The Hallow was taken straight from a kid's fantasy land.
It reminds me of that episode from Rick and Morty where Beth goes to Froopyland or something.
The color palette was shiny in every shape and way wherever I looked. Fuck the 60-30-10. Everything was cyan grass, bright trees, and rainbows in every possible way...
Pearlstone was embedded in every stone slope and the borders of the biome; a little bit of desert was afflicted with hallow. That could be convenient.
The land here felt magical, ethereal, and every other adjective of that sort. The most important fact about this place is that magical animals exist.
I know it should be obvious, but one thing is thinking about it, and the other thing is seeing it.
Unicorns are a bit separated from normal horse herds. If I had some animal communication power, I would probably hear them talk about their superiority compared to them.
While pixies acted as any other flying insect around. Honestly, a bit disappointing, but they still get points because magic.
Hmm... I kinda feel like being one right now... As in ¨I wonder how does that feels ¨.
Shit, I need to get some sort of shape shifting... maybe Alex Mercer to literally be the pixie.
Anyways, the reason I'm in the Hallow isn't to appreciate its seemingly dumb but actually really delicate ecosystem.
Like, what the fuck is a gastropod? Not the mollusks but the flying, laser-shooting slime? How do they reproduce, eat, sleep, and communicate? Probably similarly to slimes, but with some major differences...
I'm sidetracking again. Umm... So. I need to go to the underground Hallow.
Calista tasked me with finding a prismatic lacewing and a grand gelatin, their uses are both obvious to everyone. I will definitely be able to find the grand gelatin, but I don't know about the lacewing.
First, I don't know if they can spawn before killing Plantera, sure, they can't normally, but we've already established that it's not really following the gameplay direction.
It's also completely possible that Plantera's existence acted as a curse or something... I don't know, I don't have any interest in learning either.
Second, even if I did find the lacewings, I have zero confidence in killing the Empress of Light. I straight up would die. No chance of me killing her.
Sure, I could throw the insect into a jar and call it a day, but if there's a chance of 1/1000 that it escapes and gets killed by a random cat passing by, then I won't risk it.
And I can't just throw it into my inventory; I can't store living beings. If I could, I would just store anything that causes me a problem in it.
Wouldn't that be funny? Zeus giving me shit with his trust issues and I just store him into my inventory.
And, wow, I'm sidetracking again.
To obtain the Gelatin, I need to go to the underground Hallow and inspect the walls for any special-looking gems.
Entering a naturally formed large cave and using a little gravity singularity, I made a straight hole down to the underground.
The caves looked colorful, to say the least. A hypnotic, vibrant, and almost vomit-inducing color that begged to be noticed. The crystal caves that I knew existed back in my previous life had nothing on these ones. Crystals were embedded in almost every corner of the pearlstone, all hot or warm to the touch, making this a really heated environment.
My presence alerted the beasts around us. No bat was around us, I theorized that since they weren't accustomed to the changes in the ecosystem, none should be left.
Around the small interconnected holes, the presence of chaos elementals, bright pink slimes, and even some mimics could be found strolling and pretending to be normal chests when looked at, unaware of their differences with normal chests.
Soon enough, I found the gelatin; it looked unlike every other crystal around it, while others didn't give me any feeling beyond the interest of their structure, this one had a more... defined figure.
To put it in the best of my words, it looked rather... regal, not imposing or commanding, but it made my blood flow calm, as if I was holding something truly sacred...
Halting that train of thought before it evolved into any sort of dangerous will, I got out of the underground by the same tunnel I made and searched for a standard semi-open field on the Hallowed Plains.
Before destroying the Gelatin crystal in my hand, I double-checked everything I should have for the fight.
[Assimilation Process:]
-Ragna - 25%
-Dante Zogratis - 53%
-Oliver Grayson - 45%
My assimilation's progress had increased greatly after the fight with the wall.
Dante's progress can be attributed to my continuous use of gravity magic, it's really versatile and convenient. It's not precise, though, I need to be careful when using it.
Oliver's progress comes from flying around everywhere... And nothing more, really. Remember this is the version that comes from before Conquest arrives on Earth, he's a child by this point, barely over one year old chronologically and 12 or 13 physiologically.
Sometimes I think that I'm really lucky I got him instead of someone with centuries of living. What if I had gotten Thragg, Nolan, or Conquest? Would I see that progress bar go into the decimals? 0.003%?
Better not to think about it.
Ragna's assimilation has gone up slowly, probably due to his having half-sword physiology. From the start, it could be called a miracle that he could be assimilated without having the specific card.
The one used to assimilate beings whose physiology differs from mine.
Anyways, I still can't use his silver aura properly. I can move it and use it in rough movements, but I still lack a lot of mastery with it. Makes sense since the series clearly stated his lack of talent.
I did a quick check of item inventory, both from the gacha and the Terraria inventory. I found nothing of interest apart from some complimentary potions. Actually, the buffs work weirdly with me, maybe because of my body.
Without wasting more time, I put on my Rogue Sun armor and flew to a decent altitude, before crushing the Gelatin in my fist. Calista told me that it should send a signal of some kind.
Immediately, I felt something shift in the atmosphere, and my head snapped to the distance.
Around 1km to the south, the queen slime manifested itself out of thin air.
I prepared myself to battle, mentally assured that this would be an easy victory.
After all, it's the Queen Slime, who even struggles with this boss?
.....
Me.
I struggled with the queen slime.
"Ouaghhhh." Some kind of groan escaped my lips, and I rolled across the flat grass over the Queen slime's body, or what was left of it.
The skies were already orange, and I was lying across the cyan field, staring at them as the fatigue in my body began to escape it.
I've already drunk a greater healing potion, courtesy of the mimics, and some pills I got from the Omni-Synthesizer... Sphere of creation? Circle can be used too... In Latin, Circle is circulus or circus, while creation is creare.
Cir-are? Cre-lus? Crelus... Crelus sounds good for the machine.
"Ugh." I'm really here sitting and thinking about some names for my machine while fucking dying on the ground.
Well, I'm exaggerating, but I'm realizing I'm kinda overestimating my power a little. Just a little.
The battle with the Queen went decently. It's not like she overwhelmed me with her attacks at every corner. It's just that she was slightly better than I. A little stronger, a little faster, a little more versatile with her attacks. And I didn't take it completely seriously either.
I'm not saying I'm not at fault, I'm saying that I could've done better, especially since the boss fight only gave me a 40% increase in the gacha progress bar. I'm not pulling yet, though.
I raised my upper body from the grass and shook it off from my clothing, a mix of Dante's clothing with my own, minus the cape and the upper leather armor, instead, I used a comfortable black silk shirt that had a slight turtle neck.
Looking around, all I found was the slimy remains of the queen's body, trying to get together and merging into one big monster, but failing miserably because I was holding her core.
Actually, it works similarly to the Volatile Gelatin from the game, automatically shooting a slimy projectile at anything that moves in the vicinity.
Into the inventory, then.
...
"Hey there." I entered Calista's house, and every description that could be given has already been, so it's unnecessary to say more about the house.
"Hi." She says without taking her eyes off the plants she's taking care of.
She inserts a brush into the stem of a large purple flower, cuts a part from it, and wriggles the brush before transferring the pollen to the blue flower. As she does her plant activities, I tell her the events of the Hallow.
"Hey, so a quick question..." After the report part ends, I start my words slowly.
"Yeah?" With another brush, she repeats the process, but this time with a pink and a white flower.
"Why was I sent to kill the Queen Slime? I'm not complaining, but I'm curious..." My words cautiously explain my intentions. I'm a bit worried they might come off as demanding, but I trust Calista not to interpret them that way.
"..." She looks at me, not showing any particular emotion, and answers.
"The Queen Slime has major control over the slimes in the world. With her death, slimes will stop charging into the populated areas." She gives me a completely reasonable answer, looking to the plants she's taking care of.
Before I could speak, she continues.
"Just in case you had more doubts, let me explain to you the other parts?" Other parts?
"The hallow came first to check if there was anything outside my knowledge. After the queen, you will fight and harvest the Jungle, since the beast there proves to be a bother with my connection to the world. Well, that would be the ideal scenario, but Terra said not to underestimate the machines she created. So you will have to kill them before they interrupt your other issues..." As she said those words, she stopped and raised her hand to her jaw while sticking her iris to the roof of her eyes.
"Ah, but you'll need to hurry up, the cult has probably started the massive reproduction of chlorophyte in the jungle; it might prove to be a problem if they harness it." She finally stopped and went back to crossbreeding various plants.
"...I see." No more reactions came out of my mouth, not because I was indifferent, but because I had grossly underestimated the meticulousness of her plan.
"Any more questions?" She didn't seem bothered at all by my doubts, actually, if her tone of voice and expressions were anything to go by, then she seemed more pleased than anything else.
.....
The night arrived.
I was flying over a nameless plateau on the most common biome there is, the forest. Far away from any other place I had previously stepped into.
The night was cold and silent, and barely any animals were around.
Nothing specific was in my mind, I was merely waiting for anything to happen, or well, I was hoping for the mechs to appear out of nowhere.
The cult that worships the Moon Lord has the mechs, and they know that I'm acting to kill, stop, or vanish their deity, so they will come to stop me. Not directly, but they will eventually.
What better time than after my fight with the Queen Slime? My fight with Plantera? No, because they want her alive, so that it opposes the dryad.
My fight with the golem? The lihzards won't come out until Plantera is defeated, so no.
Or, that's what I'm telling myself, so once again, this is just a feeling I have in me.
And it'd be wise to listen to it.
I left my high point in the air and sat in a tree's branch, before realizing a small oddity with it.
"It's... shaking?" More like a slight tremble that would go unnoticed if it wasn't for the lack of life around me.
I focused my senses on the ground, trying to pick up the slightest movement, shift, or something that gave out the cause of the phenomenon.
There was... something in the ground, something wriggling, moving, as if making space for its actions.
My best guess? The Destroyer.
It should be the only thing that could do this, the only thing that has a motive to do this.
Alright, I can deal with the Destroyer, it's not a big deal, it's not as if it's a hard boss battle, especially with-hm?
Immediately after I catch an alert from my senses, I burst flying into the air, and where I stood, nothing remained.
An explosion had destroyed the tree, sending the upper part flying to its side.
With the sun stone, my armor appears around me, and I see in the distance what attacked me.
Flying several meters in the air, without making any sound as if I was looking at a mirage, hundreds, if not a few thousands, of meters away from me, Skeletron Prime shot a diversity of lasers and rockets at me.
Fast, but nothing I couldn't dodge easily.
As I dodged and decided on my course of action, the whole place began to tremble, and the Destroyer excavated out of the ground. It wasted no time in showering me with lasers.
Faster than Skeletron's skulls, but not enough.
A saw passed by my side as the rockets and lasers tried to telegraph my movements, shooting in every direction I might dodge. The Destroyer only attacked to fill the gaps in its attack.
Tired of it, I infused the air with mana with one of Dante's spells: Presence Of The Demon King.
The effects were immediate, Skeletron had more difficulties moving, and all of the lasers that it or the worm shot were refracted by the weight of the air.
Taking advantage of the stagger stage of the boss, I flew up and hovered above Prime's head for a second, before falling straight and punching its head so fiercely that the spikes in its head retracted themselves, not before harming my right hand.
The Worm tried to move, but the only thing it could do was uselessly deploy some probes that didn't do anything but stick to my body, trying to apply some force.
Not caring about it, I kept on pummeling Skeletron's head, not caring about the damage to my right hand, the probes around me, its body parts that stopped functioning, or the massive ball of red that-
Just as I barely registered that, the ball of red started chomping on my arm and lacing it with some sort of green fire.
The pain made me stop for a second. That was enough to disrupt my spell.
"Argh!" With his bite, various lasers, faster and stronger than those coming from the worm, were fired at me. I flew away and punched the floating mouth-ball with my left, but to no avail.
Thinking quickly, I created a gravitational pull behind the monster, and behind me, the opposite forces threw us in the opposite directions, so I was able to see what attacked me.
The thing that bit into my mouth was Spazmatism, while the thing that fired lasers at me was Retinazer, both already in their second forms.
Those are long names, though. Let me just call them Laser guy and Mouth guy.
Using the momentum from the pull, I flew away further and went down the plateau into the forest below.
Lying at the feet of a tree, I inspected the situation of my body.
My arm was badly damaged, even if I healed it with anything from the Crelus machine, it still wouldn't function properly; the situation is worse with the green flames that envelop it.
There weren't enough words in my dictionary to describe the pain I felt in the moment. I have never suffered a burn-by-fire injury, but I could tell it wasn't comparable in any way, shape, or form.
It was as if life itself was fading from my right arm, no words could be more appropriate.
Doing my best to ignore the pain, I used a greater healing potion and got some pills from the Crelus. As I thought, I couldn't move my arm properly, but with this and with the fire going out, the pain was gone.
Still, I didn't need to use my arm, as I had a better idea, at least for the Destroyer.
Yes, yes, I know. Just now I get it, to be honest, I haven't slept in some time, and the pain cleared my head, if ever for just a moment.
Anyways, the Destroyer is coming down, but I don't know what to do with the Twi- ah?
While throwing the Crelus back into my inventory, my eye lingered for a second too long on one item that I had never used before.
"Hmm..." I wondered if it would actually work... Maybe it's a gray area...
I couldn't finish my thoughts as the three machines found their way down, the Twins flying, and the worm excavating through the wall.
Taking the mirror grimoire out of my inventory, I took flight and dodged every attack coming my way. The only reason I got hit in the first place was because I got distracted while killing Skeletron.
I deployed my mirrors all around me, most were destroyed immediately by the lasers and Mouth guy's mouth. The few that remained were used to manifest clones.
My intentions were clear to them, using the confusion from the sudden apparition of 5 identical clones, we all used the same magic.
"Gravity Magic: Presence Of The Demon King." There was no need to say it aloud, but it felt cool.
Especially after seeing the Destroyer fall like a common worm and seeing the Twins barely stay afloat.
The worm tried to go underground again, but it could barely even turn its head.
Obviously, this moment won't last forever, just a little over 9 seconds before the 5 clones run out of magic and disappear, but that is more than enough.
The five divided took a section of the worm for themselves and crashed down on it from a great height, most of the yet unused probes were destroyed in the impact.
I wasn't a sitting duck at the moment, I was waiting for the Twins to hit the ground and be in a line.
But the moment had come, and I reached into my inventory to take the special item I thought about.
Something I haven't used since the very beginning, even if I said it was useful. Something that had been waiting for the right moment.
The size-changing crystal flashlight.
I aimed at the Mouth guy, the light hit him fully, and when he was smaller than the Laser guy, the light also began to affect him.
In the end, I obtained two small murderous eyeballs. I didn't want to leave them alive, and I cracked them open like an egg before throwing the remains into my inventory. Because apparently they were dead now, not before.
My 5 clones were gone, and so was the heavyweight in the air. Leaving me alone, at the bottom of a tableland, and with a 100-meter-long mechanical worm at my side.
I threw it into my inventory again, and the probes too; thankfully, they only counted as one slot each.
"Wow, it was that easy..." Did I let my guard down that much? That feels like shit...
Flying around, I became immersed in my thoughts.
I could've just used my clones from the very beginning and won the fight without getting harmed like this. Obviously, the damage won't last more than a day, but still.
Didn't I say that I should do more than the bare minimum? Yet here I am without even fully thinking about my powers.
At least I realized this... But once again, that's the bare minimum.
Ugh, this is awful. I'm going to take the mechanical skull and go to sleep.
Tired, I quickly floated to the terrain above and threw the mech skull into my inventory.
Without losing any time, I took off to the little village where I arrived in this world. My travel speed was low, I wasn't in a hurry, or to be more precise, I was feeling like strolling a bit.
Passing through the hall, I stopped for a moment.
Even if being here might be dangerous because at any point in time a prismatic lacewing might appear and be killed by a passing pixie or something, I can't deny that the hallow is a beautiful biome.
The grass, the trees, the animals, the river... hell, even the air felt special in this place. Mystically, it's calming.
The air itself was carrying a melody, one that charmed you into falling asleep.
I went down to the grass, I kneeled and grabbed a handful. I felt its slight sharpness but soft texture. I lay myself in the grass, rolled until hitting a tree with my left side, and turned to look at the sky.
The moon was full, and it gave light to the whole biome, adding to its mystical allure.
No sound could be heard around me, well, to be more specific, the volume around me was enough to not be unnatural, but not enough to be annoying; it was perfect acoustics.
A yawn escaped my lips, or at least I think it did.
My mind was shutting down quickly, as it detected no threats to me and wanted to finally rest.
Yeah... I can do that.
So I fell asleep, lying across the grass in slightly disheveled clothing.
As I dozed off, a small source of light caught my eye, I opened my eyes for a moment, just in time to see the lanterns floating up into the sky.
A lantern night was on. Not surprising, considering that so many monsters are dying. I said nothing while remaining in the grass, looking at the yellow beacons wander off and slowly become a faint, slightly bright blur in my eyes. At which point, I only remember falling asleep.
Thankfully, there weren't any events like ¨But he did not realize the super villainous threat to the safety of everyone hidden behind a tree.¨ or something along those lines.
.....
A slight movement on my nose awoke me. I slowly opened my eyes to find herds of animals surrounding me.
Fairies of all colors were standing on my legs and extended arms, and pixies accompanied them. Outside my body, in the grass, squirrels, ladybugs, bunnies, and other critters surrounded me.
I focused my gaze up and saw birds nesting on the tree above me, butterflies accompanied them on the same branch, ignoring each other like one wasn't the natural predator of the other.
Looking further past the tree, I saw an entire fucking Wyvern floating above the clouds, doing absolutely nothing but adding to the majesty of the situation. I just closed my eyes and thought about this thing.
'What is this situation?' Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but since when am I a Disney princess?
I don't even have an inkling of an idea as to why this is happening. Is there something special in my body that makes me or anything? Maybe my body smells good or something... Did the pills I took do that?
Anyway, now I'm in an uncomfortable situation where I don't want to disturb the animals around me, but I really think I should get up. It's a cat in my lap situation.
But I'm really comfortable... and the sky has a nice light-blue color, so it can't be late.
Debating my options, I saw a worm appear from the clouds and lower itself, on its back, Eleanor with a cellphone in hand and a smile on her face, not a slight smile, an imperceptible one that you can only feel with your sixth sense.
To me, it is unknown if she's recording or taking a photo, maybe both, but either way, she's pointing it at me.
I relaxed my head and turned my sight to the bright sky.
At a certain moment, I grew tired of Eleanor's smile, which had grown to a full shit-eating grin, and stood up, slowly.
Unlike what I thought would happen, the animals simply reorganized around me and filled the place where I was with themselves, in a peaceful and organized manner.
I flew by the child's side and saw the animals move logs to the place I was, as if they were going to use it as a mini-house or something like that.
"So, did you come for me?" I asked Eleanor, who was looking at the pictures in her phone. She nodded and ¨told¨ me to go back. I complied, as I honestly had nothing else to do.
"By the way, are you unable to talk, or you don't want to?" I asked a question that's been gnawing at me for a while, It's not super urgent, but something I've been wondering about every now and then. I've also been around her enough to know this isn't a sensible topic.
She thought about it for a moment, then communicated to me the answer.
It's not that she's incapable, but she's ¨Too above¨ speaking, not in a ¨No one is worth enough to hear my words.¨ It's more of... she's so above speaking, she can't talk. It's out of reach for her.
You know, all those sayings about too much power just came to mind. The top is lonely; so far above, so below; when you become untouchable, you're unable to touch, etc, etc.
Anyhow, we slowly flew to the village while we caught up on the past few days. Apparently, she's been travelling around the world a bit, not like the whole world, but some adjacent biomes. Well, that and the hobby that she shares with Eve and Terra.
That's nice, sometimes her stature and appearance make me forget, but she's not a normal child by any means. It's not like I can give her the things a child needs anyway, like an education or something... what do kids need, actually?
Hmm, I should think about it.
We arrived at the village, and she told me that Terra wanted to talk with me. I'm not against it, and I was thinking of starting to tinker with the technology of this world anyway, it should be a perfect moment with the mechs dead, since the steampunker should appear.
The civilians, already familiar with us, were visibly happy to see us. Some even greeted us, they seemed more comfortable around Eleanor and her worm than me, but I suppose that's to be expected, they haven't seen me much.
Finally, we arrived at Eve's house. Eleanor opened the door and entered like she owned the place. Inside were Terra, who was sitting at the table, slowly eating breakfast, and Eve, who was frying something in a pan.
"Heyyyy..." With too many Ys and notable tiredness in her voice, Eve greeted us with a wave of her hand.
"Hi..." So did Terra, drinking from a glass of milk.
The table had some minor foods on it, ranging from general breakfast stuff to sweets that wouldn't be weird to see in a child's hands.
"Hi, what are you two doing?" I started the conversation casually.
"We're having breakfast." Terra answered immediately.
"I see that, but why are the two of you so tired?" I asked, actually curious and not just trying to drive the conversation forward.
"We planted stuff in Eve's garden... And the strain just hit us, so we're eating breakfast again." Terra answered once again and grabbed another piece of bread from the center of the table.
"Uh-huh... Mind if I join?" I didn't want to just go and tell her ¨Hey, I got told you wanted to see me¨ so I'll slowly build up to it while we share a meal.
"Sure. Just leave enough for Eve." She pointed at Eve and went back to eating the bread in slow bites. Eve, on her part, was completely unmoving with her neck down, looking at whatever she was frying.
"Eve?" Tentatively, I ask.
"..." She doesn't answer, and I get close to her, touching her shoulder and moving her to face me.
Eve's asleep. She fell asleep while frying a large piece of meat, which had already started to burn, just slightly.
Slowly, and with the help of some minor telekinesis, I let her rest in one of the seats of her table. I place the food on a plate, cover it with another, and shut the stove.
The four of us, since apparently Eleanor hadn't eaten anything yet, sat at the table and began to eat. It was deadly quiet, Terra was mindlessly eating her food, and I didn't have an opportunity to talk with her before she finished her food and threw herself on the couch.
She immediately fell asleep once she hit the soft pillow on the side of the red sofa, not before supporting her face with her hands.
There was a blanket laid on the sofa's backrest. I covered her with it and kneeled to her face.
Inspecting it closely for the first time, I saw some minor details I hadn't appreciated before. Her slightly baggy eyes, probably coming from sleepless nights that she spent tinkering with something. Her slightly wrinkled hands and little calluses around the center came from holding tools repeatedly and with great force.
Personally, I'm not familiar with those injuries, but the people that I've assimilated are.
She slightly shifts in her position, and her brows furrow; her body starts shaking like it's afraid of doing anything, maybe even doing nothing.
My hand raises to her forehead, as if taking her temperature, and she calms down.
She suffers from nightmares. Ugh, this is the person to whom I talked about leaving things behind... Was I just projecting? Did I say too much where it wasn't necessary?
Now it feels like my responsibility to help her. Well, she's a nice person, I don't mind helping her, plus I either way needed to talk to her for whatever reason Eleanor didn't tell me, and to see even an inkling of the technology of this world. Furthermore, she should have an idea of where the steampunker is, since both of them should've created the Cyborg.
...Those were a lot of words. I didn't think there were this many reasons. Am I over-explaining or something?
Well, whatever.
She shifts in her position, her head falls a little, and her legs get slightly more relaxed. After she does those actions, I note that those body parts were slightly tense, like ready to run away at any moment.
My hand lowers to the cheek she has facing up and slightly warms her face. Almost imperceptibly, her brows smoothed out, and she relaxed fully this time.
You know, interacting with her reminds me of the technology of this world. Do I even need it at this point?
Don't get me wrong, I will get it, but I'm more towards the side of magic. Most of the things that I have are magic-inclined. The monsters, the characters, the items... The only actual science things that I have are the Yaka arrow, the Crelus machine, the Serum K, and the Spider armor.
Plus, it would be easier to explain anything magic-related than complex machinery to others back in my world.
And now that I just mentioned others, my thoughts are drifting into the summoning mechanic.
For what would I use it? Like, I guess I wouldn't mind down-to-earth people that aren't influenced by the bad setting I got thrown to, but I meant something more specific. It's not like I want to yank them off their lives, although there probably are more circumstances. If there weren't, I highly doubt Eleanor would've come.
Yeah, it's not like I have anyth- Wait, I don't have anything to do.
Like literally, nothing.
Getting stronger is cool and all, but then what? Will the gods take notice of me? Hopefully not, but I'm probably jinxing it.
Best case scenario, I don't get noticed at least until Ascension starts, but I wouldn't rely on it, since Ascension originally happened because Kratos got messed up with Ares, and it was Ares who took notice of him, of course, Kratos called him, but The God Of War wouldn't have answered if it was just anyone else.
Worst case scenario, I get noticed in the exact moment I go back in. But by whom? The Sisters of Fate? Gaia? Zeus? Athena?
We can scratch Zeus, that guy shouldn't be any better than his mythology counterpart, and he was only focused on having as much sex as he could.
Gaia? She doesn't have anything on me, she only approached Kratos because he died and had revenge plans against Zeus.
Athena? I don't know what to say. To me, Athena always seemed like some sort of master mind... she never really suffered any major consequences for her actions. And no, losing your body to Ascend (Another mystery never explained) isn't a consequence.
But let's think positively and say that she has no relation to Kratos whatsoever. Leaving aside that she was present when my little bro- Deimos was kidnapped.
We have the Sisters left. Honestly? The only reason I'm not thinking too much about them is because of how contrasting the results are.
Either they noticed me and don't consider me important enough to decide anything about me, or they noticed me and they have positive feelings about me.
I mean, they have noticed me already, there's no doubt about that, and if even a single one of them had even an inkling of hostility towards me, then I'm done for.
Wow, why was I thrown here? Better than WH 40K or any other grimdark universe, but that isn't a high bar to get over. Another day, another complaint about any other universe I could've been thrown into.
Anyways, the good part is that there is nothing that escapes my knowledge in the Greek universe. I have played all games and I know the lore for all of them, the only weird part would be the first game, Ascen-...
Wait...
...Where's Apollo?
"Oh my god..."
.....
After confirming that both of the women in the room were comfortably asleep or distracted with the food, I went out to the garden of Eve's house and started with some moderate exercise.
The Hercules Method was good, and the exercises were entering superhuman levels, but it wasn't what I had in mind for now.
Closing my eyes and focusing on my hand, a little stick manifested out of it.
It was white with a small ¨X¨ design near the tip. The base was completely even, and the tip, instead of being sharp, was a little plateau, slightly smaller than the base.
Overall, I was left with some sort of structure support that could act as a handle or a lever.
Ragna's body allowed him to manifest Silver Aura constructs, it's limited though, so I can't just pop a whole building with this. It's not a green lantern ring.
Anyhow, I placed it on an even surface and balanced myself on the smaller base of the stick.
With that, I started doing one finger push-ups on the tip of the weapon.
I remember reading in the manga something about his daily routine, including some insane exercises, and a lot of swings. Obviously I'm doing all of this and that with the silver aura coating my body.
Simultaneously, I'm creating various little pieces that I'm using and making them float in the air, moving them like actual swords, pushing them with black holes. Overall, just training my weapon creation and my gravity magic, both with the purpose to further my assimilation progress.
Anyways, I figured out that since I was going to have a long monologuing session about the mysteries of GOW, I should do something more in line with my power objectives.
Now that we've got that out, I suppose we need to talk about the elephant in the room.
Where in the name of all the gods is Apollo?
Artemis exists, so Apollo should too. The majority of Ascension is played in Delphi, a city deeply related to him. There's also a weapon called "Bow of Apollo".
So, it's common knowledge that he exists, but and?
I have no idea of anything else but the knowledge that he exists.
Well, to be fair, there are a lot of gods that just disappeared out of nowhere in the franchise, or are mentioned just slightly, but that doesn't mean those are minor gods or gods that appear as a sidekick to others. Like Eos, Hestia, Dionysus, etc.
That doesn't mean they don't exist, even if they did, Apollo is simply more important. Because he's god of like 20 things, just enough to be a problem but not enough to make him as important as Zeus.
The best way this could go it's that he died before the start of the series, but I think that's too optimistic. There are few ways a god can die, and even fewer people who can kill a god. Not counting gods obviously.
It's useless to think about this, I know I have no information to go by. But I could theorize, more like fantasize, but still.
About Apollo... He probably ran away with Artemis at the end of GOW 3. I remember seeing theories on the internet. Running away to Troy, Egypt, Nyx dimension inside his statue...
It's worth mentioning that Kratos didn't kill the gods that sided with Troy in the mythology, like Eos or Aphrodite, the latter whom was important for the rise of Rome. So maybe they're there?
Ah, but wait, Troy was destroyed by the time of the first game.
Ugh, this is dumb to think about. Even if I'm right, I'm talking about events that will happen in decades or centuries.
My immediate worry should be the gods or goddesses that could come to bite me in the ass right after I go back.
Like, once again, the Sisters of Fate. I don't think it would be above them to mortify me excruciatingly until I die. Making my life a true Greek tragedy where I'm a great warrior/hero whose demise will come at the hands of the one I trust the most, or something.
Anyway, the only way to beat those is to kill them or to get some sort of fate protection. The first one is out of question, while the second one is easier, but harder in the sense of getting one up to level.
It would be good if getting a low-level character with a Fate manipulation power were enough to stop the Sisters from changing his fate.
I never really understood why Kratos was immune to the Fates changing his destiny. In the novel adaptation he just ¨Develops¨ resistance to their powers. What does that mean? What kind of power, skill, hax, is needed to do that? Doomsday's adaptation? Mahoraga?
It's not like Fate Resistance can just be gained out of nowhere... Especially in a Greek-based world, where one of the major stories is about a guy who fought Fate so hard he made it true for himself... What is the weakest character that can give me resistance?
Even if it isn't strong enough to resist it immediately, it can grow with me, and if it doesn't, I can always upgrade it manually with the power upgrade cards.
But how many would be needed? Not to raise the power up, but to raise it to the level I needed. 1? 10? 100? 1000?
"1000." My voice interrupted the thoughts, as I had already finished this part of my exercises.
Without wasting any time, I changed positions. Sticking the handle to the ground and using it as a support, I grabbed it by the side and raised my abdomen and lower body to the skies, lowering it once it reached peak altitude, and then repeated the motion again and again.
The magical show based around my gravity magic was still on going, the silver creations grew more detailed and intricate by the moment.
Doing exercise cleared my head a bit, but that didn't give me any solutions to my problems-future problems, but thinking about the future is something ever-present in my mind.
Anyway, the future remains uncertain, this is only me mortifying myself over things I can't control, who knows? Maybe they already took every action needed against me and I won't be thrown to the abyss once I go back to the GOW world.
What are the more immediate problems? Well, I'm debating over pulling the gacha, but I'm waiting until I get stronger, at least until I have complete power over my assimilations, because if I don't, then I feel that I will just be stacking characters that I never fully comprehended to the max.
Either way, I'll need to finish the current assimilations to further enhance my power.
Now that I think about it, I do have an objective: get a lot of power. I'm not understanding enough of myself to differentiate it from a goal or means to an end, but it works for now.
.....
Finishing those two exercises and many others that involved various amounts of swords, I stepped back into the house.
I didn't have any sort of cleaning magic, but with some uses of telekinesis, the sweat left my body almost as fast as it was created. Now that I think about it, I don't have a lot of clothing on me. Just a lot of copies of Dante's pieces.
Both of the previously sleeping women were awake, while the previously awake child was asleep. Terra was fidgeting with the scouter I gave Eleanor to entertain herself. Eve was thrown onto her sofa with a book in her hands.
The table was cleaned of food, and only Eleanor remained.
"Oh hey, just who I was wanting to see!" Terra, way more energized than last time, greeted me and got close to me with the scouter in her hands.
She was curious about the specifics of the machinery in her hands. I could only avoid her questions so much until she made me go to the back of her shop, where she started info-dumping me her interests on the machines she makes.
The shop was normal at first, a common hardware/mechanic shop with a common entrance that lures customers to buy things that ¨Might be useful later¨. The odd parts started when I passed through the back door into a more open area.
Similar to a blacksmith's shop, the back area was spacious and had the walls filled to the brim with various devices hanging on the wall and lying on the ground. Multiple rock desks were stuck to the walls and acted as support for the various gears, tools, and kits.
The tools that weren't on the desks ranged from smelters, machine hands, unused conveyers, timers, levers, switches, buckets, and many more unique things that seemed to fulfill only one specific purpose at a specific part of a process.
While most remained unfamiliar to me, some of them captured my attention.
Mainly, the little box of actuators, the teleporter, and the half-finished body of the Cyborg.
"What's with the Cyborg?" Sitting peacefully on a corner, the Cyborg stood completely still and lifeless(Connection-less? Wire-less?), looking at the wall.
I intended to act a little surprised, but I didn't need to fake my surprise. It's a goddamn Cyborg.
There's a lot of romance in looking at a fully functional Cyborg in the flesh.
This makes me think a little. What other things would be cool to look at and/or do? Something like a multiversal-bucket-list.
"Oh yeah, I was waiting for a friend to come by and help me finish the systems, but with this in my hand..." Like playing with an apple, she threw the scouter in the air and let it fall back into her hand. "...I think I can do some fun stuff with the localization, recognition, communications, audio..."
Terra started listing everything she had analyzed from the little interactions she had with the scouter. At some point I had to double check if she was talking about a scouter, or a mini computer, which, now that I think about, it actually is.
I told her everything about the details of the scouter. At some point, it became less of me teaching her and we learning together about the technology.
It was surprising, everything was. Her casual display of intelligence. The way the symbols on the scouter slowly came to make sense. When she left the room for a moment and came back with a big book, and started comparing the scouter to anything of the past and trying to trace back the instructions.
It felt magical, even the air felt more charged with energy and began to light up the room, somehow, I felt more alive than any other situation I had gone through now.
Wow, is this why people have actual connections further than people who you talk to because of convenience's sake? This feels really cool.
.....
Time passed.
Slowly, quickly, maybe a little mix of both.
If this were a movie, the time passed would be a one or two-minute montage that has an iconic BGM playing while we see the growth of the characters.
In this case, the growth would be the advancements Terra made on her machinery, the progress I made with my powers... and nothing else really.
Well, there's the really weird bright green protuberances on the forest that grow slightly more menacingly with the day to day.
Yup, the chlorophyte is spreading further than the jungle.
In the gameplay, the chlorophyte only spreads to the jungle, and it doesn't have any explicit effect on the environment. In real life though...
Think about it, such a bright colored mineral, in a primarily dark environment such as an underground jungle. The temperature it irradiates. The resources it consumes to grow. And many other things that could cause an impact on the jungle.
Not to talk about the properties of the chlorophyte itself. It's bright, hot, sturdy... And you know what else is like that? Radium. The radioactive element.
That's why I'm now flying around in the jungle with spelunker potions. To throw every single one of them into my inventory and let them rot there. I have already gone through the pieces of chlorophyte that slipped past the jungle.
Anyway, it's not only the reason why I'm in the jungle. I just need to...
Found it.
Right to the side of a life fruit, a pink bulb that seemed completely out of the question in such a deep darkness, almost funny to see the pink blur on the ground, right next to the golden blur of the life fruit.
Plantera's bulb was peacefully situated on the ground, unlike how they act with common flowers, no insect was around her, no insect even dared to get close to the plant.
Standing right in front of the bulb, I stepped on it without care and waited for Plantera to make its appearance while narrating it.
The underground trembled with anticipation.
The birds flew away from their nest(There weren't any birds).
The animals hid in the earth's soil(Again, no animals)
Earth itself parts and gets undone for her(What?)
And she appears. The queen of all that is green, less of an alive being and more of an amalgamation of plants that became sentient after a scientist fused them with element X.
Plantera stood (Did it?) tall, vines attached to the walls that surrounded us.
We begin the endgame.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: HELLO THERE.
If you're a person whose reading comprehension is over the limits, you would've noticed that my greeting is slightly off. Well, that's because while making the chapters, THE ENTIRE FILE GOT CORRUPTED. I DON'T KNOW HOW OR WHY, I JUST KNOW THAT I ENTERED THE FILE AND EVERY CHARACTER WAS REPLACED BY A =. Fuck that man, those were almost 18,000 words.
Man, I had an note ready for this, but it got wiped with the progress.
About Apollo or the other gods... yeah they're going to play a role. Just wait and see. No spoilers on them either.
Wow, I just reread this last part and it sounds like I'm trying to convince my teacher that I have something prepared for the final project due in 2 days or something... Like, I do have a plan for them, even if it doesn't sound like it.