Chapter 8: Getting the final puzzle piece

The next day, he woke up, dazed. A man was shaking him awake. 

"Hey man, wake up. Are you alright?"

The blacksmith who owned the smithy had come to check up on the place. And he found Harry lying there unconscious. Harry turned over as he awoke and the blacksmith yelled out in fear, "Oh my god, why are you?"

And that's when Harry realized he didn't have his mask on.

"Calm down, my face got disfigured in a fire. No need to be too worried. That's the reason I wear the damn mask." Harry groggily replied after being awakened.

"Ohh, alright then. I thought that a devil had come to claim my soul."

"Heh, yeah right." Harry joked.

The blacksmith then turned to the things that attracted his attention the moment he entered the smithy. The four katanas.

"Did you make these?" He asked Harry.

"Yes. I did." Harry replied calmly.

"How? These look and feel like a great-grade sword. Did you actually make them?"

"Yes, I did. And as I made them, it felt like I was in a trance with my will entering the blade. I think that's why it turned out to be great."

Brock, the blacksmith, was stunned. He felt like he just heard the process of making legendary swords. 

"The blacksmith's will enters the blade….. I see."

It was as if his dream was rekindled. And his desire to make a supreme-grade sword awakened after a long time.

"Harry…..Ca… can I also make a sword like the ones you made?", he asked with shakiness in his voice.

"Yes Brock, you certainly can. Want more instructions?" Harry said because he wanted to help the guy and repay him for his hospitality. And also, seeing him get so emotional over a sword that only needs you to pour haki into it to make it great, somehow made Harry want to help also make a great sword.

So, Harry next described the entire process. A process that will take Brock at least a month to properly implement. Not to mention, applying the haki part.

But here's the thing, Harry was sure that anyone could do the thing that he did, if they had the prior knowledge that he did. 

So, he explained to him as much as he could. He even explained to him how applying haki felt. He hoped that Brock would be able to awaken it and be able to make a meito-grade sword.

And after he finished, something unexpected happened.

[Hidden condition achieved.]

[Reawaken someone's dream and give them the ability to achieve it]

[You have successfully managed to impact the life of someone in a drastic manner and in a good way]

[Reward: Stamina increased by 20%]

And as the notifications flared, Harry's face couldn't help but light up. 

"Ha ha….", Harry chuckled for a bit before he started to laugh like a deranged person. And that certainly startled the blacksmith who was pondering about how he would achieve his dream.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...….HI HI….HA HA HA HA HA HA"

"What are you laughing like that for?" Brock asked.

"Ha ha ha, I just thought of something that'll absolutely change the world," Harry spoke in between his laughter.

"Hey, Brock. Tell me about a way to help them out a lot."Harry asked after quite a while.

"Hmm, How about fixing everyone's houses? That would help out everyone."

"Alright then. Tell everyone that I'll be helping them fix and make their houses fast."

So, that's what he did. First, he made 10,000 nails in the smithy. And while that was happening, he sent out his clones to get wood and other materials from the forest. 

So, while that was happening, he told Brock about his ability but differently. He said, "I can summon many people that can help me out."

And then his clones appeared and he said that these people would help them out.

So, He and the clones started to work on the houses. He repaired all of the houses. There were about 200. 

After helping them with repairing the houses, he used his super strength to make them different things and help with building other things. 

He made 2 wells, paved the roads a bit, and even made a small open drain or canal on the sides of the roads so that there would be no standing water in the rainy season. After that, he even ploughed the fields that the farmers used.

After all that, he got a notification.

[You have impacted the entire village.]

[Even though you did not drastically change their lives or fate, you did make them happier and have a better life]

[Reward: Stamina increased by 100%]

And instantly Harry felt the drain from his 6 clones (luffy) dissipate. It felt like light work and he could make more than 12. 

And that's when he realized that the more he did the missions, the more rewards he would get. 

Or maybe this was a hidden part and the siri from the Cube was testing him or the previous participants. 

Maybe this all was a test to see how a participant would do with power in a strange new world. There were a lot of dangerous abilities in that cube store as well. He could've easily been a scumbag and taken advantage of the people in this world to live a lavish life with some of the abilities in that cube.

So, this makes a little bit of sense.

But the amount of possibilities that this opened was crazy.

Actually, this was the last missing piece that he needed. He was getting hindered because of his lack of stamina. Now that this method was opened, he can just help thousands of people and his stamina will reach limitless eventually. 

But the reward was very specific. Like he was given the one thing that he needed right when he needed it. It creeped him out. He thought that he was alone and that there was no sort of surveillance. He didn't think that he was still observed by the cube managers/systems whatever you wanted to call it . That gave him a bit of reassurance that he could do whatever he wanted to without there being any problems. But this changes things. He is under scrutiny and observation.

This means that he can't act like he knows the future. He needs to make it look like he knew nothing and was just going randomly or what anybody would assume him to do in this position while simultaneously achieving his tasks. 

This just made a lot of his plans useless. He can't let the cube managers know that he knows about the plot of this world. That would bring trouble after he got out. 

'What to do......'

Harry had to take a step back and ponder his options. He found that some of his plans were still viable if not all of them if he did them in a specific manner. 

But he had to rearrange them a little bit. The sequence needs to be adjusted so that it seems organic instead of someone knowing about it all.

He realised that he needed a clone on the Strawhats crew to access the plot and its elements.

There's a lot of stuff he needs that was in the plot. 

Mainly the fruits. Also, he could also get a lot of stamina by following them. Not to mention that the crew was essential to getting the One Piece.

This made his initial decision to not affect the plot moot and useless. He would always have to affect the plot. 

'This needs more planning. Sigh, I'm gonna get white hairs if I keep worrying like this.'

'Also, I need to keep helping people in the background if I wish to get a ton of stamina and affect the world in a more tangible way. After helping this village I'm sure that quantity can suffice for helping people.'

So, from now on, I need to be in two teams. One, the strawhats, and the other, the world and the background characters.

......................

Meanwhile in the real world, inside the cubes, two 4th dimensional entities can be seen talking among each other.

"Why did you help him like that? You know that we all agreed not to affect any candidates inside the trial world after what happened last time." One asked the other while being irritated.

"I know that. But didn't you notice? He is already a dimensional traveler. An elder must've sent him. In that case, not all the rules affect him. Also, we need a candidate to achieve success soon. The time is near for this world. If we can't make a candidate fast enough, we might lose this world as well. I am getting desperate. I can't afford to lose this world."

The other replied in a frustrated manner.

"In that case, make sure that this does not turn out like the other time. We can not afford it happening again. The punishment would be severe for all of us. Not just you." the first one said with equal frustration and warning. 

"I understand and I am observing him the most among all the other candidates. The moment I see him showing similar signs, I will personally terminate his trial and take responsibility for it. I assure you."

"Hopefully you won't have to go that far. We all need a win here."