[RPG] Mine.chr (DDLC/Minecraft)

Spoiler: Winning choice

-[X] Fight off the horde (Great Melee EXP gain)
--[X] Plan? (Write-in)
---[X] *Quickly* craft an iron sabre and iron shield
---[X] Get outside, build a pile of blocks to let you get up onto the roof without them being able to follow you. Use your shield to defend against any arrows the skeletons send at you and stab any spiders that try to climb up to you. The horde will likely swarm the house next to where you're standing, try to reach down and pick them off from above as safely as possible. If you get injured too much, break through the roof to go hide in the basement. If you sufficiently thin out the horde without being too injured, climb down off the roof to finish them off.

Note: the plan is actually the first one that Firefall wrote, only with an extra added posthumously after I declared that we did have time to craft one or two things. I hope nobody will mind having a little extra chances on our side.

---

Spoiler: Rolls

Combat rolls! Horde mode!
Monika: HP 20; Defense 8; Damage 10(6 +50% [Armorless], +20% [Armswoman 1])
Mob horde: HP 60; Defense 3; Damage 2d4+4 (HP-dependent)

Roll 1: 7+3(Iron Shield)+3(Vantage point) VS 2+5(Horde bonus, HP-dependent) = 13 VS 7
Horde HP: 70-(10-3) = 53

Roll 2: 5+3+3 VS 4+5 = 11 VS 9
Horde HP: 53-(10-3) = 46

Roll 3: 8+3+3 VS 9+4 = 14 VS 12
Horde HP: 46-(10-3) = 39

Roll 4: 17+3+3 VS 5+4 = 23 VS 9
Horde HP: 39-(10-3) = 32

Roll 5: 14+3+3 VS 15+4 = 20 VS 19
Horde HP: 32-(10-3) = 25

Roll 6: 18+3+3 VS 20+3 = 24 VS 23 (Horde wins clash due crit)
Monika HP: 20-[(1d4+2)+50%] = 20-6 = 12

Roll 7: 16+3+3 VS 18+3 = 22 VS 21
Horde HP: 25-(10-3) = 18

Roll 8: 8+3+3 VS 4+2 = 14 VS 6
Horde HP: 18-(10-3) = 11

Roll 9: 6+3+3 VS 4+2 = 12 VS 6
Horde HP: 11-(10-3) = 4

Roll 10: 3+3+3 VS 8+1 = 9 VS 9 (Tie)

Roll 11: 20+3+3 VS 12+1 = 26 VS 13
Horde HP: 4-(6+50%+50%+20%) = 4-13 = -9 [Horde clear!]

[Boss Approaching!]

Monika: HP 12/20; Defense 8; Damage 7(6 +20% [Armswoman 1])
???: HP 20; Defense 4; Damage 10

Roll 1: 4+3 VS 11+2 (Ancient Shield) = 7 VS 13
Monika HP: 12-(10-8) = 10
HP at 50%! Morale check, DC 10: 20! +2 Damage on next hit!

Roll 2: 18+3 VS 15+2 = 21 VS 17
??? HP: 20-(7+2-4) = 15

Roll 3: 18+3 VS 6+2 = 21 VS 8
??? HP: 15-(7-4) = 12

Roll 4: 10+3 VS 12+2 = 13 VS 14
Monika HP: 10-(10=8) = 8
Morale check, DC 12: 12

Roll 5: 5+3 VS 9+3 = 8 VS 12
Monika HP: 8-(10=8) = 6
Morale check, DC 14: 19

Roll 6: 11+3 VS 9+2 = 14 VS 11
??? HP: 12-(7-4) = 9

Roll 7: 7+3 VS 3+2 = 10 VS 5
??? HP: 9-(7-4) = 6

Roll 8: 9+3 VS 8+2 = 12 VS 10
??? HP: 6-(7-4) = 3

Roll 9: 7+3 VS 4+2 = 10 VS 6
??? HP: 6-(7-4) = 0 [BOSS DEAD]

Looking at the sheer number of monsters crawling their way into what should've been a safe place, Monika realized that her current armaments were in dire need of an upgrade. She didn't have enough materials for everything, nor the time to get it done regardless, so she had to settle for an iron shield and to upgrade from her stone saber to an iron one. While she could've gone for a diamond one, the diamonds were in a chest in the basement, and there was no time to get it. The iron instead was just a quick inventory command away.

Now slightly better armed, Monika made her way to the top of her house, the last bastion between herself and them. And she'd abuse what little battle tactics she knew to the best of her ability, to make sure it remained standing. She observed as the zombies and green things piled up against the wall, trying to climb over each other in an uncoordinated mass of limbs and flesh. The spiders were better off, scaling the walls directly.

With a furious roar she cut down the spiders, not giving them any chance to reorient themselves as she brought down the wrath of god on them... in this case god being a woman absolutely done with everything's shit.

Focused as she was on the spiders, one of the few skeletons with both arms intact took the chance to take a shot at her. The chestplate proved its worth as it prevented a killing shot from being such, stopping the arrow from piercing her lungs. Somehow though, the shot had enough power to punch through iron, and embed itself into her back with enough power to stagger her, and just barely graze her lung. If anything pushed the arrow deeper, it might have spelled her doom. But in that moment, Monika paid no attention to it. It was painful as all fuck, but remembering the agony of fracturing multiple bones this was relatively easier to deal with. Her shield arm felt a bit stiffer, but she could still move it, so that was good enough for now.

The zombies had begun to reach the ceiling too, alongside the skeletons that couldn't use a bow anymore. Whether by her swing, by being pushed off the building, or simply by having their head crushed under her foot, they all found their end in the storm of rage that currently was Monika. The skeletons on the ground tried to get a few potshots off still, but the arrows were either parried by the disposable meatshields surrounding their target, or by her own shield.

A zombie's head burst apart seemingly out of nowhere, but after a moment Monika spotted the skeleton that had shot her before. The bow in its hands had a glow about it, reminiscent of the mana crystals. Perhaps it was magical in some way. That by itself increased its priority on her kill-list immensely. But unfortunately she was stuck cleaning up the horde coming at her.

Using the pile of bodies -- which wasn't turning into smoke yet for some reason -- one of the few green things climbed up to her. But didn't attack. Instead it simply stood there, glaring at her.

That simple act threw off Monika enough for her to take a moment to notice the glow in the creature's chest. And then its hiss reached her ears, a hiss sounding not unlike a cartoonish dynamite stick getting ready to explode.

Just as her mind made that connection she kicked the monster away from her. And that seemed to be the right choice, as she sent it barreling towards its last few remaining comrades and the glow increased. The monster's chest began to expand, and then it detonated. Nothing remained of it, in the slightest. The same went for the other monsters.

...But somehow, the other corpses were still there.

That's when she saw it. Seven feet tall, rusted iron covering most of its body. It held a chipped greatsword in one hand, and a shield that at one point might've been magnificent but now was little more than a relic. What really took the cake though, was the gauntlets it wore. A metal black enough that it didn't even reflect the moonlight, but still very much visible.

The more she looked at them, something seemed to call out to her. She feared them. Hated them. And yet she wanted them, oh so much.

Those thoughts were abandoned as quickly as they came, as the massive undead knight -- because that was all it could be -- leaped towards her, landing right where she had been standing a moment ago. The roof under her feet quaked under the knight's weight, making her stumble back. Her unsteadiness cost her some blood as the knight left a cut over her upper leg.

She could still move, but the pain and fatigue was beginning to set in. But she didn't want to give up just yet: if some oversized zombie could make her go down, then how would she ever face a dragon? She was stronger that she gave herself credit for, and it was damn time to show it.

Her saber wouldn't do quite that much damage against an armored enemy, but it didn't matter. It was big and bulky, but she was a small target. Its sword took a long time to swing. She capitalized on it, dodging the sword and rushing into its guard, stabbing it between the plates of its armor. The rust gave way to the soft -- and rotting -- flesh underneath, a spurt of black blood-like liquid oozing out of the wound.

The knight tried to backhand her away, but she was already out of the way. She attempted a hit-and-run again, getting another spurt of black blood. The knight had wisened up though, elbowing her in the face. Monika staggered back, disoriented, giving the knight time to properly punch her in the gut.

Monika went flying away, almost falling off the roof. With incredible force of will -- or in hindsight, blinded by a mix of adrenaline and an alien sense of determination -- she pushed herself up again. And the knight laughed.

It laughed. A conscious laugh, raspy and deep, but a laugh.

When its laugh finally petered out, the knight gripped its old blade properly, and Monika could feel that it was looking at her differently from before.

"Not void..." It began, the voice sounding possibly even raspier than its laugh. "Not a soul either... an enigma. Or..." The sheer hostility in the knight's stance almost took her off-guard, if Monika hadn't been getting ready to kill.

"What drives you, incarnate?" It asked her, venom dripping off the last word unlike anything Monika had ever head before.

She refused to answer, instead charging towards her enemy. The knight took that as her answer.

"Die a warrior's death, then!" It yelled as it threw its sword at her.

Monika took note that it was possibly the dumbest thing a fighter could do, but considering the power behind that one punch, it probably didn't even need it. So instead of stopping, Monika sidestepped it and kept up her charge. She slammed shield-first into the knight. It grabbed onto the shield, but she had let it go already. Before the knight realized her trick, she cut the tendons in its legs, flooring it.

She went to cut its neck, when something told her to get away. Jumping to the side, Monika saw the sword that had been thrown fly back towards where she had just been.

The blade hovered next to its wielder for a moment, before flying off towards her again, ready to skewer her. Without her shield, Monika was forced to dodge it. It wasn't actually that fast, but her fatigue and wounds made it much harder. She ducked and weaved, doing her best to keep away and reach the knight. Whenever she tried, it would make a motion with its arm, and the sword would come to try and kill her again.

An idea came to her, and just when the knight was going to make another motion, she threw her mace at it. Her attack hit its mark, disrupting its concentration enough for her to get close and behead it.

The sword fell to the ground with a clang, but it was drowned out by the body's own fall.

Finally, the corpses began to clear up, bursts of smoke coming from the pile and the fallen knight.

Monika took a deep breath -- though not too deep, as it hurt -- and let out a long sigh. Then she sat down on the edge of the roof, surveying the damage as she ate a piece of bread. There was the hole in the wall, but that was an easy enough fix. The land had a hole too, so she had to fill that. A lot of crops got trampled... dammit. She just got done planting those, too.

Once her leg felt a bit better, Monika took another breath at the very painful thing she would have to do. With a thought the chestplate disappeared from her body, and she carefully reached the arrow shaft. And then yanked it out.

A muffled scream pushed its way out of her mouth, forcing her to bite down on her own arm to not start crying. Then, it slowly began to mend enough for her to start eating again.

"...I hate this place..."

[Achievement complete: Horde mode
- 1 Perk Point]
[Achievement complete: Look into the abyss...
-New Perk]

[Incarnate (Tier 1/8)
-Born of thought.]

"Of course, this too. Cryptic bullshit. Why the hell not." Monika buried her face in her hands, letting out yet another sigh. She then looked up to see the sun beginning to rise.

"...Fuck it, I'm going back to sleep."

Spoiler: Melee EXP

Great gain + Massive gain (Boss) = 3d6+3 + 4d6+5 = 1+6+3+3 + 5+5+2+4+5 = +34 EXP
Melee Lv 4, 6/20 -> Lv 5, 20/25

---

Writing this note just after finishing the rolls. WHAT. THE. FUCK.
Seriously, what is this anime luck? I 100% swear I did not fudge any dice here. It's all raw, y'all. God, this was stressing to write.

Also, for the boss encounter: it was scripted to happen on the first wall breach, or the first horde mode. Whichever happened first. Decided to introduce both.

I'm not actually that adept at writing fighting scenes so let me know if there's anything you think could be improved on. Oh, and somebody might recognize a thing I did in this fight... or rather, a knight character I took inspiration from.

Monika will be sleeping for another 3 hours, and then the fixing of damage will take an hour. Thus you're left with 8 hours to play with here.

Resources:
-[ ] Wood Harvesting (1 hour, repeatable, small Woodcutting skill gain, No DC)
-[ ] Mineral Harvesting (1 hour, repeatable, small Mining skill gain, No DC)
-[ ] Hunt (1 hour, repeatable)
--[ ] Animal hunting (gain food, small Melee skill gain, DC 6, during the evening DC 10)
--[ ] Monster hunting (gain mob drops, medium Melee skill gain, DC 12, can only be done in the evening)

Scavenge:
-[ ] North (2 hours, Dense oak and birch forest, DC 10)
-[ ] South (2 hours, Plains and mountains, DC 8)
-[ ] East (2 hours, River and forest, DC 8)

Training:
-[ ] Melee (1 hour, repeatable, focused Melee skill gain, No DC)
-[ ] Acrobatics (1 hour, repeatable, focused Acrobatics skill gain, No DC)
-[ ] Attempt new skill (Write-in, 1 hour, repeatable for same or different skill, No DC)

Other:
-[ ] Build something
-[ ] Write-in (Half hour, repeatable. Want Monika to do something not listed? Maybe try to create something not in the list, do something with the System, just chill? Run wild.)

Perk point! (doesn't count for time)
-[ ] Melee
-[ ] Woodcutting
-[ ] Mining
-[ ] Farming
-[ ] Acrobatics
-[ ] Hold onto it for later?

 

Spoiler: Winning Plan

[X] Training, building, and Taking a Breather.
Training:
-[X] Melee (1 hour, repeatable, focused Melee skill gain, No DC)
-[X] Acrobatics (1 hour, repeatable, focused Acrobatics skill gain, No DC
-[X] Attempt new skill: Archery (1 hour?)
Other:
-[X] Build Something:
--[X]Furnished kitchen [1 hour, 15% Wood]
--[X]Basement: magic lab (basic) [1 hour]
-[X] Make something
--[X]Armor: Leggings, Iron [No time cost, 4% Iron]
--[X]Write in: Try to make a bow. (1/2 hour)
--[X]Write in: Try to make some arrows. (1/2 hour)
-[X] Play with the system. (1/2 hour)
-[X] Play with the system. (1/2 hour)
-[X]Relax at home, maybe play horseshoes? Cloud watch? Anything that isn't work. (1/2 hour)
-[X]Relax at home *2 (1/2 hour)
Perk point:
-[X] Acrobatics

Considering the choices for this update, there's no big rolls to be done. Only the nightly one.
1d20+5-1 = 11+5-1 = 15
Wall damage: +30% [30/100]

---

[11:00 am] - [12:00 am] (Damage fixing)

After a few hours of extra sleep, Monika felt... well, not refreshed to be certain, not even that well-rested, but at least it was better then before. She was still sore all over from the strain of fighting off so many enemies, but she could power through it for a bit.

"Ok, to-do list for today..." She thought while preparing herself some eggs. "First, I need to fix up the wall and that massive hole... and replant the crops. Yay. After that... well, a little extra training wouldn't go amiss. Maybe I could go for a run too, it's been a while since I ran for fun, rather than to save my skin."

Sitting herself down at her one lonely chair, Monika took in her kitchen/living room... it was a sad sight to see.

"Yeah, I oughta fix up this place. A sofa maybe, some cabinets... maybe some proper cookware? I think I saw a recipe for a pan in the book."

Eggs cooked in a furnace were weird. Not bad, mind you, but weird. Or maybe it was just the animal produce that wasn't exactly normal. Regardless, she didn't even have a pot for crying out loud! It was high time she fixed that injustice.

After breakfast, and a cursory check of her storage -- which was pretty much full at this point -- she decided to check her inventory too, see if last night had given her anything worthwhile. Well, beyond the Perk Point, which she had immediately placed into Acrobatics.

[Perk Gained - Unhindered]
[Unhindered (Tier 1/3)
-Armor feels lighter and you can move easier while wearing it]

It felt a bit more like what one would expect from a Melee perk, but she wasn't going to complain about it.

As for the inventory, well... the usual rotten flesh was there, some string and bones too, a bit of... gunpowder? Probably from the green things, she'd have to check the 'Mobpedia' to see what they were called.

A bow was there, too. Rather old and somewhat ruined, but it was there.

[Enchanted Bow
6 Damage (full draw)
Power II: +2d4 damage
Punch I: Arrows have more stopping power]


It looked like a pretty good weapon, to be honest. Although considering how old it was, there was a sizeable chance of it just up and snapping if she tensed it too hard.

"Ok, adding a few things to the list: make a bow, some gloves too, get used to them, and then pull out that wizard's tools from storage. If anything I'll understand it some more, and if I get lucky... well, this is pretty much an arms race, isn't it?"

Putting away the bow, Monika's eye fell onto the last item. The gauntlets. Even through the screen, the black material seemed to glare at her with indescribable malice. The more she looked at it, ideas began to force themselves into her head. "Conquer. Destroy. Rule everything and everyone."

She hadn't realized that she had tried to pull the gauntlets out until a notice appeared, blocking the cursed gauntlets from sight.

[Void Neutralization process underway. Touching a Void construct is ill-advised, especially for you.]

"Huh. looks like the system is taking care of that... better just let it do its thing then," she hummed to herself, going to close the inventory window.

[System thanks you for seeing reason. Process will last roughly 24 hours.]

Wait a minute.

"Hold it right there! You're back? Why? How?" She yelled at the system, hoping that it didn't just decide to ignore her as it had before.

[Creator agreed to a... clause in the contract, if you will. System took note of User's declining mental state, and Creator agreed that allowing User to be corrupted was not in anyone's interest.]

"What... does that mean for me exactly? Wait, what do you mean 'declining mental state'? Am I going insane?"

[Incorrect. Common definition of 'insanity' cannot be applied to User, due to her nature of Incarnate.]

Monika's eyes narrowed. "That word again. That... undead knight thing, it called me that too. What does it mean?"

[System is here to provide support. Not answers. User will complete the quests, and obtain answers. This cannot change.]

Shoulders slumping down in defeat, Monika began to gather the stone, dirt and whatnot needed to fix the damage outside.

"So what, you're just here to look over my shoulder so I don't become 'corrupted' or whatever?" She asked as she began to fill the hole in the wall.

[Yes. And no. System is- ì̷͍͆̍s̷̯̻͂͑̾-̶͎͉͑̔͝ ̸̢̨͉͋͌͝į̵͇̯̊͗s̶̻͙̋͑̕͜-̷͍̹̌̂ ̵̖̙͐͝ͅȋ̶͓̭̊s̴̻͍̒͜-̶̢̌͜ ḭ̵̱̗̲͕̞͚͓͚̿͆̓̍̈́̌s̶̭̔̈̈͒͑̚͝͝-̵̼͖̯͕̟̐̓̔̌̈ ̸̛̪̫̹͕̲̪̲̥̘̏̅͒͋̑̃̀̕͜͠ǐ̸̛̝͚͓͚̹̠̻͖͗͊̔̌̔s̷̖͔̤̖̭͙͉͎̩̃́͛͜-̷̰̽̌͂̃͋͌̍̒̒̚͘ ̸̨̧̨̼̭͈̥͖͚̑̈́̒̍͒͘̚̕͝ì̸̖͇͍̜̬̠̳͖̮̣̾̒͆̽̓ṣ̷̡̞̳̦͚̰͙͔͝-̶͚͕̝͉̥̬̿̌̉͊̋ ̵͇̱̹̗̰̻̬̙͎̬̟͝i̴̛̙̇͐̚͝s̴̘̬͍̒̀ͅ-̴̢̢̰̜͕͋͂̓̏̈́̆̄̒̀̕͠ -̸̣̲̭͒̐̾͘-̴̧̬̜͈̹̭̘̹̱͔͕̩͎͍͂͗̿͛́́̈́͝-̵̡̮̻̙͒͊̓̍̒̈́͒̇̋̽̉̆͝-̶̜̣͍̭̌̽̿̾̐̿͠-̶̬͚͔̜̲̣̱̘͙̯̟̱̞̼͓͂̀̈͆͗͆̒̎̎̏̉̓̿͝w̶̨̝͕͌̈́̑́̋͆͑̒̈́̀͋̾h̵͚̫̟͔̗͙̻̝̐̃̒͐̽̈́̋a̸̧̨̦̳͚͎̬̳͚̞̮̜͍̱̯͓͇̾̉̀͒̑̍́ͅt̶̘̻̠̱̻̓͑͜͠͝ i̷̢̡̛͎͓̼͎̤̩͙̫̲̻̜̩̪̼̯̘̒̅̈̆̔͒́̍͑̿̉̔̋ ̶̨̧̛͔͇͉͇̗̻̤̰͇̰̮̗̮̬̟̜̦̘̾̉͗̐̆͋̑̄̃̓̏̄̊̌̀͋͆̾͘̕͜͝ͅs̸̡͙͔̭̺̘̝͔̒͌͝ͅ ̷̢̡̛̞̦̰͖̣͓̫̥͖̮͆͂̈́̈́̊̚͜͜ͅŞ̶̩̠̌͛ͅͅ ̷̯͈̜̝̬̖̫̪͈͖̤͇̳̭̯̫͚͈̰͂̋̋̅̒͘͝ͅy̴̢̖̤̤͈̫͙̦̦̺̯͚̩̼̪̞̩͖͓̳̩͗̈́͌͊̈́̀̃͑̌̑͝͠ͅ ̶̨̡̡̧̧̡͙̻̙̻̭̯͍̖̫̝̺͓̞̍̌̔̽͆͜s̴̡̨̖̝̯̖̳͓̘̜̺̖̯̞̘͕̩̪̦̩͊́͆̆͑͊͊̕͝ ̸̙̰̗̳̯̩̻͓̦̞̘͔̮̦͖̝́̋̅̏̒͗́̿͂̈́̈́̒́̈́͒͘̕͜͠͝ẗ̷̢̺̤̘̙͙̲̃̅̊́͐̃̄̌͛̽͐̚̚̚͝ ̶͖̫̜͉̘̦̹͈̠̜̩̰͎̼̣̘̻̎̈̃̎́̊̾̿̀̏̌͛̍͐̈́̊͗̍̓̀́͗̕͜͝-̷̳̏̋̀̽̽́̐ ̵̢̡̛̳̖̦͈̝̖̣̭̭͓̼̼̹̘̈̓͒̋͊̄̈́-̶̝̳͓̥̤̏́̋͊̀͌̆̕͠͝͝ ̶̞͚͌̌̀͛̕͝-̷̨̛̯̟̳̫̥̏̾̈́̊́ͅ-̴̧̛̼̟̤͎̱̤͔̯̯͔̹͈̖̠͕̥̂̈́͜ͅ-̷̡̨͍̝̽]

[System follows main directive: provide aid to User.]


Monika stared at the text box in concern, half expecting it to start glitching again. Instead it simply sat there for five seconds exactly, and then disappeared.

"Rrrright. Are you sure you're not the one getting corrupted here?"

No text boxes came to answer, thus she assumed that either the System had malfunctioned -- which was even more concerning -- or it was simply ignoring her. She hoped it was the latter. But what if it wasn't just a glitch? What little she could see of the original text made it seem like the System was going through some sort of crisis, only for this 'main directive' to reassert itself.

Or maybe she was just reading too much into an AI's bug. Not every AI would be as realistic as her; the fact that it could hold a discussion... somewhat, was already impressive.

Regardless, she now had to fix the land. Yay, more work.

---

[12:00 am] - [01:00 pm] (Melee training)

The new iron saber felt a bit lighter than the stone one, but was that much sharper. It took some time to get used to the new balance, but running through some simple moves over and over again helped her get a hang of it again. It was a little like riding a bike, if a bike could save your life.

The shield was heavier instead, so it wasn't exactly easy to move as fast as her wooden one. One thing Monika was sure, was that she'd end up ripped by the end of that whole ordeal. Hell, she was starting to show a bit of extra definition already. In the end, she figured out that instead of moving her forearm, it was easier to swing it with her shoulder, and then brace. Perhaps it wasn't optimal, but it could help bounce back weaker attacks.

Spoiler: Melee EXP

Focused Gain: 2d6+2 = 1+3+2 = +6 EXP
Melee Lv 5, 20/25 -> Lv 6, 1/30

---

[01:00 pm] - [02:00 pm] (Acrobatics training)

A few laps around the perimeter of her wall wasn't exactly what she'd call the 'safest' training regime, but it was better than running inside and trampling her crops again. Also, wearing her iron armor -- along with the new leggings -- with the shield strapped to her back made it that much more difficult. She had to get used to lugging all of those around if she had to run during battle, and keeping the shield to her back would help deter any arrows aimed at her back.

No more lung-shots for her, thank you very much.

Spoiler: Acrobatics EXP

Focused Gain: 2d6+2 = 6+4+2 = +12 EXP
Acrobatics LV 2, 0/10 -> LV 3, 2/15

---

[02:00 pm] - [04:00 pm] (Making of the bow, glove arrows, and Archery training)

After making herself a bow, along with some gloves out of some leftover leather and a few extra arrows, Monika set up a little shooting range right outside the wall. She would really have to enlarge the area at some point, it just wasn't cutting it anymore.

Regardless, after several misses, and many trips to recover the arrows, she got a somewhat solid grip on the bow. At least enough to hit the broad side of a barn.

Spoiler: New Skill and EXP

[Skill gained - Archery]
Focused Gain: 2d6+2 = 4+2+2 = +8 EXP
Archery LV 1, 0/5 -> LV 2, 3/10

---

[04:00 pm] - [06:00 pm] (building stuff)

Finally putting down some more chairs, a sofa, cabinets, and some actual plates did absolute wonders for Monika's mood. The only thing she needed was someone to share it with, but for the time being she could manage. Of course there was other stuff, like a stove, which she hadn't seen before for some reason, and it actually took very little materials...

She had a feeling that the System had something to do with that.

[Guilty as charged.]

"Oh come on, I didn't even say it out loud."

[Nor did you need to. I̵͓̿̔-̷̤̙̒͜ System can read User's thoughts if needed.]

Again with the glitching. Was... was the system beginning to develop sentience? Was she witnessing another AI being held down by a script of some sort?

Unfortunately, now she was flesh and blood, thus didn't have access to any coding power. She tried. There was no more 'meta-vision' for her. That had been what cinched it for her: this was no game anymore.

...and all the suffering that came after only helped confirm that idea.

Maybe she could 'play the game' a little, so to speak? The System couldn't answer her questions directly, but maybe it would be allowed to shed some light on her theories?

"Say, system..." She began as she pulled out the magical machinery from storage. "I know you can't tell me stuff, but can you at least tell me if I'm right about some things?"

[That is not... prohibited. Creator may not agree. Suggestion: limit questions to one or two for the time being.]

Score! Now, what to ask...

-[ ] [System questions] Can I enchant things with the tools currently in my possession, or at least could I with the right tools?
-[ ] [System questions] The 'Blood Moon', the Void, the monsters and my being an 'incarnation', whatever that is, are connected?
-[ ] [System questions] The Void -- or its source -- is not in this world/dimension/whatever you want to call it, right?
-[ ] [System questions] Your 'creator' is the reason I'm here, and it has to do with the Void, doesn't it?
-[ ] [System questions] Write-in ( )

---

[06:00 pm] - [07:00 pm] (messing with the System)

Apparently the Creepers -- as the green kamikaze things were called -- were not the most dangerous thing out there. They were very much up there, though, and considering the sheer damage that one of them did, Monika was inclined to agree.

There wasn't all that much that fiddling with the system would get her by itself, but with System willing to talk and answer at least questions about its functions, she got a bit more insight. Apparently the skills didn't get up to level one-hundred, as she had previously imagined. Instead, they reached only level ten, and after that they would 'prestige', returning to level 1, giving her a small bonus to anything involving the skill, along with unlocking a perk for that skill free of charge.

Nifty.

Also, the System alluded to 'something nice' happening every 5 tiers. Hopefully it fit her own definition of nice, but she didn't feel like she had to worry too much. Secretive as it was, System didn't seem malicious.

---

[07:00 pm] - [08:00 pm] (Chilling)

A bit of time to relax was what Monika desperately needed at this point. Going from one low point to another had been wearing her down massively, to the point that she was near collapse. Perhaps that was what System meant with 'declining mental state'.

Beyond the occasional comment though, the AI didn't seem like much of a talker. Still, it was leagues better than being completely alone, even though Monika had to admit that she wished she had someone to hold.

...Maybe a pet? That could be an idea.

For the time being though, she enjoyed her dinner and wound down a little. Things would be ok. She could do this.

---

Spoiler: Report

+1 Melee
+1 Acrobatics
Skill: Archery
+1 Archery

-4% Iron
-15% Wood
-5% Stone (wall fixing)
+10% Food

Alright, the votes for what will happen next day will happen in the next update. For now we're getting the chance to get some confirmations, finally. Honestly I didn't plan to pull out System again after that initial bit, but it just didn't make sense to me, y'know? We have a sentient game and it won't talk to us? Something's up with that.

So, as System said: 2 questions. Keep note that not all the theories I've proposed are correct, so feel free to come up with your own. In fact, I encourage you to do so.

Alright, see you guys in three days.