Invent ~ 27!

“Wait, this shouldn’t be happening…?” Coming fully to his senses, Joe managed to flip around in midair as he shook off the final lingering effects of whatever it was Havoc had dosed him with. “I don't even have defensive rituals ready! Havoc, you son of a-!”

Then he landed in the middle of a house-sized pile of rotten vegetables, and slammed his mouth closed just to ensure that none of it slipped in. His initial reaction, destroying everything around him with acid, was only curbed by the idea that he may melt something of actual value that was in the mess. ‘Swimming’ out of the partially liquefied vegetables, he once more thanked his lucky stars that he had Exquisite Shell and Neutrality Aura keeping him clean as well as parasite-free in this goo.

After breaking through the surface and screaming like an alien tearing its way out of a human chest, he tried to tamp down his rage and take stock of the situation; preparing himself as well as possible. Joe had a few major concerns. Firstly, he had no edible food prepared, although hydration would not be an issue thanks to his aura. Second, he had only his spells as offensive and defensive measures, and had almost nothing usable to his name beyond that. He was almost certain that Havoc knew this would be an issue, as the Dwarf had been keeping tabs on him.

Speaking of people keeping tabs on him, he looked around carefully but was unable to find Major Cleave.

“Not only am I low on attack and defense power, I don’t even have an escort that can help that situation even slightly.” The Reductionist rubbed his bald head in consternation, unknowingly leaving a trail of moldy beet juice across his skull before it was whisked away by his aura. A quick look into his storage devices informed him that he didn't even have nice, clean tiles that he could build out his rituals on. “So, my mentor must want me to be forced to be as efficient as possible? Or maybe he just wants me somewhere that I can train without blowing up things that actually matter…”

Joe ignored the fact that the most likely reason Havoc had sent him down here was simply as petty revenge for delaying the plans he had set up in his head—plans he had failed to share with his Apprentice. “Guess all I can do is hope that everyone is going to be okay out there.”

The Shoe (Unnamed campground) has officially been upgraded from a Hidden Camp (Tier 0) to a Hidden Hamlet (Tier 1)!

A Hamlet is allowed to have up to:

1 Town Hall or Guildhall . (Not filled).

1 Unique or higher rarity building. (Filled).

2 Rare or 1 higher rarity building. (Not Filled).

10 Uncommon buildings. (Filled).

20 Common buildings. (Not filled).

5 monuments. (Not filled).

To improve from a Hamlet (Tier 1) to a Village (Tier 2), the following conditions must be met:

All building slots filled.

• Residents: Minimum 50
  • Current: 17.
• Morale: Minimum 1,000 (Satisfied)
  • Current total: 127 (Neutral). (375 positive morale x 17/50 residents.)
• Resources: 1 major export/trade good.
  • Current: none. (-100 morale).
• Living areas: Space for 100 permanent residents of at least Common quality.
  • Current: Space for 110 civilians + 660 troops = 770). (Excess! +200 morale).
• Air Quality: Decent.
  • Current: Barely Decent. (+-0 morale).
• Heat: Uncomfortable.
  • Current: Comfortable. (+200 morale).
• Water Sources: 2 potable water sources
  • Current: 1 Mineral Water. Tainted. (-25 morale).
• Light: 60 lumens at least 8 hours per day.
  • Current: Constant (+100 morale).

Looking over the requirements, Joe could only be glad that he had set someone else in charge of starting to make things happen. Otherwise, he was very concerned that by the time he got back, people would be calling for a change in leadership. Almost everything made sense on the list, except for the fact that having constant light only gave half the bonus that the other living conditions did when being in excess.

“Maybe I need to work out a day and night schedule? Also, only seventeen residents? I distinctly remember having at least thirty-eight.” Joe muttered aloud, then shook his head and remembered that he was in a potentially deadly, but undoubtedly dangerous, situation. “The first thing I need to do is set up a protected area, Predator’s Territory should work perfectly for this.”

Knowing that it was only a Beginner-rank ritual, he pulled out two Inscribers and began working on the circles. He used his left hand for the less-intense Novice interior circle, and his more dexterous right hand for the second circle. Using Somatic Ritual Casting, he drew the ritual diagram out in the air. Using both hands increased the time of each circle by a quarter, but reduced the overall work time by more than half; bringing a joyful smile to his face as per usual when a nifty magical shortcut opened up to him.

With a flex of his will, the double circle turned horizontal and dropped under him. Joe stepped on the activation portion and channeled the required mana through his foot, activating the ritual with ease. A feeling of intense bloodlust rippled through the area, centered on the ritual. Joe got chills for a moment, both from the feeling as well as from being impressed with just how much more potent the ritual was even without going out of his way to improve it.

He was ever so slowly closing in on the Master ranks with Ritual Magic, and it was to be expected that an Expert’s ritual just had more oomph than what a Novice could manage—and that was his skill rank when he had made this particular diagram for the first time. “The perimeter is now set, let's get some defenses in place, then start on reducing everything to be useful again.”

As Joe slowly set up rituals that would attack, barriers that would block, and a few last resort diagrams to flood the area with acid; he realized that he had never put deep thinking into the results of what each rank of ritual could accomplish. The Reductionist had been correct in his thinking, and needed to follow that line of thought: he was going to be a Master of this discipline soon… and he currently couldn’t even clearly differentiate the ranks. For such low-level rituals, he didn’t need to invest all of his attention. “Let me think. What exactly can Novice rank rituals accomplish?”

The short answer that his brain teased him with was ‘nearly anything’, but that wasn’t quite accurate. Thinking over all of the times that he had created one of the single-circle rituals, a pattern slowly started to form in his mind. “Little Sisters Cleaning Service moves things around and organizes them. What can't it do? It can lift them, move them, put them in alphabetical order or order them in any way I tell it to arrange them… can it sort by rarity? How much weight can it lift when it comes to an individual object?”

He paused his hypothetical thinking as he finished working on the Ritual of Acid. Messing up on this one would cause a backlash that he did not want to deal with, so he gave his full attention to the project. When that one was finally complete, he sat down in the muck and looked around. There was an oversized double circle on the ground, a barrier at each of the primary compass positions, followed by four wind blade Rituals of Proximity at the corners, and a Student-ranked Ritual of Acid hanging in the air above him.

“I remember, once upon a time, walking into a house in the grassland where giant bugs were flying around.” Joe softly reminisced as the multi-hued rituals slowly spun around him. “There were so many connected rituals, floating in the air just like this, and I had no idea how it had been possible for them to be created like that. Now I can do it, maybe not easily or at that skill level, but still…”

The Reductionist shook off the odd feeling, letting a faint grin flash across his face. “That just means that there’s still plenty for me to learn! Now it’s time to go for a swim.”

As he shimmied down, deeper and deeper into the garbage, he continued his line of thinking on rituals as a whole. Making sure not to open his mouth too widely, he muttered softly to himself as he descended, “What can other Novice versions do? Make a simple light, activate a different ritual, or project my voice to another ritual that is set up to receive it. The only thing these all have in common? They have one, specific, effect on the world around them.”

You have begun delving into the mysteries of your class in a serious and thoughtful way, answering a question you’ve had deep within; but have been unable to articulate until now. Intelligence +5! Wisdom and Charisma +3! There will be no more bonuses from this sort of introspection, but you’re on the right path toward achieving Mastery!

Pausing in his shimmying, Joe stared at the notification in wonder. Only after he had read over it three or four times did he manage to keep moving. “Celestial feces… when was the last time I gained such a large number of stat points in one go? I knew that it was important to focus on your own class, but I thought that meant doing class related things. Needing to get all philosophical? That’s ridiculous.”

His original plan was to sink all the way to the bottom of the garbage piles, but only a short distance in, after maybe twenty minutes, he found that he was suddenly standing knee deep in liquid. “Ugh, that is disgusting. Oh no. Don't tell me... the city uses this as their sewer as well, don't they? No~o!”

The Reductionist screamed and rapidly climbed a few feet higher, shudderingly deciding that he had delved deep enough for one day. Then he paused as a realization struck him: he was mere feet above an unclaimed… not exactly a lake, but there was certainly at least a lake’s worth of water in there. As he reached into his storage ring and pulled out the inactive Ritual of the Ghostly Army, he swore to himself that he would never tell the people of his town where their new water source had come from.

Joe activated the ritual, targeting the fluid that was directly below him for absorption. The glorious thing about having a ritual that was already complete, charged, and ready to use: he could ignore it while he did other things.

Taking a deep breath of aura-sterilized air, he began pushing mana out of his hands, and formed a Field Array in as large of an area as he could manage: managing to keep the array stable at eleven meters, a full meter further than he had ever managed before.

Skill increase: Mana Manipulation (Student V -> Student VI).

“That settles that, the size of the Field Array is almost certainly directly related to my Mana Manipulation skill.” Joe dismissed the message and got to work. A quick check confirmed that there was nothing better than Common ranked garbage in the area of reduction, so he did not bother setting up his Aspect Jars. Feeding mana into the array, the garbage began dissolving into energy and collecting into his Codpiece of holding.

Joe thought about the blueprint that he had in his ring, hoping that he would be able to create the filter house and a permanent array in the near future. Then he made himself a promise, “I am only staying here until I get this building up and running… or until I have enough that Havoc won’t chuck me right back in here.”