Yuni settled her camp , already missing House ' halfway there already . Better read on the story of the abandoned mines ' Yuni found that the abandoned mines were in the same situation as the mad forest ' No one comes out as they go in '
She wondered what she could be facing and finally , the next day , she arrived at a big mountain with a single cave entrance with most facilities broken ' I can't just keep guessing what happened to it , although fighting would be hard in tight spaces , but as long as I got what I need , I won't be bothered '
Collab chapter title : The challenger
Yuni entered the bringing the cart with her in case she couldn't use the inventory . She was overly cautious and reached a crossroads in which she tested fate and dragged the minecart with her .
She eventually finds a cave with several ores and a few pickaxes left aside . The sounds of the cave cracking from the mining of Yuni echoed through the other caves . She kept the ores inside her inventory but still dragged it along, tossing a bag of food inside .
She continued drawing a map mentally to avoid getting lost . She notices that there are no monsters around , guessing that she could continue strip mining in a direction , hoping to find a monster eventually .
She ate her meals , dumping all of her bags as her cautiousness demanded it . She couldn't feel anything wrong about the mines , only recalling the few facts about the abandoned mines .
' One day , the mines were abandoned after no more ores were brought out , What happened to the miners though ? That's probably the mystery the abandoned mines have , which was unlike the mad forest since a few people were able to confirm from outside observations '
Yuni eventually bumps into another minecart ' Woah , are you sure abandoning it was smart ? ' she was impressed by the great amount of ores that were found in the minecart and quickly packed them into her inventory .
She was so excited that she didn't see the corpse that was beside it ' Hmm that's weird ' Yuni crouched down to the corpse , wondering why it was like this and it pounced up . She stabbed it with her dagger and it fell on the ground .
' For now let's take the book out ' Yuni looks at the corpse , wondering what happened to it ' If there is a corpse here , could they have been lost ? ' there was still nothing , so she thinks about the mechanics and hears a loud ting .
[ Update ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6bDfAEN8D
[ Storybook will only record things that are certain to the characters ]
' Darn , I knew it was too good to be true ' Yuni decided to properly understand the reason for examining the corpse ' There is something in the body that caused it to move . I don't know why , but I could tell it looked like it had starved '
There was too little to understand it , so Yuni stored the corpse and spent some money to upgrade her inventory . She kicked the minecart off the rails to make way for hers and continued searching for clues and ores .
She found corpses and killed them , confirming that they all starved to death ' But it's a bit weird that none of the corpses have a hint of necromancy on them . Maybe they're being animated by something else '
Yuni stopped by a corpse and wanted to test her theory . She got close enough for it to be active and went behind to hide from her minecart . Before she could stab the hand she expected to reach her , she saw them grab her bag and shove it into their mouth .
She quickly kicked them away and used magic to clean the dirt that fell into the minecart . She watched as the corpse ate away the food ' So it's not necromancy but hunger that drives them , what an interesting new concept for necromancy '
Yuni has discovered that the dead miners were after food , yet the mystery of why they died remains unsolved . The ink stained the pages as it records most of the certainties as truth .
' Something about this is strange , supposedly they abandoned the mines after no more ores were extracted , but even that information was mentioned by a character , if it was the narrator it would've been easy to believe , so maybe I should check on how the abandoned mines were in operation '
She subdued the corpse and tried to make them talk by trying to remove their silence ' Okay , it is definitely not working ' Yuni killed them and did the same until she reached a dead end and there were some etchings on the wall .
She cleared the corpses and checked the etchings "Food for ore" "No ore no food" "trap" "lost" "Maze" ' These corpses probably ran out of strength when making them , but I feel some resentment , but not enough to power the necromancy '
She stored the rest of the corpse and thought of the keywords ' Maybe the manager of this place made them work for food and only fed them when they didn't have anything . The lost , trap and maze don't make sense surely , there would've been people who could leave the place eventually and there were even many people who came to investigate with lots of food '
She decided to go to the other crossroads , picking the paths that she had never set foot on and clearing all of them for three days straight , taking all the ore that she could find and mined . While also collecting the corpses ' I'll burn their corpses so that they at least find peace ... later '
She exits from the last deadend and reads the abandoned mines .
Yuni has finally cleared all of the roads , but for some reason not a single clue on what led them to become hungry corpses or get close . She assumed magic and yet none of it was found inside .
' If only I had cleared this , maybe I could've gotten some rewards ' Yuni leaves the mines with only a few amount of food left in her ' I should head to the town that sold the ores , the book said that all of the miners were players , so there is no way to find information traditionally . Plus , I'm extremely tired . I haven't slept for days , although I had to do that because I was inside the mines '
She missed the comfort of the bed inside House and went to sleep inside the inn room she rented .
[ Sleep has caused Delirium to enter your mind ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09pX7ofj9g
[ starting quest ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc2uJgHhyP7
[ Generating quest conditions ]
Yuni appeared and listened to the announcer " Alright you beggars , because you've been infesting the streets of our city , we have decided to have you all sent to the mines . It'll be a better place "
' So I'm experiencing the nightmare of the people guess Delirium could be great in times like this , but maybe call it nightmares instead ' " As long as you mine inside , we can give you food " Yuni cheered along with the other players , relating the concept of the beggars to the ones at the starter village "
' Not sure if they have the mercy challenge ' Yuni receives her equipment which was a cooling device , a mask and pickax " If your equipment's durability goes down make sure you send a message along with the ore " Yuni simply nodded , keeping her eyes closed as she followed into the mines and started to mine away .
' I have to keep my techniques in check if I do this too fast , I might divert the course of the story behind this ' she experienced time but couldn't tell how long she was inside the mines . Eventually , there was no more supply of food .
So one night Yuni woke up and remembered the path she used and walk out of the mines .
[ Nightmare cleared ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98isCKCCNn
[ Reward well-earned rest and Delirium progress ]
Next day , Yuni wakes up ' So I guess I figured out the problem now onto the town's history ' Yuni went to the query and received the same amount of service .
"What happened to the town before they abandoned the mines ?" " They were at war with another city , they resorted to several dirty tactics like poisoning the water supply , forest fires and targeting several other suppliers "
' Not much to go with the war ' "What about the news where they reported abandoning the mines ?" " There were certain investigations , but since nobody was able to return , they remained a mystery to everyone . "
"The public's reaction to the abandonment of the mines ?" " Not a lot , the miners were previously beggars , nobody cared about them enough since they were gonna die anyways . They only assumed that the beggars left to beg in another city "
"Can you ask the other cities for these beggars ?" " No miss Yuni , that will require a lot of manpower to find beggars , but you can access the records but they will cost you " "No need" ' I know they all died anyways '
"Next question , is there anything known about the abandoned mines other than the people who just went in and never out ?" " Yes , after the war , the city had to abandon the mines because no ore was being sent out . No one cared for the beggars and the mines had been left alone other than the curious investigators "
' Seeing as there were no monsters inside , someone must've cast some kind of magic to make them get lost , but where and what ? ' Yuni was extremely confused by her thoughts and joked about being so lost in her thoughts that Sobriety might consider it a status effect .
' Guess I'll just ask the last one ' "My next quest is supposed to be the fame game . Will I still be able to participate in it even if I'm not near the city ?" " Yes however , you will be teleported to a location far from them , but since you are under the solo challenge , you won't be affiliated with them "
' That's alright , House ain't that weak plus they know how to use the flower of dreams ' Yuni leaves the Query office and wonders what she should do ' I've already figured out that there might be some kind of magic that is making them get lost , but it's strange that happened '
Traversing the mines wasn't supposed to be hard , the rails could easily be traced and even if one were to go blind , there would be no reason for them to get lost ' How can you get lost in there in the first place ? You were supposed to just follow the rails '
She imagined the construction of the rails ' If they wanted to mine in a different direction , the rails should diverge . ' Her head was aching because she was tormenting herself thinking about solving the mystery .
' Wait a minute , obviously it wouldn't be so hard to just follow the rails ' she recalled the memories of many miners using their light skills so they could go out when the lights inside the mines went out , likely after abandoning it .
' If they could see , they would follow the rails , but for some reason , they don't go out ' she finally understood the problem ' It's illusion magic that's why , Maybe the reason I never found out was because I'm doing the blind challenge in the first place . '
Yuni quickly ran towards the mines but stopped and opened the patient challenge "Are you not gonna stop me ?" she wrote as if they would reply .
[ Patience is to wait in line and not be disrupted ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3808X87hqm
[ Running towards a store with no line isn't considered impatient ]
' Dang , I need to understand some values , Mercy was easy , but patience is so vague ' she resumed her dash to the mines and searched for some magic that could be around , but found none .
' Okay obviously there is some magic I just have to find it ' Yuni takes out a corpse and searches for some magic inside them and eventually finds it ' I knew it ' she used the magic she traced and confirmed it with her understanding of illusions from the Delirium reward instance .
' This magic can be casted on your own , so you would need a catalyst to make it continuously cast . Maybe the reason I never experienced it was because I'm completely blind ' Yuni searched for the catalyst and found it .
She disabled it and received a notification .
[ You've solved the mystery of the abandoned mines ]
Yuni takes out the storybook and finds that it is at the final chapter . She read the last pages and smiled ' but it never said complete , which means I have one more thing to do ' she rushed to the challenge office and progressed the mercy challenge .
[ Confirm use of Mercy reward instance on fire magic ]
Yuni confirmed and received it ' Since the corpses are still active , it must mean I need to get rid of them first and what better way than to use it to make a grand ceremony ' she climbed the top of the mountain at night and piled up all the corpses atop it .
Final chapter : mystery solved
Yuni decides to give the hungry ghouls a proper burial . Upon using a mercy reward instance , she learned how to create a cremation fire that would cleanse whatever animated their bodies . She stacked all the bodies as she learned how to use the flames and used the Illusion Catalyst to take away the illusions from their bodies .
She fired away the flames of cremation as the ghouls burned . No more was the pain of living , no more were the starving stomachs that had to eat the organic material that they could chew .
As their bodies was burned , only the ashes remained .
[ Congratulations on clearing the storybook Abandoned mines ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXDZBq3ouN
[ Storybook will be updated from the relevant details ]
' Good good good , now the rewards ? ' Yuni looked forward to it , she had already strip-mined all the ores visible within and wondered if there was even more that she could find .
[ Rewards ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEh8DOmkFqv
[ Ashes of hunger ]
' Ashes of what ? ' she reads the description , surprised to see what it was ' Spreads hunger to wherever the place is scattered , may cause a famine ending all lives and create fertile soil '
' What is this bullsht ? ' she was annoyed that her reward was so little and figured it was because she had gotten all the ores inside it .
' Fine , I'll figure out how to make use of it soon , even though I could've gotten it ... there was no boss , so I guess it's fitting the game doesn't reward me as well , maybe I should've used the reward instances , but then again they only gave me that option because there was a boss '
She leaves it at that but wonders what she should do from now on ' I have this illusion catalyst I could use later on , I should just camp for the night , I'm pretty tired myself ' she takes out her camping equipment and drinks some alcohol .
' I'm tempted to let myself go drunk , but I've made my body too strong , maybe next time I should search for the tastiest wine instead of cheap beer ' she takes a look at the countdown , figuring that it won't matter to her and so she goes into her tent and falls asleep .
[ Sleep has caused Delirium to enter your mind ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NMBxIqOdL
[ Starting quest ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhj95E0tbX
[ Generating quest conditions ]
' Again ? ' Yuni wondered what it would be this time ' The last time I did it , it generated a quest with the memory of a random fox and made me fight until the fox's death . It was pretty short a fox only lives 3-4 years and I still have plenty of blueprints although at least they are changing things up but I'm not sure if I could keep this much on me carrying all my inventory is great but the problem is I don't want an inventory that's bigger than house '
Yuni wondered why it was taking forever to generate the quest and smiled ' Try to get into my mind now , I've reinforced it . Although you are useful when I got the dream of a miner , I won't let you disturb my mind while I'm trying to sleep '
Yuni felt her surroundings change and she could feel the flames nearby . The fire was very widespread too and she recalled the book that she had borrowed from the library ' Oh no you didn't '
' I'm hungry ' a girl with only horns walked to some unhatched aggs and bashed them with a rock , drinking the liquid that seeped out of the rocks ' It had to be the perspective of the demons '
Yuni knew this meant that she would experience all the memories of the first ruler of demons . She listens to the girl's thoughts , trying to understand them to see what she is trying to do and patiently waits until the end .
' The goal of every delirium challenge is to accomplish the good ending , as was my first nightmare , the second is to get the good ending . I'd rather not find out what happens at the end of the bad ending '
Yuni finally arrived at the end of the first chapter of the storybook " QUEEN OF DEMONS LIXA I HAVE COME TO KILL YOU " Yuni wanted to take over , but Lixa noticed " You , finally acted huh ? " Yuni realized they were going to attack her and the first hero dashed to attack .
" DIE " Lixa threw her strongest attack , killing the hero instantly ' You doofus you were supposed to adapt to her attack strategy , don't blindly attack ' Yuni felt her mind being intruded by Lixa .
' I completely forgot that mind magic works best if you are in the same body ' Yuni resisted the attacks and wondered why Lixa seemed much more agitated ' The hell is wrong with her ? Why is she suddenly so strong ? '
Yuni defended herself as more mental attacks rained into her ' This is just weird how am I supposed to end this quest they only create the quest conditions not win conditions ' she felt a hand pierced into Lixa's body .
' She's going too far with this , I know I won't lose but why the hell ' she fly towards the hand and takes out a sword . Lixa grasped her hand while Yuni move out and dash through her hand piercing her sword deep and ran it through as she sprinted to the exit Lixa made .
Yuni came out and felt herself reunite with her character's body . The limping Lixa takes her hand out as the hole from her body " How did you get here ? " ' What the hell does she mean by that ? More importantly , this feels a bit messed up , doesn't it ? '
The situation was like comparing Yuni's travel into someone's dream and telling a random character that isn't a dreamer that their reality was just a dream ' It makes people go crazy , but instead she says , Why I'm here ? I should be the one asking why the hell you are like that '
Yuni dashed towards Lixa and she swung her arm , which was enveloped in flames . Yuni rolled to the other side , recognizing the attack ' She's dishing out the attacks from her final form so quickly already '
Lixa swiped her free hand down and Yuni dashed and zigzag from the pillars of flames ' Calm down girl ' Yuni threw her sword towards Lixa and thinks about the use of inventory ' There is definitely something wrong in here , I don't usually get the inventory in the dreams '
Yuni grabbed the mandrake whistle and blew it " That pathetic noise will do you no good " Chains appeared and grabbed Yuni . The illusions fades and Yuni appeared , blowing the whistle straight to her ear " Argh !!?? "
Yuni aimed for Lixa's throat but her blade cracked upon hitting " I will not be bested by a hero unblessed by the balance of power " ' This is obviously not in the right place ' Lixa gathers her strength and starts to cast a magic .
' Gotta do something ' she thinks of her current options , figuring that none of them would work and thinks of how Lixa had reached into her body to grab Yuni's soul .
' I still don't get how this place works , would I die if I fail ' Yuni looked at Lixa and smiled ' Hey first demon queen , have you experienced hardship before ? ' Yuni ran towards Lixa , who was surprised to see Yuni charge recklessly .
There was no reason that Lixa could think of that could explain Yuni's strange behaviour ' Of course you have , when you were born you had to cannibalize your people , but making sacrifices you were able to save the ones who were next '
Yuni recalls her memory and embraced Lixa ' Just like me I killed the collector and drank his soup , I didn't know what it was , but at that time , I was thirsty I've witnessed that ugly thing give us kids some potions , educate us , train us , only to make that soup which they call an inheritance soup '
Yuni starts to cast illusion magic as she forces Lixa to experience a surge of different sensations ' It was meant for them to be able to transcend their limits , it extracted the very essence of a firstborn's right to inheritance '
Yuni cast silence to keep Lixa from screaming ' It was meant to help them grow stronger and I took it from them . But it wasn't the same effect as I've read , it tortured every piece of me and that is exactly the same kind of pain you will be feeling '
" AAAAARRRRRRGGG " Lixa screamed , breaking the silence spell . Yuni stripped her armor as Lixa looked at her with anger ' Gotcha ' Lixa was suddenly blinded and Yuni started to silence all her sensations the noise that was attacking her brain suddenly quieted down and when she was released she felt nothing .
' That magic you did is faulty , next time you make something like that , try to make one that can support itself if you were interrupted during the casting time . ' Yuni stood from afar holding Lixa's armor with a few bruises that were starting to heal ' There are truly a lot of benefits to having a small body '
[ First ruler has been defeated ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9Jb3IGg8G
[ Compiling rewards ]
' Rather than that can you at least tell me what is happening ? ' She checked the book and learned .
Chapter title Invader of demon realm
Yuni fell asleep with the storybook which was deeply connected to the domain of the dead of this world which is commonly known as the demon realm .
' Hey this is some awesome lore ' she reads it and compiles her understanding of the world ' So Lixa was the one who caused this , she connected the underworld to the world outside thereby claiming it the demon realm ' the book continued to write more about the history of the underworld , understanding what this means for the players and heroes .
' Although the kingdoms right now are using puppets to summon , aren't they ? But how are they making these puppets ' Yuni looks at the book , wondering if this would give her any answers as to what the people opposing the demons are thinking of .
' Wait , if there is an underworld here that you can access to resurrect a demon king . isn't there something in the other worlds too ? ' Yuni figured this must mean that she could end up in the underworld too ' Maybe they might even give me a quest about it too . '
She then thought of the challenge of delirium , wondering what it actually does ' The fact that it can connect me to souls and create quest out of it is strange , it would make much better sense to call it a dream that never ends type of thing '
Yuni checked if the game was taking notes from a fellow developer ' Huh huh you got that right ? '
[ Challenge of Delirium updated ]6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6ypzGSyoC
[ Dream that never ends ]
' Good good good , now when are you gonna give me a reward ? ' before she could say anything , she was in a blank space again .
[ Game of Fame ]
' Oh how horrible of you to do such a thing ' Yuni woke up in forest and thought of how familiar the situation was ' You haven't even given me my rewards yet ? '
[ Reward well-earned rest ]
' It's not even giving me progress for delirium because it wasn't a memory ' she was annoyed but thinks of the information she got from Delirium ' Well considering Delirium bought me that information I guess it would make sense that I had benefited the most out of this for doing to that place . '
Yuni thinks of House wondering if they were transported too ' I better search for House , not sure how I could get to them though ' Yuni headed out through the forest and finds another person . she could sense that they were holding a book reading it .
' Really makes me miss my eyes ' Yuni hides her presence and sneaks closer as a dagger is flung towards her " Who's there ? " ' Oh this player is good ' Yuni revealed herself and as the lady thought she was hit with the status screen as well as a punch , knocking her down .
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