Chapter 2
Watching Seshat work was to put simply a work of art in of itself. Every motion that carved a piece of wood off was as smooth and natural as a river brook's gurgling water in the spring. "To engrave or work with wood is to be as natural as the wood itself, just as you do not fight the tide, you carve and cut along with the grain of the wood," Sesha spoke softly as she followed the directions, I gave to make the wooden bench I needed to make for myself.
"This is a lovely bench, plenty solid and all... But there is nothing supernatural about it?" She wondered as she played with the hip-sized bench she made, and I nodded at her words but then armed with watching her make it I took the very tools she used to make the bench and began the same process.
"Follow the grain!" She would yell at me repeatedly. "You're pushing that chisel like you're a woman trying to give birth, just relax!" Yeah, although the way she taught me left much to be desired in the end all her pointed-out mistakes were things I could improve on.
So, after failing my attempt under her supervision with her wood and making a basically indestructible lopsided table as the legs weren't equal in height, I decided to get back at Seshat.
"Alright try to break or harm the table," I said pointing at the table that with each movement would have its feet clatter and the table would wobble with its legs being not uniform in length.
"What? No just take the top off and sand down the left leg so it matches the damned size it needs to be?!" Seshat yelled at me, and I smiled wryly, and then with a mighty crashing noise I brought down a wood chopping axe used to chop wood to feed her furnaces and the axe merely bounced off the table making my hands go numb.
"What..." Seshat was completely speechless as she saw me utterly smash the axe on the table yet whereas the axe should have exploded into pieces, this one merely shook in place and not a damned thing happened to it, no scratches, no gouges, nothing.
"Go ahead. oh, great goddess... See the bad side of my bullshit skill and it's only fault. I have to damn near perfectly make anything I want. Otherwise, it's worthless, and just as a bonus everything I make is already fucking basically got the Durandal enchantment and is indestructible so it's it a pain in the axe to break down." I cursed making my goddess look at me like I was an alien.
Wait I actually was an alien.
"Are you using Mind for this?" She asked as she took out some tools and began to attempt to take samples from the table and even used some kind of magical laser thing that was probably to laser etch things, but nope nothing worked. She couldn't get a splinter off of it.
"Nope!" I said cheerfully even though I did in fact wish it did use Mind so I could train my magic while using it.
"I have to break it down with my own indestructible tools in order to get back only some of the materials," I explained as I took my copper axe out of my inventory the sight of the tool made her eyes twitch at me having a sort of dimensional storage as such a thing hadn't really been seen here in Ontario.
"Yeah... That little disappearing trick is something." She muttered before shaking her head. "Don't let other people see that or you will end up disappearing just as quickly or face something worse." She warned and I nodded.
After showing her how my copper axe could break down the wooden bench, she attempted to do the same with some of the pieces and thankfully she could actually damage it but when I had her smash the very axe on the copper shortsword and pickaxe I had, no damage was done to any of the freely given items.
"So, you can only break that which isn't properly created, to begin with?" She mused with her leopard tail swishing through the air in interest as we worked out my skill's secrets. "Hmm in that case sit here on my stool... I am going to guide your every move to see the true scope of your skill." She said and then I was moved to sit on a long bench of a stool so she could literally sit behind me and wrap her arms and hands around my own hands so she could control my every move.
"Relax. I am merely your teacher in this so keep your mind clear of my beauty Hehe." She teased me and the reminder helped clear my head of the feeling of her literally divine body being practically draped over mine.
It turns out however that my cheat was completely heartless and with Sesha, a literal goddess of architecture guiding my hands we were finally able to create the workbench successfully I felt at the moment of its completion, my mental library of crafting recipes expanded greatly with the wood and odd ends in my inventory.
"I can't carve it anymore is it done?" She asked and I nodded as I went over all the stuff I could make and then I remembered the starter bag hanging in the corner of my inventory.
"Yup, I got a lot more info downloaded into my head about stuff I can build but first let me try this," I said as I mentally focused on the Starter Bag Calamity gave me and from the bag burst out into my inventory was a full setup of several potions, but I knew that the mining, spelunker, shine, and gills potions weren't of all too much use whereas the recall potion, however, was a game changer...
Drinking it would teleport me to the last place I laid down and relaxed in and with that last point being here I had an excellent way to escape a bad situation should I get the star-shaped potion into my hands and drink it before I got hurt.
But other than the potions I was given a better sword than my Copper shortsword, Copper Broadsword, and even a Copper short bow and a hundred arrows to go with it.
Lastly were the far more interesting items to me in the Topaz staff and the Squirrel Squire Staff along with a mana crystal that would supposedly enhance my mind should I break it in my hands which was the smartest thing to do now before I went into the dungeon.
"That's condensed astral mana? What are you going to do with that?" She asked and I smiled, as her tail froze and went ramrod straight as I crushed the crystal in my hand with the blue mana filling my body and with a hum, I felt it congregating in my head before the weird feeling dissipated leaving me with the irate goddess who was yelling about how stupid I was to use Astra Mana as a mortal when supposedly only deities could handle it when they traveled from Tenkai and Genkai.
"This isn't raw Astral Mana as you say though. At the very least it's highly refined and it was literally given to me by my skill so it wouldn't hurt me." I said and she couldn't gain say me with how I spoke only the truth.
"Ahhh! My child is a cheating cheat!" She yelled acting childishly as she waved her arms up and around having a small tantrum.
"So should I get into the magic staff that can instantly shoot a single prepared spell and the staff that can summon a magical squire that will fight for me?" I asked grinning as Seshat literally just threw up her hands in the universal constant of saying 'fuck it go ahead'
"Fine go ahead Jake, show me all your goodies. I can tell you are getting even more out of my reactions than being happy with the gear itself" She said rolling her eyes making me chuckle at figuring out as I truly wasn't all too attached to this stuff as I would probably be quickly replacing it, to be honest.
The first thing I was going to do once I got an anvil was make a full set of metal armor, all new weapons, and even a new summon item that only required some wood, snow, ice, and a flower that grows in a tundra area. So yeah, I wasn't all too attached to this stuff honestly.
"Well now what are your plans, Jake?" Seshat asked me and I bit my lip as I held onto my Copper broadsword before I dismissed it into my inventory.
"Well, I need dungeon drops for materials to use in special weapons and a lot of other stuff." I mused as I went over the crafting recipes and noted how certain items that most certainly weren't going to be in Danmachi like the robotic Wulfrim stuff could be crafted using only some iron and copper stuff whereas in the game I would need to kill the Wulfrim mobs in order to get the items that I would need.
Now why did I want Wulfrim stuff in particular? Well besides giving some decent armor it also allowed me to summon the weakest boss in the game which I felt even as a level one I could have a fantastic chance against once I get a grappling hook or something that will allow me to maneuver around.
"You can't stay here? Where you are safe?" She asked me and I tore my consciousness out of my mental plans to look at the somber and if anything, sad goddess, as she continued seeing as I was now focused on her. "No one says that you must go to the dungeon in order to level up or even get status points for your Falna, you must merely do things that would impress a god back in Tenkai who could be watching you."
"Seshat, I need to grow stronger, and hiding here won't help me even if I could actually grow stronger by crafting some of the low-level debris I can now... Besides as you just asked earlier, I am perfectly capable of creating floor bosses basically and even taming the monsters I summon in the future." Thinking of the female elementals I could summon in post-Hard mode after I kill the Wall of Flesh, well, to be frank, I was very excited about such an opportunity.
"I... Yes, a mortal will seek to temper themselves in the furnace of battle. But not being able to see your fate and future makes me feel antsy I suppose." Sesha explained weakly and I nodded in understanding and then to cheer her up I decided to use my Familia privilege to give my goddess so head scratches.
"Come here, I am calling in the head scratches you promised," I said holding in my chuckles as she looked back up to me both dismay and excitement I couldn't tell honestly. She was a woman and a cat girl to boot, no man in the universe will be able to tell what she was thinking.
"Impertinent mortal, you reach beyond your position... Very well! I will allow you the honor of touching my ears!" She said as though it was some great sacrifice for herself in order to comfort me.
"Oh, great goddess Seshat this humble mortal acolyte merely wishes to thread his fingers through your midnight locks of hair while paying grace to your absolutely adorable cat ears," I spoke hamming it up and making her chuckle as she sat in front of me this time and then bent her head over so I could begin scratching her ears.
"My ears are fierce, not adorable." She muttered and my lips only twitched in response as I took my time just scratching her leopard ears.
"Alright, Seshat... Well, I guess I am going to try to make some wooden armor now." I said pulling my hands away from the Goddess and for a brief moment I saw her pout, but she put on an amused expression as she saw me take up the carving and other woodworking tools to the workbench, we created.
"Hoh? You are confident enough to do it on your own and not ask for my guiding hand?" She asked cockily and I guilelessly nodded making her tail twitch before I spoke and seemingly earned her approval.
"I need to get used to doing this myself, and although I certainly will listen and appreciate whatever advice you got, in the end, all this needs to pass through my hands in order for my skill to work," I said as my mind drifted onto how I was going to make said wooden armor and even took note of its set bonus should I wear a full set of wooden armor.
'Under direct sunlight, I will get minor enhanced healing and stamina recovery.' I mentally read out and could only deadpan at how utterly useless such a thing was in the dungeon as there was absolutely zero sunlight in the dungeon no matter the floor as far as I was aware.
But indestructible armor was indestructible armor, actually, I didn't have a mana or health bar or anything like that except for having the inventory and the armor/accessory slots on the side of the mental construct so I wonder how the armor will protect me, and what the armor rating itself does in any case?
To start off with making the wooden armor I decided to work from the easiest piece the chest plate work towards the most difficult part the boots and leg armor due to all its moving parts.
"Using little wooden hinges to act as the connecting point for the back and front chest plate... If I didn't know your cheat was so stupid, I would want to slap you upside the head for having such a prominent weakness where the small hinges could break, leaving the chest plate to just fall off of you." Seshat muttered looking at the four hinges with two on each side of my shoulder that held together the chest plates for my front and back.
"Hmm it doesn't really defend my throat much, but it covers my chest and will keep the goblins from shanking me in the back," I said taking in the armor and actually putting it on and had to grimace as it obviously wasn't all that comfortable.
"Wait how did I succeed this time?" I muttered honestly confused as I took in the pile of wooden scraps beside me and Seshat scoffed.
"Bah, that workbench is just as much of a cheat as you are. It seemingly allowed you're every carving motion to take the perfect amount of wood off and just generally make your crafting work like ten percent better so it went from garbage that a street rat wouldn't fight with to an armor that a poor brand-new adventurer could go into the dungeon with to get money to get real armor." Seshat criticized and I realized from the mental information that the discomfort I was having with the armor was due to its low quality and it literally in my inventory had a negative epitaph naming it as Shoddy Wooden Chest plate that supposedly made me slower somehow.
"Well, at least I succeeded, to begin with," I muttered pouting before a stupid idea came to me and I sighed looking to Seshat. "Seshat please take that hammer and hit me in the chest with it, I need to see what this Armor rating means," I asked for a moment Seshat looked at me like I was an idiot before she sighed and grabbed the hammer before hesitating and then reached into another cabinet and took out a red potion that was obviously a healing potion.
"Alright, Jake... You asked for it." She said taking the large wooden carpentry hammer and winding up for a baseball swing my face twitched as I noticed she was most certainly far more gung-ho in testing this than I was.
So, like a man who got dared by his buddies to do something stupid, in order to not be called a punk bitch I squared up and got ready for the ass-kicking I literally asked for.
With a sharp crack of wood meeting wood, I squawked like a rubber duck being squeezed under water as the wooden armor only braced for a moment before her hammer slid down past the armor's chest plate and allowing the rest of the hammer's force of impact to smash into my stomach and needless to say I bent over at my knees at the feeling of a fucking hammer sliding itself onto my lower stomach.
"Shit, you okay Jake, did I burst your spleen or something?" She asked with some actual concern as she leaned over and I waved her off as I gathered my breath in the corner of my eye, I saw how the so-called armor rating went from its prior 3 to zero and was beginning to regenerate as it went to a one and then remembering the brief moment of where the armor cold stopped the hammer altogether I realized that the Terraria armor worked somewhat like a forcefield as it pushed aside blows and after the armor rating was used up I would take damage and actually get hurt then.
"Yeah, I learned something very important," I spoke as I stood back up while rubbing my sore belly and then launched into an explanation of my findings.
After understanding my findings Seshat nodded as she gave me a pat on my head. "Good job Jake you made your dungeon survival much more assured, now let me help you make a better chest plate and the other two pieces so in the morning you can get registered at the Guild and then try your luck in the dungeon." She spoke and after a moment of hesitation of where I wanted to work on my own armor, I was reminded of the Shoddy epitaph on my armor that could very well bring about my death in the dungeon.
So, I hung up my pride and accepted her offer of help with only making a mental note to practice making stuff on my own time without her help.
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