Azimuth: The Elden Throne

Link -> https://discord.gg/zpAgtPBAMK

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Before reading the book itself, however, Dale opened the book, interested in taking a peek at what was written within it.

And without surprise, the words within were different from the original copy, and as he expected, Jyter had transcribed the book into a simpler style, the language used in Resko.

Dale already expected this outcome, he only wanted to take a glance at the calligraphy, after all, what would he gain from asking a native that doesn't know his language to transcribe a book?

At least it was interesting to look at, albeit Dale was still in awe at the old man's ability to write... He had written an entire book in a little over half a day...

Regardless, with his curiosity satiated, he opened his Game Menu and inspected the book, and like magic, a System Window manifested in front of his eyes...

A long wall of standard text... The direct translation of the book.

"..."

[Chapter 1...]

'Looks promising so far.'

He let out a sigh of relief as in the depths of his mind, he still expected something to go wrong.

So to make sure there was nothing missing, he went on to inspect every page.

And after a few minutes going through all of the pages, he went back to the first page to start reading, this time, for sure.

However, he suddenly had an epiphany...

He grabbed another book from his inventory, one that was written in the same unknown language of the Corps…

He inspected it as well, and like before, a System window appeared in front of him.

"..."

Dale felt stupid...

From the beginning, he assumed he wouldn't be able to read the books because they were written in an old language not commonly used.

So he first had them translated before inspecting the item.

But from the beginning, there was no need to do so, he just needed to inspect them from the start and everything would've been the same.

'I should've tried this from the start instead of asking him to translate the book for me… Though, that also works in my favor.'

'For me who doesn't know this old language, it would be strange for me to be able to read the books, that was why the Villager's felt the need to translate it.'

'In fact, I can make use of this... In some circumstances.'

'Though… I can't be happy yet, as I don't know if this feature will always work…'

'There might be an underlying reason why this worked... I need to be ready for a situation where I find an ancient text and nothing comes out of it even if I try to inspect it.'

'It may have only worked this time because the two languages were similar in origin...'

'But it's better than nothing.'

"However first… I'll brush my teeth…"

With a happy smile, Dale got up and grabbed a bucket of water so he could brush his teeth before he sat down and started to read the story of the Alma Conquerors…

The first chapter...

[Chapter 1, a blade of Grass to cut down a Tree]

…

/Around half an hour later…/

/Knock knock knock!/

Midway through his reading, someone knocked on his door, making Dale raise his head and close his book, putting it aside as he rubbed his eyes.

"She took longer than I thought." He mumbled as he got up from his bed

He knew who had come, or at least, he was only expecting one person...

It was Yumi, coming back from grabbing 'medical supplies' in her house.

/Creak.../

Dale opened the door with a smile, saying:

"Hello."

"H-Hi…" Yumi replied with a smile as she gave him a nod

Before she had time to say anything, Dale turned around, pointing towards his room:

"Please, come inside."

"Excuse me then…" She said as she walked into the room

She looked around, but there wasn't anything special about his room at all, the only noticeable thing was the odd golden head shining on top of a table.

Yumi knew what it was, and although it was her first time taking a proper look at it, she felt odd...

It was as if the head was staring straight at her... She felt that it was... Mischievous?

It was something Odd to feel about a holy Icon... But she couldn't be more right, David was indeed looking at her, thinking about stupid things as he realized her inner feelings.

He really wanted to say something 'stupid', but his duty told him otherwise.

There were very few times when he felt like this...

If he could speak, he would mention the time when one of the Popes stepped down and left the premises of the Church.

At that time, David really wanted to say his goodbyes to his old friend...

And say that he could finally get laid amidst some laughs!

"I know I know, my room is pretty bland…"

"I'm afraid I didn't have that many things to decorate it so I hope you don't mind." Dale joked as he noticed her silence <subtxt> . </subtxt>

"No no, it isn't troublesome at all." Yumi replied as she stopped looking around

She seemed embarrassed, so Dale decided to help her

"So?... What do I have to do?"

"Ah!... Sorry, I was…A bit distracted."

"So uh, I need you to lay down in bed… Since I… Need to check up on your injuries…" She said with a slight red expression

Dale nodded, laying on his bed, but that wasn't enough…

"Please… Take off your… Your… Shirt... And please tell me if there is anywhere that hurts apart from your chest..."

Dale once again complied, ignoring her embarrassment.

...

He took off his shirt, but he also told her that it didn't hurt anywhere else.

In the first place, his chest was alright, but for the sake of it, he said it hurt a little due to his status.

Otherwise, if everything was okay, he would really be leaving this shy girl to fend for herself, and if that came to be, they would end up staying here all day...

/Nod/

"..."

Yumi didn't say anything else, she only nodded, perhaps too embarrassed to make a remark about Dale's chiseled body, opting to turn around and grab her medical tools she had put atop a table…

Dale took this opportunity to observe her closely.

She wasn't wearing the same clothes as last time, instead, she was using a coat very similar to the one he saw when he first visited her.

Although this one was much cleaner than that one.

Aside from that, she was wearing a black headband and tie on her hair.

She brought with her a suitcase, probably the Medical supplies she went to collect…

It was then that Dale noticed how clean they all were… He was surprised by that.

As if they had been cleaned just a moment ago… Then it all made sense.

'The reason she took longer to come back was that she was cleaning these tools…'

'I think it's to be expected, those tools were probably last used years ago, and it's impressive they're still fine… I hope they are at least…'

'It's not she's going to do surgery on me anyway...'

For some reason, images of old, medieval-style medicine started to play on his head, and Dale suddenly grew pale…

He prayed for whatever God that could hear him so that he wouldn't pass through that torture…

"Okay…" Yumi said with a red face as she looked at Dale's chest

"?"

Dale didn't know why, so he only smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

[Yumi's intimacy has increased slightly]

"..."

Yumi was holding something similar to a doctor's stethoscope, but it seemed rougher.

She plunged its ends to her ear and brought the other end, a square metallic box to his chest…

She moved it around his chest, but after a while, she said with a saddened expression:

"Sorry…"

"What are you sorry for?" Dale asked

"I'm not really good at this..."

"Although it's true that I learned medicine since, in order to make potions, I first need to know what they'll be used for…"

"Due to my own negligence, I was more focused on production efficiency than the needs of the people around me… So my skills in this area are now all very rough…"

Dale smiled.

"It's okay, I know I'm going to be fine, and if you can help me recover, whatever help it is, then it's more than good enough."

Yumi smiled slightly as well.

"So here I go…"

She placed the extremely cold metal box close to his chest once more, but Dale did not flinch.

Although it was cold, it wasn't past his tolerance, after all, his stats were high for a reason, albeit it tickled.

He could tolerate the hottest day, and even extremely cold temperatures… But tickles were still as effective as before...

And it wasn't like he couldn't feel cold or hot anymore, it was just that his scope of comfort expanded dramatically.

/Ba-Dum… Ba-Dum… Ba-Dum…/

Yumi slowly tried to hear his heartbeat, she was trying to pinpoint any problems so that she could devise a proper treatment…

'Nothing unusual so far...'

"..."

As for Dale, he remained there silent, looking at the ceiling…

He felt oddly comfortable… Despite laying in this old stray bed.

It seemed that the feeling of having a beautiful doctor treat him was rather good…

He looked at her for a moment… The flowing hair on her shoulder, her serious look… Her rather good figure…

She even smelled good, compared to the other Villagers, she was almost divine...

The atmosphere was rather good, so much so that he couldn't help but…

/Ba-Dum Ba-Dum… Ba-Dum Ba-Dum/

"Hm?"

'His heartbeat increased slightly?' Yumi thought to herself as she frowned

'What happened?...'

She then looked at him.

She was going to ask him if he felt strange… But then, their eyes met.

/Ba-Dum Ba-Dum… Ba-Dum Ba-Dum/

It was at that moment she understood why…

[Yumi's intimacy has greatly increased]

"?"

As she turned her face to the side, Dale asked in an awkward tone:

"Is something wrong?"

'She's probably the prettiest doctor I ever had… Well, that's not hard considering most of the Doctors I visited were old dudes and ladies…'

"No no… I… Your Heart Beat increased a little so I…"

"!"

Dale was stunned…

'I see… How awfully honest of me... I lost my cool there for a moment.'

'It's a bit embarrassing... I'll use my Skill to calm down for now...'

"Sorry for that, I hope it hasn't interfered with your check…"

She shook her head, but then remained silent and another part wanted her to remain silent…

Dale also remained silent…

And after a while, she said:

"Well… On a good note, I don't think there are any major problems, your heart sounds normal, the flow of blood also sounds normal, and there are no visible irritations on your chest either."

She then touched his chest and asked:

"Does this hurt?"

"No."

"And here? Do you feel uncomfortable?"

"No."

She then smiled slightly and said:

"At most, I think your heart may have some irritations, so avoiding exercise is for the best."

"Luckily, I brought just the thing for this…"

She turned around and crouched to grab a small circular metal container.

"I didn't make this for this particular situation, but it will do just fine…"

She opened it, revealing its contents to be a cream-like substance.

"I'll apply it to your chest and that should be enough…"

However, she then realized what she just said and did, making her go red.

"I-If you don't mind…" She said as she approached him

...

"..."

Time passed, and the seconds turned into a minute, but she still moved her hand around his chest…

"..."

Dale didn't say much, but he did realize that she was somewhat prolonging this process…

Be it consciously or not…

Whatever the truth was, Dale just let her be, on another note, her hands were rather soft…

The actual truth was that Yumi was so embarrassed, that she lost focus on her task at hand…

"I'm… Done." She said with a smile after a minute

"Thank you." Dale replied with a smile

"I'm glad to be of help." She said as she beamed him a smile

[Yumi's intimacy has greatly increased]

On top of her head, the 2 emerald hearts suddenly trembled, until a new one formed…

Now there were 3 hearts, shining gloriously over her head…

/Thud.../

"I'll leave this behind with you, re-apply it once every hour, and you should be healthy in no time…" She said with a gentle smile as she put a metal container atop the table

Dale grabbed the circular metal container and checked its description…

There wasn't really anything outstanding about it, just yet another quality medicinal item…

But there were a few words that caught his eyes…

*... This item was made in a hurry and with a great deal of care for someone she cares about…*

*... Made with a little bit of Love…*

"..."

Dale didn't know what to say, so he just nodded silently.

Yumi then bowed slightly and left his room, satisfied with her work…

A minute after she left, Dale closed his eyes to think...

"…"

"Bro…"

"David?" Dale said as he heard the Golden head open its mouth

"I knew you were a bit slow and all of that, but it also seems you aren't a ladies' man ey?" David said in a low tone

"What?"

"Man… You had several chances of scoring some extra points with that beauty, but what do you do? Silence and a few gestures? Come on, even I could've done better."

"Look, listen to what I'll say, I saw a lot in my years, I'll give ya some tips..."

"It's not like that…"

"Hah, you say that but look at you, all red. Did she strike at your weak point?"

Dale frowned… Was he really red?

"It seems you truly are a young man... Buwahahaha!" David laughed, almost losing balance

"Hey Dale, if you need some help, give me a tap and I'll help you get some girls."

"She is the shy type, conquering those are easier than..."

Dale rolled his eyes, interrupting him:

"As if I need your help to get girls…"

"Huh?!"

"Don't look down on me! Back in the day I… All the Nuns used to look at me!"

"..."

Dale remained silent…

'Didn't they look at you for another reason bro?... Better not hurt his feelings…'

"The things I saw and heard them confess… There isn't anyone that knows more about girls than me!" David said with a serious smile as he nodded silently to himself

"Doesn't that mean you also know guys the most as well? I doubt only nuns would confess to you…"

"Well… When you put it like that…"

While David thought about his past, Dale sat down on his bed.

[Injured Heart -> All Stats -50 (3H 50 minutes...)

You've received effective treatment for this affliction, recovery time -50%

]

'Just shy of 4 hours…'

'It's much better than I expected, just enough for me to read this book, perhaps choose my Class, and study a bit about Mana. Leaving enough time to train in the afternoon before night falls.'

'In fact, now that I have to study, it might be a good idea to start redoing my schedule… My Real Life one...'

'I've already set myself to not do anything in regards to University for at least a year, my parents are also fine with it… As long as I show something productive.'

'Stopping for half a year is fine, they understand that resting is important from time to time... But an entire year?...'

'Still, that won't be a problem, as long as I exchange some of the coins I have, I'll make a lot of money and that'll be enough for them.'

'What is truly important is the time I spend in this game.'

'Every night, I disconnect to allow my character to sleep, giving it around 8H of sleep.'

'But what about my real body? I'm already aware that I don't need to sleep that long, in fact, I normally wake up sore if I sleep for over 6h a day...'

'In a sense, my mind is a bit behind my body's biological clock, and that isn't good.'

'Though that is another problem unrelated to my schedule...'

'Hum... Perhaps I should spend more time in the game and log out less often to maximize time.'

'When the sun is up I train and seek out my quests, when night falls, I study and then sleep for a few hours…'

'I already came to understand that this game… This world isn't so simple… So it's time to start treating it like that and put more effort into it all.'

'The problem is being punctual, one week or two is already over the limit, one day or another my mother is going to snap and tell me that I'm playing too much.'

'Even my father might get concerned if I stop going to the gym.'

'I'll have to think of those eventually...'

Dale smiled.

"In any case, it's time to go all in." He mumbled to himself as he grabbed the book again

"Eh? What did you say, Dale?"

"... Nothing… I was just thinking out loud."

With a small smile on his face, Dale continued to read his book.

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Notes

Several changes were made in the last 3 chapters due to some mistakes I did regarding in-game mechanics, if you haven't noticed them, then I did a good job fixing everything.

As always, if you have an image you are interested in seeing, just send the message and I'll make it.

In exchange, how about some Power Stone XD?

Perhaps even... A Ticket?

Or...

Anyway, that was all for today, peace!