Agnisotra: Origin Tails

Day 2: we woke up early, there were a lot of things to do today. Or well that was the case originally. There was no point in going to the pink broccoli and running my ass off trying to figure out its message and then nuking it. I leisurely look through Pietro’s books. I forgot which book I was reading the last time but I have it archived so I will find out when I really need it. I picked up a book about gemstones and catalysts. It reminded me of what Uraya was talking about yesterday. I looked for sapphire. “Sapphire: a catalyst used for expert-grade potions related to protection, beautification potions, potions related to the warding and breaking of curses, and curing and immunity to ailments.

This catalyst exhibits and forces these properties on the potion if it is of pure quality which turns it automatically into a crucial ingredient if the potion crafter wants to craft a potion that is above Expert level. The value of pure sapphires can't be underestimated in potion crafting but since sapphires are very popular in the jeweler industry they will hardly end up as a catalyst. To make a legendary-level potion more than 3 carats are needed.” Hmm, I don't know how many carats I gave to Uraya, it was a small sapphire but it weighed at least 2 grams. I'm less accurate in weights than I am with time and distances but I'm sure I'm not far off. I might be one carat off, but that would still put the sapphire I gave Uraya at around 10 carats. I can imagine that she would be making a beast of a legendary-level potion now. I don't know what it would do, I have a vague idea now because of this book. But since there are still various things, she could do with it; it is still a wild guess. Maybe she has an incurable illness that she wants to fix with that potion, or she wants to protect something or ward off curses. Too bad I can't ask her. I looked for more information but it all boiled down to because pure sapphires were so uncommon in magical potion brewing that there wasn't much information on it. Only that this potion was invented by a witch. In the second biggest city of the witches, Witchaven. I know next to nothing about witches only that they wear pointy hats and fly around on brooms and I don't even know if that is accurate.

Their magic is nearly unparalleled though, that is the only real fact I know about witches. At least that nearly unparalleled counts for everything that lives here in this biggest part of the dimension. So, I've been thinking about calling several things side dimensions are confusing. Hourai and where we are now and I guess the spirit world are all in the same dimension they are just uhh closed off from each other. It is like a bag with pockets the whole bag is our dimension and the pockets or sections are like different parts, the biggest part is where we are and Hourai would be like a small pocket on the front of the bag or something. I don't know how big the spirit world is so I can't say anything about that, there might be more other pockets but I don't know anything about it. My pocket dimensions are becoming confusing now since I used a bag as an example. Hmm just see my pocket dimension as really small pockets inside pockets! I'm sorry, I don't have a better example. Anyways in this bit, the witches are probably one of the strongest beings magic-wise. Most mythical and legendary creatures would give them a run for their money purely magic wise but it won't be an easy fight. Because they are also smart. It is easier to defeat some gods than a smart and skilled witch because gods over-rely on their power and don't use their brains in general. Not my words, my mother's words. She has fought gods. I'm just a 0 experience brat. So yes, you're hearing this right, in theory, a witch could be harder to deal with than a god. Yes, this world is crazy! Gregory comes down and the doorbell rings.

Hmm, would that be Cecilia? We haven't told our story about escaping through sewers and stuff, so she wouldn't feel guilty then, right? Oh no does that mean we go back to being chased? I surely hope not. The doorbell rings again. Let's pretend nobody is home!

“I can hear you Agnis!” Shit! Do we run? Let's hear what she has to say first, you open up the backdoor while I open the door. I will be relying on your speed in case things go wrong. Sure. I opened the back door and returned to Gregory who was opening the front door. He opened it a little bit so he could easily close it, What do you want?

“We came to apologize for chasing you two around so much.” Gregory looked at me, and I indicated that I had no idea what was going on. This is very sudden, did this realization hit you suddenly?

“Uhh well, we talked to Uraya yesterday and she scolded us for giving youngsters such a hard time. And thinking about it we agreed that she is right.”

“Yeah, but we are not giving up on you guys!” Cecilia added. “We will just use different non-aggressive methods.” How about Donkey? Dunkey. How about Dunkey, Isn't he a better match than we are?

“That child has problems; he thinks he's the strongest kid on the continent and his father is a dunce. And he is not as strong as you two,” Cecilia added. None of us can use blue lightning though.

“I had a run-in with him yesterday, he insulted Kanna and he and his friends started attacking her.“ Oh no, how terrible! Gregory looked at me, and I shrugged.

“And well even though they are just kids they didn't pose any challenge. Whenever we are chasing you two down, we have to be a bit serious about how we approach it else you guys will just slip away.” I wouldn't say slipping away means that we are strong, it just means we are too weak to fight back.

“You are saying that after what happened three days ago!” Three days ago?

“Yes, when you almost cut my arm off and locked us in the small mall.” Oh, sorry about the arm thing.

“No worries, it convinced me that if I don't fight you seriously, I could get injured badly, I got lucky because you are so kind.” Well, uh apology accepted, thanks for stopping by. Gregory opened the door fully since their intention to stop chasing us seemed to be genuine. It is such a shame if they weren't so crazy, we would have probably tried to give getting to know their daughters a shot because besides being crazy they seem to be nice people. I think.

“We’re not expecting you two to forgive us just like that but whenever you feel like you can give us a visit.” Charlize said as they were about to walk away. I remembered something that I couldn't do in this timeline. I threw a small sapphire at Charlize, which she caught. “What is this?” My apology for blowing your house up, you can use it to pay for the damages.

“Ohh how sweet, thank you!” Ok Greg, close the door before they change their minds! Gregory closed the door.

Hmm, it seems that some events will still happen even though other events that could lead up to it were different. Yeah, Uraya saved us there, we should thank her.

We have a whole day now. So, I guess we can go whenever or just relax. But don't forget to sell your rubies to that merchant today. But do I really need to? I still have the money from the last timeline and I don't have the rubies I sold back then. You have more rubies, right? Yeah.

Just sell those and get even richer! But I don't need more money…

Although I agree with that, you have to realize you put something unique and valuable in the world, there is no way to know how much of an impact that would've made. Doesn't that mean I should use that as a reason not to do it?

I don't know, you tell me, you’re supposed to know this! Ugh, fine I'll do it, we've already deviated too much from the original timeline, so let’s at least try to keep the same as we can. I left Gregory’s house and headed home lost in thought.

“Oh, look who we have here!” I looked at where the voice came from and I saw a chunky guy with 6 people walking behind him. And who are you?

“You're kidding, right? We met yesterday I’m Dunkey!” Who?

“Ha, I see my appearance was so shocking that you drew a blank.” Said the chunky guy while making a ridiculous pose while discharging some blue sparks. “I see your friend isn't around today.” Yeah, he is actually doing useful things instead of ganging up on guys 2 years younger than him.

“Hey! We're not doing this because we want to!” One of Chunkey’s friends said. Well then in that case just move along and let me pass. I dodged a blue lightning strike. I assume that he planned this encounter because the magic circle I saw before he shot his lightning seemed to have progressed slowly. Hmm, I think I remember this guy now. Wait I remember you! You are that guy who got owned by that troll!

“And whose fault do you think that is?” How would I know? Probably your own fault for being weak?

“Alright, Dunkey! Let's kick his ass!” Ugh, this again. I was quite outnumbered. There was Chonkey and his 7 friends. They started to rush at me with various types of magic. A fire punch, seems lukewarm, I caught it with my hand coated in water. What? An earth kick, looks slow, I evaded it. A wind blade flew at me, looks dull, I parried it with an ice blade. A friend rushed at me having enhanced his body with lightning, I tripped him and made him crash into someone else who was attempting something but his magic activation was slow so his cast got interrupted by someone crashing into him.

“What is this guy?” What am I? How rude! I'm a person I have feelings too! Chutney was charging up some more lightning magic while all his friends got tripped up. I shot water bullets at Chunkey with my finger pistol and caused him to interrupt his cast.

“Shit! Carl back me up I need to recast my blue lightning!” I used [Frozen ground] and everyone was sliding around and slipping. I froze their pants to the ground the moment they slipped. Take this time to cool off, I don't have time to mess around with you guys. I headed home after all this and did some practicing with daggers and wires. I never really used these in battle but they were useful. And then I got reminded about the day I went to deliver the rubies and got the gold for them. I was practicing how to make items and swap places. I was practicing it on leaves I remember. I threw a dagger and made it switch places with some leaves.

The leaf continued with the speed the dagger had but flipped over and whirled and dropped to the ground. It looked cool and funny so I kept repeating this. I decided to call this swapping [Turning leaf] It made no sense but I got some amusement out of this. The question was if I could swap things that were different in size and weight. I only seemed to swap the objects so whatever inertia the swapped objects had got taken over by those that got swapped. I threw a dagger and swapped it with a stone 10 meters further. The stone was heavier than the dagger. I successfully swapped their places but because the rock was heavier the impact it had when it hit the wall was many times larger.

Oh, this could turn out to become a very nasty skill. Now for another experiment. I rushed to a wall and swapped places with a dagger. The dagger shot through the wall like it was made out of paper. I realized how risky this was because if this failed, I would have crashed into the wall. There didn't seem to be an increase in strain when I swapped myself with something small. I had to go look for bigger objects. I teleported to the quarry outside the town. There were a lot of big boulders here. I threw a dagger and swapped it with a boulder. No issues here. The boulder though… It crashed into a rock wall; it was quite destructive.

Hehe, I knew it, speed is king! With enough speed, I could turn any object into a weapon. All those people in the world claiming: to be strong, is to have high offense! I call bullshit! Speed is king, always was, and always will be. Offense is useless if you can't hit your target anyways. I throw more daggers and swap them with boulders, I also swap myself with daggers, and I attempt chain swapping. I throw a dagger, swap it with myself, speed up to add more speed to it, and then swap myself with a boulder. Or throw a dagger past a boulder, dash away from the boulder, swap myself with the dagger and the boulder with the dagger which ended the dagger on the original location of the boulder, me flying away from the boulder, and the boulder flying off in the other direction. This was cool and all but getting sent flying after a swap was a bit inconvenient for me. I wanted the option to cancel the inertia if I swapped with a moving object or target. I kept practicing and getting a feel of this skill that for once didn't put a burden on me or seemed to be too hard to pull off. I then went down the slope to the market where I sold my rubies the last time. I managed to remember how this went and the exchange with Jerry went the same as last time. I knew now how much they were worth so I let him sweat a bit and then asked for the same price I did last time. I had a bit fewer rubies to sell since I was still underselling them. I met up with Ted to go visit Uraya. Gregory was practicing something so I took Ted with me.

Good afternoon granny Uraya! 2 people in the store were finishing up their payments. Out of the conversation they had with Uraya they seemed to have bought potions that alleviate symptoms of mana poisoning. We might have to tell someone that the sewers are leaking mana and that they should be careful of manholes. “Oh, it's you again Agnis and I haven't seen you in a while, Ted.”

Haha, yeah, I recently came back from a trip. I didn't win but I came close. I whispered to Ted. Hey didn't you ask her about the town and stuff? Ted whispered back.

That was the last timeline, I didn't talk to her yet in this one.

“So, what can I help you, boys, with? Do you need more spices or are you hiding again?” Uhh, no I just came to thank you for talking to Cecilia and Charlize for us.

“Ooh, how thoughtful but don't mind it, you've helped me out so even though it isn't much I'm returning the favor.” Oh, it helped a lot! Now we don't have to be on edge the whole time. So, you’re finally free now eh, I gotta say it did help you become a master at escaping though.

Well, yes, but I would have preferred a different method over that one. Oh, by the way Uraya, do you have a potion that helps against hydrophobia?

“This is for Gregory, yes?” Yeah, we want to have an adventure on Boshi lake but I'm afraid Gregory won't have fun. I would ask Gregory to make one for himself but I don't know if alchemy or magic is needed for this potion and well uhm Gregory’s potions always have some weird side effects. The last potion he made was against nausea but it was so stinky that it ended up making anyone barf who tried to drink it. Uraya chuckled.

“I might have something for that. It might not be so but have you checked if he has Rabies?” Rubies?

“Rabies, it can make people develop hydrophobia.” Uhh, he has had this since forever but how do we find out? I couldn't tell Uraya that this is because he is a cat so I just played along.

“Just give him this, this will cure him of Rabies if he has it, it could be dormant for a long time. If he doesn't have it, it will do nothing. And this is for hydrophobia. It only works for 2 hours and taking a higher dose isn't recommended so I'm sorry to say this but try to limit your adventure to two hours.” Two hours is better than nothing. Ted accepted the blue and purple potion. Any side effects?

“The hydrophobia potion is the purple one and it has a side effect that it can make the consumer thirsty.” Thank you, granny Uraya! I took some silver coins out but Uraya stopped me.

"I can't take any money from you after you gave me that sapphire." But the payment… Uraya took a pensive look and then walked towards a shelf and took a potion.

“If you insist then how about this, you will undoubtedly encounter some Boshi gulls. If you could catch one and make it drink this potion, and bring whatever it spits out to me I’ll accept that as payment.” Do you want the Boshigull barf as payment? Alright! It is for your super potion, right? Uraya nods. I grabbed the vial with a yellow-orange liquid in it.

“The bigger the gull, the better.” Alright, thank you Uraya! We need to leave before Ted starts making stupid puns. Hey! My puns are wonder-gull!

Yes, I was afraid of this, cya Uraya! We left Uraya’s shop. Tomorrow, we have planned to check out the lake and possibly go inside the cave. Since its accessibility is poor, we will leave clones behind since we will probably have to stay down there for longer than a day.

Day 3: I headed towards the quarry to complete the payment. I would have to seriously consider what I'm going to do with this mountain of gold. Wouldn’t I cause inflation if I would bring this much gold back into circulation? I have no clue how economics works. It probably wouldn't do anything. I do have to be prepared for super expensive rare materials when I want to make a relic magic sword. Better safe than sorry. I swapped the rubies in the kart and waited for the men in black to arrive. And they did.

“HELLO KIDDO! WE'RE HERE TO FINALIZE THE…” The bulky-tanned bald guy looked at a sheet of paper. “RUBIES!” I don't remember this guy being so loud the last time. I thought this was meant to be discreet, but now the whole of Boshi town knows I'm selling rubies.

“Bwahahaha this kiddo is funny!” Ugh, this again. He walks over to me. “Hey, kiddo want to work for us?” I'd rather not, I don't own any earplugs.

“Hahaha, you’re hilarious, c’mon it will be fun!” Those guys don't seem to be amused also I don’t have any skills in ehh what do you guys do? I said as I pointed to his colleagues. I forgot which one I assigned man in black 1 and man in black 2 the last time.

“These guys need to learn how to have fun don't you think and we at Yttroz Industries are responsible for handling rock, dirt, metals and minerals we also are responsible for construction!” Yes, I don’t know anything about construction! So, I’m unsuitable!

“Oh, everyone can join in the construction fun! Everyone knows the household magic [Construction], [Deconstruction], [Reconstruction] and [Repair]. That is all you need!” Well, yes, I can use it to make things like ramps and other inanimate objects that aren’t necessarily magic skills but after the magic wears off, they also disappear…

“Well of course! That is why you need to apply those on real materials! After the magic wears off the materials, you used [Construct] or [Repair] on will linger after the magic wears off. That is why water and earth magic are interesting to us. These 2 elements can be used to create structures purely out of already existing water or earth and after the magic wears off, they will linger.” Wait really? I pulled water to my hand and made sure to not increase its volume but only used already existing water and made a small ice dagger. The magic skills Rock named are so basic in life and magic that most people don’t think about it. The [Construction] magic wore off and where the dagger would normally disappear, it still remained in my hand but started melting as soon as the magic wore off. Interesting

“I see you already figured it out! I knew you would fit right in!” He tried to slap my back but just like the last time there was way too much power behind it and I dodged it. “You also seem to have some moves yourself.”

“Hey, Brock stop harassing our client! We’re here to exchange the rubies for gold.”

“I know but good talent is invaluable!” Oh no, I don't like how this is going. “But you’re right. Can I at least get a fist bump?” Sure, why not? I gave Rock a fist bump.

“Hmm, so you're this strong, eh?” I jumped back at that comment. I have no idea what you're talking about. I said as I inspected my hand. Nothing should have given away my strength. Did I mess up on something basic? I only know how things are done here in Boshi town. Maybe things go differently outside. Sock took off his black suit and went shirtless, it suited him more than the suit he was wearing earlier.

“Hahaha, you don't need to hide it kiddo! I can determine how strong someone is with a fist bump!” What a useless ability…

“Ok, that is enough Brock!” Man in black nr 1 or was it nr 2? He cast something that looked like a summoning circle and something dropped out of the sky.

“Hahaha! Not today!” Bock backstepped and punched whatever dropped from the sky at me. I sidestepped it.

“Wha!” The one who summoned this thing was surprised. “Let's see what more tricks you have up your sleeve.” He rushed at me. He wasn't particularly fast but he was fast for his build. He threw numerous punches which I evaded. I was wondering how I could get out of this situation without giving too much away. People in Boshi town knew me for my water magic so I had to stick to it. But normal people wouldn't be able to cast anything while under a fierce barrage like this. I could but that would just feed this guy’s motivation. I should try to be as average and mediocre as possible. I realized that I already made a mistake. The men in black were looking at me quite surprised. It seems an average person wouldn't be able to evade all these punches. So, do I get hit then? I analyzed these punches. Yah, these will send me flying and they will hurt like hell. I imbued my legs with ice and kicked one of his arms aside, I followed up with a roundhouse kick which he blocked. Ice crystals started to grow on his arm so he backed off.

“Not bad kiddo! I'm glad I wasn't wrong about you, it wouldn't be funny if I punched you and you went splat on the rock wall behind you, wahahaha.” So, there you have it I'm a bit stronger than the average kid, are you done now?

“I will give up if you can defeat me kiddo! And if you lose you will join our company!” But why! I looked over to the men in black and they seemed to cheer me on. It seems they gave up. I was dodging more punches and used [Frozen ground]. I then skated towards him and threw an ice punch at his abdomen. Ouch! This guy was as hard as a rock. I mean literally! I don't need any Raishin innuendos or Ted puns here! Rock shrugged the punch off and seemingly wanted to do a wrestling move. I backed off. If he catches me there is nothing I can do against his stupid strength. He threw a big punch. He was a couple of meters in front of me but I still dodged. A mass of air rushed past me. Whew, that was close. He threw more air punches and I evaded these too. I guess he started throwing air punches because he would slip if he moved. I moved behind him. Rock punched the ground and rocks jutted out of the ground. He jumped on some rocks and started throwing boulders. What is wrong with this guy? I looked at the men in black and they were eating popcorn. How rude! I froze a boulder he was about to pick up which made it slip out of his hands and dropped on his toe.

“Ouch!” Hehe, how do you like my new move the [Toe Crusher]?

“Haha, you’re a funny kid but I'm wearing heavy-duty steel-tipped boots!” He showed his boots that looked sturdy indeed. “They are on discount now for only 3 silver they are yours!” You are ridiculous! A bit upset that my new move [Toe Crusher] didn't work I froze the rock, Rock was standing on. I also sent a water blast at him. He punched the water blast and dispersed it. What! He punched again and I dodged the air punch. I sent an ice disk at him. He picked up a huge rock and used it to block the disks. I would give it to him, he surely was creative. He punched the ground again to make more rocks jut out since I froze the majority of his rocks. I realized not only do I suck at using earth magic but my matchup against it also kind of sucks. That is if I don't want to kill him. I'm severely lacking in non-lethal moves against regular people. I gathered water and formed a water bubble around his head. If I could make him pass out like that then that would be great. Rock smashed his head into a rock. I guess the rock sucked up the water. He pulled his head out of the rock and a little bit of blood trickled down his forehead. Great the only damage done to him was him head-smashing a rock. I can't cut him up, using lightning will put everyone on alert, I surely can't vaporize him.

Close combat… I looked at the bulky Rock, yup that's not going to work either. What else can I do with water? Rock was chopping some rocks with his hands. What is this guy doing? He threw some rocks at me in the meantime to keep me busy. There was no need because for now, I didn't know how to deal with him nor was getting close to him a great idea. He was in his mountain of rocks; I would practically step into his domain. I remembered making fun of people who think strength is everything and that speed is king. I wish I could punch the past me for saying this.

Let me think, speed is king, speed is king… I remembered how I moved the big paparazzi stone into my dimensional pocket. Yikes, that is going to be hard to set up against anything with a brain. I can't rely on my tails to boost my speed. If I could just shoot myself forward. Hmmm. I made a hollow cylinder out of ice, filled it with water and made an ice disk, moved it back, and compressed the water. The cylinder I made was quite thick so It would be able to handle the increase in pressure. I froze the lid to the cylinder with frost magic. The water was pushed back by about 30% into the cylinder. I went to stand on the lid. Rock was too busy chopping rocks and throwing them to notice what I was doing. Now that my setup was done, I just had to turn the water in the cylinder into steam making it expand and removing the frost that is keeping the lid in its place.

This should shoot me out like a cannon. I would have to make my multi-layered water and frost barrier again so I was a cannonball. I was considering that this might be a bad idea but Rock then noticed what I was doing. Guess it's do or die! I fired off the [Steam Cannon]. Rock hastily put on some rock ice skates he seemed to have made and tried to escape. I made ice ramps to steer my trajectory. So, I guess I accidentally copied a game where you shoot a ball through a track and tubes. Anyways the barriers I made were around me forming a ball and I was making ramps and tubes and bends with ice to try and hit the ice-skating Rock. He realized that he couldn't possibly keep dodging an enormous fast-moving ice marble and took a foothold on a rock and met me head-on with a punch of his. I'm sure Ted would like this guy. I realized that Ted could fight like this! I should knock this guy out and tell these men in black who are still eating popcorn to get into contact with Ted. My water/ice barrier wasn't budging, and Rock wasn't budging either. I guess this is what they call a stalemate. Or was it? There was a big rock behind Rock. I swapped places with it and formed an ice blade which I held at his neck. I guess this is my win.

“Haha kiddo you are really strong! I would like to surrender but then well both get run over by this ball of ice. I was convinced you were inside of it!” Ice clone I lied as I made a clone of myself with ice. I canceled all the ice and water crashing into Rock. “Too bad we would've made a great combo!” I doubt that. He tried to pat my back again but there was too much strength in it so I dodged it which made him slip. “Ouch, you are merciless kiddo.” Uhh sorry. I also canceled the frozen ground. The men in black walked toward us while clapping.

“That was a marvelous display! Yeah, you owned Brock!” Uhh, thank you, I guess?

“Ugh, you really schooled me kiddo. But I'm satisfied.” I know someone who would love to be your sparring partner, he is as strong as I am. Just send one of your company-issued clones or some other message to this address. His name is Ted. I wrote Ted’s address on a piece of paper and handed it to Rock. Also, I would like to finalize the transaction.

“Ah right! That is what we came here for.” Man in black 2, who still had popcorn in his beard, opened the vehicle. Everything after this went similarly to the first time lop. Only this time Rock was there actually being useful. I am filthy rich now. We were planning to go investigate the underwater cave at the same time as we investigated the PB cave the last time. This means that we will go after dinner. It isn't that great of an idea to head out on a lake when it's starting to turn into night but we will have to try to at least keep the timelines similar. This meant that minus eating dinner I had about 5 to 6 hours of free time.

As I walked home, I thought back on my steam cannon. The setup took too long. The idea worked but I wanted more power and less setup. I don't use steam as much. The steam expert is Yuna. I stopped. I tried to not think much about it but I did miss my family. I convinced myself that being sad wouldn't help, I needed to figure this skill out so that we can get out of there earlier and can go home. So, what would Yuna do... she is a master of steam explosions. Maybe I should use a steam explosion to power the cannon. Chuck in some fire in the cylinder and the fire will forcibly sublimate the ice creating a steam explosion that would send me flying. There I fixed the skill. Or not it will blow up on me before I fully form my water ice barrier. Hmmm oh, I could swap some fire-loaded frost marbles in when I'm ready for takeoff. Just leave some ice cubes that I can swap marbles with. Now the skill is fixed. Or is it. No, I think it is fixed now. I arrived home and was wondering what I would do until it was adventure time.