Another Stupid Isekai

The days after my exploratory trip again kinda fused together. I would hunt in the morning, then work a little bit in the workshop, creating better equipment for people. Slowly accumulating the amount for the next upgrade. A few dozen days in, it became clear to me, that my first hunt was quite lucky. The amounts of crystal I would bring in the later days were smaller, which soon made it obvious that the 120 days, which I initially thought would be enough t reach my goal, were just a dream.

The reality was much rougher, and it made me a little bit discouraged to just sit on all those points. I once again began considering upgrading my crafting skills. The crazy idea of creating golems was still firmly present in my mind, and it kept pushing me towards considering spending some points to get a few steps in that direction.

Eventually, I gave up, and just did it. Fully upgrading both tier-two classes for 646 000 000 points, which unlocked me access to tier-three evolutions for the price of mere 200 class points. It was a no-brainer.

So like that, I bought myself a ‘Runic blacksmith’ which had the access to the following skills: ‘Understanding of metal III’, ‘Metal manipulation III’, ‘Craftsmanship III’, ‘Knowledge of runes’, ‘Runification’, ‘Rune-graving’.

‘Runification’ was a process of infusing magic with the raw material itself, which increased its properties by a lot. It was a time-consuming process, where you needed to ritually put correct runes on a piece of material, which then fused together. In this process, you could turn the regular iron bar into runic iron, which was way better.

‘Rune-graving’ was also a time-consuming process of correctly crafting runic words on the crafted items, which even further increased its properties. For example, if you were to craft armor, and then put a word on it which meant ‘Tough’, the armor would become way sturdier due to this very runic word.

The second tier-three clas I bought was ‘Artificer’. It gave me access to the following skills: ‘Infuse III’, ‘Shape III’, ‘Mana III’, ‘Breath of life’, ‘Entangling infusions’.

‘Breath of life’, as you are probably already thinking, was the first step to, for real, creating living beings from dead matter. You are probably now thinking about speaking swords, and other bullshit like that, but that is incorrect. To use this skill was to create something more of a plant, which would be ‘living’ but not really ‘thinking’. Still, it had its perks, as such items were capable of growth, but more about that sometime later.

‘Entangling infusions’ was a process of putting more specialized magic into objects. For example, I could now make a blade that could burst into flames, and electrocute others at the same time. Obviously, the combinations were endless and only relied on my own imagination.

Unfortunately, yet again, both processes were time-consuming.

Even with my previous skillset, before the upgrades, I wasn’t able to create the best items I possibly could, and that was because I didn’t have enough time. Proper infusion needed time, and I had only a short window, where I could work because I had to hunt after the respawn.

I was already stretching myself thin, sleeping only a couple of hours every so often. It was enough for me, but there was no option for adding something to my schedule unless I would find a way to stretch time.

I ended up upgrading each skill of the new classes to the third level for an additional 1 221 000 points.

So yea, about the device…

It took 152 days to get the upgrade. When I bought it I was left with 70 087 600 points and 2 301 class points. Mainly because I overall donated a hundred bosses to other people, so they could get stronger. It was annoying and usually prolonged my hunting expeditions a bit, but at least they didn’t bother me later.

Once again the ground shook when I took my hand off the sapling. Everybody was gathered in the city center since they had all barely returned from their own hunting. I waited for that to happen because I didn’t want to upgrade the device when they were out there, fighting. It could end badly for several reasons.

After the shaking stopped, everybody began clapping their hands. I turned around to glance at the small crowd. It felt like I should say something, so I cleared my throat.

– Everybody! We succeeded once again! I know that you wish to get access to the further hunting grounds, to get more points. I think it’s time we started considering that! – I told them.

It immediately earned me a burst of cheers. They all seemed to be happy with my decision, but that wasn’t all of what I wanted to tell them, so I raised my both hands, to calm them down, so I could continue speaking.

– Listen! Listen! – I had to repeat before they finally shut their traps for real. – The second-tier hunting grounds are harder, and just rushing there might end badly for you, so first we will have to figure out how to do it properly. We also will need to split you into teams, since it’s just too much ground to cover. What I’m trying to say, it might not happen tomorrow or even the day after. You have been babysitted by my daughter, and John, for a long time now, but it’s time to end this. To not risk some of you dying out there, we will have to approach this carefully, so it might take time. Please do keep that in mind.

– No worry, boss! – Lucas yelled at me. – We will figure it out. We are strong people.

His words earned him some applause from the rest of the hunters and even a few whistles.

– I don’t doubt that – I responded to him. – After all my wife chose you, but we still will approach this with a cool head. I’ve spoken.

With those words, I left, heading straight to my house, with the rest of my family following.