After waking up as Ria was changing clothes, I said good morning to her and jumped into the factory. No need to do anything else, right?
“Father, good morning.”
“Papa! Good morning.”
My two daughters were waiting for me at the control platform. Tahlia was in her classic pink onesie and Fantasia had copied her sister, except that hers was tiger striped.
“Good morning. Were you waiting for me?”
“Of course, Father. I’ve waited for a long time for this.”
“Yep. I waited with my big sis, so she wouldn’t have to wait alone.”
“I see. Where is your mother?”
“She is with aunty Mia. Do you want me to go get her?” Fantasia asked.
“Yes, if you would.”
“Sure.” She answered before running to the stairs, mounting the handrail and riding it down.
“... well, she is as energetic as ever.” I commented, looking at Fantasia, before I turned to Tahlia. “How are you feeling? Nervous?”
“Slightly. But every experiment we ran with Mother has been successful, so I believe everything will be fine.”
“I’m sure it will work out. Laura wouldn’t allow it if there was a chance for a major failure.”
“But even a minor one can hurt you a lot. Father, I am a part of you, so pain to me is pain to you. At the end of the day, I am just your skill.”
“Don’t say that. You aren’t just a skill.” I said as I took Tahlia into a deep hug. “You are important. You, Fantasia and Laura. You are my family.”
“But we aren’t real.”
“Don’t say that! You can’t say something like that. You are real.”
“But…”
“No! You are. That’s it. As your father, I’m saying you are real, and you cannot deny that.”
“...”
“Are we interrupting?” Laura asked, as she walked up to us, holding hands with Fantasia.
I was still holding Tahlia close to my chest.
“No. No you are not. Good morning, by the way.” I said, trying to get the previous thoughts out of my mind.
“Good morning. So the time has finally come.”
“The time for the Time Seal, right?”
“You just have to turn everything into a joke, don’t you?”
“Only when I’m scared.”
“We both know that is a lie.”
“... perhaps it is.” I admitted as I finally let go of Tahlia.
I had Tahlia sit down on one of the couches on the control platform and turned back to Laura.
“So, do I just install the card into her? Or into the server room?”
“Into her. Technically it will be installed into the skill, but as Tahlia is the avatar of the skill, she works the best as the medium for you to imagine the correct result.”
“Alright.” I turned to Tahlia. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, Father.”
“... you know you don’t have to call me so officially. Dad or papa works as well.”
“Would you prefer that, Dad?”
“...” Wow. That hit different. I didn’t expect the change of a word to change the way I hear it so much. “... I think either is fine. Even father, or just Brian is alright with me. You can choose.”
“Yes. Papa.” Tahlia answered, using another synonym.
… it might be just me, but papa really does feel the best. I don’t know why, but I just like it the most. Father is good as well, but dad … I’m not so sure about. It feels … off for me. I guess I’m more of a papa than dad. Dad just makes me think of Daddy. And having a teenager call me daddy … Well, let’s not go there.
I got out the card and held it to Tahlia’s chest, before saying: “Install.”
Spoiler
[collapse]
The card entered her body and as it did, I felt the familiar sensation of an install, even though I installed the card into her.
It wasn’t that intense. Actually, it was by far the least intense of the installs this far. I was still a bit worried, because of the entire dying thing, but Laura approved it so I should be fine.
After just under a minute, the feeling stopped. For me. Tahlia seemed to still be going through with it, considering how she was writhing on the couch.
“Brian, how are you feeling?” Laura asked.
“Fine, but I wish you would have warned me.”
“... I didn’t know. Our tests never caused any reaction, so I assumed there wouldn’t be one.” Laura admitted.
“Well, there was one. It wasn’t that bad, luckily.”
“I’ll do better next time.”
“Nah. This is fine. Honestly, we should have seen this coming. She is my skill, so my body should react when she gains power, right?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“Tahlia, how are you feeling?” I asked her after she seemed to have gotten over the install.
“This is… the information … the technique … the power …”
“Tahlia?”
“... yes, Father?”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. More than fine. I feel amazing. I know so much now.”
“As opposed to before this?”
“Father, don’t be stupid. I meant so much more. It will take me a few days to think over all of this.”
“So no inventory freezing yet.”
“I’m not even an inventory any more, so no. I think I can stop the time for items you store. But I think I can do more, once I figure all of this out.”
“... you aren’t? Oh yeah, I think Laura did mention that…” I muttered as I opened up my status.
| Name: Brian Wood |
| Race: Human ! |
| Level: 66 |
| HP: 2350 |
| Mana: 2890 |
| Strength: 665 |
| Defense: 865 |
| Magic: 785 |
| Skills: |
| Pack Opener LV.4 (unique) |
| Different Dimension Factory LV.2 (unique) |
| Storage LV.10 (unique) |
| Telekinesis LV.2 (extra) |
| Summoner’s Unity LV.3 (extra) |
| Dungeon Founder (extra) |
| Summon Water Spirit (extra) |
| Health Conscious (extra) |
| Mana Control LV.5 |
| Water Spirit’s Blessing (Greater) |
| Language Comprehension (humanoid) |
| Slave Master |
| Slaves: Rhianna |
… alright. The skill is there. But what is wrong with my stats? Yeah, I know my HP and Mana are super high, as they have been growing super quickly lately, probably because I’ve been leveling up Inventory. But my other stats. They just grew a ton after the install. They were between 450-650 yesterday and now even my strength is 665. They all grew by like 200 points.
“Laura, will this be alright? I won’t get level up sickness or something?” I asked her, opening my status so she could see it. She can’t see it naturally while we are in the factory after all. Well, she could if she didn’t have her avatar out, but her avatar falls into the category of not technically being a part of me, so it cannot see my status, unless I open it.
“... wait? That much? … give me a second, please.”
After a while, Laura gave her answer.
“I believe you will be fine, but your body will be a little sluggish for the day.” She said. “But I will get a better estimate when you return and move your body around. I’ll also slow down the inauguration of the stat increases as much as possible, to lessen the burden.”
“... so I can do what we planned to do today?”
“The adventuring job? Yes. As long as you take it easy and just act as a commander. No fighting, okay?”
“Does summons count?”
“... try to not gain any experience for today. Unless you want to skip today’s level ups.”
“I can do both, if necessary. Even if I really want to level up either mana control or telekinesis, now that Tahlia has evolved.”
“I’m sorry you had to postpone it for my sake, Father.” Tahlia apologized.
“No, no. I should be the one apologizing. I forced you to wait for your evolution, because of my own selfish reasons. I should be the one apologizing.”
“... thank you Father. If it was for you, I’d wait a hundred times longer.”
After that, I hung out with my family a bit longer. Laura had fully completed Flaming Eternity for me.
And that means that I have all of the main sets completed. That I currently have unlocked. I still don’t have three toploader copies of everything, so that will be the next step, but I think we will get there sooner than later. Tomorrow night Laura was going to get all of the cards from the promo trades, so that will be something. I really need to open some new sets. But it’s not like I can just decide to get new sets. This far, I’ve only gotten them from system missions, and honestly, I don’t mind not getting new ones. Considering that usually new missions mean that someone is in danger. Well, not always, but still.
Maybe a level up to Pack Opener would do it, but I don’t really know how to level it up. Perhaps I really need to fly to the middle of that forest that is to the west of my dungeon and just summon a bunch of fusion monsters there. At least that place doesn’t seem to have any people. Exodia as well. I really should test him before I have to summon him in actual combat. And maybe summoning a demi-god will level my skill up.
I also spoke a bit with Lua. She was doing just fine. Another of the dhampirs had gotten True Blood Magic, so her mission was advancing. She had also learned how to quick swap between her princess dress and the clothes I gave her. At least she didn’t accidentally break them as well.
She also turned a goblin into her thrall, only for it to die the same day because it got into a fight with two other goblins. RIP Lua’s first thrall. You will be missed. … okay, probably not, because you were just a goblin. But it is great to hear that Lua is trying to learn her new skill.
After I opened my eyes and got ready for the day, I noticed that my body did feel a bit sluggish. Not sick, but more like it was sore from exercise, even if I didn’t really do anything major yesterday. But I think I can operate in this state, so I got up and did my usual morning routine.
“Brian, breakfast will be served soon. You should head to the dining room.” Ria told me after she came back from her own breakfast. She has been acting more and more like a proper maid every day. I guess the others are teaching her quickly. I really need to give them something to show my appreciation. If I had more generation points, I’d just make them proper maid outfits, but as I don’t I can’t. I guess I could just give them a bit of money. Or install a card in each of them. But I would need permission from the Earl for the installs at least. And I don’t really know what I would even install.
“Yeah. I’ll get going then.” I answered.
“... are you alright?” Ria asked.
“Yeah. Why?”
“You just seem, and please don’t take this the wrong way, off. You are also a bit more pale than you were when you woke up and your blood smells off.”
“... my blood? Really?”
“Yes. It usually carries a somewhat of a sweet smell which is really alluring, but it smells a bit off now. The usually mellow sweetness is almost overpowering with a slight hint of a burnt scent mixed in.”
“... How do you even smell it?”
“Using my nose? How do humans smell things?”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I’m not even bleeding or anything, so how are you able to smell me?”
“... I just can. Can’t you do that?”
“No. Humans can’t smell things like that.”
“Well, I’m not a human.”
“So just dhampir things, huh. Well, back to me. Is my smell really sweet? Can you describe it better?”
“... is that an order? Do I have to?”
“You don’t want to?”
“... I will if you order, but I’d prefer not to.”
“Alright. I guess it is fine if you don’t. But if even you think something is wrong, maybe I should get a professional in here to check me out.” I decided.
“Genesis Vampire Lord. Guardian Angel Joan.” I called out two monsters that I think can check me out.
Spoiler
[collapse]
I probably could have summoned a vampire other than Cain, but at the same time, better to be safe than sorry. And he will recommend who to use in the future, if I need another check-up.
And Joan is just the obvious choice for a light attribute healer. She just is the best I have access to. Well, I guess Shinato, King of a Higher Plane might be even better, but I still have to ritual summon him. And I’m not sure he is human sized, so summoning him inside a house, maybe not the best idea for the first summoning. If I recall correctly, in the anime Shinato was quite large. Not gigantic or anything, but definitely larger than a normal human.
“Your body is adjusting to what happened earlier.” Cain said after he used a blood scan on me. “Because of that, you are using more calories, or sugar in this case, than usual. That causes a slight increase in sweetness and the burnt smell comes from the excessive amount of CO2. But I don’t believe it will be a problem.”
“I’d agree. Your body is adjusting, so as long as you take it easy for the day, you will be fine. But be careful. As he said, you will be using up more oxygen than normally, so you shouldn’t do anything that will make you out of breath.” Joan added.
“Alright. Thanks, you two.” I said and unsummoned them.
“Brian? What are they talking about?” Ria asked.
“One of my skills evolved, so my stats grew quite a lot. Nothing more than that.” I answered.
“Evolved? Not, leveled up?”
“Yeah, evolved. Skills sometimes evolve into a stronger version.”
“Alright. Well, they said you should take it easy, so I guess we will rest for the day.”
“No. We are still going to go do the road safety checks. I promised we would do one today and I can just sit back and let my summons do all of the actual work.”
“... well, if you say so. But you will you call it quits if you feel bad at all, right?”
"Sure. I will." I promised.
With that decided, I walked to the dining room. I was actually a bit late, because of the check-up, so I had to apologize for having the others wait for me.
During breakfast, we talked about the details of the safety check. Paulina was again going to come with us, so there would be no issues with the adventurer’s guild. If the literal job giver is there and approves the information, they can’t really say anything. More abuse of higher position for the win.
Eating breakfast also felt like it improved my body, so that is nice. I definitely felt less sluggish now that I had eaten. I guess the extra calories help with the improvement to my body. I made sure to get a bit of extra breakfast into my body, because of that..
After that, we got our gear on and headed for the adventurer’s guild in Overdrive.
nro_8 Tahlia is now a unique skill. And a LV.10 unique skill at that. Now I know I didn't really go over a lot of what she can do, but I will. In a few chapters. But I'll just say this, as a unique skill, she can do a bit more than just store items and freeze the time of those items.
After waking up as Ria was changing clothes, I said good morning to her and jumped into the factory. No need to do anything else, right?
“Father, good morning.”
“Papa! Good morning.”
My two daughters were waiting for me at the control platform. Tahlia was in her classic pink onesie and Fantasia had copied her sister, except that hers was tiger striped.
“Good morning. Were you waiting for me?”
“Of course, Father. I’ve waited for a long time for this.”
“Yep. I waited with my big sis, so she wouldn’t have to wait alone.”
“I see. Where is your mother?”
“She is with aunty Mia. Do you want me to go get her?” Fantasia asked.
“Yes, if you would.”
“Sure.” She answered before running to the stairs, mounting the handrail and riding it down.
“... well, she is as energetic as ever.” I commented, looking at Fantasia, before I turned to Tahlia. “How are you feeling? Nervous?”
“Slightly. But every experiment we ran with Mother has been successful, so I believe everything will be fine.”
“I’m sure it will work out. Laura wouldn’t allow it if there was a chance for a major failure.”
“But even a minor one can hurt you a lot. Father, I am a part of you, so pain to me is pain to you. At the end of the day, I am just your skill.”
“Don’t say that. You aren’t just a skill.” I said as I took Tahlia into a deep hug. “You are important. You, Fantasia and Laura. You are my family.”
“But we aren’t real.”
“Don’t say that! You can’t say something like that. You are real.”
“But…”
“No! You are. That’s it. As your father, I’m saying you are real, and you cannot deny that.”
“...”
“Are we interrupting?” Laura asked, as she walked up to us, holding hands with Fantasia.
I was still holding Tahlia close to my chest.
“No. No you are not. Good morning, by the way.” I said, trying to get the previous thoughts out of my mind.
“Good morning. So the time has finally come.”
“The time for the Time Seal, right?”
“You just have to turn everything into a joke, don’t you?”
“Only when I’m scared.”
“We both know that is a lie.”
“... perhaps it is.” I admitted as I finally let go of Tahlia.
I had Tahlia sit down on one of the couches on the control platform and turned back to Laura.
“So, do I just install the card into her? Or into the server room?”
“Into her. Technically it will be installed into the skill, but as Tahlia is the avatar of the skill, she works the best as the medium for you to imagine the correct result.”
“Alright.” I turned to Tahlia. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, Father.”
“... you know you don’t have to call me so officially. Dad or papa works as well.”
“Would you prefer that, Dad?”
“...” Wow. That hit different. I didn’t expect the change of a word to change the way I hear it so much. “... I think either is fine. Even father, or just Brian is alright with me. You can choose.”
“Yes. Papa.” Tahlia answered, using another synonym.
… it might be just me, but papa really does feel the best. I don’t know why, but I just like it the most. Father is good as well, but dad … I’m not so sure about. It feels … off for me. I guess I’m more of a papa than dad. Dad just makes me think of Daddy. And having a teenager call me daddy … Well, let’s not go there.
I got out the card and held it to Tahlia’s chest, before saying: “Install.”
Spoiler
[collapse]
The card entered her body and as it did, I felt the familiar sensation of an install, even though I installed the card into her.
It wasn’t that intense. Actually, it was by far the least intense of the installs this far. I was still a bit worried, because of the entire dying thing, but Laura approved it so I should be fine.
After just under a minute, the feeling stopped. For me. Tahlia seemed to still be going through with it, considering how she was writhing on the couch.
“Brian, how are you feeling?” Laura asked.
“Fine, but I wish you would have warned me.”
“... I didn’t know. Our tests never caused any reaction, so I assumed there wouldn’t be one.” Laura admitted.
“Well, there was one. It wasn’t that bad, luckily.”
“I’ll do better next time.”
“Nah. This is fine. Honestly, we should have seen this coming. She is my skill, so my body should react when she gains power, right?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“Tahlia, how are you feeling?” I asked her after she seemed to have gotten over the install.
“This is… the information … the technique … the power …”
“Tahlia?”
“... yes, Father?”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. More than fine. I feel amazing. I know so much now.”
“As opposed to before this?”
“Father, don’t be stupid. I meant so much more. It will take me a few days to think over all of this.”
“So no inventory freezing yet.”
“I’m not even an inventory any more, so no. I think I can stop the time for items you store. But I think I can do more, once I figure all of this out.”
“... you aren’t? Oh yeah, I think Laura did mention that…” I muttered as I opened up my status.
| Name: Brian Wood |
| Race: Human ! |
| Level: 66 |
| HP: 2350 |
| Mana: 2890 |
| Strength: 665 |
| Defense: 865 |
| Magic: 785 |
| Skills: |
| Pack Opener LV.4 (unique) |
| Different Dimension Factory LV.2 (unique) |
| Storage LV.10 (unique) |
| Telekinesis LV.2 (extra) |
| Summoner’s Unity LV.3 (extra) |
| Dungeon Founder (extra) |
| Summon Water Spirit (extra) |
| Health Conscious (extra) |
| Mana Control LV.5 |
| Water Spirit’s Blessing (Greater) |
| Language Comprehension (humanoid) |
| Slave Master |
| Slaves: Rhianna |
… alright. The skill is there. But what is wrong with my stats? Yeah, I know my HP and Mana are super high, as they have been growing super quickly lately, probably because I’ve been leveling up Inventory. But my other stats. They just grew a ton after the install. They were between 450-650 yesterday and now even my strength is 665. They all grew by like 200 points.
“Laura, will this be alright? I won’t get level up sickness or something?” I asked her, opening my status so she could see it. She can’t see it naturally while we are in the factory after all. Well, she could if she didn’t have her avatar out, but her avatar falls into the category of not technically being a part of me, so it cannot see my status, unless I open it.
“... wait? That much? … give me a second, please.”
After a while, Laura gave her answer.
“I believe you will be fine, but your body will be a little sluggish for the day.” She said. “But I will get a better estimate when you return and move your body around. I’ll also slow down the inauguration of the stat increases as much as possible, to lessen the burden.”
“... so I can do what we planned to do today?”
“The adventuring job? Yes. As long as you take it easy and just act as a commander. No fighting, okay?”
“Does summons count?”
“... try to not gain any experience for today. Unless you want to skip today’s level ups.”
“I can do both, if necessary. Even if I really want to level up either mana control or telekinesis, now that Tahlia has evolved.”
“I’m sorry you had to postpone it for my sake, Father.” Tahlia apologized.
“No, no. I should be the one apologizing. I forced you to wait for your evolution, because of my own selfish reasons. I should be the one apologizing.”
“... thank you Father. If it was for you, I’d wait a hundred times longer.”
After that, I hung out with my family a bit longer. Laura had fully completed Flaming Eternity for me.
And that means that I have all of the main sets completed. That I currently have unlocked. I still don’t have three toploader copies of everything, so that will be the next step, but I think we will get there sooner than later. Tomorrow night Laura was going to get all of the cards from the promo trades, so that will be something. I really need to open some new sets. But it’s not like I can just decide to get new sets. This far, I’ve only gotten them from system missions, and honestly, I don’t mind not getting new ones. Considering that usually new missions mean that someone is in danger. Well, not always, but still.
Maybe a level up to Pack Opener would do it, but I don’t really know how to level it up. Perhaps I really need to fly to the middle of that forest that is to the west of my dungeon and just summon a bunch of fusion monsters there. At least that place doesn’t seem to have any people. Exodia as well. I really should test him before I have to summon him in actual combat. And maybe summoning a demi-god will level my skill up.
I also spoke a bit with Lua. She was doing just fine. Another of the dhampirs had gotten True Blood Magic, so her mission was advancing. She had also learned how to quick swap between her princess dress and the clothes I gave her. At least she didn’t accidentally break them as well.
She also turned a goblin into her thrall, only for it to die the same day because it got into a fight with two other goblins. RIP Lua’s first thrall. You will be missed. … okay, probably not, because you were just a goblin. But it is great to hear that Lua is trying to learn her new skill.
After I opened my eyes and got ready for the day, I noticed that my body did feel a bit sluggish. Not sick, but more like it was sore from exercise, even if I didn’t really do anything major yesterday. But I think I can operate in this state, so I got up and did my usual morning routine.
“Brian, breakfast will be served soon. You should head to the dining room.” Ria told me after she came back from her own breakfast. She has been acting more and more like a proper maid every day. I guess the others are teaching her quickly. I really need to give them something to show my appreciation. If I had more generation points, I’d just make them proper maid outfits, but as I don’t I can’t. I guess I could just give them a bit of money. Or install a card in each of them. But I would need permission from the Earl for the installs at least. And I don’t really know what I would even install.
“Yeah. I’ll get going then.” I answered.
“... are you alright?” Ria asked.
“Yeah. Why?”
“You just seem, and please don’t take this the wrong way, off. You are also a bit more pale than you were when you woke up and your blood smells off.”
“... my blood? Really?”
“Yes. It usually carries a somewhat of a sweet smell which is really alluring, but it smells a bit off now. The usually mellow sweetness is almost overpowering with a slight hint of a burnt scent mixed in.”
“... How do you even smell it?”
“Using my nose? How do humans smell things?”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I’m not even bleeding or anything, so how are you able to smell me?”
“... I just can. Can’t you do that?”
“No. Humans can’t smell things like that.”
“Well, I’m not a human.”
“So just dhampir things, huh. Well, back to me. Is my smell really sweet? Can you describe it better?”
“... is that an order? Do I have to?”
“You don’t want to?”
“... I will if you order, but I’d prefer not to.”
“Alright. I guess it is fine if you don’t. But if even you think something is wrong, maybe I should get a professional in here to check me out.” I decided.
“Genesis Vampire Lord. Guardian Angel Joan.” I called out two monsters that I think can check me out.
Spoiler
[collapse]
I probably could have summoned a vampire other than Cain, but at the same time, better to be safe than sorry. And he will recommend who to use in the future, if I need another check-up.
And Joan is just the obvious choice for a light attribute healer. She just is the best I have access to. Well, I guess Shinato, King of a Higher Plane might be even better, but I still have to ritual summon him. And I’m not sure he is human sized, so summoning him inside a house, maybe not the best idea for the first summoning. If I recall correctly, in the anime Shinato was quite large. Not gigantic or anything, but definitely larger than a normal human.
“Your body is adjusting to what happened earlier.” Cain said after he used a blood scan on me. “Because of that, you are using more calories, or sugar in this case, than usual. That causes a slight increase in sweetness and the burnt smell comes from the excessive amount of CO2. But I don’t believe it will be a problem.”
“I’d agree. Your body is adjusting, so as long as you take it easy for the day, you will be fine. But be careful. As he said, you will be using up more oxygen than normally, so you shouldn’t do anything that will make you out of breath.” Joan added.
“Alright. Thanks, you two.” I said and unsummoned them.
“Brian? What are they talking about?” Ria asked.
“One of my skills evolved, so my stats grew quite a lot. Nothing more than that.” I answered.
“Evolved? Not, leveled up?”
“Yeah, evolved. Skills sometimes evolve into a stronger version.”
“Alright. Well, they said you should take it easy, so I guess we will rest for the day.”
“No. We are still going to go do the road safety checks. I promised we would do one today and I can just sit back and let my summons do all of the actual work.”
“... well, if you say so. But you will you call it quits if you feel bad at all, right?”
"Sure. I will." I promised.
With that decided, I walked to the dining room. I was actually a bit late, because of the check-up, so I had to apologize for having the others wait for me.
During breakfast, we talked about the details of the safety check. Paulina was again going to come with us, so there would be no issues with the adventurer’s guild. If the literal job giver is there and approves the information, they can’t really say anything. More abuse of higher position for the win.
Eating breakfast also felt like it improved my body, so that is nice. I definitely felt less sluggish now that I had eaten. I guess the extra calories help with the improvement to my body. I made sure to get a bit of extra breakfast into my body, because of that..
After that, we got our gear on and headed for the adventurer’s guild in Overdrive.
nro_8 Tahlia is now a unique skill. And a LV.10 unique skill at that. Now I know I didn't really go over a lot of what she can do, but I will. In a few chapters. But I'll just say this, as a unique skill, she can do a bit more than just store items and freeze the time of those items.
