《Kinda Real Online》50. The Seal
Advertisement
"Missiles? Bwyd, why do you care about missiles?" Marcus was looking a little upset.
"Well, um, you see, I left my dimension for a moment and there were fighter jets and they fired missiles at me."
His eyes went wide, "You realize what that means, don't you? That was Earth. You went to Earth." He started muttering to himself.
I sighed and was about to try talking to him but Brogan approached me first, "Bwyd, you said your curse was broken?"
"Yeah, it's awesome. I could probably carry someone if anyone wants to fly."
"You would actually let anyone ride you?" He looked surprised.
"Well, not anyone, but friends, yeah. Though, I'm not a horse, so I decide were we go."
He still looked a bit surprised, "I just always thought that dragons only bonded with one rider, and no one else could ride them."
"Let me guess, the rider gets to live longer and gains special magical powers."
"No, they just get to ride the dragon, but usually the one picked by the dragon is powerful on their own."
"Oh, well, that's stupid. If I only take one friend flying, then the others would be upset. Just think, if I only took Marcus flying Lily would kill me... I could probably take them both at the same time. Lily's small enough."
He seemed to remember something, "Before we get too distracted, the thing you fought, what happened to it?"
"The administrator sealed it, somewhere here. Hey when Marcus comes back do you want to go look for it?"
He looked confused again, "Marcus is right there... Oh, mentally. Will it be very dangerous? We could just ask some of the security forces to search for it."
"It's supposed to be sealed, so there shouldn't be a problem, though I think it came from your world."
"Really? What is it?"
"The H something, Hala? I really should have paid better attention. Marcus might know." Brogan suddenly looked very pale, like someone sucked all the blood out of him. "Uh, Brogan? You ok?"
"Was it The Haka?" He spoke quietly, almost like he didn't want anyone to hear him, but some of the people around did hear, and they started to look as pale as Brogan.
I looked around and quietly whispered, "Yeah, that sounds right."
"There is no time to wait, we must find it now." He grabbed my shoulders, "The Haka destroyed my world, we cannot let them destroy yours."
With that he started to get some of the soldier guys together. I tapped Marcus on the shoulder, but he was completely in his own world. So I pushed him. It was supposed to be a gentle push, but either he was off balance, or I put a little more force into it than I expected, so he fell on his butt. He blinked a couple times and looked at me like I just stole his puppy.
Advertisement
"Marcus, we have to find the place the Haka was sealed. Apparently it's the cause of the end of Brogan's world."
He blinked a couple more times, then he jumped up, "What are we waiting for then? We can't let Earth turn into a world of walking dead."
"Whoa, where'd that come from? Also, this is my dimension, not Earth."
He nodded, "But Earth is out there. If it takes over here, it won't take much to take over Earth. What can jet fighters do to a spiritual entity that can control metal, and dead bodies."
He started making little illusionary birds and sending them out. Then he made something that looked like a bunch of TV screens, without the rest of the TV.
I looked at all the people around me rushing to search for the seal, "I don't think it's as bad as everyone's acting it is... The Administrator sealed it."
Marcus glanced at me, "Yeah, the same administrator who couldn't let me have all my magic unless I stayed here for a year, and isolated a powerful being here because it couldn't stop it. You noticed that it severed all connections with your dimension, right?"
"Yeah, but it said it was punishment, and the seal would be made using system pow... Oh, the system is gone."
Marcus nodded, "You can fly now, so I'll send my birds to the South and East, you take the North and West. Go as far as you can then work your way inward. We'll let the soldiers take the areas closer to the fortress." I stood there a little surprised at Marcus giving orders, "Bwyd, don't just stand there. We can't let anyone else die because of us."
I wanted to talk to him more, to figure out what he meant. I was pretty sure we hadn't killed anyone, or caused anyone to die, but I was starting to get a little worried too. If the system was containing the Haka, and the system was gone, what was containing the Haka now? I shifted to dragon form and took off. I was kind of aware of which way North was, so I flew that way. On the way I pulled up my dimensional system menu. It was fairly simple. I could see the name of my dimension (Bwyd's Dimension), and how many people were living in it. I could also look at the upgrades for the fortress, and I could do all the stuff I could before with the original menu. The main difference was instead of being an instance, it was a dimension, and there was nothing about invasions or events.
There was one new part to the menu. It was an admin pannel. When I looked at my admin options I saw things like, provide a limited system to visitors, and residents; messaging; activate personnal assistant; change day/night cycle; set immigration requirements; and taxes. I immediately provided a system to everyone, because who doesn't want a nice little system to track your life. I then took a look at immigration. Basically any creature who wanted to enter needed to be able to use mana. Or be with a creature that could use mana. It was almost like a tax, that went to opening the door. I could set additional requirements, like you had to be human, or you had to pay money to enter. I could also keep certain types of creatures out, and I could set a list of banned individuals. There was a warning that some creatures could find other ways into my dimension, but usually I would be notified.
Advertisement
I also had time to take a look at the tax system. It was pretty simple, and I could catagorize people to give different rates. I could also tax different things. Like I could tax the life of people, or mana, as well as money. No matter what was taxed it got converted into dimensional resources that could be used for a bunch of different things. Like upgrading my fortress, or adding guardians, paying the upkeep cost of my dimension, or maintaining the seal.
Maintaining the seal...
I stopped flying, and landed on a tree branch. Now that everyone had my dimensional system I figured I could send messages. So I pulled up the messaging menu and picked Marcus.
Message!
I gave you a system, and I think there is an easier way to find the seal
-Bwyd
When I sent it I got a preview of what it would look like, and realized that I was basically an administrator. I could probably even send world messages.
Alert!
Marcus would like to start a conversation with you
Would you like to accept?
Y/N
"Yes, that's probably easier."
I heard Marcus' voice telepathically, "Bwyd, what do you mean, and how did you send that message? Why is the system back? Where is the seal?"
"Slow down, I still have a system with the dimension so I activated it for everybody."
"Oh, so it tells you where the seal is?"
"I don't know, but there is a seal maintainance cost, so I would assume that it does? Let me take a look."
I focussed on the seal option, but it didn't do anything. So, I looked for a map or something, and found a nice map. It was perfectly round, and had my fortress marked clearly in the middle. I could zoom in so far that I could even see leaves on trees, and it had layers, so I could look beneath the trees at the ground. It kind of made me think of satalite stuff. So I zoomed in on where I was, and I saw a purplish black dragon sitting in a tree. I moved a wing and saw my wing move on my map. No lag or anything. Then I remembered I was looking for a seal. I zoomed back out, and saw it not too far from the fortress.
"Marcus?"
"Yes?"
"I found it, uh, let me try to ping it." I focused on sending the location to Marcus, but nothing happened. "Oh well, it's right outside the fortress. Just go East. Past where we fought it."
"Thanks, I'm heading there now. See you there."
I felt the messaging system disconnect, so I flew to the seal. It was a bit hidden under the trees, but there was a small dirt road that led to it. I got there at the same time as everyone else, so we all looked over the seal together. It was basically a little stone shrine with intricate looking designs that glowed with power. While looking at it I got a little notification.
Alert!
Seal currently at 90%
Rate of degredation 5%
Time remaining 1 week
The commander of the soldiers seemed to notice the same thing I did, "Is that 5% per week or we have one week before the seal breaks? How are we supposed to keep it sealed?"
"I can spend resources on maintaining the seal. I just might have to raise taxes, or start taxing."
Brogan raised an eyebrow, "You can maintain a seal with money?"
"Apparently. I can also tax mana, or life. I don't think I want to tax life though."
Brogan gestured to everyone around, "I believe I speak for everyone when I say that we will gladly give either mana or life to keep the Haka sealed."
All of them nodded in agreement, even Marcus. So after some discussions about how much we needed, I set the tax rate to mana, marked all current occupants (except the Haka) as citizens, and chose 5%. So everyone lost 5% of their max mana (except me), and my dimension had enough income to maintain itself, the seal, and give me a little extra to play with. I then set the tax rate for all non-citizens to the max rate of 40%, just in case anyone decided to invade, or I got illegal immigrants. I was more than willing to give out citizenships, but I didn't want unexpected things to happen. Plus, I figured that if the Haka somehow got out, it would have a lot less mana to use. I planned to go through all the citizens at some point, but there were a lot, so I was hoping to delagate that to Marcus, or Brogan.
The soldiers planned to set up a guard post near the seal, to keep an eye on it, and the rest of us went back to the fortress. We had a lot of work to do, and Marcus really wanted to know what was happening on Earth.
Advertisement
- In Serial87 Chapters
Rise of the Lord
Gerald, born a Viscount's son, spent most of his life since he was six as an enemy Duke's 'ward', nothing short of a hostage. Until a shocking letter arrived requesting that he be sent back to inherit his father's territory and title. Now he has to return and rule the ruin that is his family's lands. Bandits roam and enemies leer. Conspiracies brew and wars rage. Meanwhile, Gerald has to rise with his house from the ashes. Schedule: Updates 4 times a week--> Monday-Thursday. Maps: Tellus Viscounty - Asura Continent Additional tags: Kingdom Building - Strategy - War - Army Building - Minor Wuxia Elements.
8 668 - In Serial7 Chapters
The Colstryker Journals
Manda Colstryker —orphan, rapscallion, and aspiring treasure hunter— refuses to be a nobody. Her opportunity for greatness comes when she stumbles across the rebirth of the ancient gods, and she volunteers herself to act as their guide in this brave new age of electricity, telegraphs, and bustling industriality. But the world of the gods is more complicated than she expected, and soon she has to wonder: is fame, fortune, and historic recognition worth risking her life? New chapter and illustration at the end of each month! Read more of our content at Interstellar Artship!
8 107 - In Serial45 Chapters
What if world is in TACTIC RPG mode (Tactical RPG World)
One fine day, lordol have a dream on preregistered of the certain event, on the next day, he suddenly noticed that his world took a drastic change. From its earlier peacefulness, he found himself in a world that seemed a dungeon with no escape, where everyone seeks for a safe zone, either by paying, stealing, or building one by using hunt materials earned through their fight for survival.
8 159 - In Serial60 Chapters
Dream Theater
Long casted shadows danced in the background, as a man squibbled and jotted words on yellow papers. A mere novelty, remnant and ghost that was left to age away along with the forgotten theater, a man grasped for inspiration to salvage what was left of his soul. Abandoned in the squalid room, Pxan was left hauntedly in the furthest corners of insanity that bubbled in his mind. No one would listen to his plight, denouncing him and claiming his mind was not right. Even though the world left him with nothing, turning their backs to him, he knew the books would never betray him in the same fashion. Faceless pages and books yet to be read ogled puppy eyes, ready to be penned by the madman. “Pxan! Pxan! Over here! To me!” Clamored the unpublished manuscripts. Pxan’s fingers quivered nervously, thoughts of failure flooded his mind. Wanting to surrender to the pressure. “No!” He cried. “I’ve had enough of writing.” Books with eyes all stared at him, begging for the tales to be written. Their pleaful eyes were all that Pxan needed to be moved to writing again. The man sighed and raised his pen again, stroking the first letters of inspiration that bore fruit from his mind. A maddening tale of a policeman, cultists and a violent revenge… -Currently on Hiatus while writing the second volume.The first volume is up. I will take a few days to rewrite a few chapters. Afterwards, updates will proceed as usual.Current rewrite progress 17/59 chapters rewrited. This is my first real novel, any kind of criticism or feedback is appreciated. I am looking for an editor, if someone wants to help me avoid typos please contact me. The cover is a detail of Faust in His Study by Ary Scheffer, c. 1831, watercolor and gouache on paper.
8 164 - In Serial8 Chapters
Death Spire
No-one know what awaits at the top of the tower but everyone has their ideas. The gifts received on even the lower floors could change a persons life beyond belief. However, only death awaits failure, while success leads to the next challenge. Follow Nathan as he starts his crusade to the top.
8 93 - In Serial51 Chapters
Realize (PUBLISHED)
They live on the same floor. They attend the same luxurious school. They have the same friends. They couldn't stand each other. And just when she thought she could get away from him, they end up being on the same band.Could life get any more worse?Oh, that's right. He, the coldest arrogant jerk, is also the most handsome guy she had ever set eyes on. That's definitely saying something, living on the Upper East Side.Now, she faces her biggest problem of all.Differentiating LOVE from HATE.__________Realize is copyrighted.**I guess you could say this is Gossip Girl in rainbow land, without all the drama and scandal. Only humorous and fun.**
8 125

