Flying on the Sandy Express was definitely faster than riding the Jake Carriage, even if Sandy wasn’t in top form. After only about a day, they returned to Earth, where Sandy dropped off Jake at Skyggen before heading off to head back to the Order. Jake did end up asking how Sandy even traveled back and forth, as he usually had to use his connection to Villy when teleporting, and the answer was as obvious as it could be. The teleportation circle made by those snakes had just been altered a bit to allow Snappy to do the same thing the Viper did.
With Jake and Sandy split up once more, Jake made a quick visit to his family, who were all surprised to see him back so soon. Luckily, the moon being haunted was a universally good explanation for why he hadn’t wanted to stick around there. It did have the slight downside of Adam being very suspicious of the pretty rock Jake had brought back, and it took a lot of effort to convince him that particular rock wasn’t haunted.
Jake ended up staying in Skyggen for another day before he decided to head back to Haven. This time around, he didn’t have any stops on the way, so he just took the teleportation circle back. Honestly, the best new thing Jake had gained during all his time in Nevermore was definitely the Unseen Hunter skill, as it allowed him to travel around without being bothered by anyone. He could even take public teleporters and stuff without a whole crowd gathering to stare at him.
Plus, he could skip queues. A bit unethical, but a perk of being invisible for sure.
As Jake had already talked to Sandy about, he truly didn’t have plans set in stone. Yet it felt like he didn’t really need any plans either, as the Prima Guardian stuff was right around the corner. Having spent fifty years in Nevermore had changed his perspective on time quite a lot, and waiting not even two years was barely worth mentioning. It was a few good alchemy sessions at most.
Once back in Haven, Jake started out by quickly stopping by Arnold’s place. The man wasn’t surprised when Jake came at all, clearly able to see through his stealth skill. Truly, further proof Perception was the best stat.
“Hey there,” Jake said after he was let in as he joined the scientist in his workshop. As always, Arnold was working on stuff Jake didn’t at all understand, but a lot of it seemed themed around space exploration stuff. Jake got the feeling this was the topic the guy obsessed the most over these days.
“My satellites spotted you returning from space. Did you arrive on the moon safely?” Arnold asked with a genuinely curious tone.
“Well, we did arrive safely,” Jake scratched the back of his head. “Can’t say it ended well, though.”
Arnold raised an eyebrow, clearly communicating he wanted Jake to elaborate. So Jake did and told Arnold everything that had happened on the moon, including the presence of the Ghostvine and how Sandy believed the B-grade had merged with the core. Likely irreversibly so. He also included his future plans.“Hm. If this was before the arrival of the system, I would call anyone wanting to destroy the moon someone aiming to doom this planet and humanity. Now, I am not even certain the gravitational forces applied to us by the moon have any tangible effects, nor that there will be any noticeable fallout should the moon cease to exist,” Arnold said after thinking a bit.
“I kind of assumed you would have told me trying to blow up the moon was a bad idea,” Jake muttered.
“I have no attachment to the celestial object. Meanwhile, I can see the risks associated with an instinct-driven antagonistic planet-sized plant living this close. Especially one that seems to carry an innate hatred for life. Getting rid of, or containing it, might be a necessity, not a matter of your vanity,” Arnold said, fully on board with Jake’s brilliant plan.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a bomb capable of blowing it up lying around, would you?” Jake asked.
“No,” Arnold shook his head. “I will not be able to make one before B-grade either.”
The way he said it made it clear the guy had already very much considered the limits of how destructive bombs he could make. Jake wasn’t sure if that should make him worried, but he decided not to be. Just to make a small mental note to not piss off the guy unnecessarily.
“Do you still have the Blackpoint Nanoblade Katar?” Arnold asked after a bit, changing the topic entirely.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I do,” Jake nodded, surprised, as he took out the weapon and quickly checked it out.
[Blackpoint Nanoblade Katar (Ancient)] – A katar with a nanoblade made of a composite alloy formed into an ultra-thin blade. The blade itself can cut most materials effortlessly but has little to no effectiveness against magical wards or defenses when not infused with mana. The tip of the blade appears to have been touched by the void. A coating on the blade allows it to have an incredibly high level of mana conductivity and can handle most types of mana. The handle contains a series of energy cores capable of storing mana of any affinity. This stored energy can all be released at once through the tip of the Nanoblade. Enchantments: Extreme Conductivity. Blackpoint Burst.
Requirements: lvl 200+ in any humanoid race
“Did it serve you well during Nevermore, or did you switch to another weapon?” the scientist asked, as he took the katar from Jake without even asking.
“I used it all throughout,” Jake said. “I even had it repaired… three times? All done through system stuff or on city floors. It did a good job, but – and don’t take this the wrong way – it did fall off quite a lot toward the end. Especially the Blackpoint Burst was barely worth using anymore, as I could, in many cases, do more damage without it, and the slight wind-up time made it difficult to even land. But the katar as a whole was still damn sharp and did its job the whole time.”
Jake had genuinely liked the weapon. It was a real stabber. When he first entered Nevermore, it was sharper than even Eternal Hunger, though by now, there was a vast gulf between the two weapons, with the mythical Eternal Hunger having far surpassed the Nanoblade in every area. Not surprising, considering the weapon was constantly growing the more Jake killed and the more souls it ate.
“That’s only to be expected,” Arnold said as he inspected the weapon, finding quite a few chinks in it from the many years of use. “Do you need it currently, or may I have it back for a time?”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“You’re gonna upgrade it again?” Jake said with a big smile.
“No, I’m going to melt it down and make an entirely new one,” Arnold shook his head. “The methods used during this one’s creation process aren’t up to par anymore. However, I shall analyze its Records for use in the creation of the new katar.”
“Fair enough,” Jake nodded. “I would be more than happy to get a weapon upgrade before the Prima arrives. Do you need any payment or…?”
“I already owe you for the Automaton Spaceship,” Arnold said, as he pointed and made a wall see-through, revealing the giant spaceship behind it, with robot arms poking it all over, doing science stuff. Jake had naturally already seen it in his sphere, but observing it with his eyes was still impressive.
“In that case, thanks in advance,” Jake smiled. “I’ll be in Haven for the most part should you need to contact me for anything.”
“Very well,” Arnold nodded.
Having nothing more to talk about, Jake headed out and back to his little lodge. He was still impressed by how utterly massive Haven had become, and it was honestly to the level where it made Jake a bit uncomfortable. One thing was for sure, it was good Miranda was the person actually in charge of everything and not him.
Returning to his lodge, Jake didn’t wait before heading down to the alchemy lab in the cellar. The last time he was there, he hadn’t really checked out every room, but this time, he did. One room he had remembered was the basin room or whatever it was called. It was a room with a lot of different basins Jake had planned to make and store different liquids in large quantities inside.
He hadn’t ever really used it, but now, he believed it would be perfect because he knew what he wanted to spend the next two or so years working on:
Acids.
Jake had only begun to touch upon it during the House of the Architect and realized how well his arcane affinity synergized with that particular branch of alchemy. It would be a waste not to explore it further. The large basin room, with several different square basins sectioned off by glass walls, would be a perfect place to test things out and store different acids.
This was one of the contraptions Hank had proudly shown off during his tour of the place after Jake came back from the Treasure Hunt. Arnold had helped make it with the glass walls and stuff, and it being glass walls was honestly perfect. That meant Jake only had to put down a glass bottom of every basin, and he would have perfect containers for acids.
As of right now, not all the different sections were raised, but a few were, and one of them even had water inside it. That’s when Jake remembered what he’d done when he was here way back then. Checking out this particular section, Jake saw a stone lying at the bottom of the water as he smiled and shook his head.
[Dewstone of Serenity (Legendary)] – A small stone created by the combined effort of a group of water nymphs to help heal a close friend. This stone was eventually acquired by a powerful vampire and brought to Yalsten, where it has been ever since. Will passively transform surrounding water by infusing the power of serenity into it. Effect lessens, and the transformation process becomes slower the larger the pool of water. Has many alchemical uses
“Yeah, I had completely forgotten about that,” Jake said to himself as he also checked the water itself.
[Concentrated Serene Water (Epic)] – This water calms the mind of anyone who consumes it, allowing them to more easily focus while suppressing the effects of most mental afflictions. Will restore a bit of mana, health points, and stamina upon consumption. Continued consumption will help heal some soul injuries. Has many alchemical uses
“And I’m pretty sure that was only rare rarity before. I guess it grew more potent over time, hence the “concentrated” tag,” Jake continued muttering.
This was a nice little pleasant surprise that really shouldn’t have been a surprise at all, but Jake blamed the way the system improved memory. You had to think about something to remember it, and Jake sucked at thinking about stuff not related to his immediate surroundings or current situation.
“Hm, maybe I should clean up my spatial storage at some point,” Jake said to himself before quickly dismissing the idea. That sounded way too much like work. Better to just leave everything in there till he randomly remembered something. It wasn’t as if he had anything important stored away that he should really be remembering, right? Yeah, definitely not.
After inspecting the basin room and taking a swig of the Serene Water for fun, Jake finally went to the large glass bubble serving as the main lab. Inside, things were as pristine as ever, and he was happy to be back in the laboratory. Thus, he gladly sat down and got to work, as it was time to finally make some proper acids.
Well, more proper acids than what he’d made in the House of the Architect, anyway.
“Thank you for your assistance, miss,” the big man said.
“Ree,” the noble bird answered.
“The upper layers of the sky are difficult to cover, especially as many of the more powerful beings are nomadic in nature and rarely stick to a single area for long,” the big man that Sylphie knew was called the Whaleman said.
“Ree?”
“Even if I am a Sky Whale, I cannot cover the entire sky on my own, and I am still more of an aquatic animal rather than an aerial one,” Whaleman shook his head.
After Sylphie returned to Earth, the bird really didn’t know what she wanted to do. So, the first thing she did was find her parents, whom she hadn’t seen in a very long time. In the process, she ran into Whaleman, who knew a lot of stuff and helped track them down. The wind also helped a lot when she got closer. After Sylphie had gotten that Authority skill, the whispers of the wind were even clearer than before, and sometimes even offered hints without Sylphie asking, so that was nice.
Reuniting with Mom and Dad had been nice. Both of them were getting close to becoming big and strong C-grades like Sylphie. It was a bit slow, in Sylphie’s opinion, but Sylphie did know that Sylphie was awesome, so maybe Mom and Dad were just more normal? No, they were definitely better than normal. They were her Mom and Dad, after all.
Sylphie ended up spending about three days flying around with them before they split up again. She was too strong to help her parents in battle, and the two hunted best as a pair. They did have a good time together, but they also all had their own things to do. One thing was for sure: her parents were happy Sylphie was doing well, which made Sylphie happy, and she hoped that her parents would also do well.
With the reunion done, Sylphie had flown back to Whaleman, who was hard at work preparing for when the big boss called a Prima Guardian arrived. He was doing that by ensuring the many powerful beasts spread across the planet wouldn’t become too big of a problem, through ensuring they were either killed, made into allies, or pacified through special contract magic stuff the Whaleman could do. Something with him being blessed by a guy called Karroch.
Sylphie, being the best bird she was, volounteered to help Whaleman do stuff. She was super fast and good at finding strong bad guys, and she was also super good at negotiating! Plus, she was strong enough to do stuff only Whaleman or the Whaleman’s most powerful allies could do. Whaleman was very convincing when he appeared… because Sylphie was pretty sure Whaleman was the highest, if not one of the highest-leveled creatures on the planet.
[Sky Whale – lvl 333]
Also, even if Whaleman was strong… Sylphie wasn’t afraid because Sylphie was also strong.
“Can you handle this area and scout it? It’s rather large, but I believe you are more than capable,” Whaleman asked, recognizing Sylphie’s greatness. “The Crimsonfang Darkbat Lord was last seen in the area east of there, and with its trajectory, we believe this is where It’ll be. Also, if it proves too strong, feel free to-“
“Ree,” Sylphie interrupted.
“Right, you know,” Whaleman nodded. “Just be careful, alright? I wouldn’t want to face Lord Thayne if anything happens to you.”
Sylphie nodded, understanding him perfectly, as she offered some words of warning. “Ree, ree.”
“… why would he hit me with a cauldron that smells?”
“Ree,” Sylphie shook her head as she took off to find the bad guy bat, leaving Whaleman behind to mutter again by himself.
“I guess you’re right… I wouldn’t want to find out…”