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“Now, we'll do rapid release. For this, we'll go ahead and release the bolts as fast as we can. You should still give the last set time to fully leave the cart before firing, but that's about it.” And then he started firing. And so did the satyrs’ carts. This time, the dummies didn't stand a chance - cut down in a hail of arrows. “Impressive. Useful, in fixed battles, where a unit can bring one of these to bear. Rapid reload, and only one or two are needed to operate it. It lacks some.. Precision, but overwhelming force has a precision all its own, doesn't it?” Ares let out a booming l

”We're going to use a staggered release for the first two sets of bolts. Go ahead and pull back on the levers now,” Rey demonstrated on his, feeling the eyes of the Satyrs on him. The levers clicked into place, and soon after he heard a series of clicks echoing around him. ”Now - staggered release, or staggered fire, means just release two, or three, but wait a few seconds between each one. The carts can handle all five sets of bolts being fired in more rapid succession, but we're trying to see how this works. So pull the lowest lever back to trigger it, then the one above it to trigger the ne

Reytac about had a heart attack when Ares’ booming voice rippled out from behind him. He spun around, to see the massive figure of the god a dozen feet behind him, arms folded over his chest as he studied the target yard. He waved one hand, and the dummies were reset - and multiplied, doubling up in an instant. The God of War gestured again, and four Satyrs stepped forward, their expressions placid. ”Show these Satyrs the operation of your tool, Traveler. They are untrained, and none are the one who observed, so they are, as you would say, fresh recruits for you.” Reytac blinked, and gestured

The first set of five bolts were only halfway to their targets when Reytac pulled the second trigger, sending five more on their way. Then he paused - not because the cart was struggling, but to watch the results of the first shots. Five rounds hammered into the shields he'd aimed at - a little lower than he'd intended, he'd have to adjust upwards - then, as the shields faltered, wobbling, the next set of bolts slammed in, skewing them even further. Pulling the cart up on its axis took a few moments, which would be faster if there was actually a second person working with him, but doable on h

Reytac finished wheeling the last of the crossbow carts out into the practice yard that he'd been instructed to use, and then looked across it to where target dummies had been set up. The Satyr that had been helping him - solely with setting things up, other than that and providing him materials the demi human had not lifted a finger in aid - had done as Rey asked, and bunched several of the dummies together like a group of soldiers would be, not spread out like normal. There were also some shields, strapped to the dummies rather firmly. It wouldn't be as good a test as it would be if he had s

Reytac rubbed his eyes, feeling the strain of staring at the schematics and testing his materials and jury-rigged examples. This was, actually, easier to put together than a full hwacha would have been - he was able to use wood for the main construction material, easily sourced from any of the forests, since without explosives or flames, the tubes didn't have to be made of metal to withstand heat to prevent warping. This did have the downside that, because it was wood, repeated firing would eventually start to cause cracks to form and the weapon would have to be replaced. But that time frame w

What Reytac created was a wooden frame, five slots wide and five slots high. Each row would have a reinforced tension line running through, from about a third of the way from the back end where the operator would be working. Reytac had settled on this because even with the better materials that he was able to test, that was the limit that they could handle. A sight better than their real-world equivalents, thankfully, but still not as grand as he had wanted. The front side of the weapon was left open - for one person, or preferably, a team - to load the arrows, quarrels, into the ‘tube.’

Something to turn the tides of a battle. That meant, something that could affect many people at once - a deterrent or a force multiplier. Not something that would only affect one person, that wouldn't be good enough here. Reytac took a deep breath and exhaled as he thought about options. Arrows to black out the sun. The thought came to him, unbidden, and he focused on it, chasing the idea. He wouldn't be able to make one of the actual tools that caused the saying he was thinking of - he didn't have access to explosive powder. But - there might be a way to do it with tension and pulleys, espec

”There is a workshop. Messenger, take the Traveler to where he can work undisturbed. Dismissed.” Ares’ booming voice pulled Reytac mostly from his thoughts, and he blinked as a Satyr took him by the arm and led him off down a hall, to an ornate workshop. The walls were lined with tools of various kinds, with tables with saws, clamps, vices, and presses all over the room. It was a beyond fully-furnished workshop, and Reytac's fingers twitched, itching to use it. But he wasn't here to just ‘use’ the workshop. He had a challenge before him, a test. He'd been wanting to push and try the limi

”Ah.. Thank you for the honor, Lord Ares.” Being respectful to the digital deity who could probably wipe him from the game in seconds seemed like a safe bet for Reytac. He gave a slight bow, which made the giant before him nod once. ”I come in response to a challenge?” Which, to be fair, was something that should worry him. The Greek gods did not have the best track record of being gracious when their challenges were bested - just look to Arachne. Reytac watched as the blood-red tuft of bristles atop Ares’ helmet bobbed as the god nodded once, sharply. ”Indeed. As one of the architects o

Reytac stared, unseeing at first, as he made it to a set of stark white marble columns. There was no gate between them, so it wasn’t the pearly gates, but he had been concentrating so hard, for so long, on climbing the mountain that he had honestly forgotten why he was doing it. ”Traveler, you’ve arrived. You’ve got some determination about you.” Rey blinked, confused, until the Satyr bounced past him through the columns, then waved over his shoulder. ”Come along, dear traveler.” Reytac stepped past the columns - and then his head hurt for a moment as everything around him blurred him for a mo

”You know, no one is going to judge you for taking some time, traveler.” The piping voice of the Satyr came from beside him, and Reytac blinked as he looked over his shoulder. This was the first time that his guide had spoken in - Rey didn't actually know, how long it had been since they started climbing the mountain. He’d almost forgotten the goat-man was with him. The brunette narrowed his eyes before shaking his head sharply, and putting one foot in front of the other. ”Not a chance. I’d judge myself. I am not going to stop til I make it to the gates.” The Satyr studied him for a moment

This was, Reytac had to admit, the first time that he actually regretted wearing leather armor instead of just plain cloth armor. Even as little as he wore, the leather on his body was trapping heat against him, and he could feel sweat stacking up beneath it, soaking into the clothes he wore. Normally this wasn't a problem, as he could normally just pull his equipment off and cool off some. But even though the Satyr - who Rey noticed was following along behind him at a sedate pace, looking like he was having no issues whatsoever - had said there would be no threats, Rey didn't want to take a c

The brunette man took a deep breath and ran one hand through his hair, his fingers ruffling through the locks as he looked upwards and upwards. A wry smile twisted his lips. The Satyr had helped him get here, crossing much of the floor in the blink of an eye, but apparently wouldn't help here. But - from what he remembered, that was also the case in Greek mythology. There, the gods had lived on a normal mountain, but the number of Grecians who had actually climbed that mountain numbered in the single digits. So he was just following in small, rarefied footsteps. After a quick check to make sur

They reached the base of a large mountain and Rey looked up, and up, to see it stretch out of sight into a cloud-bank. He gave a slow nod as the Satyr stepped in front of him and clapped his hands together sharply. ”We are almost there, traveler! Now you just need to climb Mount Olympia. Final little ‘right of passage’ as it were. Once you're at the top, well, geography isn't going to work like you're used to. You'll be taken straight to Lord Ares’ domain, where he will address you. Mind you to be respectful there - you might be a traveler, but Lord Ares is a deity. Far beyond you.” With that

”Oh, enough of this talk of professions. You're here, and hopefully you're the first of many to come. Now, then - this way, traveler, this way.” Now, Reytac knew that something funky was going on with their little jaunt through the floor. The Satyr hadn't given him a chance to try purchasing a horse for travel, instead dragging him along on foot. And yet, the gate that they had left through was already a decent distance behind them in the space of only a minute or so. His erstwhile companion seemed intentionally oblivious as he nattered away to Rey, keeping up an almost running monologue about

”Well hello there traveler! It's always so wonderful to see another of your ilk answer the challenge! Come, come, follow me, right this way!” Reytac had to stop himself from doing a double-take as he stared at the person that had come up and taken his arm, and was now pulling him through the city streets. It was an NPC, and friendly - and non-human. More nonhuman than elves were - this was a satyr. The figure wore a loincloth to keep himself decent, and had a set of pan pipes hanging from a belt that was wrapped loosely around his torso, and even as he pulled Rey along through the safe city, h

Reytac followed the trail through the forest of the floor he was on, back to the safe haven - to the teleport plaza, in fact. Which made sense, as the quest was taking him high up, to the 17th floor. He rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath. He'd been laser focused on his crafting for a bit, and hadn't thought about socializing with people for a few… Days? A week or two, maybe? He wasn't sure. Time was very sketchy in this blasted game. It'd been a while. So being around other people was jarring. He hurried through the teleport plaza as quickly as he could, ascending upwards to the targe

After fully reading the challenge email, Reytac realized that a quest box had appeared next to it, confirming his suspicion that this was a system-event of some sort. He read through it to see the reward, and his eyes widened. The reward was an item that would make his engineering crafting smoother? His fingers twitched and his lips curled up slightly - there was no way he could turn this down. He was trying to stock a shop, and grow and test the bounds of what his profession could do - something that made him better at that was music to his ears, honey to his mouth. He took a deep breath,

Reytac stared at the message icon that had been blipping on his inbox page for a while now, unsure what to make of it. He had glanced at it when it first came in, confused, and put it out of his mind. At the time, he had been in the middle of working on his engineering, and the message had come in at nearly the same time as his first rank up. He'd almost entirely forgotten about it since then, but now that he had slowed down for a moment, he was staring at it. It almost taunted him - his message inbox was mostly empty, sparse messages from Mari when he'd spoken with her, but other than that he

V told Mari of her own issues with romance, and Mari could relate a little. Pain in the ass....Full of himself.... Things said to negatively describe an ex, Mari couldn't help but realize described her own husband - but Mari would use the terms affectionately. "I Think...." Mari began. She wasn't good with this sort of thing, with comforting others. "As long as y-you live fer yourshelf..." A hand reached out to gently rub the top of V's head. She's not a damn cat Mari.. Mari drew her hand away and instead let it land on V's shoulder, offering a small squeeze. "It ain't you. Namesh go on

She chuckled, "That's exactly what im referring to, the right one." She smiled adding, "Anyways, I'm happy to keep you company, I've enjoyed it myself so far. Besides, do you really expect me to walk back towards madam voodoos lair alone?" she smirked, showing her goofy side as she made the smart comment. She watched him as he pet her Raven. Thankfully, he didn't seem to mind Rey, and had trusted her judgment with him. She nodded to his thanks. She watched as he pulled out his spyglass and began to scan the area for new clusters. A few moments later and he had found one, gesturing her t

"If shomeone as debashed as me can find love, you can too." It was nice to hear it from someone else, a complete stranger at that. Propping an elbow on the bar beside her, she would rest the side of her jaw upon her upright first. Finishing the last of her drink, she looked to the other woman with a smile. "I've only truly loved one man.. Well, there was one before SAO but -" her smile was wiped away in an instant, a memory she did not want to recall or talk about. Ever again. " Well they had other intentions.. The guy I ran into here was sweet. A pain in the ass, kinda full of hims

Reytac let out a laugh, his eyes crinkling up. "I don't necessarily need a 'better' companion. That can be a trap, thinking there's someone or something 'better' out there. Sometimes, it's just about finding the right one. That applies to people too. And thank you for keeping me company - I have a feeling Searching for these ravens could get lonely if I did it long enough by myself." One hand reached out and scratched the raven under his jaw, and the bird let out a little trill before leaning into the scritch. After petting the raven with a murmur of thanks to Cascade, Rey scanned around, unti

"Fuck it." Hirru mimicked her vulgar air of nonchalance, the corners of her lips fighting a smile as the rim of the glass pressed against her lips. Slowly at first, she would tilt the cup upwards to get a taste of.. whatever this was. Pausing for a moment to smack her lips, she looked into translucent, gold colored pool of, what she assumed was, some sort of wine. "Its sweet." she spoke her observation into the glass before taking another long drink. The liquid traveled down her throat, a familiar warmth left in its wake. That same heat in her stomach and chest accompanied by a buzz behin