CC 10: Thesaurize ~ Four!

“Why yes, of course I would love to venture out into the bone-white wilderness with you!” Jaxon clapped his hands multiple times, his palms never moving apart. “I would be positively elated to sally forth, finding new and interesting bones to shift into place. Why, imagine if I would’ve been able to take that Cyclops on as a customer instead of having to help you bring him down? The prices I could’ve charged! The information I could’ve gained! The skill levels! Oh, Joe, the skill levels! Why did we have to slay that giant?”

“I'm glad you're coming with us, but Jaxon, he was trying to… destroy the entire town, wipe out the Dwarves, and scatter us to the wind.” Joe explained gently, knowing that his sound reasoning didn’t particularly matter to the Chiropractor. “Did you at least learn some new things from that fight?”

Thinking it over, Jaxon eventually nodded sharply with a bright smile on his face. “In fact, I did! I was finally able to push higher into the Master ranks for my Chiropractic Services, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I’ll be able to accomplish as I attain further Mastery, Grandmastery, then Sagehood. I found that when I attempted to imbue my attacks with a concept, beyond simply twisting bones, I was able to attain a new record for myself.”

Joe went very still when he heard that information, and then he leaned forward slightly, his eyes intently locked on his friend's face. “How’d you imbue your attack with a concept?”

“It was fairly straightforward, youngster! All I needed to do was have my mana extend around the point of contact, twisting away not only the bone as intended, but the blood, flesh, nerves, fat tissue, epidermis-”

The Ritualist cut him off, knowing that Jaxon would continue onward until he’d fully explained everything that had been on his mind at that point. “I see. So you went a step beyond what you’re typically aiming for, to deal additional damage.”

“What? No, not at all! The intent of Chiropractic Services is never to damage your patient! I was trying to Adjust his perspective.”Jaxon shook his head sadly as he saw that Joe wasn't understanding his meeting. “He meant to do us harm, I wanted to adjust his mindset, similar to when I adjusted a rafter of turkeys to follow my commands via the principles of stockholm syndrome. If you recall, during the battle, I didn’t attack him, I tried to force him to turn the other cheek. I thought that, perhaps if he took his eyes off his intended goal, the destruction of the Town Hall, he could see that there was a better option. Alas, it was not to be, and in no time flat you were swimming in his aqueous humor.”

Gagging slightly at the reminder, Joe decided that it was time to end the conversation and move on. “I want to hear more about those turkeys someday, but for now… do you have any other recommendations for who we should bring with us? I've met a few nice people here, there's an engineer who thinks he's a wizard, Socar, but his cat is actually the magic user. Also, I feel like having the eyes and range of Heartpiercer Mcshootypants would be a good option for us.”

“Ah yes, your classic go-to of putting together a ragtag band of misfits.” Jaxon sighed in contentment as he tried to think if there was anyone he would want to bring along. “You know, Major Cleave is always welcome to ride along with me. Anywhere she wants. Anywhere at all. She's been wanting to learn about my… flexibility.”

Joe was shaking his head by the time the Dwarf’s name was mentioned, “I remember that conversation, and unfortunately for us, she’s been assigned command of the Legion at the wall. That makes her the person responsible if a monster manages to break through into the Town itself. There's no way we're going to be able to get her away from here, and trying is just going to get her annoyed with us.”

A moment later, he realized that he’d just been off-handedly insulted by the Chiropractor, and squinted at him as he tried to determine if it was intentional or not. “Also, I don't get together a group of misfits. I make a party of the people I think are best for the task at hand.”

“And they all just so happen to be bizarre outcasts.” Jaxon nodded and winked at his bold friend, much to Joe's annoyance.

In an attempt to defend himself, the Ritualist tried to explain his reasoning one more time. “That’s not an intentional choice on my part, it just happens to be that the people who’re best at what they do tend to have something that sets them apart from the average warrior, or archer, or whatever. Again, I want the best, not the most team-friendly. Also, you do realize you’d be included in that list, don't you?”

“Oh, if only! Sadly no, I’m the most boring, run of the mill Chiropractor you’ve met in your entire life. I must say, my boy, I’m absolutely tickled by this amusing misunderstanding. Me, a misfit, that would be a most marvelous compliment indeed! Imagine it, me! A free spirit, a non-conformist, dancing to the beat of my own drum!” Jaxon reared back in laughter so hard that his head nearly touched the ground, his hands staying on his hips. “Ahh. All jokes aside, we should probably get going. Based on what you told me about that letter, if things had gone well for her, I'm sure she would’ve sent another message by now.”

“By now? What do you…” Joe looked at the timestamp on the letter that he’d shared with Jaxon, realizing that it had come in nearly two hundred hours previously. The fact that Daniella hadn't sent any follow-up messages meant that she either couldn't, or was being so carefully watched that she didn't dare risk it. He could only hope that she’d figured out the Elves were reading her mail, or perhaps the loudmouth who was having her do menial manual labor had directly told her that, as proof of her crimes. “Yeah, we should probably get going.”

Over the next few hours, the duo worked to gather additional people for their cause. Unfortunately, they couldn’t convince a single Dwarf to part with the security of the thick stone walls, and Socar had to beg off for at least a few days while he worked on his current project. Heartpiercer Mcshootypants was on board immediately, and so the trio began sprinting along the tops of the walls, where temporary bridges were strung across the openings to allow for rapid movement whenever there were no Beast Waves attacking the city.

Something about the team composition made Joe deeply uncomfortable, and he tried to feel out what his intuition was telling him. Eventually he decided that it was just the fact that he’d almost always been able to go out with an extremely well-balanced team. A tank, a long and close range damage dealer, some form of combination buffing or debuffing, and finally himself as healing, utility, and magic damage. Going out with a party of three felt… strange.

Only a few minutes passed before they were fully outside the defensive walls, and running along to the east of the Town. They’d decided that they would scout out approximately one day's travel in each of the cardinal directions before making a final decision on which way they would explore further. By choosing to go east, they’d also have the benefit of running into the Dwarven mining camp and quarry.

This would allow them to assess the travel conditions, as well as what gear they were lacking for long-term travel on Jotunheim, without leaving them stranded in the dark, unknown world without a plan.

They sprinted along, none of them wasting their breath on conversation. As they continued to run, minutes ticking by, Joe started to feel a slight mental strain. Not because of the act of running, nor was he overly anxious about monster attacks. No, it was the simple fact that outside of the city, the tundra was absolutely featureless. Every hint of elevation had been stomped flat by enormous monsters, and the wind howling over his body was an annoying, constant irritant.

Every once in a while, he’d been looking over his shoulder at the walls of the city in the distance, which were lit up both by the false sky he had created, as well as the still-brightening sunlight stretching across the entirety of Jotunheim. Joe had stopped doing that, for the simple reason that it made all of their progress feel pointless. The city was the only terrain feature, and no matter how fast they ran, it seemed to grow smaller only very slowly. Just out of a desire to see something different, Joe took a look at his status.

Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend' Class: Reductionist

Profession I: Arcanologist (Max)

Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist (4/20)

Profession III: Grandmaster’s Apprentice (14/25)

Profession IV: None

Character Level: 27 Exp: 404,907 Exp to next level: 1,093

Rituarchitect Level: 11 Exp: 65,950 Exp to next level: 50

Reductionist Level: 6 Exp: 26,891 Exp to next level: 1,109

Hit Points: 2,496/2,496

Mana: 6,078/8,327

Mana regen: 72.68/sec

Stamina:1,925/1,925

Stamina regen: 6.68/sec

Characteristic: Raw score

Strength (bound): 182

Dexterity: 183 → 184

Constitution (bound): 177 → 179

Intelligence (bound): 190

Wisdom: 178 → 180

Dark Charisma: 141 →142

Perception: 178 → 180

Luck: 115 → 116

Karmic Luck: 23

Over the last several hundred hours of work, his Constitution was ever so slowly increasing thanks to his Artisan Body skill. He was especially thankful for that skill, since increasing anything else was becoming treacherously slow. The other Characteristics that had increased were a result of stopping misplaced rituals just in time to keep from blowing himself and his helpers up. Twice. He could only blame the cold for his inattention.

Joe grinned as he looked at how close he was to leveling up in all of his classes. The hard work and constant cycle of killing monsters, reducing them to aspects, then using those aspects to build walls and towers to kill more monsters had been phenomenal for his overall experience gain. “I haven't grown this fast in… well, not for a long time.”

A bubble filled with ore or stone zipped over their heads, and the Ritualist slightly adjusted his heading after flinching and tracing the bubble back to its source. Heartpiercer watched the frozen orb travel above them with slight annoyance in her eyes, “Is there a reason we aren’t riding comfortably along in a bubble right now? This enormous, flat landscape should be perfect for that kind of travel, shouldn't it?”

“It should, yes. But that's a trap.” Joe explained brightly. “Remember, the point of today isn't about making the best distance we possibly can. Today’s all about figuring out what else we need while we’re exploring this massive world.”

Jaxon made a sound indicating he was intrigued, and joined the conversation. “Oh! I know! How about instead of a bubble that moves us around, Joe sets up a ton of rituals that slowly raise the ambient temperature of this planet to a livable, comfortable position? What would you call that? The Ritual of Aerosol Cans? Grandmaster Ritual of Global Warming? I could use me some warming right now.”

“I have no interest in messing with the climate of a supermassive planet.” Even thinking about it caused an ethereal shiver to crawl along his skin. “I bet if I started setting that up, I’d bring down the World Boss on us even faster than if I’d built an Ecumenopolis that completely covered every surface of the planet in buildings.”

“Ha! An Ecumenopolis?” Heartpiercer shook her head at that thought. “With a planet this size, you'd be more likely to build a Dyson sphere than anything else.”

“Well that would just be pointless.” Jaxon’s brow furrowed as he lifted his right hand to his chin in thought, all while sprinting at top speed. “The point of a Dyson sphere is to gather sunlight, and there’s none to be had here.”

The Archer shook her head in slight annoyance, “No, I mean, it would be easier to make a sphere around the planet made out of metal than to build a building on… you know what, forget I asked anything about bubble travel. Let's go back to being quiet while running.”

“No need, no need!” Joe pointed into the distance, where finally another landmark was appearing. “There’s the mining camp. When we get there, let's review what we think we’re going to need.”

“I vote for music.” Heartpiercer muttered loud enough to be heard by the others, while being able to maintain the fiction that she was trying to be quiet. “Something tells me we’re going to need to drown out some… prattling.”

“I like music too! I'll get us started.” Jaxon cleared his throat and started warbling above the protests of the other members of his small party. “I'm a Barbie girl, in a giant world-”

“No!” Came the instantaneous shutdown.

“Hey! I'm making it relevant to our situation! I said ‘giant world’, not ‘Barbie world’! I’m hip, I’m fly. I’m with the times, ye ken?”