Mist's Jumps Part 21 (Patreon)

Generic Isekai

Race: Human

Background: Gamer

Starting Location: Wilderness

World: Generic Fantasy MMO

User Interface: [Free]​ You were playing a game. Now you’re in the game. Why would the UI disappear? You have access to a personal, customizable user interface, displaying your status, alongside a minimap. It has a variety of useful features, like tracking how much money you’re carrying, the items you have on your person and in storage, and all your skills, powers and abilities. It even has a notepad! 

Thorough Research: [200]​ You did not arrive in this world unprepared. Oh no. You did your research. You were an ardent fan before you arrival, and it’s time to put that obsession to good use. You know the location of every rare item, the weakness of every monster, and recipe for every crafted item. You know which magics are the most powerful and how to counter every special attack in existence. You can minmax with the best of them, and you’ve read every bit of lore available. And best of all, your memory is perfect when it comes to your passions. You’ll never forget a bit of this stuff. 

Items:

A Bag of Coin: [Free]​ On your belt is a small bag of coins in the local style. There’s enough money to pay for a cheap inn and meals for a couple months. 

Dimensional Storage: [100]​ Though not quite a traditional item, you have access to a pocket dimension that can be used to store all manner of goods. Though its space is not unlimited, it seems to scale in volume with your abilities, and time is stopped within it. It cannot store living things.

Internet​ ​Access:​ ​[200] An interdimensional internet connection. Can be used to surf the internet of any world you have visited in the past, though with the limits that naturally arise from those worlds being stopped in time. Takes the form of a wireless signal being emitted by your body, which can be tuned to any applicable worlds. Comes with a free touchscreen phone to access it. The signal can be toggled on and off freely.

Companions: [100] 8 companions 700 points each.

Cheats:

Skill Books: [400] With the expenditure of a small amount of mana and a five minute ritual, you can copy any skill known by the target of the ritual, including yourself, into an item, usually a book. Anyone can then use the item to gain that skill, but the item is one-use. The target’s skill is not diminished by the ritual, though it requires you to sit unmoving for its full duration, and some means of designating the target, such as a blood sample or line of sight.

Upgrade: [400] By focusing on a target, you can determine its attributes, abilities and general status. By spending some of your own mana, you can enhance any of these things. The price grows for targets of a higher level than you, and you can specify specific things to upgrade, ranging from specific attributes all the way to species. This cheat can improve anything and everything. It just can't be used to learn things. This ability can target almost anything, from equipment to party members, as well as yourself.

The System: [Free​] You are part of this world’s system. In practical terms, that means that killing things now gives you experience points, gaining enough experience points lets you level up, and leveling up gets you skill points. Leveling up also improves your attributes: Strength, Endurance, Vitality, Magic Power, and Agility. You can see your status at any time in your mind’s eye, as well as a list of every skill you can afford to learn with your skill points. The price of skills varies depending on your current class and race, but as long as you have the points, you can learn any skill or ability available in the world you are in.

Empty Frame: [400] Your arrival in this world disrupted the web of fate, leaving you with no pre-determined destiny or fortune to guide your journey. While some may call this a boon In itself, it has had other effects. Being outside the constraining limits of fate has allowed your soul unprecedented room to grow. Your mana reserve is a thousand times larger than a master mage, and that reserve can grow without any hard limits, as long as you continue to train.

Drawbacks:

Stranded [+100cp]​: Instead of the normal beginning your origin would have, you find yourself in the middle of the wilderness. Populating this area are countless species of monsters, of varying strength and aggression. You must survive this trial, though it is up to you whether or not to attempt to find civilization. Any items or companions are scattered around you, disorganized but unharmed.

Phobia [+200cp]​: Claustrophobia will give you a crippling fear of enclosed spaces. But with time, determination, and probably some vomiting, fear can be overcome.

Slave [+200cp]​: Regardless of your blood or origin, you have been marked by a magical tattoo as a slave. You are currently owned by a slave trader. Your owner is not cruel, though he is not kind, either. You may not disobey your owner’s orders, or attempt to harm him in any way, for as long as you remain a slave.

Monstrous Monsters [+300cp]​: You know how, in games, the enemies you end up fighting have a natural difficulty curve that matches your strength over the course of your adventure? Alas, this world is not a game. The monsters here are a genuine threat. Even a single goblin is strong enough to overcome multiple soldiers in combat. Human settlements barely survive by holing up behind massive fortifications, always aware that a single dragon would be enough to bring an entire city to ruin. Good luck. 

Abby and Selena

Race: Human:

Background: Gamer:

User Interface: [Free]​

Item: Bag of Coins: [Free]

The System: [Free]

Uber and Leet

Race: High​ ​Blooded​: [100] Someone in your ancestry had something extra in their blood, though that could be anything from fae magic to dragonfire. Regardless, this blood has surfaced in you, giving you an exceptional talent with one weapon, and magic of one element.

Leet: Class Gunmage, Weapon Guns, Element Fire

Uber: Class Dark Knight, Weapon Axes, Element Earth

Origin Gamer:

User Interface [Free]​:

Speechcraft [100] Talking to NPCs can get kind of tiresome after a while. Thankfully, you can sidestep some of that. Whenever you converse with someone, you can get an intuitive grasp of their opinion of you, what sort of things they want from you, and what kind of rewards they are willing to offer in return. Even better, you can force conversations to get to the point quickly, without being rude or abrupt. It’s not quite as good as mashing through cutscenes, but it helps. 

Thorough Research: [200]

The Grind: [300] Each of your basic attributes is at, or near cap, and your proficiency with your skills is absurdly high. You are, in short, really strong. Your experience grinding your character up to the cap has also given you considerably insight on how to train efficiently, making all future grinding twice as efficient as it would otherwise be.

Cheat: The System: [Free]

Hermione:

Race: Sentient Magical Item: Book

Background: Reborn

Accustomed [Free] This world is strange. New. The language, the environment, the smells, all a sensory overload as you try to make sense of it all. Even the cultures of this world are unusual, filled with strange mannerisms and rituals. A normal person would need time to take it all in, but you’re not normal, are you? You can easily pick up new languages and learn the customs of foreign cultures, requiring mere days of immersion to acclimate. You also have a gift for passing off your social faux pas as charming and harmless, rather than rude.

Cultured: [100] You’re from another world, one vastly different from the one you’re in now. More importantly, a world filled with countless luxuries and entertainments. You have a natural skill for understanding and reproducing any sort of food, game, toy, or other luxury item that you have personally experienced. Even if you lack the necessary tools or ingredients, you can manage to cobble something together from what’s on hand. Once you get the hang of it, you can even figure out how to produce it cheaply and reliably, as long as it’s even remotely possible. And once you do that, it’s child’s play to introduce these foreign delights to a new society. Give some orcs the joys of curry, or distribute othello boards to elven tribes. It’s fun and profitable! 

Regretful: [200] You know what it’s like to squander your life. To spend years wasting away, accomplishing nothing and leeching off of the charity of others. But that you is dead. This time, you won’t waste a moment of your life. You have boundless patience and determination when it comes to studying and practicing new skills, and this applies doubly to things you truly enjoy learning. If you find swordplay entrancing, you can absorb months of training in days. If magical explosions make you flush, you can master schools of casting in mere weeks. In addition, you are nearly fearless in the face of danger, because you know nothing is as terrifying as a life ruled by fear.

Perceptive: [300] Spending your full infancy in this world, equipped with the knowledge and maturity of an adult, has given you an exceptional awareness of the unique energy of this world, mana. You can naturally sense mana around you as a passive ability, and your skill at drawing in ambient mana is already at genius level. Your control is so refined that you can cast spells without relying on foci like wands or chants, and your senses are so developed that merely observing a spell being cast can tell you everything you need to know about how it works. This also applies to any other energies that are unique to their words, such as spiritual power or ki.

Items:

Adventurer’s Remains [Free] About 4 sets of beginner adventurers’ equipment. Includes armor and weapons, and a small handbag filled with weak healing potions. 

Golem Formula: [100] This is a set of instructions on the creation and control of simple humanoid golems, made from earth, stone or wood. The golems it describes are weaker than a human adult, but tireless and mindlessly obedient to their creator. Though casting the creation spell is costly for a beginner, it is not impossible, and will grow easier with practice. Comes with one golem premade.

Cheat: Skill Sharing: [Free]​ Whenever you kill something, or, if you are merciful, merely beat them within an inch of their life, you may gain one of their skills for yourself. This may be anything from their Sword Mastery or their Singing. If you did not kill your victim, you may choose whether you steal their skill or merely copy it. This effect can only be used once per individual. You may also temporarily copy every skill and ability you have to a single other person, by touching them. They will have all your powers, and know everything you know about how to use them. This wears off after one day, unless you refresh it.

Dawn

Race: High Blooded: [100] Someone in your ancestry had something extra in their blood, in this case fae magic. Regardless, this blood has surfaced in you, giving you an exceptional talent with bows and nature magic.

Class: Summoner 

Background: Noble [100] You are the firstborn child of a noble family, roughly equivalent to a Duke or Baron. Your family is not a major player in national politics, but that is well within your power to change. 

Gamer:

User Interface [Free]​:

Speechcraft [100]

The Grind: [300]

Item:

Bag of Coins: [Free]

Inventory: [100]

Cheat: Mystic Eyes of Permanence​: [Free] Your unusual blood has manifested in the form
of a unique set of eyes. These eyes give you the ability to see the structure of magical effects,
and spend your own mana to optimize those effects, extending their duration greatly. You can
create magical flames that burn without fuel, force walls that endure for years, enchantments
that never fade, constructs that persist indefinitely, and more. Magic you create or modify with
the Eyes can still be broken or dispelled, but will remain indefinitely if left undisturbed.

Tara:

Race: Sentient Magical Sword

Summoned:

A Hero’s Title: [Free] The ritual that brought you here has not left you unmarked. You possess an unmistakable aura that marks you as Important. Those meeting you for the first time can immediately sense that befriending you would be wise, and angering you, dangerous. Expect gifts from the wealthy, hospitality from strangers, and consideration from the powerful. Naturally, ambitious men are not unwilling to risk danger in pursuit of their goals, so the power of your title has its limits. 

A Hero’s Vigor: [100] Heroes like you are known for their determination and relentlessness. But more than that, you have the vitality to back that up. Your resilience to attacks of all sorts is exceptional, and your wounds heal with visible swiftness. You can also gift your toughness and quick healing to any injured, with a touch; though the gift only lasts until they are free of injury. 

A Hero’s Quest: [200] By their nature, heroes are not called upon unless they are needed. As a Hero, you will find that your efforts to help the needy rarely go unrewarded. Those you save will happily offer rewards for your good deeds, and even if they have nothing material to offer you, the favor will be repaid in other ways. They may spread word of your valor, or share some rumor that may come in handy later on. You also find that these good deeds allows you to grow stronger, as though you had spent the time training instead of rescuing a damsel in distress. This growth is proportional to the difficulty overcame in performing your noble acts, however. Don’t expect to become a master swordsman by helping an old man gather firewood. 

A Hero’s Light [300] Whether you were blessed by a god, transformed by the summons, or simply a natural with the element, you have great affinity with the power of Light. Your unique skill with summoning and manipulating Light will initially allow you to form temporary shapes, such as spears or shields, with a toughness that easily surpasses steel. But given time and practice, you can learn to forge your own equipment out of pure Light, weave it into wings, and even summon it forth in great directional blasts, scouring everything opposing you out of existence.

User Interface: [100]

Cheat: Gatekeeper [Free] You have unique mastery over spacial magic, allowing you to stretch and squeeze the dimensions of the world around you, as well as open up stable portals to any locations you have visited. Anything inside the area you are warping with this skill may suffer serious negative effects, up to and including exploding. Beings stronger than you will find it easier to resist your attempts to warp space around them, however.

Tiffany:

Race: Dungeon Heart: [100]

Origin: Gamer:

Class: Dungeon Master

User Interface [Free]​:

Speechcraft [100]

The Grind: [300]

Protagonist’s Charm [100] You have a natural appeal to people that sets you apart from the crowd. It’s some mix of good looks and personal charisma that no one can quite pin down, exactly. Regardless, you find this appealing appearance makes it easier to attract friends and connect with people in general. 

Protagonist’s Luck [100] The universe has a tendency to use weighted dice whenever you’re involved. Events seem to conspire to throw opportunities in your lap, and misfortune befalls you less often than it should.

Cheat: ​Gacha​: [Free] You can open a menu which allows you to spend mana in order to spin a variety of different Gachas. The different Gachas each have a set price based on the average value of the outcome, and offer different possible rewards, which may be monsters or items from any world you have visited. While the cheapest Gacha many only offer common drops, more expensive Gachas could include a chance to drop rare, unique items or monsters. Gachas which can target past worlds are more expensive than those that don’t, but not unreasonably so, and even some of the cheaper Gacha may offer a small chance of dropping something rare.

Pandora and Aisha

Race: Mystic Beast [200] (Pandora Shadow Tiger, Aisha Two Tailed Kitsune)

Background: Gamer: 

Class: Aisha Illusionist, Pandora Red Mage

User Interface: [Free]​

The Grind: [300]

Protagonist’s​ ​Luck​ ​[100]

Robe​ ​of​ ​Disguise​ ​[Free] A robe enchanted to hide the appearance of any who wear it and alter their voice, this magic item can allow anyone to appear as a nondescript human with an utterly average voice. Naturally, this can be worn by monsters. The illusion it creates is only sensory, and will be disrupted by any sort of combat.

Vassal​ ​Tribe​ ​[100] A tribe of monsters loyal to you. They are weaker than your own species, but will eagerly follow any orders you give, no matter how dangerous. Originally numbering at roughly two dozen, they have a high rate of reproduction, as long as there is food to support them.

Cheat: Aisha

Absorptive Stomach: [Free] You possess the ability to safely eat anything. You can safely digest totally inedible materials, and all poisons. Anything you eat may sustain you, but more importantly, your body can gain permanent enhancements from whatever you eat. The strength of these enhancements is based on the strength of whatever you are eating, so while growth from devouring weakling monsters may be slight, victory over a powerful opponent offers a great opportunity to gain power. The nature of the enhancements will change based on the qualities of your food. Eating tough armor-like materials will help increase your defenses, while eating things like muscle tissue, claws, or fangs may improve your strength. Eating monster parts with unique properties will occasionally cause you to gain those properties, in the form of a new skill at base level.

Cheat: Pandora 

The System:

Genie finished looking everything over. “The builds look fine to me though your flaws look a touch painful.”

Mist shrugged. “Monstrous monsters should increase the power we can get from the various monsters, stranded just means that I start in a monster filled forest, claustrophobia just means that certain dungeons might be a problem.”

“And the slavery flaw?”

“Hopefully something I can deal with before it becomes an issue.”

“Did you want the stripclub placed in the world?” Genie asked.

Mist turned to look at Dawn. “Do you mind sticking the club in your town?”

Dawn shook her head. “Of course not. It’s income and entertainment.”

“That works.” Genie held her hands out toward Mist. “Hug before you go?”

Mist walked over and pulled Genie into a hug. “Sure.”

Genie hugged Mist then stage whispered, “Best of luck with the jump. You’ll find your previous gear in your warehouse.” She smiled as she teleported the group to the next world.

0o0o0

Mist wasn’t sure if he should be amused or not by finding himself in the middle of a caravan in a rather dark and forbidding forest. He felt everything slow down as his mind kicked into super speed as he noticed an annoyed looking man glaring at him. He orbed back to his slice of heaven as the man started to open his mouth. Everything slowed back down as he glanced around his little slice of heaven. “Yeah, fuck waiting for orders.” He took a breath then released it as he forced himself to calm down.

He took another breath as his mind ran through several horrible scenarios of what might have been if the man had managed to order him to do anything nasty or unjust. He glanced down at his bare arms and scowled slightly as he didn’t see an arcane mark or anything that shouldn’t be there. He blinked as a sword appeared out of thin air five feet up then clattered to the ground about ten feet from him. “Tara?”

“Yes, I’m still not used to teleporting as a sword,” Tara replied as she floated back up into the air using her flight power. “Did Genie drop you in the forest in your boxers and a t-shirt? Can you conjure a mirror?”

Mist gestured and conjured a full length standing mirror then scowled as he saw the glowing red inverted pentagram branded on his forehead. “Apparently Genie decided boxers and a t-shirt were sufficient clothing to drop me in the forest.” He reached his right hand up and started siphoning the magical tattoo. “Free mana.”

“I’m looking forward to learning your safety first perk or at least a knock off version of it.” Tara floated over to look at herself in the mirror. “I’m an arming sword, I guess it could be worse.”

“True, you could be a keyblade...” he trailed off as a thick dragon hide leather tome appeared out of thin air and hovered four feet above the ground. “Hermione?”

“Fear me!” Hermione shouted playfully as she tilted so that she wasn’t looking straight up.

Mist twitched then realized Hermione was just playing around. “You’ve been spending too much time around Sin, James and Dennis.”

Hermione snickered as she flew over to the mirror to look at her book form. “Not really, it’s just that I’ve been a book for over a year and sitting on a shelf for most of that or at least I remember sitting on a shelf for a year. It was a bit boring.”

“You’re right, that sounds boring. On the upside, I like the dragon design on the cover.”

Tara asked, “How do you deal with the 360 degree vision?”

Hermione turned to look at the floating sword. “I don’t have 360 degree vision, I can see out of the eyes on the front or the eyes on the spine.”

“Or?”

“I have to swap, you don’t?” Hermione asked with a hint of annoyance.

“No, I can see out of every surface of my blade or just about.” Tara changed back to her human form. “The edge of the blade gets a bit weird.”

“But not your handle?” Mist asked curious how her vision worked.

Tara shook her head. “No, just my blade.”

Hermione changed back to her normal form. “Now what?”

Mist continued working on draining the slave tattoo as he replied, “As soon as I get rid of my slave tattoo I’m going to see if I can delete my claustrophobia. After that, I’m not sure.”

Dawn orbed in then turned to look at Mist. “I need to talk to Genie about getting a refund.”

“Why?” Tara asked.

“I own the forest on paper, not so much in reality. My parents are dead, my guards are barely holding their own against the monsters in the forest that attack the town and we’ve lost so many supply wagons my few remaining subjects are close to starving or at least they would be without the plants I’ve apparently been fast growing with magic.”

“That gives us a,” Hermione reached for her phone as it rang, “location.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered it. “Yes?”

Sin’s voice came out of Hermione’s phone, “Is it safe to come out yet?”

Mist gestured with his left hand and opened the warehouse door next to one of the marble columns. “Sure, I’m just about done fixing my tattoo.”

Hermione said, “Mist, Tara, Dawn and I are in the pocket realm, I’m not sure where everyone else is but they should be in the zone for starting characters or running around being monsters.“

“Cool, I’ll let everyone know that they can come out,” Sin replied then ended the call.

Hermione closed her cell phone and stuck it in her pocket. “I guess cleaning up the forest is a good place to start.”

Dawn said, “That would be nice.”

“Let’s hope the monsters don’t just respawn twenty minutes after you kill them.” Mist pulled his hand away from his forehead and glared at the sickly looking tattoo that was still in the middle of his forehead. “Apparently there is a limit on how much I can drain the tattoo before it conflicts with my orders not to dispel it. Can you dispel the rest of the tattoo?”

“I’ll try.” Hermione pulled her wand out of her inventory and dispelled the tattoo with a swish and flick of her wand.

Mist sighed in relief as the tattoo vanished. “Two down, one to go.” He pulled out his phone and brought up the mental modification app. He selected his claustrophobia and hit the delete key then frowned at the error message that popped up, ‘Nope! Nice try.’ He sighed as he closed his phone and stuck it back in his pocket. “So much for the easy method of dealing with the drawback.”

“You actually thought that would work?” Hermione asked as she put her wand back in her inventory.

“No but I figured it was worth a try.” He stretched his arms over his head as he tried to figure out where to start.

Tara asked, “How do you want to start sharing the various cheats?”

“Let’s start with skill sharing first.” Hermione reached up and touched Mist’s neck with the fingers of her left hand and shared her perks, skills and cheat. “Did that work?”

“Status?” Mist smiled as a game interface popped up that showed his various skills. “Let’s see.” He glanced over the various tabs then tapped the tab for temporary effects and smiled as he saw her skill cheat at the top of a list of skills that Hermione was better at than he was. “The cheat transferred over, I should be able to make a copy of it.” He turned his head slightly as Harry and Vista walked out of the warehouse.

“Awesome.” Dawn was looking forward to collecting all of the cheats and working on upgrading her various abilities.

“Any luck?” Harry asked as him and Vista walked over to where the group was standing.

“I should be able to copy my skill book and gamer cheats which should let people copy their cheats which means we can copy all of our perks into books that we can duplicate as needed.”

Vista smiled at Mist. “I’m looking forward to boosting some of my abilities and picking up a copy of your durability.”

“Ignoring the cheats for a second, do we have a plan for dealing with the various monsters?” Harry asked curious what the plan was.

Mist gestured toward Dawn. “Yeah, we head back with Dawn then we start exploring the forest.”

“We also need to figure out what is going on with Tiffany and her dungeon,” Hermione reminded everyone.

“Yeah, we should also check on Pandora and Aisha before they cause too much mischief.”

Vista looked at Dawn. “How powerful is your nature magic?”

“My town is still standing,” Dawn replied smugly. “I can also make temporary treants which is pretty cool.”

Mist blinked as he realized he knew where an ancient book of magic was located that had a permanent version of that spell in it. “I know where to find a better spell.”

“Sweet.”

Hermione said, “I have a feeling we’ll be collecting stuff for a while.” 

A dark cloud of fog appeared then turned into Selena, Abby, Uber and Leet.

Vista frowned as she noticed the sword sticking out of Leet. “What happened?”

Uber snorted, “Leet failed a seduction roll.”

Leet scowled as he pulled the broken sword out of his chest. “I didn’t know the cute elf was an assassin!”

“How do you really feel?” Harry asked with a touch of amusement as he watched Leet’s wound close over.

Leet flipped Harry off. “I’d like to see you do better.”

Vista shook her head. “Seriously, you got beat up by an elf? I know the flaw said that the monsters were supposed to be impressive but shit.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “That’s because he forgot his mana shield.”

“I didn’t forget my shield, she dispelled it,” Leet complained.

Mist cut in to head off further arguments, “It was bound to happen eventually.”

Uber looked at Leet. “Stop bitching and grab your power armor, I want to hunt down the goblin warband we heard about.”

“Need help?” Vista asked hopefully.

“Sure,” Leet replied as he headed for the warehouse where he’d stashed his power armor.

Uber muttered as he followed Leet, “This is going to cut into our exp.”

Vista smirked as she followed Uber and Leet to grab her armor.

Hermione shook her head. “Did you want to head back to the forest to deal with the slaver?”

Mist frowned as he considered his options. “No but we should probably send someone to deal with them or at least send an avatar if nothing else.”

“I’ll go.” Hermione smiled coldly.

Harry frowned slightly as he noticed his friend’s expression. “We might need him alive.”

Hermione turned to look at Harry. “I’m not going to kill them without figuring out what’s going on, for all we know, Genie slipped Mist into a prisoner transport or something.”

Mist sighed. “I’d object but it’s possible, she has a quirky sense of humor. It’s equally possible that he’s one of the people that supplies the capital with slaves.”

“Great, how bad is the slave trade?” She asked with annoyance.

“It’s a horribly dangerous world with monsters at the gates and none of the human cities united, trading slaves makes the people in charge of various cities feel like they have some control over their lives. Which is pretty much an illusion because any of the hundreds of elder dragons wandering around the world can casually level cities.”

“In other words, humanity is screwed unless we help?” Dawn asked sarcastically.

“Pretty much,” Mist admitted.

“Do you have any good news?” Harry asked hopefully.

“I know where all of the ancient and powerful holy weapons, legendary suits of armor and mystical spell books are hidden and I know the various weaknesses of most of the monsters in the world.”

Dawn said, “Better than nothing.”

Harry frowned slightly as he glanced down at Mist’s boxers. “You should get your gear.”

Hermione glanced down at Mist’s boxers. “Harry and I can handle the slaver if you want to teleport us down just in case there is any lingering magic that prevents you from killing the slavers.”

“In that case, happy hunting.” Mist gestured and orbed Hermione and Harry down to the area he’d orbed away from. He turned and looked at Dawn. “I’m going to grab my gear then we can figure out what we can do to fortify your town.”

“Sounds good,” Dawn agreed.

Abby spoke up, “Can I borrow your Anvil of Fury or get a copy after you upgrade it?”

“Planning on making some weapons for the guards?” Dawn asked with amusement.

“I was thinking about it, yeah.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Mist glanced between the girls. “Let me get dressed then we can have Dawn teleport us down to the town so we know where it is.” He turned and headed into his warehouse to get his magical gear. He wanted to check on Dawn’s town then get started making skill books.

0o0o0

Mist glanced around the abandoned guildhall in Dawn’s town. “At least we don’t have to deal with an old crotchety guildmaster.”

Abby snickered. “Or a blacksmith or any priests in the abandoned temple or pretty much anything we’d consider a public service.”

“From what I remember of the game I never actually played, this was basically an instanced town that guilds could upgrade by doing various quests and recruiting people.”

“In other words, we should probably create some minions to shore up the town’s already impressive natural defenses.”

“Being built into the side of a hill will do that,” Mist agreed as he looked around the abandoned structure. “One of these days, I’m going to take a vacation jump where I can just wander off and relax for a year.”

Selena laughed. “Bullshit, you’d get bored within two weeks and find something to play with that would make life interesting.”

“Probably,” Mist admitted as he brought his hands up and banished the dust with a cleaning spell. He reached out with his magic and tapped into the structure. “The best part of knowing the noble in charge of the town and being in a game world is we can use the buildings to recruit minions.” He pulled up his adventurer’s guild menu and looked over his options, most of them were greyed out because the guildhall wasn’t completely functional. “Several choices, an old guild master that knows his stuff but is over the hill, a younger guild master that is a bureaucrat and good with money but not heroes or a hero that worked his way up through the guild but doesn’t have any real skill with administration.”

Abby snorted. “Pick the first one, we have youth potions.”

“His upkeep is going to be more expensive.”

“We’re going to be hunting monsters, we can afford it,” Selena pointed out.

“Fine.” Mist selected the old guild master and hit recruit and felt a ‘small’ though not insignificant chunk of mana drain from his vast mana pool. He jumped slightly as the front door of the guild hall banged open and a massive hulking old man dressed in furs stalked in. If he wasn’t bent with old age he would have been nearly eight feet tall. Despite the fact that the man was ancient looking he still looked like someone had taken a burly dwarven smith and stretched him to eight feet without losing any of the width or muscle.

The man glanced around the hall then looked at Mist and the two girls. Despite his age his voice was still a deep almost booming base, “New recruits and you’ve already started cleaning, excellent. My name is Erik, let’s get you registered with the guild then you can go out and crush the monsters that have been plaguing this town.” He walked over to his desk and pulled a ledger out of the drawer and set it on the counter. He flipped it open to the first blank page. “Sign here.”

Abby felt like giggling as she walked over with Mist and Selena to sign the guild ledger. She picked up the quill and dipped it in the curiously full inkwell then signed her name. “There.” She handed the quill to Mist.

Mist checked the book with his cheat ability from Diablo then signed as it wasn’t a magical contract. He handed the quill to Selena. “Here.”

Selena dipped the quill in the inkwell then signed her name. “There.”

Erik walked over to the chalk board. “Let’s start with something easy, head to the tavern and find our weasel of a quartermaster, his name is Jorus. Tell him I said to pick up some basic supplies and get his ass back here now that we have actual adventurers.”

“I’ll deal with it.” Selena put the quill back in the stand then turned and headed for the door.

Erik turned to look at Mist and Abby. “In that case, you can help me hang the bags, I’m not as spry as I used to be.” He walked into the backroom. 

Abby watched Erik walk back out carrying two large leather punching bags in each hand that must have weighed at least a hundred and fifty pounds each. ‘Bullshit.’

Mist walked over to help the old man hang the bags in one of the practice areas. He had a feeling the first couple of quests were going to be getting the hall back into some type of shape so that he could recruit adventuring minions. He was looking forward to getting everything upgraded so he’d get better scans and have people to defend the city when he left to go on adventures.

Buffy walked in and looked around at the guildhall. It wasn’t nearly as bad as she was expecting from how abandoned the rest of the town was. “Any luck?”

Mist finished hanging the last punching bag then glanced over at Buffy. “Selena went to recruit a quartermaster, you should sign up.”

Erik looked over at Buffy. “The book is on the table.”

Buffy raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to make jokes about my height?”

“Have you ever seen a dwarf toss a man across a river? I have. I learned a long time ago not to judge a book by its cover.”

Buffy smiled as she walked over and signed her name in the logbook after dipping the quill in the inwell. “Now what?”

Erik smirked as he moved over to the practice area. “Now you show me what you’ve got.”

“Are you sure, you’re…” Buffy trailed off unsure how to call him old diplomatically.

Erik laughed, “Old? Yes, weak? We’ll see.”

“Alrighty then,” Buffy replied as she walked over to the empty area and brought her guard up.

Mist watched the fight with amusement as the old guild master did a decent job sparring Buffy. It probably would have gone Buffy’s way if the old man hadn’t cheated by using a spell or something to cause a localized sonic boom then hit her with an uppercut while she was distracted. “That was painful and annoying.”

Erik smirked. “That’s the point.”

Buffy muttered as she picked herself up off the ground, “That wasn’t remotely fair.”

“Welcome to life, you’ll do.” Erik walked back over to his desk. “The next step is to start clearing out some of the local monsters to get some practice then we’ll see about having you escort a merchant caravan if you survive going into the forest.”

Abby wiggled her finger in her ear. “If you do that again while I’m here, I’m going to have Mist beat you to death with a dead fish.”

Erik snorted. “The trick only really works once anyways. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t leave any lasting damage.”

“Good,” Abby muttered as Selena walked into the adventuring hall with a shady looking skinny man in his late thirties carrying a crate of potions. “Anything more interesting than healing potions?”

The slender man said, “A couple of minor mana potions that I haven’t sold yet. I also have some leather armor that might protect you from an accidental hit by a weak monster.”

Mist raised his eyebrows. “Right, in other words you need us to come back with some monster hides, right?”

He shook his head. “Considering a goblin snuck in and killed the armorsmith a few years ago, we’d need a replacement before it would matter.”

“Of course they did,” Mist muttered.

“Do you know where we could find replacement?” Buffy asked with a touch of annoyance.

Erik shrugged. “Your best bet would be a larger city which is why we need to clear the road through the forest and then the mountain passes which have some terrifying monsters in them.”

“Of course they do.” Mist had a feeling that Genie was laughing at him right now for grabbing the flaw that boosted the monsters to insane levels. “Let’s round up some friends then we’ll see what we can find in the forest.”

“Works for me.” Buffy was looking forward to dusting off her monster hunting skills.

0o0o0 

Xander glared at the nasty as hell dog sized vorpal bunny that was trying and failing to wiggle out of his grasp. “Since when were vorpal bunnies a fair upgrade for rabbits?”

Dawn hacked a vorpal bunny out of the air with her sword then glanced at Xander. “No idea but I have a feeling some of the more powerful monsters are going to be able to give us a decent challenge.” She glanced over at Buffy who was dancing through a pack of vorpal bunnies with a smile on her blood covered face. “Or at least most of us.”

“Blame her enhanced agility and reflexes, I do,” Xander replied as he used his sword to cut the bunny’s throat that he was holding.

Dawn winced slightly at the unholy shriek the bunny managed to get out before dying. “That is getting annoying.”

“On the bright side we have a decent amount of magical hide and rabbit meat.” Xander turned and looked at the dead bunnies scattered around Buffy. “I’m sort of looking forward to making some better armor once we start killing boss level monsters.”

Buffy shook her head. “We’re not quite there yet...” she trailed off as Amelia came flying/tumbling into the small clearing where they were standing. “What happened?”

Amelia spit out a mouthful of dirt. “Armored flesh, my power doesn’t work on the boss.”

“Boss…” Xander trailed off as he saw a pony sized rabbit. “This can’t end well.”

Buffy charged the giant rabbit then went flying as the rabbit’s long bladed tail flickered out from behind the creature and struck her hard enough to send her flying into a tree. 

Dawn winced as the tree trunk cracked and Buffy stumbled off the broken tree.

Xander raised his hands and tossed lightning at the boss then scowled as the bunny simply jumped through the lightning to reach him. He dropped his sword and raised his off hand as the boss changed directions and jumped at Dawn. He held the bunny in place with magic. “Die!” He gestured with his right hand and lashed out with magic.

Buffy stared in shock as the boss’s flesh was ripped off leaving a dead skinless pony sized corpse behind. “What the hell Xander?”

“I’m tired of playing nice with these things.” He gestured and orbed the rabbit hide to his hand then stuck it in his inventory. “It tossed you like a rag doll, I’m not charging it like an idiot or a slayer.”

Amelia picked herself up. “I don’t blame you. I think we’re going to have to look into getting a decent ranged weapon because they’re way too fast and the larger rabbits have tails that hit way too hard.”

Buffy picked herself up off the ground. “At least the Nezzla enchant held up.” She dusted her pants off.

“For now,” Xander muttered as he turned his attention back to scanning the forest for more threats..

Buffy turned to look at Xander. “What do you mean for now?”

“Vorpal bunnies are near the bottom of the food chain in this world and they’re nasty. You’re wearing something enchanted with the Nezzla orbs enchant and you were still tossed around like a ragdoll.”

Dawn spoke up, “They might have a magical knockback power.”

“Or they’re just hitting really hard,” Amelia pointed out as she walked over to help Buffy collect the dead rabbits.

“What do you suggest?” Buffy asked with a touch of annoyance.

Dawn worked on sticking dead rabbits in her inventory as she replied, “Trying to find a magical trinket or armor that prevents knockback is at the top of my list.”

“That and buff spells would help,” Amelia pointed out.

Xander kept watch on the forest as the girls collected the bodies. “It’s worth checking, there might be something in the adventuring gear that Hermione and Tara started with though I doubt it.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Buffy agreed as she walked over to the massive skinned rabbit mini-boss and started working on cutting it into chunks to fit into her inventory.

0o0o0

Mist glared at the green skinned goblin that was frantically clawing at his wrist and arm in an attempt to get him to let go of his neck. Not that he really blamed the goblin, he’d be trying to break someone’s grip if they were holding him a foot off the ground by his neck. “If you don’t stop squirming, I’m going to rip your throat out.” He gave the goblin a ‘light’ shake to get his attention then dropped the goblin.

The goblin gulped in a lungfull of air as he took a step back. “What are you? Humans aren’t that strong.”

“I’m a god,” Mist lied.

Abby playfully stuck her tongue out at Mist from behind the goblin.

“What do you want?” the goblin asked fearfully.

Selena glared at the goblin. “We want you to stop attacking people on the road.”

Mist said, “Lady Dawn owns the entire forest, her entire family has owned the land for more than a thousand years.”

The goblin shook his head. “If they can’t hold the forest, they don’t own it. We took it fair and square.”

Mist gestured toward the three dead goblins that had jumped them a few minutes ago. “In other words, your village will be mine once I take it? I can work with that.”

“We’ll stop you…” the goblin trailed off unconvinced that they had all that much of a chance defeating the indestructible heroes. He’d watched his friends hit the man in the face with several arrows to no effect before they’d charged in and gotten themselves cut in half with a sword that carved through their armor like it wasn’t even there. His only real hope was that the tribe’s champions would have better luck against them.

Mist used his telepathy to lift the village’s location from the goblin’s mind. “Tell your village that we’ll kill any goblin that attacks any of our people on the road.” He gestured at the goblin and dark orbed him back to his village, right in front of the village chief’s hut. 

Selena asked, “Where did you send him?”

“Back to his village,” Mist replied as he walked over to loot the dead goblins.

“Do you think they’ll listen?” Abby asked.

“There’s always a chance but I doubt it.” Mist frowned slightly as he looked over the loot with his identification ability. “At least they’re not walking around with artifacts.” He picked up the single magical dagger in the pile of crap and stuck it in his inventory. “A magical dagger and a couple of crappy blades.”

“Which means they get by on natural toughness. We should probably head back to town and start making soldiers that can actually stand up to the monsters.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Mist stuffed the three goblin corpses in his inventory. “Hopefully tossing them into the mix will boost the guards.”

“We can hope,” Selena agreed.

Mist teleported back to the guildhall with Abby and Selena.

Abby blinked as they found themselves back in the guildhall. “A little warning next time.”

“Sure, no problem,” Mist replied with thinly concealed amusement.

Erik turned to look at Mist and the girls as he asked, “Any luck?”

Mist turned to look at the guild master and Tiffany. “We scouted part of the forest and ran into a goblin scouting party. We killed three of them and sent the last goblin back with a message to stop attacking people on the roads.”

Erik sighed. “In other words we should expect an attack by the various goblin champions before the end of the week.”

“I should be able to summon enough help to deal with the goblin heroes.” He pulled a youth elixir out of his inventory. “Speaking of heroes, do you want an elixir of youth?”

Erk smirked as he realized they actually had a chance. “How many of those do you have? I have some friends that could stand to dust off some of their old skills.”

“Enough.” Mist duplicated the elixir then walked over to the guild master’s desk and set the copy on the desk then duplicated the original a dozen times, setting each one on the desk as he duplicated them.

Erik grinned at the collection of elixirs on the desk. “In that case, we might just win this fight.”

“I’m not planning on losing.”

“Most people don’t,” Erik pointed out dryly.

Mist had to admit the old man had a point. “I’m hoping that a show of strength will convince the goblins not to attack people on the roads.”

Erik snorted. “We’ve been fighting since they overran the pass and made it into the forest, I can’t see everyone getting along anytime soon.”

“We can hope but you’re the local expert.”

“True, I’ll be back in a bit, if there’s a problem tell Jorus,” Erik replied as he put the youth potions in his inventory.

Mist turned his head slightly to look directly at Tiffany as Erik walked out, “What’s it like being a dungeon heart?”

Tiffany grinned as she thought about her dungeon. She needed to put some more time into improving it but she had a feeling it was going to turn into a fun project once she took the time to expand it and actually get everything set up how she wanted. “Sort of amusing, I can summon monsters and place traps by spending mana. My gocha ability should let me keep my dungeon stocked with interesting or at least random items.”

Mist pulled the book he’d created to teach his skill book cheat out of his inventory and duplicated it. He put the original back in his pocket and handed Tiffany the copy. “This should let you make skill books.”

Tiffany smiled as she opened the book and learned the new cheat. “I’m guessing you want me to make a book of my gocha ability?”

“Yes,” Mist turned as Aisha walked in the front door, “please.” He duplicated another copy of the skill book.

Selena smiled at Aisha. “Any luck?”

Aisha smirked as she walked in. “Some, for the record, rabbit is tasty.”

“Did you get any skills?” Tiffany asked as she sat down on the floor and started the ritual to copy her gocha ability.

“Not that I know of but it’s not like I get updates when I pick up a new skill so it’s possible.”

Mist handed her the book he was holding. “This should let you make skill items.”

Aisha took the book and opened it then smiled as the book vanished and she realized she knew how to create skill items with a ritual. “That’s almost cheating.”

Selena piped up, “Considering the ability is called a cheat, it’s cheating.”

Abby frowned slightly. “I wonder if we can copy her ability to turn into a fox?”

Mist shook his head. “Considering it’s a racial alternate form, I doubt it.”

Aisha laughed. “That’s too bad, my fox form is awesome.” She walked over to the desk and hopped up on it then started her ‘ritual’ to copy her cheat for eating things which mostly amounted to a soft chant.

Selena glanced back and forth between Tiffany and Aisha. “We’re going to have to come up with a system for copying everyone’s skills and perks in something resembling an efficient manner.”

“Probably. Let’s see what I can do with the upgrade cheat while they copy their cheats.” Mist focused on his status screen and smiled when it opened. He glanced at his mana regeneration stat then focused on his upgrade power and poured mana into upgrading his mana regeneration. He smiled as he watched the time it took to fully recharge his mana pool decrease by a small amount.

“Anything good?” Abby asked hopefully.

“I can upgrade my mana regeneration and it’s not even all that costly.” Mist had a feeling it might be somewhat costly for a normal mage but with Leaky Limiter and Empty Frame, it was currently a drop in a rather large fish tank to increase his mana regeneration. 

“Define costly?”

Mist shrugged. “The first increase was only about a third of your mana pool.”

“Probably because we crippled our mana regeneration when we picked up spell absorption,” Selena pointed out.

“Considering we had magical items to cover our mana regeneration, it was worth it.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t worth it,” she replied with amusement.

Abby snickered. “I’m looking forward to upgrading my Nordic frost affinity into something more useful.”

“And by more useful you mean completely broken?” Mist smiled as he continued working on upgrading his mana regeneration.

“If by that you mean more than 100% immunity to cold and a large boost to cold damage, yeah.” Abby wasn’t sure how much she could actually upgrade her frost affinity but it was a nice project.

Selena said, “I wouldn’t mind heading back to Egwene’s world and picking up some of the various channeling talents at some point.”

Mist smiled as he thought about upgrading and copying Elayne’s ability to create ter’angreal. “I wouldn’t mind spending a couple of weeks upgrading people and playing with the gocha cheat there.”

“Elayne would appreciate having more ter’angreal to study,” Abby agreed.

Selena smiled as a book appeared in front of Tiffany. “Is that the gocha book?”

Tiffany looked up at Selena. “It should be.” She picked it up and handed it to Mist. “Duplicate it then give it a try.”

Mist duplicated the book then stuck the original in his inventory. He opened the book and smiled as he realized he suddenly knew how to summon a window filled with random slots that could give him items or monsters depending on luck. “Looks workable.”

Selena smiled as she held out her hand toward Mist. “Can I get a copy?”

Mist duplicated the book twice more than handed Selena and Abby copies. “Here.”

“You’re the best.” Selena opened the book which caused it to vanish.

“Any idea what we’re going to do with the random monsters that show up?” Abby opened the book and smiled as she realized that summoning the menu was easy. “Because I’m going to abuse the hell out of this.”

“I’ll take them.” Tiffany stood up. “I have a dungeon.”

Aisha smiled as a book appeared in her lap. “She has a point.” She jumped down from the desk, walked over and handed the book to Mist. “Here, one book on eating monsters and metal for fun and profit.”

Mist was mildly disappointed that it didn’t say how to cook monsters on the cover or anything amusing. He duplicated it and put the original in his inventory. He opened the copy and smiled as it vanished. “I don’t really feel different but the test is probably eating a magical creature or metal.”

“Most likely. I’m looking forward to eating some adamantium so my bones are unbreakable.”

“It might work, it might not.” Msit glanced between Selena and Abby. “Ready to head back to base?” 

“Yeah, I need a shower,” Selena pointed out.

“Hmm, shower sex sounds good.” Abby figured she could always check out the club later.

Aisha shook her head slightly. “Kinky.”

Tiffany smiled at Mist. “Heading back sounds good, I want to chat with Hermione about improving my dungeon.”

Aisha glanced at the door. “I think I’ll catch up later, I want a drink and I haven’t seen the stripclub yet, call me when you have copies of everyone’s cheats and skills.”

“Sure, have fun.” Mist orbed back to the little slice of heaven with the girls other than Aisha.

Pandora smiled as her father appeared with Abby, Selena and Tiffany. “How did your mission go?”

Mist turned and looked down at his daughter who was lounging on a lawnchair by a pool in her birthday suit. “We ran into a goblin scouting party. We killed three of them and sent the survivor back to their village with a message to leave us alone. We’ll either get attacked or they’ll leave people alone.”

Selena shook her head. “We’re betting on them attacking.”

Pandora said, “Most likely, have you been playing around with any of the cheats yet? I picked up a couple skill points hunting rabbits.”

Mist frowned slightly as he thought about the giant rabbits. “Not really, I created a skill book to teach my book cheat, looked at my system cheat a touch and used my upgrade cheat to upgrade my mana regeneration a little bit but other than that not really. I just grabbed a copy of Tiffany’s gocha cheat.”

“Cool, you should see what you get.” Pandora spun her legs around and sat up.

Mist focused on his new ability rather than his daughter’s state of ‘dress’ and brought up his new gocha menu. He picked the most expensive option which cost half his mana pool. He blinked in surprise as his mana level dropped by half and a glowing purple silk thong appeared in his hand. “Not what I was looking for.”

Pandora laughed. “That’s cool, what’s it do?”

Mist used his identification ability on it then started laughing. “Glowing Thong of Security, it blocks all attempts to steal from the wearer’s person and provides protection equivalent of an exceptional suit of magical armor for the legs and only the wearer can remove the garment in question.”

“Sweet, can I have a pair?” Pandora asked hopefully.

Mist duplicated the thong then tossed the duplicate to Pandora. “Here.”

Pandora caught the thong then rubbed the silk between her thumb and index finger. “Silky soft.”

Selena said, “I think I just found my new favorite underwear enchantment.”

“I think we all did,” Mist admitted reluctantly.

Abby smirked at Mist. “I can’t really picture you in a thong.” 

Pandora glared at Abby. “That’s just nasty.”

“That enchantment sounds rather useful to me,” Tiffany agreed.

Selena playfully stuck her tongue out at Pandora.

“Hopefully I can stick the enchant on a pair of boxers.” Mist turned to look at Abby who was smirking at Pandora. “Stop trying to corrupt my daughter.”

Pandora snickered as she bounced to her feet. “Speaking of corrupting influences, I should go show Sin my new underwear.”

“Have fun.” Mist sighed as he watched his daughter run off to show Sin her new underwear. “At least the underwear comes with an enchant to stop people from stealing from us.”

“Which is rather useful,” Selena agreed absently as she pulled her attention off Pandora’s rather cute behind.

Tiffany said, “We should keep our eyes out for magic users or mystic beasts that might have mana regeneration skills.”

Mist turned to look at Tiffany. “That would certainly help. If nothing else, improving our various items and abilities should increase our mana pools because of Empty Frame and Leaky Limiter, at least once we hand them out.”

Abby was looking forward to upgrading most of her various abilities and picking up some new skills and perks when everyone started trading skills. “You’re going to have to make skill books of everything you can share.”

“Eventually yeah. Let me create an upgrade skill book then I’ll work on Empty Frame and Leaky Limiter.” Mist created five avatars with max skills and cheats then sat down on the lawn chair. “Minions, work on crafting skill books.”

The avatars smirked as they flipped Mist off then walked over to another bench where they could discuss who would make what without interrupting the conversation.

Selena sat down next to Mist and opened her system menu. “One of these days they’re going to create a union.” She scrolled through the skills she could unlock if she got enough points. “There are some pretty neat skills if we get enough points to unlock them.”

Mist ignored the crack about his avatars unionizing. “Oh?”

“There’s a mana regeneration skill, a fast casting skill and oh, multicast looks expensive but good. Not to mention skills to use various magic types.”

Abby said, “I have a feeling we’ll get plenty of experience when we help Pandora level her underwear in an item world.”

Mist glanced over at the entrance to his warehouse. “Hopefully, I have a feeling that Buffy is going to want to farm that particular item world for enhanced clothing.”

“Probably, it’s a rather awesome piece of equipment...” Selena trailed off as she realized they had hundreds of random ‘junk’ magical items stashed away that wouldn’t be junk if they could get upgraded with Mist’s new ability. “You know, we have that diadem that reduces the cost of magic and has an armor effect on it, we should try upgrading it now that we have something better than Let’s Give it a Boost.”

“The Diadem of the Savant?”

“That’s the one. You should be able to upgrade it to reduce the cost of elder scrolls magic and increase the amount of magical armor it provides.”

Mist glanced over at the group of avatars. “I’ll put it on the list. If nothing else, I wouldn’t mind reducing the armor we need to a couple of pieces of jewelry.”

Selena laughed. “You just want us have an excuse to run around nearly naked.”

“Is it working?” Mist asked with amusement.

Selena shook her head. “On that note, I’m going to grab a waffle before my shower, do you want me to grab something from the warehouse while I’m there?”

“The Anvil of Fury and the diadem? The diadem would make a nice test case to see how the upgrade cheat works on magical items.”

“Sure, then you can work on upgrading my mana regen.” Selena leaned over and kissed Mist on the cheek then headed for the portal to the warehouse.

Mist smiled as he watched Selena walk off with a spring in her step. “On that note, we should probably set up a couple of tables and arrange the books for everyone while my avatars finish up.”

“Sounds good to me, I’ll grab the tables.” Tiffany turned and jogged toward the warehouse portal.

“This is going to be awesome.” Abby grinned as she followed Tiffany.

Mist orbed to the entrance, turned and waved at the girls with a smirk then walked into his warehouse to help Tiffany grab the tables.