[Brian POV]

  With Unika back on HomeBase, I felt like everything was great again, and I didn’t have to worry about my girls. Yeah, I knew Unika would return safely, but it still always feels wrong when one of them is away for a longer period of time.

  I have also been in contact with the System Agents. I wanted info on Numerounius Numerounia’s dimensional barrier repair. I had my own observations, but I wanted their feedback.

  They got me a meeting with the Goddess, who told me that while Numerounius Numerounia did fix the barrier, and admittedly made it even stronger than what Exodia can make, his fix doesn’t flow as well with the barrier that already exists, causing the edges of his fix to be more taut than Exodia’s fixes. This leaves the edge of that fix susceptible to more fissures compared to Exodia’s repairs. I guess you could compare it to fixing a silk shirt with a patch made of denim. Or something like that.

  So it looks like I’ll just have to keep relying on Exodia for the repairs, unless Numerounius Numerounia can learn how to make the edges of his patch better.

  I also used the miasma stone I made from the leftover miasma to get Cailie a new skill. I traded the stone to a Sabbath, or a mage demon, to get Cailie the Miasma Resistance skill. Cailie is our ‘purification specialist’, but because she is also a half spirit, she is more susceptible to miasma than the rest of us.

  But as I was making the deal, the demon told me the stone had enough power for two people to get Miasma Resistance, so I also had Lua get the skill. She, since she can use Holy Magic, is the second best when it comes to miasma purification. She is actually better when it comes to small objects, but Cailie is better in terms of AoE.

  SpoilerName: CailieRace: Wind Spirit Mermaid ?Level: 180 [+60]HP: 4815 [+1810]Mana: 13,780 [+5180]Strength: 2304 [+830]Defense: 3401 [+1310]Magic: 8330 [+3600]Unique Skills: Purifying Winds LV.7 (unique) [+5]Manamorphic Body LV.N/A (prototype) [new]Racial Skills *

  SpoilerSpirit Magic LV.15 (racial) [+5]Marvelous Swimming LV.15 (racial) [+7]Aerial Swimming LV.12 (racial) [+4]Create Wind Spirit (racial) [colpse]Extra Skills: *

  Spoiler

  Limit Break LV.1 (extra) Charming Voice LV.10 (extra) [+5] Telekinesis LV.3 (extra) [new]Magical Arms LV.4 (extra) [new] Card Summoner LV.5 (extra) [+1] Summon Wind Spirit (extra)Summon Water Spirit (extra) Summon Earth Spirit (extra)Summon Nature Spirit (extra) [colpse]Skills: *

  Spoiler

  Knife Technique LV.1 Hiding LV.2 Sneak Attack LV.2 Spiritual Wind Magic LV.15 [+5]Spiritual Water Magic LV.5 [new]Spiritual Nature Magic LV.12 [+4]Spiritual Mana Control LV.18 [+6]Magic Boost LV.7 [+2]Quick Cast LV.13 [+4]Instant Cast LV.9 [+3] Magic resistance LV.10 [+6] Miasma Resistance LV.1 [new] Gardening LV.12 [+2] Singing LV.10 [+3]Battle Song LV.7 [+2]Calming Song LV.6 [+5] Performance LV.7 [+3][colpse]Titles:

  SpoilerDaughter of AnemoiGreater Spirit of West WindThassa’s Blessing Gaia’s BlessingHegemone’s BlessingHalf SpiritSpirit SingerOne that Sings to NatureOne that Swims through the AirHallow Prison PrevailerOne that Returned from BanishmentStorage Access (Brian Wood)[colpse][colpse]

  SpoilerName: LuciaRace: Saintly Dhampir Princess of Magic ? Level: 252 [+22]HP: 10,275 [+1210]Mana: 24,310 [+3260]Strength: 5131 [+482] Defense: 4731 [+452]Magic: 14,215 [+1480]Unique-Racial SkillsDhampir Princess of Magic LV.15 (Unique-Racial) Dhampir Saint LV.4 (Unique-Racial) [+3] Racial Skills *

  SpoilerTrue Blood Magic LV.25 (Racial) [+4]Vampiric Body Modification LV.16 (Racial) [+2]Winged Flight LV.14 (Racial) [+2] [colpse]Unique SkillsManamorphic Body LV.N/A (prototype) Extra Skills *

  SpoilerLimit Break LV.2 (extra) Overpowering Aura LV.1 (extra) [new]Holy Magic LV.13 (extra) [+1]Corrupted Healing LV.8 (extra) [+1]Telekinesis LV.2 (extra) [new]Magical Arms LV.3 (extra) Card Summoner LV.6 (extra) Summon Light Spirit (extra)Summon Water Spirit (extra)[colpse]Normal Skills *

  SpoilerBlunt Weapon Technique LV.7 [+1]Staff Technique LV.9 [+1]Knife Technique LV.2 Spiritual Water Magic LV.17 [+2]Spiritual Light Magic LV.17 [+2]Wind Magic LV.15 [+1] Advanced Mana Control LV.28 [+4]Mana Healing LV.15 [+1]Magic Boost LV.12 Quick Cast LV.18 [+4]Instant Cast LV.12 [+2]Fast Mana Recovery LV.25 [+9] Miasma Resistance LV.1 [new] Designing LV.4 [+2][colpse]Titles *

  SpoilerSaintEosther’s BlessingDivine LifesaverThassa’s BlessingHigh-Leveled Individual [new]Blood Sucker (Racial)Storage Access (Brian Wood) [colpse][colpse]

  Also, with Unika back home, I could bother her with our prototype magic bows. We still haven’t made one outside of the Factory, so Unika and I headed in so we could test a few out.

  The first one was the revolving magic crossbow. It is basically like the M32 MGL, but shooting arrows instead of grenades. And it naturally doesn’t use any gunpowder but is powered by magic.

  And yes, it can fire explosive arrows.

  Unika found the revolving crossbow decent, but it wasn’t quite what she wanted. It, after all, didn’t let her use her Strength stat and while her Magic stat did pass her Strength after the evolution, Unika still has a lot of Strength.

  So instead, we tried a differently designed magic bow. It was a bow entirely made of magic. It came in the form of a bracer that would emit a hard light construct that resembled a bow when you pass mana through it. It could even make arrows made of hard light.

  I designed it after Unika asked if shooting light arrows was possible. Wilma wanted to make a psma bow, but psma is too difficult to contain, while hard light is easier. At least for me, as my duel disk has a hard light bde that I studied, and am able to replicate.

  And I’ve also used hard light projectors for things like the shield Wilma’s duel disk can project, so making a projector capable of making a bow wasn’t difficult. And since the bow is a light construct, things like its draw weight can be easily adjusted.

  The arrows were the challenging part. Making one is easy. Having it stay stable for the entire flight of the arrow was more difficult. Luckily, with Alice and Lua’s help, we managed to come up with a Light Magic spell that could add stability to hard light. I then scribed a magic circle for it in the bracer that projected the bow and arrows.

  Also, since the arrows are also made of hard light, their mass and size can be adjusted on the fly, making the light bow quite versatile.

  But, because there has to be a but, it is basically Light Magic. It isn’t actually magic, Magic Resistance doesn’t help against it, but Light Resistance does. Not that any of us have that skill, as it is basically only held by albino born people. And rarely by dhampirs and other races that prefer the night.

  The bigger problem is equipment that resists the Light attribute. That kind of equipment can really take down the effectiveness of the hard light bow. But bming the bow for that is kind of stupid.

  There is one more problem though. That is enchantability. As in, you can’t enchant a hard light bow. Enchantments need something to hold onto them, so you can easily enchant a bow made of wood and string, but hard light isn’t something you can just carve. And no, you can’t project the enchantments. At least I can’t.

  Now, for some good news, because you need some. The explosive arrows I made for the revolving crossbow. They are really nice. They explode with a Fire Magic spell that is quite powerful, so they can be used to take down powerful monsters. Or destroy walls and stuff like that.

  And they work extremely well with Unika’s Foxfme, or I suppose Sor Fre Fox now. I just designed them with the Foxfme data, as that is what we had. Sor Fre Fox is still a new skill, so I need more data from Oku to replicate it in the Factory. That is, if Unika isn’t here. And since she is, and we are basically done with the bows, I took her to a test room where she could show off the skill. Just so I can simute it better.

  After our data gathering session, we ended up pying chase across the Factory highway. Or should I call it the D-Wheel track? Either works.

  Unika transformed into her full fox form, while I became a centaur. At first, it was just supposed to be a run, but Unika, or maybe it was her Stel side, kept challenging me, so I began to take it more seriously.

  I was naturally faster than Unika. I simply have more Strength, as well as the Gallop and Flickering Step skills. But admittedly, the level of my Gallop skill is quite low and I rarely use the centaur race, so I was out of practice.

  Meanwhile Unika had all of Stel’s memories, so she knew how to use her fox body. That allowed her to be more agile on four legs than I was. So despite the fact that she couldn’t match my speed on the straights, she did the corners better and she completely took me over whenever a sharp corner came to be.

  The D-wheel track doesn’t naturally have sharp corners, but as I’ve been preparing for the D-wheel tournament, I’ve made multiple tracks side by side. And you can switch between them using these high speed connections between them. Kind of like the ramps that runways have to get pnes off of them without the pin having to come to a complete stop.

  And Unika decided that it would be funny if we used them while going ‘the wrong direction’. So instead of nice and gentle turns that you can easily take at high speeds, we had to survive two extremely sharp turns in a row, and that ate into my speed, while Unika managed them quite well.

  I almost began to cheat, as I began to think that I could make kickoff ptforms near the exits. I could just jump against one, kill my speed, and then unch myself off of it to gain back some of the lost speed. But I decided I didn’t want to cheat, and instead just did my best to gain back the advantage Unika gained by her better cornering.

  In the end, I did win. Mainly because the st straight of our race was … well straight. And on straights, I am faster. But the end result didn’t really matter. What matters is that we had fun.