Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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As he read the system messages, Dale couldn't help but fall into a minor state of shock as his brain tried to come with a reasonable explanation for what he held in his two hands.

In order to fully process what happened, he read through the messages again very carefully...

[You have found the book, Records of the Mirrored Planes(Incomplete)]

[...]

"Phew… Okay, I'm better now." He said as he massaged his temples

'First, this one… Wait.'

'Can David read my mind?'

/Silence…/

'Oi! David!'

[You called?]

'How does your mind talk work?'

[Heh... I can already imagine what this's about]

[Worried that I'll read your thoughts? Well, there is no need for that]

[I can only receive the thoughts you want me to hear, it does sound a bit specific, but it really is so don't worry]

[The same also applies to me, otherwise, you'd be hearing everything I'm thinking every damn time, and you'd be pretty annoyed]

[Albeit, previously, as you were unaware I could do this, your mental defenses were non-existent, but now that you are actively unwilling to let me do as I please, I am obliged to compromise...]

'... You promise?'

[What am I to you, a kid? But oh well, if it makes you feel better, yes I promise on my name that I won't overstep my boundaries]

[Now go on, think happy… If you even can that is…] David replied with a bit of spite

'That was rude.'

[So were you for not believing in me, but no worries, I can understand yours]

[This was one of the reasons why didn't want to initiate this sort of conversation in the first place...] <subtxt> . </subtxt>

'... Wouldn't that mean he wanted to be able to read my mind uninterrupted?...'

[If you need me for anything else, I'll be here, this shit's golden, you won't believe what's written here...]

'Thanks... We'll talk later then.'

"Now..."

After finishing talking, Dale went back to the matter at hand.

'So first, the book… Records of the Mirrored Planes.'

'It says that it's incomplete, but the book looks perfectly fine…' He said as he inspected the book's outside

Dale tried opening it, and although he couldn't read the book, he could see that it was filled with images and drawings of all sorts of things that didn't really seem to connect.

Strange runic symbols, or simply the drawing of creatures and objects he couldn't recognize...

There were also many images of the Human body and highlights of several key points, like a martial arts book.

"Hm?"

As he flipped through the pages, he discovered something harrowing!

'Some pages are missing!... No… It's something other than that…'

'The pages are just blank?'

'Why would someone write a blank book like this?... Wait!'

'Dale then read the next message…'

[The book contains within it the fragments of a Tale of untold heights]

'Is this it?...'

Dale started to formulate a theory…

'Is this book a collection of stories, some of which were more complete than others, and hence the percentage value?'

'It's a half-assed theory but it could work…'

'But it raises a few questions, why are these tales incomplete in the first place, and why are these specifically here?'

'Are they perhaps connected in any way?'

[Consuming the book will give you access to a new compatible Class]

'It says that these are compatible Classes…'

'So are there incompatible ones within this book? Would another player receive other options to choose from?'

'If I hold onto this book and continue training and leveling up, would something change in the future?'

'And if it means what I think it does... Then the percentage may not be the percentual of completion of the story, but how compatible they are with me?'

'Regardless, why these ones in particular? Why were they written here?...'

[Only one path may be chosen]

'Only one... And this book will be consumed later…'

Dale frowned, thinking deeply.

'Regardless of everything going on in my mind right now, this book is certainly extremely valuable.'

'The name of these Classes and the location where this book was found already tell me everything I needed to know.'

'But... Was that the reason why the book was being secured?'

'In the first place, if these Classes are compatible with me, then what say someone else?... Does... Does this book change depending on the player, or am I thinking too much into it?'

"Seems a bit too magical for that..."

'Whatever the answer is, I never had any intention of handing it to anyone else.'

'However, since this is a book… How about I read it first?'

'Although I don't know the language of this world, I can have any of the Villagers read it for me… Or even David, he is a solid choice.'

'Unless this is written in another tongue...'

'Although it does raise the worry of this book's contents... Depending on what's inside, I may have to choose carefully who is going to be the person to read it.'

'In any case, this isn't the time nor the place to think and go over each Class... The book's contents won't vanish... They won't right?'

Nodding to himself as a bead of sweat fell from his forehead, Dale stored the book in his inventory and looked at Testros, who was now outside of the room.

Dale approached him to see what he was doing.

But he stopped as he felt his back grow cold.

"Damn…"

'It's a battlefield... A massacre.'

Outside of the room was a long and wide hallway, littered with the bodies of both armored warriors and monsters.

The warriors were divided into many classes, some were holding onto bows and medium armor, others were using heavy armor, while some were using almost no armor at all…

Their clothes seemed to glow in the dark, as if still infused with supernatural forces…

As for the monsters, some were massive, covering big sections of the hallway, or even having their bodies being outside of it, barging in through the broken gaps of the stone... Likely made by themselves.

Like a large snake-like monster skeleton whose tail couldn't be seen, only its head that hung loosely from the ceiling, being attached to its spine by dried pieces of skin and scales...

But that was one of the bigger ones, the sizes of these monsters varied, with some being very small, like a creature the size of his hand…

One of which could be seen lying inside the chest of one of the warriors, how he got there was a mystery, one Dale didn't want to know…

Simply by the skeletal structure of the monsters, Dale could already tell that they weren't ordinary, and some of the bigger ones even offset some sort of pressure on their surroundings.

It was as if their bloodlust remained to this day...

It didn't affect Dale that much, but thinking about how these warriors felt when they were alive, fighting here in this tight space amidst this horde of horrifying beasts…

It was chilling.

He crouched near one of the soldiers and identified a terrible truth…

"How did he even die?..."

'All of these warriors… All of them are equipped with Unique Items… Some are even with the next grade, the Relic tier.'

'These are likely the top Elite warriors of the Corps, the last ones to die right beside their Commander, fighting to the very end…'

As Dale investigated the bodies of the warriors and the monsters, Testros got up and said:

"I'm finished here, are you done? I heard some commotion previously…"

"Not quite done, but I did a small investigation and found a few things, we can talk about it later."

"But I'll say this now, we probably won't be able to come here anytime soon, without the second key, we won't be able to come this far again…" Dale said in a low tone

'And I doubt the key will reform together with the door, it'll likely reappear somewhere in this place... Perhaps atop the Commander's Table itself.'

'But without the passcode, even if the key rematerializes and we open the door again, we'll be stuck in a loop, it's impossible to leave through that place with the Key, and that was likely the way it was intended.'

Testros already knew what he was going to propose…

He bit his lips, but he eventually let out a sign.

"You're right… We can't leave this all behind… Even if broken and tattered, it can be put to better use…"

"It is what they would want..."

"The bones and pelts of these monsters can also be reused despite their bad state."

"Even if time has claimed its fair portion of them... It would be a waste to leave them all behind…"

"... Time sure is cruel, no matter what you are..." He said deeply as he closed his eyes, thinking deeply

He looked behind one last time and said as he passed through Dale:

"I'll be waiting in the Office, there is still one thing left that I want to investigate."

"After I'm done, I'll help you pack the rest…"

"Just… Just be respectful… Please…" He said with emotion as he tapped his shoulder

Dale felt pity for the old man, perhaps he recognized someone in here, or perhaps it was something else…

Whatever it was, Dale never had the intention of desecrating their bodies.

"I will." Dale vowed with a nod

With a small nod of his own, Testros went back, leaving Dale alone in the hallway…

"Okay…"

'Time to start…'

Dale crouched near the closest fallen warrior.

It was a woman, she had long golden hair that fell to her shoulders.

It would've certainly looked stunning, the sight of a fantasy, blond female knight wearing shining armor under the sun...

"Hm?"

'Deeming the conditions of this place, shouldn't her hair have gone red or something? I'm not an expert in this field but I thought…'

Dale shook his head.

'It doesn't matter.'

Carefully, Dale touched her armor, and he realized he could indeed store it in his inventory, there was no need to remove it from her remains...

Which was definitely a plus.

But before he did that, he removed a small metallic badge on her chest, it wasn't easy to remove, but it did come off eventually.

There were some Symbols attached to it, and he knew from Testros that this was supposed to be the person's name.

It was a Name Tag and also their rank, something similar to his Mercenary Badge.

He had no idea what this lady was called as he couldn't read the runes, so he simply left the badge near her body as he stored her armor and weapons.

One day they would be back, and at that time, they would bury her body and inscribe her name on a tombstone...

But for that, he needed to make sure their names were left behind.

Still, that was a matter for the distant future... The present beckons...

Dale turned around and looked at the monster's body near her.

It looked like a large feline, although only in shape.

It was a shame, but it seemed that most of its pelt and scales had already decomposed considerably.

Using the game menu, he could somewhat tell what was good and what was bad, so he took only the best before leaving for the next warrior.

If he had time and space, he would collect the rotten parts as well...

Who knows, perhaps they could be used somewhere else?

"If all of this can be repaired, then it would be enough to gear all of Resko's warriors three times... And that would be without adding the materials from these monsters."

'With this, the Village's power would rise several Levels.'

'And with whatever is recorded in the books, we're going to become a real power.'

'However, that isn't enough…'

'This place fell even with all of these warriors and powerhouses, they even had the environmental advantage.'

'Even if Resko becomes stronger, it'll never surpass the old Corps military power.'

'At least not any time soon…'

'So I need to prevent this situation from even happening in the first place.'

Dale turned his gaze to the side, making his way to the next warrior…

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Notes

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