Yeah... this. I think that people misread that, as Xac reacted that way due to Yazera's race, but only because most of the ones that he's meet are... well you've already seen what a good chunk are. And completely missed the fact that Yazera wasn't with the Rokarth, the ones that are fucking monsters, and is instead from the Enyodin, still assholes, but not slaving assholes.
As Acolyte said, the three of them are refugees fleeing from their lives, the Yarrowreacher and Enquartz having been former slaves themselves. Besides, they have information that is going to be valuble for Rolands group in the war coming. And while Xac has no interesti in fighting, he also doesn't want the Rokarths in charge.
I will definitely going to do that eventually. I'm still fleshing out some of my notes, and definitely going to start posting informational's on certain topics given the scope of Stellaris.
Hell, the planet that they're on is only a melting pot of races because this is where the Korinthian Empire is sending the worst of their own prisoners, and POW's, down there to rot and die.
Though, surprise, surprise, you'd be surprised just how stubborn people are to live. Regardless of where you throw them.
Probably also going to do one on Stellaris in general. The best way I can put it, is that it's a game about the big picture, with the details obscured. If that makes any sense. You just seee the resources from the planets that you colonize, but you don't know how or what they do.
An example, is lets say a corvette. All you know is that it's the smallest and fastes of the ships that you have, very much a glass cannon that can't take many hits but has speed and quantity. THe game doesn't tell you that each one is probably crewed by a 100 people. All you know is that you spent 100+ alloys to build it.
And that's part of why I love Stellaris. It lets you imagine. How does a race of slaving necrophages go about their empire? What about the ones that don't follow the status quo? How does the rest of the galaxy react?
How about all those slaves that you see in the galactic market just... waiting for someone to purchase them? Or how about that relic world that has been laying there for millions of years forgotten? It's those little things that I'm trying to fill in.
Stellaris is a 4X strategy game along the same lines of Civilization just... in space and a hell of a lot more complicated.
"Surprised to see you here." The Korinthian woman said softly, changed out of the ragged torn clothing, fresh white bandages, probably newly weaved to boot, wrapped around various places of her body with her leg elevated and encased in a cast.
A stark contrast to the adrenaline-filled alien that had pointed a gun at my head a few short hours ago.
"We wanted to see what else you could tell us about… any threats that we might have to face soon." Ghost said quietly, relaying my thoughts in a… more sanitized manner.
"One that should have never been sent to this prison…" She said with a twisted expression, the black scales along the rim of her jaw seeming to crinkle onto her blue skin that peeked out, golden eyes burning with hatred.
"We're surprised to hear that." Ghost said.
"Why are we surprised by that?" Ghost asked me privately while she opened her mouth.
We can go into more detail on the scaled race of slavers and body snatchers later. I groused to him. It's going to require more… than just a few minutes.
And I wasn't nearly drunk enough to go into detail on all of… that.
"Rekinth Xelincos." I choke at the name. "So… I take it that your master was higher ranked given that reaction?" Her words weren't kind, and her tone cold, but there was… empathy in the way that she looked at me.
It was… strange to see that in the eyes of a Korinthian. An antithesis to… what I had seen in life.
The memory of finding Veranda in that cell, his limbs taken and eaten, only sustained and alive so that they could harvest more from the 'delicious' Nu-Baol before it expired.
If they ever let him actually die.
I knew that any that had been captured… usually weren't allowed that mercy.
Only then would the Korinthians have anything resembling respect for them.
"Whose Rekinth Xelincos?" Ghost asked, cerulean eye drifting from the wounded Korinthian back to me.
"'A monster'" Yazera and I say/think at the same time. It's the only word that could describe that… thing.
I had never seen him before.
But I had seen his work.
"He's the most brilliant bio-engineer that the Korinthian Empire has ever birthed. Along with the most… curious." The word is spat out like poison, golden hues burning hotter than rays from her eyes.
I shiver at the memories that brought themselves unbidden to my mind. Front he slaves that… had been found 'unamusing' given to the 'good doctor' for… upgrades. And they would return as flesh twisted and warped, minds completely gone as they were nothing more than loyal attack dogs.
Oh, the capabilities that they displayed were the things of nightmares and dreams. But they would be nothing more than weapons to be pointed and fired.
"Who did you lose?" Ghost asked softly, in his own words, before I could relay my own. Those were usually the only ones that hated one of the most 'celebrated' and revered scientists that the Empire had ever created from the stolen life.
"A slave… my playmate since I was a 'child'." She said bitterly. "My 'father' decided that I had become far too reliant on her, so she sent her… away. 'Finally, find some use to that waste of money that only harbored weakness and the flaw of friendship'." The words were spat out, golden orbs burning with the rage that could blot out the sun.
I couldn't find myself moved by this. Not when I had seen the same old story happen over and over again throughout my own life.
That's what tended to happen when your… former owner was the biggest moneylender and broker in the inner empire.
I spat on the ground at thinking of that waste of biomass.
Getting up, I stretch my arms, Ghost floating up to my shoulder giving me a look before dipping a little lower towards the woman.
No point in asking if she already told the Libertorium. It would have been the first thing out of her mouth. Preparations were probably going to be thrust into greater priority.
That did bring the question.
"Why would he willingly come here?" Ghost asked.
She shrugs her shoulder, the scales along her arms glinting in the yellow light of the infirmary. "No idea. But if I had to guess… something is going on in the royal family. Only thing that would cause someone of the 'majestic' royal line to come here willingly."
The only sound I make is the click of the tongue. Of course it would be something that those jackasses would cook up.
The lords and rulers of the 'glorious' Korinthian Empire! Kings and rulers over an empire built upon the backs of the lessers that only live for their wondrous immortal lives.
As immortal as anyone could become. Take the head off, and there was nothing that they could do anymore. Just like everyone else.
That brought the question though… I turn to look at her again, I see the clear anguish on her face, the features… similar to the ones that humans tended to make.
A shorter nose, shorter than mine was, higher cheekbones dusted with black scales over blue skin, sharp eyes that only pierced even deeper with the loathing that seemed to drip from her skull.
Ghost stares at me, the question obvious in his single eye as I gestured at him to relay my words.
"Why… didn't you just… take the biomass that you needed for your leg?" Ghost asks with a halting tone, eye shifting back and forth between the woman and I.
She bares her teeth at me, sharpened fangs pointed at me like glittering knives while her sun-like eyes bored into my soul, like reaching flames.
"I will never do that again. She hissed out, the words sharp as they flittered between her teeth.
Oh, wonderful. A Korinthian with something resembling a consciousness and morality.
Letting out a sigh, I walk out of the room, waving a hand behind my back.
I barely hear Ghost rush out something to her, no doubt an apology on my behalf or something, when I felt… the stars connect again.
It was… bigger than the others that had gathered in my sky. A pulsating mass of knowledge. It felt… like steam? Whirring gears and vacuum tubes cobbled together-no- orchestrated together into a wondrous form of technology that ran on steam.
It was primitive. I should be turning my nose at it. After all, who cared about steam when there were empires and governments that traversed the stars with the energy capacity of entire cities at their beck and call?
And yet, this was the most glorious thing that I had ever seen in my life.
Ideas sprang into my head.
Vacuum tubes capable of storing data, not as much as a proper data processor, not if I didn't want to expand the tubes into being the size of large crates, but it was still more than I had previously known.
More than that though… I turn my head, gazing at the frayed wiring and worn metal of the wall next to me.
And… I see where I could fix it. A few replacement wires here, maybe going a bit deeper to see if I could replace the main breakers and power source… yes.
Yes, I think that I could get power going back in this building.
I ignore Ghost, walking back out into the street, staring at the buildings that surrounded us with new eyes.
Everything here was connected, in some shape or manner.
Whether it be through power lines, or perhaps connected through a line in the digital network.
And I could already tell exactly what I might need to get it all in working order again.
That… didn't mean that I would be capable of that.
No, not when I was supposed to be looking for a route out of here. A route that manages to save as many people as possible, Roland's words, not mine.
Even then, it wasn't like powering the buildings up would be enough to give them a fighting edge.
Not against the tide that was going to be headed our way.
Especially not against that.
There was at least one thing that this could be useful for. And that was tunnel diving.
"Are you even listening to me!" Ghost shouted at me right next to my ear, my little fugue having ended, the knowledge and skill now safely resting inside of my brain.
Not really.
"You could at least act like you were!" Ugh, why was he still yelling?
You'd know I was lying anyways.
He sighs. "You're right. So… what did you get?"
I raise an eyebrow as I turn to look at him.
"That little bracelet of yours tends to glow any time that you… get another one." He whispers the last three words into my mind, disappearing into motes of light as he returned to my body.
I received the most valuable thing that one can find in life. In a rare display that I can count on two hands, I let out a smile. A vicious hungry little thing that wouldn't look too foreign on a Korinthian businessman. Knowledge.
Before all of that though… I think that it was time that I actually started to build something.
Finding the parts was… beyond easy.
I was literally surrounded by scrap and electronics that had somehow managed to survive for untold years on this deserted planet.
Fashioning some of them into what I needed… was the bigger issue.
Time, it seemed, was forever to be my enemy. Not enough time in the day, not enough time to keep myself from passing out on my workbench in my little reality of white. Ghost made sure to keep the door locked, warding anyone that came looking for me away with promises that I would get in touch later.
Nothing a few messages to the visitors couldn't fix.
It was…. Maybe less than a week when I finally stared at the finished product of my work, hands caked in black grease, eyes heavy with dark rings underneath my eyes, and hair growing out of my chin longer than I usually let it.
Eh, I didn't have time to worry about it.
I spent enough time here.
Too many hours spent salvaging, let alone refining the parts.
I stare at the hunk of junk, welded pieces of metal looking like misshapen jigsaws melted together, the hover system and thrusters sparking to blue life at the touch of my hand.
You said this thing runs on my Light?
"That's right Guardian. So long as you can keep moving, it can keep running. And no worries about losing it. I have it stored in my data banks, and have plenty of glimmer to go around."
Knowing that the little bot at my side could just… remake anything that I had made and he scanned afterward… well it changed things.
He couldn't just make copies, the originals had to be destroyed first, but he could bring them out of thin air. And all he needed was this 'glimmer' substance. Which was literally what it was. Glimmers of light created from the breaking down of matter. Even with the newfound intelligence and knowledge, there was still much about this so-called 'Light' that left me perplexed.
Even more so than the chakra did.
It was just a hunk of junk, holding together out of sheer will and spite. But it would work for now.
Not like I could fabricate better materials or refine better pieces and parts with only a multitool to my name.
Something that perhaps could change in the coming days.
For now…
It was time to set off.
Leaving the city didn't have much fanfare, the only sign of my departure the message that I sent directly to Roland's communicator ring. Instead of taking the main gates… I decided to make my exit through the tunnels underneath the city.
The ones that only I knew about.
Hmm, I was going to have to do something about them, wasn't I? Either clear out the rubble so more than one person could make it through, or finish what time had started.
I highly doubted that the Rokarthians would be able to find these, but it was always the fool that left matters to chance that wound up getting bit in the end.
Ugh, it feels like my to-do list only gets longer and longer. I grouse to myself.
"Yes, I have a feeling that it's only going to get worse." Ghost says inside of my head. As I finally push my way through the rubble and ruin into the greater tunnel that is connected to the rest of the network.
I was still roughly underneath the city, but only at the barest edge, the faint traces of light still managing to find their way through the cracks and tears in the ground above my head.
I manifest the golden key in my hand, the tiny replica disappearing with a reverberant high-pitched chime from its ring on my wrist, and I open the box of white, bringing out the makeshift sparrow that was running on scrap I had found in the street and dilapidated buildings.
Getting on the thing was… more trouble than I thought it would be. Getting the right balance while realizing that I was going to need to redo the footrests was annoying, but something that I could do later on.
In the moment, I turn the ignition, smiling as the clunker chugs to life, the whine of the exhaust and hover engine coming to life as I feel the bike lift itself off the ground.
"Alright, so far so good." Ghost said as he coalesced from motes of light, scanning the bike underneath my feet 'downloading' it into his little storage space.
Already the ideas were springing to and fro in my mind. The wonderful projects and little tricks I could get up to with that.
I probably would be chuckling if I could make a sound.
It was… nice. To just enjoy the little things here and now. A foreign feeling that I did not dislike.
A departure from how… monotonous life had been for the past few years.
My life being on the edge of a blade was nothing new, it just happened that the chances of my demise arriving earlier than the natural means was now… higher.
A collar around my life that I could do without.
Well, that just meant that I was going to make it… inconvenient when they came for me.
The glint of red, like magma gathered into a single point and polished to a brilliant shine catches my eye and I pick up the small block that thrummed with flame and life.
I gaze into it for a little while, wondering at the possibilities, before I store it away into my pack.
"So, where are we headed?" Ghost asked as we stared down the tunnel.
North. Towards where this started. The gold around my wrist feels… a bit heavier.
"Ah… didn't you say that it took you weeks to get there?" Ghost asked as, staring ahead with trepidation.
Yes, but that was on foot. I didn't have this with me when I went there.Or any of my other abilities for that matter.
"Why so far, though?" Ghost asked as I turned the handle of the sparrow, the engine revving up as speed and motion prepared themselves for my release.
If it took me five years to find that place, I'm willing to bet that it's going to take those horned dusters even longer than it did me. The hard part was going to be getting all those people there.
Alright, let's see just how much power this thing ha-
I release the breaks, and nearly lose my grip as the world becomes a blur to my senses, the humming thruster behind me blasting back, sending the rickety creation underneath me rocketing forward, my eyes watering at the speed.
"Hit the brea-!" I manage to hear Ghost before I swerve, trying to regain some control.
Only to have the wall of the tunnel meet me head first.
I think I heard a large 'CRACK' followed by the beginning boom of an explosion, before everything goes black, and I have to blink the blue light out of my eyes, Ghost staring at me with a pitiable expression on his eye.
He didn't even have a face, how in the galaxy could he look disappointed like that?
"I think that you're going to need some practice." Ghost said gently.
I don't bother looking at him as I get back on the bike, knowing that I was probably going to crash and burn again.
But it was probably the best way that I could learn, that turning the controls because you were packing wasn't the greatest idea in the world.
This was going to be a long trip, I could feel it in my bones.
So, a shorter chapter, but this one felt complete and a good place to stop. Sorry that I've been a bit slow on chapters, have had other stuff occupying my mind. Like trying to finish Xenoblade 3 as fast as I can cause there are too many assholes on Youtube posting spoilers in the thumbnails and titles. I want to feel this game dammit!
Also I had to... give most of the freebies up here with the Steampunk from Smash Up because the rest of teh perks are from a different origin. So, it's either letting them through now, or letting even more through later. BEtter to just rip off the band aid.
Oh, and there's a reason why he didn't get the Workshop just yet...
9.0210 Mechanic 400CP Smash Up Crafting Technological You can fix anything. Quite literally. Alien technology, magical artifacts. You may not even understand what they do or how they work, but you can see when they're broken and how to fix it.
Brass and Vacuum Tubes (-100 cp, FREE Steampunk) You can make
perfectly functional devices with a steampunk aesthetic. In fact, machines
you build like this tend to work a little better, and stand up to far more
Abuse.
Workshop (-200 cp, FREE Steampunk) A well-appointed workshop,
overflowing with brass, vacuum tubes, and specialized tools. Inspiration
comes more easily within these walls.
⚙ Difference Engine (-100 cp, FREE Steampunk) You can build a computer
with anything, at virtually any tech level. Even water channels or a mob
with two colored flags apiece.
Remember, he is a slave that didn't really get any sort of education barring what was 'needed' for him to do his duties. So, he appreciates the knowledge that he has gained, even if most scientists nowadays would turn their noses up at what he uses. And he knows that.
100: Forgefather Charm Bracelet. This golden charm bracelet bears twelve charms of your choosing, each representing a tool for some skill you possess. On command, you can cause one of these charms to manifest as a master-crafted version of the tool in question. Another command will return the tool to its charm form, and to its location on your bracelet. Handy if you want to exercise your crafts anywhere you go without having to heft around a ton of weighty gear.
Crystal Concepts 200CP Kingdom Hearts Magical Small Scale : You possess the unusual ability to find tangible concepts, often used in this setting to create items through Synthesis. Nothingness, evil, darkness, light, sadness etc. You can now find distilled physical versions of normally abstract concepts left behind by defeated enemies, or hidden in obscure and hard to reach places. These concepts are typically related to the place or enemies you obtain the from, such as fiery enemies or locales holding Fire Shards, or a lightning dragon dropping a Lightning Crystal. The quality of the item depends on the difficulty of obtaining it, ranging from Shards from weak enemies, up to Stone, Gem, and finally Crystal for the progressively tougher enemies. What you do with them is up to you; they'd make nice jewellery, that's true, but I'm sure you can find a better use for crystallised fire or hope. In jump this means you find significantly more Synthesis ingredients you can either use, or sell.
Magical Potential (Free): In this setting everyone has at least a small pool of magical potential,
measured in Magical Points, or MP, these points power magical spells that can be found and learned in-jump. You are no exception, getting a small pool of MP that adds to whatever other magic you had. Your MP will grow over time, and with use, but non-magicians would need a lot of magic restoring Ethers on hand if they wanted to cast more than a few spells in a row. Magicians have significantly more starting MP and will peak even higher than other backgrounds.
A Heart to Call my Own (Free for everyone, 200CP to keep post jump): In the world of Kingdom Hearts, the Heart takes on a looser conceptual meaning. A Heart is a powerful thing, and enough care and affection, or just general interaction, can lead anything from beings that don't exist to programs inside a virtual world developing Hearts of their own. You could give emotions to an eldritch monstrosity or an unfeeling robot, a soulless clone or a full blown AI. Post jump this Heart becomes almost synonymous with a 'soul', with all the benefits and detriments that implies. The closer the being is to 'human' the less time this will take, with someone who is functionally human taking only a few years, while a horror from beyond the stars may take several centuries of close interaction. You can choose to not affect specific beings with this, or to have it only affect certain beings at will, progress however will very slowly reverse if you stop mid-way.
Shipwright 200CP Destiny My Added Stuff Guardians mostly take their vehicles for granted- their sparrows are a convenience, their ships a dime a dozen, only appreciating them for the flash and flair. You, though, can hear the heartbeat in their engines, and are fully aware of just how much difference the right transportation makes in a Guardian's life. You know the ins and outs of jumpships and hoverbikes like the back of your hand, and may give Amanda Holliday a run for her money. You can certainly rig up a stealth drive onto an old hive-grunge-encrusted ship properly. ...Right?
The Light Free Destiny My Added Stuff Guardians are defined by the powers of the Light. Upon entering this world, you gain the powers of one of the subclasses available to your Class, though you may choose freely between the options from Destiny 2 instead of the original versions. The full powers will take some training to unlock, but the same training can open the other subclasses from both games with time, and by the end of your decade you will easily have mastered your new powers. At the very least, you have significantly enhanced strength, endurance, and agility, with energy shielding to further protect you against harm; most notably, the Light is known for its Paracausal nature, making you an anomaly to analytical simulations or erasure from reality, difficult to fully grasp and encapsulate. This is by no means unbreakable protection, of course, but you are an annoyance to forces who rely on such methods.
We Found A Weapon Free Destiny My Added Stuff Guardians are warriors, first and foremost. As fitting one, you become proficient with all manner of firearms and weaponry that a Guardian will need. You can effectively use the many Auto Rifles, Sidearms, Swords, and other types of weaponry that you may find both within the Destiny world and elsewhere.
Ghost (Free, Mandatory)
This is the first thing you see in this world- your constant companion, opener of doors, and indispensable white mage, the Ghost. While an intelligent being, the Ghost's nature allows them to count as an Item rather than a Companion, but like a Companion you can freely determine their personality and voice, including Nolanbot or Dinklebot if you so wish. They respawn in the same manner as Companions. Your Ghost is a floating supercomputer, capable of interfacing with almost any technology regardless of how outdated or alien, and hacking through formidable
firewalls to grant access. Far more important, however, is their ability to greatly accelerate your healing — even from death. While this is a powerful boon, they are not without limit; both their own Light and your spirit can be strained from too many resurrections in too short of time, and places of intense darkness can stifle your Ghost's power, making it necessary for another Guardian to add their Light. Further, methods exist to snuff out your Light beyond a Ghost's power to aid, and the darkest foes will not hesitate to use them. Lastly, your Ghost is not
invulnerable. While they are armored and resilient, enough directed or exotic energy can destroy them and leave you helpless, and while Companionship gives them hope for revival, you still have to last until they come back.
39.22 Training Journal 200 Naruto- Long Ass Jump This little book has been in the possession of many shinobi throughout the ages, all of whom decided to write here about their jutsu training in detail. For 50 CP, the journal possesses a handful of techniques from previous owners. For 200 CP, every once in a while, you will find a new section in the journal potentially allowing you to, in time, learn all jutsu in the Naruto series, though this could probably take a few hundred years considering the rate at which new information will reveal itself and that you have to learn all of them yourself
Ninja Tools Free Naruto- Long Ass Jump "All the basic tools a shinobi might need, from shuriken and kunai to explosive tags. You have a
supply of it inside your Warehouse that refills every day, ensuring you'll never run out."
Elemental Affinity 50CP Naruto- Long Ass Jump All who possess chakra possess an incredibly strong affinity to one of the following chakra natures: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Yin, or Yang. Through training, additional natures can be acquired, with more than one nature being common among Jōnin. This can be purchased multiple times, to a maximum of seven. If taken with the Rinnegan or other bloodlines that bestow the chakra nature, this doubles the power of your affinity. Like with all things, your affinity can be strengthened with time and hard work. Earth/Water
9.0210 Mechanic 400CP Smash Up Crafting Technological You can fix anything. Quite literally. Alien technology, magical artifacts. You may not even understand what they do or how they work, but you can see when they're broken and how to fix it.
Brass and Vacuum Tubes (-100 cp, FREE Steampunk) You can make
perfectly functional devices with a steampunk aesthetic. In fact, machines
you build like this tend to work a little better, and stand up to far more
Abuse.
Workshop (-200 cp, FREE Steampunk) A well-appointed workshop,
overflowing with brass, vacuum tubes, and specialized tools. Inspiration
comes more easily within these walls.
⚙ Difference Engine (-100 cp, FREE Steampunk) You can build a computer
with anything, at virtually any tech level. Even water channels or a mob
with two colored flags apiece.
Craftsman Training: A master has passed his work onto you through an apprenticeship,or else you have simply put the time in to learn how to make things for yourself. You have received intermediate training in every field of crafting, from metalworking to woodcrafting to pottery. This training increases in potency with each Artificer perk taken,
due to the natural synergy involved. [100CP].
Changeling: Changelings are a humanoid race who are distantly descended from
doppelgangers and share their shapeshifting qualities. Their shapeshifting has led to
them being used as spies and assassins which has, in turn, led to them being mistrusted
amongst the people of Khorvaire. As a Changeling, you can lie better than other races
and require less sleep. Further, you can change your cosmetic form to that any other
race around yourself.
Artificer: An inspired craftsman specialising in arcane technology and wonderous
creations, ranging the gamut from robot dogs to fully automatic crossbows. They provide
the backbone of technology which Eberron runs on.
Warehouse Roboport 200CP Factorio Toolkit Mundane:
A tablet that always returns to you after being lost or destroyed controls a small fleet of robots that fly out of a hatch in the cosmic warehouse's ceiling. These drones can move small items and will work together to carry up to a ton at a time, and have tools that allow for simple constructions to be performed, if you provide the system with digital blueprints. The drones can range a kilometer from the door to the cosmic warehouse, but can link up with constructed roboports to extend their range. The robots vanish if the warehouse door closes. The robots can draw from both normal and warehouse versions of the provider chests. You start with a single normal version of the provider chest, with plans to make more. You will have to source the tools and materials to do such from elsewhere.
19.0010 Satisfactorio Crafting 50CP Satisfactory Factorio Gauntlet Knowledge Mundane You can make automated equipment for extraction and processing of raw resources. You can make automated industrial equipment out of simple items, similar to the items in the games.
Satisfactorio Builder (Free and Mandatory)
The buildy gun from Satisfactory. It can place down buildings and other artificial
structures, either from parts or premade. It can deconstruct buildings and other artificial objects,
either breaking them down or storing them whole. It can give orders to logistic or construction
systems that you are authorized on (including the ones from this Gauntlet.) It can configure the
settings of machines. It has an internal inventory that can be upgraded (to a limited extent until
you leave the Gauntlet.) Always fully charged, can be upgraded in other ways, automatically imports into similar handheld stuff, and syncs up with other inventory/storage Perks, Items, and items. If lost, stolen, or broken, it will respawn in an appropriate and safe place immediately, even during the Gauntlet.
Basic Weapons and Tools (Free)
You begin with a Xeno-zapper - a handheld electric melee weapon - and a pistol with ten magazines. These are solid weapons and will not break easily. You also have a hand chisel which should allow you to slowly mine ores.
Craft Bench (Free)
You start with a preconstructed craft bench, and a box containing only the most critical
parts of the HUB. You must acquire resources to construct the HUB before continuing with your
Mission. If you just take this, it locks out any of the Items listed below this one that you took until
you complete the HUB, and you must upgrade the HUB to unlock many of the basic recipes like
in the game
Tarnished 300CP Elden Ring Ah. Poor, brave Tarnished.
Once a man like any other, now raised from the peaceful repose by the Greater Will's unrelenting demand for a new champion to become Elden Lord. It matters little if you were noble, commonfolk or brigand in life; the darkening of the golden hue from your eyes will signify to all that you are a wanderer on a seemingly hopeless quest, suffering a loss of communion with the Erdtree. Perhaps, only just perhaps, you are among the faintest and most distantly related descendants of Marika and Godfrey's bloodline-though with little to show for it, save perhaps some faint affinity for the arts of war. Not all Tarnished are so favoured, but it seems you are one of the lucky few to yet benefit from the Guidance of Grace: The divine revelation provided by the Golden Order, and perhaps the Greater Will that guides it. In your travels through this reality, you will come across tiny golden rays of light guiding you to your destiny as Elden Lord-resembling both a droplet in form, and a bonfire in ambience. Resting at such a site will restore both your body and focus (vital for casting magic of all sorts from this world) as well as cleanse you of all but the most dire of status effects. Do not fear poison, curses or raggedly bleeding wounds while in the presence of such a beacon-though richly embedded corruptive forces of directly divine power such as the Frenzied Flame will not be so easily quelled. Moreover, certain potions are miraculously refilled at such a site:
The Flask of Wondrous Physick, filled with crystal tears that normally amass at the roots of minor Erdtrees capable of laying all manner of boons on the drinker. The Flask of Crimson Tears, which wondrously heals the drinker even in the heat of battle. And the Flask of Cerulean Tears, which restores focus similarly. Die in battle, and should you have the resolve to return you may resurrect at the last Site of Grace you rested at. The Site's soothing light also permits you to expend Runes in order to strengthen yourselves overall over time, and focus your mind on magic or Ashes of War to better wield in battle. The potency of the flasks can also be increased or altered with Sacred Tears-faint vestiges of the Erdtree's blessings in the past. It costs 200 CP to gain the mantle of Tarnished in this world, but for 300 CP you may keep all the benefits of the Guidance of Grace for yourself. In future worlds the Sites of Grace will continue to appear along with all they provide, this time leading towards what events, individuals and locations of great importance to the world instead of the Elden Ring.
Reclaimer of Rune and Ashes 200CP Elden Ring Faintly sparkling motes of light carrying the power of life itself and blessed by the Erdtree, runes are nourishment that through slow absorption develop all aspects of a Tarnished to greater heights. A fragment of Grace clings to you, permitting you to claim Runes from those you slay even in future worlds-and even if you yourself are not a Tarnished. This perk is free for all backgrounds for the duration of the jump.
Consider Runes to be a sort of life energy closely bound to but not strictly speaking part of the soul, which with the aid of a Finger Maiden (or perhaps, similarly powerful being or force capable of manipulating spiritual energy) can be used to increase your strengths and abilities-or be removed from your body and traded away. Particularly powerful individuals possess Remembrances- mystical records of light produced by the Erdtree which can be used to forge items, spells, or Ashes of War: Unique signature fighting moves used by truly accomplished warriors and other figures of legend, more akin to transcendent martial techniques than the sorcery and incantations of this world. Divine ones on par with the demigods of this world or even Empyreans may even have Great Runes of their own: Runes that embody their core divine traits.
For an extra 200 CP you may toggle on the propagation of Runes and Ashes of War in future worlds. All living things-including cosmic beings and gods-will generate a certain amount of Runes, the process become as natural metaphysically intrinsic to the local realm of existence you're in as it is in the Lands Between. Likewise, the remains of those with martial techniques of great power will manifest that can be used to relearn them. By your investment here you yourself have somehow obtained the ability to extract for yourself strength from these Runes. While spiritually or divinely sensitive beings may be able to figure out a way, as a unique ability by taking someone's hand and concentration for a moment you may grant them the ability to gather runes from those they slay. Beware: This gift, once given, cannot be easily taken back.
16.0390 Puppeteer 300CP Naruto Knowledge Abilities and Skills You're trained to use a puppet controlled by thin strings of your chakra in combat. With training you'll be able to use more complex puppets and perform more complex maneuvers with them, maybe eventually using multiple puppets at same time. Includes training to care for and repair your puppet, a battle puppet to use it on, and increased skill with designing and building mechanical things (such as ninja puppets)
Puppets usually rely on mechanical weaponry, such as poisoned blades and napalm to dish out the hurt. Particularly sturdy puppets can be used as shields and front line fighters instead though. The chakra strings used to control the puppets are constructs made from concentrated chakra so they can be seen with a naked eye, though a skilled user can suppress the chakra so that the strings become hard to see, or even invisible.
They essentially act as an extension of the user which allows the manipulation of whatever is attached to their strings, such as hidden weaponry in a puppet as they please. They can also be attached to other objects, allowing the user to control, or at the very least disrupt other things. Chakra can also be transferred via the strings, such as to activate techniques that the puppets can use. If you purchase this, you may select Sunagakure as your starting location for free, as the art of puppetry originates from there.
Basic Ninja Training (Free): You know how to use kunai and shuriken, a basic taijutsu style, how to walk on any solid surface regardless of petty things like gravity, how to walk on water, create a non-physical illusion of yourself, and change places with a previously prepared log or another generic item to dodge attacks. You can also reinforce yourself with chakra, making you significantly faster, stronger and more difficult to hurt, and if you apply yourself, you will be able to keep up with Captain America. You also gain the ability to jump ludicrously far, on the order of dozens of meters. It's all topped off with some serious stealth skills too. As in keep yourself from being spotted while wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and defacing Mount Rushmore levels of stealth.
14.0010 Shadow Clones 100CP Generic Naruto Fanfiction Database Magical "Ah, shadow clone no jutsu. The signature jutsu of the Naruto franchise. And now you can join in on the fun. You have a copy of a technique scroll for the shadow clone jutsu, of such quality that an idiot could teach himself from this thing in virtually no time at all. It even has safeguards built-in that eliminate any possibility of killing yourself by putting too much chakra into it, or getting a headache from too many clones dispelling at once or anything like that. The worst that can possibly happen is that it fails to work. You still can only make as many shadow clones as your chakra can support but outside of that you can feel free to abuse this handy jutsu for training, decoys, diversions, paperwork, chores, or whatever else you can imagine. In the event that this technique is supposed to have some additional features in the particular fanfiction you go to, or even a better version, this scroll will contain both versions.
* Some of the best shadow clone fanfic features include shadow clone self charka regeneration, temporal split clones instead of normal clones, mind merging without dispel, constant hivemind like connection etc "
Chakra Coils- Free
The basic ability to use chakra, as represented by "chakra coils" that are a nebulous part of your body and/or soul now. You have top-quality chakra coils which would place you in the top 5% in this world in terms of both capacity and control.
After this jump your chakra system and body continue to function just as they do in this world, along with any changes made along the way. You may also, if you choose to, induce the development of chakra coils in other people simply by pushing some of your chakra into them.
Academy Training- Free
You already have all the basic training necessary to start on your career as a ninja. Your physical stats and resilience are what civilians would call 'peak human' and you can mold chakra, use kunai and shuriken, do the academy three jutsu (henge, kawarimi, and bunshin), and have learned a basic taijutsu style. You've even studied ahead a little and learned tree climbing, chakra-boosted jumping, and several D-rank techniques.
Magic Cooking Pot 100CP The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild - SB
A simple iron pan, that can magically light a fire underneath itself when set up. Even when off of a fire, it will heat items placed in it to the desired temperature. All meals and elixirs cooked on it will receive a boost in quality, and can provide a variety of beneficial effects, depending on the ingredients used. Magically provides a comfortable temperature nearby when in use.
3.0320 Clock of Ages 600CP Chronicles of Narnia Time "An enormous mechanical clock attached to your Cosmic Warehouse. By precisely adjusting various gears and chains within this clock, you can control the rate that time flows in your warehouse relative to the world outside, to a maximum of twice as fast and a minimum of half as fast. For each Jump you've completed, increase this cap by 20%. After 5 jumps, you'll be able to speed things up to three times as fast or slow them down to 1/3. After 10 jumps, you'll be able to speed things up to four times as fast, and so on. If you've got any similar pocket dimensions, you might figure out a way to hook them up to the clock as well.
* Might be better to replace with temporal controls from PRS, if we want to keep something like this
* This one has the advantage that it upgrades for any jump you have completed. However, this is only useful if you plan to do a lot of jumps. To match temporal controls, you would need 40 jumps, and to match the upgraded sectional time, would need 490. This is also useful in that it can be linked to other pocket dimensions, such as ones already accelerated, to stack "
(Free) Box Weapon: While it doesn't appear until later in the story, box weapons still do play an important part. Box weapons are small finger-boxes that have a single personal-sized item (or animal) within, that when activated unleash the content of the box and apply your flame to it, granting said item with the related properties. You can, if you wish import an existing animal/item to said box. Additional purchases are 100cp
each.
Rings: The "key" to opening a box weapon, each ring can be ignited by only a single element, save for Sky and Earth being capable of opening any box in their respective domain. While these rings are not very strong in terms of the amount and quality of flame released, they cannot be broken from channeling your flame through them. You get a single ring for each different kind of flame you possess.
Sky: While it is an otherwise benign flame, it can bring "harmony" to objects burned by it, and assimilate other flames as well.
(Free)100cp Trust: Other than power, the most important thing for a mafia leader to have is the trust of their peers, and while your strength may be up for contest your ability to gain the loyalty of your family sure isn't. Because of this it is much easier to gain the trust of individuals, and people will flock to you more often in a way that puts you in a position of authority over them.
39.0059
Dying Will Ore Vein
600CP
HItman Reborn
Where the material that is used to create a ring is still unknown, this item adds on your warehouse a multitude of ores, each one corresponding to a specific dying will flame. To get a single S rank ring you'd need to wait about 10 years for enough high-quality material to accumulate.
Maliwan Intern Borderlands 200CP
At some point, you got lucky and figured out how Elemental Weapons really work. You know how to use them to best effect, allowing you to set enemies on fire regularly, melt people with acid bullets, and have ALL kinds of shocking adventures with electrical ammo. If you have any technical training, you can even jury-rig ways to apply elemental effects to other weapons, as well.
14.0200 Mystical Dojo | Chakra Books 500CP Marvel Cinematic Universe Vol.2 Database Magical
-14.0201 -Mystical Dojo 400CP Marvel Cinematic Universe Vol.2 Database Magical For the Masters of the Mystic Arts, the grounds of Kamar- Taj is their sanctuary, their fortress, and their school all in one. It is a place where they can open their mind, and truly ascend to new heights in awareness as they explore Creation itself. Alas... even they knew not to focus everything in one place, and it is with that in mind that I offer you this. Whether you wish to place this in a mountain range so that it is hidden away from the eyes of most, or have it as a Warehouse attachment, this ancient site contains everything one needs to build an order. Rooms for monks to stay in, a great library to fill with many books, a courtyard to practice, an armory for magical items you may possess, and even a storage unit that supplies as much mundane food, water, and tea to sate those who follow the Mystic Arts. Even better, those who practice here will find their minds opening more quickly than usual, having an accelerated effect that will leave training of the body and mystical practices half again as effective. ...oh, and there's a wifi router installed.
-14.0202 -Chakra Books 100CP Marvel Cinematic Universe Vol.2 Database Magical "It can be difficult for those who are unaware of the world around them to grasp that they know nothing. It can also be difficult to show them just how small their worldview has been all this time, or help them. But the first step to learning is awareness. This is a substantial supply of books regarding the body, such as a map of the nervous system, MRIs, and more importantly, chakra points and how to open them. These maps for the body will help bring awareness to would-be students, and how to show them the wonders of the world or themselves. For an additional undiscounted 100CP, you may also gain a substantial collection of spellbooks that will assist in helping you learn the formation of spells, the art of drawing energies to power them, and the basics in casting them. Just be aware that the warning labels come AFTER the spells.
* The cost includes the upgrade "
-27.0642
-Genius
400CP
Plants Vs Zombies
Crafting Biotech
You are an absolute Genius, with this perk! Your mind works tens, hundreds of times as fast as even the most clever of your fellows, excepting the true once-in-a-millennium genii like the one or two people in this world. You have an eidetic memory, and absolutely perfect recall, making sure you never forget anything. More than that, you are capable of wonders of science that would leave anyone around you gaping in awe. Creating sapience is child's play, as is working with both Trees and Plants or human flesh, letting you make wonders and abominations. While you're rather far from being able to make things like either the Plants or Zombies used here, you could learn very quickly indeed, being clever as you are. This perk is a capstone booster for each Origin capstone, and the interactions are listed with the capstones. * Subtract 400 from the cost if you already have the genius! Perk from Defender
Touch of Improvement 400CP A 'Happy' Harry Potter fanfiction
Charity can sometimes be slow to change the world simply because it's impossible to help everyone without burning out, unless you have the means to affect multiple people at once that is. This is not that perk exactly but with it you can target important places and buildings to give them three types of improvement in utilities, atmosphere,and security. Utilities targets the things in that category from electrical wiring and plumbing to the appliances and furniture, Atmosphere focuses on how friendly the place is and whether people find it easier to relax or focus, Security takes care of all the protective stuff from enchantments and animated armor to metal detectors and locks. Three things can be improved in each category after which you'll have to make any changes yourself manually. Perk does not provide improvements in the form of people such as adding human guards for security.
Freebies
Helping Hands, Healing Hearts (100 CP) Life is hard and you know that better than most, but as difficult as things get they can always get worse. Not with this perk, because you know not everyone has it great you can't help but want to ease people's burdens and bring a bit of good to their lives, and you really do, Jumper. Doing nice things for people brings fortune and happiness to their everyday existence. Small things like giving encouragement, complimenting them, or carrying someone's groceries may see them happy, upbeat, and able to slog through the rest of their day with a smile and a little more inner peace. Larger stuff like helping them work on a project can give them motivation for weeks as their personal issues begin to resolve and their living conditions improve. The longer they interact with you the faster and stronger this takes effect and furthermore it spreads, like some sort of Pay It Forward virus, the world around you will just naturally grow a bit brighter. Maybe if you have time, the world will lift itself out of the grimdark it's mired in.
Trinkets (Free) Two in one souvenirs and candy dispensers featuring an animated bobblehead statue that guards whatever candy you put in the dispenser from sneaking sneaks who sneak. The distributor itself will not run out of candy and can switch between any candied delights you've placed in it before. The bobbleheads can be swapped with any others you've acquired.
Wand (Free, or 50 CP with No Magic drawback) A wand perfectly tailored for you, if you selected Drop-in it may even be made of some rather unusual materials making it many times more resistant to breakage.
I could still feel the impact of my skull shattering into a billion pieces before the explosion took what little life I still had.
I'd lost count of how many times that happened to me.
I always manage to survive the initial crash, always managing to retain enough of my consciousness to stare at the flaming wreck of my sparrow. Right before the damn thing blew up in my face, dashing my broken soon to be corpse of life.
This was all undone in the same glimmer of blue light that was becoming more and more the norm.
I honestly preferred this over the wall of lasers that I dealt with in the Rokarthian compound.
It felt quicker.
It wasn't, if anything, this was infinitely longer than that stream of death and rebirth.
But it felt far faster than that did.
Which… made all the difference.
"I believe that we are approaching our destination." Ghost said softly in my head, my the hazy green of my sight illuminated thanks to the technology in my helmet.
I slow to a stop, allowing Ghost to dissipate the Sparrow back into his storage, and I stumble just a bit onto the floor, managing to catch myself from falling completely to the floor.
Guess I can't do that maneuver quite yet.
At least I didn't crash and blow myself up today.
"Why are we going on foot?" Ghost asked.
Because I don't want to get eaten by a Stone Skin.
"Oh…. so this is their home?" Ghost asked as he appeared over my shoulder, scanning the surrounding ruined walls of worn wire and weathered steel. Blue lights gathered around crushed debris on the floor, and the incaved wall that looked like a tank had barreled through, an artificial cave in leading deeper inside.
Yes. Damn things have found that they prefer the darkness over the light up above.
"That's why you keep the entrances lit up like that?" Ghost asked.
I nod. Sometimes they like to come back topside, so leaving the lights on like that tends to keep them away. Doesn't always work, though.
"Exactly why are they still around then, if they're so dangerous?" My quiet footsteps avoid the pieces of metal and stone that littered the floor, matching up the hallway in front of me with the map that I had created in my head.
Because they're damn tough to kill. There's a reason why we call them Stone Skins, laser fire doesn't do much besides irritate them, while regular kinetic weaponry isn't nearly strong enough to punch through. Only clear way is getting them in the eyes, but that's hard to do when you have that behemoth charging at you faster than you can lift your weapon.
"If they are so hard to kill, then why do you come so far down?" I shrug at the question.
I'm a diver. It's what I do. Would be a pretty bad one if I didn't try to explore and discover more of the planet. It's the entire reason why I have been able to survive up to this point.The fact that it gives me as many escape routes as I can find is just a bonus.
He sighs. "Of course that's your reasoning."
My reasons will forever be my own. Are the only words that i leave him with as we continue down the faintly familiar hallways, following the small grove and scratches that I had left behind with a knife.
They weren't very big, barely deep enough that they would no doubt be weathered away by time. But they were enough for me to follow.
"So, why here? Why this specific place?"
Ugh, he was going to just keep asking me questions, wasn't he? Was it too much to ask for just some silence?
Because it's where I found this. I raise the arm with that glittered with gold around its wrist. And I have… this feeling that there is more there. That perhaps there are things left behind that I can use. Or maybe I'm just deluding myself. Besides, it took me literal years to find this place. Years of going through dead ends, figuring out which hallways led to Iron Skin nests, and which ones just lead to waiting death traps that never turned off.
If it took me that long, how long do you think it would take them to find it?
"But it took us days to get here, even on the bike. And you said that it took you almost two weeks to get here on foot. How are we supposed to transport literal thousands of people here safely?"
We aren't. At least not safely. But this is the only thing that I can think of that can buy the most people the most time. Many might not make it here. Many will probably die on the way. But it's better to die in an effort to be free than it is in captivity. Than it is as one of their playthings.
"..." Ghost remains silent, his one blue eye staring into my own hazel ones through my helmet, remaining as still as possible while he followed behind me. "You said that you lived your entire life as one of theirs?"
My silence was my answer.
"How did you escape?" By going to prison. I answered simply. There was disbelief in him, I could feel the silent emotion from our connection. A… formless thought that hovered at the beach of my mind.
What do you think this planet is? I asked him simply. If we are in a space-faring galaxy, why aren't there any ships flying to and fro from the skies? Even the most backwater of planets would have one or two a month. So I've heard at least.
No, this entire place is a prison. One that almost everyone was sent to due to 'crimes against the Empire of the most gravest of offense.'
"If so, then why not kill you?" Oh, if only it were that simple.
Because then they would have to respect us as they do all the dead. He stared at me blankly. Urgh. It is the belief of every Korinthian that in Death we are all equal. For no matter how long they have prospered, no matter how many lives they take, or how much science has advanced, they haven't been able to fully conquer it. Sure, they can live for a lot longer than most other sentient life in the galaxy, but they are by no means completely immortal. So they respect the only thing that they fear. And in that, they refuse to give anyone here that very same respect.
"That seems… very petty." Ghost said.
Yeah, that's them. Whatever anger might have once been there is just… gone. Not out of a lack of hate, not that still burned.
It was just… cooled. What was the point in losing myself to emotions when there wasn't anything that I could do?
"If this is a prison, why would they just…" Leave us alone to govern ourselves? Easy, they didn't think that we'd survive long enough for it to matter. Better for us to die due to natural causes or things 'outside' of their control than to pull the trigger themselves.
"And yet you all survived."
Not for a lack of them trying to get us killed. When they noticed that the undesirables and aliens weren't dropping by the hundreds, they started sending some of their more… violent population down here. The ones that they figured were already good as gone.
"Who formed together into the Rokarth." I snap my fingers.
That's right. Even if someone managed to make it off the planet, they would just shoot them out of the sky with the small fleet that patrols this area of space. So, while they weren't happy that we managed to survive this long, they couldn't kill us themselves because then they would have to give us actual proper burials.
"You still haven't really answered my question, though. If you were a slave, then why did they send you here?"
I shrug my shoulders as I turn the corner, coming ever closer towards our destination.
My… former master messed with the logbook. Last thing that he managed to do when he was sentenced here. Brought me along because I was his… 'prized human'. I put as much poison and hate into that thought. So, instead of being sold off to a different master, I was sent here. In the end, his greed is what saved me.
"I suppose that living free on a prison planet is better than a slave, wouldn't it?" Oh yes. I doubt that I will ever leave here. Or rather, if I did, I would have nowhere to go. But here… this is a prison for many. Yet for others, this is the only home that they have ever known. It is the same for me. It's a shithole, one that we have survived by the miracles of fate. But it's my home.
A home that I will be damned if I leave in the hands of those filthy genocidal slavers.
I didn't want to fight. I didn't want to kill. I didn't want to risk my life for the sake of others. But I wasn't really doing that, was I? No. This was all for me.
For my own twisted sake of seeing what I saw as mine to remain it.
And… perhaps that was enough for me to put my life at risk.
But I owed Roland. The least I could do was try to pay that debt off.
With this… I would.
I think.
It wasn't that he made me pay him back. He asked, yes.
But the option to say no was always on the table. Roland was that type of person.
It just… didn't feel like I could say no. Not until I knew that we were even.
Perhaps I would one day reach that point, where I could wash my hands clean of it.
Perhaps.
"Uh, Guardian? What's that noise?" I blink
And I hear that telltale sound of heavy pounding feet that promised death to any distracted diver.
Which is exactly what I was.
I unholstered the weapon from its holster at my hip, turning and readying the first round to fire-
Only to feel my back and spine shatter as it impacts my chest and I go flying down the hallway.
"ERRRAUGH!"
It cried out into the darkness, its course snout opened wide, sharpened teeth that would glint in the light if it weren't for the blackness that surrounded us.
Its face was long, its neck thick and muscled as it swung its head back into place, staring at me with tiny black eyes that could see in the dark, stomping four legs that resembled moving stones more than limbs. A long rocky tail thumped the floor, sending stone and metal flying through the air, its bulky blocky body trembling with barely contained rage.
I managed to raise my hand cannon, send four shots barreling forward-
-only for them to ricochet off it, the eyes blinking with each sound, the bullets pinging off uselessly off its eyes lids.
"Oh shit." Ghost and I think at the same time as it barrels forward again, slamming its snout back into my body, crushing bones into dust, blood traveling up my throat as I felt organs rupture and burst inside of my body.
I don't have enough time to cough, or to let out the red liquid that filled my throat as I felt consciousness blissfully slip from my grasp.
I came back to the damned thing staring at me again, confusion evident on it's face as it lifted its legs, readying itself for a stomp.
I backpedal away, managing to move my leg away from the newly formed crater that was left in its wake.
It opens its mouth.
And I shove my hand down its throat.
Through the night vision, I can see its eyes bulge, I feel its tongue move underneath my arm.
I grasp the yellow crystal I kept in my pocket, with my free hand, shoving my hand as deep as I can inside of the creature's maw-
-and gasp with an open mouth as it closes its jaws around my hand, the sharpened fangs burying themselves into my arm with a meaty crack, the bones and muscles tearing on the inside.
I snarl at the hateful creature, stare into its eyes before I drain the crystal fucking dry.
I pull, grasp, and throw every last drop of magic that I can from the crystallized concept of lightning, transmit it through my arm and into its fleshy maw.
I watch in satisfaction as it just… trembles in place.
I lose my arm in the process though, as it finishes its bite, the jaws closing completely with a 'click' as the last few tendons and muscles holding the limb to the rest of my body just… separates. It isn't a clean cut.
And I can feel the blood that should be circulating through my arm splurt onto the floor instead.
Yet, it trembles, even as it falls to the floor with a 'thump the sound of stone on stone echoing down the hallway of metal.
I want to scream. I want to shout up into the world, let my voice echo louder than the final death throws of the creature that I just killed. To allow some of the pain to exit through my voice instead of feeling it just sit in my body as I can feel myself go into shock, even while the life of magic leaves the shard of power that I kept in my pocket.
Ghost hovers above me, bringing his blue light over me, the pain vanishing, dissipating into nothing as I flex my arms, both of them, in front of me.
The right arm of my armor is gone, the cloth and alloyed metal now residing inside of the Iron Skin's mouth.
But at least I had my arm.
"Are you alright, Guardian?" Sure you betcha. It wasn't like I just had my arm eaten off leaving me with nothing by a stump!
I smash down the thought as fast as it had appeared. He didn't deserve that. He brought me back after all. With all four limbs like I was supposed to be, instead of doomed to being a paraplegic for the rest of my life.
Then again, that was still better than death.
Note to self. The mouths are just another weakness to exploit. Not just the eyes like we all thought previously.
I felt the bracelet come to life again as I slowly push myself to my feet, aware of the smaller star that connected as I walked through the doorway into the room that had housed the golden piece of jewelry that rested on my wrist.
It was even more knowledge… but knowledge that made my hands itch and twitch in place.
I knew just the right amount of heat to make metal malleable. To make it soft enough to shape and bend into the appropriate form that I would want it. I knew just the right angle to chisel away at the wood of a newborn craft. My hands knew the right way to shape the spinning soft wet clay, just the right amount of pressure to shape it into a proper pot for someone that was interested in replacing the one that their children broke. Or the one that they used to make their homemade bomb.
Who knows? I didn't judge what people got up to in their free time. No, as long as they needed it, I could craft it. This was all a hobby compared to where my true passions lay.
And beyond that cradle of knowledge.
True enlightenment connected as the rest of the cluster found their proper place. I could…feel the magic that course through my body.
Blueprints and diagrams flashed through my mind, the process of shaping the magic flow through devices to properly cast spells through… anything that came to mind. Wands, guns, armor, weapons.
It was such a small thing. Only a small cluster of stars that felt like bare embers compared to some of the other burning stars that orbited my sky.
Yet, it was the most treasured one that had joined me.
I smile as I approach the wall of the former home/office, touching the same spot where I had seen that glint of light barely a month ago.
The wall… slides away. A small staircase leading down, the steps made of chiseled stone instead of grey metal.
I don't focus on that, though. I had turned on the light on my helmet at this point, I'd already killed one of the creatures, so why not, right? So I could see the… lifeless white arm that had replaced my darker tone of skin.
I tell my hand to fold its fingers in, and I watch the hand that wasn't mine do the same. I tell it to turn over so I can see the back of my hand. It does it again.
Ghost is staring at my arm at this point too, blue lights buzzing through the air as he scans it.
I take off my helmet, placing it onto the metal bench in the room and activate my ring as I stare into the camera.
A face that wasn't mine stares back at me.
It was… featureless and lifeless. Gone was the color of life, the dark hair and hazel eyes accompanied by a slightly bent brown nose. Instead, a white face, whiter than the clearest of porcelain stares back at me, eyes deeper and darkest than the lowest of tunnels glittering in fear as my mouth twists into a scared open mouthed frown. White hair, not blond-white-, frames my face.
"What in the world?" Ghost asks as the black starless eyes blink in terror.
I stared at the face that looked more like a ghost than the one that I knew.
And when the fear of surprise and bewilderment faded… I put my helmet back on and headed down the tunnels.
My face could be something that I worried about later.
For now, I had more to do.
Eventually, the steps lead into a room lit by glistening bright yellow electricity, the sound of turning cogs and bustling steam inside of pipes and servos sounding like music to my ears. A simple bronze door, decorated with resplendent images of cogs and gears emblazoned proudly in the metal, makes way as I step forward.
And on the inside I find paradise.
Tools, more so than any I had ever owned, were proudly displayed on a metal wall, rows of tables lay bare, ready for any new projects that might happen to strike my fancy. And along the back walls of the workshop, I could see the cabinets that stored away any materials and building plans that I would ever happen to make.
I felt… a pull from this place. A pull on my bracelet. I look down at my white limb, seeing the tiny key barely hanging onto its lone ring, and I let go. It travels forward into the center of the room, and it shines with a bright light. The entrance that I had entered from disappears, the steps vanishing from my eyes to make way for the tear in reality that appears before me as I see the room that the steps had begun from in front of me.
I could feel the workshop become part of that white room my key led to, and knew that it was now mine.
Turning, I gaze upon my workshop again, black eyes glittering with new life, as if the stars that shined in my sky were reflected in my own eyes.
Well… I think that we should get to work, don't you? I ask Ghost.
He begins to scan the room around us in answer, ready to download any designs I make into his memory.
Now… to get that road started.
Craftsman Training: A master has passed his work onto you through an apprenticeship,or else you have simply put the time in to learn how to make things for yourself. You have received intermediate training in every field of crafting, from metalworking to woodcrafting to pottery. This training increases in potency with each Artificer perk taken,
due to the natural synergy involved. [100CP].
Changeling: Changelings are a humanoid race who are distantly descended from
doppelgangers and share their shapeshifting qualities. Their shapeshifting has led to
them being used as spies and assassins which has, in turn, led to them being mistrusted
amongst the people of Khorvaire. As a Changeling, you can lie better than other races
and require less sleep. Further, you can change your cosmetic form to that any other
race around yourself.
Artificer: An inspired craftsman specialising in arcane technology and wonderous
creations, ranging the gamut from robot dogs to fully automatic crossbows. They provide
the backbone of technology which Eberron runs on.
well, he's not human anymore, not technically. Changling's creature type is Fae in DnD, not Humanoid. Sure can look like one though. Could look like anything roughly his size with the same amount of limbs, actually.
Changeling: Changelings are a humanoid race who are distantly descended from
doppelgangers and share their shapeshifting qualities. Their shapeshifting has led to
them being used as spies and assassins which has, in turn, led to them being mistrusted
amongst the people of Khorvaire. As a Changeling, you can lie better than other races
and require less sleep. Further, you can change your cosmetic form to that any other
race around yourself.
He should now be able to talk, I am pretty sure he is able to shift himself working vocal cords. The other thing is this, is the Doppelganger transformation permanent or a alternative form.
I'm a little skeptical on that, myself, having vocal cords and knowing how to use them are two very different skills, the mouth makes a lot of very complex shapes to make language happen. While it may seem instinctual, that's only because one starts as a wee baby. As our forger here has been basically mute for years, if not longer, It may take some time to not sound like he has a speech impediment even if he can fix his voicebox.
Yeah, I can see how that might have been interpreted that way. Though, that isn't to say that other races are off the table just because he's a changeling now. It just hasn't happened yet.
I struggled for a while choosing what race he was going to be, with Tiefling, Changeling, and Kalishtar being up there in the air.
Eventually went with the shapeshifter because... how do you think he would have reacted to having horns? And blue skin?
Kalishtar I decided was... going to be a problem. Mainly due to being connected to a benevolent dream spirit that nudged you to be good. Now, that might have been interesting in seeing Xac fight against that influence, but he's already got one Angel on his shoulder in the form of Ghost, so it's obvious why I couldn't choose that either.
Now, for those of you that don't know anything about D&D, here's what a changeling looks like.
Roads? that makes finding them a lot easier. I hope he gets transporter or portal technology.
Or does he plan to just build a segment, break it down behind them, and have Ghost recreate it in front of them?
"You're really going to be staying in that?" Ghost asked as I followed the power lines deeper and deeper, ever downwards to where the source was kept.
I see no reason to change my form. I answer honestly. My looks never mattered to me. What would I care what I looked like? It wasn't like it would truly impact my life in any way. A slave was still a slave after all.
Or so my former master loved to drill into my head every chance that he could get. Bastard.
I could change back if I wished to. All I needed to was think about my former look and I would simply change. In the blink of an eye, hazel eyes gained life once more, while pigmentation flooded through my skin as darkness returned to my hair.
It's better if I look like this compared to my true face. Didn't really matter which one that was.
For now, I simply walked on, surveying the walls and wiring with a critical eye, hands twitching from where they hung. Seeing such workmanship, which had once been… art, now reduced to nothing but ruin and wreckage.
It irritated me.
Before, I simply saw another part of the planet that had been forgotten and lost to time, only for us prisoners to find it.
Now I found myself lamenting the fact that this was how I was seeing it. That it was only at the end, when every drop of majesty and reverence were wrung away from it, leaving it as nothing but barren scrap.
Well… let's see if I couldn't breathe just a little more life into it, shall we?
Thankfully, we didn't run into any more Iron Skins on the way, a small blessing at that. I didn't want to lose any more limbs or have another broken spine.
Once was enough, thank you very much.
"I think that we're almost there." Ghost said, traveling down the tunnel ahead of me, using his own light to illuminate door scrawled in a language that I didn't understand. "Hm, this matches every other piece of writing that we have found. Not enough where I can understand, but I think that I'll be able to piece something together with more samples."
I blink. You can do that?
He bobs in place, his version of a nod. "There is quite a lot that I can do. Battle might not be something I was built for, but there are plenty of other uses a Ghost can provide a Guardian."
With that, he shines the light in front my eye… and I stare in wonder at the perfect replica map that I had been building in my head.
Every curve, every cave in, even down to the extra tunnels and worn down maintenance doorways were jotted down in holographic blue detail.
Reaching a hand out, I grab onto the edge of the map, and slowly pull on it, watching with a smile as the map reacted to my pull, twisting over so that I could glimpse some new detail that I might have missed.
Here and there I could see little images that I might have missed. A hole in the wall so deep into the darkness that I'd just missed it when we had traveled through, a maintenance shaft in the ceiling that lay open for anyone to climb through, if they could reach it, given that the scaffolding had long since given way to time itself.
I stand there, staring at the map that would have taken hours to make with my own two hands and some charcoal with paper.
I was amazed… and disappointed.
My hands twitched. I kept the smile on my face, retaining that amazement and shoving the disappointment into that box that seemed to buckle and creak in my soul.
This is going to make mapping the planet far easier. And more boring.
He seems to bounce in place, each arc seeming to contain more joy and excitement.
It was… good that he was happy.
I could appreciate the usefulness, even if the more… irrational part of my mind was not.
Let's continue on. I do not duck my head at that.
Really.
I don't.
Even with the occasional detours due to the collapsed walls and caved in chambers, eventually we reached our destination.
It was a pitiful sight.
We entered a spacious room, one that easily dwarfed what now felt like my meager workshop. It was large enough that one could fit enough people here that one would grow dizzy from the amount of speaking voices. Hanging from the ceiling were vines of cords and cables, ends broken and frayed, the walls were caved in, perhaps from the Iron Skins using them as rests or back scratches. Steel and metal were the only things that they could use that they could actually feel.
Moss and greenery were in the process of claiming this room, the fuzzy plant life having found its purchase on the fogged over glass rusted steel floor. At the center, a single orb, easily bigger than my fist, stood at the center, the only thing connected to the rest of the room, and put on display like it was some sort of alter.
At first glance, it looked like a simple glass orb.
But it was anything but.
The material, wasn't simple fragile glass. It was thick, denser than the metal that composed this entire room, as if whatever it held within was something to be contained and never let out.
Peering closer into the metal pillar that it stood on, I could make out the various different traveling mechanisms that spread throughout this entire room, and beyond even there.
If I was to gamble, I would say that this one room was responsible for an entire section of the underground facilities and tunnels.
And I knew how to fix it.
I didn't know exactly how it worked, this wasn't simple electricity or fossil fueled mechanisms in front of me. No, this made the bevy of technological knowledge that had recently made its home in my brain look like nothing more than stone tools and arrows.
I blink.
How did I know what a fossil fuel was? I knew it was… fossils that were left over the course of million years in order to provide fuel to machinery. But it was something that I had never heard of in my life.
If anything, the Korinthians had long since left that technology behind hundreds if not thousands of years before I was even born. And there was no way that the bastard would have ever been in the company of a scientist or scholar. He always did despise having to speak with someone smarter than him.
There were… bits and pieces of information that floated in my skull. Information that I was still processing.
Various bits and bobs of memory and language that were foreign… yet I could understand it completely.
As if I had known them all my life.
I should be more worried. I should be more wary of information that simply entered my mind from who knows where, gaining experience and training in arts that I knew for a fact should not exist in this universe.
The magic that literally hummed at my fingertips, waiting for a chance to be shaped and formed in proper equipment was merely one of the obvious signs. My face was another.
I even knew languages that I.. should not.
English…. A strange and bastardized language.
I didn't even know how the hell I knew that. Hell was another word that was foreign… but it fit.
Hell on Earth.
Earth.
A planet that was mythologized among the slaves.
Among those that were foolish enough to still hope.
But that kept many going, so who was I to care? Hope was a poison. A thing that kept you wishing and praying for a better that would never come.
Yet… I could not find myself to hate it as much as I should
I was free after all, wasn't I?
There was some Elvish floating around in my headspace as well, a more flowery and 'elegant' language, or at least's, that's how some elves liked to think of it.
The Half-elves were always quick to roll their eyes and wink at everyone else when such things would happen.
Even if they were all pricks who happened to have more money than they deserved. Especially when those of us that weren't lucky enough to be born as them were stuck picking up the pieces of the wa-.
I blink again.
What war? I asked to no one in particular.
Ghost stared at me in confusion. "I… don't know?"
I shook it off.
Residual memories. Memories that shouldn't be mine slowly worming their way into my head.
Perhaps they would prove useful as well? Nothing. I told him and continued to inspect the stand, whose internal mechanisms activated what I could only guess was a power source.
Hmm it looked like it would be tough work. Could you scan this? No time to allow pride or my emotions interfere with this. Time was of the essence, and the sooner that I had the lights working, the sooner that people could start moving this way.
"Absolutely. Just give me a quick sec." He said, spinning around the pillar at the center, his thin beams of light dancing all around the form of steel and technology. "Hmm, looks like time hasn't been kind to this."
Yeah, quite obvious when you look at it. I thought, gesturing at the greenery that was growing around us.
"You can fix it?" HE asked.
With time, yes. The question is going to be if we can get the rubble cleared around us.
"And travel itself is going to take time. It isn't like you can just make more of those bikes in short time." Ghost said quietly.
I sigh. Yes, travel itself is going to be the main issue. A trip of only two or three days would be elongated to over a weeks worth of travel.
"Too bad that you can't just make something bigger." I blink at that.
Was I that stupid? Yes, making the designs bigger would come with its own hiccups.
But it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Especially if I apply the same thruster and gravity technology into something even bigger. It would be loud, and cumbersome. And probably only good enough for one good trip along with clear roads leading to this place
I relay as much to Ghost. If I am being candid, in the end, the question isn't really how fast I work. It's how long Roland can hold against the incoming onslaught.
"And how long do we have for that?" Ghost asked.
As long as that fool manages to pick himself back up again. If there's one thing about him that I can praise, it's the amount of times that he's survived something that should have killed him. The same could be said of humanity. At least, so I've heard from the Korinthians grumble over the difficulty of gaining 'proper and useful' slaves.
Roland
It's too sunny for this shit. Roland thought as he ducked dragged a bleeding and dying man behind a giant tree root, shouting orders at his men behind him.
He'd only just arrived on the front, and already he could tell that shit had gone sideways after it had a baby with FUBAR.
While the jungles and urban ruins around them made for the perfect cover, it provided the same advantage to their opponents.
Which they had taken full advantage of, given the amount of his men that were now dead.
He grits his teeth, purple lights flaring in his eyes as his hand reaches down to the hilt of his machete.
A frown reaches his face as the rest of it slackens into a blank expressionless mask.
And he vaults over the tree root, using psychic power to increase the strength in his legs, purple coated eyes surveying the field.
It doesn't take long for them to spot him and start firing shots of red light his way, many of them missing, but a few coming too close for comfort.
"Amateurs." He mumbles under his breath, a beam of laser light shooting through the air, right towards his face.
A small concentration of his will, a few sparks of purple light across his body, and the beam of light… seems to dissipate in motes of crimson sparks.
At least, so it would appear. The energy doesn't disappear from the world. Instead, Roland harnesses it, forces it to deform from space, and concentrates it on his blade, which begins to emanate an aura of red-hot death.
Most that would look at this would think that the blade was made of some special psychic material. Some sort of prototype that had taken years to research and create.
In actuality, it was nothing more than a simple steel machete from the late 21st century.
A slab of steel that had been shaped and fashioned into a wide blade that thinned the closer it reached the black guardless hilt. A relic of the past, yet still as pristine as when he'd bought it at a flea market before his psychic awakening.
All because he thought it would be cool to own a 'sword'.
A fact that only one person alive today knew.
He raised his blade, focusing down on the one that had shot him.
And swung.
An arc of light shot down, faster than the bolt of light that he had absorbed, falls to the earth like a roaring comet slicing through the Korinthian that had fired the shot, red heat dissipating as it cuts through him.
The Korinthian blinks his golden eyes. Once. Twice.
Then he splits in two, the cooked meat wafting from both ends as his comrades began to scream and focus their aims at the falling red haired man.
"Too bad, dumbasses, all you're doing is giving me more ammo!" Roland roars across the battlefield, each incoming shot dissipating into nothing before he shoots it back with a swing of his blade.
He could just reform the bolts of red light and shoot them back normally.
But where would the cool factor be?
Roland turns back, his men, various different lifeforms, some of them avian, reptilian, mammalian, along with the occasional aquatic form smattered in, were staring at him with wide eyes.
"What the fuck are you waiting for? An invitation? Hurry up and start shooting!" They stumble and rush, but they manage to shoot straight, some of their shots managing to find their targets, the Korinthians panicking in the midst of the psychic rendering their laser weaponry close to useless.
Then something changed.
A cry resounded through the overgrown forest.
A high-pitched cry sounded from the sky.
And the Korinthians cheered as Roland felt fear enter his heart.
Looking up, he saw what had once been an avian lifeform fly down towards him, face twisted into a hateful scowl, its elongated beak sharpened to a razor's edge opened and closed as if it were starving for its meal.
It was… twisted.
Shaped into a nightmarish parody of what it had once been.
Limbs that had once been simple elegant wings were now elongated rail thin limbs, sharpened claws on its hands and legs twitching and grasping. It's blue plumage seemed to be… drained of color, now a washed out pigment that was corrupted by a green hue that slowly seemed to invade the rest of the feathers.
"Fuck!" Roland cries out as he swings an arc towards it, only for the bio engineered being to dodge with a flap of its wings, pinprick pupils focusing on a soldier high up in a tree, allowing the blue collar around its neck to glint in the sunlight.
"ERAAA!" It cries as it dances through the air, avoiding laser and slug fire, burying it's beak into the screaming black clad soldier that had been shooting from up high in the trees.
It thrashes it's head around, beak burying itself even deeper before it pulls back and swallows… something that Roland couldn't make out down it's gullet.
It cries again, it's head swiveling across the battlefield before it focuses on the soldier closest to it.
Pandemonium erupts across the battlefield, the Korinthians emboldened by the lone bio-engineered creature, while the Lebertorium desperately fought back.
Roland was forced to focus his attention on the greater forces in front of him, knowing that the moment that he diverted his attention to the flying thing, his forces would be overwhelmed by the coming tide of horned slavers.
Eventually, their opponent's numbers dwindle, and the creature lays dead on the floor, it's body riddled with cauterized holes, dead eyes staring up into the sky, it's splattered with blood of every color.
Roland remains standing at the end, his blade held in his vice as he forced his body to remain standing, even though all he wanted to do right now was lay down for a nap.
They were growing bolder every day.
Before, it was only the occasional small force that retreated at the first sign of trouble. And this wasn't even a full attack force.
Simply a small guerilla group that had gotten lucky in their ambush.
No, the creature that lay dead was the worrying part. It didn't take a genius to guess who had created it.
And from what Roland could see… it was probably nothing more than a failure.
It was rail thin, barely enough meat on its bones to keep the muscles moving, while parts of its body was already disintegrating.
A mere failed experiment that had been fast enough to dodge laser fire and kill six of his men.
"I want as many men and women taken back to camp for healing. Salvaging core, make sure to take as much equipment that you can find, no reason for us to leave anything that we can use behind!" The red haired man from Miami continues with his orders through the day, just as the sun dips out of view, the jungle returning to life as the fighting ended.
And all he could think- or rather, pray, was one thing.
Hurry up Xac. I don't know how long I can keep us standing.
A little shorter than usual, but it felt right to end it here. I love Roland. Such a try hard that grew on me. Like a fungus. Now, I know that memories from alternate lives stemming from the perks is something that a lot of people dislike. But I don't care.
Every time that a new perk rises to the surface, I have a little game where I go into each doc and I try to flesh out who this Xac might hvae been. Spoilers, this Xac is the outlier. The most different among the bunch.
The whole joy of Jumpchain, for me at least, is trying to figure out how a life would be contextualized in this world with the perks that have been bought. And what changes might that have made with certain perks being added.
I'm also making a few changes for the way that perks are being rolled and how points are accumulated. I have a rudimentary list that I've been chipping away at every now and then with new 'achievements' added when a new one pops in my head. Now, these aren't purely based on what he can do, but also on what he accomplishes.
Such as managing to kill something with the arm he lost. Might put up the list on here on an informational, but it is nowhere near done, and probably won't be for a while.
I can't help but think that the very nature of the Celestial Forge as an interdimensional conduit for knowledge must be a very, very, very small but especially "tasty" beacon for the Unbidden. Excited to see where the story goes from here and if people make it off the planet!
Have to admit if there is a setting in which the forge won't see you become to OP and just out power everything this well might be it. Looks like a run where humanity isn't doing to well overall. Rise and purge the alien... well evil ones I mean.
