The Wanderer's Rebirth: Other Paths

‘You know,’ Avi said after having waved to get his attention this time, probably to avoid scaring him again. ‘Those aren’t actually “cinder blocks”. They’re just standard concrete blocks,’ she said, surprising Joram more than a little bit.

“Sorry, just an old habit,” he said, a rueful grin turning up one side of his mouth.

Avi nodded, understanding his reasoning. If she’d been given any information about him at all, he’d be astonished if it didn’t include his various foibles. Like going between metric and imperial measurements and calling things by their old names because he’d grown up around farmers and old construction workers.

‘That said, I do have a wide variety of recipes for construction materials that might be useful.’

Joram paused at that, then shook his head after a moment of thinking about it.

“I’ll take you up on that after I manage to use [Delve] without getting a migraine,” he said, very much looking forward to that day.

Avi just nodded again before turning once again to stare out at the forest. Which got Joram thinking. Would he be able to find where the goblins were coming from? Did he even want to find where they were coming from?

Going by the direction that Reldan had wandered off in, Joram supposed that the village was… that way. Joram sighed. If he took where the direction of the sun had been this morning, then he would arbitrarily call that direction East. Which meant that his front door was facing north’ish… Well, mostly north, and a bit east. Anyways, he was reasonably sure that Reldan’s village was to the west… ‘ish.

But who knew if the boy had directly gone home or had done a bit of a perimeter search before heading off. Given that his tracks had been mixed with the goblin tracks, and that he was in no way a tracker, he truly had very little to go on. He’d just have to wait for the boy to come back for another visit.

Which would probably mean making more mac’n’cheese for the kid. If he could get [Delve] down, and then get much better with [Modify Matter], then he’d run out of the stuff much sooner than he’d like…. Well, he did have a case of the stuff in his storage room, along with some other dried/canned goods. But it wouldn’t last forever, so having a way to make more of the stuff would be incredibly helpful. Well, short of just using [True Creation], anyway. That one was well beyond what he’d be able to manage for quite some time, given that it was a 9th Level Power and all.

Joram shook his head, clearing the extraneous thoughts before refocussing on his task. The roof looked solid enough, even when considering snow. He was reasonably sure that the roof could hold several tonnes, at the very least. Especially since Altaea had remodelled the place.

Yes, a rooftop patio would work. Add a higher wall around the perimeter, a slightly raised floor to account for drainage, and maybe even another roof to help keep the weather off…. Yeah, it would work. Maybe he could find some stone to add to what he had to use, given that the supply he had of concrete blocks wouldn’t likely be sufficient for the project’s needs.

‘I think that the goblins are coming from the “south”,’ Avi suddenly spoke, once again startling him out of his thoughts.

Glad that he hadn’t been scared witless, he turned to look where Avi was staring off to.

Given how widely spaced the very large trees were, he could see surprisingly far. That said, he still wasn’t sure why Avi had said that. So, he asked.

‘There are more goblins coming from that way,’ she said, pointing off in the distance.

Joram looked for a bit, then squinted. Sure enough, a green head would occasionally pop out from behind a tree, look around, then the rest of the goblins would follow. They’d then quickly run to the next tree and dive for cover. Rinse and repeat for a good dozen of the little murder machines.

“How am I going to deal with so many of them?” he asked, now getting very nervous. He’d barely survived his previous encounters with the monsters, and that was only because he had choke points that prevented them from swarming him all at once.

‘You could try using [Astral Construct],’ Avi suggested with a shrug. ‘Otherwise, you could perhaps just bunker down in your little house and wait for them to go away.’

Joram seriously considered doing just that. For as nonchalant as he pretended to be about the previous two attacks, he was developing a deep and abiding fear of the little monsters. Being stabbed multiple times wasn’t something that he wanted to have happen to him ever again.

But, the thought of getting an astral construct or ten between him and the oncoming goblins definitely appealed to him. In his opinion, they were superior to a [Summon] spell. For one, summoned creatures were pulled to you through the spell, crossing dimensional boundaries. You could also ward for such things, or use spells to expel outsiders….

Wait. Am I considered an Outsider here? He mused; a bit more than a little bit concerned by that. Then he considered what might happen if he were [Banish]ed. Would he be sent back to Earth? Or would he be randomly thrown into another dimension/universe?

‘The goblins?’ Avi prompted from his side, bringing him back to the moment.

Joram nodded, refocussing on the incoming problem.

He hadn’t played around with the [Astral Construct] Power yet, so he wasn’t very confident that he could make a construct that would be remotely useful…. Then he sighed and nearly facepalmed as he realized that he was, once again, looking past the mark, as it were.

He didn’t need anything fancy, just something functional. There was a reason why the gaming literature stated that astral constructs created by the [Astral Construct] Power were humanoid in shape, and that if you wanted anything fancier, then you needed to use a [Craft] check to make them so.

So. Time to practice a bit before the goblins arrived.

“Let me know when they’re close,” he said, stepping back from the edge of the roof, walking to its centre, then plopped himself down.

Avi just nodded as he pulled up the Power and started going over it. It wasn’t nearly as complicated as the others, for which he was immensely grateful. He wasn’t sure that he’d mess around with any of the augments listed at the end, though. It would be hard enough to just get the Power working how he wanted it to in the short time he had before they arrived to murder him. And probably eat him… if pop culture was in any way accurate.

Joram quickly rid himself of extraneous thoughts and doubled down on familiarizing himself with [Astral Construct].

He first concentrated on the method used to pull raw ectoplasm from the Astral Plane. Not as easy as one would think. At the same time, it was simpler than he’d imagined it would be. It only took him a few minutes of practice before he managed to pull over whisps of ectoplasm that managed to stay more than a second or two.

Referencing other Powers that also pulled raw ectoplasm from the Astral Plane, like [Ectoplasmic Creation], he finally understood the mechanic, as it were, that allowed him to “bind” the ectoplasm together in a more-or-less stable fashion. Which, really, meant that the construct would stay around longer than a few seconds.

Given how… raw everything looked, he was a bit apprehensive. Would what he made be able to do anything useful? Would his constructs wind up just being blobs that were easily avoided by the goblins?

‘The goblins are thirty metres away,’ Avi said, causing him to start in surprise.

Joram looked up, and sure enough, he could see them in the distance over the lip of the house. Then he paused when he noticed something different about this group of goblins.

For one, they didn’t look like the ones from before. In fact, he wasn’t sure he felt comfortable calling them goblins at all. Well, maybe he’d have to give them a sub-category or something, because these goblins looked more like the ones from the Pathfinder RPG he’d played back home.

Still pint-sized though. Though, these ones had black hair, and less pointy noses. Still had those crazy shark-like teeth, though. They also wore more clothing than he expected, ranging from tank-top and loincloth to full shirt and pants combos. Some even had crude armour worn here and there. But, like the other more feral-like goblins, these ones also carried various dagger-like weapons. All of them nasty-looking.

‘Ah, I forgot to lock the door,’ Joram sent to Avi, still awkward with the mental communication.

‘You can repair anything that breaks,’ Avi said with a shrug.

‘Yeah, but what if some of them make off with my stuff?’ he asked, his brows drawing low at the thought of them taking something that held sentimental value to him.

‘Either way, you’ll have to first survive the encounter,’ Avi added helpfully.

Well, given her tone, he thought it was meant to be helpful, anyways.

With that thought in mind, Joram checked his PP reserve and sighed.

PP:

14/38

He was suddenly very glad that this world, or more likely the System, gave him a regeneration rate for his PP reserve measured in minute blocks as opposed to 24-hour blocks. If it had been the latter, then he wouldn’t have been able to get in so much practice before the goblins had shown up.

As it was, a dozen goblins of unknown level were still an extreme encounter for a level zero character like him. He just really hoped that the astral constructs would pull above their weight class.

With that thought also in mind, he review the Power, then began fully manifesting [Astral Construct].

Astral Construct

Manifesting Time: 5 seconds

Range: Close (10m + 2m/2 levels)

Effect: One created astral construct

Duration: 1 minute/level (D)

Saving Throw: None

Power Resistance: No

Power Points: 1

This power creates one 1st-level astral construct of solidified ectoplasm that attacks your enemies. It appears where you designate and acts immediately, on your turn. It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability. As a free action, you can mentally direct it not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions. The astral construct acts normally on the last round of the power’s duration and dissipates at the end of its turn.

- Augment For every 2 additional power points you spend, the level of the astral construct increases by one.

He was glad that the name of the Power seemed to be a link of some sort that had given him a bit more information to go on. Otherwise, he might have made a truly cringeworthy construct. As it was, he did his best.

Given that he was going for a 1st level construct, he only had the Menu A options to choose from. Given that he’d guess that the goblins were “size: small”, he’d go for the deflection bonus to the construct’s armour. Goblins were, traditionally, very quick and agile, so giving the construct something like [Power Attack] wouldn’t likely work very well in his favour; even if he intuitively wanted the astral construct to hit harder and thus end the fight faster.

He also didn’t bother with trying to give the astral construct a custom appearance; he just didn’t have the time nor the practice to feel at all comfortable experimenting during a life-or-death situation like this. So, when the astral construct finally made its appearance, it came out looking like… a humanoid-shaped blob.

Sure, it was a pretty silvery colour and all, but it looked like a kid had made a doll out of mud. Wet and runny mud before it eventually dried enough to hold its shape.

Deciding not to dwell on just how bad the astral construct looked, he immediately began manifesting another construct after instructing the first one to defend the rooftop.

Just as he was finishing his second construct, he heard a few exclamations from the goblins that sounded surprised, and maybe a bit panic-y. The second construct finished assembling on the other side of the roof as he looked over the other side of the roof to where the goblins were.

The goblins, mentally referred to as PF Goblins, were eyeing the first construct as they slowly made their way in a wide arc around his little house. Given his non-existent knowledge of goblin body language, he wasn’t sure if they were going to be hostile, of if they would truly be avoiding his place like it looked like they were now trying to do.

Had this been a route that they’d often used before his… arrival? Given their appearance, were they closer to being Pathfinder goblins than the Slayer of Goblins, goblins? Or, he could hope, closer to those Innworld goblins?

Well, either way, he’d be much happier if they did their own thing while leaving him alone. He was reasonably sure that he was nowhere near as patient as the Innkeeper, nor as forgiving of murderous intent. Well, to be fair, he wasn’t too sure on that last point, as he’d really never had to deal with that sort of thing before arriving on his new planet.

That said, he was sure that he wouldn’t have mercy on anyone or anything that came into his house intent on killing him. If these goblins were wise enough to leave him alone, then he’d be more than willing to live and let live.

‘I think they’re going to avoid us,’ Avi said, impassively watching the passing goblins.

‘That would be for the best,’ he replied mentally. ‘Did you see if any of them are carrying any ranged weapons?’

‘Yes, several are carrying crude bows.’

That caught his attention. So, he went prone, then army-crawled up to the edge of the roof to both lower his profile and to get a better look at the passing goblins.

Sure enough, he spotted a few that were carrying bows, arrows nocked and ready to draw. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to want to disturb the weird, silvery, blobs of unknown origin. And given how well made the arrows looked to be, he didn’t want to give them a reason to test his constructs.

Then, one seemed to notice him and called out to its friends… companions? Whoever they were to one another, the other archers amongst their ranks all turned to stare at him as they continued to walk, their red eyes sharp.

Joram just about gulped. The intelligence in their gazes wasn’t like what he’d seen in the other goblins’ eyes. Theirs had felt more… primal, primitive compared to what he was now seeing. These ones felt, well, sharp. Calculating. Thoughtful.

And he still wanted nothing to do with them.

And, judging by the fact that they just kept going while giving his house a wide berth, they didn’t want to bother with him either. Which, really, was all for the best. Well, at least for his best, anyway.

He wasn’t sure which direction Reldan’s settlement/village/town/whatever-it-was was from where he was, but he hoped that the goblins’ movements didn’t have anything to do with them. He’d hate to have been in a position that would have allowed him to prevent an unfortunate incident and not have done so.

Joram shook his head. Things would have likely occurred the way they would have if he’d not been present in the first place. Which, really, didn’t appease his conscience very much at all….

‘If such things bother you,’ Avi said, once more bringing him out of his ruminations, ‘then why don’t you get to practicing? The better you are with your abilities, the better position you’ll be in to help others.’

Joram nodded, took another look at his PP reserve and sighed. He’d need to meditate to quickly restore his Power Pool if he wanted to practice for more than a minute.

So, he began meditating, following the technique that Altaea had left him. It was much easier this time, mostly due to not having any injuries to worry about and distract him. Having [Concentration] probably helped a lot too. Either way, he was glad that he was able to enter meditation so easily. It was so comfortable that he even lost himself in it until an annoying *bing!* snapped him out of it.

Congratulations! Through hard work and perseverance, you’ve gained the following Skill:

- [Meditation]

“Huh,” he huh’d, then dismissed the notification with a thought. Slightly annoyed, he checked his PP and found that it was once again full. “Well, at least it waited until I was ‘done’,” he grumbled and looked around again.

To no one’s surprise, or at least his, his astral constructs had dissipated while he had been meditating. Avi was “sitting” on the edge of the rooftop, legs dangling below. He was once again struck by how beautiful she was. Then wondered what it would have been like to live with Altaea herself.

He was suddenly a bit jealous of his “prime” version, but paused. If what Altaea had said in the video she’d left for him was true, then she’d left him behind at some point, and not in a… an organic way. He looked back to Avi, then steeled himself.

“Avi? Did Altaea really just leave him behind?” he asked, unsure if he really wanted to know the answer.

‘Yes.’

“Why?”

‘From what Altaea left for me, I believe that there was some sort of emergency that called to her,’ she replied with a shrug.

“Urgent enough that she couldn’t leave a note or something for him?” he pressed, not knowing why it suddenly felt so important to him.

‘I suppose that it would take a cataclysmic-level emergency for her to leave like she did.’