Care to give me Gems? It helps my motivation to do better.
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The Least Common Denominator LXVIII.II Intersecting Lines
The silence was deafening."Err..." Why was nobody responding to my speech? Did I do say something wrong or something?"Uhh... Sis?"Livia? "Yes?"My sister fidgeted from where she stood. I didn't know why, but it looked like she was trying to hide something from me. Huh.... Now I'm suspicious..."It's kind of.... can we get inside yet?"Eh? "What's wrong?" I mean, sure, we were still exposed to the elements, but it's not like it was too cold right now. Besides... wait...My eyes wandered across the crowd, my stupid brain taking a few seconds to buffer before a stark realization hit me. They were all shivering with shit clothing for the winter.Yikes! "Oh! Let's get everybody warm inside, yeah?"
The Least Common Denominator LXVIII.III Intersecting Lines
"étonnante..."I heard Anne mumble something French under her breath again as we made our way to my workshop. I suppose that the running pipes throughout the cave were something to look at, but it wasn't really that great when compared to the stuff that I really wanted to build. I mean seriously, who looks at the heating pipes and says, 'that's so good'?"Enter."Leading her inside, I closed the door behind me before grabbing a chair and giving it to my guest. She just stood in front of me as I offered her a seat, her hands still folded neatly on her lap like a dutiful servant."Take a seat."It took another second before she finally took the chair into her hands. Letting out a sigh, I grabbed my own tall stool and sat beside my chalkboard. I'm sure I'm gonna have to use this thing li
The Least Common Denominator LXVIII.IV Intersecting Lines
"Madame?" No... Calm down, Crimson... The Empire might be fucked in terms of classism, but it still boasted the more powerful army between the two. Then again, even old world history favored small countries in terms of being somehow more advanced in terms of social structure and overall acceptance... Maybe this was just a mirror of that? "S-sorry, Anne," I waved her off with a slight cough. "I was just thinking about how to continue your education." I couldn't help but shiver as her eyes lit up upon understanding my words. For some reason, it felt like I had unleashed a monster that I wouldn't be able to contain... "E-éducation?" Why did I feel like I was stepping on a landmine? "Yes. If you're going to work with me, you'll need to know a few concept
The Least Common Denominator Interlude XXVIII: Bennie II
It was certainly a surprise.When her old mentor approached her all of a sudden on a usual scorching day back in her stall, Bennie thought that she had been hallucinating. There was no way that Olivia even remembered her, right? And she was under orders from Crimson, herself? Surely the heat must've gotten to her! It's been a long time since she saw both of the women that changed her life for the better. Years even. And to think that they actually wanted her back?Of course, she'll pack her bags and follow them!It had been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Olivia said that they were up in the North? She was sick of the heat anyway. The fact they might not have enough supplies for everyone at times? Just another challenge for her to hone her cooking skills. The fact that they were about to run an honest-to-gods rebellion?
The Least Common Denominator Interlude XXIX: Isaac
Isaac had never seen such bullshit in his life. Tothink that he even entertained the possibility of Big Sis Olivia being weaker than her supposed older sister? What a joke.This Crimson lady didn't even look like Olivia!"Are you sure she's stronger?"The young man had always admired strength. It was his dream to become a soldier at a young age. Unfortunately, his short stature made it impossible for him to enlist in any sort of garrison that might even want to have him. He trained and trained for years since his childhood, and yet he got shafted because he didn't reach the height requirements? It made him seethe at the others that were clearly only accepted due to status or lineage."I'm absolutely sure, Isaac," his mentor nodded at him. "Sis was the one that taught me everything I know. I wouldn't be here today
The Least Common Denominator Interlude XXX: Descartes
"Do you understand?"Descartes had never thought that she'll be living a life away from her Reine, but circumstances had led her to such a fate. She could only count her lucky stars that she somehow found herself a willing mentor to support her during the lowest point of her life. Perhaps if Madame Olivia had not found her during her travels, the disgraced maid would've been forced to sell herself in order to simply survive the chaos that was the front lines. Such a duty would not be out of her expertise, but servicing anyone other than her liege would have been a shame that she could never erase from her very being. At best, if she would ever be reunited with her proper station, she would never trust herself with her Reine's safety.After all, she had already sold her services for her own well-being. What were the chances that she won't do so again?
The Least Common Denominator LXIX.I Parallelogram
Ahh... The glories of teaching... In retrospect, I probably should've pivoted my career options back in the old world to become a professor or something. My old professors and some of my classmates usually complimented my ability to simplify even the most ridiculous topics using my weird lexicon of internet, gamer, and street speak that seemed to be sorely lacking in the medical field. I suppose I was the insane one that somehow still found time to play games despite being on a field that's notorious for its brain-melting difficulty.Then again, that was because I barely studied at all and just skirted my way through until graduation.Still, I guess I was more cut out as a teacher. Imagining a life where I ended up as that one kooky biology professor kind of made me giggle a bit. To think about the random bullshit I'd subject my prospective students; random bonus questions abo
The Least Common Denominator LXIX.II Parallelogram
Once again, I regret ever even thinking that things were that simple."Come again?"I didn't understand a single thing that came out of Anne's mouth. The thick accent didn't help either. She was so animated that what little fluency she had in pronunciation was going down the drain really damn fast. It would've been pretty cute if it wasn't so fucking annoying just trying to parse through her Frenchness."I said, une telle chose ne devrait pas être possible."My brain was on the verge of melting just trying to understand her. I guess I understand now just why she was so averse to learning English. If this was how she felt every time I spoke, then I shudder to think what it felt like when I was teaching her...I took a deep breath. There's no need to blow up today, Crimson. Have some pat
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- The Least Common Denominator
CV.V Cotangent
I don't even know what's happening anymore..."Huh... That looks far too complex even for you, Crimson," Phillipe snarked at my work. Technically Anne's as well, to be honest. "A square rune with that many parts? I don't think that'll work out in the long run.""You and me both," I rolled my eyes with the sarcasm of an overflowing dam. "Seriously, why are you here?""You're being annoying."I raised an eyebrow at the blunt delivery of his oh-so-important announcement. Giving him the best sarcastic inquisitive eyes I could muster, I let out a scoff as I began whatever this talk was going to end up as.'Right behind you there.'You always are, Ica. "And?"Phillipe smirked at me as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, "You're wasting
- The Least Common Denominator
CV.IV Cotangent
"Let's go crazy..."With a borderline manic whisper, I let my imagination cut loose as my hand moved on its own. Traps within traps, earthen sigils meant to sprout at a moment's notice, the world was my oyster as the goodies slowly accumulated with each stroke of my charcoal.'Don't get too carried away, Master.'I know. I'm not dumb enough to overload the thing before it even came to fruition.And that was the biggest risk to such a massive array as well. With so many moving parts, any wrong line or overlapping rune will pretty much make the whole thing explode. I couldn't stress it enough, even to myself. Do not make this thing more complicated than it already is.'And yet here you are having fun with it.'Don't test me, Ica. Or maybe I'll just assert me being
- The Least Common Denominator
CV.III Cotangent
Fiiiineee... You win, my precious Ica.The stuttering that ensued at the back of my head was like a soothing tune as I looked over my work. The communication arrays were gonna stay, as would the Essence storage runes at strategic parts of the palace grounds. Hmmm.... Wouldn't the communication arrays be two-way anyway? So why even bother with surveillance runes like last time?My hand moved to remove the minor additions I added on the dirt parts of the grounds, leaving me with more space to work with in terms of... well... anything, really. What kind of runes would even work on shaky ground? Dirt couldn't hold anything beyond the basic types of runic arrays. Anything more complex than a three-layered circuit would blow up instantly from the strain. I could maybe run- wait... why not just do that?The charcoal streaked across the outskirts of the pa
- The Least Common Denominator
CV.II Cotangent
*ruummbbllee...*The sound of a sputtering engine echoed from behind me as I drew up yet another set of circles on the board. While I kind of put the general purpose of the massive multi-circuit array at the back of my head, I really should try and solidify that stuff properly before making the main control array, shouldn't I...'Good thing you remembered that, Master.'I grumbled through the dull pain I was feeling at my knees as I focused myself back on the doodle that was supposed to be a defense system for the palace grounds. It was far too small of a circle, now that I thought about it. The size of the drawing did little to help me ascertain the types of circuits that I drew on it in the first place. Squinting even further, it felt as if I was reading my own handwriting from how jumbled and nonsensical it all looked with hindsight.
- The Least Common Denominator
CV.I Cotangent
Plans upon plans upon plans. I feel like I'm repeating myself whenever I say that I'm obsessed about things going right, and if not, to have plans to be able to properly react to the failure. Fool-proofing something small was easy. Doing it again for something on the scale of a war, however, was a completely different beast. The number of variables at play, hundreds to even thousands of moving parts to look over and take into account. The time, the weather, morale, even individuals that might have other ideas and could stray from the plans put into place... It was so much to think about that hours or even days of pouring over the relevant information wouldn't be enough to take everything into account into one's plans. And even if you think you somehow managed to achieve this impossibility, there will always be something so monumentally out of left field that could just absolutely destroy any and all plans along with its sub plans and
- The Least Common Denominator
Interlude XXXIX: Grigori
GRIGORI⬛⬛⬛*RRRRRUUUMMBBLLEEEE!!!! RRRRUUMMBBLEEEE!!!*"What's wrong, Lord Stone?! Finally getting tired in your old age?!"Grigori grumbled in annoyance as he found himself standing his ground in his self-made fortress. Truth be told, the former Prime expected his fight to be over over ten minutes ago. However, he severely underestimated his enemies' hidden tenacity and downright stubbornness."I'm just getting started, kid!" he boisterously replied. "I'm far from being done!"Still, even as he said those words, Grigori was beginning to feel more tired than he initially expected. His reserves were starting to run dry from the constant back and forth that the combined forces of Lords Breeze and Inferno were throwing at him. And that's not to mention the current
- The Least Common Denominator
CIV.IV Transistor
OLIVIA⬛⬛⬛"So Lord Iron truly took care of the problem?"Olivia held her breath as she found herself taking in the state that the young Num was just found in. Broken, battered, and bleeding all over, Tesla had clearly taken a beating of a lifetime as her head lolled in her unconscious state, her face marred with cuts and bruises as her white hair was stained brown with dried blood."Damn... I guess the ranking in the Prime Thirteen's not a joke, huh...""Lord Iron's the Sixth, after all. Lady Static's the Thirteenth...""Fuck..." Olivia swore under her breath, her teeth gnashing as she watched the Imperials gawk at her fallen friend. "How the hell do I get her out of there safely..."The warrior Den tuned everything out as she focused on the unenviabl
- The Least Common Denominator
CIV.III Transistor
OLIVIA⬛⬛⬛*c..crackle....*The faint sound of electricity seemed to crackle from the distance as Olivia stood in the middle of her self-made carnage. The lack of common sense that she was witnessing honestly made her feel more irritated than amused as she slowly walked towards the panicking commander. Olivia had places to be, and possibly someone to save depending on whether or not Tesla could somehow relay to her that she was okay."No matter," she sighed. "You idiots wouldn't understand, I guess.""No!-"*SLASH!*With a quick step, the commander didn't even stand a chance. His sword fell with an unceremonious clang onto the ground as his head rolled off his neck like a piece of meat. Olivia didn't flinch as the idiot's terrified fa
- The Least Common Denominator
CIV.II Transistor
OLIVIA⬛⬛⬛*CRACKLE! CRACKLE! KRAKATHOOM!*Olivia ran through the streets of Mathema like a woman possessed. Wreaking havoc across every Imperial contingent she came across, lightning followed her path as she relied on Tesla's ever-encompassing presence to deal massive damage on the enemy while despite being outnumbered by at least a hundred to one. She knew that Her Sister would no doubt disapprove of her current tactics, but if it worked, then why bother changing it?"If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?"*KRAKATHOOM!*"AAHHH!!!!""IT BURNS!"With a smile on her face and blood on her blade, Olivia uttered her Sister's own words out loud as a reminder. Lightning crackled behind her, screams of her fallen enemies saturat