What's up everyone. I created an algo that scans the most popular trading sub-reddits and logs the tickers mentioned in due-diligence or discussion-styled posts. Instead of scanning for how many times each ticker was mentioned in a comment, I logged how popular the post was among the sub-reddit. Essentially if it makes it to the 'hot' page then it will most likely be on this list. There are two parts to this post. The first is for posts that were submitted in the most active trading sub-reddits (such as this one), and the second part has the most mentioned tickers from the WSB sub-reddit.
How can I use this list?
The best way to use this data is to learn about new tickers that might be trending. As an example, I probably would have never known about the ARK etfs, or even Palantir, until they started trending on Reddit. This gives many people an opportunity to learn about these stocks and decide if they want to invest in them or not. The data on this list is limited to one post per ticker. I've taken the most 'popular' post for that ticker on whichever sub-reddit it may have been. What I've found is that normally if tickers begin to trend on one sub-reddit then generally-speaking there will be posts for the same ticker on various other sub-reddits. Here's the data from the last week.

Title	Tickers	Avg Hype %
(GME DD) One DD to rule them. One DD to find them. One DD to to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.	GME	300+%
People on Robinhood who own GME are most likely to also own BB and PLTR in their portfolio.	PLTR, GME	300+%
Bitcoin Plunge Has Newbies Scrambling to Google 'Double-Spend'	GOOGL	300+%
Jack Ma Emerges for First Time Since Ant, Alibaba Crackdown. BABA (9988.HK) in Hong Kong is up 5%.	BABA	300+%
If you’re young with a high risk tolerance, is there a better ETF than ARKK?	ARKK	300+%
It's time to short $Facebook	FB	300+%
Amazon Prime member total reaches 142 million in U.S. with more shoppers opting in for a full year, data shows	AMZN	300+%
AMD: Undervalued at $90	AMD	300+%
NIO price target raised to $75 by JPMorgan	NIO	300+%
Apple stock is a strong buy before earnings! What do you think ?	AAPL	300+%
PayPal becomes first foreign firm in China with full ownership of payments business	PYPL	300+%
I draw with crayons so you don't have to. The grind up continues. Tickers on the watchlist this week: CRSR, APPS, PINS, DKNG, SNOW	DKNG, APPS, CRSR, PINS, SNOW	300+%
Continuing our investing journey from PLTR to DTIL	DTIL, PLTR	294%
Is Blackberry $BB actually undervalued?	BB	275%
Disney [DIS] Stock Price Target Prediction & Analysis [Technical, Fundamental & DCF] Can Disney 2x?!	DIS	274%
PLUG will soar way beyond the current price point this year.	PLUG	273%
Biden didn't talk about clean energy in his 1.9T stimulus plan. Clean energy stocks down a lot (ICLN -5.39%, TAN -7.24%, QCLN -5.57%). Is th...	ICLN, TAN, QCLN	271%
VALE possible play?	VALE	187%
On the topic of insider trading, here's stock trading by US Senators alongside $SPY. The big negative bar is when a couple got caught doing ...	SPY	183%
What do you guys think of investing in XOM ?	XOM	181%
$PLTR - The Big DDD	PLTR	178%
Microsoft betting on GM driverless Tech	GM, MSFT	168%
Cathie added 497100 share of PLTR to ARKW today, you know what that means.	ARKW, PLTR	163%
Airbnb's market cap is now bigger than the combined market caps of Marriott, Hilton, MGM, and Wynn Resorts.	MGM, WYNN	161%
Biden to cancel Keystone XL pipeline permit on first day in office: CBC	XL	159%
Urgent: Tesla call advice	TSLA	154%
Remember when Citron Research was bullish on LUCKIN ($LK) and it turned out to be one of the biggest accounting/security frauds in recent hi...	LK	152%
Buying Calls with High IV (CCIV)	CCIV	148%
Is Nokia a good long term buy? Current market price is $4.07.	NOK	147%
AMC Entertainment CEO is shockingly close to staving off bankruptcy	AMC	145%
We remain long $GME. I reupped at 39.60 after ???? called in sick. Charts: my whale friend’s position (he bought more in the 40s), me, and $...	GME	98%
After dropping 51%, $SRPT shares show consistent increase following Cathie's ARKG interest	SRPT, ARKG	87%
ARKG selling puts	ARKG	87%
Why did square inc (SQ) increase so dramatically?	SQ	80%
$MSFT catching up	MSFT	69%
CRSR $35 2/19 Put sellers, what is your plan?	CRSR	67%
TikTok finally beat $FB in monthly time spent on the platform per user	FB	64%
previous fvrr post made me try Fiverr - it was a clown show.	FVRR	62%
Long term investing, why not go with UPRO instead of SPY? Since it 3x the returns...	UPRO, SPY	56%

WSB - Most Mentioned Tickers This Week

Total Comments Parsed Last 7 Day(s): 102,587
*Comment volume on GME was lower than usual because they had a separate thread specifically for GME

Ticker	Comments	Bullish %
GME - Gamestop Corpor...	11,327	86%
BB - BlackBerry Ltd	4,165	91%
TSLA - Tesla Inc	3,461	79%
PLTR - Palantir Techno...	2,672	86%
AAPL - Apple Inc	2,547	90%
ICLN - BlackRock Insti...	1,705	91%
AMD - Advanced Micro ...	1,590	86%
BABA - Alibaba Group H...	1,228	80%
AMZN - Amazon.com Inc....	1,062	84%
PLUG - Plug Power Inc	952	91%
F - Ford Motor Co.	866	85%
NFLX - NetFlix Inc	841	86%
NIO - NIO Inc - ADR	752	92%
FB - Facebook Inc - ...	740	87%
INTC - Intel Corp.	740	61%
TLRY - Tilray Inc - Cl...	707	68%
WISH - ContextLogic In...	581	71%
APHA - Aphria Inc	512	93%
NOK - Nokia Corp - AD...	509	97%
CRSR - Corsair Gaming ...	442	91%
AMC - AMC Entertainme...	394	92%
MSFT - Microsoft Corpo...	348	88%
GLD - SSgA Active Tru...	342	72%
ARKG - ARK Investment ...	325	93%
ARKK - ARK Investment ...	309	94%

Lockdown 3.0 Things to do, plus help and support.

Disclaimer I want to thank everyone for the gilds, replies and suggestions. I just do not have time to reply to everyone, but I am reading everything. I am not sure how much bigger the thread can be, I already typed this but it vanished so I think I'm at the limit. I will try to keep updating, but I don't expect the thread to be up top for much longer and will likely vanish soon, so if you need anything save it.
Yes, it's hard, it sucks, it's depressing. It is something we all have to do if you want to see this virus go. Everyone knows the deal, too many think they're the exception but no one is. However, staying home is hard so maybe I can help at least one or two people with some incentives. I'll try to give links to some things that can help cure the boredom, and some support if you need it.
Most of this might be obvious to some, some might not even have internet and of course, money is a big issue, so I'll try to give some suggestions:
For streaming and on demand things such as Netflix et al, don't forget you can subscribe for free for your first month. This goes for most things in the list. If you are worried about putting in your payment details and forgetting to cancel a month later, don't worry! You can sign up and immediately cancel and you still get your free month!
For people who don't have a smart TV, you can buy a cheap Amazon Fire TV stick or a Roku box. The Fire stick can go as low as £20 often for 1080p. It will drop to £30 for 4k.
I picked up a 4k Roku device for £18 on Amazon once. It's fast and snappy. currently it's going for £33 for the 4k version. Having both, there is little difference between the devices. NowTV also do their own roku powered device.
Subscription based streaming sites that all offer 2-4 weeks free for first timers

Netflix *According to comments the second month is free.
Amazon Prime You can either get Amazon video on its own, or take prime with other benefits. I strongly urge those who use Amazon for buying off their store front to use [https://smile.amazon.co.uk/] as there is literally no difference except everything you buy amazon donates to a charity of your choice.
Now TV (I believe it's 7 days)
Disney+
Britbox
Amazon channels. I believe you can get all these individually but Amazon offers them as channels bound to your prime account, and they are again either free for a couple weeks (again, take them, cancel instantly) or very cheap. I recently subscribed to Starzplay for £1 for 3 months. It has some good shows on it like Fringe, doom patrol. It also has channels like Curiosity stream and shudder

If you have not subscribed to the any of the above, you can get a few months of free TV by signing up and cancelling instantly. I suggest waiting at least 5 minutes just to let it go through the system.
Some tips for Now TV. IF you already have a subscription, I've noticed you can get it cheaper by cancelling. When you cancel they will beg you to stay. Select "I can not afford it this month" and they should beg again, telling you what shows they have. If you say you still want to cancel, they'll beg one last time and offer you the subscription for cheaper. This won't work every month, but I've noticed they'll always offer it the first time, then again after a couple months. If you're subscribed to both films and entertainment do the most expensive one as it may not work both times (but it might!). You can also pick up passes from storefronts a lot cheaper sometimes, before I could pick one up on Amazon for £3 but, they seem to have cracked down on it. If you shop around (or if anyone knows of a legitimate store please let me know) you might be able to pick it up cheaper. Lastly, check their website and under your account they should have an "offers for you" section.
Completely free TV

If you do have a smart TV and/or device, there are some good free streaming apps. One I really love is called PlutoTV. I know this is on both Roku and the fire stick, as well as Ps4/Ps5 and xbox.
Pluto offers a bunch of live channels and now an on demand section, all for free. It has adverts but they are actually short (shorter than regular TV and fewer of them). Some of the channels are just streaming certain shows like Mythbusters 24/7 or Dog the bounty hunter, but it has a lot of old movie channels as well as 24/7 kickboxing and MMA. It also has a 24/7 poker channel I quite like.
Another one I like is Rakuten Viki however, I haven't watched it for a while as my fire stick is only 1080p and I have too many other devices attached. I believe it is on Roku but you have to jump through some hoops and have an account. The last I checked on the fire stick you did not. Viki offers a metric ton of Asian shows, mainly from Japan and South Korea but it does have chinese, Malaysian etc. It has subtitles. Some Japanese shows are hysterical, albeit weird.
Roku also do their own channels with free shows if you own a device.
For those who don't have a smart TV or a Streaming device, you can set up your own computer as a dedicated streaming device with Plex. It's been a while since I used it but I believe it now also offers free movies and TV.
Anime
If you are into Anime there is

The first 2 are free to watch, or offer premium without ads which you can have a trial with. Crunchyroll is the better of the two with more original choice for Japanese voice and subs, while Funimation has more Dubs. I don't believe HiDive is free to watch but you do get a 2 week trial. These are more exclusives than the previous two.
PC Centric software
If you are a gamer or like Audiobooks or anything that uses computers for things like music making, programming or graphic design

Humble Bundle offers, as per the name, bundles. A long running site that got bought out by IGN. It offers both single items and bundles you can buy individually/as a pack while also offering a separate monthly subscription for around £8-9. The subscription gives you 12 games on average per month. That's the simplest explanation but it changes somewhat as sometimes you get to pick 10 out of 14 games, or get all 12.
Humble bundle offers more than just games though. Every Tuesday they bring a new bundle of games, while Thursday (I "think) a new bundle of books. They very often have books from the Black Library giving you a ton of Warhammer books. Sometimes it's standard E-books, other times it's audiobooks. A few times a year they do bundles for graphic design, a typical bundle would include programs like Paintshop Pro Corel Painter etc, They usually go for £0.76 for tier 1 up to around £18 for tier 3, which would include 4-6 full titles with 10+ addons. They also often have Music making bundles or video editing software as well as Programming or video game development.
The bundles change often, they usually have around 11 bundles at a time that last for 20 days. Sometimes it's trash but they do often have some very good deals.
Fanatical offers the same as humble bundle except usually not as high quality, but sometimes they do have some incredible deals, and they are very very cheap.
Both humble and fanatical are safe, trusted and been around a long time, and they are NOT grey market key sites. They work with the publishers and developers. You can buy games both old and new for a lot cheaper than you would most other places. Unless it states otherwise, keys are usually for steam.
**BOTH HB and Fanatical (HB much more common) offer free games fairly often. The catch is linking your steam account to them (at least HB). It is safe however.
IndieGala is another site like above. Except, these are much much lower quality. However, they offer a metric ton of free games. Quality is low but it is legitimate, and a lot of free stuff.
Game Store Fronts

Steam This one is so obvious I didn't add it, but apparently many want me to. It is the best out there, and you can find almost everything, with fantastic deals.
Greenmangaming offers games cheaply. Again, not a grey market site (which are legal but unethical) and they sometimes do bundles.
GoG (Good old games) is a DRM free site run by CDPR, the makers of the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. They offer you games quite cheap and not needing DRM (such as Steam, Uplay etc which is less invasive versions of dodgy DRM from the olden days).
Epic Games Despite the controversy whether you care about their rivalry with valve, they offer free games ever week. Without ever having bought anything I have gained over 170 games. literally. Good games for the most part. They often give you £10 coupons as well.
Twitch Everyone knows twitch, but if you don't, it's a streaming service for watching gamers and girls with low cut tops accidentally bending over in front of the game. However, if you're signed up to prime, you get free games each month (and randomly between the set bunch).
Playstation Store Currently has January sales. Currently the free games for PS+ are for PS4: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall. For the Ps5 it is Maneater
Games with Gold Bleed 2 and the King of Fighters XIII is available until Janurary 15th whilst little Nightmares is available until January 31st.

Gaming Subscriptions
Like the TV versions, you can sign up to these for a free trial (or very cheap). If you do sign up to only one at a time, it should keep you busy for a few months

Xbox Game Pass You can do this on both/either an Xbox or PC. If you sign up to the regular one, you can get a month (maybe three!) for £1. After you have done that, you can sign up to the premium version for 3 months at £1 a month. Most people know game pass, but you can download a large selection of games for free. The premium version gives you games with gold, allowing you to keep the games forever (but can only play with a subscription)
Ubisoft+ I'm not 100% sure if you get a trial or not. This allows a large collection of Ubisoft titles to play for £12.99 a month. Quite expensive but good if you like Ubisoft titles I guess.
EA Play EA's version. Goes by a ton of names I think, EA Access, EA Play, Origin Access etc etc. There's a couple of versions of this, and it is across all platforms (PS4/5, Xbox, PC) but not sure about the switch. I "think" the premium allows you to play on all platforms, while the cheaper one on a single platform, but I may be mistaken.
PS Now a once terrible service that is now actually very good. Allows you to download some Ps4 games to your PS4/5 and lets you stream a massive amount of Ps2/3/4 to your PC or playstation.

There's more like nvidia's service but you need the Shield device which is quite expensive. I'll leave it at that.
Audiobooks & Ebooks

Audible Not sure what the current deal is but if you are a prime member you can sign up for a trial and get a free Audiobook each month for 3 months. Some warhammer books are 48 hours long, 3 of those gives you a good 100+ hours of listening!
Comixology Another Amazon company, but lets you download some free comics I believe.
Marvel Unlimited No experience with this. ItFuckingWont wanted me to add it. A subscription service for Marvel.

Education

Sign Language BSL here No experience myself, suggested by n21brown and asked for a few times. Didn't know SL was so popular! Listed as "Pay what you can"
BBC's Bitesize here is apparently good for home learning. Again, no personal experience.

If you need some spare change
Okay, I don't generally bother with it, but maybe some of this could be useful to you. These are NOT a quick way to make a fortune. These are small things you can do over time for a bit of pocket change

If you have prime you can get a FREE FIVE POUND GIFT CARD by literally just streaming a song from Amazon music (which is included in prime) here is the details According to the comments it's only for select people, but it's worth trying If the link doesn't work for you just google "Amazon £5 coupon music"
Now, these sorts of sites have been around for years, I haven't used any other than talkInsights which I must have signed up to 10-15 years ago. Basically they send you surveys and you answer them. They are confidential and don't ask for personal details in the survey. You need 2000 points and you get £20. During the pandemic they've slowed down but I probably get around £40 a year. Not much I know, but it's an email followed by a quick survey ticking boxes. Depending on your answer sometimes you get screened out, I'm not telling you to lie but just be consistent with your answers and you should be able to work out how to not get screened. Some emails are only worth 20 points, others 200. It's slow to get to the 2000 but very quick to just answer a few questions.
Apparently beermoneyuk is a good sub to make some pocket change with.
There is also matched betting. I have never done this, I don't have the patience but from what I've read, it's legitimate, it works and you can make a fair amount of cash from it so long as you do it correctly, and there's a ton of guides. I mention this because people stuck at home could get into it and as long as you're careful (I.E not entering in the wrong numbers) it's risk free AND it pisses off the betting shops. It seems people in comments have had success with it. Disclaimer A couple have complained about gambling. This arguably is not gambling. If you are susceptible to addiction do not do it. However, it's argued that there is no fun or buzz in this, and it's a very tedious and time consuming thing. Others argue you can't make the same money anymore (People were making thousands, now only hundreds if that). It's risk free providing you know what you're doing, the risks are user error, such as entering the wrong numbers. Someone pointed out that due to the lockdown, bets could potentially be cancelled due to sport stopping. So use on a side of caution. We're (mainly) adults so I'll leave it up just because this doesn't have the excitement of regular gambling.
Microsoft Rewards This is an easy way to make pocket change doing very little. Most people have a MS account. The rewards program offers you numerous ways to grab points, by playing free to play games, answering small questions (you don't even need to answer most of the time, just open the link and shut it) and by using bing and searching on it. I've gotten 20k points JUST by answering questions over a couple months. There are many rewards but you can grab a £5 gift card for 6k for example, or a month of game pass (and AFAIK you can make points playing the games)
Google rewards Someone mentioned this in the comments. I have not used it, so can not give any input on it. Sounds similar to TalkInsights which I linked. Google states "Complete short surveys while standing in line, or waiting for a subway. Get rewarded with Google Play or PayPal credit for each one you complete. Topics include everything from opinion polls, to hotel reviews, to merchant satisfaction surveys. We’ll notify you when a survey is waiting."

That's it for now. I will try to update as I go along. A long post but I hope that it can help some of you with finding something good to do that's free, cheap or a bargain. I do suggest getting prime, especially since you get free music, free delivery, free TV and music and free video games each month. In fact, there's a ton of perks and I feel I've gotten way over the cost investment.
Hope it helps someone at least
PartTimeCrazy said if you bought an Apple product you get 3 free months of Apple Arcade and Apple TV free for a year
fakehunted is upset I didn't mention wanking. Tesco have 225 sheets of Tissue for £0.75!
tale_lost suggested Project Gutenberg for a collection of free E-Books
Learning Language
Unfortunately, I don't have time to check every link listed so I will link the comments:
Togtogtog Gives a lot of links for Spanish

Duolingo Numerous people have suggested this So I haven't used myself. Thanks to OhHiGCHQ StephanieMecredy & Allorie_95

Board & Tabletop games
Corporal_Anaesthetic has made a list of Board games
ilyemco suggested these
HEALTH
I'm not a doctor! But if you're a smoker, something I strongly suggest is to quit. I struggled for years but in the first lockdown I quit, technically. I haven't had a cigarette since, however, I do that silly thing millennials do. I vape, but, it made quitting extremely easy. I would not have been able to do it if it wasn't for 88Vape They sell extremely cheap liquids at £1 each. You can find these in B&M but you can pick up 25 for £20 or buy your own mix.
Vitamin D deficiency has been said to be a big problem for the virus. I'd suggest (again, not a doctor!) that you pick some up. Tesco do a 3 for 2 deal. So you can pick up 270 tablets for £7.
If you are vulnerable you MIGHT be able to phone tesco and get put on their delivery saver list (currently it's paused but phoning may help. At the very least they might give you a priority slot. I did this for my mum, we didn't shop at Tesco but I phoned for her, and they put her on with no hassle, so she can always get a delivery.
HELP & ADVICE
The lockdown Rules.
Reasons to leave home include:

Work or volunteering where it is "unreasonable" to work from home. This includes work in someone else's home, such as that carried out by social workers, nannies, cleaners and tradespeople
Education, training, childcare and medical appointments and emergencies
Exercise outdoors (limited to once a day). This includes meeting one other person from another household in an open public space to exercise
Shopping for essentials such as food and medicine
Communal religious worship
Meeting your support or childcare bubble. Children can also move between separated parents Activities related to moving house

I want to add, if you are in danger you are also allowed (and must!) to get away from the situation for some reason, BBC seems to have missed this very important thing (or I am blind)

To flee the threat of harm or violence.*
CoronaVirus Symptoms
CoronaVirus government site You can check your location and how many cases here.
Worldometers Shows cases around the world.
Interactive UK Map Another easy to read map with cases in counties and local area's.
World Health Organisation

Support

FOR THOSE SHIELDING YOU CAN CONTACT THE ROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE. These people helped my mother with picking up her medicine from the chemist. They were very helpful and went out their way to keep in touch and do it immediately. (It's the only experience I have with them though)
_riotingpacifist wanted these links added, but I simply just don't have the time to vet and check all the suggestions here, so I will link as is:

Update:
Digital Art
These are Free

Krita Arguably the best in my opinion. It has a load of options, brushes and a decent UI. It works fantastic with a tablet.
Gimp This is a decent program but last I used, the UI was a pain, and it isn't so user friendly while misses features, but it works, and it is possible to do some incredible creations on it.
Medibang Paint This is slightly geared towards Comics and Manga. I really enjoy using this with my drawing Tablet. As far as I know, it also for regular tablets for Android/Ipad and is free.

You can pick up a drawing tablet on Amazon quite cheap these days! Small ones that are just a black slate such as the wacom ones are good but takes some practice to get use to, but very worth it if you can't afford a dedicated drawing tablet with a screen.
Office suit software
A couple of free applications for word processing, spreadsheets etc.

LibreOffice This has most the average user would need to write their own books or to work from home. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two I'm linking (since I last used anyway) so it's more for preference.
Open Office You can pick this up here and again, like above it's just preference.

Music Making
I'm going to direct to matthewharris806 for some links as all the programs I've used like Reason are expensive, or cheaper stuff in bundles such as Magix software.
Games development
D_Dad_Default gives some links for that here

$FTOC: a Fintech unicorn that awaits mooning

COI disclosure: own 8,147 shares of FTOC commons and plan to add more.
In my opinion, FTOC (Ftac Olympus Acquisition Corp) can be one of the best SPAC plays in 2021 if you enter it at the right place. Here is why:
Market Capitalization
One of the key parameters of a SPAC is its market cap, it will determine how big the target can be. This is the reason when we look at PSTH, CCIV, and IPOF, we know they can have targets like Stripe, Lucid, etc. Here is a quick summary of active SPACs with at least $1.9 Billion market cap (pulled from Spacktrack as of 10:40 PM 1/26/2021, sorted by Market Cap)

SPAC	Market Cap	Status
CCIV	$6,323,850,138	Rumor with Lucid
PSTH	$5,502,002,796	No target
BFT	$3,058,765,111	DA with Paysafe
IPOF	$1,998,124,945	No target
IPOE	$1,969,231,219	DA with SoFi
FTOC	$1,911,697,949	Rumor with Payoneer

Just read this table, and you can see where my impression of "hidden gem" FTOC came from. There is only 1 SPAC with rumor AND has a larger market cap than FTOC, which is...read after me...see see ivy...
But what does it really mean: the large market cap guarantees FTOC can find a solid target even their talk with Payoneer stalls. There are quite a few fintech companies with valuation above 5 billions are waiting on the sideline: Plaid, BlockFi, etc...
The large market cap also defines the true floor of FTOC, in a day and age of IPOF with no target but trading at $15 premium, it is reasonable to speculate FTOC will not fall far below $11 in the worst case.
FTOC Team
FTOC is led by chairman (or chairwoman if we are using the right term) Mrs. Betsy Cohen. Betsy is a name tied with fintech for decades. She is the founder of Jefferson Bank, and the second female law professor after RBG on the east coast, and she owned a law firm. She has experiences all over the globe in Hong Kong, in Brazil, in Spain...Unlike many SPAC heads (looking at you Gary Cohn), she has no baggage whatsoever and just a clean trail of fabulous career.
She and her Bancorp are serial fintech SPAC sponsors, with the last merged one being FTIV (FinTech Acquisition Corp), and the next one about to IPO in several days: FTAC (Athena Acquisition). FTAC will be her seventh fintech SPACs, and you can see she is starting a Greek Mythology name convention, Olympus, Athena...The imminent IPO of FTAC also signals that FTOC is making progress...
CEO of FTOC is Ryan Gilbert, a guy with 20 years specialized in payment processing, which we will mention later why it is critical to have Ryan on board.
Rumor Target: Payoneer
We always hear about unicorn companies, but Payoneer is truly a unicorn with infinite growth potential. It is a global payment processing company focusing on B2C and C2C. Founded in New York City in 2005, it now operates in roughly 200 countries with a total of 1,500 employees spread across 21 countries. Private investors of Payoneer include CBC, Viola Ventures, Pingan (owns the tallest skyscraper in Shenzhen), Wellington Management, and others. They had 300M revenue in 2019 alone.
What makes Payoneer so special compared to other payment processors such as Paypal, Western Union, Square or even the most recent SPAC Paysafe (BFT). Well Payoneer is pretty good at establishing themselves in emerging markets such as SE Asia, India, Brazil, Africa. They have a long list of partners with big names like Airbnb, eBay, JD.ID, Shopee...
Here is the bombshell: on Jan 25th, eBay announced to all the Chinese sellers, that it will move away from Paypal and mitigate all sale payouts to Chinese sellers to Payoneer. All Chinese sellers will be required to register a Payoneer account starting in March. This news is so new it has not yet been picked up by major Western news outlets, but most biggest Chinese news outlets like Finance Sina have reported it on 1/26. Expect this to be a major catalyst once it is circulated here.
But honestly most people will look at Payoneer on their similarity to Paysafe, because of SPAC. The answer to this question is Payoneer and Paysafe are actually not quite alike. Paysafe has an emphasis on gaming and gambling. Even though they had 1 billion revenue in 2016, Paysafe was cutting employees during 2020, when you have to question how can a fintech be affected by pandemic that much? While Payoneer is hiring left and right and expanding their operation, and just had their China Summit in December. This comparison does set up the floor for FTOC if the rumor is indeed confirmed, which I expect it will not be lower than $17 (Paysafe/BFT as of 1/26).
Risk
FTOC has been trading between $12 and $13 since the rumor broke on Bloomberg in 1/20/2021. With all the short squeezes happening today, it touched lower $12 with an aboslute low day volume, while most SPACs are red and probably equally affected by GME. At the price of $12, you have absolutely minimal risk to lose, and so much to gain. As I mentioned above, FTOC will not fall below $11 even the deal does not strike, it will surely find another good or even better target. Fintech and EV are the buzz words in SPAC right now. But honestly with 97% of Bloomberg rumor confirmed, and Betsy Cohen, I would bet my left testicle this deal will go through.
The upside of FTOC depends on several factors, timing is one of them. Betsy Cohen has a very consistent history of delivering DA on time, just look at FTIV timeline:

Nov 20th. 2020: Bloomberg rumor of Perella Weinberg look for SPAC to go public
Nov 30th, 2020: Bloomberg rumor of talk with FTIV
Dec 30th, 2020: DA signed

If we expect a similar timeline for FTOC:

Jan 20th, 2021: Bloomberg rumor of talk with FTOC
Feb 20th, 2021: DA signed?

The opportunity cost is really low given you just need to hold it for less than a month, with catalysts are on the way (eBay news).
TLDR: FTOC is a large cap SPAC led by fintech old hands, with rumor target being a unicorn, and trading at a price with minimal risk.

[Soulless verse] Twisted hell: Chapter 46

Chapter 1 | Chapter 45
-----
All the archmages gathered in the main command tent. All the books the demons have sent were moved there, as soon as Hazelmere recovered from her chilling excursion in the ice. The archmages were still examining the books in detail while making all kinds of wild assumptions about the things they saw inside.
“I am wondering something.”
“Go ahead, Mizette,” Hazelmere said.
“Is there any point to this anymore?”
Most of the mages looked at her.
“I mean, we have examined all the books we have received, several times already. I don’t see what we can find that we haven’t found before. We came up with all kinds of hypotheses, but we have no idea if any of them make sense! We can’t test them because we can’t cross into their world! So, I am wondering if examining these any further will do us any good, or if we are just wasting our time here!”
“Well, we got nothing better to do until the dwarves set up their workshop,” Hazelmere answered.
“I know, it’s just …” Mizette let out a sigh while rolling her eyes, “this isn’t what I imagined fighting a demonic invasion would look like. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining! I would rather browse alien books over and over again than fight blood-thirsty demons. It’s just …”
“Kind of a letdown?”
“Yes!”
“Can you imagine future generations studying about this?” Cybil joined the conversation, “Can you imagine all the kinds of wild tales the bards will come up with? And then, the valiant soldiers and powerful mages kept the demons at bay for several moons, without receiving any help! For several moons, they didn’t give a single beard to the demons, buying the precious time for the armies of Greadinall to unite and kick the demons out for good!”
“While suffering no casualties at all!” Mizette added.
“Well, that is not the case. We did lose Peratha,” Hazelmere pointed out.
“Oh, that makes it even better! As the mages fought the demons pouring in through the portal, the underground horrors struck them from below! They didn’t know there were underground dungeons below them, filled with monstrous, demonic vermin! So, the mages had no choice but to fight on two fronts, fighting the enemies coming from both outside their camp and from within!”
“And then, on one night, the demons sent a giant, flying, buzzing bug to attack our heroes as they were asleep. But our heroes woke up on time, fighting the demonic bug off! And once they did, they found the mage who was supposed to warn them of the approaching danger, having sex with four soldiers at once!”
“Oh, go nail yourself Hazelmere!”
Everyone in the tent burst into laughter.
“All jokes aside,” Cybil restarted the conversation, “what we say has happened won’t matter one bit. The bards will come up with their own, alternative history, and that is what will eventually be taught in the universities.”
“You certainly know your bards well, Cybil,” Mizette teased.
“Listen … just listen to her!” Cybil didn’t sound as angry as she sounded betrayed, “Just a moment ago, she was all like: go nail yourself! And now she is doing the same thing to someone else!”
“We have all heard about your … bard adventures. They aren’t known for their secrecy, you know. I would expect the daughter of a prestigious family to know better.”
“Of course I know better! Say what you will, but the daughter of Zegrath house gets only the best! We all know the bards are the best romancers! You are just jealous because you can’t get one and, therefore, have to resort to filthy peasants!”
“Oof!” Strangely enough, Hazelmere looked quite satisfied with her rival’s retort.
“I just like doing whatever I want with them. If I tried doing the same things to a noble, I would end up in a dungeon.”
“That is not something to be proud of!”
“You are trying too hard, Mizette,” Hazelmere said as she shook her head sarcastically, “I don’t know what you are trying to achieve, but this isn’t the Mizette I know. You are clearly trying too hard, for whatever reason.”
“Quite the contrary, that is exactly the way she is!” Cybil responded, “You just never got to see it, for some reason. But I do agree she is trying too hard. I guess that, with Peratha gone, she has to step up her own game. Make up for all that douchery we have lost.”
“Excuse me! May I come in?” A deep voice came from the outside.
“Hmm …” Mizette’s voice turned suggestive in an instant, making the other mages roll their eyes.
“What? Don’t you think a hairy dwarf would be a step up from the filthy peasants?” She jested.
“Come in!” Hazelmere responded, eager to end the current conversation.
The bald dwarf walked in, looking very surprised with what he was seeing.
“I’ve heard some other races don’t mind their leaders bein’ females, but this is ridiculous,” he commented.
“Is something wrong?” Hazelmere asked.
“I’d expect your command tent to have some males in it, some soldiers at least! It’s as if I’ve walked into an elven tent!”
“Oh! Indeed it does, it is just that we aren’t using it as a command tent right now. We have received all kinds of books from the demons, and the other tents simply aren’t large enough to serve as a make-shift library. The reason why there are so many females in this tent is that we, the mages, are too busy studying these books.”
“The demons have sent you books?” Wyvernshield’s mustaches almost started dancing.
“Yes, all these books are the gifts from the demons,” Hazelmere said while waving her hand around the room.
“We have also selected a few books we think you may find interesting,” Natle approached the dwarf, holding five books of varying sizes in her hands, “we think these are about the demonic constructs. There are also two books about their runes, something we couldn’t make any sense of and are hoping you will have more luck with.”
“After all, the dwarves are famous for their runecraft,” Hazelmere added.
“Aye, the runes! If a dwarf can’t make any sense of it, nobody can!” Wyvernshield accepted the books with much care, as if he was taking a newborn in his hands.
“I was ordered to send these books to the Emperor’s palace as soon as possible,” Hazelmere continued, “however, I have decided to hold on to them for a little bit longer, so you would have a chance to take a look. Consider that to be proof of my goodwill, since I am taking a considerable risk by disobeying a direct order from the Emperor. After all, you took a considerable risk coming here, near the demonic portal, and I want to show how much I appreciate that.”
Every mage in the tent gave her a surprised stare. Hazelmere responded to them with a single, cute wink.
“Disobeyin’ one’s superiors ain’t wise,” Wyvernshield pointed out.
“No, it is not. This is the first time I have ever done it. My reasoning is simple, postponing my task for a week or two won’t make much of a difference to his Majesty, but it can make all the difference to you. I have no intention of refusing his Majesty’s order, I am just postponing it for a while.”
“I see,” the dwarf responded as he looked at the book covers with astonishment, “these … what are these? Are these paintings … can’t be. It’s too accurate, even for a dwarf … but then …”
“We have no idea either. We are hoping that, together, we will be able to uncover these mysteries.”
“In a way … it makes sense …”
“It does?” Hazelmere’s voice lost its official tone in an instant.
Wyvernshield finally averted his eyes from the books to look at her: “I’ve taken a … liberty to examine the … container in front of the camp, while my lads were busy constructin’ the workshop. Ah, yes, I almost forgot!” He straightened up, “I’ve come here to tell you our workshop is done, and we can start examinin’ what you have! These books are a good start.”
“You were saying something about how those paintings in the books, or whatever they are, make sense?”
“They are in the books too?” Wyvernshield’s eyes shone in an instant.
“Yes, but you will have plenty of time to examine them later.”
“Ah, yes, sorry about that, we dwarves get excited easily. Even though we’re yet to examine these books, I can tell, just by lookin’ at their covers, that these are made by the same people who made that big container.”
“There is no denying it but, what is the connection?”
“The precision is … unreal. That container, I bet it looks unimpressive to you. But, those who know a thing or two about smithin’ can tell you it’s a work of art. Sure, its aesthetics are disgustin’. It’s way too simple, but the way they’ve put it together is … really somethin’.”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you noticed that its sides are melted together?”
“Huh?”
“Its sides are made in the simplest possible way. Those are simple, straight metal panels. But the way they are put together is a dream come true for any smith! Takin’ an already processed metal and meltin’ it together with such precision is impossible! Or, it should be impossible. How can they focus such an enormous heat with such precision is beyond me! They’ve managed to melt only the edges and nothin’ else! And they even tried hidin’ it! They’ve tried to polish those melted parts as best as they could, although … ‘mm … I guess it makes sense to do it if you’re dealin’ with someone you don’t trust. I guess that hidin’ your secret techniques is more important than personal honor. But, why would they send you such a masterpiece in the first place? They could’ve easily sent you some regular container. Unless …”
“So, I take it you are quite impressed with that huge chunk of metal?”
“I-I don’t know how to explain it! I understand what they did, but I have no idea how they have managed to pull it off!”
“Ah yes, the story of our camp,” Cybil commented.
“Anyway, my point is that whatever is on the other side is workin’ with impressive precision. There’s no way we can emulate any of it. That’s the connection between the container and these … paintings, or whatever they are. And gods help us if we have to face that precision in a war. I don’t even want to imagine how accurate their ballistae and catapults are. On that note, I understand we’re supposed to be dealin’ with the demons?”
“That is correct.”
“I find that hard to believe. I’m not an expert in demonology, but the demons aren’t known for their precision or discipline, as far I know. And there’s no way some undisciplined, horned gits could ever construct such a thing, or create these books.”
“Apparently, we are dealing with the cubus demons here. I am not an expert myself, but Galizur, the angel, told us these demons have a knack for tricking the others in to join them. So, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they have some dwarves working for them.”
“The feathery lady-boy told you that?”
“Umm, yes. Not the part about the dwarves working for them, that is our assumption. As you have said it yourself, the demons are naturally chaotic creatures.”
“I guess the angels would know more about the demons than anyone else. Still, I find it hard to believe. I’ll have to take a look at the portal myself to confirm.”
“We have a magescope observing the portal. You can use it whenever you want.”
“Nah,” Wyvernshield waved his hand dismissively while holding the books in the other, “I’m not usin’ that magical crap! We have somethin’ much better! We’ll just need some time to set up the mechanism.”
“The mechanism?”
“You’ll see!”
-----
Chapter 47
-----
My Patreon
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[US-OH] [H] HUGE Vape Lot - Full Kits, AIOs, RDAs, RTAs, Subohm Tanks - New & Used (Bundle Up, It's cold out there!) [W] PayPal

Timestamp
Hey everyone, long time no see! Turns out my attention has turned to knife collecting in the last 18 months or so. And I've figured out what devices & liquid I like best, so it's time to clear a bunch of stuff out. I'm still keeping some choice devices that I still occasionally use, but most everything else has got to go for the sake of space in my house, & my sanity.
I have priced everything based on what I knew about the devices 18 months ago, so if something seems off, just make an offer. I will also do bundle discounts.
For the atomizers, on some of them I can't remember what drip tips came from factory, so the drip tip you see is what you get. They all fit well, but may just not be native to that atty.
I have cleaned everything that's been used, but you may want to inspect items further before using them just in case. Some of these still have cleaned up alien coils in them that are fine to use if you want.
Used items include everything pictured & nothing else. Some of them are missing cotton or coils that were originally included, others a tool or two. Everything is in B+ or better condition unless otherwise noted.
All prices are OBO & discounts for bundling. LISTED PRICE IS WHAT YOU PAY & includes PayPal fees + shipping! I prefer a minimum of 2 items or $20 purchase to help mitigate shipping costs. Thanks for looking!
Used Items (unless otherwise specified):

~~Vaporesso Revenger X Full Kit <> $25~~ SOLD

No original installed coil, but has the extra one.

~~Council of Vapor Xion Full Kit <> $18~~ SOLD

Mod had been lightly used but tank is unused.

~~Vandy Vape Jackaroo mod <> $30~~ SOLD

Includes all original materials.

~~Think Vape Zeta AIO <> $40~~ SOLD

Includes RBA, which is unused. No original installed disposable coil.

Wellon Beyond AIO <> $25

No original installed coil. Rubber stopper in tank has torn off & that part will need to be jury-rigged or replaced to it can hold liquid. Price reflects this problem, but the device is otherwise barely used.

~~Vandy Vape Revolver RTA (#1) <> $13~~ SOLD

Includes all original materials.

~~Vandy Vape Revolver RTA (#2) <> $13~~ SOLD

Includes all original materials.

Aspire Odan Subohm Tank <> $13

No original installed coil, but has the extra one.

~~NewGen Meson RTA <> $13~~ SOLD

Includes 3 of the 4 extra screws. Replaced one that stripped.

~~Geek Vape Zeus RTA <> $13~~ SOLD

Includes all original materials. I didn't open the box for pics because it's still sealed up from a previous post a while back.

Wotofo Profile Unity RTA - Black <> $20

Note this does not include coil shaping tool, coils, or cotton. Accessories bag opened to replace an o-ring, which works fine now. I don't know where the adapter for use with the smaller glass size went.

~~Wotofo Profile Unity RTA - Blue <> $20~~ SOLD

Note this does not include coil shaping tool, screwdriver, coils, or cotton. Bag opened to replace an o-ring, which works fine now. I don't know where the adapter for use with the smaller glass size went.

Wotofo Profile RDA <> $20

Note this does not include extra drip tip, screwdriver, coils, or cotton. Not original drip tip, but it's an awesome one. Accessories bag opened to replace an o-ring, which works fine now.

~~Vandy Vape Kylin M RTA <> $20~~ SOLD

Note this does not include coil shaping tool, coils, or cotton.

~~Digiflavor & TVC Drop RDA - Black/SS <> $18~~ SOLD
~~Augvape Intake RTA <> $20~~ SOLD
Hugo Vapor N RDA <> $10
~~502 RDA Clone - Rainbow <> $13~~ SOLD
~~502 RDA Clone - Black (NEW, Unused) <> $13~~ SOLD
~~Digiflavor & TVC Drop RDA - Black <> $18~~ SOLD

No original box but includes extras.

~~Drop RDA Clone <> $13~~ SOLD
Drop Dead RDA Clone <> $13~~ SOLD
~~Aspire Subohm Tanks x4 + RBA, Drip Tips & Coils Bundle <> $50~~ SOLD

I won these from a football bet, of all things, a couple years ago. I believe these are Atlantis tanks. They all have new coils currently installed, & included are 33 new Geek Vape coils that I have tested to fit the tanks. I have never used any of them but I do believe they have been used. RBA looks to be unused.
New Unused Items

Geek Vape Illusion Subohm Tank <> $13

Uses same coils as Atlantis tanks above with the 33 included coils. Maybe I can add this to that bundle & make a deal.

~~Wismec Noisy Cricket - Blue <> $10~~ SOLD
~~Wismec Noisy Cricket - Gunmetal <> $10~~ SOLD
Vaporesso Target Subohm Tank <> $10
~~Mechlyfe Slatra RDA <> $12~~ SOLD
Smok TFV8 Baby V2 <> $15
iJoy AI Pod + 2 additional coils <> $15

<>
Payment & Shipping Info:
Price includes PayPal G&S. I'll ship tracked to CONUS only ASAP Tue - Fri. Purchases made from Fri PM - Mon PM will ship Tue morning until I get my dingdang driver's license back & can go to the post office whenever I dang well please. Please pay within an hour of claiming or the next interested person will get priority, ya lazy bum. Thanks!

Lockdown, things to do, help & advice.

Disclaimer I am posting this here because I got a message from the mods asking me to. I'm not from London so links aren't London centric (but hopefully still of help) and the main post is here so any updates will likely be there (I will try here but it's hard to keep up with the amount of suggestions)
Thanks.
Yes, it's hard, it sucks, it's depressing. It is something we all have to do if you want to see this virus go. Everyone knows the deal, too many think they're the exception but no one is. However, staying home is hard so maybe I can help at least one or two people with some incentives. I'll try to give links to some things that can help cure the boredom, and some support if you need it.
Most of this might be obvious to some, some might not even have internet and of course, money is a big issue, so I'll try to give some suggestions:
For streaming and on demand things such as Netflix et al, don't forget you can subscribe for free for your first month. This goes for most things in the list. If you are worried about putting in your payment details and forgetting to cancel a month later, don't worry! You can sign up and immediately cancel and you still get your free month!
For people who don't have a smart TV, you can buy a cheap Amazon Fire TV stick or a Roku box. The Fire stick can go as low as £20 often for 1080p. It will drop to £30 for 4k.
I picked up a 4k Roku device for £18 on Amazon once. It's fast and snappy. currently it's going for £33 for the 4k version. Having both, there is little difference between the devices. NowTV also do their own roku powered device.
Subscription based streaming sites that all offer 2-4 weeks free for first timers

Netflix *According to comments the second month is free.
Amazon Prime You can either get Amazon video on its own, or take prime with other benefits. I strongly urge those who use Amazon for buying off their store front to use [https://smile.amazon.co.uk/] as there is literally no difference except everything you buy amazon donates to a charity of your choice.
Now TV (I believe it's 7 days)
Disney+
Britbox
Amazon channels. I believe you can get all these individually but Amazon offers them as channels bound to your prime account, and they are again either free for a couple weeks (again, take them, cancel instantly) or very cheap. I recently subscribed to Starzplay for £1 for 3 months. It has some good shows on it like Fringe, doom patrol. It also has channels like Curiosity stream and shudder

Steam This one is so obvious I didn't add it, but apparently many want me to. It is the best out there, and you can find almost everything, with fantastic deals.
Greenmangaming offers games cheaply. Again, not a grey market site (which are legal but unethical) and they sometimes do bundles.
GoG (Good old games) is a DRM free site run by CDPR, the makers of the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. They offer you games quite cheap and not needing DRM (such as Steam, Uplay etc which is less invasive versions of dodgy DRM from the olden days).
Epic Games Despite the controversy whether you care about their rivalry with valve, they offer free games ever week. Without ever having bought anything I have gained over 170 games. literally. Good games for the most part. They often give you £10 coupons as well.
Twitch Everyone knows twitch, but if you don't, it's a streaming service for watching gamers and girls with low cut tops accidentally bending over in front of the game. However, if you're signed up to prime, you get free games each month (and randomly between the set bunch).
Playstation Store Currently has January sales. Currently the free games for PS+ are for PS4: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall. For the Ps5 it is Maneater
Games with Gold Bleed 2 and the King of Fighters XIII is available until Janurary 15th whilst little Nightmares is available until January 31st.

Gaming Subscriptions
Like the TV versions, you can sign up to these for a free trial (or very cheap). If you do sign up to only one at a time, it should keep you busy for a few months

Xbox Game Pass You can do this on both/either an Xbox or PC. If you sign up to the regular one, you can get a month (maybe three!) for £1. After you have done that, you can sign up to the premium version for 3 months at £1 a month. Most people know game pass, but you can download a large selection of games for free. The premium version gives you games with gold, allowing you to keep the games forever (but can only play with a subscription)
Ubisoft+ I'm not 100% sure if you get a trial or not. This allows a large collection of Ubisoft titles to play for £12.99 a month. Quite expensive but good if you like Ubisoft titles I guess.
EA Play EA's version. Goes by a ton of names I think, EA Access, EA Play, Origin Access etc etc. There's a couple of versions of this, and it is across all platforms (PS4/5, Xbox, PC) but not sure about the switch. I "think" the premium allows you to play on all platforms, while the cheaper one on a single platform, but I may be mistaken.
PS Now a once terrible service that is now actually very good. Allows you to download some Ps4 games to your PS4/5 and lets you stream a massive amount of Ps2/3/4 to your PC or playstation.

There's more like nvidia's service but you need the Shield device which is quite expensive. I'll leave it at that.
Audiobooks & Ebooks

Audible Not sure what the current deal is but if you are a prime member you can sign up for a trial and get a free Audiobook each month for 3 months. Some warhammer books are 48 hours long, 3 of those gives you a good 100+ hours of listening!
Comixology Another Amazon company, but lets you download some free comics I believe.
Marvel Unlimited No experience with this. ItFuckingWont wanted me to add it. A subscription service for Marvel.

Education

Sign Language BSL here No experience myself, suggested by n21brown and asked for a few times. Didn't know SL was so popular! Listed as "Pay what you can"
BBC's Bitesize here is apparently good for home learning. Again, no personal experience.

If you have prime you can get a FREE FIVE POUND GIFT CARD by literally just streaming a song from Amazon music (which is included in prime) here is the details According to the comments it's only for select people, but it's worth trying If the link doesn't work for you just google "Amazon £5 coupon music"
Now, these sorts of sites have been around for years, I haven't used any other than talkInsights which I must have signed up to 10-15 years ago. Basically they send you surveys and you answer them. They are confidential and don't ask for personal details in the survey. You need 2000 points and you get £20. During the pandemic they've slowed down but I probably get around £40 a year. Not much I know, but it's an email followed by a quick survey ticking boxes. Depending on your answer sometimes you get screened out, I'm not telling you to lie but just be consistent with your answers and you should be able to work out how to not get screened. Some emails are only worth 20 points, others 200. It's slow to get to the 2000 but very quick to just answer a few questions.
Apparently beermoneyuk is a good sub to make some pocket change with.
There is also matched betting. I have never done this, I don't have the patience but from what I've read, it's legitimate, it works and you can make a fair amount of cash from it so long as you do it correctly, and there's a ton of guides. I mention this because people stuck at home could get into it and as long as you're careful (I.E not entering in the wrong numbers) it's risk free AND it pisses off the betting shops. It seems people in comments have had success with it. Disclaimer A couple have complained about gambling. This arguably is not gambling. If you are susceptible to addiction do not do it. However, it's argued that there is no fun or buzz in this, and it's a very tedious and time consuming thing. Others argue you can't make the same money anymore (People were making thousands, now only hundreds if that). It's risk free providing you know what you're doing, the risks are user error, such as entering the wrong numbers. Someone pointed out that due to the lockdown, bets could potentially be cancelled due to sport stopping. So use on a side of caution. We're (mainly) adults so I'll leave it up just because this doesn't have the excitement of regular gambling.
Microsoft Rewards This is an easy way to make pocket change doing very little. Most people have a MS account. The rewards program offers you numerous ways to grab points, by playing free to play games, answering small questions (you don't even need to answer most of the time, just open the link and shut it) and by using bing and searching on it. I've gotten 20k points JUST by answering questions over a couple months. There are many rewards but you can grab a £5 gift card for 6k for example, or a month of game pass (and AFAIK you can make points playing the games)
Google rewards Someone mentioned this in the comments. I have not used it, so can not give any input on it. Sounds similar to TalkInsights which I linked. Google states "Complete short surveys while standing in line, or waiting for a subway. Get rewarded with Google Play or PayPal credit for each one you complete. Topics include everything from opinion polls, to hotel reviews, to merchant satisfaction surveys. We’ll notify you when a survey is waiting."

Duolingo Numerous people have suggested this So I haven't used myself. Thanks to OhHiGCHQ StephanieMecredy & Allorie_95

Work or volunteering where it is "unreasonable" to work from home. This includes work in someone else's home, such as that carried out by social workers, nannies, cleaners and tradespeople
Education, training, childcare and medical appointments and emergencies
Exercise outdoors (limited to once a day). This includes meeting one other person from another household in an open public space to exercise
Shopping for essentials such as food and medicine
Communal religious worship
Meeting your support or childcare bubble. Children can also move between separated parents Activities related to moving house

I want to add, if you are in danger you are also allowed (and must!) to get away from the situation for some reason, BBC seems to have missed this very important thing (or I am blind)

To flee the threat of harm or violence.*
CoronaVirus Symptoms
CoronaVirus government site You can check your location and how many cases here.
Worldometers Shows cases around the world.
Interactive UK Map Another easy to read map with cases in counties and local area's.
World Health Organisation

Support

FOR THOSE SHIELDING YOU CAN CONTACT THE ROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE. These people helped my mother with picking up her medicine from the chemist. They were very helpful and went out their way to keep in touch and do it immediately. (It's the only experience I have with them though)
_riotingpacifist wanted this links added, but I simply just don't have the time to vet and check all the suggestions here, so I will link as is:

Update:
Digital Art
These are Free

Krita Arguably the best in my opinion. It has a load of options, brushes and a decent UI. It works fantastic with a tablet.
Gimp This is a decent program but last I used, the UI was a pain, and it isn't so user friendly while misses features, but it works, and it is possible to do some incredible creations on it.
Medibang Paint This is slightly geared towards Comics and Manga. I really enjoy using this with my drawing Tablet. As far as I know, it also for regular tablets for Android/Ipad and is free.

LibreOffice This has most the average user would need to write their own books or to work from home. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two I'm linking (since I last used anyway) so it's more for preference.
Open Office You can pick this up here and again, like above it's just preference.

[Soulless verse] Twisted hell: Chapter 39

Chapter 1 | Chapter 38
-----
Hazelmere set out, carrying a bag full of books, her trusty staff, and a pile of furs, which was at least twice her size. Still, it didn’t bother her, thanks to Cybil’s spell. Satisfied with its effect, Hazelmere hastened her steps, eager to get the job done as soon as possible.
She was surprised to realize she wasn’t feeling the frost for quite some time. “Must be that the furs are doing their job,” she thought. Truth be told, the further away from the camp she was, the better she felt. The heat was unbearable at first, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut due to the constant need to hyperventilate. She huffed and puffed unconsciously ever since she had stepped out of the camp. But now, when she realized she didn’t feel any cold for a while, she also realized that she couldn't feel any heat either. And, while that made her body feel better, it did unsettle her mind quite a bit.
The frost started setting on her face first. It was the only part of her body that was completely exposed. Even her hands had some custom-made, improvised, fur gloves. However, there was nothing she could cover her face with. In a desperate attempt to make her face any warmer, she grabbed her long hair, wrapping it around her face as best as she could. It didn’t do much, but it was better than nothing.
Her hot breath became visible, forcing itself through her covered mouth. It appeared to be fog-like. She remembered Peratha’s words, how that’s not her soul leaving the body. That gave her the resolve to keep going.
The air she breathed became icy. It started piercing her mouth, nose, and lungs. She felt a small but sharp pain with each breath she took. She tried to relieve the pain by breathing slowly. It was hard for her to do so, with her body being under enormous stress. Even though she didn’t feel any tiredness yet, her body did involuntarily respond to it.
She reached the half-ice, the soggy one. But, it wasn’t as soggy as before, as when they’ve reached the portal with Peratha’s magic. It was pure white this time and much firmer. Her feet didn’t make any squashing sounds as she treaded over it. It was also evenly spread on the ground as if someone had spread a colossal, white carpet all over the field.
Her feet and hands started feeling the frost too. It was an unpleasant, numbing sensation, as if her skin was somehow becoming more … thicker and less agile. It felt as if thousands of tiny needles poked it, not to hurt but for fun.
At this point, she felt her face freezing slowly. Her movements became slower and slower due to the ever-increasing numbness in her feet. The rest of her body was fine, but that meant little if her feet didn’t work right.
She paused for a moment to think. Her boots were doing well until she reached the half-ice. Now, upon closer inspection, she realized that they were slowly turning into a liability. Even though the half-ice was relatively hard, her boots absorbed some of the water it was made of, making them heavier. She could also feel the cold water on the skin of her feet in a few places.
“Well, isn’t that the perfect way to keep the intruders out! The water the ice is made of clings to your feet and soaks into your boots, freezing your feet from within.”
She looked towards the portal: “How long can I go on like this? My body feels fine, but I can’t go back if my feet freeze. And I can’t get my boots off or dry them. Will my feet freeze like my face did? I bet they will. And it will only get worse the closer to the portal I get. I haven’t even reached the proper ice yet!”
“Can they see me from out there? No, it’s too far away. I’m just a small dot to them at this distance, not even an elf would be able to see me. I have to push forward, at least until I can see those … things, with my own eyes.”
So, Hazelmere went on.
“This damn ice! Honestly, it’s worse than the solid one! It clings to my body, weighting me down! It drains my energy slowly, without me even noticing it. I’d feel much more at ease if it would start freezing me solid right away, then I’d know I should start running! This way, it makes me think I can keep going. A fool would even think reaching the portal itself is possible!”
It wasn’t long before Hazelmere noticed she couldn’t feel her feet anymore. The feeling in her nose was long gone, it felt as if an ice cube was in its place, but not being able to feel her feet was a completely different story. However, although she couldn’t feel them, they still worked. That gave her the motivation to continue.
“If my feet can work even though I can’t feel them, then perhaps the frost isn’t as dangerous as we think? Besides, I must deliver these books. I must make sure they can see me. There’s no way I’ll die without making this right! I refuse to go down in history as the jackass responsible for the second fall.”
As she pressed on, the frost started settling in her calves. With the senses in her feet gone, the pricking and prodding of the frost began moving up, towards the rest of her body.
Even though that made the alarm bells ring in her mind, it didn’t stop her from moving on. What did stop her was her inability to carry the books any longer.
It wasn’t the issue of strength or endurance, Cybil did a masterful job with her spell. However, not long after the frost has removed the senses from her feet, it did the same with her hands, making all of her extra strength useless. When she lost the sense of touch in her fingers, she could still hold the books somehow. It took a lot of juggling with her arms and hands, but it was manageable. But now, she noticed her hands are disappearing too. Not literally, of course, but that was exactly what it felt like.
The bag started slipping away from her grasp, her nonfunctional fingers completely useless to stop it from falling to the ground. She kneeled to pick it up, only to fall face-first into the freezing ice. Struggling, she managed to dig herself out of it, realizing that most of her energy was gone.
“Wha … when did it happen? I … I felt so full of it just a moment ago ... how …”
Looking at the bag made her stop complaining and remember her purpose. Finding the greatest determination she has ever mustered in her life, she hugged the bag with her arms, lifting it off the ground. Then, she shifted it down her arms to her semi-functioning hands. She stood up, with shaky legs.
She lifted her arms as high as possible (which wasn’t much) and started waving the bag in her hands left and right while facing the portal’s direction. She couldn’t see it, but she knew it was on top of the hill.
Her hands gave up quickly, dropping the bag to the ground once more.
“There’s no way I can pick it up again. I can’t even pick myself up anymore. I have to go. There’s nothing more I can do in this frozen hell.”
She turned around and started walking back. Limping actually, because that’s what her movement looked like. The lack of any senses in her feet made her walking unsteady. Instead of walking in a straight line, she waved left and right, which made her progress noticeably slower. She was aware of it but unable to do anything. Her feet cared not for her will in the slightest, they dragged her on their own. Still, Hazelmere was grateful. Even though she couldn’t control them, they still did their best to carry her to safety.
But, that changed once her legs also became numb. When her legs gave up, she crashed unceremoniously in a heap. It was as if someone had erased the lower part of her body, as if it was never there. Both of her legs became nothing but an unresponsive burden. She tried moving them with her hands, only to remember her hands were long gone.
In the act of desperation, she started crawling on her arms, using the elbows instead of her feet. Once again, Cybil’s spell proved useful. Without it, there was no way she’d ever be able to move her body like that, especially with all that furs on top of it.
The progress she made that way was miserable at best. The effort was too great, the gains too small, but there was no other alternative. She elbowed her way through the half-ice desperately, as long as she could, until her arms gave up. Eventually, the ice froze them too.
She couldn’t feel her legs, nor her arms. Her entire face was also frozen. At this point, she could feel nothing but her ragged breath, as the right half of her face was buried in the soft ice.
“He … hehe … hehehehe …” she started laughing out loud.
“Hahaha … hahahahaha …”
With the last bits of energy, she clumsily flipped over so her face would look up, towards the sky.
“He … he … I’m such a fool … I was such a fool …”
There was no sorrow in her voice, nothing but resignation and acceptance.
“I … I wasted so … such a great opportunity … for what? I … I had everything I asked for … for what? What have I ever given in return? What difference did I make? Besides making everything worse.”
After a short pause, she continued.
“I guess this makes sense. This is what I deserve, a fair punishment. That’s the one thing I can be proud of in my whole life. At least I’ve redeemed myself in the end. At least I tried. That has to count for something in the heavens, right? I’ve removed myself, so someone more competent can take over. I’ve sacrificed myself so the others can live. That has to mean something, right?”
As Hazelmere pondered on everything she went through during the last few moons, she didn’t even notice her consciousness disappear together with her energy.
-----
Chapter 40
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The Coinbase Situation: Why it's important, ICON's current position, and what we can do to help

This is a little bit of a read, so settle in, boys and girls. I haven’t posted on this account in a long time. For those of you who don’t remember me (probably everyone), I live-tweeted from the ICON event in Seoul in 2018 and gave my thoughts. I’ve done extremely well in investing, both in crypto and in stocks/bonds traditional markets. I believe I am probably one of ICON’s largest solo investors. I’ve gone through the dark crypto winter just like you and have continued to study crypto projects and invest. And now I’m back to give some of my thoughts on ICON, and what I believe needs to happen as I sadly watch ICX continue to drop down my list of top held assets after being #1 for so long. I give that background/info because some of this may sound a little harsh, however, I’m writing this because I care and because I believe ICON has the most potential of anything I’m holding. If I didn’t believe in ICON, I’d dump it and never give it a second thought. I care, and I’m saying this to help.
I believe that most of the community is aware of the importance of Coinbase. Coinbase provides legitimacy, trust, and being listed there shows that they believe the cryptocurrency has a bright future. However, it seems like the ICON team and even some community P-reps (there was a post just today which is prompting me to write this) try to downplay it so that ICX investors don’t feel bad if Coinbase doesn’t list ICX or something? I’m not sure. So here I will 1) clearly lay out a few reasons why Coinbase listing ICX is important for the future of the project and is therefore important to all who are invested, 2) Transparently discuss what ICX’s current status is in regards to listing on Coinbase, and 3) Talk about what the ICON team can do, and what we, the community, can do to make this happen.
Before I start I just want to state that, in my opinion, Coinbase listing ICX is the single most important thing that the ICON team, Foundation, P-Reps, Community, etc. could be focusing on. Some of the reasons for this are stated below.

Why Coinbase is important for the future of ICON (Hint: It’s not for a quick “listing pump”):
· Coinbase is THE on-ramp for USD, and USD is what’s driving the current meteoric rise of cryptocurrency. Microstrategy, One River, Paypal, Square. Institutional money is buying in big and they are using Coinbase to do it. If we’re not on Coinbase we have zero shot at attracting any of that money- or any of the money following that money (this is what we want at this stage).
· Big (non-institutional) US money has nowhere to buy ICX. The volume is all on Binance which recently kicked out the rest of the US users who had been flying under the radar. HitBTC is the next exchange in volume that allows US investors. However, they’re sketchy as f*** and constantly lock people’s funds on their exchange. (I have $20k locked up there currently…) Most of the volume is probably fake as well since no one can withdraw funds. And no, no one is going to use a VPN to illegally access a foreign exchange to purchase or trade hundreds of thousands of dollars in ICX. And no, no one wants to raise the price of ICX 30% on Kraken buy purchasing $50k of ICX- honestly though, the convenience and safety of Coinbase would incentivize me to buy even at a higher price. We just need a decent exchange over here.
· Retail money flows into Coinbase. When Americans tell their friends about cryptocurrency (or are asked about it) Coinbase is the only name anyone gives to beginners. If a coin is not listed on Coinbase it will miss out on a massive portion of retail money- especially now that regulation has closed off so many other exchanges to US customers. I would love to recommend ICX to my friends who ask about cryptocurrency, but it’s a hard sell getting people to open one account, let alone multiple accounts on random websites they’ve never heard of to dump money into things they’ve never heard of.
· Upcoming Coinbase IPO. As u/user_1950 mentioned in a response to another post “A Coinbase IPO will bring new investors into the fold and most new crypto investors will utilize the exchange they have a stake in. In my research, the cross-pollination of executives from Wall Street to Coinbase/Gemini is a factor of 10x vs. the other platforms out there. You are correct that being on Coinbase will not do much for the price of ICX in the short term, but over the longer-term cycle, it may determine whether the market value creation of ICX will move up by 10x or 100x or more.” It is not necessarily all about right now. It’s about being prepared to catch more of the future waves of money that are going to hit the crypto markets.
· Awareness. The single biggest/best advertisement or endorsement for a cryptocurrency is the price (steadily, preferably) going up. It raises awareness of the project, it incentivizes developers, it brings in new community members. The second biggest/best endorsement is listing on Coinbase. Projects on Coinbase are seen as mature, well-funded, unique, secure, and are considered to have strong future prospects. Who wouldn’t want that endorsement for ICON? Cryptocurrencies listed on Coinbase also get a whole new set of millions of eyes looking into what they're doing, what they're making, what their goals are, who they're working with, etc. I believe many people who see the great things ICON is doing with governments and huge corporations would choose to invest- with Coinbase's endorsement.
The current Coinbase situation for ICON:
· Rosetta implementation apparently due to be completed Jan 2021. This is soon, and this is good. Coinbase basically requires this in order for coins to be listed on their exchange. It has to do with how they run things there and it makes it easy for them to “plug and play”, so to speak.
· On Aug 3, 2018 Coinbase posted that they were “exploring a range of new assets ”- including ICX. At the time, Icon was around $1.00 with a marketcap of $330 million. We are around this marketcap again now, but price per token is down quite a bit. However, (speculation alert) I believe they were exploring ICX due to Pantera Capital most likely asking them to provide custody. In April of 2018, the CEO of Pantera Capital stated in a Bloomberg interview that ICON was their single largest position. In April- probably around when Pantera asked Coinbase the price was around $3-5 per ICX and was in the top 15-20ish coins with $1 Billion-$1.8 Billion marketcap. Total cryptocurrency marketcap at the time was $400B, so ICON was making a pretty good showing for itself. Currently we’re ranked deep in the 60s, with a marketcap of $350B in a market that is worth over a trillion dollars. To regain that marketshare, ICX would have to go 10x from here with the rest of the market remaining where it is. This wasn’t even close to the peak ICX had reached a few months earlier. I think that due to the extreme relative marketcap decrease ICON has probably fallen off of Coinbase’s radar almost completely. This isn’t a fact necessarily, but just a gut feeling. The positive spin on this situation is that Pantera Capital still lists ICON on their website and is most likely still holding. I highly doubt that ICON is still their largest investment, but if the price increases enough it could trigger them to re-initiate talks with Coinbase. Who knows. This Pantera stuff is all educated guessing and speculation, other than the fact that at around $4 they held enough for it to be their single largest investment.
· Coinbase has a “Digital Assest Framework” that they use to evaluate new assets and (in my opinion) ICON now meets all of the criteria. Here is their framework. I have gone through it and believe that ICON now meets all of their criteria. This obviously doesn’t mean that they’re going to add ICX- there are probably many unlisted cryptocurrencies which meet their criteria. However, it shows that ICON is in a pretty good place overall and has a real shot.
· Rumors (I think?) that Coinbase Custody requires $50m of any asset which they list on their exchanges.
I would guess that currently the only single entity who could make this happen is the ICON Foundation. There is a $100,000 setup fee and they charge 1.2% a year. The ICON Foundation is in control of addresses worth way more than this at current values. Yeah, the fee is expensive… But suck it up and have Coinbase hold $50m worth of your ICX for the reasons stated above. This is an investment, and you will easily make back the setup fee and 1.2% a year. It’s a no-brainer.
· Coinbase has an application page for listing… And no one from ICON has even tried applying. This is confirmed by a Coinbase employee who would know. Obviously this is all hearsay to you, however I trust the sources. And the ICON team’s apathy toward this topic confirms it even further for me.

What can ICON do?
Overall there are some positives and some negatives. ICON is doing better than many projects in many ways, however there is always room for improvement. I believe if the ICON team would put some effort into it they could get ICX listed on Coinbase in the near future (regrettably, probably after the IPO since Coinbase is most likely focused on that). Would it cost some money? Yes. Would it take a little work? Yes. But just suck it up and do it. If you are concerned about the fees, ask for P-Rep help funding it or something. I would literally pay the $100k fee myself if it guaranteed a listing on Coinbase. Talk to your advisors (Pantera, etc) and see if they would help (Spoiler alert: They would. Everyone in the US who owns ICX wants it on Coinbase). Get f***ing Shinhan Bank (Holds $375B in assets and partnered with ICONLOOP for multiple projects) or one of your many other high-powered partners to help out and talk to Coinbase even if it is just to help show ICON’s legitimacy. Maybe one of your many bank partners wants to invest in the Coinbase IPO or has investors asking about it. Make some introductions. Call in some favors. Talk to people. Business stuff. Network. Put in literally any effort. Fill out the application at least. Get in contact with the Coinbase listing team. See what you need to do, and get it done.

What can we, the community, do?
There are a few things we can do, but regrettably most of this is on the ICON team/Foundation.
· Stay active in the community- particularly Reddit and the ICON forums as these are much more visible and are easier to reference than Telegram. I would try to move as much discussion as possible toward those two platforms. If you are active in the Telegram channels, try to move your conversations to the new daily discussion Reddit thread. A highly active community is part of the Coinbase “Digital Asset Framework” listing criteria.
· Add ICX to your Watchlist in your Coinbase accounts, here. I know you all have accounts there. If you haven’t already, go find ICX and add it to your watchlist.
· Make sure that P-Reps and the ICON team know that Coinbase listing ICX is a high priority for the community.
· Stay positive. Constructive criticism doesn’t mean I hate ICON. ICX, until recently, has been my largest asset by total USD value. If you have constructive criticism, share it. ICON is a great project. The projects being developed with their enterprise and government partners are at a level most cryptocurrency projects can only dream of achieving. The community is large and great things have been made that are drawing traffic and keeping people involved. The network is stable, fast, cheap, easy to use, documentation is organized, and development/improvement is happening at a rapid pace. ICON 2.0 is on pace to be implemented this year. Great things are happening and will happen. Stay positive and spread the good word.
· Hold ICX forever, restake all rewards, buy more, and never even think about selling. Jk... Unless?

Conclusion:
Coinbase listing is much more important than many people in positions of power at ICON seem to realize. If you personally don’t think Coinbase is important for ICON to thrive, please try to look at this situation from some other angles. Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinions, however my opinion(and probably the opinion of many others) is that getting on Coinbase as soon as possible should be the main focus for ICON in order to be as prepared as possible to help the ICON network grow.
To people at ICON who generally seem to take this kind of suggestion or constructive criticism defensively- please open your mind to other opinions and listen to your investors. Look, I know you don’t owe us anything. We’re not equity investors. But I’m assuming you want your project to succeed and you want your investment to increase in value. This is a proven, sure-fire way to increase the eyes that look at ICON and see all the great things you are working on. And this in turn will bring even more development and use of the network.
Hopefully this was educational as far as ICON’s current standing with Coinbase (That we know of. They obviously can’t talk about it if there is other stuff going on), and what Coinbase wants/needs to list assets. And hopefully some of the right people see this and focus on what the community wants/needs. With more exposure and a rising price comes much more development. We all want the same thing here. Anyway, probably not the best time to post this, but I'm going to bed (Finally. Wtf am I doing?). I'll respond to any questions or comments and things tomorrow.

[Soulless verse] Twisted hell: Chapter 50

Chapter 1 | Chapter 49
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“Not so long ago, you went to see why Wyvernshield has holed up in his workshop, right?” Cybil asked Hazelmere, who was observing the portal through the magescope.
“Yes.”
“So … why have all the other dwarves joined him now? I thought you were supposed to get him out of there, but now all the dwarves are hiding from us. They have even stopped building those weird contraptions of theirs. How did you do that?”
Hazelmere let out a sigh as her ears went flat on top of her head.
“I gave him the book on demonic mathematics.”
“The one that makes sense but has no point?”
“Yes, that one. Ever since then, the dwarves refuse to leave the workshop. They are obsessed with it. Wyvernshield tried explaining why that book is awesome, but I still don’t get it. After a while, he dismissed me with: you mages have no idea.”
“Even though the dwarves can be extremely intelligent, they aren’t known for being wise.”
Hazelmere gave Cybil a cautious grin: “Are you trying to make me feel better?”
“Of course not. I am just stating the obvious. Anyway, still nothing on the other side?”
“Nothing. Not even after several weeks have passed.”
“Maybe we have sent something we shouldn’t have?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Different cultures have different taboos. Maybe the dwarves have sent something the demons find offensive?”
“And what could the demons possibly find offensive?”
“I don’t know! But, for example, if they had sent us a book with the paintings of naked angels, we would probably find it offensive. If the priests would learn of it, they would be outraged. I bet Moana would faint if she would see such a painting.”
Hazelmere shook her head lightly: “Why would they send us naked angels?”
“I don’t know, that is the first thing that came to my mind! With them being sex demons and all. The point is, we can be certain that our sensibilities are different. So, maybe the dwarves have sent something the demons don’t appreciate.”
“I have inspected all of their trinkets. And, while I have no idea what most of them do, I am certain it is nothing to be offended about.”
“What about the weapons? We have sent them some basic weapons, didn’t we? What if sending a weapon is seen as a declaration of war in hell?”
Hazelmere’s tail and ears shot up in horror: “Do you think that could be the case?”
“I bet they just need more time.”
Turning around to identify the male voice, Hazelmere saw Heartwell and Mizette standing next to her.
“I bet they have to report to their palace, just like we do,” Mizette continued where Heartwell has started, “and moving through frozen hell can’t be easy. Also, there is no way they have trinkets at the ready, so they are probably waiting for their ruler to send some gifts.”
“What a coincidence for both of you to arrive at the same time,” Cybil commented.
“We were very busy this morning,” Mizette’s response had an odd melodic quality to it.
“I don’t need to know. I am not your mother.”
“Well, you asked!”
“I didn’t! I just stated the obvious.”
“Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much,” Heartwell ignored the playful spat, “of course, we should be ready for anything, but I’m confident they just need more time.”
“I have never realized it but, sending a weapon can really be …”
“You are worrying over nothing,” Mizette said as she ruffled Hazelmere’s hair, “you are letting Cybil get the better of you. You know how much she enjoys messing with you.”
“I am just considering all the possibilities, including the unpleasant ones.”
“Why are you always such a downer?” Mizette frowned exaggeratedly.
“Somebody has to be real here.”
“Ok, knock it off, both of you!” Hazelmere commanded.
Both Mizette and Cybil looked at Hazelmere with surprised looks on their faces. Then, back at each other. Then, back at Hazelmere.
“If you say so, boss.”
---
It took two more weeks, but the big construct did return. And it returned with a load of gifts. There were so many of them, the dwarves had to construct a temporary storage facility in a single day just to store them.
Since the command tent was filled with the books, the gifts couldn’t be delivered there. So, until the dwarves have constructed the storehouse, Hazelmere and her retinue examined the gifts in the open. Wyvernshield was also with them, too eager to wait until the storehouse is finished.
“What are all these things?” It almost sounded like Mizette was complaining.
“I think I found something you’d be interested in,” Heartwell said, as he was giving some boxy thing to Wyvernshield.
“What is … knives?”
“I guess that’s what’s in the box.”
“And why would a box have a handle?”
“How would I know that?”
“What is that?” Hazelmere straightened her neck to take a better look.
“There’s a paintin’ of knives on the box. Hold on … this box is too light!”
“It’s definitely not made out of wood,” Heartwell commented.
“What in the rocks is this thing? Is this even a box?” Wyvernshield’s voice was a strange mix of both irritation and excitement.
As Wyvernshield struggled to open the strange boxy thing, the others turned their attention elsewhere.
“There is another weird box here.”
“There are too many boxes all around! These demons are putting everything in the boxes!”
“At least they are keeping everything tidy and well arranged,” Natle noticed.
“This one is very small. And, unlike the others, it looks like a regular box.”
Cybil opened the small, wooden box, finding a weird contraption inside.
“Ok, it doesn’t store anything. It has some kind of a … roller, I guess? And some small metal parts.”
“Is that some kind of a handle on the side of it?” Hazelmere asked.
“These demons really like their handles,” Mizette grumbled.
“Yes, there is, but you can’t carry it with it. The handle is too small.”
Cybil grabbed the small handle with her thumb and index finger.
“Oh, it looks like it isn’t stuck in place. It can move around.”
As Cybil started turning the handle, the box started making pleasant, musical notes. Surprised to hear them, she stopped.
“What was that?”
“Is that like … a musical instrument?”
“I … I don’t… I guess it could be a self-playing instrument because all you can do is turn this handle.”
As Cybil continued turning the handle, the notes combined into a soothing melody.
“Ohh! I see what it’s doing!” Cybil exclaimed excitedly.
“What?”
“Come and see this! See, look at this! See these little metal things next to the roller?”
“Ok.”
“And do you see these bumps on the roller itself?”
“Yes, they are quite obvious.”
“Look what is happening when I turn the handle! The bumps on the roller lift the metal thingies up, and then they fall back, producing sounds! The different lengths give different notes!”
“That’s… that’s so clever!” Hazelmere got the expression of an amazed child.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Mizette outstretched her hand towards the box, “so, there is no magic involved at all?”
“None at all! The movement of the handle is all it takes!”
“But, then again, that is how all the musical instruments work,” Natle pointed out.
“None of them play notes on their own though.”
“I finally got it!” Wyvernshield yelled. Looking at him, everyone saw he has finally opened the strange, black box.
“That’s a very useful way to seal a box,” he continued, “that way, it won’t open even when you’re carryin’ it sideways. But what’s this? Hmm …” he started letting out uncontrolled sounds of excitement as he inspected the knives, “this is some good metal! It’s… hard, durable, flexible, and lightweight! It looks like its properties are similar to orichalcum.”
“I’ve found another thing you may find interesting,” Heartwell said, as he lifted an alien sword up in the air.
“What kind of sword is that?” Vukasin wondered out loud, “It’s too thin and too long! And what is that massive thing just below the blade?”
“Hmm …” Heartwell tested the sword, swishing it through the air, “it’s long but fast. And it’s very light for its size. I guess the thin blade helps reduce its weight. And the thing below the blade is some sort of shield, I guess. It goes around your hand, protecting it.”
“Why is it hollow then?”
“To reduce the mass,” Wyvernshield responded, “but, to make it durable enough to take a hit you’d have to have … give it to me! Let me get a closer look!” He extended the palm of his hand, as if he expected his demand to be fulfilled immediately.
“Let me try something first,” Heartwell said, after which he grabbed the blade carefully and started bending it sideways.
As soon as he saw what Heartwell was doing, Wyvernshield started raging like mad.
“You’ll break it, you jackass!”
“What’s the purpose of a sword that breaks easily?” There was no emotion in Heartwell’s voice.
“What in the …” Vukasin looked at what Heartwell was doing to the sword in amazement. He bent the blade so much, its tip faced Mizette who stood next to him, “is that even metal?”
“It certainly feels like one,” after saying that, Heartwell released his grip on the blade. It immediately shot back to its original position.
“No way …” the rage in Wyvernshield’s voice was replaced with awe.
Heartwell did the same thing again, with the same result.
“Has it lost some of its elasticity or strength?” The dwarf asked.
“It doesn’t look like it. It still feels the same.”
“How … why? Why would you use a bending sword?” Vukasin still couldn’t get to grips with it.
“I know why, ’tis because that sword was designed to fight heavily armored foes,” Wyvernshield spoke like a wise elder who knew his time has come.
“How so?”
“If you use a blade on a well-armored opponent, there’s a good chance you’ll break or bend it. That’s why we dwarves love hammers. Blades are too brittle to handle the stress necessary to defeat good, durable armor. However, it looks like these people have found a solution. They made their blades elastic so that, when it hits the armor, it will bounce back undamaged. That’s also why the blade is so thin. It reduces the area which makes contact with the target, focusin’ all of its piercin’ power on the tip.”
“Like a spear?”
“Yes, but only on the tip. The rest of it works like a regular sword. Also, havin’ a thin blade makes it easier to control the sword and hit the enemy’s armor’s weak points. Especially since this looks like a one-handed sword.”
“What about cutting? Won’t that make the blade worse at cutting unarmored foes?” Heartwell asked.
“Exactly!” Vukasin agreed, “You’ll rarely have to fight a well-armored opponent. Most of the enemies are regular soldiers, who have leather armor at best.”
“It looks like the people on the other side aren’t concerned with fightin’ unarmored opponents,” Wyvernshield concluded, “anyway, gimme the thing! I wanna touch it myself!”
“Speaking of touching …” Mizette said in a suggestive voice, “I think I have found something just for that.
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Chapter 51
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[Soulless verse] Twisted hell: Chapter 31

Chapter 1 | Chapter 30
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Heartwell stretched his body in his tent. Doing such exercises several times a day became a habit of his, ever since he has received the first wound on his arm. The healers did their job right, but something that’s broken will never be the same again. No matter how skilled an artisan is, the best he can do when restoring something is to make it look right. The cracks remain forever, making it a frail version of what it used to be.
And, for some reason, Heartwell keeps adding new cracks to his body, as if it’s some twisted addiction of his.
So, to keep his cracked body as prepared as possible, he had no choice but to stretch his sore, itching muscles every chance he gets. A precious lesson he learned from some village elder he met along the way. Some people don’t appreciate his enthusiasm though, ridiculing him when they see him do it in public, which is why he has decided to perform such extravagances only when the other people aren’t around.
The truth is, he probably wouldn’t have to do it if he’d just listen to his friends. Considering his achievements and flawless service record, he could give up on the war, take a patch of land he deserves, find a decent wife, and spend the rest of his life in peace. However, that would mean he’d have to work the land and, in Heartwell’s mind, there wasn’t much difference between swinging a sword and swinging a hoe. Sore muscles would be the end result regardless.
Another option would be to train the young officers, an idea he considered to be even worse. The very thought of babysitting young, spoiled nobles, who are always offended by the fact that a lowly peasant can be above them, disgusted him. While The Timkik Empire claimed to be meritocratic, and while its laws were written in such a way, its nobles didn’t appreciate the idea and did their best to show it at every turn. He got tired of that a long time ago.
Those things aside, the truth is, nothing could ever compare with the sense of brotherhood his legion gave him, even if most of his brothers are with him only temporarily.
“Excuse me, may I come in?” His stretching was interrupted by a pleasant, feminine voice coming from outside the tent.
“Just a moment,” he took some time to put everything back in order and calm his breathing, “come in!”
Hazelmere entered the tent somewhat shyly.
“I came to tell you what my mages have observed on the other side.”
“Since you’re calm, I take it we aren’t in immediate danger?”
“That is true.”
“Meaning, there’s another reason why you’re here. I doubt a lady like you would come to see a peasant just to put his mind at ease.”
Hazelmere scowled: “That is also true! I want us to try and find a better way of observing the other side. Considering our observers have failed spectacularly two days ago, and we wouldn’t notice a demonic army approaching until it is too late.”
“I gave twenty lashes to each of my soldiers. I believe the entire camp could hear them screaming.”
“Indeed, we have.”
“I’m not going to ask what punishment have you given to your mage. I don’t like poking my nose in my superior’s business.”
Hazelmere tilted her head a bit: “That’s strange. Usually, males don’t accept such things easily, even when their superior is an archmage. Male pride and all that meaningless stuff.”
“My peasant heritage carries far more weight than my gender. Even if you’re a female, your wealthy, high-born heritage puts you above me.”
She nodded her head with satisfaction: “A male who knows his place … what a refreshing sight to see.”
“But you didn’t come here to talk about where my place is, didn’t you?”
That made her straighten up: “Right … soo, let me remember …” she tapped her finger on her chin a few times, “oh yes! That flying bug, we know where it comes from! Listen to this, this is crazy!”
She took a seat without asking for permission.
“You know there are crawling bugs crossing from the other side.”
“Of course.”
“Well, much bigger bugs are now crossing the portal. They look very similar to those small bugs, with threads sticking out of their … rears. They are exactly like an oversized version of those, but with a flat back.”
Heartwell narrowed his eyes: “The way you said that makes me think that’s somehow important.”
She pointed the finger at him, smiling like a child: “Exactly! Because, listen to this: they are carrying those flying, buzzing bugs on their backs! Those demons put the flying bugs on the flat backs of those big bugs, move them to our side of the portal, and then the flying bugs … well … start flying. Once they get tired, the flying bugs land on those big bugs and go back across the portal.”
“What?”
“Yes, that is exactly the reaction we had! Why are they complicating things? Why not have those bugs just fly through the portal?”
“The small bug without a thread stopped moving, maybe that’s why,” realizing something, Heartwell ears perked up, “are those flying bugs connected to threads?”
Hazelmere’s lower lip moved to reveal her teeth, as she looked away: “No … they aren’t …”
“But …”
“I know! They aren’t supposed to move without a thread! But these flying ones do!”
“Hmm …”
“They must be somehow connected with those big bugs carrying them over the portal. What other reason could there be for something like that? Cybil assumes that those big bugs are somehow giving their energy to the flying ones, they could be bound somehow. Those big bugs are connected to the threads, so maybe they can supply the smaller ones. And, while that is not a perfect explanation, it is really hard to come up with a better one.”
“And let me guess … that means trouble.”
“Yesss … if they can bind those bugs to some energy source and make them move without a thread, then they can certainly do the same thing with their soldiers.”
“Aww, that’s great!” Heartwell exhaled as he leaned his entire body back.
“There is another thing you should know about.”
“Is it worse than this one?”
“No … but it is very … strange, so I think you should hear of it.”
“Go ahead!”
“For some reason, the demons have started tying some other, small animals to those bugs and are taking them across the portal.”
“Why would they do that?”
“These other animals aren’t connected to the threads, but the bugs carrying them are. I guess they are trying to test if being close to the bug which is supplied with the energy can help the other animal survive.”
“And can it?”
Hazelmere made a short pause.
“It can. Those tied up animals don’t stop moving when they cross the portal. They can’t really move, since they are tied up, but you can see their limbs moving rapidly as they are trying to escape. We don’t know how affected those animals are, but they are clearly not experiencing the issues the lone bugs have. If you remember, the bugs without the thread stop moving as soon as they cross the portal. But, when tied up to a connected creature, the animals can still move their limbs.”
“How did they even get the idea to try that?”
“I don’t know, but these demons are extremely careful and thorough. And, even though it looks like they are not in a hurry, they are making some decent progress. They learn something new about our world with each passing day.”
“Makes you wish we were half as ready as they are. And they are the ones responding to our initiative.”
Hazelmere straightened in her chair: “There is one more reason why I came here, as I have already told you. We need to change the way our sentries work. The current arrangement has shown its flaws. Mizette is someone whom I trust the most so, if she can fail in her duty, then the others can too!”
“I bet it was happening all the time. We just didn’t notice it.”
“What makes you say that?” Hazelmere said, blinking a few times.
“I was worried something like that may happen, which is why I proposed to have at least two soldiers protecting the mage. I thought they’d compete with one another, trying to put each other down. That’s what usually happens when a cute girl comes anywhere close. But, instead of competing, they decided to cooperate. Strangely, I’m proud of them in a way. Seeing my soldiers reach such a compromise instead of butting their heads gives me some sort of … I guess, fatherly pride? When you’re glad to see your children work towards a common goal, I guess. Don’t get me wrong, I know what they did was extremely dangerous. That’s why I’ve lashed them personally. But, still, it took a lot of compromising to … not to mention, the practicality of it. I mean, how is it even possible … with four males at once?”
Hazelmere averted her eyes away from Heartwell, looking rather guilty: “I … I don’t know. But that’s not important! What is important is to find a better way of dealing with it!”
“Honestly, I don’t think we can. The soldiers have to escort a mage. If having four of them didn’t work, increasing the number of soldiers won’t help either. And you’ve said it yourself, that we can’t have more than one mage observe the other side during the night. Proper rest is extremely important for the mages and all that stuff.”
“I’ve run into someone tonight, which gave me an idea. Do you remember we have an archpriestess in the camp?”
“Yeah, she’s doing her best to avoid everyone, but I’ve noticed her.”
“Maybe, having a priestess present will help? Maybe that would dissuade the others from doing anything stupid?”
Heartwell crossed his arms, exhaling deeply: “I’m not so sure. We can’t have her on the night guard duty every day. Besides, that priestess is too timid. I don’t think she can pull it off.”
“But she is a priestess! Certainly, having a priestess nearby …”
“Maybe you’re not aware of it, but some people find modesty and meekness to be very attractive! And our priestess is the very example of it! In all likelihood, some soldiers will try persuading her to participate, and considering how unassertive she is, I’m worried she wouldn’t have the necessary fortitude to resist as fervently as she should! I’m not going to be the one responsible for giving her name its meaning! Not like that.”
“So … what? We should just keep it like it is? Is that your idea?”
“No, I agree we should change something. I just disagree with using the priestess because I don’t think she has what it takes.”
A soldier stormed into the tent from the outside, ending the conversation in an instant.
“Chief!”
“What is it?”
“A bug is approaching, a big one! Tis’ big as the people! It’s coming this way!”
“Towards our camp?”
“Right at it!”
Heartwell stood up, grabbing his sword: “Looks like this conversation will have to wait.”
---
A crude wooden palisade was erected around the camp after it was smashed in that enormous storm a moon ago. It would do little against a determined attacker, but Heartwell ordered it constructed since it looked like they’ll have to deal with all kinds of insects before the demons decide to come at them personally. And, even though it didn’t offer much resistance, the palisade provided great observation for those who’d climb it.
Arriving at the defensive perimeter, they saw everyone was ready. Both the soldiers and the mages were precisely where they were supposed to be, their eyes focused on the approaching threat.
Some of them were perhaps too eager. Heartwell noticed some archers have already nocked their arrows.
“What are you doing, you imbeciles!” He roared at them, “You’ll hurt someone even before the enemy gets in range!”
Startled, the archers looked at him. Then, they released the tension on their bowstrings, with shy expressions on their faces. Heartwell continued forward while shaking his head in disbelief.
“Aren’t they supposed to be ready?” Hazelmere asked.
“If the enemy was in range, all the archers would’ve been ready to shoot. They were nervous, not ready. Come, let’s take a look,” Heartwell said as he grabbed Hazelmere’s hand.
She was visibly confused but didn’t complain.
“Where’s the enemy?” He asked in a loud, commanding voice as soon as they’ve joined the archers on the palisade. There was an occasional mage here and there mixed in with them.
“Right there, chief!” An archer pointed in the distance with his hand.
Heartwell and Hazelmere looked in the direction. As soon as they did, their ears and tails went straight up, together with their hair.
Yes, what approached them was indeed a big bug. But it wasn’t just that. It was the creepiest creature Hazelmere has ever heard of.
Imagine a big, fat, armored bug, crawling extremely fast on the ground. But, this bug had a torso growing from its front, where a typical insectoid head with antennae was supposed to be. Its torso was really thin, just like every limb on any other insect. It resembled a pole much more than a torso. However, it was clearly a torso because the shoulders, a pair of arms, and a head were sitting on top of it. Its shoulders looked the same as the torso and were as thin, with the only differences being that these were much shorter and were placed horizontally. The arms were even thinner and had no hands. Instead, three really thin fingers grew straight out of the arms. Those fingers were so thin, they looked much more like blades than fingers.
And, on top of the torso sat a disgusting, insectoid head. As the creature got closer, Hazelmere noticed it had a set of two big eyes and another set of two smaller ones, right below the big ones. There were no mouth, nose, not even antennae on its head, nothing but the eyes.
“Oh, look! It has a thread coming out of it!” Hazelmere noticed.
“At least we know it has one weakness,” Heartwell responded in a solemn voice.
“It really is disgusting, but do you think it will attack us? What is the point of sending it to fight all alone?” She asked.
“It has no chance of winning alone, at least I hope so, but maybe they didn’t send it to win. Maybe they only want to see the way we fight. Remember, they can see the camp, meaning they’re watching. Probing enemy defenses before an attack makes perfect sense.”
As they talked, the creature got much closer. It finally stopped some two hundred beards in front of the palisade. It observed the soldiers on the ground for some time, before lifting its ugly head to look at the people standing on the palisade, sending chills down Hazelmere’s spine as soon as their eyes have met.
Everyone held their breath as the disgusting creature observed them. Nobody dared make a single move or utter a single sound.
After a while, the creature got tired of observing and started lifting one of its disturbingly thin arms in the air, very slowly. Its arm moved so slowly, Heartwell started wondering if it was mocking them.
Once it rose its arm completely, it started waving it left and right, slowly at first but increasing the speed with each move.
“Hazelmere!” The sudden female voice coming from behind startled her so much, she squeaked involuntarily.
“Cybil … don’t do that! You scared the heavens out of me!”
“Yes, and your squeak scared everyone around you! But that is not the point! It is waving at us!”
“What?”
“It is waving at us, look! Take a good look! Don’t you think it is trying to wave its hand?”
“Do you honestly think it’s intelligent enough to understand a social greeting?”
But, the discussion didn’t go far before it was interrupted by a strange, alien voice.
“Riiidddiii!”
It sounded like an overly enthusiastic child greeting someone. Even though the word was utterly ununderstandable, there was no mistaking its purpose.
“Is that …”
“Riiidddiii!”
“I am telling you, it is waving at us! It is trying to greet us!”
“But, that sounded like a child!”
“I see no mouth on that thing,” Heartwell pointed out.
“You two are overthinking it!” Cybil pointed her finger accusingly at them, “Whatever it is, it isn’t hostile! It is only trying to communicate with us!”
“Maybe it’s trying to hide its real intent?” Heartwell said.
“Maybe. I am not saying we should let it into our camp, but responding wouldn’t hurt. Maybe that will satisfy it and make it go away.”
“Riiidddiii!”
“We should, what, try to talk with it? But it wouldn’t even understand us! I mean, we have no idea what it is saying. Why would it be any different the other way around?”
“Hmm,” Heartwell started thinking, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try. It’s not like we have anything to lose. And if it tries anything stupid, we have plenty of arrows aimed right at it.”
“Ok, what should be our response?”
CLANG!!!
-----
Chapter 32
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[Soulless verse] Twisted hell: Chapter 28

Chapter 1 | Chapter 27
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“Should you be walking?” Hazelmere sounded like a reprimanding mother.
“I can’t take it anymore. I’ll go insane from doing nothing,” Heartwell responded.
“You look so weak, I bet even a single slap from me would knock you off your feet.”
He gave her a weak smile: “I’d like to see you try. Anyway, what’s going on? Have the demons moved yet?”
Hazelmere sighed: “It has been three days now, and nothing has changed. They are still standing near the portal, doing nothing. They aren’t even trying to spread their corruption anymore. They are just standing there. The drumming noise comes near the portal, stays for some time, and then disappears. That happens several times per day. They did place some things around it, marking it for some reason. You would think the portal would be obvious, but hey, I don’t know how the demonic minds work.”
“Could it be something magical?”
Hazelmere shrugged: “It could be, we have no idea. We can’t sense any energy on the other side, so we can’t tell.”
“Some magical, guiding beacons for their army, perhaps?”
That made Hazelmere’s ears raise up: “It … it could be …”
“Vukasin said he had sent a messenger to the palace.”
“Yes, he did. Hopefully, a few of our armies will join us soon.”
Heartwell shook his head slowly: “No way. That’s not gonna happen.”
“Why not? The Empire is clearly threatened now.”
“It has been threatened for a long time, from all sides. The armies are needed elsewhere, to fight the hosagians. There’s no way our armies will be marching here. Not until the demons cross the portal.”
“Won’t it be late then? I am not a military expert, but isn’t it better to stop the demonic army at the gates than to have it plunder and murder all over our realm?”
“We don’t have a good defensive position here. When the demonic armies start marching, we’ll fortify the closest castle or a city. That way, we’ll have much better chances of defeating them. And, as we fight the siege, the other nations will probably join us. Hopefully, the angels too.”
“What about the farms and the villages?”
“They aren’t important. If there’s time, the lords may try to get the farmers and the villagers into the cities too. But that would create more problems than it’s worth. You’d have much more people to feed during the siege, and that’s the last thing you want.”
A soldier walked into the tent, interrupting the conversation.
“Miss mage …”
“Archmage! The royal archmage at that!” Hazelmere corrected him.
“Miss … royal … highness, we need you at the stones!”
“What’s happening?” Heartwell asked.
“I don’t know. The mages didn’t tell me.”
---
“Are they crossing the portal?” Hazelmere asked in a loud voice as soon as she had arrived.
“Umm, yes … but not in a manner you would expect them to.”
Hazelmere gave Cybil a reprimanding frown.
“Take a look yourself.”
With an irritated grunt, Hazelmere put her hands on the stones.
“What am I supposed to look at?”
“Look directly at the portal.”
“Ok, I see it. What about it?”
“Do you see the three demons standing near it? One of them is holding something in his hands.”
“Yes, I see them.”
“Do you see something like a thin leash going out of whatever he is holding in his hands?”
“Hmm … oh yes, I see it now. There is no way I would see it if it wasn’t black. It is so tiny!”
“Follow the leash with your eyes.”
“What makes you think it is a leash … oh …”
“That’s why we think that is a leash.”
“Is that … is that some kind of a bug?”
“It looks like it.”
“It is … it is crawling over the ice.”
“And, much more importantly, it is on our side of the portal.”
Hazelmere lifted her head to look at Cybil.
“They are testing to see if the creatures from their world can cross the portal …”
“… and it looks like they can,” Cybil finished Hazelmere’s sentence.”
“But … but that makes no sense! I saw it with my own eyes, that huge beast running back! It was clearly hurt! It wouldn’t have run otherwise!”
“They are probably trying to see how long that bug can survive. I guess the leash is there so they can pull the corpse back once it dies. Do you know what that means?”
“They are studying it!”
Cybil nodded slowly, with a dead serious look on her face: “These aren’t some mindless demons. They are using the same methods we would use.”
“I disagree,” Mizette said, “when we were summoning the portal, we brought no animals to send over there. No one has even mentioned it. I would argue that these demons could be even smarter than we are.”
Cybil dismissed Mizette’s opinion with a lazy wave of her hand: “They have to be more cautious because they weren’t the ones who have summoned it. They have no idea what they are dealing with, whereas we do.”
“Really? Is that why we’re staying here to guard against the demonic invasion, because that was exactly what we wanted to do?” Heartwell didn’t bother hiding his sarcasm one bit.
“I don’t expect a peasant to understand. I was talking about the methodology, not unforeseen consequences. The point being, these aren’t some savage, wild demons we have heard so much about.”
“These ones are much more intelligent and far better organized.”
“Exactly!”
After agreeing with Cybil, Hazelmere put her hands back on the stones.
“Oh, no.”
“What, what is it?” Cybil got her attention back to the stones in a hurry.
“It’s crawling back.”
“What is?”
“The bug! It’s crawling back on its own.”
Hazelmere watched as the bug crawled back to the other side, looking completely unhurt. One of the demons picked it up in his hands (at least Hazelmere assumed it was a male), after which all three demons started walking away from the portal.
Hazelmere opened her eyes with a depressed look on her face.
“It has survived. They didn’t have to drag it out with a leash. It crawled back on its own.”
“Maybe it was starting to feel the pain, so it ran back?” Cybil offered a vague guess.
“Maybe. But now we have seen proof that the demons and the beasts on the other side can survive in our world. At least for a bit.”
“The question is, for how long?” Cybil pointed out.
“Indeed.”
---
For the next few days, the demons repeated the same thing over and over again. They’d send a bug on a leash through the portal, let it roam around for a bit, and then it would return to them.
“I have something,” Mizette said to the archmages who were sitting near the stones, “come and see this.”
“What? What is happening?”
“The bug they have sent isn’t moving this time.”
Hazelmere stood up to look through the stones, and indeed, she saw a bug sitting still at the very edge of the portal. It wasn’t moving at all.
“It doesn’t look like anything is wrong with it,” she pointed out, “it is not like it has flipped over, or something similar.”
“Yes, but we have never seen it stand still like that.”
“The bug isn’t moving, but the demons are much more animated than before.”
“They certainly are.”
“Look, they are sending another one!”
“Is it ... it is trying to push the first bug back?”
“It looks like it.”
“Oh! Look at the first bug! The one that is being pushed! It has no leash!”
“So?”
Everyone was silent for a few moments. With a gasp, Mizette opened her eyes to look at Hazelmere.
“I think I know what the leash is for! I think it may have nothing to do with pulling the bug back or making sure it doesn’t run away!”
“Well, what else could the leash be for?”
“They are using it to transfer the energy to the bug!”
Hazelmere opened her eyes, looking skeptically at Mizette.
“I mean, it doesn’t have to be a leash at all!” Mizette continued, “We have assumed it was a leash because they have attached it to the creature. But it is too thin, and … don’t you think it would be strange to stuff a leash into a bug’s rear end?”
Hazelmere made a disgusted face.
“Look at it! Look at the bug they have sent to push the first one out! It is facing away from us, and you can clearly see that the leash, or whatever it is, is … well … stuffed into its rear end.”
Still looking disgusted, Hazelmere closed her eyes to take another look.
“Oh, that really is the case!”
“A leash is put on the throat or a limb. I am yet to see …”
“I know, I know! You don’t have to say it!”
“So, it would make more sense for it to be something else!”
“But, why do you think they are transmitting the energy through it?” Cybil asked.
“I am assuming that because the bug that isn’t moving has no … thread, attached to it. It stopped moving the moment it has crossed the portal because it was cut off from its world’s energy. However, the bug pushing her has the thread which, I assume, is providing it with the necessary energy. That is why it can move while the first one can’t.”
“So, are you saying they have played it safe up to this point and now want to see if they can survive on the other side without the constant energy supply?”
“I can’t say for sure, but that would make sense.”
“Still … using such a disgusting method … even if it works …” Hazelmere couldn’t get over it.
“Would that even work? Is something like that even possible?” Cybil asked no one in particular, scratching her chin.
“… has … anyone … ever tried … something like that …” Moana asked, her fingers fidgety and her head low.
“I have never heard of such a method, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the elves have tried it,” Cybil responded.
“Maybe that is why they are so good at magic? Maybe that is what they mean when they say: our connection with magic is so deep, no mortal race could ever understand it.”
The archmages laughed at Mizette’s joke, but Hazelmere didn’t appreciate it. She did her best to shift the conversation with the first chance she got.
“Oh, it is moving again!”
“It has recovered as soon as it back into their world. I think I may really be onto something here,” Mizette said proudly.
“That would explain why that huge beast ran away. It was large, so it would make sense for it to have plenty of energy stored in its body. But small creatures, like insects, are incapacitated instantly.”
“So, the energies of our worlds really are colliding with each other!” Cybil stated, “We can’t go through the portal, but neither can they!”
“That is where you are wrong,” Mizette countered, “they can cross it, but they need a constant energy supply to survive. So, prepare for the demonic invasion, with rows upon rows of crazed, demonic soldiers charging at you, all of them having threads sticking out of …”
“Shut up!”
-----
Chapter 29
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