The first day in a new life... again.

John jolted up from his sleep as a loud crash of thunder rang outside. The sky was dark, and the thick clouds were pouring figurative buckets of water onto the world. It was a stark contrast to the extremely vivid dream John just had… He had dreamt that he was in a city full of cats and was sitting in front of a bear barkeep… It was bizarre, yet it didn’t feel any more bizarre than the last couple of days…

Was it really a dream? Or was that an aftereffect of the Drop of Mimir? Was that some kind of future? He couldn’t even trust his own dreams anymore…

As he looked at his alarm clock, he noticed that it was still 30 minutes until he had to get up.

New Daily Quest: Work in progress
Reach Level 5 with:
Essential Alchemy (2/5)
Extract Essence (2/5)
Extract Materials (1/5)
Craft (3/5)
Each skill reaching Level 5 will grant:
+250 XP
+600$
+1 Item corresponding to the skill
+2 Non-Combat Skill Points
Bonus Objective:
Fill all equipment slots with gear:
+300 XP
+800 $
+2 Coldsteel Bars
Build 2 devices or upgrades in the Nexus
+200 XP
+1000 Mana in Mana Well
+1 Upgrade to Mana Well

Well, that was certainly a long list of things that he should do, but seeing as how Essential Alchemy was a combat skill now anyway, it didn’t seem too bad that he had some more incentive to increase that level.

Aaaand then came the not so happy pop-up:

DAILY PATCH:
Changes:
Damage: Multiple Changes will be done to the Damage Calculation.
Physical Multipliers: Most physical Multipliers will be reduced in their factors by half (e.g., x2 will become x1.5, x1.5 will become x1.25).
This includes:
Physical Multipliers from Skills like Vault and Charge
Multipliers on Special Hitzones, like Vital Point and Critical Point
Multipliers from Status effects on Enemies

Not Affected will be:
Critical Hits
Backstab
Damage Modifier through Strength Thresholds
Damage Calculation of spells

Damage Calculation: Damage Calculation has been buggy since the last Hotfix. It will now be reverted to its previous state, multiplying the rolled damage.

Should Damage still be unbalanced now, then the factors will be further decreased

Other Changes
Perk System: Instead of every fifth level, you will gain a perk point every (1000/[All Permanent Stats combined]) Levels rounded. Should the factor change, then you will be granted perk points according to the new quota retroactively.

Thank you for your patience.

That was an Up and Down in things… Sure, the decrease in his multipliers would tank his damage, but thinking it over, he should still be able to deal more than enough damage, it just wouldn’t spike that ridiculously as it did before. And the change to the Perks was a nice thing as well, though there could be some better choices there… but, then again, he was only level nine, and the really powerful ones would only unlock at higher levels or specific builds… well, no reason to dwell on it…

Reminder: You still have 5 Skill points to distribute and to choose 1 weapon

As he got that reminder, he didn’t just remember that he still had those to distribute, but also the two new items he had gotten as he joined the Fateweavers, the Reality Shard and the Green Goo (Var. 447). First, he decided to spend the skill points, putting one each into his new combat skills Trapper’s Kit and Mana Spike, and one each into Essential Alchemy and Craft.

Trapper’s Kit, Lv.2
You can now use Springtraps, which will push the enemy in a predetermined direction [Skill Level] Meters once stepped on.

Mana Spike, Lv.2
A single instance of Mana Spike will now deal 30 Magic DMG.

Essential Alchemy, Lv. 3
New Recipes unlocked. You can now craft better potions and grenades.

Craft, Lv. 3
Effectiveness of magic materials increased.

Next on his list were the two items he had gotten for joining the Fateweavers. One seemed to be a shard of glass, but instead of reflecting anything, it almost looked like a momentary image of something. The other was a sealed tube filled with viscous, green slime.

John decided to check the shard first:

Reality Fragment
Fragment of Reality captured at the moment of the changing into a Barrier. Might be slightly unstable.

So, that shard was actually a piece of reality? How did that work? That seemed like something that shouldn’t be possible…

The ooze was a bit more talkative in its description:

Green Goo (Var. 447)
A viscous green slime with paranormal properties when applied to various things. Highly efficient lubricant. Smells and tastes minty.

WARNING: Do not, under no circumstances, let come in contact with a dead body!

Huh, so anti-necrophiliac lube? John really wasn’t sure what to do with this kind of information… maybe he could Extract some stuff from these items? Because he surely didn’t know what to do with them otherwise…

Speaking of Extract, John decided that it was probably the smartest idea to level his skills by buying some cheap things and then stripping them down to components and putting them back together as something else. He would likely go to some Department store to buy some small and cheap electronic devices.

Now that was the plan on how to deal with the leveling of the skills; the next questions were how he would deal with the ‘expansion’ of the Nexus and the gear.

Honestly said, while he had some ideas on what he wanted in the Nexus, he had no idea on how to create it. What he wanted was basically a training ground, for both him and his companions. But how could he do that? He’d need to think about that while he was at school.

Actually, should he even really go to school now? He had the job with the Fateweavers now, that would pay a lot better than any work he could ever get, probably. He could in theory still go to university, but what did the academy really bring him?

The only thing he wanted to do at school right now was finding out what the hell James was up to.

So, John decided to concentrate on the new way his life was going.

By looking for a vehicle on the Abyss Auction!

When he thought about a vehicle he wanted to drive, his mind always came back to the image of Brun and the other Valkyries getting on their motorbikes and driving off. A motorcycle was something he had wanted for a long time now, and his mom didn’t really object it, they just never had the money for it. And now that he had some personal income, he could properly live that dream!

The Auction site seemed to have a big marketplace for mundane items, or it at least had some connection to mundane companies, because John could easily buy non-magical vehicles and magical vehicles in the same category. Magic brooms, flying carpets, helicopters and a big assortment of cars and bikes.

Looking through the bikes, John decided to settle on something between a cruiser and a superbike. The Auction told him that the bike would cost $25.000, and apparently his account was already linked to the Fateweavers, which is why the bike would only cost him $12.500 with the other half being paid by the organization. Downside was that the bike would be delivered to the local headquarter of the Fateweavers, so that meant that he would likely get it at the start of next week, but maybe he could ask Hannah about it?

And with that, John got up from bed and went into the bathroom. The shower was waiting for him, and maybe a quick jerk-off.