Sumeru, In The Jungle
Fuse
Standing in the middle of a massacre of hillichurls, whose only purpose was to allow me to test my newly obtained class, something new popped up.
You have received a new fortune cookie!
Yeah, this is a nice way to be rewarded for cold-blooded murder.
Opening it up, I took a look at my new fortune.
'Oh, how foolish we were, thinking we had defied destiny!'
…Okay that's not good news.
Whose point of view is this fortune coming from? Because my system status has a huge destiny motif, and this fortune is NOT giving off good vibes of me being able to break free from said destiny, whatever that might be.
The worst case scenario is that I'll think that I defied destiny, only to somehow trick myself into fulfilling destiny. And that would be… Terrifying. To know that all of my actions were predetermined and it was just 'Destiny' guiding me along.
The best case scenario is that this fortune is someone else being overly dramatic about me kicking their ass. In that case, I can laugh it all off and continue to try and squeeze myself out of whatever this 'destiny' is.
God, I live in the worst timeline sometimes. Couldn't anyone else be saddled with this perk? Because half my fortunes essentially say in the most vague terms possible "Your future is mega screwed."
Ugh, anyways, I've been messing around with my soul mage class and figuring out what it can do right now. And the answer to that question is; quite a lot, actually.
My soul magic is pretty intuitive, I just think about the spell, I get a funny feeling in my hands, and I blast my opponents. And I could also use my spells through the staff I got from the gacha, and that did visibly more damage to my test subjects.
My one singular soul blast spell also did more damage when I used one of my souls to power it up, so I assume that the whole 'soul' thing is just an aesthetic thing until I actually imbue it with a soul in my inventory, where it then becomes way more powerful.
Speaking of which, I guess I finally learned what 'control' means in my magic rank, because I tried to do some cool things with my newly found abilities, such as trying to control where my blasts are going after I shot them, or rip the souls straight out of their bodies, but all I got was this message.
[Your Control is not strong enough to manipulate your magic proficiently.]
So, my Control rank is how I get more spells, I assume. And since my ranks are universal, it also probably means I'll quickly snowball once I can get a bunch of classes, with the only thing I need to do being practice to get used to the new class.
Hm, what do I want my next class to be? Maybe a healing class? Yeah, that sounds good, I wouldn't want to be left without a way to heal…
Hm, what would fit with my vibe? Do shamans heal? I played a shaman in World of Warcraft when I was a teenager, and they had that whole restoration spec, pretty sure I'd like one of those. Though, I think most of the healing from that class was just from water…
How would I get that class anyways? Mediating in nature? No, I think that sounds like a druid thing. Praying to the spirits? That sounds like it would actually work, but I don't want to somehow pray to the wrong thing and become a priest…
Well, anyways, I can figure that out later, right now, I still need to dump 30 souls out into the wild for me to get rid of my [Spiritual Karma] curse, which isn't that big of a deal, it's just temporary burn pain that I can deal with, but it's better to get rid of it now.
Anyways, I've just been preying on hillichurls, since killing hillichurls isn't a crime, and killing humans would be messier than I would want it to be.
It's a shame that using souls for my soul blast doesn't count as releasing them, though, since my physical fighting skills are still crap, and I fully blame that on me being half slime, and my spells are kind of weak because my intelligence and wisdom ranks only just got to F+ because I used magic for the first time.
Still, these hillichurls and mitachurls are weak, and if something stronger like an abyss mage shows up, I just snipe them and it's not an issue.
Hm, maybe he should kill some of those sentient fungi, maybe they have souls?
Okay to be fair, how was I supposed to expect that the fungi had an alliance with the hillichurls?
Dodging another strike from an overeager geo lawachurl, an oversized rock that was a B rank, and then having to duck under the strike of 2 different hydro and cryo abyss mages that were also B rank, yet still taking some damage from the cold from their blasts, I deeply regret my decision to ever chase those fleeing fungi.
Sure, they have souls I can release, but holy shit I was not prepared to face this geo lawachurl.
Firing Kennedy at the lawachurl's head, I narrowly missed his eyes and instead hit his cheek, which didn't go through somehow, and instead just left a very deep bruise.
That pisses me off, how the hell does a bullet traveling at ludicrous speeds straight into something's head not kill it? If this was more like a game, I could at least see how much damage I did, but here, it shows nothing!
Having to leap back to not get hit by the fungi, I quickly got my spiritual staff out and threw out a soul blast, imbued with the souls of one of the fungi from earlier towards my attacker.
A hydro abyss mage immediately teleported in front of the fungi to block the attack, its shield only mildly bruised.
That REALLY pissed me off, it's a whole different species and those guys are out there blocking attacks for each other?!
The lawachurl jumped at me, but it was so telegraphed I ended up just dashing forwards, putting back Kennedy and pulling out Washington and Lincoln to try and put down some of the weaker hillichurls and fungi.
Killing about 5 of them, I cut down the weaker forces by a third, leaving 10 remaining, before I had to do more gymnastics to avoid the brunt of their clubs and the mages' supporting fire that I can't do jack shit about because of their shields.
God, I really need to pick my fights better.
Checking my ammo, only to find I have 2 bullets for my pistols and about 3 for my rifle, I groaned at my having lost my former position of 'conserving ammo'. One day, I'll have enough ammo in the world, but for now, I'll have to make do with using less conventional options.
Looking down at my delusion, I sighed.
Hopefully, this thing won't kill me.
Allowing my anemo delusion to flow through me, I feel an immense amount of power coming out of me. I briefly entertain the idea that my [Conduit] perk is helping me here, but I'm more focused on winning the fight.
I only feel a slight amount of pain, and once I confirm that I'm not immediately dead, I struck out at the two abyss mages standing next to each other with a large amount of wind magic.
Immediately, the two barriers break by my raw power, making me smirk at the power trip. I tear them to shreds immediately using my blades which my delusion powered up as well, as they looked to be infused with its power.
The lawachurl charged at me to avenge its fallen comrades, but I responded by side stepping its charge and, using my increased agility from the delusion, I jumped onto its back and my powered up swords finally managed to crack its stone skin and dealt a fatal blow through his skull.
The hillichurls and fungi tried to run, but with the power of the wind, I was too fast for them to escape.
Finishing my massacre, which at one point seemed so impossible, I laughed at the power that my epic tier item had given me-
And then I turned it off.
I fell to the floor, pain scarring my body as I wheeze out for air.
Holy shit, that hangover is fucking painful! I was doing so good at murdering these animals, and all of a sudden I'm basically gasping for dear life!
Yeah, no wonder why Dori told me to not use this thing, if I were a normal person, I may not have lived the aftermath. What even is my status right now?
Fuse
Status: Moderately Damaged, Temporarily cursed by Delusion.
A temporary curse? And I'm moderately damaged? God damn, I'm so glad I'm a slime who can sort of naturally heal this sort of thing…
At the very least, I can see my rewards are quite nice…
Your Dexterity Rank has increased to C-!
Your Endurance Rank has increased to D!
Your Vitality Rank has increased to D!
Your Intelligence Rank has increased to D-!
Your Wisdom Rank has increased to D-!
Your Control Rank has increased to D!
Your Luck Rank has increased to D-!
Achievement Unlocked x2!
[Faustian Bargain]
Requirements: In exchange for power, sacrifice your body.
Description: After all is said and done, was the power worth the body?
Rewards: 1 Cursed Gacha Token.
[Close Call]
Requirements: Win a battle, only to exit the battle very wounded.
Description: Something extremely lucky or extremely unfortunate just happened. Hope your Luck rank is high!
Rewards: 3 Gacha Tokens, Totem of Undying.
Oh, more gambling, how enjoyable. What a nice reward for my victory. And after I get my charm rank up, I think all of my stats will become, at the very least, D.
Also, is that a fucking Totem of Undying from Minecraft?
[Totem of Undying - When held in your hand, if you are close to death, you will gain a burst of regeneration and a temporary immunity to death. When used, this totem will burn up and cannot be used again.]
Holy shit, it is. It's nice to have a get-out-of-jail free card, but…
This is just Chekhov's Gun, isn't it? If I have it, I'm going to have to use it… Maybe I can pick on weaker creatures for now?
Still, I have to actively kill stronger things to gain power, but all my enemies are just a cut above me right now. And because of my slime heritage, I don't quite have the physical strength to reliably kill things with my swords cleanly so I have to rely on either my magic which I'm just starting out with and don't know how to use properly, or my guns which have limited ammunition.
The delusion was basically the only reason why I won that fight, but that's just not sustainable. I needed to grow stronger, but if I can't even win against them, and admittedly it was an above-average group of enemies, then how will I get stronger? Just doing fetch quests for the next 2 years?
I think boredom would kill me first.
Well, at the very least, I got 18 souls from that fight, meaning I just need 12 more souls to finish off my cursed quest so I can touch my souls without fear of being burnt.
What else did I get from that fight… Ah, 12 minor rank points, and 3 moderate rank points. Alright, well… Let's put it into strength, then. Since I think that fight would've been way easier if I could've used my swords to reliably kill the hilichurls instead of being forced to use my bullets to kill them faster.
Your Strength Rank has increased to C!
Sweet, I'll check on the rest of my stats later, since I know that I've gained some stats from just doing manual labor the past week straight.
Lastly, I got some gacha tokens from doing my dumb stunt, and since I got gacha tokens from doing it, it wasn't dumb at all. In fact, you could say it was all planned.
Now, hopefully these gacha tokens, even the cursed one, turns out fine.
Uncommon Class Upgrade Weapon Rolled.
[Remington Model 1100 - A tactical shotgun, capable of tearing enemies to shreds.]
Mythical Weapon Rolled.
[Book of The Eternal Oasis - This tome has almost every hydromancy spell within it, allowing the user to cast their spells. If the user is a hydromancer, their hydromancy will be heavily elevated.]
Cursed Mythical Class Upgrade Item Rolled.
[Cursed Eye of The Ranger - This artificial eye holds the envy of all rangers, allowing its wielder to know where their projectiles will land, to have their projectiles pierce through almost anything, to be so assured of their accuracy. The catch? You must manually tear out and replace your own eye. And it does come loose quite often…]
Legendary Cursed Perk Rolled.
[Deal With The Devil - When making deals that have downsides to them, the effects of both the downsides and upsides will be doubled. To be rid of this curse, Cleanse yourself with holy water.]
…Well, I guess this is a pretty decent haul, all things considered.
First of all, I love the Remington, but I don't think it gave me any bullets to come with it, so I can't use it yet. And to be frankly honest, I don't know the exact specifications of the bullets I need for the gun so I can't get it commissioned either.
Still, though, I'm going to name it. It's going to be named… Hmm…
Let's name it after Polk, who fought Mexico and won, gaining all of Mexico's northern territory.
He's also the reason why I'm American, and not Mexican. So obviously, I've gotta honor him somehow.
[Polk (Remington Model 1100) - A shotgun bound to Fuse's soul, allowing it to grow alongside him. This particular weapon is named after the 11th President of The United States, James K. Polk.]
There we go, nice and simple. Hopefully, I'll be able to find another Remington to get the bullets off of that so I can use Polk.
Anyways, the book is, well…
I'm deathly terrified of water, and I've been giving a wide berth to any body of water since I got here, and just because I got a weapon that would make me very adept at using water spells, doesn't mean I'm going to use it.
Hm, Nilou has a hydro vision, doesn't she? Maybe if I don't overcome my fear of water anytime soon, I'll just give it to her. She'll probably find a way to incorporate it into one of her plays or something.
Now, I got 2 cursed items from my gacha rolls, one was guaranteed, and that looks like it was the legendary one, which is… Well, I guess it's alright. To be honest, it doesn't seem that bad.
Now, the eye though…
So, I'm half slime, right?
And my entire body, eyes included, are made out of slime, right?
So, THEORETICALLY speaking, if I were to tear out my eye, it wouldn't hurt as badly, since I also don't feel much from physical attacks, RIGHT?
That being said though, I don't think I have the willpower to actually stab myself in the eye to get this bonus. I'm way too much of a bitch for that.
Wait, could I get my eye back if I tear it out now? My slime naturally regenerates, so maybe my eye will count as part of that slime, and will thus grow back?
Wait, would my eye grow back over my artificial eye…?
Jesus Christ that's even more terrifying.
But the benefits that I get from putting it in my eye sounds so good… Maybe I can ask Dori to tear out my own eye?
Hm, from speaking to Dori over the past few days I've been in Teyvat, she's basically an American that hasn't reached home yet, so maybe it'll be fine to reveal just a small tad bit of my gamer system to her…
I mean, she's probably still doing illegal stuff, but it's a pseudo-American doing illegal stuff in foreign lands, so it's fine. She should know the art of keeping my very important secret, well, secret.
Okay, so the plan is to hope that Dori has the balls to cut my eye out, uh, we'll cut my left eye out, and then place the cursed eye there. And then maybe hope that she doesn't force me into a situation where the deal with the devil perk doesn't activate?
…Yeah, that sounds like it would work.
I started to trek back to Sumeru city to report the group I just fought. And later, I'll go back to Dori's place, where she'll hopefully be there already.
I sighed, still a bit bitter at the fact that I had to resort to using my delusion to beat a group of low life monsters.
…Man, this sucks. Hopefully, that Luciel character is having a worse time than me.
…Huh, Luciel, I haven't thought about them in a while…
…Luciel does sound like a girl's name, so I'll just call her, her.
Hm, if I'm here, then Luciel probably has one of those domino pieces, right? So my end goal would be to get that from her… But do I have to kill her to do it? Because that would be pretty rude to do so…
I mean, I would be absolutely pissed if I got a second chance at life, only to be hunted by a dude just because I happened to have something they wanted.
Hopefully, if- No, this is probably a 'when'- I meet her one day, hopefully the outcome will have no conflict.
Hm, I wonder what Luciel is doing right now?
Liyue Harbor
"Stone Gate, completely covered in ice! Read, read about it!"
"Hm? What's happened to Stone Gate now?"
"Well, you'll just have to buy our latest cover of the Steambird to find out!"
"Wha- Ugh, you Fontanians… I'll just listen to the gossip later."
"Huh? Wait, no you can't just do that!"
"Then tell me the story!"
"You have to buy the newspaper!"
"I'm not buying your newspaper for- Oh, just 300 mora? That's very affordable, you know what, I think I'll take a copy."
Palace of Alcazarzaray
Fuse
"You want me to do what." Dori asked, confusion all over her face.
"Look, I know it sounds very weird and messed up," I said, showing her the cursed eye, "But just place some trust in me! This thing will work just fine."
Dori still didn't look too convinced, "Where did you even get that thing anyways? And how do you know it's going to work the way you're saying it's going to work?"
"It came to me in a dream." I insisted, knowing fully well I didn't have a good excuse other than to 'just trust me.'
"You didn't have this yesterday, and there's no way you took a nap in the middle of the day today." Dori shot back, making me back down.
"Okay fine I lied, but this does work, and if it doesn't I'll take full responsibility." I said, trying to ease her into trying to cut out my left eye.
Dori was still not for my idea, "You know I'm not a full-on murderer, right? If you start screaming, I'm probably just going to stop."
He wasn't going to scream!
…Probably.
Okay, it might happen accidentally, but nothing intentional!
"That's fine! Just do your good friend a favor and cut out my eye for me?" I pleaded, taking her hands into mine, much to her visual displeasure.
"Ugh, fine. But I don't want to hear it if you go fully blind." Dori finally conceded, making me a bit excited.
Alrighty, this eye of the ranger is going to be mine~!
HOLY SHIT THIS HURTS SO FUCKING MUCH.
Holding in a scream as tightly as I could to not surprise Dori, who was carefully taking out my eyeball, I gripped the edge of the couch tightly, trying to suppress any sound from coming out of my throat to avoid startling her and somehow screwing up the process.
As I mentioned earlier, HOLY SHIT THIS HURTS SO FUCKING MUCH WHO'S IDEA WAS THIS?! DON'T I HAVE A RESISTANCE TO PHYSICAL DAMAGE?! WHY DOES THIS NOT COUNT AS PHYSICAL DAMAGE?! OR IS THIS THE LESSER VERSION OF THE PAIN?!
God, this was the worst idea he's ever had!
After an ungodly amount of time of what felt like years, Dori had finally managed to extract my eye out of my socket, and she put the cursed eye in my head.
Instantly, I began to feel a bit better as I let go of a massive groan of relief, and I was just glad that groan of relief wasn't a scream.
Sitting up, I decided to put off trying out the eye's capabilities for now, as I just needed to rest after going through what was basically self-inflicted torture, but I did confirm to Dori that I still could see properly.
"Huh, so that eye does work…" Dori quietly whispered, as if she didn't actually believe it would work, "Welp, it's getting late and I need to be getting to bed soon, do you uh… Do you want anything, maybe?"
Man, I need a hug. That was probably the 2nd worst moment in my life.
The 1st was obviously dying to the hands of the traitors, obviously.
Still, do I really want to ask for a hug? Not really, I may be at one of the lowest points in my life, but that toxic masculinity still goes strong, so all I said was "Yeah, a hug."
Wait a second that didn't sound right.
Dori chuckled a bit, as if she was sort of expecting it, "Really?"
Then, without prompting, she gave me a small hug, one that you'd probably give to a stranger. But somehow, it avoided being awkward, probably because my standards were so low at that point that I didn't care that much aside from her actually trying.
That was very touching of her, to just accept my request.
"Uh, thanks." I said, "Yeah, I didn't expect to get this far."
Dori started to laugh, "Hah! Of course! But anyways, you owe me for that one."
Ah, of course. Billionaires are still billionaires after all. But it was fair this time, considering she literally took my eye out for me because I was a pussy to do it myself.
"Yeah, of course, anything you need from me." I confirmed, "Though, is that a favor for the future, or something you'll cash in soon?"
Dori grinned, seeming very happy about something, "Of course I'll save it for later! You never know when something's value might shoot up later, after all."
Ah, so she just expects me to become something very valuable in the future, and she wants me to be indebted to her through a favor.
…That's kind of… Stupid? Why would she need a favor?
"Well, I would help you do anything, even without a favor at this point," I pointed out, making her a bit shocked, "We're basically friends at this point, right?"
"Ah? Uhh?" Dori stuttered out, as if she had somewhat not expected me to say something to that extent, "Wait, seriously? Already?"
I looked at her questioningly, "You've basically given me a place to stay, food to eat, and someone I can go to for something like, you know, getting my eye ripped out," I held out my hand as an offering, "And from what I've seen from you, you're basically an American that hasn't realized it yet. So we're friends now, yeah?"
Dori still looked surprised, as she struggled to come up with an answer to that question, "I, uh, well- Ehm… I guess so?"
She shook my head as we both smiled, and I said, "Bam, you'll have to live in the U.S for like, 10 years or something to get citizenship, but I can vouch for you to start the process in the first place when we get there."
"Are all Americans really that trusting?" She asked, as if she couldn't believe what I was saying.
I nodded, "Well, I can't say for the idiots who voted for Trump, but I can definitely say that most of us are happy to see more Americans in the world."
Dori didn't say anything, but she did seem a little bit happy to hear that. At least, I think she does. She probably does, who wouldn't be happy to be an American?
Eventually, she said, "Alright then, I'll head to bed, then. See you tomorrow."
Well, it was getting late. I'll test out my eye tomorrow, then. Maybe I'll explain to Dori about my system as well.
Despite getting my ass beat by that gang of goons earlier today, today was a good day. After all, it's always a good day when an American realizes they're an American.
Dori
Fuse really had absolutely no intellect whatsoever, and without any charisma to at least back his strange ideals up, he's just another naive idiot trying to bumble his way through the hand he got.
It just so happened that Fuse managed to get one of the greatest hands she's ever seen, and it just absolutely frustrates her that Fuse hasn't managed to take full advantage of it!
Imagine if she was in another world, where according to Fuse, the technology was way behind the times? Imagine the money she could make from the patents! She could just rip off something common in the modern day and make it her own invention in the new world!
But Fuse… Well, to be frankly honest, it just seems as if he has no ambition at all! All he's content to do is just watch from the sidelines as other people take care of real business while he goes about doing odd jobs as an adventurer.
Maybe it's because Fuse is trying to get home? But if he's doing that, why is he bothering to learn sewing? If he really wants to create a portal back home, why is he just randomly killing groups of monsters in the jungle?
She's spent an uncomfortable amount of mora to buy people to follow Fuse at all times and keep it quiet, and all she's gotten is that Fuse is a somewhat odd and bloodthirsty adventurer!
And of course, just when she was right about to make some adjustments to decide on how much to invest in Fuse…
He comes into her room, asking her to rip out his eye for him, claiming he found something that would boost his ability to aim with his guns.
She didn't believe him at first, it just sounded to her that Fuse was being scammed, but obviously she didn't want to tell him that, it wouldn't be productive to a good relationship. But Fuse just kept insisting, and really, at that point, if it ended up backfiring on Fuse, what a shame for him.
And then she cut out his eye for him.
And then the eye just… Worked?
She has absolutely no idea how that eye worked, maybe it has something to do with Fuse being half-slime? She was immensely tempted to ask where he'd gotten the thing, but then he suddenly claimed she was his friend and that she was basically American?
She doesn't have many friends because, as many people have told her, her attitude about making a lot of mora turns off a lot of people, but apparently, not overly showing that attitude towards Fuse as an investment has paid off in making him believe she was his friend!
…Was she his friend, really?
She had no attachment to Sumeru, and America, bar the civil war that's happening right now, does sound like quite a nice place…
But Dori knows that very few nations would just gladly accept a foreigner as one of their own, and she'd doubt someone from another world would be so different. But the way Fuse was just so convicted about her being an American, and thus his friend…
She had to amend her earlier statement, Fuse did have some charisma to back up his low intelligence, but that charisma only came to effect when it's telling people about the greatness of his country.
And to be frankly honest, she was being hooked in by the promises of the American dream. A country where its system allowed its citizens the ability to make a load of money and be supported for it? That's basically a dream for her!
Either way, Fuse has definitely proved himself to be something worth investing in, and though she doesn't think that he'll return anything of value in the short term, in the long term…
Maybe there'll be a day when she'll hear the clinks of an entirely different world's currency!
The least she could do for him now is to get him that flag that he's always talking about…
Fuse
Waking up, I took solace in the fact that I did not in fact wake up with a fortune cookie on my chest today.
You have received a new fortune cookie!
God damn it, speak of the devil and he shall appear.
I don't even like these anymore, they make me too sad! I don't need to be told that my future prospects aren't looking too bright!
Look, I'm going to open this and it's going to say something about my destiny being fucked, or maybe it's going to be about something that sounds good on the surface, but it could also be subtly telling me that I'm not going to work out.
'90 FUCKING GAMERS. "Holy Shit" - You, probably.'
I blinked.
Wait a moment, what the hell is this?
90 gamers? Where?
Wait a second, he does vaguely recall Shapeshifter saying something about a bunch of gamers making a society… Maybe this is it?
Still, this is pretty obviously addressing me, but why am I saying 'Holy Shit'?
Wait a second…
Don't tell me I get on the bad side of 90 fucking gamers.
Ugh, I knew it! Every single fortune I get is basically the universe telling me that It's so over! At this rate, I'll have died before all of my parallel universe selves finish college!
How do I even achieve something like that?! What's the monumentally stupid thing that I do that leads to this?!
Well, you know what, I don't care. This is an issue for future me. And I'm sure on that day, I'll go "Holy Shit."
Getting up, I thought about what I'm going to do today. I was thinking about looking for Kusanali, but if I can't fight literal dog monsters, there's no chance I can fight a god, even with my god-killing perk.
That being said, I'm getting a bit restless at just hunting down mindless monsters all the time and only getting occasionally stronger every once in a while.
Just like George Washington crossing the Delaware River to get the jump on the Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, I need to do something bold and daring.
And he couldn't think of a single thing more daring than to fight a god.
But first… he's going to find a damn crossbow or something, because his bullet situation is really bad, and I still stubbornly refuse to leech off Dori's money for this.
After getting up and meeting Dori early in the morning, he asked about where Kusanali lived, and she gave me an actual place I could go see.
The only request she had was to see if he could speak with Kusanali, since there's literally not a single recorded interaction between her and the public in the akasha.
That is admittedly very strange, and I did promise Dori that if I happen to see her, I'll ask about it.
All Dori said was to not get caught. Gosh, she's so American already. She'll be a great fit.
After making it to the city and parting ways with Dori, I went to Katheryne to pick up my daily commission so I can continue to progress with removing my minor curse.
After confirming the basic extermination quest, I was about to leave like usual before Katheryne uncharacteristically said something, "By the way, Fuse, what do you think about our archon?"
I stared at her weirdly.
She's a very realistic android, the reason I know this is because I used [observe] on her when I first met her. Do these bots have the ability to act outside of their programming?
Well, regardless, it would be rude to not answer her. But at the same time, it'd be equally rude to tell her straight up that I think their god is a tyrant.
So, instead, I'll just neutrally say, "I respect her position as the archon of Sumeru."
There, that should be a perfectly reasonable answer, right? If she's a robot, then my answer shouldn't get me on some government list.
But Katheryne still looked a bit disappointed, "I see. I respect your answer. You can go now."
Oh what the- where did she get the disappointed mom voice? She was so close to making me feel actually guilty for lying to a robot!
Giving my farewells, I quickly left the scene as I calmed myself down. There's absolutely no way that conversation will have any negative effect in the future.
?
Well, it wasn't like she was expecting him to tell her the truth, but the subtle shift in his body language tells her all she needs to know.
Well, he was certainly not the ideal choice, but she's learnt to be able to make the best of a bad situation.
"Thanks for the crossbow, dude." I thanked the treasure hoarder bleeding out on the floor, alongside with the rest of his dead thieves.
He can understand his fellow Americans for trying to pull themselves up using crime, but these scum who only do it because they can't be motivated to pull themselves up using legitimate means?
The only thing I have for them is the blade.
Luckily for me, these hoarders can only use physical weapons to attack me, which has proven relatively ineffective. So cutting them down with my sword wasn't the biggest issue in the world, though it was still hard to jam my swords down their throat.
Man, I can't wait for the day my strength finally ranks up enough to be able to effortlessly cleave through my enemies…
Well, finding a source of infinite bullets would also make me very happy as well, but you can't have them all.
Firing a shot towards a tree and landing it, I smiled a bit as I confirmed my cursed eye works on arrows as well.
I also took one of their throwing knives, and I threw it at a bird, and I actually managed to hit it, killing the bird instantly.
Shame it doesn't give me the bird's soul. Maybe this is confirmation that birds don't have souls?
Or maybe I can only gain souls from sentient beings…
Huh, I guess those monsters aren't mindless after all.
Either way, I finished up the slaughter, and I finally got rid of my [spiritual karma] curse.
[You have removed your cursed perk: [Spiritual Karma].]
Yeah, thank you, system. You're a heartless bastard for making me get rid of 50 good souls like that.
Well, at the very least, I'm way stronger than I was at the start of my slaughtering session just a few days ago…
Fuse
Status: Healthy
Stamina: Healthy
Mana: Full
Race: Human/Slime Hybrid
Title: Ambitious Regent, Devourer of Souls
Classes: Mercenary, Soul Mage
Professions: Stylist
Ranking Setting: Genshin Impact [Change]
Overall Ranking: D
Power Rank: C- [Expand]
Magic Rank: D [Expand]
Social Rank: D- [Expand]
Rank Points: 0
Perks: [Expand]
Titles: [Expand]
Classes/Professions: [Expand]
Ranks Expanded: (Genshin)
Power:
Strength: C
Dexterity: C-
Vitality: D+
Endurance: D
Magic:
Intelligence: D
Wisdom: D
Control: D
Social:
Confidence: D-
Charm: D-
Luck: D
Doing pretty well for myself, I think.
I don't really have another point of reference other than myself, but getting to this level of power in around a week is pretty good, I'd say. Give me a month, and I should basically be ready to kill Kusanali!
But of course, any good assassin scopes out their target first.
Well, I wouldn't know if a good assassin would do that, but that's what I'm going with.
I'll go check out if I can get an audience with Kusanali, and see if she's worth killing or not. And maybe check if I actually can kill her.
And if she just so happens to be, say, in very deep sleep where it'd be very easy to dump like 20 bullets into her head without her noticing… That'd be very nice as well.
But realistically, I probably shouldn't go anywhere near a god that's probably very capable of killing me right now. Even though I really want to.
The day ends, and I'm back at Dori's place. Oddly enough, Dori isn't home yet, but she gave me a key and the servants that Dori hires are very dependable.
I tried cooking something on my own, but after my attempt, the house chef just plainly told me, "You are a disgrace." and to be honest, I didn't think I was THAT bad, but I guess I'll just take his word for it and say my attempt was pretty shit.
I still ate my food anyways. It's not as if my standards are that high.
Dori came home, a small smile on her face as usual as she greets me with something in a bag, "Hey Fuse! I ended up getting something for you, since you keep talking about it."
I tilted my head, I got a gift? How nice of her, "Oh, that's nice, what did I get?"
She began to take something out from the bag as she said, "Oh, you'll see in just a sec. It's on my money anyways, you can pay me back by continuing to be a good investment for me."
As she raised her hand from her bag, red, white, and blue flashed my eyes as my heart soared as I realized what it was.
I didn't need any detailed description from [Observe], I didn't need Dori to say anything, I didn't even have to say a word as I immediately rushed to take the sacred item from her.
The Star Spangled Banner was finally in my hands once again.
It's really only been a week since I've been sent here, but seeing my flag in my hands felt like seeing an old friend I haven't seen in a long time.
As I held the flag in a tight embrace for a while, I finally thanked Dori for her services.
"Nah, it wasn't that big of a deal, I'm sure those flagmakers are really glad to make something that isn't just a blank slate with an emblem on it." Dori shrugged my thanks off.
But Dori looked a bit more interested about the next thing she asked, "By the way, those flagmakers were really interested in selling more of those flags, since they apparently thought the design was unique and slick or something. Either way, they're going to give us royalties if you approve, so…"
Ah, so she wants to sell the American flag for money?
Am I really going to just let this foreign nation have the right to sell our flag for just pure cash?
Ah, who am I kidding, we're all capitalist! Of course I'm going to let them!
"Yeah, the world gets a little brighter when the Star Spangled Banner is hung up, go ahead." I said, approving the deal.
Dori smiled, her eyes sparkling as she struck another deal, "Sweet! I'll guarantee you that this flag will fly in the rooms of so many homes!"
I smiled, though it's still covered from my mask, "Of course it'll fly, not just in the homes of the citizens, but over the Great Tree of Sumeru."
Dori's smile grew a bit confused, but she must've ignored what was bothering her as she didn't say anything.
What a great American patriot Dori is. It's so nice to be around other Americans so far from home.
AN:
Okay, so what happened in this chapter? Dori becomes an American citizen unofficially, Fuse gets rid of the 1 curse I gave him, stuffed his eye in, and…
Oh, he got the American flag in this chapter?
USA! USA! USA! USA! THIS CHAPTER IS THE GREATEST CHAPTER IN MANIFEST DESTINY URRAAAAH! CAW! CAW! CAW!
Anyways I hit a bit of a slump and I write filler when I'm slumped I guess.
Luckily, next chapter is literally set up for Fuse trying to do something thinking it's smart, and then it's actually really dumb.
[Every time Fuse speaks about Nahida, everyone reading goes 'does he know?']
(Yeah, the only big thing that happened in this chapter is getting the American flag back in his hands, but you know what, totally worth all of the filler.)
(If I didn't have the urge to write 20,000 words of Time Capsule, I probably would have chapter 8 done by now lol. Maybe even chapter 9. Oh well, I really like TC anyways. But Manifest Destiny is being neglected a bit, even if it gets all of its uploads on time.)
