I do possess the self-awareness to know that this is kind of a "wow, let me play you the world's smallest violin" kind of problem, but I just need to get it off my chest because I'm stuck in my head.
The one stat I track pretty regularly is my word count, since that's what I have direct control over. Out of curiosity, I decided to add up my totals for the year so far and compare them to last year's and... it stung. I'm well aware that I've gotten much slower over the years at writing, which I'm not happy about, but I didn't realize how bad it's gotten (by the meaningless standards I hold myself to).
This time last year, I had written 341,000 words so far, but this year I'm only at 209,000 for the year. Yes, those are both still respectable numbers, I know this logically. But there's something about seeing that I wrote 130,000 less than I had last year that just feels bad, because that's a whole novel's worth of fic I could have had written by now if I weren't so lazy. The worst part is that last year's 341k was even less than where I was at by this point in the year in 2022! So I can feel myself getting slower and slower and it's a deeply uncomfortable feeling.
Yes, fanfic is not a race. This is a hobby that I do for fun (and I am having fun! I'm enjoying myself tremendously whenever I write, genuinely and wholeheartedly) and so I shouldn't care how many words I'm able to write in a given time period as long as the story gets written eventually. There's no wrong way to do fanfic if you're having a good time and telling the stories you want to tell- I say that constantly, so why am I hung up on this inconsequential thing like it's the end of the world? My lizard brain is not treating me very kindly right now.
Anyway, that's all I really wanted to bitch about. Now, I think I'm going to go work on the current chapter of the WIP I'm chipping away at and see if I can get it finished tonight. Thanks for hearing me out even though is such a ridiculous "problem" to have.

After nearly thirty years of research, field work, digging, and sometimes living off the land, Ana had finally found what her family had sought since her great-grandfather. The door was so well hidden that she hadn’t realized it was there until she attempted to break a bit of the surface rock off with her geologist’s hammer. The hollow behind the door resonated with the sound of the hammer on stone.
She tapped along the door to find the edges. With the chisel end of her hammer, she chipped away the encrustations that had built up along the edges. After hours of hammering, chiseling, and digging at the base, the outline of the door was visible. Made of the same rock as the surrounding gneiss, it had gone unnoticed for untold millennia.
Ana pushed the door from the sides, the middle, the top, the bottom, looking for the smallest movement. The door didn’t budge. She sat, leaning against the door on the flat bit of ground she’d dug out. She ate some of the year-old jerky she had in her pack while the sun set.
It was a clear, moonless night, and Ana focused her attention on the whirl of the Milky Way overhead. The sight wasn’t enough to keep her mind off the stubborn door behind her and the aching of her joints from sitting on the rocky ground.
She stood and turned to take a last look at the door for the day. Even in the faint light of the stars, she thought she could make out the edges. At one corner, a flash caught her eye. She moved her head back and forth, trying to find the position that had, she thought, reflected light.
Not finding it, she pulled out her flashlight and shone it on the corner of the door where the flash was. She expected to see a reflection but saw none. She turned out the light, and there it was, except it was two flashes this time.
There was no doubt it was coming from inside, shining out a pinhole in the door seam at the upper left corner. “Monkey see, monkey do?” she asked herself. She pointed the flashlight at the corner and flashed it twice. When nothing happened, she flashed it again.
The response was five flashes. “Oh, fibbi-whatever,” she muttered. “Three and five is eight.” She flashed the light eight times. There was no immediate response. She began to worry that she’d been wrong in her counting or in what pattern they were looking for.
A loud hiss sounded as the whole door slid out away from the wall. Bright light shone around the edges of the door that continued to slide out, far thicker than she’d expected. Where she’d stopped digging in front of it, the door bulldozed its own path.
It stopped with a little less than a meter clearance between the back of the door and front of the rock wall. Beyond lay a downward-sloping walkway. It was shaped like an oval with a flattened floor. A voice echoed from within, “Enter, Anastasia.”
She didn’t know how they knew who she was, but she wasn’t going to turn back after having come so far. She stepped around the door, held by a single, flat piece of metal that disappeared into a groove in the ceiling. The metal that held the massive slab of stone looked far too flimsy for purpose, but pushing against the edges of the open door did nothing to sway the door or distort the metal support.
With a deep breath, Ana threw her pack over her shoulder and stepped into the hallway. As she continued down the hall, more would illuminate ahead of her while behind her, the lights shut off. Where the light came from was a mystery to her, but she was more interested in what lay ahead at that point.
She felt a slight, sudden increase in air pressure in the tunnel, followed by the echoing sound of the door as it closed. She pushed down the edges of panic that wanted to take hold. “I’m on my way,” she said to the tunnel.
The deeper she went, the more the temperature seemed to settle at close to fifteen or sixteen degrees Celsius. Her lips felt dry in the still air, and she applied lip balm while she continued apace ever deeper. Somewhere far underground, the tunnel curved back on itself and kept descending. After two more switchbacks, and what felt like hours of walking, she found herself in a chamber.
It was monumental in scale. The walls curved to meet at least twenty meters overhead. As the lights in the chamber came up, the far side looked a hundred or more meters away, while the doorway she was in was situated about twenty meters from the walls on either side. Covering the bottom two-thirds of the walls were row upon row of plastic-like boxes with lights blinking inside them.
In the center of the chamber was a dais with a holographic glyph floating in the air above it. Standing next to the dais was the owner of the voice she’d heard on entering. The shape was semi-translucent, the lights from the boxes behind it seeming to light it from within. “Welcome,” it said, although it had no mouth with which to speak. Its form shifted and changed, from an amorphous blob to an array of wings and eyes, then through creatures both real and mythical, until it finally settled into the shape of a large woman with wings.
“Who are you?” Ana asked.
“I am the keeper,” it said. “You are Anastasia, the seeker, yes?”
“I’m Anastasia Kell, but I go by Ana.” Ana moved closer to the center of the chamber and the shape-shifting entity at its center. “What is your name?”
“I am the keeper. I have no name.”
“Fine, I’ll call you Odette, then. You look like an Odette.”
The keeper flapped its wings twice, then shrunk its body by adding a long tail. “That is acceptable, seeker Anastasia.”
“Please, just call me Ana.”
“Of course, Ana. Please, come to the dais for your reward. Your dedication has won through.” The keeper moved away from the dais and extended an arm toward Ana. The arm kept extending, reaching Ana’s hand twenty meters away from the keeper.
Ana was surprised that the hand felt warm and dry. She’d expected some sort of slimy, cold thing, but it wasn’t. She let herself be led to the dais. “What are you?”
“I am the keeper.”
“Are you a biological creature or a construct of some sort? Some sort of soft-body robot, maybe.”
“I am a biological construct, designed to keep a record of all intelligent life on this world. I have been keeping these records for 72,363,412 years.”
“Since what…the dinosaurs?”
“Yes. The first were theropods. Traveling in hunter groups, they had a limited language. If they had been more adaptable, they might have not been already dying out by the time of the asteroid.” The keeper changed its shape to a theropod that Ana didn’t recognize. It was about the same height as her, with three-toed feet, three-fingered hand on medium-length arms, and a slightly domed head.
“That’s what they looked like?” she asked.
“Yes.” The keeper shifted into the shape of a porpoise. “There were and are the cetaceans, of course. They have language and culture but are not in a position to leave their cradle.”
“Is that what you’ve been waiting for? An intelligence capable of space travel?”
“Yes. My creators have placed other keepers like me on millions of worlds.” The keeper changed into a sphere. “This is where I am keeper.”
“So now, humans, I guess, are what you’ve been looking for.”
The keeper changed into a primate that resembled a chimpanzee and then morphed through several hominin species shapes, pausing on Neanderthal before finishing up with modern human. “I’ve watched entire civilizations come and go without so much as a scratch to mark them in the geologic record, and yet your kind has made an indelible mark on the planet. Whether that is for better or worse remains to be seen.”
“My guess would be worse, but I’m a pessimist.”
“So you say, but you never stopped searching for the library at the heart of the world.”
“True.” Ana took a deep breath and put a hand on the dais. The holographic glyph hovering above it disappeared, and an eight-limbed creature appeared in its place.
The creature spoke in English, even though its squishy mouthparts made movements that were often in total contradiction to the sounds it made. “Welcome, seeker Anastasia. Updating. Welcome, Ana. What would you like to learn today?”
“What are my limits here? This place was hard enough to find, what kind of things won’t you tell me?”
“The records will answer any questions you have that can be answered. Nonsensical and paradoxical queries will be ignored. The library is hidden to ensure that only those ready to take the next steps beyond their cradle can find it. As such, all our knowledge is yours for the asking.”
“So, I blinked a light in a simple sequence. How does that mean we’re ready to take the next steps – whatever those are?”
“You are the fourth generation of your family that has searched for the library, correct?” the holograph asked.
“I am.”
“And you have spent the majority of your adult life in the same search, have you not?”
“I have,” she said, “but how does that–”
“Multi-generational planning and execution, combined with drive and determination, and the knowledge of basic mathematical concepts. This is enough to start with.”
“Are you just another aspect of Odette?”
“No, I am the avatar of Krshnlgik-mlOgnk, the current head of remote planetary studies on our home world of MFkst.” The pronunciation of the non-translated names sounded more like someone choking in a bowl of oatmeal than a language.
“Is faster-than-light communication possible?”
“It is. I am currently speaking with you from a distance of thirty-one thousand light years.”
“How?”
A series of formulae appeared in the space above the dais. “You may use your phone to photograph these, since memorization might be difficult.”
Ana did. “And faster-than-light travel?”
The formulae were replaced with more, some of which looked similar to the first. She photographed those as well.
“Do you have any other questions?”
“How can you claim to keep track of everything happening all over the world?”
“The keeper, or Odette as you call it, has a connection through quintillions of microscopic wormholes to points all over the planet.”
“So, would you have the contents of the Library of Alexandria as they were just before it burned?”
“We do.” Thousands upon thousands of titles scrolled by, many in languages Ana couldn’t even guess at, but with an English translation next to them.
“That might be something for another day,” she said. “Are there others out there in the galaxy or just your people?”
“There are many others,” the avatar said, as images of dozens of strange body plans showed. “We are a small part of a wider galactic community.
“You seem to be pondering something,” the keeper said. “Do not be afraid to ask your question.”
“How do we get off this rock and join the galactic community?”
The keeper morphed into the shape of a cozy chair and said, “Get comfortable.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because,” the avatar answered, “this is going to take a long time to explain.”
prompt: Dream up a secret library. Write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. What’s in the library? Why was it kept secret?
originally posted at Reedsy

Ok, TLDR: 4k/4.5k USD budget, Productivity focused build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jRv6t7 good?
SO, long time mac user here for basically my entire career. I want to switch to PC mostly for the better 3D rendering/modeling performance and because I've honestly had enough of apple's bullshit.
So, asked for a bunch of parts listed from various sources to see what would be a fit for me.....aaand I got a bunch of contradictory info on what I should do.
So I just decided to put a list together myself(https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jRv6t7)
I'm going to explain my choices for each component and what my req for the whole build was.
So, a general outline of what I use/do is: Video editing(adobe),coding(VS/VS code), 3d and 2d art/animation(blender, adobe, maya), music production(fl studio, vocaloid).
I do game as well, but it's on a 1080p monitor, so....mostly productivity.(don't worry I already have a 4k monitor for my primary work.)
I need BOTH Ethernet and Wifi, And I ALSO need a method of USB-C Display out for a drawing tablet. I would also like to keep a CPU upgrade path. I want the build to be on the smaller end.
So with that aside here's my logic for each part.
CPU - 7950X3D, There was two majorly cited reasons for this 1. It's not that far off from the normal 7950x 2. Music production, The extra V-cache is massively helpful there, 3. Chip efficiency.
CPU cooler - ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III(280mm), Because I'm being told because I want my build to be on the smaller end I'm going to be thermally limited, So get the more efficient chip.
Motherboard - Gigabyte B650E AORUS ELITE X AX ICE, So I have been told that USB-C video out DOESN'T EXIST ON AMD and I would have to go Intel....Which I found to be blatantly wrong? This one says it does atleast?
I was told to go with a B series board since I wouldn't need an X series board unless I'm overclocking(i'm not sounds scary). I was going to go with an ASUS B650 Pro art....but was told to avoid Asus like the plague? So settled on this board.
RAM - 96GB DDR5-6000 CL30, I was going to go with 128gb, but I was told to try to keep it to two ram sticks only as going 128 requires me to use 4 and that's "going to cause massive stability issues". Honestly not too sure I even need 128gb so. 96.
Storage - 2x 2TB 990 EVO, 4tb of SSD storage, semi biased towards Samsung because...idk what other good brands(other than WD) was told I should get 2x 2TB instead of 1x 4TB for better reliability and longevity.
GPU - Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090, "You're going to get a 4090 with that budget. No discussion" - Some person I talked too.
Case - Lian Li O11 Air Mini ATX Mid Tower Case, Smallest case I could(theoretically) fit all this stuff in.
PSU - MSI MEG Ai1300P PCIE5, I was told and I quote "Get the most expensive ATX3/PCIE5 PSU that's solidly A tier in the PSU tierlist" So..I did?
That's what I thought anyways, If anyone could give insight into what I could do that would be great.

Why were games invented? To pit us against each other? To build bonds? …. …. …. To play?
I’ve never played chess without losing a piece. I’ve thought I had the last card in uno. I’ve had three of a kind and beaten by quads.
One thing I DO know is that all it takes is a chip and a chair. I may lose a part of my stack. I may be down to my last dollar but…..
THE NEXT HAND WILL BE DEALT. THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHANCE. I AM ABLE TO WIN ONCE AGAIN. I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE WHATS BEEN TAKEN FROM ME! I CAN BE THE SMALLEST AT THE TABLE AND WIN!
ITS TIME TO HODL. ITS TIME TO BUY. WITH FFIE BY MYSIDE ME IS LIVE!!

I got a 10 year old daughter and she is too thin to begin with. The doctors said nothing wrong with her, although she got constipation sometimes and we have to give her laxatives to make her go. She is well aware of her problem and yet she refuses to listen or do as we say when it comes to eating healthy foods.
Here is what she does. She sits down at dinner or lunch and barely eats anything, just pushes things around the plate. It could be her favorite food, we spend plenty of money to get her really good stuff. Instead of that, she eats a littlebit and 5 minutes later she declares that she has eaten enough and no longer hungry. We tell her, she has to stay and eat the dinner, because that's not enough what she ate, a mouse eats more than that. She hangs around longer, but she eventually quits away from the table and complains that "I already ate too much".
Ok, you think it's fine, but the problem comes later, like 10 minutes later she starts eating junk food like pretzels and crackers or chips. My wife lost her patience several times and told her that she can't have any, "go back to the table and eat your dinner if you still hungry!" instead of doing that, she just starts crying that "I just wanted a little snack!" I was very patient and explained to her many times that "we don't eat snacks after we just finished dinner and declared that we are no longer hungry. That doesn't make any sense!" "Go back to the table, eat enough until you are full! " - For which in turn she starts crying even more and she starts complaining that "everybody just want to hurt me!" and starts crying even more. That's when I just had enough for the day and I throw in the towel
I just tell her, "Eat whatever you want, don't even eat anything we offer you!" But I'm just masking up my worrying, because she is very thin and she is the smallest (in height ) too among the classmates of the same grade. I really don't know what to do with her, how to make her eat more and eat healthier.

So I am looking to buy an iPad Pro M4
I am between cellular and WiFi I understand cellular has the GPS chip.
However if I get the WIFI only version and open maps will it know my location? Or will I have to type the area I am in to be able to search the area.

My SO got their phone ran over by a car, and the phones seems to be broken some how. The screen does not work, however I was told that the phone does seem to be working a bit, as the daily alarms are going off, and GPS is trying to give directions (it was the last app they used before phone broke) despite the problems. They have taken it to two different phone repair shops (but these are just "local"? ones, so maybe like family run or something, dont know what they mean.) Both of them have tried to replace the screen with a new one, but the screen still doesnt work. I am no phone expert, but I do have some IT experience and personal experience from my past phone issues. There are a few ways I thought of:
1.. USB C to HDMI cable to see if it will output anything despite screen not working
1a.. Possibly using Keyboard to connect to the phone to try and get past lock screen (They told me USB transfers will only work if you unlock the phone and click "Allow" on a popup after connecting a usb cord)
2..Trying to start up phone in recovery mode (maybe theres a mode to allow transfers?)
3.. Last ditch, I know you can probably take the phone to someone who does data recovery, and they will unsolder the memory chip and put it on their device that will extract all data from it.
Before those options tho, I was wondering if anyone has any other ideas how I could get photos and videos off the phone? Is there perhaps any kind of software or something that will force allow transfers without needing to "allow" it after unlocking the phone? Note that we can not visually see anything on screen, and the touch screen probably does not work.
Phone: OPPO reno 6 pro

I was looking at the meshtastic map and only saw a couple of devices in my area. I know a couple of friends have a couple of nodes but I don't see them on the map. I know they don't have GPS chips and wasn't sure how common it was to have GPS on your nodes.

Heys Guys
I volunteer as a search and rescue dog handler and would like to track my dog handlers in the field during missions (forest / city ) on and tablet from the base camp. i dont know alot about GPS but i know proffesional solutions can be very expensive and i would like your help with a more homemade solution.
Requirements:

• Must not use celular data since in emergency situations usualy those dont work
• Range from base is ussualy between 1km- 5 km
• Must be small enough to easly carry in a backpack
• Must be light weight for us is always and issue since we move fast
• No other features besides trasmiting position back to base required
• Must have its own powersupply can use powerbank/batterypack
• Tracking app must work on android tablet

I saw something similar with a team from another county. they bought a gps chip with antena from Aliexpress put in box used by electricians so it had IP protection with a small power bank. The whole thing was about 7cm x 7cm x 5cm exluding the antena that was sticking out. They told me it runs on some kind of frequency thing around 800Hz it had a range in the forest of about 2km in the city 1km but it was able to form a chain so if you had people every 2km they could extend it as far as they want to because the boxes the handlers were carrying were talking to each other. The team lead had a tablet and one of the boxes connected to the tablet at base and could track people walking around on app that looked like google maps.
A few additional information:

• We are looking for a solution that would cost about 100€ per handler since we are volunteers.
• I am by trade an mech. enginner and work in RnD so if any soldering/ electrical work / programing is needed i can do it myself or i know someone that could help me.
• I am looking for something very similiar to what a described above.

I will be very gratefull for any help / info you guys can provide.
Thank you

I'm in the market to replace an old iPad and my main use would be watching YouTube videos, some light gaming and using it in my car for off-road navigation. From my research it looks like I will need a tablet with a GPS chip for the navigation.
I was looking at an A9+ I found on marketplace. My question is, would I need the 5G edition to take advantage of the GPS chip or do they all have them built in? If I need the 5G addition can I get it from any carrier since I would not be paying for the data? Lastly, would the 64gb 5G metro PCS version be sufficient for my needs? Thanks in advance!

Ive been in this for over a decade. Im still determined as if its still year1. If its one thing, I'm going to dust off, try again. I believe in second (or third, or fourth) chances. Take what you care to, leave what you dont.

• Starting a startup is riding a roller coaster blindfolded—thrilling but very, very terrifying. Do your homework. Research everything from financials to customer base, trends, and potential pitfalls. Think of it like online dating—swipe left on bad data.
• Get your plan together. It’s your startup's GPS. Nail down your goals, target audience, and market strategies. Leave room for tweaking, -I guarantee things are going to change.
• Stay curious and flexible. Dont be scared to pivot, I have, many many times :)
• Track every penny.
• Treat your customers/clients like royalty. Happy customers = good reviews = loyalty. Simple, cliche, but it works.
• Compliance is crucial, but don’t be scared to exploit some loopholes. This was one of the biggest things I've come to learn.
• Starting your business without relationships in the industry you're building in will make this the hardest thing you've ever done. Reach out, reach out, reach out.
• It'll take time. Celebrate even the smallest of victories, it builds up good energy for your business.

Some of this advice is pretty standard, but others came from experience. I hope this helped you guys. You've got this :)

(AU) Chapter 1.- Start a quest?
[East Gangseo] [Gayan (il) dong]
[Narrator POV]
A fight was taking place between high school students in an abandoned warehouse
"TAKE THEM DOWN!!"
"WE CAN'T LET EAST GANGSEO FALL!!"
Those now known as the Eastern Gangseo students shouted fervently to encourage their companions in battle since the situation was not going in their favor.
"COME ON NORTH GANSEO, TAKE THEM DOWN" A student from north gangseo shouted, they had the advantage because the personal executives of the top 5 in the north were with them
The two executives were crushing the lines as if the east students were nothing more than flies
As they were about to beat another student, a hand suddenly grabbed both of them by the legs
"HE IS HERE... KIM SEOLJIN!!!"
"OUR KING IS HERE!!!"
[Kim Seoljin Pov]
'Shit, I have been fighting these last hours' i think to myself while slamming the Personal Executives onto the floor
"You fuckers, all of you are just cowards" I say while looking at the northern students just cowering in fear as they watched their superiors unconscious on the ground
Leaving the bodies in the ground I sprint towards the north forces
[You used to the moon card]
I jump high in the air and taking advantage of the descent I made sure to crush one of them
"EVERYONE RUN!!"
Hearing one of them declare retreat, I rush to defeat as many of them as I can before there is no one left in the warehouse
phew
I let out a sigh while looking at the unconscious students in the floor
[Ding]
[Quest: Protect your territory] [Completed] [Reward: 1 Gold card]
"Ahh... I need to rest" i say while walking towards my subordinates
"Thanks everyone for your hard work. Go home and rest; this war is still ongoing"
"YES SIR" they all said in unison
Looking at them leaving I finally look at the blue window
"Claim Card"
[You have claimed a card]
[Ding]
[New] [Maximum Capacity]
[Increases your weight by 220 pounds for 5 seconds] [*Can only be used once per day]
"Hmm, that's definitely a good card" i say to myself while leaving the warehouse and riding my bike heading to the central high school of east gangseo.
[Narrator Pov]
After a while of traveling seoljin made it to the central high of east Gangseo, that school were his headquarter and it was practically all they had left
"WELCOME BACK SIR"
A group of students received Seoljin, they were the guardians of the headquarters and they would defend it with their lives no matter what
One of the students walked towards Seoljin and took his jacket off
"Sir jeonu and miss Soomin are waiting for you in the meeting room"
Seoljin nodded and entered the school, while walking trough the alleys he remembered how all of this started

[Narrator Pov]
A blonde guy was relaxing in his bed, he was apparently reading a webtoon
sigh
"I wish i had a sistem too, that way i could be more strong and thus be someone more important"
The boy looked at his phone for some moments, and then he got up from bed
"I should eat something, i feel like shit"
The boy looked around looking for his sneakers to then proceed walk out of his apartment
'What should i buy, maybe some instant noodles and some chips'
The guy nodded, that's what he was gonna buy, it was cheap and delicious plus, of he buy that he could save some money to spend later
While the boy was walking he noticed something strange, there was no one nearby and there wasn't even any noise.
'This is weird there's no on-' The boy's thoughts were abruptly stopped.
The reason
A floating card shaped object was in front of him
"What the fuck" the boy said with a tone of voice full of surprise and terror
Suddenly the object started to shake, but stopped after a few seconds and a voice was heard
[Congratulations you have been chosen to participate in this war]
"Eh?... war??, what do you mean" the boy said while he looked at the object, what was that thing talking about, a war?
'Huh... everything is spinni-'
Suddenly, the boy fell to the ground, unconscious
. .. ...
[Seoljin POV]
I opened my eyes to see a ceiling, but thats weird, wasn't i on the street a few moments ago,
I look around my room but everything is in its place, just as it was before i went out
Maybe i fell asleep... yeah that should ne the case, there is no way that really happen-
[Ding]
[Quest window activated]
[Would you like to begin a quest]
[YES] [NO]
I opened my eyes in surprise, this... wasn't this what the protagonists receive in webtoons, a system
A system...
System...
OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!
I HAVE A SYSTEM!!!
But wait, that means that, that thing was real, and it said something about a war
I looked at the window and after thinking for a moment I pressed [Yes] maybe that way I can get some answers
[initializing quest system] [Once you complete a quest you will receive a card]
[generating tutorial quest]
[Quest: Have a meeting with ♤€₩] [Reward: 3 Random cards]
'Cards huh, i can work with that' I think while looking at the blue window, but...
A meeting with someone Huh, thats fine but where is the meeting
"Are you looking for someone kid"
Huh??
I quickly turn around and i see a guy sitting on my desk, where did he came from?
. .. ...
[Narrator POV]
Seol-jin looked at the man sitting in the desk without knowing what to say, so he just stared at the man
...
"So, don't you have any questions" the man said
Seoljin looked at him and nodded
"Yeah, but would you answer them?" seoljin asked
The man looked at seol-jin and smiled "Of course, that's why I'm here"
Seoljin nodded and walked towards his bed to then sit on it "then my first question, Are you the creator of the system?"
"Yes... or well, i had some help but technically i made it myself" the man answered
Seoljin looked at him surprised which made the man look at Seoljin weirdly
"Is there something wrong with what i said" the man said which made Seoljin finally react
"No... is just that normally they never say that until the end, but anyways, my second question... What is that 'War' that the card was talking about"
The man nodded and got up from the desk
"Currently gangseo is divided in 3 territories: East, south and North, with east being the weakest and smallest of the three"
The man got to a wall and suddenly a map of gangseo appeared
"You were selected to be the one to stop both south and north, and before you say something... no, nothing about you is special, the fact that you were selected was purely random"
Seoljin looked at the man, he wanted to ask that but hearing the truth still hurt him
"And something else, you will be given something to make you stronger because if I let you go like this, you will be crushed immediately"
Seoljin nodded again, he was the top dog of his school but if even with his current strength he would be crushed by them The that meant that north and south were monsters
"So, i need to become the leader of east and then take down south and north, I think that was everything i was curious about"
The man nodded and the map disappeared into thin air
"Well, then i should get going now-" The man was interrupted by seoljin
"Wait, if there's a war, why haven't east disappeared if there was no one to protect it and what about west, did they decided to not take part of this war?"
The man looked at seoljin and sighed
"West was instantly defeated by north, and east had someone to protect it but that person disappeared, only 2 of the former executives of east remains"
Seoljin remained silent, it was good to know that he has 2 posible allies
"Well, I'll get going and good luck Kim seoljin"
And like that the man disappeared as if it had never been there
Seoljin lay on the bed, digesting the information he just learned but a blue window appeared in front of his eyes
[Ding]
[Quest: Have a meeting with ♤£₩] [Completed] [Reward: 1 gold card] [ 1 Platinum Card] [ 1 silver card]
[Do you wish to claim the cards]
Seoljin looked at the system window before speaking
"Claim cards"
[You have claimed the cards]
[New] [Strong against the weak, Weak against the strong] [The user's strength is increased by one level if the opponent's is lower than the user]
[Peek at you] [Allows the user to see someone's stats]
[To the moon [Allows the user to make a very high jump]
Seoljin looks at the cards in front of him
"Ohhh, this are some good cards... specially [peek at you], that is going to be useful"
[You used peek at you]
[Kim Seol-jin] [6'0] [174 lbs] [Strength- S] [Speed- S] Potential- B] [Intelligence- B] Endurance- S+]
Seoljin looked at his stat window, judging the full bars he was strong, but if with this stats he would still be crushed
He doesn't wanna imagine how strong are south and north
[Ding]
[Primary quest: Become east gangseo top dog]
[1.-Meet the east executives 0/2] [2.-Recover East territory 0/3] [Reward: 2 silver cards] [ 1 Gold card]
[Would you like to start the quest] [Yes] [No]
Seoljin took a deep breath, there is no coming back after pressing [Yes] but instead of fear, Seoljin felt excitement
So finally, seoljin pressed [Yes]
[You have accepted the quest]

Hi everyone!
Currently on a diet, but allowing some cheat meals.
How many calories are in the small chips? Like the 1 oz kiddie size? I think it's about 150- but does anyone know?
Thanks!

🤖Google unveiled the 'future of AI' at I/O event 🧪OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is leaving 🚗Former Cruise CEO starts robotics firm with ex-Tesla AI manager ✨Google announced a wide array of updates across its AI ecosystem 🧠Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's co-founder and chief scientist, has left the company 🏖️Expedia is launching AI features, including a bot named Romi 🧬NVIDIA and Recursion have collaborated to build BioHive-2, an AI supercomputer for drug discovery 🚀NASA appoints David Salvagnini, its first chief AI officer 💰SoftBank plans to invest $75-$150 million in Indian data center and industrial robotics 💶Microsoft announces €4 billion investment in France to accelerate AI adoption 🎥Google’s Gemini updates and Sora competitor 🔎Google’s AI agents and AI search upgrades 

I (21f) live in a house off campus with several other people. One of them has a ESA dog, a pretty big girl, and is completely neglecting and mistreating it, which is awful to see, and damaging the property by not caring for the dog. The housemate lives in the smallest room in the house and is gone pretty much all day, coming back maybe once in the afternoon to take the dog on a quick walk or in our backyard for ten mins. Otherwise they leave at 6 in the morning and gets back at 10 at night, and showers for a half hour immediately when they get home before going to see the dog. They give it no affection, and we even have a pretty big backyard and they only let her into a small area of it. The worst thing is that the dog has accidents in the room (both pee and poop) and the owner will let it sit for literal days. It’s fucking disgusting. The only reason I found out is because I convinced the owner (after weeks of asking) to let me take her outside while they’re gone, and I’ve seen this. I immediately called my landlord and animal control. Animal control deemed it not a drastic enough case to do anything except have the owner call them, which they won’t do. The landlord told their guarantor that they will be responsible for any damages that come from animal waste soaking through their floor into the subfloor. They’re impossible to communicate with, literally refuses to talk unless I can accost them in the house.
I’m doing the best I can to give this pup a comfortable life while I’m still in the same house with her. I have her outside multiple hours a day, play fetch, give her water, give her plenty of love, and even some treats. She is such a sweet dog with sooo much energy (the owner is a runner and doesn’t even take the dog with!!!) and idk how she isn’t more scared of people but she’s so lovely and would make a great family dog.
I want to find a new home for her so badly but there aren’t any shelters that could pick her up or I could drop her off at. I also don’t know is she’s chipped. This is absolutely breaking my heart, especially as someone who’s had dogs growing up.
A lesson to you all, especially those starting to look at housing. Don’t live with anyone with an indoor dog unless you really know them and know it’ll be a good enough living situation for it. This especially sucks for me and my housemates who have to live with it. This is also the reason why places have no pet policies, people are abusing the ESA title and it’s tarnishing the concept for anyone who really needs an animal.
EDIT: I can’t believe how many people comment on these without reading the whole thing 😭

Author’s Note:
If you enjoy the story so far, please consider upvoting and commenting! These go a long way in helping the story reach a larger audience. (Also, reddit removes all my formatting for some reason so if you want a fully formatted read, check out my story on RoyalRoad)
READ 2 WEEKS AHEAD: Season Finale Chapter 17 is now available for Tier 2 Manifest Fantasy Patrons and higher!
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/drdoritosmd
Discord: https://discord.gg/wr2xexGJaD
First
Three, two, one... execute.
Ron peeked around the corner, his M4E1 Carl Gustaf already loaded with standard HEAT rounds. The rest of Alpha Team stacked up behind him or behind Ryan, who was on the other side of the doorway. Through the opening, they could see a nightmarish tangle of webs and egg sacs, with the skittering shapes of Spiranids lurking in the shadows in the far corners of the room.
The Queen was positioned in the center of the room, completely exposed by a cluster of eggs. Henry watched as Ron leveled his Gustaf, taking aim at the Queen while they stayed along the wall to ensure Ron’s backblast was clear. It should have been an easy kill, but a flicker of movement caught Henry’s eye.
A blob of white flew across his vision, smacking into Ron just as he fired his weapon. The thick strands of webbing bypassed Kelmithus’ shielding and wrapped around him, sending him flying back a couple of meters. He landed on his back, his body and launcher completely stuck to the floor by the condensed silk.
Around the same time, the Gustaf’s projectile struck the Queen’s abdomen section. The resulting blast tore through its exoskeleton but was far from a fatal blow. The Queen shrieked, a sound far deeper than Henry expected.
“Fuck!” Ron shouted, struggling to break free from the webbing.
Henry exhaled. They were a man down, but helping him had to wait; the not-dead Queen and its minions took precedence. It would be great if he had another launcher in his own Holding Bag, but that was something he’d have to bring up to Chief Cole later. Henry tossed his grenades into the room, the pops mingling with the screeches of injured Spiranids. Ryan struck simultaneously, throwing his own collection into the mix. Like firecrackers, the explosives were violent but short-lived.
As the chaos subsided, Henry pushed in. Raising his shotgun, he tore through a Spiranid that pounced at him, its carcass smoldering from the white phosphorous. Beside him, Isaac, Ryan, and Dr. Anderson’s shots rang out, tearing through their own sectors of fire.
Almost immediately upon their entry, the Queen surged forward with terrifying speed. It reared its head back like it was about to vomit, mandibles covered in a sick, yellowish color. Henry recognized immediately what it was trying to do. “Acid, move!”
Henry dove away from his previous position, taking a shot at another Spiranid that had taken the opportunity to jump at him while its master was preparing to attack. He narrowly escaped the lethal spray as it jetted toward him. The acid splattered on the ground where they had stood not even a second before, sizzling fiercely as it corroded the thick webbing sprawled across the floor. He noticed as he ran that, rather curiously, the acid was simply puddling on the floor. There was no damage to the floor itself, but if it could tear apart high-quality monster silk just like that, he didn’t want to find out what it could do to an envirosuit.
Henry glanced back after blasting apart his third Spiranid. His teammates were fine – Ryan helping him keep the Queen’s attention, Sera already on her way to Ron, and the others taking care of the smaller Spiranids. He tried to get a quick headcount of how many Spiranids they’d already eliminated. Between their guns, Kelmithus’ magic, and the grenades, he estimated they had killed at least a dozen so far. Solid progress, but the fact that they weren’t able to take out the Queen with their first strike was an issue.
Henry rolled to his left as the Queen pounced on his previous position. It was fucking fast, like a Goliath birdeater but scaled up – and with nasty abilities that really shouldn’t belong on a creature like this. He recovered quickly and took aim, firing point-blank into its thorax. The white phosphorous pellets hissed as they burned into its exoskeleton, forcing it back.
Beside him, Ryan’s shotgun boomed. He struck the Queen’s legs, which seemed to be more fragile than the thick exoskeleton surrounding the head and thorax. The pellets bit into the chitin, likely striking a nerve as evidenced by the leg’s subsequent buckling and collapse. It was a lucky shot – one that he doubted they could repeat four or five more times.
“Sera, use my knife! Here, right here!” Ron called out.
Sera’s sword must’ve been too large to effectively cut through the webbing. They had to hurry up. He and Ryan had been dodging the Queen’s attacks, but mostly by a hair’s breadth. All it took was one lucky hit from the Queen to put them out of commission, possibly for good. “Sera, status on Ron?”
“One minute!” she responded.
Damn. That was one minute later than he’d hoped. Reacting instinctively, Henry noted the Queen raising one of its legs – a sure sign of it preparing for another attack. The Queen struck again, this time cleaving the air with the leg, aiming to corral him into a predictable escape route. As its leg swept through the air, Henry caught sight of the Queen rearing its head back in a grotesque mimicry of a snake about to strike – another acid attack.
Anticipating the monster’s strategy, Henry feinted to the right, a move he hoped would mislead it about his true intentions. As the Queen’s head followed his feint, Henry twisted sharply, scraping against the rough ground. With a powerful push from his legs, he launched backward just as the Queen unleashed its attack.
Acid spewed forth in a wide arc, splattering where he had just been. The corrosive globs almost instantly melted the webbing on the floor, collecting into pools. And there was the second issue. The longer this fight dragged on, the less room they’d have to maneuver.
Henry unloaded into the creature’s compound eyes before tossing a flashbang near its legs. The creature staggered backward, blinded in both its eyes and its sensory hairs. Henry used the precious few seconds he bought to reload his weapon and check up on his team. “Yen, sitrep?”
“Stragglers neutralized; we’re moving to you now.”
Automatic gunfire erupted as Isaac and Dr. Anderson joined the fight against the Queen, dumping their mags on the creature’s head. The 6.8mm seemed to penetrate well, but he could say the same if they fought an elephant; the Spiranid Queen was simply too large for the relatively small caliber rounds to have any effect besides pissing it off.
The Queen lunged again, its legs surrounding him from all sides. There was only one way out, and it was through the belly of the beast. Henry rushed forward, ducking under the Queen’s mandibles as he slid underneath its abdomen. He fired his shotgun as quickly as he could, unloading pellets into the beast’s underbelly. The white phosphorous scorched the softer flesh, drawing a shriek of pain from the massive creature.
As the Queen writhed under the relentless assault, Ryan and the others seized the moment to reload their weapons and reposition. They poured everything they had into the creature’s cephalothorax, bluish ichor oozing from the hundreds of new wounds that they opened up. Yet, it was like chipping away at a mountain – it simply wasn’t enough. The creature thrashed around violently in response; Henry knew it was only a matter of time before it landed a hit on someone.
And land a hit it did. With a terrifying swiftness, one of its massive legs slammed into Henry’s chest, launching him backward. The shield Kelmithus cast on him flickered as it absorbed the brunt of the impact. He crashed into an egg sac by the entrance – its membrane ruptured on impact, drenching him in a sticky, corrosive slime. The sac provided little cushion, and he hit the ground hard, the breath knocked out of him.
Pain flared across Henry’s chest where the Queen’s leg had struck him. Gasping for breath and battling the encroaching blackness in his vision, he instinctively checked his envirosuit. He started with the areas he could see, glancing down at his chest. It was visibly deformed, dented but not quite a gash.
Still intact, thank goodness. No breach, but another hit like that would be disastrous. He breathed a sigh of relief, his chest hurting like hell as he did so. He checked his sides and back. Parts of his suit were covered in slime from the egg sac. It didn’t seem as corrosive as the Queen’s acid, but it was still a hazard. Quickly, he swiped at it, removing as much as possible with his gloved hands to prevent further damage.
He forced himself up, grabbing his shotgun from the floor. The Queen was already barreling toward him, the damn monster not letting up. He didn’t have time to make a run for it; he needed to jump to one side or the other, and the timing needed to be perfect. Just as the Queen’s shadow engulfed him, the air turned icy cold, frost creeping up on his visor.
Ice formed from thin air, spearing up from the ground and piercing through the Queen’s legs. The spikes rooted the beast in place. Not one to waste an opportunity, Henry dashed away from the entrance, firing at the immobilized giant spider as he linked up with the others.
“Sera?” Henry asked again.
Sera’s voice came in strained. “Almost…” Then, with a triumphant shout, she announced the word Henry had been desperate to hear. “Done!”
“Owens!” Henry said, risking a glance back.
Ron had already grabbed his Gustaf and was in the process of loading another HEAT round. “On it!”
Henry grinned. It was a relief, to be sure. With Ron free and back in the fight, the odds had just tipped heavily in their favor. The Queen was tough, but it wasn’t invincible; they just needed an opening.
Given the damage the Queen sustained to its body, Henry couldn’t imagine it being in peak fighting condition. Even in its weakened state, though, it still had the capability to dodge Ron’s attack, and it seemed to be saving its web ability for that very inevitability.
“Take out the legs!” Henry ordered.
They combined their fire on the left legs, since Ryan managed to break one of them earlier. He heard a crack that might’ve been the chitin giving way or the leg snapping, but it was hard to tell. He was just about to chalk it up to the prevailing gunfire around them, but then he saw it: a brief stumble. The Queen recovered quickly, but it was clear to Henry that it wouldn’t be able to manage any more damage to its legs.
Then, he noticed a blur in his peripheral vision to his right, moving so fast his eyes could barely keep up. Shit, he was certain he kept track of the Queen’s movements. With the existing damage to his envirosuit, he’d be completely fucked. He braced himself for another impact, but it never came.
As he focused harder on the blur, he caught a glimpse of a flash of light that could only be one thing – Sera’s sword, And, just like a flash of lightning, she had already cleared the vicinity of the Queen. The Queen’s foreleg seemed to simply vanish, severed so cleanly that it took a moment for the beast to realize what had happened. When it did, it let out a screech of pain, its balance faltering as it tried to adapt to the sudden change.
While Henry focused on taking out another leg from the left side, Sera had already shifted to her next target. Their assault was brutal: white phosphorus pellets and hard-hitting 6.8mm on one side, ice magic and skilled swordsmanship on the other. And to think, they managed to inflict all this damage by the time Ron completed his reload.
“Clear the way!” Ron called out, his Gustaf aimed right at the Queen’s head.
Henry jumped back, watching as Kelmithus conjured another set of ice spikes to root the beast again, in case the five obliterated legs weren’t enough to keep it down. The Queen thrashed against the icy bonds, its remaining legs slashing through the air in a frenzied bid for freedom. It spat acid – a tactic that would’ve worked effectively on most other materials, but instead simply got diluted with the melting ice. Even as the acid reacted with the ice, the spikes held firm, anchoring the beast in place like steel cables.
Henry’s heart pounded in his ears. Come on, Owens, he urged silently. Take the shot.
As if on cue, Ron pulled the trigger. The Gustaf bucked in his hands as the HEAT round streaked towards its target. Henry barely had time to brace himself before the explosion hit, the shockwave slamming into him and nearly toppling him over. He staggered back, gazing into the settling dust.
When the smoke cleared, the Queen’s head was obliterated – replaced by a gory mess of shattered chitin and pulverized flesh. Blood sprayed from the gaping hole, covering the ground in a pale blue hue. The creature’s body convulsed, its remaining legs scrabbling weakly at their surroundings.
A surge of triumph washed over Henry, but it was fleeting. From the corner of his eye, he locked on to a glimpse of movement. One of the Queen’s legs continued to spasmodically jerk around and spray the ground with blue ichor. He raised his shotgun in a nonchalant motion and blasted the errant limb, watching as it shuddered and went still.
Sera stepped up, her sword barely catching the light as she jammed it into what was left of the Queen’s thorax. A sharp twist, and it was over. She then yanked the blade from the carcass, her grip shifting subtly along the hilt. As she flicked the sword, frost swiftly coated the ichor clinging to the metal. The frozen debris was flung off, hitting the ground and shattering like glass.
He glanced down at his Holding Bag. Damn, the fight took out most of his shells. Swapping out his shotgun for his M7, he turned to his team and took stock of their condition. It seemed everyone had mostly gone unscathed, only debris and dirt scarring their envirosuits. Well, except for himself and Ron. “Think we’re gonna have to start calling you pinata now,” Henry said, clapping his friend on the shoulder.
Ron scoffed. “Yeah? Says the runner-up,” he said, tapping the dent on Henry’s envirosuit. “Better ‘pinata’ than ‘roadkill’, though. But seriously, what’s next? Don’t even know where to start.”
The room was empty, save for the debris strewn about and the singular obelisk standing in the center of the room. He didn’t notice it earlier, but as he got closer, he realized that the obelisk emitted a faint light that barely escaped the canopy of webs. He looked it up and down before turning to the others. “Only one place to start. Let’s clear out the webs, see what’s hiding below.”
“Doc, Kel, clear out the eggs. Hayes, Sera, see if the Queen’s got anything useful. Everyone else focus on the webs,” Henry ordered.
Ron drew his knife and started slicing through the dense cobwebs. “Hey, what y’all think the Queen’s Tier is?”
Isaac paused to consider. “Eh, Tier 8, probably. Minotaur boss and Rillifane boss were both Tier 8, so I’d say the spider’s around the same level.”
“Well, the resilience of the specimen isn’t a definitive measure of the Tier,” Dr. Anderson pointed out. “It’s quite possible that we merely had the most suitable tools at hand in this particular encounter.”
“The scholar speaks truly,” Sera agreed. “There is nary a defining criterion; defense is but one of many that are considered by the Guild. Were it so simple, Kelmithus and I would have attained Tier 9 ere now.”
“So, what do you think the Queen is, then? Tier 7 maybe?” Ron asked.
Henry shook his head. Tier 7 didn’t seem accurate. Using his knife to scrape some of the webbing off his glove, he voiced, “Spiranids are weak in general, but are classified as Tier 5 or higher because of their traps, ambush tactics, numbers, and abilities. Archers can use Wind Snipe and mages can use wide-area spellcasting, but they can’t reliably penetrate the exoskeleton’s armor. If anything, this is probably on the lower end of Tier 9.”
“Tier 9, huh?” Isaac muttered.
Sera smiled as she stood back. She stuffed a frost-covered gland into her holding bag and paused from her work as she chimed in, “Hmm… how keen. I expected nothing less from the first Tier 6 entrants in Eldralore’s history! It shows plain why the Guild did so swiftly raise you.”
“Hah,” Henry chuckled. It was an amusing thought, but… “Say, ya think we can get to Tier 7 after this?”
Sera’s eyebrows shot up. “Tier 7? A mark of no slight merit. What have you achieved since attaining Tier 6?”
Henry reached to scratch his chin, then cursed softly as his glove thudded against his visor. “Well, we took down a Rillifane pack, a Sentinel Lindwyrm, and now this primal Spiranid Queen. That’s not too shabby, eh?”
“Firm victories,” Sera admitted, “but advancement weighs more than battle alone. The Guild also considers quest difficulty, knowledge gained therefrom, and impact – in other words, glory.”
“The Baranthurian Ruins,” Dr. Anderson blurted, taking the words out of Henry’s mouth. He turned to Kelmithus, who approached them after confirming that the eggs had been cleared out. “Surely, working with the Sanctum Arcanum must be quite the honour. The Guild holds their quests with high esteem, wouldn’t you say?”
Kelmithus nodded, burning a clump of disposed webs on the ground. “True as that may be, advancement oft hinges upon the cumulative experience of dozens of quests.”
“Well, ain’t no small feats for us lately,” Ryan remarked. “The quest to the Baranthurian ruins, what was it, Tier 8? Yeah, that was Tier 8. Sentinel Lindwyrm? Hell, Tier Nine. That there beast?” Ryan pointed his gun at the carcass of the Spiranid Queen. “Tier 9 as well.”
Ron interjected, “Plus we’ve been helping out along the way, like those villagers, and taking on quests others won’t touch. Honestly, the Hardale quest should be pretty weighty too, considering the Nobian shenanigans.”
Sera hummed, mulling over Alpha Team’s experiences. The fact that most of their quests at Tier 6 had essentially been Tier 7 quests or higher in difficulty was probably unheard of in the Guild. Not only that, but they’d been able to complete these difficult quests successfully. Hell, with flying colors, even. That had to count for something.
Henry looked over at Sera, stepping back as he allowed Kelmithus to dispose of the webs that he had cleared out. “So, whaddya think? Based on what we’ve done, you think we got a shot at Tier 7?”
Sera looked up at the ceiling as she weighed her response. “Ehh, you’ve a strong case. Alas, it’s Taldren’s call to make. His favor seems yours, though; I wager he’ll agree.”
Henry grinned. Moving up meant they could have access to more quests. Naturally, that also meant better rewards and in turn, access to some truly magical equipment. “Good to hear. Guess we’ll see to it once we get back to Eldralore. Now, we should probably –”
A soft glow of light gradually lit up the room, interrupting Henry mid-sentence. He squinted, readying his weapon. The light came from the walls and ceiling, illuminating the once-dark chamber. The obelisk, now free of webs, now hummed… healthily? It wasn’t like he had a manual to tell him if this was a good or bad development, but judging from the facility’s reaction, it must’ve worked.
Henry glanced at his HUD. The temperature readings were rising, too. The icy chill from Kelmithus’ magic rapidly dissipated as the environmental controls kicked in. “Well, looks like we’ve done all we can here. Let’s head back to the containment cell room and see if we can find anything else of interest.”
– – –
Outskirts of GB-2, Grenden Forest
Carvus Alnect Virelius narrowed his gaze toward the brightening sky, his eyes cutting through the retreating mist that had long veiled the forest’s canopy. This unprecedented clarity above the ruins was strange. After centuries cloaked in an impenetrable fog, why did the skies clear now?
The Umber Vicearch’s mind worked like a whetstone, sharpening the fragments of reports from his scouts, cryptic as they were. The recent skirmish, occurring concurrently with the lifting fog, could not be mere happenstance. Regardless of the answer, the unexpected fold presented a welcome complexity to test his mettle.
He set his thoughts aside as the sound of footsteps approached.
“Leuarch Eldreyn reporting, milord,” one of his men said. “We’ve word from Serarch Trelian.”
Carvus gave him a nod to continue.
Eldreyn relayed the news. “The scouts espy traces of battle: a fallen Sentinel Lindwyrm and two carriages left abandoned near the cave’s entrance. The land bears scars from some form of magic, strewn with strange metal tubes and other objects unknown to us. Save for the Lindwyrm, no other bodies are to be found. What are your commands, milord?”
Carvus took a deep breath. No other bodies? Two carriages? That such a formidable creature was felled with no apparent casualties among their ranks suggested a small but extraordinarily capable force. Each member was no doubt Tier 7 at the least. The limited number of carriages implied a party not larger than ten. But… what could the metal objects mean?
Powerful though they might be, could such a small group withstand his numbers? Carvus entertained the thought briefly. No, direct confrontation would be unwise. The site bore secrets too vital to squander on rash gambles. Better to maneuver them into a position where the only viable option would be to comply with his demands.
“Hold our position, Lornus,” Carvus commanded. While he preferred the safety of their hidden vantage in the forest, the intrigue of Trelian’s findings – the slain Lindwyrm – was too compelling to ignore. “The contents of Trelian’s report compel our own investigation. Lead us, that we might see for ourselves.”
“As you command, milord.”
It was a short walk to the clearing. As they reached the treeline, Carvus held up a hand, signaling his men to halt – they should go no further than the cover of the forest. The aftermath of the battle lay evident before them. The massive form of the Sentinel Lindwyrm sprawled near the far side of the clearing, its outline murky at a distance.
Carvus squinted, adjusting his position slightly for a better view. He felt his jaw drop, a lapse in composure that surprised even him. Yet, who could fault him? The beast lay nearly torn asunder, its massive body riddled with gaping, jagged wounds that no sword or arrow could inflict. Indeed, not even traditional siege weapons or combat spells could inflict such damage.
The destructive capability of fyric powder was well-known to him – he had seen its use in adamantite mines. The wounds on the Lindwyrm, however, spoke of a force of another Tier entirely. Where fyric powder might clear a path through a stubborn boulder, the agent used against the Sentinel Lindwyrm seemed capable of obliterating several boulders at once, perhaps even an entire cliffside.
Turning his attention from the ravaged beast, he scanned the battlefield. Among the chaos, his eyes caught the glint of metal – strange tubes scattered about, all some lighter shade of bronze. The craters were blackened and littered with debris: shards of metal mixed with wires. This was clearly no ordinary skirmish.
He moved closer to the tree line, cautiously examining the unfamiliar objects. The metal tubes bore no resemblance to any weapons known to Nobian forces. However, their presence here implied that somehow, these objects were related to the catastrophic wounds on the Lindwyrm.
Near the cave’s entrance, two metal carriages lay abandoned. Their exteriors were marred by dirt and marked with an array of dents that appeared to be from the Lindwyrm’s armored tail. The carriages, in style and make, aligned with reports of American machines observed by their Umbercari in distant Eldralore. Mounted atop each was a long cylinder. As foreign as they were, he could tell they were weapons – ones capable of unleashing formidable destruction.
Adventurers throughout the ages had ventured here, all repelled by the formidable Lindwyrm that long guarded these grounds. Had it been folly to devote their resources to the conquest of their neighbors, rather than to mastering and exploiting this site? Such questions surpassed his station, yet irrespective of the answers, the Emperor would surely take no pleasure in learning that he had allowed Americans to plunder the Gatebuilder’s secrets.
Carvus turned to Lornus. “Bid our scouts to investigate the cave.” As Leuarch Eldreyn departed to carry out the orders, he beckoned to one of his serarchs. “Bring me one of those metal tubes. I wish to examine it.”
He sat on a rock, watching the light bend around the man’s form until he vanished from sight. The serarch then adjusted the temperature around his body, matching it to that of the forest. Were it not for the subtle shifts in the man’s mana as he held the spells, Carvus would have surely lost track of him.
The serarch made his way forth, passing through the trees and into the clearing beyond. With haste, he seized upon one of the tubes that lay scattered about, and then, as quick as he had come, he turned and made his way back to the forest’s edge. When at last he returned, Carvus stood up and held out his hand.
The tube, lighter than its solidity might have portended, was chill to the touch and was marked by a patina that showed clear signs of bending. He tried to bend it with his fingers, but the metal resisted. Even when he used magic to strengthen himself, it yielded naught but scant impression. What could have possibly moved the metal?
Looking closely, he noticed that the metal wasn’t bronze, as he had first thought. Though bearing a hue akin to bronze, it was of a kind unfamiliar to him. The surface was engraved with American script – characters and sequences that held little meaning to him. Yet, to deem the letters ‘engraved’ would be to err; it was as if they were imprinted with a craftsmanship nary a smith could rival.
He turned it over in his hands, his eyes drawn to a circular groove near the base. Examining both ends, Carvus noted the open end was distorted as if a great force had expelled something from within – an insight into his previous question. The other end was sealed, marked by a small, precise indentation. He held it up, aligning it with a similarly sized hole in a nearby tree.
This was no common weapon. As a trebuchet releases its load, so too must this tube have hurled its own projectile. It gave him an idea. What if one were to use an adamantite tube with fyric powder, place a keen arrowhead atop, and ignite the mixture below? Would it rival a standard Wind Snipe combined with physical enhancement magic?
Carvus’ thoughts were interrupted by someone calling out to him. “Milord.”
“Hm?” He looked up, finding the face of Leuarch Franus. “What is it, Martano?”
He hesitated, as if second-guessing his words. “The… The Lindwyrm… The men grow restless, milord. They wish to claim the spoils of this battle – the Sentinel Lindwyrm’s materials are prized in many a lore. And these carriages, would it not profit us to salvage what we can? They may hold more secrets – or riches.”
He turned the leuarch’s words over in his mind as he would a well-worn coin. In truth, the idea held merit. Even the smallest measure of a Lindwyrm’s blood was a treasure beyond compare – to say nothing of the other materials, sought after by alchemists and smiths alike. That the Americans had forgone harvest was a curious thing indeed. Could it be that they were ignorant of the creature’s true worth? Or perhaps, had they found something more valuable?
And then there were the carriages, gleaming in the sun like ripe fruit waiting to be plucked. If they could but glean some understanding of how the Americans had so deftly slain a beast of the Lindwyrm’s standing, it would surely prove a boon to the Empire’s own martial pursuits. Perhaps, armed with such knowledge, they might at last gain the upper hand against the accursed Sonarans.
Carvus cast his gaze once more upon the clearing, then turned to face Martano. “Aye,” he said. “Let it be so.”
Yet, as he made to step forth, a low, droning sound beckoned his attention – a buzzing hum that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. The unfamiliar noise compelled him to halt. He raised his hand, stopping his men as he searched for the noise. He tilted his head skyward, squinting as he beheld a strange sight: a winged thing hanging in the air above the clearing, like an animal circling its prey. As the sunlight reflected off its surface, it became evident to him that this was no creature of flesh, but a machine – much like the metal carriages.
“Hold,” Carvus ordered. “We dare not venture forth.”
Martano stepped forward, doubt and confusion etched across his face. “But, milord, if we shroud ourselves in invisibility, surely they cannot see us.”
Carvus shook his head. “Nay; recall the umbercari we sent to infiltrate the Duke’s mansion. They, too, thought themselves hidden, yet were somehow discovered. We know not what sorcery that flying machine might possess, and we cannot risk exposing ourselves.”
Before Martano could respond or venture any further protest, the scouts returned, led by Serarch Trelian. The search bowed his head before providing his report, “Milord, the cave lies empty, and the Lindwyrm’s nest remains untouched. We discovered footprints leading to a great sealed door, which we believe to be the entrance to the ruins.”
Carvus nodded. The Americans had ventured forth and left the loot behind for a reason. He thought back to a fortress that the Empire once sacrificed to encircle the forces of the now-conquered Kingdom of Durenelle. “So be it. Let us abandon these lesser spoils. As our adversaries have forgone these spoils in pursuit of greater gains, so must we sacrifice Straltus.”
Next

[Orbital Observatory Update on Client Species #0458-1, Sol III]
[Priority of message: Urgent Emergency]
[Receiver: Glokknar IV - Galactic Security Council]
[Psionic Encryption to view document is advised]
Last update on humans was 789 cycles ago {25 Earth years ago} and now as of 15/05/2024 in the earth calendar, humans have reached a critical development in forbidden technologies that will trigger a singularity event in less than 150 cycles estimated by current models. A major human organisation under the name OpenAI announced their new {translation error} in cooperation with another organisation, namely Apple. This is most likely to me a forbidden technology and after hours of investigation we found it’s called an “Artificial intelligence” or “AI” for short and now possesses a similar cognitive level to that of a human (significantly more intelligent than an average galactic sapient).
It is important to note that humans’ have a much greater advantage in parallel thinking due to the fact that how their brain is structured and their face recognition is at the high end of the spectrum, because of their social nature. Biologically they’re the only bipedal species and their stance is the most unusual in all across the galaxy. It is theorised by many that they may be the descendants of one of the precursor species and the fact that most of the architecture and technologies or technological path they’ve taken suggests that they are most likely to be the descendants of the Olympians. Critical point to note is that after the Great Galactic Selection War, our ancestors millions of cycles ago never found or knew the exact location of the Olympian homeworld.
It appears that in the last 789 cycles what we observed proved many theories that due to the natural environment humans or olympians have been forced to use inorganic technology and started to bend nature to their will. The humans have built everything on their planet out of stone and metal beginning with from their smallest huts up to the largest cities. The sheer abundance of biological resources meant an absurd amount of biodiversity and an estimated 8.7 million species, but it means most of the biomass is actually CONSUMED by humans only. Yes, they are a predatory species that should be noted late on security assembly. From all animal biomass 6% is wild and the rest is bred by the humans for human consumption on the industrial scale for 8.1 billion humans. The obscene amount of food produced by the humans would be able to sustain 4 of the core worlds, but because of the high calorie required to sustain them it’s questionable whether or not they’ll be able to survive in their own next century.
Yes, they are overpopulated at an absurd level, but now it’s unstoppable, because if they stopped their economy and society would collapse. Life expectancy is through the roof.
Back to the main topic. Forbidden technologies such as AI or anything computer related is widely acknowledged in the galactic community and everyone enforces it, but because Pre-FTL civilizations are protected and have to be left alone and let them develop, but because we discovered the humans much later and the development path they took now they are now in such a late stage that it is unstoppable and may cause an existential safety to the continuation to our glorious Galactic Imperium. We have made a list of potential targets to be eliminated in the human elite who lead these researches. We’ll attach the documents along this report to the Galactic Security Council.
They began to dive into cybernetics related to the brain like the Neuralink chip that had already just a few human weeks prior to this report being successfully able to use a human computer and commercial use is only in a few year's time after approved by authorities. The current uprising that is centred around those ancient cyborgs that have awoken are no match to what these precursor apes are going to be able to pull off if we don’t intervene.
This human year will be significant as they’ll start to settle their moon and what the humans call a “space race” start as the major nationstates or private organisations start to lay claim on all of the unclaimed territory. The Forbidden technology that I want to talk about is AI. Humans are the first ones to ever experiment with real artificial intelligence in the new galactic era from the 4598 species. They had the concept since the earliest days of their civilization in the form of mythologies, books, music and art. A visual entertainment media I advise to the military personnel to watch is the Terminator, where the human AI goes berserk and takes control of their nuclear arsenal and wiping its creators out, (sigh) they have tens of thousands of nuclear warheads too. This planet violates every galactic law in existence.
What worries us here at the observation post about humans is the imminent technological singularity in a very short time and effectiveness of their AIs in researching new cures as an example is horrifying. I advice a full revision of Olympian archives and a military mobilisation to prepare for the great return.
[Scientist muttering to each other in background]
People, we are confirming human origins to be Olympians and technosignitures confirmed. Waiting Council response.
Sincerely
Head Observer Ukna'h the Third of Osiris
[Transmission terminated and sent for evaluation]
[Expected response: 2 cycles]
[End transmission]