Prince of The Abyss

Walking over to one of the dummies, Aether studied it.

It wasn’t anything grand, just a potato sack filled with old cloth and painted to have two eyes, nothing more, nothing else, some of its filling even falling out. ’Since there is no one here, I guess I have to test it.’

Aether summoned Voidpiercer, preparing to strike it, before the Codex stopped it.

[#Warning, the dummy will be permanently destroyed if hit by a relic of that power!"]

His eyes widened, stopping just before the blade hit the training dummy. "Then what am I supposed to use? I don’t have any other blade with me. I haven’t had that luck."

Aether frowned, waving off the Codex, preparing to see if it was really going to break, but as he did, with the corner of his eye, he saw a box filled with wooden boxes, which made him stop. "Oh."

His cheeks flushed a bit before walking over and grabbing one of the blades. It wasn’t well crafted; the wood wasn’t refined at all. If he wasn’t a Seeker, he would have gotten a ton of splinters, but his body was too powerful for them.

’At least it’s a normal blade, not a design I’ve never tried before.’ Aether swung with it, trying to see how it was. His slashes were faster, faster than they were with Voidpiercer in the few times he ever tried them with it, since most times he just stabbed over and over again.

But its speed mostly came from it just not being heavy.

Something interesting he noticed is that when he took the blade out, another one replaced it out of thin air. It just appeared. ’Too many cool things are happening. All this anchor stuff reminds me of the affinity the Team Coordination teacher has, just that hers allows her to make a space in the real world... and she can actually do whatever she wants with her essence.

...

Maybe not that similar.’ Aether went back to the bag and cloth, raising his blade before coming down onto it. It took the blow... decently; you could visibly see where he had struck, but it wasn’t the worst thing.

’I guess I’ll be doing this for a while to get some level... if I even get level from doing it myself; if not, an NPC will have to come... they should be able to come since I’m low level.’

...

...

...

Taking a deep breath, Aether stepped back, turning his hips, before thrusting the blade into the center of the dummy, making a small hole in the bag. He sighed, wiping the sweat off his face. Before the Codex appeared.

[You have used the Training Ground for an hour/ +1EXP]

Aether stared, shocked. ’You’re kidding, right... It takes ten hours to level up once? How is that fair? I can’t do that. I’ve got stuff to do, and even if I level up once, I will have to do that again, and it’s too much.’

He sighed, pinching his nose, but as he did, he heard footsteps. Instantly turning his head, he saw a human, someone, just walking towards him. ’Huh? How did he get here... don’t others have to get permission?" Aether paused a little longer before an idea popped out. "Wait, is this an NPC?" He walked over to it, a quick walk just in case it was human; he didn’t want to seem weird.

But even when he stared right into its face, it just ignored him, continuing to walk as if nothing was happening. It looked exactly like a human; there was no way to tell the difference between a normal person and it. "Woah..." Aether poked it, trying to see if it would react, but nothing.

’It even feels exactly like a human...’

...

He suddenly stopped, just watching it walk. ’Of course it looks and feels like a person, dumbass; what did you even expect it to look like, a grey figure?’ He thought to himself, annoyed at how he had acted.

The figure walked over to the Training ground, picked up a sword, and started to swing. Aether sat down on the floor watching it. It was interesting to see, even in the Team Coordination class, the things inside had emotions and the ability to react to things around them, but it seemed to be programmed to just go around and use the facilities he made. It was cool, and at the same time very weird.

’A lifeless creation, just going around using things without any reason for doing so, just to say it does so. A being that does things just to say they did, not because they actually wanted to do it... Wait, was Voidpiercer really comparing me to this?’

Aether frowned. "We’re nothing alike."

’How annoying.’

...

He sat there, watching the figure, for over an hour, before the Codex awarded him with EXP, and the figure just disappeared like it was never there. ’So they are each one use? And I have to wait for another to come?’

Gripping his chin, he thought about it. ’Is there a way to speed it up? If I have more facilities to use, do more come? Is there, like, some attractiveness system for them? The more things I have, the more they come?

[Add Facility]-

1-Production

2-Crafting

3-Knowledge

4-Combat

5-Recovery

6-Nature

7-Economy

8-Special

Aether looked around at each of them, but most had nothing inside; the only one that did was Economy.

[Economy]- Small Restaurant/25 coins.

’So expensive... should I do this? Or is leveling up a better idea? That way I gain more money.... actually no, that’s just dumb. Why would I wait to level up to buy it and just make more money then, when I can get it now, test the whole attracting thing, make more EXP since there are two facilities, while also making money, even if less than I will make when my level is high. Plus, I don’t know if my income increases each level or at a certain milestone.’

Aether pressed the buy section, and then a small building appeared next to the training ground.

[Would you like to hire NPCs to help with the Anchor?]

1-Waiter/5 coins

2-Cook/10 coins

...

’You know... it would have been nice if I knew this...’ Aether sighed, buying both of them.

Entering the building, he saw a figure inside, just waiting, and another in the Kitchen.

[Note:Each month, you will have to pay your employees. The amount is the same as the one you bought them for. You can hire better employees, each having stars that say how good they are. The better the people working for you, the more expensive they are.

Your current employees are both half a star.]

’... Did the genre suddenly change or something?’