Most people are pretty convinced of their own competence. Which is great because then you get all those funny fail videos on the internet. It can also be equally horrible when you get to experience the joy of working under someone who failed their way up into a management position. All this to say Ozzy was pretty confident in his own competence, or rather confident that he was a competent outdoorsman and not much else.
Life had done its measure best to beat some sense into Ozzy, and he’d learned just about all he could from life scrapes and bruises. Principal among those lessons was that it was never a bad idea to chop extra firewood, to fill up on gas a little earlier than he thought he’d need to, or most importantly to keep a couple extra dollars under his hat. On earth, resources were power. They gave options and the more options you had the better off you were.
As he was now Ozzy felt like he’d spent just a little too much, payday was still a week and a half away, and rent was due Monday. What he had in front of him however could change that. Rather than the abstract classifications of power on earth this was genuine power, and despite Emil’s apparent opposition to the idea Ozzy was loathe to give it up.
With a sigh Ozzy willed his watches screen up, and he clicked into the loot screen he’d been given earlier.
Items identified:
47 barbed suction cups
40lbs of monstrous tentacles
17lbs of hideous catfish meat
2 monstrous catfish whiskers
1 root sucker beak
1 ring of swampfinding: aids in the sensing of treasure within the depths of the swamp.
1 ring of the fish baron: allows the wearer to speak with fish.
1 affinity shard of might
1 affinity shard of scavenging
1 attuned core of tentacles
Trying something new he clicked on the shard of scavenging and drug it off of the screen. The small box containing the text followed his finger and when he let go of it off screen it expanded into a smaller screen.
Affinity shard of scavenging.
The shard of scavenging is a, object of power that bestows powers related to the concepts of scavenging within the scopes of the wielders cores.
Postulations
This affinity shard is likely to bestow a power that will allow the wielder greater ability and opportunity to gather resources from his environment such as; looting abilities, treasure locating abilities, and sensory abilities.
Absorb? Yes/No
Before deciding on a course of action Ozzy decided to learn more about the shard of might as well. While he was tempted to absorb both, the reality remained that doing so would consume a large chunk of the only money he had to his name.
Affinity shard of Might.
The shard of Might is a, object of power that bestows powers related to the concepts of Might within the scopes of the wielders cores.
Postulations
This affinity shard is likely to bestow a power that will provide the wielder with greater strength and power to dominate those that would oppose them, such as; combat abilities, enhancement abilities, and in rare cases defensive abilities.
Absorb? Yes/No
Yeah, there was no way he was selling the might shard. From what Emil had let on it was better than your average shard, Ozzy had guessed as much but the idea of a power that could enhance one of his coach guns rifle rounds? Now that was serious business.
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While not as flashy the scavenging shard sounded just as useful. A looting power would be amazing. He kind of already had something that would let him detect treasures in the swamp with that magical ring they’d gotten but he wasn’t above double dipping when it came to hunting down treasure.
In all honesty he really just wanted to absorb both of them, and after wrestling with himself for a minute he decided he’d made enough between the rat loot and whatever would be left over for him with the root sucker loot.
Taking a deep breath he raised both hands, and pressed the yes buttons on both shards pages simultaneously.
Power. Sweet, soul shivering, mind numbing power coursed through his body. He felt just like he had before in the swamp minus the stress of impending doom. It gave him all the space he needed to really bask in the feelings the shards afforded him as he felt their power settle into parts of his being and coalesce into tangible aspects of himself.
*BEEP BEEP*
Affinity shard absorbed. — Might Shard
Contains the attuned powers of might.
*BEEP BEEP*
Affinity shard absorbed. — Scavenging Shard
Contains the attuned powers of scavenging.
*BEEP BEEP*
Power Bestowed!
Furry Fortitude
Despite their diminutive size and seeming fragility rats boast surprising fortitude, enjoying fast regeneration as well as the ability to slough off most impacts they are true survivors. Heal over time effects, gain resistance to minor poisons and disease, gain major resistance to to blunt force trauma, and take no damage from falling large heights.
Notice, mass has been decreased in concert with Furry Fortitude.
Notice, negative effects of Furry Fortitudes mass shrinking effects have been blocked by Gun Core. Summoned firearm recoil will remain a constant, negative effects of Furry Fortitudes mass shrinkage will not be blocked for other weapons.
*BEEP BEEP*
Power Bestowed!
Furry Scavenger
Well known for their craftiness and ability to sniff out “the good stuff” rats are experts when it comes to surviving with whatever is available to them. Gain a bonus to looting. Scavenging comes naturally to you and there is little you can’t find use for. Gain bonuses for using and consuming improvised items, looted items, and improvised equipment.
Once the rush of power subsided Ozzy took a moment to read over his notifications. He was momentarily terrified at the thought of his coach gun blasting him across the swamp with his lowered mass and subsequently relieved when his Gun Core came to save the day. He was slightly concerned about some of the consequences having less mass than everyone else but the tradeoffs seemed almost too good to be true.
Everyone on earth was scared of heights, sure there were plenty of stupid people who would say they weren’t scared of the height but only scared of falling. Which was stupid, falling is obviously a part of the fear of heights which is what makes them thrilling in the first place. Ozzy wasn’t afraid to admit that he wasn’t a fan of heights himself, specifically because he didn’t like falling. If someone claimed to like falling then they either needed to be studied for science, or put to work as a skydiving instructor. With his new power however, he could beat any one of those morons, and he’d never have to bother with a parachute.
That wasn’t even mentioning the other boons he’d get with Furry Fortitude, while he wasn’t sure the power would keep him from getting boned by another slap from a root sucker he was 100% sure he’d have been way better off with the power. Then there was the healing factor, and seriously, who wouldn’t want to be Wolverine? It unfortunately probably wasn’t Wolverine levels of healing, but hey, universally displaced homeless swamp beggars can’t be choosers.
The scavenging ability wasn’t anything to scoff at either. Back on earth he was never much of a gamer, that had really always been more of his older brother’s department. He had however watched him play the odd rpg game here and there, and even from the little he knew about games he was well aware that loot, was king.
With a smile Ozzy leaned back into the dinghy, the day was slowly nearing its end and as the days final rays stretched across the surface of the swamp he let himself go. If there was anyone in the murky green world that deserved a decent nights sleep, it was him.
***
Sleep took him with all the subtlety of a tentacle monster, and despite his weariness and desire for an easy fade to black he was swept away on the meandering currents of a dream.
Restlessness and drowsiness were his only companions as opened his eyes in the dim light of an earthly workshop. It was the kind of shop tinkerers dreamt of, with walls of tools and a floor that hosted more machinery than it did empty space. It was glorious, a work of art dedicated to oil, sweat, and steel.
“Beautiful isn’t it.” Ozzy leapt about three feet into the air and whirled as a gruff voice that would have sounded at home in a woodchipper came from behind him.
The culprit of the voice was a man the size of a barn door. He was covered head to toe in soot and wore a leather apron that hung down past his knees. He was hairy, like a bear doing a very poor job playing a human, with a thick beard covering his neck and a good bit of his chest splaying across his torso out in thick salt and pepper glory.
Whether it was a man or giant Ozzy didn’t know, he man wore no expression save for a singular raised eyebrow. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” The bear of a man asked once more, his voice no less abrasive and intimidating.
“I, suppose so.” Ozzy turned his head to look across the shop once more. “It has its own sort of charm you could say.”
The large man simply grunted in response and stomped his way into the shop. “Come along little stranger. We have work to do.”
