Chapter 031

It turned out to be a mix of pity and a pep-talk.

As good as he was with his customer service persona, he was terrible with those kinds of conversations. So, he kept it short, assuring them that he’d be fine before moving to the front door and using [Modify Matter] to remove the stone from the building.

The duo made to follow him in, but he waved them off, citing the need for a bit of quiet. Looking embarrassed, they acquiesced and made their way to where a few other guards were gathered.

Once inside, he heaved a sigh of relief before plopping down into his comfy chair.

‘There’s a lot to do,’ Avi said from beside him, having kept quiet the whole trip even though she’d been “beside” him the whole way.

“That there is,” he said, suppressing another sigh. The thought of moving still brought feelings of discontent and… sadness. Sure, he’d needed to move a lot over the years, having had a bit of wanderlust in his youth. But moving always sucked. He hated the packing, and the unpacking even more. Trying to get everything settled into a new place, was… unsettling for him. He’d grown to be a creature of habit over the years and change wasn’t something that he’d come to like.

Heh, yeah. No getting around it now, he thought as he once again remembered his amputated leg.

Then he dismissed those peripheral thoughts and manifested [Astral Construct], putting in enough power to get five human sized constructs. After that, he once again concentrated on [Ectoplasmic Creation]. This time, he focussed on making lots of particularly cut boards. Boards that could then be assembled into large crates by slotting them together just so. To carry his stuff in. But to also allow him to pop the most important stuff into his inventory while saving slots.

Next, he instructed his constructs to begin assembling the crates, making a bit of an assembly line out of it that went form his living room all the way through to his kitchen. He stopped them once he had ten crates made, though, as he was running out of physical room. That said, it looked like he still had enough for another thirteen crates, so he was sure that he’d have enough for everything, and then some.

With that now done, he instructed a constructs to start packing away the food in his cupboard, another to start packing away the things in the spare bedroom, another on the bathroom, and another for his bedroom. For the last one, he had it start in the living room, carefully instructing it on how to pack away the electronics. In between, he manifested [Ectoplasmic Creation] once more, this time to make packing materials so that things wouldn’t break by accident.

Beyond needing to disassemble a few items, like the beds and table, he just went from room to room overseeing their work. It went fast, so he quickly stored away the first crate into his inventory, and was happy to see it just taking up one slot.

Then, as things cleared up, he went to the fridge and stored it away, happy as a clam that it fit. So, next was the mini deep freezer.

The only things that didn’t make it into his inventory were the larger, less important things like the spare appliances, the beds, and other furniture. All of his books went it, leaving him with just five slots left.

Thinking about it some more, he started reviewing [Recycle], wanting to take everything with him that he could possibly take.

While he reviewed, he absently sent his constructs to pile things near the outside door in preparation for them being loaded into the wagon.

After another hour or so, he started feeling more confident with [Recycle], so he gave it a try on the wall in the hallway.

The basics of the Power were as followed:

* It broke down an item/thing into its constituent parts.

* Said parts would be shaped into conveniently sized blocks.

* Augmentation options include further reduction of items, to the point of atomic separation into individual piles.

For example, he could take a lump of steel and [Recycle] it. He’d then have the option to separate the iron from the chromium from the carbon from the everything else in there!

It was quite the Power, all told. Though, he suspected to be able to augment it to the point of separating atomic elements, he’d need to get much better with [Delve] first.

The results? A stack of dry wall, some screws, and a pile of dried paint. Now, he’d just used the minimum parameters of the Power, but it was still pretty good.

So, instead of continuing, he dismissed his constructs and hobbled over to the front door to get the “movers”, as he was starting to think of them as.

They seemed impressed by how much had been packed away, but got right to work. He supervised what he could, making sure that easily broken things were handled well and then stacked with care. It went pretty fast, and soon his apartment was as empty as it was when he’d first moved in. He’d even had them pack his weights.

With that done, he asked them to wait a bit more. They, of course, agreed, and went back to doing their own things while he went back inside and started going ham on the place with [Recycle]. Soon, the whole place was just one large, cavernous room with a dirt floor with stacks of construction materials distributed throughout.

He’d taken extra care when dealing with the wiring, as he wanted to keep everything in a usable state afterwards. He’d also gotten a surprise when he started pulling up the floor. Altaea had installed a water tank, as well as a separate reservoir that [Cleansed] all of the waste that went through it. Really, there were two modified tanks, one for hot water, one for cold.

Not only that, but she’d enchanted the whole thing to keep a minimum volume of water. Meaning, he’d never run out of water so long as the enchantments held.

That whole setup had taken a while to first understand, then to disassemble without breaking. Thankfully, Altaea seemed to have anticipated him wanting to take it with him at some point, so she’d made it modular. Which all then fit into another crate that went into his inventory.

The electrical panel had been slightly… nerve wracking. He wasn’t an electrician, and the only training he’d had on that stuff had been back in the 9th grade, in shops class where they’d taught basic house wiring. Emphasis on basic.

But, he made do. It was a bit easier due to the wiring already being coiled up and waiting to be packed away. He just… didn’t want to touch any of the connectors. So, he’d created a nice, insulated, box in which to pack it away. And, voilà! He was done with that.

Then came the h-vac system, but that wound up being a bit easier, as its connections were simple. He was very glad to take it along, as it would prove invaluable when he inevitably tried to reproduce the technology.

His thoughts then turned to the structure of the place, having already [Recycle]d the windows and the spaghetti-like wire grates he’d made for them.

It would be annoying, but he’d need to start from the top, then slowly work his way across to the stairs, then down. The only thing he had reservations about was showing what he could do to strangers. Sure, they’d notice when they came in to get the last of the stuff from inside, but seeing it happen in real-time was a bit different.

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‘They’ve been pretty good to you, you know,’ Avi piped in, getting a nod from him.

‘Yeah, it’s just…. I’m bad a sharing about myself. And this, this is kind of personal on a level of “might affect my life later if I share”, kind of level,’ he sent, not quite sure how to articulate his feelings.

‘That is entirely understandable,’ she agreed, nodding. ‘But you’ll need to let people in at some point. So, why not now?’

If he could grind his teeth, he would have due to how frustrated he felt. Intellectually, he knew all that. Emotionally… there was a big-ass wall he needed to get over before he could get there.

But.

He really didn’t want to leave the structure there. Not just because it would be a waste, but because he also didn’t want another place for hazardous beings to nest. Or lair, or whatever you’d call it.

But also, it was a part of his world, a world that he might never see again. And it was hard to leave behind.

Joram took a few breaths, then entered into [Meditation] to help calm his turbulent heart and emotions. He did not know how long he stood there, on one leg, balanced on his crutches, but when he came out of it, he really did feel better.

Congratulations! You’ve levelled the following Skill!

- Meditation 8 -> 9

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud at that. Well, that was at least something.

Now feeling better, he stepped to the door, opened it, then went outside to let them know what was happening next.

Seeing as how the contents of his apartment had only taken up one wagon, they didn’t mind him trying to bring more with them. The wagons were there to be used, after all.

So, he got a few helpers and began taking down the moss stone crenellations. He’d have five helpers each holding onto a section of moss stone, then he’d un-fuse them from the roof. They’d then take their load down as the next set of five helpers would line up.

It would have been much faster if he’d used [Astral Construct], but he wasn’t quite ready to share that much just yet.

As is, the work went faster than the initial setup had. It took less than half an hour to clear the crenellations and to get started on the giant slab of concrete that was his roof. Which, upon reflection, was a bit more complicated than he’d initially planned for.

There was a lot of rebar in the concrete, making it a bit more complicated to deal with. He thought about trying to just cut the concrete into sections, but then discarded that idea. Then he realized that he could just [Recycle] the top, layer by layer as the rebar was exposed. At that point, he just used [Modify Matter] to gather up the rebar and turn it into large ingots.

By the time the roof was divested of its rebar, he was in no way comfortable walking over the thin concrete that remained, so he had kept to the outer walls, choosing to stand there as he worked, eventually ending up at the moss stone landing. The last bit was kind of fun for him, as he could now target the entirety of the roof with one manifestation of [Recycle]. So, he did.

He watched as the concrete in the centre of the roof quickly receded to the edges, forming into concrete bocks that were about 30cmx20cmx15 in size. They’d then each fall through the opening to land on the dirt floor of the inside of the apartment. Once done, he carefully made his way to down the stairs and let the movers know that it was safe to go and pick everything up inside.

While they were doing that, he dismantled the stairs, then started on that wall.

Between his larger psionic power reserve and his increased regeneration rate, the work progressed much faster than he’d anticipated. They finished up well before dusk, having snacked all throughout the day on rations that they’d brought. He politely nibbled on the rations they kept offering him, but made sure to keep it to a minimum, as they needed to eat more than he did.

Ha.

Between the concrete, moss stone, and added rebar, he found out that it was a bit too much for the wagons. So, instead of leaving most of it behind, he chose to leave the concrete behind. He could always come back for another trip by himself later, especially since he could just store pallets of the stuff away into his inventory. Well, sided pallets with lids, anyway. Couldn’t trick the System too much.

With them now unloading the concrete, and redistributing the loads, he decided to walk over to where he’d killed those first hobs the day before.

Reldan noticed, and decided to follow him. But he didn’t mind. He was a good kid trying to look out for him. So, he didn’t say anything as he hobbled along, eventually getting to the scorched area to have a look around.

It took him a few minutes, but he eventually found a crystal amongst the vegetation of the forest floor. She smiled, then went over to the next flattened area where he was sure that another hob had fallen.

Reldan’s interest had peaked, though, so he needed to let him in on what he was doing.

“I’m good and finding stuff, so let me help!” Reldan insisted, looking excited to be doing something other than looking around for possible threats.

So, they spent another few minutes looking around, eventually finding three more cores before calling it.

Grade C Monster Core, High Quality.

- Hobgoblin

Analyze gave him some information on it, but he really didn’t know what to make of it. Sure, “high quality” sounded great, but what did that really mean in terms of what he could sell it for? Let alone Grade C.

Shrugging, he stored the four cores away as he and Reldan made their way back to the wagons where it looked like they were ready to head off.

So, he once again climbed up to the driver’s bench and leaned back. For as little as he’d done today, he was surprised at how tired and sore he felt.

“I’m going to take a nap,” he told the driver beside him, who just nodded as though he’d expected it.

Not wasting any time, Joram got as comfortable as he could on the thinly padded bench before closing his eyes and meditating his time way.

* * * * *

Myra could chew rocks! She couldn’t believe that Joram had managed to slip away after she’d, embarrassingly, fallen asleep after her outburst. She’d been trying to share her feelings, and he’d just hopped off!

He could have at least taken her with him!

*Squeak!*

A kit caught her attention with its adorable cry as it pawed at her leg. Picking it up, she let its wonderfully soft fur comfort her, its adorable enthusiasm to be held by her easing her further away from her wrothful mood.

But she was also worried about him. Melois had said that he’d appeared fit as a fiddle, given that he was missing a leg and all. But Melois had been more surprised to find her asleep in Joram’s bed. So had she. She hadn’t thought that he could move her around like that without waking her, but she must have been exhausted to the point of obliviously sleeping through it.

But the memory of the kindness of the blanket once more warmed her heart. He hadn’t needed to do that, but he had, and it had- even through her annoyance of being left behind- made her happy.

So, there she was, taking care of her charges at the shrine as she thought about the day. She’d heard from her mother that several of the spiritual foxes had chosen to follow Joram through town, even going so far as to watch him before he left. She didn’t know what that meant, but the honour of having that many poly-tailed foxes following you wasn’t something common, or even rare. It was more on the level of a fabled event.

That said, she’d also had the spirit foxes follow her about. Everyone had said that it was a sign that she had been destined to become a [Miko]. She’d shrugged it off, as she’d done every other expectation cast her way by others over the years. She just really enjoyed playing with, and caring for, the foxes. That was more likely the reason behind being offered the [Miko] Path when she’d turned fifteen, not some destiny crap.

But, again, why had they followed Joram like that? Was it because he’d been injured? The spirit foxes were well-known to care for injured people, after all. But that many? And even one of the six-tailed foxes had followed him.

Stumped, Myra went back to attending the kits, brushing and cuddling as she tried to work through everything.

* * * * *

Joram was… glad to be back. He’d developed a bit of anxiety about the goblins, if he was being honest with himself, and having some pretty solid walls between him and any more goblins was reassuring.

By the time they passed through the gates, he saw Celys waiting for them to pull up. A runner had probably been set to let her know when they returned. After all, it made sense that she’d want to know when her people returned, and if they’d returned safely.

“So, did you get what you needed?” She asked, looking over at the fully-laden wagons.

“Mostly,” he replied, shrugging. “When I feel a bit better, I may head back out and get a few more things,” he said, eliciting a dubious look from Celys.

“Well, just so long as you’re careful,” she said, shaking her head a bit. “Say, is that Moss Stone in there?” she asked, thankfully changing the subject.

“It is indeed the moss stone,” he confirmed, suddenly remembering her offer to buy the stuff from him.

“Great,” Celys said cheerfully as she stepped over to have a look. “I’ll have someone take a look at it in the morning. But if it’s all like the stuff on the top, then I’m sure that you’ll get a fair price,” she finished by giving him a thumbs up, throwing him off balance.

Is that a thing here too?