CC 9: Tenacity ~ Thirteen

Having set up a proper day and night schedule for the Hamlet, Joe decided that it was time to go and figure out how he was going to be getting paid for his services. Between the temporary housing and the floating light barrier, he'd invested not only a significant sum of aspects, but had needed to break into one of his last few remaining, usable cores.

He understood that without having ‘Reputation’ backed by a higher group, such as the Oligarchs, it wasn't going to be useful to try and trade that now-outdated currency for goods. No, the only system that would work until they had an extremely stable civilization up and running here was that of bartering. Without access to mineral deposits, forests for lumber, special plants for alchemy, or anything of the like; the only viable option was monster corpses.

Joe was completely fine with being paid in flesh and blood, as he could take anything and turn it into anything else thanks to his class. As he'd proven with the World Boss, there was even the possibility of getting extremely powerful aspects or special bonuses from the raw components.

As he was walking toward where the corpses were being collected, Joe amended his thoughts. “I can't turn them into anything else… I still need cores to complete the energy requirements of my rituals. Also to make high-end aspect jars.”

Slowing down, he tried to think of anything else that he might need, but beyond training, which he could trade for, those were his only needs. “Cores and corpses. I guess I'm going to be turning into a C and C machine. Ha. Now the only question becomes: who do I talk to about this?”

The first option that he'd normally go with was to simply find the Dwarven Council and make a proposal. He was certain they were holed up in the Town Hall, but he didn't want to get himself annoyed by forcing himself to speak with them again so soon. Instead, Joe walked over to a Dwarf that seemed to be managing the placement of slain monsters, and waved him down. “Hi there! How can I go about getting a bunch of these for the work that I'm doing? While I do love working, I don't love doing it for free.”

That startled a laugh out of the bearded Dwarf, who looked up with a smile on his face until he saw the hairless man in front of him. Then he winced in sympathy, and directed Joe to stand closer to him. “You look cold, hairless human. Come stand by a warm-blooded Dwarf while we discuss what you're talking about. What’re you doing, and why do you feel that you should be paid for it?”

“Bubbles, light barrier.” Joe pointed sharply at the examples in the area, and while his finger was in the air he noticed something else. “Also, my light barrier is trapping heat, so I'm warming up the area and will be able to eventually fully remove the ‘chilled’ debuff that everyone is suffering under.”

To his credit, the Dwarf only nodded, checking his ledger against Joe's words. “What sort of payment do you want? We can offer labor in return for labor, and… yeah, that's about it.”

“Cores and corpses.” Joe stated easily, having firmly decided on what he wanted. “That's all I need to continue working at a decent pace for a good long time.”

However, by the time he was done speaking, the Dwarf was already shaking his head in the negative. “No can do. Sorry, bald bro. Cores are still considered a strategic resource for our continued survival, and we've got nearly ninety thousand people waiting for a grilled penguin steak.”

“No way for me to get them?” Joe sighed gently, a twisted smile appearing on his face. “Are you sure?”

Nodding firmly, the Dwarf confirmed his previous statement. “By order of the council, all cores are to be handed over for distribution to the most worthy causes. All edible meat is necessary for our short-term survival.”

Joe considered the nuclear option of simply canceling every active ritual in the area until his demands were met, but decided to keep that card in his back pocket for now. “I see. Well, I guess I’ll need to set up shop then. I assume that no one’s going to come knocking on my door trying to grab monster meat or cores that I haul in?”

“Nobody has time for that. You kill ‘em, they’re yours. That’s how all of this works. I swear, everyone’s trying to get these.” The Dwarf waved Joe off as yet another petitioner stepped forward demanding access to the giant pile of stagnant resources; proving his point nearly instantly.

Seeing that he wasn’t going to be getting bodies without a fight—one way or another—Joe decided then and there to go out and join in the fight against the next Beast Wave. To that end, he needed to upgrade his weapons if he wanted to be an effective fighter, and that meant going back to the Alchemy Hall and binding his next Characteristic to his orbs before joining the front lines of the fight.

Shortly after making that decision, the Ritualist was admitted into the pyramid. Jake showcased his annoyance over being interrupted by slamming the door shut behind him as he stalked back to his work.

As he wasn't here looking for instruction, Joe simply got to work practicing his binding agents. As the second round of aspects in a row turned to goop, the Ritualist closed his eyes and let out a gentle growl. Then he went still as he remembered the spare skill points he was holding onto. Knowing that Jake would likely not appreciate him skipping steps, Joe made sure he was alone before adding the three points he needed in order to get his skill up to the Apprentice rank. “Heehee… technically Ritualistic Alchemy’s not a subskill of my ritual magic—that’s Alchemical Rituals—so this shouldn't be an issue, right? Yes!”

Congratulations! Ritualistic Alchemy has reached Apprentice 0! You have gained a Tome of Alchemic Ritual Adornments (Small)!

Joe eagerly flipped the book open and began perusing its pages. There was an abundance of items he could potentially create, and he had to keep himself from thrusting his fist in the air when he turned a page and saw the exact item he needed: ritual candles. He could already tell that the book was going to be extremely beneficial to him, as amidst the options, there were plenty that he could not fully comprehend at the moment. A few examples were things such as aura-erasure incense and dao-seeking serums.

He noted that the final item was likely to be extremely useful someday in the far future. It had caught his attention by lacking a proper explanation, and that usually meant ‘hidden powerful thingamajig’. Making a mental note to try and casually drop it into conversation with Jake, he finished acquainting himself with the variety of options the book gave him, carefully closed it, and lifted his view—only to lock eyes with the Alchemist directly.

“I'll only say this once.” Jake’s voice was warm and pleasant, only highlighting the underlying oddly syllabant and menacing undertones. “Shortcuts are only permissible once you fully understand the material you are working with. If you try to change the game before understanding how to play the game, all you are doing is cheating yourself. Certainly, there is the possibility that you create an entirely new game, but how would you even know if you were successful?”

Joe didn't answer him, merely nodding along and profusely thanking his past self for only adding the bare minimum required. There was a difference, at least in his mind, between throwing your skill levels super high, and just bringing the system-recognition up to the level he had already demonstrated mastery over.

Following Jake's next instructions, instead of going directly into making binding agents, he first started by creating Apprentice-rank alchemy candles to increase his stability. He could infer from Jake's incomplete information that attempting to bind himself to his Ritual Orbs with an unstable binding agent would have… unfortunate side effects. To that end, unlike with his stabilization cubes, Joe hadn’t been planning to stop at the bare minimum of ten.

But as he was making his eleventh candle, Jake looked at him as though he'd been dropped one too many times as a baby. “You do realize that you are only stabilizing your ingredients up to the rank of Vial, correct? Creating another circle of Apprentice candles in the position of Student Apprentice candles will do nothing to help you, and will only waste your resources.”

“Doesn't hurt to have extras!” Joe decided after a long moment of wavering between finishing or letting the candle turn into mushy wax.

“Good.” Jake showed a rare approving half-smile. “You will go far in life if you have the proper tenacity. Without your desire to remain firm and unyielding, you will bend too much… perhaps even one day finding that you are serving as a quest reward for someone barely worthy of it, even if they are intriguing.”

“Um.” Joe couldn't say another word before Jake whisked himself out of the area, going off to stir a cauldron in the distance that was beginning to hiss and, if Joe wasn't mistaken, scream at them in French. Jake looked back a single time, arching a brow at the Ritualist; who decided that he had plenty of his own work to focus on. “No need for me to worry about someone else’s strange items.”

Having practiced the motions so frequently and accurately, Joe was able to complete his binding agent on the first attempt, nearly an anti-climactic event for him after so much failure. “No, I can't think that way! Success should be boring. It should be what I do every day, with no deviation. Why would I want life to be harder when I could instead be using that time to do fun things?”

He made a couple spare binding agents, just in case his first attempt failed. As he was walking toward the exit, planning out which of his Characteristics he should bind to himself, Joe's knuckles brushed against the metallic girdle of his codpiece. As his attention had been drawn to it, he remembered once more that he needed to do something with the Mythic core. “What did that description say again…? I could use it as an accessory to any item? Does that mean, hey, could I attach it to this building?”

Returning directly to the room that he'd just exited earned him a deep sigh and a ‘patient’ expression from his instructor. “Welcome back yet again, Joe. What can I do for you now? You know, instead of completing the formula for this Injection that I can only hope to someday be able to mix up?”

“I have a proposal for you…” Joe stated slowly, biting his tongue before launching directly into his offer. “But before I say anything, I need your solemn oath that you won’t attack me upon hearing it. That anything I've brought into this building is mine, and you won’t attempt to take or keep my items from me by any means other than compromise and mutually beneficial negotiation.”

“You have my interest, and a larger portion of my attention than I usually give you.” Jake leaned forward aggressively, eyeing Joe up and down. “What if I grab on and shake you really hard right now, just to see what falls out?”

Joe didn't say anything, counting on his Neutrality Aura to remove the sweat that was beading up all across his bald head. “If you don't want to hear the offer, just say no.”

“Oh, I am interested. You never get this cagey unless there is something very interesting on your mind. For the remainder of our conversation, until you walk out of the door, I officially swear an oath to the terms you have offered me.”

The Ritualist was already shaking his head, “Not good enough. I need you to swear that you won’t attack me, ever, based on the information I'm about to share with you.”

That earned a much longer pause before Jake ever so slightly inclined his head. “I suppose I will agree to that. If you had not planned to do something to my benefit, I'm sure you wouldn't have brought this up in the first place. Which means I would have never known about whatever it is you are about to tell me. Yes, I so swear.”

“What would you say if I asked you to guard an item for me? That so long as you did so, and gave the item back to me when I asked for it, I could grant you a Legendary version of this building?” Joe gulped as Jake stayed silent for far too long. That wasn't the concerning part, the true issue came from the fact that the Alchemist's hands kept shooting toward his own pockets, only to stop and move back to their original position, his fingernails extending into claws and then retracting like the paws of a tiger.

“If you said something like that… you? You, who seem to have enormous gaps in the foundational knowledge of this world? Why, I would accuse you of holding onto a Mythic core.” Jake’s voice was hoarse, as though he had just finished screaming for half a day. “I would also mention that had you not extracted the oaths that you did, I would be claiming it from whatever remained of your steaming corpse. At the very least, I would be sifting through the ashes to see if I was correct in my assumption. I’m glad my tutelage is not being wasted on a dullard.”

“Great. Here I just thought I was being paranoid.” Joe wiped his forehead and showed a relieved smile. “I knew people would kill for this, but-”

“You actually have it, don't you?” Jake chuckled lightly, though the sound was anything but humorous. “I thought that when I was the one to deal nearly five percent of its health in a single blow, I would have the core placed in my inventory. It counted your ritual as the main damage dealer, didn't it?”

“Yes, although I got a notice that it was a bug, and I wouldn't be able to defeat a World Boss like that again.”

That earned him a searching look from the Alchemist, who finally muttered a question at him. “I'm not detecting any new curses, though?”

“Curses? Why would I get cursed?” Joe absent-mindedly rubbed his bald head.

“Mmm.” Jake seemed to be looking over all of Joe's equipment, trying to find where he was hiding the core. “You don't just get to trigger balance-breaking events and walk away unscathed. Wait! All of the Dwarves that you rescued… everything that you gave up without expecting a reward…? Was that it? Your Karmic Luck took the hit instead of you, didn't it?”

Now it was Joe's turn to go still. “Can you explain that stat to me? I lost something like sixty points of Karmic Luck as soon as the World Boss was defeated.”

“Sixty?” Jake gasped sharply, though it turned into a deep belly laugh after a long few moments. “You also didn't get cursed, which means you’re still positive in the stat! Oh, I'm certain you have some moderators absolutely furious with you right now. Still, I'm not a Karmic Race. Therefore, any attempt I made to explain the Characteristic to you would only confuse you, and most likely lead you to an incorrect assumption. My own knowledge is lacking in that area. Back to the issue at hand… I want that core.”

“No.” Joe held up a hand to forestall any further remarks, launching into his explanation as soon as he saw the deranged look on Jake's face, and the fact that the previously human teeth in his mouth had turned into needle-sharp and shark-like. “Abyss! Jake, I have the option to use it as an accessory, and by equipping it to any item I can have it be considered one rank higher. I figured this was the safest place, and we could really use a pseudo-Legendary Alchemy Hall.”

“You would just… leave it here? So that I could reach higher heights in my profession? Why? You already have a deal secured by me.” Jake looked away and up, trembling and apparently not trusting himself to not attack Joe if he looked directly at him any longer.

“I believe this is the safest place for it.” Joe explained humbly. “Since only you have control of this building and have the means to defend it, and I've told no one else of its existence, the core would be safe here. If I took it with me, there's a chance I could lose it.”

“Lose it?” This earned a low growl from Jake, and Joe shuddered softly before continuing.

“As to what I want from you? Keep it safe, willingly and peacefully return it to me when I'm ready to make an attempt at the Sage rank or need it for something else, and… you’ll owe me a favor.”

“Counter offer.” Jake's eyes snapped to meet Joe's, “A minor favor if I have it for less than six months. A medium favor if I have it for up to a year. A major favor if I have it for more than one year, but less than five. A grand favor if I have it for more than five.”

“I didn't know there were actual classifications of favors, but let's call it a deal.” Joe reached his hand out, and the two shook hands. As Joe tried to let go, he found that his appendage was being held in an unshakable iron grip. Knowing what the other man wanted, Joe had the core appear in his off hand, palm facing downward.

For a long second as he waited to use the Mythic core, Joe felt that he was in the center of a lightning bolt the thickness of a tree. His world was light; pure light so bright that it physically hurt. Somehow, although the core itself was making no sound, Joe couldn't hear his own words as he shouted for the core to be attached as an accessory to the Pyramid of Panacea.

Attach Mythic core to this building? This will set the effective rank as Pyramid of Panacea (Legendary). You will require the building owner’s permission to unattach the core being used as an accessory. Yes / No.

Even though Joe knew he was saying the word, the sound didn't reach his ears. “Yes.”