After a bit more discussion with Cass and Geralt, we parted ways with them after leading them back to their group. The group they had brought along were all surprisingly sitting around drawing and discussing with each other, Aerith in the centre. After listening in for a bit, I found out that they had been excitedly discussing ideas for the base, ranging from layout to types of buildings.
Aerith had a list of everything that I could help build and using that list they had been slowly developing ideas for how the base should look like, how the defences should be built along with locations of certain buildings. Their discussion reminded me of the various rewards I had yet to collect from our world, and after having a quick chat with Aerith to remind her not to tell them about our visit to our world, I dragged Sheep along to the campervan.
Entering, I saw Lemon sitting there with a handgun closeby.
“Time to swap. Help out Aerith, it seems the military guys are getting really excited about building and could use your expertise with Tradesmithing.”
“Ok. The two haven’t made any noise.” Lemon exits the campervan as Sheep and I sit down. Filling Sheep in on the details that I heard from Cass and Geralt, he looked a bit excited himself.
“Knowing about more places to explore will be a huge relief to us. Our only problem is a lack of fuel to actually travel to those locations as well as manpower. I suppose with Geralt’s group we could explore and loot them, but they aren’t going to be here for long. Are they very dangerous locations for us?”
“Not exactly. The locations Cass and Geralt shared with us have different types of Husks than what we’ve seen in the town. I described each type to them and their description tells me there are about two or three new types spread across these locations. Those nearby to these places of interest apparently don’t go near them either since they’re so dangerous.”
“So what are you planning to do? Head to those locations as soon as possible?”
“As much as I want to…no. Base comes first and I don’t want to leave a bunch of unknowns with you guys, I’d rather be here in case anything happens. So for the next few weeks I’ll be working away to work with everyone to start building our base. I don’t know why, but I’m kinda excited to build a base.”
“Oh I can understand that. Are you going full greed and aiming to get to Lvl 3 first?”
“If possible, yes. If I can achieve first out of all survivors I can use that as leverage with anyone we come across. I have a feeling that if we don’t keep pushing ourselves we’ll very quickly be wiped out, I don’t know why.”
“Well, the previous iterations all failed and they must’ve gotten far more powerful than us. Even if we’re the so-called ‘Potential Heroes’ that the System labels us as, we can still very easily be swarmed by a horde and killed.”
“Mm, alright, I’m checking out these rewards…” Opening the System, I clicked on one of the few flashing notifications.
First to Reach Ten Advanced Blueprints, you have been rewarded with the following:
1x Fragment of the lost Machinist Kingdom.
1x Blueprint: Machinist’s Workshop Addon: Dismantler
50x Job Points
A black, transparent stone appears in front of me as well as a blueprint. Picking up the blueprint first, I tried to learn it, however…
You must know Blueprint: Machinist’s Workshop first.
“It’s a dismantler, does that mean automation?”
“Tsk. Automation taking my job in another world, the irony.”
Using the Fragment, it’s exactly like the last time. Jumbled, messy knowledge entered my mind, none of it making sense. As it fades, I try and grasp anything but fail to do so.
Fragment of the lost Machinist Kingdom. 2/16
Ignoring it for now, I turn to the chain quest I received and its rewards.
The Machinist Queen First Quest Rewards:
1x Machinist’s Workshop Blueprint
1x High-quality machinery components of various parts (To be claimed with enough space.)
“Oh? I have to claim one of the rewards where there is enough space…” Explaining it to Sheep, he nods and gestures his head.
“Do it a bit from the base, we don’t want the military guys losing their minds.” Nodding, I pick up the Machinist’s Workshop blueprint and use it. The knowledge fills my mind as I realise this isn’t a room or anything, this is a full on factory style building! Everything within it would make building machines far easier, even allowing me to fully mass produce parts that would be needed. It’s not just a workshop either, it’s actually a massive machine! The amount of materials needed was nearly impossible for us right now, but standing I looked at Sheep.
“I have to ask Kate to leave me enough space!” Quickly running out, I found Aerith and told her exactly what I had just learnt, in excessive detail. With her panicking slightly and looking at her plans, she nodded.
“I can make room! Leave it to me, do you want me to build it?”
“No, I need you to help though. I need to build it myself for the quest.”
“Got it.”
Returning to Sheep, I explained the building and he just nodded.
“Makes sense. A workshop factory is perfect for a machinist.” Learning the addon, I found it to be a large machine that one could throw other machines into and it’ll dismantle it, producing all of the parts it had. Explaining it to Deven, he nodded lightly.
“That’ll free me up to do more with everyone else or dismantle alongside it. Though if you were to build a few hundred of them you wouldn’t need me then.” Chuckling, he asked me about the cost and as I told him he whistled. “You’re not building it for a long time.”
Sheep departs from the campervan as I offer to watch over the pair. Convincing him that I needed time to myself and that I would radio him with any news, I leaned back and digested everything that had happened in the last month.
So much had happened that it felt unreal. Being able to return home, see everyone there and get to say our goodbyes…I'm glad we took that chance, even if we missed out on more strength. Maybe it wasn't the best decision and maybe we will regret not taking the spell and talent in the future, but right now I have no regrets.
Before I knew it a full day had escaped me, and grabbing a few pieces of paper I just wrote down my thoughts. It's a mess but it helped organise my mind. As I used a Fireball to burn a bunch of papers, I heard a groan from the other room as footsteps slowly moved towards the door. Looking at the door as it opens, I didn't see Diana like I had expected, instead it's Jupiter's twin sister.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Hmm? Oh, it's the cute redhead. Hello, where are we? Who is the other cutie in the bed? Did I just have an amazing night and hallucinate everything? No, Michael is close by…"
Seeing her ramble on, I saw her eyes move up my body. She's checking me out, and not in the 'who is this' kind of way. Not really minding, I gesture to a seat opposite me. Instead she sat right next to me.
"Want me to call Jupiter?" A bit taken aback by her actions, I went to pick up the radio before she shook her head.
"Nah, he already knows I'm awake. Before he gets here I need some help. All of these strange boxes are showing up in my vision."
"Ah, right about those, they're the System messages. Here is how to close them…" Explaining it to her, she closes them while telling me what they were. They were exactly like the messages we had received including the Survival Basics One quest.
"Thanks, they were getting in the way. Say, what is a beautiful gal like you doing here?" Seeing her face get way too close, I could only hold my laughter as I realised what was happening. She's flirting with me!
"Oh, I'm just trying to survive, it's fairly difficult, you know?"
"Ehh, I wouldn't know anything about that. If you've kept yourself this cute for so long it mustn't be that difficult. Say, it's my first time you see, I'd love for a cutie like you to show me around."
Feeling no temptation at all, I just smile at her. "I can show you around, there are quite a lot of places here, including certain places where no one will bother you."
"How about me and you start with one of those places and see where it takes us?" She moves over a little more, our faces only inches apart. I had to admit, she is rather beautiful herself, but I felt nothing more than that. Remembering an old game Rebecca and I would occasionally play in this situation, I lightly moved a few strands of hair away from my eyes.
“Well, this place is one of those few places, as long as you’re not too loud no one will know you’re here.” Slowly placing a hand on her thigh, I saw her eyes become surprised for a moment. Deciding to push it, I leaned in a bit more. “Of course, if you can’t help but be loud, I can show you another place.” Moving my hand up slowly, I held my laughter as her eyes trembled for a moment.
“Ara? Ara ara? I-I didn’t expect to get this far.”
Before I could say anything, I heard my line stolen from a voice at the doorway. “Bzzt. You’re out, you’ve lost. Thank you for playing.” Turning my head, I smile at Rebecca who entered the campervan.
“Bek, she’s a lot of fun! I thought she’d go a bit further though.”
Rebecca smiles back at me as I move away from Jupiter’s sister, who looked completely confused. “Huh? What is happening?”
“She was leading you on. It’s an old game we used to play. If any girls hit on us in our world, we would push the limits and see if they either backed off or tried their luck. If they backed off they won, but if they tried to go further they would lose. It’s a way for us to alleviate boredom.” Rebecca sits on my lap and leans against me as I wrap my arms around her waist.
“Ah~ And here I thought I could get lucky in another world. I have to admit, the moment you caressed my thigh I became confused. I hadn’t thought it would happen since you were taken already.”
“You know about me and still tried to hit on me?”
“Well I saw a cute redhead sitting here and had to try my luck.” Seeing her bashful smile and shrug caused Rebecca and I to laugh. “I’m Melissa, as you’ve likely been told by Michael. It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s a pleasure, Melissa. I’m Winter, real name Rebecca. And this is Midnight, real name Ruby.”
“Eh~ So you are indeed the ones Michael told me about. Oh, it seems he is heading this way, I’ll go meet with him. I look forward to playing with you two later.” Giving us a wink, Melissa got up and left.
“Well, we need to consider what to do if Melissa does continue trying to hit on us after knowing the game.”
“I have a few ideas on how to handle it if things get too far. Oh! I nearly forgot.” Sliding off my lap into a seat, Rebecca pulled out a handgun and slid it to me. “Look at this with the System.”
Beretta 92X
Grade: Green
Enhanced Firepower: +50% Damage to Husks
-50% Damage to Humans
Enhanced Durability: +50% to Durability
Durability: 150/200
“Grade? Enhanced Firepower? Rebecca, how did you make this?”
“I honestly don’t remember. I started making it earlier, it’s one of the advanced models from our world. I fell into a sort of trance and while in it my mana slowly depleted but I didn’t stop and kept going. Before I knew it, I finished the gun and that’s what it turned into.”
“So you can make weapons that have Grades depending on how much mana you use?”
Rebecca shrugs as I hand the handgun back, before leaning against me, her hand creeping onto my thigh. My heartbeat quickens as I lean into her, hearing her quickened breath made me excited as my hand reached for her cheek.
“Oh, am I interrupting?” The two of us jump, scared out of our wits as our heads spin to Diana, who stood at the door to the bedroom rubbing her eyes.
“What is it with you and Deven interrupting us?!” Rebecca sighs before smiling at Diana. “How are you feeling?”
“I have all these strange boxes coming up…” Diana sits down near us and we help her out, showing her how to use the System while inviting her to the Clan.
“Oh, so I have to finish this quest to get a Job?” Diana, with our request, tried to open the Job menu. It had come up saying that the Job menu was locked, meaning the quest had to be progressed first.
“Mm, but compared to how it was earlier on, helping you get there won’t take too much time.” Picking up the radio, I told Sheep to come to the campervan. Upon arriving, Sheep sat down with us and after making sure Diana was okay, turned to us.
“Aerith and the rest are about to start getting wood. We found another forest nearby that isn’t as…grim, so we’ll be using those trees. When can you get started on the sawmill?”
“Now. The best option is to pack the needed parts into the semi and build it out where they want to get trees. I’ll also need to make a bunch of chainsaws, so I’ll do that before they head there. For now, it’ll be best if they work on getting the foundations done, wiring for power finished and the plumbing system laid out.”
“They’re working on that already. The military guys are actually really effective, hard workers the lot of them. They cheered for joy the moment we brought out cooked meat from our world. Dawn has also started levelling her Chef Job thanks to her time in our world. Turns out she made a lot of bread and while unable to get more recipes was able to learn a lot from our world too.”
“I wonder…Winter, have you shown Sheep?”
“Sheep, look at this.” Winter hands him the handgun, he nodded before handing it back.
“As expected. I had been wondering if there was a difference between the weapons we get from the System and from you making weapons, so I expected a difference like this. Hang on, perhaps it would happen with Dawn and Melody’s Jobs as they progress more? What about Ghost, Jupiter and you, Midnight?”
“No idea. I didn’t unlock anything nor did the System say anything about the trance, I did get more Job Points for making a Green Grade weapon though.”
“Well, you three will just have to wait and see. Deven, I believe these two have urgent matters to attend to, shall we head somewhere?”
Sheep sighs and looks at us. “Did you buy the sign?”
Winter lightly chops Sheep’s head as we laugh. Getting up myself, I shake my head. “I have to start on making these chainsaws and getting the parts for the sawmill ready. We’ll all be busy for the next few weeks, but I want to have a meeting in about two weeks.”
“Sounds good. I’ll show Diana around the camp. Oh, and Cass knows about our visit to our world.”
“Who has the big mouth?”
“No one. She figured it out from the food.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. How did she react?”
“I told her the truth, it’d been a reward for us to go back for a month and bring back two tonnes of stuff. She said she won’t tell anyone but did say it’s very possible that the rest will figure it out themselves anyway. She did swear on her life that she’d prevent anyone from being greedy, but the entire group hasn’t even had an inkling of greed and just been thankful for the fact we didn’t throw them to the ditch.”
“Alright, let me know if anything develops. I’ll be knee deep in machinery. I need to figure out where to progress this talent tree too. I still have no idea if I want to backtrack and get the previous nodes or complete Computing and see what lies beyond it.” Currently I sat at 580 Job Points in total, mostly thanks to our efforts in dismantling and rebuilding all of those machines in our world.
With Sheep and Diana separating from us as Winter and I headed towards an empty space, I opened the reward that stated it needed more room and claimed it again. In front of us, ten large boxes of mechanical parts appeared, all filled with various components. Eagerly looking through it all, I saw Winter claim her reward and two boxes filled with weapon parts appeared. Checking the durability on all of it we found it to be around 80%.
“So we get some good quality stuff, but it’s not much. I can’t make anything better than an assault rifle with mine, what about you?”
“Not much, perhaps about ten machines? That’s if I’m frugal about it. Well, whatever, it’s better than nothing. Let’s get all of this to our little workshop and get started.”
With that, we both carried the lot to a small old building we had claimed, setting them both up as a place to start working away, a place we would likely be locked up in for the next several weeks.