The next morning I was outside by the mountain base testing all the Quirk Abilities I inherited from All Might. On today's agenda, Dark Shadow. I haven't actually used or tried this one since the Alucard fight.
"Alright, come on out Dark Shadow." I said, trying to summon my shadow helper.
After a bit, a small humanoid Shadow person with a birds head flowed out from my stomach and faced me with glowing yellow eyes. "Hey David." They greeted.
"Hey Dark Shadow, how are you doing?"
"I'm good. How are you?"
"I'm fine." I nodded. "So, we're going to be training a bit."
"Uh, sure but it's day out. My strength and such is weaker in bright areas."
Right… maybe some skill points can change that.
"Right, let me fix that." I said, pulling up my assistant and skill tree to rectify that problem.
I began putting some skill points into Dark Shadow.
[Dark Shadow Rank 5: Dark Shadow now has a 20% resistance to light areas and is less likely to turn in dark environments.]
Good. More.
[Dark Shadow Rank 15: Dark Shadow now has 60% Resistance to light environments. They can cloak the host body in shadow to act as armor or morph into weapons, and are only 30% likely to turn in dark environments.]
Great. Now let's max it.
[Dark Shadow Maxed: Total immunity to light environments. Can create a light void effect to reduce light visibility within a two mile area. Can split off the host and act as own entity for up to twenty four hours. Dark Shadow will no longer turn in pitch black environments. Dark Shadow has access to all but Legendary Abilities of host.]
Now that is awesome.
"I feel like I have zoomies." Dark Shadow informed me.
I chuckled. "Alright, so how about you hop out of my body and we have a quick run alright?"
They did just that, first flowing out like a blob/ribbon then formed a body. The body was basically a silhouette shadow form of my own, but they still had the bird head. "Cool. I have legs." Dark Shadow said, tapping their own legs.
"How's it feel to have your own body?"
"Kinda like when I'm in yours but, I'm in control." They replied, still patting their new legs up and down.
I chuckled. "Glad you like it, ready for some running?"
"Why? Are we going somewhere?"
"Not really, just to help you get used to having your own body." I said honestly.
"Okay. So where are we running to?"
"Nowhere specific, just getting a good run in." I said honestly.
"If you say so." They nodded, suddenly zooming off in a trail of black lightning… right. I forgot they have access to all my abilities now. Sans Generation. Dark Shadow was now back next to me. "I ran David."
"How did it feel?"
"Fast." They said.
Huh… dark shadow sure is a… simple guy… girl? Shadow being person?
"To be fair they are still new to things considered. I don't even think they're a year yet and majority of their time 'alive' has been inside you kinda sleeping or observing." Abby said. Yes she's still inside me. I'm used to it already…
"Thanks Abby…this is still really confusing…" I thought to myself carefully.
"Best let them return for now. If they're child-like then shouldn't let them stray too far for a while."
"Alright." I mentally agreed. "Alright Shadow, time to come back."
"Okay!" They said, jumping towards me. I did flinch, expecting to be tackled but they just flowed back into me from the same spot they flowed out of on my stomach.
Well, that was different.
Alright then… what other abilities do I have or can make use of? Of the rest of Class 1-A…
"Okay…so I went through Izukie, Bakugo, Tenya, Tokoyami…Mineta…Aizawa, alright, so I believe next should be Uraraka."
I placed my hands together, the finger tips touching as they glowed pink. I picked up a rock and watched it float up… and up… and up… cool.
Woah…
I felt a wave of nausea hit me. Nothing major just a little upset stomach, like bad gas… right. Forgot her quirk has this side effect.
"Ugh…" I coughed, feeling a bit of bile rush into my mouth as I swallowed it back. "Ich…hate bile…"
I immediately started putting skill points into it. Anything to lessen or stop that.
[Zero Gravity Rank 5: Nausea caused by use decreased by 25%. Gravity around afflicted objects can now be manipulated via hand gestures while quirk is active.]
Okay… that's actually really neat.
"Alright, so slightly turning into telekinesis…cool." I said. "Also, kinda thought half of the reason why she was having a tough time with it was because she was motionsick…"
I put more skill points into it and…
[Zero Gravity Maxed: Nausea negated. Total control over gravity around your immediate environment. Increase or decrease gravitational force of a target and yourself at will.]
"Oh that sounds a tad overpowered…" I muttered.
I tested it in a tree-
Ker-crunch!
The tree exploded into splinters as I focused onto it and closed my hand into a fist… oh okay…
"Okay…awesome." I said with a smile. "So, complete gravity control, that's not going to cause shenanigans to happen."
Now what next…
"Alright…now time to get myself a tail." I said, trying to bring out the tail I would get from Ojiro's quirk.
I yelped at my pants tore from behind as my new tail sprouted out, ending in a tuff of hair matching my head hair… crap… I liked these pants…
"Isn't this just a larger monkey tail?" Abby asked.
"I mean…yes, but I really should have thought this through…I liked these pants…"
I managed to figure out how to move it. Imagining it as another arm helped so I can manage some basic movements. Well, that's good so far. I know in the manga and anime he trained with martial arts to make use of his otherwise lackluster quirk. It also makes a good blunt object… actually… if I use Harden with it, this thing would make a very effective club.
"Combo's, awesome…" I muttered with a smile, before trying to see if I could upgrade it.
Surprisingly it only took five skill points to max out.
[Quirk Ability, Tail, Maxed: The limb is comprised of all muscle, allowing for maximum power and flexibility and the skin around it is tougher to add durability.]
Useful.
I looked at my new limb… hmm… if I keep it out all the time I'll need to alter all my pants… guess I'll pop it out when or if needed.
"Alright, so next up…let's go with Create, Momo's quirk."
Alright now how do I… crap, she has to know the molecular structure of the items she's making… I know nothing about…
"Crap…" I groaned. "The one quirk where I need to know something…here, let's see if I can upgrade it to ignore it."
I started… wait… it… it doesn't level up?! I mean, I guess it's pretty op as is… damn it…
"Guess this means you'll have to study." Abby said.
"I know…and I don't like it…" I grumbled. "Fine, next…let's go with the electricity…"
I looked up Electrification in my Assistant to get an idea of what it's capable of.
[Quirk Ability Electrification: Naturally generates and houses a build up of electricity within the user with an absorption and expulsion limit of 1,300,000 volts before shortening out users brain causing a mentally crippled state for one hour. (Electronium Gemstone Detected. Negative Effect Nullified)]
My Electronium Gem nullifies the short circuit thing for the brain? Cool.
"Okay, that's cool, now let's see if I can upgrade it…" I hummed, thinking if I could do some of the shenanigans Enaru could do in One Piece.
[Quirk Ability Electrification Rank 5: Electricity generated matches speed and volts of standard Electronium gems, natural insulation along nervous system increased, resisting foreign electrification. This also allows your own body to more rapidly send signals to the limbs and brain akin to active Speed Force use.]
Holy… and that's just rank five?
"Holy shit…." I muttered in awe, deciding to see if I could max it out
It took almost two hundred skill points but… holy…
[Quirk Ability Electrification has evolved. Evolution to Thunder God complete. Cross compatibility with Electronium Electricity Element integrated. User has access to a 14.7 trillion volt storage at a generation rate of 5 billion volts per second while in use. User can hyper focus onto the electrical impulses in animals and other species and redirect them if the target has lesser resistances or will to such attacks. This can also allow the user to read and understand the targets thoughts and force through memories of the target as well as learn to communicate to machinery through the electricity within them.]
Jesus… Christ…
"Wow… Abilities like that normally take someone centuries of grinding and you bypassed it thanks to All Might…" Abby said.
"Uh…alright, this is really fucking cool." I said in awe.
"Will definitely come in handy. Anything else you wanna make OP or are we gonna do anything else today?"
Hmm… well, we're sailing now so… no dungeon runs… I guess I can help build stuff. Our home here is gonna be a village sooner or later.
"Hmm…well, let's look at my non-quirk skills." I said, given that I was given a fuck ton more skills than quirks, it would help out more to diversify.
Let's see… Scan, High Jump, Speed Force, huh. Don't have much of non quirk based abilities…
"That…makes little to no sense…" I muttered, looking back at the Quirk skill tree to see if there was any weird skills that were boosting what quirks he had.
"Maybe he was running entirely off of the One for All energy?" Abby offered.
"That can't be it, cause I remember getting like, thousands of abilities from All Might, and the millions of unused Skill Points…" I frowned.
"Maybe they're locked?"
I frowned, trying to look through all the abilities and skills to see if they were in fact locked. "Maybe it's to help make sure I don't explode from power or something?"
"That would make sense. Wonder how-"
"They're unlocked?" I froze and I could feel Abby did that same… that… that was All Might's voice! "Surprised? Well, me to kid."
"Alright…so, I shouldn't be surprised cause One for All does at least keep some mental imprint of it's user in it but…I am…" I said in confusion and worry. "So…hi there Toshinori…
"Hey kid. So, first thing's first…. This hasn't happened before. Not to me at least."
"No, I have not heard from any other voice." I shook my head. "So…this is all brand new…I was just wondering why I had all these other abilities and skills but it didn't show…"
"Hmm…maybe… I might have an idea."
"What up?" I inquired, wondering what their idea might be.
"Well, within this world you know when people pass on, or rather, are going to enter Madnesses, their abilities and such are all taken and either left to an inheritor or given to Arenas as rewards for challengers. Well, there also exists something we call Echoes. Imprints of the mind of someone left on either a machine, or in a person like this. This is more common when people are Reflections, very similar alternative versions of one another. Somehow though I've become one in you."
I rubbed my temples. "Oh my god…so this is some brand new nonsense I don't think I was ready for…"
"I know One for All used to house the imprints of prior vessels, but when The Mother made this reality that was supposedly removed… then again… maybe it is imprints but of a different caliber."
"I mean…I technically absorbed part of your DNA." I said honestly. "So…maybe that has something to do with it?"
"That's what I'm thinking. Most abilities, Quirk and non Quirk Abilities are actually genetics related. In this world the cells that make up all organic life are extremely programmable and adaptable. This means even if a small sample, somewhere in the DNA of mine One for All passed onto you was a copy of my conscious mind. I wonder just why I woke up though? Unless… my actual self finally fell into the madness at the Asylum…"
"I'm sorry…" I sighed. "That's…exactly what happened, you gifted me everything you owned and all your skills, points and abilities…"
"I see. I knew when I woke up here that must have been what happened. How long has it been?"
"Two months ago." I answered.
"Sounds about right. Time Walkers usually pick you up a month or two before Madness takes you over."
"Alright." I nodded. "Good to know…so, if your wondering what I'm doing is so far I'm upgrading a lot of skills and looking through all the other stuff you gave me…did you know that Kaminari's quirk maxed out evolves into a God ability?"
"Of course. Before Madness claimed him he managed to max it out and, well, he had fun… but it was like letting a toddler play with matches…"
"I can imagine…" I said sheepishly. "Keeping the kid under control was probably some practice in futility with his shenanigans."
"Basically. Still, if I'm awake as an echo in you it might explain why none of my abilities aside the One for All ones are showing up for you."
"Why is that? Is it…technically because your still alive?"
"Yes and no. As an Echo, I'm lacking both a body and soul. But since One for All registers me as a prior vessel, it might have forced your assistant to register me as a separate entity, like Abby, but one that is currently one with your biology."
"That is…very strange." I said honestly. "But this world keeps getting stranger and stranger I guess."
"This isn't a common event, it happens from time to time but it's fairly rare. Hmm… this might work to our advantage however."
"Oh? How so?" I inquired.
"Much in the same way Abby can help you out in ways as a Symbiote, as an extra entity, should you get knocked out I can take over. Odds are we'll be sharing the One for All abilities but I'll also have access to all my abilities you were supposed to get before this development."
"Alright, good to know." I nodded. "Now…let's actually see what nonsense you were really up to." I said, pulling up my skills to see if I can see them now.
Unfortunately, nothing… I did have something new however. Host skill tree. Under them were two branches. Abby, and Toshinori. Huh…
"Oh! I know this tree, mom has it! Basically whenever you host a Symbiote or other sentient entity, like All Might here, for so long it becomes open. You can't access our skills through it yet but you can add to how we can support you through it." Abby informed.
"Alright, let's take a look through it." I said while opening that Host skill tree to see what it could offer.
For Abby, it gave me the options for Primal Assimilation, let's her through me consume matter and add it to me. Memory Munch, when I eat an enemy brain I can also gain their recent memories, and lastly Limb Reinforcement. Let's her add mass to my limbs to make me stronger, faster and more durable.
For All Might, there was Heroes Might, temporarily allowing me to gain a peak physical physique, Might Over Nature, which will basically allow me to pull off his various Smash Moves. Lastly, an ability called Natural Talent. This will allow me to use One for All like All Might, but it doesn't apply to the various Quirks.
"Huh…this is all really cool." I said honestly.
"Definitely gonna be very useful." All Might said.
"Yep." I nodded, taking all the new special skills. "Wonder when I can get new skills from this tree…"
"From what mom told me this one just takes time to open more." Abby said.
"Fair enough…and all we have is time…" I sighed.
"So, what have I missed these last few months?" All Might asked.
"Oh, nothing much really, just got kidnapped and thrown into Armageddon by 'Immigration' as well as all of Candlelight cause…why not." I said honestly.
"Oh… well… that's not good."
I sighed, stretching my arms some before hearing something near me. I looked and saw a deer. Hmm… I wonder if you can farm deer?
"You can, but it's tricky." Abby said.
"How tricky?" I inquired. "Besides just finding deer to begin with?"
"Not too sure. An ex raised them but I didn't pay that much attention when they talked about it. All I remember is them saying it was tricky."
"Of course…" I sighed. "Well…at least we're set on supplies for a long ass time…"
I still decided to pick the deer using my new upgraded Zero Gravity and just manipulating the gravity around it and as it kicked and panicked and ran in the air I had it hover along following me.
I used my Terra Gem abilities and made a deep enough pit and placed the deer in there, and made a small pond for them.
The village is coming along. Lot a of building a but they're all empty so far… save Clint's store that… currently only sells ammo.
With a shrug I walked over to it and inside. It was pretty empty. Just some basic boxes of various ammo.
"Just a whole lot of ammo…" I muttered
"Since I was dumb enough to leave all my main merch in a cart that asshat fought me over I just got my stupid amount of ammo." Clint huffed, sitting at the desk of his store and cleaning his revolver. "Next time we stop I'm splitting off to find stuff to stock this place."
"I mean…from what you said, the only thing that person was pissed about was the Breeder and nothing else." I pointed out.
Clint waved that off. "That brat doesn't even know the first thing about Breeders. Saved her my ass, once he takes her blindfold off they're gonna learn that that hard way."
"Keeping a Breeder away from like…ninety percent of this planet is doing good." I said honestly. "Plus, the whole Breeder thing is fucking disgusting…"
"Yeah but like I said, once they remove their blindfold her programming kicks in and registers them as her owner, and unless they want her harming themselves and going into deep bouts of depression and anxiety, they'll have to screw them regularly. Going too long without being used their programming literally drives them insane."
"I have been told and it's fucking horrible that this even exists." I said honestly. "But again, better he than ninety percent of the planet, so if we're going off the 'lesser of two evils', than he's still doing a good thing."
"Won't be singing that tune when they unlock the Rapist Title and the dark skill trees get unlocked. Breeders are a well known gateway into getting those abilities."
"And that makes no sense, cause unless reality goes 'hey, you changed how this person is, let's count it as rape', that shouldn't happen." I said honestly. "And again, you're acting like if he did this one thing he's no better than literally everyone else here." I asked.
"By definition he did steal from me." Cliff shrugged. "Last I checked, heroes don't steal."
"Last I checked, heroes stop human trafficking." I countered simply. "And even if Breeders aren't 'people' by some dumbass definition, he still did a heroic thing by keeping you from selling them off to some deplorable jackass that would have tortured her more than whatever the hell they could have done to themselves."
"Maybe… not like I was gonna sell her to just anyone…" Cliff said.
"Selling her to begin with was the problem…I mean, the real problem was Breeders and whoever either came up with it or forced it is a morally bankrupt cockwaffle." I rolled my eyes. "But isn't there literally anyone that's positive and actually helps people out of the kindness of their hearts?"
"... They break…" Cliff sighed, looking somber as he polished his revolver. "Sooner or later… it will happen. This planet eventually breaks you… one way or another…"
"There has to be someone." I frowned. "Like some local legend, a hero, someone that's the most wanted by the Chaos Guilds cause of their kindness…it can't just be 'everything is fucked, get used to it', cause if that was the case then why does this world exist and not been nuked from Orbit by a vast majority of creation?"
"I don't know. I was just born here and try to get by."
"Right…born here, and taught that 'it's best to just give up and try to get by'..." I shook my head. "Well, shit's not going to work like that anymore."
"Heh. Tell that to the chaos guilds." Cliff said, giving a half hearted chuckle. "Don't go chasing unrealistic goals kid."
"I wouldn't have been kidnapped here if there wasn't some weird unrealistic goal to do." I said honestly. "Especially when the 'Immigration' man said that the planet itself wanted new friend's that aren't the scum of existence."
"Eh, don't take his word at face value, they're a bunch of religious nutjobs. Just as bad as puritans. Only not racist, just double down on the crazy."
"Considering that I'm also an Isekai in a world that claims 'everything is possible'...I'd say otherwise."
"You just always try and get the last say in a conversation don't you?"
"Someone has to, cause having Armageddon be some grim dark bullshit that's just straight boring in context isn't really fun." I said honestly.
"Doubt fun was going through whoever made this planet's mind. I'm betting more… pain and suffering mixed with various horrors."
"And like you've proven, it gets boring, and you just go about your day trying to make a living…ugh, it sounds like back on Earth…" I grumbled.
"Only with the risk of constant death, torment of being more or less erased and turned into a monster, slave or breeder." Cliff said with a shrug.
"Eh, fair." I shrugged. "But things will get better, it just takes time."
"Twenty. Eras. Later." Cliff said in that monotone SpongeBob voice when they skip passed some time.
I actually laughed at that.
"Alright, that was good." I chuckled.
"Gotta try and laugh sometimes." He shrugged. "Otherwise, the world really has broken you."
"Yep, always gotta stay positive."
"So when are we gonna go to the next place we can loot?"
"No idea, just letting our giant turtle friend go around and do his own thing and maybe finding some other places along the way." I shrugged.
"Well hopefully we find someplace soon. Aside from that daughter of yours I haven't had much in terms of customers."
"Considering we're in a place that is most likely completely looked over by Chaos Guilds…I doubt there will be many customers." I said honestly. "Unless we somehow find other town's here somehow…"
"Maybe? Might be on the backs of other turtles, sailing on ships or made home deep under the water."
"Maybe." I shrugged. "Now I just have to think of what other places we can find, cause I don't know many dungeon area's that are solely underwater."
"Well aside from that Rapture one there are sunken cities, half sunken cities, small islands that are actually the tips of underwater mountains, volcanoes are great for ores, decaying ships and such can get you lots of different loot depending on what kind of ships there are, and if you find a dead giant turtle they're also great resource wise."
"That's good." I nodded. "So got a lot of things to look forward to in the coming future."
"Plus, fishing is always an option here and offs are if you get a good set up a lot of fish can also be used as resources and more often than not a trash island can be mined or harvested for stuff if you have a good resource recycler."
Wow. Even in this kind of world trash islands are a thing… oddly, I think those will help us a lot in the long run.
"Well, good to know all of that." I said readily. "So everything's going to help out depending on how it all goes."
"You learn quick growing up on this planet how to make use of everything. Means the difference between making it another day or dying painfully just to respawn and try again in unfamiliar territory."
"Fair enough." I nodded,
"David. There is something coming up ahead." The giant turtle informed.
Speaking of.
"Alright, we got something important happening." I said. "What's the thing coming up?" I mentally asked our giant turtle friend.
"It would appear to be an island. Several large ships float near it, all connected by scrap metal bridges. All I can see along the land and ships are undead and monsters."
"Alright, time to either meet or fight some monster pirates." I said, cracking my knuckles as I sped off to a spot closest so I could actually get a better look at these things.
"Guess this means I can flesh out the store." Clint said, following me as we made it up the mountain and over to the turtles head.
The island itself was fairly big… maybe the size of Easter island back on earth and many large ships ranging from cruise ships to navy ships and even some cargo and oil tankers all floated nearby.
Cliff whistled. "This is gonna be a good haul."
"Oh yeah, this will be a lot of fun." I said readily. "Though I have to wonder if the monsters there are people or just monsters."
"Judging from what I can see from here… monsters. Places like this are probably a Lore Hunters wet dream." He shrugged.
He mentioned that in Rapture to… Lore Hunters?
"By the by, what are Lore Hunters?" I inquired. "Like, some guild of archeologists or something?"
"Basically. As you probably know by now a lot of dungeons all seem to have a history to them that isn't told directly to you but is often seen in how they're built, the monsters in them, and the loot they have. Lore Hunters go through dungeons picking over every inch of this based on any information available from what they find and can observe. Most of the time the ones with boss monsters can also give a good idea what happened. It's a fun project to look into if you got the power and time to do it and you can learn a lot of useful things sometimes."
"And being a Lore Hunter would also help you find some hidden stuff that could give you a fuck ton of resources." I said honestly. "Might need to check up on it I suppose."
"It's not really that hard to start or get into. Just take's a keen eye and maybe a few dozen notebooks."
"Ah, yes, back in the olden days of video games, where you had to write down pretty much everything." I chuckled.
That made Cliff laugh. "Well, if you got a camera or audio recorder, can do that to."
"Which is what Assistant's are very capable of." I said readily, cause even if this planet didn't give me a Wi-Fi signal, literally everything else about it was usable and the list was still extensive.
I managed to activate the eyes view camera and started recording. A little blinking red light next to my health bar showing me video was being captured.
Once the turtle stopped just shy of the beach Cliff and I got over to the sandy shore, seeing some various things here.
"So, where you looking at first?"
"Hmm…" I hummed, looking around the place to see where to go first. "We have an entire island and boats to look through…so probably just gonna pick a direction and just walk."
"Cool. I go right, you go left." Cliff said, already walking off to the left.
I shrugged and checked out this half of the beach then. A few beaches boats and such here.
First, I checked out a small boat. It was one of those personal boats people would keep at a dock, it had a torn sun visor, a small stairway into a cabin where a messy, dirty bed was, a small kitchen and such was.
I checked the mortars and steering. Hmm… everything seems intact… actually, if I can take these and the large boats… that's a lot of spare metal or repairable ships immediately…
"I'd say take them." Abby said.
"I suppose. At the end of the day, you need the supplies to help your family." All Might added.
"Alright, time to take some boats." I said, getting out of the boat and trying to put the whole thing into my Assistant.
It went in without effort or resistance thankfully.
[New Item Added. Small Luxury Sailboat. Repairs needed.]
"Neat." I nodded. "Alright, off to the next boat."
I walked along the beach, gathering up every boat that was stuck on the sand and-
"Hi dad." Luna said, poking her head out of the boat I walked up to.
"Luna!? What are you doing here?" I asked incredulously, wondering how she got to this monster infested island without anyone knowing.
Her horn lit up and in a blue flash she was in front of me. "I can teleport now."
"Oh no…" I groaned. "That is too much power for a six year old…"
"So what's up with this island?"
"It's an island filled with undead and monsters, not a place for six year olds." I said honestly.
"Awh. But I always helped you when we fought dinosaurs and other monsters back in Dechamore."
"And this is different, a lot different." I said carefully. "Cause if you were hurt, I knew that there were so many things that kept you fully safe, both from doctor's to respawns if I was especially stupid…this place has no such safety nets…if you…if we lose you…we might lose you forever…" I said weakly.
"But I can teleport away if I need to."
"Yes, cool, that doesn't stop me from being scared witless about your safety." I said carefully.
"What if I stay on your back and shoot anything that tried to sneak up behind you?"
"Luna please…" I sighed, not wanting to argue with my stubborn child but still scared shitless about all of this.
"You should bring her." All Might said. "I know you're worried, but it's better she learn from you how to fight and how to survive rather than her becoming dependent on you for safety and something happen."
"I know that but she's six!" I tried to argue. "She shouldn't have to…I know she's going to stick around no matter what I say but still…"
"Better to agree and have her with you willingly than her try and go it alone and when you're distracted."
I sighed… I hate this…
"Alright Luna…you stay on my back and stay there." I said. "No wandering off alright?"
"Yes dad." She said, giving me a nod and a smile.
As we walked along the beach I kept checking to make sure Luna was behind me. We came upon a large rock, when it jumped out of the ground, being a giant crab with a rock attached to it's shell.
In panic I blasted it with fire. The end result was a slightly burned steaming dead giant crab.
"Huh… do you think it's edible still?" Luna asked.
"I don't know…" I groaned at the fact I panicked immediately at the giant crab. "Fucking giant enemy crabs…"
I stored the giant crab into my Assistant, it being placed in the foods tab told me it was edible.
We kept walking to the next boat-
"Grauglllge…"
We looked at the water where… it was a zombie, it was an undead… but it was… square.
"Isn't that one of those water zombies from Minecraft?" Luna voiced my thoughts. I was… it's actually square!
"Yes…that's a Drowned…why is it here?" I asked in confusion.
"Well… this is an ocean…" Luna said, pulling out her revolver and shooting it through the head. Her aim with that thing is… disturbingly impressive.
The drowned dropped a bar of copper and a shell…
Actually a conduit would be very useful…
"Well…if this island is somehow Minecraft…" I muttered, collecting the copper and shell. "Then maybe thing's can get better."
"Nothing here looks blocky… maybe it just randomly spawned?" Luna offered.
I shrugged as we moved on, collecting the remaining boats and now we're at the makeshift bridge into the first large ship floating on the coast. It appeared to be fair sized fishing boat but the net part seemed to be broken.
"Alright, so this boat might be filled with monsters…" I said.
Luna nodded, keeping behind me and I walked slowly, not hearing anything until.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
Okay something is here…
I brought out Starlight and readied myself for this. "Hello?"
Tap-tap-tap-tap! "Roaroof!"
"Puppy!" Luna cheered at the tiny four legged land shark, wagging it's tailfin like a tail of a dog…
Jeff?
"Oh my god…" I muttered, kneeling down and opening my arms for the pupper shark. "Jeff? You are real!" I said in joy at the adorable pup shark.
The shark pupper looked at me confused, but gave me a large toothed smile as it ran up and nuzzled against me.
Luna pet the leathery skinned shark dog and they happily enjoyed the attention.
"Oh my gods I used to have one of these as a pet when I was a kid! Land shark dogs are so adorable!" Abby said happily.
"Yes, yes they are, especially PuppyShark, that anime landshark dog is just adorable." I thought warmly.
I spent a good bit petting and scratching this shark pupper with Luna before Luna picked them up and we continued through the boat. Among the boat was various bits of eaten fish and chewed cans.
"This is nice." I said with a warm smile.
"And you were worried." Luna said.
This boat was clear and we were walking up the next makeshift bridge and stairs to a much larger ship. I think this one was for cargo?
"Alright, next up is a Cargo ship…and this should be filled with enemies…" I said carefully.
Upon reaching the deck of this cargo ship I was greeted with various zombies, fish monsters, and some shadow Creatures.
Using a little of Generation I rapidly blasted them all with ice and lightning. Luna got a few shots off at some and our new shark pup sat next to us smiling adorably.
With the deck clear I began looking around the area. So far, mostly rusty cargo crates and equipment… still, most of these cargo crates are still closed. Few are open but inside there's a few things.
"Alright, at least these thing's are still filled with stuff." I said, moving over to one of the closed cargo crates and opening up the door to see what was in it.
The rusted hinges screeched as I pulled it open. Inside I found boxes and boxes on pallets. Opening the nearest one I found that inside was… Q-tip boxes. Huh. Well Marianne will probably enjoy these.
I opened another box on a different pallet and inside was pencils. Those basic number two pencils always for sale anywhere. Good, find some notebooks and we can prep for making a school.
From where I was I was able to look into the box of another pallet and inside this one was… batteries. Triple A's. Huh. Maybe useful? Bunch of random stuff but maybe we can repurpose most into other things.
"Well, you never know how well random items can help." I said, starting to collect all the random stuff cause it could help us later.
Once this crate was cleared I opened the next, finding more pallets of stuff but less packed than the other one.
The first pallet I checked had boxes full of plushies. Various plushies all shaped like dinosaurs. Unexpected but cute.
"Alright…good for me." I said, starting to collect guyall the various plushies. "Could help with all the kids…"
The next pallet had various plates. Very useful. The next, empty photo albums. Sunglasses, pocketknives, socks, boxes of gloves, all kinds of random mundane stuff.
The next crate I noticed was different. Firstly it wasn't rusted, it was also thicker and seemed to have a pad for entering a key code but there wasn't any power to it.
If I remember right…
I used Electrification to short the still viable circuits and make it unlock.
It opened with a smooth pull and inside was wood boxes each locked up tightly.
"Thank you lightning powers." I said with a smile.
I managed to open the first box, finding a lot of sniper rifles inside with spare magazines and a few boxes of ammo for each. Woah. This was a weapons shipment. Explains the heavy duty cargo crate and keypad door.
"Cool, more guns." I said honestly. "Well, at least we'll have more weapons in case of monster attacks."
I stored this box away and opened the next, finding, to my surprise, broadswords. I picked one up. Surprisingly lightweight… I used Scan.
[Monofilament Broadsword.]
Wait I know I've heard that word before…
"Monofilament is one of the strongest metals in existence. It can take hits from even supercharged vibranium." Abby informed.
Right. Back when I started, I got some bullets made from it. They were one of the more pricy ammo types.
"Alright…so we got an entire crate filled with Monofilament Broadswords…awesome."
I immediately stored them away. I did keep one in my hotbar on the assistant. Well, hotbar might not be accurate. It's more like a favorites list of weapons I can more quickly select between.
I opened the next box, finding pistols. They were semi auto and seemed to be the same caliber as Luna's revolver.
"Alright, cool." I nodded. "More weapons….must have been delivering to a Walmart or something."
I pocketed everything into my Assistant and did the same for the remaining few boxes of weapons.
With that done it was rinse, repeat, fight, repeat again.
Luna and I got back into the turtle and home before sunset and I flopped onto the couch.
"Long day?" Vais asked me.
"Yeah…" I sighed. "But we did manage to get a whole lot of goodies from it."
"That's good. Kids are all doing well. Heard Luna learned teleportation."
"Yes, and that scares me a lot…" I sighed.
"Well, she is an Alicorn. Magic affinity and talent comes with the species."
"And she's six in a horrible world for kids…" I argued. "Ugh…this sucks…"
"Best we can do is have her be prepared." Vais said. "But, right now four little baby boys want their mother's attention."
Shit the boys!
"Oh crap!" I yelped as I scrambled to get off the couch, but then fell off and hit the ground as I, again, scrambled to get to my kids.
Vais helped me back to my feet. "Easy, they're just being fussy in the nursery. My mom's been looking after them but they really want to see you again David. Guess they're a bunch of mamma's boys. Heh, take after me I guess." He chuckled.
"Still…I should be there for them." I said carefully, getting up to my feet properly this time. "Ugh…too much to do…"
"Lots happened, but we'll get into a rhythm. Heh, come here." Vaise said, picking me up in his arms and giving me a kiss. I was startled but happily accepted the love and attention. "We'll go to the nursery, tend to and maybe play with our sons for a while, then I am giving you a massage."
"That…would be great…" I sighed, really thankful to get some form of a break here.
Vais walked me to the nursery. Here our sons, Jackson, Peter, Denise and Andy were crawling around a gated play area with their sister Milly, playing with some various large plushies and or each other.
Karla sat in a chair next to the pen watching the infants.
I felt really happy to see my babies. I didn't even realize I haven't had a moment with them since coming to this planet…
"Hey kids." I said with a warm smile.
As soon as the boys saw me they all B-lined it for the gate, all happy and smiling to see me.
I teared up, quickly getting my shoes off and climbed over the gate, letting my son's and daughter climb over me as I picked each of them up and gave them hugs and kisses and tickles.
"I missed you all so much." I said softly, so glad to hear the laughter and happy baby noises they were making.
I spent the next few hours coddling, cooing and spoiling my infants. Thanks to Electrification I was resistant enough to also nurse them without risk of a nasty zap. I mean, they still zapped but it didn't hurt.
Once they were all cleaned, fed and tuckered out I put them each to bed In their cribs and went to the Spa room. It was a newer addition to the house and mostly consisted of a sauna, some massage tables, a hot tub and a larger empty tub for mud baths but we couldn't find the special mud used for them.
I immediately took my shirt and bra off and jumped onto the massage table, laying on my stomach, and almost purred as Vais started. His hands were huge and strong yet gentle and the fur made it super soft.
I needed this…~
"Oh~ yeah…that's nice…" I moaned in bliss.
"You have a lot of knots here. Guess given the circumstances, that makes sense." Vais said, pressing into a deep tissue knot and while it hurt it also felt amazing.
"Yeah…just been a whole lot of things to do and no time to rest…" I sighed.
"Yeah… too bad a vacation is probably off the table… maybe at least a day or two break would help you out more?"
"I doubt I'd be allowed even a day with all the crap that needs to be done…"
"Should still try. Even if you end up needing to do something, some rest in the day is better than none." Vais added as I felt my spine pop as he pressed. Oof… that's the spot…
"I mean…yeah." I groaned. "Right there, that is wonderful."
Vais chuckled as he pressed and massaged as many knots in my back as he could find.
Eventually it was done and I sat up, put my sports bra back on and laid on the table on my newly relaxed back.
Vaise shrugged, taking a seat on the table next to this one. "So, should we give this place a name?"
"What name do you have in mind?" I asked.
"Nothing off the top of my head. Just figured I'd ask you. I doubt Turtle or Turtle Shell would make good names for a settlement."
"True…but 'shell' could at least be a part of it."
"Hmm… Shellvill? Shell City? Shellburg? Mt. Shell." Vais listed off, earning a small laugh from me.
"You dork, but those are good names though." I admitted.
"Any in there that stand out?"
"Hmm…Mt Shell sounds nice."
"Then our land shall henceforth be called, Mt. Shell!" Vais declared with gusto, making me laugh harder.
"You're such a dork!" I laughed, hugging the silly ferret happily.
"You know you love me." He laughed, giving me another kiss.
I kissed him back as my answer of 'yeah I know' and hugged my dorky hunk of a mate.
When we broke the kiss I grabbed my shirt and put it back on, stretching and getting my joints nice and limber.
"So, you already heading back out?"
"I should, cause there's a lot of that island to look over with all the boats."
"Alright. That Cliff guy still there? Didn't see him return when you and Luna did with that land shark pup."
I nodded. Guy is restocking lost inventory. Probably claiming dibs on lots too right now…
"Yeah, he's probably calling dibs on a lot of things…which I better get to him before he finds prize pods and thinks it's cool to sell them to Chaos Guilds."
"Yeah…"
With that I ran back out to the island beach and looked around. I didn't see much but I did see a fire in the distance. Rubbing over to it I found Cliff roasting fish on sticks.
"Hey." He said to me with a nod.
"Hey, how's it going?" I inquired.
"Good pickings." He nodded. "Gonna have the shop loaded with variety."
"Did you find any prize pods?" I asked carefully.
"No. Why?"
"Alright, just making sure." I said carefully. "But what did you find so far?"
Cliff raised a brow at that. "Mostly some furniture, some weapons, few random crates of food, mostly random crap."
"That's fair, I found crates of triple A batteries, dinosaur plushies, number 2 pencils, a whole lot of snipers, pistols and ammo, and even a crate of monofilament Broadswords."
Cliff whistled. "Lucky bitch."
"Yeah, I am indeed lucky." I chuckled. "But it'll help out in the long run…just hope this lucky streak keeps going."
"Doubt it." He said, pulling out a cigarette and lighter from his Assistant and taking a puff of the smoke. "More than likely… less loot, heh, more like scraps really, one centralized pile… and when we show up a boss monster appears."
"Wouldn't be surprised, honestly." I shrugged.
"Surprise ain't got nothing to do with it. It's just facts. Armageddon is dangerous but there's still a few common patterns all the zones share. The larger the loot in an area and the less deadly the monsters means it's been lacking in scavengers for some time. Based on the haul this island has, I'm willing to bet at least… four to five hundred years since it last saw people aside from us. Now that the world knows people are in this specific spot again, tomorrow stuff will appear, not anywhere close to what we found today but some goodies. Then in one spot it spawns the real treasure, and when we find it appears the big bad guarding it. It's why scavengers are weary to look through a place they picked over prior, the world will make more monsters appear and if the numbers don't stop you then it throws stronger variants at ya. Loot might be better even but at the end of the day, the more you come back the greater the risk, and reward. Just up to you to draw the line where risk outweighs reward."
"Alright, so better prepare for tomorrow when things get real."
"I guess. Could always start leaving again but that's what I'd recommend doing."
"Why do you recommend leaving?" I inquired. "In case someone else notices that we're here?"
He took another long puff from his cigarette before speaking. "It's been picked clean already. Why bother wait around to scavenge what's essentially scraps and fight a boss monster when we already got the haul? Not really practical just waiting and picking whatever shows up tomorrow."
"That's fair, but there are still quite a bit of ships left to pick apart, plus we could use the material's the boats are made out of." I said honestly.
Cliff shrugged. "That's your choice. I'll be fixing up and stocking my shop." He said, tossing the butt of his cigarette into the flames as he picked up one of his roasting fish. "So, why were you worried I found a Prize Pod?"
"Mostly because I'd rather you not sell them." I said honestly.
"Why would I sell them? To who?"
"Because I thought they would sell for quite a bit of money and to insane people like the Chaos Guilds who could probably pry the damn thing open and turn them into whatever they want." I said honestly.
Cliff groaned, rubbing their eyes in clear annoyance. "You're still new to the planet so you don't know, but Traders like me don't just go around selling Prize Pods to the Chaos Guilds. They'd kill us for them if we tried. Second, you're thinking of the Nexus Pod hunters. Those assholes look for Prize Pods and do that shit. Lust Hunters and Violence Slavers capture people like you and I, people born to or just showed up here. Third, I wasn't gonna sell the Breeder I had to just anybody."
"Good to know all that." I frowned. 'And yes, I am still new here, so sorry for immediately assuming the worst of everything cause…well, this planet."
Cliff rolled his eyes, biting into his fish. "Off worlder's." He grumbled. "Almost as bad as that brat back in The Nightmare."
"Ah, yes, the 'let's get upset at people for not knowing anything and believe they're just tourists'." I rolled my eyes. "Cause that's one way to try and disprove the raging stereotypes of this planet, help propagate them by acting like an asshole."
"Psst. Please. Anyone who comes here as a 'tourist' deserves being stuck here. Willingly coming here, even I know that's just plain stupid. Though the fact none of you were willing is unsettling. Nexus has done crazy in the past but this is a whole new ballpark." Cliff sighed, taking a few more bites. "Word of advice… if you see another trader who has a Breeder or other in their cargo… odds are, they knew them."
I frowned, hating what he just said so much. "Well, you can blame 'Immigration', cause the crazy fucker said the planet wanted 'Friends', like it's either a real person or maybe the guy went mad and is sick of all the Chaos Guild's just ruining things."
"Maybe both." Cliff shrugged. "I mean it though, eight out of ten times, a Breeder or Slave or Serf… I didn't just have her in there as resell… I knew who she used to be."
"Who was she?" I inquired. "Also…with the person who took her thinking you were a bad guy…why didn't you say anything about that?"
"Much as the twirp pissed me off… I liked his spunk. Had a good feeling about them… I figured she'd be good in their hands, fight was a mix of them pissing me off and me testing them. Got to give that brat credit, they didn't back down or give up… even tried to stop me from blowing my brains out. Heh." Cliff chuckled, taking a deep breath. "Her name was… used to be… Karlita. She has, had, three older brothers, a younger sister, mom, dad, a husband, and two daughters. Lived in a place called The Valley."
"And…what were you to them?" I inquired. "Friend? Family or what?"
"I was just the guy who would come to her town every so often and she'd buy or sell me stuff. Traveling Traders don't usually settle down, make friends… we make clients. Customers. We make routes and over time, gain regulars while we're in a place. If you're lucky. After a century and six trips in and out of her settlement, she was a regular. Usually we don't look at Lust shops when we come across them, but… something just told me… check it out… and there she was… blindfolded, gagged, tied to a bar and being tested by other customers." Cliff said, almost growling the last few words. "I knew it was her because at Scan level 100, you can register and mark Assistant ID numbers of other people. Even after becoming a Breeder, the Assistant ID number doesn't change… I bought her immediately and left… I couldn't take her back to her family… that would have been cruel."
"Jesus christ…" I muttered. "Alright…so first thing to do after making sure the settlement is self sufficient…try and figure out how to nuke the entirety of Lust till there's nothing left."
"People have raided their warehouses, brothels and stores for… shit since era one. Even took out a few factories even… none of that matters so long as the Hackers Nexus loans them are walking around and kicking."
"And I believe these Hackers are…the ones that can somehow rewrite existence to make these Breeders?"
"They're more or less Admins but Armageddon's special twist being that they can use Code without The Mother's Blessing. No one knows how they ascend or who does it, all people know is that it's a heavily guarded and secretive group within Nexus and supposedly two Hackers have a chance as their children being a Hacker as well. Not sure if that's true or not, all I know is I never want to be anywhere near one of them."
"I can imagine why." I said honestly. "Also damn…looks like it's gonna take a while for actual change to happen if that's the crux of the issue."
"Finding them and oh yeah, how the Fuck do you plan on dealing with them? Killing them will just have them respawn and imprisoning them? Please…" Cliff sighed, tossing his remaining bits of fish and bones into the fire. "Best we can do is… help the ones we know…"
"It's a long road to go from 'trying to survive' to 'taking down an entire guild'...but all we have is time."
"Yeah… you hope anyway…" Cliff sighed. "Do yourself a favor David… if you really care about that family you have there, your mates, kids… don't do anything stupid… that's how you lose them… or get lost yourself…"
I saw Cliff bring up his Assistant display a holographic screen. On it was an image of a younger him, and a strange green furred wolf naga lady?
"I…can see where that's going…" I said worriedly.
"... Her name was Emily. She was from a zone called Eden. Not really a dangerous place but no technology could work there, not even the Assistant. She was born and raised there. I walked through her zone hoping to harvest some herbs and plants, maybe some fruit and veggie seeds. Ran into her trying to dig through these huge ass grapes. We became good friends and even went against her parents' pleas to join me. Taught her everything I could… Then Hunters showed up. Wasted no hesitation gunning me down and… I haven't seen her since but… I already know what happened to her…"
"I'm…I'm really sorry." I sighed.
"I'm telling you this because unless you want to end up like me, or Emily, never do something that could have you ending up losing who you are… like her, or losing the only good thing you had… like me. No matter how much you want to save this world, is it worth risking your family? Your very being?"
I looked at Cliff… I… I want to help people… but… I can't… Not my family… I don't want to lose them… or them lose me…
I sighed. "At the moment, I'd rather make sure that the growing town is built first, I can worry about those things later."