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Chapter 310: Return - Markets and Multiverses
🕑 Added 2024-10-24 06:26:44 +0000 UTCWhen I turned fifty-seven, Felix died. I had been expecting him to live a little longer, with our Market stats supporting us. However, the year he turned fifty-four, he started having organ problems. One after another, his organs tried to shut down. I healed them, of course - but the problems kept returning. I couldn't find any reason for his organs to shut down. After investigating, I began to suspect that this was due to his nature as an artificial baby. The technology that created Felix had been experimental. It wouldn't be odd if there was some sort of flaw with his body. It also explained why the same problems kept reappearing, no matter how many times I healed them. I could fix the symptoms, but I had no way to fix the core problem. When I told Felix about my guesses, he shrugged, and said it wasn't a big deal either way. It seemed more like a relief to him when he finally died.
To my and Anise's amusement, Felix sounded relieved when we spoke to him next. He said that life was better, now that he wasn't constantly in pain. He did complain about being unable to do anything but chat and watch TV, but he said it was still an overall win, as long as he wasn’t stuck for too long.
A year later, Vance died. Vance had never gotten married, so he didn’t have any children or family members to see him off. Anise and I buried him without another soul to see him off. We spent the rest of the day in silence, to commemorate our friend and wish him well on his journey back to the Ocean of Souls. Felix and Sallia managed to wake up and say their own goodbyes a few hours after we finished burying him. Sallia only had a little bit to say about the subject. She had never actually met Vance, after all. Felix sounded quite a bit more sad about Vance's death.
I could tell that Sallia felt a weird mix of emotions, based on what she projected through the communication bracelets. Part of what she felt was sadness, especially after Felix died… but there was also a big part of her that seemed excited. Sallia knew that the end was coming for us, and while she seemed to feel bad about it, she was also excited. I didn’t blame her. Being stuck in the void and only waking up for an hour or two every day must have sucked. Especially after living that way for fifty years. It sounded bizarre for one of my friends to hope I would die, but I could understand where Sallia was coming from. That next day, I told her not to feel bad about whatever she felt. In any case, we would all be together again soon.
Iselde and Maela were the next ones to go. Maela had never married, but Iselde had married one of the former customers of Felix’s alchemy shop. She died surrounded by grandchildren. Both of them died on the same day. I watched both of them return to the ocean of souls, and hoped that they would have a safe journey to their next lives.
I wondered if there was anything I could do for the souls of the departed, but couldn’t think of anything I could do. I had no idea how to help souls move through the ocean of souls, or how to help people reincarnate. It was something I decided to look into it next time we were in the Market. With any luck, it might even give me inspiration for how to improve my own alteration abilities further. I had spent a lot of time this life researching how to enhance my shaping, but had run into a wall after we moved to Zanna. I suspected that the Market had ideas to help us improve - if we could find them. I also thought that helping my dead friends would be nice. Maybe in the future, I could ‘bless’ people I cared about, giving them better births in future worlds?
It was something to think about, and I found it occupying my thoughts more and more as I grew older.
When I turned sixty-one, I got the final Achievement rewards I had been expecting.
Influence: Restore 5,000 Permanent, debilitating injuries.
Achievement +3,000
That reward brought me from 20,119 Achievement to 23,119 Achievement. And along with that reward, I got one final, unexpected reward.
Influence: Play a [Very Minor] role in strengthening Zanna and improving its position in global politics.
Achievement +213.
This reward brought me from 23,119 Achievement to 23,332 Achievement. It was a surprise Achievement reward, so any amount was welcome.
With those two rewards, I felt that I had exhausted my final bits of potential in this world. There was almost nothing left for me to do. I intended to wait for Dr. Trish and Markus to die, so that I could spend the last bits of time I could with them. However, my intentions started to wane as time passed. They were unusually healthy. Dr. Trish was a doctor, and had always taken excellent care of herself. Markus was a former soldier, and had an excellent level of physical health for his age. Everyone else I knew was already dead, and Felix and Sallia were waiting. I didn't want to say goodbye to them... but I also felt pressured to move on.
A year later, Anise got a final reward for strengthening Zanna, putting her at about 16,000 Achievement.
Finally, I made my decision. I had enjoyed every moment of time with Dr. Trish and Markus in this world. I had cared about all of my friends. But everyone else had passed on. There were only two people still tying me to this world. I felt lonely and tired. I was ready to move on. Anise and I decided to end our lives in this world and return to the Market.
Besides, Felix and Sallia weren’t the only ones who were getting impatient as time passed by. At sixty-two years old, I felt like my body was a cracked clay jar. It was full of holes and tiny fractures. Every single day, my body creaked and groaned in pain. Even with my healing magic, it was a miserable experience. I couldn't do half of the things I found fun anymore. Even singing, my only hobby, started to get difficult. My voice just couldn't keep up with my needs anymore. I couldn't play board games or get a drink with Felix or Sallia, because they were dead. I couldn't do anything I loved. Age had seeped into my life, taking away everything that made me happy. If I was being honest with myself... I was looking forward to being young again. When we returned to the Market, we would get bodies that matched our 'perceived' age... and I was ready to be in my early twenties, and have a strong, athletic body and voice. I was ready to move on.
As one final blessing to the town that had sheltered us for decades, I healed every single person in the town over the course of a month. I had zero expectation that I would get a reward for this - either monetary or Achievement related. I just wanted to leave a final gift behind before I died. This town had sheltered us for years, and I felt a final 'thank-you' was in order.
Then, Anise and I told Markus and Dr. Trish that I felt my time was coming. We spent a final day together, just the four of us. We had a little picnic in the park in the middle of town. We spent the day laughing, reminiscing, and talking about everything we had been through together. It was a lovely day. That evening, I bid them farewell. The two had been good to me, and I hoped that they would live happily for the rest of their lives. They had earned it. I double checked my will, where I had left Trish and Markus most of my things and donated the rest to charity.
Then, I asked Anise if she was also ready to go. After getting her confirmation, I used Extinguish on both of us. We passed away that night.
It was time to return to the Market.
Death Statistics Report:
Power:
[Basic] Grade attunement
+ 50 Achievement
[Intermediate] Grade attunement
+ 100 Achievement
[Advanced] Grade Attunement
+ 150 Achievement
[Expert] Grade Attunement
+ 200 Achievement
First Rune:
+ 70 Achievement
Second Rune:
+ 140 Achievement
Third Rune:
+ 210 Achievement
Fourth Rune:
+ 280 Achievement
Fifth Rune:
+ 350 Achievement
Sixth Rune:
+ 420 Achievement
Seventh Rune:
+ 490 Achievement
Eighth Rune:
+ 560 Achievement
Skill
[Basic] medicine
+ 30 Achievement
[Basic] Eldritch Soul
+ 400 Achievement
[Intermediate] Eldritch Soul
+ 1,000 Achievement
Slaughter
Kill an Ordinary Human for the first time
+ 60 Achievement
Kill an Ordinary Human for the fifth time
+ 100 Achievement
Kill a Worldstrider for the First time
+ 80 Achievement
Kill a Worldstrider for the Third time
+ 150 Achievement
Kill a Worldstrider for the Ninth time
+ 210 Achievement
Kill a Worldstrider for the Twenty-Seventh time
+ 240 Achievement
Assist in killing a Worldstrider for the First time
+ 30 Achievement
Assist in killing a Worldstrider for the Third time
+ 60 Achievement
Assist in killing a Worldstrider for the Ninth time
+ 90 Achievement
Kill Aplos
+ 450 Achievement
Kill a Human with an Ability for the first time
+ 300 Achievement
Influence
Hamstring Vernese attempts to study Artificial Humans
+ 2,400 Achievement
Restore 2 permanent injuries
+ 90 Achievement
Restore 10 permanent injuries
+ 300 Achievement
Restore 25 permanent injuries
+ 450 Achievement
Restore 100 permanent injuries
+ 700 Achievement
Restore 1,000 Permanent injuries
+ 1,000 Achievement
Restore 5,000 Permanent injuries
+ 3,000 Achievement
Have a [Minor] impact on the war between Worldstriders and Humans
+ 6,120 Achievement
Have a [Major] impact on saving several refugees from the Zelyrian continent
+ 540 Achievement
Have a [Minor] impact on the civil war in Zanna
+ 17 Achievement
Have a [Minor] role in Strengthening Zanna
+ 213 Achievement
Wealth
Own 5 Ancient Lightning Bolts
+ 250 Achievement
Own 1 Kg of Alkulsteel
+ 100 Achievement
Crafting
Exploration
Explore the Heart of the Zelyrian Pocket Dimension and return alive
+ 500 Achievement
Family/Disciples
Misc:
First time Achievements:
(Market-Produced Achievements cannot be repeated in subsequent lives. They are paid for by Eluxia and the Market, as a means to encourage new Transmigrators, and not linked to the dimensional laws of any world besides the market).
Total at start of the world: 542.08
Equipment Maintenance Costs: 89.1
Taxes: N/A (Error - no tax skill detected. Please consult with your local city administrator for further details. Tax evasion is a capital offense, and trying to avoid paying may result in execution!)
Final Total: 22,349.98
Author’s Note: So… we’re missing about 1000 Achievement from what Miria’s total is supposed to be here. Did I do something dumb when it comes to math??? If anyone can figure out what is creating this discrepancy, I would appreciate it if you send me a message helping me figure out what happened here. I’m quite baffled. Did I somehow miss some of Miria’s Achievement that she earned, or did I plug something into the calculator wrong during my ‘double check my math’ Death statistics report? What’s happening here?
Anyway, apart from math errors, this marks the end of Volume 3: The Clocktower's Toll. I hope ya'll enjoyed it. We have an epilogue chapter tomorrow, and then we return to the Market to start Volume 4.
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Comments
DaShoe
Honestly she should have started a teaching hospital. This way her influence would have been much higher.
Orskelo
I figured she would go out having a final look at the spatially fucked continent to maybe get some ideas for her ability
Immutably Empty
Ch 307 accounts for the 1k discrepancy. Influence: Restore 1,000 Permanent, debilitating injuries. Achievement +2,000
The Lord has given
Shouldn't miria have killed/assisted more worldstriders? I mean dhe was mostly doing healing but by far not that much to not kill a bit more 'frown'
The Lord has given
Suprised that miria didn't try to look at least a bit at the "Death Zone". I can understand Felix, he meddled to much in politics. Anisa also has bad compatibility with that so she couldn't do much abput that. But Miria... Guess dhe would be held back by her friends etc, but it also didn't sound like she was overly comitted to her new peaceful life she enjoyed it, but the way its portrayed it sounded more like she enjoyed it for NOW not that she let things pass without doing anything else. Also I wondered why they didn't get achivement for influencing the work strider escape. If i understood correctly the kids got the thing to open the door to the 'worldstrider prison' only because they left it there or am I wrong?
Dax
Yeah, she killed a ton while she was out with anise when they were like 15 ish?
MinE
How did Dr.Trish live that long?
Syrahl
I had an idea - If Miria takes that "blessing" idea, and somehow or another manages to expand that into a full-blown religion centered around ensuring people have the best chance of reincarnation possible, that could be worth a massive amount of Achievement if the religion takes off. It doesn't even matter if the hypothetical Blessing doesn't work when it's not Miria doing it, only that the people believe it does, and find comfort from it.
Mantiqore
Wasn’t she way more involved with the worldstriders? ~40 affected world striders in total sounds a little little
