Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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"Brísingamen?" Dale asked as he held the necklace in his hands

It wasn't ostentatious, but it was intricately crafted from a golden-brown bronze, or so it seemed.

The necklace was stiff, almost like a choker with a small opening along its length.

Along its body, there were several designs depicting all kinds of animals, such as eagles, wolves, rats, and the like, a rather symbolic contrast.

There was an unimaginable beauty in its simplicity, despite there being no gems or glistering gold adorning it, each carving was smooth and lifelike despite not being faithful depictions of their real-life counterparts.

Oftentimes, beauty comes from the source, its original appearance, the unaltered designs of nature…

'I feel there's more to this than it lets on… But at the very least, I think I got what I was looking for.'

'I finally found a proper Necklace to replace my old one, however, it has a strange condition for me to wear… To have my strength sealed?'

'I wouldn't mind a momentary setback to acquire this kind of item permanently in the future, however, just how much of a setback are we talking about here?'

'There are some things I would like to do and they will require a significant amount of… Force.'

'But even so… I don't think I would have a hard time dealing with them even if I lost over half of my Stats, Aura alone would make up for that gap, if I don't fight like a fool that is.'

'Besides, does this affect items? Most of my Stats come from my items anyway.'

"Anyhow, this is great, incomparable to what I gained last time I used these."

'Back then, I got a Cape, a Wristguard, and a Miscellaneous item with an interesting property, albeit situational.'

'And although much of that hasn't changed, I now have a Gun which I can use with time, a Lantern which I can use immediately, and also a Necklace I can put on anytime.'

'I would say I'm in the green.'

Nodding his head silently, Dale sorted through his thoughts before moving on to his next task.

Before putting on the necklace and testing its effects, Dale had something else left to do.

Just a few more things before he could wholeheartedly focus on the future and himself…

…

/Fwoosh… Thud!/

Somewhere at the center district of Resko, where ancient buildings remained asleep, Dale jumped from Caladbolg, landing before a tall tower that reached for the skies.

A tower of stone and metal, rising amidst equally glorious constructs, places of gathering and history, their purposes now forgotten.

Walking atop a thin layer of sand, Dale raised his head, looking at the Clocktower with a calm expression.

'The Clocktower… And everything around it.'

He looked at a street on his right, and on its end, he saw a large circular structure…

'That's the Mayor's house, where the governing figure of Resko used to rule from, around it are some of the most important and essential establishments for the governance of old Resko, now, on the other hand, they're just symbolic pieces of a time already over.'

'Together with the large Manors surrounding them… I wonder if they even have anything inside, considering the families of old mostly left out of their own accord… I remember some players getting inside them, though I don't remember if they got anything interesting out of them, may be worth a while to send a group there to retrieve whatever's left, be it essential or not.'

'Nonetheless, regardless of their use, they hold immense importance for the future, having these in working order will take much more than just swiping off the sand and cleaning their interior… But that can be left for later.'

'Most importantly, having them repaired would equate to progress on my Quest.'

After a quick glance around, Dale turned back to the clock tower, walking to the front door before applying some pressure to its entrance.

Before him, a set of metallic iron doors awaited in cold silence, on their surface, several carvings of cogs and machinery could be seen, even if somewhat worn out by time.

There wasn't much rust in it, with most of it concentrated around its lower half where most of the water from the rainy season gathered.

Even so, the lack of any visible damage to this ancient structure was enough to display its impressive craftsmanship.

/Crunk!/

The bulky iron doors didn't budge, but he didn't worry too much, he knew they would open if he persevered.

In a sense, he was thankful they were like this, it helped preserve whatever was inside from 100 years of curious teenagers, players, and horrific weather. After all, they weren't the only ones who caused trouble for the history buried in these sands.

Players were only Humans, and before them were generations of bored Villagers with nothing to do but venture into the ruins of their ancestors as everything else was either too much work or too dangerous for even their courageous spirits.

"Hupp…"

/CRUNK!/

With another push, trying a little not to apply too much strength, Dale pushed the doors back, causing sand to cascade between the cracks of the door, washing onto his feet.

"Phew…"

He did not mind the stench of rusted iron and mold coming from within, nor the sand threatening to bury his boots.

With an iron mind and a steel gaze, he stepped inside the clocktower, aiming not for its top, but what stood beneath the ground.

If he wished to reactivate it, then he needed to work from the ground up, and that meant clearing the dirt and rust from its mechanisms.

This would take a while…

…

/Later…/

/PULL!/

"Huff… This is tiring. I don't remember there being so many of these annoying roots to pull…" Dale said with some annoyance as he whipped the sweat from his forehead

Around three floors underground was a wide basement full of strange machines encased in large metal boxes.

Tubes and metal plates adorned the walls, giving the place a Steampunk vibe.

On the side, next to one of the machines, Dale cracked his back as he threw another large, arm-thick root, to a pile of dead, dried plant matter.

Disregarding the actual physical state of the machines in this place, the mere amount of roots, plants, mold, and so on that grew in between the nooks and crannies of this place was astounding.

In the past, by the time he gave the idea of cleaning the clocktower, a group of 10 researchers and 20 workers already had their time with the tower, cleaning and 'repairing' much of its mechanisms, leaving it only to Dale to try and remove some of the harder roots and reinstall fallen cogs and axles.

"... What time is it? About 8? They should've been here by now…"

'Yesterday after my "reassessment" with Sarferato, I asked him if it was possible to gather a group to help me reactivate the clock tower.'

'They don't lack mages and skillful personnel, because even if they lost hundreds of people to failed hunting attempts and monsters in the wilderness, Mages and Researchers only had to worry about working inside the confines of their homes, thus helping preserve most of their workforce.'

'Even if low in number and severely underequipped, these people are not that far from what their Corps personnel counterparts would be capable of pulling if they were in their positions.'

'This is important because the clock tower isn't solely that but it's also a centerpiece of Resko's defensive mechanisms, and if there's a place these researchers can be directed to, then it's reactivating those.'

'Yesterday was too late to have them work here, but today wasn't a problem, that's why I waited to do this now… But I'm all alone still.'

'From here on out, I'll have them work everywhere so we can work towards reactivating Resko's mechanisms and defenses, as with each we raise, the better prepared we'll be for the future.'

'I don't know if I'll be capable of pulling that off before the Church reaches its limits, but with enough hard work, it should be possible to have something in working order.'

"Worst of all, I need to try and not break anything, who knows how long it would take to repair one of these gears… If it's even possible…"

'How long will it even take to reactivate the Corp's Industries?...'

"I need a break."

Thankfully, it didn't take long for a group of 30ish men and women to arrive before the tower, full of equipment and gear, ready to do whatever they were asked to.

To their surprise, they saw Dale working hard to the point he had to take off his shirt, there was dirt, sand, and a bit of oil scattered throughout his body and clothes, yet none of them felt disturbed by it, on the contrary, it was a much common sight in their work field.

Instead, they felt even more impressed by the boy, they previously saw him all armored up, opening the gates and helping them reactivate Project Burnout, saving both them and the people they left behind.

Seeing him work so hard even here changed their perception of him even further, causing them to feel much closer and at ease while in his presence.

Seeing him without his armor also helped, as it made Dale feel more Human.

He was just a young lad full of energy, working hard to make his and everyone's lives better.

And to these old and middle-aged people, isn't that everything they wanted to see in a youth?

Without realizing, Dale strengthened his image to these people once more.

…

/Later…/

The hours passed as he cleaned through the floors, one by one he helped the workers pull roots, wash the old mechanisms, and apply the little oil they had to make it work, stopping only to help the researchers set up a few machines on the 7th floor so they could commence their work.

Eventually, lunchtime came but they did not stop working, however, Dale knew these people needed some time to rest, so after reaching the very top of the tower and essentially doing everything there was to do, he had them take a break as he went down to meet the researchers.

If they were done or not, it did not matter, they would be taking a rest now.

"... Is it done?" Dale asked as he approached the group of researchers on the 7th floor

"It is almost done child, we're merely checking a few things, making some tests to make sure this place doesn't blow up when we reactivate it." A gentle, elderly woman replied on the side as she turned to face him

"Please, take it easy, we have all the time in the world for this, there's no need to rush it."

"Ah, dear, thank you for the concern but there's little to worry about."

"Back then, we used to work in harsher conditions for longer and with tight schedules, compared to those times, this is nothing."

"Besides, this is very important, it's our first job. We have to do it right otherwise, it would make us embarrassed."

/Chuckle…/

The other researchers chuckled as they went on with their duties.

"Besides, I've checked the schematics of this place more than once, this is much more than a Clocktower so we must be extra careful and mindful of everything we do if we wish to make use of those aspects."

"Sit down and relax if you must child, we still have some gas left in us for this, but if you wish to assist us, you can help by installing the core." She said as she pointed at the side

"... Alright."

Even if he wished to complain about their stubbornness, it would just end at that.

So instead, he got his hands dirty, helping a small group of researchers install the Revolving Cog onto a machine.

It was a somewhat messy process, but eventually, the Revolving Cog was successfully installed and the researchers pulled a lever, beginning to power the Tower.

/Crunk… Clack…/

The sound of metal creaking echoed faintly in the halls of the Tower…

"Hm… So far… No problem… There's a lot of stress in some areas but that's to be expected, it should normalize after we go through this initial phase." One of the researchers said as he read the signatures coming from a strange machine

There was no monitor on the machine, instead, it sent out small flames of Mana into the air, it was extremely abstract but the man seemed to be able to interpret it and read it quite proficiently.

"..."

While the researchers focused intently on reading the signatures from the machines, Dale stood in the corner with his arms crossed.

'This will take a while.'

As to not risk damaging the Tower and also because they did not have the power to do so, they focused on slowly reactivating the tower, one cog at a time.

The Revolving Cog needed time to draw Mana from the surroundings and to form a typhon effect on the surrounding environment, and until that formed, in its current state, it was unable to power the whole Tower.

As such, even if one cog at a time, the Clock Tower was coming back to life, with its gear clinking and creaking with every rotation.

[DING]

Eventually, Dale heard it, the notification that told him of its rebirth!

It was here, Resko's clocktower, its heart pumped anew!

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Notes