I leaned my head back against the wall of the cave and wondered what exactly that thing in my mind had been. It seemed almost like some kind of spirit, a ghost from the past that had possessed me, if in a particularly subtle way, at least until I was vulnerable enough for it to wrest away stronger control. Those thoughts, those alien thoughts, had still felt like my own. I shuddered under the weight of that violation and closed my eyes tight.

Briefly, I tried to touch at the memories of those moments when the control had been greatest, so I traced my thoughts backwards, trying to find the root of the changes. My lift in mood after the fight with the salamander was strange, I wonder if my use of the fiber had somehow made my mental barriers weaker, if only long enough for that spirit, that ghost, to gain entry.

Now that I was aware of this presence, hopefully I would be more resistant to its presence in the future. Failing that, I simply had to develop a stronger self of self-identity and ego. Easy.

With a heavy sigh, I dragged myself to my feet and began the work on mining out the deposits from the chamber. In spite of everything, I still had the work that needed doing, and if this would help make my next battle easier, then I had to pursue. As the first bit of earth-attuned ore entered my inventory, though, a sudden thought sprung into my mind. I cancelled the smelting of the water ingots as rapidly as I could, with a total of twenty-two ore returning to my inventory.

Then, I smelted together one water ore and one earth ore, continuing to mine out the deposit while I watched the queue tick down towards completion. When it finally did, I claimed my prize: a T1 mud-attuned metal ingot. I had no idea what mud-attunement could do when used as part of a construction, but there was only one way to find out. I sent that newly forged mud ingot back into the queue to make a stack of mud-attuned ammunition for my spikethrower, which would take about five minutes to complete.

I resumed my mining, knowing that my curiosity and joy of discovery were genuine things. Even in the darkest days of my time back in school, even when the weight of exams and projects and lectures was crushing me into a fine paste, I still loved the act of learning things, of expanding what I knew. Maybe if I had spent longer in the program, if I had stuck through, I could be making real discoveries, things that would have expanded human knowledge as a whole. On the other hand, the system integration would have happened either way.

The ammo clicked finished and I turned away from mining to load in a mud spike into the spikethrower, energizing it to click the mechanisms into place. I then took aim at the far opposite wall and loosed the spike. It flew at about the same level of speed and force as my other spikes, maybe a little slower, though I hadn’t done any formal testing of that so far. When it hit the wall, it didn’t break the stone, instead it broke apart, into a viscous oozing mud that dripped down the wall. I closed the distance to the wall and felt at the substance of the mud, finding it very tacky and sticky, difficult to remove from my fingertips. Very soon after, though, it hardened into a rock-like consistency, with even the thin layer on my finger tips preventing me from moving them apart.

Eventually, I was able to wrench my fingers apart, and the stone crumbled into fragments, while the mud on the wall remained rock-hard. I poked at it briefly, before digging in with my drill, revealing that it had about the same strength as the wall behind it, maybe a little firmer. I didn’t know what function the mud-ingots could be used for elsewhere, but it would definitely be of extreme use here to tangle up enemies and leave them exposed for more extensive follow-up attacks.

WIth that experiment complete, I returned to harvesting the earth-ore. It would probably not be especially effective if used as a weapon or even a part of a weapon, but earth-metal would be significantly more resistant as part of armor, and considering the shape of my plating, I could definitely use the upgrade there. While I worked on the mining, I set to work on another project that I had in mind. I started work on a cooking pot, but I made it entirely out of water-metal. Now, fire metal could have worked here as well as part of the base, but I had an idea that I had wanted to test, based on some of the things that the librarian had told me about.

When the cooking pot finished, a system message appeared.

VARIANT CRAFTED

Instead of a [Cooking Pot] you have made a [Unlimited Soup Pot]

A smile cracked my lips at the achievement. In the grand scale of things, it wasn’t a particularly noteworthy accomplishment, but here and now, it meant the world to me. I had managed to do something distinct and new, something that added to the complexity of the world, that revealed new potentials. I pulled the new crafted pot out of my inventory and found it about fourteen inches in diameter, about five inches deep, with a rounded base and three small legs to keep it stabilized. Inside of the plot sloshed water, up to about the halfway mark. I poured out the water and watched as the pot refilled itself in a moment, faintly drawing on the atmospheric erg to do.

This had to be how the water supply worked at the factory, using water-metal as a foundation for some sort of tank that would be kept perpetually full. This would be just as valuable while on the road, and from the name, I suspected that the contents of it would shift depending on what I cooked within it, allowing it to also serve as a consistent supply of food. Satisfied with the pot, I slipped it back into my inventory and returned to working on mining.

Realizing that I had time to kill while I waited, I pulled up the path store, and went into the Factory Manager perks.

FACTORY MANAGER PERKS Perk Pre-Requisites Cost Manufacturing II Manufacturing I, Gathering I 20 Gathering II Gathering I 20 Automation I Manufacturing I, Gathering I 15 Cooking Gathering I 10 Advanced Combat Tools Basic Combat Tools, victory in 3 battles 20

That new option, along with its unusual prerequisite, drew my attention immediately. I couldn’t afford it yet, but it might be the most important perk for my continued survival in the short time. And I did feel close to my next level up. I pulled up the help menu for Advanced Combat Tools.

PERK - ADVANCED COMBAT TOOLS

For those factory managers that must also serve on the front line, this perk provides for skill and proficiency with important expansions in the factory combat toolkit. It emphasizes survival over offense, though sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

Provides the following skills: Spikethrower, Helmets, Mobility Boosters

May provide additional schema based on other perks and skills known.

We did not make the factory manager to be a master of war, but we still understand that the world is filled with violence, especially with the system integration and the Great Game increasing aggression and driving beasts and worse to deeds of great evil. To return evil with evil is the greatest sin, but to survive in the face of it is a necessity if the plan is to reach fruition.

For a moment, I wondered why the previous perk I picked up didn’t have any commentary with it, but it was a fairly simple perk, all things considered, and probably did not require any complex commentary associated with it. This one, though, this one was powerful and even though it was seemingly not perfectly in line with the activities that the path creators desired of me, something that I desperately needed. I was tired of being punched in the face!

Still, I couldn’t afford it yet. Automation I was enticing, but given my current circumstances, I had to go with the safer option. Hopefully I would be able to level up twice before I got back to the factory, which would let me get both Advanced Combat Tools and Automation I. At least by now I was done mining out the earth ore, and was able to get started on making the required armor plates. Further development would require me waiting until I had gotten more elemental ores, and judging from the pattern so far, I could expect air and fire in the next two chambers, though maybe not in that order.

This awful wait proved an excellent time to have another meal and get in some additional shut-eye. Despite the regenerative powers of the erg, I was still wiped out. The sooner I finished this dungeon, the happier I would be. Yet, I had learned more about myself and gained access to some very useful resources. I probably could have gotten those resources more safely, but this was not a safe world and I needed to be prepared for the changes that would come with such alterations to the baseline fabric.

I idly clenched my first before sleep came for me, releasing as I felt into that sweet void. A moment later I awoke, fully rested, and with no dreams or thoughts having intruded into my deep slumber. My armor had finished during that time, so I pulled it out of my inventory and set to work on replacing the plating on my harness, bit-by-bit. Compared to the dull grey of the unattuned metal, these plates had streaks of earthen-black, giving my armor a far more intimidating countenance.

I checked my belongings once more before heading towards the exit tunnel, prepared for the next chamber in the dungeon. I fell into a steady rhythm, confident that I would be able to handle whatever awaited me on the other side of the tunnel, unaware of the true danger I would find there.