CHAPTER 20

We’re moving slowly towards Bread Village. We’re getting closer to the portal out of this world. I barely know my party for one day, but I don’t mind if they want to go to the portal. They might reach their home world, they might not. But either way, I’ve prepared myself mentally for their departure. They have the right to choose. I also have the right to choose. In fact, I have several options right now. One, I can try to go home. Second, I can continue fighting against the Demons from emerging here. If I can kill Demons over here, then that means that there’s less Demons could destroy this world or my world. Mom would be safe over there. Third, I can help to spread Contractuary. This will free this world from slavery, but it will give mom zero benefits. Would I sacrifice myself for this world? I’m not sure yet. There are too many missions that I could prioritize right now. The most practical one right now would be to do whichever one that presents itself to me first.

Okay. At least three of us have received an upgrade and I got some lore dump. In fiction, this should be a time when something appears to challenge what we’ve learned. Anyone? Anything?

Hmm, there doesn’t seem to be any ambush around. I’m expecting a Demon—heck, even Nostrazeus to come to us to test our growth. Since there’s no one around, I can use this chance to learn more about my harmonica. Wanda’s floating words can check object. Perfect for me.

“The harmonica?” asks Wanda. “Sure!”

I hand the harmonica to her. She looks at it while raising an eyebrow. She seems better now that she got her sword. More energetic and cheerful. I wish that she remains like this forever. But in fiction, people like her would be killed in gruesome ways for plot points. I really hope that won’t happen. There were some clichés that didn’t happen to me. I hope that there’s no cliché that my party would be killed.

“This is a Gaslight Harmonica,” says Wanda.

“That doesn’t sound right.”

“That’s what it is.”

“What can I do with it?”

“Since you’re not a Bard, you can’t use any spells with it. But, you can wear it regardless of your class.”

“Wear?”

“Put it on your lips.”

I do as instructed. Suddenly, the harmonica morphs. It follows the shape of lower face. It extends its middle part to cover my nose. I try to talk, but only the sounds of harmonica comes out.

“See?” says Wanda. “You can wear it.”

I want to ask her more about this harmonica, but I can only exhale harmonica sounds. Even Salty Ray and Timothy can’t stop but giggles.

“You can’t say anything,” says Wanda. “But if you inhale, you can absorb dangerous gas into the harmonica.”

That sounds convenient.

“The gas will blind you if you absorb too much. It’s not permanent but don’t use it while driving.”

A limit. Just like my Ambrousian’s hair. Thank you. How do I—argh! The harmonica sound!

“If you want to take it out, touch it.”

I touch the half-mask harmonica. It reverts back to its original form without any fuss.

“Thank you,” I say.

“If you want to play it, just set your intention first. Without any intention, it’ll be a mask.”

That’s good to know.

Now that my harmonica is solved, the test should arrive at any time now. Come on! I know someone wants to ambush us! Bring it!

No one comes.

Instead, we found a skeleton with a backpack. There is a floating orb above its head. A dead Adventurer.

“Who should touch it?” asks Wanda.

“Salty has no upgrade,” I say. “He should get it.”

“But if it’s a spell, it’s mine,” says Timothy.

“Fine by me,” replies Salty.

Salty touches the floating orb. It’s an ingot of silver. No matter how we ask our floating words, the best answer we got is silver. Normal silver with no additional property.

“In fiction,” I say, “silver is usually the weakness of some creatures, usually undead or Demon.”

“I have to smack some undead with this?” asks Salty Ray.

I show him the flat side of my metal arm. “I can try to blacksmith it into something. It’ll be my first time doing it. It might come out wrong.”

“Let’s try a knuckleduster.”

The flat part morphs to create a mold with the shape of a knuckleduster. I use my other hand to heat up the silver until it melts right into the mold.

“Is that how people forge thin’ around here?” asks Salty.

“I told you this is my first time. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

For some reason, I know that I should close the mold with my hand. I heat both arms. This must be a passive ability that comes with the subclass. Funny how I still keep learning more things about myself even after all this time.

Out of instinct, I slow down the heat until it reaches room temperature. I take out my hand. The knuckleduster is there in my metallic forearm. I take it out and would you know it. It fits right into Salty Ray’s fingers.

Salty Ray swings the knuckleduster around. His speed hasn’t changed. The only thing left is to find the right target. The only target we got is Timothy’s stone wall.

One punch. The stone wall crumbles.

“I don’t think that my stone wall is a good metric to gauge strength,” says Timothy. “Let’s try without the knuckleduster.”

Timothy makes another stone wall. Salty punches without the knuckleduster. The stone wall breaks similar to the previous one. In fact, I don’t think that I can tell the difference between the destructions of these walls.

“I used half energy with the knuckleduster,” says Salty Ray.

“I still think that this isn’t worth the effort,” says Timothy. “Our best bet is that the Demons and Feys are weak against silver.”

That’s a good point. All this time, we’ve been fighting without knowing what their weaknesses are. Unfortunately, we can’t test anything without getting ourselves into danger.

I make another knuckleduster duster for Salty Ray. After that is done, we continue walking.

Okay. That’s another power up. Is this the time where we’ll get attacked? Come on. Don’t be shy. All four of us want to test our new getup.

DETAIL CHECK
Initializing boss fight.

Finally!