“This is very good news!“ Su'ong stated, rubbing her hands together in anticipation of a meal that Alan hadn't meant to sign himself up for.
“My mind is made up! I will be the one to provide you with your first Witch! I already planned to challenge my wretched, Bog Witch of a cousin to trial by combat for what she's done to me.“ She narrowed her eyes to slits.
“When I get home, I am going to tear her limb from limb, and that very night, I will cook you a feast fit for the Human's King himself. I can't imagine it will taste very good, but perhaps with enough seasonings she will suffice as a side dish…”
“I would like to try some as well!“ Reggie said unexpectedly, standing up and facing Su'ong with pleading eyes. “I know you said I have to go my own way… And I will. But would it be alright if I leave after the feast instead?“
Su'ong flashed the Wraith a bright smile that failed to mask the dark intentions hidden just under the surface. “Agreed. I can't imagine a more fitting end than to feed her lifeless body to the very Dungeon I've wasted away in. If you can get my Class Scroll out of that ring, I will even consider making dessert.“
That was all the motivation that Reggie needed. Without another word, he held out his right hand, and emptied the contents of Alan's Storage Ring. First came his Tortoise Scale armor, which Alan already knew he was going to have to give to Su'ong. At least until they could find her something more fitting. He was happy to sacrifice his gear if it meant getting her clothed.
His daggers, Staff, a bunch of blank sheets of paper, and some chunks of charcoal were next. “Like I said,” Reggie turned his lip up with disgust, “it's all just a bunch of random junk in here.“
The reason Reggie had gone out of his way to cover the rocky shoreline with plantain leaves became self evident when a torrent of trail mix and jerky strips rained out of his outstretched palm, pooling up in the center of the leaves. At least this way Alan wouldn't have to pick out his rations from among the dirt and stones.
Standing over the second leaf, Reggie held out his hand and repeated the process.
The food looked good, but the subtle clinking sound of thousands upon a thousands of metal coins colliding with one another was like music to Alan's ears. Although he already knew that he owned over ten thousand (Copper) Lotus Coins alone, the sight of them all in the same place, at the same time, was shocking.
Dumbfounded by the sight of his own riches, Alan kneeled by the small hill of coins and scooped up as many as his arms would allow him to hold. It was a wonderous sight. He cackled wildly, flopping down on his side and attempting to bury himself. As Alan stretched out in his riches, pondering what the actual worth of his hoard was, Reggie moved over to the final leaf and finished emptying out the last of the Storage Ring's contents.
Once again worried about the mental stability of her Soul-bound partner, Su'ong shrugged her shoulders and started digging around for her Class Scroll.
“This is a pittance,” Reggie said smugly, failing to understand why Alan was so worked up. “On our way to the Core, I will take you through the loot repository. Our stores are admittedly low, but there will be plenty enough Lotus Coins left for you to see what true wealth looks like.“
“Whenever you are finished doing whatever it is that you are doing, use that bag over there to store your garbage in,” Reggie motioned towards the base of the Plantain tree, not even bothering to try hiding his impatience.
Curiosity piqued, Alan stood up and brushed himself off. Leaned up against the tree was Reggie's travel bag. Now that he was able to get a closer look, there was something not quite right about it. There was obviously a bag sitting there. He could see the damned thing. Yet at the same time, his mind was trying to tell him that it wasn't anything more than a shadow. A gentle nudge with his foot with was enough to satisfy him that the bag was real enough.
Alan lifted it up by the thick leather strap and turned it around. It was warm to the touch, faded in spots, and the bottom was worn completely smooth. The bag was quite old, and smelled a bit musty, but it had obviously been made of high quality materials.
Holding the blocky, rectangular bag out at arms length, Alan cocked his head and looked it over. No matter how he thought about it, calling it a bag was a stretch of the imagination. The way he saw things, it would've made a lot more sense to call the bag a box. There was a lid and everything. It was little more than a leather flap that was held closed with two small silver clasps, but it was most definitely a lid.
The metal clasps were small, yet ornately engraved with runic symbols. When he placed his fingers on them, the bag-box began to emit a faint grey light that immediately resonated with something inside of him. It felt similar to a System Oath locking into place, only much less jarring. A gentle squeeze of the metal fasteners was all it took to unlock the lid. Alan lifted the top and gasped. The only thing in there was a churning mass of colorless energy.
It was mind boggling to gaze upon. Almost like someone had trapped a black hole in an old leather case. Unable to make heads or tails of what he was looking at, but sure as shit not willing to risk losing another limb to Reggie's bag, Alan shut the top with a loud snap, and activated [Examine] to try and get an idea of what in any of the Nine Hells he was dealing with.
Remarkable! Your Skill (B)[Examine] has grown to Lvl 10!
Caution! Your Skill (B)[Examine] is prepared for Skill Evolution!
Proceed with Skill Evolution? Yes/No
The description of the bag appeared, giving him a moment to ponder his options.
(Rare) Interdimensional Storage Case (Soul-bound)- A premium quality storage device expertly crafted from the flesh and Beast Core of a Riftwalker. Enchanted with a diverse array of anti-theft and anti-tampering Spells. Contains 10,000 cubic feet of storage space.
Caution! This (Soul-bound) Storage Device is currently Soul-bound to (Alan Gerald Robbins) and (Su'ong Zhú).
It was a real life bag of holding! Uncle Alex owned one of these, and Alan had always wanted one. Best of all, according to the description, there was enough storage space contained within the case that he could potentially store his entire house with a fair bit of space left over.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Eager to test out the capabilities of his new Storage Case, yet tired of putting off the inevitable, Alan selected Yes to his Skill Evolution, and braced himself for the jarring sensation of phantom hands making modifications to his brain.
Caution! Your Skill (B)[Examine] is attempting to Evolve!
Contrary to Alan's expectations, aside from the notification, all he felt was a slight pinch behind his eyes before another notification popped up.
Remarkable! Your Skill (B)[Examine] has Evolved into the (Common) Skill [Appraise]!
(C)[Appraise] Lvl 1- Upon activation, this Skill Allows you to attempt to glimpse more detailed information on whatever object or entity you are focused on.
Success rate, and amount of information gained increase with Skill level. (At current Skill Level, you are able to accurately Appraise the value of objects up to the (Uncommon) Tier, and determine the highest Stat of Entities up to 10 Levels above your own.)
The only reason he could come up with off the top of his head for his Skill Evolution suddenly going so smoothly was his recent Evolution to the (F-Stage). A single phrase from his Evolutionary notifications came to mind.
Your body has acclimated to the Energy-rich environment of the Multiverse.
Is it really that simple though?! Alan wondered. It was crazy to think that there was such a drastic difference between Evolving Skills at the (G-Stage) and the (F-Stage).
I guess now that my body has been adapted to better fit the energy of the Multiverse, the System has an easier time making modifications to my Skills… Or something like that.
Knowing what he knew now, or at least what he thought he knew, Alan felt foolish for putting off the Evolution of [Multiversal Language Comprehension] for as long as he had. Why wait? I might as well just get it over with. Mind made up, Alan called up his PSA and opened it to the Statistics tab. Once he had gone over his Skills list, Alan noticed that [Multiversal Language Comprehension] wasn't the only Skill he'd forgotten to Evolve.
[Dual casting] was also prepared for Evolution. And that was the one he was most eager to Evolve.
Evolving [Examine] had been fairly straightforward. Gaining the ability to view enemy Stats seemed like a fair boost. Judging the value of objects up to the (Uncommon) Tier was unexpected, but he certainly wasn't going to cry about it.
Alan didn't have high hopes for Evolving [Multiversal Language Comprehension]. Not even close. As far as he could tell, his understanding of the Beast-Folk language was as good as it was going to get. The only thing he could think of to improve a language Skill would be adding new languages or something similarly disinteresting. He fully expected that one to be a bust.
But [Dual Casting]? That one had some real potential.
Excitement danced in the pit of his stomach as he thought about all the potential shifts the Skill could take in its Evolution. There were countless directions he could imagine it going, but only a few seemed likely. [Dual Casting] was, after all, nothing more than a (Common) Skill.
Chances were, it was going to be something akin to doubling up on the already-dual-cast Spells. However, he was holding out hopes that it would be more along the lines of [Triple Casting].
He still had countless ideas for potential Spell mergers after all. Adding in a third Spell would increase the options by dozens, if not more. The only problem was, the entire listing for [Dual Casting] was greyed out. No matter what he tried, it refused to respond to any of his repeated attempts at mental selection.
With a displeased grunt, Alan chose the listing for [Multiversal Language Comprehension] instead. Selecting Yes called up the usual prompt.
Caution! Your Skill (C)[Multiversal Language Comprehension] is attempting to Evolve!
It was just as worthless as he expected.
Remarkable! Your Skill (C)[Multiversal Language Comprehension] has Evolved into the (Common) Skill [Multiversal Language Comprehension 2.0]!
(C)[Multiversal Language Comprehension 2.0] Lvl 1- This passive Skill allows for increased communication and understanding capabilities between Sentient Races of the Multiverse. Several new languages and dialects have been added.
Communication and understanding improves with skill level.
Although he had somewhat expected that was going to be the case, it was still a bit of a bummer. For all intents and purposes, the Skill had remained virtually the same. Sure, a few words had been added, but how much better could it really be when it was still listed as a (Common) Skill?
Luckily, it wasn't all bad news. There was still his brand new, and simultaneously old, Storage Case. Alan flipped back the top of the case, and tossed out a hasty [Appraise] at the miniature black hole. Nothing in the description had changed aside from him now being aware that his Storage Case was worth an estimated one (Platinum) Lotus Coin.
Making sure to keep his fingers a safe distance away, Alan dropped a handful of trail mix into the sketchy-looking black hole hidden just beneath the lid of his inconspicuous travel bag. As the rations passed through the threshold of the case, they made slight ripples on the inky surface and vanished. It was like he'd dropped them into the depths of space, and watched as a handful of his dwindling rations ceased to exist. Instead of the expected flash of light, or maybe even strange sounds, the reality was admittedly disappointing.
Although the visual display was lackluster at best, curiosity was starting to build. Part of him wanted to start shoveling his goods down into the seemingly bottomless hole in a meaningless attempt to fill it up. Yet until he figured out how to retrieve his inventory, he felt it best to hold off.
All it took was a thought, and his trail mix was back in his hand. He wasn't even touching the case. Startled at the sudden, and unexpected return of his rations, Alan popped them into his mouth, and pondered over the implications.
At the very least, one of his main worries had been alleviated. He had already been getting nervous about the general feasibility of using Storage Case. In comparison to his Storage Ring, a Storage Case just seemed like it was going to be cumbersome at best, and a serious disadvantage at worst. If he had to stop and unfasten those tiny clasps every time he needed to switch weapons, it wouldn't be long before he ran into some serious issues.
As to the limitations of the case, well, that was something that he was already planning on testing out. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his mind, Alan followed his first instinct and began shoveling everything he currently owned into the depths of his case.
He started off with the small stuff first. Rations, Lotus coins, Mana Crystals, all of the various odd and ends within reach were unceremoniously tossed into his inventory. It all disappeared faster than it took him to grab another load. Wanting to try something different, and needing to test the capabilities of his new Storage Device, Alan grabbed his Warlockwood Staff and tried dropping it in horizontally.
Right as he was sure it was going to bounce off the edges of the case, space itself around the Staff seemed to warp and twist. Disregarding the physical impossibility of the task set out before it, the Staff vanished into the case just like everything else.
Alan was so focused on the mind boggling sight of his Staff folding in on itself and fitting through a far-too-small opening, that he didn't notice Su'ong approaching until she tapped him on the shoulder.