Chapter 5: CH5 Cleaning House

Alex says to Fufi, "I really failed there.  I'm not sure what I did wrong. That bear stared at me and gave me a hug.  The stuff after that was a blur and I remember my cell phone saying you've been defeated by friendship."

Fufi says, "You mean that bear had the ability to cast friendship spells?"

Alex says, "I guess so! He didn't seem very powerful but it must have been some sort of spell that got me."

Fufi ponders, "It might be some kind of racial ability too.  The succubi use that a lot.  Do you know what the bear was called?"

Alex says, "He didn't say his name or anything, I just thought of him as the bear. The phone said something about a fight starting with a huggle bear. He just said kuma over and over."

Fufi has a contemplative look on her face while saying, "Kuma... Kuma... Kuma..." Fufi pauses and looks at Alex. "Not sure about the bear but I think I know why the generated dungeon pitted you against an opponent with a strong status ability."

"You do? Why?"

Fufi says, "Well, getting a friendship status is similar to a really common status affliction on this world called 'charm' it is the main ability of a succubus."

Alex says, "Ahh I get it, so the bear was a similar succubus."

Fufi nods and states, "That is what I believe.  If someone can make you your friend that isn't too bad.  But if you are charmed then they can force you to do almost anything."

Alex looks thoughtful and asks, "What if you could charm people in general?"

"That would be awful!" Fufi exclaims, "You would have people doing all sorts of things they would normally never do!  It would be best to be resistant to charms as much as possible for your own safety."

Alex nods and thinks, "I'll have to be careful not to get charmed.  How do you guard against that?"

"There are many ways," Fufi says as she pauses for a moment then says, "One way is to have someone or something protect you from charms."

Alex looks at her thinking, "What kind of things can protect you?"

"Well," Fufi says while looking at him carefully, "If you have someone that you love, then the love the two of you share can be a shield against status magic in general.  Someone can craft magical items that protect against charm.  I bet when the demon queen's army invaded here they targeted anyone with those kinds of abilities first though so I don't think it is likely anything like that can be found in these ruins."

Alex looks thoughtful and says, "So you mean if I find true love that will protect me?  Sounds um...  Maybe I can train another way?"

Fufi nods her head as she says, "There are skills that can protect against status effects.  Some of them are class skills but it depends on what kind of magical girl you become."

Alex says, "I'm not sure what I'm going to be yet. I am interested in how these kinds of skills are acquired."

Fufi looks thoughtful for a moment and says, "There are many ways to acquire skills, but I guess the best way is to learn it from someone who already has it. Then you can teach it to other people as well.  You could go to a convent where people pray and meditate.  This increases one's spiritual strength.  Though you might only be able to get that kind of skill if you become a nun-type magical girl."

Alex looks at Fufi in an exasperated manner and says, "First wouldn't it be a monastery for me? I haven't given up on being a man you know.  And secondly, I'm not sure I'm comfortable wearing a nun outfit."

Fufi looks at him with a grin and says, "We might be able to find someone that can help with that! Though I guess it would be nice to see your face in one of those outfits!" Fufi teases with a wink and a grin on her face as she does so. "We could even call you saint Alexa the magical girl of purity."  She continues with a glint in her eye.

Alex blushes as he looks away from her and says, "Hey don't go deciding these things on your own.  You realize even wearing this pink robe and earrings is incredibly embarrassing for me right?  I'm not a dress up doll."

Fufi says, "You're so cute when you're embarrassed." She giggles softly then says, "Okay, let's talk about something else then.  Can you pull up your status screen on your phone?"

Alex looks at her blankly for a moment and then says, "Oh! You mean like the stuff we saw before? The one where it shows my levels and stats?"

Alex puts his hand on the back of his head and says sheepishly, "Sorry, this stuff is all so new to me." He opens the app with his character sheet and it displays:

Name: Alex Parker

Class: Magical Girl

Sex: Male

Strength: 13

Constitution: 14

Dexterity: 12

Intelligence: 7

Cuteness: 2 (naturally 1, +1 from equipped items)

Skills:

Cleaning: 1

Alex shows the screen to Fufi with a depressed look on his face, "It looks like I got weaker than when I last checked it."

Fufi tries to point out the upside, "You may have gotten weaker but your cuteness increased."

Alex glares at her for a moment and then sighs as he replies, "Thanks."

Fufi chuckles at his exasperation and says, "I think you may have got your changes through our bond.  I sensed you were in danger and to save you I had to infuse you with magic power through our bond to pull you out of the dungeon before it collapsed."

Alex nods in understanding and says, "Does that mean something similar could happen in the future?  Your magic transforms me?"

Fufi nods her head and says, "It's possible. It could happen if you had some kind of accident or were seriously hurt and I had to save you in a hurry.  I had no idea that you would be affected so much."

"Well, it was an accident so that doesn't sound too likely.  I just have to make sure to be careful next time." Alex replies.

Fufi says carefully, "About that, maybe we should hold off on going into the rift again for a little while just to be safe."

Alex looks thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I suppose so. We are in the middle of the ruins though. There doesn't seem to be anywhere we can go but I have a cleaning skill.  I can try to clean it up and see if that will level up the skill.  Starting out small might be the best way for me."

Fufi nods her head and says, "That's a good idea. But I bet you are hungry.  I got some fish, berries and filled a couple of those bottles we found with stream water to drink."

Alex smiles at Fufi and says, "Thanks for thinking about me. Now that you mention it I am hungry."

Fufi hands him a bottle of water with one of her long legs as she says, "Here ya go!"

Alex drinks the whole bottle eagerly and says, "I guess I was very thirsty."

Fufi looks at the empty bottle and says, "You drank it all at once. I didn't think you were that thirsty."  She gets the other one from the basement and sets it down in front of him with her beak. "You want the other one as well?"

Alex looks up at her and says, "Yes though we should eat something first."

"Right," Fufi says as she grabs food and brings it upstairs out of the basement. She places a tray on Alex's lap some fruits, berries, and a raw fish that hasn't been prepared yet.  If he was making a wish list then paring knife would likely be the first thing on it.  Because he was hungry he saved the fish for last and prepared it with his trusty screwdriver for the two of them.  After they ate he asked no one in particular , "What happened to that treasure chest that I shoved through the portal?"

Fufi tilts her head to the side and says, "You mean the treasure chest that plopped out right in front of the portal with a smiling face on it?"

Alex says, "Yea that one. Where is it now? And why did it wink at me?"

Fufi smiles at Alex and says, "Well, I haven't seen it wink but it is still next to the rift if you want to check it out."

"Okay," Alex replies with a confused look on his face, "Let's go look for it!"

Alex and Fufi walk over to the area where the treasure chest had appeared and Alex squints his eyes trying to find it.  Doing something about the lighting in this basement was also a thing he'd need to add to his not-real TODO list. He looks around and sees that he isn't the only one who is curious about where the chest is as Fufi follows him closely.

Alex stops and points saying, "There it is!" He then walks over to the chest and lifts the lid up. The lid pops open and Alex inspects the contents. Fufi steps up behind him and peers inside as well. The inside of the chest is filled with a mix of clothing and strange toys.  Alex does see something that is familiar though.  The treasure chest contains the bunny plushie that the huggle bear gifted him. It was sitting on top of the pile of stuffed animals as if it were guarding the rest.

Fufi says quietly in a concerned voice, "Is something wrong?"

Alex is still staring into the chest and says, "Uh... yes I guess there is. The chest has the bunny plushie I got from my friend."

Fufi looks at him worriedly and says, "Wasn't that a stuffed toy?"

Alex nods and shakes his head, "Sorta?  All of the stuffed animals were alive in the rift.  I'm not sure if they have become normal or are still the same as they were in there out here."

"That's weird," Fufi whispers in a concerned voice. "The rift gave you one of the strangest dungeon challenges I've ever heard of."

Alex nods in agreement and says, "Yeah I think so too. Though I don't really understand how any of this magic stuff works. It seems like it has its own logic but it doesn't seem to follow any rules."

"Stuff that doesn't follow rules is exactly what magic is.  Don't try too hard to understand it.  Things are a bit more fluid on terre" Fufi says.

Alex frowns at Fufi for a moment then turns back to the bunny stuffed animal and says, "Okay. But I'll be honest. I was surprised when I got to see this cute little guy again.  I'm glad some parts of that nice place made it out."

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Fufi looks up at Alex with a confused expression on her face before looking back at the bunny plush doll. She then says quietly, "You don't mean... you mean this bunny was alive inside the rift?"

Alex glanced at the bunny also and said, "Well he could dance and sing so if that makes the bunny alive then yes."

Fufi's eyes go wide as she looks at the bunny plushie and then back at Alex. She looks at Alex for a moment then says, "But then this bunny... it was a monster before?"

Alex looks at Fufi and guesses, "Perhaps?  Nothing in there really conformed to my expectations."

Fufi continues staring at the bunny and then she turns to Alex and whispers, "What else did you see in there?  Any of the other things in the treasure chest look familiar?"

Alex shrugs his shoulders as he replies, "Well I was worried about traps so I didn't actually open the chest and look inside.  The fact that what looked like a painted emoji winked at me freaked me out a bit though."

Fufi giggles softly and says, "That's understandable." She looks down at the chest and says, "Okay we should sort through the things in this chest."

The chest contained:

1x Bunny Friend

2x Stuffed Birds

2x Stuffed Chipmunks

2x Stuffed Cats

2x Teddy Bears

2x Stuffed Trees

1x Feather Duster

1x White Cotton Apron

1x Knee High socks (Which were also tobi socks)

1x White Fleece Cloak (With a cute bear brooch)

1x Hooded Bunny Pajamas (Cute red bunny slippers)

1x Needle and thread (In a small box)

1x Pair of Scissors

1x Toothbrush (With a tube of toothpaste)

1x Towel

1x paring knife (with a pink handle)

"Wow this chest had a lot of stuff in it." Alex said while he tried out the duster on a grimy alcove.  Surprisingly, it got rid of more than just dust.  The mildew and dirt caked onto the stone turned into mist then dissipated.

Alex turned to look at Fufi and said, "So you want me to try all of these out and see what I can learn from them?"

Fufi looks back at Alex with her beak open then she replies, "Yeah that's a good idea."

Alex takes the towel from the chest and cleans himself off.  Next he dons the apron.  He then takes off his sandals and puts on knee high socks.  Lastly he drapes the cloak around his shoulders before securing it with the bear-shaped brooch.  He strikes a pose and Fufi bobs up and down in appreciation.

Alex laughs and says, "You look cute!"

Fufi looks down at herself and says, "What are you talking about? You're the one wearing a cute outfit.  That should be my line."

Alex rolls his eyes and teases,"Well I beat you to it this time." He says while turning away from Fufi to look at the stuffed animals. He places them in an aesthetically pleasing fashion with the bunny in the front like he is guarding the rest in the cleaned alcove.  

Fufi stands next to Alex as he admires his work and says, "It looks great! Maybe take a picture?" She asks.

Alex takes out his phone and snaps a picture.  He notices that the battery life is at 50%.  'How do you charge a phone in a world that seems to be stuck in the 1300s' he thought to himself.

Fufi says,"While you have your phone out can you check your stats?"

Alex glances down at his phone and sees that he has leveled his cleaning skill up to 5.

[Cleaning: 4 (+4 from equipped items) ]

"Nice," Alex says and then shows the phone to Fufi.

She looks at the phone and double checks the stats. She then looks back at Alex and smiles, "I think you will be much better at cleaning now. Why not test it out by cleaning up this basement?" She points towards an empty corner of the basement which was filled with debris from previous dungeon delves.

Alex grins and says, "That sounds good!" He then readies his feather duster for the quest for cleanliness. He takes off his hood and walks over to the spot where Fufi indicated. He takes a deep breath then walks over to the first pile of debris. He brushes the debris until it comes off in a cloud of dust.  He coughs a bit and waves away at the cloud of dust.  Instead of falling to the ground it dissipates into the air.

He smiles and waves at Fufi who is watching him. He then moves to the next pile and begins brushing away at it. Once again he coughs a bit but is able to keep going.  It takes him a few hours to attack all the grime with his cleaning weapon.  Things that are too decayed vanish into dust and things that are salvageable get turned into a workable state. By the end of the afternoon, Alex had cleared an entire floor of debris and made a space for new treasures to be placed in the future. He returned to his spot where Fufi was standing as he finished his work.

He stands before Fufi with his arms crossed over his chest. He asks, "How did I do?"

Fufi smiles and says, "Great! You should feel proud of yourself."

It was at that moment that his phone rung out: [Cleaning has advanced to level 2]

Fufi cheered him on by clapping her wings together.  Alex had mixed emotions.  His original annoyance that the system would give him a cleaning skill remained, however having supernatural cleaning abilities turned out to be quite fun. He had learned that his main weapon for cleaning was a feather duster but his skill also worked with other cleaning supplies as well.  He wondered how far he could abuse this.  Is dirty water something he could clean?  If he got a bucket of dirty water could he use the skill to turn it into clean water somehow?  Being able to do something that would require filters, chemicals, or a distillation setup with a mixing spoon or cleaning rag could be a neat trick and very useful in specific circumstances.

Alex looked at Fufi and said, "Well I'm done here for now."

Fufi giggles softly, "What should we do next?"

Alex looked down at the remaining items that the cleaning skill restored instead of turning into dust and shrugged his shoulders. They could be inventoried later.  Spending hours in this dim basement was starting to make him feel like some kind of subterranean cave person. It was time to go back up to the top where things were bright and airy.  The adventurers guild was the same as before.  It was a ruined building with debris everywhere; only the thick stone walls were left mostly intact by the passage of time.  

Alex looks around and answers Fufi, "Well, I was thinking that we could relocate to the basement here.  We spent half of today cleaning it up and it is a lot less drafty than the shack before.  It is only a few blocks away but if we could get a cart it would make moving easier."

Fufi nods her head in agreement. She adds, "I saw the remains of what might have been a stable behind this guild; it was a wooden building though so it is mostly rotted away."

Alex sighs and says, "Okay.  Let's go check it out."  It went a bit quicker than doing it by hand this time.  He used the feather duster to vaporize the rotten wood.  At one point there were carriages and carts in this place.  This was evidenced by the steel wheel tires covered with rust that he cleaned up into nice shining metal.  There were also a few rusted axles.  These too were repaired by his cleaning skill.  

Alex piled them up next to the stone wall of the adventurer's guild and said dejectedly, "I guess finding an intact one was hoping for too much.  What I would give for a lathe right now."

"What is a Lathe?" Fufi asked.

Alex was startled by her sudden question and said, "It is a device used to cut things with machines powered by a spinning wheel. It would have been very handy because I could have used it to create wooden wheels.  Then we could just nail the steel tires on the outside.  They are very useful for creating round things out of wood.  You just place a log in there and with some carving tools it can create bowls, plates, or cups."

Fufi says excitedly, "So it is a kind of magical tool?  Is it like a runesmith's hammer used for enchanting weapons and armor?"

Alex answers, "It is something similar in a way. However it is not for enchantment purposes. It may seem magical compared to how fast it is compared to a hammer and chisel but it is just a machine. "

Fufi tilts her head as she says, "I think I understand.  If it is something from your world I don't think we'll find it here."

Alex shakes his head, "It is very much from my world. Though it is not something super complex.  Do they have potter's wheels in this world?"

Fufi sighs, "I think so.  Is that where potters put clay on a spinning base and make things out of it?"

Alex nods, "Yes that is right.  It can be said that a potter's wheel is a type of lathe too.  It is used for clay instead of wood.  On earth they have been around for thousands of years.  Old mills used to have work off a water wheel put into a stream or river with some gears and belts to spin things.  It would be a really major project but we could build a building for the water wheel by the stream.  It works like a windmill.  They look like giant outside fans.  Do they have those in this world?"

Fufi thinks, "Windmills? Water wheels?  I think I saw some of those in your world before my accident.  They use them here to crush grain.  Someone who advanced their class from carpenter to millwright makes them.  It is hard to get that class so only rich nobles have enough money to pay for them."

Alex says, "That's unfortunate."

Fufi nods, "I know."

Alex shrugs his shoulders and says, "Well lets just say that can be a long term project.  For now I'll just have to put stuff in crates and carry it back here."

"Okay," Fufi says and takes to the skies, leading the way.  It didn't take much time to arrive at the old place.

Alex thought he could fit everything in one crate and carry it back but he overestimated his strength.  He had to use two crates and take two trips.  They finished off the day by foraging for food.  Dinner consisted of fish and berries.  That night was a little better.  Alex altered the trap door that led to the basement so it could be barred from the inside.  Things felt a bit safer.  He was building his life in this new world step by step.

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