Chapter 4: Chap. 4 : Experimentation

 

When Zoemie woke up, her first decision was to check how her legs were. "Rmm... Still unstable, but better. Kinda. Still wanna be careful". She looked around, confirming the bedroom was the same, and went out for breakfast, but not before bumping in the doorframe.

"Ouch." grumbled Zoemie more in annoyance than pain, as she was quite used to constantly bumping into things. Still, she focused herself and went into the kitchen, eating her breakfast as usual, brushing, flossing, blablabla.

After which, Zoemie decided to go straight for the bath again, soaking in silence as she thought about what to do next. "Hmm... I need to experiment. To try out things. So, first thing I need to do that is... a place to do that." My room's too small, plus I don't wanna damage anything. So Zoemie decided to do just that.

Zoemie, still in the bath, activated her ability to modify the ruins, willing into existence a large, empty room with a dirt floor and reinforced walls, a bit further away from the other rooms. She also added in a weapon rack, a healing device, and... nothing else, as she couldn't think of anything more that would be useful right now.

Once that was done, Zoemie decided not to conjure her swords yet. It would be easier to do it when she would be in the room proper. After that, Zoemie simply decided to relax in her bath, before coming out and drying herself eventually.

Zoemie decided to check the time before doing anything. "2 PM. Okay." It felt odd to Zoemie to be out and about and cleaned at this time of day when she didn't have school, but she had other things to do, which awoke an unpleasant feeling of annoyance in her.

Still, she had things to do, and procrastinating wouldn't help her. Zoemie entered the large room she had created. "Hmm... I'm gonna need a target to test things on or something. Right ! A straw man. Not the argument type, the training type." It was Neth who liked this joke... Heh.

Zoemie conjured the strawman, and taped on it one of a photo she conjured of one of her classmates' face. "Ah, you fucking rapist. Hmm, maybe I can't slaughter you in real life, but I'll enjoy this anyway." Zoemie said as she looked at the handsome, blond man's face. "What's your name already, you dickhead ? Rickard, right ? Something like that."

Zoemie had learned the kind of man Rickard was from one of his ex-girlfriends who confided to her about her... ordeal at his hands. Zoemie internally thanked her unattractiveness again – she never even talked with the man. Sometimes, being invisible is really fucking convenient, Zoemie acknowledged with a grunt.

Zoemie had asked herself at first whether or not the ex was lying, but she later learned, or, well, eavesdropped, that he was in fact rather infamous for being creepy and weird around women at parties, and apparently when he was invited they had a guy keeping an eye on Rickard to prevent him from creeping around women.

"Still curious why they didn't kick him out. Or why nobody at school did anything." Zoemie ended up having to do it herself ! Indeed, she had printed in secret a paper sheet which had a warning message printed on it that explicitedly stated he raped at least one woman. Zoemie hadn't put her source, however, for she didn't want the girl to get in trouble.

Zoemie kept an eye on the bastard from time to time, and when she saw him talking with a girl, she'd cut one strip of warning message and slip it in her locker while nobody was looking. She was pretty sure Rickard knew about it, but if he tried anything funny he'd get beaten up and probably knew that too.

The one thing that enraged Zoemie the most about this whole mess, however ? "They fucking know. They fucking know he rapes women and they do jack shit. They're still willing to hang around him and... fuck ! GAAAAH !"

For Zoemie, the logic was simple. She was the least popular student by a huge margin, and she knew he was a rapist. Therefore, everybody else knew. They simply didn't do anything, and for Zoemie, that meant they tacitly or explicitedly supported rape. Whether they be classmates or faculty.

Zoemie flashed a cruel smile at the straw man. She knelt, and conjured from the ground a massive boulder. Zoemie braced her knees, grabbed the enormous rock, lifted it above her head, and threw it with all of her strength, the massive boulder easily destroying the straw man. Almost by reflex, Zoemie followed up with another spell, dark red lights coming from the ground until they connected into a circle.

"Doomsday !" screamed Zoemie, as the circle suddenly exploded, dark-elemental magic flooding the circled area floor-to-ceiling, utterly disintegrating the straw. Somewhat spent, Zoemie didn't stop here, however. "Take THIS, you piece of shit !" she screamed again, pulling the greatsword out and swinging it brutally, hacking away with a terrible grip and zero technique.

Zoemie then jumped back, copying various abilities from games she played before, feeling the same sludge under her skin drain as she cast them.

"Eruption !" A pillar of liquid fire scorched all within its charring grasp.

"Tempest !" Blades of wind turned all into minced straw and paper.

"Cataclysm !" An enormous blade of jagged rock slashed upwards with no warning.

"Pulsar !" Gravity collapsed in the strawman's center, pressure obliterating all within.

"Noctem !" Darkness covered all, enshrouding Zoemie within its safe embrace.

Zoemie's final spell was the simplest, a primal roar of pure fury, empowered forth by unspeakable magic, enough power to bring down a fortress' walls alone.

Zoemie corrected her grip on the sword, like she remembered from the book. Dominant hand in front, other one behind, she recalled as she put her left hand in front and her right hand behind. Zoemie then hacked away like a demon, channeling various elements through her slashes, shadow and infernal slashes executed with little speed but extreme power.

Extenuated after this brutal strawman beatdown, Zoemie took a break, sitting down against the wall and breathing in deep, like she was going to puke out her lungs. "Hmm... yeah... so... power is no problem... speed and defense kind of are though..." She couldn't expect to always be able to overwhelm her enemies with her power.

Zoemie considered things again. "Rmmm... This sword doesn't feel very nice... but that's OK... I can make better ones... Magic is easy though. I'm gonna want a sword... that can really exploit the hell out of my magic."

Zoemie thought a bit more about what to do next. She could try other swords, certainly, but something struck her as a better idea. "Let's... go out." Zoemie got up and walked towards the exit, deciding it about time to figure out the ruins' surroundings.

She turned towards the door, and went out, before promptly being shocked speechless by her surroundings. Massive trees forming a seemingly impenetrable wall, carpets of moss and lichen covering the fallen logs between their raised siblings, the damp forest dirt covered in low grass and flowers.

The whole forest had a fantastical feeling to it, the dimmed sunlight giving it the ethereal permanence of an undying old-growth forest, no being ever having stepped that deep within. It was absolutely stunning to Zoemie, the pale yellow and greens and browns creating a truly stunning display.

It was not the dour, dark glow of the fey-infested forestry, nor was it the crushing heat and dampness of a rainforest, it was a pale, yet bright shine of peacefulness and quiet, of contemplation, of not wishing to speak a word to disturb the area's silent harmony.

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Zoemie could not hear anything here, whether human or animal. It seemed truly empty, and for Zoemie that emptiness was soothing. It took Zoemie a while to shake herself out of her trance, as she looked around, and behind the ruins.

"Hello there, mister mountain. You might be useful." thought Zoemie as she looked at the large mountain just behind her. Zoemie circled the ruins, looking for anything interesting as she went into thought. Oddly enough, one thing that struck her was strange magic on the bottom part of the ruins' exterior.

"The fuck is that ?" she asked herself as she attempted to use her magic to figure out what it was. "So, it's some kinda... anchor ? To prevent the ruins from teleporting again ? Who the fuck put that here !?" Who's chaining my ruins down !

Zoemie grumbled. It merely prevented the ruins from teleporting away, right ? As she looked at the mountain, Zoemie grinned. 'You're clearly big enough." She focused and activated her Warden abilities again, expanding her dungeon, making it bigger and engulfing the mountain within.

With the mountain's inside now hers to control, she dug a hole of cosmic magic inside the mountain, just the right shape for her ruins to fit in, with an entrance on the mountainside. And then, Zoemie simply moved the ruins within the mountain. And now, all she had to do was to close the entra...

"Hmmhmmhm... NOPE ! Nope nope nope ! That's... not an option. God fucking dammit. Of course. It's never an option in TDs to block the path, so it's not an option here either. Capiche." Zoemie reeled a little from the very unpleasant, choking feeling, before she rubbed her fingers on her chin, thinking. She remembered something she did just a while ago.

"What does that "reinforce" function do, anyway ?" The manual within her mind answered her quickly. "Okay, so if it makes things it's used on indestructible... does that mean I can make an invisible wall ?" Zoemie focused again, attempting to reinforce not just the walls of the entrance, but also the entrance itself.

"Yes !" Zoemie shaked her hands in glee as she watched, and felt, the air of the entrance becoming reinforced. "What's the point of that function, anyway ? Meh, whatever, not gonna complain." Although Zoemie failed to realize it, she in fact wasn't the first one to come up with that trick, but even if she did know she wouldn't care.

Satisfied, Zoemie went back inside. "Hmm. I should put a door. But first... I'm gonna go take a break in my room." It was just kinda long and boring, but for some reason I feel really tired. Zoemie went back to her room and booted up her computer. "What am I gonna play today ? Oh, I know... Let's return to these ACE Annabelle attempts."

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Zoemie had decided while playing what she was going to do and more importantly how she was going to proceed. And once her gaming was done, after she finally nailed that goddamned cat superboss, she returned to the training room and conjured some more straw men.

After that, Zoemie conjured a variety of swords. Longswords, claymores, scimitars, odachis, dadaos, by example and among others. Once she was satisfied at the pile of steel next to her, Zoemie grabbed the first sword and gave it a couple practice swings. She then started putting the swords in different baskets according to how they felt to her.

As Zoemie swung sword after sword, she started to notice patterns. "Hmm... I... don't really like curved swords. They don't feel easy or intuitive for me to use.", she grumbled. "Or thrusting swords. The placing to use these is a pain, my body gets in the way." Positioning was not a strength of Zoemie, it seemed.

"So I'll probable went a straight sword, made for swinging, crushing and not much else, but with an ability to conduct magic like a staff or wand. Actually, do they even fucking use wands here ?", Zoemie questioned herself, unsure. The manual within her mind informed her that magical conductors did exist, and while anything could be used, it indeed was mostly staves.

"Okay. Things are starting to take shape. I guess. Gonna have to write it down." If Zoemie didn't write things down, her thoughts got jumbled and messy, it made doing anything a pain. She as such returned to her room to write down on an .odt file what she learned and how she could move from now on.

"So... sword should be straight... thrusting point not necessary... want to boost bash, cut damage plus magic conductivity..." Zoemie considered, deep into thought, what she was going to use for equipment. "Hmm. I want something that can keep me safe but also that's comfy." As Zoemie thought about things, she suddenly had an idea.

She as such rushed into the training room, seeking to check it out, and conjured this time around not straw men, but two large slabs of metal. Zoemie picked up the greatsword, and swung at the first slab, the sword digging deep in the metal before stopping. "All right. Now let's see. Can I curse this other slab to make it tougher ?"

Zoemie remembered from yesterday that the device had informed her about potential abilities in curses, and as such she decided to test them out. The curse gripped the second slab of grey metal, forming lines of mana within like a claw. Zoemie pulled up the sword again, focused, and swung with all her might, the sword not quite bouncing off, but clearly not cutting inside of the metal.

Zoemie looked at the slab, satisfied. "Let's try... something else, then. Hmm. Can I... do this ?" she asked herself, as she cursed the metal slab again, and as the curse switched, the damaged bit of metal reformed itself, the slab as good as new. "Pretty fucking decent, I say." Zoemie concluded. She was definitely going to have to try more things out with these curses. Later tho.

Zoemie checked the time. 5:30 PM. "Do I want to do more ? I guess I kinda want to, yeah." She looked around. "What can I do, anyway ? Already got a bunch of testing done... Oh, I know.", she said to herself as she returned to the entrance in the mountain. "I'm gonna have to put a door here..." she mumbled as she looked around.

One thing Zoemie had noticed is that she could sense movements within the dungeon. Therefore, it was self-evident for Zoemie that she had to extend her dungeon outwards. "That way, if anyone tries anything funny, I can see them coming beforehand." And considering the type of jackasses I'm dealing with...

Zoemie closed her eyes, leaning against the mountain, as she extended the dungeon again, increasing her line of sight in a crescent that drove ever forward, until she was satisfied. "How big is this forest, anyway ? Maybe I should conjure a world map to check.", she questioned herself, before realizing that she couldn't conjure a world map.

"Uh. That's... fucking odd. I... grmm. Uh. Okay then. I can't conjure a world map because in this world there's no world map. Nobody's explored the whole world." Makes sense I guess. "So... a local map, then maybe ? No ? Alright then..." Zoemie sighed, and went into thought as she returned inside. She had extra leeway, now, something she greatly appreciated.

"Feelin' less blind... nice." Zoemie looked at the mountain, an idea in her mind. "I'm gonna add a trap here... The corridor... So, I'll turn this area into... a path that teleports ill-intentioned individuals back at its beginning." So they'll keep moving forwards, but will never get anywhere, but as soon as they go back they'll be back where they started.

Zoemie grunted with satisfaction, before teleporting back inside. She went to her bedroom and sprawled herself on the bed. "What to do now ?" Zoemie asked herself before looking at her computer. She could game some more, if she wanted. It did sound interesting. Maybe she could conjure equipment and items, try to find something for her equipment.

Zoemie did not know very much about armor, either. She therefore conjured several books about armor throughout history, looking for informations and possible ideas about what to do next. "Gambeson... plate armour..."

---

Zoemie had, unlike with her sword research from before, a basic idea of what she was looking for. Zoemie wanted something both comfortable and protective, that could keep her safe and potentially avoid eye contact with people. Zoemie detested eye contact. It made her horribly uncomfortable.

Zoemie had a flash of brilliance and borderline went "Aha !". "I know ! A mask ! Oh yeah, a creepy-looking mask with an enchantment or curse to keep assholes away. That's perfect !" she chuckled to herself with unbridled glee. "I can put an enchantment on the eye part to make it opaque from outside, and even equip it with ear muffs !"

Maybe it would make city noise more tolerable. Assuming Zoemie event was allowed in any city – the number of jerkfaces was so high she was very likely going to be unable to socialize ever again."...Ah well. Better be alone than in bad company, as Neth always said." Zoemie's mumbling was interrupted by a borborygmus, however, and so she got up.

"Food ? Food." Zoemie went out into the kitchen. "What's on the table for tonight ? A light green puree and salmon." Let's try it out, at least. Zoemie had so far not been disappointed in the food, there was no reason for that to change now. Once she had done her pre-eating routine, Zoemie sat down and taste-tested her meal.

"This taste great, actually. Alright, then !" Zoemie said as she dug in the broccoli puree and salmon dish, which she thoroughly cleaned, again, her mind focused on video games. This place keeps surprising me. The food so far's been a fucking spotless record. Once thoroughly fed, her teeth cleaned, who cares about this crap, Zoemie considered her options.

"I think I'll just play for the night. I'm not gonna do the ACE rushes, though. More Trak Maniak ? Maybe some Domini ? I've been meaning to try that build technique on 1404..." Zoemie considered, sitting in front of her computer, before making her decision. "Let's go with 1404. That sounds good." And it was once again at around 2:30 AM that Zoemie went to sleep.

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