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CH.356 Install Experiments
CH.356 Install Experiments
Over the next days, Wilma went almost crazy in the Factory. The unlimited access to legendary metals, the access to the knowledge my monsters have, as well as the altered time inside the Factory led her to spend an absolute ton of time there. To the point where I had to order her to spend some time outside and with that time, she made herself a super comfy chair she could sit on whenever she went to the Factory.
I then asked, actually ordered, her to make more of those chairs, just so Alice, Lua and I could have one each as well. Next time, I’ll ask her to make a massage chair, though I prefer having Alice and Lua massage me, not some chair, so maybe I shouldn’t.
There was also Wilma’s System Support. She named him Claus, and while it did remind me a bit of Santa Claus, especially considering how he looks, it apparently comes from some dwarven myth. His avatar in the Factory was a bit interesting. He was a giant man, easily over 220 cm7 feet 3 inch tall. He also had a long beard and hair, both nearly snow white.
From what Wilma told me, Claus was her teacher back home. He, like Wilma, was abnormally tall for a dwarf, and he had even evolved into a race called ‘Giant Dwarf’ that made him a literal giant among the dwarves. He was a highly skilled smith and very respected within the country of Smorog. … I just hope it won’t get awkward for Wilma if she goes home to see her old teacher.
I still really liked him, especially his soothing voice. I think he has the perfect voice for storytelling, but that might be just me. Actually, it isn’t just me, because I know Fantasia has been sitting on his lap and listening to him talk about nothing a few times.
There were good news coming with Wilma spending all that time in the Factory. Thanks to her designing OP weapons, the catalog of them that I had access to had grown quite a bit. … Sadly manufacturing any of them would cost around a month's worth of HomeBase ‘creation’ energy, so I’m not going to do that. But they were extremely OP, to the point where some of the weapons had effects like: ‘Damage done by slashing attacks ignores 99% of the target's defenses’ and ‘Unbreakable’.
The surprising part was that even with access to unlimited resources, Wilma still hadn’t managed to make a weapon that gives its wielder strength. I mean, I expected it to be difficult, but I wasn’t expecting it to be that difficult.
Because I noticed how difficult it was, I made a quick test of my own. I made a Factory copy of one of the swords Wilma designed and installed a few cards into it. I started off with Fusion Sword Murasame Blade and it worked just fine. But because this was just a Factory copy and all I’d lose if the weapon breaks are the cards I’ve installed into it, which I’ll lose either way, I decided to keep going.
Next I added Lightning Blade, then Legendary Sword, but even after those two, the sword made of legendary metals was just fine and didn’t break. It also now came with a 1900 strength boost to the wielder.
I then also added Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade. At first I thought this might finally break the sword, but again, I was wrong. These legendary swords are just built different.
As the fifth install, which should be the limit, I added Twin Swords of Flashing Light - Tryce. This caused an interesting phenomenon, where the single greatsword split into two smaller swords. But they still all stayed intact and could be used, so … success?
The final pair of swords was absolutely overpowered. It kept the original effects of ‘Damage done by slashing attacks ignores 99% of the target's defenses’ and ‘Unbreakable’ but because of all the installs, it now had a lot more.
Because of all the attack up effects of the swords, even accounting for the attack loss of Tryce, the swords now gave the wielder 1700 strength. They also could increase your attack speed, had lightning magic in them, would return to your hand if you got disarmed and so on.
In short, they were somewhere between very and extremely overpowered.
I’ll show them to Wilma at some point and see if she can make something that is similar to these in power. I mean, I can always just install cards into a sword she makes, and I think I’ll do just that when the star titanium sword is finished.
After the twin swords, I made a few more install experiments. Mainly, I wanted to make a sword with 5 Lightning Blades installed into it. I just wanted to make a lightning greatsword, okay?
… but that experiment failed, because while the sword could take three Lightning Blade installs, after the fourth, it broke apart. I think that was because I went above three of the same card, so I made another experiment where I installed 3 Lightning Blades and 2 Fusion Sword Murasame Blades into a sword, and that one worked out just fine.
Then there was one last experiment. For it, I used the same OG sword as I used for the previous ones, but this time, I installed 3 copies of both Legendary Sword and Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade. This was to test the theory that over 5 installs would break even an unbreakable weapon, and considering that the weapon did in fact break, it seems like I was correct. 5 is the maximum number of installs that even a legendary grade weapon can take, and it can only take up to three installs of the same card.
“Brian? What are you doing?” Wilma interrupted me in the Factory as I was playing around with a new set of installs.
I had moved on from the weapon experiments and entered the ‘looking for cards I’ll install into myself’ phase. I was also considering what cards would make good installs for Cailie, Unika and Wilma. And maybe even for Einar and Eline. I already knew what I was going to install into Alice and Lua, so that wasn’t an issue.
“Hey Wilma. Didn’t I give you a job that would keep you busy for the day or do I recall that wrong?” I asked.
“I already made the chairs.” She answered. “... so what are you doing? Why do you have a mannequin that looks like me?”
“... that was fast. And that isn’t a mannequin, it’s a Mirage Token.” I answered.
“... what’s the difference?” Wilma asked.
“Can you all move a bit?” I asked the tokens, and they did as I asked. “That. They can move. They are near perfect copies of you all. Well, not really, but they get the job done for what I need.”
“... What do you need them for?”
“Just some experimentation. It is something I can do to help people gain skills, but I need to do some tests first. And for that, these guys are perfect.”
“Can you just … make a token of anyone?” Wilma asked.
“Anyone whose status I’ve seen, or whom I can target with Physical Double. Though having both is the best, as it makes the most accurate tokens.”
“... wait? Did you say that you can help people gain skills?” Wilma asked.
“Yeah. I can do that. I mean, I can level you up and level up your skills, so granting skills isn’t that big of a leap.” I reasoned.
“... well, I suppose not, but still. Do you have skill orbs or something?”
“Nope. Just my cards again.”
“... what kind of skill do you have?”
“The cheaty kind. Anyway, want to see what skills I can offer you?” I asked.
For Wilma, I had a few options. First was of course just Gaia Power. Wilma already had an affinity for Earth Magic, and she even had the skill, but Gaia Power should boost her affinity even more, thus reducing the mana cost of Earth Magic spells, as well as powering them up.
The next two were Fissure and Earthquake. They were both kind of in the same vein as Gaia Power, but unlike Gaia Power, they would give Wilma new skills. Fissure turning into Earth Splitter skill and Earthquake giving a skill called Earthquake. Both are good battle disruption skills, but you don’t really need the skills, as you could do similar things with Earth Magic.
Of course there is always Hammer Shot, giving a skill called Massive Strike. It is an extra skill related to the Blunt Weapons Technique, which Wilma has the evolved form of, Hammer Technique. The skill allows for massively powerful strikes that cause massive damage.
There is also Ballista of Rampart Smashing, which would help Wilma get through enemies that are trying to defend against her strikes. It could be super effective, especially if combined with Fairy Meteor Crush.
And for something a bit more defensive, there was The Reliable Guardian and Block Attack. The Reliable Guardian of course turns into the Defense Boost skill, which is just a great filler skill to have, while Block Attack turns into the Block skill. Both are decent, but nothing crazy.
Then the last option was arguably the dumbest, because the skill it gives is… well, Cestus of Dagla, if installed into a person that can take it, produces a skill called Lifesteal. In simplicity, when you damage someone with an attack, you heal for some of the damage you dealt. At LV.1, it would just be 10%, but at LV.10, you heal for the same amount of damage that you did. In all honesty, it is quite the powerful skill. Sadly, the only ones that can take the install are races that are somehow related to Fairies, or just regular humans. So from our crew, the only ones that can take it are myself, Cailie, Wilma and Karl. The beast-folk can’t take it, dhampirs can’t take it and even a dragon cannot take it, but for some reason, dwarves are ok. Mer-folk are also somehow related to Fairies apparently, but considering that Cailie quickly recognized a Water spirit, maybe there is a connection.
“So, which one do you prefer?” I asked Wilma.
“... that’s a lot of options.” She began. “... what do you think would be the most useful for me? Also, are there any skills related to crafting that you can give me?”
“Sorry, I haven’t found any crafting skills yet. There might be some, but I’d need more time.”
“Then… can you give me more than 1 skill?” Wilma asked.
“Yes, as long as it happens over time. Each time I install, that is what I call giving a skill by the way, a card into you, your body needs to adjust to the card. It takes anywhere from a few weeks to a few months based on the skill. And while you can have up to five cards your body is getting adjusted to, I don’t recommend exceeding 3 as it gets quite painful. Also, I’ll order a minimum of 1 week between each install, just in case.”
“I see… so if you find a way to make a crafting skill, I’d have to wait a week for one?”
“Yes.” I confirmed.
“That … that’s not too bad.”
“Then do you want a skill now?” I asked.
“... I’ll think about it for a bit.” Wilma said.
Eventually, she wanted the Block Attack install, aka. the Block skill. She just said that she was more happy with shielding than attacking, so that is what she went for. So with a quick return to the real world, I gave Wilma the install. She actually took it quite well, considering that it was her first install.
I have to admit, I didn’t expect Wilma to go for that skill. Especially with how much I hyped up the Lifesteal skill. And even if she didn’t go for that, I was expecting her to take the Massive Strike skill. Well, maybe in the future.
And since Wilma’s new skill is now handled, I guess I’ll go over the few ideas I have for the others.
First for Unika there were two great choices. Shooting Star Bow - Ceal and Spell Shattering Arrow. You might think that Silver Bow and Arrow is also there, but Unika cannot take it, as it is a Fairy-type equip.
Shooting Star Bow - Ceal would give Unika a skill called Spirit Shot. It was a crazy skill that basically lets her shoot ‘ghost’ arrows that pierce anything and ignore all of the opponent's defenses, but it comes at the cost of having much lower power than her usual shots. But it is still extremely powerful when dealing with opponents that have a ton of defense.
Spell Shattering Arrow on the other hand makes the skill Spell Destroying Shot. It does what you assume. Her arrows could break apart magic. Both are honestly great skills, bordering on being cheaty. And if she didn’t feel either of them, she could always just take Molten Destruction for the fire attribute.
For Einar and Eline, I didn’t have as great of options, but I still came up with two choices. Outside of just giving them some sort of Power of Defence Boost skill, or a magic attribute.
First was Darkness Approaches. With Einar already being a Night Cat-folk and Eline likely to follow, this would work well with their Night Stalking racial skill.
Darkness Approaches as a skill would make an area of darkness around the user, similar to Alice’s Shade spell. And with Night Stalking boosting all of Einar’s stats and senses in dark places, that should be super effective.
The second option was a bit more out there, and also a bit more dangerous, but I honestly think it might fit. It is called Dark World Lightning.
Again, I just think it would fit their Night Cat-folk race. Sure it is likely super dangerous, but it would be cool. Black cats with purple lightning.
Cailie was perhaps the most difficult one. I just … I’m not sure what way she wants to go, so I’ll have to ask her first. But maybe Raimei for Lightning Magic? Rising Air Current to help her with Wind Magic. Power of Kaishin would also work for her. Even Misfortune could work, as it works decently with Cailie’s Charming Voice skill.
But let’s be honest here, the best install for Cailie would be Aqua Chorus. It would give her a skill that boosts the stats of every ‘friendly’ person who hears her song, while lowering the stats of ‘evil’ people who hear it.
I’m just not completely sure if Cailie wants a skill that activates when she sings. But those are some of the options everyone has for their installs, so perhaps it is time to tell them all about it. … well, let’s wait until Eline evolves first. I’ll do it after that.