[CYA] Chapter 165: Repairs (Patreon)

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R6vlguxrFRRPZ3q0syYGlD9PvfGjQLD7ilEy8sRKkZ8/edit?usp=sharing

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<Alex, Real - Dorgon Calls for Aid, Innominate MedBay>

Alex opened his eyes with a groan, only barely remembering to pull power from his throat before he made the sound.

Bev was beside him a moment later. “Hey. How do you feel?”

Alex blinked a few times before smiling and sitting up. It seemed that the straps had been taken off at some point. “Surprisingly okay?”

“I’m glad to hear it. What happened?”

He only hesitated a moment before giving her a basic overview.

“The System gave you a choice that wasn’t compatible with you?” She seemed surprised and genuinely concerned.

Alex nodded. “It seems so. I didn’t think that was possible.” He gave a nervous chuckle. “I generally trust the System at least at a basic level.”

“And you’re right to.” She gave a consoling smile, seeming to gather herself back together. “Even when mistakes are made, it always balances the scales. You are right that this shouldn’t  happen, but it does on occasion. It is more common with those from worlds newer to the System. The System offers choices in line with your actions, and if you don’t have a culture based in the System, you can be doing things that don’t really fit together, power and advancement wise.”

He grunted. “So, I can’t be a creature of both Mana and Life?”

“Well… I mean you are.” She smirked. “But that’s not actually what was happening.”

“I don’t understand.” Alex frowned.

She clicked her tongue a couple of times before nodding to herself. “You are a circle of yellow light, who decided they wanted to be blue.” Bev shrugged helplessly. “Only when the yellow is removed or entirely overwhelmed is that possible.” 

His frown deepened, and he shook his head. “No… that’s not what I did. That’s the choice it tried to force, but what I actually did was say that the next bit of light I want added should be blue. What’s wrong with that?”

Bev shrugged. “Often, what we can tell about Attributes, Skills, Spells, Races, and Classes is just the surface level, and there is a lot more going on underneath.”

“...It did say that this was a step toward being a magical being.”

She gestured his way with a smile. “Well, there you go. It’s possible that it had to fundamentally transform a part of you which was already ‘yellow’ into ‘blue’, and that didn’t sit well with your current race and nature.”

Alex blinked a few times. “So, it transformed a part of my brain, and that part was rejected?”

“That sounds like as good a guess as any.”

He grunted. “Great… How long was I out?”

“Only about fifteen minutes.”

He nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. “That’s not terrible at all. So…” He glanced at her, hesitating for just a moment before deciding to just ask. “So, all Attributes aren’t the same? Meaning they don’t act the same?”

She huffed a laugh. “Not at all. Your bone modification attribute doesn’t affect your intestines at all, but if you have any resistance attributes, those alter your very Life.”

He sighed, nodding again. “I’ll try to remember that.” He frowned. “Can Attributes be used through the ship?”

“No.” The answer was quick and definitive. “Skills and Spells are System granted and facilitated, so they are relatively easy to extend through external magical objects, but Attributes come from you. The System is just quantifying them.” She gave a half-smile. “That’s actually the difference that defines Attributes.”

Alex grunted. “Understood. Thank you.” He hopped up to his feet, expecting a moment of vertigo that never came. Finally, he shrugged and moved on. “I appreciate the assistance.”

“Of course. It’s why I’m here. I’ve notified the crew that you are fully recovered. Don’t feel the need to inform them yourself.”

He gave her a nod of gratitude before departing.

He wanted to think.

He had a skill for interoception already, but it was focused on stresses to his body or that which he was connected to. This seemed like it would be focused on mana that was permanently a part of things and beings. It also seemed more of an understanding than direct extra sense or something like that.

Tentatively, he selected ‘Yes’.

He felt his mind shifting but not in an unpleasant way. It mimicked the sensation of having a difficult concept finally explained in a way he could grasp.

There was a cascading series of ‘Then that means…’ within his thoughts.

He suddenly understood why the vortices of mana within his body and limbs helped him so much. The constant rush of mana was stimulating his body to produce more, while also helping contain the denser result.

He also now knew why he’d expelled all the black gunk. That had been aspected matter that didn’t have good mana-throughput.

It wasn’t actually different from other parts of his body, materially speaking. The difference had been in mana conductivity. Those bits had been unable to allow the power to pass through them quickly enough, so they were caught up, dragged free, and expelled.

Just like some carbon has different atomic weight, there is some that has different magical conductivity… or something like that.

Even as he had this realization, he knew it was an oversimplification, but it helped reframe the process as a whole.

He looked down at his coat and shoes as he walked and laughed, suddenly better able to understand the magics embedded in them.

He didn’t suddenly find hidden features or secret functions, but he better grasped how the magic had been embedded.

His coverall was still so complex as to be overwhelming to focus on, but it felt less overbearing now.

He sent a message to Juba that he wanted to spar in a few hours and got an almost immediate response.

The man was stripping out the asteroid base, but he thought he’d be done before the end of the day.

Alex almost went to his own quarters, but he felt rather frustrated that his meal had been interrupted. As such, he wasn’t surprised to find his feet had carried him back to the dining hall.

The others were still there—it had only been fifteen minutes or so after all—and they greeted him warmly, asking after his health and generally making him quite glad he’d come here instead of going elsewhere.

He assured them he was fine, and briefly told them the issue without giving away anything truly revolutionary.

That dropped them into a discussion of magic and the System in general, and while Alex grabbed food—forgoing the Create Rations for this one meal as it was still frustratingly opaque to his attempts to alter it—the group set to sharing what they’d learned and trying to suss out the parts they were still ignorant of.

Alex mostly listened as he ate, and even after he was done, he only interjected every so often.

He pulled out his Hungarian shield, looking sadly at the splintered, tear-drop shape.

Still, it was wood, and shouldn’t be too hard to heal. Much like my coat, actually.

Both were natural materials, and thus more efficiently repaired.

He rested his hands on the wood and began to send in HP at a rate equal to his recovery, ensuring he remained at full health.

This would prevent Life recovery for this short time, but it was worth it.

That reminded him to pull some Life from his sword, strapped to his back, keeping that source of Life flowing as well.

The shield pulled back together quite quickly. Barely taking a minute to repair. It only took that long because of the damage to the non-wooden portions.

With that done, he joined in the conversation a bit more actively, with the sole goal of being with his comrades.

As they chatted, Alex found that a smile was growing across his features.

How long had it been since he’d just sat around and chatted with friends? Even in the first tutorial scenario, there’d always been an undercurrent of danger pressing them forward.

Now, things weren’t perfect, but they were relatively safe.

All too soon, Kaylee and John had to depart. After all, there was a lot to fix before they could jump once more.

It was decided that they would wait to prep the jump-drive until repairs were complete. It would slow them down a bit, but they all needed a bit of a breather, and now was as good a time as they were likely to get.

As they began to disperse, Alex cleared his throat. “Hey. Would you all mind starting to Analyze me whenever you think about it again?”

He got a wave of tingles as they did just that, and he shifted how he would present to such senses.

Thank youGrateful and Harmless

That got a round of chuckles, and people dispersed, throwing a few more Analyzes at him, or the equivalent.

Audry was getting a quiet explanation from Lenka as the two of them were moving to work on the systems they could help repair.

Alex nodded to himself. It was time to really get to work.

He swung back by the MedBay and asked Bev for some acids, ones that would harm and kill the skin but not dissolve his muscle or bone or anything like that.

She gave him a flat look. “Why would you think that I have flesh dissolving acids, Alex?”

“...I really don’t know… I just wanted to be clear on what I was looking for.”

She sighed, fishing out a bottle of what looked like a cleaning solution. “This is for sterilizing against magical pathogens. Don’t drink this or get it in your eyes. Your natural healing would likely take care of it, but it would still be foolish.”

Alex looked closely, but he didn’t recognize either the name or any of the ingredients. “Thank you, Bev.”

She waved him away. “It’s what I’m here for. Apply it with a rag, and you should be fine.”

Ten minutes found Alex back in the dining hall, a strange setup arranged around him.

His coat was off and in his Inventory, his shoes were on the table, and his coverall had been stripped off of his left arm.

A kitchen rag sat beside the bottle of cleaning solvent, and Alex was preparing himself to recklessly disregard the safety instructions.

Still, he hadn’t wanted to just sit as his skin was irritated, so his plan was to examine his shoes to see if he could actually use his class properly to modify a magical item.

Just examine for now. No modifications yet. He chastised himself. He would not ruin his amazing shoes because he rushed things.

“Let’s get to it.”

<Noelle, Real - Intro to Magic, Tutorial College>

Noelle pushed up her glasses, trying to pay attention to the lecture on magical spells, and how the System worked.

Apparently, if she earned a spell, the System would create a form that she could pour her mana into, and that would create the effect.

Over time, she could modify that mold both in specific application and modularity, allowing her to have a bit more control over the exact nature of the results.

That could usually be expected around the Rare level of proficiency, and like the label, that wasn’t usually obtained by the average person.

Noelle would do it.

She had to earn an unlocking of her magical stats first, otherwise she wouldn’t even have mana, but everything took time.

She could do this.

First, unlock stats. Then, learn spells. Then, get a class centered around magic.

A mental image of herself brewing potions, the iconic witch—if young and lovely instead old and disfigured—drove her onward.

The lecture ended with an offer for a small quest, which would earn the skill orb for Basic Mana Manipulation (Simple).

There were numerous paths for the Common version, but she’d learned the value of a lower proficiency skill as a starting place.

If she improved it herself, she’d be more formidable in the end.

The Tutorial was only a month long, and they’d already been told there was a level 20 cap on advancement. Still, she suspected she’d be far from that by the end.

Thoroughness before speed. She’d only get to start her magical adventure once. She wasn’t going to muddle it up.

Beside her Kevin chuckled, as the man often did, drawing Noelle’s attention. “What?”

He gave her a warm smile. “It’s just a joy to see you so excited by all this. I was afraid you would still be thinking about the—”

“Ahhh! Ba ba ba ba, ahhh!” She placed her hand over the man’s mouth, then colored red, realizing that she’d been heard by most of those in the lecture hall, even over the rising chatter in the room. “Don’t talk about that, Kevin. You were almost turned into a mushroom!”

He waved her off. Then, when she didn’t move her hand, he tried to bite it, prompting her to finally withdraw her fingers. “We made it through.” He glanced toward the front. “So, collecting herbs? Sounds like exactly what you want.”

She nodded excitedly. “Are you going to come?”

He smiled. “With you? Always. No matter the world or universe we end up in. I’ll be with you always.”

She felt her cheeks color again, but for a different reason this time. Even as her smile continued to grow, she stood, snatching up his hand. “Come on. Let’s get to it.”

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