“So all a Matrix does is absorb passive mana into a cast spell?” I asked, Tiara and I both seated at the couch looking over homework.
“Well, they also act as a focuser. That much mana thrown into a spell has a higher chance of going wild, the Matrix helps contain and stabilize it.” Tiara explained.
It’s been about a month since I came to this reality and I’ve mostly settled in. My room is still kinda empty safe for neat little things I picked up here and there.
Since I arrived I’ve gained the Terra gem and learned how to use that in a fight. Can lift up, throw rocks, make them rise up into the air to pummel someone and can make instant cover for myself. Other spells I’ve learned involve basic fire ball, lightning bolt, and frost. I also earned my first skill point a week ago and applied it to getting Scan. That has been so useful.
“They are also used for quick temporary enchantments on weapons.” Tiara added.
“Is enchanting a weapon or item a different class from combat classes?”
“Sorta. It can basically fit in every class of magic so you mostly just look at the ones that matter to you. Permanent Enchantments though require either a mastery in enchanting to do by hand/hoof or an enchanting table and some resources to do so.”
“Ah.” I said with a nod.
Homework thankfully doesn’t last long and once dinner was over we began planning out what to do for me to become the strongest pony… person? Eh, the strongest in reality. It was a simple notebook with a list of items and possible locations.
“So, I’ve been thinking and we might need to expand the team.” Tiara stated, opening the notebook and flipping through the paged.
“Team? So others aside from you and I?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’ve been thinking it over and we at least need an experienced traveler and someone who knows the crafting and tinkering systems so we aren’t always buying everything. That gets expensive over time and we’d be getting plenty from exploring, drops and dungeons.”
“Oh. So, anyone in our classes fit those requirements?”
“Not really. Most everyone in class plans on doing their own thing or are just gonna get a job and live normally for as long as they want.”
“Oh. So, who else then?”
“I was thinking we ask for help from the Allies guild.”
“That’s… normally where people who are dungeon prizes go isn’t it?”
“That was the original idea, but over time people who wanted to join in on adventures but felt they didn’t have the skills to do it on their own applied to join a party and contribute to the teams.”
I have to admit, the idea that people come into existence as prizes in these dungeons was a complete shock. Thankfully the laws state that if the one who won them wishes to add them to the party or utilize their services or… company, the longest they can legally do so is a year. After that the person is free to leave or can even leave without ever joining a party, which is what most people do, hence the Allies Guild existing. Apparently Mr. Collins was a prize person. From what I heard he traveled with the Anthro Unicorn that won him and even after the year was up he traveled with them for several years before leaving after he found his wife.
“So, who do we look for then?” I asked, opening up some books from the library. The Top Ranked Guilds, Weapon Types For Dummies, and Travel Guide To Equis Lands of Homeworld.
"Well, first we gotta post an add in the Guilds bulletin board online. After that we sort through the submissions of those who want to join for the best candidates."
"Alright then. Oh, won't we also need a mobile base or something?"
"I've been thinking about that and figured if we buy some land, build our own base on it and link a vehicle to it we can easily portal to travel and home."
"We can do that? Cool! How much would plane land cost us?"
"Depends on what's on it and how big it is."
"And I imagine we have to be adults to own land huh?"
"Sixteen at least for the Equis Lands. So two more years. Thankfully I think that can give us plenty of time to save up, gather raw materials and such. That actually brings me to something. The world you arrived here in, you woke up in a church just outside a town called Coal Vein, right?" Tiara asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Well, the planet, Dechamore, is a resource haven with so much unexplored land, and don't even get me started on the underground, seas, moon and sun. We can travel back there and find so much raw material we can stash away for when we can buy some land."
"Hmm… can we buy land on Dechamore? If it's so unexplored then would that be cheaper?"
"Hmm… maybe. I'll have to look up the laws that place has on land ownership and probably check what the Property Guild says."
"There's a guild just for property buying?"
"And selling. You see, when a planet is colonized the one who colonized it owns it. There's only been a few greedy people who don't sell land on the planets they colonized, but those who do partner up with the Property Guild, they can do all that paperwork and such for you and they get a thirty percent cut of the sale."
"Huh. Guess that's just one of those things you don't think about but it's useful." I shrugged. How much land can you buy anyway?"
"Depends. The explored areas likely already have marked lots of land up for sale but unexplored areas are considered the best option. Say you map out and explore fifty thousand miles of land, since you maped out those fifty thousand miles if land you can choose your pick of a custom lot of land or have that all be one massive lot, that would be expensive of course."
"I'd imagine." I said with raised brows. "How does Colonizing a world work exactly? I don't think I found that in the history books yet."
"It's in the science ones actually. And it's actually really simple. You fly in a space ship to a blank world, they'll be basically pitch black planets with a sun and moon. Once you land on it just step outside and the world will terraform itself to fit your personality and such."
"How?"
"Code."
"Code?"
"Code is… it's like this energy that is mostly what makes reality work the way it does. Like the granddaddy of all magic, the dungeons look, monsters, world terraforming when colonized, and a lot more are all possible because of how code works. I don't know all the details. All I know is it just works and that's it."
"Huh… in any case, you think we should start off on Dechamore?"
"With so little of it explored, yeah. Exploring and documenting planets is a good way to get you noticed and a fun and productive way of getting stronger."
"Fair enough. Well, how will we go about it then?"
"We'll have to talk with Echo Dash about it. He can likely help fill out paperwork and stuff given he is our legal guardian til we graduate. Will make everything so much easier."
The next day was more of the same. At some point most of these classes just end up being classes like any other school. Even Magic class got a little boring when it's review work or taking notes. I spent study hall looking over the Mother's Sons Guild. This is the guild Jericho the Undead is number one in. The number one member of the most powerful guild in existence, overseen by The Mother herself.
Jericho the Undead. A master in hand to hand combat, pyromancy, swords, fire arms, maces, war hammers, spears, sweet Celestia it might be easier to list off what he isn't good with. Guess I better build myself an armory to get good with these weapons too. I sure know how to pick a challenge huh?
Since Tiara figures Dechamore is our best starting point I looked through the known lands and locations. Castle Ruins Caliporion. A Level 1 Arena Dungeon, it's good but really popular and so the bosses are typically taken out fast, leaving just the enemies. It's good and has good loot but not much raw material loot, mostly low grade weapons, jewelry and such. It would be good for gathering Rem to save up. The dungeon best for us to grab raw materials loot at is The Sinkhole. A level one dungeon that's basically a giant cave system going in and out of a massive hole in the ground ripe with raw ores, gems and such. The book even recommends bringing mining tools while there. There's also a lot of trees we can chop down that are part of the dungeon so they regrow every red and blue moon. We can definitely switch between these two on and off to keep money and materials on hand, we'll just need to get the land to build a home on and we can begin exploring from there. That's a good plan at least.
With classes over Tiara and I headed out shopping, Echo Dash with us as usual. "That definitely is a decent plan." Echo Dash said as Tiara and I recapped our idea. "Dechamore does have lots of available land for fairly cheap too. A fifty acher lot of land typically goes for two grand. I can look into it and their property ownership laws easily. As for heading to The Sinkhole, that is quite the distance. You'd be best off hitting Castle Ruins Caliporion til you graduate."
"Yeah but we need the materials from it. Buying them would be too expensive over time." Tiara stated.
"Not if you start off with a camp base first. One of those pop up buildings they sell for your base til you gather enough to build something bigger and better." Echo Dash replied.
"That could work but we'd still need land for the base." I said.
"Not if you buy a mobile camping base. They can be expensive but will be your best bet and you can legally camp out in either safe or hazards zones with them." Echo stated. "My first base was a mobile one and it suited me fine for the time."
"Huh… I guess that can work." Tiara said, thinking that over. "If we get it with a large enough warehouse room inside it that can house all the materials we find and can keep us on the move longer than a basic one." She began muttering in thought.
"Actually, I might have one you kids can have." Echo said, gaining our attention again. "It's an older model but it works fine and can be upgraded to the newer stuff with a system update."
"You'd… seriously let us have a mobile base?" I asked, shocked.
"I got it as a dungeon drop years ago and aside from looking nice I don't really use it. It should work well enough for your needs and does have private rooms." Echo said, stressing that last part.
"Yeesh, we get it, no casual sex." Tiara said. I promptly went red.
Apparently the long lifespans of everyone here makes things like sex more accepted… something I'm still processing. Heck I know herds were a thing back home but that didn't make them everywhere.
"You better not. Actually… you said you wanted to get help from the Allies Guild? This base might be a good place for them to stay. They can move it from place to place and gather supplies while you two attend classes. Then you can just teleport over to them after classes… and homework."
"Right!" Tiara and I said in unison.
"Good." Echo said, looking through his Assistant inventory. After a bit a small tube with a button on it appeared in front of him that he gave to Tiara. "It's called The Sky Shadow. Once you two are done here in the mall we can open it up and take it for a test drive."
"Are we old enough for that?" I asked.
"You are for Auto Pilot." Echo said with a nod.
When the shopping was done, we headed for the launch pad and let the Sky Shadow open to it's full size… it's amazing!
It looks like a fast sailing ship but made out of metal and the deck is covered with a some of super thick glass and the whole thing has this charcoal black paint job on it with the name, Sky Shadow, in bright white paint.
Like everything in this reality the inside was much larger than the outside. The first room that on a ship of this design would be the captains quarters, here it was the navigation room. There were seats for resting, auto pilot terminal, and lots of other neat stuff. From there below the deck was the living quarters. A hallway with six vacant rooms as big as our rooms back at the guild. There was also a gally, basically food storage and kitchen which was great. Below that was the storage room and… sweet… Luna…
"It's huge!" Tiara said, her voice giving off an echo. The storage room was like, the length of Sweet Apple Acres back home. Went on for almost forever and it was hard to see the end. "What dungeon dropped this thing?"
"A level four." Echo said, Tiara and I immediately turned to face him.
"You've been inside Level four Dungeons?!"
For those of you wondering, dungeons in this world have a ranking as well as a type. It's pretty simple. Dungeons are ranked as level 1 through level five, the hardeat being level fives. There's other stuff to tell but that's for a bit later.
Echo Dash rubbed the back of his head with a bit of blush. "It's not like I went in solo, I was in a party of at least twenty others when we entered. Rules was whatever loot we found we kept and boss loot was split. This thing was just one of the little keepsakes from those days. Yours now though."
"You are awesome!" Tiara said happily as I smiled. This is going good.
"This thing got weapons?" I asked.
"Yeah but I sold off the ammo long time ago, never used it and seemed pointless to keep them loaded. Thankfully the final floor below this is the armory and crafting room, one of the fabricators down there should still have the blueprints for the ammo for this thing's weapons."
"An Armory sounds very useful." I said, looking as the massive room just for storage purposes. "Guess we gotta get shelves and such huh?"
"Definitely." Echo said with a nod.
The armory and crafting rooms were both impressive, the whole set up was so perfect.
Tiara and I picked our rooms for when we are here and then Echo registered us as the owners in the control room. He then set the destination for Dechamore, by the Safe Zones edge near Coal Vein. Part of me was really wondering if anything changed while I was gone. I didn't know the planet, just Carla and the church keeper and that was pretty much it. Still, it sounds nice. The Equestrian lands here are nice and feel like home… but they aren’t. It helped me adjust but it’s gonna hurt too much if I try to stay.
I was setting up some posters I got today and setting them up, little personal touches and all. The time it took to get there passed quickly and once Echo parked it I stepped outside. Dechamore. Given how massive these planets are, I could not see the church I arrived here at. Should go back there, say hi to Carla. The grass was a lush green with patches of small wild flowers here and there. I walked a get yards from the ship and got an alert In my hud.
Warning! Entering Hazards Zone. Expect monsters while inside the area.
Proceed with caution.
Huh, really close to the hazards zones then. Don't see any monsters. Still.
I walked back into the safe area and began heading back to the Sky Shadow.
For those who are wondering, every world, their moon, moons if they have more than one, and sun, yes we can actually explore the damn suns of each world, have areas mostly randomly set with large areas known as safe zones and hazards zones. Safe zones are where everyone is, well, safe, no monsters appear here and everything is more or less peaceful. This is the zone you build a house, cities and such on as well as farms and ect. Hazards zones are another story. This is where dungeons and monsters all reside in.
Their sizes vary but typically they average about two or five Billion miles in size. Mind you that is the average size, there are bigger, and keep in mind these zones are all over the planets, so that should give you some clue as to just how fucking massive these planets are. Homeworld being the first and largest planet as every planet from this realities old multiverse merged into one, even the uninhabitable ones, they were terraformed on the merge. Gas giants too. Every planet colonized since then is on average half Homeworld's size… just try and do the math. When I heard that I just accepted it. This reality is weird. Fun, but weird.
Once back on the ship Echo Dash set it up so we can teleport to the ship and back to the dorm and Tiara was looking over a map to figure out where we can head to for hunting down materials and such.
"You two could join up with the Adventures Guild." Echo said.
"Lemme guess, they are all about adventuring the reality?" I asked.
"Yes, but they also reward you for it. For example, for beating a dungeon boss they give you extra rewards on top of the boss loot. The rewards are fitting and typically random but they also give Skill Points in a fair amount."
"They reward you skill points?" I asked.
"A good amount of guilds give Skill Points as rewards for completing guild affiliated goals, but they give out the most."
"How?" Tiara asked.
"The Grandmaster." Echo said simply.
Info dump again. I'm doing a lot of these. Anyway, the Grandmaster is basically The Mother's right hand, he oversees the dungeons, Arena battles, and the Adventures Guild. Apparently.
"I guess that would be best." Tiara said thoughtfully.
"Plus they let you go on custom Quests you can choose the rewards for. Keep in mind the more high grade the reward/amount the harder the quest they give you."
"How does that work?" I asked.
"Once joined the option for the custom Quests will be available to you. Just select or type in the rewards you want and the quest Type and hit enter and you'll be on your way."
"Is that abusable?"
"Yes and no. As a general rule the custom quests had a limit based on the one requesting it. For example, if you want weapons you can only ask for one weapon per quest. Elemental gems, and similar items are up to fifty but that because they fall under a raw resource category. Ammunition it depends on the caliber and quest Type selected, and you can't just request a quest for money alone, as is for beating a dungeon boss the guild will already pay you for doing that. You can also only ask for ten custom quests a day and depending on. The quest itself there is a time limit, failing the quest is also losing one of your ten daily quest requests."
Say that last part ten times fast. "Fair enough. Still, it can be very useful."
"Guess all that's left is to post the help wanted ad on the Allies Guild job board." Tiara said.
This is going good. Going great. This is all gonna be perfect in the coming days.
Fucking hell why did we get so many resumes?!
They were all digital, thankfully, but hell, there was a lot. We woke up the next morning to five thousand submissions and by study hall it jumped to eight thousand. By the time classes were over it was eleven thousand!
Tiara and I spent our time just looking through each and every one. For fucks sake, most of these guys don't have any prior experience other than the places around their home towns and such.
"Is there a way to make this easier?" I groaned, trashing another resume with zero experience.
"I found one possible person for our Experienced traveler." I walked over to get a look at Tiaras screen. Ali. Race was Anthro Kangaroo. Explored ten planets and helped map out at least two percent of each one he's been on. Keep in mind how big these worlds are, so Two percent is a lot more than it sounds. "That's pretty good, better than the rest so far." Tiara said.
"Definitely. He have a goal?"
"To map out an entire world as well as its moon and sun. He is also a hobbyist photographer and posts the pictures to his blog."
"Huh. Welp, better than sifting through more of the traveler submissions. So we can scrap those and just look through Crafter ones then?"
"I'll hold into them just in case he doesn't work out. But yeah I'll send him the message letting him know he has been accepted and to meet us at the Sky Shadow tomorrow, an hour after our classes are up."
"Sounds good to me."
With that done we looked through the resumes for Crafter and at least these all had some education in the field.
After sorting through about two dozen I found one that stuck out.
Mei Hatsume. Race is human, graduated with a major in support engineering and design and a minors in enchanting. Works as a Support Items Crafter for the Heroes Guild for the past ten years. "Hey, how about this one?" I showed the screen to Tiara who nodded. "Ten years experience building support items for the Heroes Guild is impressive. That guild goes through custom tech like nothing. Is she asking for any kind of compensation?"
"Just a steady enough flow of raw materials and a personal workshop."
"I think we can cover that. Well, Send her the message and meet up time and we'll see them tomorrow."
I did and we ate a quick dinner before going to sleep. Paperwork sucks!
I ran through the road with a smile. It was a carnival, and all kinds of fun games were around, the smells of food floated in the air and laughter and smiles filled the streets. It was amazing. Oddly when I woke up in my dreams I was wearing a black and white fedora and brown checkered scarf. Not sure why, but I do like the look.
I looked around, wondering what to take part in first. Ring toss? Skee ball? Oh! Dance Dance!
"Button?" I turned, seeing Tiara here. She had a ponytail with a rose hair clip on the left side.
"Tiara? Are you in my dream?" I asked, confused.
"Heh, yes and no. Remember in History class when we learned about The Foretellers?" I nodded. "This is their domain. The Sleeping Realm."
"So, we're asleep… sharing the same massive dream?"
"With everyone in creation who is asleep right now." Tiara said with a nod. "Izikai take a while to first enter it. Typically a week to a month or so. This place is all fun and games."
"Cool! Wait, does this place have dungeons too?"
"Yes but not entirely like in the waking world. The dungeons here are less about combat and more about entertainment. Like puzzles and parkour tracks and such."
"Oh. Any chance we can win useful stuff here though?"
"Always." Tiara said with a smile.
"... Can we take them with us when we wake up?"
"As long as it's in our Assistant or on our person, yes."
"This is gonna be so cool! Where should I start? Skee Ball? I saw Dance Dance over there earlier."
Tiara laughed. "Let's do the Dance Dance one. I have got to see your 'legendary' moves."
"Ask and you shall receive." I replied with a sly smile as we headed for the game.
I didn't get the high score like I did back home, I got a higher one! Those combat classes are really getting me in shape.
"Wow, you do have skills." Tiara said.
"Told you." I looked over to the prize table where a prize appeared in a flash of light. It was a box, bright yellow with a lot of colored bricks. Legos, 2,000 piece set. "Is that a toy?" I asked, picking up the box.
"Yup." Tiara nodded. "Those can be fun. Can build a lot of neat stuff with them."
"Do you mostly win toys and such here?"
"You have to look for the stalls that give out the good stuff as prizes. Those stalls typically charge a fee as it's most likely an adventure looking to make a bit of money and give away stuff they don't need or want."
"Ah. Where would those be?"
"Follow me." Tiara said as she flew a little bit in the air and guided me to where the pay-to-play-to-win-epic prizes booths were.
We came across one finally. It was a shooting booth. Hit ten of the moving targets and win either an Electronium Gem, a Water Gem, or a Fire Gem. Ten rem to play. Neat. "Now if only I could shoot a gun." I sighed. I did try out firearms once… never again. I have no idea how Tiara handles that recoil.
"You pay for the game and I take the shots?" Tiara offered.
"That works." I said with a nod and pulled out thirty rem. "Think you can win three times?"
"With that revolver they have for use, easy." She said with a nod. She walked up to the booth, placing the rem on the table as the booth owner replaced the grip for Tiara to use. I watched in awe as she hit each target. Three rounds, ten targets each, each shot a bullseye. She happily gave me the three elemental gems. "Told you, easy."
"How did you do that?"
She shrugged. "It just comes naturally I guess. Blades and such never did well for me in combat class, so one day Mr. Collins gave me a pistol and it was just easier. Ever since I've used fire arms."
"That's impressive. So, anything else you wanna win?"
"One that I can win? Hmm… any of those strength tests around?"
"This way." Tiara said with a smile as she led the way flying low.
We arrived at the strength tester. Ten rem also, five scores. Lowest was average, you win a plane Sheild, second was buff, win a pair of steel gauntlets, third was Super Strength, win some… diamond armor? Huh. Fourth was Hero Strength, win a bullet proof cape. Huh. Fifth was Demi God, win a mystery box of all lower tier prizes and five more random mystery prizes. Neat. I payed and with a whack using the provided hammer, got the Sheild. Huh, still, average is better than I was before arriving in this reality, so I'm not complaining. I happily put the Sheild away for now and Tiara and I wondered from booth to booth, winning whatever looked good or fun and getting snacks here and there.
I sighed happily, Tiara and I sitting at a bench for a break. "This is probably the best thing ever."
"Yup." Tiara agreed, snacking on a candy apple. "Typically I play a few games, get some food, or even enjoy the spa."
"There's Spa's here?"
"This place has everything."
"Sweet. So, how long til we wake up?"
"In your hud, there's the clock right? It keeps the time back in the waking world so when did you set your alarm?"
I looked at the clock. My alarm is set for seven, and it's three AM right now. "I got four more hours."
"Three for me. I get up at six." Tiara sighed. "So, what can we do to kill three and four more hours?"
"Hmm… movies?"
"That's a good way to kill some time. I think there is a theater near here?" She checked her map. Stars these huds are useful. "Yup. Half a mile west of here. Playing classics too."
"Classics like?"
"Iron Man, Zombieland one and two, Minions, and Moana."
"I've never heard of any of those."
"Let's start with Moana… awh crap, it's the live action remake. Alright skipping Moana and Minions then. Let's start you off with Iron Man and then hit the Zombieland ones."
"Why not Minions and Moana then?"
"Minions has been done to death and Moana… it's best we watch the original. Disney has never made a good live action remake. Ever. Even with real gods, living water and magic added to their budget."
Iron Man was epic! I want a suit like that. I need a suit like that! As for Zombieland, that was good. Odd, but funny and good. Wonder if there are pony versions of those movies? Probably.
The next morning Tiara and I woke up and went through classes like normal. Nothing much happened and by the time the school day ended we went back to the Sky Shadow with Echo Dash and thankfully it didn't take long for Ali and Hatsume to arrive.
Ali was as his resume stated. An anthro kangaroo male with the basic colors for a kangaroo save the shirt darker brown head hair with a green dyed streak through it. He wore a vest covered in pockets.
Hatsume was human, eyes kinda looked like they had crosshairs or something in them, pink hair kept in grades and large goggles on her head. She wore an all blue jumpsuit.
"Greeting you two." Echo Dash started. "I am Echo Dash, these two are Button Mash and Diamond Tiara. As there guardian within the Caretakers Guild I understand you two wish to aid in Button's goal?"
"As well as some personal reasons." Ali said, his voice gruff but young.
"Understandable. Now then, what are your reasons for wanting to travel with these two and what are you expecting in return."
Ali spoke first. "On my own I can only do so much. I enemies in the hazards zones often are an issue for me given I'm not much for combat. I don't wanna get strong I just want to fill out all the empty areas on a worlds map. My dream is to map out a whole world from when it's generated til every corner of it is known, followed by it's moon and sun. All I really would need in return is…"
"Someone to get you through the monsters?" I asked.
Ali nodded.
"Then what can you offer to counter this dilema? You can't offer to join the fight like Tiara can or Hatsume, so what can you bring to the team?" Echo asked.
"My fans." What? "Everywhere I have been that is new I have photographed and live streamed, people live seeing the new undiscovered places. My most popular videos are when I ran across travelers and heroes fighting in the unmapped areas. So if I travel with people who can fight into unknown places and get it all on video between add revenue and donations I believe I can help give you all a hefty sum of rem a month."
"How much do you make now?" Tiara asked.
"A month as I am, about five grand a month, with twenty five grand saved up I'm willing to put towards this team for a budget."
We all shared a look between us. That would be very useful to have that much to start off with.
"If you are willing to also manage the groups budget, then you're welcome to join the team." Echo stated.
"That's more than fair." Ali said with a nod and a smile.
"Now than, Hatsume?" Echo asked.
She nodded. "I'm like most all my other reflections. I enjoy building." She said, sounding quite relaxed. "Machines, weapons, armor, it's all my passion. But… that's where it gets upsetting. I feel like I'm just one of a group of copies. Most of my coworkers are also reflections of me. I want to keep building but I don't wanna feel like if I don't go to work one day one of the others can pick up the slack or just cover me entirely. I wanna build for someone or a team as their personal Crafter rather than on the Heroes Guild assembly line for gear."
Echo nodded at hearing that. Wow… that… that's gotta suck. Guess everyone has problems, even in a reality as amazing as this one. "And on your resume all you asked for is raw materials."
"That's right." Hatsume said with a nod.
"That can be more than fair. And you can help when Combat comes up?"
"I'm good with guns, all my current gear I made and even gear I didn't make if there is an issue I can make repairs with my tools. And, like most all my reflections, I have an Ability Quirk. Zoom."
"Quirk Ability?" I asked Tiara in a whisper.
"You know about abilities that are basically super powers right?" I nodded. "Well, Quirk Abilities are abilities that are semi unique and are genetic. They can be a lot like normal abilities, giving you impressive powers and such or be useful or useless. If a person with a Quirk Ability has a kid with another person who has a Quirk Ability, then the two Quirk abilities can either combine into something utilizing both parents quirk abilities, or can even mutate into something else entirely. If they have a kid with someone who doesn't have a quirk Ability then the kid can be born with the quirk Ability of the parent, or none at all."
"Huh. How many abilities are genetic like that?"
"There's different categories but typically they all fall under the Powers category for Abilities, which has three sub categories. Meta Abilities, Quirk Abilities, and Mutant Abilities."
"Huh. What's the difference?"
"Well, you already know about how Quirk Abilities work, Meta Abilities are similar but the power of the parent is always passed to the child. If both parents are meta, then the child inherits one power of the other. Mutant powers are interesting. The child is born with a power but it's rarely the same or even similar to the parents. Say one parent is super strong and the other can stretch like a rubber band. Their kid could have super speed or invisibility. It's pretty much random."
"Huh. Can someone have all three?"
"Easily, either being born with all three or gaining them."
"You can gain Superpowers like that?" Tiara simply nodded. "Awesome. Lemme guess, Arenas and dungeon?"
"Pretty much."
We looked back over, Echo Dash was having Mei Hatsume and Ali fill out some paperwork I think. After a bit he registered them as Caretaker Guild members, meaning they can be like Echo and take us places outside the guild and such without needing to possibly call authorities.
After that was done we formed a party. My hud showed Hatsume, Ali, and Tiara all in the lower left. Images of their faces with smiles and a heart next to those heads. Huh, neat. With that Ali and Hatsume began setting up their rooms and getting everything ready. I was outside, enjoying the air. Part of me wondered, this planet was more towards resources. Is there anything neat I can find by just digging? I used my terra powers to just lift chunks of dirt and rock out of the ground, each stomp brought out more dirt. Nothing but rocks and dirt, figure- oh hey a bent can.
The can was old, rusty and missing the top completely. I smiled. Heh, guess this is the first thing we’ve ever found. I’m gonna put this on my shelf.
The next day felt like classes were dragging for so long. Honestly, I am pretty sure those clocks were toying with me. Finally through when it was over Tiara and I finished up homework we weren't able to finish in study hall and called Echo Dash and we teleported to the Sky Shadow- woah!
The deck was, well, decked out! Turrets lined along the sides pointed out into the open space, barrels of, well, something has to be in them, were all over the place and storage boxes labled Weapons were placed here and there.
"Where did all this come from?" Echo asked.
"Hatsume." Ali said, walking out from the control room. "Went out not long after you all left and came back with all this, left again, came back with more then began working through the night. Finally clocked out a few hours ago after crafting a few hundred rounds of ammo."
"Ammo for what?" Tiara asked.
"Little bit of every caliber. It's what's in the armory at the moment."
"And the weapons boxes?" I asked.
"Whatever weapons she made or found while out. Not much in them but they look useful."
"Well, she certainly is working hard to prove herself." Echo said, taking a look around. "I'll set course for our first dungeon. Hopefully Hatsume can join us, if not well, this work around the ship is more than enough compensation."
"Where are we headed?" I asked.
"A loot rich level one dungeon known as The Dragons Den. The bosses were all cleared out already so we can just get the loot and give you two proper experience inside a dungeon."
"Sweet!"
The ride to the Dragons Den would be an hour, and so far I was mostly just looking through the weapons boxes. Most were guns, which Tiara happily looked over as a secondary for herself, but the few that weren't were pretty neat. A weaponized glove with a buzz saw at the end, a mallet with a button that when pressed releases a burst of liquid nitrogen to inflict ice damage, and a folding sword that… well, it just folds but it's really cool looking.
"You really should carry more than one weapon on you Button." Tiara said as she sorted through several pistols in the weapon box.
"Can't Hatsume make repairs if I need them?" I asked.
"Yeah, but sometimes they break beyond repair, like melt or you can up and lose them."
"Huh. Fair enough. So, backups then. No guns though."
"I warned you my rifles recoil was rough."
"I didn't expect it to turn me into the projectile. How do you even handle it?"
"The key is short burst for best accuracy and less chance to get knocked down by the recoil."
"Is there anyway to bypass that?"
"Well, upgrading weapon skills helps. There are mods and enchantments that can do the trick, but they are hard to come by on loot and expensive to buy."
"Weapons have their own skills to upgrade?"
"Yeah. They upgrade in two ways. One is by finding it in the weapons section. So long as you've used it you can upgrade your skills with that weapon. Things like accuracy, aim, recoil, ect."
"Same goes for blades and bludgeons then?"
"Yup."
"Good." I nodded, wondering what my extra weapons should be. I still have the dagger they gave me when I first arrived, but it's not that good. Maybe if I get it upgraded.
As I looked through stuff and settled on a a short sword, Tiara picked a crossbow that was already modified to work with her battle saddle or by a mouth grip trigger. That surprised me. I still can't believe Hatsume did all this overnight.
Speaking of her, I spotted her walking down over to us now. "Hey." She said.
"Hi. You did all this in a single night?" I asked.
"Yes and no." She said, walking over and taking a seat next to where I was. "The weapons I already had made. Built them from whatever scraps or parts I got to keep while working or whatever I found here and there. I just went and got them all out from my place and began modifying them for you and Tiara."
"Ah. That makes more sense then. So, what is your typical combat style?"
"Ranged honestly. Guns and such mostly. Kinda suck at hand to hand or swords and all that. Besides, with my Quirk Ability, ranged is the best option."
"Makes sense. What about magic?"
"I never gave it a shot honestly… think I should?"
"Definitely. Before magic I had to grab just about everything by my mouth, and now I can use levitation, shoot lightning, fireballs, effortlessly list up chunks of rock and soil for projectiles and walls for cover. It's so worth it."
"Hmm… maybe."
"Hatsume?" I asked her. "You… back when you talked with Echo Dash… you don't like your other reflections that much, do you?"
She sighed, hugging herself a bit. "If I'm honest… I hate them." She admitted. "They make me feel like some… mass produced toy. Synthetic beings that are mass produced have more individuality that I do… it's why I did all this. Quite the guild, worked my ass off last night… I don't wanna feel like-"
"You're replaceable." I finished. She nodded.
"I love building, fixing and making gear and all that… but so do just about all the other Mei Hatsume's in this neverending universe. If I'm gonna stick out, it's not gonna be because I'm building the best equipment for profit or fame. It will be because I built the best equipment for the strongest people, privately, and exclusively."
I nodded, giving her a smile. "Then I'll become the strongest." I held up a good at her. She smiled back, raising her hand in a first ti it and we hoof/fist bumped. "It's a promise."