studiobondurri Finishing up most things and the mission.
Finishing up most things and the mission.
POV: Devas Asura
Rin had a good idea, but seeing it now, the outcome was kind of obvious. But still, a good idea.
What would happen if I threw an "Artificial Sapphire" or a mana stone into the matrix?
Absolutely nothing.
The matrix didn't consume the mana, and the impurities that already existed weren't purified because it didn't do that.
It just fused everything into a larger "Artificial Sapphire" with impurities from others.
More mana, more dirt. It was useful if I were to power a machine or matrix with it, but use it myself? It was worse than the small ones.
Not to mention, it was the size of a baseball; I wasn't going to bite into that shit.
Oh, yeah, it wasn't a full moon yesterday, it was just a meh day, really.
By the way, I saved a mission. It's of [White] rarity. It was ridiculously easy, with a reward of only five thousand SP.
But honestly, even if I had to pay a million SP, I would go on this mission because there was something I really wanted there.
I just needed to arrange a few things here in Terraria to accept the mission.
[...]
It had been about three days since I received the matrix from Dylan's mother.
In the meantime, I basically "relaxed." Since basically, the only things I had done were studying the Mystic Symbols, both Goblins and Terrarians, and studying the runes to complete my armor.
One thing I had also discovered was that paranoia prevailed.
Simply put, my paranoia about not using the goblin weapons and armor ended up saving me from many unnecessary problems, the biggest of which was exploding.
Frankly, whoever had created the Mystic Symbols on goblin equipment was a complete bastard. The reason was simple. The Mystic Symbols drawn on the equipment were simple enhancements.
Increased strength, increased armor defense, increased resistance to cuts in armor.
The basics I had discovered. With that, the ink used to draw these symbols was a bluish-green ink, mainly made from plants and other materials.
But there was a catch; within these matrices, there was a tiny matrix, the size of a bottle cap, maybe even smaller.
It was a tiny silver triangle, hidden or drawn on the inside of the armor or on the bottom of the sword pommel, on the inside of the shield handle.
Overall, on all equipment, this triangular matrix was hidden for a simple reason.
It was a bomb.
Basically, the triangular matrix functioned as a fingerprint scanner, only instead of taking your physical fingerprint, it took your magical fingerprint.
It wasn't hard to guess that each person had a different mana, but it wasn't just individuals who had differences, races did too.
I still remember the feeling of being surrounded by the army and their mana. Goblins had a more... Well... I would hesitate to call it corrupted, but it was something darker, as if they were synchronized with the night or darkness.
Terrarians, even varying from person to person, had more or less the same essence, something more neutral, so to speak.
So basically, when someone put mana into goblin equipment to activate the Mystic Symbols, that person's mana passed through this "scanner," and when it detected that it wasn't a goblin using the item... Boom!
And it wasn't a small explosion; the triangular matrix, even though small, had something special besides being a scanner and exploding; it imploded the sword, using the mana from all the Mystic Symbols to break the sword from the inside.
Basically, Broken Phantasm... a copy of a copy, since this was basically Alaya's favorite dog's mark.
Frankly, it was ingenious because the materials for this triangular matrix were simple, focusing on one in particular. Zinc.
The other ingredients were basically citrus fruits, stabilized by the gel of the green slime, and some other things.
Words from Snape and Analyze: Item, even though I was good at creating matrices with Mystic Symbols (I think?) and seeing patterns, the potions master was the emo with a problem with the childhood friend.
This combination of Zinc and acid caused a tiny reaction when activated, creating a pathetic amount of methane gas, but that amount was enough to start the chain reaction.
This tiny amount of methane gas made the matrix behave like gas to a certain extent, but the methane gas consumed oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water.
What did the matrix consume then? Mana. And not a little mana, but the mana of the entire sword, meaning the more mana the person in question put into the sword, the bigger the mess would be.
Since, after consuming the mana, it used all the consumed mana, converting everything into an explosion that imploded the sword from the inside.
I was totally copying that matrix and using it on bullets, something that absorbed mana, and the more mana, the worse the damage?
If I shot with one of these bullets, and my enemy tried to defend using mana... It wouldn't be pretty what would be left...
Screw it, if they could copy the son, I could very well copy the father.
Alaya's dog for Alaya's dog.
In the end, after all this, I ended up discovering that the metal that composed the goblin's armor and weapons was more mundane than I thought.
I thought it could be some kind of goblin iron or steel, something using alchemy or Mystic Symbols in the preparation.
No, it was a lead-tin alloy.
How they didn't die from lead poisoning, I had no idea. Goblin organism, I presume, or magic, it was almost always magic.
So, all this explanation could be summarized as: All this junk was useless.
The Mystic Symbols I was confident I could do better, the triangular matrix I had analyzed, I could and would copy it.
Finally, the armor was crap, iron served me better.
I had a bunch of garbage in the form of battle equipment, to sum it up.
I threw everything into the matrix, didn't even need to worry about the triangular matrix fucking everything up, as I had done a test, that dark green symbol literally destroyed everything, tearing the equipment apart, lead, tin, ink, matrix, everything.
That thing gave me chills, the really bad ones, the ones I usually had when something dangerous happened.
With this little episode finished, I ended up discovering that the inks were much more important than the importance I had already attributed to them.
You know that talk about making an ink very compatible with you, for mana resonance and everything else? I wouldn't call it useless, but it wasn't all that I had heard.
Of course, if I were to make something that only I would use, an armor, using an ink that resonated with my mana, with me in general, was the best, in parts, as this would fortify the Mystic Symbols.
But if I wanted to make something specific, assuming, an amulet that helped me breathe underwater, it was better for me to use materials that involved water in general.
The same goes for any element, be it fire, lightning, earth.
The Dye Trader NPC had never made so much sense; in the game, dyes were only visual, made, by their names, of various things that I thought were random. Here? They were literally the most precious things for the Terrarians.
Which brings me to my current situation; I needed to go to the market, buy everything I could see that had something to do with water.
I literally had the hair of a water goddess, as mediocre as Aqua might be, her mana and divinity weren't.
So, I rushed to the kingdom's market, buying everything that had the slightest involvement with water or water mana.
Aquamarine, mainly, and some other materials. But the main thing I wanted was something rare, apparently.
Waterleaf, a little plant made of water that grew in the desert, and, from what I found out, a damn sought-after material, since, besides being used in food, bath salts, and other minor things.
The ink made with it as a base made things waterproof or absorbed more water.
Luckily, I knew a guy who could get them for me, or rather, Dylan knew him. Gilbert, if I'm not mistaken, that was the name the guide had mentioned, right?
[...]
POV: Gilbert Jheut
After fainting, shooting as many arrows as I could, I left all my hopes in the hands of the Oakwood boy and the man fighting against the army.
I don't know what happened after that, only that I woke up in one of the Oakwood family's hospital wings.
I didn't stay there for long, as my condition was much better than that of the other people, as I had recently arrived in Jille village, about two months ago, give or take a few days, frankly, I wasn't sure.
I tried to get discharged as soon as possible, streamlined some things with the contacts I had, and managed to get out of there less than a week later.
"Go back to the hospital, old man!"
Now, if my daughter could give me some rest, I would be thankful.
I sighed, reclining in my chair and looked at my younger of the two sons, and the only one at home to welcome me, as my older son was a golf maniac and should be playing with his friends.
"I'm fine, I won't stay in a damn hospital, I just need to rest at home quietly to recover." As much as I didn't hate hospitals, I didn't like them either.
Staying more than necessary in them was something that, if I could avoid, I would.
My response only seemed to make her more irritated, as I could see her fox ears rapidly shaking on her head, and I could see her forehead furrowing.
My daughter had taken a lot after her mother, my late wife, her hair being the same color as her mother's, a reddish-brown, her skin also being the same color as her mother's, a healthy tan.
The only thing she had taken from me was her dark brown eyes.
As for the ears and tail, she hadn't taken them from either of us, my wife being a Terrarian like me. Her ears had appeared when she was cursed, bitten by a strange fox when she accompanied me on one of my business trips years ago.
Even after spending thousands of gold coins and years looking for a cure, or the damn fox that bit her, I had not succeeded in finding a way to reverse her curse.
If it were just the animal characteristics, I wouldn't have tried, since my little daughter had really liked them, being happy with her transformation.
The problem was that every full moon, she transformed, her whole body gaining animal characteristics, like a fox Beastkin, but unlike the Beastkins, my daughter became wild, attacking everything in sight.
Fortunately, the first time this happened, she was twelve years old, and I could easily contain her, receiving only a scar from her claws on my chest that day. From that day on, I started my search for a cure.
Now, every full moon, she was forced to lock herself in a special room that I had ordered just for this, so she wouldn't hurt anyone or herself.
Now her second tail had appeared around her adolescence, I didn't know how or why, but I just came back one day earlier from a business trip and found her in the kitchen with two tails.
I was clearly worried if the curse had evolved or something; I had heard of Beastkins who were born with two tails, being a mutation, but these were rare, and my daughter was not a Beastkin.
But even after talking to her for hours, she had denied going to the hospital, saying she was fine, that she didn't feel bad about the second tail.
Even after that, every time I mentioned going to the hospital, she would get angry, her face turning red.
It was a shame that my wife died around that time; she would have been able to convince our teenage daughter, the two were always very close.
"Come on, Robyn, you don't like hospitals, I don't want to stay in one, let the subject go." I sighed, biting into an apple while my daughter, Robyn, gave up on the subject.
"How's your shop, by the way?" After a few minutes of silence, I restarted the conversation.
My daughter had opened an animal shop, involving animal care and breeding, for both regular people and contractors looking for a partner.
"Hmm..." She hummed softly before responding, one of her tails going to her lap while the other stayed beside her on the chair, not moving much.
"It's going well; sales have been better in the last few months, especially in the last weeks because of a new contractor." She said while stroking her tail.
"I'm glad sales were going so well that you didn't even notice your old man's disappearance." I caught the pillow she threw at me and continued, ignoring her annoyed look.
I knew she hadn't noticed my absence because being away for months at a time was normal since I traveled a lot with my caravan.
"And why did this new contractor make your sales skyrocket? A new boyfriend perhaps? Should I get my old bow?" I teased, dodging another pillow.
Speaking of which, I better get my bow, I should start training again, especially after seeing that battle.
"No. No new boyfriend. Your daughter is still single." She huffed, throwing her hands in the air and letting her body fall into the chair.
"He's some kind of maniac with infinite energy, doing missions non-stop and without sleeping." She began explaining about this new contractor. "Contractors got kinda jealous and envious of his effectiveness and came to the shop wanting hunting animals to help them in missions."
"Hmm..." That was normal; occasionally, an anomaly or two appeared in the Guild, prompting other contractors to try to get stronger to match or surpass him.
Even in my time when I was active in the Guild as a contractor, it was like that. I still remember when the Duchess of Symbols started gaining fame.
The number of water mages and symbol users had skyrocketed, everyone trying to copy her in some way.
"Idiots, if I were to say something." My daughter commented. "I don't know the guy, but from what I've heard, he must be some kind of monster or something. 'The Golem,' as they called him." She huffed, finding the nickname funny but not disagreeing with it.
Why did that remind me of something?... An image of a man against an army flashed in my memory.
No, it must be a coincidence; that man was at least a steel rank, maybe platinum.
This "The Golem," from what my daughter said, was a new contractor, special as he might be; he shouldn't compare to that monster.
Speaking of which, the Oakwood boy had told me that he recommended me to him this morning, something about him needing materials and not knowing anyone to buy them directly.
But still, having someone like Stark and Pepper on my "shoulder" ensured that the contract we agreed upon favored me.
Gilbert seemed relieved with the deal. It seems that the loss of his caravan hurt more than he had let on before.
After we closed everything, he stood up and asked me to wait a bit because he was going to get some of the materials I had requested.
So, it ended up being just me and Robyn in the room.
I stayed silent because I didn't want to start a conversation; my thoughts focused on my possible experiments.
Robyn seemed to have another idea, as the redhead uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, looking me in the eyes.
"I don't know why my instincts consider you a threat..." She commented softly before leaning back. "You ran away from me, and I'm not even a contractor... There must be something wrong with them or something."
"True." I commented calmly. I didn't know what game was being played here and why she wanted a reaction from me, but frankly, I lived in the age of the internet, woman.
If you want to get a reaction from me with insults, you better come back in a hundred years. It's more likely the moon turns red than that happens.
She realized I didn't react as she expected and made a low click with her tongue.
"My dad seems to think you're strong for some reason, and I've never seen him accept a deal where he had the smaller part. Tell me..." She tapped her fingers on the armrest of the armchair. "Are you some kind of swindling cheater or something? Blackmailer, perhaps?"
So that was it; she thought I was blackmailing Gilbert? Or deceiving him in some way?
That explained the animosity, but still, they were basically unfounded accusations. But, for some reason, I didn't think that was all.
"Actually, I'm a streamer; I have no knack for being a cheater or a blackmailer." I commented softly, my attention partially focused on her.
She blinked confused. "What's a 'steramre'?" She butchered the word trying to repeat it.
"Some kind of actor or something?" She looked me up and down. "Or some kind of luxury go-go boy?" She teased. "Used to dodging claws?"
Ah, I see, it was pride then.
She hadn't landed a hit on me, and since she thought I was weaker than her, probably her dominant side, her ego got bruised.
But let's see if she can play then; this little teasing show is a two-player game, after all.
"Hmm..." I didn't answer, just pointed at her with my chin. "Used to wearing that second tail all day?"
The moment I said that, she froze.
"H...ho...how? Do you know about that?" She asked, her voice trembling slightly, and her cheeks blushing lightly, making her dark skin gain a darker tone.
Weak.
"Know what?" I whistled calmly, taking a sip of my cup of coffee. Now, this was a drink; fuck tea, who liked that?
She growled, which, with her shakiness and embarrassment, seemed more like an angry little puppy.
"How do you know about my..." She didn't say it, but it was obvious.
I was tempted to comment and say "Your what? Anal plug?" But I had almost two thousand people watching me; it would be in bad taste to expose her like that.
Luckily, I didn't need to come up with an excuse. Gilbert returned and sat in his previous seat, making a large box appear on the table after tapping his necklace twice.
Travel space then.
"Here are the Waterleafs I had saved; they are of the best quality. Treat it as a gift from a business partner; you don't need to pay me anything."
This time, I wouldn't hesitate.
With a thought, I threw the box into the inventory and stood up, making Gilbert and Robyn stand up with me.
Gilbert to say goodbye, accompanying me to the door, and Robyn following me, probably wanting to know how I knew about her little secret.
Reaching the door, I shook hands with Gilbert.
"Well, I'll be going then. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Gilbert." He shook my hand back and slapped my forearm with his other hand.
"I thank you, Devas. Thanks again for saving me back then."
With that finished, I left the property. Robyn tried to follow me, probably to interrogate me or something, but without success.
She should thank me for leaving without answering; if I answered, she would be exposed, her little secret exposed to almost two thousand people.
Frankly, I should be paid for being so magnanimous.
[...]
About a week after returning from my negotiation with the father of the two-tailed furry, I had finished my armor... Well, almost finished was the answer, as I still needed to draw the Mystic Symbols.
Basically, I needed to engrave the runes first since I was following the example of the Shadowflame necklace.
On the necklace, the Mystic Symbols seemed to have been drawn around the runes, not the runes in the spaces between the symbols.
So I focused on engraving the runes first, which took time, as it only took one distraction for everything to go downhill.
Basically, I engraved one rune at a time, first on the helmet, then on the chest, and so on; each piece of the armor had a rune.
As for the ink I would use to create the Mystic Symbols, I ended up using the one that resonated with me the most, as this was the armor I would wear, focused on defending myself only, no buts.
I had finished the ink using Aqua's hair as well; I just needed to figure out what I would use it for, probably some accessory or something.
As for the armor, I ended up taking about five hours to finish everything, drawing the Mystic Symbols as accurately as I could so that everything would turn out the best.
The result was something I was satisfied with.
-//-
[Rune-Symbol Armor (Unnamed)]
[Runes: Protection - Defense - Resistance - Toughening]
Type: Armor
Prefix: None
Mystic Symbols (Human):
Protection against cuts (Low-high), Protection against impact (Low-high), Protection against projectiles (Low-high), Protection against piercing (Low-high), Protection against magic (Low-high), Protection against physical damage (Low-high), Protection against explosions (Medium-medium)
Defense: 704
Durability: 2237/2237
Rarity: Green
Set Effect: Increases the defense of the armor by 10%
Set Effect: When equipped by "Devas Asura," the effects of the armor are increased by 50% due to mana resonance.
Description: An armor made by an experienced blacksmith, enhanced by a Rune-Symbol Blacksmith, a beginner but talented one, known more as "The Streamer," Devas.
Even with low-level materials, due to the effort that "The Streamer" put into its making, the armor transcended its level, the end result being much better than it should have been.
It's still not something on the level that could withstand blows from a God, but to endure battles that could destroy blocks or small villages is more than enough.
(Author: Durability and defense do not include Mystic Symbols and Runes, the only thing not counted is the set bonus!)
(Author: I will simplify the next items, so as not to clutter the chapter with Mystic Symbols information, I left this one because it's the first, for you to have an idea)
-//-
Funny that by combining both Terrarian and Goblin Mystic Symbols, the stream considered it something entirely new, something of my own, Human.
I even gained two achievements with this:
[Unlocked Achievement!: Rune-Symbol Blacksmith! - 100000 SP!]
[Unlocked Achievement!: Worthy Creation! - 100000 SP!]
Overall, I was satisfied.
I didn't celebrate or anything, as when I finished this armor, I was exhausted, not physically, but mentally.
The pressure of knowing that if I messed up something, about a week of hard work would go down the drain was horrible, especially since I had to stay totally focused for almost five hours.
To say that my brain was close to turning into porridge was an understatement.
But still, I had a slight smile on my face, especially with the comments from the (CHAT).
[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: I'm man enough to admit that your armor is better than mine... for now. Let me finish mine, and it will surpass yours by far! But congratulations on the creation. (Iron Man clapping emote).
[YellowHuntressLive]: I'll congratulate you in Ruby's place. When she stops drooling over the armor, she should do it herself. (Yellow bear wishing congratulations emote).
[TohsakaHeiress]: I don't have much to compare, but it seems like a strong mystical code. So, congratulations on the creation. It's excellent work from what I see. (Chibi Rin waving calmly emote).
[WiseWizardGleam]: I'm not sure how much 700 defense is, but from my experience and the look of the armor, I would guess it could withstand several serious spells of mine, probably more. A beautiful creation, Devas. (Old wizard smiling happily emote).
[(MOD)GryffinHouseMatron]: I'll translate. When Albus says it could withstand several spells of his, he means the armor could probably survive the explosion of some bombs. Congratulations, Devas. If you were my student, this armor would earn your house an extra 100 points. (Black cat with glasses and witch hat smiling emote).
[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: I'm not jealous... I'm not sad that Aqua made another debt forcing me to spend a large part of my money... (Generic crying guy emote).
[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: CONGRATULATIONS, DEVAS! AND I WASN'T DROOLING, JUST APPRECIATING A WORK OF ART! (Little Red Riding Hood smiling happily emote.)
It was good when someone recognized your hard work, even if it wasn't necessary; it was a good feeling.
I threw myself on the bed as quickly as I could after that, waking up about four hours later, refreshed.
[...]
"All set, I guess..." I commented to the air, finishing setting things up in "my" clearing. Or rather, commenting to the (CHAT).
It was time for me to go on the mission I had saved for over a week. I had already told Dylan that I would be away for a while, the same with Gilbert. So they wouldn't think I disappeared into thin air or died.
[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: I still don't understand, why the hell do you want to go on a mission that only gives 5k SP? You earn much more just by keeping the stream open. What's in that world that interests you so much?
[WiseWizardGleam]: I have some doubts too. Is it a world you know? (Old wizard yawning emote).
It was about four in the morning, so the number of people in the stream was kinda low, around a hundred.
The only (CHAT - FATE) members being Dumbledore and Stark.
"In short, yes, it's a world that I know, and there's something I want, and I want it a lot in it."
Frankly, if it were necessary to pay all my SP to go on this mission, I would, as there was something I really wanted in that world.
-//-
[World Mission]
Rarity: White
World: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Time limit: 7 days.
Mission description: A family of charcoal burners with the last name Kamado is doing poorly, due to the family patriarch getting sicker due to a lung disease.
Help them spend the last days of a harsh winter in the best way you can.
Reward: 5000 SP!
Secondary missions enabled!
-//-
The mission itself was simple, just helping a family survive a harsh winter, something I could do in less than a second.
The mission's rating was [White] because it was something completely mundane and easy.
But there was a catch that made this mission extremely valuable to me.
A name.
Tanjuro Kamado.