One if By Land: Part 23
Their trip down the mountain took less than a whole day, although they definitely took advantage of Spike's durability and Pinkie's bouncey nature to hit that speed. That might have contributed to the fact that he didn't get any kind of climbing or mountaineering skill from the endeavor: A pretty small disappointment all things considered. One less skill he could level, one less skill he felt compelled to level. Definitely a wash overall!
Victory Cupcakes wouldn't be useful under the circumstances, but the improved regeneration from Emerald Juleps more than offset the scrapes and bruises they racked up on the way down. They'd even found a few interesting stones and herbs in the mountainside, all of which got Inventory'd right away to avoid losing track of them. Their trip down had been less 'athletic spectacle' or 'leisurely stroll' and more 'hilarious mad scramble', so they were only just settling down to their first and only meal of the day at the foot of the Canter Mountains.
Rather than worry about what to make, Spike decided to start testing out more of the food that he picked up from Morricolte's. It was a change of pace to eat restaurant-level stuff, especially fancy Canterlot-tier Istallion food, when they were out on the road like this. He definitely didn't knock the experience: It was a nice way to add some civilized comfort to what had been a hilariously uncivil sort of day.
"Well I've got to admit, that was less of a failure than I expected it to be!"
Spike quirked an eye-ridge at her.
"...How badly did you expect us to fail?"
Pinkie shrugged.
"Badly enough that we'd give up and like, walk the safe way down or something? This was way more fun! Plus I learned all sorts of fun new cliff-bouncing tricks, although there hasn't been a real cliff-bouncing competition since my Nana Pie was a little filly."
Spike decided the better part of wisdom here was in quietly serving pasta and refusing to comment on anything: Plus, he basically agreed. A more measured route with actual guides might have given him a new skill and some benefits, and a safer route that started with returning all their rappelling gear would have been far less painful. This was definitely more fun than either of those, so it won.
Dinner passed quietly and comfortably, both of those being surprising. The weather was quite nice now that they were down here, mostly sheltered from the woods and undisturbed by anypony else. The quiet was odd because, well, him and Pinkie Pie. But they did both have voracious appetites and since they were actively trying to study this meal...
In the end they spent a solid hour talking after they were done, comparing potential spice blends to replicate the seasoning and figuring out what the optimal pasta choice was. At some point he would break out the gemstones and try to add something inspired by this to his ever-growing recipe book! For now they had to decide if they were going to push through the night or hit the hay after what had ended up being a long day. He didn't need to sleep, biologically, and Pinkie Pie had her own weird enigmatic energy, but... still, he'd feel bad forcing her to keep marching with him.
He turned to Pinkie Pie and spread out his claws to both sides.
"Well, does this seem like a good spot to settle in for the night?"
Pinkie looked around a few times (including roaming around his body as if she expected him to pull some kind of trick) before nodding.
"Yuppers! So what are we goin' with? Tent? Open sleeping bags? Raw ground?"
Spike smiled at her just-barely-off prediction and silently pulled a chunk of lumber from the Inventory and onto his open arms, so now it was laid across his shoulders in a cheeky sort of pose.
"I was thinking more ‘entire house’, or a crude attempt at one: Kinda surprised you didn't question me during all of our supply shopping."
She blinked a few times and then gave her own wide-hooved shrug, rising up onto her hinds.
"I have learned never to question a professional at work!"
Right as she finished her sentence, a claw hammer and a box of nails dropped out each side of her mane, landing in her open hooves as she grinned at him.
"From one professional to another, of course."
He leaned forward and kissed her before pulling out more items so they could get to work.
"Of course."
Assembling a sparse shelter out in the middle of nowhere was a lot easier when you had enough material to build an actual house in your Inventory, and said Inventory to move it all... plus a Pinkie Pie to lend her own unique talents to the endeavor. For actual long-term habitation this would end up being a disaster, but Spike was putting this all together with the intent of taking it apart again in the morning.
Why go through all the effort? He had learned during idle testing that he got Crafting experience from breaking things down into their component parts: Not just some experience, but sometimes even more than the initial build-up! He had a hunchy sort of feeling that disassembling things he hadn't even built in the first place would be able to give him access to either guidance or schematics for them.
With that in mind, they would be building a minimal shelter each night before bed by putting all of his tricks to work: Gamer's Body and his Dragon's traits, the Montage Song, his ability to grow and shrink on command... Not to mention everything that Pinkie Pie could bring to bear. Even some professional work crews would be put to shame by what the two of them could accomplish with just a few hours and a (magically potent time-stretching) song in their hearts.
Since Pinkie had her mouth occupied with hammers and nails for much of their work and Spike had his full of music, they didn't get to talk much during the process. Sometimes he'd let the song drop out for a few beats to ask a question or fire off an answer, and they could trade information readily in the small gaps between chorus and verse. Any prolonged conversation would have to wait, however.
Spike had a lot of plans for this technique in the future, but he had to start small to build up skills and experience. It was really a lot like any of the other things he had trained, and his Gamer's abilities were just as helpful. Observe and his Crafting experience allowed him to lightly modify the simplest blueprint he could find and trim it down even further. The stallion at the camping shop had explained this was the most popular cabin design for those looking to 'get away' from the Canterlot day-to-day, and Spike had snatched it up along with all the others he saw at a real steal...
Which is not to say he stole them! At the very least, he hadn't triggered a thievery skill in the process, so that had to count for something. But he couldn't help the fact that he had Photographic Speedreading skills and an Eidetic Memory, now could he? So every single blueprint he had perused at the store got recorded cleanly, and his system or engine or subconscious (or Discord?) or whatever even did the courtesy of adding them to his crafting repertoire.
This plan had been for a two-story cabin with a loft overhang for a bedroom, and one U-shaped core room taking up the entire bottom floor. A few modifications based on his knowledge and he had the plan stripped down to just the core first floor: More than enough for the two of them to sleep through the night, and much easier to take apart in the morning. Ideally he'd be able to keep adding wrinkles and new complexity each time, or even upgrade to more complex designs entirely.
After just two hours (realtime) they were done making a home at the foot of the mountain range. He had to admit that they were definitely overdoing it... But overdoing it to this degree was a ton of fun!
[A Nameless Shack]
Construction Quality: 84/100
Material Quality: 90/100
Location Optimality: 72/100
A personal shelter built by an unlikely couple on vacation together. Adapted from the original plans made at Piton's Provisions, this trimmed-down version will not have stability or weather resistance enough to last more than a few days before damage sets in.
Spike smirked at that last bit: As if he had any intention to use it for more than eight hours. Plus...
"And now for the finishing touch: Dragon's Den!"
Pinkie ooh'd and aah'd as... well, as basically nothing happened. Not visibly anyways! But she and Spike were both able to see the little shack's description leap in quality, transformed entirely. His own view of the description briefly blurred from the pain of burning through his entire mana bar in one shot, even dinging off a tenth of his health in the process... But it was worth it.
[Spike's Shockingly Sufficient Shelter]
Construction Quality: 84/100
Material Quality: 90/100
Location Optimality: 72/100
Enchantment Level: ********
Warding: Forbidding- Entry, Ban- Insects, Avoidance, Ignorance, Seclusion, Soundproofing
A personal shelter built by the Gamer and his partner during their quest to return home. Built with the first-generation of the Gamer's modified shelter schematics and then reinforced with his own warding and home-keeping skills. Despite its lacking roof, supports, foundation, and placement? Even a direct magic attack on this ramshackle building would likely leave no marks in the process.
Pinkie held up a hoof to him and smiled at him in the ever-growing dark.
"Shall we retire for the evening?"
He ignored the hoof to sweep her up in his arms entirely, letting the door swing open under his mental command as she squealed and giggled.
"I believe we shall!"
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and there was only one bed
Punching down into health through all the Mana on a single action? And being sucessful? That usually gets a real load of XP through Who Dares Wins?
The lower the quality of materials the far harder if not supposedly impossible it gets for certain buld levels depending on skill level, like you wouldnt really expect sand and snow to be able to make constructs like competition sand structures and ice palaces etc?
11219563
Plus sound proofing!
WE CAN GET TOGETHER
Cool warding options.
It'd be funny if CHANGELINGS are affected by 'Ban-Insects' wards.
I like the alliteration of the shack name.
Spike knew what he was doing when the shack has soundproofing!
11219905
I'm imagining Changelings gently bumping into the windows!
11220119
window sounds
11219905
It will be a useful skill during the Invasion.
11220227
And the whole "Insect Affinity" thing seems like it has an out-of-universe basis in Thorax existing.
I know that I'm getting ahead of myself, but it seems to me that at such a pace in 10 years, or maybe less, Spike will become at the level of Discord's power, and what will happen in 15, 20 I'm afraid to imagine.... Portable house.. There's probably nothing more to surprise me, but I like where it's going.
11222596
Someone did the math on third edition D&D based on the in-game assumptions, and you can go from first level to epic in a little over two months if you don't bother with downtime.
11222596
A Benediction breaks off pieces of someone's power and place it into others, so Spike might deliberately use to Benediction to stay "alicorn-powerful" and not become "Discord-powerful".
They actually spend time sleeping instead of taming the twin Dragon in the cave of pink pleasure?
Funny how magic makes basicly a Tent into a fortress