Invent ~ 31!

Array layer complete: Common.

Class quest complete: Novice Reductionist III. Reward: 500 Uncommon aspects you can claim at any time, in any storage device that will accept them.

Class quest gained: Novice Reductionist IV. Create an Uncommon rank permanent array. Reward: 250 Rare aspects. Array created: 0/1.

“Oh, come on! Another Novice rank quest? It’s gotta be higher than that!” Joe stared at the white, sticky strings that made up the Common tier of the aspect array. He didn't want to touch it, he didn't want to think about it, and he now fully expected spiders to randomly spawn in here at some point. “You know what? It's time to see what this bad boy can do.”

Joe started inserting the Aspect Jars into their alcoves, which were denoted by the coloration of the array connecting to them. As far as he could tell, every aspect could have up to five jars along its pathing, except for ‘Special’, which had space for fifteen different jars. “In the landfill like this, Common and below are going to be by far the most likely to be found… probably why they are labeled ‘Common’. Ugh. I can only blame poor quality sleep for making me say that out loud.”

On the plus side, since he did not have the array layers for the higher tiers set up, even if higher-ranked gear was found and collected, it wouldn’t be broken down and he would be able to inspect it, and then decide if it would be better served as aspects or used as-is. The likelihood of finding a working treasure down here? Probably not worth mentioning, but still, having the option was nice.

“Next up, a ritual to start gathering everything…” Joe easily set up the Little Sister’s Cleaning Service, hoping that the ritual wouldn’t rebel when the artificial mind found the literal garbage of a civilization around it. He powered the ritual up, and it got to work right away; lifting, arranging, and neatly hauling things up and into the container.

There were some restrictions he had never seen outside of this area that appeared clearly and almost instantly. The first was the fact that anything that weighed over fifty pounds was apparently seen as ‘landscape’. Either the ritual couldn’t move them, just too weak to do so, or it couldn’t recognize that they were valid targets. “Still… more than I ever expected out of such a low-rank ritual. Gonna need to find a way to upgrade this to a higher version.”

Following that first restriction was the second: the sheer number of items it began moving at once was an enormous strain on the ritual itself. When Joe inspected the ritual, it lost four seconds off the countdown per second. “Well, improving this just moved up the ol’ priority list. Normally lasts a year, this will be lucky to last ninety days.”

As the first junk started dropping into the top of the A.S.P.E.C.T., Joe worked out how to pump mana into it. To power the permanent array directly, he needed to be standing at the dais with both hands in place. As used Dwarven adult diapers brushed gently across the barrier protecting his forehead, he resolved to make Mana Batteries as soon as he was away from here so that he could activate the array externally. “Four-point-five mana per second to do Common reduction, let’s begin.”

He had slotted the Common Aspect Jar made from a Unique core, granting himself room for ten thousand aspects. The array began powering up, dark gray light followed by light gray, then blindingly white light; as if the sun were hitting fresh-fallen snow. As items swirled in and around the room, they bounced gently against the webs, ropes, and finally the walls. If they were of the correct aspect rarity, the item stuck in position as if it had been welded in place; then slowly converted to light and energy.

No Trash or Damaged aspect containers located. Would you like to use these aspects as fuel for reduction of higher aspects?

You may burn the same rarity aspect at a rate of 1 aspect to pull 10 aspects from an item. However, the cost of reduction is 100 to 1 per higher aspect. Burning 100 Damaged aspects will allow you to collect 1 aspect from Common ranked items. Burning 1,000 Trash aspects will achieve the same. Yes / No.

Joe selected yes, then the only option that was available: reduce Common aspects. The lack of options made sense, as that was the highest rarity he had been able to set up. He had no need at all for these aspects, as he could get them just from reducing rocks if needed. The reduction of the goods in the container sped up now that the power flow had found a balance, so Joe stepped away from the dais and watched for a long moment as the ritual dragged more stuff in.

A.S.P.E.C.T. durability: 113,334/150,000.

“It’s fixing itself? How?” Joe pulled up the building information, and noticed that the ‘Anima’ portion of the name was clickable. “Unused aspects can be gathered and used to replace damaged portions of the building instead of burning away in the atmosphere.’ Huh. Well, alright then.”

One Omnivault later, Joe was standing atop the nonagon and looking at the trash that was floating around his area. It was noticeable, but he didn’t overly care. “Everything up to Common aspects is now taken care of by either fixing up the place or getting absorbed. Now I just need to wait until that Aspect jar is full, then I can look at whatever is remaining in the storage area and break it down by hand if needed; I can only hope some Rare or better gear gets dragged in there.”

Then he noticed something moving that was not a part of his designs. Motion off the side drew his eye, and he found an oversized two-headed rat sniffing around the barriers that he had erected. Another thing Joe noticed at the same time was that the klaxon call alarm that he had set off when he was escaping zombies had finally ended.

Either something had smashed the ritual, or it had just run out of juice. No matter the cause; the result was that any sounds that he made in terms of combat or creation of things was going to be far more noticeable in the otherwise eerie silence of the landfill.

Tossing his icicle-shaped Ritual Orb into the air, he stealthily directed it to be directly above the too-curious rat. He set it to attack, and it began its normal power up moment, roughly half a second of spinning in place like a top to generate increased penetrative damage. A moment later, it crashed into the body of the oversized rat, the sneak attack dealing bonus damage—and the force behind the weapon driving the rat into the garbage where its death cry of surprise was muffled by a mouthful of slime.

Joe blinked at the space where the rat had vanished a moment ago, slightly shocked by how effective and efficient that had been. He muttered to himself, ensuring he stayed quiet in a space where almost everything had enhanced senses, “I’m guessing that where I'm standing right now is effectively a hunter's blind… no wonder they set them up, it works.”

Moments later, a notification that he had gained thirty-five experience passed through his vision. He settled in to wait for his next victim, and spent a few hours quietly chuckling as he practiced dexterous movement and effective placement of his Ritual Orbs. He didn’t use the intelligence-bound Orb every single time, instead electing to practice with two or even three Orbs at a time.

Once he even used one of his normal Orbs as a lure, getting a rabid double-headed raccoon to chase after it like a cat following a laser pointer. Right as it jumped after the lure, he had two other orbs slime together and crush the small vermin. It exploded in a shower of gore. “Yeah! Critter? More like crit-ter. Ooh. I think I just invented a new game. Bad puns for the win!”

In his over-exuberance, Joe was slightly too loud and drew in a beast that he had been hoping to avoid for at least slightly longer: a Dwarven zombie. The undead hulk wandered into the area just after Joe’s Orbs *cracked* together, and it began running at the sound. As its undead senses latched onto the next still-breathing animal Joe had been playing around with, the human simply let his Orbs fall to the ground like the inanimate objects they were.

The zombie completely ignored them, as Joe had expected, and tore into the warm, wriggling flesh that was left behind. The Reductionist saw the opportunity to destroy this creature, and knew that he should probably take it. Yes, it was likely going to be harder than he expected; but he knew that if the zombie got a whiff of him before he took it down, it would be able to call a much larger hoard to assault his barely fortified position. Right now, he had the high ground, the potential for a sneak attack, and the zombie was laser-focused on its current meal. With no small amount of trepidation, he ordered his icicle Orb into position and lined it up with the brainstem of the bent-over mindless husk.

“These things have a massive amount of health… I gotta maximize the debuff when it hits.” The Reductionist prepared Dark Lightning Strike and hoped for the best. More of his Orbs floated over to be above the frenzied creature, “As ready as I can be.”

With an internal scream of pure anxiety, he slammed his first Orb down with as much force as his mind could put behind it. For the first time in a long time, the secondary ability of Retaliation of Shadows activated, creating an icicle-shaped Orb that drilled in alongside the original. Joe ignored the notification of a sneak attack and critical hit in favor of wincing from the meaty, wet sound. He grimaced as he thought, “If I didn't have my Neutrality Aura to get that clean, I would need to throw that whole Orb away.”

Letting out a battle cry that he tried to keep as quiet as possible, Joe mentally began slamming the Orbs on the zombie's head. The combination of paralysis from having its spine severed, as well as having various Orbs whirl around and bounce against the rotten skull, came together in a glorious expulsion of fluids as his target’s head was fully removed.

He stared at the fallen being, not sure what to do next. An experience gain notification was pushed aside as he waited to see if other zombies would be drawn to the sound of combat, even as muted as he had managed to make it. After a few long moments with nothing happening, Joe fully relaxed from his combat-ready position and looked around.

“Ahh!” He screamed as he came face-to-face with… the zombie’s severed head? Joe continued shaking as the Little Sister’s Cleaning service dumped the rotten flesh into the Aspect Array, and it was permanently reduced. “Did… did a ritual just prank me?”

A howl from a nearby zombie was his only answer. Joe’s eyes bulged as he realized that even though he had managed to avoid attention when slaying a zombie, he might have brought the wrath of the landfill down on himself with his girly scream.