Bulk retrieval request processed. Retrieving: 4 x 9 x 9 x 1 x 1 x 1 x

Luke did not dawdle, getting right to fitting his alchemic constructions after his short break. He made short work of what would be his solution to any who might impede his escape, and this came in the form of flash bombs. Each bomb consisted of some flammable decelerant to act as a delay timer for the detonation, a Mag-ZM strip, which was the core of the bomb, and the trigger-slash-projectile-aiming-pin, which served 2 purposes, as illustrated by the colorful name.

The aiming part of the aptly named component comprised of a triangular pin, which was fastened to, and though a cork by another length of metal. The protruding end of the fastening metal would be connected to one part of a friction-based trigger pair, while the other part would be fastened to the portion vial housing the bomb materials.

The trigger could be engaged manually, by pulling the pin before throwing the projectile like a mechanical grenade, but Luke preferred an alternative method. This he achieved by taking advantage of an ionic frog’s properties. The grease, which he’d selected and applied as the sealant between the vial and the cork; would remain air-tight under most conditions, save for when current was running through it. He would amplify his static skill and then use that charge as the release trigger for the aiming mechanism.

The friction between the ignition part fastened to the cork, and its counterpart inside the vial would trigger combustion, starting a chain of reactions that began with the consumption of decelerant, and ended with an exaggerated flash from the burning mag-ZM. The flammable decelerant was an alchemical material used to slow down, rather than stop the progression of combustion. It achieved this by setting a priority on the order of combustion, ensuring the flames wouldn’t move on to other objects until the decelerant was exhausted.

Even though Luke had more raw ingredients, he settled on assembling only 9 flash bombs. These would have to be enough, else his pursuers would likely have a counter for his strategy by the time he got to the 10th.

◆◆◆

With his excess materials and the new constructions safely stowed away, he went about addressing the other stuff in his inventory. It contained a lot of items from his past adventures, as well as a few from the Hatchery Incident. Besides the items he’d converted to cash for banking and daily upkeep, he’d invested most of his earnings on wind-related artifacts and materials, so those would not serve him well tonight, or any time soon.

Chief in any situation that might devolve into combat would be support items, and of the older alchemical items he had on hand, only the capsules would be useful to him in his current condition. Those he would move into adjacent and conveniently placed slots in his inventory, making for a quick retrieval.

Next would be the choice of weapon, which would’ve seemed obvious were it not for the need to avoid casualties. He planned on striking unseen, but it was almost guaranteed it would turn to open combat at some point, and there was never a guarantee when one tried to protect the very person antagonizing them.

With this in mind, he pulled up the information on the scythe he’d repurposed, hoping to find attribute bonuses that might make the scythe a better choice over his sword. Given its sizable head and the length of its shaft, it might very well be a better choice seeing as the shaft would help keep his pursuers at a distance, and the blunt force damage the edgeless side could deal would be less likely to kill than a stabbing sword’s point.

That ‘Grimm’s Cudgel’ reversion notification from before gave him conflicting thoughts though. The grim part, pun-and-all, suggested it could deal the very death he was trying to avoid; whilst the cudgel part suggested it might come with a blunt-force bonus. Afterall, cudgels were meant for bludgeoning.

WARNING: Weapon, , is uninitialized! requires initial manifestation before appraisal. Manifest? [YES / NO]

That was the notification that popped up when he tried to get more information from the ‘scythe’. He moved one of the two mattresses from his bed to the floor before responding to the prompt in the affirmative. Once he did so, a suggestion came to him, and he obliged it, imagining the scythe Zuck had wielded whilst willing it to appear. The last thing he saw was a half-formed and blurry version of that scythe, before it popped as fast as he’d imagined it, and a recent dark acquaintance took him.

◆◆◆

WARNING: Failed to manifest [Grimm’s Cudgel – Boy’s Club morph]! You have suffered [Minor Backlash]. Lasting damage: None. [Grimm’s Cudgel] has materialized in a basic form: Class Template: [Farmer]. Manifestation: [Unnamed].

That is the string of notifications Luke woke up to. Ugh… at least there won’t be any lasting effects from this, he thought, making to get up. He stopped mid-lift and slumped onto his hands and knees to examine the unnamed item his failed manifestation had produced. Just as he was about to pick it up, a notification flashed in his mind, and he rolled away from the spot in response.

DANGER:!

That was all the details he’d received, and though he hadn’t spotted the danger, he only remembered seeing that type of notification once before, and that warranted this response. It better not b-

“Oh, do carry on,” came a seductive voice from above, interrupting his thoughts, and confirming his suspicions in the process. Its owner dropped down from the darkened ceiling, landing soundlessly on her feet and stopping without so much as a jerk of the knees. It was that lady-mercenary he’d encountered before, and from her presence in his room, it seemed she’d been tailing him all along.

This scared Luke, for he’d been quite liberal with the displays whilst conducting his alchemical experiments, and worse yet, when he’d attempted to manifest the scythe. If she knew what the scythe represented, which he assumed she did, seeing as she’d asked for Zuck’s weapon’s whereabouts directly; then it was already obvious to her he’d lied about having it, or anything else from Zuck.

To his surprise, she didn’t look angry about his bold-faced lie, or even surprised at the presence of the scythe-ling. On the contrary, she wore a genuinely pleased expression that had Luke more worried than if she’d been angry, for no good would come out of catching the woman’s interest.

She considered the scythe-ling a bit more before frowning at something that occurred to her.

“A wee bit on the slight side, isn’t it,” she said, playfulness rising in her eyes as she stared down an increasingly flustered Luke. “Well, you know what they say,” she continued, “… the motion in the ocean, and all that jazz.”

He did know that saying, and the positive side to it, but he knew she had deliberately said this as a jab at his ego. He suspected quipping back wouldn’t carry life-threatening risks, but he was wary of antagonizing the woman, given the ‘danger’ his interface always informed him of whenever he was in her presence. He knew she’d phrased her remarks this way to get a rise off him, so to spite her, he chose not to rise to that occasion.

“I’m not much of a boat person. Are you?” he responded, failing to deliver with the nonchalance he’d envisioned before delivering his response.

“That’s more akin to a raft though, wouldn’t you say?” she asked, eliciting another rush of blood to Luke’s cheeks. There was no winning with her, he conceded, resolving to drop that pursuit and focus on bargaining with her before she could meet up with her employer. To this end, he offered her the scythe in exchange for information and an hour-long reprieve from pursuit, but to his surprise, she refused it, telling Luke to pick it up instead. She insisted she had no use for it, but from the look in her eyes he suspected she couldn’t actually just take it now, even if she wanted to.

He obliged her and picked it up, and a golden halo formed around it before the weapon disappeared into his inventory. He wondered how much space was actually in there, remembering how he’d had to purge his throwing knives the day he’d acquired the original scythe. Surprisingly enough, had his inventory space not upgraded during his recovery, he would’ve run into issues trying to collect all the items he had needed for alchemy today.

Turning back to the woman, he asked how much of a head start he would get from her, if any, and she surprised him with an offer almost too good to be true.

“If you come with me, there won’t be a need for that. I will guarantee your safety, as well as a little guidance on how to use that scythe-ling you got going there.”

She could undoubtedly get him out of town with her level of skill and getting a guide on top of that was also quite the icing, if not another whole cake in and of itself; but there had to be catch. He wasn’t under any illusions such help could come free and since she hadn’t asked for anything in return, yet; it would either come as an exorbitant fee after the fact, or he would be paying her by accepting her help, which sounded a bit crazy. Since he couldn’t puzzle out the ultimate cost, he felt it safe to assume it would be too high for his liking.

Lacking the power to struggle should she choose to pursue and subdue him in earnest, he decided to accept the offer as a way of buying time and hopefully, he could give her the slip before his price came due.

“Deal then,” she said, leaning in for what he assumed would be a kiss to seal the contract, but it ended up being a gust of wind blown from her puckered lips.

“Relax, I’m no spirit entity so deals aren’t that attractive to me. I’ll make a verbal promise to you instead,” she said, her demeanor becoming cold with the statement. “Cross me, and you’ll wish I’d caught and left you to be the local cash farm for as long as your savings lasted.”

Her demeanor changed to a sunny before Luke could get over the chill, leaving him with another tidbit whose implications heavily contrasted the tone it had been delivered in, “Oh, and watch what’s on your plate tonight, else ‘You are what you eat’ might become a tab bit literal, if you catch my drift.” With that, she turned towards the window and vanished, leaving Luke to mull over everything.

◆◆◆

Luke only considered the mercenaries parting words for a few minutes before getting back on track. She’d hoped to cow him into following through with his acceptance of her offer, but that very act made him want to resist more, suspecting whatever she wanted him for wouldn’t be to his benefit. The part about the food was useful and given how he’d take most of meals to his room, it wouldn’t be hard to dispose of the food without anyone the wiser to his pretense.

Seeing as there wasn’t anything much to be had from considering this further, he moved on to the final part of his preparations, the inventory crawl. One of the benefits the upgrade had brought to his interface was the ability to shuffle through a select few items at blinding speeds. This was made possible through a collection of new, specialized inventory slots that were ironically named for rigidity, despite the fluidity they afforded him.

3xS: Solid-State-Slot – Specialized slot for quick access. Each slot is chained to the next in a loop. Available slots: 10 4xS: Super Solid-State-Slot – A single 3xS slot that forms the connection point of the loop. Also known as the Active Slot, allowing for an almost instantaneous retrieval of items it contains.

Although ‘quick’ was leagues better than his previous speed of accessing inventory items, ‘almost-instantaneously’ was better still, and he’d do well to optimize how he utilized the 9, plus the active. The 10 slots he had were linked in a chain that could be rotated clockwise or counter, allowing him to swiftly shift between the fastest item he could retrieve, without having to rearrange the whole list or switch the positions of the current and intended active item.

With his sword as the obvious choice for the active slot, he moved on to considerations for the next few slots, picking what would be there temporarily, and what would remain after equipping some of it.

Analyzing Solid-Access-Chain. Displaying allotted items: Stamina Capsule Replinishes Stamina at a constant rate over time. Duration of Effect: 15 minutes. Health Capsule Replinishes Stamina at a constant rate over time. Duration of Effect: 15 minutes. Alchemic Flash Bomb [Custom Design]: Alchemic projectile housing a delayed-detonation blinding effect. Gentle Breeze A lo-high level colichemarde. Bonuses: Piercing Parry Consecutive Strikes Utility Cut-outs A Pair of low-level sockatable gloves. Bonuses: Finger flexibility Adjustable Schrödinger's Monkey Pelt A hi-low level hoodie. Contains a slot for your fifth appendage. Bonuses: Bonuses: [Hidden] HINT: 'The eyes are the door to the floor Unnamed Sickle A [low?] level weapon of very high potential. Abilities limited by the user's own level. Bonuses: [Hidden] Hint: 'Mighty-morphic'

The sword was the center, with the 3 alchemical items making up the left flank, and the 3 equippable items forming the right flank. 3 slots were still open, but he would keep it simple for now in hopes of gaining inspiration for those slots from his current selection’s limitations.

The alchemical stuff was self-explanatory, so he skipped that for a bit, moving onto the weird pair of gloves. He glossed over the fact they were cut-out, latching onto the clear tube that ran from the socket on the outside, to an inlet inside the glove. Since they were socketable, he initially assumed the tube is how the effects of whatever he socketed were distributed throughout the glove, but this didn’t make sense, since the catheter would be better served being on the inside.

Despite the gloves being low-level, he doubted such an obvious design flaw would be present in an item he’d received from someone as high-level as Zuck, but why doubt, when appraisal could settle his questions for him.

[Advanced Appraisal] has been activated on the target, . Displaying…

He skipped the duplicated information and went straight to the additional lines the skill had provided.

: A catheter through which filtered effects flow. Tail-end can be pulled out and stuck into a receiving tube to gain a percentage of the socket effect.

That seemed useful, and this gave him an idea on how to overcome his current limitations.

Next was the weird coat named a ‘hoodie’. He wasn’t sure who Schrödinger was, if the monkey in question was actually singular and his, or if it had been named for him by virtue of him discovering it; but whatever the relation was, it had made for this weird addition to his wardrobe.

This was probably his next best item next to the unnamed sickle with high potential. He retrieved the hoodie, and surprisingly, it wasn’t furry, or even cured and leathery. It actually felt like cloth, which had him cringing hard at the thought some poor animal had been shaved for his high-level apparel. Nothing was forthcoming from the descriptions, so he appraised it, hoping to gain some insight into the hidden bonuses.

And… nothing, he thought, failing to get even an extra hint word from the appraisal. With nothing else to go on, he wore the hoodie, hoping that might trigger an insight but just like his last attempt, nothing came of it. “The eyes are the door to the floor,” he mumbled, moving his focus to the floor, and appraising it with the affixed cowl over his head. That too didn’t result in information magically popping up through his interface, but he got an idea from the icon that floated on the right side of the hoodie.

He wanted to dismiss the idea as being too simple but seeing as he had nothing to lose but maybe a bit of dignity to his self-recriminating self should this fail, he indulged it. He closed his eyes and immediately felt like he was having that falling dream again. It felt so real to the point he willed himself to wake up, and since he wasn’t actually asleep, this just meant opening his eyes.

“Ooh,” came an exclamation as Luke crashed back-first into a soft bed. It felt nothing like his and that, coupled with the voice earlier suggested he’d translocated somehow, intruding in someone else’s room. As he pondered this, a bony but gentle tap at the shoulder called for his attention and he looked up into jet black eyes that stared back at him. Their owner broke the silence, whispering something that caught Luke off-guard, “I won’t tell, if you won’t.”