IRL Console 25 It's A Trap!

Previously, Dave was just an ordinary, run of the mill, slightly depressed chiropractor with a borderline split personality. Hardly MC material right?? Well, maybe Dave is? Maybe everyone is the MC of their own reality? Ma Sa is certainly the MC right now... Maybe the MC just has to write their own story as best as they can?

Since Ma Sa decided he couldn't wait around and hope for the mythical plot armour or beautifully synchromystic coincidences, he could only do his best to carve out his own path. He'd have to make his own luck. The console made that trivial but, for the most part, Ma Sa wanted to enjoy the ups and downs of life in a new world.

"Hey, Kid!" Su Won stirred Ma Sa out of his ruminations over the purpose of being. "Ya picked up the bellows pretty d.a.m.n quick! I was expecting it to take at least another week. Alright, since we're ready to move onto some actual forging lessons we'll need to get some resources. How bou'cha head on over to the Contributions Hall and take a mission there? It'll getcha familiar with the process as you'll need contributions to exchange for materials for your own projects in the future."

Ma Sa was delighted. He was so over pumping the bellows. At least it did help him grind out proficiency. The starting points on his smithing tree all related to bellows and hammer technique. After maxing out the perk points for --Firestarter-- and --Flame Artisan-- his bellows technique had naturally progressed to mastery.

"Yes Grandpa Su! Right away!" Ma Sa clicked his heels together and threw a military salute which drew a peculiar look from grandpa Su. He wondered about what other weird customs existed in the Sima clan. Ma Sa was skipping out the door before Su Won could even tell him where the Contributions Hall was. Oh well, the kid would find it somehow...

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After heading randomly towards the more central areas of the compound for a while, Ma Sa asked a pa.s.serby for directions to the Contributions Hall. His instincts had been pretty close as it was only around the corner from his current location. Half a breath later he was looking over the notice boards. Some of the missions involved heading out into the Jianghu to gather materials, either by way of slaying beasts or to visit mineral deposits. These missions were marked as advanced and some had long durations on them. The contribution points gained in return were seemingly large numbers though. Too bad that the Jianghu wasn't a place for the currently weak Ma Sa to venture into lightly.

He strolled along the wall reading over the notices in order to find out what to expect from his future missions. Once he reached the Novice level missions there was only a single notice remaining. Maybe Grandpa Su had posted this mission just for him? There couldn't be that many kids taking on novice missions so they must be rarities. This particular one was supremely easy as all he would have to do would be to head into the back hills and collect charcoal from the charcoal burners.

Tearing the notice from the wall, Ma Sa happily strode over to the counter and asked to take a mission. He received a bit of a strange look from the clerk but he was only five years old. It was understandable to be confused that a kid would want to take on a mission. After the clerk read over the mission details and decided that it was easy enough for the boy before him, he stamped some paperwork and made Ma Sa submit a thumb print. It was time to complete his first mission and then, finally, he'd be able to learn some real forging!

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"Muhu!-"

Bu Du Teng's plan was going smoother than he could have imagined it would. Ma Sa was skipping towards the back hills with great haste as he held the map out ahead of him. Bu Du Teng could practically taste victory and, best of all, he'd be coming out of this completely clean. He'd had a friend spread a rumor that Contributions were going to necessary soon so all of the simple missions were quickly snapped up over the last few days. He himself hadn't lifted a finger as he simply had another friend take the charcoal mission and then had him return it to the board due to 'illness' after he heard about Ma Sa leaving the Forgemaster's workshop. In this way, Ma Sa was forced onto Bu Du Teng's path of death.

"Muhu!-"

Bu Du Teng was glad this was finally coming to an end. He was getting a little tired of the strange looks he was receiving every time he had a supressed outburst of evil laughter... It seemed like his comrades in the workshop stood a little further away from him lately. Soon Ma Sa would be just an unpleasant memory and he, Bu Du Teng, would take his rightful place as the Forgemaster's successor!

"Muhu!-*cough*"

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Ma Sa's journey to the back mountains took him very little time as, once he got out of sight of the general public he started absorbing the air resistance in front of him as he ran, effectively giving himself a tailwind. Coupled with his Qi infused muscles, Ma Sa ran with a similar cadence to Usain Bolt but with strides of about eight times the length. He was d.a.m.n fast! It was exhilarating to travel at the speed of a car under one's own steam! Ma Sa lost himself in refining his running technique and had reached the back hills before he knew it. He'd have to travel slower here.

The scenery was breathtaking. Ma Sa had no doubt that if it was back on earth there would be tourists wandering through the area constantly. He soon heard the sound of running water and recognized that it must be the stream that led towards the charcoal burners. If he followed the stream for a while he'd come to a waterfall and then, just a little further along, he'd find the place he was looking for. He headed towards the source of the sound and marveled at the stillness of the forest. An ultraesthetic crepuscular ray broke through the canopy and warmed Ma Sa's face. He stood still for a moment to appreciate the feeling and commune with nature a little.

"Oooh! What's that??" Ma Sa couldn't help but have his eyes drawn to an ethereal glint reflected in the light of the G.o.dray. He walked over to it and found that it was the start of something similar to a slime trail left by a snail. The way it caught the light was fascinating. Ma Sa was overcome by the urge to see the creature that left such a trail. He was ahead of time anyway so why not?? With his eyes glued to the shifting glisten of the snail trail, Ma Sa tracked it over quite a distance. He couldn't hear the water anymore but that wasn't particularly important right now. Soon he reached a narrow cave entrance. This must be the home of the beastie!

In the darkness of the cave, the trail no longer shimmered in the light but instead glowed in the darkness. This only made Ma Sa more intrigued to see what it looked like. He followed the trail through the cave until he saw some light ahead of him. This was a tunnel rather than a cave! Actually, come to think of it... How long had he followed the trail for? Ma Sa looked behind him and realized that the trail had vanished and all that remained was dark, damp tunnel. What the h.e.l.l possessed him to track down a snail? He had never particularly like those slimy creatures before? Now he was looking for a ma.s.sive one? His mind tried to make sense of his actions and failed. He stopped for a moment and entered the console to think.

As soon as Ma Sa entered the console everything became clear to him. It was a trap! There must have been some sort of beguilement or befuddlement spell that was cast on him to make him follow the trail. He hopped into the inventory and flipped through the books on common demon beasts of the Qian continent. There it was! A seven-coloured horned snail that hunts prey by luring them with pheromones in its mucous. It was seemingly rather valuable as the mucous could be processed to make alluring perfumes. This was a precious and, most importantly, super weak beast! Time for the hunter to become the hunted!

After snapping back to reality, Ma Sa cautiously walked towards the light. The glowing trail had now vanished as it had simply been a hallucination caused by the pheromones. He could still sense a pull in its direction but the trance-like state had ended. Quietly peeking out of the tunnel opening, Ma Sa looked around for signs of the snail. There! In the shadows at the other side of the clearing there was a relatively inconspicuous boulder. The only thing that identified it as the snail was that it had a rainbow ribbon of colour spiraling outwards from the center of its ma.s.s. It would be tough to approach it from stealth but, since the thing was weak anyway, why not just flip it over and rip it out of the sh.e.l.l with a stick or something?

Ma Sa left the tunnel mouth and confidently walked towards the snail.

Then...

The world exploded.