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A delicate chime, a small buzz against his body. It was the warning bell, but it felt diluted and quiet, as if it was... Afraid? Loud enough to be heard by Adam, but smart enough to know when to be quiet. This was an unusual effect, but something that likely would never happen again. Whatever this tutorial was, the system made it damn certain that the original participants weren't making it out of here alive. Not easily, anyway. [break][break]
A dull, blue light emanated from Adam's screen, only barely showing the carnage by his feet. There was that strange rumble, causing the water itself to ripple for a brief second. After that, the warning bell would stop and the silent once again washed over the place. Although everything was dark, Adam would still be able to make out the sudden shift of blackness. A hulking mass of something shifting from one end of the room and away from here. If he was brave, he might assume he was now... Alone. [break][break]

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Valentine's astral self wandered these lonesome halls, drifting in and out of space and darkness, all to seek a party member - or a monster. Whatever his intentions, he would find something. A strange pull, calling him deep below. Now that he had gained some distance from the group, he would feel as if the walls were closing in, a suffocating presence. Fear would creep up his spine, for upon looking down the endless expanse of a hallway that never ended, was something looking back. [break][break]
It was an inky black void, but within that void, were two slits of light, and a slow-growing smile that curved up into a wicked grin of ivory teeth. As quickly as it was seen, it would slink back, and the hallway returned to a regular length and width. That suffocation leaving the air and making it more 'breathable' in this astral realm. [break][break]
Or maybe that's just what it wanted him to feel.[break][break]
Valentine would plummet, the ground opening up below him as he fell, or rather, pulled down below. It wasn't that an entity could harm him, but it was able to show him something. After images blurred past his vision, he would find himself in the same chamber as Adam. Of course, Adam couldn't see that. [break][break]
But it was here, this is the final destination, maybe not for the living, but for dead at least. [break][break]
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It didn't like cheats, that's what it felt like. This beast could not interfere with spirits directly, but this was a special case. This one had a body it could harm, one it could sink its teeth into. On the opposite end of the hallway to Pori and the others, the sound of scraping and scratching drew closer, like metal being dragged along pavement.

[attr="class","landtag2"]St. Claire Val adam fujiwara Pori Vincent Cross

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Valentine walked the creepy hallways of the school wondering just what the hell had snatched up Adam, it was so fast, so much so that they could barely see it. They couldn't even react, but unless the party info didn't update if someone died then it was safe to say at least Adam was still alive. Valentine just didn't know for how long, regardless as the scout of the party, Valentine felt it was his job to find out.[break][break]

If he was going to play a role he was going to do it well, and well, that's what he had to keep telling himself as the hallway felt a strange pull, like something was trying to drag him down to the depths of hell. It was eerie, and honestly, he knew for a fact that if he hadn't invested his stats in willpower he'd be shit out of luck when it came to staying sane. [break][break]

Though as it stood Valentine simply gritted his teeth and continued floating forward slightly off the ground. That was until the walls and area around him made him feel like he was literally suffocating.[break][break]

He dropped to his knees, his lungs heaving as he did, he wondered if his astral body even needed to breathe, right now it damn sure felt like it. Fear ran up his spine as he pried his gaze from the floor. As he looked down the seemingly never-ending hallway his eyes locked on a creature with a Cheshire cat smile. He felt as if the world had stopped, and then the creature sunk back into the darkness, and he could breathe again. [break][break]

"What the hell was that? Was that some kind of warning?" Valentine thought frantically before he mentally forced himself to calm down. He had faced creatures already, but this was no different, it was just a different type of creature. He began to wonder if this tutorial's purpose was to induce fear because he found himself otherwise wondering why didn't the creature attack him. [break][break]

To invoke such a powerful sense of fear in him had to mean the creature was strong, was he still immune to this creature in astral form? Valentine knew some creatures could hurt him if they were strong enough, but perhaps this wasn't one of them. Regardless, he hefted his astral spear syringe and was ready to move forward, when suddenly he was dragged to hell...[break][break]

Or so he thought, Valentine, resisted yelling for all his might in case that's with this place wanted of him, to scream so it could take him like it took Adam, was that its goal? He didn't know but he found that pondering on such was much better than thinking about the reality of the situation at hand. Said reality was that he was utterly fucked, at least he thought so, as after images blurred past his vision. [break][break]

Then he saw Adam, in the same chamber as him! He was alive! Valentine was ecstatic but then remembered, Adam couldn't see him. Valentine wondered if he could access the menu in his astral form and so he tried, with a thought the menu popped up and he found himself typing away. As it was easier to report his findings than to stare at the corpses along the ground. [break][break]

"I've found Adam, he's alive, and from what I can tell far below where we were before, there's a lot of dead bodies down here," Valentine sent the message through the party menu before glancing at Adam and then ahead.[break][break]

Valentine sent another follow-up message, "Adam you can't see me but I can see you, I'm going to scout ahead while I can before my skill goes on cooldown," Valentine said, sparing now time to explain what it was that his skill actually was.[break][break]

Valentine began to move around the chamber Adam was in hoping he could find and report back any information he could find to Adam. In the back of his mind worry began to creep in as he was fully aware of what was happening around his physical body, and the fact that his brother had hoisted him on his back to move him. Thankfully his spear was still clutched in his hands. [break][break]

In order to try and assist Adam and gain more information had entrusted his safety to Pori and his brother. [break][break]

[attr="class","landtag2"]wicker , Pori , St. Claire , adam fujiwara [TAGGED]

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Valentine walked alongside Adam in his astral body, though he doubted the guy could see him, Valentine would do his due diligence as a scout. As they walked a random hand shot up from the red waters below, Valentine stepped back on instinct before quickly remembering that he was in his astral body, not physical. Therefore he figured the hand nor who it belonged to would be able to physically harm him. Mentally calming himself down, Valentine listened to the boy's words, typing in a message using his menu as he did so in order to relay the info to the rest of the group. "Adam's found a survivor, hopefully, we can save him," he quickly sent it through the party chat just as a chill ran up his spine. [break][break]

Although he was astral projecting, Valentine's ability thankfully allowed him to be aware of his physical body at all times, thus as they were running down the hall he could still scout. It was almost like having a dual perception. In a way Valentine liked to think of it as having two fields of vision, dual consciousness so to say. Thus he made the mental note to later hone such skill and use it to his advantage, however, he could. Unfortunately for him, it seemed this was not the time to truly try and test such skill as a mass of blades, tar, and bone legs were coming at them. The thing was horrific, and honestly, it frightened the hell out of him. [break][break]

He quickly sent another message using his astral bodies menu to the party, "keep running don't stop unless you need to, don't... Don't look back," he sent it quickly, and just as he did, he felt a strange tingle come off his body that then turned into the familiar tugging sensation of when he willed his astral body back into his physical one. Although this time it was much more forceful, Valentine felt his body get snatched back, so hard and quickly that it made him delirious. His eyes fluttered open only for him once again to be back in his physical body.[break][break]

Coming too, Valentine tapped his brother's shoulders twice for him to let him down so that he could run on his own. Valentine gripped his syringe spear tightly in his hand as they made their way down the halls, his mind still coming from the haze of reaching the limitation of his core ability. He had never exhausted the full-time frame of his ability into now and made the mental note to never let such happen again unless absolutely necessary. It felt like his brain was bulging out of his skull, and the subsequent headache was something he definitely wasn't fond of. He figured that with how he got better with his astral projection it would get better with time and practice, and the rise of stats, but for now, he had to work with what he had.[break][break]

Valentine knew that a battle was most likely imminent and he only hoped that between the three of them they would be able to take down that weird blob of blades, bones, and tar, and hopefully find Adam. As much as he didn't like the first impression Adam made, there was no denying the guy's strength. That earlier display of ability alone was enough to let him know the guy would be more beneficial to have around than to be away from. He sent a message to him, "not near you anymore, be back soon, hopefully. Danger above ground."[break][break]

[attr="class","landtag2"]adam fujiwara , St. Claire , Pori [TAGGED]