#113 – I’m NOT going back there, chat!

#113 – I’m NOT going back there, chat! “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I murmured. “I’m not that reckless, usually. Only when the stakes are low, like when I’m playing games. But I already knew that this isn’t a game...” I sighed. “But if I wait it out, I’m afraid that the time won’t be frozen for the blessing, even if it does say that no time will pass in the real world, you know? So like, I don’t want it to run out mid-limit break. And besides... I’ll be something like fifteen years old when the blessing runs out, so still probably a reckless kid. I don’t know if it will really change anything.” “It’s definitely a difficult situation and dangerous either way, but you don’t really know what the limit break will be about, right?” I grimaced. “I don’t... So I don’t really know if what I’ve done to prepare is good or not. I don’t know if waiting a few days to grow up more is worth it or not... Ugh, I wish I had a wiki...” “Regardless of my own opinion, stressing about it won’t do you much good. Decision fatigue is a real thing, and mentally exhausting yourself right before something that’s meant to traumatize you is not a good idea.” “...Yeah. I guess, you’re right. Okay, fine. I guess I’m just gonna make a decision and then go through with it, no matter how much I try to second guess myself later!” “That’s probably for the best.” “Okay! Thanks, Jane. I probably needed to hear that. I think I’m gonna start the stream now.” “No problem, Nana. I’ll see you next time, then.” The call cut and I leaned back while closing my eyes. Well... Learning that I had not just the body but the self-control of a child as well hadn’t been the most pleasant to realize. You would think that I would also be much more prone to being traumatized and learning from my reckless mistakes, but no. I sighed. Well, whatever. I had to decide on when exactly to do the limit break now. It had already been two days of just resting and preparing, after all. I had to bite the bullet at some point after all, even if I had done a lot of preparation and good old training montage in that time. For example, after a lot of suggestions from chat, I had finally caved in and fused my awesome backpack with my clothes self, which granted me another innate skill ‘Endless Pockets’. It allowed me to still store stuff in the pocket space just like the backpack, except that I could use any surface area of my clothes self to put in and pull out items as I pleased. I had immediately done a pretend magic show for chat, pulling out the naginata out of my sleeve. I had also accidentally cut myself while doing that, but whatever. It quickly healed anyway. The next thing I’d fused into my clothes was the crown I’d gotten from echo. After Appraising it – and looking around in Intra vision – I’d found out that it indeed took the user’s Intra to create some kind of mental shield that protected from mental attacks, which might sound like it would be redundant with my Rend, but even with that, I’d gotten messed up with several mind attacks in the past, so I figured an extra layer of protection couldn’t hurt. The crown incorporated itself into the helmet part of my outfit, making me truly look like some demon lord if I pulled the helmet on. By then, it had gotten very hard to fuse more stuff into my clothes, but I’d still managed to fuse the ninja sandals, albeit just barely. Unfortunately, they hadn’t even given me an innate skill, but still retained their wall and water-walking ability. Very lame... But maybe I’d gotten a wee bit too spoiled about constantly getting powerful upgrades. Anywho, when it came to my weapon, I of course, unfused the naginata back into the mop and the ether volt, and fused the ether volt into my axe, which added lightning circuits to it – no innate skill either though. I debated for a very long time whether I should add the other axe – which, yes, was identical to the one I’d gotten from the crater dungeon, down to its two ether channels and its functions – into my soulbound one, but ultimately decided against it. Maybe it would power up the Demon Queen Flames and Crystal Dragon’s Stomp, but maybe it would do absolutely nothing and I didn’t want to waste fusion slots on it. Not yet, at least. After that, it had all been either resting or practicing various moves and maneuvers chat had suggested. Such as fighting with my eyes closed and navigating purely through John’s vision from various angles, using my hyper tentacle to push myself off the ground and trees to increase my mobility, and trying to get a better handle on my hydrokinesis since that skill was so dang versatile. Another thing I really wanted to try was manually using some of my skills, the same way I’d been using Craftsman to feel around with my Ether. But that was unfortunately, really difficult. The only skill I managed to manually use was Empower... which was literally just flooding my Ether into an object to make it sturdier. I wanted to be annoyed that I could only manage something this basic, but at the same time, the sub-skill had cost me three whole skill points, so... I got up, walked out of my dingy little pseudo-tent, summoned John, and stuck my hand into his view, before counting down on my fingers. “Goooood mooorning, my precious little Aquamarines! It’s me! Nana, your favorite demon queen impersonator!” I let out a dark chuckle. “You know, I say that, but I would really appreciate it if people stopped suggesting I take over the world once I return to Earth.” I began slowly walking to the city dungeon again. “Anywho! It’s been pretty boring these past few days for you combat maniacs, huh? Well, boy do I have good news for you! I have decided to finally do the limit break!” There were some cheers in chat as well as some concerned messages. “But not right away! I’m going to do a good old training montage before then! The rest of today and then tomorrow, I’ll go back to the city dungeon and just practice!” I grinned. “I’ll also go check out the room behind the first floor’s enemy while I’m at it, because might as well, right?” I just hoped the secret room there was better than the cockroach place. “And then? Well, the day after tomorrow, I’ll spend resting and preparing for the limit break. Pack stuff up, fuse some things, stuff like that. And then the day after that?” I paused as I crossed the dungeon entrance. “Then I’ll be doing the limit break. Day 34 of this isekai adventure, nine AM. Tune in to see me conquer the limit break! ...And probably cry a lot, from what it says. But hey, suffering builds character, right? Ahahaha...” I stopped next to a random door and opened it without any hesitation, not bothering to do the whole knocking-till-it-opens thing again. As soon as I was inside, I closed my eyes and let John hover above and behind me. “Anywho, third person mode, go!” Predictably, the door slammed behind me as soon as I took a few steps inside and the other door opened, revealing the now-familiar demon granny with a pan. I immediately rushed toward her, trying to stop the door from closing. The pan came down on my hand and chat was already spamming ‘bonk’, but I somehow managed to whip out my hand and grab the demon’s forearm before it could bonk into me, despite only having John’s vision at the moment. But the door was already closing behind her. I needed to be fast. I quickly pulled my other hand back, ignited it with Demon Queen Flames, and punched straight through the demon. She immediately went slack, making it easy to toss her aside and grab the side of the door just before it could finish closing. I squeaked in pain. In hindsight, I should have just grabbed it by the handle. Even though I was quite durable at this point, closing the door on my fingers was still painful. “Not a word, chat!” I warned as I opened my eyes and pulled the door open again. Luckily, sticking my fingers in there was enough to keep the spacial link or whatever active and still led to the same place I’d seen. ...Which was to say, it led to a cellar-like place with crates and barrels and some support beams. I stared at the room in disbelief. GeorgeDoshington: lmao GeorgeDoshington: round two babeyyy I closed the door. GeorgeDoshington: wtfman “Oh no, chat. I didn’t make it in time,” I said, my tone flat. “Oh well, I guess I’ll have to try next time!” Then I opened the door again and walked into the classroom, ignoring the chest the demon had left behind. Eclipsoon: could have been a good opportunity to train though I cringed. “I can train literally anywhere else! It doesn’t need to be a cockroach-filled basement.” Eclipsoon: but what if that’s what the limit break is about I froze, probably just a few steps off triggering the next fight. “...Please don’t even suggest that,” I murmured, muted horror coloring my tone. JamieWasTaken3: yea ur right its a limit break JamieWasTaken3: nanas limit is bugs My hand began shaking. “Chat... please stop. You’re gonna jinx it. Oh god, the limit break is gonna teleport me into a room full of spiders or something, isn’t it?” GeorgeDoshington: nah a dark cave maze full of spiders GeorgeDoshington: noneuclidan too I closed my eyes and felt my throat make a high-pitched noise as I imagined this. That wasn’t going to happen, right...? No way... Right...? “George, if the limit break non-euclidean maze filled with bugs, I’m fucking banning you.” GeorgeDoshington: hey dont shoot the messanger!! I sighed and shook my head to get my thoughts back in order. Then I took a few steps forward, closed my eyes, and heard the door slam behind me. No point in imagining the worst case scenario right now. I still had a training montage to get through, after all.