[D'sP] The Numbers - Chapter 427

Over by the bear’s corpse, the rest of the founders ignore Kelly as she vents about magic not being predictable.

Doctor taps the various joints and runs his hands over where cuts were previously located. “Okay, the hide is as complete as we can make it with what vitality remains. Of more interest than a new rug, is the fact that this bear was on its way towards what various works of fantasy would call a hindbear. A monster based on a bear, but with altered joints to better allow for moving around on two legs and using the arms to attack.”

Jeremy frowns and starts manipulating the bear’s hip joint. “Are you sure? I’m not intimately familiar with a bear’s skeleton, but there doesn’t seem to have been any major or even moderate changes done so far. I’d even go so far as to say everything is within the expected variance for a bear. After all, they already have the ability to stand up on their hind legs to begin with.”

Doctor shakes his head, “It isn’t the form that is inherently important. Rather, there is new bone growth. I don’t know how well this bear could stand up previously, but this bear had recently changed to be better at it.”

Jeremy shrugs, “You’re the specialist, if that’s what you see I won’t gain say you. Now, how should we go about skinning this thing? Like, I know the usual way, but we’ve already gone and healed all the cuts. Do we have some fancy magic method to get the hide off? Seems almost a shame to go and cut it up again.”

Larry Davis rubs his chin, “Well, I don’t really know how I’d use a hide like that.”

Garry Johnson nods, “And I’m uncertain if the tanning would go as well as we’d want. It isn’t like we couldn’t remove a skin without cutting them up before the system. There just isn’t any use for doing so. Well, I guess there might be some use, but I certainly don’t know it and my skill hasn’t taught me one.”

Larry, “Same.”

Garry shrugs, “I wouldn’t even suggest using magic to disconnect the hide. Well, I could probably use magic if I stayed hands on, but part of my skill is that doing things with my hands will provide a better outcome. I really should learn some manipulation magic.”

Larry nods, “It is quite useful. I’ve gotten decent at water magic. Which all things considered, probably has some uses when it comes to handling your chemicals.”

Garry, “How does that help with leatherworking?”

Larry, “It doesn’t. I just like water magic. Well, I guess it does help with dyeing the leather, but we aren’t exactly playing around with that right now.”

While this is happening, Jim manages to extract himself from his previous conversation and meets up with Annie. “How’s the count?”

Annie sighed, “If it was me from even a month ago, I likely wouldn’t be able to tell you. Good thing I broke through with my psionics training and my skill doesn’t depend on line of sight.

“Anyway, if you count the rats separately, there were 1,422 monsters. Though my skill also categorized those rats into five swarms, which would bring the number down to 1,157 entities.”

Jim nods, “We’ll report the bigger number to the public. It is technically correct, the best kind of correct. Though the smaller number is going in the report. Yes, some of the public will probably read it, but we need to keep our heads on straight. A little exaggeration isn’t a bad thing, but we can’t lie to ourselves.”

Annie nods, then her face darkens, “Sensible. Do you, do you want the other numbers?”

Jim sighs, “I’m sorry you had to keep track of it, but yes, I’ll take the numbers.”

Annie purses her lips, “I’m not going to say I like it. I grew up with a peaceful life. I won’t lie to myself and claim the world as a whole was peaceful, but I was.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t handle things. There were over a hundred minor wounds that required people to retreat for healing. That count isn’t exactly because multiple people ended up with multiple wounds and sometimes people would fight through the damage.

“Next is the serious wounds that had them taken off the wall without being able to return. 47. Of those, 9 lost a limb that has been reattached and 3 lost limbs without hope of it being recovered. All three should regrow the limb over the next three months.

“Last is seven deaths. Well, a number of the serious wounds originally fit here, but magic fixed them up before their soul left or their body degraded too far. We did not lose any core members of the town or guild.”

Jim closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “Well, at least we seem to fit in with most of humanity in that constitution gives us regeneration at a relatively small quantity. Though quite a slow regen.”

Annie shrugs, “They should be thankful that they’re tanks and so have some focus on their Con score. Most people would be looking at half a year or more for an entire limb.”

The two turn towards the bear corpse where a slightly heated argument has started. One of the regular adventures seems to be raising a stink. “Why won’t you fix my foxes hide? You went and repaired the bear’s hide just fine. Of course, only you benefit from the bear hide.”

Jeremy shakes his head, “Go ask any of the other healers. Not to help, mind you, but to learn why no one can do it. The bear had so much vitality that even after the body died, healing still worked. Not only does that fox not have much vitality, but the body looks like the skin went through a blender. There is no vitality to fix the damage and any work we might try would not repair enough to make the effort worth it.”

The brawny man scoffs, “Then what about that bear? Everyone got a swing at it and you’re going to spirit it away. Selfish much!”

Jeremy raises an eyebrow, “Well, you’re a special kind of stupid. Everyone who is a part of the adventurers guide and took part in the defense are going to be rewarded by the system.

“Yes, the town is taking the bear’s hide, but that’s it. We could have requested all the body’s, including that pitiful fox you appear to have tortured to death. Now move on before we kick you off the field. The clean-up crew needs to process everything.”

The man puffs out his chest and tries to look down his nose at Jim. Who is not fazed by this, Jim’s only response is a slight narrowing of his eyes. Of course, the man is the first to break and after a few curses; he wanders off.

Jim shakes his head at the interaction and focuses back on the bear. Garry has moved the body over to the wall and hung it by the back legs. It would take a while to drain the blood, but it looks like at some point, Kelly had joined them and was testing some tools.

Down on the ground, Kelly tosses a bamboo pipe to the side. “Okay, that didn’t work. We might have to wait for a masterwork tube. While a great idea, we can’t replicate the concept yet. Though whoever read the story with it, they need a reward for remembering. A tube that pulls the blood out of a corpse is a brilliant idea.

“This bear’s blood isn’t worth much, but the more magical creatures there are, the more valuable it will be. Then again, maybe the blood is valuable and we don’t have the knowledge.”

Jim jumps down, “I’m sure everything has some value. The question will be if what it is used for is worthwhile. If anything, there’s probably some sort of blood magic that could use it.”

Kelly shrugs, “Not that we have a method to store it at the moment, anyway. We need to figure out that preservation enchantment on the boxes so we can throw it on some clay pots. Blood doesn’t like to stay fluid.”

Jim frowns, “Are we going to ever get to the point of having masterwork clay pots just hanging around?”

Kelly, “Eh, masterwork seems so important right now because we have nothing to draw on. Besides, while what you said of everything having value is true to some extent. Most things aren’t valuable enough to bother hauling back to somewhere to sell it.

“We wouldn’t be pulling out a masterwork pot for this. If we did bother with the blood, it would be going in a regular pot and used right away. There would be all kinds of professions swarming the field and not just tanners and butchers.”

Jim nods, “Fair enough. I assume once storing things like blood will be worth it, we’ll probably have preservation bags that are bigger on the inside or some such.”

Kelly shrugs, “Someone will figure it out. I’m sure there will be some option or another.”

Jim, “Eh, either we figure it out or we just have to wait a hundred years or what have you and find out how everyone else in the universe manages it.”

Back up on the wall, Annie is reporting the casualties to Ace, though she isn’t the only one there. Jimmy is waiting his turn to report. Ace turns to him and nods.

Jimmy gestures at the wall, “Our defenses did excellently. While the wall got torn up, we can fix it. Oh, and the plant root thing was nifty, but we’ll have to get an earth mage to go over the sections it was used on. The roots might have held the wall together in the moment, but once they went away, it just left a bunch of loose soil.”

Ace, “We need to get started on the upgrade plan. It is clear that dirt and gravel won’t be enough. The boulders might hold something back, but a proper wall is needed.”

Jimmy sighs, “How are we going to source the stone for that? A wall of this size isn’t going to be viable with rubble, even after mages shape it together. For a proper wall at our level of skill, we need actual blocks of solid rock.”

Ace, “We’re going to cheat.”

Annie frowns, “How do you cheat at quarrying stone?”

Jimmy shrugs, “Don’t ask me, I don’t know about any secret quarries. Like, the dungeon has some ore veins, but that’s for metal. Which would make a nice wall, but doesn’t have the quantity needed.”

Ace, “Well Jimmy, you’re right about it not having enough metal. Good thing we aren’t looking for metal. The stone around the ore? Well, that’s a different story. The dungeon actually has a decent area you can mine around in, mostly because the ore vein is somewhat random within the space.

“So, we’ll just have earth mages block out the stone on floor three. Since we aren’t going for the ore, there’s no reason to bother with a proper miner. Instead, magic can be used to extract proper blocks.”

Jimmy, “But how much stone is that going to get? The floor only restocks the ore veins every so often.”

Ace shakes his head, “You’re underestimating how much spare stone the dungeon has on the floor.”

Jimmy, “Then why haven’t we been doing this already?”

Ace sighs, “Because nobody is perfect. We should have been doing this. It isn’t like we haven’t been mining the ore. Though if anything, waiting for the kobolds to mine out the area would make it easier for us as we don’t have to guess where it goes.”

Jimmy, “Well, given this will be about rebuilding our walls, we can’t exactly cheap out on it.”

Ace shrugs, “Seeing as we already built them out of dirt and gravel once, it seems we can. Though yeah, I’d prefer we got some proper stone walls this time around. The dirt berms worked, but creatures are getting strong enough that it won’t hold up.”

Inconclusive - Chapter 426

Razor Sharp - Chapter 428