Book 2: Chapter 39 — Wayward Projections

Book 2: Chapter 39 — Wayward Projections

Noah sat on a corpse of a giant Deidacroc he had slain. Bun Bun remained buried within the body of the creature, eating pieces from the corpse with abandon, coating his fur a dark red.Noah paid the bunny no attention, his focus was on his Inventory. The menus moved past, as he looked through all the items he had in his Dimensional Pocket. “Where the heck is my spear?” Noah said, trying to check once again to make sure he hadn’t missed it somehow.

Tony shivered, flapping around his head, taking a look as well.

Noah tried to remember if he’d somehow left it, but that was impossible. He always kept the weapon safely in his Dimensional Pocket.

Tony sat on Noah’s head, sending quiet whistles.

“Yeah, I’m not worried. It’s just weird,” Noah said, scratching his head. “Can the projections access my Dimensional Pocket?”

Tony gave a shrug with his wings.

Noah returned his eyes to the Dimensional Pocket. Reaching out, he called back the spear with the Dimensional Pocket. The air vibrated in front of him, as if something was resisting, before the spear popped back into his hands.

Checking the weapon in his hand, Noah felt something different. The design on the weapon had shifted subtly, now little strands of black twisted around its red shaft, changing the design subtly. Using Identify, Noah checked the weapon.

[Spear of Crimson End (Uncommon/Growth)]

Progress to next rank: 7.2%

A spear infused with Crimson Rot and Void mana. Inflicts [Rot-II] upon use. A hunger has awakened in the weapon, morphed by [Devourer], the weapon drinks in the lifeblood of its enemies.

Noah spun the weapon around once, feeling it fit better in his hands than before. Something had changed the weapon and he wanted to know what.

“Time for an emergency meeting, send the word Tony,” Noah said, as the little bat-eye fluttered around, communicating with its other versions. A moment later, Noah activated his ability. The world warped around him, as his two projections appeared.

“I was just about to finish going through what was a pretty important piece of information so this better be important,” one of the projections said, looking annoyed.

“I was fighting cultists, we probably lost a level or two because of this,” the other one said, clicking his tongue.

Holding the spear in his hand, Noah waited a moment to see if either of the other two would comment on the weapon’s change. After neither said anything any further, Noah spoke up. “We’ve had some time to explore, I thought it best to combine what we’ve all learned, and if we’ve found any leads to the others.”

“Why couldn’t we have done this through Tony? Wasn’t that the whole point?” the projection asked, as one copy of Tony rose from the creature, before merging with his. Noah didn’t reply, as Tony supplied information his other selves had gained.

Noah’s eyes went to the other projection, as he used Identify on him.

[Astral Projection - lvl 13]

“How did you gain levels?” Noah asked.

“What?” the other copy said in surprise. “You have levels?”

The projection gave a shrug. “Dunno. I was fighting a big abyssal worm and then I got a bunch of notifications and now I have levels.

“That’s... so strange. I thought we couldn’t gain levels till we fused back,” the other projection said, holding his chin in thought.

“Can you merge back?” Noah asked.

“Probably,” the projection said, shrugging. “I’m still connected to you.”

“This is weird,” the other projection said.

Tony nodded in agreement.

“Was the spear your doing as well?” Noah asked, showing the spear.

“Yeah, happened around the same time I got levels. I like the change,” the projection said, smiling.

Noah glanced at the other projection, who had his eyes closed but otherwise did not seem to be doing anything.

“What’s the matter?” Noah asked.

“Merging back doesn’t seem to be working,” the projection said.

Noah frowned for a moment. He tried to recall back the projection with his ability on his own but felt a resistance pushing against him. “Strange, guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way.”

Getting up, Noah raised his spear as Obliterate channeled into the weapon.

“Wait wait, hold on a second,” the projection said, raising his hands.

“What’s the matter?” Noah asked looking at the projections, as he raised an eyebrow.

“Uhh, what’s that behind you?” the projection said.

Noah turned behind him and found nothing. “What do you mean there’s nothing there—“

Noah froze as he saw the projection dashing away at rapid speeds. It took him a moment for him to realise what had happened, and another moment to realise that he’d fallen for something that stupid.

“What the fuck,” Noah said, before realising that he was going to lose the projection if he waited any longer.

Taking his attributes, Noah dumped fifty points in agility. A rush of energy filled his body, altering his spirit, and the rush almost made him tense up, but his spirit was much stronger now and he pushed through the rush of energy.

Agility: 304 → 357.

Using Blink, Noah gave chase. The projection moved quickly, blinking rapidly all around the place and Noah had to keep his senses peeled out to not lose track of it. Noah focused his attention on his ability, feeling the thread of mana connecting him to his projection. Letting his will power focus on it as much as he could, he pulled back upon the connection.

The projection stumbled, as the connection yanked itself, and Noah did not relent, moving ahead as he continued to pull back. A moment later, he felt the connection snap, as the mana he had put into the projection flowed back into him. But the projection itself remained.

“Should’ve figured this would happen,” Noah said, rushing forward through the dense foliage of the forest.

Raising his spear, and letting his senses guide him, Noah shot his weapon. The spear moved around the trees, shooting like a speeding arrow as it launched ahead, but the projection teleported at the last second, jumping away.

Noah growled. The projection had every ability he had. He really was annoying to fight.

Chasing the ripples in the atral rift, Noah blinked as well, rushing behind the projection. The astral realms swept over reality as he moved through tangled webs of space, before reality reasserted itself.

With a pop Noah appeared behind the projection and launched himself. The two crashed into muddy waters and Noah grabbed the projection’s throat, holding him down as a growl escaped his mouth.

“Wait... wait I can explain,” the projection tried.

“It better be good, because right now I’m thinking that the cultists managed to corrupt you and I’m not very inclined to let an evil clone of myself run around,” Noah replied.

“No they didn’t I just-” The projection’s eyes widened deeply, almost in fear as it raised its hand, pointing up.

“Look... look behind you,” the projection said.

“Oh seriously? Do you think I’ll fall for that twice?”

Before Noah could strike, the world darkened around him as he felt a powerful presence behind him. Keeping his grip on the runway projection, Noah turned back.

A giant creature remained behind him, its giant body towering over the two of them, with deep iridescent scales gleaming in the sunlight as it covered the them underneath its shadow. Two wings came from the creature’s back, and a long leg that led into a maw full of giant teeth, and two reptilian eyes that regarded them with cold intensity.

Noah did not need to use Identify to know what this was. A creature so majestic, the legends of it had pierced even his home. One whose mere name was feared to be spoken by the people of this world.

[Adult Lightning Dragon - ????]