The Way Ahead

Chapter 57: Reconvene and Reassess

Congratulations! For applying knowledge of the physical makeup of the world to an alchemical formula, you have unlocked the Physical Alchemist path!

Congratulations! For successfully making an alchemical formula with no assistance and minimal gear, you have unlocked the Makeshift Alchemist path!

Congratulations! For creating a concoction and demonstrating advanced chemical knowledge, you have unlocked the Practical Alchemist path!

Congratulations! For displaying advanced knowledge regarding physical matter, you have unlocked the Chemist path!

Congratulations! For displaying advanced knowledge regarding living matter, you have unlocked the Biologist path!

Congratulations! For displaying advanced knowledge regarding physical laws, you have unlocked the Physicist path!

Congratulations! For attempting a well-considered variation upon a standardized concoction, you have unlocked the Experimenter path!

Congratulations! For demonstrating advanced knowledge regarding experimental methodology and physical laws, you have unlocked the Scientific Revolutionary path!

Congratulations! For experimenting with alchemical formulas utilizing unique insights into creations, you have unlocked the Forerunner path!

Congratulations! For successfully refining lye, you have unlocked the Purifier path!

You have unlocked the Purify skill!

Accept Skill? Y/N

You have unlocked the Lecture skill!

Accept Skill? Y/N

Level Up!

Skill Points 518539

Progress to Tier 2: 735/1590

Alchemy Level 5360

Basic Mana Sense Level 3336

Firestarting Level 4546

Identify Level 4243

Nutrition Level 2627

Outsiders Almanac Level 8082

Polyglot Level 3036

Survival Level 3334

Almost halfway to Tier 2! Sweet. He was probably due to reassess exactly how close he was at some point, though. Hed gotten a lot of Paths since he had divided everything up, and he sadly couldnt take everything first. At his current rate, though, he should probably wait until he was closer to the time in question.

Purify was... tempting. Very, very tempting. That was exactly the sort of Skill which hed find useful in Alchemy. But was it really exciting enough for one of his final few Skills? Ehhh maybe. Hed decline it for the moment- hed probably do it by accident if he didnt, anyway- but hed think about it and possibly take it later. He just didnt want to make a snap decision, not when he could consult with Inion at some point about what she thought would be the best.

A passing thought brought up his Status, which, as long as it was getting, always felt satisfying to do.

Name

Edwin Maxlin

Age

22 years

Race

Extraplanar Human

Class

Hedge Alchemist

Attributes

Mana 5

Skills

Magical

Basic Mana Sense: 36, Mana Infusion: 63 (Basic Mana Manipulation 9)

Physical

Athletics: 52, Breathing: 52, Flexibility: 27, Nutrition: 27, Packing 29, Seeing: 31, Sleeping: 29, Survival: 34, Walking: 40

Mental

Polyglot: 36 (Language 36), Mathematics: 39, Memory: 34 (Research 50), Visualization: 42

Combat

Bomb Throwing: 9 (Throwing Weapons 48)

Utility

Firestarting: 45, Alchemy: 60 (Improvisation 14), Outsider's Almanac: 82 (Status 22), Identify: 43, First Aid: 30

Paths

Skill Points: 539

Progress to Tier 2: 735/1590

Current Plan:

Adventurer 0/30, Warrior 0/60, Athlete 0/60, Researcher 0/60, Skilled Arcanist 0/60, Potioneer 0/60, Wanderer 0/60, Stonehide Vanquisher 0/60, Scientist 0/60, Outsider 0/60, Blackstone Conqueror 0/60, Mage 0/60, Novice Pyromancer 0/60, World Traveler 0/60, Physical Arcanist 0/60, Field Medic 0/60, Unkillable 0/90, Path Less Traveled 0/90

Save for Tier 2

Micro-Biomancer 0/90, Realm Traveler 0/120, Alchemical Warrior 0/90, Pioneer 0/60, Alchemical Medic 0/60, Titan Slayer 0/90, Explorer 0/60, Giant Slayer 0/60, Superior Alchemist 0/60

Maybe

Novice 0/12, Trainee 0/60, Trapper 0/60, System Scholar 0/60, Survivor 0/60, Daredevil 0/60, Escapee 0/30, Lecturer 0/30, Steadfast Medic 0/60, Rebel 0/30, Arsonist 0/60

Unsorted

Woodsman 0/30, Hunter 0/30, Novice Ritualist 0/60, Feycaller 0/60, Fey Friend 0/60, Feybound 0/60, Feytouched 0/90, Physical Alchemist 0/90, Makeshift Alchemist 0/60, Practical Alchemist 0/60, Chemist 0/60, Biologist 0/60, Physicist 0/60, Experimenter 0/60, Scientific Revolutionary 0/90, Forerunner 0/60, Purifier 0/30

Probably Not

Lumberjack 0/60, Way of the Empty Hand 0/60, Pyromaniac 0/30, Exile 0/30, Rebel 0/60, Master of the Ruined Tower 0/60, Razer of the Ruined Tower 0/60

No

Slave 0/12, Assassin 0/60, Killer 0/30, Traitor 0/60, Burglar 0/60

Completed Paths

CharLimitCanttalkmuchNocluewhathappenedDidmybesttohelpyouli, Mage, Skilled Arcanist, Physical Alchemist, Bomber, Linguist, Beginner

Ooh! Are you looking at your Status? Inion appeared from wherever she had vanished to once he stopped doing interesting things, What are your Skills? I wanna help!

Edwin tucked his head between his hands, Im not in the mood for this right now.

She patted his shoulder reassuringly, which just made him shift slightly as he recoiled from the touch, I wont tell you what to do yet, she poked at him mischievously, her grin falling when she saw that he wasnt fond of the joke, Something wrong?

No, nothing.

Still an awful liar.

None of your business, then.

Nuh uh! Its absolutely my business. You made a deal that youd talk to me and that Id try to help you to the best of my ability with your Skills. If youve got some problem thats making you not wanna talk to me about that, its my duty to make you talk. And she started mimicking some voice or accident Edwin didnt recognize, We have ways to make you talk.

The naiad waited expectantly for some kind of reaction from Edwin, but when he didnt give one, her face fell, I swear, that joke always works, which only prompted a shrug from him.

Guess your sense of humor is as outdated as the rest of you.

She glared at him, Youre just asking for it, arent you? As it turned out, even when falling, Inion still drifted as though she were suspended underwater, and as she floated to a seat, she schooled her face into a standard I absolutely care about you because Im obligated to expression, But seriously, whats wrong?

Ah, Edwins favorite form of empathy. Contractually obligated. It was like a youth leader showing concern for him. No kidding, thats what their job is. It was the rest of the time that

No. No, Edwin. No getting worked up about that anymore. Just answer the question. Inion is practically your therapist at this point, anyway.

Just everyone has all these expectations of me, now that Im here. Youd think that being ripped through the fabric of spacetime into a wholly separate world would mean Id finally be able to escape people thinking I need to do this with my life, that I cant go and do that, that I need to conform to exactly what they want he sighed, Heck, worst of all are the you can do whatever you like and well be proud of you sorts of people, because you know they have some secret desire for you but refuse to actually share it.

Cant say I can relate exactly, but I do understand. I I yeah. Its not easy, is it? Still, give me a quick rundown on what you have, and we can talk about it some other time, ya? That way I can get a bit of time to think about it.

He sighed, Fine Fine. Lets start from the top, then? The first Skill I got was Basic Mana Sense.

Edwin finished weaving another rhoreed mat by the time they finished, as Inion wanted to know everything about all of his Skills and Paths. What they were, what level they were at, what they seemed to do, how he unlocked them, what he thought about them Shed laughed when he outlined his hopes for Packing, but had stopped and considered it and told him it might work, shed just never seen anyone actually try it before.

That was good enough for him. It wasnt a high enough level yet, though. He estimated it would need to be level 50 or so before it was enough to even start, but once he did well, it would be pretty great.

For now, though, he was finally getting around to trying to get meat from his deer. He only needed to eat a little more than once every two days at this point when he wasnt being too physical, which was quite nice. Still, he needed to deal with this carcass sooner or later, and there was still a bit of light, so may as well do so now.

Inion had pulled it out of her pocket dimension or whatever it was exactly. It was as fresh as it had been before, to the point where it was still slightly bloody. Well he could deal with that later. He had the meat hanging from a nearby tree, and started trying to cut away the skin. At first, hed thought he might somehow cut the meat out, rather than the skin away, but had no clue how to even start with that, so here he was.

It ended up not being quite as hard as he worried. Still really hard, but it was at least doable. A few cuts here and there to get the skin started, ignoring the fur that kept getting on the meat, and then pull the skin off, bit by bit.

Once he was just dealing with a lot of meat, which was honestly pretty blood-free at this point, the last few drops having worked their way out while hed been working, things well, they werent more complicated, nor were they less complicated. Things changed in complexity, as now he had some fifty or sixty pounds of meat to deal with, which yeah. He needed to do something with all of that.

Cutting off the legs and head left him with six- well, five really. He didnt want to deal with the deers crushed head, so he tossed it into the woods- pieces of varying size, which he really didnt know what to do with now. It was easier to deal with, at least. He didnt really have any convenient way to grill, fry, or bake it, so maybe smoking it or boiling it? The former of those sounded way more convenient, but it could wait for the morning. He passed what he had so far off to Inion, who was sitting at the edge of her pond doing something. Weaving a cord of grass? And went to bed.

Level Up!

Survival 3436

The next morning, the drying potion still wasnt done soaking into his test wood, so he decided to deal with his venison instead. After loading up his campfire with as much green wood as he could, making sure he only took branches from a vaguely maple-looking tree- he couldnt remember why cedar and fir were bad for smoking, but hed heard people discussing it at some point- he got the fire started with his Skill and started working with his meat.

Hed never been a big fan of gristle and had use for tallow besides, so his first task was just trimming as much fat as possible from the game as possible. It was all collected inside a jar and set off to the side, partially set into the creekbed to help keep it cool. From there, he started cutting slices from the leg he was working on, about an inch thick and six inches long, and laying them not directly on the coals, but suspended above it on wood-soaked green wood- his makeshift not-a-grill.

With no illusions that his wooden not-a-grill would withstand any level of fire, he kept his campfire going at a slow, but steady rate of coals and embers. It took hours for his meat to look essentially cooked and smoked both on the inside and out, but cutting up the venison was similarly time-consuming, so it more or less balanced out.

It took most of the day for him to get his meat all prepared, and he was pretty certain hed be utterly sick of venison jerky by the time it was all eaten, but it should at least function adequately as food until then.

Level Up!

Survival 3637

Nutrition 2728

He declined the Cooking and Harvest skills and, his cooking for the night completed, built up his fire again.

His jerky was well, it was technically edible. It was somewhat flavorless and bland, chewy and difficult to eat, but it had the most important aspect: he could eat it, and that meant he could at least nominally use it for food. He had enough to last him for weeks, assuming he got fresh water (trivial) and some level of veggies and carbohydrates. Hmm. He still had his bags of beans, and if he could find some talsanenris berries at some point, he might be able to figure out some kind of speed-growth fertilizer. Plus, Inion had gardening by her own admission. She would probably help him with it? Eh, hed deal with all of that later, once hed made more progress on his cabin.

Hmm Now that he thought about it, what exactly were his priorities at the moment? He needed materials and levels, both of which he had some help with from Inion, both of which he lagged massively behind both Earth and Joriah. He wasnt able to excel as just a physicist, and his Skills were apparently insufficient. A quick call to his Status allowed Edwins gaze to linger upon one Path in particular, and the corners of his mouth flicked up.

Scientific Revolutionary.

Yeah. He liked the sound of that.