Life 72, Day 759
We have been backtracking all down the mountain, and have begun searching for a new way through. Our search has been, to this point, fruitless.
The nights are cold, but our little Knight is now strong enough to maintain his heat for me to hold him during the night. Hound is mostly fine with his pelt, and Princess and kirlia are able to maintain their heat thanks to some move.
Speaking of kirlia, he has told he senses something further up the path that could help him, and us in the future. We will investigate tomorrow.
Life 72, Day 760
We have found a cave. Kirlia seems to think we need to pass through it to get to the other side. As much as I wish he was wrong, this could be a good investment for the future. Securing the path this life would allow for faster travels for my future self.
We are going to wait the next raid, and begin exploring afterward. In the meantime, we are going to gather as much food and water as we can.
Life 72, Day 763
109th raid composition:
-20 crimson paladins,
-50 crimson clerics,
-500 crimson cultists,
-5 crimson sorcerers,
-10 crimson hounds.
It has been a long time since I have had to write about raid composition.
Tips for repeats: Take out the hounds as fast as you can, they will cause problems otherwise. The paladins can be kited by Princess to great effects. Kirlia can easily crush all the cultists with her mind, let her remove them and have her focus on the sorcerers next. Knight can support her while he distract the clerics. Said clerics should always be under pressure. They tried to cast some conjoined spell on the mass grave of cultists, but Knight and kirlia distracted them long enough for it to never happen. Still do not let them finish it if you can. I suspect it was either a mass resurrection, or a mass necromancy spell.
The fight can be won without a single injury if you are careful, and/or lucky. I was both. We will enter the cave in the morning.
[Multiple drawings of cave tunnels follow, some barely understandable.]
Life 72, Day ???
No idea how long has passed in this cave. Less than a week for sure, but I am unsure how long we have been down there. Still, we are through.
I still cannot believe we have done it, but we did. Through absurd effort and sheer luck, we have made our way through the cave. And it was more than worth it. I have mapped the cave as best as I can for my future lives. What kirlia Paladin sensed turned out to be the key to his evolution, the one he wanted to pursue. Deep in the cavern, we have found multiple crystal formations, and stuck in one of them was a stone shining with inner light. The cyan color called to kirlia like a beacon, and when he touched the stone, he shone and changed. Gone is my little dance, he is now a meter and a half tall warrior. He has thanked me profusely for being so patient with him.
Today will be the last day spent in this damp and cold underground. We can see the light that signify the end of the cave ahead of us, and we sill get out soon.
Life 72, Day 771
It's a desert. The other side of Ice Cap is a motherfucking desert! FUCK!
Note for future self: prepare more water, see who could learn moves that could provide water, prepare more food. There are, surprisingly, some little animals around, but they will only barely provide enough sustenance for us to survive.
We will attempt to go through it. The last raid provided enough coins for most of the team to have some sort of breakthrough, and they should be able to survive and return home if I cannot.
Life 72, Day 773
I am Princess, I write for the savior.
We have been travelling for two days in this desert. The heat is absurd, the black sand beneath us multiplies the heat of the sun, making the air almost too hot to breathe. I tried to alleviate our savior's struggles, but they can only help so much. Paladin has tried as well, but having me write should tell you, future savior, that he is no longer able to write.
He is tired, constantly asks for water, and seems to have started talking to himself.
We will push on, as you have asked.
Life 72, Day 774
The desert still extend before us. I am Princess and I still write for our savior.
Delirium has taken hold of him. He mumbles and grumble incoherently. He walks from sides to sides, and we have to constantly help him walk straight. Paladin is almost constantly cradling him in a psychic grip, making sure he can stay upright. It hurts us, it hurts us so much to see him devolve like this. Yet we have to. Paladin has told me something that he hates to not have realized sooner.
With his evolution, he claims he will be able to use teleport to greater distance than before, and possibly with the entire group.
We continue to push on. As you asked.
Life 72, Day 776
Savior is gone. It hurts, yet relieves us as well. He was hurting. His mind was gone. Yet we went so far. Paladin will try to get us back to the cave in one teleport jump. And if he can, we should be able to return to where he reappears in no time. We will stop by the Sanctuary to inform young Ozo of his clan's demise.
I feel guilt at having argued so hard for his clan to be so harshly tried. Now I have their blood on my hands.
We spend the night looking at the sky, at the desert, at the distant jungle. I take some time to read a few passages of Aster's journal, finding out about his demise at the hand of the elements.
How do you think you will survive this? Mewtwo asks me. He remembers our close call with the nether high temperature.
"That might be a good way to try the temperature system I unlocked. I doubt the desert will be as hot as what the trio describes as Hell."
Ah right, you did unlock that.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
I am still sitting on a massive amount of experience, and am thinking of fully maxing the all eight second tier of body and system upgrades. Which should still leave me with enough experience to unlock every third tier and get them all to the same level as the max level for the tier two upgrades.
Tier one upgrades were for my body to regain its normal capacities. Tier two are to slowly improve upon these capacities. Tier three... Tier three will be to go even further beyond.
With how much each tiers costs, I believe our growth was supposed to be much more balanced than what we have experienced. The Trio did not expect the foul play of Eziakophael, and they now have to do all they can to help while still remaining within the confine of the rules of the bet.
Once we reach the desert, I will begin my power-leveling plan.
But first, we have to get down. And as much as I can already see Mewtwo slowly float up with the most innocent face he can make, I will have to do so on foot!
Oh, come now, you can just jump down each cliffs, you should survive, right?
I give him a blank stare, before asking him a single question. "Want to risk it?"
He looks down from Icen Sky Peak, to the craggy wall that we will have to safely climb down. He has the decency to wince at the prospect of me failing a fall and going straight down the next fall.
Alright, fine, you have a point. But then what? I could just float you down, but you do realize that means you have to rely on me. Mewtwo argues.
That was the whole point of me climbing this mountain mostly by myself. If I cannot do certain things without Mewtwo, there will come a time when I will be stuck because he is somehow not around. We only broke this rule while going through the glacier because the risk of losing each other to the holes was too great. But right now, there are no reasons for me to rely on him.
"Okay, so here is the plan..." I begin, only jump down and let myself slide on the cliff side of the peak. By using only my feet and left arm, I am able to slow my slide enough for it to be more of a controlled descent rather than a frantic fall.
The screeching of my metal limbs against the stone echoes all over the mountain as I descend the first cliff at rather high speed.
You know, sometimes, you can be quite reckless in your actions.
I smile at my friend, and we begin our descent.
At the foot of each cliffs, I stop for a few seconds for my limbs to regenerate themselves. The damage is not much, but I can see how my sharp metallic fingers get blunted after each cliffs I descend by sliding.
As I go down, we meet new pokemons nestling against the wall. Mostly bagons and salamences, the dragon types having found caves along the wall to stay safe. Further down, I actually cause a large colony of gligars led by a couple of gliscors to take flight. They insult us but do not give chase, and I try to apologize for our passage.
The process of sliding down cliffs repeats for dozens of cliffs, until something unexpected happens. Two third down the mountain, my hand finds something that my feet do not. A single outcropping rock. My hand bounces on it, and I am flung off the wall. weightlessness takes hold of me, and I watch in horror as the outcrop I was supposed to land on passes me.
I flail in the air, trying to reach the next cliff wall, hoping to regain some form of grip, but my hopes get dashed away as the moment my hand makes contact to the new wall. I am simply flung further back, missing yet another outcrop. The same happens to my feet, and I realize I might fall all the way to the foot of Icen Sky Peak.
Starting to panic, I call out to Mewtwo, and I realize he is still a dozen meters away from me, and actually accelerating towards me. Worse, I actually feel his psychic grip embrace me, only for it to shatter seconds later. He will not make it in time.
In desperation, I begin dumping as much experience as I can into armor resistance, hoping it will be enough to see me survive this fall from hundreds of meters.
One last attempt at catching a wall sees me flung too far from the mountain, I can no longer stop my fall.
The rocky ground rushes toward me, and try to get myself as close to ball as I can.
This lasts for the first impact. The moment my body impacts the ground, my vision glitches, and I can feel my limbs flail all around me, unable to control them anymore. I attempt to turn into a ball again, but impact the ground again before I can. I feel Mewtwo's grip slide on me again, and rebounds once more.
I finally slam into sandy ground, the grains filling my mouth, nose and eyes. I can feel my entire body spasm at the sudden stop, and even hear a few parts break.
Astra! Mewtwo sends out in panic as he lands next to me. From his worry and panic I can sense, I must not be in a pretty state.
Not a pretty state? NOT A PRETTY STATE?? YOUR BACK IS WIDE OPEN! YOUR LEFT ARM IS FIVE METERS BEHIND! BOTH YOUR LEGS ARE STILL ON YOUR SECOND BOUNCE LOCATION! YOU'RE A MESS!
I wince, or at least attempt to. My head is still buried in the sand, and I can feel my body heating up as the nanites begin repairing it. Still stuck, I dump more experience into repair and coolant efficiency, maxing the second tier and unlocking the third while I am at it. This lessens the energy consumption somewhat.
Hey, Mewtwo, get me out of the sand will you? I send him, trying to feel closer to amused than the actual terror I felt during the fall. My vision shift and I am blinded by the harsh glare oft he midday sun. My vision soon clears, and I can see the separation between the mountain foot and the desert, as well as the cat-like face of my friend, with tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Ah... Mewtwo?" I instantly deflates from my half-high of surviving the fall.
I though I had lost you. I could do nothing. I... I though... A massive wave of psychic energy erupts from my friend, and sand flies all around us.
I know you are not as squishy as a human, yet I could feel your panic, your fear while you fell, and I could only impotently try to stop you. Each time I caught you, I failed to hold you. I... I failed you Astra...
He falls on his knees, his belly touching the ground, his long tail flat on the ground behind him. We only have each others here Astra. We are alone. Tears continue to flow down his cheeks.
"I... I'm sorry, I'll try to be more restrained in the future." I tell him.
You already promised me this once. He counters, and I wince.
"I am not as strong as you are. I know that, but I need to find my own limitations. It's better that I find them while we are out of danger rather than when we are in the thick of some battle." By this point, my left arm has grown back, as has have parts of my legs. I extend my arms, and grab my friend by his shoulders. I lift him, using his own psychic hold as a support, and hug him. "Still, I'll try to be more careful." I feel his tears fall on my shoulder, and he hugs me back.
We stay close together for another minute, mostly until my legs fully repair themselves. Once they are ready, Mewtwo releases his grip, allowing me to fully take on our surroundings.
The few scrapped parts of my body have already vanished into dust, loosing themselves into the sand and rocky ground we stand upon. I can see the multiple craters I have made with my bounces, as well as the ditch I have created with my landing. Yeah that was a rough landing.
I then cast my gaze to our next destination, the desert. The dunes gleam with the reflection of the sunlight upon the black sand. I can already tell the journey would be miserable for any humans without any preparation or special equipment. Even I can feel the heat already. It is not as powerful as the nether, but already I can see my coolant is slowly dipping down.
I take another look at my temperature regulation system. Three time the power consumption, twice the coolant consumption, but full negation of high temperature side-effects, which could heighten my coolant consumption to more then five time the normal amount. I activate it, watching as my coolant actually stabilizes, meaning I was already consuming more than twice the normal amount, and look once more at the dunes.
Mewtwo summons a shimmering veil upon his body, and we venture forward, into the black sea of sand before us.
He watches as the sun rises, the shadows of his crevice moving away as the light shifts.
The duo has spent the night talking and looking at the sky. But as the day comes, they move once more. Are they plants? Only able to move under sunlight?
No, he knows the tall one is a pokemon, the absurd amount of psychic energy emanating from him is confirmation enough.
But what about the small one? His strikes felt like trying to skin a steel type, but even his ghost-type attacks barely managed to dent the being.
And what are they doing now? Ah they wish to go down? But how?
The zoroark eyes grow wide as the smaller one jumps from the top of the mountain and begin to slide down its side.
How fearless, how courageous... How thoughtless.
An awful idea worms its way into the zoroark mind. A wonderful, awful idea. As he rises from the crevice he hid into, he laugh darkly.
Turning once more into a shadow, he rushes down the side of the mountain, easily overtaking the duo. Once he reaches a point he feels is perfect, he prepares his horrendous little prank.
The human-like arrives, and just as he passes, the zoroark extend a rock out of the cliff face.
The result is beyond anything he could have hoped for. The human-like takes flight, and flail helplessly in the air, as the psychic one tries to catch him.
The zoroark snickers turn into full blown laugh as he watches the human-like make his first bounce. Then another, and another.
He admires his handiwork with glee as the human-like shatters into pieces. And yet he is still alive! Oh such a wonderful target he has found.
He happily snatch some parts from the human-like broken body, watching with fascination as they break down into nothingness.
He even dares to come close, licking his lips at the strong feeling of anguish and shame coming from the duo. Such wonderful emotions.
Already the human-like is practically regenerated, as if nothing had happened. Wonderful, such a good choice he has made in following them.
As the duo begins to walk into the dunes, he follow with glee, already wondering what his next prank will be.