Heyo, Vivian at 100k words.
Word count like a like a lot
Charlie focused
Anyway, please join my discord if you wanna talk about this or make suggestions: https://discord.gg/aV9cGRYAtH
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Charlie's POV:
Almost a week had passed since I'd met that Shizu lady, and in that time I'd realized part of the reason she looked so weird. She may have looked young, but she was actually very old. It also explained why she used to be the hero of the guild rather than she still was. I wouldn't say any of this to her, of course, but it was notable in my mind.
I learned this from watching her over that time just to make sure she was being honest about what she said, I would not allow her to go after me. If she was planning to, I'd just leave.
Hopefully I'd take Emy with me, but that isn't always an option. I could only save her if I stayed alive, after all.
As for progress on the cabin, it had gone well. The contractors were helpful in letting me figure everything I needed out. They tried to upsell me on quotes all the time for specific parts or a crew to build the house, but I didn't need any of that.
All I needed was my own skills, and that much was enough.
This all left me with a respectable three room cabin. I separated the dining room and kitchen from the living room simply out of impulse. I also only needed one bedroom for the time being, since me and Emy had nothing to hide from each other if she would be staying with me.
Of course, this was all planned. I had no furniture. I didn't really have much insulation either beyond the logs themselves and the support beams, along with some curing that I'd been advised to put on them.
So it was more or less just three empty rooms. Very much the shell of a place you'd actually want to live.
Sammy had seemed to take a liking to following Shizu around too, although she was more obvious about it. She seemed to idolize the lady, and to a certain degree I could understand why. For a human, she was impressive. I couldn't say she was impressive in general after seeing Veldora though. He completely destroyed my scale of things.
Sammy following Shizu around did have one effect though, Sammy had been granted permission to get an adventurers license by Fuze, with a convincing session apparently headed by Shizu. I didn't like the sound of it, so I was happy I wasn't there.
The only part I was annoyed about is that I was volunteered to be her partner in the exam, to get a license as well. I didn't know who to suspect as far as who suggested it, but I wasn't happy to learn I had been set up for it without even being asked.
I did want a license, just so I had an excuse to be as strong as I was without putting up alarm bells for people, but I didn't want to be forced into it.
That ends the lighter topics, because I had a serious worry as well. Emy's condition was now rapidly getting worse. The two large pieces of her soul were starting to deepen their crack, and I was deeply worried without intervention they may actually break apart.
It was beginning to force my hand... I had an idea though.
One provided by Vee, secondhandedly. Emy had been begging me to improve the butterfly's body over the week as well, so I'd been setting aside metal scraps and tougher fabric to combine with the current doll body.
I'd been able to give Vee a workable endo-skeleton, one similar to my own. However it was simply made of copper and bronze scraps I'd collected. I'd mostly avoided iron, because I didn't want rust to start growing inside Vee. Otherwise I'd need to take her apart again later.
The curious result of this was that Vee's soul became much more stable, as the body got more durable. It seemed the durability of the material played a big role in how long the soul would last, and how resistant it was to wear.
Leading me to the devastating conclusion that the same rule applied to Emy. She needed a different body, otherwise her condition would continue to get worse and worse... Until eventually... She'd potentially break apart entirely.
"Do you really think all that will happen?" I'd just finished explaining this all to Sarah late at Night. She was giving me a dower expression as we sat together on the floor of my shell of a cabin.
'Yes... I don't know what else to do... I wouldn't worry so much about it, but with her... I think she needs a body like mine, and soon. I just...' I paused to turn away. 'I don't know if I can do it again... To her... Again...'
"So it was you who did it to her the first time?" Sarah raised an eyebrow, I was shocked she was able to stay calm when talking about something like this.
'Of course! What else was I supposed to do? I couldn't just let her die... I managed to survive that way...' I didn't lack regret in doing it. I'd only come to regret subjecting them to it more overtime. It may have been better to let them pass on. 'It was all I could do to help at the time...'
"That explains what you did to... Vee was it? That doll is a little bit creepy, you know?" Sarah said the one thing I must've heard a hundred thousand times by now.
'So were we. I think I still am.' I leaned back, and let myself fall onto the floor.
"I don't think you are. The doll is only because she can't talk, but it makes sense. A butterfly would have no concept of speech." Sarah delicately sat up straighter. "As I see it, we may need to find the same material you are made of, to help her. Or at least something like it."
'I don't even know what I'm made of.' I thought about it for a moment, how to describe the wall I'd come from.
"I kinda expected that much, but to me it looks like magisteel. Just kinda densely packed with mana. Not sure if that is cause of the soul stuff, or cause of where it is from. Probably both though, since you said you were from Veldora, right?" Sarah seemed to give it deep thought as she spoke, and eventually settled on crossing her arms. "That may end up being where we need to go, as otherwise magisteel is both rare and expensive."
'How expensive?' I thought maybe I could just buy some, if I saved up all my money for it.
I was sorely mistaken. "With the amount we'd need, I'd expect it to be worth more than one hundred large gold pieces. So you aren't going to be making it off simple lumber work." Sarah began to get up. "If a party goes into the Jura forest, the two of us can try to go and get it."
I stayed silent to think it over for a few moments, before concluding she was right. Our mission may not be successful, but it was the best bet we had. We just had to hope that there were no new residents of the cave.
I saw quite a few monsters while I was there, and some of them looked pretty close to me in strength. At least at the time they did, my senses weren't very well tuned at the time. So I can't be sure.
One thing of note though, was that when Sarah called what I was made of 'Magisteel' I knew she was correct, and I assumed it had to do with the All of Creation skill I had. I understood most of the properties of what I was made of already, but having a name attached really helped even out the description in my head.
Instead of dwelling on all that though, I slumped over on my side and went dormant for the night so I could focus on tomorrow.
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Sammy shook me out of being dormant the next morning. I'd seen her coming toward me with magic sense, but didn't expect her to full on shake me. She should have known I never really sleep. "Charlie, get up. They called me for the exam today! At noon!"
I tilted my head softly and would have raised an eyebrow if I could've. 'Noon? It was supposed to be next week. The least they could've done is wait until the afternoon.' I sighed internally.
"I think the examiner was more after you. The letter said to make sure you attended the exam. No substitutes." That wasn't exactly something I wanted to hear, since it meant they might be onto me. I just had to hope Fuze could keep them in check.
Loose lips sink ships, after all.
'I guess we need to go then... I'll just try to hold back. It still surprises me you'd want to go for combat though?' It didn't exactly make sense to me, especially since it was the whole reason she needed Shizu's help. Along with just wanting it done sooner.
"I want to identify monsters to make people safer, even if I don't think that badly of them. Some are people, and many are just animals. So they aren't any different from us, or at worst, are just acting on instinct. It isn't malicious inherently." It sounded similar to how Sarah had reacted to me, so I guessed she was rubbing off on her daughter. It was for the best to me though.
'Alright. I get it. Just don't go crazy or anything.' My guess was also so that she could go on the more dangerous missions reserved for combat heroes, even if she wasn't saying that.
"So, you'll be coming then?"
'Yeah, just make sure Sarah is there. I'll go. We should invite your siblings too. Jane will probably wanna cheer you on.' I didn't wanna mention the other two, because I had a feeling they'd be jealous of her. So it may actually be better if they didn't come.
"Mom can bring Jane." Sammy excitedly got up, and ran out of the cabin. Luckily she didn't slam the door. It was new.
I sighed internally, floated to my feet, and dusted myself off. Then I gathered the few things I had to get ready for the day. I didn't really need to clean myself beyond just making sure any dust or dirt I'd gathered was taken off and sent outside.
After a good few minutes making sure of that, I went outside carrying my little coin pouch. I made sure to fasten it tightly under the coat though.
I thought for a moment about perhaps getting another coat, as wearing the same one all the time might be a bit suspicious. Same for the pants. I did want to go for the same general layout, but mixing and matching wouldn't hurt.
I let my mind wander on clothes for a moment before realizing how mundane it felt. Wrong even, for me to be looking for clothes. I am a person, sure, but I am also a robot and I think I'm a monster. Still not sure on that last part.
I didn't quite understand the difference between majin and monsters. After all, Veldora was considered a monster despite clearly being as smart as a human.
Sarah seemed to be giving Sammy a long lecture in front of their house, so I just watched from a distance and tried not to listen in, since it seemed rude. They knew I could, but doing it seemed too far at this point. I knew them well at this point anyway.
After a few minutes of talking, the pair came over to me, and Sarah spoke first. "You can go into town and look for furniture today, Charlie. I'll be training with Sammy up until the exam. Since you can use your skills as a known otherworlder, you should be fine."
'Thank you, Miss Sarah.' I turned toward the gate, and went on my way out of the farm. I didn't wanna waste any time since I had to do something at noon, and that would only be in five hours if I was estimating right.
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I stood staring at a wash basin. It was the last thing I was considering whether or not I needed. I didn't need food, and unfortunately Emy might not need it soon either. So it would be easy for her to eat with Sarah's family.
I had seen Sarah wash clothes in it from time to time as well, but the problem with that was that telekinesis was better at it. Also it was clear Sarah didn't like doing that, because she preferred washing clothes in a trough outside. So there had to be a reason for that.
I slapped each side of my mask, and made the decision not to get it. The rest of the furniture could be delivered to the entrance of the city and I could pick it up from the guards. Though I did plan on making a show of taking one at a time with my skills.
It was nearing noon too, I could tell from the sunrise. Now, do you want to know the rest of the furniture I bought? It'll be a surprise for later. Be patient, you human.
I left the store? Shop? I am not really sure what you call a warehouse with a storefront like that. It is a unique place though, that is for certain. I didn't expect the merchant guild to have something like that, but I guess it makes sense when all the carpenters are in a guild of their own. They likely pool their products and fix prices that way.
I didn't try to concern myself beyond that tiny bit of thought, and instead made my way to the freedom guild place, to meet Sammy and Sarah at the entrance.
"Charlie! You made it, I thought you'd be late." Sammy ran up to and shook me once again.
"I told you she wouldn't be, you are just too excited." Sarah meanwhile stayed calmly leaned against a chair. "We should get going though."
'Do you know who the examiner will be?' I wanted to know the name of whoever was suspicious of me, it wasn't a fun prospect to have someone be that way. Especially when I had managed to actually get a pretty good arrangement with Fuze.
"Hm. That I did ask, but he seems to think ill of both of you. He is just mad you haven't bought any commissions despite coming here nearly every week." Sarah managed to relieve my worries, as competent as she always is, I doubted I'd need to ever need to worry about stuff from the guild.
"Yeah. I guess he is just some jaded B-ranker or something." Sammy seemed smug to say it.
Meanwhile I saw Jane sitting nearby, clearly winded. Her condition hadn't particularly improved either, but it was at least symptomatically better. She wasn't wheezing as much, but I could tell the fibers in her lungs were still there, and were even more embedded into the flesh than ever.
It made me hurt a little bit seeing it, I really hoped she'd make it through.
Sarah walked over and picked her up, before leading us around to the back of the building, where there sat a simple stone arena with a white circle of chalk around the perimeter of it.
It seemed a little too simple for a combat arena, but I guessed the intention wasn't to provide anyone an unfair advantage? Still, it seemed like it'd disadvantage anyone who needed to use the environment.
I was one of those people, so I decided to go around picking up both large and sharp rocks. As many as I thought I needed for this.
Once I was done, I walked back to Sammy and Sarah, who were now in front of a young guy in a white and black robe who looked red in the face.
"Still, coming here near every day with no reason, you are clearly just taking up place for our clientele and adventurers." He seemed like the fancy business type, unfortunately. I'd heard plenty of that kind of talk from managers. Sometimes I thought they had answering machines for heads, with how much they repeated the same lines.
Sarah stepped in front of the two of us to handle the conversation. "We have good reason for that, sir. These girls do have duties to discuss with the guild master. Also, we are of the same rank, are we not?"
The man paused for a moment before coming back wit a calculated retort. "Have you had your status reinstated in the last six years?"
Luckily Sarah had already become an adventurer again, even if she was not going on any missions. "As a matter of fact, I have."
The man grumbled and turned away. "Regardless. I need to speak to those two. My name is Roiland, I'll be your examiner for today. I will summon monsters, and it will be your duty to either incapacitate or otherwise defeat them. If you lose the arena, you are disqualified."
The rules he gave were far too straightforward, and it made me understand why the combat test was normally reserved both for people who were older, and people who had already taken another adventuring exam.
I sort of made that irrelevant. I could probably carry her through anything this guy could summon by the looks of it, but that didn't mean I shouldn't still be careful.
Our silence seems to have gotten to the guy too. "Did you two hear me?"
I nodded softly, not wanting to speak directly. I didn't want to make the man suspicious of me if he wasn't already.
"Yeah, me and Charlie can easily get D or C rank." Sammy meanwhile was trying to hype us up.
"I'll be the judge of that. Just get into the arena. Make sure that anything you plan to use is on your person." I was glad I got all the rocks after he said that.
I decided to just follow his instructions. So I walked into the arena and stood straight up and stared forward. It would've been a bit creepy if anyone was actually watching us. Luckily it was a slow day, so only Sarah was here.
Sammy was sorta slow to following, having a stare down with Roiland. I hoped she didn't plan on actually trying to attack the guy, although it would be kind of funny is she was the one who got in trouble for that.
After the stare down Roiland seemed more certain, and quickly took his spot just outside of the arena, then he started chanting for a few moments. Slowly, in front of him, a magic circle formed and a portal opened. Up through the portal rose a single goblin before the portal below it closed.
It was the D rank exam.
I didn't really wanna waste my time pretending to struggle with this one, so instead I just threw a rock. It sliced cleanly through the neck of the unconscious creature before landing firmly in the ground next to Roiland's feet.
The reason I say the unconscious creature is because it was obviously mindless. Just a summon made of magicules post haste. I don't even think I can really call it a creature, more like a... puppet. Didn't really care either way though.
Once the decapitated goblin fell to the ground, I removed the rock from the ground and pulled it back to my hand.
"Yeah! What's next? You seemed so confident." Sammy seemed intent on goading that man, which I didn't think was a good idea, but it didn't matter that much.
"I have more." The man got even more grumpy, and his voice got kinda high pitched. He was sorta wheezing too. After saying his bit, he started chanting again, and this time the magic circle that formed in front of him was much bigger. Although I still didn't feel particularly threatened by it.
What ended up coming out this time was a large green spider.
"Woah! Is that a real forest spider? I've never seen one... They are supposed to be roughly on par with a C rank adventurer..." Sammy seemed excited, then she realized we were getting conned, since this was already outside of the max rank we could get, which was C-.
"If you dealt with the goblin so easily, I expect you to deal with this just as well." Roiland smugly smiled, although he was notably looking away from Sarah.
Reason being she was shooting him an extreme glare, just like any good mother would.
I had to pretend to struggle, which meant throwing a few rocks, and softer than I did against the goblin, and letting the spider catch them in a quickly formed web.
After that, the spider was quick to make a jump for me, so I caught it by its front legs firmly and held it back from my head and neck. I pretended to struggle with it while clearly holding its abdomen out toward Sammy.
She seemed to take the que, and quickly cut into it with the cheap sword. Although it took her a few tries to really cut into the hide of the spider, she was able to do it.
I was able to firmly hold it in place while pretending to struggle the whole time, eventually leading to the spider's death.
Roiland looked confused. I assumed he ordered to spider to attack Sammy once she started cutting at it, but obviously I didn't let that happen.
"Guess the summon was just faulty..." He said it under his breath, he didn't wanna think I was that strong, but also avoided blaming himself.
I dropped the spider and watched it fall back apart into magicules, like the goblin had before. Although it being notably more made it more of a light show.
"So are we done then?" Sammy seemed a little bit excited, but also a tiny bit disappointed.
Roiland seemed to get very irritated, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly. "Not quite, I have one more thing in mind for you. Because it was so easy to make it this far."
Sarah meanwhile crossed her arms and put on a stern tone. "That monster was already above the maximum rank you could award them?"
Quickly, Roiland came up with an excuse to retort. "For a single person, but if they both want the maximum rank I can award, then I want them to take on something more serious."
"That isn't a normal part of the exam." Sarah didn't want to let this slide, but before she could actually intervene.
The man had already started chanting.
I could feel an internal sigh coming on, but before I could actually think it through fully. I felt a shiver instead.
The magic circle summoned this time around formed a little circle of flame around it, before a lizard like creature flew out of it, and near immediately caught fire.
Fire. Fire. Fire!
'W-wait- Stop!' I felt myself scream through my aura almost involuntarily, I was confronted with a flame right in front of me.
I watched as the lizard's flames danced around it, and felt my eyes contort to go fully wide.
It was terrifying.
I needed to kill it before it could hurt me, and to that end I held up a rock and put a ton of mana into it, as much of my aura as I could manage without the rock exploding, then I shot it out at the creature in front of me.
I needed to douse those flames before they ever had a chance of touching me.
The rock shot out of my hand and turned the reptilian monster to dust instantly, before the rock itself exploded. I could still feel my aura flaring around me, barely contained by my barrier, which had ballooned out several feet.
I tried to calm down, but I really couldn't, so I just fell to my knees before curling up and holding myself tightly. I was slowly able to bring my aura back in like that.
...
I think I blacked out after that, cause I sorta woke up a few hours later. I appeared to be in Fuze's office.
Sarah and Sammy were sitting next to me, and Shizu was in the room as well, staring down Fuze. Along with the man who had done the exam, Roiland, standing with a dour expression behind Fuze.
"She's up." Shizu spoke first, and I could tell she was frustrated from the tone of voice, even if I couldn't really see her face with the mask blocking magic sense.
Fuze looked at me carefully, his eyes a little wide and he certainly looked at least mildly frightened. "I am glad Shizu was here... I wouldn't have been able to get you inside."
I sat up and gave myself a moment to try and recollect what'd happened, but I really just didn't remember. 'Was I unconscious? I don't think I've had that feeling in... a long time.' I spoke only to Fuze, Sarah, and Sammy.
"Something like it. I can't really say." Fuze went silent after saying it, after that he glanced at Roiland.
It seemed the man was still trying not to speak, even though Fuze was trying to pry it out of him. Eventually though, another glare from Shizu got it out of him. "I apologize, young miss. I did not realize such a summon would be so traumatic for you to see. I am aware of your mute condition, so I do not expect a response."
He was being surprisingly polite about it, and I couldn't have expected him to know I'd react to seeing fire that way. I didn't say anything to him. Plus he didn't know the full truth, clearly. He actually seemed kind of dense if he hadn't realized I wasn't human yet.
"Now that, since that's out of the way. Can Charlie explain to me what happened?" Shizu set her gaze on me again, focusing intently. It was incredibly difficult not to turn away when I made eye- mask contact?
I stayed silent for a few moments before looking away. 'Just been... burned... quite a few times... It gets worse each time it happens...' What I meant by that was that it made it harder to cling to my physical body. The puppet had for the most part escaped the fires, but it still got burned in the end. With me inside.
"I'll keep that in mind." Shizu went thoughtfully silent before turning to Fuze. "When will you be giving them their licenses then? I didn't expect your examiner to go out of his way and push it up, but I assumed they'd get them after I was gone."
Fuze closed his eyes tightly and seemed a little frightened, since he was shaking. "In light of the recent events, I'll give them their licenses today."
Shizu sighed at that. "Alright."
Fuze turned to us, me and Sammy, but it was staring at me. "What you killed was called a fire salamander. They are a B- ranked lesser spirit of fire. I have to report that, but to make it believable, I'll give you both a C+ ranked license. Otherwise it would be too suspicious. However, I believe you, Charlie, would've needed one of this rank regardless."
I would've frowned if I could, he was right, but I didn't want the attention of being some mid-ranked adventurer. So I decided I'd avoid doing any real adventuring.
"Now, should get that paperwork finished." Fuze pulled out a big stack of papers, and smiled. "Luckily you've been here long enough that I can expect your help."
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