An Expansive Forge (Celestial Forge V3/The Expanse.)

[EntropyEnginear]

While it's true the mc with his new engineer perk could probably make some interesting stuff maybe even a space ship. But given his tools are limited with his most flexible and powerful being alchemy which will probably need to be workshopped to work properly and his supplies being extremely limited. Not to mention how the origin of the skills isn't the current setting and What the perk is based on…

Well his stuff might work with technology and lots of magic but it's going to be the most scuffed works of space technology imaginable.

 

[Travisplo]

I mean, with Alchemy, you don't need tools. You just need to be able to describe what you want to assemble in Alchemical Notation. Sad that the perk got nerfed though, so that he needs parts that don't exist in this universe to actually make anything really notabl.

 

[Reece]

I mean, with Alchemy, you don't need tools. You just need to be able to describe what you want to assemble in Alchemical Notation. Sad that the perk got nerfed though, so that he needs parts that don't exist in this universe to actually make anything really notabl.

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I wouldn't say nerfed so much as not assumed to be broader than described; the perk says you can maintain the giant robots; not build them from scratch. Same way very few engineers today can build a sports car motor from nothing, but they are aware of how it functions and could fix one. If the MC gets a capstone boost like genius, or a similar perk though; they should be able to create them from first principles.

 

[Inbetweenaction]

"Better not break the setting with crazy tech-"

*gets Megas XLR tech*

"-the setting was overated anyway."

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I mean, setting didn't even have giant robots. I digg giant robots... Nice...

 

[EntropyEnginear]

Effectively he got a power to repair any scifi future tech, and nerfed alchemy in the sense it's not perfect right out of the box when it's literally in outer space far away from a planet.

 

[hyperspacewizard]

I mean a lot of powers are back by fiat and alchemy can be powered by other sources besides tectonic activity besides so I don't see that as a issue the best part of combining fullmetal alchemist alchemy with any knowledge power though is your a walking 3d printer and can perfectly repair things. Also getting some alchemy gloves or tattoos and such would make him a much more effective fighter now

 

[EntropyEnginear]

I mean a lot of powers are back by fiat and alchemy can be powered by other sources besides tectonic activity besides so I don't see that as a issue the best part of combining fullmetal alchemist alchemy with any knowledge power though is your a walking 3d printer and can perfectly repair things. Also getting some alchemy gloves or tattoos and such would make him a much more effective fighter now

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Of course alchemy can use other sources of energy. But the question is what's the most readily available sources and what are the after effects of it not being as condensed. For all we know it could add an actual complexity to alchemical circles or include a higher price on the person involved.

Not to mention each alchemy would either have to target a single element at a time or be extremely complicated as it tries to account for all sorts of different materials for technology. Beyond that all alchemy still drains some from the user even with tectonic energy giving limited charge. Also pretty sure alchemy isn't covered by fiat beyond the little that allows it to work in the first place as most of the ones that are covered by fiat call it out directly.

 

[012345]

They'd passed it through a scanner on their desk, handed it back and told me that without it being 'stamped', they couldn't take it off my hands. Turns out that when you went out mining, you needed to stamp every molecule you pulled out of an asteroid before you could sell it, that way that the corporation could track who had what permit and where they were mining.

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I dont think this totaly right. Like how would you even stamp molecules in such way that it can be aplied to hundreds of tons of stuff while having enought variance to track singular miners. Never mind such stamp wouldnt survive any kind of processing.

Unless he meant stamping some manner of 3d mark on grains of matter?

Also an easy way for money. He can do bio alchemy so he could try making tasty 'real' foods to sell. Wasnt it a thing that cheese was absurdly expensive luxury item in space?

 

[Reece]

I dont think this totaly right. Like how would you even stamp molecules in such way that it can be aplied to hundreds of tons of stuff while having enought variance to track singular miners. Never mind such stamp wouldnt survive any kind of processing.

Unless he meant stamping some manner of 3d mark on grains of matter?

Also an easy way for money. He can do bio alchemy so he could try making tasty 'real' foods to sell. Wasnt it a thing that cheese was absurdly expensive luxury item in space?

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It wasn't a literal statement. It was a cribbed bit of dialogue from Firefly. Essentially I was trying to say that mining hauls have to be tagged in a way that precludes just shitting out materials to sell.

'Curd Cartels' are cracked down on hard in the Expanse. Which is hilarious to me.

 

[hyperspacewizard]

I think your over complicating things. And I'm pretty sure most alchemy doesn't pull any energy from the user.

Sure micro chips and such would be to complicated to create or repair all at once but wires pipes and other assorted larger parts etc.

besides having something like kimblees or Armstrong's or the silver alchemist would be so out of context for most people it would be amazing in a fight though making a glove for just deconstruction like scar would also be amazingly useful not just in combat but in general for removing obstacles

 

[EntropyEnginear]

I think your over complicating things. And I'm pretty sure most alchemy doesn't pull any energy from the user.

Sure micro chips and such would be to complicated to create or repair all at once but wires pipes and other assorted larger parts etc.

besides having something like kimblees or Armstrong's or the silver alchemist would be so out of context for most people it would be amazing in a fight though making a glove for just deconstruction like scar would also be amazingly useful not just in combat but in general for removing obstacles

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No all alchemy pulls energy from the user unless it uses philosopher stones(ground up human soul) and the alchemy generally pulls from the tectonic plates even if the one in the canon country was filtered through human souls. the different energy source needs to be accounted for if not from the circle then at least the user.

But yeah building larger parts or even small parts made out of a single material should be possible. Even the fighting alchemy should be possible. it'll just be more energy intensive for him to pull off then normal. Although if he wants to fight in space with alchemy he'd need to somehow carrying an extremely dense heavy material to work with. Or say finding an alternate fuel source that bends the rules of reality if not outright breaking them.. *cough*magic*cough*.

Also yes the reaction to him fighting with weapons and alchemy that are ocp is going to be glorious. Imagine them trying to duplicate alchemy effects(which would be possible given the circles light up unless he's conscious of hiding it.) The arms race from his antics will be a sight to see.

edit:
So just going to put this out there butttt. The guy's a geneticist, he's extremely intrigued with human alchemy, he's practically surrounded by humans suffering all sorts of genetic diseases and after effects of space living. He has access to rabbit flesh and dna, and potentially a live rabbit.

the final fact is that this is qq. Are bunny girls and bunny boys in this thread a sure thing in the future? Chances are likely but not 100%. I mean why else would the qm specify what type of meat it is and then go on about human alchemy for a while. It's not like they'll be just going for healing people.

 

[Reece]

So just going to put this out there butttt. The guy's a geneticist, he's extremely intrigued with human alchemy, he's practically surrounded by humans suffering all sorts of genetic diseases and after effects of space living. He has access to rabbit flesh and dna, and potentially a live rabbit.

the final fact is that this is qq. Are bunny girls and bunny boys in this thread a sure thing in the future? Chances are likely but not 100%. I mean why else would the qm specify what type of meat it is and then go on about human alchemy for a while. It's not like they'll be just going for healing people.

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Lewd!

 

[EntropyEnginear]

I mean experimenting on the inhabitants of the asteroid to see how they adapt to being animal human hybrids is interesting. But it is a bit morally… meh. I mean if you offered it then people would probably go for it if their lives are significantly shitty from their ailments.

I'm going to guess if he started sniffing around he could get a good number of volunteers. Even if he's careful as to avoid alerting the police on the station. Although once they get hybridized their going to be very eye catching unless their careful.

 

[Reece]

I mean experimenting on the inhabitants of the asteroid to see how they adapt to being animal human hybrids is interesting. But it is a bit morally… meh. I mean if you offered it then people would probably go for it if their lives are significantly shitty from their ailments.

I'm going to guess if he started sniffing around he could get a good number of volunteers. Even if he's careful as to avoid alerting the police on the station. Although once they get hybridized their going to be very eye catching unless their careful.

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The failure rate for animal human hybrids - even in Lab 5 - was pretty rough. The ones that did live through it didn't exactly hold it as a fond memory. The MC would definitely be able to find shit loads of volunteers though for sure. The Expanse TV show doesn't really go into how fucked up some of the effects of long term living in space are. It almost portrays them as 'adaptations'.

They're not, they're deformities, pretty horrific ones at that. With 'modern' medicine, people living on Earth can reach 150-180 years old; Martians can go even longer than that with the advances they've made. Belters are lucky to reach 60. Loads of them get born blind, deaf, dumb. A lot of them are mentally stunted, or so physically deformed they can barely move. I'm actually kind of tempted to run some 'omakes' or a side story where the MC decides to just go buck wild rather than try and be the good guy. Because it would be completely batshit; but you'd definitely be able to pull it off. Making human chimeras would really just be the first step in that. The MC could also theoretically create Homunculus (the little one in the jar, not the seven sins) who himself possesses all knowledge of alchemy; or turn captured enemies into philosophers stones, or if we go with conqueror of shamballa (which is 2003 anime so ... ehhhh) the Gate can be opened to other worlds by sacrificing an infant/human. If you give up on being a morally decent person, Alchemy can do some wild stuff.

In terms of pure 'combat alchemy' I'd think the Iron Blood Alchemist would the best to emulate. It doesn't burn up the limited air like flame alchemy, doesn't risk immediately blowing yourself up like Kimblee's, but lets you do ranges and up close attacks. Plus transmuting the ground into a Napoleonic era field gun on a spaceship is just funny.

 

[EntropyEnginear]

So what your saying is no chimera bunny people YET. Well here's hoping for a compatible perk line or if that doesn't get going I guessing seeing how alchemy and gem creation, and the life sand combine and come together.

I mean it's not like you can use alchemy to condense the sand into a stone gem or otherwise, either placing into a socket or say trying to see if bunny chimera's with inorganic material is possible. The Mc does have to work towards figuring out how to sway the hands of fate but as he is he's going to have a lot of time of where experimentation is the only thing he can do.

As far as combat alchemy goes I'd say that carbon manipulation is the most flexible one you could go with. Extremely strong, pretty much everywhere, extremely flexible… and yes you could use it to create Napoleonic Canons. Also creating flawless royal diamonds and above for his gear would be extremely game changing. I'm not sure how Reduces cooldownof all skills by 12.5%, 78 +Resistance to All Elements, and Increases damage against Elites by 20% would work in this quest. But I'm assuming that a gem like that on all his gear would be outright magical. Not even counting the other gem types.

 

[hyperspacewizard]

"No all alchemy pulls energy from the user"
okay im genuinely curious where is that stated in the manga or brotherhood anime I've never even heard of that interpretation until now.


Neat side effect though of alchemy is it's going to be nearly impossible for him not to have access to a door to access his workshop.

I wonder if after seeing some some of the stuff the Mc can do and not finding any kind of background for him if maybe people will think he is a super advanced alien that would be hilarious like alchemy could be look to them like advanced nano tech etc obviously the Mc would have to get pretty blatant about stuff

 

[EntropyEnginear]

"No all alchemy pulls energy from the user"
okay im genuinely curious where is that stated in the manga or brotherhood anime I've never even heard of that interpretation until now.


Neat side effect though of alchemy is it's going to be nearly impossible for him not to have access to a door to access his workshop.

I wonder if after seeing some some of the stuff the Mc can do and not finding any kind of background for him if maybe people will think he is a super advanced alien that would be hilarious like alchemy could be look to them like advanced nano tech etc obviously the Mc would have to get pretty blatant about stuff

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Looking it over yeah you're right on the energy from the user thing not being all of them. It was implied and shown that it was the case in the 2003 anime and I ended up mixing them up.

Also people thinking he's an alien in disguise would be hilarious. Especially if he goes around with his "strangely advanced estoic" technology. Although he could literally play as being a real life wizard causing all of the scientists heads to explode with both ecstasy at the idea what they knew about the universe was wrong and existential horror as they realize what the mc's weird abilities implies. Either way it'd give him ample excuses to turn people into bunny people or dog people or cat people, etc.

 

[ryune]

In terms of pure 'combat alchemy' I'd think the Iron Blood Alchemist would the best to emulate. It doesn't burn up the limited air like flame alchemy, doesn't risk immediately blowing yourself up like Kimblee's, but lets you do ranges and up close attacks. Plus transmuting the ground into a Napoleonic era field gun on a spaceship is just funny.

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You aren't thinking munchkin enough. There was that woman who compressed and heated air to cause localized wind storms. If you can't turn alchemy into a particle beam then you just aren't trying hard enough.

That said, one of the things I don't see a lot of when someone has alchemy is the creation of alchemical tools. While I will admit that taking the time to painstakingly create a circle that is a "one and done" solution is quite enticing or the more largely applicable simplified designs require a lot of skill in their use to get the most out of, making a sort of middle ground might be for the best in this case. Stuff like a pair of gloves that can be used to sculpt steel like clay or a knife that cuts only as deeply as you want to and not cut what you won't want to be cut.

Also, I have to wonder just how automated he can get with Alchemy. If he can get a hybrid system that can be powered/triggered by electricity then he could possibly build an entire fucking ship right now.

 

[EntropyEnginear]

I mean with technology he could probably experiment and make a system that automatically spits out the correct circle for any of his needs. There's no reason to just stick to one sort of alchemy. Like making a glove that emits light in the correct patterns. Or if that doesn't work I'm sure he'd be able to come up with some analog system to do it like a stamp.

But yeah an alchemy powered ship would be amazing, although he'd probably have trouble with food supplies unless he figures something out.

 

[hyperspacewizard]

One thing I've always wondered is could you use an alchemy circle to make another alchemy circle it be horrific but if you could you could maybe use a small one to draw a circle around large settlements or buildings to create philosopher stones. I'm sure there are better less monstrous uses though



On a lighter hearted note I wonder if you could use alchemy to make the most perfect food and really reduce food and other waste to near zero.

What I'm also curious is if the Mc can teach alchemy to other people because especially if he taught it to people who thought he was an advanced alien earlier and was using nano tech learning how alchemy actually worked would be such a mind screw again lol

 

[Reece]

One thing I've always wondered is could you use an alchemy circle to make another alchemy circle it be horrific but if you could you could maybe use a small one to draw a circle around large settlements or buildings to create philosopher stones. I'm sure there are better less monstrous uses though

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Sacred star of Milos shows you can theoretically - if you're smart enough - not only create an alchemy circle that makes more circles, but also create 3-D model alchemy circles, and also make 'piece meal' alchemy circles that you can assemble.

On a lighter hearted note I wonder if you could use alchemy to make the most perfect food and really reduce food and other waste to near zero.

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Ed transmutes grass into bread in one scene, so probably. Baking is just chemistry after all.

What I'm also curious is if the Mc can teach alchemy to other people because especially if he taught it to people who thought he was an advanced alien earlier and was using nano tech learning how alchemy actually worked would be such a mind screw again lol

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I'm going with 'can teach alchemy' because it makes sense for it to be a science, rather than an innate power you possess.

EDIT: So I actually just watched the end part of Sacred Star again. That film presents some absolutely wild concepts in alchemy. One of the villains just straight up shoots lightning from his circle, if you eat a philosophers stone you can then just 'be' a philosophers stone, and while you're being a philosophers stone you can do alchemy on other people and directly reach out to their Gate. Which I presume means you can then do alchemy without a circle. Film was weird.

 

[EntropyEnginear]

I imagine using 3D alchemy if it's possible would be some estoic shit. Probably dimension effecting or something? I mean alchemy can do some wonky stuff given the homonculus abilities is still alchemy if high level.

On that note I'm curious what an alchemy, Diablo gem craft space ship would look like. Being able to with a single tap convert scooped up material into useful materials or food, with gems emblazoned into sockets all over the craft to give yet untold benefits.

 

[Potato and Chip]

The failure rate for animal human hybrids - even in Lab 5 - was pretty rough. The ones that did live through it didn't exactly hold it as a fond memory. The MC would definitely be able to find shit loads of volunteers though for sure.

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Was that failure rate due to the process itself causing issue or was it more the fact that the scientists trying to create human chimeras didn't exactly know what they were doing so they had to experiment? Granted I still think some Belters would die in the process, but I'd think that's more to all of the health issues they have then the chimera process being generally fatal itself when done by someone with supernaturally good understanding of the process.

Also I'd love to see those omakes you're thinking about where the SI goes full mad scientist.

 

[EntropyEnginear]

Personally I'd say waiting for human trials with chimeras should wait till he can safely combine animals, even ones he's worked on for the first time besides theoretical study so even his first attempt at least has good chances of succeeding. Or if he could wait till he grabs a few more perks that can help.

On one hand the belter's conditions with rampant health issues is a stickler for why a solution would be needed. On the other human chimeras is a grey zone and wasn't really shown very well in the source material.

on the completely other hand given the belter problems being born blind, death, and joint/spinal problems. Well that's the perfect reason to give them bunny ears and eyes, and a cute bunny tail.

 

[Evillevi]

Alchemy from full metal alchemist generally is weird because the mechanics of alchemy lies in the information . The only necessary physical thing is something that represent an unbroken circle but literally anything and nothing can be that circle.

This si why you can make circles from the absence of something such as the trench that made Hohenheim and Fater a stone and the eclipse being an absence of light.

More specifically for power, All forms of Alchemy is designed to take energy from somewhere but it's generally flexible as to where the alchemist wants the power to come from. Even with standard alchemy you could take it from human beings (to convert to stones), philosophers stone or the ground as required.

Alchemy also doesn't have a speicific shape that the resultant would need to follow. This is how combat alchemist function as their circles somehow allows them to customize the shape of the

 

[RazeByFire]

He might be able to use radiation and/or cosmic rays to power alchemy. Or skim a few decimals off the fusion drive of whatever ship he's on.

As for Alchemy, I wonder if he could use it to force biogel to prevent birth defects? Something that wouldn't require Alchemy after every treatment but could be spread around the Belt. That alone would make him an almost literal God to the Belters. Almost certainly he could cure heavy metal poisoning, which happens to Belters all the time. I can't wait to see what direction this takes.

 

[ryune]

Well, strictly speaking, if he got the right base knowledge then he could probably create a bacterial nano machine designed to help maintain humans in an environment with low to no gravity… a big thing to remember is that the difference between biology and machinery gets blurrier the smaller you get.

Something else that might be worth making is an enclosed hydroponics farm. If he can upgrade to aquaponics, he could even provide a nominally amount of fish and water filtration for some extra cash provided he can chimerize them into a fork that works in low gravity.

 

[Reece]

Your brain has the remarkable ability to look past things that should make it go absolutely insane. For example, a cupboard at one gee, inside a station with only nought point three gees standard was impossible. It wasn't just 'unlikely' or 'rare'. It was just straight up, not possible. So of course the human brain looked at the impossible and said to itself 'well what about the doorway? Gravity doesn't work that way' and convinced you to hyper focus on how impossible it was for there to be a sharp cut off of gravity in the doorway to the cupboard rather than the cupboard itself. It sliced away at impossible and cut it down into manageable chunks of insanity. Of course it could only do that to a limited extent; a cupboard was one thing, but an island? Yeah that was another.

The impossibility of my gravity defying workshop had been replaced with the impossibility of there being an entire floating island in my cupboard. An expanse of green grass leading out to a tower of oily black stone that jutted up from in front of a tangle of trees. Above it there was a wheeling blue sky dotted with only a few innocently fluffy clouds, casually drifting by in their abject defiance of sense. I walked out into it; groaning slightly at the pleasure of a hot sun beating down on my head, and the gentlest of breezes tickling my hair. Things that I never thought I'd ever feel again since ending up on Ceres. While I did so, I slowly became aware of the twelve figures that also occupied the sky.

All of them looked at first like half there twisters, I'd nearly dismissed them as figments of my imagination at first, or maybe a heat haze. But the longer I looked, the more concrete the details became. Blurred smears of faint lightning where their eyes would be; a twist of chain around where their necks would be, and the outline of greying clouds around their bodies that gave an impression of folded arms and muscled forms. They resembled a fantastical drawing of air elementals from when I was a child, or the more esoteric images of Dijins from mythology. I awkwardly waved at the three that were watching me from behind where the workshop door connected to the island. They stared back for a moment; then floated further out, seemingly content to ignore me. So I made my way to the tower ahead.

Entering was simple, on approach, a seam grew from the floor, stretching upwards and forming a twin set of black stone doors that swung open to reveal the ground floor. The workshop had been relocated there, without any major changes I might add. The only thing different was the lack of philosophers stand, and the replacement of the strip lighting with floating shards of glowing crystal. At the far end of the tower was a set of stairs that led to the second floor; that was where I found a major change.

The second floor was denoted by a large doorway, sealed with a twin set of silver doors, intricately carved with what looked like alchemical inscriptions. When I opened them, I nearly backed out there and then. The inside was lit by a cluster of glowing blue crystal spheres, that cast a dim wavy light onto everything in the 'lab.' Making the entire room feel faintly aquatic. The walls were covered in shelves containing glassware, common alchemical reagents, and various potted plants. In the centre of the room there was a stone depression ringed by various brass bowls and sticks of chalk. All of that would have been fine, except it wasn't just that. Half the walls had wooden tables underneath the shelves but the other half had lines of cages - sized from 'rat' all the way up to 'gorilla' sized - and three floor to ceiling bronze cylinders. The cylinders were the worst things; they each could be opened from the front and sealed to a watertight level. A porthole with a brass disk attached could be used to view the progress of whatever unholy creature you were brewing inside it.

It was in effect, the perfect workshop to do alchemy in. It even had a place for the philosophers sand - an illuminated alcove sequestered away near the 'grittier' alchemical reagents - and the rune carving kit. Though, I did get the vague impression that the kit would be moved soon? It was odd, like the tower itself didn't like the kit being splayed out on the same desk as the out dated medical tools. The floors past the alchemy lab weren't anywhere near as interesting though; all oft hem were empty, without even the glowing crystal shards of the first two floors. After the fifth - of thirty - floor of complete darkness illuminated by my pad torch app, I didn't bother going further.

I moved out of the tower quickly after that, not only did the alchemy lab give me the creeps, but I also got the distinct sensation that there was something watching me - not helped by the door to the alchemy lab swinging closed after I left - which didn't follow me outside. Plus, the smell of fresh air was still absolutely divine. I took a short walk around the tower - it was roughly the size of a city block, without the sharp edges - and found a small cluster of bushes just before the forest proper started.

"Oh fuck that's good." They were strawberries! Thick, plump, juicy strawberries with just the right mix of sweet and sharp flavours. After eating my fill of those I tramped through the woods for short while, hoping to maybe find evidence of animals frolicking nearby that I could also eat. My biologist mind was saying that if there was green stuff, then there was something eating the green stuff - especially with how neat and traversable the underbrush was - and that would mean there were things eating the things eating the green stuff. I was hoping for a full sized deer, or a muntjac; but I'd settle for squirrels, or fowls. Anything with meat on its bones really. But after fifteen minutes of walking I reached the edge of the island without seeing hide nor hare of anything bigger than a woodlouse. I didn't ruminate on it, I just looked around for something less meaty to eat.

"Now, how to get that down?" I murmured aloud. That in turn prompted another surprise to reveal itself. The leaves rustled gently, then an apple twisted itself off the branch and floated down in front of me. I once again got the feeling of being watched that I'd felt in the Alchemy lab; but this time it was also tinged with a faint air of expectation. I took the apple out of the air and took an experimental bite; crisp and delicious. The expectant air remained.

"Thanks?" The air faded along with the feeling of being watched. My new island apparently came with ghost butlers as well; because of course it did. Why wouldn't it. Air elemental guardians, and invisible servants; because it was a wizards tower after all. While munching on the apple, my pad buzzed again; Nicaro was messaging me again about work, I'd completely forgotten that he was waiting on a reply from me actually; which was definitely understandable given where I was. I held the apple in my mouth while I typed and walked. Before I reached the door, I suddenly had an idea - an experimental idea - about the food just 'hanging' around on my island.

"I really want there to be a nice big bag of strawberries when I get back!" I called out to whatever weird power was listening, then made my way to Nicaros shop. If that worked then I'd have a sack of delicious and valuable fruits to hawk to someone when I got back; and if it didn't work then I could just go and collect them myself when I had some free time. Either way I lost nothing. I had somewhat of a spring in my step when I arrived at the shop. I had a belly full of fruit, a decent amount of cash in my account, and there weren't any dead junkies rotting up my path. Like before, he locked the place up when I arrived; but both Mansa and Solomon were missing this time. It was just me and him as he explained the job to me.

"So, you want me to grab the guy from the dock?" I asked slowly, really hoping I'd misunderstood him. He nodded, raising an eyebrow at me like I was a little bit mentally insufficient.

"Yeah, you get him as he comes through immigration control; nice and simple ke?"

"That's a lot more than just grabbing some arsehole off of the street There's actual security down at immigration control. Can't I just grab him when he gets into the station proper?" I protested, bringing up my memories of the camera riddles, high security, high visibility cluster of scanners, desks and eagle eyed Star Helix cops.

"No Earther; he gets onto Ceres then he's gonna be dust on the ring, poof." He raised his hand and opened all the fingers, mimicking a comet or asteroid shattering to dust. So, the guy was slippery then? That might be a problem, immigration control didn't fuck around; they weren't just arseholes on the beat. They packed actual firearms, they knew how to use them and they weren't shy about blasting down jumped up gangers that only saw the Star Helix rental cops and assumed they could do as they please like normal. A bullet to the back of the head and a lifetime view of the stars - up close and personal - was often the reward of that hubris. Or so the local intranet had told me. I said as much to Nicaro; but he simply shrugged.

"If you don't want the work, you don't have to take the work ke-sa?"

Did I even want the work? I now had more than just a cupboard to call my own 'space'. I had an island, with a tower, and a small patch of land attached to it. I could get seeds to grow actual food there easy enough as well; if they were real, they were pricy but they did even sell it on Ceres. Phosphate levels might be a pain to get a proper hold of, anything good for growing organics was expensive - I checked - because all of it was eaten up by the greedy agri-domes on Ganymede. If it was a matter of food, I could simply live on my little island, grow some food and probably live a fairly easy time selling that. I'd already committed to helping out as much as I could though, and becoming a farmer wasn't really going to fit into that. Of course, neither would staying as muscle for Nicaro, not long term anyway. But it may give me at least a better lay of things. If I was serious about pitching in then I needed to make an effort to try and really get stuck in with the local players. Nicaro wasn't big; but he was definitely OPA.

"I never said that; I'm just saying, that might be a problem."

"Might not be, and if it is. You talk nice and fancy Earther to them, they leave you alone." He was severely overestimating exactly how much leeway 'talking fancy' would give me. I wasn't talking my way out of having to be down the docks. He was also probably right, I was the best fit for grabbing him there. Solomon stood out like a sore thumb and I'd bet good money on him having some previous run ins with Star Helix that'd get him flagged the second he started loitering near immigration. Mansa was too frail to make any sort of grab attempt; him trying to kidnap someone would probably end with the guy accidentally crushing his spin when he fought back. I was an unknown on the station; I looked like I could just be waiting for a friend, or a relative to arrive. The guy coming off the ship would be unlikely to make me as his abductor; and once I had my hands on him he likely wasn't breaking free.

"Simple job, the man we need is Kenzo Gabriel; a fake name. He's inyalowda; like you. A spy for Earth; not like you." So of course I would have the best shot at grabbing him then; me and him both grew up in 1G so at least we should be evenly matched. Assuming of course that he didn't have some hitherto unknown spy training that would let him turn me inside out with kung fu ... or he had a gun, if he had a gun I was pretty fucked. An Earth spy definitely had at least some firearms training, which would trump my 'no' firearms training. Also, had heard that name before, I just couldn't put my finger on where; which was weird considering that until about a week ago I didn't even exist around here.

"So, you need any tools?" Nicaro interrupted my ruminations.

"Tools?" Was he taking the piss out of my hammer? I could definitely do some damage with that hammer if I wanted to.

"Yeah; tools." He pulled a silver ribbed case from under the counter; and opened it on the countertop.

Inside the small case was a collection of what were clearly firearms. A collection of black and grey pistols neatly slotted in next to each other. I was about to protest when I saw the 'vac-safe' label on the handles of them. These weapons were specifically made for use near the 'skins' of ships. The largest of the pistols was some sort of gyrojet gun. I gingerly lifted it out and examined it more closely; my newfound engineering comprehension filled me in on how it worked. An eleven shot magazine, each rocket was synced to a laser sight on the top of the gun, making it 'vacuum safe'. You pulled the trigger halfway and the laser turned on, lased down a range and sent it back to the rocket, then pulling it the rest of the way would fire of a rocker that detonated mere milimetres away from the target. The tiny warhead on the tip was a near perfect concussive charge; no piece of shrapnel larger than a paperclip. Theoretically I could magdump into a spaceside window and it wouldn't even crack the glass. I wouldn't be testing that, but it was better to have any safety net than having no safety net.

"Not a bad piece Earther. You need anything else?" He jerked his head towards the back of the shop; I could see a 3-D CNC machine and a printer underneath a plastic sheet. I briefly considered asking to use them, but realistically I had nothing to do with it; any alchemy circles I made would be haphazard at best. I'd be better off using the lab I now had on the island. I shook my head and - after checking the safety - shoved the pistol in my jacket pocket. Nicaro handed me two spare clips of rockets, then held up his pad.

"Details" He clarified at my questioning look, I nodded then I held up my own pad.

He tapped his pad against mine; sending over the details of the guy I was supposed to grab and I knew immediately where I knew the name from. He was the spy that Earth snuck aboard the Rocinante from Tycho. The one that set up the crew ready to be knocked down and killed by the UN blacks ops team. The one that Fred Johnson didn't realise was siphoning data from his systems and feeding back to Earth companies. The one that got integrated into the protomolecule; but more importantly, the one that told the crew of the Rocinante how to avoid getting boarded by the MCRN patrol craft. Without him they weren't going to get away without being boarded; and if that happened then they were never going to find the Anubis, or make the connection between the stealth ships, Toth station and Protogen. This, significantly complicated things for me.

"You good?" Nicaro asked, noting my sudden silence with a raised brow.

"Yeah, when's his ship coming in?" It was a pretty good stroke of luck that Nicaro was getting lumped with this job.

"Look see." He tapped his pad again, taking control of mine and highlighting the incoming personnel manifests. Two days away if they made a rendezvous with a second cargo freighter they were scheduled for; one of they didn't. So worse case was I had a single day to plan a play where I get me, and this spy off of Ceres, underneath the eyes of Nicaro and whoever asked him to field this job. Then we needed to get back out to Tycho; meet up with the crew of the Rocinante and somehow assist them in getting through the MCRN trade inspection zone. All without getting shot, made or tossed out an airlock. Or ... I could send a message. I relaxed slightly at that thought. I was in the 'future', everyone was microchipped to hell and back, every detail was meticulously noted down somewhere. The only way to hide was in plain sight or through obfuscation. I didn't need to physically get onto Tycho; I just needed to send them a message.

"Thanks." I muttered, then pocketed my pad. Nicaro ushered me out of the shop and sealed it behind him, leaving me meandering around the streets with my mind a mess. Kenzo being here wasn't part of the plan - in so far as there was a 'plan' - he was a left field shot that I didn't expect to see. I was going through things almost by rote; letting things happen, then preparing to react to them rather than actively trying to predict them or changes to them that could occur. I was the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings; and with how far out everyone was connected in this world, I could be making hurricanes with every flap. Waiting for those same hurricanes to come and flatten me and my designs wasn't going to work. I needed to be more pro-active.

"Find me, hardware stores." I raised my pad to my lips and whispered to it as I walked. It gave me the nearest route to a cheap second hand parts store. 'Ships, chips and dips'. Cheap and cheerful down by the docks according to the review. When I arrived, I agreed with the review, cheap and cheerful was exactly what it looked like. It wasn't even a proper door; or a proper shop. It was a cluster of shipping containers all fused together, with plastic flaps on the front serving as an entrance.

Entering I was presented with a floating drone the size of a Dalmatian; it buzzed at me and synced with my pad. [HAULER 6 LINKED, VERBAL COMMAND INPUT]. It was a 'self service' system them, made sense. No point hiring someone to haul heavy gear when a machine could do it easier and for cheaper. I began walking down the isles of busted machinery while the drone followed. To my engineers mind the entire place was like a candy store. It was an odd sensation really; the technology was fantastically advanced compared to my own time on Earth; but compared to my understanding of engineering that Megas XLR granted; and the intuition that weaponizing mining gear granted it was almost quant looking.

"I'll take the err, that." I gestured with my finger at a partially assembled small magnetic bottle. The drone helpfully hooked it down and hauled it onto my cart. I soon added a cluster of sensor packets, a smart drone computer, and a dozen other parts to put towards the design going through my head. Most of the parts of a Megas XLR weren't available here for obvious reasons; I couldn't even build the tools, to make the tools that would make the tools to make the parts I would need for something like that. But I did now possess a gifted understanding of how a lot of those parts worked, how to fit them and how to kitbash a lot of them. Giant robots were off the menu - for now - but I could make something that would be helpful from the parts I had with me. A big part of being an engineer was after all, knowing how to innovate out a solution on the spot.

"That everything bossmang?" The bored looking teen clerk asked, crunching away on some piece of mysterious fried food from a silver foil packet.

"Yeah...wait, you sell ships?" The clerk at the counter looked me up and down dubiously, obviously doubting my ability to actually pay for any of the ships he sold; but dutifully brought up a list - with images - of what was for sale at dock. Most of it was pure trash, second hand junkers, barely functional flying scrapheaps that were going for barely above the prices you'd pay for the materials by themselves. That was fine, I wasn't interested all that much in buying one of them. I just was glad to know which ones were at dock and unmanned.

"They come with fusion pellets?" I asked, tapping out the credit transfer for the parts I'd already selected; most of my recent payout went into these.

"If you pay for the pellets they do." He scoffed, then closed down the window; I suppose me doing the space version of 'does this car come with petrol' was a pretty good indicator that I wasn't going to be taking any of the flying hunks of crap he was selling as ships. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, get me that hydrogen compressor will you. The little one." If I couldn't easily get the pellets; then I could just make them myself. Once it was all paid off I arranged for it to be shipped to my little room via drone; the clerk once again gave me a dubious look once he read the address, but once again complied. As I was walking back to my apartment I once again got a pulse behind the eyes; but this time I felt a vague feeling of ... 'biology'. It wasn't so much the intent behind the last few things I'd received, but rather some sort of implication of what I'd been given could be used for. I got the distinct feeling that it was something to do with modifying biology, or changing biology in some way. Part of the pro-active approach I needed to take meant taking it towards the things I was being given by my 'power' as well. So to that end, I spent the very last of my wages on a box of cute little white rats, and a malnourished looking rabbit. They looked at me with some animal intelligence while I walked them up the tower steps.

The rats I secured in the small cages inside the alchemy room; putting in a few of the strawberries that had floated over to me when I'd arrived. There was - sadly - no bulging bag full of them when I got back; which meant that whatever invisible forces that lived here didn't obey my commands when I left the island; or they didn't remain active when I left the island. Either way it meant I couldn't just give them a command then leave them building, or collecting for hours at a time without me being here. Which was a shame, but not world ending.

"Yeah, sorry guys." I murmured to the rabbit, gently stroking the back of its neck. The opening to the third floor had been replaced with a thick steel bulkhead door, decorated with a trio of radiation warnings, biohazard symbols and a skull and crossbones. "Looks like it's not the er, fun kind of biology." The rabbit seemed to almost glare back up at me. I understood his anger, I really did. Poor little guy, Still, sacrifices had to be made in the name of discovery; I couldn't just ignore it because it might end up hurting a rabbit or some rats. The inside oft he 'lab' was a bare, sterile looking room filled with microscopes, slides, burners, a wash sink and a load of high quality looking chemistry glassware. I left the rabbit caged on one of the three room length workbenches while I made my way over to the walk in cold room where my newest 'gift' was waiting for me. Three long syringes filled with a pink solution. They were stored on the 'active material' tray against the wall in a sealed plastic bag with the label 'Gourmet' printed on it along with a biohazard warning.

I snapped on a pair of gloves, donned a labcoat and goggles and opened the voice recording app on my pad. Then gently transferred the struggling rabbit to a clear plastic incubator, prepping syringes and a slide for examining blood under the microscope.

"I will begin with a blood sample of the healthy test subject, and expose it to the 'Gourmet Cells' which will be referred to as 'G cells' from now on. Taking blood now.."

E-=-X​

Gourmet Cells (Toriko) (100CP)

You acquire either 3 Injections of Gourmet Cells capable of granting Gourmet Cells in a matter of hours or enough Gourmet Pills to grant 3 people Gourmet Cells over the course of a 5 year period through daily ingestion. Injections are a quick way to power up but very few survive the process while Pills have a significantly higher success rate but take time. Acquiring either grants you the ability to harvest Gourmet Cells and create your own Injections and Pills with trial and error. Plants and animals can both be injected or given pills so you may attempt to gather more cells at a later date.


Points banked this chapter: 100 (Total points: 100 )

I had this chapter half finished yesterday; but then I forgot that the 'draft' feature on QQ's post maker didn't last forever, RIP the previous form of this chapter. It had a much longer description of the tower; but after it got nuked I just didn't have the mental will to write it out again, so I did the shorter description; and a shorter chapter overall because of that.

No update on this until at least January 11th I'm afraid. Will try and get a few of the 'mad science' omakes on here before then though. But they will be a lot more 'joking around' or a lot darker than this is.

EDIT: Also: Merry Christmas

 

[EntropyEnginear]

Gourmet cellssssssssss!?! You mean those things that let you advance to basically godhood if you eat enough delicious things?!?. Damn he'll have to figure out how to grow enough food for himself or else he'd be fucked if he ever digests it. But either way food porn awaits.

 

[Whenever Possible]

Gourmet cellssssssssss!?! You mean those things that let you advance to basically godhood if you eat enough delicious things?!?. Damn he'll have to figure out how to grow enough food for himself or else he'd be fucked if he ever digests it. But either way food porn awaits.

Click to shrink...

They let you get strong enough to wreck planets if you eat enough tasty things, but those tasty things need to have strong gourmet cells of their own, and generating enough Gourmet Cells to reach that point involves basically cooking an entire planet.

And Gourmet Cell terraforming takes a lot longer than protomolecule terraforming, so I don't think this protag, with three injections worth of Gourmet Cells and any extra he can grow himself, will be reaching Food-Demon/Nitro/Acacia levels of power any time soon.

But still, it's an item that promises to be very entertaining.