Debuffed Farmer

“I am. Why do you ask.”

“I was thinking of becoming one since I need money and I don’t really have another way of getting any.”

“You could probably prostitute yourself.”

“I might hold off on that for a little while.”

Things weren’t that dire, yet.

“Well, if you’re considering getting into adventuring, you definitely need to work on your Carrying Capacity™. You’ll be dead by midnight at this rate.”

There’s another term I’ve never heard before. It certainly feels weird to have someone include something in their speech like I’m supposed to know what it means, just for me to have no clue. If I had to make an educated guess, it’s probably just something like how many EM-waves I can sustain.

She was now staring at me.

Crap, I’ve probably been silent for a little longer than what is normally socially acceptable.

“Um, yeah. How exactly do I work on that?”

“Just do it more. It’s not different to training everything else. I assume you train your annoying, cynical voice in the same way.”

What an unexpectedly-accurate deduction~

“It’s natural; thank you very much. And to clarify, I just make EM-waves and stuff and then it just gets better or what?”

“Just figure it out yourself.”

Seria came over.

“What are we doing now, Rin?”

“I’m going to try to figure out how all this power-system stuff works. Then we’ll register to be adventurers.”

*

I had managed to get a basic grasp of the buzzing feeling that edged (probably the wrong verb in this context) on my skin as I focused. Still, I was not able to convert it to anything useful like fire or water or the other stuff that Clara had mentioned.

I did notice that I was a little stronger than usual.

“Clara, if you hate me so much, why do you still hang around us?”

“Like I said yesterday, your house is a nice place to read.”

“Is this really the only place to read?”

“Shut up, you’re disturbing my peace and quiet.”

Sigh.

Anyway, I’ve managed to understand the system a little better. It seemed that the edge of my skin was the source of EM-wave conversion and the likely reason for my being capable of higher densities is due to my Zone of Absolute Control. When I’m concentrating on making EM-waves, I can definitely feel a certain clarity around the edge of my body.

But at the moment, other than being slightly stronger (I think), there didn’t seem to be any notable advancements in my combat capabilities. I still had no idea how to transmute this into something useful.

“Hey Clara, how do I make other substances from my EM-waves?”

She didn’t respond.

“Hey Clara, how do—”

“Can’t you tell when someone’s ignoring you? I’m trying to read.”

“Yeah, but I need your help here.”

“That doesn’t justify anything. I already knew that since you were asking me a question in the first place.”

She was quite engaged in her Object Manifestation and Optimal EM-wave Emission. It actually seemed like the perfect book for me to read at this time.

“Can I read your book with you?”

“Gross.”

“Please. It’s already hard enough for me to progress.”

“I don’t care. I’ve already helped you more than I think I should have.”

“I’ll give you something in return.”

“There’s nothing you could give me that I’d possibly want.”

Well, this was about what I had expected. I guess she wasn’t going to let me get a fast pass to success. Most things in this world seem to be conjured by pure will, so maybe if I just wanted it hard enough, it’ll manifest or something.

I increased the concentration of EM-waves first.

Please, become water. Water God, Water Princess, whatever other mythical beings related to water (Poseidon?)—give me water. Imagine that I’m stranded in the African desert (no racism intended, African deserts are hot, especially the Saharan one), and quench my immense thirst with your liquid.

Hold on, that sounds sus.

Despite my efforts, no water was created.

What the hell. I put so much effort into that as well.

Suddenly, I felt a zap on my head. It was followed by a subtle burning sensation before dissipating.

Did I just make something?!

“Before you get the wrong idea and think that you made something, that was me. Your face was an eyesore so I zapped it.”

Why was the word ‘zapped’ so funny in that context?

Also, what a disappointment.

“How do you transmute stuff? I want to do it too.”

“Figure it out yourself.”

“I have been trying to before you zapped me in the face.”

“Go back to doing that. I regret making you open your mouth.”

“Ah…”

My usual strategy of wishing for something real hard was not working. This is quite sad. There was literally no frame of reference I could use to even guess how to transmute another substance from my EM-waves.

“Clara, can you at least give me a hint on how to make something?”

“No.”

No elaboration this time. Ah, I don’t even get any compensation for lending my precious space to you.

I guess I’ll go check on my beans, they should have grown by now, since the sun was beginning to set. The ones around the side of the hut had basically grown to their full size as well.

Take me to the oasis…

There’s not much to explain regarding it, so I won’t bore you with the transition again.

[+900 EXP]

[EXP Until Next Level: 13,643]

…

Now, I might clarify something. Whilst it seems as though exponential growth makes it seem as if I’ll be levelling up in no time. The sheer time it takes for me to go through and harvest and replant every single bean is no joke.

Even the space it takes is beginning to be an issue. As such, I only replanted 150, leaving me with 300 left over.

Thankfully, I can store it in my {inventory}, but it’d definitely be good to try to get something else out of this.