged and members pointed that other armor types not included in that round of tests would do better.
Other criticism of that group of tests included:

• The tests were only done with level 100 characters which doesn't reflect practical squad composition for normal players
• Very few enemies in Kenshi actually use heavy armor, let alone masterwork armor and it would make more sense to do weapon tests against more representative armor sets
• White Plate and Assassin's rags weren't considered and believed to outperform heavy armor
• The Shek were deemed the most effective race, but it wasn't clear if this was due to a bug in Forgotten Construction Construction set
• Sabres weren't considered at all, in particular for indoor combat
• Robotic limbs were not tested when determining the recommended equipment loadout or how that would affect how a character should be armored

These points were explored in additional testing. Also considered was how squads that were partially composed of crossbows and melee troops performed against pure melee squads.
Materials and Methods
The Forgotten Construction Set (FCS) is the defacto modding tool for Kenshi. Two squads were created and made to compete against each other many times to see if they differed in any significant way. Squads competed until all the members of one squad were knocked out, at which point the winner and loser were recorded. Fischer's Exact Test was then used to see if the results were significant.
Squads
Squads were composed entirely of Greenlander humans (except when explicitly testing other races). The rational for this was Greenlanders have no combat buffs or debuffs and that this would avoid potentially problematic discrepancies in stats that could be attributed to either a defect in FCS or stats so high that they would be utterly impractical to attain.
The stats of each member of the squad were identical in all simulations, with tests being done on squads all at either level 100 or level 50 depending on the test.
When robotic limbs were being considered all members had masterwork KLR arms and legs.
One squad was created as a starter squad which placed all members directly under the players control. The other squad was created in a modded town on the unamed island named "Chi Town", which was composed of a single building. In each new game, the squad in Chi Town would spawn in its building and begin patrolling the area.
Chi Town was set as a hostile faction to the player controlled squad. On a new game the player controlled squad would spawn in Chi Town adjacent to the hostile squad. Despite having hostile faction relations, Chi Town never initiated combat against the player controlled squad, allowing the player squad to have its members positioned in a variety of ways to ensure an even match up. Combat was then initiated by the player after setup.
Squad Size
To avoid a known problem with the AI in which knocked out members would revive mid combat and begin patrolling the town rather than continue fighting, the squad size was limited to 5 on each side for melee tests.
A squad size of 10 was used for each size when crossbows were being tested.
Initiating Combat
Squads were either loaded by a new game or quick load. After this members of the player controlled squad were positioned in such a way that when combat was initiated all opposing squad members would participate in combat at about the same time.
During combat soldiers were knocked unconscious, but frequently regained consciousness mid combat and rejoined the fight. Combat continued until all members of one squad were knocked unconscious.
When testing indoor combat the members of the opposing squad were spawned in a stationhouse. The player controlled squad then entered the building and initiated combat. If at any time battle caused a member to navigate outside the building the test was discarded and a new iteration conducted.
When testing combined arms a purely melee group was compared against a squad with both crossbows and melee members. The purely melee squad was positioned at maximum distance before initiating attack. This enabled the opposing crossbows to fire off multiple volleys in an attempt to give them maximum utility.
Each squad had 10 members. In the case of the combined arms group 5 had melee weapons and 5 had crossbows.
The crossbows used in the experiments were the Eagle's Cross and Junkbow. The rational for this is that the Eagle's Cross has a very high Damage Per Second when used by a level 100 user. However the humble Junkbow was also considered as some assert that it is superior, despite it's comparably weak damage.
When a player is hit by a crossbow bolt they stagger regardless of the amount of damage. Some postulate that the faster rate of fire with the Junkbow causes opponents to stagger enough that a comparatively smaller group of melee fighters can land more attacks. In other words the expectation is that the weak Junkbow would cause victory by stun-locking opponents.
Regular Soldier Testing
When testing combatants at level 50 mid level quality was used for weapons and armor (Catun No. 3). Additionally the armor set used was the standard kit used by Holy Nation Paladins.
It was speculated that more common, representative armor like this might yield different results for weapon testing. In particular, the abysmal performance of the falling sun in previous testing was attributed to it being used against very heavy armor which would prevent it from severing limbs.
Given that Kenshi's combat mechanics focus more on disabling an opponent, the ability to cause amputation may be more important than being able to do more damage. The Holy Nation kit was arbitrarily selected among the 3 major factions, but deemed suitable because the coverage of the Holy Chest plate is low enough to allow for testing amputation while still being high enough to represent what a player would likely encounter during a base raid.
Fischer's Exact Test
Chi-Squared analysis was done using an online calculator located here using a simple 2x2 contingency table. For all tests the default parameters of a two sided tail, 1:1 odds and a 95% confidence interval were used.
Version
Tests were performed on Kenshi 1.0.68

Animal Care Compliance

No bonedogs were harmed over the course of this research.

Data

Elite Soldier Tests
The following equipment was used in each test unless explicitly stated otherwise:

Factor Type	Factor Used
Helmet	Crab Helmet
Pants	Samurai Legplates
Shirt	Dark Leather Shirt
Footwear	Wooden Sandals
Robotic Limbs	Masterwork KLR arms & legs
Weapon	Polearm
Level	100
Race	Greenlander

Test	Group 1 Loadout	Group 2 Loadout	Group 1 Win:Loss Ratio
Crab Armor - Dark Leather shirt vs Chainmail	Dark Leather Shirt	Blackened Chainmail	24:6
Crab Armor vs Samurai Plate w/ Polearms	Crab	Samurai	9:21
Crab Armor vs Samurai Plate w/ Nodachi	Crab + Nodachi	Samurai + Nodachi	3:13
Crab vs White Plate Jacket	Crab	White Plate Jacket	0:30
Crab vs White Plate w/ Nodachi	Crab + Nodachi	White Plate + Nodachi	9:21
Crab vs Assassin's rags	Crab + Blackened Chainmail	Assassin's Rags + Dark Leather Shirt	3:27
White Plate Jacket vs Assassin's rags	White Plate	Assassin's Rags	7:23
White Plate Jacket vs Samurai	White Plate	Samurai	27:3
White Plate Jacket shirtless vs shirt	White Plate [no shirt]	White Plate [Dark Leather Shirt]	14:16
White Plate Armor, Skeleton vs Human	White Plate Skeleton	White Plate Human	25:5

Combined Arms Tests
The following equipment was used in each test unless explicitly stated otherwise:

Factor Type	Factor Used
Helmet	Crab Helmet
Pants	Samurai Legplates
Armor	Assassin's Rags
Shirt	Dark Leather Shirt
Footwear	Wooden Sandals
Robotic Limbs	Masterwork KLR arms & legs
Weapon	Polearm
Level	100
Race	Greenlander

Crossbows used a longsword as a sidearm in all cases.

Test	Group 1 Loadout	Group 2 Loadout	Group 1 Win:Loss Ratio
Polearms vs Polearms + Eagle's Cross	Polearms	Polearm + Eagle's Cross	17:3
Polearms vs Polearms + Junkbow	Polearms	Polearm + Junkbow	20:0

Regular Soldier (L50) Tests
The following equipment was used in each test unless explicitly stated otherwise:

Factor Type	Factor Used
Helmet	Bucket Zukin
Pants	Stout Hessian Uniform
Armor	Holy Chest Plate
Shirt	Cloth Shirt
Footwear	Plated Longboots
Robotic Limbs	None
Weapon	Polearm
Level	50
Race	Greenlander

Test	Group 1 Loadout	Group 2 Loadout	Group 1 Win:Loss Ratio
Polearm vs Falling Sun	Polearms	Falling Sun	26:4
Indoors 5v5- Polearm vs Desert Sabers	Polearms	Desert Sabers	13:17
Indoors 1v1- Polearm vs Desert Sabers	Polearm	Desert Saber	10:20

Results

All heavy armor tested lost substantially to both White Plate & Assassin's Rags. The polearm continued to outperform the falling sun. Desert Sabres either matched the Polearm in performance or outperformed it when micromanaging.
Additionally, the dark leather shirt outperformed blackened chainmail. This bolsters claims that when robotic limbs are used that limb coverage is less important than total damage reduced to the torso and stomach.
The Assassin's Rags were undefeated in any category. It seems that the stat malus of heavy armor is indeed quite significant and likely responsible for consistent losses. But even when put against medium White Plate armor which has very little stat malus the Assassin's Rags continue to dominate; this is likely due to the bonuses to dexterity, combat speed and melee attack that they provide.
When pitted against identically sized squads, combined arm crossbows squads were utterly defeated by monolithic squads armed with Polearms.
Level 100 Tests

Test	P-Value	Statistically Significant?	Better Equipment
Crab Armor - Dark Leather shirt vs Chainmail	0.0000114	Yes	Dark Leather Shirt

Level 50 Tests

Test	P-Value	Statistically Significant?	Better Equipment
Polearm vs Falling Sun	< 0.0001	Yes	Polearm
Indoors- 5v5 Polearm vs Desert Sabres	0.4389	No	Neither
Indoors- 1v1 Polearm vs Desert Sabres	0.0194	Yes	Desert Sabre

Combined Arms Tests

Test	P-Value	Statistically Significant?	Better Equipment
Polearms vs Polearms + Eagle's Cross	< 0.0001	Yes	Pure Polearm Squad
Polearms vs Polearms + Junkbow	N/A	Yes	Pure Polearm Squad

Discussion

Kenshi has a wide variety of equipment and a great deal of complex calculations behind it. Despite that, there exist god-tier equipment that appears to provide little choice or strategy for a player looking to outfit a squad to be competitive.
Using robotic limbs changed the ideal composition for armor. Previous testing with crab armor indicated that Blackened Chain Mail had an edge over the Leather Turtleneck. This was attributed to crab armor only providing 90% coverage which meant that stronger protection for the arms could change the tide of lengthy battles; A disabled arm was an extreme liability.
However the massive HP boost provided by KLR arms seems to be significant enough that additional coverage at the cost of dexterity penalties is a bigger hindrance than help. After HP becomes substantially greater than the heath of the stomach or torso it makes more sense to forgo that protection if it means you can hit faster.
Players are unlikely in the early game to outfit their squad with masterwork KLR arms. During this phase one could speculate over whether to use chainmail or a leather turtleneck over the dark leather shirt. Previous testing indicated that chainmail was better for crab armor users fighting other crab armor users with leather turtlenecks, but that experimentation never considered light or medium armor which was shown here to be more effective regardless.
This challenges the wisdom of using chain armor at all. The use of a shirt can be forgone entirely if the player chooses to use White Plate Jackets. This armor provides 100% coverage for the torso, stomach and arms making a shirt redundant. Given White Plate Jackets outperformed Crab and Samurai armor and is more accessible and affordable it is difficult to justify the decision to use heavy armor at all, let alone chainmail in combination with it. This refutes the conclusion to use Crab armor in previous testing.
Given the outsized impact Assassin's Rags had (presumably due to the status boons) it is probably inadvisable to use chainmail and its debuffs alongside it. The Assassin's Rags provide relatively poor coverage, so a shirt of some kind is likely useful. What the ideal shirt for an Assassin's Rags user without KLR arms would be is unanswered in this study.
The Assassin's Rags provided adequate protection when dealing with ranged opponents. One plausible weakness would be the scant protection they provide against harpoons, which was not tested. Even if they are unparalleled in melee further research should be done to see if a single shot from a harpoon could kill a character using them. If that turns out to be the case then White Plate Jackets would apparently be preferable to any heavy armor.
White Plate Jackets outperformed both Crab and Samurai armor when using Nodachis which deal purely cut damage and have a penalty against armor. This is perplexing because heavy armor appears to have been intended to be the best choice for mitigating cut damage, but the stat malus associated with it causes light armor to be a better choice (at least against the weapons tested in this study).
The Falling Sun continued to yield mediocre results compared to the Polearm. Oddly, the Falling Sun was noticed to cause amputation semi-regularly in the tests against Polearms. Despite this knocking out the Polearm user, the remaining Polearms managed to win most fights anyway and bandage their crippled comrade post victory. While limb loss after battle is fairly devastating, this has limited utility from the players perspective; there isn't a strong need to amputate an enemies limbs because it doesn't matter how you disable your opponent as long as they are disabled. It probably makes more sense to just use the Polearm because it wins way more often.
The Polearm appears unbeatable with very few exceptions. Previous testing indicated the only weapon observed to outperform the Polearm was the Paladin's Cross and that was contingent on using it against skeletons. This research indicates that the Desert Sabre can be more effective than the Polearm indoors, but only if the Sabre user is not subject to the Polearms area of effect damage; i.e., the Sabre has to fight the Polearm one on one which requires micromanagement.
A particular surprise was how the Polearm performed by level 50 users indoors against Desert Sabre users in squads. Here Polearms have a very strong malus and the Sabers have a strong boon. Despite this there wasn't a statistically significant difference between them.
The Polearm did lose against Sabres frequently when forced to fight one on one indoors. From the players perspective this means that defending indoors with Sabres is a viable strategy early to mid game, although attacking grouped NPC Sabres indoors with Polearms is also surprisingly viable.
Enemies that use polearms are typically the most high level squads in the game (e.g., the skeletal legion and southern hive). But these late game squads almost exclusively use polearms themselves. This means a player's late game Polearm squad would not have any disadvantage indoors as both squads would have the same penalty. Furthermore, by the time a player is encountering late game squads like this they've likely leveled up enough to avoid the need to micromanage regardless.
Whether such a niche use case justifies sinking experience into building up the Sabre skill when they could be leveling up the Polearm is a matter for players to decide. It's difficult to pronounce Sabre's categorically superior, particularly when they appear to break even with Polearms when forced to fight in groups indoors.
Crossbows/Polearm hybrid squads turned out to be unviable against pure Polearm squads. Every crossbow simulation ended with unfavorable results when the competing squad invested in a Polearm instead. Crossbows probably would perform better during sieges where they had a benefit of a wall, but a turret would likely be a better option at that point. The Junkbows ability to stunlock evenly sized forces was insufficient. This strategy is probably only viable when many weak characters are fighting a single strong character, assuming it works at all.
The lack of some rock-paper-scissors mechanics in Kenshi limits how the player can think strategically about squad composition. Modding could plausibly create more interesting, balanced relationships between equipment. For example, increasing the damage of weapons like Katanas while simultaneously increasing the penalty against heavy armor could make them a viable alternative to Polearms in many common situations.
The interplay of armor penetration and raw damage could create a better defined role for light, medium and heavy builds. Additionally, crossbows might be enhanced to have a viable role in the field as they do not appear to excel there or behind allied walls where they could use a turret instead.
Overall if a players goal is to outfit a squad for the highest combat potential, the data indicates the choice is mostly linear- outfit the entire squad the same way, preferring Assassin's Rags or White Plate Jackets along with a Polearm or Paladin's Cross (both weapons can be available via a backpack).
As far as choice of character goes, Skeletons were shown to significantly outperform humans despite having no head protection. No comparison was done between the Shek and Skeletons as it currently unsettled whether a Shek can actually achieve a strength of 120 in vanilla Kenshi or if that is a bug in FCS. Regardless, in Vanilla Kenshi it is impractical to obtain very many skeletons at all without modding. The higher health pool of the Shek would likely make them the most accessible, competitive recruits when trying to build a strong military squad. If creating a squad of 30 soldiers it would be unsurprising if the majority of them needed to be Shek.

You guys know what an alpine coaster is? They are like a small roller coaster you find in the mountains. They are also called summer toboggans or mountain coasters and I think there’s some long German compound word they are called in parts of Europe. They are like a roller coaster, but with much smaller one or two person sleds you just sit on instead of multi-person cars you ride in, and instead of being built with like a scaffolding or a framework the tracks are just on the ground, using the elevation of the mountain. Basically it’s a coaster track on the side of a mountain where you ride a sled down.
They are pretty fun. Or at least I used to think so. They are more “personal” than roller coasters and although you get nowhere near the speed on them that you do on a good traditional roller coaster and they can’t do corkscrews or loops or anything like that the openness and simplicity of the ride gives an impression of a much greater speed. You’re just sitting there with nothing but a little plastic sled and the track between you and the ground as it goes zooming by. It’s like the difference between how fast a go-cart feels compared to how fast a sports car feels. You know the sports car goes faster but the open, simpleness of a go-cart feels a different kind of fast. There’s plenty of POV Youtube videos if you want to get the basic idea of what they are.
I used to love alpine coasters. Used to.
My family used to go to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and up and down the Smokey Mountains for vacations when I was a kid and they are common in that area and I’d always rode them every chance I got.
But as with so many things after I grew up and went to college they just became part of my childhood that slipped away. They aren’t exactly common once you get away from the mountains.
Until one cool spring afternoon in 2004. I was in my final year at college and I was driving back to campus in Tennessee after a short visit to my folks in North Carolina. It was only like a 4 or 5 hour drive via the most efficient route and I had no need to be back at campus early so instead of taking the freeway all the way I got off and took part of my trip through the mountains. The scenery was nicer and I admit I liked pushing my Camaro just a little faster than I should through the twisty mountain roads.
Just after lunchtime happened upon one of those little by-the-highway tourist towns deep somewhere in the Smoky Mountains near the Carolina/Tennessee border. Nothing fancy, a gas station/truck stop, a diner, a couple of places selling tourist merch nestled deep in the mountains. I pulled into the gas station. My tank was getting low and I needed to stretch my legs, maybe grab something to eat. It was still early and I only had another couple of hours. I could kill an hour or so and still make it back to campus at a decent hour.
I pulled into the gas station and was filling my tank when I happened to glance across the road and… well I’ll be damned. There it was. “The Blue Ridge Alpine Coaster.” Nestled on the side of the mountain was a building, a mockup of a red barn, where a single railed track that led up into the mountains, where it soon got lost in the greenery. Wooden hand painted standees of cartoon character bears dressed in stereotypical “Hillbilly” getup stood around, some of them holding signs showing the ride hours and ticket costs and other info. I had to admit, as silly as it was, it made me smile.I finished pumping my gas and, well, nostalgia is a helluva thing. I decided then and there I could waste a little time riding an Alpine Coaster again after all these years before getting back on the road.
I parked my car in a corner of the truck stop's parking lot, put my phone in the center console, this being the days before smart phones when people didn’t keep their phones with them 24/7 and I didn’t want my old Nokia brick phone to fall out during the ride, locked my car and walked across the mountain highway to the Alpine Coaster building.
Getting closer, the place was less inviting. The half hearted attempt at a whimsical faux-Americana kitsch was far less effective when it brushed up against the actual decaying, run down wooden building. Hell calling it a building was generous. It was a wood frame holding up a long roof that covered the area where you got on the sleds. The wood boards creaked under my footsteps.
The only real enclosed structure was a shack that held, what I assumed, was a ticket booth. A door on the side had both a single occupancy bathroom with an out of order sign on it. An old Pepsi machine buzzed and glowed next to it.
Still the place looked alive. Ahead of me a bored looking attendant was helping a mother and her young son into one of the sleds while in a bored monotone repeating the safety brief. A few people were waiting in line at the ticket booth. Up in the mountains the playful shouts of people on the ride echoed down. Fond memories of my own childhood rides flooded my mind.10 minutes and 15 dollars later I was settling into the hard plastic seat of a bright red sled sat atop a simple aluminum rail.
I couldn’t help but grin as the sled slowly climbed the track up the mountains, making click-clack ratcheting sounds that hit my nostalgia centers hard. I felt good. The air was cool and crisp and smelled of pine.Higher and higher in the mountains we went. I don’t know if this is my mind trying to make sense of it after the fact but when I remember these moments, the last good moments, I sometimes think I remember a very slight, very subtle pit of fear in my stomach. I honestly don’t know if I felt it at the time or not or it’s just how my mind tries to make sense of it looking back at.
But either way mostly I was enjoying myself. I smiled. I was a kid again. I could hear riders in front of me let out that initial yell of terrified glee you get at the first drop of any good ride.
It peaked. I glanced around. I could see for miles, rolling hills and mountains. I the sled tipped over and zoomed down the mountain and I let out the same happy yell I heard from the other passengers.The ride zoomed down the mountain, catching speed. The mountain forest floor zoomed past, only a few feet under me. Trees zoomed past. I gave out a happy whoop as the ride banked hard around a curve and then looped back under itself.Another dip, another curve. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the G-forces pulling me every which way.
There was no one exact single moment where things started to go “wrong.” The ride kept going. And going. At this point the first creeping thought entered my head.
The ride… was still going.
It just started to hit me… this ride was going on for a really long time. I had taken a dozen rides on various coasters of this type before that day and they topped out at about 5 minutes or so, and that was the long ones. Longer than a traditional roller coaster but not that long. This one had been going on for what felt like 10, maybe even 15 minutes.
I looked back over my shoulder and could only see trees, moving too fast to really get a bearing on where I was at in relation to anything.
I wasn't exactly really worried yet. Okay so I had found a particularly long alpine coaster. At the time I wasn’t 100% wasn't sure they didn’t exist or anything like that. I was a little… unnerved but nothing was happening that was impossible. Yet.
I was trying to talk myself back into just enjoying the ride and stop overthinking it, and halfway succeeded, when out of nowhere I suddenly banked hard, the track jutting out almost over a sheer cliffside. I gripped the sled more tightly as I was whipped around. The ride then dipped hard and picked up speed, barreling down the side of the mountain.
I was pushed back against the seat by the force of the drop. Jesus I didn’t remember them being this rough. I was feeling slightly nauseous. And where had this elevation drop come from I wondered? I was still in the foothills and I didn’t remember seeing anything but gentle rolling hills and light drops from looking at the ride’s route earlier. How the ride had managed such a long, steep drop in this area I didn’t know. . For the first time I hoped that the ride would be over soon. I had no idea then how much I would want that same hope to be true so much more as time went on.
With a whiplash motion I was whipped forward and then back as the ride leveled out on flat ground again, but by this point I was going fast, too fast. My neck hurt from the mild whiplash and I felt sour in my throat and for a moment the contents of my stomach threatened to come back up. For the first, but hardly the last time the ride felt unsafe. Alpine Coasters are tame affairs, much slower and gentler than full on roller coasters but this thing was throwing me around like no thrill ride I had ever been on.
I looked around. I mean I wasn’t that deep into the woods. I should have been able to see a glimpse of something; the highway, the gas station, the tourist shops, the Alpine Coaster office, something, anything. But nothing. Just trees.
I forced back some panic for the first time. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. The ride zoomed along. I counted to 60. I counted to 60 again. And again. Okay this was getting uncomfortably harder and harder to explain.
Suddenly I noticed that up ahead the track seemed to just end, for one brief, terrible moment I thought the track just ended but I was wrong. Almost without warning the track dipped in an almost vertical drop. I almost screamed as I plummeted for 20, maybe 30 seconds before flattening out again.
By this point the voice in my head that was telling me something was wrong was louder and I could no longer tell myself it was wrong. This ride could not have been this long. I tried to make sense of it, wondering if somehow I had gotten diverted onto some kind of maintenance track or, hell for one brief irrational moment even entertaining the idea that I had wound up on an actual train track somehow. But that was absurd. The rail below me was not a train track, it was still just the simple, aluminum rail of an alpine coaster and there had been no diversions or junctions in the track. I was still on the ride, as insane as that was starting to feel. Had the ride somehow looped? Again after having the thought I immediately dismissed it as crazy. There’s no way I could have missed the ride building where I got on. And what kind of ride loops over and over?
The sled zoomed through the forest, oddly never seeming to lose speed despite the relatively flat grade of the track. I cursed myself for leaving my phone in the car and not wearing a watch. I don’t know exactly how long I had been on the ride at that point but it felt like I had been on the ride for a half hour, maybe more. But time is a funny thing when you’re in a situation you’ve never been in. Could have been more, could have been less, at that point.
My pride finally failed me. I started to scream for help. I screamed out that the ride was broken, to stop it, that I needed help. I did that for about ten minutes or so I think. The ride kept going. Mostly flat, level track with occasional mild dips and turns. But the simple length of the ride grew more and more unnerving and unexplainable.
I thought about just bailing out. But the ride, impossibly, was still not slowing down and chunks of mountain rock and thick tree trunks were all around me. Bailing out without risking smashing into a rock or a tree seemed impossible.
The ride kept going.
Up ahead the forest was clearing out some, I could see the forest brightening, more sunlight making it through the canopy.
I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
The trees stopped and I had just enough time to take in a flat, open area of rock maybe 40, 50 yards at most before another sheer cliff. The tracks twisted and turned and then shot straight down. But that wasn’t the worst of it. For a moment, a very short moment, I had a clear view for miles and the landscape was, to be blunt, totally impossible. Any possibility that I had just stumbled on some incredibly long ride was blasted out of my head. Barren, volcanic looking rock stretched for miles. Jagged, black rocky outcroppings as far as the eye could see. I was in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. They don’t look like that.
I had a few moments for the terror of that view to settle in before the cart plunged into another horrifying drop. I gripped the handles of the cheap plastic sled until my knuckles turned white. The drop felt completely vertical, like I was falling at terminal velocity. I screamed. My stomach dropped and turned. I imagined the sled coming away from the track and me just plummeting screaming to my death on the rocks below. But somehow the ride still functioned. I closed my eyes tightly and just waited for whatever was going to happen. Eventually after several what felt like a full minute of steep plunging the track again leveled out, and I opened my eyes to see myself moving at breakneck speed over that black, rocky landscape.
Now that I was moving on a more or less flat horizontal track again I took a few deep breaths. I looked over the edge of the track. Nothing but that black, jagged rock, almost looking like obsidian, zooming past. I had no idea how fast the sled was moving now. Fast. Faster than a gravity powered sled should be moving. And the track was higher off the ground now. Alpine slides usually stick pretty close to the ground, but I was 20 feet or so in the air, the track suspended in the air, a simple metal tube tower like a power pylon every few yards.
Without any immediate threat and the sled moving fast but steadily and level I was able to think about my situation again, for all the good that did me. Ahead of me the track just continued to the horizon, nothing but the same rocky landscape as far as I could see. I craned my neck to look back over my shoulder and looked back behind me and it looked the same. Even the mountains were but distant specs on the horizon behind me.
This was insane. There’s not a giant seemingly endless field of black jagged rock in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. There’s no cliff faces tall and steep enough for a multi-minute vertical drop. And alpine coasters were small affairs, not major engineering projects that span miles with pylons and vertical tracks. It made no sense.
Sadly it wasn’t going to start making any more sense anytime soon.
The ride kept going.
I was on this rocky landscape for several hours. I feel comfortable saying this because I could actually notice the sun getting lower in the sky. And the sled wasn’t slowing down despite the grade of the track being flat. I was getting cramped from sitting and stretched my legs and twisted my back as best I could. Didn’t do much help. My eyes were starting to get irritated from the constant wind in them. Worst of all it was starting to get chilly. I only had on a light jacket, a windbreaker, just something to keep the breeze off me, no real insulation. I was cold, my joints were stiff, I was hungry and thirsty. My eyes watered and my throat was so dry it was sore.
But none of that was as bad as just how little sense this all made. There’s nothing like this place anywhere near the Smoky Mountains. This was like some volcanic rock landscape. The more I thought about it the less sense it made.
The ride kept going.
My mind didn’t even try to process this. Whatever I was experiencing simply couldn’t be possible. I was crazy. I was dreaming. The CIA had kidnapped me and dosed me with some new version of LSD and I was in a straightjacket in a padded room at Area 51.
The sled kept zooming along as the sky turned to dusk. Soon the bridge disappeared from my view and I continued on along the endless, rocky, featureless landscape.
I sat back against the sled, mentally and physically numb. I was exhausted. I was thirsty. I was cramping up. I was hungry. I had to pee. I held it for as long as I could, then had no choice but just wet myself. I cried until I had no more tears left. Then I just sat there.
The ride kept going.
By the time the sun dipped below the horizon my throat felt like sandpaper. I dug around in my jacket pockets hoping to find a stick of gum or piece of candy. Nothing. I checked again, having nothing else to do. Under a crumpled store receipt in the inner pocket of my jacket was a single old, forgotten cough drop. I unwrapped it from the paper and popped it in my mouth. Saliva flooded back into my mouth and I was overwhelmed by the methanol and medicine taste. It was something at least, although I knew it would be a brief and temporary fix at best.
I felt my eyes get heavy. It was getting colder. That mountain cold. That deep cold the mountains have even into the early spring when the sun goes down. That kind that just pulls the heat right out of you. I shivered. A terrible, horrible certainty came to me. I would ride until I passed out from exhaustion or the hypothermia set in. My body would tumble off the sled to fall and skip across the rocky ground like a stone skipping across a lake, my bones breaking as I tumbled until my body finally came to a stop. If I was lucky I would be killed and not have to lie for days, broken and bruised, on the ground until death took me.
The ride kept going. The ride kept going. The fucking ride kept going.
“Fuck you” I said to the ride, my voice a horse whisper. I pulled my jacket closer around me, for all the good it did. The cold wind was slowly but surely pulling my body heat away. My shivering got worse, crossing the line from a simple normal shiver into those deep, almost violent full body ones.. I wasn’t anything you could call an experienced outdoorsman, but I knew enough to know that wasn’t a good sign.
It was getting dark. There was a full moon at least so I wasn’t totally in the dark.
About then I noticed something. The landscape, what little I could see in the fading light, was changing. It was smoothing out, becoming less rocky and craggy. Up ahead an odd, shimmering light was starting to appear on the ground.
I was over it before I even realized what it was. The tracks were going over a smooth surface.
Water. It was a lake. The odd lights I had seen were the moon, reflected in ripples on the lake.
Within minutes I was out of the view of the land. After the nearly endless rocky landscape and everything else I had seen, it scared me how little I was shocked. I didn’t like how mentally numb I was getting. I leaned over. There was enough moonlight to see the water, 15 or 20 feet below the track. The pylons holding up the track went into the water, the light wasn’t good enough to even make a guess at how far they went down or how deep the water was.I leaned back in the sled. My eyes were red and bloodshot from the constant wind. I closed them. This was a mistake.I jerked awake. I don’t know if I dozed off for a split second or an hour. My weight had shifted and I caught myself as my center of gravity was in danger of sending me off the sled and into the water.
I screamed in anger. A deep primal scream. I hurt so bad. My joints felt like they were full of glass. My limbs were full of pins and needles. I glanced over at the water. For the first time on the very edges of my brain a tiny voice started to speak up, telling me that I could be all over if I just jumped. I shut the voice up, but it scared me still.
I sat there as the ride went on. It felt like hours. Eventually the lake ended in a rocky shore line. The damned ride. There was no safe place to bail out. If the ride slowed down, it was high in the air, if it moved toward the ground it sped up. Sharp rocks, big trees, nothing you could safely bail out into.
I kept having to force myself awake. I kept dozing off. Once I felt myself falling asleep and drove a vicious uppercut into my own nose to stave it off.
I seriously started to think about how much longer I could hang on. The voice came back again. This time I didn’t shut it up. I wasn’t admitting it to myself yet, but I was starting to think about the best way to land that would end it quickly if I needed to.
Something was ahead. The track seemed to dip into the ground. I was too tired, too beaten to even get scared. I was just resigned to whatever happened at this point.
With little warning the track took my sled into a tunnel in the ground. Everything went completely pitch black. After several moments even the dim moonlight was gone.
This was the worst part. The creepy forest, the immense rocky landscape, the eerie lake… those were bad. But this was just nothing. Nothing to look at, nothing to hear, nothing for reference or sense of where I was going. The walls of the tunnel felt like they were inches from me in every direction. The air felt thick, like there wasn’t enough oxygen.
With every moment I was in that tunnel I lost a little more hope. After a long, long time I made a decision. When I got out of this tunnel, I would jump. I didn’t care anymore. Hopefully there would be a spot where I could be certain the fall would instantly kill me. I was done. The ride had beaten me. I sat there, waiting for a chance to end this on my terms. That was all I had left.
Eventually up ahead, a tiny speck of light appeared. I gathered my strength, ready to end it. I sat up, getting my legs under me so I could jump as soon as we were clear. The sled burst out of the tunnel. The dim light of the full moon was enough to be momentarily blinding after the pitch black of the tunnel.. I gave my eyes a moment to adjust.
I was back in a normal looking Appalachian forest. Rolling hills, green trees. The air smelled of pine again. I heard an owl hoot off somewhere.
Slowly I lowered myself back into a setting position, in shock. At first I refused to believe it but the ride was slowing down. I held still, making sure my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, but no, the cheap plastic sled that had been my world for what felt like an eternity was slowing down.
Up ahead, a structure was visible, peeking out from among the trees in the dim lighting as the sled moved down the track.
It was the Alpine Slide building. The crappy fake red barn where I had boarded this cursed ride so long ago. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, sure it was either my mind or the cursed ride playing tricks with me. But the building stayed there.
It grew closer and closer. The track leveled completely out. The sled slowed down more. Before I had the time to really come to terms with it I arrived back at the building.
The sled slowed to a stop, gently pumping against another sled parked on the track. I sat there for a few moments, gasping in great big gulping fear breaths, trying to assure myself the ride didn’t have one last trick of its sleeve.
I looked around. The place was empty, deserted. The overhead lights were still on and the old Pepsi machine still glowed and buzzed, but the ticket booth was dark and empty, a metal gate pulled down over the ticket window.
Suddenly it hit me that I was free and I practically leapt out of the sled and onto the platform. I immediately collapsed. My legs were jelly and my head was spinning. I tried to stand up again and doubled over, dry heaving. Have you ever been out on a boat for a day and have that weird reverse motion sickness when you’re back on solid land? It was like that times a hundred. My inner ear was literally pounding, all the motion had really done a number on it.
I laid there for a few moments and eventually forced myself to stand up on my two wobbling legs. I looked around, a horrible certainty creeping into my mind that there would be no exit, no way off the platform but to my relief an exit turnstyle, one of those full height ones, was set into the fence that surrounded the ride property.
I went through it and found myself back on the main road. The truckstop was still there, still open but far less busy. My car sat in the same corner of the parking lot I had left it.
I allowed myself one look back, just one quick one. The metal skeleton of the Alpine Slide track sat there, dark and quiet but otherwise normal.
I stumbled-ran back to my car, dug the keys out of my pocket, and collapsed inside. When the door shut I let out a primal scream, the tons of fear and confusion and anger all fusing into a single, raw emotion. I screamed again and again.
After a few moments I felt like I was emotionally at least back to a place where I could act, although I wasn’t sure yet what to do next. Not really knowing what to do I cranked the car. The A/C had been on low when I shut off the car and it came roaring back to life and cold air blowing on me almost sent me back into a full on panic attack. I fumbled with the climate controls until the air stopped blowing directly on me, then calmed down enough to turn the heat on, helping to get the chill out of my bones. There was a half full bottle of water in the center console cup holder and I grabbed it and chugged it. Nothing ever tasted as good before or sense as that few ounces of water.
That was when I noticed the clock on the radio head unit. It was 4:17 in the morning. It had been about one, one thirty or so in the afternoon when I got on the accursed ride.
Over 15 hours. I had been on the goddamn ride for over 15 hours. Over half a day.
I just sat there. Warming up. Calming down. I was exhausted. I was dehydrated. I can’t even describe how my head felt. I probably had at least a minor case of hypothermia. I thought about going into the gas station and asking for help but what would I even say, and more than anything I just wanted to get away from this place. And I just wanted to get away. I wanted to be nowhere near that damn ride.
I put the Camaro in gear and pulled into the street and in panic I immediately slammed on the brakes. I was lucky there was no traffic on the road at that moment. The feeling of accelerating to just normal surface street speeds made me sick to my stomach. I gathered myself and very slowly accelerated the car I usually treated with a very heavy foot up to 30 miles an hour. Every time I tried to accelerate at a pace faster than “Old Lady Going to Church, Uphill” I would have a panic attack. I was okay once I was up to speed, but accelerating freaked me out after being on that ride.
I drove about 30 minutes, putting some arbitrary amount of distance between myself and the coaster. Eventually I made it back to where the twisty mountain road met back up with a major road that would eventually meet back up with the highway. After a few more minutes of driving I saw the onramp for the highway. There was one of those big truckstop travel plazas and pulled in, parking right up at the door. I smelled like pee and I can only imagine how I looked, but I didn’t care.
I kept a couple of emergency 20s in the back of my wallet and spent it on the biggest bottle of water the store had, an overpriced bottle of eye drops, and a huge travel mug of coffee. The clerk looked at me as if he was expecting me to either drop dead or rob him the entire time.
Back in my car I downed the coffee. I put a few eye drops in each of my eyes and sat there as the caffeine took effect until I felt like I could make it back to my apartment. The sun was just coming up when I finally pulled out of the truck stop and got on the freeway. I slowly, very slowly, accelerated up to highway speed, put the Camaro in cruise control, and let the miles start to drift away. I turned on the radio, I needed to hear human voices. Every time my mind went back to what had just happened I turned the radio up louder, eventually drowning it out with painful levels of rock music. I wasn’t ready to think about it yet. Yes looking back I know I was just in denial. I finally made it back to the crappy little apartment I had off campus, a little two story walk up studio. I let myself in and collapsed on the cheap couch. I was asleep before I even had the time to decide whether or not to do anything else. I woke up later that afternoon. I took a shower and ate a meal and didn’t think about the ride. I washed the pee stained filthy clothes I had been wearing and didn’t think about the ride. I went back to class and didn’t think about the ride. Every time I thought about the ride I forced it out of my head. I’m sure this wasn’t the most mentally healthy thing to do but what can you say?
I didn’t forget about it, don’t be silly. This isn’t the kind of thing you forget. One day while looking up something else in the university’s library my curiosity got the better of me and I looked up the Alpine Slide. No website but a few Google Map and Yelp mentions. None of them mentioned anything weird, certainly nothing even remotely like what I experienced. Near as I can tell it closed sometimes in the winter of 2012.
Life went on. I mean, that’s what it does. The next day was a little better. And the day after that a little better. And the day after that a little better still. I met a nice girl. Graduated. Got married. Got a nice house in the suburbs. Got a dog. Had a daughter. Spent a lot of time happy and not thinking about being trapped on an endless alpine coaster.And that was my life for many, many years after that.
Until a few weeks back when as a very different person I found myself driving a boring and safe mid sized family SUV through those same mountains. My wife Carol, 5 months pregnant, sat in the passenger seat, our 6 year old daughter Emily in a booster seat in the back, and Max our mixed breed mutt next to her. It had been a nice pleasant trip, driving back from visiting her folks.
I hadn’t thought about that fucking ride in so long I barely registered that I was in the same general area until it was too late. Suddenly I realized that little mountain tourist trap town was only a few minutes down the road. I swallowed hard and gripped the steering wheel hard. Carol was looking out the window at the scenery and Emily was deep into some kid’s Youtube video on an iPad. I forced myself to keep my breath steady as we rounded the corner.The town was still there, sorta. Time had not been kind to it. The gas station was still there, at some point it had been bought out by Shell. The tourist trap shops were still there. One of them was now a vape shop. The diner was closed, the building looking like it sat unused for a long time.
But of course that’s not what I cared about. A looked over at the site where the Alpine Coaster once stood. It was gone. The kitschy fake barn was gone. The site was just a bare concrete slab with a chainlink fence around it. Faded “no trespassing” and “for sale” signs hung off the fence. A pile of old, decaying lumber that might have once long ago been part of the structure covered part of the old lot. No sign of the track remained outside of some old concrete support posts dotting the side of the mountain.
I exhaled out a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding in. Soon the little town disappeared in my rear view mirror.
About a half hour later we stopped for gas. I pulled up to a gas pump across from a massive motorhome. Max stuck his head out the window and started barking at a little white dog, a toy breed of some kind, in the window of the motorhome. Carol and Emily immediately headed into the store to restock on snacks while I fueled up.
I stood there, a half smile on my lips as Max barked and wagged his tail in an attempt to attract the attention of the other dog while I filled up the tank, said dog doing an admirable job of ignoring him.
Right about the time I finished fueling up and cleaning the bugs off the windshield Carol returned from inside the store, Emily in tow, arms filled with two full sized bags of Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips and what looked to be a half dozen individually wrapped pickles.
I raised an eyebrow at the collection of food but knew better than to question a pregnant woman's snack choices.
“Should we take Max for a quick walk?” Carol asked. The travel plaza had a nice little gated dog walking area off to the side.
“Yeah probably not a bad idea, he’s been cooped up in the car for a few hours.” I said. Max, upon hearing his name and the word “walk” , forgot about the other dog and upgraded from wagging his tail to wagging his entire body while making whining sounds and staring right at me.
About this time I became half aware that the big motor home next to us was pulling away. I didn’t think much of it, outside of doing a quick automatic mental check to make sure Emily was well clear of the moving vehicle, but she was safely between me and our SUV, well out of the way.
But that was when Emily looked behind me and cheerfully yelled “Daddy look a roller coaster! Can I ride the coaster?”
It’s cliche as fuck I know but my blood went cold.
I turned around slowly, certain in my knowledge that terrible old decrepit Alpine Coaster would be there, having just popped into existence to trap me again.
That.. is not what I saw. Sure enough there was a coaster there, one I hadn’t noticed earlier because it had mostly been blocked by the motor home, but there it was. It was even an Alpine Coaster.
But it was not the same coaster I had encountered those years ago. That was immediately obvious. It was a small but modern and newish looking setup with neon lights and a bunch of people. There was an actual building where you bought tickets and a little snack stand.
“Daddy! Can we go on the coaster!” Emily asked again.
My mouth made motions but no words came out. I glanced over at Carol, hoping she’d say we didn’t have time but to my horror she smiled and said “You know what? That does sound like fun. Daddy will take you while I take Max for a walk.”
My mind raced, trying to think of a way to get out of it. But Emily was already dragging me across the parking lot to the entrance.
I patted my pocket, making sure my phone was in it. Every fiber of my being was screaming to run away. I slept walked through the line and the ticket booth while Emily bounced happily.
We got into a two seat plastic sled. This one was actually a lot nicer than the one my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about. It had two nice cushioned seats, big grab handles, even a nice rollbar.
The sled started up the track. I fought back the panic. I swerved my head around, keeping the building in my view. I was terrified of losing sight of it. We made it to the top and Emily did a happy squeal as we started down the side of the mountain.
My heart raced. Any second, any second my mind told me we’d lose sight of the building and then the ride would never end. The ride sped down the mountain. My mind tortured me with thoughts of not only going through it again, but seeing Emily go through it. The ride went around a big, banking turn. Emily kept shouting happily. How long before Carol reported us missing I wondered? Could I keep Emily calm? What if it lasted even longer this time? What if this time it never ended?
And then we were back at the start of the ride. The same attendant who had helped us into the sled was helping Emily out. I stepped out. The attendant gave me a brief look but said nothing. I guess I looked a little wild eyed.
I was fine. Emily was fine. It had been a perfectly normal, fun ride.
“That was fun Daddy! Thank you!” Emily said. I forced a smile back. “It was fun.” I responded, hoping like I sounded like I meant it.
I took Emily’s hand and we walked back to the car. Max saw us coming and barked happily. Carol looked up from the pint of Ben and Jerry’s she had somehow acquired and added to her snack collection while we were gone and smiled at us.
“Did you have fun?” she asked.
“It was so fun Mommy!” Emily said.
Carol smiled down at her, but then looked at me and frowned. “Are you okay?” Carol could read my face a lot better than the attendant could. “You’re pale.”
I smiled and this time the smile felt real. “Ya know what. Yeah, I think I am okay.”
Carol looked a little puzzled, but didn’t press it. We loaded Emily back in her booster seat, stopped Max from trying desperately to eat half a discarded gas station hot dog off the ground and got him back in the car. Carol and her small collection of snack food took her place in the passenger seat and I got in the driver's seat.I smiled. I cranked the car. I put it in gear. I pulled out of the gas station and back on the road, this time accelerating just a little faster than I had in years.

Is there a way to make them with the limb bench? They're not researchable on the research bench. Is there a blueprint for it somewhere?

This post contains spoilers from CS1-Reverie, including Reverie’s post-game content.
Disclaimer: The analysis portion of the Background section contains discussion of mental illness. I am not an expert in mental health, or any health field for that matter. I’m just a guy applying his own perception, lived experiences, and surface-level knowledge to interpreting Rean’s arc. I probably don’t even need to be making this disclaimer, but I felt like it.
Last year, I made this post asking how the members of this sub felt about Cold Steel’s protagonist: the one and only Rean Schwarzer. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of engagement it got, as well as the diversity of opinion expressed in the comments. There were those who loved him, those who were neutral on him, and a few who just couldn’t stand him. At the time, I had just finished CS2, so there was a ton about Rean I wasn’t privy to. However, now that I’ve played Reverie and am fully caught up with the first half of the series, I have a much fuller picture of him. Since so many of you were kind enough to offer up your takes on Rean back then, I figured I’d express my own thoughts on him in the form of a proper analysis. Without further ado, let’s begin!

Background

Rean Schwarzer (born Rean Osborne) is the main protagonist of Trails of Cold Steel I, II, III, and IV, as well as one of the three main protagonists of Trails into Reverie. He was born in S.1187 to Erebonian commoners Brigadier General Giliath and Kasia Osborne. Rean’s father was a brilliant leader and strategist, but his commoner status made him an enemy of the military’s nobles. This led to Giliath’s home being attacked by jaegers when Rean was five, resulting in Kasia’s death and Rean’s heart being punctured by shrapnel. In a desperate bid to save his son’s life, Giliath made a deal with Ishmelga, the Ebon Knight, to become its Awakener and used its power to transplant his own heart into Rean’s body. Due to his deal with Ishmelga, Giliath was forced to give up custody of Rean, entrusting him to the care of Baron Teo Schwarzer. As a result, “Rean Osborne,” the son of a commoner military officer, became “Rean Schwarzer,” the adopted son of a minor noble family.
Although Rean’s new family was loving and supportive, his new life was not without struggle. The boy’s sudden, mysterious appearance in the Schwarzer household made the family - particularly Teo - the subject of gossip and controversy among other nobles. Some believed Rean was Teo’s illegitimate child, while others openly lambasted Teo for his willingness to potentially allow a commoner into the nobility’s ranks. Teo essentially became an outcast among his noble peers, his family’s name tarnished by rumor. Rean, for his part, came to believe he was at fault for this situation, and the subsequent guilt would plague him for many years.
Rean’s self-worth was further challenged by another, more personal problem that arose during his childhood. At age nine, Rean watched an unknown monster attack his younger sister, Elise, and the stress caused an innate “ogre power” within him to manifest. Rean fell into a blind rage, savagely killing the monster. When he returned to his senses, Rean was traumatized by the scene he had left behind, and by the discovery of this new, violent side of him he could not control.
Two years later, Rean became an apprentice of the legendary swordsman Yun Ka-fai, founder of the Eight Leaves One Blade school, hoping to learn how to control his ogre powers. Despite showing great promise as a swordsman, Rean was unable to develop control over his ogre power, and Yun was eventually forced to cut short Rean’s training for unrelated reasons. Although the beginner-rank Rean continued to train on his own, the damage to his psyche was too deep-seated for him to fix alone. He believed he was nothing but a burden and a monster, undeserving of love or happiness. This guilt and self-loathing spurred him to always put others’ needs and well-being above his own, believing himself less important than anyone else. This self-sacrificial behavior became a recurring problem for Rean over the course of his adolescence and early adulthood.
In S.1204, at age 17, Rean enrolled at the prestigious Thors Military Academy in eastern Erebonia. He, along with eight others, became part of Class VII, Thors’s first socially integrated graduating class. Although he still struggled with low self-worth, Rean thrived in this new environment, quickly befriending his classmates and discovering his natural-born ability as a leader. By this time, Rean’s real father, Giliath Osborne, had become Chancellor of Erebonia and was being targeted for death by the Imperial Liberation Front - an anti-Osborne terrorist group. The ILF was a recurring presence in Class VII’s lives during their first school year, and the two groups clashed frequently. At the end of the year, Rean’s life took a dramatic turn when he unexpectedly became the Awakener for the Divine Knight Valimar before watching the ILF - led by his friend Crow Armbrust - seemingly assassinate Osborne and spark a nationwide civil war. Thors came under siege by Crow shortly thereafter, and in the chaos, Rean was forcibly separated from his classmates.
One month later, Rean awoke in the Eisengard Mountain Range outside his adopted hometown, Ymir. Now armed with Valimar’s power, Rean rendezvoused with his family and set out to reunite Class VII. Although he succeeded, Rean was later captured by the Noble Alliance and was held captive alongside Erebonian princess Alfin Reise Arnor. With Alfin’s encouragement, Rean freed the two of them using his ogre powers and rejoined Class VII onboard the imperial family’s airship Courageous. Thanks to Alfin and his bond with his classmates, Rean learned to stop fearing his ogre powers and started opening up more to those closest to him. Using the Courageous, Class VII successfully led a mission to retake Thors before ultimately confronting the Noble Alliance’s leader, Duke Cayenne, and stopping his plan to use the Infernal Castle to win the war. At the same time, new drama entered Rean’s life: Shortly after stopping Duke Cayenne’s plan, Crow unexpectedly died and Osborne was revealed to still be alive - and Rean’s real father. Rean, for his part, was formally recognized by the imperial government for his role in ending the war and became a national hero. This was, however, merely a ploy to pressure Rean into obeying Osborne’s wishes, and it succeeded, as Rean subsequently became an operative in Erebonia’s conquest of Crossbell. It was during this time that he became acquainted with Crossbell Special Support Section leader Lloyd Bannings.After Crossbell’s annexation, Rean fought in the Northern War, which resulted in Erebonia annexing North Ambria. He partook in the siege of Haliask, where he fought archaisms using Valimar. During this stretch of the war, Rean lost control of his ogre powers and was rendered unconscious for three days. As a result, he once again lost faith in his ability to control himself, and swore off the use of his ogre power.
In April S.1206, roughly 1.5 years after the civil war’s end, Rean started a job as instructor of a “new Class VII” at Thors’s new branch campus in western Erebonia. At the branch campus, Rean bonded with his students and fellow faculty while also taking on assignments from the imperial government. It was also during this time that Osborne’s plan to trigger the Great Twilight started unfolding, causing Rean, his students, and his comrades to regularly butt heads with jaegers, Ouroboros, and powerful cryptids. Ultimately, however, Osborne outmaneuvered all attempts by Rean, Olivert, and others to stop him; the Courageous was destroyed by a bomb with Olivert still onboard, Rean’s forces were spread thin through various battles, and Rean himself was forced to watch as Millium Orion was killed and turned into a Sword of the End. Finally at his wit’s end, Rean suffered a mental breakdown and was consumed by his ogre powers, causing him to violently trigger the Great Twilight himself before being taken captive by Osborne and Ishmelga.
After a short period of captivity, Rean was freed by Class VII and their allies. He, along with the SSS and the Liberl Bracer Guild, declined to become part of Musse Egret’s Operation Mille Mirage, instead choosing to oppose Osborne their own way. Rean, as Valimar’s Awakener, decided to partake in the Rivalries to reform the Great One, in hopes of defeating Ishmelga’s curse. He gradually defeated and absorbed power from the other Awakeners until, finally, during Operation Jormungandr, he defeated Osborne and Ishmelga, becoming the pilot of a corrupted Great One. It is at this time when two different futures unfolded: In one, Rean flew the Great One beyond Zemuria’s atmosphere to remove Ishmelga from the continent. In the other, Rean used the power of the Holy Beast of Earth to give Ishmelga’s curse a corporeal form, allowing him and his friends to destroy it. It was this latter future that became Zemuria’s reality, while the former remained hypothetical and unrealized.
Many months after Ishmelga’s defeat, in S.1207, Rean became involved in the incident involving Crossbell and Elysium. While combating enemy forces in the Nord Highlands, Rean started undergoing assimilation with Ishmelga-Rean, an alternate version of himself created by Elysium based on the unrealized timeline from when Ishmelga was first beaten. Later, during the final confrontation with Ishmelga-Rean, the real Rean saw visions of his other self’s sacrifice and finally grasped the devastating effects his past martyr-like behavior had on those he loved. He vowed to make a change before eliminating Ishmelga-Rean, stopping the assimilation.
Sometime after the clash with Elysium, Rean visited Longlai in eastern Calvard with his family, secretly hoping to track down Yun while there. Instead, he encountered members of the Ikaruga jaeger corps, who informed him that Yun was not in Longlai before departing. Rean has since contented himself with his current life as a Thors instructor, sensing that the next incident to befall Zemuria will involve not him, but an entirely different group of heroes.
Analysis: From even a cursory glance at Rean’s story, it is clear he endured much distress and trauma at a young age, and in my view, the result was deep-seated mental illness - namely depression. I am not a psychologist, but I would wager that the violent manner in which his five year-old self lost his home, his mother, and, almost, his own life, was horrific enough for his mind to block all memory of that period as a defense mechanism. This would help explain how Rean did not remember his real parentage until his encounter with Osborne in CS2 jogged his memory. Further stressing Rean were the controversies surrounding his adoption, which were not at all his fault but still interpreted as such by him, and the sudden, gory manner in which he learned of his ogre power. With such a potent combination of stressors burdening his young mind, it is no surprise to me that it took Rean such a long time to overcome his feelings of guilt and worthlessness. He was saddled with depression during the most formative period of his life, and like any mental illness, depression cannot be overcome with just one or two instances of positive reinforcement. It is often something people have to live with for many years, with periods of relative difficulty and relative ease. Looking at it this way, it makes sense for Rean’s arc to have taken as long as it did.
Side note: Obviously, Rean’s story is not the most realistic depiction of depression in fiction, but the manner in which it unfolds and is presented is still enough for me to take it seriously as a journey of struggling with mental health. When Rean receives support or encouragement from his friends and family, it helps in the short-term, but does little to erode the larger problem because that simply isn’t enough. Further, Rean’s progress is not linear, but is marked with occasional setbacks: In CS2, he finally learns to stop fearing his ogre power, but in CS3, we see that he is still vulnerable to losing control of it, and he does so during the Northern War and in the finale of that game. He receives a pendant (“meds?”) and training (“therapy?”) to control said power in CS3, but he still struggles with it. In CS4’s “bad” ending, even after everything he has gone through, Rean falls back into his old habits of self-sacrifice, because that’s how “baked-in” his problems are; he doesn’t even see the issue because he’s lived that way for so long. It is CS3’s finale that is the most striking part of Rean’s journey to me: In my eyes, it is the same as Rean having a mental breakdown, too overcome by his own emotional turmoil to control himself. He becomes consumed by his own demons, literally and figuratively, and it takes the collective effort of his loved ones in CS4 to bring him back to stability.
It is also fitting that Rean’s big turning point - the moment in Reverie where he sees the pain his martyr-esque behavior causes others - is as dramatic as the instances that facilitated Rean’s internal struggle to begin with. What I particularly appreciate about this chunk of Rean’s arc is that it is presented as Rean finally realizing the change he needs to make, rather than him being instantly cured of his ailments. It is simply him resolving to change his outlook on himself and his relationships, and that feels more grounded to me than any alternative route the writers could have taken.

Personality

Rean is a kind, courageous, selfless individual who greatly cares about those around him. Despite his own low self-esteem, he is a gifted speaker and possesses the spirit of a natural-born leader. It is this charisma that quickly made him the de facto leader of Class VII, as he often served as an intermediary for the interpersonal clashes between his other classmates (see: Machias/Jusis and Fie/Laura). He often goes out of his way to help his peers solve problems or make their lives easier. This behavior is propelled by his own feelings of worthlessness, which causes his generosity to often escalate to self-sacrificial activity. On the occasions when Rean is unable to help someone, he often feels guilty, even if the problem at hand was not his fault or was out of his control (examples include his inability to stop Vulcan and Crow from dying in CS2).
Rean is also extraordinarily perceptive thanks to his Unclouded Eye technique, which he learned from Yun Ka-fai. This allows him to set aside any preconceived notions or prejudices he may have and accurately discern a person’s true nature. His training also allows him to notice things others may not, such as objects moving at high speed or unseen people/creatures in his vicinity. At the same time, there are things he struggles to pick up on, namely when it comes to others’ feelings regarding him. Rean often fumbles when it comes to romantic/intimate interactions with the girls in his life, either unintentionally flustering them or failing to understand how deep their feelings run. Rean also fails to understand how his martyr behavior hurts those he cares about, despite numerous incidents ending with people refusing to abandon him and calling him out for perceived recklessness.
Analysis: One thing I’ve always appreciated about Rean is that, despite his serious personal problems, he never comes off as whiny, annoying, cringe, etc. He knows how to compartmentalize and portray an air of confidence and amicability; I would attribute this to his noble upbringing, as we see similar behavior in other noble characters like Laura and Jusis. His natural ability as a speaker and leader are reminiscent of Osborne’s, as is his penchant for self-sacrificial behavior; Osborne was, after all, willing to bond with Ishmelga, literally give his heart to his son, and turn himself into a villain for the sake of his people.
There are considerable differences between Rean and the three protagonists who preceded him. He is almost the antithesis of Estelle: She is lively, spontaneous, and unafraid to open up to others emotionally, Rean is more reserved and measured, and is initially guarded, though he does learn to express himself over time. While he does share similar backstory details to Kevin, their outward personalities are starkly different, with Kevin being suave and laid-back and Rean being more serious and passive. As for Lloyd, while Rean does share his kindness, perception, and leadership ability, the two do have their differences as well. Lloyd’s arc is about starting from nothing and overcoming barriers, gaining strength along the way. He is driven by a commitment to justice and a zealous patriotic spirit. Rean, on the other hand, starts out with great power at a young age but struggles to control it, making his journey more internal and personal than Lloyd’s. Additionally, his fighting spirit comes not from burning passion, but from steely nerve and trust in his companions. And, of course, he is not morally gray like his successor, Van.

Relationships

Due to the sheer number of people Rean becomes involved with, I will only address his more notable relationships. Many will be in clusters, with only a select few individuals receiving their own entries.

• Old Class VII: Old Class VII is Rean’s core friend group through the entire Cold Steel arc. They are the ones who fight by his side during the arc’s major events, including the Erebonian civil war, the Great Twilight, and more. Although Emma Millstein was class president during their student years, Rean gradually becomes Old Class VII’s’ de facto leader in the field due to his good rapport with all its members and his role in helping them bond with each other. By the end of CS1, he is very much the proverbial glue that holds Old Class VII together, and Rean executes this role flawlessly in CS2 by bringing their scattered members back together again. Despite his love for his classmates, Rean largely hesitates to seek them out for emotional support due to his low self-worth, and it isn’t until he sees their heartbroken reactions to his “death” in Reverie when he realizes how much he means to them.
• New Class VII: Rean is New Class VII’s teacher at Thors’s branch campus starting in CS3. Over the course of the game and its sequels, he forms a unique bond with each of his five students: A father-like figure for Altina, a tough-love mentor for Ash, a source of confidence for Kurt, a role model for Juna and… uh… maybe I shouldn’t discuss Musse. Anyway, the wisdom Rean imparts on New Class VII helps them all mature into capable young adults, particularly Juna, who essentially fills Rean’s shoes in CS4 Chapter 1 and leads the charge to rescue him from Osborne.
• Schwarzer family: Rean’s adopted parents and sister. Rean cares deeply about the Schwarzers, to the point where seeing them being physically threatened causes his ogre powers to manifest uncontrollably in CS1-2. At the same time, despite having the Schwarzer’s unconditional love and support, Rean feels like a significant burden to them for much of his young life, particularly to Teo. This matter is eventually settled by the end of CS2. There is also the matter of Elise, his younger sister, who develops feelings for him as they age (writing that did not sit well with me at all, but the show must go on…). Rean, for his part, is exceptionally protective of Elise until she finally rebuffs this part of him in Reverie, arguing that she is strong enough to take care of herself.
• Crow Armbrust: If any one member of Class VII, new or old, deserves an individual mention, it is unquestionably Crow. Crow and Rean share a unique, dynamic relationship that evolves considerably over the four Cold Steel games. In the beginning, Crow is Rean’s rival and superior in many ways. He is older, more cunning, and a stronger Awakener than Rean (at least when piloting Ordine). But over time, Rean gains strength and confidence, which allows him to beat Crow in CS2, and then defeat him again in CS4, at which point he essentially becomes Crow's lord and retainer by sparing his life.
  • The two are very much foils for one another, with similarities and differences: Both are young men who are descended from political leaders (who were themselves bitter enemies). Both are Awakeners guided by witches - Crow by the mighty Vita and Rean by the fledgling Emma and Celine. At the same time they are almost total opposites as people, with Crow being cocky, deceptive, and rebellious, while Rean is modest, honest, and upstanding. Even their hair colors contrast! In that sense, Crow also serves as a benchmark for Rean's growth, as their relationship roles essentially switch in CS4, with Rean gaining dominance over Crow.
• Yun Ka-fai: Because there is still much mystery surrounding Yun Ka-fai, it is difficult to dissect him in the context of this write-up. However, we do know that Rean was Yun's last discipline - the last of four. Rean also receives correspondence from Yun at various points in the story, largely to give life updates and confer higher ranks onto Rean (Is this the Trails equivalent of Zoom classes? No, wait, they have actual tech for that…). From the content of his letters, Yun seems to think highly of Rean as both a person and a swordsman. Despite not being present for Rean's final few years of training, Yun understands Rean's journey intimately, to the point where he feels comfortable making Rean a Divine Blade through a proxy in CS4. This begs questions: How does Yun know so much? Does he possess some form of the Unclouded Eye that lets him detect such things in his students? Is he basically Yoda? Or is someone watching Rean on Yun's behalf? Furthermore, in his letter to Rean in CS3, he says he will impart his final teachings onto Rean “when” they meet again. This might be reading too much into it, but Yun seems quite confident he will see Rean again. My guess is that Yun has something planned, if not for Rean, then for all of his disciples. And I suspect that that plan was part of why Yun chose to promote Rean to Divine Blade when he did. The timing, right before the final battle at the Duatha de Danann, is too convenient for me to ignore. Either Yun wanted to help Rean reach peak form in time, or he had some other motive. Or both.
• Giliath Osborne: Osborne is Rean's biological father. Despite coming off as callous at first, it becomes clear in CS4 and Reverie that Osborne truly loved his son and was willing to sacrifice everything for him, including his heart (literally) and his humanity. Rean inherited a number of traits from Osborne, including his charisma, leadership ability, flawed selflessness, and strength of spirit. The two share an innate need to put others’ happiness over their own, albeit for different reasons, and both suffered in silence for years because of it. This is part of why, despite having the same goal, Rean and Osborne both fought each other with all they had during the final Rivalry: Neither wanted to see the other inherit the curse's full power, Osborne because he didn't want to see Rean suffer any longer and Rean because he essentially accepted that he was the curse's Sacrifice. After CS4, Rean learns more about Osborne's inner thoughts and motives, developing a deep admiration for his father and a desire to make his sacrifice worthwhile.
• Lloyd Bannings: Lloyd and Rean are quite comparable. They are the main protagonists of their respective arcs, both are leaders in their own right, both embody aspects of the “dense male protagonist” trope, and both are overall kind, perceptive (outside of romance), overall heroic young men. But like Crow, Lloyd is a foil for Rean, and this is apparent from their very first meeting, in CS2's Divertissement. Lloyd and Rean's circumstances were polar opposites: Lloyd was a vigilante, relegated to the shadows, with only a skeleton crew for support, while Rean was an Erebonian national hero with a Divine Knight and the full power of his country behind him. At the same time, Rean had no agency during this time, as he had been manipulated by Osborne into accepting such status and becoming part of a reprehensible operation. Lloyd, on the other hand, was a free agent, uncompromising in his ideals and fighting tirelessly for true justice. In short, Lloyd was powerless but free, while Rean was powerful but trapped. In that moment, it is obvious that Rean respected Lloyd's convictions and may have even envied him. Fortunately for the two, they find themselves on the same side in CS4 and a proper friendship between the two forms.
• Patrick Hyarms: Patrick and Rean’s relationship had an uneasy start. Although Patrick initially tried to ingratiate himself with Rean, he was rebuffed due to his elitist attitude towards commoners and other non-nobles. Patrick was quick to change his disposition towards Rean, treating him with disgust due to his unknown origins and lack of noble blood. After being humiliated by Rean and the other non-noble men of Class VII, Patrick starts to reassess his mindset and eventually becomes more accepting of non-nobles. This, in turn, leads to Rean and Patrick becoming friends, and in CS3, the two are shown to be trusted partners in certain areas. The friendship is somewhat complicated by Patrick’s romantic interest in Elise, of whom Rean is especially protective.

Future

As a main series protagonist, Rean is basically guaranteed to return in a future game. Whether or not he will be playable or have a significant role in said game is difficult to ascertain, but given his lengthy period of stardom in the Cold Steel games and Trails’s treatment of other past protagonists, my guess is that he will take more of a side role. Since Rean was looking for Yun Ka-fai after Reverie, and Yun is set to appear in Kai no Kiseki, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rean in that game at all - at least in flashback form. Failing that, Rean will surely appear in or close to the series finale. Of this I am certain.

Misc. Notes/Commentary

• Funnily enough, Rean’s final struggle with his powers in CS3-4 reminds me somewhat of the finale of Steven Universe Future, which similarly ends with the protagonist losing control of his powers and turning into a raging monster. It is only through the love and reassurance of Steven’s friends and family that he is able to return to normal, and like Rean, he is not necessarily “cured” of anything; he simply has a newfound resolve to get better.
• For those curious: I did not include discussion of Rean’s “harem” in this analysis because I do not see it as a core part of his character. The dating sim aspect of the Cold Steel games is just a silly fanservice gimmick and has no bearing on Rean’s growth or development. While it might have indirectly limited the interpersonal relationships the female characters of CS could form with other males, it did not have a similar effect on Rean.
  • Ftr, I romanced Alisa in CS2 and Sara in CS4.
• Rean’s two big “power of friendship” moments in the series - unlocking Spirit Unification in CS2’s Intermission and snapping out of his ogre rage in CS4’s Fragments chapter - both involve him being faced with a golden crystal which symbolizes his many loving relationships. This is a minor detail, but I do appreciate the parallels at work here.

strength:

• Manhandles Jon and carries him outside
  
• Manhandles Jon and crams his entire body into a cat carrier
  
• Manhandles Jon and uses his foot to plug a leaky faucet
  
• Manhandles Jon, using him as a TV remote
  
• Ragdolls John with a single swipe
  
• Kicks Jon’s chair over, with Jon in it.
  
• Gives Jon a limp
  
• Stuffs Jon’s head in a bottle
  
• Implies he can rip off Jon’s lips.
  
• Actually does it.
  
• Shreds Jon’s chair into an unrecognizable mess
  
• Shreds a couch up until there’s nothing left but a tiny scrap of fabric.
  
• Slams a mailman around like nothing
  
• Hauls Jon up a tree at running speed
  
• Holds himself up by his teeth
  
• Lifts his body weight with his teeth
  
• Rips out a tv’s screen with his teeth
  
• Bends a mirror
  
• Drives a long nail through a door
  
• Pushes Odie all the way around a swingset
  
• Cleanly bisects a christmas tree by slamming a door
  
• Sends a snowman’s head flying with a baseball bat
  
• Breaks a table in two with a stomp
  
• Stomps Odie flat
  
• Stomps through the floorboards
  
• Flings an apple hard enough to knock Odie flying
  
• Knocks Jon over with a snowball
  
• Bashes down a door
  
• Punches down a door
  
• Accidently pushes a door off its hinges
  
• Knocks a down a door by tackling Jon into it
  
• Pushes a door off its hinges and walks with its weight on his back into his house
  
• Busts a hole in the door
  
• Again
  
• Smashes a cat door off its hinges with a single push
  
• Smashes a door in half with Odie
  
• Working with Odie, busts down a door using Jon’s chair as a battering ram.
  
• Sends a fence gate flying off its hinges by smashing into it
  
• Smashes his head through a table
  
• Catches up to a car and rips its fender off
  
• Catches up to a car and rips an entire axle off
  
• Rips a fender off a car and a mailbox out of the ground
  
• Sends Jon flying with a kick
  
• Hurls an adult woman out of his house
  
• Drags a woman back to Jon
  
• Drags a mailman to Jon as a gift
  
• Drags and carries Jon outside
  
• Walks with the weight of Jon and a chair on his back
  
• Rips the cap off a fire hydrant
  
• Launches Odie into the horizon
  
• Punches another cat so hard they go flying
  
• Launches another cat into the horizon
  
• Launches Odie above the panel
  
• Kicks Odie to the ceiling
  
• Kicks Odie from one room into the other
  
• Punts Odie into the distance
  
• Launches Odie above the panel. Claims to have sent him to the moon.
  
• Kicks Odie so hard, he spins fast enough to hover in the air
  
• Kicks Odie so high in the air, it takes a significant amount of time for him to fall back down
  
• Smacks Odie with a signpost hard enough to send him flying far into the distance.
  
• Smacks Nermal high into the sky
  
• Sends Nermal flying with a flick
  
• Sends Nermal through a door
  
• Again
  
• And again
  
• Sends Nermal flying through a wall
  
• Smashes an enormous spider with a rolled up newspaper
  
• Lifts a table full of food
  
• Juggles a sofa
  
• Hurls a tv
  
• Holds up a tv
  
• Nails a tv to the ceiling
  
• Lifts a refrigerator
  
• Lifts a refrigerator and a giant magnet
  
• Pushes a refrigerator
  
• Rips a refrigerator door off its hinges offscreen
  
• Moves Jon’s above ground pool inside to disguise it as a food dish
  
• Dumps a large piano onto a scale
  
• Holds up a large safe on a pulley
  
• Reels a stone birdbath into his mouth
  
• Carries an entire tree into his house
  
• Holds up a giant coffee cup
  
• Holds up a giant donut with one hand
  
• Holds a giant burger
  
• Punts Odie into the distance
  
• And again
  
• Together with Odie, smashes through a wall
  
• Pulls down a chunk of wall
  
• Smashes into a wall with enough force to crack it
  
• Again
  
• Pushes his way out from inside the walls
  
• Jumps through the ceiling
  
• None of Odie's attempts to move him makes him budge
  
• Jon can’t pull him an inch on a leash
  
• Smashes an alarm clock
  
• Smashes a phone
  
• Mangles a scale
  
• With a swipe of his claws, knocks two bricks out of a fireplace
  
• Rips the concrete basin off a birdbath and carries it away
  
• Karate chops a table leg in two
  
• Either carries or creates a giant snowball on the roof of the house and pushes it onto Jon
  
• Throws a massive snowball high into the air to land on Jon.
  
• Pushes Jon’s bed out the window
  
• Rips a fire hydrant out of the ground
  
• Bends a traffic sign by accidentally running into it
  
• Carries a Christmas tree in his teeth
  
• Catches a shark and carries it to shore
  
• Using all of the snow in his yard, builds an enormous snowman that dwarfs his house.
  
• Smashes an ice cream truck, causing its roof to cave in
  
• Slams a window so hard the entire house collapses
  
• Lifts up his house using a jack
  
• Lifts a Christmas tree and shakes all its needles off
  
• Lifts a pile of food larger than himself
  
• Pulls a fish’s skeleton out of its body
  
• Rips a dial off a tv and sends it through a window
  
• Throws Odie
  
• Smacks a clown through a circus tent
  
• Walks with a pile of mud 2/3rds as tall as Jon stuck to his feet
  
• His tongue punches a hole through his bowl and the table it’s on
  
• Blows a spider out of a rolled up newspaper with enough force to stretch a screen window as far as the door it’s attached to is tall.
  
• Inflates a balloon so large it expands beyond the confines of the house he's in and lifts it off the ground
  
• Sucks an entire roast chicken through a straw
  
• Similar feat
  
• The coffee he drinks seems to grant improved strength, allowing an ordinary fly to carry Jon through the air at full speed
  

Durability:

• No-sells a potted plant to the head
  
• Tanks a watermelon to the head
  
• Takes multiple shoes to the head in succession
  
• Is hit in the head by a thrown spotlight
  
• Takes a hit from a guided newspaper launcher
  
• Gets mauled by a puma
  
• Is thrown against a wall by a buff mailman
  
• Gets smacked flying off-panel by a dog
  
• No-sells a kick from Odie
  
• Survives being accidentally set on fire while soaked with alcohol
  
• Falls onto a lit grill
  
• Ignores his blanket being on fire while wrapped in it
  
• Is inside a fondue pot as it boils
  
• Survives a heat wave so bad it melts a radio into liquid
  
• Eats lit candles
  
• Sticks his tongue in a waffle iron
  
• Implied to regularly drink and enjoy coffee so strong a few drops of it melts through a table and bends spoons.
  
• His face gets frozen into a birdbath
  
• Has his lips ripped from his face by the g-force of sledding down a hill
  
• Has a concentrated beam of sunlight shine directly into his eye
  
• Gets shocked by Jon’s electrified cookie jar
  
• Gets struck by lightning
  
• Survives being trapped inside a washing machine as it runs
  
• Again
  
• Is stuck by every single quill from a porcupine
  
• Is eaten by a snake
  
• Is run over by a lawnmower
  
• Has his tail stuck in a pencil sharpener
  
• Is flung through through a window
  
• Has a door slammed on him hard enough to crack a wall
  
• Is flattened by Jon slamming a door
  
• Again
  
• Is squashed flat as a pancake by a larger cat
  
• Gets brutalized by a whole gang of street dogs at once and enjoys it
  
• Survives a fall so hard he leaves a deep hole in the ground
  
• Again
  
• And Again
  
• Has a fridge fall on him
  
• Has a piano fall on his head
  
• Again
  
• Is crushed under a chunk of crumbling wall
  
• Is crushed under a larger chunk of wall
  
• Is crushed under a huge section of wall
  
• Has a slab of concrete fall on his head
  
• Has a giant can of cola fall on him
  
• Has a tree fall on him
  
• Has a large pile of sand dropped on him
  
• Has a large stone wheel hurled at him
  
• Is hit by a wrecking ball
  
• Falls from the roof of his house onto concrete
  
• Falls down a chimney
  
• Falls down a manhole
  
• Falls down a sinkhole
  
• Has his head rammed through the ceiling
  
• Again
  
• Steps out of a car going over 50mph
  
• Is bounced back by a screen door hard enough to crack a wall and topple furniture
  
• Gets smashed through a wall
  
• Is used as a battering ram to bust through a wall
  
• Falls from a great height out of a bird’s grip 1, 2
  
• Has a land mine explode in his face
  
• Implied to have been hit by a truck
  
• Is hit by a car
  
• Has a house collapse on him
  
• Survives without his stomach after it temporarily leaves his body
  
• Has the endurance to hang from a treebranch for an entire week
  
• Stays in the same spot long enough for the moon to wax from crescent to full waiting for a flower to grow.
  

Speed/Agility:

• [Eats an immense amount of food in a single panel. Doubles as a durability feat for his stomach, as Jon states that that much food should cause him to burst if he tries to eat it all]
  
• [Eats all the food in a refrigerator in a very short time]
  
• [Eats a million meals in the same day by noon. This is even more impressive, as Garfield is famously averse to waking up early and fond of sleeping in, meaning it’s likely he didn’t have much time after waking up to eat a million meals before 12:00. For a little more context, Jon states that Garfield sleeps an average of 18 hours a day.
  
• [While on a short walk, eats so many canaries he causes a city-wide shortage]
  
• [With Odie, completely wrecks Jon’s living room in a single second]
  
• [Leaves with all the furniture in a room after Jon leaves it briefly before he can return]
  
• [Outruns a charging bull]
  
• [Dodges out of the way of speeding cars]
  
• [Leaps out of the path of a speeding truck]
  
• [Keeps pace with a speeding car]
  
• [Again]
  
• [Keeps pace with an ice cream truck]
  
• [Claims to be “faster than a speeding delivery truck”]
  
• [Outruns rolling donuts, reaching the floor before they can fall off a table. ]
  
• [Outruns the world’s largest ball of twine as it rolls down a hill after him]
  
• [Outruns a rolling snowball]
  
• [Runs up the wall and across the ceiling to the other side of the room in only a few panels]
  
• [Dodges a thrown shoe]
  
• [Dodges a thrown pair of binoculars]
  
• [Dodges a thrown pie with enough force behind it to knock the moon out of the sky]
  
• [Catches a thrown potted plant]
  
• [Eats his birthday cake out from under its candles, leaving them briefly suspended in the air]
  
• [Catches on to Odie’s tongue as he runs by]
  
• [Leaps to catch a piece of toast mid-air the second it pops up]
  
• [Again]
  
• [Eats several apples out of the air as Jon is juggling them]
  
• [Eats a butterfly out of the air mid-flight]
  
• [Snatches a fly out of the air]
  
• [Leaps to snatch a donut out of Jon’s hands before he can take a bite]
  
• [Rapidly decorates a tree in what Jon estimates to be a world record]
  
• [Catches up to a car and rips its fender off]
  
• [Catches up to a car and rips an entire axle off]
  
• [Demonstrates shocking agility chasing after a thrown mouse]
  
• [Does a flip]
  
• [Flips in midair to land on his feet at the last second]
  
• [Leaps from the floor to the ceiling off-panel]
  
• [Leaps from a table to the ceiling]
  
• [Walks on his front paws]
  
• [Balances a potted plant on his head while rolling atop a ball]
  
• [Swims rapidly into the sunset]
  
• [Spins his leg around so fast he takes flight like a helicopter]
  
• [While trying to escape a sweater, spins fast enough he becomes a small tornado]
  
• [Moves as a blur for a quick costume change]
  
• [After eating caffeinated sweets, he becomes a blur, bouncing off the walls and ceiling.]
  
• [Moves so fast, he seems to vanish panel-to-panel. Gets to his food dish and cleans it out before Jon can finish saying his name]
  
• [Moves so fast, his slipstream shreds Jon’s clothes]
  
• [Zooms in from a long distance away before Odie can take a bite of his food]
  
• [Catches a sandwich before it can hit the floor]
  
• [Zooms out of bed, eats dinner, and returns before his blanket has time to fall to the ground]
  
• [Spots a snowflake, and runs back inside, dragging Jon out to see it before it touches the ground.]
  
• [Moves to his bed before a lightbulb can go out]
  
• [Moves faster than the speed of sound]
  
• [Regularly keeps up with the mice in his house, who are implied to be FTE (except for the fat ones).]
  
• [Moves FTE]
  
• [Moves FTE, eating all the food out of his food bowl in the time it takes Jon to blink]
  
• [Eats a goldfish FTE in the space it takes the reader to blink]
  
• [Somehow loops back around after leaving the panel while Jon is still watching him]
  
• [Lets go of a tree branch to rub his arms, then grabs back on before he has time to fall]
  
• [Changes channels on a tv so fast it explodes and the remote starts to smoke]
  

Misc:

• [Eats an entire lasagna, pan and all]
  
• [Eats 219 lbs of lasagna]
  
• [Eats so many calories in one sitting, Jon’s calculator violently malfunctions from processing such a large number]
  
• [While on a walk, eats so many canaries he causes a city-wide shortage]
  
• [Eats an entire bowl of food, bowl included]
  
• [Again]
  
• [Eats the pants off of Jon]
  
• [Eats a tv remote]
  
• [Eats a bag of tools Jon bought from the hardware store, then spits one back up]
  
• [Eats a brick]
  
• [Casually eats a coffee cup]
  
• [Eats a poison frog]
  
• [Ate a poison toad]
  
• [Fits an entire cake in his mouth]
  
• [Again]
  
• [And Again]
  
• [He just keeps going at it]
  
• [Fits 200 french fries in his mouth]
  
• [Fits an entire glass fishbowl in his mouth]
  
• [Implied to have eaten an entire cow]
  
• [Eats a large fish-shaped sign]
  
• [Eats a giant burger larger than himself]
  
• [Eats a puffer fish, and has it expand to fifty times its size inside him]
  
• [Burps for 43 seconds straight]
  
• [Burps hard enough to send Jon and Odie flying, blow a door off its hinges, and peel away sections of sidewalk.]
  
• [Breathes fire after eating a peruvian death pepper]
  
• [Sneezes the petals off a large group of flowers]
  
• [With a single sneeze, he blows away Jon, Odie, and a whole room’s worth of furniture]
  
• [Sneezes hard enough to propel himself partially through a wall, widening an existing mousehole]
  
• [Can walk on ceilings]
  
• [Again]
  
• [And again]
  
• [His weight crushes a scale]
  
• [Even Santa Claus thinks he’s fat]
  
• [His weight bends a long wooden table]
  
• [His weight tips over Jon’s bed]
  
• [Again]
  
• [His weight bends metal playground equipment]
  
• [His weight causes a section of floor to collapse]
  
• [His weight topples a tree when he tries to climb it]
  
• [His weight causes ripples in a hardwood floor]
  
• [He is so heavy that he causes Jon’s chair to bounce into the air just by running nearby]
  
• [He’s heavy enough to pound a very deep, very wide hole into the ground just by cannonballing into a pool]
  
• [His weight warps the very medium of his existence, causing a panel he’s in to bend]
  
• [Wins a cat show]
  
• [Nobody can kill him without an appointment]
  
• [Apparently, he’s already dead]
  
• [With a single swipe, perfectly slices a loaf of bread]
  
• [Swats three spiders at once]
  
• [Scares off a dog larger than he is]
  
• [Can intimidate machinery into fixing itself]
  
• [Intimidates light itself to move]
  
• [Intimidates a balloon into staying afloat]
  
• [He commands snow to stop falling. With a glare, he even sends an errant flake back into the sky.]
  
• [Is completely unafraid of monsters]
  
• [Kills a flower with a single word[
  
• [His breath melts a vase and a picture frame]
  
• [His breath melts a metal fork and a glass cup]
  
• [His breath melts his own teeth]
  
• [His breath instantly knocks out Jon]
  
• [Nails Jon right under the nose with a party horn]
  
• [Lands several thrown donuts on Jon’s novelty moustache]
  
• [Hits Jon right between the eyes with a toy bow & arrow]
  
• [Plays at skeet shooting pieces of toast as they pop out of a toaster, and doesn’t miss a single one (we don’t see any arrows on the ground that haven’t impaled toast)
  
• [Nails Jon in the head with a rock]
  
• [Nails a mouse with a snowball]
  
• [Rapidly nails Jon and Odie with snowballs]
  
• [Uses a birdbath to hit Jon with a perfectly ricocheted snowball]
  
• [Can rapidly spit tennis balls like an automatic launcher]
  
• [Is an expert fisherman---without even using a pole!]
  
• [Pretty good at throwing his voice]
  
• [Steals Jon’s credit cards and uses them to buy himself a designer Italian suit]
  
• [Pickpockets an old man without him noticing]
  
• [Manages to sneak inside his own birthday cake without Jon or Odie seeing him]
  
• [Is aware he’s in a comic strip]
  
• [Addresses his reader directly]
  
• [Knows he’s printed on paper]
  
• [Is aware what angle he is being drawn from]
  
• [Pops his own snooze bubble]
  
• [Rotates his own snooze bubble]
  
• [Uses his knowledge of the fourth wall to steal a snooze bubble from Jon, depriving him of sleep]
  
• [Smacks Jon in the face with his snooze bubble]
  
• [Throws his own snooze bubble at Jon as a weapon]
  
• [Can play a piano from inside of it]
  
• [Can play guitar]
  
• [Makes a sandwich so large it stretches from his house across the street]
  
• [Can precisely identify the dish a stain came from by taste]
  
• [Knows what old hyena tastes like]
  
• [Hears Jon whispering from across the house]
  
• [While asleep, hears a pizza delivery happening three blocks away and is able to tell what toppings are on it.]
  
• [Can “hear ice cream”]
  
• [Implied to also be able to hear donuts.]
  
• [Chases an invisible mouse]
  
• [Steals a security camera out from under Jon’s nose, then pawns it without him noticing until later]
  
• [Plans out an exact chain reaction triggered by John slamming a door]
  
• [Perfectly measures out a hole to cut in the floor for Jon]
  
• [Double-Bamboozles Jon]
  
• [Melts his rubber mouse down and makes earplugs out of it]
  
• [Builds a revolving glass door into a refrigerator]
  
• [Rebuilds the front door so that it opens like a pet door and vice versa.]
  
• [Builds a trap door into a table for spiders]
  
• [Uses parts from an automatic dog door Jon bought to create a remote activated trap door for Odie]
  
• [Disables Jon’s brakes]
  
• [Reprogramme’s a scale with a complex AI. ]
  
• [Creates an elaborate blueprint for his birthday cake, including electrical wiring schematics ]
  
• [Builds a remote activated trap for birds “disguised” as a birdbath]
  
• [Creates an elaborate trap for a dog]
  
• [Sets a working trap for Santa Claus]
  
• [Sets traps for mailmen]
  
• [Sets up snowball lobbing booby traps all over the yard]
  
• [Robs a bank. Claims it was an accident.]
  
• [Steals milk from babies]
  
• [Turns Jon into a tourist attraction, and gets on the news]
  
• [Has a secret plan to lead cats to world domination]
  
• [Counts all the bricks in a silo]
  
• [Knows the exact moment when Jon will wake up every morning]
  
• [Pulls all the fabric off a chair, then knits it perfectly back into shape]
  
• [Using only his claws, carves a sofa into a statue of himself]
  
• [Elongates his body]
  
• [Has his body squeezed and elongated by a corset]
  
• [Has his neck stretched thin by a tight turtleneck]
  
• [Has his body stretched thin and compressed by a shrinking sweater]
  
• [Squashes himself flat with a recliner]
  
• [Able to have his body freely stretched]
  
• [Temporarily alters his body to appear extremely muscular]
  
• [Again]
  
• [Rapidly accumulates muscle mass in his arms simply by eating]
  
• [Has his face squashed into a square shape from sleeping in a corner]
  
• [After colliding with Odie, both have their front halves flattened]
  
• [Can tuck his head into his body like a turtle]
  
• [Can transfer his mass from his torso to his tail]
  
• [Gets squashed into a space between fence posts]
  
• [Squeezes into a vase far smaller than him]
  
• [Again]
  
• [Squeezes his entire body into a coffee cup]
  
• [He and Jon’s heads are shoved into the same bottle]
  
• [Hides his entire body flat under his cat bed]
  
• [Hides his entire body behind a thin lamp]
  
• [Stretches his arm to fit around a refrigerator]
  
• [Stretches his lips far from his face]
  
• [Extends his jaw]
  
• [Transforms into a monster on Halloween]
  
• [Is able to breathe while submerged in food]
  
• [Has his face turned upside down]
  
• [Has his face pucker inwards, folding in on itself]
  
• [Has opposable thumbs]
  
• [Sheds. A lot. Completely blankets John and a table with shed hair.]
  
• [His stomach can separate from the rest of his body, acting independently]
  
• [By viewing the world upside down, he alters the direction of gravity]
  
• [Able to move in slow motion at will, reducing his falls to a snail’s pace]
  
• [Warps reality by tilting a painting]
  
• [Sends Odie through time into the future with a kick]
  
• [Wills himself from an alternate time back to his own]
  
• [Can apparently travel freely between comic strips. Also more fourth wall awareness.]
  
• [Just.. completely breaks physics]
  
• [Seems to be able to make wishes and have them granted, albeit in a way he doesn’t always like]
  
• [Makes a birthday with for his cake to be bigger and has it come true]
  
• [Manifests objects from his dreams in real life]
  
• [Seems to be able to physically manifest and interact with figments of his psyche. Eats donuts representing his conscience, leaving behind crumbs that indicate they’re in some way real. ]
  
• [Can infiltrate other people’s daydreams and interact with them]
  
• [Breaks a mirror with his looks]
  
• [Sings a note high enough to “shatter paper”]
  
• [Flicks off Odie’s nose]
  
• [Swaps noses with Odie, forcing him to suffer a sneeze]
  
• [Adjusts a dog’s nose like a dial to force it to bark more quietly]
  
• [Seemingly teleports Odie’s head from a top hat into his food dish]
  
• [Moves a mousehole while it’s still in the wall]
  
• [Has a flamethrower]
  
• [Has a chainsaw]
  
• [Has a dart gun]
  
• [Has a giant slingshot]
  
• [Has a “mouse call”]
  

Things I really like but also hate

• [King Kong canonically exists in Garfield’s world]
  
• [So do monsters]
  
• [And aliens]
  

Thank you for the amazing universe!
l Prologue l Previous l Next l
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Will he live?"
The Kolshian doctor ensured that the IV line was set properly in the arm, given feathers and fur tended to get in the way. But he knew what he was doing, and the needle slipped beneath the skin without protest. Confident that the connection was good, he stepped back, taking in the full form of Kalsim with bulbous orange eyes.
The captain was better off than when they found him in the cave, but that wasn't saying much. Naked, delirious, covered in blood, and on the brink of death. His guard wasn't doing much better, spare the mortal injury, but hysterical regardless. He was talking now, but Kalsim wasn't so lucky.
"Barely, maybe. I'm surprised he survived for as long as he did, given the extent of the gash." He regarded the large compress wrapped around the captains chest. Underneath, teal colored medigel worked feverishly to repair the wound. "I'm gonna say the makeshift bandage saved his life."
"Good thinking on his guards part, bad on mine." The other observer sighed. "If only we just escorted him through, all of this could've been avoided. But that's in the past now. Did you manage to preform a brain scan yet?"
The doctor shook his tail. "Unfortunately, it's better to wait until he's stable to run the scan through."
The other thought for a moment. "Do it now."
The doctor was taken slightly aback. "But sir, doing a brain scan on him, in this condition? There's a real chance that the process might kill him."
"I know the risk, but its one we have to take. If he dies, we lose our only piece on the board."
"Are you sure? How useful are his memories to us? Don't we need him alive?"
The other walked to the beside, and gently stroked a tentacles across Kalsim's chest. It carried with it small flakes of violet blood, which a single rub turned to dust.
"We don't need his body, but we need his mind. No matter what happens, we continue on as planned. Understand?"
The doctor was still hesitant, tentacles and tail rapping fidgeting nervously. "Alright, I can get it done. I'm just telling you now that I don't think this is a good idea."
"Nothing we've done so far has been a good idea." The other stepped back from the bed, and moved to exit the small medbay. "But we do what's necessary."
The doctor began the process of setting up the brain scan, while the other made for the door. He took one step out, before he raised his tentacle, and turned back to face the doctor.
"Oh, and do let me know when he wakes up. We have much to discuss."
Memory transcription subject: Kalsim, Captain, United Federation Fleet
Date [standardized human time]: December 31st, 2136
It was not the sound of Kelum's voice that awoke me, nor the agony pulling my chest apart. My first sense of awareness was entirely lacking them, replaced instead by a repeating electronic beat, and what sounded like someone rustling around inside of a cabinet. And pressing against by body was not the ungrateful chill of bare rock, but a plush mattress and soft sheets.
Am I...dead?
Opening my ideas left me staring across what appeared to be a small medbay. At least, it looked like any medbay I would find on one of my ships. Taking the place of the usual zurulian personnel, however, was a kolshain, a deep green, donned in a coat, tentacles shifting through a cabinet hanging over the basin.
"W-where am I?"
The kolshian spun around instantaneously, eyes widened at the sound of my frail voice. "Stars above, your awake." He rushed to my side and began scanning over my face. "How are you feeling? Any pain, any grogginess?"
Maybe I'm not dead? "I...feel fine, I think. The pain is gone, at least."
The kolshain nodded. "Then the medigel did its work, thank the stars above. It looks like your going to be alright."
I looked down to see a large bandage wrapped around my chest, much more professional than the rags that Kelum used as a substitute. In place of the pain, a soothing cold projected from where my wound presumably laid. That must be the medigel he's talking about. I moved my wing around as a bit of a test, and found that besides a few twinges here and there, it was almost like I hadn't been raked at all.
"It's gonna take a couple of months for the wound to heal, and there's definitely going to be a scar." The doctor placed a tentacle on my shoulder. "But you should be able to walk up and about no problem. Do you feel like walking?"
"I...I guess?"
"Alright, let me help you here." A tentacle wrapped around my wing as he gently helped me out of the bed. Placing my legs down on the panel floor felt odd at first, likely the lingering effects of whatever painkillers they pumped into me. But however awkward it was, I could move.
"I gotta say Kalsim, your quite resilient. I've never seen someone survive a wound like that."
I coughed, but it only produced a small wince. "Well, maybe I just have a reason to go on."
"Yes, yes..." The doctor looked towards the door, before concerned eyes turned back to me. "Are you sure that your alright?"
"Yes, I think so..." I paused as I remembered the first question that came to mind. "Where am I? Where's Kelum?"
"Your guard is safe, no worries. He was concerned about you, so he'll be glad to know your up and about."
"Can I see him?"
Some of the doctors compassion seemed to slip away. "Not at the moment. There's more important matters to attend to."
It was then I noticed his other tentacle slipping a holopad back into his pocket. "We're you just talking to someone?"
He looked to the door. "Someone that want's to talk to you. I can bring you to him, if you like?"
"Who?"
"It's better if you meet him in person. He can explain everything."
My mind immediately went to the most obvious possibility: Could this be the person who sent me the note? I was suddenly filled with a mix of anticipation and dread. The person who revealed that my old home still existed, but who's cryptic nature nearly led to my death. He could be friend or foe, ally or enemy. He promised me an out, but it could all still be a lie. A gift wrapped box hiding a live grenade inside, ready to blow up in my face.
But it seemed that no matter what, I would have to talk to him.
"Bring me to him."
I quickly realized that the medbay was just another part of the maze-like facility me and Kelum entered in what felt like months ago. The same confusing layout, the same matte steel panel floors and ceilings, the same sickly green light bars, the same signs leading to the same places. Quarters, Maintenance, Observation.
It was a short journey, but one that nearly sent my nerves jumping out of my skin. My mind was alight with possibilities of who the person could be and what he wanted. Why did he need my help? Why not anyone else? Was it because this facility held a past dear to me? Or was there something that I wasn't seeing here? That last option felt more the case as we neared our destination.
Finally, we stepped through a doorway leading back into the familiar room. The consoles still lay dormant, the sanctuary light still blasted through the (now damaged) viewport. And standing shadowed near the edge,
SQUAW!
The sudden screech threw me back for a second, for there wasn't just a person standing at the window. Accompanying the man was one of those birds, green and gold, the very same that plucked that lizard from right in front of me and Kelum. Its sharp beaked plucked seeds from the outstretched teal tentacle before it, beady forward facing eyes planted firmly on the kolshian's face. He let the bird feed for a moment longer before his appendage returned to his side, and he turned to face me directly.
"Ah, Kalsim. I'm glad to see you up and about."
He was well above middle age, that much was clear. His voice crackled like the pages of an ancient tome, carrying knowledge and wisdom of a lifetime and more. His face was creased and spotted, his eyes were beginning to dull, and his back was beginning to damper. But he was proud and determined, all carried in a demeanor that seemed to disdain the very concept of age itself.
And that demeanor also carried a permeating aura of authority. In the gilded bands and rings around his sleeves, in the robes tailored only for those select few, in the necklace around his neck born with the symbol of the Chiefdom. Yet he was not gaudy or audacious. The blue fabric was well maintained, but not perfect. The guild shone, but was not spotless. He was powerful, but not infallible, and that he knew well.
He was unlike any shadow caste member I had ever met.
"I will see myself out." The doctor bowed before he took his leave, shutting the door in his wake.
The shadow caste member sighed. "I tell him that he doesn't need to bow, but he never listens. My colleagues leave their impression, let me tell you."
He stepped down from the observation platform, prompting the bird to fly back out the broken window. He watched it fly away, only turning back when it finally disappeared over the canopy. His tail bent in a manner that suggested happiness.
"Beautiful creatures, are they not? I can't exactly recall the name, it's probably in the archives somewhere. But I'm sure it's more than befitting of their elegance. Your people had a talent for names, even still to this day."
He stepped up in front of me, standing just slightly below my eye level.
"I'm sure you have plenty of questions, so ask away."
I was surprised at how casual he was being with all this, given that I nearly died. Is this just an act, or is he really this laid back? It would've helped if I knew his actual name.
"Who are you?"
"Ah, that's simple. I am Maronis, and before you ask, yes, I was the one to send you the note."
Maronis. The name didn't ring familiar, despite my numerous interactions with the caste. "I don't recall you."
"I didn't expect you too." He began to walk around, sliding tentacles over the dead consoles. "Truthfully, I'm one of the less prominent members of the caste. Partly because I prefer it that way, partly because I'm not the most popular."
"Popular?"
"Yes, the caste hasn't taken a particular liking to me, and that's entirely my fault. I don't apologize, and they don't expect me too. However, it has left me, how shall I say, rather uniformed."
He stopped his wandering, and turned to face me directly. His causal disposition did turn out to be an act, for a grave expression quickly took its place.
"There are happenings, Kalsim. Happenings that threaten to bring the Federation to its knees. I need your help to stop them."
"Happenings?" I had the feeling he was being intentionally vague. Or maybe... "What do you mean, happenings?"
Maronis sighed, before closing the gap and placing a tentacle on my shoulder. "Like I said, I'm rather uniformed. In that respect we are the same. Come with me."
He guided me over to the viewport, where a warm breeze blew threw the broken window. The 'sun', now nearing the horizon, sent long shadows cascading over the hills and treetops. The town laid shadowed in the center.
"Tell me Kalsim, what do you believe the purpose of this place to be?"
The answer seemed obvious now. "Some sort of habitat for pre-contact life from Nishtal."
He nodded. "In some sense, you are correct."
"In some sense?"
His eyes glowed brightly as he stared towards the horizon. "When the Federation first began on its endeavors, our government initially insisted on the complete extermination of all predator flora and fauna. The farsul, scholars that they are, disagreed, believing there to be some value in maintaining at least some samples of predatory life. Whether for the purpose of study, or that scholarly disposition towards collection."
"Eventually, they came to a compromise, whereby the farsul could maintain their little collection, as long as it was well isolated from the rest of the galaxy. It's why their archives are located a kilometer below their oceans, and why this place is here."
"As the Federation expanded, they constructed hundreds of facilities just like this. For centuries, they served their purpose without issue. And that's where the story should have ended."
But it didn't was the statement left unsaid. And something inside told me it had to do with the discovery in the cave.
"Me and Kelum, we found a skeleton of an arxur in that cave. And the town...people used to live here, didn't they?"
The 'sun' now began to dip below the horizon, and the habitat began to grow dim. Somewhere off in the distance, the calls that became somewhat familiar died into the falling darkness.
"I believe your intuition to be correct. This place was once a facility of observation, transformed into one of experimentation. To what ends, well that remains to be seen."
He turned back to me as the light finally disappeared, rendering his already teal complexion a further decomposed green.
"And I believe that this is, or was, part of a larger plot that I've yet to be let in on. I only know it by its code name, Clear Sky. A secret so important that all besides its name is to be kept from even fellow members of the shadow caste. And you know how secrets can be dangerous little things. At once seeming so minor, yet carrying the capacity to bring down entire nations, civilizations, in one fell swoop."
Maronis brought his tentacles behind his back, and began to pace the room once again. "Now let me ask you another question, Kalsim. Why does the Federation stand today?"
I watched him circle as I processed the question. "I...don't know what you mean."
"Well think about it. The Federation is responsible for numerous crimes against sapience. The destruction of entire cultures, histories, ideals inconvenient to our rule. We wage a war that we both know continues only for its sake. We stand at the core of an empire whose foundation is built on blood and bone, and we revel in it. Any sane world would have long ago rejected us. So tell me, why does the Federation stand today?"
The way he talked so casually about the essential destruction of forty four distinct species, including my own, should have given me pause. But maybe that's the point. Maybe it's because we can talk about it at all. Maybe because...
"It's no secret."
Maronis stopped, turned to face me again, and for the first time since the conversation began, let a small smile lift the corners of his mouth.
"Its. No. Secret. For centuries upon centuries, this galaxy has come to understand us, the cured, the values that we propagate, the foundations of our empire, to be the true predator, and all because one species decided not to become its prey. And from that point forward, we have had to fight for every single tiny ounce of legitimacy, to convince others that we are the path forward when reality tells of an otherwise case. And that struggle," he raised a single appendage to the air, "that is what has granted our Federation strength. For despite it all, we have crafted the most powerful polity this galaxy has ever known, and likely will know."
He paused to take a breath.
"But, to those of a less intelligent disposition," I could almost see the urge to mention Nikonus by name ripple across the kolshian's skin, "to those whose analysis errs to the superficial, they do not see this strength. They see the agitations of the Shield and the Coalition, factions which in reality can be crushed with but a flick of a tentacle. They see the furthering acceptance of the arxur, a natural product of their ideologies inevitable decay. They only see the superficial, because they only desire the superficial."
"So imagine, for a moment, if the conquest of Skalga was an uninterrupted process. If the Federation had never been given pause to reflect. What then, Kalsim?"
I'd almost forgotten that I was a part of the conversation, given how long and, dare I say, passionate his little speech had been. But reflecting on his question, the answer only seemed obvious.
"The secret would have been maintained. The Federations true nature, lacking the intervention of the Venlil, would have in all likelihood never been revealed."
"And what would it have done," Maronis continued my train of thought, "but grant the superficial strength so many seem to desire? The Federation, supreme in its power, free to enact its will upon the entire galaxy, no obstacle standing in its way."
"But secrets are a dangerous thing. Uncontested power is no different. It breeds malaise, complacency, confidence. Combine them together, well, that's an easy way to bring down an empire."
The logic seemed sound, if not common sense. "If what the Federation did only came out now, it would be chaos. Entire species suddenly discovering they're the monsters they've been led to hate the entire time. The Federation, it would just tear itself apart."
"Exactly." Maronis stepped forward. "And it's why I need your help. Because me and you both understand that there can be no more secrets if the Federation is to survive. And more than anything else, that is what we both desire. Correct me if I'm wrong."
Maronis looked up to me as I considered what I did truly want. Because what I wanted was always a product of what the shadow caste wanted, what Nikonus wanted. They told me what to do, what to say, how to act. Constantly kept an officer at my side, making sure that I toed the line perfectly. So what did I want?
"I don't know."
But far from disappointment, or shock, Maronis looked almost like he expected that answer. "You've been on a leash so long you've forgotten how to fly. I know what Nikonus wants to do with you, to make you another pawn in his game to create a forever war with humanity. A delusional plan born from the ideological dredges that can only be described as his mind. And I know you want no part his game. So like I promised, I'm giving you an out."
But that only raised the obvious question, "How do I know I won't just become your pawn as well?"
"Because," he expected that response as well, "unlike Nikonus, I'm giving you a choice. You can walk out of here, pretend that this place and this conversation never existed. Of course," he took in the bandage, "the wound would be hard to explain. I doubt falling down a flight of stairs would do that, but that's all besides the point."
"And you wouldn't make me disappear, suffer an accident, two gunshots to the back of the head?"
"Smart of you to consider that, but no, I don't work that way. At least, with people I consider allies. And even if you walk away, I know you would side with me if it came down to it."
He looked out to the habitat, which was now bathed in dim glow of a false moon. The wails echoed through the night, met with like-minded calls across the ancient expanse. So called stars twinkled across the dome, forming the constellations that once stared down at me every night. Maronis looked upon it all with no small amount of appreciation.
"I brought you here to remind you of what the Federation took from you, and so many others like you, all in the service of predator and prey."
"But predator and prey is all but dying. The continuing acceptance of the arxur and humanity serves as prime evidence to that point. Those who cling to it have condemned themselves to die alongside it. And if they succeed, if Clear Sky becomes manifest, they'll drag the entire galaxy down with them too. Of that I am sure."
"But you don't even know what Clear Sky is, you said so yourself."
"But I know what the caste wants, and you know what they want: To have predator and prey to define this galaxy in perpetuity. Clear Sky can only serve that end. The path that the rest of the caste seems want to take, even if it succeeds, will bring ruin to the Federation."
There were still lingering doubts, but those were inconsequential in comparison to the evident truth. If Nikonus got the war he desired, it would spell the end of the Federation. Humanity, the Coalition, Jones, they had no interest in playing along like the Dominion. They would go for the throat before the shadow caste even had a chance to get out of bed.
And even if they did, what then? Whose to say the rest of the galaxy would go along too? Humanity was no arxur, that was plain for everyone to see. Fuck, even the sivkit found it in themselves to see humanity for who they truly were. At that point, waging a war against humanity on the grounds of 'fighting predators' would be tantamount to sticking a gun in our collective mouth and pulling the trigger.
Either way, if Maronis was telling the truth, the Federation was doomed, unless the shadow caste was stopped, unless Clear Sky was put down.
"What would you have me do?"
Maronis nodded his tail and he spoke in a stern report. "Nikonus believes you to be a loyal pawn. Use that against him. Find out the true nature Clear Sky, then kill it in its cradle. But most importantly, do whatever it takes to ensure that Clear Sky remains a secret. If any inkling of it reaches the public, that could spell the end of the Federation. To that end, no sacrifice is too great."
"Whatever it takes?"
He leaned in closer. "Whatever it takes."
He stepped back, and some of his casual demeanor seemed to return, if not fully.
"And if you don't think you can do that, leave. But if think you can," he raised one tentacle up, and held it out before me, "then I think we can help each other."
He wanted a handshake. That human gesture, their way of signalling agreement.
And it brought for that great dilemma once again. Whether this was an act, or an out. Whether I would once again sign my life away, or finally take a step towards freedom.
After all I've done, all I've been forced to do, what I'm meant to do...It could be an escape, or I could be doing it all over again.
But I looked out the window again, heard the calls of the wilds robbed from my people by the organization whose member was now promising to bring it all to an end. Me, my people, we could have this all. After a thousand years, we could finally fly free, or have our wings clipped once and for all.
And all it took was a handshake.
"So Kalsim, what will it be?"
I recalled what I told Kelum, standing on the brink of death: It only took a thousand years, but things are finally back to normal.
It was a lie, but it didn't have to be. Not anymore.
So I raised my wing, took his tentacle in my talon, and shook to the future of the Federation.
l Prologue l Previous l Next l

Disclaimer: I do not speak Korean. This is purely translated by machine with a lot of cleanup afterward. With that in mind, I am open to criticism to improve these translations. Enjoy!
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Chapter 415
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The battle commenced with alarming rapidity.
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As a thick fog cascaded across the wilderness like a tidal wave, tens of thousands of monsters amassed before him. Hovering above the ground, the dark-skinned Grand Mage, Magic Johnson, declared the start of the conflict with a single, potent command:
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「Fire Cannon.」
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Swoosh.
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Mana surged around him, conjuring five flames from the ether. They swelled, taking on the form and fury of cannonballs, before hurtling forward.
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Whoosh, Boom!
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The black tide of monsters was cleaved in two. The searing heat charred flesh and bone, liquefying the very earth beneath them.
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This devastating spell incinerated a thousand creatures in an instant.
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Yet the relentless tide of monsters pressed on, undeterred, as did Magic Johnson.
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「Water Blaster.」
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The air, once dry as sand from the Fire Cannon, now held a damp moisture.
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Spreading his arms, Magic Johnson summoned a colossal wave that towered behind him.
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It was a defiance of the laws of nature.
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It was pure magic, a display of unparalleled might from the preeminent War Mage among his peers.
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「Cover them.」
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Gone was the jovial, smiling visage of Magic Johnson. In its place was a look of deep, intense determination.
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With a sweeping gesture, he cast a vast, dark shadow over the advancing monsters.
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Crash!
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Powered by mana, the wave crashed down, its immense pressure exploding the bodies of the monsters.
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As the flames dwindled and the ground soaked, Magic Johnson was already prepared for his next maneuver.
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「Strike down. Lightning Rain.」
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In an instant, dark clouds swarmed above the monsters, unleashing a barrage of lightning bolts.
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Crack! Fizz!
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- Roar!
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- Aaaargh!
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Lightning ravaged the sky and earth alike.
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Blackened gargoyles and griffins toppled from the sky, while the wet earth conducted electricity.
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Living monsters cringed and keeled over, screaming in agony, as the undead disintegrated into ash.
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Amidst this awe-inspiring chaos, a groan of disbelief was heard.
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「This is the power of a Grand Mage...」
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The impact of merely three spells was staggering.
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Countless monsters lay dead or incapacitated, a significant portion of their legion shattered.
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Yet, even the Grand Mage, the sole architect of this devastation, could not escape the overwhelming exhaustion that followed.
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「Fuck. If I'd known this would happen, I would've saved a few more spells.」
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Magic is a complex art, and for Magic Johnson, a master of wide-area spells, the toll is as profound on his mind and mana as the devastation he wreaks.
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Considering the mana he had already expended at the front lines before this, he had reached his limit.
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「Mrs. Chen. I guess I'm getting old too.」
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「Step back. We old folks need to stick together and help each other out. And...」
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Fei Chen, discarding her whiskey bottle, quickly snatched the bow at her side.
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An arrow made of mana materialized on the empty bowstring.
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「It's Ms. Chen, not Mrs. Who decided I was married?」
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With a huff, Fei Chen released the string. The arrow, blazing with light, tore through the air and the dense fog with a sharp twang. Then:
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Boom!
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A colossal explosion ensued.
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Fei Chen observed as a Death Knight, hidden among the throng, was annihilated without a chance to utter its final cries. She drew her bowstring once more.
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Twang, twang, twang!
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Arrows transformed into beams of light streaking across the wilderness, each one obliterating scores of monsters.
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If Magic Johnson ranks among the top three Grand Mages and is the foremost War Mage globally, then Fei Chen is the unrivaled archer of her time.
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But...
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- Roar!
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- Screech!
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The legion, numbering in the tens of thousands, surged forward, undeterred.
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For every ten monsters felled, another ten emerged. For every hundred slain, another hundred rose.
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These beasts, veiled in thick fog, were more formidable and ferocious than ordinary monsters. Now, only a direct confrontation remained.
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As the monstrous legion advanced, both veterans stepped forward to meet them.
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"Ares Guild. Formation B. Break through them."
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Click-clack!
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Under the composed direction of Lee Jeong-Ryong, the elite guild members, who had remained unscathed thus far, moved in unison.
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Jin Tae-Kyung, having observed them from a distance, turned to the suicide squad he had assembled from the western front.
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"Everyone, Formation J."
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「Yes!」
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「Formation J! Assume the formation!」
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With resolute voices echoing in unison, the suicide squad sprang into action.
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Behind Jin Tae-Kyung, Wu Hei-Xing, who had been rallying a small contingent of Red Guard Gang Hunters, grabbed a member of the suicide squad and asked,
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「Hey, kid. What exactly is Formation J?」
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Recognizing Wu Hei-Xing, Shao Shen frowned and replied,
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「It's a combat formation decided by my Hyung.」
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「So, what does it mean?」
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「Jonna. He said it means to fight with everything we have.」 [Note: "Jonna" is a Korean slang for "fuck it".]
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「…!」
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Momentarily speechless, Wu Hei-Xing watched as Lee Jeong-Ryong and Jin Tae-Kyung charged forward.
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Prince Felix and an army of ten thousand Hunters were not far behind.
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「Aaaaaaah!」
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- Roaaar!
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Humans clashed with monsters.
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Monsters clashed with humans.
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The battlefield erupted into a cacophony of roars and murderous intent, as both sides hurtled across the wilderness, weapons and claws in deadly encounter.
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Squeal, crack!
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The brutal battle had commenced.
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* * *
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I leaned back, tensing my shoulders. With a swift motion, I hurled my arms forward, channeling all my strength.
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Swoosh, flub-flub-flub!
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White Flames shot from my hand, carving a path through dozens of monsters.
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Seizing the fleeting opening, I plunged into the melee, my limbs a blur as I struck at any foe within reach.
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Smack!
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My fist connected with the skull of an onrushing Lycanthrope, smashing it like a grape.
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Before the beast’s cranial fluid could splatter the earth, I was already airborne.
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Click, whoosh!
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I landed, locking eyes with a towering undead troll, its dim gaze meeting mine at four meters high.
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Before the undead troll could wield its club, my palm slammed into its chest with crushing force.
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Thump!
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Intense heat burst forth, sending smoke billowing from the creature’s seven facial orifices. Struck by this lethal blow, the troll was obliterated instantly, its regenerative abilities rendered useless.
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- Wicked human, behind you!
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I know, I know. Who asked you anyway?
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I muttered under my breath, whirling around just in time. A lance, dark with malevolent magic, whistled perilously close to my neck before soaring off into the distance.
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The lance had been aimed to catch me mid-leap — a clever attempt, but they had underestimated me.
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"Damn it. Why are there so many Death Knights? This isn't a chicken restaurant." [Note: I'm not sure what this is referencing. The best guess I can offer is that he's commenting on how crowded the battlefield was, similar to how crowded a chicken restaurant can get in Korea.]
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Dodging the lance, I landed smoothly and immediately found myself facing a Death Knight barreling toward me on a skeletal steed.
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- This is the end!
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Whoosh!
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The Knight shouted as he swung his sword, which glowed with a dark magic. Though his power didn't match an S-rank Hunter, it was certainly comparable to a top A-rank.
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Maybe...
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'This Death Knight was once a Hunter too.'
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That thought crossed my mind as the specter of Lei Fei flashed before me, instilling a sudden pang of bitterness. Meanwhile, the Skeleton Warlord issued a shrill cry.
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- Avoid it, human!
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Pfft!
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As if dissolved by an unseen force, the magic on the sword faded into nothing.
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The Death Knight, looking dully at the mystical spear blade protruding through its chest, gasped feebly.
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- How...
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"This is the end."
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Echoing the Knight’s earlier proclamation, I drove my spear downward.
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"Whoever you were, you fought hard."
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Screech, thud!
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The skeletal horse and its rider split apart, vanishing into the ether. As before, I conjured White Flames to carve through the encroaching monsters, then asked aloud.
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"Why aren't you begging for food now?"
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- Ahem. What do you take this commander for?
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Sizzle!
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"Lazy bum. You say you don't want to fight but you drool over situations like this."
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- What!
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"Why, aren't I exactly right?"
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- You agreed, you cunning human, that I wouldn't participate in the battle! And when was it that you said we mustn't let other humans find out that I exist?
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"Excuses. So, do you want to eat this magic or not?"
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- ...
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Crack!
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"Hey. Can't you hear?"
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- Hmm. I don't really want to eat.
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"...What?"
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Swoosh!
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Caught off guard, I narrowly dodged an incoming attack.
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After dispatching about ten monsters with a sweeping strike of my spear, I posed a serious question,
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"Why's that? Do you want to wither away to nothing?"
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- Umm... I don't know. I just have a feeling.
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"A feeling?"
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- Yes. I'm undead, but sometimes even undead get moody. Just let me be.
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"...Since when do the undead get moody?"
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Normally, this one would have pounced like a starving dog. Why the sudden change?
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'Do undead go through puberty?'
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As much as the Skeleton Warlord is an odd monster, this was nonsensical.
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I stopped pondering over it and resumed slicing through monsters when suddenly,
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Kaboom!
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An area about ten meters in diameter was engulfed by an aura, or rather, Sword Qi.
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In an instant, the frontline was cleared, and a figure gently descended.
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"There are too many monsters. It's impossible for the entire suicide squad to break out."
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I understood exactly what Lee Jeong-Ryong meant.
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"You mean, we should go with a select few elites?"
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"That's right. Get ready."
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As Lee Jeong-Ryong spoke, I ducked as a crescent of Sword Qi whistled past, slicing through several large monsters as if they were mere cheesecake.
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What if that Sword Qi had been aimed at me? If Lee Jeong-Ryong and I were to face off...
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"You, me, and Wu Hei-Xing. The three of us should be enough."
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Licking my parched lips, I responded,
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"That's quite strange."
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"What is?"
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"You never know until you fight. We won't know how strong the Arch Lich is until we face it."
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"There are three of us who are S-rank Hunters. No matter how strong the Arch Lich might be, it's no match for us."
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Us...
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It's a comforting word, yet why does it leave such a sour taste?
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Perhaps it's due to the individuals included in this 'us.'
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Nevertheless, I had committed to the suicide squad tactic since I had proposed it. From that perspective, Lee Jeong-Ryong's proposal was optimal.
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"Let's do that. Where is Wu Hei-Xing?"
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Crack!
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No sooner had I spoken than Wu Hei-Xing burst through the horde, slashing his way through.
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In stark contrast to the pristine Lee Jeong-Ryong, Wu Hei-Xing appeared battered, yet his eyes sparkled with unabated vigor.
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"Luckily, you arrived in time."
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「Hmph. As if monsters like these could stop me.」
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Hadn’t he nearly succumbed to these very 'monsters like these' just an hour ago?
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I was internally chiding Wu Hei-Xing's unimproved mental state when it occurred.
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"Mr. Jin Tae-Kyung!"
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The call came from Mr. Choi, sounding across the battlefield.
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Between the swarms of monsters, I caught a fleeting glimpse of Mr. Choi’s face before it vanished.
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Then, something gleaming arced through the air and embedded itself in the earth near me.
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'This is...'
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It was unmistakable — the [Hero's Soul]. From his obscured position, Mr. Choi called out,
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"I won’t join you, but take this sword. And... be careful!"
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His words were heavy with implication. Without a word, I grasped the [Hero's Soul].
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Beyond the throng of monsters, the darkened cityscape loomed.
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"Let's go."
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Lee Jeong-Ryong offered a gentle smile.
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