As Zach received the usual buff and walked through the second of two pressurized doors, he was surprised to see that this one was not the exit. Last ti, it had opened up into space and had let him drop down. Yet, it was only as he entered a much smaller, partially sealed chamber that he rembered: he was apparently supposed to travel 400 miles to the city, and that was not sothing he could do just by jumping out. At best, he might drift 25 to 50 miles before landing.
Thus, this was probably going to work a little differently than last ti.
Stepping farther inside, the chamber made a whoosh sound and sealed behind him, locking him in. And it was only now that the front of the chamber began to slide open, revealing an exit. But there was sothing else, too: sothing making a buzzing noise.
He looked behind him and saw a giant, round vent, which began to grow louder and louder as though it were charging up for sothing.
Oh shit! I better breathe!
Zach exhaled as fast as he could, which took long enough to make him nervous. And then he began sucking the air right back into his lungs, knowing that he could be blasted out of what looked like an airlock at any second. If it happened right now, he'd die a painful death of asphyxiation.
Luckily, he just managed to take in his full breath as the noise reached its maximum volu, and then there was a thwoooop followed by a pop, and Zach actually felt a bit of shock as a sensation similar to being "shoved" only a thousand tis heavier blasted him with incredible force out of the space station.
Now, rather than falling down, Zach flew over the planet at a speed that would not be possible anywhere but in orbit. It almost seed odd to him that there was no wind here except for perhaps the gentlest, most barely perceptible resistance as the atmosphere was thin enough that it allowed him to glide along the world at what he could only assu was sowhere in the ballpark of 3- to 4-thousand miles per hour.
This is like Mach 6! Zach scread in his mind, overwheld by awe and pure joy as he could actually see the curvature move ever so slightly towards him. The city was still so impossibly far away, but it was actually getting closer. He could see it getting closer, even if he could barely make out its features. His blue-dot waypoint was still marking it, and he watched as the number of miles began to visibly tick down. 4900. 4850. 4800. At this rate, he really would make it 400 miles. An astronomical amount.
But still, it wasn't enough, as that would only get him to around 4400, and he wanted to go even farther. So, an idea ca to him. A dangerous idea. A way to get a bit more mileage than what was obviously intended.
Zach activated Unleashed Phase. Now, even as he flew forward, his hands and palms gave off their typical black smoke while the visible portions of his skin blood with a dull shine as he continued to soar over the horizon. At the sa ti, a rush of energy and exhilaration went off in his chest to the extent that he had to struggle not to exhale and breathe.
It was only now, in Unleashed Phase, that he truly understood just how fatigued he actually was—or rather, how fatigued he'd actually been. Given how he'd fared in that space station, he'd assud he'd had so kind of second wind, but no, that was just pure will and giddiness at a change of pace. And the way he knew this was simple: because he now entered Unleashed Phase with the shortest duration he'd ever had. This ant that a significant amount of ti had just gone towards replenishing him.
Unleashed Phase Duration
10:21 Remaining
Fla Arrow II
1:00
Fla Arrow III
2:30
Ice Spear III
2:30
Amplifying Surge
2:00/2:00:00 (if used with Boundless)
Wave Slash
1:15
Boundless
0:10
Phase Cannon (No Target)
1:30/2:00 (if used with Boundless)
Phase Cannon (Targeted)
2:30/3:00 (if used with Boundless)
Phase Blink
0:20
Phase Shield (READY) (25 seconds)
0:45
Phase Return (REQ: Phase Lvl >=3)
2:25 / 3:10 (if used with Boundless)
Phase Rescue
0:35 / 2:15 (if used with Boundless)
Phase Slash
1:10 / 6:10 (if used with Boundless Amplifying Surge)
Phase Step (READY) (120 seconds)
4:00
Halting Strike
0:20
Card Capture
0:00
Card Summon
0:00
Card Dismiss
0:00-X:XX
Gacha Get'cha
0:00
As Zach continued to fly over Albion-4, he tested the theory behind his dangerous idea, and he activated Phase Blink. And then he activated it again, and again, and again. And just as he imagined, it worked very differently now from how it usually worked, as he was already going six tis the speed of sound. So instead of blinking him forward and stopping, each ti he used the ability, there was a little "bump" like a jet engaging its rear thrusters, and his body jolted as he accelerated just a little bit faster. There was no noise, however, likely because sound did not travel through space.
Stolen story; please report.
Unleashed Phase Duration
8:40 remaining
Zach used the ability again. And then again, and again, and again. He was gaining even more speed now. But there was a problem: he might've been gaining too much speed, because it was actually kind of starting to hurt a little bit.
4750.3m
4630.8m
Zach paused a mont, content to let himself glide forward, because there was just a…a kind of tension in his body. A pressure almost. But then he thought: nah, fuck it, still beats the heat, and he activated Phase Blink five more tis.
That might've been a mistake.
The only thing stopping him from crying out in pain was the knowledge that it would cost him his oxygen. Whatever he'd just done, it was clearly an error, as his body felt like it was being ripped apart. It was to such an extent that he imdiately opened his inventory and used a purple stone, and it was accepted. But rather than make him feel any better, it simply prevented him from feeling worse. This ant the damage he'd done to himself was ongoing.
Okay, I should just leave well enough alone! he shouted in his mind as he entered what he assud to be sowhere in the ballpark of Mach 10.
Zach was aching far too badly to do the kind of ntal calculations necessary to be sure, but just from the rate of decrease, he was pretty sure he was traveling at almost 7k miles per hour, or two miles every single second. The waypoint was counting down incredibly fast.
4410.4m
4379.2m
And only now, as he began to slow just a little bit, did the pain lessen up. Zach, deciding not to push things any farther, was content to simply coast the rest of the way and let everything else happen naturally now without him interfering with it. Soaring along, he watched as, despite his speed, the sheer size of the planet made it look like he was moving extrely slowly: like the planet was gently turning "towards" him rather than him moving along it. Interestingly, the ti on his map began decreasing along with the distance to his waypoint.
It looks like I just made my day a little bit longer, he thought.
4200.0m
4142.7m
4051.1m
3995.3m
3:28 PM
Having already traveled over a thousand miles towards the city, Zach felt justified in calling his little experint a success. He still had over five minutes left on Unleashed Phase, and he would just ride this out now.
I finally got one over on the system, he thought, stifling a laugh. Even a small chuckle would cost him so air, and as things stood, he'd be holding his breath for a good bit longer than the launcher-thing intended. So, instead, he rely snickered ntally, not willing to let his oxygen out.
Hehe. I totally cheated the system.
What made it all feel so glorious was the fact that it was true. He really did. He really, actually did. In fact, he'd cheated it to such an extent that, despite flying across a planet like so kind of God for over a thousand miles, he was only first now slowing down to the speed he'd originally launched himself out. And all without any kind of negative—
Wait, what's that up ahead? Is that another one of those…? Oh shit! OH FUCK THAT'S A—
Zach didn't see the space station until he crashed right into it. For about a tenth of a second, there was darkness. And then there was light. But there was no sound throughout. Zach, looking back over his shoulder, lost at least half his oxygen as he squealed at the sight of what he'd done.
I'm in so much trouble!
The entire space station—it was basically done. Whatever quest or…or whatever this thing was built for, well…it definitely wasn't for that anymore. Honestly, it looked like it'd been hit by a nuclear missile. Even without making a sound, the entire thing was just up in flas and in multiple pieces. Zach didn't even feel it, either. But the space station sure did.
Maybe it would respawn in a week. Or maybe not. Gods, he hoped nobody saw him do that. Hopefully, they would think it was a random teor or sothing. Maybe a gas leak onboard. But as far as Zach was concerned, he was never going to admit he just did that, because Adamus was crazy about his stupid system.
I don't think that's coming back in a week…
Zach didn't even realize what he'd done until the station was already destroyed. And he'd been moving so fast he couldn't see what was inside. From his perspective, it was all just a flash: he'd hit it and moved on in less ti than it took to blink an eye. But now, as he continued to fly over the planet, albeit with so altitude loss, all he could see behind him was a massive, fiery explosion as well as millions of individual pieces of tal that were beginning to burn up as they entered the atmosphere.
Unless soone saw do it, they have no proof!
Zach felt a rush of nerves in his belly and also a little guilt, but he shoved it aside. He didn't know that could happen, and why was this his fault? Maybe it was their fault for putting a space station where he was flying. Maybe that wasn't a good spot, huh? Why did everything have to be Zach's fault? Maybe he should be the one upset since he could have gotten hurt. Yeah. It was the OMP, or Adamus, or whatever—they were the ones who made the mistake, not him.
As Zach's forward montum began to stall, his speed picked up again soon after, but only because he was now plumting down towards the planet, having achieved slightly more than a thousand miles in just a few minutes.
3943.2m
Unlike his fall yesterday morning, when Zach had been overflowing with excitent and steering his body, Zach decided to just sort of go limp because he was too exhausted. Also, Unleashed Phase ca to an end, and that certainly contributed to his fatigue. It wasn't quite at the "E-debt" level of tired, but enough to where he kind of just preferred to let his body spin and flop around in the air as he descended through multiple atmospheric layers.
Even as he reached the point where he estimated he had around a minute left before touching down, he didn't bother to flip himself right-side up. After all, there was no rule that said he had to land a certain way. And so, as his flaming, burning, hissing body shot down through the sky, Zach, out of sheer laziness and indifference, decided to just let himself strike the ground like a bomb dropped out of an enemy aircraft. He just didn't "feel" like landing gracefully right now.
He yawned as an explosive shower of sand was kicked up into the air as he landed right on his back and then skipped along the surface for a few bounces before becoming subrged beneath it. The bright sky faded and everything darkened as he sank under several dozen feet and continued to move for almost 10 seconds before finally coming to a halt.
Then, buried underneath tons of sand, he stretched and then jumped his way out, causing even more of it to go flying off into the air. And now, erging onto the desert once more, the sweat started up all at once, and Zach was once again forced to contend with a level of heat that felt like it was from the depths of hell.
According to his map, it was now 3:32 PM, and the temperature was 175.3 degrees. He was also 3938.0 miles away from the city. And yet, despite having made such an amazing stride, his enthusiasm burned up under the relentless sun, which reminded him of how ill-suited his plate armor was for this kind of extre environnt.
When it was cold, it made him colder. When it was hot, it made him hotter. And in extre conditions, it was beyond the tolerable range, which ant that, once again, it was ti to trade plate for cloth and step back into the role of a mage.
Okay, let's see…where am I?
After changing quickly via his inventory—and also adding a purple stone back into his QI—Zach zood far out on his map; here, he could now see the spot he'd touched down yesterday, which was connected to that friendly village. From there, he saw the path that had taken him to the "grey" village. Then there was about a thousand miles of unrevealed darkness that matched his flight, followed by a small dot in the east, which was where he was standing right now. Zooming in, he discovered he had landed sowhere called the "White Sands of Lesser Heilor."
The area was color-coded as red, which ca as no surprise to Zach. He could have figured that out himself with just a cursory glance at all the annoying bullshit he was going to have to try to avoid. Now, in addition to more of the pellet-shooting snakes and those weird, mustache-faced wind monsters, this area had everything from walking cacti, birds the size of DEHVs, and scythe-ard scarecrow monsters, though these looked nothing like the scarecrows on Archian Pri, as those had been built from straw, and these seed made out of wood.
Yeah, there were a lot of annoying enemies here. And what…what in the hell was that? Was that a Gods-be-damned giant elephant with a rocket launcher for a nose instead of a tusk?
HP
54,211,044/54,211,044
Na
(T10) Bazookafant
Level
156
The T10 boss released a shrill cry. "Arraaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Zach almost had to cover his ears. That must've been audible for many miles. Oh boy. He needed to be careful around here, and he needed to avoid fights as best he could: starting with that Gods-forsaken thing.
Even if I was strong enough to fight that thing, which I'm not, I'd probably die of heatstroke or dehydration long before killing it.
The NPC, Gloral, had unambiguously advised adventurers not to "grind" in the desert, which was absolutely the correct advice. Now that he was on his second evening here, Zach could easily see why it made so much sense, especially since he had already figured out the "flow" of this place—although soone like Jimmy had probably put it together in the first 5 minutes.
Essentially, the goal appeared to be to make one's way to the city by heading to those question mark things and doing quests, but more importantly, it seed that fighting was ant to be done only as absolutely required. And why? Because, down here, things like stamina, hydration, and ntal willpower were resources that had to be spent wisely. Anyone stupid enough to try grinding to level up or brute-forcing their way to the city was almost guaranteed to die.
His thirst. His stamina. His fatigue. These were all resources that he now needed to spend like currency. And he needed to spend them wisely, as once they ran out, so did he.
But how do I proceed?
Right now, there was nothing on Zach's map in this area except for the na of it—White Sands of Lesser Heilor—and the little patch of revealed terrain where he was standing. But there were no question marks or any other markings that gave him an idea of where to travel. This ant that Zach had no real choice but to walk towards the city on foot and pray that so more of those question marks popped up on his map.
Otherwise, he would die.
"No pressure," he said, chuckling nervously as he began marching on.
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