Short summary of the last chapter:

Spoiler : Voice returned from the book world. Everyone all of the npcs he knew, thought he was dead. He went out to fight some more wolves. He killed them and he and his rabbits gained new abilities.

I got a message with a lot of critiques in it today. I don’t know if the person wants me to name them so I won’t unless they tell me to. I am going to be implementing some of those in this chapter. Thanks person I’m not naming! Thanks, to Kuroyuki for the idea of one of the skills I am adding! Also any bonuses on food only last for a minute unless otherwise noted.

On his way to Evan the book he was reading finished.

You have learned the skills Fermentation and Distillation.

“Identify skill: Distillation.”

Distillation

Current Level: Novice Level 1 Exp 0.00%

By reading a book on Distillation you have learned the skill.

Distilling a potion takes out a large portion of the unwanted material. Each level in this skill improves the quality of the distilled product. For every rank you increase your Distillation skill you will be able to distill better quality items.

To level this skill you must distill potions.

Current quality: Slightly higher than normal.

“Identify skill: Fermentation.”

Fermentation

Current Level: Novice Level 1 Exp 0.00%

By reading a book on Fermentation you have learned the skill.

Fermentation is the breakdown of certain carbon based items, into a similar but new item. Each level in this skill improves the quality of the fermented product. For every rank you increase your Fermentation skill you will be able to ferment items in less time.

To level this skill you must ferment products.

Current quality: Mundane.

Current required time: Full

You have earned one intelligence for reading a difficult book.

You have learned all of the required skills to obtain the Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy. Would you like to exchange relevant skills for the Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy? You can choose to fuse them at a later time. At that time say exchange relevant skills.

He didn’t know what the Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy was, but it said group skill. Worst case scenario He could just get all of his other skills back.

“No.” He wanted to try skill fusion first.

He used skill fusion on distillation and all the other skills, and then with fermentation and all the other skills.

He got two new skills. He fused Skill Fusion and Distillation, and he fused Fermentation and Identify Skill.

“Identify skill: Skill Dissembler.”

Skill Dissembler

Current Level: Novice Level 1 Exp 0.00%

This skill allows you to dissemble a skill into the two skills that make it up.

As your level in Skill Dissembler grows so too will the level of skills you obtain from dissembling.

To activate say Skill Dissembler.

*Note you will not lose the skills you dissemble, merely gain up to two new ones.

“Identify skill: Identify Compatible Skills.”

Identify Compatible Skills

Current Level: Novice Level 1 Exp 0.00%

This skill allows you to automatically view which skills can be combined, and what the result would be.

Each level in this skill improves the information you gather from using it. For every rank you increase your Identify Compatible Skills you will be able to identify more compatibility.

To level this skill you must identify compatible skills

“Exchange Relevant Skills.”

You have one group skill available. Your skill combinations are:

Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy

You have learned all of the required skills to obtain the Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy. Would you like to exchange relevant skills for the Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy? You can choose to fuse them at a later time. At that time say exchange relevant skills.

“Yes”

You have exchanged all relevant skills for the Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy. All relevant skills have been taken from your skill list. The total accumulated experience has been added to the Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy. The total level requirements have all been added to the Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy.

As you level this skill all parts of it will level up. For instance if you create enough potions to level up, you will gain the benefits the other skills would have provided at that level. This skill takes more exp to level up to level two than all of the skills that make it up would.

“Identify skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy.”

Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy

Current Level: Novice Level 8 Exp 52.66%

This skill allows you to use the benefits from: Alchemy, Distillation, Fermentation, Alchemical Fusion, Gardening, Herbology, Plant Location, and Planting Intuition.

The total percentage benefits per level are: 3% to Strength and duration of potions, 2% chance to gather bonus ingredients from plants, Identify is 1% stronger when used on plants.

To level this skill you must do an action that would be encompassed in one of the skills that were consumed to make this skill.

Well, I did not know you could fuse skills this way.

He tried to use skill fusion on it but a system notification came up saying you cannot fuse Group skills using a skill.

I guess there are items or spells or some such that can fuse group skills.

He was looking at his new skill as he came to Evan’s.

After he had given the materials to Evan he went to Susan’s. He noticed the shop was in a horrid state. Everything was strewn across the floor, and he heard sobbing in the corner.

He looked and saw Susan, knees held against her chest, rocking while tears flowed down her cheeks. At her feet lay a pile of ashes. He felt a momentary twang of worry for her. She looked as though she lost a loved one.

//

One day as a third year middle school student, a few of years after his dad had left them, he was assigned a home project. When his mom came to pick him up he realized he left the paper with the instructions in the classroom. He ran back to the classroom and saw a girl crying in the corner, knees huddled to her chest.

Brenton didn’t know what to do. He was at the door and needed the paper, but he didn’t want to seem rude by coming in. That might make the girl feel even worse.

He decided that the best thing would be to go in and try to talk to the girl so she would feel better. He went in and quietly sat beside her. She didn’t notice him until he sat down and their legs touched. She stopped crying and looked at him.

“Are you here to make fun of me to?” She angrily asked, choking back tears.

“No, I just thought that since you were crying you might like to talk to someone about it.”

“Sure,” she said the word derisively, “I’ll just bet.”

“I really would like to help.” He had never met this girl before, but he didn’t think anyone should be crying over something they could talk about. “I’ll try to help if I can.” He sincerely wanted to make her feel better.

He was still pretty upbeat at this point. He didn’t trust people at their word, but he still had faith that not all of humanity was scum. He did have a tough time helping people most of the time. He would always wonder if they were just manipulating him, since it had happened so often in the past.

She started telling him her story. She had been abused for several years by her mother. Her dad had died fighting in the final years of the ISIL crisis. Her mom had somehow blamed her and beat her constantly.

Her mom would never leave bruises so there was never any proof.

“I’ve decided to kill myself, that’s why I’m crying.”

Brenton didn’t know how to respond, his life hadn’t been extraordinarily easy, but it wasn’t nearly that bad.

She continued, “I was saving up money to run away, but my mom found it and spent it on beer.”

Voice made a decision, he didn’t have a lot of personal money, but he did have a few hundred dollars that he had been saving up from the past Christmases and birthdays.

He said to her, “Okay, just wait here a little bit. I’ll be right back, don’t do anything until then.” He hurriedly ran off. He told his mom to be as quick as she could to drive home and back. She didn’t ask any questions once she saw the look in his eyes.

Once they had gotten home he took his secret stash of money, and got back into the car. They went back to the school and he told his mom to wait for a few minutes. He ran to the classroom. He was the girl sitting in the room in the same area.

“Here,” he said compassionately. “This is all the money I have, but maybe it will be enough to run away with.”

She looked at him with a slightly confused look when he handed the wad of cash to her. Her eyes looked regretful.

“Don’t worry, I want you to have it. Just don’t think of killing yourself anymore, ok?”

She gave a nod and left.

The next day at school he had a note in his locker. It said.

‘Hey, thanks for the money. I am going to run away with it for a better life. Thank you so much!’

He smiled to himself. A few days later her parents came to the school looking for her. They posted flyers everywhere. Brenton only found out that the man was her dad a when the school had an assembly.

The principal introduced the man. The real reason the girl ran away was to go live her twenty two year old boyfriend. Normally age wouldn’t matter, but when someone is legally a child predator, something is wrong. She was fourteen that was definitely the case. The girl sent her parents a postcard a few years later.

Brenton knew this because he came forward and told that he helped her when he found out she had lied. He thought he would face consequences but they realized he was trying to help, and had no idea she wasn’t being abused. He did get a long lecture though.

Brenton vowed to never help any again, unless it was his mom or there was something in it for him.

//

Voice decided to break his vow. He didn’t know why but he felt that he should help Susan just to help her.

I must be wanting the fame. He rationalized.

“Susan, what happened? You look like someone just died.” Voice didn’t have to fake the sound of sincerity.

“Someone, hic, someone came in and ruined EVERYTHING!” She began to bawl with renewed vigor.

“What did they ruin Susan, you have to tell so I can fix it. Maybe I can help get you a new whatever-they-broke.”

She looked forlorn. “You can’t fix it! I was doing research on the invisible atoms. I was close to making a magical tool to be able to see some of the atoms!” After the first sentence she became less and less sad, and more and more angry.

Voice replied, “Like a microscope? Those only let you see smaller things, not that small though. The things you could see were still millions of times bigger than atoms.”

“Microscope? No I enhanced a magical looking glass, and was getting it fine-tuned. A man came in here and said that if I didn’t hand over my alchemy book he would destroy everything I own! Usually I have potions and bombs ready for stuff like this, but I haven’t made any since I started chemistry.”

Voice listened, getting angry with her.

I guess every world has ass holes.

“He tried to force himself on me, but I had your frying pan so I hit him! He managed to cast a high level wind and fire spell, and destroyed all of my research! He said he’d be back.” After the last sentence she broke out in sobs again.

It seemed like she cared more for her research than her own body. Voice on the other hand was quickly plotting this guy’s eventual death.

Rape is bad. Rapists deserve a fate worse than death!

Voice was understandably against rape. Not only for reasons that any sane person would have, but also for personal ones.

“What did he look like?” Voice had an eerie chill in his voice that made Susan shudder. She didn’t know if she should tell him or not, but the look of determination in his eyes made her.

“He was a tall skinny man with a slight muscular build. He had short dark hair and piercing eyes. He had a very refined look to him, as though he may have been a prince.”

Voice’s smile was vicious. This man sounded a lot like Paul, the rich rapist swine. Voice was going to enjoy revenge.

“When did he say he’ll be back?”

“It will probably be an hour or so. He said a few hours a little while ago.”

He called his three rabbits to his room for a conversation. He told them to guard Susan.

“Don’t attack this guy unless I call for you, or he attacks Susan.”

When he was sure they would obey he went to the true lab. He got a potion of strength, and a few healing potions.

He got ready and waited. After a few minutes he also sent Rabs out to the church with a note.

The man came just as Susan said he would. Susan gave a nod to indicate it was him. He saw her at the counter and made a wicked grin. He looked at her lustfully. He had no armor on, and no visible weapons. Voice thought there was something wrong with that.

Voice quickly uncapped the strength potion, and drank it.

You have temporarily doubled your strength. This effect will last for sixty seconds.

Voice had sixty seconds to mutilate this bastard, so he started immediately. He swung his staff as hard as he could at the back of the man’s neck. The staff hit, knocking the man to the floor. The man screamed in surprise, pain, and fear. Voice continued hitting the man. First he slammed his staff down on the man’s left knee like a club. The knee broke with a sickening crunch.

Next Voice stepped on the man’s left hand, put his staff in his armpit at a 45 degree angle, and placed his right hand on the butt of the staff and his left hand a few inches in front of his right. He pushed his right hand down as hard as possible while keeping his left hand in place. He created a sort of lever that lifted the man’s should off the ground. Since Voice was keeping his hand on the ground the shoulder was being torn... It took a lot of force, but Voice managed to snap the shoulder out of the socket.

The man screamed with pain. Voice started hitting the man’s back, right below his shoulders. With every hit his anger would grow. With every hit he would become more vicious. Every hit was more powerful than the last. He continued to hit the man until his back was a mass of blotted bruises and blood. He started on the man’s head, making sure to only hit it enough to cause permanent brain damage not kill him.

Voice looked at his handy work for a moment, as he did he noticed Susan with a horrified expression on her face. Voice thought he might have gotten too into it. The man was twitching on the ground. Voice admitted to himself that he could have shown a little restraint and still made his point.

Susan sat in a stunned silence, she had never seen someone act this violent, especially not for her. He was the Blessed of Mar for goodness sake!

She vowed not to ever get his ire.

Voice started towards her huffing from exhaustion, she involuntarily jerked backwards.

“It’s ok Susan, I’m sorry about that. I was pretty excessive.” She showed a slightly relived face, but at the same time anyone that could beat a man that much and just pretend nothing happened was terrifying.

Voice decided that the only way to not make her hate him, was to tell the story about his mom; that was a story that he had not shared with anyone since his time in jail.

He told her all about it. How one night his mom had been the subject to attempted rape. The rapist got off free since he basically owned the town, and he had to go to jail.

Susan respectfully listened the entire time. When he told her what had happened to his mom she understood instantly. She couldn’t condone his behavior, but she did understand it.

Voice asked if he could tell the guards and healers what had happened. She said yes.

A few seconds after he had finished Rabs came back. He was quickly followed by a priest of Mar. The priest saw the body on the floor. He worriedly looked from the body to Voice.

“This man just came in here and tried to rape my friend Susan. I took proper actions and stopped him. Please make sure he won’t die by the time we get the guards.”

Voice asked Susan to go get the guards, she quickly complied. As the healer started his job a black smoke came out of the man.

It coalesced into a dark figure was born of the smoke. It had deep green eyes, and black wispy hair. It looked at Voice.

“Stupid human! You have destroyed but my mortal body. I will have my revenge, do not doubt that Voice0fReason!”

The smoke started circling around its center, similar to a black hole. It disappeared into the vortex.

The healer stood, uncomprehending of the situation. Voice scowled, he realized he had just set in motion something similar to a quest, but much more annoying.

When Susan arrived with the guards Voice explained what had happened. Susan couldn’t figure out what a demon would want with her alchemy book, but she was glad to be rid of him for now.

Voice thought there was nothing to do about the situation at the time, so he decided to try and level up to be able to fight the demon in the future.

He went to Evan’s to pick up the armor he asked about. That long should be enough time.

When he got there he asked Evan about it.

“Well,” Evan started. “I don’t know why you wanted it heavy, but here you are.”

Voice was handed a bundle of clothe that immediately almost dropped to the floor. He thanked Evan and asked if he could change into it in the back. Evan agreed.

Voice looked the armor over.

“Identify Heavy Iron Armor.”

Heavy Iron ArmorMaterial QualityLowWork QualityExpertDefense15Durability100/100Weight50 lbsThis item is extremely defensive, and heavy. You lose a lot of mobility from not being used to wearing heavy armors.

This armor was made by an expert craftsman. This armor gains plus five defense and twenty five durability.

He thought it was weird that it had a weight. He had never seen other things have a weight indicated before.

Maybe most items weigh so little they don’t get a weight?

He said “Show Carrying Capacity.” Thinking it might be based off a popular table top game.

Carrying CapacityCurrent Maximum Capacity75 lbCurrent Encumbrance50Carrying Capacity is determined by strength times 5 plus bonuses.

Once he was completely dressed, in about ten minutes, he came out to show Evan.

He looked like a medieval knight. The cuirass was in three pieces, as the shoulder pieces strapped onto it. The leggings were one piece. The only joints on the armor were at the shoulders, elbows, knees, and waist. All of the joints except the waist had iron pads to cover the gap in the joint.

The waist was covered by the cuirass, which slightly overlapped the leggings. His helmet was rounded in the face area, but angled sharply after his cheek bones. Evan said this was to negate as much damage from his face as possible. There were two slits for his eyes that were the weakest points on the helmet. Voice was losing stamina just by wearing it. He couldn’t even walk around without losing his breath.

No, Hell NO! There is no way I’m going to let a little thing like super heavy items, stop me!

He decided to wear the armor until it was comfortable, then wear it some more.

Voice asked Evan if he could make him an iron pot to cook in, and if he could have a pitcher of water.

Evan asked why the pot if he already had the enchanted pan.

“Well I want to do something similar to the pan, but with enough room to cook something fantastic.”

Evan quietly laughed and got him the pitcher. He said he could get the pot done, and have the enchantment placed through Susan in three hours.

Voice left with the pitcher promising to return it later. He then went to the library and bought an empty cooking recipe book.

Voice spent the next three hours slowly walking around town buying all sorts of food products. He bought all the things needed to make a nice stew. He got some dried meat, cabbage, salt and some red potatoes. He obviously identified all of them. He also went out and harvested quite a few carrots and radishes for the rabbits.

He had to spend most of his time sitting down, but he was spending less and less time inactive as he went. He was gaining endurance and strength at an extremely quick pace. By the time the three hours were up he had gain 12 endurance and 6 strength. Both stats were leveling at an insane rate at first, but then slowed down. Neither stat had leveled up in the last thirty minutes.

So maybe I gain stat points faster by exceeding my current limits my present stats allow. Makes sense, I did gain intelligence for figuring out stuff I had no knowledge about.

At first he could just barely move around in the armor, and would be exhausted from it. Now he could move at bout fifty percent speed for forty seconds to a minute. His stamina regen was at four points per second now. He only needed to rest for a little over a minute to feel refreshed.

He was losing satiety alarmingly fast throughout the whole ordeal. At first he ate a little bit of the cabbage, it didn’t taste good raw. After that he ate carrots and radishes, once he started gathering them. He had finished off the water before he even left town. A guard saw him struggling, and told him of the public well. He had waited five minutes in line before he refilled his water and headed towards the plains. He went back to Evan as quickly as he could. It took about thirty more minutes. He managed to gain another endurance point by trekking there.

Enchanted Super-Heat Sapping PotMaterial QualityMundaneWork QualityExpertEnchantment QualityMasterCooking bonus50%Durability50/50This pot was made by an expert craftsman. This pot grants a 10% bonus to cooking skill. This pot has had its durability increased by 25.

This Item was enchanted by a master enchanter. This pot has had its cooking ability increased by 400%

He was happy with the results.

This means there won’t be any quality discrepancies if I use both tools to cook with.

Voice returned the now empty pitcher to Evan. Evan laughed and said he could keep it. He thanked Evan and paid him, with a little bonus so that he would be willing to keep supplying Voice with cheap stuff. Evan volunteered to give a few wooden bowls and cutlery to Voice. Voice gratefully accepted.

Voice took the pot and pitcher and went to the well. At this point he had gotten used to his armor for the most part. He was by no means comfortable, nor did the armor allow for much flexibility, but it was extremely protective. It did take off the first fifteen points of damage. He had not removed the pot and filled it with water.

He went to the area near the mountains area to the north since he hadn’t gone there before. He gathered some dried sticks along the way. Most of them were small enough for the fire, but a few of them were pretty large. These he would use for holding the pot and pan. He was getting exhausted only rarely now, he kept a steady walking pace. When he arrived at the foot of the mountains he made a fire. He had been carrying the pot filled with water the entire time. He could have stored it in his bag, but he wanted the gain in strength.

Unfortunately he didn’t gain any stats, but he felt he was close. He sat down and cleared out a small area to cook the food. He made two separate piles of sticks to represent the cooking areas. After clearing the grass he set to work to start the fires. He picked the grass off the areas he was going to use.

After clearing the area out he set the sticks in two pyramid shapes. He tried to light the first fire for several minutes with no luck. He knew the basic theory behind it, but hadn’t really done it before. He used his instinct ability trying to light the fire, but it didn’t work. He gathered some dried grass in the area, and used it as kindling. After a few more tedious minutes he got it working. It had taken about fifteen minutes to get the fire to light.

Voice checked the time so he could time the food as it cooked.

He made a rough object to hold the pot. It had two legs that had a v shape at the top of each, and a single stick set in the v shape of each to hold the pot. He put the pot on the fire to boil, and poured a small handful of salt in it. He started preparing the fire for the pan. This time it only took five minutes.

I’m glad I was always a fast learner.

He went to put the vegetable stew ingredients into the pot while he let the pan heat. The water in the pot was already boiling when he came over.

Wow that was fast. Water must boil at a lower temperature here.

After he had put the vegetables into the pot he checked the pan. The pan was already very hot, so he put the slabs of dried meat on it.

The meat started sizzling in under a minute. Confused Voice turned the meat. It was already brown. He quickly ran over to the pot of vegetables and noticed them getting much tenderer. He was carefully noting everything during this cooking adventure in his mind, since it would be transferred to his cook book.

Ah, maybe it’s not that the water boils earlier, maybe the entire process of cooking is sped up.

He stirred the stew with a wooden spoon and ran back to the meat. The meat was ready to eat, so he took it off the fire. By the time he set it down and went to the stew, the stew had finished.

Voice checked the time. It had only been three minutes of cooking. That meant cooking was about sixty times faster here. When the stew was done he examined it, as well as the fried meat.

Fried Meat

Quality: Low

This meat has been fried by an amateur. This Fried Meat contains: two handfuls of meat.

One serving restores 10 stamina per second, restores 100 fatigue, and you will also gain 5 strength for the next hour.

It can be added to other foods.

Vegetable Stew

Quality: Low

This stew has been made by an amateur. The vegetable stew contains: 4 carrots, 2 radishes, one cabbage, and a handful of salt.

One serving restores 15 stamina per second, restores 80 fatigue, and increases maximum stamina by 30 for the next hour.

You can add other foods to it.

The entire time Troy and Rabs were salivating at the vegetable stew, Heather however was watching the meat cook. Voice gave Rabs and Troy a bow of stew first. When he tried to give some to Heather she asked if he was going to eat all of the meat himself.

“No, I was going to put it into the stew to help add some flavor.”

Heather started begging him to let her have some to.

Shit I really created an omnivore out of the rabbit huh? I hope this doesn’t get worse or she might get to be too much trouble.

He poured her stew back in the pot, added the meat, and then gave her the bowl. She looked like the happiest person in the world with the food.

Fried Meat in Vegetable stew

Quality: Low

Vegetable stew and fried meat made by an amateur, were combined to make this.

One serving restores 15 stamina per second, and restores 90 fatigue. You also gain 5 strength and 20 max stamina for the next hour.

You can add other foods to it.

After creating all of the food he generated a new skill.

Cooking

Current Level: Novice Level 1 Exp 0.00%

The cooking skill allows the user to cook foods at better innate qualities. Each level increases the flavor by 5%. Each rank in this skill reduces the effects of mishaps in the culinary field.

You can cook without this skill, but will not be granted the flavor bonus or mishap reduction.

The stew tasted very good. He had used a recipe that was only slightly different than his mom’s ‘Irish Stew’. He loved the new skill. Basically for the same amount of work he would get a better quality item. There was zero downside, it didn’t even take extra time!

After eating his fill he looked at his satiety bar.

Satiety150/150You have increased your maximum satiety by 50% for eating delicious food for the first time.

He was happy about the satiety boost, but he would have saved this for an important time if he knew about it. After he finished eating he packed up the cookware, after cleaning them with the leftover water from the pitcher. His inventory now held: 30 carrots, 24 radishes, Irish stew for four people, 6 bowls, Cutlery for six, salt, and 4 cabbage.

He went back to town to give the remaining stew to Evan, Elizabeth, and Susan. It was already nighttime by the time he had gotten back to the city. He went to give the food to the trio. Luckily Elizabeth hadn’t started cooking yet, and Susan kind of always just ate whatever.

They all liked the food. Elizabeth even asked for the recipe, which Voice gave her after some playful haggling. He also got a recipe for how to make blueberry muffins.

Voice loved blueberry muffins, so it was a very good trade. Elizabeth told him about the annual cook off in the city. It was only 25 days away.

“You should really join it Voice, even if you don’t win it would be a really good opportunity to hone your skills.”

Voice thought he might get a bit of fame and exp for cooking so he agreed to go. Elizabeth was very happy he took a liking to something she liked. The other two in her group basically got a monopoly over Voice, but he had saved her life. She deserved some of his time too.

Stats WindowNameVoice0fReasonClassAnimal TamerHealth160Mana180Stamina290Level6Current TitleBunny LoverHealth Regen/Sec1.3Mana Regen/Sec2.0Stamina Regen/Sec2.8Strength15Agility10Wisdom20Intelligence18Endurance28Dexterity25Luck10Vitality29Charisma11Compassion35Leadership36Logic12Piety10Fame370

Skills WindowIdentify Novice Level 9 Exp 20.00%Skill Fusion Novice Level 3 Exp 00.00%Identify Skill Novice Level 6 Exp 14.28%First Aid Novice Level 1 Exp 90.00%Deception Novice Level 3 Exp 82.50%Critical Strike Novice Level 6 Exp 75.00%Automated Novice Level 6 Exp 25.00%Auto Aid Novice Level 1 Exp 90.00%Alchemical Aid Novice Level 1 Exp 00.00%Speed Reading Novice Level 1 Exp 00.00%Auto Read Novice Level 19 Exp 57.89%Identify Compatible Skills Novice Level 1 Exp 00.00%Skill Dissembler Novice Level 1 Exp 00.00%Group Skill: Key to Self-Sustained Alchemy Novice Level 8 Exp 57.23%

Affinities WindowNature10