Chapter 17: Free (Patreon)

Author’s note: Hi guys

I've tweaked the Grid formatting a bit as Patreon isn't exactly user friendly in that regard. I also added some glyphs in Eleaden Standard Language.

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Enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 17: Free - link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102001309

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Chapter 17: Free

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Name: Korra Grey

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Age: 27

1st Array: Slave

Master: None

Sigils: 97 - ○○○○○○

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Weaves: 1st Array (6/6)

Eleaden Standard Language (General): . . 15 glyphs - ⦿⦿

Indomitable Will (General): . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 glyphs - ⦿⦿⦿⦿

Master's Toy (Slave): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 glyphs - ⦿⦿⦿

Silent Suffering (Slave): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 glyphs - ⦿⦿⦿

Faint Presence (Slave): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 glyphs - ⦿⦿

Unnatural Regeneration (General): . . . . . . 36 glyphs - ⦿⦿ 

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To say that I never dreamed of becoming a heroine, getting unique skills, and all that shit would be a lie. Of course, I longed to be beautiful and powerful, admired by all and feared by my enemies. Who didn't, right?

However, never in my life had I imagined that as soon as I would actually get to another world, instead of getting a class like a Princess or a Fencing Swordswoman, I would end up as with the Array of Slave. My blood boiled just looking at the name of that shitty array in my Grid, and reading its description was simply suffocating.

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Slave

With your free will as the cost, being a slave may come off as senseless,

however, consider the fact that your possibilities will be endless.

While tightly lashed to your master, your limits will know no bounds,

you may become anything, his servant, his lover, or one of his hounds.

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Whoever wrote that had a strange sense of humor. One might even believe that the Slave was an amazing array. Amazing, my ass. The endless possibilities? In the hands of your master, if he so much as will it, you wouldn't even be able to fart without his permission.

Just so much in that rhyme cut painfully close to the heart. The leash had been gnawing at my neck for over a year and a half, the no-bounds were limited to only two rooms, mostly just my cell, and yesterday, I almost ended up being the asshole's hound, a senseless beast.

A shudder ran through my body at the thought. 

Thankfully, and yes, it was irritating to admit, the death at the hands of that shitty bug knocked some sense back into me. Hell, even my Grid claimed that I was still human, although that was up for debate. Yet, for all the changes, my slave status seemed to be something set in stone - or in the runes of the Lattice, to be precise.

No matter how much I hated it, I was bound to live with the Slave as my 1st Array and that deranged bastard as my master.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on . . .'

Rubbing my eyes, so to speak - in this mind space I didn't have either - I stared, at the Grid and the line [Master], stunned. Where the name Frederick Dungreen had been listed just a few hours ago, it now read: None.

Did the bastard die?

Annoyingly, as much as I wished he had, the more plausible reason seemed to be the loss of the collar lying now in the real world on the moss next to me. That the line for master in my Grid remained was a bit puzzling, though - worrying and unnerving, too. It stood as a constant reminder that I, as a slave, required a master. 

Thinking a bit more about the galling fact, that 'requirement' might be a function of my lovely array. It would make sense, kind of. But if so, it begged the question, why was I without a master? Losing the collar shouldn't matter.

'Unless . . .'

Unless it was the collar that was forcing the bastard on me as my master.  And since I never saw him as my master myself, without the collar I was . . . free.

'Free, I was FREE!'

Wherever the truth lay, my heart leaped for joy.

After suffering through so much, living through two birthdays in the cellar, and almost losing myself to a beast, I finally regained what was taken away from me a year and a half ago. 

The price for my freedom was terrible and quite bloody, though.

Trembling, I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to convince myself that it was the beast that killed the freaks and not me. Sure, a blatant lie. Nevertheless, it worked to a degree.

Well, for the time being, at least. 

'27, huh?' I grunted with a sigh at the age displayed on my Grid. I was through my 26th year when that shit-bug turned my world upside down. Ever since then, my age was basically the only way I could tell how much time had passed. Not that it mattered how old I was, anyway. With the way I looked now, my age was the last thing on my mind.

'It really was.'

For example, one of the things that pissed me off far more was the number of sigils engraved on my array. 92 was a hell of a number, that spoke of how well I served my master. Yeah, according to the Lattice, I was a good little slave girl.

'Bullshit.'

From what I could tell, it wasn't so much the fact that I was bending over backwards to do my master's bidding and wishes; on the contrary, I was fighting tooth and nail to resist the asshole's orders, but the fact that after I had down his concoctions the results exceeded his expectations every bloody time.

Of course, it took a while for the Lattice to acknowledge his thrill over me, my body. It wasn't like the deranged bastard took one look at me, and 'yay' a dozen new sigils got engraved onto my array. It usually took at least a few hours, mostly a day or more.

Likely the reason I didn't get any, not even after successfully accepting the Beast Core, which apparently shouldn't be possible, and downing the icy potion that turned me into a beast. So, there was still a good chance of me getting a few sigils later, but to be honest, I thoroughly hoped not to get any.

If I did get some, it would mean that there was still a connection between that deranged bastard and me.

A chill went through my body, and I shuddered.

'No, thank you.'

I'd rather die. Although, that was proving to be quite a challenge. My regeneration was no joke before - for a human. But now . . . to bring me back from the dead? Seriously? Was it a new circle in the Unnatural Regeneration, my last weave?

Well, speaking of my weaves, or skills, did I mention that I loathed every single one of them? 

The Eleaden Standard Language was the first one I was forced through the collar to choose as soon as the asshole found out I didn't understand a word he said. That was, of course, after three sigils had been engraved on my array, thus opening the first weave slot. Considering he was pleased with the test subject the shitty bug brought him, getting them didn't take long at all. 

And so, through that weave, I was allowed to understand the bastard's deranged commands.

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Eleaden Standard Language

General Weave

15 glyphs - ⦿⦿ 

⦿ - Shared speech is a way to convey the meaning of your thoughts to each other,

whoever it is, a stranger, an enemy, a lover, or your long-lost brother.

⦿⦿ - Speech is not always the most ideal way to get your thoughts conveyed,

therefore your ability to read the words that others have engraved.

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