Over the following days, a new normal was formed. For me, it consisted of managing HomeBase and training, but I’m not interesting, so let’s go over the interesting people.
Lua began practicing Holy Magic with Albus. And while she doesn’t have the skill yet, Albus said it will come to her soon. She is also practicing Wind Magic, but like with Holy Magic, she doesn’t have the skill yet.
Alice is the same as before, learning how to master her swordstaff, learning Earth Magic from Paulina and also learning Soul Magic from Lady Janina. Well, most of us are trying to learn Soul Magic, so that isn’t exclusive to Alice. She is also learning how to use Mana Flight and Telekinesis at the same time.
But then there is the more interesting trio, well sometimes quartet, of Paulina, Unika and Einar. And the visiting star Eline. The three, or four, of them go to TinaWood dungeon every few days to challenge the challenge rooms. Now without me cheating the doors open for them, so they actually have to hunt monsters for dungeon points. And I think the only reason they don’t go every day is because the adventurers’ guild limits high ranked adventurers so that they don’t hunt all the monsters inside the dungeon.
And yes, they do know that I can just make the skill orb for Card Summoner. It started when Einar said he would get it naturally like Eline did, and the other three agreed. Well, Paulina did say she would take the orb eventually, but she wanted to try again herself.
Molly and Cina were doing … well whatever was to do on the day. They aren’t really fighters like some of the others, even if they do practice a bit. They are more focused on evolving, because if/when they evolve into centaurs, it will really affect how they will fight, so they said they’ll decide on their full fighting style after that.
Karl was still himself. He does good work in the workshop, but he wasn’t interested in getting Card Summoner. He just wanted to make the best weapons possible for us.
Wilma somewhat shared his ideals, but she was willing to accept the extra help from my cards, and was in fact the first person to use a Card Summoner skill orb. I gave her a few cards as well, mainly one of each VWXYZ part. So V-Tiger Jet, W-Wing Catapult, X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank.
SpoilerShe didn’t get the fusions, yet, mainly because she doesn’t have a duel disk yet. I would have made her one, but she said she wanted to make it herself. And without a duel disk, you can’t actually summon the fusions, as you have to have the monsters on the field to fuse them together. Well, you could summon the two letter fusions like VW, or something like XY or XZ, but you can’t summon the full XYZ without a duel disk.
SpoilerOh and Wilma also got a copy of Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu, for obvious reasons, and Dark Red Enchanter, to help her with her enchanting work. And B.E.S. Covered Core to be her ship.
SpoilerI’ll give her some more eventually, but for now that will do.
What I really want to see is if she will figure out she can do the Union thing with her monsters. It might help her in leveling up Card Summoner.
I guess I’ll also quickly mention Valoa, Olia and Maya. Maya, as I’ve mentioned before, isn’t big on fighting. She is more interested in cooking, so I’ve left that for her to learn. Olia is kind of the same. She doesn’t want to fight, so she is just improving her maid skills. Laura did mention a unique level maid skill if I recall correctly. Maybe one of the two can get it?
And Valoa is getting stronger, but slowly. He is still young, so there is no rush with him. By the time he is 15, he will be strong enough to take on practically anything.
As for our newest addition, Lawrence, well he has fully moved in. He feels a bit … jobless, as people living on HomeBase don’t really need much. Most of what he does is go to metal wholesale places to pick up materials for the workshop, while also selling some of the workshop items that don’t meet the HomeBase level of being absolutely overpowered.
I also heard Wilma took him to meet someone who he offered a position as his assistant, but we didn’t get a response yet. But Wilma did leave a letter exchange box with them, so maybe they will take the job.
As for the one I didn’t mention…
I had set up a seat in a corner of the CropFields where Cailie would hopefully not notice me. I was here to just listen to her sing, as I was looking over the data coming in from the dimensional barrier observers.
Admittedly, I often listened to recordings of Cailie singing when I worked on random stuff. It was just nice background noise which helped me focus. But listening to it live was much better, and since Cailie would sing in the CropFields daily, as both practice and because she enjoys it, I sometimes came here to listen to her live. The sad part is that if she notices me before she starts singing, she gets nervous and doesn’t sing as well, or even refuses to sing as a whole.
I kept up my work while Cailie sang, but when she finished, I closed my stuff, so I could give her an applause. Of course coming from just me, it was just me clapping, instead of an applause, but it is the thought that counts, right?
“Ah? Brian? When did you come here?” Cailie asked, sounding a bit flustered.
“Just before you started. I came to get you because you wanted to go into the Factory, right?” I reminded her of the reason I came here.
Unlike the System Support holders, Agunan and Lady Janina, the rest still can’t access Different Dimension Factory whenever they want, so they have to ask me if they want to try something there. And Cailie had asked for that service, so I came to get her.
“... thank you, but you really didn’t have to. I could have come and found you.” Cailie said.
“Don’t worry. It is no problem. So, do you have anything else here for today?”
“... just a quick check. … would you join me?”
“Sure. I don’t have anything urgent.”
The two of us walked, well Cailie floated in her wheeless wheelchair, around the fields. Cailie was keeping a close eye on everything growing there, likely noting if anything looked out of place.
After the walkaround, I teleported both of us to the Factory VR devices. I helped Cailie into one of the seats for the Factory VR before I took my seat. I then activated the device and jumped into the Factory. I then waited for Cailie to come in, and soon enough, she, along with her floating wheelchair, appeared in the Factory.
“So Cailie, you didn’t really go into detail about what you wanted to try, so … what did you want to try?” I asked.
“... Can we go to a water room first? I’ll explain there.”
“Okay?”
I didn’t question Cailie too much and just began pushing her towards one of the Umi rooms, but decided to go with Legendary Ocean instead as it is a bit nicer for just casual swimming.
SpoilerReaching the room, I was all ready to help Cailie out of the wheelchair and into the water, but she pushed herself off and jumped in before I got the chance to help her.
“Well, whatever.” I muttered, changed my clothes to simple swim trunks and jumped in after her.
Swimming in the Factory is always interesting. Just the fact that I can breathe underwater here is something, but that isn’t even everything. Because my Factory avatar is just that, an avatar, I can change it according to my will, so I quickly fused my legs together and formed myself a mer-folk tail.
I then flapped my tail so that I could catch up with Cailie.
“B-Brian? I didn’t know … that you could turn into a merfolk.” Cailie said, as she spotted me swimming next to her.
“I can’t. Outside of the Factory that is. Here I can do whatever I want.”
“... can I do it as well?”
“Depends. What do you want to do?”
“I … I want to walk. I want to have legs.” Cailie requested.
“... it might be difficult, but I think we can do it.” I answered her honestly. I mean, she will basically be someone that has never walked, so she will literally have to learn to walk. And even if she does, she won’t be able to walk outside of the Factory. Unless there is some sort of Racial or other skill that allows mer-folk to swap their tail for legs.
After a bit more swimming, the two of us got out of the water. We then headed for the tower room of the Factory, because I just like the scenery there.
“Alright Cailie. I just want you to think about your current body here in the Factory. Think about splitting your tail into two legs. Then order your avatar to change.” I instructed her. I know it isn’t the best, but that is how I do it, that is how Alice does it, that is how Lua does it. The only ones that do it differently are Agunan and Lady Janina, but that is because their way originates from draconic magic that they use on the outside as well.
After a few attempts, Cailie was sitting in her wheelchair with a pair of legs. And in case you were worried, the Factory’s auto censorship did block me from seeing anything and I also quickly made Cailie some underwear as well as a skirt.
“Alright. Ready to take your first steps?” I asked Cailie.
“... I think so.” Cailie answered.
“Good.” As I said that, I made a pair of hand rails. Like the ones people use when they learn to walk again after an accident.
“... what are those for?”
“To help you walk. You likely won’t be able to keep your balance. So unless you want to fall on your face, I recommend holding onto them.” I told her. “I’ll use Telekinesis to help you stand, so grab a gold of the rails with your hands.”
After Cailie was ‘standing’, her hands holding onto the handrails, I let go of her.
“Aah!” Cailie yelped, as she immediately fell to the floor.
“Cailie? You alright?” I quickly asked.
“... I’m … I’m fine. I just… it felt strange.” She answered.
She then struggled a bit on the floor before she asked. “... how do I get back up?”
“I’ll help you.” I told her, as I lifted her with Telekinesis.
For her second try, I was a little more hands on. Or more like mind on, as I was still using Telekinesis.
I moved Cailie’s legs with Telekinesis, while also supporting her body with it. I was basically moving her body as if I was some sort of a marionette master.
After a few times of me walking her back and forth, I let Cailie try by herself again. The second time she did a lot better, as she was actually holding her bodyweight up using mostly her hands. But she still had a lot of trouble moving her legs separately. For her, they have always been one thing, so now having to move two separate things was difficult for her.
By the time I decided to call it good, Cailie was just barely able to move one leg separate from the other, but she was far from learning how to walk. But we’ll get there. And not like she has a skill for it yet anyway.
After our impromptu walking lesson, we went for a second swim. Cailie wanted to feel back in her element before returning to HomeBase where she is still confined to a wheelchair, outside of the specific areas that have some water.
While swimming, I asked Cailie to sing a bit, mainly because I wanted some concrete numbers for her Battlesong skill. It is currently at LV.2 and I want the numbers for how much it increases people’s stats.
So Cailie took the tallest spire of the Legendary Ocean as her stage and began to sing, with me and all of the aquatic monsters swimming around as her audience.
The song she performed for us was one I’ve heard before. It was her second song from the concert I watched back at the Hero’s country. And I have to say, I still love it. The emotions in it are just … very nice.
After her song came to an end, I, alongside with any other monster that could clap, gave her an applause. It was then that I realized that there were some … uninvited beings inside the Factory.
So I turned to the woman made of water and asked.
“Why are you here?”
“... Are we not allowed to? We’ll leave if you wish.” The greater water spirit answered.
“But don’t want to.” I heard one of the lesser spirits yell.
“Yes. Here is fun.” Another one added.
“... No. It is fine, I just … didn’t know you could come here.” I admitted.
“You do call us here from time to time. Do you think so little of us that we wouldn’t learn the route?” The greater spirit asked.
“Admittedly I wasn’t sure. I mean, I guess I could have assumed you’d learn it, considering that the dragons learn it basically instantly. But I just don’t know enough about spirits.”
“I understand. But I do promise, I will ask for permission next time before I bring my family here.”
“Don’t bother. I don’t mind you coming here whenever you wish. The same goes for the nature spirits.” I told her.
I then looked back where Cailie was, surrounded by a few of the intermediate water spirits. I think they were asking her for a second song, because Cailie soon started singing again.
The spirits danced in the water in rhythm with the music, almost like they were putting up a synchronized swimming show.
When Cailie’s second song came to an end, I decided it was time for us to return. Some of the lesser and intermediate spirits didn’t want to let Cailie go, but I told them it was time for us to leave and that we would come again.
I then watched as the spirits began to leave, after which Cailie’s avatar disappeared as she returned to the real world, and I soon followed after her.
Getting to the real world, I stood up from my seat and stretched. I then looked at the seat Cailie was sitting at and noticed that she hadn’t gotten up yet, despite her leaving the Factory before I did.
“Cailie?” I called her, but she didn’t react at all.
I then approached her, while calling out to her again, but she didn’t respond.
“Cailie?” I half-yelled, as I took a hold of her wrist to check for her pulse. I felt a clear heartbeat so she must have been at least somewhat fine. I then checked if she was breathing, and that also came out as yes.
I then gently shook her, trying to wake her up, but she didn’t react at all, almost like …
“... her soul isn’t in her body.” I deduced.
I quickly rushed back to the control panel of the Factory VR and checked it. It should be able to track where everyone's soul is, but when I looked it over, it said something strange.
Cailie’s soul is just … missing. It wasn’t anywhere where the machine could track it.
Over the following days, a new normal was formed. For me, it consisted of managing HomeBase and training, but I’m not interesting, so let’s go over the interesting people.
Lua began practicing Holy Magic with Albus. And while she doesn’t have the skill yet, Albus said it will come to her soon. She is also practicing Wind Magic, but like with Holy Magic, she doesn’t have the skill yet.
Alice is the same as before, learning how to master her swordstaff, learning Earth Magic from Paulina and also learning Soul Magic from Lady Janina. Well, most of us are trying to learn Soul Magic, so that isn’t exclusive to Alice. She is also learning how to use Mana Flight and Telekinesis at the same time.
But then there is the more interesting trio, well sometimes quartet, of Paulina, Unika and Einar. And the visiting star Eline. The three, or four, of them go to TinaWood dungeon every few days to challenge the challenge rooms. Now without me cheating the doors open for them, so they actually have to hunt monsters for dungeon points. And I think the only reason they don’t go every day is because the adventurers’ guild limits high ranked adventurers so that they don’t hunt all the monsters inside the dungeon.
And yes, they do know that I can just make the skill orb for Card Summoner. It started when Einar said he would get it naturally like Eline did, and the other three agreed. Well, Paulina did say she would take the orb eventually, but she wanted to try again herself.
Molly and Cina were doing … well whatever was to do on the day. They aren’t really fighters like some of the others, even if they do practice a bit. They are more focused on evolving, because if/when they evolve into centaurs, it will really affect how they will fight, so they said they’ll decide on their full fighting style after that.
Karl was still himself. He does good work in the workshop, but he wasn’t interested in getting Card Summoner. He just wanted to make the best weapons possible for us.
Wilma somewhat shared his ideals, but she was willing to accept the extra help from my cards, and was in fact the first person to use a Card Summoner skill orb. I gave her a few cards as well, mainly one of each VWXYZ part. So V-Tiger Jet, W-Wing Catapult, X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank.
SpoilerShe didn’t get the fusions, yet, mainly because she doesn’t have a duel disk yet. I would have made her one, but she said she wanted to make it herself. And without a duel disk, you can’t actually summon the fusions, as you have to have the monsters on the field to fuse them together. Well, you could summon the two letter fusions like VW, or something like XY or XZ, but you can’t summon the full XYZ without a duel disk.
SpoilerOh and Wilma also got a copy of Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu, for obvious reasons, and Dark Red Enchanter, to help her with her enchanting work. And B.E.S. Covered Core to be her ship.
SpoilerI’ll give her some more eventually, but for now that will do.
What I really want to see is if she will figure out she can do the Union thing with her monsters. It might help her in leveling up Card Summoner.
I guess I’ll also quickly mention Valoa, Olia and Maya. Maya, as I’ve mentioned before, isn’t big on fighting. She is more interested in cooking, so I’ve left that for her to learn. Olia is kind of the same. She doesn’t want to fight, so she is just improving her maid skills. Laura did mention a unique level maid skill if I recall correctly. Maybe one of the two can get it?
And Valoa is getting stronger, but slowly. He is still young, so there is no rush with him. By the time he is 15, he will be strong enough to take on practically anything.
As for our newest addition, Lawrence, well he has fully moved in. He feels a bit … jobless, as people living on HomeBase don’t really need much. Most of what he does is go to metal wholesale places to pick up materials for the workshop, while also selling some of the workshop items that don’t meet the HomeBase level of being absolutely overpowered.
I also heard Wilma took him to meet someone who he offered a position as his assistant, but we didn’t get a response yet. But Wilma did leave a letter exchange box with them, so maybe they will take the job.
As for the one I didn’t mention…
I had set up a seat in a corner of the CropFields where Cailie would hopefully not notice me. I was here to just listen to her sing, as I was looking over the data coming in from the dimensional barrier observers.
Admittedly, I often listened to recordings of Cailie singing when I worked on random stuff. It was just nice background noise which helped me focus. But listening to it live was much better, and since Cailie would sing in the CropFields daily, as both practice and because she enjoys it, I sometimes came here to listen to her live. The sad part is that if she notices me before she starts singing, she gets nervous and doesn’t sing as well, or even refuses to sing as a whole.
I kept up my work while Cailie sang, but when she finished, I closed my stuff, so I could give her an applause. Of course coming from just me, it was just me clapping, instead of an applause, but it is the thought that counts, right?
“Ah? Brian? When did you come here?” Cailie asked, sounding a bit flustered.
“Just before you started. I came to get you because you wanted to go into the Factory, right?” I reminded her of the reason I came here.
Unlike the System Support holders, Agunan and Lady Janina, the rest still can’t access Different Dimension Factory whenever they want, so they have to ask me if they want to try something there. And Cailie had asked for that service, so I came to get her.
“... thank you, but you really didn’t have to. I could have come and found you.” Cailie said.
“Don’t worry. It is no problem. So, do you have anything else here for today?”
“... just a quick check. … would you join me?”
“Sure. I don’t have anything urgent.”
The two of us walked, well Cailie floated in her wheeless wheelchair, around the fields. Cailie was keeping a close eye on everything growing there, likely noting if anything looked out of place.
After the walkaround, I teleported both of us to the Factory VR devices. I helped Cailie into one of the seats for the Factory VR before I took my seat. I then activated the device and jumped into the Factory. I then waited for Cailie to come in, and soon enough, she, along with her floating wheelchair, appeared in the Factory.
“So Cailie, you didn’t really go into detail about what you wanted to try, so … what did you want to try?” I asked.
“... Can we go to a water room first? I’ll explain there.”
“Okay?”
I didn’t question Cailie too much and just began pushing her towards one of the Umi rooms, but decided to go with Legendary Ocean instead as it is a bit nicer for just casual swimming.
SpoilerReaching the room, I was all ready to help Cailie out of the wheelchair and into the water, but she pushed herself off and jumped in before I got the chance to help her.
“Well, whatever.” I muttered, changed my clothes to simple swim trunks and jumped in after her.
Swimming in the Factory is always interesting. Just the fact that I can breathe underwater here is something, but that isn’t even everything. Because my Factory avatar is just that, an avatar, I can change it according to my will, so I quickly fused my legs together and formed myself a mer-folk tail.
I then flapped my tail so that I could catch up with Cailie.
“B-Brian? I didn’t know … that you could turn into a merfolk.” Cailie said, as she spotted me swimming next to her.
“I can’t. Outside of the Factory that is. Here I can do whatever I want.”
“... can I do it as well?”
“Depends. What do you want to do?”
“I … I want to walk. I want to have legs.” Cailie requested.
“... it might be difficult, but I think we can do it.” I answered her honestly. I mean, she will basically be someone that has never walked, so she will literally have to learn to walk. And even if she does, she won’t be able to walk outside of the Factory. Unless there is some sort of Racial or other skill that allows mer-folk to swap their tail for legs.
After a bit more swimming, the two of us got out of the water. We then headed for the tower room of the Factory, because I just like the scenery there.
“Alright Cailie. I just want you to think about your current body here in the Factory. Think about splitting your tail into two legs. Then order your avatar to change.” I instructed her. I know it isn’t the best, but that is how I do it, that is how Alice does it, that is how Lua does it. The only ones that do it differently are Agunan and Lady Janina, but that is because their way originates from draconic magic that they use on the outside as well.
After a few attempts, Cailie was sitting in her wheelchair with a pair of legs. And in case you were worried, the Factory’s auto censorship did block me from seeing anything and I also quickly made Cailie some underwear as well as a skirt.
“Alright. Ready to take your first steps?” I asked Cailie.
“... I think so.” Cailie answered.
“Good.” As I said that, I made a pair of hand rails. Like the ones people use when they learn to walk again after an accident.
“... what are those for?”
“To help you walk. You likely won’t be able to keep your balance. So unless you want to fall on your face, I recommend holding onto them.” I told her. “I’ll use Telekinesis to help you stand, so grab a gold of the rails with your hands.”
After Cailie was ‘standing’, her hands holding onto the handrails, I let go of her.
“Aah!” Cailie yelped, as she immediately fell to the floor.
“Cailie? You alright?” I quickly asked.
“... I’m … I’m fine. I just… it felt strange.” She answered.
She then struggled a bit on the floor before she asked. “... how do I get back up?”
“I’ll help you.” I told her, as I lifted her with Telekinesis.
For her second try, I was a little more hands on. Or more like mind on, as I was still using Telekinesis.
I moved Cailie’s legs with Telekinesis, while also supporting her body with it. I was basically moving her body as if I was some sort of a marionette master.
After a few times of me walking her back and forth, I let Cailie try by herself again. The second time she did a lot better, as she was actually holding her bodyweight up using mostly her hands. But she still had a lot of trouble moving her legs separately. For her, they have always been one thing, so now having to move two separate things was difficult for her.
By the time I decided to call it good, Cailie was just barely able to move one leg separate from the other, but she was far from learning how to walk. But we’ll get there. And not like she has a skill for it yet anyway.
After our impromptu walking lesson, we went for a second swim. Cailie wanted to feel back in her element before returning to HomeBase where she is still confined to a wheelchair, outside of the specific areas that have some water.
While swimming, I asked Cailie to sing a bit, mainly because I wanted some concrete numbers for her Battlesong skill. It is currently at LV.2 and I want the numbers for how much it increases people’s stats.
So Cailie took the tallest spire of the Legendary Ocean as her stage and began to sing, with me and all of the aquatic monsters swimming around as her audience.
The song she performed for us was one I’ve heard before. It was her second song from the concert I watched back at the Hero’s country. And I have to say, I still love it. The emotions in it are just … very nice.
After her song came to an end, I, alongside with any other monster that could clap, gave her an applause. It was then that I realized that there were some … uninvited beings inside the Factory.
So I turned to the woman made of water and asked.
“Why are you here?”
“... Are we not allowed to? We’ll leave if you wish.” The greater water spirit answered.
“But don’t want to.” I heard one of the lesser spirits yell.
“Yes. Here is fun.” Another one added.
“... No. It is fine, I just … didn’t know you could come here.” I admitted.
“You do call us here from time to time. Do you think so little of us that we wouldn’t learn the route?” The greater spirit asked.
“Admittedly I wasn’t sure. I mean, I guess I could have assumed you’d learn it, considering that the dragons learn it basically instantly. But I just don’t know enough about spirits.”
“I understand. But I do promise, I will ask for permission next time before I bring my family here.”
“Don’t bother. I don’t mind you coming here whenever you wish. The same goes for the nature spirits.” I told her.
I then looked back where Cailie was, surrounded by a few of the intermediate water spirits. I think they were asking her for a second song, because Cailie soon started singing again.
The spirits danced in the water in rhythm with the music, almost like they were putting up a synchronized swimming show.
When Cailie’s second song came to an end, I decided it was time for us to return. Some of the lesser and intermediate spirits didn’t want to let Cailie go, but I told them it was time for us to leave and that we would come again.
I then watched as the spirits began to leave, after which Cailie’s avatar disappeared as she returned to the real world, and I soon followed after her.
Getting to the real world, I stood up from my seat and stretched. I then looked at the seat Cailie was sitting at and noticed that she hadn’t gotten up yet, despite her leaving the Factory before I did.
“Cailie?” I called her, but she didn’t react at all.
I then approached her, while calling out to her again, but she didn’t respond.
“Cailie?” I half-yelled, as I took a hold of her wrist to check for her pulse. I felt a clear heartbeat so she must have been at least somewhat fine. I then checked if she was breathing, and that also came out as yes.
I then gently shook her, trying to wake her up, but she didn’t react at all, almost like …
“... her soul isn’t in her body.” I deduced.
I quickly rushed back to the control panel of the Factory VR and checked it. It should be able to track where everyone's soul is, but when I looked it over, it said something strange.
Cailie’s soul is just … missing. It wasn’t anywhere where the machine could track it.
