Interlude 04 #2
“I’m not really sure how it can be done,” Lance started, “so you might have to bring me a new slingshot made from completely different materials. I want it to be able to inflict at least 250% more damage and have at least three times the range. I’m fine with magic being involved, but nothing that draws from my MP.
So, if it has a skill attached to it, it has to be an imprinted effect.
I’m fine with the imprinted effect being that of an ability, but it has to come from a passive ability.
I don’t want anything that’ll sap my fatigue percentage. ”
"Okay, I take it that's not all."
“Naturally. I want another bow, too,” he continued, going into detail about how he wanted it to have no effect beyond preventing the numbness that came from repeatedly drawing the bowstring.
He then requested special explosive arrows, purchased in bulk, enough that it was clear he intended to treat them as standard ammunition.
It made sense, considering how heavily his fighting style relied on external tools compared to Lance or Rhema.
"I also want a new saddle," he went on. "My ram's gait is uneven on loose terrain, and the current one doesn't compensate well enough."
After a lengthy explanation of the exact material he wanted for his mount's gear, he moved on to his most questionable request yet. "Say, Nazim, will you still be around once we finish shopping, or are you planning to vanish on us?"
"Depends," the kobold said simply.
"So that's a no," C interpreted flatly.
"Why do you ask?" Lance asked.
He wasn't confused by what C meant, exactly.
Nazim disappearing the moment you finished shopping was practically his signature move, one Lance and Rhema had witnessed more than once, which was why you always bought everything you wanted right then and there, since finding him in the same spot twice was rare.
"It's going to be nightfall soon. We'll need to make camp somewhere, ideally somewhere reasonably comfortable.
I was hoping to use the shop, but since Nazim's clearly planning to vanish," he turned to the kobold, "I'd like a camp.
A wide, low-slung Bedouin-style tent, any color except deep indigo, my ram hates that color.
Material should naturally be goat hair, nothing else. Three bedrolls inside, and lamps."
Listening to this increasingly absurd list, Lance figured there was no way the kobold could actually pull it off. Not that he doubted the back of the shop had all of it somewhere, but the idea of the kobold hauling all of that out just didn't compute.
And yet the kobold's response came calm and unbothered. "Would that be all?"
"Yes, that would b—"
"Hold on, wait. I have no doubt you can fulfill that request, but are you actually serious? Like, you're really going to carry a whole tent, bedrolls, lamps, and all, from the back of your shop?"
"My bad," C said. "Forgot to mention, I need it operational immediately. I want to be able to use that tent right now."
"Naturally," the kobold said, much to Lance and Rhema's utter bafflement. "I don't have to fetch things from the back, you know," he added.
"So the tent..."
"It'll be standing out there once the deal's sealed," C explained, with the kobold nodding along in confirmation.
"Erm, I see. Didn't realize this was possible," Lance conceded, briefly checking in with his Personal Interface. "So does that mean if I asked for a castle, or, hell, even something like a car, you'd be able to deliver that too?"
"Yes," the kobold confirmed.
"That's possible," C explained, "but from what I understand, you'd need the right dice roll for something like that."
"Yes, that applies to both the car and the castle," the kobold confirmed.
Lance wasn't unfamiliar with this logic.
It wasn't too different from the wishing system, which let you conjure loot based mostly on two things: your stats, including your luck attribute and class, and the resources of whatever entity the loot was conjured from.
It was why he could sometimes loot bullets from a monster after wishing for ammunition through the system, but if he wished for a bazooka instead, the system simply wouldn't provide, since his class had low affinity for that kind of weapon.
Why would Nazim follow the same logic as the wishing system? Simple. He was part of it. The healthiest way to think about Nazim was as a speaking interface for the wishing system itself, one that fairly accepted offerings, but ultimately followed the exact same rules underneath.
"Will that be all, then?" the kobold asked, clearly not thrilled about being forced into this much explaining.
"Yes, that'll be all," C confirmed, baffling Lance once more, since he'd made no mention of the one thing Lance had actually been hoping to see him restock.
"You're not going to ask for more Spherulites?"
It was Rhema who asked, equally curious.