You know that feeling when you did something in the past, and then you suddenly think of a million ways you could've done it better? That was the feeling that stuck with me as I trudged my way back to town, making sure to keep to the brightest parts of the forest. I should've gotten from answers from Daria before she left. Like, what the hell is an aspect of destruction in a practical sense? What do we do? Why are there so many of us? If I'm the seventh, what happened to the other four that I haven't seen yet? Surely, they would've come by with Darian and Daria, right?
That was another thing, how did they know where I was? I've seen and done a lot of bullshit things in my time, but then just suddenly finding because of reasons is enough for me to put my foot down. Not only that, but they both referred to finding me, meaning they knew where I was. Or at the very least, they knew the general location. Darian in particular was confused on who I was at first, at least, in the sense that he wasn't sure if I was me. Meaning that it wasn't a kind of twenty-four-hour surveillance, but maybe more like a flare in the night? Shot once, its bright glow attracting their attention before suddenly going dark.
My knowledge was lacking in every sense of the word, and I couldn't help but curse my short sightedness. I hadn't prepared for actually talking with Daria, in fact I hadn't even been able to prepare for actually fighting her. It was only through a mixture of skill, planning, luck, and a fuck ton of bullshit that I was alive. And even then, I doubt she was even trying to really kill me.
Still, there was no point in crying over the fact that my trophy wasn't shiny enough. Hell, I should probably celebrate. I mean, I basically won. Sure, there were a few snags, and I definitely don't want to even think about how traumatized that kid is, but I managed to make it out alright. And in the end, wasn't that what truly mattered?
Looking to the immediate future, I had a lot of things to do. And since I had nothing better to do than to over think them while monologuing in my head, I may as well explain them in detail. Boredom at its finest I suppose. First, I had a shit ton of notifications to work through. I mean, it was totally expected after that whole debacle, but it still meant I had to go through them and actually read. My tired mind wanted to postpone that until after I had spent a day or so napping but putting it off might be a bit idiotic. That said, I was definitely going to wait until I was in my room.
Second, I needed to make sure that Brynjar and Citrine were okay. Maybe I should make that a first priority, but it was also the easiest thing to do. Give them a quick up and down glance, pat them on the back, and call it a day. Comforting people really isn't my thing. I just don't think I have the patience or emotional maturity to even consider it, plus I was just way too tired to actually give a flying fuck.
Third and finally, I needed to actually train. Not just grind for levels, but straight up train my body, techniques, and skills. Not the system skills, but like, the actual skills I've accumulated over my surprisingly short life. Does that make me jailbait? Thoughts for never I suppose.
Now that I'm on the subject of long-term plans, I think I might need to add an addendum to my list. Put this next issue on the top of my priorities list. The issue in question is also actually a question, and that is "What the fuck am I doing here?"
A question that I'm sure many others have felt in their lives.
I've kind of just been wandering around without much of a purpose, even back in the village with Mason. I didn't have an ultimate goal, or even long-term desires past "Get strong" and "Make robo-catgirls". Sure, they may be noble goals in of themselves, but they weren't exactly things that I wanted to devote my life to. Getting strong really didn't have an end and making robo-catgirls was mostly because I wanted to do something even Elon Musk would be unable to do. The solution was easy to list, but in practice it would be a bitch to accomplish.
I needed to find meaning in life.
It was a very emo sounding solution, I'll admit. However, that didn't make it any less true. I was like a college student trying to pick a major, and no matter what, I was probably going to regret whatever choice I made. Still, I needed to break this down into steps if I wanted to actually achieve anything. Though that'll have to wait, because town was barely a few hundred feet in front of me.
As I walked forward, I summoned the leftover warg leathers and furs I had in my inventory and put it over my shoulder. I had managed to sneak out of the town with my grapple, but considering it was daytime, I didn't think that was going to be an option. Instead, I was going to have to pretend I had gone out hunting and had brought back some leathers and furs. It wasn't a very well thought out plan, but I was sure I could pull some bullshit out of my ass and make it work.
I smiled, waving to the guards, and gesturing to the leather and fur on my shoulder. I've gone in and out of the town enough times that the guards recognized me. Combining that with my poorly thought-out plan, and they let me in no problem.
The town was still in quite the panic, as people moved to and fro. Whispering was common, as the forestkin gossiped with one another about the sudden arrival of the supposedly dead adventurers. Looks like Daria kept good on her word.
A sudden bout of light headedness forced me to reevaluate my priorities, as sleep suddenly shot straight back up to the top. I can see the others later, right now I needed some personal tender loving care. Pushing my way through the frankly annoying crowd of people, I strode towards the tavern and stifled a yawn. I had been able to hold it in for a while, but it looks like I was approaching the end of my rope. Hell, if it wasn't for those stamina potion Evanora had given me, I would've died a while ago.
Huh, the more I think about it the more I realize just how much I lucked out.
I didn't bother saying hi to anyone as I entered the tavern, instead going straight up the stairs. Once I was alone in the hallway, I vanished the leather and fur on my shoulder and barged into my room, freezing up slightly as I saw Emery snoring away on my bed. Damn it, looks like I was going to have to sleep on the chair.
Or at least, that was the plan anyway. Unfortunately, my body decided we were close enough and I ended up collapsing face first on the floor. This was fine. I didn't need a pillow or anything like that, just a flat-ish surface and I'm all good.
I really hope I don't swallow a bug.
…
There was something poking my face. I didn't know what it was, but it was starting to get annoying. I groaned, rolling to my side in an attempt to avoid the incessant poking. Damn it, I just wanted to go back to sleep.
"Darius, I need you to get up. Come on Darius, you can't stay sleeping on the floor all day."
Fuck you, yes I can. My brain kept trying to tell me to get up, but currently I was only listening to the sweet embrace of sleep, it's strong and surprisingly masculine hands lifting me up and hoisting me on its shoulders and then dropping me on the softness of a bed.
Something about that seems off to me somehow.
"Easy there lass, he looks like he just ran through the whole forest. Oi, Darius! Get up ya lazy sack of shite!"
Easy there my ass. There was nothing gentle about how the voice screamed in my face, prompting to abandon the whole sleeping endeavor and instead just open my eyes. Brynjar was standing over me, his right arm wrapped up in some bandages and cuts all over his face. They had long since healed, but you can still see an angry red from where the wounds were. Emery stood to my right, a slight amount of worry on her face, though that was overshadowed by confusion over… something. Wait a minute, is she wearing my old jacket? Not cool man.
"Ah, looks like you're finally up. We were a bit worried when you didn't wake up. Thought the Abyss Mother got you good."
Abyss Mother? They must mean Daria since I'm pretty sure her title had both of those words in there. That raises another question, how the hell did they know I was the one who saved them? I mean, I wasn't opposed to it, but it was definitely something curious. "How'd you… know about that?"
Damn was I tired. My injuries were light thanks to the gold blood vials and Reinforcement, but that just translated directly to fatigue. I could feel my arms struggle with the effort of trying to sit up, and my head felt like lead.
Brynjar placed a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back into the bed. Pushed might be a strong word, considering I didn't offer up much resistance to the action. I submitted fairly quickly, laying down on the bed and listening as he began to fill me in. "We didn't know much when we woke up. Only that we had been captured by the Abyss Mother and then let go. It wasn't until we went to see Evanora, the poor lass, that we were able to piece things together. You were the only one able to read the letter, and she specifically called you out. Considering know one could find you until a few hours ago, Citrine and Evanora figured that you went out to challenge her. Can't believe you managed to win either. You've got balls of steel lad."
The unspoken question of how I did so floated in the air, and it took a few minutes to put together a reasonable story. "She wanted something I had. So, I traded it for you two. It wasn't something of much value to me, so it's no skin off my back."
It was probably a dick move to refer to a child as something without much value, but it was true, in my case at least. I didn't exactly know her, and at that point she was more of a means to an end. Wow, I am just digging myself deeper into this grave, aren't I?
Brynjar nodded, looking off to the side. There must've been something troubling him, but he stood quiet. Emery was fidgeting on my right, looking between me and Brynjar as she tried to figure out what to do in this situation. It was just as awkward for me as well, though I had the advantage of not giving a shit to make it bearable.
Finally, Brynjar looked back to me and began to speak. "I see. Well, when your up and ready, Citrine and I wanted to know if you'd like to come with us to our hometown. It's a nice little place called Spudnik. We have the biggest potatoes in the Fertile Plains!"
That seemed to be something Emery could latch onto, as she jumped in the middle of our conversation like it was an Olympic swimming pool filled with melted chocolate. "I'm going with them too! There's not really a lot of opportunities for me here, especially since I quit my job. So I figured, why not? Maybe I'll be able to find some good work."
They were obviously trying to sell the idea to me, and if I was going to be honest, I was definitely sold. I mean, biggest potatoes in the Fertile Plains? That sounds amazing. Plus, it's called Spudnik. There was no way I wasn't going to go to a place with a name like that. "You had me at potatoes. When do we leave?"
Brynjar gave a triumphant laugh, slapping a hand on my shoulder as he did so. "We'll leave once Evanora is cleared to go. Her injuries are quite a bit worse than ours. Until then, we're gonna be preparing to hit the road. Getting supplies and stuff. It'd be appreciated if you could help once you've recovered."
Honestly, give me another few hours of sleep and a quick meal and I'll be ready to hit the road in no time. Despite the fact that the whole mansion trip injured me way more than defending the village, I also had more supplies with me to ease the burden. So, I wouldn't have to worry about collapsing in the middle of the forest again.
I gave Brynjar a nod, leaning back into the bed. He must've gotten the message, as he motioned to Emery and led her out the room, following close behind her and shutting the door as they left.
There's nothing better than having someone fuck off when you ask them to.
…
It turns out, recovering from a missing limb is a time-consuming endeavor. I ended up bumming around the village for another week before Evanora was ready to head out. To be honest, I didn't really do much that week. I made my leave clear to the chieftess, and while she was accepting of it, she did get rid my my forge access. It was kind of upsetting since I had just gotten quite a few things to test out and create. All courtesy of ranking up Craft of course.
Craft
Craft anything you can imagine using acquired blueprints and imagination to mix and match their desired effects. Upon Rank up, gain five blueprints of that rank.
Rank 4 - You can use materials up to Legendary Rank. Next RANK costs 40 LEVELS
You have gained the following blueprints:
Mecha-Trick pack
Mechanisms pack
Metallurgy pack
Rune pack
Magitech pack
That looked like a lot of packs, but they were a bit more complicated than what you would assume. For one, rather than providing definite blueprints for items, they instead gave an intimate understanding of the subject matter. For example, the Mechanisms pack allows me to build my own machines. Nothing crazy of course. Probably around the industrial revolution in regard to complexity and level.
The Rune pack was way cooler sounding than it actually was. Runes in this world were actually just enchants spread over a large distance, most commonly used for larger constructs. As such, they were fairly useless to most of my normal equipment. I'd need something a bit bigger in order to really use it. Also, the tunes themselves were actually just the Standard Galactic Alphabet from Commander Keen. So that was neat.
Mecha-Trick and Metallurgy were fairly self explanatory. Metallurgy just gave me insight into metalworking and alloys, while Mecha-Trick allowed me to add different mechanisms to my equipment. Again, relatively simple stuff.
Magitech was the real money maker here, as it gave me different ways to mix magic and technology, with varying results. I didn't have too much in the way of technology yet, and what I did have were either small enough to fit in my weapons or large enough that I'd need a room to store them. There was basically no in between.
And surprisingly, that haven't been the only thing I had gotten after ranking up Craft.
Congratulations! For reaching RANK 4 in CRAFT, you have unlocked the UPGRADES STORE! From here, you can spend LEVELS to upgrade your skills!
UNLOCKED UPGRADES:
Repair
AVAILABLE UPGRADES:
Combine
Upgrade
Congratulations! For reaching RANK 4 in CRAFT, you have unlocked the BLUEPRINT STORE! From here, you can spend LEVELS to buy Blueprints!
There were a lot of other notifications too. Most of them were in regard to my fight with Daria, but there was one that surprised me. It was actually a system update notification, and it was one that happened a few days after the battle.
The Craftsman's System has been updated! If this alarms you, do not worry! Despite the system being highly unfinished and untested, we are 67% sure that it is perfectly functional!
I wish I could say it surprised me.
Removed Features:
Gacha – After field testing the Gacha system and going through its design, we have decided to remove the Gacha System altogether. It's unfinished and basic design left far too much room for error and balance issues.
Menu Changes:
Perks – Perks have been categorized as active and passive types.
Inventory – A character window has now been added in order to see how you look.
Balance Changes:
Levels – After the removal of the Gacha, we decided to rebalance the level costs to reflect that. The RANKS now go:
RANK 1 – 0 LEVELS
RANK 2 – 10 LEVELS
RANK 3 – 15 LEVELS
RANK 4 – 25 LEVELS
RANK 5 – 30 LEVELS
The costs of skill upgrades have now been lowered to 20 LEVELS to reflect this. You will not be refunded for any LEVELS spent.
Planned Features:
More System UI Elements
System Store
There was a lot to take in there. First, the Gacha system was no more. As soon as I had opened the notification, the two tokens in my inventory had automatically spent themselves. The common one had given me a set of clothes, though they were really fancy ones. They were the dapper clothes set, and they came with slacks, work shoes, a peacoat, the works. I'd probably never really wear it since more often than not I was somewhere where it would get real dirty, real quick, but it was still nice to have. As for the other one…
Congratulations! You have gotten LITERAL SHIT from the Gacha!
There's a difference between reading the words and seeing it just plop into my inventory. Honestly, I have no idea what to do with it. I just have a literal piece of shit in my inventory, and I don't know how to get rid of it. I'm not sure how to feel about the fact that I'm being intimidated by stool.
Is it human poo?
I wasn't very sure if I wanted to know, so I resolved to save it in case I really don't like someone. Monkeys have the right idea. If you don't want to deal with something, just throw shit at it. It's the perfect solution, whether you're at a park, a bathroom, or even a birthday party. Just don't get any on the cake.
My thoughts were filled with poop based jokes and puns for the next several days after that.
Finally, there were the actual rewards from the whole mansion debacle.
Congratulations! For forcing the Dungeon Master to bend to your whims, you have gained 2 LEVELS!
Congratulations! For defeating (but not killing) the Third Aspect, you have gained 5% of her total levels, rounded down.
+28 LEVELS
It was a lot of levels, but I also had a lot of skill and upgrades I needed to spend them on, so it balanced out. Besides, considering she had five hundred and seventy-seven levels, my mere twenty-eight barely even scratched the surface. Still, after spending twenty-five levels on Craft, thank you update, I ended up with fifty levels left. Which brings me to now.
Since Citrine knew I had my inventory, though she thought it was an enchantment, she had me carry most of the gear. Apparently horses were pretty hard to find around these parts, and the uneven terrain made it dangerous for them anyway. It wasn't a terribly long journey, only around five or so days. Of course, that was going by the fact that we would have no breaks for eight hours straight. Maybe more if we're up to it. It sounds ridiculous, but apparently, it's actually a fairly common thing around here.
It was early morning, dawn was just about to break. Somehow, I ended up getting coerced into seeing to Evanora during the trip, so I had to stay with her the whole time and make sure she was with us. That was why I ended up waiting outside the healer's little clinic thing as Evanora got herself ready. This gave me some time to think about what skills I wanted to rank up.
Well, think may have been the wrong word to use there. Truth be told, I already knew what skills I wanted to rank up. My choices Smithing, Deconstruct, and Enchanting. Honestly, it should be fairly obvious as to why I chose them. With Smithing I can forge higher quality equipment, which is just a nice thing. The same goes for Enchanting, since that just let me use higher rank enchantments. Deconstruct was the weird one of the group, but it was what would allow me to finally never worry about running out of materials. If I could make something and then get all of the materials back without loss, than I was set. Hell, I might even be able to get bonus materials with later ranks or upgrades.
Smithing
You can forge weapons of war and build inventions of peace.
RANK 3 - You can smith up to rare RANK items. Next RANK costs 25 LEVELS
Enchanting
You can imbue items with incredible power in order to grant them new attributes. You're limited to three enchants per item.
RANK 3 - You can use and remove Rare rank enchantments and come up with Uncommon rank ones from scratch. Next RANK costs 25 LEVELS
Deconstruct
Deconstruct an item to its base materials.
RANK 3 - get up to three materials. Next RANK costs 25 LEVELS
And this left me with a grand total of eight levels. Not even eight and some change, just straight up eight with zero experience points left extra. Pretty neat, in my opinion.
The door to the clinic opened, and Evanora strolled out the entrance with her head held high. Her right arm was missing from the elbow down, leaving only a nub in its place. The sleeve of her shirt flapped as she walked, the feeling must've annoyed her as her face twitched every so often. She must've forgotten to tuck the sleeve in, or she just didn't think about it.
Normally I'd ask if she'd like me to do it, but considering the circumstances, I should be a bit more tactful. "Maybe you should tuck in your sleeve. Don't want it flapping around and slapping you in the face."
Huh. That was better than I thought it'd be. I was half expecting to say something stupid about needing a hand. Clearly, so has she. Evanora gave me a slight smile and used her hand to roll up the fabric of the sleeve.
She took charge, marching forward with determination. Thankfully, she didn't match all that fast so it wouldn't be awkward to keep up with her. As we walked through town and passed by a few forestkin, I decided to try and break the ice. "So, what are you going to do once you get to Spudnik?"
Not taking her eyes off her forward gaze, Evanora answered my question. "I'm not too sure. My alchemy required both of my hands in order to properly use, so I'll have to find some way to make up for it. Either that or quit the art altogether."
As she spoke, a frown marred her features. Damn it Darius, you were doing so well! Right, try to clean this mess up. "Well, how about getting a prosthetic arm? Maybe then you'll be able to work on your alchemy again."
She blinked in confusion, eyebrows furrowing as she thought my plan over. "I don't know what a prosthetic is. Is it like a pseudo-limb?"
Pseudo-limb? Is that what they call it over here? I mean, it works perfectly fine, but it just doesn't sound as sciencey as a prosthetic limb. A pseudo-limb sounds like something you find in the frozen meats aisle of a supermarket. "Yeah, that's about right."
That seemed to clear up any confusion Evanora had, as she went back to frowning. She moved her hand to her stub,
before catching herself, her frown deepening even more. "As much as I would like to, they are still not very functional. They have none of the dexterity that an adventurer alchemist like me requires. Not only that, but they are incredibly expensive. Even if Citrine and Brynjar spent all of their money on it, we'd still come up short by a large amount."
I suppose I can get that. I mean, you'd need to have the arm specially fitted to the recipient and properly measured. Then you need to train them in use of the arm. Well, that's if you use normal prosthetics. The shinobi prosthetic was a lot easier to use, as all it took was attaching it to the person and bam! They automatically have full control over their new limb.
Well, there's an idea.
Placing a hand to my chin, I gave myself a quick thanks as I had removed my gauntlets earlier today. I stayed at her good arm, judging the size and shape of it all the while making mental adjustments to the blueprint. You see, the prosthetic gauntlet gets its name from two things. One, it's a gauntlet, and two, its base design was that of a prosthetic arm. I'm assuming you can see where I'm going with this.
"Can you please stop staring."
Ah, shit. I must've made Evanora uncomfortable. I looked away from her arm and began to fully immerse myself in backtracking the design of the gauntlet. The interesting thing about the original gauntlets design was how jury rigged the whole thing was. Sure, it was still a masterfully designed piece of equipment, but there were certain differences and contradictions in its design that allowed for the possibility of turning it back into a prosthetic arm. Truth be told, I wasn't sure if this would work. However, combining my gutting out of the blueprint with Gentleman Scientist should make the effort bear fruit. "Craft: Shinobi Prosthetic."
"What are you- "
Her question was drowned out by the soft blue glow that accompanied Craft, the prosthetic materializing in my hand. It was a rush job and didn't have any cool features other than being a hand, but not giving her the arm because I wanted to do something cool was a bit too dickish for my liking. Stretching my hand out to meet her good arm, I gave her the prosthetic. "Just put it where your arm was and give it a good twist."
She must've been a bit too dumbfounded by me seemingly pulling the prosthetic out of thin air, as she just nodded dumbly and followed my orders. Placing the prosthetic at her arm, Evanora pushed it in and gave a slight twist, electing a small gasp of pain as she did so. That pain didn't last long, as she soon began to move the prosthetic around, marveling at the fact that it did as she thought completely. At this point, it may as well be a wooden arm, since it was far past the realm of mere prosthetics.
It was a good thing that she lost the arm rather than something else. If she had lost a leg, no way would I have been able to just pull off that bullshit without some serious tinkering. Actually, could I just take the foot attribute from any kind of grieves and sabatons, mixing them with the prosthetic until I got my desired effect? Could I make an entire prosthetic person?
Thoughts for later.
A sudden weight slamming into my side distracted me from my Frankenstein like thoughts. Apparently Evanora liked her new arm, and decided to test it out with a hug, all the while thanking me. I reciprocated, wrapping my arms around her, and giving her a quick squeeze since, well, why not? Hugs are nice.
It didn't really last long, as Evanora soon let go and composed herself with a slight cough, her face a light shade of red. Probably for the best anyway. After all, we still had places to be.
The rest of our walk was quiet, though in a comfortable sort of way. Evanora was a bit busy marveling at her prosthetic arm, moving it around and watching as it behaved just like a real hand. If there's one thing I've learned from my time here, it's that these people are surprisingly sturdy emotionally.
Eventually, we made our way to the front gate. Citrine, Brynjar, and Emery were all standing there, chatting amongst themselves as they waited. Brynjar was the first to notice us, and he waved eagerly, loudly beckoning us to join them. "Come you two! We'd better be going if we want to be out of here by dawn."
Citrine was quieter, though that must've been because she was staring intently at the prosthetic arm Evanora wore. As we approached the group, Citrine beelined toward Evanora and began to talk in hushed whispers.
I shrugged, turning towards Brynjar. The man was calmer than I thought, though I could still see the curiosity in his eyes. "Tell me lad, what is that contraption on Evanora's arm? And how did you make it?"
Huh. He must've figured that since I was pretty great at making things, that I had designed and built the prosthetic myself. He's not wrong, but he probably didn't get the "how" right in his head. He got the right answer, but went about it the wrong way, so to speak.
I wasn't going to tell him the intricacies of my power, if only because it's more fun that way. "It's called a prosthetic. It's like a pseudo-limb, but better and cheaper to make. And as for the how, well that's a trade secret I'm afraid. Can't ruin all my surprises."
He bobbed his head, accepting my answer without even asking more about it. It's conversations like these that make me resolute that I don't know much about the general culture of this place. A normal person would've been dying to figure out how I did it, but so far everyone's just taking it as it is. Hmm, I wonder. "Hey Brynjar. What would you say is the most advanced piece of technology you've ever heard of?"
To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what the tech level for this place was. From what I've seen, it looks to be a low-tech high magic sort of thing, but at the same time I've only seen it through the perspective of a small village and a town in the middle of the forest. Hell, these could be considered the boonies and there was actually robots and shit deeper in the mainland.
Turning my attention back towards Brynjar, I watched was he hummed at my question. He crossed his arms and looked up towards the sky, watching the sun rise and dawn break. Finally, he turned his attention back to me and spoke. "It's been a while since I've been to the capital, but last I saw they were working on these things called "guns" that seemed rather advanced. Never really saw the use for it me self, but it's there."
Oh. Well, I'll be damned. They already have firearms in this world, and maybe more considering the fact that he hasn't been there for a while. Alright, so maybe I'll have to adjust my theory on the whole tech thing. Maybe medium tech and high magic then.
Citrine and Evanora rejoined the group, Citrine giving me a thankful smile as they did so. We gave a supply count, and I looked through my inventory and pulled out whatever was said. From there, the gate opened, and we were allowed to leave the town and journey out into the dark forest.
Time to see some mother fucking potatoes.
…
Honestly, this was more of a wrapping up chapter meant to tie some loose ends and prepare for the next arc. It's a far more lighthearted affair than the other arcs so far, so it should be fun. Not only that, but we get to see what the rest of the world is really like.
Review of the chapter:
"Wait, did Merritt die in the explosion?"
Honestly, this isn't much of a spoiler, so I don't mind actually answering it. No, Merritt didn't die in the explosion. She had been in a different part of the house than the part that exploded. I made sure to say the east wing, since the rest of the house is mostly alright. Though using it as a house would be a bit difficult now. So don't worry, no child murder this time.
This has been A Decent Hoonter, and I have no idea what to call this chapter.