[CYA] Chapter 184: Get What You Can (Patreon)

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/13tiw643S0cTIiNrofDqFMLf5w1D0qPU87rirx3Jm1v8/edit?usp=sharing

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<Alex, Real - Dorgon Calls for Aid, Innominate Cargo Bay>

Juba came to the cargo bay with his harvester, and he, Alex, and Natasha gathered all the bones into a pile.

Alex had long since copied out all the symbols from the various bones—and how they were arranged—into a notebook. He’d even started building a model out in his Skeletal Structural Remodeling interface, but completing that would be the work of many hours yet.

He wasn’t even planning on using it, but having the record for easy study would be worth the effort.

Regardless, it meant that Alex didn’t need the bones that he’d kept for himself. There might be other uses for them in the future, but he genuinely believed that the aspect would be more valuable.

As they were about ready to begin, Natasha cleared her throat. “Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“I also have all that undead dust.”

He blinked a few times. “Oh, yeah! Hey, I wonder what aspect that will give?”

She smiled. “It’s been useful for expanding my Inventory, but I admit, I would like to get rid of it if possible. How are the boxes going for you? Inventory expansion wise.”

Alex shrugged. “I’m following Mr. Weston’s recommendations and path for improvement, and it’s working well enough.” He glanced at the currently unused cubes in one corner of the space. “I hope I can easily take all of them back in before we arrive at Dorgon. I’d rather not have to find a safe place to store them to continue the expansion.”

Natasha nodded in sympathy. “Well, I’m happy to avail myself of them as well. That way, you don’t have to store them anywhere, and between us, I’m sure we can keep them in good use.”

Alex blinked a few times, then laughed. “Oh, goodness. Why didn’t I think of that?”

She smiled. “It is no matter. We just need to use up this ash and dust.”

He nodded. “So long as Juba is willing…?”

Juba grunted. “Of course, my friend. But we should deal with this first.” He was looking over the bones. “You all gathered these before we became a crew, did you not?”

Alex nodded again. “Yeah.”

“Then, my friend, whatever you get from it has nothing to do with me.”

Alex shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I would like to compensate you for—”

The big man held up his hand. “No. I state this plainly before the fact. Do not offer me any. Yes?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Alex reluctantly agreed. “If you’re sure.”

“I am.” Then, the man placed the harvester on the pile. “These seem incredibly special. I would recommend we aim the harvester at the most advanced aspect range. Is that acceptable?”

Alex quickly agreed. “I’m willing to accept less of a rarer thing. Yes.”

Juba changed the settings and started the process.

As the magic of harvesting flared to life, nothing streamed from the bones, coming together in drips and drabs.

Alex blinked, his mind hitching at the nonsensical nature of that thought.

How could ‘nothing’ be gathering together?

Regardless, it was.

Moreover, the harvester seemed to almost be wringing the bones out, the whole pile disintegrating as whatever was not was pulled free.

It only took a handful of minutes, but in the end, they only got sixty gems from the pile that had been as large across as Alex was tall and half as high.

They were… odd looking. Seeming almost holes rather than physical things. Though they weren’t dark, and they didn’t contain anything.

It made no sense.

Alex picked one up, and it felt like a gem, basically identical in feel to the other aspect he’d held. With a shrug, he Analyzed it.

Aspect - NullThe property of nullification, removal, or countering. Highly prized for removing, countering, or resisting curses, poisons, or other external sources of malintent.

Fascinating.

Juba’s eyes widened. “Alex, my friend. Speak not of that aspect. If you sell any of it, sell all, and make it known you have sold all you have and that you have no further source. That is among the ‘grand’ aspects. While those are no more powerful than any other, in theory, they are ones with innumerable uses and never enough supply. If you keep it, use it wisely.”

Alex nodded slowly before taking them into his Inventory. “I will remember that. Thank you.”

Now rather excited, Natasha was about to expel all the dust and ash, but Juba had her pause before pulling empty barrels out of some storage hatches in one wall that had been disguised to blend in.

Natasha chuckled. “That won’t be enough.”

She estimated that she’d need at least fifteen such barrels, even with the other things she had in her Inventory.

The ash and dust expanded when Natasha brought it out—as she’d been compacting it and using that to push her Inventory outward—and as such, she easily filled the four barrels which were about fifty-five gallons apiece.

Juba said that they could harvest this batch, then do so again. In addition, the four barrels should make drawing on the rarest aspect possible with reasonable efficiency.

“How big is your Inventory, Natasha?”

The woman smirked. “Pushing at a six foot sphere.”

Alex nodded. That was really impressive. He’d started this scenario with a 5ft cube—barely larger in volume than her sphere—and he’d had a dedicated trainer. His was larger now, pushing close to a seven and a half foot cube, but even so, her capacity was wonderful. “That’s great! We’ll have to work with the cubes to reshape your Inventory, but Mr. Weston included some notes for doing that as, in his words, ‘You’re bound to find someone who needs that information, even if you never do, yourself.’”

Natasha smiled. “Excellent.”

Juba cleared his throat. “So, my friends. We are going for the rarest aspect?”

They nodded, and he triggered the process.

Soon enough the dust and ash disintegrated, a positive flood of crystalized aspect piling up on the harvester.

Alex eagerly Analyzed it and almost cheered as he read the name: Aspect - Life through Death.

Before he could react, though, Juba sighed. “Ahh, well. From your description, I’d thought we might get you something truly special.”

“Oh?” Natasha asked, curious.

The man nodded. “Death through Life aspect is a powerful plague-adjacent aspect, and it is quite useful for scouring lost worlds.”

Both Alex and Natasha turned horrified gazes upon the man.

Juba saw their looks and gave a deep, booming laugh. “Do not fear, my friends. I do genuinely mean lost worlds, not enemy worlds. Those riddled with the insectile scourge or torn open to the abyss or twisted into full corruption. I could go on for days, my friends, but you get the idea. You should know this. Death through Life is a boon in undercutting footholds of the truly heinous.”

Alex was… skeptical. Even so, he was still preoccupied with something else. “Surely Life through Death is valuable too?”

“Oh, it is! The farming worlds and other such endeavours ensure that there is always a market for such.”

“...Farming? Not resurrection?”

Juba gave him a funny look, then seemed to realize something. “Ahh, I spoke too quickly. Read the description in full.”

Alex shrugged and did so, instantly understanding what Juba meant.

Aspect - Life through DeathThis makes that which is gained through death and decomposition more potent. It is excellent for plants and responsive defenses. In some rare cases, it can be used to enhance experience gained from lethal combat.

System Notice:This aspect is not good for sapient beings. Death severs the self, and without other magics in place, simply returning a body to life will lead to vegetative husks or abominations.

Tutorial Addendum:Don’t waste resources on husks.Don’t forge abominations.Don’t use this on sapient beings without complementing aspects in known formulae.

Alex grunted in understanding. “So, really useful, but not in the way that seems obvious.”

“Indeed.” Juba nodded.

Natasha sighed. “But still valuable. Trading it in should help us outfit ourselves."

He grinned. “Truly, yes. It is also among the more worthwhile aspects. As such, you are likely to be able to trade three for four, if not far more favorably.”

Alex felt a swell of excitement.

Natasha rolled her eyes, but smiled as she said, “Seventy-five percent to you.”

He blinked a few times. “What now?”

“You get three quarters.”

He gave her a flat look. “Over my dead body.”

She grinned. “Funny you should say this. Each one of these came from dead bodies that were yours.”

He opened his mouth to argue, then hesitated, huffing a laugh. “Well, that’s true enough, but I won’t take more than fifty percent. If you fight me, I’ll force more on you.”

She gave him a flat look this time. “Really?”

He beamed. “Yup.”

“Fine.”

It didn’t take long for them to finish.

The ash and dust filled the barrels four times, and they got a total of eight hundred aspect crystals from the procedure.

Alex narrowed his eyes at that. “Juba?”

“Yes, Alex?”

“Why is it such a perfectly round number?”

Juba chuckled. “It is not really known, but it basically always ends up that way. Many believe the System or some other overseer wishes for round numbers for the sake of convenience in some regard, and that seems reasonable enough to me.”

Alex chuckled in turn. “Fair enough, I suppose.”

With that done, Alex and Natasha went to the Inventory Expansion Cubes and implemented the next step for each of them, arranging the cubes into the proper shape to marginally step Alex’s Inventory outward and Natasha’s toward a cube.

Then, Natasha went to help with the frigate, and Alex turned to Juba, who had just finished putting away the barrels and other accoutrements.

“Juba?”

“Yes, my friend?”

“I stabbed with my dadao… again…”

Juba gave Alex an incredulous, but sympathetic, smile. “Come, then. We spar, but only a few bouts. There is a ship to disassemble.”

Alex grinned. “Thank you.”

<Alex, Real - Dorgon Calls for Aid, Innominate Supply Storage Room>

Alex and his companions felt a mix of elation and irritation as they looked at the equipment laid out before them.

It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough that they wished they’d known it was for them earlier.

“It’s like this ship was actually designed for a crew of fifteen, but the tutorial locked us down to ten so we wouldn’t be at peak form.” Kaylee was muttering to herself, but the others still made noises of agreement.

The supply room had a lot of random things, all well organized and labeled, but that hardly meant that the Initiates knew how to use them.

There were basics like office supplies, things called input crystals, bulk emergency foods, and even what looked like magic-sci-fi camping gear.

Regardless, there was gear for their ‘every day’ use.

The first thing they all took advantage of was the ablative additions to their coveralls.

They did make the garments a bit stiffer, and they didn’t change the description of the items, but they were additional defense around the most critical areas.

Each took a knife that reminded Alex of ka-bars that he’d seen. Simple, utilitarian knives that would be very effective in close quarters if required.

Next they each took up an item that looked very much like a Star Trek: The Next Generation phaser or a really high-tech wand.

Which—as Alex considered it—the thing actually was. The hand-gun looking version that the Impressa crew had carried seemed to be an upgraded version that was only available when there was an actual supply officer.

At a basic level, the not-wands sent out an aspect beam matching the wielder’s own mana signature, costing very little mana—well below any of their recovery rates.

Then, with a flexing of their will—and a healthy dose of Mana Manipulation—they could increase the throughput up to about ten mana per second before the thing would start to overload.

It was an inelegant use of mana, but it gave all of them an easy, ranged option.

Interestingly, when channeled, each of their mana seemed to create a different effect.

Natasha’s pushed away her target with a rather spread out, strong force. Lenka’s seemed to bind up or slow what she hit. John’s hit like a shotgun slug—the man was unable to use the weapon as a beam, the power building up for a burst every five seconds or so. Pilar’s—to no one’s surprise—burned like a high-powered laser before the System, if more powerful. Grant’s caused little detonations, similar to John’s in the buildup and release, but Grant’s seemed to cause the target to detonate, rather than creating a burst of force-like detonation against the target like John’s did. Kaylee’s actually made her target move faster? It was a funny thing to realize, and it made them all very glad that they’d tested it in the little firing range, rather than on actual enemies.

Then, there was Alex.

Initially, his seemed to do nothing, simply looking like a green laser-pointer even as he increased the throughput to the max. But then, after nearly thirty seconds of sustained fire, a warning had sounded and a decontamination procedure began to enact. The far end of the little range was sealing off and vented into space before UV light and sanitizing magics swept through the room.

The target, apparently, hadn’t been sterile, and Alex’s magics had done something to the bacteria on the metal plate.

Alex stared at the metal rod and sighed. “I’m pretty sure this is a plague or cancer gun in my hands…”

Everyone took an unconscious step back.

Yeah… I’ll find something else to use for ranged combat. He racked the little weapon with absolutely no hesitation.

And that was the end of their testing.

Well, let’s get back to it.

It was time to choose their next destination.

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