The Boys Are Back In Town

Orario came into view as the sun set over the horizon.

Could we have returned sooner? Yes.

Did Cypher want to go fishing in Melen? Yes.

Is that why we're late? A bit.

See Cypher was off fishing (AN: he's striped like a tiger, and tigers swim), so I found a grassy patch of ground above the beach and decided to relax in the shade of the trees.

Made some ice, broke out the scotch and cigars, and just watched time go by. Cypher caught 3 sea serpents and 14 fish. And proceeded to eat them. A few seagulls also got chomped here and there, but that's his problem if they give him indigestion.

By the time Cypher was done having his fun and food, it was late afternoon. I'd finished off a half a bottle of scotch by that point. I didn't want to risk flying, and Cypher sure as hell wasn't going to shrink down. So in the shade of the trees on the lake-side cliff, we took a nap.

It was a very good nap.

Anyway, the boys are back in town.

🎶The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy🎶

I landed the second prototype jetbike on the roof of my warehouse. Stored it in my INVENTORY, and went downstairs to eat something and plan out my continued dungeon dives.

I had time to think about what I was doing in this life. The answer after a few days of contemplation came as "whatever the fuck I want."

Why should I limit myself to simply growing stronger and forget about enjoying a second lease on life? I can make body armour I'd always wanted. Forget just plain old bullet-resistant kevlar plate carriers. I can make my t-shirt shrug off some tank rounds. Above 88mm is a bit much for a simple t-shirt. The possibilities are only limited by my limited imagination.

The things I'd imagined as a kid, I saw quite a lot of them come to fruition in one way or another in reality. Through science and technological advancement, the world was reshaped according to the will of humanity.

This world is different. Here the only the will of the strongest matters. Look at my warehouse for example, it is according to my will, empty as of this moment. I can do whatever I want to it. There is no silly city regulation to meddle with my affairs. That being said, best not to push it. Sure the scorpion was a bit harder to kill, bit not my much. It was only due to it's increased durability and me not being able to use more destructive methods from the get go that the oversized bug was able to do so much damage.

That was then, this is now. And right now I'm hungry. I asked Cypher if he wants to eat something. Thankfully the fatass said no. I made a ribeye steak with bacon-mashed potatoes. The rest of the whiskey bottle was finished as I studied and refined the use of my runes.

I have come to the conclusion, that learning more runic arrays is not going to make me better at the art that is runic magic. Well at least not until I've exhausted every possibility with what I already know. I mean I'm on book number seven of the Basics Runes series of books. There are eleven books in the series. My progress can be stated as slightly less than one book a year. That's actually pretty good in my opinion. I learn by doing. So practicing and refining whatever I've learned in a book is the best way for me to retain information.

Yes the chat-group LIBRARY has an auto-learn function. But look a bit deeper, an you'll see it's not all that useful. Sure you'll be able to regurgitate every spell under the sun, but you won't know the deeper intricacies of even the most basic of fireball spells.

I'd decided to get that function, but something Master Makarov said in passing put off the idea. "Book and reality are two different things. To really learn, you must apply your knowledge. Read all the books in the world, will grant you knowledge. But without actual experience your knowledge is useless. Knowledge is power only if you know how to wield it. A sword is just a stick at the hip of someone who hasn't practiced his craft for as long as he can remember. Similarly magic is just flimsy lights and whistles without intent and realization." Paraphrasing here, but that's the gist of it.

Knowing about a bunch of spells and knowing how to actually use them is the difference between mediocrity and mastery.

After a few hours of studying, I went to sleep.

*****06:00*****

I woke up with five hours of night sleep. I was well rested however. I'd had a nap on the coast of Melen, and a decent sleep in my own bed.

I made breakfast eggs, left over steak, bacon, roasted veggies and coffee. Went and woke up Cypher from his food coma, while the bacon was cooking. Gave him a few monster cores with a mutton leg. We'll be going into the dungeon today. Only up to Rivira, spend a few days getting reacquainted with the dungeon and refining our tactics developed while fighting hordes of zombies.

While making my way to the entrance, the few people were giving me weird looks.

I thought it was my armour. Or what they could see through the Cloak of Shadows. It was a modernized Spartan/Roman armour.

[image]

I remembered to only carry my cold weapons, but the SMG(left) and claw(claw) vambraces were a give away that something was not quite right. The black, gold and red colour scheme was quite eye-catching in the dawn light.

It was actually Cypher sleepily walking beside me. To the unfamiliar, he looked pissed off and about ready to attack. The normies and adventurers alike kept their distance. I sensed some adventurers stronger than me at a fair distance. I turned my head to look up at the Tower of Babel's top floor, and then towards the balcony of the Twilight Manor.

'So they were looking for me.'

I took out two substitution seals, and a nuclear grenade. I patted Cypher and placed one under his collar after partially activating it.

A few moments later I felt no more eyes on me. However I did not relax. My instincts would let me dodge one or two attacks. Enough time to activate the substitution seals and drop the grenade.

This was a grim wake up call. The others in the Chat-Group were amicable simply because I tried my best to help them in any way I could. But in this world, it's every man for themselves.

We must get stronger! For only those with power are allowed to live freely. While the rest suffer under the illusion of happiness.

With those thoughts running through my head, we reached the entrance of the dungeon. We were let through without much delay. Not many people in line this early in the morning.

🎶Enter Sandman - Metallica🎶

With that the bloodbath begun.