The summoning circle flashed with a bright golden light that burned through Valens closed eyes. He felt the hard stone beneath him. A moment before he was sitting at his classroom desk. A collective gasp echoed around him. People started coughing and whispering in panic.Valen opened his eyes. He blinked away the afterimages of the flash. He was kneeling in a cathedral. The walls were made of marble. Stained glass windows showed winged warriors fighting horned shadows. Armored knights surrounded the runic circle. Their faces were hidden behind silver visors.An old man in flowing robes stood on a raised dais. He held a staff with a glowing crystal on top. A man on a gilded throne wore a crown and looked bored.Valen stood up. His whole senior class was there. Thirty students looked scared, confused or shocked.The man on the throne said, "Silence." His voice was heavy. It forced some students back to their knees.The old man tapped his staff on the marble floor. A resonant chime fille

Valen woke up to complete silence. It was a change from the loud winds and screaming that he had heard when he first got to this world. He did not get up away. Instead he kept his eyes closed. Checked how his body was feeling.His muscles felt really weak like they had been replaced with wires. He was extremely tired from using up all his stamina.. Beneath the tiredness he felt something new and strange. The level-ups from the Miasma Hound had made his body stronger fixing the damage in his lungs and healing the burns on his skin.Valen opened his eyes. The sky above the broken fortress was still a mess of purple smoke.. Down in the courtyard the air was clean and fresh. It was like a little bubble in a bad world. In the middle of the stone floor a big purple crystal was pulsing with a light. It had the stuff from the air inside it.Valen sat up. Checked his status.Host: ValenClass: Utility (Defective)NoneLevel: 4Health: 78/100Mana: 0/0Stamina: 12/100His stamina was coming bac

The purple landscape was a blur as Valen and Zarek moved through the obsidian canyons. They had to be really careful when they were moving through the Dead Zone at speeds. Every step was a deal. They had to think about how dense the ash was under their boots and avoid the shifting cracks that let out superheated pockets of air.Zarek was running with heavy strides. He was like a soldier and his dark hair was blowing in the faint purple light that was coming through the sky. Valen was keeping up with him. His body was stronger now because of the levels he had gained. He did not feel the burning in his lungs or the struggle to balance that he had felt on his day in this world. His movements were cold and precise. He was only thinking about what needed to be done.Ahead the red flares from the Solarian vanguard were starting to fade out. They were leaving trails of red smoke that were cutting through the thick purple clouds. The air was getting heavier. It was vibrating with a strange st

The room was really quiet except for the sound of water dripping from a broken pipe in the corner. Valen sat still on a crate his arms crossed, staring at the girl on the table. Her silver hair was spread out like moonlight on the stone. Her hazel eyes were wide looking around the room and then at Valen. She seemed scared.Who am I she said, trying to sit up. Her voice was shaking. She pushed against the table. Her arms were weak. Valen did not help her. He just kept looking at her.Valens system was checking her.Target: Autonomous Vessel 04 (Disconnected)Level: 1 (Suppressed)Health: 110/110Stamina: 15/15Mana: 0/0 (Celestial Core Dormant)Status: Severe Cognitive Dissociation, Identity Void, Network Deprivation.The system said she had been reset. The thing that was controlling her was gone. Valen had cut the connection. What was left was her body, like a computer with no program.You are what the Solarian Empire calls an Autonomous Vessel Valen said. You were sent to do a job..

The boundary expansion changed the sound in the three-mile valley. The loud screeching wind through chasms was gone. A deep hum replaced it. The sound came from an engine running smoothly. The Thrones silver dome didn't just block the Dead Zones poison; it pulled it in through many small currents. The dome drew the vapor into the fortresss foundation.Valen stood on the keeps highest parapet. His palms rested on the granite. The stone felt warm not cold and brittle like before. The cores infusion changed its molecular structure. The granite was now dense and slightly textured. When Valen closed his eyes he sensed the three-mile perimeter. He felt the weight of three transport carriages in the courtyard. He felt the breathing of the Earth Drakes in their stables. He sensed the heartbeats of thirty-five people in the barracks.System notification: Territory synchronization complete. Current upkeep: 0 stamina. The system uses environmental toxicity conversion. Excess energy storage: 1,40