Chapter 356 - Just give me the goddamn robotic arm (Patreon)

Being told to fuck off, we leave the place. It's the nicest way someone ever told me to fuck off, and I realize what's happening only when we are already outside, our shoes thrown out.

HOW! How is she not enamored by the chance to examine an arcane weapon? Just show me the goddamn robotic arm!

"Maya, I'm annoyed," I complain to the woman next to me.

"You should run [Focus] in the back of your mind to…" Maya swiftly dodges my mana projectile and deflects another one by creating a barrier over the back of her hand.

She smiles playfully, "Just let it be before you make it worse. We can ask Tess or Channeler to talk to Miwa and at least get you your pizza."

"But the arm…"

"Oh, come on! What's even so fascinating about it?"

"It was made by Champion Keiron, the dude with [Avatar] skill and descendant of Cockroachsandra. That alone makes it interesting."

Her eyes burn on my skin as she asks, "Please tell me you are not planning on stealing that arm."

"Borrowing. I can give her both of my arms if she wants. They are good arms."

She snorts, "Only Lily has use for your left arm and please act like a normal human. It's not common for people to be so laidback about losing an arm. Are you a lizard or something? Having Lily nearby is making you even worse."

Grabbing my hand, she pulls me away from the house, "You have that arcane alloy you keep babying. Maybe she would like to examine that more, she seems like a blacksmith."

She lets go of my hand and I shake my head resolutely, "She would want a piece of it. I know that. I'm not willing, not even if she offers to give me the arm."

"Is it that good?" Maya wonders.

"Yes. It was made by someone who did work with Champions on the 5th floor and received gifts from their Absolute. His life’s work."

"But it's only arcane." She pauses, giggling. "Only arcane," she repeats. "You already have a damaged arcane axe."

"That's not how it works," I offer my hand to Maya and she puts hers onto it. Then I teleport both of us, appearing near our house, and I continue, "It's arcane even in its raw form. If you have, let's say, upper rare materials like metals or stones you can, with a lot of work, create low or maybe even mid epic items."

She pauses me there, "But I saw arcanadium, endurium, and some other metals and crystals of rare but also of epic rarity."

"Yes, that's the difference in the purity of the material. I don't know that much more, but there are processes to make metals purer or they can be rarely found in their pure state naturally. Nevan had some categorization for them he told me about, but I ignored it back then."

"So that arcane alloy can be turned into a mid or upper arcane item?"

"Probably? There is a low chance that it may even into higher than arcane, but probably not. Even Champions seemed to carry arcane weapons or items usually. If the system didn't reduce the grade of these items, then it means that mid or upper arcane are usually what new or weaker Champions have."

"And the system already put low arcane in the tournament?" she asks unbelievingly.

"If I'm right, there is a huge difference between grades within arcane." It quite makes sense, in my opinion. As the rarities will grow, the difference between low, mid, or upper will be that much higher.

Maya smiles out of nowhere, "When you become richer, buy me arcane armor or something. I'm willing to become your minion if you do so. We [Focus] holders have to stick together, right?" she pokes my side.

Fighting back against such a shameless declaration I ask, "So at what level is your [Focus]?"

That makes her shut up, and she sighs, "That skill is scary to level. Anyone who reaches higher levels can't be normal," she gives her usual excuse.

"But I turned out just fine," I defend my favorite skill and myself in extension.

She doesn't answer, so I look at her.

Huh? Why is she looking at me like that?

Maya? Say something.

***

A few more hours remain until the start of the third event when I notice Biscuit returning from outside. As a few times before, he went out alone to do Biscuit stuff somewhere in the common area.

At this point, I would be more worried about people there rather than the corgi with short legs, but so far there have been no complaints, so we let him do whatever he wants.

Most of the group are outside, around the campfire they set up. A few trees have fallen as sacrifice, so we probably aren't good renters, but screw the system.

They cook marshmallows I bought and some other things, stuff like the meat of higher-level animals they brought from the 5th floor. There are even Brainiac and Lootenant leeching off again. They seem to really hit it off with our boys and are often around. The atmosphere seems to be cheery.

Using this opportunity, Biscuit floats through the window on the second floor inside the house. He does it from the opposite side.

Activating my eyes and crown, I observe him, curious about what it is all about. I do it carefully to avoid his detection; he is getting better at it. Biscuit moves from room to room and for a while, he even stops next to Noodle; I can sense their signatures close to each other.

The future Danger Noodle is sleeping there on the couch and Biscuit floats over him. He does something and then leaves the snake alone, entering my room and then after a while finally leaving.

He floats at his still terribly slow speed out of the window to rejoin the others while shouting something about sustenance. I'm just happy he got bored of shouting “bitch,” probably thinking of replacing his usual word “asshole” with it.

Placing an anchor, I teleport into my room and look around the place where Biscuit stopped. The sounds of people sitting around the fireplace muffle and mostly disappear, and there on top of the night table, I find a small piece of dried meat. It is clumsily wrapped in wrapping from candies we ate a few packages of. Biscuit must have seen how much we liked eating the cheap candy after a year in the tutorial, so he thought the jerky would taste better for us if he wrapped it.

Did he also carefully collect all the wrappers?

In quick succession, I ignore the privacy of Min-Jae and twins and check their rooms. In each, I find the same. A small piece of dried meat clumsily wrapped in the pink wrapping.

For a moment, I imagine the little corgi using his mana tentacles to do that.

Teleporting to the living room where Noodle sleeps, I find him in his usual spot on the couch. In front of the little snake, also a wrapped meat is and unlike before he went to sleep there is a blanket awkwardly thrown over his body. Noodle isn't sleeping anymore, and when I enter the living room, he looks at me and then at the candy wrapping and the blanket.

These two cute animals often clash with each other, fighting to show domination. So the somewhat awkward care shown by the doggo seems to surprise even the white snake.

Noodle looks at me again with his green eyes, as if trying to understand the meaning of all of this. Why would the corgi do that?

"Try thinking of it on your own," I say to Noodle and then exit the house.

Instead of teleporting, I walk and reach the fireplace where the others are. The fake stars are in the sky and the night air is nicely refreshing and warm while the firewood cracks.

I pass by Brainiac, who is once again hitting on the girls, and bend down to pick up Biscuit.

(Asshole!) the corgi shouts, surprised by the grab, moving his paws and twisting his body in an attempt to escape.

Holding him under his front legs, I straighten up my arm, Biscuit's hind legs hanging and swinging slightly, the corgi turned towards me.

(Asshole!) he repeats in my head.

For the reward, I shake him slightly, but the doggo seems to be enjoying that.

I lean closer and touch his cold nose with mine to the corgi's surprise. But he quickly gets out of it and licks me while repeatedly shouting his first and still favorite word.

(Food food food!)

***

Only an hour remains when we get the notification for the third event. It's still night, yet from the hill where our house is, we can see thousands of lights shining in the common area. People moving around, lights of the houses, campfires set.

Everyone here isn't a normal human anymore, it goes even for the weakest ones. Just a few levels are enough to make people capable of beating those who trained hard for years.

We are stronger, we can move faster, and the stats make us more resilient. It's easier to go without sleep for some time, and after body upgrade, a lot of us require less food or water, and sleep as well.

Even with that, only a few things would change if we returned back to Earth. But it doesn't end just with this.

Some people do not think in a big enough context. They think about people from Hell being considered tactical weapons of mass destruction. Weapons used as deterrents by their countries.

But that's straight up silly. We are in the process of the Pairing, forced to fight against the other planet and face its natives who are most likely much more experienced than us and had more time to build their forces.

Introduced to the system, everyone in the tutorial is the First Generation. People who went through the tutorial while learning as much as possible. The goal of that feels obvious right now.

We groomed to lead, protect and set order after returning to Earth. Some of us probably turning to teachers.

Every time I think about it, I feel excitement in my chest. The boring life I had on Earth being left behind, replaced by something new and grand. Pursuit of power to face opponents wanting to kill me and exploration of the powers unlocked by us.

Champion and Absolute Disciples, Champions and Absolutes themselves, Rulers, and maybe something over that? The mystery about reaching level 99 in a skill. The final Beyond trial and then Beyond itself.

Thinking on too small a scale is straight up stupid. This won’t end up with just the Earth.

***

In the common area, I examine the window that pops up for the event.

Please, set up your avatar. You can decide the severity of your [Restriction] as well as additional rewards.

Warning, if your avatar gets defeated, the additional rewards will be split between the challengers.

Warning, once you set up [Restriction], it can't be changed.

Looking at this window, I think of the love and hate relation I have towards the system and the tutorial. From a certain point of view, it also makes sense why Savant thinks that the system is fair.

But still, the system is an asshole.

I set my avatar and look around the common area, Lily next to me also done with setting up hers.

Then after a minute a notification appears for the lower than Hell difficulties and everyone seems to be scrolling through their windows. Then as on cue, a conversation starts. Slowly growing shocked calls and hundreds of people looking around, some with their eyes bulged.

Some of them find me, poking their friend, and like that, hundreds of pairs of eyes look straight at me.

The reason is obvious, a simple small window shown to them.

Avatar: Noname, group 4

Restriction: 3rd Floor

Additional rewards: 80,000 shards

***

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