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You find yourself floating several hundred feet above the glimmering waters of the Western Sea, not too far off from where you first discovered that pirate ship all those years ago. You cover your eyes from the glare of the sun, peering down into the murky water below with curiosity as you try to pick out details that even your eyes simply aren't equipped to pick out.

"We're probably going to have to dive in to look for it." You comment, glancing over to the friend you came with - Harum. He's flying right beside you, having picked up the technique long ago from Piccolo, and he scratches his chin as he considers an appropriate plan of action.

"I don't know, sounds kind of dangerous. We might be able to shatter boulders with our pinkies, but we can't exactly hold our breath much longer than most people." Harum admits, before he snaps his fingers. "Oh! But I could just Materialize some diving gear for us! It should be too hard, I'm pretty familiar with airtight builds."

"Oh, so you learned Magic Materialization too, huh? You never said!" You teased him, earning a bashful chuckle from the ape.

"Well, only recently, to be honest. I finally learned how to do it about a month ago, using magic is pretty hard when you don't have a talent for it!" He proclaims, to which you vigorously nod in confirmation.

"Yeah, that's for sure. I only picked it up as quickly as I did because Garlic was fine with throwing me up against a meat grinder over and over until I tapped into it on instinct." You reply, shuddering as memories of the massive beast from Konats come to the forefront of your mind.

"It was mostly meditation, for me, eheh...I think I prefer it that way, no offense." He replies.

"None taken, I think I might have preferred it your way too." You say with a laugh, casually placing your hands on your hips as you glance over to Barbar - who is stuck sitting on his Dark Nimbus, as he hasn't yet grasped how to fly like the rest of you yet. "Hey Barbar, been a few days since you got your arm back. How's it feeling? Good to swim with it, you think?" You ask him.

"Mm. Still sensitive. Works good, though." Barbar grumbles, holding up his restored arm and clenching a fist with it. "Going to need to train it up like the other one." He admits. You do notice that it's a bit thinner than the arm that was never lost, which you chalk up to it having not been trained for all those years.

"Good to hear! Alright, Harum, work your magic." You say, and just moments later a beam of Harum's Magical Power envelops the three of you. When the light from the spell fades, you find yourself and your companions encased by large white suits of metal, with some mechanical controls wrapped around your limbs and a viewing port in front of your face.

You give an impressed whistle, though you're unsure if Harum was able to hear it or not. His voice comes on next to your head a moment later, as if sensing your thoughts.

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"We can all hear each other, it'll transmit automatically as long as we're within about five miles of each other and nothing particularly solid is blocking the signal. So, what do you think?" He asks.

"I think you can do WAY more with that spell than I can do, for someone that's only known it for a month!" You exclaim, proudly even. "All that engineering knowledge seems to have paid off, huh?"

"Heheh, I'd say so. I really wanted to learn this technique, too - if it can make anything you can think of in enough detail, then it's pretty perfect for a guy like me, you know?" He says, grinning from his suit.

After that, he gives you and Barbar a quick rundown on how to use it - it's pretty simple, all things said, in that it'll translate almost all of your movements with its own. You do have to let it move at its own speed and not force it lest you break something, and getting the claws to move basically involve squeezing or unsqueezing the handbars you're gripping inside of them, but other than that there's really nothing of note. Once you made sure all of you were ready, with Barbar taking the longest to get comfortable with the controls, you each descended to drop down into the seas below.

The splashes the three of you make are quite impressive, and soon enough all you can see is a rush of bubbles as you rapidly descend in the deep blue water. It doesn't take particularly long for you to touch down, heavy metal-clad boots impacting the sediment below and kicking up small clouds of dust that take a few seconds to disperse. You find yourself looking around in wonderment, at the wide variety of fish from the colorful ones to the swarms of tiny ones to the absolutely gargantuan ones swimming off in the distance - most of them heading away from you due to your startling entrance. The seafloor is covered in anenomes, coral reefs, and various mollusks and seastars. It's a side of the world you've never seen before.

"This is amazing...!" You say over the comms.

"Yeah, we should have come down here ages ago. So, we're looking for the remains of a giant meteor, right?" Harum asked you, to which you nodded...before realizing he probably couldn't see it well.

"A meteor, yeah. It's probably covered up by sediment or hidden away somewhere since it hasn't been found yet, so we're gonna have to look pretty hard!" You reply, and by pressing your thumb on a simple button you get some lights to shine out of the suit to illuminate the underwater world before you just a bit better. It's time to comb the sea for your treasure!

>Five of you, roll me a d60! Your DC is 40!

Welcome back to another thread, lads! It's a bit early of running on the 24th like I initially said, but hell, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Besides, it'll give y'all some time to filter in!
Are you ready for a new arc full of mystery and thrills? I sure am!
We're picking back up here about three days after you made your wish on the Dragon Balls.

Rolled 12 (1d60)

>>5743646

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Rolled 32 (1d60)

>>5743646
Welcome back, QM!
Commission still pending, preview attached.

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>>5743655
Holy fucking shit, bro. That already looks so good, and it's just a draft! You're a legend.

Rolled 52 (1d60)

>>5743646
Welcome back!

>>5743663
That's Peekay's doing, not mine. But thanks! And thanks for continuing to run such a great quest.

Rolled 28 (1d60)

>>5743646

Rolled 57 (1d60)

>>5743646
It has returned!

>>5743646
We're back!

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>5743646

>>5743654
>>5743655
>>5743666
>>5743836
>>5743906
Almost the max possible roll, well done lads!
>>5744176
I appreciate the effort, even if it's one roll too many any the wrong dice, haha

Writing!

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You, Harum, and Barbar all work quickly in fanning out over the area, stomping your big metal boots over to examine various areas of the seafloor. Harum seems to be trying to examine the sediment itself for any signs of clues, while Barbar is checking out the coral structures for some reason. You, however, direct your attention to the hardened rocks jutting out of the ground on instinct. After but a few minutes of searching, you find something curious - an opening in a rock wall, a cave entrance that leads into utter darkness.

"Hey guys, I think it might be in here." You say, waving to grab their attention. They move on over to you before you continue. "The Meteor crashed down a long time ago, right? So it's bound to be buried kind of deep by now. And whatever buried it is going to be hard from millions of years of build-up." You explain.

"Makes sense to me!" Harum pipes up, while Barbar just gives a grunt of acknowledgement.

Together, with you at the lead, you enter the underwater cave system with your lights pointed outward. It's a bit awkward initially due to the stalactites overhead, and it only serves to become harder to navigate the deeper you go due to tightening walls, sudden drop-offs, and a varying maze of stalactites and stalagmites to weave through. At one point you even end up encountering a swarm of gigantic eels swathed in crackling electricity, but thankfully your diving suits redirected all currents rather than letting them enter your body. Some did try to take a bite out of all of you, but some gentle chops to their heads discouraged them enough to have the offenders and the rest of their brood swim past you to flee instead.

After what feels like a full hour of cave delving, you jump down one final drop into the dark only to realize that this drop has put you in a far LARGER hollow than you'd been journeying through. Your light fails to illuminate the opposite wall, and you're dropping for almost half a minute before your feet contact something hard and solid again. You tilt your body enough to make your light sweep over what you're standing upon, and you can see that it's exactly what you were looking for - the meteor of legend that a God supposedly sent to earth long ago.

Something about it feels strange, like there's a pressure to it that you can't place - certainly not the pressure of the sea around you. It makes you nervous just to be this close to it, for whatever reason, and it's like looking into an all-consuming void almost...you really have no idea why that would be, though. Shaking the thoughts from your head, you give a thumbs-up to the others as they touch down on either side of you.

"We're here! Let's get what we need." You exclaim, before pondering. How much did you want to take...?

>As much as each of you can carry. That should be enough for weapons AND armor!
>Just enough for some weapons, no need for more.
>If you take a direct route and ignore your armor, you could lift it ALL up!

>>5744313
>As much as each of you can carry. That should be enough for weapons AND armor!
On the chance this isn't a case of the dog with the bone looking at his reflection in the water, I'll pick this.

>>5744313
>As much as each of you can carry. That should be enough for weapons AND armor!

>>5744313
>If you take a direct route and ignore your armor, you could lift it ALL up!
Greed calls to me

>>5744324
>>5744539
>>5744766
The moderate route, alright! In that case, four of you roll a d60 for me, please! Your DC is only a moderate 25, significantly lower than if you'd tried taking all of it!

Rolled 52 (1d60)

>>5745197

Rolled 57 (1d60)

>>5745197

Rolled 49 (1d60)

>>5745197

Rolled 24 (1d60)

Oh SHIT WE BACK
>>5745197
Rollan!

>>5745198
>>5745201
>>5745204
>>5745227
Good shit lads, almost all passes! You should be able to escape the caves just fine even loaded down as you are. Writing!

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Got caught up in something, sorry for the delay!

You nod to yourself as you determine how much you want, gesturing to the others.

"Load up as much as you can carry! It'll be a tight fit on the way back, but we'll make it work!" You say, getting an affirmative from Harum and...a clacking of the gripper claws, from Barbar. You and Harum look at him for a few moments, before it clarifies.

"Means ok." Is all he says, and you stifle a chuckle.

Together, the three of you start chipping and pulling away at chunks of the meteorite - selectively choosing only the most ore-laden parts of it that you can find of course, hoping to maximize your profit off this endeavor. After all, you really don't want to have to try to find this place again, given how out of the way and hard to find it is; you doubt you would have found it at ALL if not for the hints Fortuneteller Baba gave you. To Harum's credit, each of your suits has a pretty respectable carrying capacity thanks to not only the wide arms that can hold a hefty amount, but the hidden compartments on its body to stuff even more ore inside.

Once all three of you are as laden as possible, you bid the ominous meteorite farewell and thank it for its contribution. The three of you make the even longer trip back up to the surface, burdened as you are by your load...you're just thankful that in the case of you and Harum, you can just swim up the same way you'd fly on land. Harum had to add a hook to attach Barbar to the both of you so he could be dragged up, since he lacked the Flight to cheat the challenge - a fact which he grumbled about, especially whenever the line would get stuck on the plethora of random rocks jutting out of the walls, ceiling, and floor.

After a lengthy two-hour journey back up to the surface that feels MUCH longer to you, you finally breach the surface of the water and find yourself in the domain of any self-respecting air-breathing mammal. Having grown just a touch claustrophobic from the endeavor of being stuck in a tight suit in even tighter caves for such a long period of time makes you all the more appreciative when Harum applies his magic touch to the suits, banishing them in the same instant that rather large backpacks form around each of you. You do have to take a moment to scramble for the ore before it drops back down into the water, but it's a simple task when you're as fast as the three of you are. And Barbar has to call his Dark Nimbus quickly before he dunks back into the water, but that just brings some enjoyable levity to the situation.

Now wearing your backpacks full of hard-earned ore, the three of you shoot off towards your next destination: Papaya Island. You had quite a few things to do there, actually - not only is the next 'item' on your list one that can be found in the ocean near it, but you have an old friend by the name of Tento Mushi to catch up with...and you could quite easily make a forge somewhere to smelt the ore.

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The three of you make your flight towards Papaya Island, which is just a few minutes of full-speed flight away from you. Well, full-speed by Harum and Barbar's standards - you can actually go much faster than either of them are capable of right now, but you restrain yourself for their sake. As the island becomes bigger and bigger in your view, a familiar glowing ball shoots off from the island over to you, stopping right in front of your group before the light around it fades to reveal Azalea!

"Heeeey! I see you guys got what you were looking for, huh?" She asks, wings fluttering so fast you can barely see them just to keep her aloft.

"Yep! It took a bit longer than we expected, but it went off without a hitch. I was hoping for an ancient guardian of some kind to fight, but sadly there wasn't anything like that." You say, trying not to sound too disappointed. The haul was still good!

"I would accuse you of only thinking about fighting if I didn't know that you so well." She teases, sticking her tongue out at you.

"Totally unfair, he also thinks about cooking all the time!" Harum pipes up.

"And you." Barbar joins in on the verbal demolishing. Your face is red-hot, and you're sure that you look like a cherry tomato right now.

"C-Come on! I'm a little more complex than that!" You try and fail to rebuke their claims, getting light-hearted laughter from everyone instead.

"How sweet~" She says, hands on her cheeks as she sways side to side for a moment. "But anyways! I came out here to show you the way to Tento's place! I found her like you asked me to. I don't know if you want to go there immediately or if you want to deal with those rocks you're all carrying first or not, though." She reveals, pointing to the ore your arms are occupied with.

"Do you know if she'd mind?" You ask.

"Hmm..." She humms to herself, tapping a finger on her chin for a moment. "Well, her house was full of rocks and bones and weird pots, so she might not? But I can't say for sure." She admits. A house full of rocks and bones...? Well, at any rate, you'd say...

>"Better deal with our ore first. I think it'd be nice to show her what we end up making with it!"
>"Let's go right to her, then. I don't think she'd mind at all!"
>Something else...?

>>5746812
>"Let's go right to her, then. I don't think she'd mind at all!"
Don't want to keep her waiting.

>>5746812
>"Let's go right to her, then. I don't think she'd mind at all!"
What's a few more rocks, eh?

>>5746812
>"Let's go right to her, then. I don't think she'd mind at all!"
She may even want to keep one.

>>5746812
>"Let's go right to her, then. I don't think she'd mind at all!"

>>5746815
>>5746822
>>5746841
>>5746859
Pretty clear cut, we're going to trail a bunch of dirt into her house! Writing.

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"Let's go right to her, then. I don't think she'd mind at all!" You declare. Azalea gives an enthusiastic nod in response, and flutters over to sit on your shoulder! It's a bit more cumbersome now with her larger size now, but she still fits relatively fine.

You fly down to touch the island's ground, specifically landing in a grassy field just a little bit away from a tropical jungle on Azalea's instruction. From there, you follow a dirt path that barely qualifies as a trail into said jungle, your hunter's instincts constantly alerting you to rustling leaves and darting shadows belonging to a plethora of animals living in the area. You even spot a family of chimps going to town on a staggering amount of bananas they had piled up in a tree, living the dream as far as they're concerned.

It doesn't take particularly long to arrive at a clearing that proves to be much better maintained than the road leading up to it, wherein a fairly unique looking house sits flanked by a garage. You notice that both the front door and the garage door are currently open, so either Tento is completely unafraid of being robbed, she's currently going back and forth from her house to the garage a lot, or she's simply forgetful about such things. Your tentative approach to the front door of the house proves, once you peek inside, that it's the lattermost option - she's simply sitting in a chair completely wrapped up in whatever book she's reading. You...can't actually tell what it is, as the title is in a language foreign to you.

"Knock knock?" You say, grinning as you notice her jump in shock.

"Ahh!" She yells, slamming the book shut on instinct. "Oh, my! V-Visitors? I wasn't expecting any, I'm so sorry!" She says, causing you to quirk an eyebrow and glance over to the fairy on your shoulder.

"You asked me to find the place, that's all! I didn't want to interrupt her reading, so I just looked around while she was doing that and went back to get you." Azalea admits, poking her fingertips together. You shake your head with a smile, before stepping into Tento's house properly and giving the pink-haired woman a wave. A better look around the place shows that Azalea's initial assessment was definitely correct - glass cases on the walls contain a variety of bones, peculiar rocks with bone-like imprints in them, and a wide variety of artpieces from painted to clayform. Surprisingly, there's a lot of unfilled cases, and many of the artifacts she has saved look pretty damaged.

"It's been a while, Tento! Sorry it took so long to come visit." You apologize, bowing as best as you can with your hands as full of rocks as they are.

"Uhhh..." She says blankly, clearly trying to recall what you're talking about before a look of recognition finally crosses her face. "Oh, it's you! You all look so different these days! The stripes were really throwing me off there." She admits, before pausing again. "...Why are you all carrying a bunch of rocks?" She finally asks.

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"Eheheh, well..." You say, feeling sheepish about it now. "They're very special rocks we harvested from a massive underwater meteor that was supposedly created by a God a long time ago." You admit. Both of her eyebrows raise at that, a look of interest crossing her face now.

"Really? Can I take a look at one, then? You can just set what you're holding down anywhere, I track plenty of dirt in here anyways." She asks, and you take her up on her offer by carefully piling the rocks the wooden table in front of her. Your companions follow suit, eager to be rid of the burden they're carrying.

"Go ahead, you can even keep one if you'd like!" You say, beaming a smile her way.

"Thanks!" She says, reaching forward to grab a fist-sized chunk of rock and producing a tiny loupe from one of her pockets and holding it up to her eye while she inspects it. She turns it over slowly, examining what seems like every single part of it before she glances back up to you. "How hard was it to mine this stuff?" She asks.

"Ah, well..." You rub your chin in consideration. You're actually not too sure, since you have no idea how strong the machines Harum made were...

"The rock itself is about as durable as steel would be, we mostly utilized natural fissure lines that cropped up from its initial impact. It should be a great deal stronger when actually refined." Harum adds helpfully.

"True, it took a while to gather this much because of how stubborn it was!" You finish.

"Fascinating...I can't know for sure without extra testing, but I'm almost positive there are elements within this that can't be found here on Earth. If we could get our hands on the rest of the meteor, we might be able to revolutionize certain technologies with the properties of those elements..." Tento says, eyes practically glimmering as they stare at the rock in her hands.

"Not sure if that's wise." Barbar pipes up, without elaborating for a few seconds. When it becomes clear from everyone's attention being on him that you all want him to elaborate, he adds "Meteor feels strange. Just a gut feeling. Think that most people wouldn't be able to tell."

"I noticed that too, actually. It's like looking into a void, right? Honestly, when I use my ki senses near it, it kind of feels like it's sucking some of my energy into it. Barely any, but still, it's noticeable!" You say, affirming Barbar's experience.

"It absorbs energy, huh? Maybe that's why it was so tough to harvest. Maybe it was absorbing the kinetic energy you were throwing at it. That'd have incredible applications..." Tento muses further, rubbing her chin. "Would you mind telling me where this Meteor was, exactly?" She asks you, looking right at you.

>Tell her, you agree that it could be put to great use in furthering Earth's technology.
>Don't tell her, Barbar's wariness seems justified given how odd the meteor felt.
>Something else?

>>5748880
>Let Harum decide
He's our science guy, after all.

>>5748880
>Something else?
>Tell her that maybe it would be best to test the samples first? Search for experts of Ki, magic and science, the whole deal, before trying to use it in a mass scale.

Would any kind anon like to contribute to /qst/ outreach efforts? The overall goal is to increase player count on /qst/ and bring back the glory days. I've generated some dbz-themed ads for /qst/ that I am hoping that someone will sponsor for display on /a/

See linked posts from /qtg/ below:

>>5748230
>>5748906

https://www.4channel.org/advertise

If anyone is willing to help, post in /qtg/ for coordination purposes!

>>5748880
>>5748889

>Let Harum decide

I've been doing my own quest so haven't been up to date with this quest, but let Harum decide seems reasonable.

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>>5748911
Godspeed anon, with any luck we'll make quests great again!
That being said, I don't got shit for it myself.

>>5748995
Maybe when the commission is done, we can use it in an image? it WILL have a cute fairy waifu in it.

>>5748889
Supporting this.
>>5748999
>a cute fairy waifu
The way you use waifu here makes me very suspicious anon.
>>5748911
But also, this seems like good idea and I wish you the best of luck! Really wish they would've just let us have a sticky in /tg/ when we were evicted but oh well.

>>5749075
>suspicious waifu usage
Now I'm really curious, morbidly so, as to what was in that deleted image.

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>>5749085
Oh, it was just a disapproving anime girl, but then I added more than the initial reply so it stopped making sense to include it but I forgot to remove it.
Anyways, I'll skulk off into my corner with the other waifufags, we lost our word years ago.

>>5748995
>>5749075

At this point, we just need a couple brave anons to step forwards with $20 apiece. check out /qtg/ for details.

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>>5749088
I... See...

>>5748999
That's up to the commissioner-anon, in my opinion! He's the one that spent good money on it, after all. I'm for it, though.

>>5748880
>Let Harum decide

>>5748889
>>5748894
>>5748912
>>5749075
>>5749428
Letting a giant ape decide! Writing.

You're taken a little off-guard by the question, not having expected this kind of result just from showing her one of the rocks. On the one hand, Barbar could be right about keeping it safeguarded for now, but on the other hand it could be harmless to outright beneficial to releasing it to the world. It's the kind of decision that requires a lot of thought put into it, so you ultimately decide to defer to your smartest friend who is far more knowledgeable about material applications like this than you are.

"Well...what are your thoughts first, Harum?" You ask him, sheepishly rubbing the back of your head after being caught on the back foot like this.

"Oh?" Harum pipes up, himself surprised by being given the initiative here. He rubs his chin with one of his massive hands for a second, before nodding. "I think it's a good idea to bring it up and use it for the sake of progress. But...I wouldn't want to just release knowledge of it to the world all at once and give out samples to anyone who asks or anything like that. I think it would ultimately be smartest to create a research organization full of trusted individuals dedicated to studying the substance and possibly replicating it. Once we have enough findings, we can start producing technology based around what we find. It's important to keep tight reigns on it to prevent possible abuse though - nobody wants another situation like with that cyborg pirate, right?" He explains, having come up with a safe middleground in just a few seconds.

"Hmm...I suppose you're right, in the end. Are you going to make some kind of corporation once you get to the production stage?" Tento asks.

"It'd be a necessity after a certain point, yeah. Maybe it could branch out into other areas of research and development when we get there, to diversify and all that..." He muses, before blinking. "But that's all theoretical, I-I don't think I'm really fit to be starting an R&D Company! I'm just a college drop-out, after all." He says while waving his hands in front of him, showing some clear self-doubt.

"I think you'd do great with it, Harum! You researched an alien ship over a decade ago. You can at LEAST be head researcher for it, right? You can always get some pencil pushers to deal with the financial side of things." You chime in. "Besides, think about how proud of you Mama Bae would be~" You tease him about one of his weak spots. He flushes slightly, giving a nervous chuckle.

"Well...if you think so, maybe it's worth a shot. I can always just make a bunch of gold for startup funds anyways, right...?" He says, clearly assuaged by your support. "At any rate, once I've started it, would you like to join in the research crew?" He asks Tento, turning to face her.

"Hmm...I'm really more of an anthropologist and archaeologist, but I do know a fair deal about the sciences. Maybe I can work on a recovery team for you or something like that!" She replies, tilting her head back as she considers possible roles.

Who needs Capsule Corp when you can have Monke Inc?

>>5749758
Also, if Tento and Harum hit it off, we can set our buddy up!

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Harum steeples his hands together as he considers the logistics for a few moments, before he speaks up again. "I think I could have everything up and running within six months if I get to work now. Possibly as little as three if I get lucky and find someone capable enough at cutting through the red tape of bureaucracy. Should I call you then?"

"Hmm...I should be done with my current project by then if everything goes well, so sure! At worse, I'll just join your team a little bit later." Tento says, striking your curiosity. It's Azalea that speaks up about it first, though.

"What's your current project?" The curious fairy asks, tilting her head cutely. The question alone brings a big smile to Tento's face.

"I'm glad you asked! It has to do with a local legend and cultural artifact, the Forgotten Warrior. The artifact itself is a statue of an unknown figure that once did battle with good and evil alike, only to supposedly be turned to stone by a demon he crossed in the same moment that he beheaded that demon. It was broken into a thousand pieces when a tidal wave flooded the island during the Demon King's rampage, but a few days ago we found it fully intact once more despite the fact that the temple it was in and nothing else on the island was repaired in the same way. I've been trying to figure out why that is, but the more superstitious types have been interfering with my work." Tento explains passionately. It's clear that she could go into far greater detail if allowed, but she didn't want to bog you and your friends down with it.

You glance to Barbar, sharing a look to the man as you both consider the possibility of the legend being true. Why else would an object get repaired by the wish, if it was not a person? Still, you don't know for sure that such is the case - it could always be an enchanted object for all you know. Perhaps it warrants investigation.

>Offer to check out the statue with her, right now. You want to see it for yourself, to determine what's REALLY up with it.
>Propose visiting the statue after you finish finding a certain dragon near the island. The statue is just sitting there, so it can wait a day!
>Ask about more details about the figures involved in the legend - the warrior and the demon. Tales like this have always interested you!
>Something else?

>>5750620
>Ask about more details about the figures involved in the legend - the warrior and the demon. Tales like this have always interested you!
>>Propose visiting the statue after you finish finding a certain dragon near the island. The statue is just sitting there, so it can wait a day!
Storytime!

>>5750620
>Propose visiting the statue after you finish finding a certain dragon near the island. The statue is just sitting there, so it can wait a day!

>>5750620
>Propose visiting the statue after you finish finding a certain dragon near the island. The statue is just sitting there, so it can wait a day!

>>5750620
>>5750628
+1

>>5750620
>Propose visiting the statue after you finish finding a certain dragon near the island. The statue is just sitting there, so it can wait a day!
>Ask about more details about the figures involved in the legend - the warrior and the demon. Tales like this have always interested you!
Let's walk and talk.

>>5750628
>>5750631
>>5750913
>>5751121
A story couldn't hurt. But the dragon we're going to fight later probably can. Writing!

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"That's actually really interesting, can you tell me more about the legend? Like what the Warrior and the Demon were like or anything like that?" You ask her to elaborate on the previous story, hoping to extract more details on it. Tento's eyes light up at that, clearly happy with your choice.

"Certainly, certainly! So to start off, this all dates back to the same era that the mythical hero Olibu is from. We haven't pinpointed an exact range for it yet because of all the chaos of the time, but it's at least a thousand years ago." She begins, and you do vaguely recall a figure by that name being attributed to several heroic deeds and unbelievable feats.

"Why was it so chaotic?" You ask.

"There's a few different theories on that. More scientifically inclined people reason that there was an organization of Monster-people that grew to great power and terrorized a great many people. The myths themselves always refer to these monster-people as Demons, though, so spiritualists tend to believe that a gateway to the Land of Demons had been opened at some point, which lead to a huge number of said Demons being able to wander Earth to do as they pleased. I'm in the latter faction, after my experience with that curse..." She says, shuddering as she recalls her possession.

"Don't worry, that curse is one hundred percent gone." You reassure her, before motioning for her to continue.

"Good." She smiles again. "The forgotten warrior was said to be raised in the same village as Olibu, and the two were both training under the same master. When their village was inevitably attacked by demons, they both took up arms to vanquish the threat, and they narrowly succeeded. While Olibu pleaded to give them a second chance, the forgotten warrior was not so kind-hearted, and slew the subdued demons before Olibu could stop him. That marked the formation of a rift between the two, which culminated in the forgotten warrior leaving the village after their master chose Olibu to be his successor." She continues.

"I'm not so certain I would have chosen differently, unless I was sure the demons would stop their evil ways." You admit. You had a pure heart, but that didn't mean you were a fool, after all.

"Indeed. Once he left, it's said that he went out seeking increasingly difficult battles with the demons of the land, slaying them each without mercy and without remorse. His skill and prowess grew each day, and the artifacts he won from these fights only augmented him that much more. When he one day came across the Demon Gate, he crossed paths with Olibu right before he was able to enter it. When Olibu learned that the forgotten warrior intended to enter the Demon's own lands and slaughter them down to the last individual, he endeavoured to stop him, and the two came to blows. Olibu defeated his former friend, and proceeded to seal the Demon Gate on his own...but soon after, the warrior changed his hunt to include other heroes just as much as demons." She adds.

>>5751297
The story reminds me of how the kami selection works, with the purer of heart being trained.
Given how the warrior turned into a edgelord, it's likely that Olibu's decision to spare the demons wasn't the only correct one, but that the warrior's decision of slaughtering them was influenced by some impurity in his heart instead of a belief that it was necessary.

RIP AND TEAR

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"Which brings me to the Demon..." She says with a pause. "We don't know the Demon's name either, but we know that he was shrewd and cunning even for his kind. He learned of the Forgotten Warrior and approached him in a benign mortal guise, his power hidden so as to seem an entirely unworthwhile fight. He periodically met with the warrior and manipulated him into seeking out the demon's own rivals and anything that could threaten it, using the warrior's hatred to his own ends. In the meanwhile, he was accruing greater and greater power of his own and seeking out various objects of power that existed at the time in order to fuel a supposed ritual." She explains.

"That sounds pretty worrying..." You say, to which she nods.

"Thankfully, the ritual never had a chance to succeed. Olibu and the Forgotten Warrior crossed paths one final time during a meeting with the Demon, and Olibu was able to sense the darkness in the Demon's heart. Although the two humans fought once more, it was the Warrior that won this time around, though he couldn't find it in himself to deal the final blow. Before they parted ways, Olibu managed to secretly sow the seeds of doubt towards the warrior's supposed 'helper' in the warrior's mind, and those seeds would prove to take root quite thoroughly." She continues.

"It's sad, they grew up together only to end up like that...they were like brothers, huh?" Harum comments, getting a sad nod from Tento.

"The Warrior then decided to follow the Demon in secret to confirm his suspicions, only to see the Demon adopt his true form. He was furious, utterly betrayed by someone he had started to think was his only friend left, and once the Demon was no longer present he destroyed every last thing the Demon had gathered together for his ritual. He carved a challenge to the Demon in the ruins he left, and went to wait for his final opponent in what has now become our temple. The Demon, equally enraged by his plans being foiled, took the bait and met him there to punish him for the act...and he proved to be every much the match for the warrior that the warrior had been seeking for so long. Their battle lasted a full day and damaged much of this very island, and but in the end the Demon found the perfect opportunity to cast a curse of petrification on the Warrior. While he was slowly turning to stone, the warrior used the last of his energy to behead the Demon while it was gloating, leaving the match...well, a stalemate." She finishes her tale.

"Ohhh, I know this tale!" Azalea pipes up, causing everyone to look over to her. "The Demon's name was Akomo! He was said to be carved from a rock and given life by the power of lesser demons looking for a champion of their own. Supposedly, he held my grandpa captive once to harvest his fairy dust!" She reveals, causing Tento's eyes to bulge out from shock at the unbelievable claim.

One day delay from me due to being unexpectedly busy all day, sorry lads! At least I managed a double update yesterday, kind of makes up for it.

>>5752093
Thanks for the heads up!

"Y-You must be joking, surely!" Tento proclaims, unable to believe the fairy.

"Nope!" Azalea responds, shaking her head. "I only lie when there's a funny joke to set up." She admits.

"I...I might have to take some time interviewing you then. I feel like it's important to get the full story written down somewhere." Tento says, shakily producing a pen and notepad.

You take a moment to reach up and grab Azalea by the waist, receiving a giggle from her before you set her down from your shoulder. "Well, while you two do that, I'm going to head out to complete my list. I've got a Dragon to meet! I'll be back after, then maybe we can go visit that statue you were talking about." You say while standing up, nodding towards Tento.

"Ah, alright!" Tento replies.

"Have fun~!" Azalea says, blowing a kiss at you that has you flush slightly.

"Harum, Barbar, you coming with?" You ask the two. Barbar gives a nod in the affirmative, while Harum shakes his head.

"I'll get the details from you later, I want to hear this." Your gorilla brethren confesses. You shrug nonchalantly.

"Suit yourself! Catch you all in a bit!" You say, giving everyone sans Barbar a wave goodbye.

You exit Tento's house, and immediately take to the skies with your flight while Barbar powerfully leaps hundreds of feet up and calls his Dark Nimbus to catch him. Together, the two of you fly towards the island's coastline and hover just past it, once more floating above the crystal blue tropical seas. It's honestly a beautiful area, and the warm breeze blowing past you only makes the area seem that much more appealing - infinitely better than the frigid brackish waters of Yunzabit Heights that you visited so long ago. You might have to take a relaxing vacation around these parts one of these days...

"How do we find the Dragon?" Barbar asks from a few feet away, inclining his head towards you.

"Good question!" You reply, pulling out the faded notes that Baba gave you a long time ago. "Piccolo's method is out of the question, because of the disaster it caused. According to Baba, there's some kind of building down there under the water we can try to visit that the dragon sleeps in, though we'd have to fight it underwater if we do that. We could also try to use some kind of bait to get it, kind of like fishing for a REALLY big fish. Lastly, we can find a female dragon and...oh. I guess that's also a kind of bait..." You say, after reviewing your notes. Your cheeks are a bit redder now.

"Which one will we be doing, then?" He asks, to which you reply:

>We're going to find the Dragon's house underwater!
>We're going fishing!
>We're playing matchmaker!
>Something else?

>>5752688
>We're going fishing!
Relaxing bonding time with our first mentor.

>>5752688
>We're going fishing!

>>5752688
>We're playing matchmaker!

>>5752688
>We're going fishing!
Matchmaker sounds like fun though.

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>>5752688
>We're going fishing
Inb4 Azalea pulls this bad boy out.

>>5752724
Just when I thought she couldn't get any more best as a bestgirl.

>>5752688
>We're going fishing!

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>>5752690
>>5752693
>>5752702
>>5752714
>>5752724
>>5753065
It's time to go fishing. I hope you brought good bait...
5 of you, please roll me a d60!

Rolled 42 (1d60)

>>5753070

Rolled 40 (1d60)

>>5753070

Rolled 26 (1d60)

>>5753070

Rolled 34 (1d60)

>>5753070

Rolled 6 (1d60)

>>5753070

>>5753074
>>5753090
>>5753101
>>5753118
>>5753181
42 is pretty good! Good enough, I'd say. Writing!

"We're going fishing!" You state boldly, flashing a grin to Barbar. His mustache twitches up with the hint of a smile of his own, before his face resumes its normal serious demeanour.

"Got bait?" He asks, which you take a moment to consider.

"Hmm...not on me, but I can whip something up pretty easily. I'll make it something nobody could resist, not even a Dragon!" You proclaim, before setting your eyes back down to the seas below.

Your eyes dart to and fro on the waters, looking for a shadow reflected on the surface that might tell you about a fish being nearby. After a few moments, your trained eyes finally catch something, so you dive down as fast you can towards the shadow! As you breach the water, you can see a particularly massive fish darting away from you as quickly as it can manage - it seems like the shadow was disjointed from the fish's actual position! You're faster than it is by a significant margin, however, so it's not all that difficult for you to reposition yourself underneath it and grab it by the underside. With a great heave, you bring it back up to the surface with you, taking in a big gulp of air as soon as you're once more in the air!

"Pahh! Think this is big enough for it?" You ask Barbar, while keeping a firm grip on the struggling fish that happens to be bigger than the both of you combined.

"Should do." He says with a nod.

With your own nod back, you flip the fish around and with a quick chop to the skull you cease its struggles. You then bring it over to the beach, setting it down. You interlace your fingers and stretch with your palms outward to get a satisfying crack out of all of your knuckles at once, before you point at an empty patch of sand and will your magic into physical form. A beam of light projects from your pointer finger before it fades to reveal a particularly large wok sitting atop an equally large 'portable' stove. Of course, you would hardly be making a good meal with this alone...

Several more flashes of light get you the other ingredients you need. Oil and seasonings, primarily, things that you were more than familiar enough with to create on the fly. With all of it finally in place, you turn on the stovetop and splash some oil into the wok to get things started, all while Barbar works on carving up your catch into the usual cuts of meat. After about half an hour of hard work over a hot stove, you have everything cooked up and set onto some plates...the smell alone makes you salivate, but you have to restrain yourself - the meal isn't for you, after all. A quick look over at your first mentor confirms that he's feeling the same urge as you are.

You grab one of the cooked-up steaks and materialize a comically large fishing pole with its own comically large hook on it, and pierce the fish steak onto said hook. Then, you wind back and let the hook fly out into the deep blue sea, where the steak sinks deeper and deeper out of sight! Now you play the waiting game...

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It's subtle at first. A bob that you could have completely attributed to the waves initially, followed by a second and a third in rapid succession that make the line sink deeper and spread barely noticeable ripples through the water's surface. You grip your fishing pole tighter with a bit of curiosity, wondering if you've got your mark hooked or something else...before your arms almost get yanked out of their sockets by a sudden, violent, and altogether POWERFUL tug on the line. Whatever you have hooked just tried to dart away with it, and it's both STRONG and FAST.

So fast, in fact, that for a few confusing seconds you're being used as a human kite by it, flying along as your prey darts through the tropical seas like a speedboat. You're quick to adjust, planting your feet in front of you and creating two solid air-steps in order to bring the creature to a sudden and harsh stop. Then, you start pouring ki out of your feet to fly back and up with it, slowly dragging the struggling creature out of the water. You see a long, serpentine form cast as a shadow on the waves, and with a final tug you pull it completely out into the open.

Azure scales and bony protrusions are clear on the Dragon's form, but you're personally entranced by the red and black eyes glaring at you right now. The Dragon currently has your hook through its lower jaw, and it grumbles in an intimidating fashion while it twists and turns through the air until its body has encircled you several times over to make its presence that much more noticeable.

"Heroic one, why have you trapped my dinner?" The dragon asks of you, though you knew from the start that it could speak, so it doesn't surprise you like it did the last person to disturb him.

"I wanted to challenge you for the prize you offer, sir! And as an apology for hooking you like this, I made much more of that food for you, over on the island." You say, gesturing over to Papya Island. The tiny form of Barbar waves at the two of you, a massive pile of cooked meats next to him. You can see the dragon follow your gesture, before returning its gaze to you.

"...Very well, perhaps a meal before we fight would be good. It will get cold otherwise." The dragon admits, briefly twisting its head closer to its foot to grab hold of the hook and remove it from its jaw.

Together, the two of you fly back over to the beach, where the dragon digs in to the finely crafted meal with gusto. It's quite impressive how it managed to eat a fish of such size in no more than a minute, during which it seemed to relish every last second of it.

"I have half a mind to reward you just for the meal...but that is not the way it works, sadly." The dragon admits, releasing a hot belch after. It levels its gaze back at you. "Now then...I believe you wanted to take my challenge? What prize would you ask for, then, O' Savior?" It demands to know.

Rolled 48, 16, 46, 6, 39 = 155 (5d50)

>Some of its invincible scales, to make armor like no other!
>Some of its claws, to make claws of your own that can rend anything!
>One of its whiskers, to create a rope that can bind any creature!
>One of its horns, to make a mighty staff!
>Something else? (Get creative, the dragon has a lot. It doesn't even need to be a physical part...)

In addition, 5 of you, please roll me a d60 for the fight itself! Here's the Dragon's own rolls.

Rolled 39 (1d60)

>>5754650
>48/50
Damn this Dragon has hands.

Rolled 5 (1d60)

>>5754650
>Something else? (Get creative, the dragon has a lot. It doesn't even need to be a physical part...)
>Some of it's scales, to make a shield that could defend against anything!
That's a bloody good catch.

Rolled 37 (1d60)

>>5754650
>Some of its claws, to make claws of your own that can rend anything!

Rolled 3 (1d60)

>>5754650
These rolls ain't great so far... And I'm also not sure what I want. Claws seem most our speed, though -- might as well upgrade our "main thing", right?

>Claws

>>5754650
>Something else?
It has to teach us its strongest technique!

>>5754650
>Something else? (Get creative, the dragon has a lot. It doesn't even need to be a physical part...)
>Whatever helps him breathe underwater!

Rolled 43 (1d60)

>>5754672
Or this one, techniques are always good.
Specially if they give us some extra bonus in a fight
>>5754650
Forgot to roll

Rolled 38 (1d60)

>>5754650
forgot ze roll

>>5754653
>>5754655
>>5754657
>>5754658
>>5754679
You put up a good fight for the first round, but the Dragon has hands of his own, it looks like!
But don't forget, you have a per-combat re-roll and a per-combat damage negation you can always use. Just pipe up if you want to use either.
With or without them, it's not the end of this combat anyways.

Also, for the people voting for claws and armor, we just got enough meteor ore for that, so I don't we need a double upgrade for that.

>>5754685
I'm fine with losing the first round. Wouldn't be much fun if we won every time.

>>5754685
He rolled quite high, so I think we can accept a loss this round.

>>5754685
I'm fine with having a loss, I'd rather save the bonus for later in the thread.
And people make a good point about the technique, I'll change my vote to support it.

>>5754685
He deserves the win, I'll also vote for knowledge.

>>5754685
Let the dragon win, should make for good motivation for Honda to improve and if I can still vote for the reward I to go for the technique

>>5754688
>>5754691
>>5754701
I'll agree to this, too. I'm okay with losing this round.

>>5754685
Also, I'll change my vote at >>5754658 to >Whatever helps him breathe underwater!

"How about...if I win, you teach me your strongest technique!" You say with a cheeky grin. The Dragon gets a strange glint in its eye upon hearing that, though you're nowhere near versed enough in dragon expressions to tell what exact emotion it's trying to portray.

"Very well. In that case, if you lose, you must teach me YOUR strongest technique!" The Dragon proclaims, lifting up off the warm sand to float menacingly in the sky. "As you are the challenger, I shall afford you the first strike. Do not disappoint me, pure-hearted one!" It growls out, awaiting your move.

You don't keep it waiting for long, taking a very brief moment to stretch before you crouch down and then spring up towards it as powerfully as you can, sand blasting everywhere from the force of your leap. Your ki-fueled flight propels you even faster, and you don your Claws just in time to strike out with them, raking them across the Dragon's exposed and much-softer-looking underside...

Or so you thought, as the Dragon almost casually rolls its body so that your claws only spark across the invulnerable scales covering its back! With a roar in acknowledgement of the battle's start, its powerful muscles spring into action as its tail whips down at you, catching you off guard with the sheer speed of it. It slams into you, sending you hurtling right back down to the island, where you impact the sand just a few feet away from Barbar and practically get buried in it. You just know you're going to be getting sand out of your clothes for the next month at this rate...

"It knows its own weakness well. Probably better to try something less obvious." Barbar offers, while you climb out of the impromptu hole your body dug with a groan.

"Thanks...man, he hits hard. I didn't break anything, but that definitely is going to be a nasty bruise." You admit, before looking back up at the Dragon. It seems he's waiting for you to get back into the fight, so you opt not to keep him waiting for long.

You fly back up, but this time you're not taking a predictable path towards his underside. You're floating a couple dozen feet away from him, sizing him and his movements up while you consider your own gameplan. You might be able to edge him out in raw power, but somehow that doesn't seem like a safe bet right now. You could always try some of your electrical techniques, but you honestly have no idea how his body would react to lightning - he could be immune to it for all you know. You could fall back on one of your earliest tactics to try to get him to hurt himself, as well, but who knows how likely he is to fall for it - he seems pretty intelligent to you. Hmm...

>Mix it up with Flash Lightning and Sandakoru, you can definitely get a clean strike on his underside using the former to set up the latter's aim.
>Pure strength and skill, get into a brutal melee with him!
>Try to maneuver him into hurting himself, to bypass his resistances!
>Something else...?

>>5755548
>Mix it up with Flash Lightning and Sandakoru, you can definitely get a clean strike on his underside using the former to set up the latter's aim.

>>5755548
Use most of darkness and mirror image to buy time to overcharge Taigakuro with extra ki to deal massive damage with a single strike!

>>5755566
Mist* of darkness

>>5755548
>Mix it up with Flash Lightning and Sandakoru, you can definitely get a clean strike on his underside using the former to set up the latter's aim.
Worth testing out, at least! Maybe in a pinch, we could use Mirror Image to buy time, and a Sealed Light Beam to end the fight?

>>5755548
>Mix it up with Flash Lightning and Sandakoru, you can definitely get a clean strike on his underside using the former to set up the latter's aim.
Maybe use Mirror Image if we're in a pinch.

>>5755548
>Mix it up with Flash Lightning and Sandakoru, you can definitely get a clean strike on his underside using the former to set up the latter's aim.

Rolled 26, 29, 40, 24, 26 = 145 (5d50)

>>5755560
>>5755566
>>5755571
>>5755631
>>5756264
He's in for a shocking surprise! Or maybe it's you that's in for one?
Four of you, roll me a D60! You'd be rolling a d50 due to a hidden disadvantage if you didn't consider using mist of darkness and mirror image to help here.

Rolled 48 (1d60)

>>5756562

Rolled 37 (1d60)

>>5756562

Rolled 33 (1d60)

>>5756562

Rolled 13 (1d60)

>>5756562

You settle on a strategy in your mind, knowing that misdirection of some sort is probably going to be your best bet here. He doesn't seem content to wait much longer, though, as you can see him now starting to surge forward at you. Acting quickly, you feint a dodge to the left while you instead spring off of an air-step to juke to his right - and just as you suspected he would, his jaws snap around exactly where you'd be if you committed to the original dodge. With a huff, his face twitches momentarily...only for a gigantic whisper to almost whip you in the face, your own reflexes barely saving you from the blow by bending backwards.

"Woah!" You exclaim in shock. "Even your whiskers are weapons, huh?" You ask him, doing a little flip to complete the movement and get right-side up again.

"Of course they are. Every last inch of my body is a weapon." The Dragon responds proudly.

"I'm not sure how a nose could be considered a weapon, but I'm sure you'll show me soon enough." You joke with some cheek, all while drawing on your magic power. "If you last long enough, that is!" You say, only for a cloud of all-obscuring darkness to burst forth from your body and start to rapidly expand. It envelops the dragon quickly enough, who you can clearly see trying to blindly look around in the darkness.

You quickly move on to the second phase of your plan, dividing your focus to start channelling ki towards one of the clouds sitting high in the sky, all while simultaneously drawing crackling power into your fingertips. Had you not trained as you did with Kami, diving your attention between three different techniques like this would be all but impossible - and as it is, it's a struggle to maintain it. But maintain it you do, slowly accumulating more and more power, until...

"Fool! Do you think parlor tricks will be enough to defeat me?!" The dragon roars. You can see it inhale deeply, blowing its body up to comically inflated proportions before it exhales all of that air all at once, creating a potent gale that forcefully rips the dark mists apart and forces them to disperse into nothing.

"What?!" You exclaim with shock, eyebrows shooting up. You act quickly before ALL of your obscuring mists are gone, cutting power to the darkness and instead channelling a new spell - mirror image! And not a moment too soon, as only seconds later your cover is gone, revealing all six of 'you'. "Well, it doesn't matter - we'll still beat you anyways!" You and your clones say, all of you pulling down an eyelid with your free hand and sticking your tongues out at him.

You shoot out your Flash Lightning towards him right as he begins another charge, and despite it being charged up it merely splashes across his scales. He chomps out at one of your clones as it tries to juke him with a dodge similar to what you did before, but the dragon seems to have adapted to your tactics already, ending the clone with ease while a tail whips out to destroy another one.

You move into position underneath him while the clones pretend to be readying attacks of their own, releasing another burst of lightning towards the dragon's exposed underside - but the dragon seems to have a flash of insight right in time, once more moving to protect its soft underside from the attack. Unfortunately for him, you were expecting this from your wily foe...and in that same instant where he's turned and all of his momentum is dedicated to it, you call down your lightning from the heavens themselves.

A monstrously over-imbued bolt of lightning crashes down on the dragon's chest, the dragon's eyes going wide as electricity pierces through all of its defenses and causes it to seize up. There was so much energy imbued with it that you can practically see the dragon's bones light up through his flesh, and by the time it sizzles out the dragon has some charring on his fins and one of his whiskers is currently on fire. His eye twitches with irritation.

"Perhaps I underestimated you..." It growls out, turning right-side up again. "...But rest assured, the same thing will never work on me twice!" it claims, expression enraged.

>Just because it says so doesn't mean it's true. Keep it up, that hurt it bad!
>Switch to getting in his face with melee, your energy claws are adjustable enough to keep you in the fray!
>Get him to deal the next blow to himself, you've got him angry enough for it!
>Something else?

>>5756857
>Switch to getting in his face with melee, your energy claws are adjustable enough to keep you in the fray!

>>5756857
>Get him to deal the next blow to himself, you've got him angry enough for it!

>>5756857
>Get him to deal the next blow to himself, you've got him angry enough for it!

>>5756857
>Get him to deal the next blow to himself, you've got him angry enough for it!

>>5756857
>Get him to deal the next blow to himself, you've got him angry enough for it!

>>5756857
>Get him to deal the next blow to himself, you've got him angry enough for it!

Rolled 37, 6, 1, 30 = 74 (4d50)

>>5756863
>>5756869
>>5756879
>>5756884
>>5757172
>>5757364
"Stop hitting yourself!" - Honta soon, hopefully.
Five of you, please roll a d60 for me! You've chosen well given his current anger, so if you beat this roll, he'll take a bit of extra damage!

>>5757495
Oh sweet mercy, extra damage on top of a critfail...

Rolled 52 (1d60)

>>5757495

Rolled 21 (1d60)

>>5757495

Rolled 60 (1d60)

>>5757495

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Rolled 6 (1d60)

>>5757495
>>5757590
Bruh...

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>>5757590
>Chose the best tactic
>he critfailed
>you crit

>>5757595
I think he's our bitch now

Rolled 4 (1d60)

>>5757495

>>5757595
Violence has been acquired

>>5757606
>>5757648
It was so violent that it apparently caused a blackout in half the city. I'll, uh, write up when I get power back. Hot damn.

>>5757652
Well, that took a while. I ended up passing out in bed before shit came back up. But it seems the night shift did their job, so here we go! Writing!

Your only response to it is to give it a cocky smirk back and assume a fighting stance, upturning one of your hands and gesturing for it to come at you. Based on the slight flare of power from it when you do so, it succeeded in aggravating it further, especially evident in how it's now charging forward at you with a greater speed than before.

"INSOLENT WH-" It starts to roar, only to be cut off when you surge forward in that instant and slam a powerful uppercut into its jaw that creates a booming thud. Its mouth is forcefully snapped shut mid-speech, resulting in invincible teeth piercing into its tongue and smashing against one another. So strong is the blow, in fact, that you think you can hear the cracking of bone as lower fangs bang into upper ones. The Dragon seems to have tears in its eyes after that.

It shakes its head to try to ignore the pain, whirling the rest of its body around to try to smack you out of the air with its powerful tail. You, however, drive a knee up into the tail at a specific point in its arc, making sure to put enough force into the blow that it whips the tail at the dragon's own head instead. The tail smacks it full force in the face, specifically damaging one of its eyes and drawing a hiss of pain from it as it's forced to close the damaged eye from the pain.

The battle continues in much the same way for the next five minutes, with every attack the Dragon makes being turned back on itself, until the Dragon is covered in bruises that show even through its scales, cuts, and bite marks. By the end of its failed rampage, it's breathing heavily, its flight unstable as the Dragon is clearly feeling woozy from the accumulated damage. It looks like it doesn't want to give up at all, until it inclines its head towards you and speaks up.

"The gap between us...is too great." The Dragon admits, words being pressed into your mind rather than being spoken aloud due to its damaged tongue. Seems that it knows telepathy, how strange! "I will admit my defeat here, Hero. For the second time in my life, I have been bested. You have earned your prize, and have chosen wiser than any other in the prize you demanded. You will learn my most powerful technique, that which has made me everything I am today." It says.

The Dragon's eyes flash with a mysterious force, and just a moment later you can feel magical power flowing from the Dragon into your mind. Concepts, ideas, and raw knowledge begin filling your brain as you understand exactly what it did - it transferred the knowledge to you directly rather than using traditional methods. The speed and wealth of information starts to ramp up until it gives you a headache, but thankfully for you it starts to slow back down soon after, and you can see why - the Dragon's form is starting to waver as it uses up its magic power. As the flow fades, so too does the Dragon itself, dispersing entirely into a glimmering mist...

As for what it granted you, you're coming to understand that it's a Spell that 'affirms one's self-belief onto the world', which can apparently be used for a myriad of applications. Things such as the Dragon's own apparent invincibility, but also things such as changing one's appearance or size. So long as you can convince yourself that such things could apply to you, and your magic power remains great enough to resist being changed by others, it becomes true as far as Reality is concerned.

You're personally more concerned with what happened to the Dragon, though, having not intended for it to die as a result of this. A pang of guilt hits you, before you spot something in the slowly-fading mists...a tiny lizard, a salamander of some kind to be specific. Just floating there, staring at you as you stare back at it.

"What?" It asks you, your expression only growing more confused. "I need to recover from the battle." The lizard says. The dragon?!

"I thought you died!" You admit, getting a surprisingly hearty laugh from the tiny little thing.

"Hardly! I would come closer to dying if I choked on a bone." It says, laughing as it dives down towards the water. It zips beneath the waves almost without disturbing them, and soon enough is completely gone from sight.

You float over to the island, landing next to Barbar and looking out on the sea with him for a moment.

"Done?" He asks you, simply enough.

"Yeah." You nod back at him. He returns the physical gesture.

"Was weird." He says, holding his fingers apart to indicate the tiny size of the dragon's true form.

"Yeah..." You say, trying not to chuckle. It wouldn't be polite! "Let's go back to the others now." You change the subject, turning around to make an on-foot journey back to Tento's place. Sometimes it's nice just to walk somewhere with a friend, even if you have faster ways to travel.

Half of a second update today to make up for yesterday. More tomorrow!

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>>5758415
Ha! Nice. I dig it. What a neat twist

Updated WIP, btw

>>5758415
Oooh, that is a great ability to have.

>>5758975
It's looking great

>>5758975
Damn, that's coming along so fine. My anticipation is immeasurable

After a peaceful journey through the jungles, you once more find yourself at the Mushi residence. Stepping up the stairs and entering through the still-open door, you peek into the living room to find the homeowner frantically scribbling notes into a book while Azalea sits back in one of the seats next to Harum. Azalea is, for whatever reason, wearing the garb of a safari hunter...complete with a fake mustache and a monocle over her left eye. She's currently sipping tea in a very posh manner, and you can only imagine that she adopted this gag to recount Tento with the tales of her family.

"We're back!" You announce.

"Good show, old chap. Good show indeed!" Azalea says, raising her oversized-for-her teacup to you. Then she rips the mustache and monocle off, before fluttering up and spinning in the air to restore her favorite outfit.

"We finished up with the Dragon. Are you two ready to go visit that statue?" You ask, trying not to laugh at the fairy's antics. Tento finally looks up from her writings.

"Huh? Oh, yes! We were just about finished. Fascinating..." She says, standing up and tucking the book away into a nearby desk drawer.

"I gotta say, I'm way more confused now than I was at the start." Harum says, standing up as well and stretching one of his massive arms. "But that's just what I've come to expect from Az!" He says, getting a grin from the fairy.

"Be glad for my mercy. As the ultimate comedian, I could have killed you all by making you laugh to death." Azalea says, tilting her head up and giving an imperious laugh.

"I'm more of a slapstick fan, myself." Tento says with a snicker, causing the fairy to rub her chin in consideration. "Anyways, I'll lead the way. Let's get a move on before we lose too much daylight! You don't want to be in these jungles at night. Well...I don't, at least." She continues.

All of you head back outside and follow Tento's lead through the dense surrounding jungle. After about an hour's journey, you emerge from the thick network of trees to find the partially-rebuilt remains of the temple in question sitting in a clearing. You couldn't say for sure if the newer structures resembled what their older ones looked like or not, but the styles that you do take note of are something you would describe as 'fierce'. Figures such as Oni are carved into the wood, and closer inspection tells you that some of the carvings were transplanted from the old structure to the new one for preservation's sake.

Tento takes you through the temple, careful to avoid disrupting any of the building equipment laying around, before you reach an open courtyard with cracked and weathered stone flooring. Standing off to the side watching over all those who enter this area of the temple is clearly what you're looking for - the statue of a young warrior staring all of you down with a harsh gaze, cracks littering it. A large sword clutched in its hand digs into the concrete, and gems inlayed in it almost seem to glow.

Four of you, please roll me a D55! Your DC today is a humble 45 for something.

Rolled 20 (1d55)

>>5759868

Rolled 24 (1d55)

>>5759868

Rolled 8 (1d55)

>>5759868

Rolled 12 (1d55)

>>5759868

>>5759875
>>5759877
>>5759880
>>5759911
It looks like you can't sense anything particularly unusual about this statue on a simple inspection. Further investigation could prove otherwise, though...write-up comes tomorrow!

>>5759924
Ah well still cool.

I wonder how the world will turn out now that big green hasnt killed off nearly all of its mystic and martal masters and practioners. One things for sure once Goku arives there will be slightly more chalines for him to fight.

>>5760085
Maybe we can even do the impossible and make sure Yamcha stays somewhat relevant in Z

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>>5759792
It is done!

Imagine if Azalea learned hypnosis to use on Honta in combination with his Dragons Majesty. Truly a game breaking combo. We'd need certain mental safeguards to make sure we couldn't be hypnotized into being someone evil's lackey but the potential is limitless.

>>5760438
Awesome

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>>5760438
Absolutely sicknasty, fucking legendary brother. Saved forevermore, and definitely the official reference
What do the japanese letters say?

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>>5760549
Not that anon, but it's the kanji for the word 'kami'.

>>5760443
It's a damn good combo, provided you're not going up against someone with monstrous reserves of magic. Or such an insane physical ability that they can break through your magic despite not using magic themselves.
Still, it's an absolute BEAST in terms of versatility down the line. Think of it like the equivalent of Spirit Control for magic. You have the framework, you just have to master it to get the top tier abilities from it.

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>>5760567
Ah, Kami...rest in peace, old man...

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You approach the statue slowly, sizing it up with caution. Something about it unsettles you, specifically one of the more primal parts of you. The statue's glare almost feels like a hunter sizing up his prey, and you can feel the hairs on your arm standing up, bristling in response to that caution. You don't let it show on your face though, instead reaching out to gently run a hand along the stone. It feels like any other rock would, if a bit smoother than most due to the skill in which it was carved.

You focus deeper on the statue, concentrating your ki senses on it to try to detect any amount of life-force from it, yet you come up with nothing. And when you focus your equivalent magical senses upon it, you only catch the lingering wisps of Shenron's power on it, clearly having been used to restore the statue for whatever reason - if it truly was someone that was petrified, then any traces of the original spell to do so must have faded by now. And if it wasn't, then why would Shenron restore this with everyone else? Was it an oversight, since it looked so like someone real?

"Well...I don't know how true that legend is or not, but I definitely don't sense any amount of life coming from it. I mean, hey, even if the legend was true he could have just died from old age in there, right?" You suggest, stepping back from the statue and turning to Tento.

"It's possible? I'm no expert on curses, despite what happened in my youth. I wish I was, though - can you imagine the stories I'd be able to get if we could bring him back to life? He'd be able to tell us so much about the Age of Legends!" She exclaims excitedly, before sighing. "But I doubt it's possible. I mean, it's not guaranteed that the legend was real, after all. It could just be someone's artwork. Which is still pretty cool, but nowhere near as exciting." She admits.

"Well, I do know quite a few magicians, and I'm pretty practiced with magic myself even if I'm not trained in cursebreaking. We could try to see what miracles we can work like that. Or...well, I do have an in with the Otherworld, I could ask around for him or Olibu when I get there for you, if you'd like. Or, hell, maybe even see if anyone else from the Age of Legends is still kicking around in the afterlife." You suggest two possible paths. Judging from Tento's concerned yet shocked expression, she wans't really expecting that.

"You have an IN with the AFTERLIFE?" She asks in disbelief. You nod back at her. "...I was right to go back home all that time ago. You guys are all crazy." She says with an exasperated laugh. She shakes it off after a moment, with a literal shake of her head. "I'll let you decide what you want to do there. You'd know more than me on what you can manage, after all."

>Gather up some of your magical friends and acquaintances to study the statue!
>Time to hit up the Otherworld, see if you can interview a spirit!

>>5760585
>Gather up some of your magical friends and acquaintances to study the statue!
Im sure they'd like to take a look at it.

>>5760585
>Gather up some of your magical friends and acquaintances to study the statue!
We definitely missed something about it.

>>5760585
>Time to hit up the Otherworld, see if you can interview a spirit!

>>5760585
>Time to hit up the Otherworld, see if you can interview a spirit!

>>5760549
Glad you like it, QM! Thanks for running such a based quest.

>>5760585
>Gather up some of your magical friends and acquaintances to study the statue!

>>5760585
>Gather up some of your magical friends and acquaintances to study the statue!

>>5760585
>Gather up some of your magical friends and acquaintances to study the statue!

>>5743643
I'm considering adapting these threads into video format.
Though, I'd probably call the series "Mutaito's Legacy", because there is already Dragon Ball The Legacy.
And proceed to them on R***it...
Dunno if if there audience for it, apparently even low-effort DBZ tends to get views.

>>5761122
That would be a pretty grand undertaking, but one I'm sure we'd all be fuckin' thrilled to see, brother. I'd say give it a shot - the worst that could happen is that you give up on it some ways into it, but that's preferable to the alternative of never trying at all, no?

"Well...I don't actually know if my pass is only good for one back-and-forth trip or not, so I better save it for later. I'll see who I can get to help!" You say, popping the bottom of your fist into the palm of your opposite hand. "I should probably start with Lady Baba fir-" You continue, only to be cut off unexpectedly.

"Mail call, Ms. Mushi!" An unfamiliar man's voice calls out. Turning your head, you take notice of a postman dressed in the official garb of the postal service. He's waving a handful of letters out, which Tento immediately moves to take from the man.

"Thanks, Rayne!" Tento says, flicking through the letters for a few moments.

"That's Mr. Shiné to you, Ms. Mushi! We always have to stay professional on the job." The postman chides her with a laugh, showing that he's not serious at all about it.

"Yeah yeah, go on and get out of here so you can get home before dinnertime." She replies, rolling her eyes. As Mr. Shiné waves goodbye and steps back out, you can see Tento's eyebrows raising in surprise as she picks one particular letter out of the pile in her hands. "This one's got my address, but it says YOU'RE the recipient." She says, handing the letter out to you.

"What? Who would even know..." You trail off, the handwriting seeming awfully familiar to you. As you open up the letter to read the contents, it becomes unavoidably clear who it's from.

'Don't even think about coming over here and bothering me! Yang and I have more important business to attend to than being your advisors-on-call for every little magical problem you have, you know. Business that could make me a lot of money if it goes right, which means that if you mess this up for me, I'll charge you every last zenni I lose out on! Besides, you know that curse-breaking isn't my specialty. You know people far better suited to it than I.

- Fortuneteller Baba

P.S. Yang wanted me to mention that Ahl was back at Teal Castle to point you in the right direction. Consider it a freebie.'

"Well...at least that tells me where I should go first, hahah..." You say, sheepishly rubbing the back of your had. Man, you really can't hide ANYTHING from a fortuneteller, can you? You flip the page over just in case anything is on the back.

'No, you can't.' It says, almost as if in direct response to your thoughts. That can't possibly...

'It wouldn't be hard to guess your thoughts even without my magic.' It says in smaller print towards the bottom, as your eyes drift down there.

"Guh!" You exclaim, balling the paper up and throwing it into the nearest bin. "Fortunetellers! Unbelievable. I'm going back to Teal's Castle to see if Ahl is free to help out or not." You say, shaking your head to try to forget just how easily you were played a moment ago. "Anyone coming with?" You ask.

"Pass." Barbar says.

"Hmm...I wanna check out this temple some more!" Azalea pipes up.

"I'll go! I never got to see it!" Harum offers with an excited look.

>>5761357
>Pass from Barbar
After being trapped there and losing an arm there, I'm not surprised.

>>5761369
Bingo. He has nothing but bad memories of the place.

One day delay on the update, I had a few different vaccine shots yesterday to stay up to date and I'm low energy as FUCK today. Had two separate naps bro, sheesh.
But yeah, I've got some stuff written up already but I don't want to rush it with my tired-ass mind right now. Gonna make sure I read over things and do edits properly and all that shit.

>>5762172
Feel better soon, QM!

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"I'll, uh...I'll pass too." Tento says, leaving you with just one ride-along.

You grin at Harum, jerking a thumb over your shoulder towards the door. "Alright, let's be on our way then. You kids have fun!" You say, sticking your tongue out at the three that chose to remain behind.

"Kids, huh? You better watch that tongue, or else I'll start calling you da-" Azalea shoots back, prompting you to grab Harum's wrist and shoot off into the sky before she can finish her sentence. Even after all these years, she still knows exactly what to say to make your face go as red as a cherry...

Harum gives you a knowing smirk as soon as the surprise of the sudden liftoff wears off, but thankfully for you he doesn't say anything about it, simply easing some of the effort of flight from you by taking over his own propulsion and pulling away to fly a few feet away from you. Together, the two of you streak across the clear blue skies. If you were going at your max speed, you're certain you could get to Teal Castle in about an hour - but having to match Harum's lesser maximum speed instead doubles the trip's length, taking you a full two hours before you near the familiar mountains.

The sky overhead is cloudy in this particular area, and the snow has built up around the peaks once more. The castle itself is looking fantastic, missing all of the ice trappings it had when you'd originally visited it in your youth. You can see plenty of people moving about in the courtyard from up here, a hustling and bustling life to the castle that gives you a sense of pride and comfort knowing that you're the reason why.

The two of you slow down into a gentle drop right in the plaza's center, a few feet away from the familiar orb holding those heat enchantments over the grounds. Faces both familiar and new look to the two of you in surprise, some of the ones who saw your flight outright gaping at the feat. You can see that a few of them that don't recognize you look ready to panic, but you hold up a hand and smile warmly at them.

"It's been a while! It's me, Honta! Good to see you're all doing well these days!" You exclaim, and the name itself seems to click for everyone that didn't immediately recognize you.

"Honta!" "It's Honta!" "The Hero is back!" "The Demon Slayer has returned!" "Look at the size of that guy next to him!" "He's HUGE!" "I bet he could rip a car in half!" Various voices ring out, Harum shrinking in shyly while you chuckle.

"We're here to see Ahl, everybody! Know where he is right now?" You ask the crowd, and more than a few people point you towards the castle itself. So he's not in the magic shop he used to run, huh? Well, you suppose it wouldn't hurt to say hello to Lord Teal. And...Love Teal, maybe. Alright, that one might actually hurt. You're not sure how ready you are for that meeting, but it'll only get worse if you put it off, so...here goes nothing.

You step up to the castle. Two guards at the door stop you, and one enters alone.

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"Now announcing the arrival of the Heroic Demon-Slayer, Wyald Honta!" The soldier that went inside bellows at the top of his lungs. There's a moment of silence afterwards, tension building up before both it and the quiet breaks simultaneously as evident by rushing feet. The Guard that stayed outside with you opens the large iron doors for you and gestures inside now that your presence has been announced, and with a grateful nod you step inside.

The interior is actually a fair bit different than you remembered it, decorated in autumn tones that celebrate the shifting of seasons as the world prepares to cool down. Paintings, drapery, and furniture have all been restored from the disheveled states that Eis and his lackeys left them in, and there's even a few new paintings - including a mockup of yourself in your youth...although clearly exaggerated in some fashion, as the painter had to use memory and imagination for some of the details. For one, they have you depicted in some kind of plate armor, like a knight!

The second thing you notice is the presence of Lord Teal, who has grown out a good deal compared to before. His rotundness is...unexpected, to be sure, but you're certain that it's a bit of a coping mechanism from the psychological distress he suffered at the hands of the demons. And the stress of making sure his holding recovers well, of course. And if he has a penchant for feasts as you remember him having, well, you suppose that would also explain it somewhat.

Next to Lord Teal is the enchanting beauty that is his daughter, Love Teal, who seems to have grown up to become quite a captivating figure - beyond her previous charm somehow. Her skin is pale and entirely unblemished, looking like it would be as soft to the touch as a baby's own, and her hair is akin to silk threads with nary a tangle in sight. The dress she wears is more modest by comparison, almost seeming out of place despite the fact that you're certain it's an expensive and fine piece of work...admittedly, the sight of her is a little breathtaking after all these years.

You raise a hand up to wave, grinning awkwardly at the duo before you. "Sorry to show up unannounced, but uh, hey!" You say, the hand shifting to rub the back of your head shyly. "It's been a while, huh?" You ask with a chuckle, trying to break the ice. Love looks less than amused by it...

"You could say that. Only letters for twenty years, Honta?" She asks, putting her hands on her hips with a huff and leaning forward. "I know that we're not involved anymore, but you could have at least stopped by once in a while!" She chides you. Man, you wish you could turn invisible right now. Actually, you probably could with a certain spell, but that wouldn't exactly get you out of this situation. Unless...no, that's silly.

>Fuck it, try to go invisible and sneak away from the conversation.
>Apologize as best you can, mend things.
>Excuse yourself, you must find Ahl...
>Something else...?

As an aside, tomorrow is a very important, painful, and VERY busy day for me, being a neuro appointment, so there won't be an update tomorrow. Just so it doesn't come as a surprise!

>>5764126
>Apologize as best you can, mend things.

>>5764126
>Apologize as best you can, mend things.
We really are a bit of a shitter at keeping up with friends and family, huh?

>>5764129
No worries, QM, take care!

>>5764137
In his defense, he WAS across the world most of that time. And several of those years were spent ensuring that the world would be safe from an impending disaster!

>>5764126
>Apologize as best you can, mend things.
How it was handled is what's worth apologizing for. Two mutually exclusive lifestyles trying to mesh together? It was a doomed venture and therefore should've been ended way sooner but boneheaded decision making often prevails in such matters, especially at a young age.

>>5764129
Hope your brain does okay QM.

>>5764126
>Fuck it, try to go invisible and sneak away from the conversation.
This sounds funny.

>>5764129
Wish you the best Genkai.

>>5764126
>Apologize as best you can, mend things.

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>>5764136
>>5764137
>>5764166
>>5764217
>>5764243
Real men apologize, even if going invisible would be hilarious! Five of you, please roll me a d50. Your DC for tonight is a humble 25, they still care about you, ya dope.

As an aside, my shit went well even though it killed the hell out of me. I should be golden for a while! It was neuromuscular, specifically, so not a brain thing. No worries on that front, I'm as sharp as a (butter)knife!

Rolled 23 (1d50)

>>5764922

Rolled 13 (1d50)

>>5764922
Good to hear. Don't die on us, alright?

Rolled 3 (1d50)

>>5764922
Glad you're doing alright, QM!

Rolled 6 (1d50)

>>5764922

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>these rolls

Rolled 42 (1d50)

>>5764922

>>5764924
>>5764934
>>5764943
>>5764974
>>5765009
You had me worried! But it's certainly a pass with that 42.
And don't worry about me dying, it's nothing dangerous like that! It's just a form of muscular dystrophy that makes it hard to move sometimes.

>>5765009
Savior of our reputation! Praise be unto you!

>>5765019
Still rough. Sorry to hear!

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You swallow nervously, before bowing your upper body sharply as a physical display of your apology.

"I should have." You admit. "I made time for my family, and some of my other friends, but I couldn't bring myself to come back here out of fear for how it would go. It only got more difficult as the years went on." You explain. You feel a soft gloved hand cup your chin, and Love raises your head up until you're no longer bowing.

"As long as you promise to do better, I'll forgive you." She says with a gentle smile, removing her hand. "What kept your attention for so long, anyways? Surely you weren't exploring the world nonstop this entire time?" She asks.

"I explained most of it in my letters and through that orb, but I could go over it again in-person. Make it a real story!" You say, chuckling. "But that'll have to wait, I'm afraid. I'm actually in need of Ahl's expertise on a magical matter, hence my appearance." You explain.

"Ah, our good old wizard? Of course, of course!" Lord Teal speaks up, waving one of the guards over. "Fetch Mr. DeMann for me, would you?" He asks the guard, who gives a quick salute and speeds off to another part of the castle to do as instructed.

"Well, I'll accept that for now...but you really should visit every once in a while! It doesn't have to be often. You could even just do it on the anniversary of your first arrival, we save a place for you at the feast every year you know." Love reveals, before interlacing her fingers and holding them down at her waist. "Although we would be glad to host you any time you want. You could even live here if you ever feel you want a place to call your own." She offers.

"You know, my parents said the same thing." You say, barking out a small laugh. "Seems like I'm wanted all over the place. But I'll consider it seriously, okay? And count on me being here for the next feast." You say, giving the lord and his daughter both a thumbs-up. The lord seems particularly happy at that, beaming at you.

"Excellent to hear, my boy! I always have to eat your portions." He says.

"...No you don't, you just like to." Love responds with an exasperated tone.

"Yes, well...that's neither here nor there." He waves it off nonchalantly.

Soon enough, the familiar visage of Ahl is lead into view by the guard that was sent off. He doesn't really look all that much older despite the years between your last sight of him, but that's not saying much given just how ridiculously old he looked to begin with. The only thing that's really changed is that he's no longer in his floral print vacationing outfit, once more back to his traditional green robes.

"Ahl! You're looking well." You say, spreading your arms wide when you see him.

"Ah, Honda!" He says back, before pausing. "No, it's Honta!" He snaps his fingers. "What brings you here, my boy?" He asks.

"You, actually. I needed your expertise on curses, to be specific." You reveal, the old man's eyebrows raising with curiosity.

"Curses?" Ahl asks.

"Curses." You confirm. "Or a suspected curse, at least. Are you familiar with any of Papaya Island's legends?" You ask him, prompting the wizened wizard to stroke his fluffy white beard. Now that you're focused on the beard, it looks a lot softer than the last time you saw him, weirdly enough.

"Only passingly, really. Like the tale of the salamander that tricked a genie out of his magic, that one was actually an old fairy tale my mother used to read to me to get me to go to sleep when I was a little boy, hohoh." He says, chuckling as he fondly remembers some of his childhood.

"What about the Forgotten Warrior?" You ask.

"Hmm...it sounds familiar." He says, furrowing his bushy brows for a few moments in concentration. "Ah! The one that was decapitated by a demon, right?" He asks, getting close but once more mixing up the details.

"Eheh...almost! He decapitated a demon while he was being turned to stone, according to the tale. I'm mostly bringing this up because, well, his statue was destroyed by King Piccolo when he ravaged the area with tidal waves...but it's back now, fully repaired and restored just like all the people who were killed or injured in the rampage were." You say, careful not to reveal the cause of that restoration in the midst of the court. Something tells you it would be unwise to let slip the existence of the dragonballs here.

"Interesting! Most interesting. Yes, from what I've heard, that wave of magic that washed over everything only affected living things, yes? Homes that were destroyed stayed destroyed, some islands remained washed away, all of that nasty business. But people, animals, even plants ended up fine afterwards, yes?" He asks, mostly for confirmation it seems.

"Yes, exactly that. Even Barbar got his arm back, it was completely unexpected." You say, rubbing the back of your head.

"Oh, congratulations!" Love speaks up on hearing this.

"Send the man our best regards, he's as much a hero as you are! I do feel so terribly sorry for having been the ones responsible for his loss to begin with..." Lord teal adds, hanging his head shamefully.

"I'll make sure to relay it for you, but I think he's not ready to visit just yet. Bad memories and all that." You reply with an apologetic smile, before turning back to Ahl. "But yes, that's why we're so surprised about the statue coming back. It lends some credence to the tale being real, so...we wanted some experienced eyes to look for traces of an ancient curse on it. Maybe undo it? I'm not sure about that yet, though." You explain.

"Well, it certainly sounds like an exciting mystery to solve! You can count on me. Although, I'm not an expert cursebreaker, even if I know everything about the THEORY of curses..." He trails off, before snapping his fingers. "I may know someone who can help, though. More powerful than I, with an expertise on Permanency. Petrification would fall under the umbrella, I believe." He says.

"Formally speaking, he's known as the Great Wizard Nahl Ife. Informally speaking, he's a bit reclusive even by my standards, so you'd have to get him to come out of his shell...but someone as charming as you should have no problem with it, especially if you tell him I sent you." Ahl continues. The name tickles some part of your brain, like you should remember it, but it's on the tip of your cognition ultimately - you must have only heard it in passing once or twice at best, or something like that.

"It could be worth a shot. I also happen to know someone who works with plenty of curses, but he also didn't seem very..." You cough into a fist. "Academic about his approach. But he still knows how to get results." You reveal, unsure how to explain Dude's method of 'aggressively murdering curses' in a polite way.

"I know the type." Ahl chuckles, stroking his beard. "Well, at the end of the day, it's your project. I leave the remaining staff selection up to you, 'boss'." He says with a cheeky wink.

You cup your chin as you consider it. Nahl is a bit of an unknown to you, but if Ahl speaks for him, he should be good at what he does. Dude is much more known as far as you're concerned, but his methods and knowledge might not mesh as well with the exact kind of curse you're looking at...and he'd definitely ask for some form of payment, too. Although Nahl might want payment as well. You'd be taking a risk either way with them, the question is which of them, if any, you want to take that risk on.

>Just Ahl is fine, take him back to Papaya Island right now.
>Seek out Nahl Ife, he's a good bet to add to the crew of curse researchers.
>Seek out Dude, he's got plenty of curse experience, so he'd fit great with the research team.
>Seek out both Nahl and Dude. You've got time, and you want to cover all your bases. You just hope there's no clashing personalities involved...
>Something else?

>>5766514
>Seek out both Nahl and Dude. You've got time, and you want to cover all your bases. You just hope there's no clashing personalities involved...

>>5766514
>Seek out Nahl Ife, he's a good bet to add to the crew of curse researchers.

>>5766514
>Seek out Nahl Ife, he's a good bet to add to the crew of curse researchers.

>>5766514
>Seek out both Nahl and Dude. You've got time, and you want to cover all your bases. You just hope there's no clashing personalities involved...
We're getting a full team of experts on this!

>>5766587
>>5766762
>>5766824
>>5766847
Tiebreaker in 4 hours if we still have a tie by then!

>>5766514>>5767231
>Seek out both Nahl and Dude. You've got time, and you want to cover all your bases. You just hope there's no clashing personalities involved...
Mainly because I want to see the character interactions.

>>5767290
That'll do! Surely nothing could go wrong with such an eccentric group of researchers.
Writing!

File: Wizard's Tower.png (683 KB, 640x480)

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"I'll see if I can rope both of them into it. Having more eyes on this is bound to help, different perspectives tackling the same issue and all that." You say, nodding to yourself in a sagely manner.

"Fingers crossed on that, then. Now, Nahl Ife lives not too far from our humble mountain range. Last I heard, he was living out of a tower over in the frozen wastes to the east." Ahl explains, and your eyes widen in sudden recognition as you recall where you heard the name before.

"Oh! OH! I remember now, Nahl Ife was the wizard that King Piccolo trapped in the gourd!" You exclaim.

"H-Huh? Trapped in a gourd?!" Ahl questions, and you wave your hands quickly.

"Oh, he's probably not still trapped or anything like that! But when King Piccolo was destroying everything, he used a magic gourd to trap Nahl so he could consume his power later. He didn't, but I'm pretty sure our local Great Wizard is just fine after that magic a few days ago." You explain, nodding resolutely. You REALLY hope the wish worked on Nahl, even though you can't know with absolute certainty.

"My word. Perhaps I should prepare a gift basket for him as my condolences for the experience." Ahl responds, furrowing those bushy brows once more.

"I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. I'm off to go recruit him now, then - do you have a way of getting to Papaya Island quickly?" You ask, just to confirm.

"Oh, of course, of course." Ahl nods, though he doesn't clarify on exactly what method of travel he has. It's good enough for you, though, so you raise a hand to wave to both him and the two pseudo-royals nearby.

"Alright, bye everyone! See you all soon enough!" You declare, getting similar goodbyes from the others. Love's goodbye is accompanied by a graceful curtsy, though judging by how tightly she gripped her dress, she probably wanted to send you off with a different gesture. A hug, perhaps? Hard to say without reading her mind - and you would never do that without someone's permission.

Turning on your heel, you march back out of the castle. Once you're clear to do so, you slowly raise up into the cloudy skies, turning to scan the landscape for the right markers to know which direction to go. As soon as you're oriented correctly, you shoot off with a streak of energy trailing behind you, headed east towards the Frozen Wastes.

You pre-emptively wreathe your body in your energy to protect you from the upcoming chill, but even then some of the plummeting temperatures seem to sink in to your body. Thankfully you're not going to stay here long, as your memories of the area as seen through Kami's divinations combined with the fact that the cloaking enchantment seeming to have been destroyed by Piccolo's actions mean that you easily spot the upcoming tower on the horizon. It's still sitting upright, but it definitely looks to be in a sad state with its base stolen as it was...

You touch down in front of the Wizard's door, and politely knock thrice upon it.

>Five anons, d50

Rolled 27 (1d50)

>>5767527

Rolled 13 (1d50)

>>5767527
I wonder if he became paranoid about visitors...

Rolled 13 (1d50)

>>5767527

Rolled 39 (1d50)

>>5767527

Rolled 29 (1d50)

>>5767527

>>5767528
>>5767532
>>5767558
>>5767560
>>5767566
39 huh? Not bad, not bad! Maybe he'll open up out of his shell a bit. I like the dub 13s too, I might be a little more lenient because I like dubs and 13 is a magically auspicious number anyways.

File: nabara_dragon_quest_the_a(...).png (273 KB, 700x832)

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A rune-lined circle lights up beneath your feet, glowing with an etherial blue energy as Magical Power runs through the array. Nothing seems to come of it, though a quick examination of it shows that it's meant to trap whatever is within it inside. It's not exactly powerful enough to keep you contained for very long should you try to destroy it, but you imagine that it could do a lot more if it was supplied with a greater amount of energy. Still, the preparation both does and doesn't surprise you - you expected him to prepare once he was revived, but you thought it would be something more dangerous rather than a passive kind of restraint.

"W-Who is it?" A voice from the other side of the door demands to know.

"We don't know each other, sir, but my name is Wyald Honta. Ahl DeMann recommended that I seek you out for some assistance in researching a potential curse we came across." You explain as calmly as possible, making sure to shift your stance to one that seems harmless and at-ease.

"..." The voice is quiet for a few moments, before the door creaks open just barely enough for the Great Wizard to peek through the crack. "Ahl sent you, did he?" He asks, to which you nod.

"Yes sir. We go pretty far back, I helped saved him and his town from a trio of demons." You reveal. After a few more moments of contemplation, the wizard opens the door fully, a frown on his face.

"He did tell me that story...in that case, I suppose you know the name of the other two heroes?" He quizzes you.

"Barbar the warrior and Azalea the fairy, of course. They're both doing well these days, by the way!" You tell him with a beaming smile. The edges of his lips curl up for a moment, before he forces the frown back into place.

"Well, you certainly know your stuff, if nothing else. You say you wanted me for my expertise? Are you certain you didn't want anything else?" He asks cautiously.

"No, nothing else." You say, raising a hand up in a gesture of denial. "I know what King Piccolo did to you, Mr. Ife, and it was terrible. We dealt with him for good about a year ago, so you'll never have to worry about him ever again. And the Gourd won't ever be used for evil again, too." You reveal, an odd mixture of tension and relief both washing over Nahl's face.

"Gone you say...well, that's certainly a relief. V-very well, why don't you come in and tell me a bit about this curse over some tea?" He suggests, snapping his fingers and causing the array beneath you to go dark as power to it is cut.

"I'd like that, thank you!" You say with a nod and a genuine smile, bowing slightly to him before entering.

His place is still in a bit of disarray from what Piccolo did to it, even on the inside, but some effort seems to have been made to tidy up after the fact anyways. You take a seat at a simplistic looking wooden table stacked with a wide variety of research notes and books detailing Barrier theory, likely recently used. Over tea, you explain everything...

File: hunter.jpg (9 KB, 267x189)

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"It certainly sounds interesting enough to warrant my attention. Even if there isn't actually any magic on it other than the mystery that revived everyone, I can't help but feel it's something that could at least help solve the mystery of the mass resurrection. If there is a curse we can remove, all the better!" He says after being filled in on the situation. You did pointedly avoid mentioning the Dragon Balls, as you're unsure if it would be wise to disseminate information on the wish-granting orbs just yet...

"Great! So we can count on you to help?" You ask, just to confirm it.

"That you can, my boy. I look forward to working with the hero that stopped that monster." He says with a smile, offering a hand out to you. You shake it, feeling a bit awkward with just how much larger your hand is than his tiny one, but he doesn't seem to mind it at all. "I have a pretty reliable mode of transport, so you can expect to see me on site the next time you're there." He says.

"Looking forward to it! I'll be going to get our final team member, then." You say, standing up from the table and stretching your arms briefly. "Stay safe, Mr. Ife!" You tell him, before turning and heading back out of the front door.

Having done what you came here to do, you launch yourself into the air once more, streaking across the skies to your next destination: Central City! You haven't been back since the disaster that struck it, but you're hoping it managed to recover from everything that King Piccolo did. It takes a bit, at which point the sun is definitely past the horizon making it truly night time, but when you arrive you can see the innumerable lights of the world's greatest city all spreading their glow into the darkness of the night.

You can see a lot of half-constructed buildings in the process of being made, or possibly repaired. It seems like they haven't fully recovered, though the streets are in much better condition than they were in at the end of that climactic battle and pretty much all of the debris have been cleaned up, leaving only repairs being needed. It feels good to see that the people who survived were able to recover so well - and hey, you bet a lot of families had happy reunions with the loved ones they thought taken from them forever. You idly wonder if the day of the wish a few days ago will end up becoming a holiday, considering the miraculous nature of it...

Pushing your thoughts aside, you spot Dude's storefront which seems to itself also be in the process of being repaired - though the damage to it is a lot more superficial than it is in other places. In fact, the majority of the damages seem to be from bulletholes and deep gouges in the material from some kind of bladed weapon tearing through it. You land in front of it, careful not to disturb the materials set aside nearby, and go ahead and let yourself in. The door isn't locked, and a familiar bell rings to announce your presence.

>Five anons, d50!

Rolled 29 (1d50)

>>5769558

Rolled 26 (1d50)

>>5769558
Dude, your favorite customer is here!

Rolled 22 (1d50)

>>5769558

Rolled 8 (1d50)

>>5769558

Rolled 30 (1d50)

>>5769558
What's up Dude?

>>5769719
Dude, what's up?

My ass been a little bit kicked today by all the shit I gotta do, so update actually tomorrow. Gomenasorry!
In the meanwhile, I'll pose you a question. Why do all the wizards we know seem to know each other, and why hasn't Honta been invited to the annual Wizard meetup? Discrimination, surely.

>>5770415
Honta's probably not well know as a magic user, in fairness, since he got that training while removed from the world, on Kami's lookout, and his greatest magical feats all took place away from public view. He's also always busy, and only in his twneties or thirties, right? These other mages had centuries to network, in some cases.

A booming sound rings out from deeper in the building, but your honed reflexes and good instincts allow you to easily duck beneath some particularly bright pellets shooting through the air where your head would have been moments ago. A quick glance behind you once they've passed by shows that they've left smoldering and smoking holes in the wall, proving them to be more than just ordinary buckshot.

"Easy, Dude, easy!" You yell out, raising your hands up. "It's me, Honta!" You say, turning back around to see Dude standing up from behind his turned-over desk that he'd been using as makeshift cover.

"So it is." He replies, sighing out as he places a foot on the lip of his desk and flips it back right-side up. He then drops back into his favored chair, propping his legs up on the desk and leaning his shotgun on the side of the chair. He looks relaxed, like nothing at all happened in the last minute.

"So, I take it you had some trouble?" You ask him, looking around at the interior. It's more of a mess than the outside is, with broken furniture and strewn papers all over the place. There's quite a lot of spent cases for various kinds of ammunition on the floor, too.

"Had." He agrees, pulling out a cigar and starting the process of lighting it up. Once he can take a few puffs, he clarifies for you. "Died n' came back again, nothin' new. Some old friends decided to give me a welcoming party when I came back. Knew I'd be coming here. I knew they would be waiting, too."

You cringe a bit at the idea of him being jumped, but...hang on a moment.

"You died? I assume about a year ago?" You ask. He nods, but doesn't reply verbally. "Sorry to hear. I thought you'd be one of the ones to make it out of that alive." You offer your condolences.

"Eh. What can you do? Can't beat 'em all. You take the loss and learn what you can from it. Thinkin' about getting a bomb to set off the next time it happens, that'll surprise the next guy to try me." He says, chuckling to himself at the thought. It boggles you a bit, to be sure.

"You've died before then?" You ask, curious.

"Twice, about." He says, holding up two fingers. "First time was when an old flame of mine accidentally sucked out my life force. Still worth it, though, and she gave it back after." He says.

"Watch it!" Nya's voice warns Dude from within him. Dude has a nervous chuckle after.

"Second time was to Nya, of course. She's been helping pilot my body ever since." He reveals, with a fond grin on his face.

"So she can resurrect the dead? That's incredible!" You say, only for Dude to dash the idea.

"Nope." He says. "She can possess dead bodies and keep souls from moving on, though!" He explains. You stare at him for a few seconds.

"So you were..." You trail off.

"A corpse when we met? Yup. Not anymore though. Dunno why." He says, with a shrug. "No clue what brought us back from that weird place."

"Ahah, who knows?" You say, rubbing the back of your head awkwardly. Dude stares at you for a few seconds, like he knows that you know...but he doesn't push it at all.

"So, what brings you here today, son?" He asks you, thankfully changing topics.

"Curse-breaking! See, on Papaya Island-" You start to say, before he cuts you off.

"Two sentences, max." He says gruffly. You sigh in response.

"Papaya island has a statue that may or may not be an old warrior that was petrified. We want you to see if you can un-petrify it or otherwise identify any magical properties it may have." You say with a frown.

"Alright. Standard fee, plus travel costs unless you arrange for it for me." He says.

"Half a million Zeni, right? Well, I don't exactly have that on me, but I can offer some alternatives I hope." You say, pointing a finger at Dude's desk and firing a beam of magic power at it. A burst of light emits where it strikes, and when the light fades a small stack of gold bars are present, magic made manifest into the valuable matter. Dude's eyes practically pop out of his skull in surprise before he regains his composure so quickly that it leaves you wondering if it even happened at all.

"That'll settle it." He says, nodding.

"Excellent! I'll give you a ride there myself. I'll give you the night to get ready, load up your car, and I'll get you over there in the morning." You say, giving him a thumbs-up. He returns the gesture, and then gets up to move in to the back rooms to do exactly as told.

You turn on your heel and step back outside, stretching as you look around the city. The streetlamps lighting up the buildings and roads at night give it a weird kind of beauty, almost otherworldly to you given how long you've lived away from such things. It practically has an air of not being real, though all of your senses tell you otherwise - especially your nose, which can detect delicious foods being prepared in restaurants none too far away. You have a night to spend, and about fifty thousand zeni to spend...you wonder how you should spend it?

You could always just book a hotel room and call it a night. Or you can sample the various foods of the city, it's been a long time since you did anything of the sort. Or you can wander around to take in the sights on foot, just enjoy yourself like that. You could even fly somewhere else for the night, at most it would take you, what, three hours to get to the other side of the world? And you could always go somewhere closer. Dude will be waiting for you here in the morning, so travel times aren't really something you're worried about.

>Book a room, call it a night!
>Foodie tour of Central City. You can afford some fine dining!
>Wander around the nighttime city, exploring like you would in your youth.
>Go somewhere else? (Where?)
>Something else?

Figured I'd make up for yesterday, because I have both the time and energy for it right now!

>>5771069
>Foodie tour of Central City. You can afford some fine dining!
Expand our cooking knowledge!

>>5771069
>Foodie tour of Central City. You can afford some fine dining!

>>5771069
>>Foodie tour of Central City. You can afford some fine dining!

>>5771069
>Foodie tour of Central City. You can afford some fine dining!
Cooking is our other passion. Time to learn some new recipes!

>>5771069
>Foodie tour of Central City. You can afford some fine dining!

Btw? Has the gorgon/medusa from fortuneteller baba's made her way to him? I remember us pointing her his way.

>>5771069
>Foodie tour of Central City. You can afford some fine dining!

>>5771069
>Foodie tour of Central City. You can afford some fine dining!

>>5771490
Good call! Let's ask about the gorgon.

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>5771074
>>5771080
>>5771083
>>5771119
>>5771490
>>5771493
>>5771508
It's unanimous, and hey, you guys remembered medusa right before I was going to reveal a little blurb about her. That's impressive timing!
That being said, let me roll a quick little encounter check for Honta to see if his night is undisturbed or not.
Honta is definitely going to become the gluttonous hermit, if Roshi is the lustful one and Shen is the wrathful one.

File: Food!.png (1.12 MB, 1200x675)

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The smell of that delicious food is making it hard to think about your options. You're practically drooling with how hungry those delectable scents are making you, and you find yourself focusing more and more on it, before you smack yourself in the head. Obviously the best use of your time is to pursue that food and sample the fine restaurants of Central City! You wipe the drool from your mouth off with the back of your hand and set out into the city.

You follow your nose to the source of the most titillating smell that you can pick out, some kind of herb-roasted meats being made within. You don't even read the name of the restaurant, simply allowing yourself inside and greeting the greeter politely. Within five minutes, you're given a seat and a menu, but you don't even look at the contents of the menu.

"One of everything you make, please. I want to sample it all." You say, smiling at the waiter.

"Er...a-are you certain, monseuir? That's quite a lot of food, mon'amie..." The pencil-mustached waiter asks you nervously, to which you vigorously nod.

"I'm sure of it!" You say, and the waiter scribbles it down on his notepad.

"At once, sir...please, do not hesitate to call for me at any point." He says, giving a bow before he scurries off to deliver your monumental order. He pauses, turning on his heel briefly as he recalls something. "Ah, before I forget...do you have a preference for any drinks?" He asks.

"Oh, right! Just water is fine for me." You reply, flashing him a thumbs-up. He nods and finally disappears from your view to do his job.

While you're waiting for the first of your meal to arrive, you're hardly idle. Though it looks to everyone else like you're merely sitting there with your eyes closed, you are in fact focusing your magic power and circulating it through your body to start affecting yourself with the Dragon's Majesty spell you won not too long ago. It's your first time using it, so you want to do something simple and easy enough with it: make it so that you simply won't get full until you want to be full. All you have to do is firmly believe that you're not full yet, right?

As soon as the spell finishes taking hold on your body, which took a bit longer than you expected to get started, the first set of dishes comes out for you. Gourmet meals of every kind, basted in butter and herbs, stuffed with a menagerie of complimentary fillers, roasted, grilled, baked, glazed, and all sorts of things done to the various meals set before you. Each plate would be enough to fill up one man, and the first set alone is at least five plates with no less than three different components to them.

You dig in, savoring every bite you take while they bring more. And more. And more! There's no end to the stream of food, it feels like, and a plethora of information and ideas flow through your mind as you partake in a meal that even kings would envy. There's so much you want to recreate! So much to IMPROVE upon!

>>5772021
Damn we gotta give ourselves a training regimen if we don't wanna become a fatass.

File: Partially uncursed!.png (912 KB, 782x1874)

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A small part of your mind considers the possibility of becoming overweight from eating so much, a seed of doubt that has you briefly looking a bit puffier than normal while you eat, but you quickly tamper it down as soon as you notice by considering just how much energy you use with your ki techniques. You also consider the possibility of developing a technique to convert the food you digest directly into more ki, miniscule as it might be compared to your natural reserves, and you can feel the spell currently suffusing your body working to do so as soon as the thought crosses your mind. Sensing the results just makes it seem that much more possible, reinforcing the belief in it and accelerating the rate at which it seems to do so.

"I really should thank that dragon again some day, this is fantastic...!" You mutter to yourself between bites.

As all good things eventually do, your meal does eventually end despite how endless it initially seemed. Your faithful army of waiters seem somewhat exhausted after trucking so many plates back and forth for you, and you reward them diligently when the bill comes. Though you spend every last Zeni you have on paying the restaurant itself, you surreptitiously manifest a handful of pure gold coins embossed with an image of yourself giving an encouraging thumbs-up and place them on the table as the tip to be distributed to the waitstaff. Then you manifest a second handful, also miming taking it out of one of your pouches to sell the ruse, and tell the waiters to give that portion to the cooks that toiled so hard to make your meal to begin with.

Satisfied as you are, you set back out into the night, contemplating if you should hit up another restaurant or not...you did spend a while just munching down at a single one, after all, but you're confident you can pull an all-nighter if you really wanted to. Hell, you could probably stay up as long as you want with this miracle spell working. Although...no, it's probably not safe, because it might catch up with you if the spell gets broken or wears off. You don't want to be hit with a week's worth of sleep deprivation all at once.

You're broken out of your thoughts when your gaze is drawn to a bright screen, some kind of animated billboard that wasn't around back when you first came to the city. You're not sure if they were around for your fight with King Piccolo either, but then again you weren't sightseeing at the time...regardless, the image of someone that looks vaguely like someone you may have known flashes onto the screen: a green-skinned woman, strangely sporting a head of snakes instead of hair. She has a voluptuous figure and a bright smile, and the words that manifest next to her image finally helps it click for you.

Hear Medusa sing, live, at Underworld! it says, followed by a date ranging from the start to the end of this month. Wait, that's MEDUSA?! But she had no chest! Or legs, for that matter, when you saw her! And you're not stone!

File: pirate android.jpg (89 KB, 714x800)

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You can't help but crack a huge grin at that, satisfied to know that she was able to get at least some of the help she needed - and apparently become some kind of famous singer, to boot! You'll have to make an unannounced visit soon to hear her in action, uh...when you have actual Zeni to do so. You spent all you had already, and something tells you that it'd be tricky to buy a ticket into this 'Underworld' establishment without real cash. You certainly couldn't justify materializing actual government currency, because that'd definitely count as counterfeit...

Now lost in a tangent of thought revolving around the various ways you could try to make some quick money without upsetting things too much, your walk through the streets of Central City is unexpectedly cut short as you hear the sound of glass breaking. Your ears perk up, and your head snaps over to the source of the sound, though it seems it's maybe two or three streets away given how you can't see anything odd. Hell, the other people out walking tonight don't seem to have heard it like you did, which definitely points to it being further off.

With a quick jog so as to not alarm people on their relaxing evening strolls, you make your way over to where you heard the noise, only to see a familiar face in a less-familiar arrangement. Thrusting a blade coming out of a single mechanical arm towards the shattered window of a storefront, which oddly is not sending out any alarms, is the mechanically inclined pirate you sent to prison years ago! Oddly enough, it seems that he's much less mechanical now than he was when you first met him, sporting his original legs, one of his real arms, no mechanical portions on his head whatsoever, and a flesh-and-blood torso with a clear cutout on the chest that shows a spherical device installed in place of his heart and connected to his circulatory system with artificial tubing. His skin is still blue, so that might just be his natural color, you imagine.

"Loot it all, ye buckets of bolts! Time's a wasting, we be needing much more than this ter built my replacement parts! Three targets left after this'un!" The cyborg commands a fairly small unit of three of those oddly-shaped skull-headed robots you faced long ago. The trio of robots are already busy loading machinery and components from the tech store into bags, so you have to assume the commands given are redundant and just because he feels good bossing them around.

"Hey!" You call out, widening your stance and placing your hands on your hips. "Stop right there, pirate!" You exclaim, lifting one hand from your hip to instead point straight at him.

"Oh hells, not you again!" The android says, clenching his teeth so hard you hear a crack. "Can't you just leave me be?! How am I supposed to achieve perfection if I'm stuck in this damned meat body?!" He despairs, throwing up his hands despite the objection. Having lost once, he knows he'll only lose again if he fights.

File: The_Pirate_Robot_appears.png (1.02 MB, 865x594)

1.02 MB PNG

>Accept his surrender, dismantle his robots and take him back to the authorities, again.
>Beat him down anyways. Armed robbery is wrong, you'll make sure the lesson sticks the second time.
>Talk to him. See if you can try to convince him not to give up his god-given body so easily. Seems like he's too eager to throw it away, and it can't be good for his mental health if it's responsible for him committing crimes.
>If he's doing this because he wants to make himself a better body, maybe you can arrange a deal where he stops committing crimes and you materialize what he needs? And you'll fix the damage he did to the store, of course.
>Something else?

Tomorrow's updates, tonight! Had some energy, so why not. Also going to play the shit out of cyberpunk tomorrow.

File: weak flesh is a skill issue.jpg (16 KB, 542x566)

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>>5773217
>Talk to him. See if you can try to convince him not to give up his god-given body so easily. Seems like he's too eager to throw it away, and it can't be good for his mental health if it's responsible for him committing crimes.
Less for his benefit more cause Im curious where he got the tech priest attitude from. Perhaps have an argument with him when he inevitably brings out the "From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh...". My boy Honta knows that shit ain't the fault of the flesh, his is tougher than steel.

>>5773217
>Talk to him. See if you can try to convince him not to give up his god-given body so easily. Seems like he's too eager to throw it away, and it can't be good for his mental health if it's responsible for him committing crimes.

>>5773217
>Talk to him. See if you can try to convince him not to give up his god-given body so easily. Seems like he's too eager to throw it away, and it can't be good for his mental health if it's responsible for him committing crimes.

>>5773212
Good tonsee dusa has broken in to show biz scene.

>Talk to him. See if you can try to convince him not to give up his god-given body so easily. Seems like he's too eager to throw it away, and it can't be good for his mental health if it's responsible for him committing crimes.

>>5773224
>>5773231
>>5773280
>>5773421
Unanimous once more. Let's try to convince a budding techpriest that flesh is stronger than steel!
Five of you, please roll me a d50. Get a 35 to instill the seeds of doubt, or a 45 to convince him outright!

Rolled 27 (1d50)

>>5773614

Rolled 30 (1d50)

>>5773614

Rolled 37 (1d50)

>>5773614

Rolled 4 (1d50)

>>5773614
Machines are limited by the quality of the material. Your body is limited by the strength of your will, which is limitless!

Rolled 17 (1d50)

>>5773614

>>5773628
Well, at least we made him think a little. Hopefully when we concuss the silly sea-dog, he doesn't forget it again.

"You won't get anywhere close to perfection by disregarding your natural body like that." You say, frowning at him.

"Oh, please! Save me the speech, I've heard it a million times. Can you interact with cyberspace at the speed of thought?" He counters with a sneer, lowering his sword hand to point it at you.

"Well, no, but-" You reply, though he cuts you off before you can elaborate.

"Can you pick up radiowaves? See across the entire electromagnetic spectrum? Become a master of a new fighting style just by slotting in a chip loaded with the right software?" He continues.

"You're right, there's some things you can't do just with a body. But that doesn't mean you have to toss your flesh aside to be able to do them." You say, adding a firm edge to your voice to stop him from cutting you off again.

"What do you mean?" He asks, confusion taking his features for a moment.

"What I mean is..." You say, generating a ball of ki in one hand and magically manifesting a simple tungsten cube in the other. "There are natural forces of the universe we can use to bypass our limitations without sacrificing who and what we are." You explain.

"What is that? Some kind of magic trick?" He asks, looking skeptical.

"No. In this hand..." You say, raising the one holding the ki orb. "I've gathered nothing more than my life-force. It's very versatile - with it, you can fly. Make your flesh harder than any material on earth. Generate electricity beyond what the strongest storm can make. I can even..." You say, trailing off before you touch the very edge of the pirate's mind, allowing you to speak to him telepathically. "Speak with only my mind." You whisper into his brain, without moving your mouth.

"Impossible..." He says, eyes wide and looking unsure of himself.

"And in the other..." You continue, lowering the original hand and raising the cube up. "Is actual Magic. The most versatile force of all, though lacking in the punch that the other has. I can create anything I can think of, change my body into whatever I desire, tear open space itself if I really wanted to. I can't do anything you mentioned right now, but with the right spell, I could do all of that and so much more. Again, without sacrificing anything other than a fraction of my power." You say, before crushing the tungsten cube in your hand and tossing it to the ground. The pirate's gaze follows it.

"Perhaps what you say is true..." He says, doubt creeping into his voice. Then his gaze snaps back to you, a glint of danger in his eyes. "Or perhaps you're trying to make a fool out of me. Which scientist created you, I wonder...? How much is biological, and how much is cybernetic underneath that flesh?" He accuses you of...being a Cyborg like him, it seems?

"You just don't get it." You sigh out, shaking your head. "I was born just like anybody else. Nothing fake about me, not even fillings." You say, before casually throwing the ki orb towards him.

It strikes him right in the gut, likely moving faster than he can even process it. His eyes bulge out of their sockets from the force of it, and with just a little bit of exertion of your will, the orb sends him sailing up into the sky before it detonates in a relatively minor explosion...by your standards, at least. You see the smoking form of the pirate captain, now rendered unconscious, drop down to the street where he lands with an involuntary groan.

You shoot the trio of robots that were with him a sharp glare, and you can practically see them sweat despite their incapability of doing so. They start putting back what they were stealing, dusting them off and patting the objects to make sure they're good and intact, before they sheepishly step outside. You contemplating dismantling them, but...well, at least the robots seemed to have learned their lesson. Which is weird, because you thought they would be entirely dedicated to performing their master's bidding.

The minions move over to collect their smoking master, hefting him up and making their way down the street rapidly. From what you can tell, they seem to be headed towards a local hospital, which you suppose is fair given the heights he just fell from. Your frown deepens just a little as you consider the Pirate, but...well, you could tell he had some serious doubts towards the end. As long as you can get him to think about what you said instead of reject it outright, you're satisfied. And if he thinks you're prowling around Central City, he probably won't be trying to steal from here again - he seemed pretty scared of you at first, after all, and you just reinforced that belief.

With your night having been well-spent and your funds completely dry, you decide to make a quick flight out of the city into the surrounding wilderness to sleep off the rest of the night as you used to. You create a quick shelter from the materials you can find, start a warm campfire, and crawl atop nothing more than a pile of leaves as you watch the twinkling stars above. You don't know what tomorrow or the next day will have in store for you, but you're going to be ready for it no matter what. You drift off to sleep, wondering about the infinite possibilities the future will bring you.

>Dragon Ball: Legacy #6 - Thread End!
>Next Thread: 10/26/2023. See you then!

>>5774821
Until later QM!

Page 9 crept up fast, or at least it felt fast to me! Turns out it's been a month since the first post of this thread. Wild.

I enjoyed taking a slower pace to this thread, but you can expect plenty of action in the next one, because we have our dream team and will definitely be delving into the mystery of the Forgotten Warrior. I can guarantee it won't be as straightforward as it seems.

That being said, what do YOU think is going to come of it? Will a warrior from the time of legends be a match for our hero? Is the Demon Akomo truly vanquished, or merely biding his time somehow? Just how badly will Dude and Mr. Ife get along?

>>5774837
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5743643/ Archive is up, btw!

>>5774837
My prediction is that the warrior is going to be very autistic, and cause some headaches for us.

>>5774821
Ha, that was a pretty great ending. I like this quest a ton, GQM. Thanks for running it!

>>5774821
Man this was fun. Thank you QM! See you next thread!

>>5774837
Hm I predict that he'll be a large level threat. I think Akomo is biding his time someplace, probably? And the Dude-Ife connection will probably cause migraines.

>>5774842
I mean, it is a dragonball quest, autism is expected!
>>5774875
Thanks for the praise anon, see you next time!
>>5774830
And see you too!
>>5775215
Can't wait for next month, writing Dude and Ife's interactions is going to be fun.