The rain stopped this morning.

I couldn’t believe it at first - I noticed it when I was wrapping up my nightly meditation.¹A poor substitute for sleep, but better than nothing - especially in combination with a new alchemy creation of mine. It’s now early afternoon and I’ve finally worked up the bravery to peek out of the massive double doors of the church.

The waterlogged wood creaks heavily before finally giving as I push my full weight into the motion. Suddenly my eyes are assaulted by sunlight for the first time in three weeks and I must say, it’s not a great feeling.

I take a moment to let my eyes adjust before surveying the world outside properly for the first time since the siege started.

“Fuck…”

From where I stand, I can see that the town, though well protected, was not immune to the effects of the storm - even so it’s a bastion of perfection compared to what I can spy outside the walls.

It’s easier to count the number of trees still standing than those that’ve fallen, the ground appears to be heavy with thick mud. With the increased visibility afforded by the decimated forest, I can see the lake shore directly from where I stand and… well the water is a solid meter higher than it was before.

“I guess… it got bored?”

Looking over the devastation, it’s hard at first to feel any joy about my situation… all of that changes however when Gregory waddles up to peer out at the world with wide eyes.

“Biiig…” he says in awe, showcasing both the new addition to his vocabulary and his slightly increased command over his volume levels - two things I am quite proud of him for.

“Yeah, it’s real big out there buddy... its a little scary sometimes though, so remember not to wander off, okay?“

“OKAY!” he shouts in excitement, a bit of progress evaporating in the moment of sheer joy. He hefts up his older ‘brother’ Octavius ²Previously Gregory The Eighth, renamed to prevent confusion. No complaints from him yet. to give him a view of things.

“LOOK OCTO! BIG!”

The pair of them have been inseparable for the past week, largely at Gregory’s insistence I surmise seeing as Octavius is not capable of much in the way of locomotion or communication - but still, it’s nice to see them getting along.

“Be gentle with your brother Gregory and stay inside those walls there, okay? Call for me if anything scary happens.”

“YES MAUM!”

Somehow, I am a parent now.

As he runs off to explore the ruins I sit down on the steps and just… enjoy the blue sky.

I feel a bit aimless again now - yesterday I was slaving over a row of bubbling beakers, cooking up some crackpot scheme to fight off something better described as a force of nature than an animal.

I suppose now I need to find the stupid rock if I ever want to sleep again without ghosts yelling at me. At least I have that somewhat sorted now, it turns out I had the solution in my pocket for a while - Alchemy.

Oh Alchemy.

Alchemy continues to be a challenge I have yet to surmount - I’m playing a game without knowing the rules and I learn the hard way when I’ve broken one of them. 

I’ve been at it for a few days now, assisted by dumping most of my points into the skill and I have cured sleep deprivation.

Okay, that feat is less impressive than it sounds - I watered down some of those [Angel Tears] with filtered water and some health and stamina potion to produce [Failed Panacea]. It obviates the need for sleep as long as I drink a heavy swig of it every now and then. That’s probably an immense waste, but I do as needs must and I still have one portion of the [Angel Tears] left.

Beyond just the sleep problem handled ³For the next few weeks at least with current rates of consumption I can now successfully brew up simple things - potions for restoring Health, Stamina, and Mana are no longer a great challenge - though as my skill has increased the information I obtain from [Alchemical Analysis] is becoming worrying.

My awkward stumbling might produce tonics capable of restoring the three resources⁴A shorthand because saying and writing ‘health, stamina, and mana’ every time has gotten old real quick., but not without risk - the side effects of using these potions in large amounts or in quick succession of one another range from temporarily inconvenient to debilitating.

Some of them are closer to being poisons with positive side effects, capable of giving the user thyroid disorders, neurological damage, and even cancer.

From what I can see, potions lacking in purity are much more risky and only by repeatedly refining the initial result can they be made safe to drink - though it might also be a matter of just doing it right the first time and extracting impurities at time of brewing. If that is the case, increasing my skill could pay dividends in saving ingredients and time in the long run.

Speaking frankly, I haven’t really bothered refining the failed stuff - been dumping it all into one of those clay pots.⁵With a special treatment of a neutralizing lacquer, another nifty innovation brought to you by the [Basic Formula Book] Once again, probably an immense waste, but such is my situation that I am rich in available ingredients and honestly I’d rather not watch another potion re-re-re-decant for eleven hours. Not really sure what I’ll do with the collected runoff though.

It started out as a mix of failed potions, but I really couldn’t tell you what it’s mutated into by now. What I do know, is that when I spilled some on the floor it caught with neon pink flames that burned cold and when it went out all that was left was a safety orange glop with the texture of cottage cheese that smells like burnt out electronics.⁶I just ended up scraping it up and pouring it back into the disposal urn for safety.

I can only imagine what it would do to a living being considering what it made of granite, but I’m gambling on it being extremely unpleasant.

I was planning to try throwing it at the bird, just to see what would happen - but under closer examination I’m not sure that would be safe, helpful, or well advised.

Still, I can’t say my other preparations went to waste - being stuck inside I started training and working out to assuage boredom and the results are… impressive.

Put in more practical terms, I can bench press five times my own body weight⁷ Those dislodged chunks of stone from the ceiling ended up being handy for that.. I don’t have a ton of muscle definition but checking my reflection in a puddle, I am built like a brick shithouse.

I can’t say I have the most soft and feminine figure anymore, but who gives a shit? I could probably roundhouse kick a motherfucker through two walls if he said anything. Sorta makes me wonder how those little anime twinks are meant to lift buildings or whatever in all of those isekai stories when they look like they’d be knocked over by a stiff breeze.

Thinking about it, I did some experimentation that might explain that particular phenomenon.

After fucking around with Vitae, I found a way to multiply my strength threefold. I did run into a slight problem; if I use it, I literally break my own bones trying to exert the full force of what the stats imply. Once again I have alchemy to thank for saving me, broken bones are apparently like papercuts in the face of [Failed Panacea] - two days was enough to put me back together again sipping regular doses of it.

I can’t really say I had a specific goal in mind through all of this... I was just doing a whole lot of self-study and training to avoid going stir crazy and my [Ascetic]⁸Rarity: Uncommon
Obtained by: Spending a period greater than half of your life on Aonus in solitary training.
Description: Worldly things are a distraction in the pursuit of greatness. Be it physical mastery, intellectual superiority, or spiritual enlightenment; you have eschewed pleasures while seeking something higher.
Effect: You gain a minor boost to your Wisdom, Spirit, and Faith attributes as well as an increase in the effectiveness of solitary training so long as you maintain a simple and focused lifestyle. title did some work in helping me figure things out - probably because of all that fasting. Did I mention the fasting? Once again, [Failed Panacea] doing work. It doesn’t keep me from getting hungry, but it does prevent starvation; not exactly a fun time, but pragmatic at the very least.

I also had plenty of time to fuck about with the [Alexandria Slate] and boy have I got something to show for it. It’s a lot more advanced than I first gave credit for, it’s not just a static book of information - it does more than robotically answer questions.

I’ve managed to teach it English… sort of.

It has the capability to read information and take in external stimuli and I have a cellphone full of ebooks and pdfs - specifically an old 50gb torrent titled “Everything You Need to Know Ever”. It’s a mixed bag of random crap. 

I think I got it off one of those anonymous forums way back in the day, but that’s beside the point, the really important thing is that I’ve managed to get the [Alexandria Slate] to read text off my phone and substitute words with matching definitions in its original entries making them somewhat readable.

The sentences read like they got run through a wood chipper and glued back together after and a solid fifth of the words don't have an appropriate analogue in English, but I think I can still make use of it. It's good enough for me to make a few educated guesses to fill in the gaps at least; worlds better than my previous approach of only asking yes or no questions.

The previous occupants of this village apparently kept birth and death records in this thing along with all sorts of other information. Picking through it has made for some informative if somewhat dry reading; crop yields, daily journal entries from various individuals, and more.

Most immediately and significantly  the location of several potentially useful landmarks across the island, where to find what I assume is a mine based on surrounding context, how to cultivate, process, and preserve a number of crops, and a frankly uncomfortable amount of information about animal husbandry.

There’s other stuff, blacksmithing, some martial arts, proper hunting techniques, butchery, and some crap that might be magic but is beyond my comprehension.

As boring as it was, reading through that stuff has really helped add some context to the dreams and I suppose the ones causing it - I can’t be too too sure about the specifics, but it seems they had a pretty booming village out here away from civilization as a means of escaping religious persecution.

Enough of the past though, now we come back around to the more pressing matters… what the future holds. Currently I’m planning on starting a small field nearby to grow some vegetables⁹Somehow I’ve been overlooking some of the wild offspring of my predecessor’s crops and doing a bit of hunting to keep meat on the table.¹⁰Though from now on I plan to save all disassembly and butchering until I get back here.

Effectively, I’ll be living the frontier life while scouring this island for that [Legend Stone] in the hopes that the ghosts will leave me alone… maybe see about building a raft to cross the lake back to the mainland so I can look for a way out of these woods.

Of course… that giant bird monster is a problem and something tells me it won’t be the only one… I need to beef up big time if I’m going to have any chance of surviving, that and make some local preparations just in case I come under siege again. The mental checklist just keeps growing and growing.

“Ugghhhh… can’t even get a break while I’m stranded in the woods. At least it’s not retail…”

Before I can do a lot more thinking, Gregory runs up to me and tugs on my shirt in a bid to get my attention.

“MAUM LOOK! LOOOOOK!”, he cries plaintively, as he tugs harder.

“Alright alright, gimme a second… lets see what you’ve been up to.”

He seems unable to contain himself as he holds onto my hand and pulls me off to a shady spot where he’s constructed a castle of mud, sticks, and leaves. Atop it, Octavius sits with a small ‘crown’ of crudely woven dandelion flowers loosely draped over his ankle-neck.

“Hah, good job Gregory.”

“KING OCTO!”

That’s enough being lost in thought - I’ve got some plans for how to deal if it comes back and I sure have a lot of work to do regardless, but I think I’ve earned an afternoon to just play with Gregory and Octavius.

Together the three of us have a wild time playing pretend, Octavius a mighty and wise¹¹if somewhat taciturn king, Gregory a brave knight in shining armor wielding a holy sword¹²Stick., and I the evil bandit queen terrorizing the kingdom of Mud.

All in all, a wonderful way to spend a day.

Roxyreads

Happy boxing day everyone, hope you've been doing well recently. I've been trying my best to put out fires where I can and do a bit of writing on the side. I do apologize for how releases have been dragging as of late, but frankly it's just outside my control. Somewhere along the way I've sort of lost the spark and while I have ideas for things I plan to do, getting there is the hard part.

I'm anything but a professional writer, so I can't promise a lot - but I will do my best to get things out a little faster and with a good standard of quality.

I think I'll be pushing onwards and doing a few timeskips to just get things moving in the story at a reasonable pace.

Anyway, stay safe, wear a mask, and get vaccinated when it's available in your area.