Elysium

Level 6

                                                                     who co-wrote this chapter with me ^_^

Six

AETHAN

My whole world seemed to go in slow-motion as I watched Seiko fall to the ground. Drial sheathed his weapon and ran to help her. I was too stunned to do anything. My body trembled like crazy. All I was able to do was to stare at the unconscious body.

I can’t believe that it was my fault; my creation’s fault, that a friend of mine was lying in the city’s road, clearly immobile and silent. It’s my nature to care for those who regard me as their friend and not to hurt them. When I do, it disturbs me so much that I blank out.

I was pretty sure that it was not my intention to destroy the Taser and aim the electric pulse at Seiko’s direction. It was all an accident. But accident or not, the effect haunted my inner self. I can’t forgive myself if, at any moment now, Seiko disintegrated. She may be reincarnated back at Cheval city but it would not erase the fact that I hurt her.

The only plus side to this was that Seiko’s experience points wouldn’t decline.

Maren came jogging back from the clearing with Glitch in her arms.

“What happened?” she asked. I didn’t dare meet her eyes. Drial was busy attending to Seiko so he didn’t answer either. “Look at me!” she yelled.

I slowly lifted my eyes to meet hers.

“I didn’t mean to—” I began but she cut me off. A look flashed across her face as if realizing something. She dashed towards Seiko and assessed the injuries I have caused.

“We need to look for a shaman. My medical knowledge is not enough for this kind of injury.” We did not question Maren, being the one who had adequate knowledge in the medical profession. And by the state Seiko was in, who was I to say that she was alright?

Drial easily carried Seiko in his arms while Maren followed closely by their side. I, of course, brought the rear.

Stam tried to offer words of encouragement to me - that it was not my fault; that it was not my intention to hurt Seiko; that it was the fault of the armored wolf. But we both knew better, and I will take the blame because the weapon was my creation.

Drial and Maren praised my first invention, the flashlight. That was the reason why Maren believed that I was a true crafter. Then Drial, the obnoxious champion, said that it was an effective weapon.

 The praises encouraged me to finish my true weapon, the Taser-like device, so that I would not need to borrow from Maren her amazing sword. Maren was impressed by my Taser, which was praised also by Agi. But it was not yet furnished. It wasn’t perfect. The electricity it conducted was much stronger than what I intended it should.

The game didn’t provide me enough tools to create an effective weapon, much less a safe one. I was looking for capacitors and resistors all the time, even during our quest against the spiders; resistors so that the voltage that ran through the Taser would not be disastrous and capacitors so that it would have a place where voltage could be stored for later use. But those electrical components were rarely seen in this city.

Stupid me! Why did I even use it despite the danger I knew it would cause with a single mistake? 

I looked closely at the broken weapon in my left hand. The wires which were used to direct the electricity to the opponent were bent in different angles. The metal that held the wires were marked by burns as if someone set it on fire. The handle was hot due to overheating but the heat was tolerable for me.