Sooo uh...
The proficient skill token gives me about four thousand to eight thousand hours of experience in any given topic, and the Apprentice tokens give me about one hundred and fifty to three hundred hours each... as long as I meet the prerequisites, at least. For larger skills that I don't meet the prerequisites for, it'll spend some time giving me the prerequisites for the thing I wanted.
As for the random items, I'll look through those later. I can feel a few items appear in the little tube at my hip.
The power is... interesting? I guess? It's not really explained that well. What does 'punishment' composed of? How do I repair things?
Yui raises her hand... and suddenly the Eye of Magnus disappears.
"Assimilating Magika." The girl intones before shuddering.
She rapidly blinks off the glow, looking over to me, her eyes returned to black. "Argo..."
"Yui." I reply with a single nod.
I slowly lift a seed. "Can you grow this in my new farm please~"
"A... fruit of growth? Argo that will completely destroy the balance of the game... Cardinal won't allow it."
"It would... if I planned to give every single one to the players." I begin. "Mainly I want these so I can make wine out of them which I will then pawn off to the Oni."
"Of course." I continue, looking at my nails. "That's not to say that there won't be... rewards... for doing some of my more pressing missions."
"There were originally twenty servers... and the treant summoned when someone beat the first floor boss. Thus... it is technically possible for a single player to have had access to twenty fruits of growth provided all of the fruits were auctioned or saved... I will not exceed this limit for any one player. On that you have my word... and you can make them soul-bound so they don't trade them."
"I see... Very well... you will receive roughly one fruit every four days."
That's three days less than her original estimation. Sweet!
"BADASS!" I grin.
Now I don't really need to deal with the scary youkai woman!
Honestly? Pretty good deal for the Eye of Magnus. I mean, what the fuck could I have done with it? If I brought it into touhou It'd cause some sort of incident as I seriously doubt everyone who even had an iota of magical talent COULDN'T feel that thing. Yukari might have even popped in and taken it!
Then what would I have gotten in exchange?
Terror? A heart attack? Some sort of anxiety disorder?!
At the very least after that point Yukari would probably keep an eye on me... and THAT sounds like a fucking headache.
"Now... I'm going to go give Lisbeth this potion. Then track down Silica" I smirk down at the perfected race-change potion and the other vial of liquid.
A hum leaves my lips as I walk through the halls of my home, tail swishing back and forth.
I can hear the muted noises of metal being struck, so I know my target is where she normally resides.
I make my way down the stairs, gaze straying the room.
It's just Lisbeth. Good. "Oi. Lisbeth. I've got some stuff for you."
"Argo?!" the girl gasps, looking up from her spot over the anvil.
I blink twice.
"Nice hair." I snort, giving her a small smile.
Instead of her original brown hair it now has a light strawberry pink shade.
Spoiler
"H-Hey!" The girl pouts. "Argo- the girl- said this would increase sales!"
"Did it?" I ask.
"Y-Yeah..." She admits, scratching the back of her head.
"Nice." I hum. "Anyways, I've brought some stuff for you... first off, here. Drink this."
I hold out the race change potion, Yuugi's blood added to it.
"Huh?" Lisbeth blinks down at the potion. "What is- race change... potion? Greater Oni?"
"I got blood from probably the strongest Oni in Gensokyo. So after you drink this, you won't really need to worry about being hunted for sport."
"O-Oh! Yeah! That sounds great! Then I can join you and... Tsukasa... once the game ends!" The girl exclaims. "But how did you get this? I thought the items required for it was from like... floor eighty."
"I cut a deal with the system. They got a magic orb that I found that produces pretty much infinite magic, I get a farm on the ninety fifth floor a potion for you and a potion for Silica. On that topic, can you message her? I also need to perfect her race so she doesn't need to kill players to live anymore."
"W-WHAT?! She has to do- what?"
Ah... she didn't know that...
"Why do you think I've been sending her out after the player killers? The demon blood gave her auto-regeneration, a unique skill, a unique sword skill and stats a good ten levels higher than her actual level... but... ah... it was my mistake that turned her into that... did Argo not tell you?"
"I just thought she... couldn't go outside..." The girl whispers.
"This serum here removes her weaknesses. No more killing players requirement. No more sunlight burning. Sooo I kind of want to get it to her as soon as possible."
"Will... I be forced to do anything like that with this?" The girl echoes looking down at the potion in her hands.
"Nope." I shake my head. "At worst, you might gain a thing for alcohol and be slightly more impulsive. If you were a vampire, that'd change things. But Oni don't really have that many weaknesses... oh! Wait, you'll be hurt by people throwing roasted soybeans at you."
"O-Oh... yeah... Oni do have that legend, don't they? I mean... how many people carry around roasted soybeans, really?"
"You won't really be allowed in the human village in Gensokyo so you don't really have much to worry about... aside from me hurling a bean at you every now and then because I thought it'd be funny."
She gives me a half-lidded glare, then drinks the potion.
Nothing seems to change as she looks over her body... then... *FLASH*
A bright white glow envelopes her form.
It remains for a few seconds before eventually fading. She looks pretty much exactly the same as she did originally, but now she has a sole horn upon her brow.
Spoiler
She rubs her forehead. "Do... you have a mirror?"
"I can do this?"
With a wave of my hand an illusion of the girl is crafted. I have to look between the two a few times but after a few attempts they look the exact same.
"This is what you look like now." I gesture to the illusion.
She seems to take it in, eyes straying to the sole horn on her head. "That is... hm... less than I expected."
"I've seen some Oni with brightly colored skin, red, blue, purple, orange, but the strongest ones seemed to be human, just with horns." I rotate my wrist slightly. "I got the blood from one of those, so reasonably you'd be elevated to the same level. Completely human aside from a sole feature. A lot of the stronger youkai tend to be like that, honestly. Maybe some lightly pointed ears, glowing eyes, but overall they look human aside from some wings or some other feature."
A small window appears in front of me. 'lets see here... what does being a greater Oni do for her- eh? Oh... oh wow...
That's... uh... that's better than Silica by a large margin.
Great Oni. {Race}
Benefits:
Strength and Vitality are improved by 100 each.
Agility, and Dexterity are improved by 30 each.
You now regenerate health every five seconds even whilst in combat. Instead of once every minute out of combat
Total Health Stat is improved by a static 250%
'Sake Monster' Trait: Temporary buffs from alcohol can now stack.
'Night Parade' Sword Skill
Detriments:
No Notable Detriments
I find my eyes slowly straying to her stat page.
Lisbeth: Level 63
HP 13650/13650
Status:
STR: 140
VIT: 140
INT: 14
AGI: 60
DEX: 60
LUK: 91
w-well... uh...
She has the stats of a level one hundred and sixty... and vastly more health than one should have.
"This is- wow..." The girl blinks.
"Congrats. You have stats that wouldn't be out of place for a character on the sixtieth floor or so. You're like a level forty five who dumped Every. Single. Point. Into their strength."
"T-This is crazy." The girl whispers.
"Yep. Welcome to bullshit youkai. Can I borrow your system for a moment? What does the game tell you about this?"
I pull the hatchet wielded by that draugr from my pipe.
The girl looks over and pauses, a screen appearing in front of her. "H-Huh?"
I step around.
Stalhrim Axe of Great Frost:
An axe made of magical ice that has then been further empowered by a grand enchanter. The ice enchantment is greatly improved by the material creating a truly powerful weapon.
Durability: 951/1023
Attributes:
Base Damage 1241* (1241+760)
{Great Frost Enchantment+} (802/943)
Frost courses through this weapon, a biting chill so cold that it almost burns. +760 Frost Damage per successful hit.
Requirements:
Str 180
Dex: 120
Agi: 120
"Huh." I hum. "How much do you think I could sell this for? I might just put it down in the shop for like... five million Cor and leave it."
"Th-This is crazy?! Where did you even get this?!"
"The same place I got all of this." I smirk as I turn, then promptly dump the contents of my pipe onto the floor. Blades and metals clang and clatter about, coins slowly pile up. There's even a few metal bars among the treasure.
"And this is just one pipe!" I cackle.
"M-Mr Argo? Lisbeth said that you had a quest for me?" A small brunette with red eyes looks over the dark room. I had started reading while I waited for the girl to arrive.
Spoiler
I rise to my feet, approaching the short demon.
"Drink this." I demand, holding out the potion.
"H-Huh?" She blinks. "Okay. I trust you Mr. Argo."
She doesn't even seem to read over it and promptly chugs the entire thing.
She freezes, hands shaking briefly.
"This-" a hand comes to her chest as she lets out a hiss of pain. "Ow... it hurts a little..."
Suddenly she blinks twice, gazing down at her twitching hand. "Huh?"
"Go outside... and bask in the sunlight once more." I smile down at her as she opens her status window.
"It- You-" the girl sniffles. "You fixed it? I-I..."
She lunges forwards, wrapping her arms around me, tears streaming down her cheeks as she hugs me. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU SO MUCH MR. ARGO! I-I-I'll never forget... I'll never forget this!"
I pat her head with a weak smile.
Ow. I think I can feel my bones creaking slightly.
From what I can see in her stat sheet, the stat increases have all improved to a flat plus thirty. A nine increase each for her physical abilities.
Her durability improved as well, improving her overall health by a static one hundred and fifty percent instead of one hundred, her health regeneration has been multiplied by about two-point five as well so... she can regenerate faster than Lisbeth, but the pink haired girl can hit FAR harder.
She seems to realize that she is hurting me or at the very least making me uncomfortable, she shrinks in one herself, looking dejected. "I-I'm sorry... I don't know what came over me."
"It's okay." I pat her head again. "I'm pretty durable."
The door to the small secluded cabin creaks open as I step inside.
I call out into the quiet home, nothing more than my average speaking tone. I know fully well Tsukasa can hear me and I don't want to wake Shiro if she's asleep. "I'm home."
A fox trots out of a nearby room, the door slightly ajar.
With a ripple and a small puff of smoke, she transforms into the woman whom I've come to care for over the past... half a year or so?
Spoiler
Huh.
How long have I been doing this?
Meh. Who cares.
"Well, my trip was quite eventful." A small smirk rests on my lips as I step forwards and wrap the fox woman in a tight hug, I dip her low, stealing her lips as our tails briefly intertwine.
"So... Old hell was pretty interesting." I continue after we break from our kiss. "They were in the middle of a festival."
"Oh? The night parade of one hundred demons? That was yesterday?" The girl asks as she tugs me towards the nearby sofa.
"No clue." I shrug as we sit down.
"I joined them for a drink as that was probably among the only ways to really impress them, did quite well through cheating with healing magic, then I crawled into a pipe before I got REALLY drunk and passed out.
The corners of her lips turn upwards seemingly pleased that I didn't sleep around.
"After that I woke up, secretly cured my hangover with magic, making the Oni respect me even more as they thought I just walked off a full night of drinking, then got this REALLY powerful woman, Yuugi, to help me out.
"Hooh? Yuugi Hoshiguma? Yeah... she's arguably the strongest Oni in gensokyo. What'd you pay for her service?"
"A barrel of wine."
"..."
"Just a barrel?" Tsukasa blinks.
"Mhmmmm." I smirk.
"Huh." She hums. "Not bad... what'd you get?"
"Something I sold to Yui... Magic might appear here soon as she finishes figuring it out." I explain with a small wave of my hand, my arm wrapping around her hip as she lays her head on my shoulder. "In addition, I got a new farm, a mine, and a blacksmith shop... and managed to perfect Silica's race and turn Lisbeth into an Oni."
"Oh? So we can leave at any point we wish, then?" The blonde asks.
"If we want... I still want to abuse the system further, though." I admit after a short moment.
"True. Besides. we still need to turn our adorable daughter into a Kuda Gitsune as well." The fox hums. "And despite the blade of death lingering over everyone's necks, even I can admit it has some... useful... traits."
"Oh! Before I forget." I smile brightly as I reach into my pipe and pull out several coins. "I remember you said that you like to collect coins... so here. Some coins from another world. Even more than that... coins from another world that are probably hundreds- if not thousands- of years old!"
Her eyes widen as I continue I can feel affection and love slowly bubbling through our empathic link. "When I found them... I thought about how they might make you smile, so... here."
"Y-You... you really got them... for me?" The blonde whispers, her cheeks flushing slightly and she looks over the coins, a bright smile on her face as her tail begins to rapidly swish back and forth as she clutches them tightly to her chest.
"What about you, Tsukasa?" I ask. "How was your past couple of days."
A small smirk appears on her lips as she reaches into a small bamboo pipe.
A ring is pulled out of it.
That is... really impressive, actually.
Ring of Agility
Increases Agility stat by 20
Increases Dexterity stat by 20
"Holy shit." I whisper, eyes growing wide.
This... this item gives you thirteen levels worth of stats?!
"I went to a dungeon to retrieve this alongside the black haired one and his group. I had to pry this from the hands of the blonde one named after you." There's a small vulpine grin on her lips. "Well, less pry it and more convince her to give it... it'll pay off for the little blonde, though... as I've... 'gotten into contact with an enchanter who could duplicate the effect'... of course in that quest line, they won't deliver because they were murdered for the product. At which point we will follow their trail, kill the killer and retrieve the rings. They'll all get a ring that improves their statistics by fifteen each, then we will get the improved variant which improves them by thirty."
"How devious." I note, causing the woman to smile.
"My my, are you trying to flatter me?" The blonde questions, beginning to loosen the ribbon around her neck. "Oh how I wonder how I'll repay my lovely second half for his heartwarming gift... perhaps it's a good thing that..."
She leans forwards slightly "Shiro's asleep."
"Hmmmm?" I hum. "Then perhaps we should make it so she doesn't get woken up by us."
With a wave of my hand the quiet chirping of crickets dies out, becoming a muted droning, like we were underwater.
She pulls the top part of her clothes off, revealing her supple creamy breasts.
I gesture to a nearby bamboo pipe and we both turn to mist and flow into it.
Alriiiight let's see what I've got here-
I look to a pink lemon.
"..."
Peach Lemon?
Perhaps it would be better to do this in SAO in order to figure out what this does.
My eyes scan the fruit, my lips thinning.
This is from Toriko.
Oh shit... THIS IS FROM TORIKO!
"AHAHAH! YEEEES!"
Already, looking over it I can tell that this would make some KILLER alcohol.
I take a whiff of it, a sweet scent filling my mouth, a hint of sourness following along at the tail end of it.
Quite nice. I'll have to refrain from eating it for now until I can get a farm up and running.
I wonder... could Yui split the crops? Like... instead of one fruit of evolution every four days I could get maybe one every eight days and a bunch of these?
If not, I do have enough money to buy a farm on floor eleven... provided the players haven't scooped them all up.
They're quite expensive to even rent so I doubt that they grabbed them all.
My next item is...
"..."
Spoiler
True Excalibur from Terraria...
With a flash, I summon the Excalibur I had already gotten my hands on, looking between the two, my face flat.
The original Excalibur seems almost offended by the sword. But from what I can see, the 'True Excalibur' is actually a bit more powerful. At least destructively more powerful.
Not that much, but still kind of noticeable.
I slowly lift it, looking between the two blades.
Huh...
it's also lacks an ego... which will make it easier to wield.
It's just raw power. The other Excalibur probably blows it out of the water when you consider versatility.
Annnnd the next weapon?
Spoiler
Excalibur from Alfheim Online...
Alright, someone HAS to be pranking me at this point... and for my final item-
Excalibur - King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
"..."
I sharply inhale then exhale. "Guess I'm collecting Excaliburs, then."
The pink and blue-edged blade of the true Excalibur swishes through the air, a smile on my lips as I do a few small kicks and swings.
Out of the four Excaliburs, this is my favorite... mainly due to ease of use.
After it? Is the fourth I got. The 'Legend' Excalibur.
Grabbing onto it made me feel like I could do anything. My perception slowed, blood rushed in my ears, each swing produced a powerful swipe of wind that could cleave through rock like a hammer and, well I also felt stronger.
The main issue is the sword is mentally draining. I nearly passed out the first time I used it. But. In exchange for the powers it grants... a bit of drain is honestly kind of worth it.
Third in line would have to be the ALO Excalibur. It's... well...
It's a great sword, don't get me wrong. It's just slightly... boring?
Its main effect is that it lacks durability... and by that I mean it doesn't have a durability stat at all, making it pretty much unbreakable. Plus it can hit incorporeal things and dispel magic through cutting.
That's about it.
Least favorite would be the Quest Excalibur. The one with the most potential of the bunch, just kind of testy.
Sooo Terra Excalibur, Legend Excalibur, ALO Excalibur, and Quest Excalibur. A nice little collection I'm forming.
Does skyrim have an Excalibur?
I doubt it...
My breath hitches causing me to fall to a knee and devolve into coughs.
"Aghh... shit." I lowly whisper, wiping my mouth. "Damn total concentration breathing... killing my lungs."
A golden light surrounds me as I channel my healing spell.
With my skill tokens I've gotten some... useful experience.
For my proficient skill token, I dumped that right into my Faux Conception ability. My power to make real illusions.
After that? One apprentice token into total concentration breathing, granting me the knowledge to breathe in a certain way to basically dope my muscles.
As a youkai who's already several times stronger than the average man, this has been QUITE useful, then after that. One token into thunder breathing.
Or rather, I specified...
Thunder breathing form one. The thunderclap and flash.
I... may have thought it was just too cool and wanted to be able to do it.
Strangely with these skill tokens, my body seems to grow to match these abilities. I could feel my leg muscles tearing and my lungs feeling like they were about to burst.
That was nothing compared to the headache that was the real illusion mastery.
That took about three hours to process. Three hours where I was quite miserable, learning things at roughly two thousand times the normal rate.
Thank god it didn't just decide to drop it on me all at once. My head would have popped.
The aching muscles on the other hand cleared up in about thirty minutes. But breathing kind of sucked for a while.
With these upgrades... I'm a liiiiittle more confident in going outside in skyrim.
I can basically conjure whatever I want now and make it real within my domain which seems to have had a fairly notable increase of about twenty feet or so.
My illusions have become about as durable as legitimate metal which is sweet as hell! Maybe now I won't need to be such a little pussy anymore!
Anyways, I've got like... three hours before my new worlds connect, sooo...
What now?
I doubt I could do much in Skyrim. Not with just three hours...
Unless?
I could travel to the college and sell some of my stock.
"Fuck it." I hum as I rise to my feet, create a simple doorway, then walk through.
I reappear in the middle of a forest, a smile on my lips. My domain explodes outwards, notifying me of everything from the trees to the small rabbit running away at high speeds from my sudden entrance.
'let's see here... what do I have to sell... I could try and pawn off a fruit of evolution or two... see what the college can alchemy up with it.'
I DO have that bag of holding, actually... I don't necessarily need it considering I can stuff things into pipes and then promptly stick those pipes through portals that lead directly into my storage room back at home.
Oh! And maybe I'll offer up a bottle of wine or two.
I mentally go through a list of what I have and what I can offer.
A LOT of silk, some more basic metals, but I doubt they'll want those. The metals at least. And if they want silk, they'd probably want it in the form of hoods and robes.
There's a few bars of Nichirin. Since Yui made it a 'rare' spawn.
Uhhh... after that?
I suppose I got some old nordic coins that might be worth more than their standard price... but that'll mean that they know I was the one who looted Sarthaal when they inevitably dig it out.
Decisions decisions.
I suppose I can think about it on the way over.
I land on the steps just outside of the massive stone building that is the College of Winterhold, falling from a small illusionary pipe with a smile.
The elven woman on guard flinches as I offer her a wave. "The merchant?! What just- How did you-"
"Oh. It's a simple bit of travel magic I figured out. Don't worry about it." I wave off.
"Your... ears?" The woman questions gazing to the top of my head, free of any form of vulpine features.
"Ah. I'm hiding them with illusions. Muuuuch more convenient for travel." I admit as I walk past her. "I've got some fairly interesting items. A sword that I've been meaning to sell, one that I kept forgetting to bring, then I've got some magical alcohol, some interesting items that could be alchemy ingredients, and even some metals that might be of great use."
I stop next to her and begin to make some small talk. "Has anything interesting happened around here?"
"Well, the Jarl has begun taking whoever is able and training them up for war."
"Ah... the Stormcloaks and the Imperials... nasty spat, that." I sigh. "I was actually in Solitude when the leader of the Stormcloaks shouted apart the high-king."
"You were there?!" She gasps.
"Not watching the duel." I shake my head. "But I was in the city. The bard's college. Taking care of some business."
"Ssss." I wince rubbing the top of my head. "Not a fan of shouts. I have no doubt it was deafening for a normal person. But for me? Oh, it was horrible. I heard ringing for an entire WEEK!"
"The way of the voice is definitely a powerful force." The woman nods slowly. "Even learning one word of the dragon's tongue can make an average warrior a true threat on the battlefield. I've heard that one of the college archmages in the past learned Thuum, and with it managed to bring their spellcasting prowess to heights that very few could reach naturally in their lives."
"Thuum can combine with magic?"
"Thuum can combine with all aspects of life, yes." The woman nods.
"Huh..." I hum. "Anything else?"
"Ah... well... there is one other thing you should be aware of. The Thalmor sent an ambassador to our college to... ensure... that we remain neutral in the war."
"Ugh. Hate those high and mighty holier than thou pricks." I scoff, crossing my arms. "If he tries to pull something like 'oh, you are not sanctioned to sell at this place. I'm going to confiscate your goods' the actions I perform will be swift, brutal, and indescribably violent. Such as me going and grabbing barrel of slaughterfish and dunking him in it repeatedly."
"Please do not... that would cause no end to diplomatic issues with the Thalmor." The woman sighs. "Even if a large portion of the mages here would cheer for you if you smashed his head in with a warhammer. Speak to Savos if he tries to hamper you in any way. He will ensure that it will be the last."
An impish smile slowly forms on my lips. "Duly noted. Anyways, I hope you have a good day, Faralda."
"And you as well, Argo." The woman replies as I turn and begin making my way across the bridge.
Let's see here... that sword I got back on floor three, Nichirin, fruit, bag of holding, wine.
Yeah, that should be enough to catch his interest.
My eyes follow a spectral knight slowly walking around the grounds.
'is that- oh... it is. How interesting. It seems they cracked the summoning bag. That begs the question of 'is it alive?'. Or rather... 'sentient'. I wonder if there's anymore around here?'
Oh well! I can ask Savos!