Creation

I snap awake, instantly, but thankfully I am not disheveled because of that. I scan my surroundings and I am half surprised to find that I am actually still in the bed in the lonely bedroom I fell asleep in. The fact that I'm still here only confirms that I was not stuck in a long, bizarre dream… I really am in a new, to me anyway, world.

"Weird… Okay, so it's all real." I say, to myself, trying to process that news. The room I'm in is a surprisingly modern looking master suite and blinds placed over windows prevent sunlight from filtering into the room. I can still see the outside world through the windows and I note the early morning sunshine as the sun creeps higher and higher into the sky. I am on top of a large bed, one that is quite luxurious and that I enjoyed sleeping on.

I take a second to be introspective. As I retreat into my mind I shut my eyes and begin to relax, I feel my senses dull a touch and a number of bars begin to appear in my mind's eye. Each bar is labeled and the two simplest ones are dubbed "Gourmand" and "Feast & Famine", and I know exactly what they are: visualizations of nifty perks I possess.

The two perks store excess energy attaining from food, drink, and sleep, and store it deep in me so that if I have to go without food, hydration, or sleep, I can rely on the saved energy to safely go without such otherwise essential things. This, coupled with perks that reduce how much food, water, and sleep I need makes the bars quite lengthy. I intend to keep nurturing the bars, since food and beverages I make can contribute to my growth and I'd be a fool to forgo something that can safely contribute to my development.

Other bars are equally visible, though they don't glow quite as resplendently. "Magnum Opus" is the name of one such bar, and I know that it represents a quality booster that, when activated, will tremendously enhance the next thing I craft, though sadly if I really want to maximize the power of the thing I create I need to go weeks, months, or even years between each use. I can also see a bar for my "Magic Power", which I instinctively know refers to the energy I use whenever I cast a spell or enchant something.

I study these bars, admiring them and the power they hint at that lurks within me. I also know that all of these bars can grow if properly nurtured. They represent a convenient stockpile of energy, calories, and nutrients I can use just in case. I eventually open my eyes and prepare to get up.

I get up off the bed, and use "The Vault" to reach into my backpack and pluck a single apple out of the thing. It materializes in my hand and I take a bite out of it as I work to piece together a plan regarding what to do today. As I swallow the bite of the apple I feel perks within me working to extract every single nutrient out of the thing.

"Stuck in a fantasy world with support based powers… That sounds like the long-ass title of one of those books someone might find in the manga section of a Barnes and Noble." I mutter, even as I walk over to a fancy looking walk-in-closet. I cast a simple telekinesis spell to open the door leading into the closet, and slip past the open door. I feel myself growing more and more familiar with the spell, and I am quietly thankful for perks like "Refinement", which allows me to improve even pre-existing spells through rigorous study.

The room I'm in is filled with outfits. I can see everything from modern, mundane walking clothes to medieval looking villager clothes like the background characters of a period piece might wear. The room is decently large, and has mirrors to help someone view how they'll look in an outfit before they go out. Last night when I came to the living area part of the house I immediately went to bed, but now I elect to go and give myself a once over in the mirror.

I am still wearing the outfit I was wearing when I arrived in this world; a simple t-shirt and comfortable jeans, as well as a pair of tennis shoes, but that's the only aspect of my appearance that hasn't changed. I was once a lanky, awkward looking teenager but now I am a fit-looking, well-proportioned urban-fantasy-looking main-character type. Every part of my body has been touched and modified by perks that alter my appearance, from my muscles which push against my shirt, to my face which is sharper and more angular than before.

For several minutes I play dress up and try on various outfits. I pick both full outfits and mesh together styles, even blending modern and medival clothing. I eventually opt to put on a mundane looking, villager-esque medieval outfit and get out of the closet.

I hurl the clothes I was just wearing into a bin and make a mental note to move it to the part of the house where outfits can be cleaned, which is another part of the "Living Area"; a series of interconnected rooms where mundane things can be taken care of with modern amenities. These include bathrooms, a kitchen, a living-room-like space, and a few other modern rooms.

I exit the "Living Area" altogether, and I go back to the room with the forge. When I do I find myself face to face with the dolls, who greet me with smiles.

"Good morning Mateo." Raquel says to me, happily greeting me. Beth echoes her sister's greeting, and I return the early morning remarks even as I begin to take stock of the items I produced last night.

A number of high-quality iron swords and well-constructed pieces of iron armor sit in one corner of the room. I study the items even as I engage in idle small talk with the dolls, and they inform me as to their activities last night.

I utilize "Upgrade" to study the objects I made last night and find that all of them are faultless. That makes me visibly smile, and I listen a bit more attentively as the dolls regale me with news about the area surrounding our home.

"Well, Mateo, last night I began a full study of the area around our home. Nearly everything is intact, though a touch more overgrown than I would have liked. And, only one area has signs of attempted occupation." Raquel tells me, causing me to look at her curiously and motion for her to tell me more.

"Our maker made an observatory a long time ago. It is situated atop the highest part of a headland further down the beach about two hour's walk from here in the opposite direction of the Amazonians. I visited it last night, and saw signs that someone had camped outside of it but no one made it into the actual observatory." The woman explains to me.

"Our maker made other dolls, including ones on our level. The fact that we're the only ones here is strange… We checked." Raquel tells me.

"If we visit the observatory sometime soon and you use your status as our maker's inheritor to open it up, we might be able to find clues pointing us in the direction of our missing sisters. I don't know why they weren't here when we woke up, but Amy, one of our sisters, was always fascinated by the observatory so it's possible she left something there indicating where she planned to go from here. As far as I can tell, she wasn't in the observatory when I visited it last night." Raquel reveals, causing my eyes to widen in surprise.

"There are other dolls, or rather, other dolls like you, out there?" I ask, causing Beth to nod brightly and speak up.

"Yes there are! There's one of each of the other three types, at least as far as we know. I suspect our master made us 'Lifelike Synthetics' because the other types of dolls are very distinct from natural lifeforms and he may have been growing a bit lonely in his old age. We are the youngest of our siblings. And the ones best able to replicate the behaviors of natural lifeforms" Beth reveals with a happy look on her face as she daydreams about her missing sisters.

"Hmm… Okay, well in the days to come I'll pay the observatory a visit." I tell the sisters, causing them to smile at me. I begin to hurl myself into the work for the day, and this time my dolls accompany me.

In minutes the dolls and I are working on multiple different things throughout the large room. The addition of multiple pairs of hands will surely help me produce even more goods that could be sellable over in Amazonia. At the same time, each and every item I craft leaves an impression of itself in the back of my mind, and so long as the next item I create is the same type of item it's easier for me to make. In less than three and a half hours over three new swords and more armor is safely tucked away in the same corner as the other items. I glance at the dolls and elect to ask them something.

"So… Do either of you care to tell me what you know about Amazons? I'm operating based on what I know about them, which i admit may well be flawed or at least based on common understandings about them based on where I'm from which is quite far away.." I explain, even as I continue to work. Beth is the one to speak up, and I turn to face her as I do that.

"Well Amazons are female warriors. They are also… superhuman. Their strength is literally greater than what humans are naturally capable of, partially because they supposedly descend from a half-human demigoddess." Beth explains, which is more or less in-line with what I knew about Amazons back home on Earth.

"They worship a pantheon of divinities that supposedly come from a distant world and though many are nomadic warriors and skilled mercenaries occasionally a queendom of them will form. Raquel, our other sisters, our maker, and I are all from a distant continent to the west, so I never imagined they'd come here." Beth confesses. Raquel speaks up at this point, causing me to turn my attention towards her.

"The gear I saw back at the observatory seemed Amazonian, but even before our maker died it had been years since I last saw an Amazon. They are quite a sight though. Women taller, more muscular, and bustier than almost any mortal, other than a giant, can hope to be. And on the battlefield I bet they'd be quite a sight." Raquel tells us, quietly confessing that she's never seen one in battle.

Minutes begin to pass as the dolls and I get into our work. The dolls turn out to be skilled with their hands and after they produce a few swords of their own I elect to trust them and shift my focus to creating higher quality goods.

While the two dolls get to work efficiently producing weapons and armor, I focus on quality over quantity. Using the imprints in my head, I find myself working on products that take me less than half an hour to make, each of which is clearly exceptional in quality. Ironically I make items faster than the dolls do, thanks to various "Enchanter" perks. The entire day is spent with me in the workshop, cranking out high quality items accompanied by the dolls.

After eating lunch and right before dinner I elect to try and make a masterpiece. The process involves me utilizing the "Magnum Opus" energy I've accrued throughout the last day and a half of work, as well as focusing on the sword I am making more than I have focused on any other blade. Perks mix and synergize throughout the process, and at one point my dolls cease working and watch me in fascination.

When the work is completed I find myself looking at an ornate steel blade. The thing is clearly a masterpiece, and as I use my powers to study it I can tell that every quality of it from its sharpness to its weight is supernaturally improved compared to the other items I have made. I pick the thing up and sigh as I feel its near-weightlessness.

"Perfect…" I mutter, even as I sense the portable monitor I carry with me react to the object in my hand. With a thought I will the object to appear in my hand and smirk when I read the message on it.

"Alert: 'A Mighty Blade' created. Object is a simple 'Item' that is a perfect blade that is tailor-made for you and grows alongside you. There is no magic on it innately, but that can be changed with ease should you will it. Object hails from the 'Warrior' origin, but the origin is still unavailable to you." The message reads. This reveals that there IS a straight-up "Warrior" origin, which is nice since I am not a straight up warrior and changing that would be nice.

"Well… I made a perfect sword." I state, causing my companions to laugh as they realize what the message said. I will the blade and the monitor to vanish, even as I turn and look at my allies.

"Now, let's go make dinner." I tell them, prompting the three of us to stop working for the night.

The rest of the night is spent with me handmaking making dinner, delighting in perks that allow my efforts to affect and improve the quality of objects and even meals that I make, and then examining the dolls in the laboratory where I first awoke. I eventually go to my room and fall asleep, only to have more dreams about the ocean again.

When I awaken I do not spend time studying my surroundings. I immediately check the inner reserves I first saw yesterday morning, note their growth, and go to change my outfit. Normally I'd shower, but I have perks that take care of that for me, and I want to make more goods today. Once more I feed myself a simple breakfast, and with my dolls at my side I begin to create more goods.

We're preparing to go visit a city of warrior women, so I divide my second day spent making items into two distinct parts. For the first part of the day I focus exclusively on making armor, creating steel armor sets and actually enchanting them as they are being made.

The process of enchanting something is both surprisingly simple and quite cheap in terms of how much magical energy it takes thanks in significant part to perks I possess. I weave a simple size-changing enchantment into the armor to ensure that they will fit anyone I sell them to. I also fit them with several other basic enchantments that improve their overall quality, and I make the magic on them a living thing that deepens and grows as the suits are used in daily life, and in battle, to ensure they well and truly protect their wearers.

When little over half the day has passed and I have enchanted several suits of armor Raquel calls for a break. I listen to her, and I cook another meal for my dolls and I. Shortly thereafter we head over to the alchemy lab the quaint cottage is outfitted with and I get to experiment with making potions.

The alchemy lab is a tiny room, much smaller than the gigantic room where the forge is stored. The walls of this room are lined with herbs and magical regents of various sorts, which I can easily identify using perks like "Upgrade".

I begin to experiment with the various devices throughout the lab and as I do even the act of looking at them allows me to almost subconsciously learn fascinating bits of their history, which is only enhanced by perks that grant me a rudimentary knowledge of and a bit of experience with alchemy. When I actually touch devices I experience flashes of memory, thanks to psychometry, that allow me to recall how the doll maker used this place.

I am quickly able to produce my first potion, an azure liquid that, upon supernaturally examining it, I quickly learn can be used to heal shallow wounds. This potion is made up of simple grasses that I had to pound into a fine powder and then melted inside specially treated glass vials.

I study the potion and after utilizing some of my handier powers, as well as "Merchant" perks, I quickly realize that the potion isn't worth all that much. It is worth a fair deal more than the subtly magical grasses I had to use in its creation, but the grasses I had to use grow naturally in the area behind the cottage and so are essentially free to me.

"Hmm… I suppose alchemy is worth mastering for reasons other than the potential profit to be made from potions." I remind myself, as I recall what Beth told me at one point yesterday. The doll revealed that there is a alchemy-focused pathway to power that ranks between taming and being a culinary warrior. Not quite a conventional pathway to power, but more than a lesser one.

Talented alchemists can do things that range from crafting exceptional poisons to creating elixirs that can bring back the recently deceased. What's more the only way I'll unlock alchemy so I can begin to master it is if I take my time and work on my alchemical skills.

I spend the rest of the day crafting a range of potions and allowing my mental archives to gain imprints of various alchemical recipes. Over the course of the day the potions I make begin to improve in quality, and I even begin to see the subtle effects of perks that couldn't be applied to swords and armor be applied to the potions.

Perks like "Medicine Man", "Home Cook", and "Brewmaster" subtly bolster the overall value of the potions, and even allow them to quietly bestow their consumers with very minor but long-lasting benefits. The perks, working together, are a potent combination.

Crafting potions is also far less time intensive than making weapons or armor, and in even an hour I can make five or six potions. The difference is intense, since I only barely have a few dozen swords and a few full suits of armor, which is frankly still insane since I only devoted about two full days to forging the gear I forged.

My dolls and I eventually call it a day after we've made about forty potions and burned through a fair number of supplies. When we're sitting in the alchemy lab, making use of a small couch located at one end of the lab, one of the dolls has an intriguing idea.

"Mateo have you ever drunk a potion before?" Beth asks me, looking at me curiously. I shake my head and she quietly laughs at my honesty before she decides to encourage me to be curious.

"You're an alchemist! It's pretty clear from how easily you made potions today that you have some level of experience with alchemy. Don't you ever wonder how they taste?" She asks, smirking at me. "Plus, there's the fact that you're a culinary warrior. I don't know much about that pathway, but I know enough to know that with it there ought to be a decent number of consequences to drinking something like this. You should try it out!" She suggests. I consider her suggestion for a moment before I mentally reach into my vault and withdraw one of my potions.

A tiny glass vial pops into existence in my hand. I examine the drink with "Upgrade" and upon confirming that it is harmless and worth the rough equivalent of a few dozen dollars, I take a deep breath. This potion is no masterpiece, though it is one of the potions enhanced by several of my perks, and one of its effects is that it allows me to enter a state halfway between true consciousness and meditation.

I pop open the vial and chug its contents. It tastes quite bland, but I immediately feel the restorative effects of the drink begin to course through my body, energizing me a touch.

"Whoa… That feels weird." I remark, causing my dolls to giggle at me. The potion spreads through me, its restorative and consciousness-altering magic subtly touching my mind and my heart.

At the same time I sense a part of my mind, one of my secondary trains of thought, begin to sink into something of a meditative trance. This immediately causes the store of arcane energy that exists within me to begin to slowly increase in size, all thanks to perks I possess that bolsters my ability to regenerate magic and grant me a handy power to store excess magical power in a similar vein to "Feast & Famine" but exclusively for magic.

I close my eyes and when they are shut I utilize one of my other minor trains of thought to focus on the bars I saw earlier. I commit them to memory, and as I do I get to see new bars materialize spontaneously; a green bar indicating my overall physical health, and a yellow bar indicating my stamina.

A split second later I actually sense my mind expanding as I supernaturally accrue new knowledge. This new knowledge is very specifically related to chemistry, and I realize with a quiet gasp that I must have unlocked the "Chemist" origin, right before I sense my portable monitor flashing and notifying me of that. It also has another message, one that is both convenient and explanatory.

"Unlocking origins is easier than unlocking pathways to power, but unlocking origins only confers any free and 100 CP perks relevant to the origins in question. Unlocking a pathway to power is more dramatic and offers more powers." The thing reads, which makes me chuckle. One other minor change is that I don't even need to pull the monitor out of my pocket dimension to read it, which is nice. I can also read the details of the new perks I own, which intrigue me a good deal.

One of the perks, a "Free" one lets me know how to create a tonic that can put people in a trance, and the other one is a basic and potent knowledge booster that bolsters my knowledge of chemistry. Both perks are handy, and through the free perk I can tell that this "Chemist" origin might be more intriguing than I thought. After all, by combining the tonic I can create with "Mentalism", a hedge mage perk, I can very easily hypnotize people. And "Hypnotist" IS an origin… I just need to find a suitable target.

My dolls and I decide we've produced enough goods to justify visiting the city tomorrow. We have the two big kinds of items I can produce with ease; weapons and armor, and potions. I could also make clothes, but if I want to really maximize my skill with making clothes I need to become a "Style Warrior", which I haven't yet. For now the strategy moving forward is to put off selling clothes since getting the supplies for clothes is a bit more taxing than going and getting ore from the nearby magic mine.

Minutes after drinking the potion I find myself in bed once more. This time both of my dolls are beside me, leisurely relaxing in the bed and offering themselves as body pillows. While I initially decline their offers, they talk me into Beth's remarkably human arms and I fall asleep basking in her warmth. And again, I dream… But this time my dreams aren't of the ocean.

My dreams take me not to Earth, and not to the depths of the ocean, but to some wholly new, much stranger place. During my dreams I find myself in a modern-seeming, at first at least, city at night that is populated by creatures that initially seem to be faceless human-like creatures.

I quickly and quietly take to the city's alleyways and use them to avoid the city's strange population while I explore the city's darkened corners. Over the course of what feels like hours I wander the city until I am shown the true nature of the city's inhabitants.

In one alleyway I come across a strange sight: two of the faceless creatures arguing. They do not exchange words but they gesture violently at each other and move forcefully in each other's direction, until one of them drops the pretense and abandons its human-like form, as it quickly expands and takes on a frightening form akin to a living wave. It suddenly surges into the other creature, crashing into and then absorbing the being with frightening efficiency.

When it is done absorbing its victim it returns to its initial, human-like form, and then peacefully gets on its way, as though nothing has happened. Meanwhile, I have been watching this, stunned and confused. The last thing that happens in the dream is that I feel someone tap on my back, and I turn only to find myself face to face with a tall, blonde, winged woman who smiles rapturously at me. She is stunningly beautiful, and her lips begin to move but no sound comes out, before I am awakened by Beth.

"Good morning Mateo…" She says, unknowingly pulling me out of the dream and back to the waking world, right before planting a kiss on my forehead and then abruptly blushing and looking at me with a mixture of excitement and fear. I don't mind her actions, and when I tell her as much she excitedly plants more kisses on my forehead.

It takes Raquel pulling her off of me to get her to "stop". Beth's affectionate nature is becoming more and more clear… And I can't really say that I hate it, she is incredibly humanlike in the best possible ways, without needing things like sleep, or food.

I get up and tell my dolls we're going to the room we saw a few days ago filled with outfits. Today we're going to the Amazon city not far from our home, so we might as well make use of the "Dress Up Mimic" ability and actually begin to leverage the powers that the dolls possess. Plus, I hardly look like a warrior or a merchant in my current outfit, so I might as well look the part for the first impression I am going to be making on my neighbors.