Dimensional Workshop - Chapter 6

Dimensional Workshop - Chapter 6

Lacrima was an interesting material.

I’d wanted to get my hands on it from the moment the door to the workshop opened in Earthland, but since the whole situation was kicked off by Natsu, I’d come to the realisation that Earthland was not yet safe for me. 

I wasn’t Kakashi, I was enhanced, sure, but this wasn’t a small fry universe like Cyberpunk. Being enhanced, even having a basic understanding of magic, was not enough to feel a hundred percent safe in such a chaotic, nonsensical world. I needed to train my magic, probably create a support system of items and skills for myself, before I could feel safe in a world like that.

Still, I’d figured out a better way to get my hands on Lacrima.

I’d told Laxus and his crew that they would never pay for food here. What I hadn’t expected was for them to have a moral code strong enough to try and refuse my offer. So, we came to a middle ground.

They wouldn’t pay in jewels, but would do odd tasks for the food. I didn’t mind that one bit, and they got a place to hang out that wasn’t the Fairy Tail guild. Considering their rapidly deteriorating relationship with the guild members, it was a match made in heaven.

That, plus the way they treated Naruko like a surrogate sister was reason enough for me to allow them to chill here. That, plus they were fun to talk to.

Given this give-and-take agreement, the first thing I’d asked them to get me was a supply of Lacrima. I’d seen the material used pretty much in every technology in the anime. From being used for communication to running an entire inn, Lacrima was always nebulous, never well explained. 

Especially the fact that using a dragon heart, one could create a Lacrima that could bestow the power of a dragonslayer on someone. Something Laxus was well aware of.

The problem was, unlike the FT world, I had easy access to dragon hearts. Skyrim was a wellspring of materials. For everything else? I had my Material Extruder. 

Lacrima and Dragon Hearts had also revealed to me a limitation of the material extruder. While upgrading it had cut down on the time required for basic materials, its current level did not allow me to use it to generate ‘unique’ materials. Both Lacrima and Dragon Hearts counted as ‘unique’, one likely because it was unique to Fairy Tail, and that other anime by the same guy, and the second due to the fact that each Dragon Heart was a unique item.

Of course, Lacrima was also required in volume, while Dragon Hearts were extremely rare. The shop wanted me to trade for them, at least till I’d invested enough SP and KP into the system to make such trades nothing but a chore.

I didn’t want to be a dragon slayer anyways. Sure the power of one was ridiculous, but so were the issues that came with being a dragon slayer. That, and as much as I loved making friends, the ‘power of nakama’ was not an ideology I subscribed to.

What I needed the Lacrima for was much simpler in concept. It was a programmable crystal, and after spending three hundred SP to get the Basic Algorithmy skill, I was slowly coming to realize just how useful Lacrima could be.

Every minute I spent in the workshop was a minute I was not making trades, was a minute I had to keep the shop closed. I needed automation. I needed an AI.

Which led me to my current project. I’d paid Laxus and his crew to get me a dozen boxes of Lacrima. They’d offered to get it for free, but my conscience wouldn’t allow for that. Just the fact that they were willing to handle the logistics for me was enough. Now, with enough Lacrima in my workshop to not need more for a few months, I’d already started tinkering.

The concept was simple. An AI that I could use to verbally transmit orders to the workshop, input directions to the STC, and then transport the output to the shopfront. A management system that could give me visual updates on the progress of my projects. It was simple in theory, but with the amount of moving parts involved, it was starting to become a headache.

Still, it was teaching me a lot about magic. Programming Lacrima wasn’t about sitting down with a keyboard and writing syntax. It was more artistic than that. Using magic to subtly imprint commands into the stone, then shaping it physically to be able to carry out that task. It was a riveting process, and helped me fine-tune my newfound magical abilities.

Even considering all that, progress had been made, enough for today, at least. I got up from the table I was working on, built using the STC to give me a workbench that wasn’t already taken over by one of the shop machines. The AI was linked to a set of movable arms, each fashioned out of lightweight metal and granted mobility by small servos too complicated to be replicated by current day technology, it all rested on a simple four-wheeled contraption that could move it around the workshop.

Enough to function perfectly as a proxy for me. Good enough for me.

I left the workshop and took my place behind the counter. It was time to test basic functionality, and considering I’d only linked up two machines, it was time to test it out.

“AI, three eggs, poached to perfection, with a side of bacon and fresh, toasted sourdough bread, seasoned with salt and pepper.” I intoned. I would have to calibrate it to take mental commands, but the subtlety of thought-based input was much harder to program than simple voice-based commands.

Not that this command was simple. Sure, poached eggs were nothing complicated by themselves, but getting the entire order right without me providing the alchemy station with a mental image as well as usage of my own body was the main test here, and as the dish appeared in the landing pad behind the counter, I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

The eggs were done to perfection, the bacon was crispier than I’d have preferred, but then again I preferred my bacon extra crispy. The seasoning was a bit lacking too, but all of these issues could be attributed to a lack of complex commands, and a lack of the AI’s understanding of taste and personal preferences.

That would be the next step, well, that and better locomotion, better input methods, there were a lot of ‘next steps’. 

Yet, there was also a lot of time too, it was a different kind of enjoyment, learning something myself instead of having the knowledge crammed into my head by the constellation. I was always a hands-on guy, so a part of me had missed the active component of working on my projects.

Magic gave me that avenue. Knowledge was one thing, but mastery? That came with use and abuse. Making the AI could be considered ‘use’.

Now, it was time to abuse magic a little.

LB

I had to give it to Mjoll, she kept the outskirts of Riften real clean. 

I zoomed past the treeline, acceleration was the first spell I’d decided to master, and reinforcement went hand-in-hand. Basic spells that compounded on one another, making me move faster than any human had the right to.

It was still not comparable to a shinobi going full-tilt, nor was it nuanced enough to outdo a high-grade Sandevastan, but it was something I could sustain for a full fight, and that had its own advantages.

I located a Saber Cat before it even sensed me approaching. The way it jumped in surprise was reminiscent of a house-cat. Then again, it was the evolutionary apex of the same species, so while funny, the reaction made sense.

My hand moved quickly, mana coalesced and shot out, an arc of wind, accelerated past anything I could achieve by simple physical force. My first offensive spell, wind cutter, shot out and left a deep gouge in the Saber Cat’s side, cutting up the skin and muscle from its hind leg to its chest.

It roared in pain, making me scowl. I’d been aiming for a one-hit kill, but it seemed that resistance to magic was a very real thing. I’d tried it out on a steel beam in the workshop, and it had cut through it like butter.

Either way, the attack had massively cut down on the Saber Cat’s agility, and as it tried to lunge at me, I quickly buried another wind cutter in its face, ending it.

“That’s unlike any magic I’ve seen before.” Mjoll spoke, walking out behind me. I’d asked Sven for help, but the Dragonborn was busy doing Dragonborn things, so I’d asked Mjoll. The good-natured warrior hadn’t even asked for repayment, but that just meant I’d have to make something extra special for her.

Also, Skyrim graphics really didn’t do her justice. Tall blonde stunner were the only words I could use to describe her. God, the women of Skyrim really were extra spicy in real life. 

“It’s a simple wind spell.” I commented. “Speed up the wind enough and you can basically turn it into a blade.”

“Interesting.” She spoke, walking up to the Saber Cat’s corpse. “Wind magic isn’t something I’ve ever heard of. Then again, I've never seen half the stuff that’s available for sale in your shop.”

Which made sense, she was, for all intents and purposes, living in a world stuck in the equivalent of magical middle ages. I’d given her a pack of paprika chips as a pick-me-up for the journey, and the way she’d gone all bug-eyed at one small taste was enough to remind me not to give her anything with a more drastic taste profile.

Even though I had a healthy stock of sour candy at the shop, I wasn’t that evil.

“It’s just a side benefit of being me.” I joked, walking over to the Saber Cat. One thing that was very different from the games was that, in order to harvest materials from killed enemies, you had to skin them, and as much of an outdoorsman as I was, I had no idea how to skin a cat, let alone a cat the size of a motorbike.

Thankfully, Mjoll beat me to it. Her skinning knife was out and about before I could so much as request her to skin it. One look at the wry smirk she gave me was enough for me to know what she thought of me. I couldn’t even refute it, compared to her, I might as well be a prissy little city dweller.

So as she skinned the Sabre Cat, I summoned a door to my shop. The fact that she didn’t even act confused as a door appeared next to us was testament to just how used to my shenanigans she was at this point. I quickly ran over to the workshop, and walked over to the alchemy station. 

I would have used my AI, which I still had to give a name to, but this required a personal touch. The Material Extruder started to work as herbs and spices appeared on the alchemy station. My hands moved, reducing mixtures in beakers, extracting essential oils from half a dozen herbs. A base of tobacco was crucial for what I was making, and as the amazing smell started to fill the workshop, the STC came alive.

It was a crystal bottle, cut out of one single rock. It reflected light in a thousand hues, giving the insides a completely different color based on whichever angle I was looking at it from. My hands quickly poured the perfume I’d created into the bottle, topping it with an atomizer. As my fugue state ended, I finally beheld my creation.

It was a perfume unlike any the world had ever seen, with the smell changing based on the user’s mood, preference, or whim. The bottle, now with the liquid inside, was no longer changing color based on viewing angle, but based on what I wanted the perfume inside to smell like.

The bottle was also a lot bigger on the inside than it looked. Science, not magic. Dimensional fuckery born from a deeper understanding of spatial physics than humanity had reached in my world, a testament to the fact that, at a smaller scale of production, I was lightyears ahead of my world.

I didn’t create any packaging for it, because all it would do is detract from the beauty of the bottle. I simply walked out, watching Mjoll dig a little hole for the Saber Cat’s remains.

“I know you said you didn’t want anything in return for helping me.” I spoke, holding the bottle up, “but I’d feel bad if I didn’t at least give you something.”

Her eyes were transfixed by the bottle, all the while, I could see her trying to figure out just what it was that I was offering her. She took it from my hand, gingerly holding the bottle as if it was something too precious for her hands. “What… is this?”

“You know those sprays I sell to Sven?” I asked, getting a nod from her, “Well, consider this a more advanced version of that.”

She popped open the wooden cap, and her eyes lit up in recognition as she saw the atomizer nozzle. It made me chuckle, that something so foreign could be something recognisable to her, but Sven had pretty much indoctrinated all of them into the cult of Axe body spray. 

She pressed down, and as a fine mist of fragrance shot out of the nozzle, her entire demeanor changed. 

The scent was as much magic as it was chemistry. While to me, it smelled like a deeper, richer version of the smell of toasting s’mores, it probably smelt like something different to her.

“That… that’s the smell of dew on lemongrass.” She whispered. “Mother would wake me up early in the morning, to teach me the sword in the yard. I’d almost forgotten this smell.” She clammed up, staring directly into my eyes. I could see the dampness around her eyes, yet not a single tear fell.

She was the lioness, after all.

“This is too precious a gift for such a little service.” She spoke, putting an arm on my shoulder.

“Consider it payment for future babysitting jobs too, then.” I chuckled nervously. A predatory look was appearing on her face, and as hot as it was, it was also concerning.

“No, no.” She shook her head, her expression feral. “I have a better idea.”

I gulped.

LB

I could barely walk.

It had taken Mjoll ten minutes to completely cave me in. Dragging me to her house, she made very sure that I didn’t leave all night. Not that she had to do much. I was still very much a hot-blooded male, and by god she was fucking gorgeous.

I just hadn’t expected her to be so fucking strong too. Jesus H Christ even with my enhanced physique that woman had tried every thing in her power to reduce my pelvis to dust, and as grumpy as I looked, wincing with every step, I was not complaining.

Downing a few potions from my dwindling supply was a fair price to pay for being ridden by a literal amazonian all night.

As I stumbled into my shop, I realized that I wasn’t alone. I grimaced. Now was definitely not the time for visitors, yet watching the conflicted look on Erza’s face was enough to momentarily make me push back the pain.

“I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.” I spoke, walking over to the counter, I picked out a potion and downed it in one go, feeling the pain subside to numbness. God damn, it felt like I’d done a leg day from hell.

“I… I came to apologise.” Erza spoke in a whisper, “For my inaction, not for Natsu.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really now?”

She shook her head. “Natsu is… he’s never really grown up. Never really had a childhood in the typical sense.” 

Oh, I was aware, more aware than anyone else on the planet save for Zeref, and maybe Irene. Erza had no context of just how fucked Natsu’s childhood was. She also underestimated just how little I cared about it.

“That does not give him the right to endanger others. You do know this, right?” I asked. After all, Erza herself hadn’t had a ‘good’ childhood either. Context was a weird thing when the person apologizing on someone else’s behalf was not exactly in the best headspace themselves.

“I understand, and I also think he has been punished enough.” Erza spoke with one of her patented ninety degree bows. “I’m just here to formally apologise. I should have been more attentive. I should have been -”

“You do not share in the blame for this.” I cut her off, raising a hand. “He’s a grown-ass man, and between Kakashi’s reaction and him being banned from my shop, he’s been punished enough.”

Erza’s frown eased up slightly at my words. “I can accept that. I just hope that one day you’ll be amenable to lifting that ban.”

I sighed. “If I notice enough of a change in his behavior, then sure. I’ll do it.”

Erza raised an eyebrow at my statement. “And how will you know when you haven’t visited the guild hall since that night?”

I gave her a wry smirk. “Oh, I have my sources.”

“That brings me back to my other question.” Erza continued. “You haven’t visited the guild once since that incident.”

She was right about that. Then again, between my sudden obsession with magic and my free time being taken up by Naruko, who’d begun her schooling and often dropped by with her homework. I had no time to visit the guild. That, and I really had nothing to do with the guild to begin with.

They didn’t need me yet, and I didn’t need them yet, and I wasn’t exactly going to tell Erza that she and her crew were going to be stuck in time for seven years.

“I’m not sure you’ve noticed, but I kinda have a shop to run.” I answered. “I can’t afford to spend every evening in the guild, drunk off my tits.”

Erza shook her head. “Still, you haven’t even been introduced to the entirety of the guild yet! Especially after the trouble we recently had with Phantom Lord. You would have been safer if you’d been at the guild hall!”

“The shop is more durable than it looks, you know?” I shot back. Explaining to her that my shop was - in fact - indestructible, owing to the fact that it existed between dimensions, was not part of my agenda for the day.

“Still, a lot of our members, master included, got hurt badly during it all. I would have preferred to have you in a place where I could have my eye on you.” She commented.

I sighed. “I appreciate your concern, Erza, but I can take care of myself just fine.”

“And If he can’t, then I can make sure he’ll survive.” 

I sighed as Kakashi walked into the shop, Naruko’s hand clutched securely in his own. It was adorable to see Kakashi step in as a father-figure in Naruko’s life, and the smile she wore on her face was enough to tell me that for all his shortcomings, Kakashi’s presence had massively increased Naruko’s happiness.

I might have had something to do with that as well, as Naruko, the endless ball of energy that she was, ran right at me and hugged my legs. I picked her up, getting a happy giggle from her. 

“Were you good today, my little princess?” I asked her, booping her nose.

“Yes! We started learning taijutsu today! Kakashi said I’m a natural!” She spoke, giving me one of those patented smiles that could melt the most frozen of hearts.

“Now now, I wouldn’t go that far.” Kakashi replied with an eye smile, completely ignoring Erza, who was glaring daggers at him. A weaker man would have been cowed by her glare, but for someone who had been through an entire ninja was as a child soldier? Erza might as well could have been a child throwing a tantrum.

“Meanie! You said I was good!” Naruko shot back with a pout. I gave her a pat on the head, instantly lifting her mood again. 

“I’ve got some snacks in the back room for you, Naru. Go put your bag down and eat up. Me and Kakashi will be there soon.” I spoke, putting her down. Gods, she was growing like a weed. Then again, the temporal gap between her world and mine was the main culprit there.

The way her eyes lit up at the mention of snacks? That kind of enthusiasm was unlikely to change, no matter how old she got. She zoomed away towards the back room before either Kakashi or me could stop her. Not that we would. 

Erza wanted to talk, after all.

“I understand that you are strong, but you’re not a member of the guild.” Erza spoke through grit teeth. “Ryan should be protected by his guild.”

“Isn’t that pink guy who tried to burn down the shop part of the guild?” Kakashi countered coolly.

Erza’s reply was a grimace. “Be that as it may, there’s strength in numbers. Multiple parts of Magnolia were crushed during Phantom Lord’s assault. It was lucky that the shop survived.”

“My, and now you’re looking down on Ryan’s ability to protect his shop.” Kakashi countered, giving her one of his patented eye-smiles, an action that only served to infuriate and exasperate her further.

“His ability to protect his shop isn’t in question! They attacked with a-” Erza began, before I cut her off again.

“A quadruped mecha cannon structure the size of a small mountain? Yeah, that was rather hard to miss.” I lied. I wasn’t even aware that the phantom lord arc had happened in the last week or so. Still, it would have been weird for someone living in Magnolia to have missed all that destruction.

“As much as I appreciate your concern, Erza, I’m fully capable of defending myself.” It was a half-lie. Inside the shop? I was practically immortal. Outside? Earthland had powerhouses that I knew could break me limb-from-limb for fun.

“Well that settles it then.” Kakashi finished. “Naru-chan’s waiting, you know?”

“One second!” Erza stated, her voice wasn’t raised, but there was an edge in it that was hard to miss. Her gaze was locked completely on Kakashi.

“I know Natsu’s behavior was unacceptable, but you broke his jaw.” Erza stated. “Disciplining him is my job.”

“And you suck at it, I get it. No need to thank me for doing what you couldn’t.” Kakashi shot back.

A moment of silence hung between the two, before I decided to cut in.

“If you two are going to kiss, let me know beforehand.” I spoke in a voice void of emotion. “And if you guys want to fight, take it elsewhere.”

“I do want to fight him.” Erza spoke, taking a step forward. She was tiny compared to Kakashi, but her presence was undeniable. 

It didn’t matter one bit to Kakashi, who waved her away. “Now, why would I want to do that?”

That stopped Erza in her tracks, and I could understand why. Living around Natsu was very likely to warp someone’s perception of fighting, moreso just the idea that someone didn’t want to settle matters via the age-old tradition of throwing hands was suddenly a confusing notion.

“Go on, give me one reason why I should fight you?” Kakashi asked, and I could imagine the smirk under his mask. 

Erza, to her credit, looked like she was deep in thought. A minute passed, then another, and as the silence stretched out longer than I would have liked, I remembered that Erza was only good at looking smart.

That head was as empty as Natsu’s.

“You know what? If you can come up with a reason for me to fight you. I’ll do it.” Kakashi commented, walking past.

“Just, don’t threaten those who mean something to me.” He commented, disappearing into the back room.

“Because if you do, all you’ll get is a massacre.”

LB

Next chapter will be up in a few days. I'm going to be travelling so this was delayed by a day. This is also a bit of an interstitial chapter, so expect more 'substance' in the next chapter.

As always, join the discord for more shenanigans. Link is https://discord.com/invite/AP8nG65RmA