A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World-Chapter 219

That night, Alice found herself back on the same ship she and Ethan had originally taken to Cyra. At the helm of the boat was Ethan’s mother, a woman Alice hadn’t met since the tea party with the second [Princess] all those months ago. Standing next to her was someone Alice had never seen before. She looked… mousey. Her hair was thin and brown, and was cut off just below her ears. She was attractive, but not to a notable degree. For an Immortal, her [Charisma] stat was abnormally low. The mousy woman was average height, and smelled like burnt copper.

Of course, most disconcerting of all was the woman’s mana. Just like Ethan, his mother, and Allira, the woman seemed to be a walking nebula of mana. In other words, she was an Immortal.

Since Alice knew that Illvaria had six Immortals, and three of them were male and three of them were female, it wasn’t hard to figure out who the woman was by simple process of elimination. This must be Illvaria’s [Blacksmith] Immortal, Doll.

Alice wondered if it was a good idea to introduce herself. After all, Doll would be a critical part of this expedition - getting to know each other in advance wouldn’t be a bad idea. On the other hand, Doll didn’t seem very interested in socializing. Anytime one of the other [Soldiers] tried to approach Doll, she shuffled away and tried to avoid conversation with them. As someone who also didn’t typically get along with new people very well, Alice didn’t want to overwhelm Doll with unwanted social interactions.

As Alice was pondering how to deal with the situation, another voice broke her out of her thoughts.

“Alice, dear. It’s good to see you again,” said Ethan’s mother. “We didn’t have much time to speak while we were boarding the ship, but I’m glad to see that you’re growing well. My son seems to be taking good care of you. I take it your levels are coming along nicely?”

Alice thought about it for a few moments, before she nodded. “Honored Immortal Ethan has kept me safe during our travels, and I’m getting close to Immortality. I won’t say my exact levels, but I would be surprised if I don’t hit Immortality during this expedition.”

Ethan’s mother grinned even more widely at that. “I’m glad to hear it. It would be wonderful to see a new Immortal rise in Illvaria. It has been almost a century since the last time. How was your time in Morendia? I haven’t seen much of the Eastern half of the Shil Confederacy in the last few centuries - I’ve never been very interested in foreign travel when I can avoid it.”

Alice sighed as she she thought about some of the things the group had seen while travelling east. She started describing some of the group’s findings and discoveries during their journey to the east. She paid particular focus to the tragedies they had witnessed. Famine, monster swarms, manaborn terrain, and class-mana madness were all running rampant, and it showed. Ethan’s mother frowned at Alice’s words. After she spoke, Ethan’s mother sighed.

“It sounds like things really are getting bad out there,” she said, finally. “I’d heard that Illvaria was faring much better than other countries, but I didn’t realize the difference was this severe. I will… go speak with my son, I suppose. The rest of the world isn’t our responsibility, but we should still think about what the world will look like in a few decades.” The woman sighed again, before she strolled away.

That left Alice, the mousy-looking woman, and a few Mages behind on the deck of the ship.

After Ethan’s mother left, the mousy woman’s gaze settled on Alice. After several seconds of hesitation, Doll made her way over to Alice, before the woman raised an eyebrow at her.

“You’re Alice?” she asked. Her voice was unexpectedly metallic and gravelly - almost as if every time Doll opened her mouth, someone inside of her throat was banging on an anvil. It was an incredibly strange sound, and even more strange was the rainbow mana that rippled out of her mouth when she spoke.

It was obvious that Doll’s unusual sounding voice was the effect of some kind of Perk, but Alice had no idea what the Perk did. Normally, Alice would shy away from asking about other people’s Perks, since people didn’t talk about combat related System abilities. However, Doll was a [Blacksmith]... so maybe it was fine? freēwēbnovel.com

“What Perk is influencing your voice?” asked Alice.

Doll’s raised eyebrow went even higher. “You can see that?” she asked. “Most people just think my voice sounds odd. It looks like your perception really is quite unusual.”

Alice raised her own eyebrow. Based on what she had heard about Doll so far, she had assumed that the woman was completely indifferent to other people who weren’t Immortals. In fact, in Alice’s mind, Doll was basically a hermit. She never left her house, only received Immortals as guests, and ignored the world in favor of honing her craftsmanship. For Doll to know anything about Alice was shocking.

“To answer your question, I have a Perk that lets my voice itself act as a blacksmith’s hammer,” said Doll. “With a regular hammer, it can become very difficult to reach certain parts of an item I’m working on. The intricate internal gears of a Golem, for example, are difficult to correct once they’re slotted into place, unless you take apart the whole machine - or build it so that deconstruction and reconstruction are possible. However, building things like ‘maintenance hatches’ into a golem weaken its structural integrity, so I found a different solution. My voice is a hammer, and I can use it to repair any object I’m working on - even places that are very hard to reach. Furthermore, I don’t have to worry about forging better and better hammers out of better and better metal - I can just rely on my voice. It’s a very convenient Perk.

“Of course, using Perks to turn my voice into a ‘hammer’ isn’t the only way to solve this type of problem. But I always wanted to be a Mage when I was a little girl, and that influenced some of my early Perk choices. I wasn’t willing to risk an actual mana baptism, but I felt like commanding the world to change with my voice was still pretty similar to being a real Mage.” Doll shrugged. “Some hints of that stuck around when I was combining my Perks later.”

Alice blinked in surprise. The Immortal [Blacksmith] wanted to be a Mage, so she had taken Perks that let her pretend to be a Mage? That was pretty unusual. Alice also had to wonder what Perks [Blacksmiths] had that let them pretend to be Mages, and how those Perks had come into existence.

Then again, Classes were essentially a different type of magic seed. With that in mind… technically everyone in this world was sort of a Mage. In a very strange way, Doll already was a Mage.

“I’m surprised you know about me,” Alice said, after several moments of introspection. “Based on what I’ve heard about you, I figured that you would treat me like empty air until I reached Immortality.”

Doll sighed. “I don’t like getting to know other people very much, that’s true. Metal endures where people don’t. Thus, metal is my friend, and people usually aren’t. It’s easy for me to get lost in a project, and spend months, or even years working on it without paying attention to the passage of time. I get very caught up in the flow of my work, and even forget food and water. If I try to have friends that aren’t Immortals, I usually don’t even get to connect with them before they die - after all, if I meet someone once every five years, what kind of friendship can I possibly build with them in the short seventy years before they pass away? If they die at the age of seventy, and I meet them when they’re twenty, I’ll meet them ten times before they die of old age - and realistically, when they stop paying attention to [Blacksmithing], I won’t bother meeting them because there’s nothing left to interest me in the conversation. I like crafting, and I love talking to people who share that passion - but I also don’t have very many other interests, so it’s hard to get along with people who aren’t similar.” Doll shrugged. “Honestly, I think the other Immortals get the wrong impression. I don’t hate communicating - I’m just very passionate about my work. I want to make friends who will also be passionate about making things, and won’t disappear if I get lost in a project for a decade or two.”

Alice frowned. That wasn’t quite the way Doll had been introduced by the other Immortals, but it also didn’t contradict what she had learned before. Instead, it felt like it was peeling away a layer of who Doll was.

“Anyway, the point is, I don’t make friends easily. It’s even worse because most of the Immortals in Illvaria are pretty different from me, personality wise. Ethan isn’t a battle maniac, but he’s focused on combat and military operations. He does a good job ‘doing what he’s supposed to’ as a military man, but he doesn’t enjoy the act of creation. Same with his father. I think Allira might have enjoyed creating songs and music once, but… well, if that was true when she was a normal [Bard], it doesn’t seem to be true anymore.”

Alice thought about the way most other Immortals treated Allira. Allira was probably suffering from PTSD, or something similar. That would definitely change her outlook on a lot of things, depending on how it affected her. For people of this world, they might not know how to deal with people who had trauma, which would only exacerbate the issue. [Psychologists] existed here, but the sheer influence of Perks also meant that the average person here didn’t know much about mental health. After all, [Psychologists] here had literal magic to make people get better.

“And I don’t really get along with Murim, either. Like, he’s not a bad person… I don’t hate him. But I don’t really like him. He sleeps around a lot, which makes it hard for me to see him in a good light.

“The only person I sort of get along with is Ethan’s mother. Even though her focus is scattered, she still gets how fun it is to make something with your own hands. Part of the reason Ethan’s mother mentioned you to me is probably for the same reason - you’re mostly focused on research, but you have a strong emphasis on enchantments too, right? So you get it. And from what I know, you’re practically guaranteed to reach Immortality soon.” Doll shrugged. “Or so I’ve heard.” Doll paused. It almost sounded like she was waiting for something - hoping that Alice would say something. Alice wasn’t sure what Doll was expecting, which made it harder for her to respond.

Alice wondered how to handle Doll’s misconception. She was definitely not in love with creating things. Sure, Alice didn’t hate it - but she didn’t love it either. Her attitude towards art and creation were closer to a shrug of indifference than anything else. She enjoyed learning more about magic, so she kind of liked enchanting, but she would also be fine not doing it for several years. Enchanting was more like tolerable work than a deep-seated passion.

On the other hand, Alice was kind of interested in getting to know Illvaria’s most reclusive Immortal.

“I’m not that focused on craftsmanship,” said Alice, after weighing her options. Any relationship founded on a lie was bound to collapse. “I enjoy research and acquiring knowledge more than anything else.”

“But you’ve also made a fair number of enchantments, and many of them were built by you, right?” said Doll. “Besides, research and acquisition of knowledge is a big part of creating items as well. The first thing I do before designing a new piece of equipment is to make a blueprint and figure out if there are any errors or flaws in the design. Knowledge of how to make steel can be acquired in the [Blacksmith] class via Perk, if you don’t want to spend the time learning how to do it yourself. There’s a reason the System directly offers knowledge to the [Blacksmith] class as an option - knowledge is directly related to craftsmanship. Besides, when it comes to actual lifestyle habits, I’ve heard that you’re quite similar to me, aren’t you?”

Alice opened her mouth to argue.. and then realized she couldn’t.

Doll was renowned for never setting foot outside of her house on regular occasions. Alice also lived like a hermit. Recently, she had been forced to run around from country to country in order to repair the System. The moment the current crisis ended, Alice planned to go back to a sedentary lifestyle for a few years, or perhaps even a few decades. Living in a comfortable house with a mountain of books and research materials sounded heavenly.

Of course, Alice didn’t want to totally shut herself off from other people. She would still hang out with Cecilia and host the occasional board game night. Alice didn’t think she could lose herself in her work for years at a time.

“See? That look in your eyes. You’re like me,” said Doll, as she faintly smiled.

“So… what did you actually want?” asked Alice. “Were you introducing yourself, or…”

“Oh! Umm…” Doll cleared her throat. “Well, I’m not great at things like this, but… I was asking if you wanted to be friends. If you don’t, then you don’t have to feel bad, but I was just thinking-”

Alice laughed. So Doll was socially awkward. That was probably to be expected from someone who shut themselves in their house for decades at a time.

“Sure. Let’s be friends,” said Alice, as she extended a hand towards Doll.

Doll smiled.

“I’m glad to hear it. And I’m glad to meet you, too.” She took Alice’s hand, and shook it. “All right, I need to get back to work now. There are a few crossbows I want to install on the underside of the boat, to handle underwater monsters. There are a few different designs for underwater crossbows that have come out in the past few decades, and this boat is not equipped to handle any of them. I need to go figure that out. But I’m happy to meet you. See you later!” With that, Doll made her way back to the depths of the ship.

“So you’ve met five of Illvaria’s Immortals now,” said an amused voice from Alice’s left. Alice nearly fell over from surprise. She turned to the left, and saw Ethan’s mother, looking at Alice with a mixture of amusement and joy. “What do you think of Doll?”

“I think she’s awkward, but not a bad person.” Alice laughed again. “It’s rare to meet other people who are even more socially awkward than I am.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Even with other Immortals, Doll doesn’t seem to have very deep relationships with us. She’s civil, but distant. I hope the two of you get along.” Then, the smile from Ethan’s mother’s face faded. “Just make sure you stay safe here. Doll doesn’t get along with other people very often, so it would be a shame if you died right before Doll makes her first real friend in centuries.”

Alice winced, but nodded. “I’ll do my best,” she said. “Although a lot of whether I live or die isn’t up to me right now.”

Ethan’s mother sighed. “You’re right. The Sigmusi’s navy will probably be much weaker than usual, due to the effects of the catastrophe - but we’re still just a single boat, sailing through territory controlled by monsters and a hostile nation. I’ll do my best to keep all of us safe to the end, though.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence for several minutes, before Alice started to feel tired. Eventually, she drifted back to her cabin to sleep.

A few days passed as Doll used her voice to build a new set of underwater weapons. The new crossbows quickly proved their worth when a few ice-magic wielding squid monsters tried to attack the boat, only to get annihilated.

The group continued to sail downriver, dealing with monsters along the way, until they exited Illvaria’s southern canal system.

Soon, they entered the open ocean. It was time to sail around the western side of the southern continent, until they reached the Maelstrom.