Ok... that's ok. Blade summoning is actually nothing to do with swords dropping from the sky or gates from Babylon.

Talk about misappropriation, these terms are actually applied by my search engine to sleight of hand and stage magic tricks where they do things like appear to pull swords out of women (and not in a sexual way). There's two versions of that. And then there’s tricks for using a sword attached to your wrist by a wire. How to flick it back to yourself without gutting yourself, I imagine. That’s kinda Hollywood cool, but who in history had this as a real-life skill? How the heck do you train yourself to do that without gutting yourself, in fact? Trial and error is pretty dangerous, surely?

Regardless, panic over. I thought for a moment silly things like anime skills might be counted and recorded by the Multivultus Scientica, but I guess that would be pretty overpowered.

Oh well. Anyway, it’s interesting to try and figure out what esoteric things could end up in the Akasha. It’s fairly safe to assume now that most skills would be ones that had a modicum of reality to them. At least for now.

The standard route in this case would be picking up some kind of gunsmith skill and abusing the power of ballistics. Problem with that is the materials and tools required, though. I don't think some of these web-authors truly appreciate how precise an art it can be. Drilling rifling in a barrel alone is a hell of a job requiring both good steel and strong tools. It's the job of several professionals to put together an assault rifle, not something an Otaku makes on a Saturday afternoon.

Spamming the required skills might work in time, but unlike some of these city building scenarios, I'm lacking in time and usable talent. I'm not an engineer, or even a gun enthusiast in the first place.

So what else would be immediately effective?

Transmutation type things are another popular one in scenarios like this. You know, ignoring basic chemistry and melting things into component parts. Stuff approaching the old ideas of alchemy.

I once studied chemistry and enjoyed it an extent but unfortunately failed to get any useful qualification on the matter; hence my branching into an English degree. I could well abuse my new skill to rectify my past inadequacies in this.

Then, something catches my eye.

Improvised Explosives I.

Sounds like the skill for a budding terrorist, but what actually interests me is the fact that it links to '???', which is in turn linked to my 'Identify Other' skill. Why would these two be prerequisites together? Is the hidden one an 'identify explosive material' skill? Seems pretty fishy.

But for some reason, I really feel like checking it out. I'm pretty sure there’s no takebacksies on this tree, so it could be a waste, but a gut feeling rarely let me down in the past, so...

Improvised Explosives I obtained! 1 skill point used. You can now create Molotov Cocktails, and basic detonators for plastique and TNT.

Huh, I’m a real wasteland raider now. Aren't ya proud, ma? It feels like the entire contents of the anarchist’s cookbook and a 101 primer to demolitions were just dumped into my memory. It kinda gives me a headache.

Well I can get behind that. Booze and oil is around everywhere, so a Molotov creation schematic isn't a bad idea.

What about the '???'. It reveals itself to be 'Explosive Compound Appraisal'. Oh, so it allows me to see what I could break down things into for making explosives.

Sure, why not.

Explosive Compound Appraisal obtained. 1 skill point used. You can now create 'Soda can bombs'. You can now substitute ingredients in explosive recipes.

Oh those. Cola and weed killer, wasn't it? No way I can obtain those in this world. But the second part is bound to be handy.

In fact, as if I’m having retroactive knowledge gains, I suddenly appear to realise mizris juice can be used in lieu of cola in the above. What the heck? I guess it’s like natural lemonade or something?

I look around the tents interior; and a few things that have dropped out the giant sack I was carrying grab my attention.

It's not text on my retina this time, but an instant savant like knowledge of how useful something would be in a bomb-mixture just by looking at it, even if it’s not native to earth.

Again, which kind of weird demolition man had this as a real skill? He must have been a pretty scary chap.

Come to think of it, who the heck had ‘identify other’ in real life?! This is a pretty bizarre mystery.

Well whatever.

I also pick up 'Bojutsu I', 'Combat Fitness I' and 'Heightened Threat Awareness' with the other 3 points. The latter especially seemed important given I don't have a natural instinct for combat, and nearly ended up as pygmies chowder earlier.

It instantly activates on Aria, keeping watch, and even the snoozing Kiku in the opposite tent. Much like training an anti-virus or firewall programme for the first time, I bet it's going to give me false positives for a while which is annoying, but I quickly think to myself that they are allies, and the feeling fades to a soothing calm.

It’s like a danger-o-meter mood stone I guess.

I spend about twenty minutes cooking a Molotov after that. We had a huge vial of thick cooking oil that I add to the half bottle of Ionia Cider I still have left over from the strategy meeting at the tavern yesterday, which I then wad up and re-cork. Hopefully Kiku won't be angry...

Lighting it on fire could be an issue, though. What I wouldn't do for a zippo right now.

After that; I sleep, wondering just what tomorrow will bring.