Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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"..."

Dale was conflicted…

This time, the right option didn't come to him as soon as he finished reading.

However, he still eliminated the final and third choice.

'It's too passive.' He thought to himself as he read through it

'If I understood this well, this is an Event like the previous one, but this time, it's directed at the Villagers rather than the players.'

Last time, his choice changed the attitude of everyone in the village, and this time, he was supposed to choose their own course of action?

'And it's going to affect everyone just like before…'

'The way this works is still a mystery to me.'

'Sometimes, the Villagers act in such fluid ways only to then be...'

Dale shook his head, it wasn't the time for that.

He would figure it all out, eventually.

'The nature of an event, what is it, how it is set in motion, and how it is triggered still eludes me, but I shouldn't take it lightly.'

'The fate of Resko literally lies within my hands... It's not like much changed.'

'Pretty much, what I have to choose is between guaranteed survival, or a promise of power and potential.'

'You could say that with power, comes greater chances of survival, but that is only in the long run, and even then, it's only a promise.'

'One that can be left undone...'

'However, the contrary can also be said, even if we survive now, there is no guarantee we'll survive later… In fact, the odds are against us as I believe our chances of survival are going to be tested soon enough.'

'Yet, right now, starvation is a serious problem, one that cannot be overlooked or made fun of, though it can be solved partially with strength.'

'If I choose the first option, there is a massive chance that the crops will be destroyed beyond recovery by some unpredictable event or simply due to mismanagement.'

'And if that happens, starvation would soon follow…'

'Or so it should.'

Dale closed his eyes, fully focusing on his thoughts:

'It wouldn't be hard to get around this problem as I have a solution, and that is myself.'

'Getting provisions through the community market isn't difficult, the problem is how long I can keep it, and the consequences of it…'

'If I keep taking food from my inventory for weeks to come, people are going to suspect something… Both the villagers and the players alike...'

'I can't sustain 100 people without anyone noticing that something's weird... Of course, I could fill their warehouses in secret with food and make them question themselves, but after they consume those provisions, if I fill those again, they'll start asking questions.'

'The idea would be to fill their bellies long enough for them to return and regrow their crops, but Cattle cannot be grown like weeds, and what if there isn't enough time for that as well?'

'On that same note, I could use the players for that, having them work in the fields in the Villagers' place, however, that is a gamble I'm not willing to take.'

'I can't count on them in case something goes wrong at all...'

'The average player is still below Level 5, and it'll take a long time till the average becomes something like Level 60-70 which is Resko's recommended Level.'

'I could even say that people are going to grow faster here due to its resources, but the contrary can also be said, people may initially grow slower due to the difficulty of this place, and only grow faster as time goes on…'

'I'm no computer, I can't predict these things…'

'The problem comes from the timing of those statements, when are they going to start growing faster, and by then, what would be our condition?'

'We cannot wait forever for the 'Heroes' to grow...'

'If I choose the Middle choice, we could have a good balance between supplies and strength, but there is a chance that, in the future, the Village will simply not be strong enough to ward off monsters.'

'Or simply not organized enough to act as a concessive force... Worse, we could even be not strong enough to keep the players in check.'

'And that still comes with a mild chance of something actually going wrong...'

'Lastly, I don't even consider the last option as it's the same as not doing anything at all, an event such as this shouldn't be wasted.'

'This leaves me with the other two choices.'

'So for the sake of expecting the worst, I'm going to assume something bad is going to happen, and the only one who I can count on to resolve said problem is myself.'

'If I were to choose the first option, and something went bad, what should I do to mend the situation?'

'Assuming all of the problems are related to the Crop fields and Cattle of course.'

'To decrease its impact on the future day-to-day life of the villagers? Or should I try to immediately fix the damage once it's done?'

'Perhaps I should aim towards preventing any problems...'

Dale remained thinking for a little while…

'The only solution that comes to mind are the players themselves.'

'Since they're going to hunt in the fields eventually, it wouldn't be hard to have them protect that area until the timer went off…'

'Like some sort of Community Quest/Compulsory Quest, since as long as there are rewards, no players would refuse it.'

'And if I'm not wrong, that timer should be 2 weeks, the time the blessing will last.'

'Not too long, not too little, but more than enough time for many things to go horribly wrong... Problems that, as I said before, I can't fully count on the players to resolve.'

'Let's look at myself, what will I be doing during this time?'

'Without a doubt, my quests… My routine training in the morning, followed by my own Quests…'

'My morning is already full, and my night is all about letting my character sleep... So I only have the rest to act.'

'I need to explore outside the Village in order to finish several quests, and that's going to take a while, so presumably, I'll probably remain far from the Village for most of the time in the future.' <subtxt> . </subtxt>

'So I won't be there to help in case something bad happens.'

Dale was in a bind, it was the classic dilemma of higher risks, higher rewards.

But Dale came to a sudden realization…

'Sigh… What am I even thinking so deeply about? The answer is simple.'

'The Village is already on a path filled with danger, and regardless of my choices, the Village is going to be destroyed if we aren't capable enough.'

'Between fixing starvation and dealing with a sealed Demon, I find the latter much harder and unpredictable, so I need to thoroughly prepare for that.'

With a nod to himself, he chose the first option without any more second thoughts.

"Hm?"

The world started to become quicker and quicker, and the strange feeling he had vanished.

He was now standing there, looking at the books on the table once more with a conflicted expression.

"Dale… I'll now bring these books with me, there is a lot that I need to understand and show to the others."

"I'll also go and see if I can have Jyter copy this one for me, it should be ready by tomorrow." Testros said with a smile

"However, I'll say it for the last time, see if you can rest for now, you look visibly tired." He said in a worried tone as he touched his right shoulder

Dale felt as if something had changed within the old man, but he soon remembered the system notifications…

'So he now sees me as family huh?... It's not that bad…'

He smiled genuinely and said:

"Then… I'll do so… Heh, make sure to read those by tomorrow. I'm very keen on learning what's in them."

'Since I can't read these books, nor can I use the Skill books due to requirement problems, there's no point in staying here further.'

'It's frustrating, but it's reality.'

'Even if I could use one of the Skill books, I would prefer to first have it copied and then have its contents read out loud for me first.'

'Inside those books lies the knowledge I need to advance many quests, but I can't access it because I am… Illiterate… Dammit.'

[For a moment there I thought you were going to say impotent…] David suddenly said, spoiling the mood as he failed to be funny

'... At least I have one, and it's bigger than you as a whole.'

'Besides... I messed up, I forgot he could read my mind for a moment, allowing him to peek inside... This won't happen now.'

'It is a shame, but my Noble background gives me no translation Skill, albeit that could become an issue later on, as how can a Noble, even if fallen, be illiterate?'

Regardless, Dale smiled victoriously…

[?!?!?!]

While David almost broke his act as his brows furrowed, thankfully, Testros wasn't paying attention to the Holy Icon placed on top of the bed.

(Remember that David is more like a miniature head…)

"I'll go on my way then, the night is still long."

He turned around and walked towards the door.

"If you need me, I'll be in the Guild."

Dale nodded.

"I will."

With a last greeting, the old man left the room, leaving Dale alone…

Well, not entirely alone.

Behind him was David, who he rudely grabbed and placed on the table before going to the bed…

[Wait...]

'What is it?' Dale asked annoyed as he turned around

[Are you going to sleep like that? Go take a shower, you smell of sweat] David said in a rude tone with a frown

"..."

Dale had no words to refute him, so he complied and went to take a shower.

A few minutes later, he logged off.

Albeit sleeping in-game was no different from real life, Dale had to account for the parental factor.

His parents, especially his mother, wouldn't be too happy to see him do that.

Besides, there was the question of comfort... As Between sleeping 6 hours in a straw bed and 2 hours in the greatest foam bed the 21st Century had created, the choice became obvious.

Now, the problems of the Village and the Players weren't of his concern anymore…

…

/Back in the real world… A few minutes later/

Dale left the bathroom with a towel on his waist.

He felt weird, he took a shower in the game, and another one soon after when he logged off… It just felt weird.

In fact, he had been taking several showers… One every time he left the Pod.

This is surely not good for his skin… Although he wonders if his skin is sensible enough with a Constitution value of 100.

Albeit, there was no need for him to even shower, given that the protective clothing limited the contact between his skin and the solution, and the fact his helmet also prevented that to some degree.

That was one of the 'benefits' bald people used whenever they used such Pods...

"Sigh... Having to take care of 2 bodies sure is annoying…" He mumbled as he entered his room

Dale shook his head, gazing at the outside world through the window of his room.

It was still relatively late in the morning, given it was almost time for the first-day release of the game to pass.

As the game's tutorial servers launched at 3 pm yesterday, and his character had just gone to sleep, there were only a few hours left until the clocks matched.

Though, technically speaking, the Clocks did show the same time at least once a day...

Since the game is 3x faster than real life, once a real-life day passes, 3 in-game days pass, it was that simple.

And there were about 13+ or so in-game hours until that time came, and that was equivalent to about 4-5 real hours.

Of course, Dale had no intention of staying offline for that long, he only needed to do so until he received the buff for sleeping.

It may look like he is forcing his body by living such a strange lifestyle, and that would've been correct... If his body was normal.

But Dale's body was far from normal.

Going several days with 2h of sleep was nothing to it.

And each day, it was only getting stronger…

/Creak…/

"Haa… I missed my bed." Dale mumbled to himself as he laid there with his eyes closed

He opened them to look at the ceiling, saying:

"Wake me up in 1 hour and… No, wake me up in 2h." Hee said after some consideration

'That'll be enough, I'll then stop to each lunch with Mom and Dad... If one of them returns early.'

'They do have their own schedules to abide by, Father usually wakes up at 7 to leave with Mom at 8 to 9...'

'While my brother should've returned from school by then, it would be a good time to see how he's doing... If he's willing to talk.'

'I'm not that keen on asking either.'

[Alarm Clock set] Said the mechanical voice of the house AI

So for the first time in a while, Dale closed his eyes, letting his worries wash away completely under the fluffiness of his Max comfort 3rd edition Space Foam pillow…

…

Dale dreamt of a strange Blue Palace on a tall mountain, serene…

The Palace seemed to blend in with the pure blue sky as if it was made of some azure-like stone...

It felt magnificent, yet, he felt strange.

It was as if the Palace was waiting for something…

So he raised his hand, and even though he was far away at the bottom of the mountain, he just felt as if he could touch it.

The mountain then grew larger, but Dale felt nothing unusual as he continued to look at it… Grasping...

And just when he felt he was about to touch it…

…

/DIN DIN DIN DIN DIN DIN!/

His Godforsaken Alarm Clock started ringing…

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Notes

Several things happened in this chapter, and after talking about sleep so much, I'm also off to bed.

There are a few things that may be up to change, but I do change them tomorrow, I'll make sure to include them all next chapter.

See ya all, and have a nice day.

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