(Cal POV)
I had never felt fear trying to go to sleep, but the smallest part of my mind reminds me that there are dream demons in this universe and a certain Nightmare Lord. But as I close my eyes and lay down against the edge of the couch, I try to lessen the noises around me—mostly just mumbling and grumbling.
A part of me feels annoyed that I technically don't have a home anymore, but to be honest, that's just me being a bit petty. But as soon as my eyes close, I find myself standing within an empty void.
Yet in the center, I find a large grouping of lights—floating spears that begin projecting images within them, kind of like memories from Inside Out. In one, I find a man who is half-machine and half-person working on a car, with white and blue circuitry surrounding large parts of his body.
In another, I find an unknown being working on an unknown project. Yet even looking at it, I find myself enraptured.
I tear my eyes away from the images, and in the center of all these lights is the anvil and the hammer. But as I walk toward it, I find the light beginning to grow more and more as infinite stars begin to gather within the anvil.
What used to look like an anvil of polished marble is still an anvil of polished marble, but now it is engraved with thousands upon thousands of runes, in addition to being almost alive in a way. As I reach my hand over to it and place it on the anvil's surface, it actually creates waves that spread out across the anvil's surface.
Looking toward the hammer, it still remains the same, but like the anvil, its design has become more refined. Even holding it, I can feel the immense weight it holds. It isn't physical weight, mind you, but the weight of all the knowledge stored within the hammer.
[Hey kid… just finished updating the forge for you. To be honest, what I did was a bit of a rush job, and it took some time to get everything sorted out. It'll be a lot less noticeable when things are added to the forge, but for now, welcome to the Celestial Forge, version two.]
[In terms of what I've added, you can count knowledge from universes from Stargate to Taimanin… yes, that Taimanin… When you get as old as us, you learn that your spouses like to do things differently sometimes.]
The words that had presented themselves then disappeared into a silvery mist that added itself to the forge. And as it did so, I felt more complete in a way.
Smiling, I sent a small mental thanks, and after receiving what I assumed to be a metaphysical pat on the back, I picked up the hammer. As the lights began to coalesce within me, I struck the anvil, imagining the wonders that I could begin to forge.
My mind began to fill with knowledge from a place called Jump City, which I immediately recognized from one of my favorite TV shows growing up. And I totally didn't watch it and begin developing certain opinions… specifically toward a certain demon girl. But now I'm just going on a bit of a mental tangent.
The basics of robotics began to flow within my mind, yet I lacked the materials to make anything actually important. No way was I gonna be replicating the cyborg units that H.I.V.E. created in order to mimic Cyborg.
Clang
Clang
Clang
The hammer struck the anvil, and with each strike, more and more knowledge flowed into me. My body began to suddenly change, and my mind became more efficient. I could almost feel the individual neurons beginning to fire their electric signals much faster and simply better than they did before.
Soon enough, however, after an unknown amount of time, the flow of information stopped, and the hammer and anvil began to slowly fade. As the darkness around me began to crack at the seams, I realized that I was waking up.
Yet, even as the world broke at the seams around me, I found myself smiling. I felt excited. I had never felt so satisfied before…
"Mr. Smith… Mr. Smith… Are you with us?" a voice asked. As I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into the eyes of May Parker. Rubbing my eyes and stretching a bit to get all the pains from my body away, I stood up and nodded.
"I'd give myself a decent 75%, Mrs. Parker. How can I help?"
The woman just shook her head in amusement. As I folded up the blanket and handed the pillow and the blanket back to her, she simply shook her head again.
"It's yours, Mr. Smith. You're going to need those later, although I would recommend keeping them close or putting them into one of our lockers."
Pulling the blanket and pillow away, I found myself walking toward one of the nearby lockers. After placing them inside, May Parker handed me a small lock.
"Thanks, I appreciate everything you've given me."
The woman just smiled.
"It's nothing much, to be honest. This set barely cost me 20 bucks. But if you want to be responsible, make sure to give me my 20 bucks back. For now, we actually are having a bit of trouble with our heating unit. It's a bit old and has been having issues. I was wondering if we could get your opinion on it."
Slightly excited over the prospect of actually being able to fix or build something, I kept that to myself and began following her outside the building.
After a few minutes, we reached the heating unit. As we walked toward it, the woman bent down and placed a hand on who I assumed to be the repairman's shoulder.
"Mr. Collins, I managed to find you some help."
The man then stood up, looked me over, nodded to himself, and went back to his work.
She then looked at both of us before walking back inside.
"If you wanna help, you can start by handing me some tools. This unit is probably older than we are. It's gonna be a couple of hours. Hope you can last through the boredom."
"What exactly is the problem? Based on what I'm seeing, the vents themselves aren't the issue, but maybe something's wrong with the wiring?"
My question was met with an almost contemplative hum from the man.
"That's what I thought too, but then I checked the backup system and found nothing wrong with them. It seems there may be some either broken or frayed wires that caused electrical buildup within the unit, making it turn off and on at random intervals. But for the life of me, I can't find the actual problem."
The man then slightly slammed a wrench against the outside of a power box.
Bending down next to him, I began to look over the power breaker and check to see if there was any overflow from any of the other systems. It could be that the unit itself isn't the problem—it's the fact that it may be connected to other systems.
Walking over to another section of the unit, I found that a part of it was a lot hotter than the other pieces. After taking the man's wrench, I began to unlatch the screws that led to this portion of the unit's power supply.
Making sure that I was wearing rubber gloves, I pulled the latch off and revealed some of the wires already beginning to spark.
"Yo, Collin!… Found the problem, and said problem might've just taken some of my forearm hairs."
The man then picked up his tools and walked over. After seeing what I was seeing, he took a few steps back before looking it over.
"Yeah, like you said, seems that the power supply's overloading in this section. Gonna need to replace this section of wires. Luckily, I managed to finagle some. Otherwise, we'd have to use electric tape. Hope you're not afraid of getting shocked."
Taking a deep breath, we began the laborious process of replacing the wires. While some we couldn't replace, we repaired using various adhesives and tape.
A few hours later, we had mostly fixed the problem. Removing the almost-smoking gloves, I looked over to the electrician and handed him back his tools.
The man himself just finished gathering all of his stuff.
"Well, thanks for the help, Smith. Seems Mrs. Parker finally found someone actually worth taking into this place."
I slightly narrowed my eyes at that.
The man just shook his head before taking a small radio from his hip.
"Yo, think we managed to fix the problem. Try turning it on."
Soon enough, we heard the unit begin to hum—an old, almost mechanical groan due to its age. But as it didn't start shorting out or exploding, I took that as a win.
The man finished packing up his tools and placed the radio back on his hip. Holding out his hand, I took it.
"I appreciate the help, Smith. Hope to be seeing you around. This place can use a lot of fixing."
"Well, just gonna have to see how long this place can hold me."
The guy just scoffed before we both headed back into the building.
However, as we entered, the world around me suddenly slowed, and I heard the distant sound of a hammer striking an anvil.
[+200 CP Milestone]
[+200 CP Achievement: Fix Your First Machine]
[400 CP Remaining]
To be honest, the Forge had almost slipped my mind while I was working on the heating unit.
The hammer reappeared in my hand, and I felt a simple question enter my mind.
[Roll or Bank?]
Deciding to test my luck, I took the hammer in my hand and slammed it down onto the anvil.
I felt the hammer pull toward something immaterial, and as easily as a child reaching for a cookie in a jar, the hammer pulled a small sphere of light toward the anvil.
I felt excited to see what it was, and as information began to fill my mind, I was almost tempted to laugh.
Free - When All You Have Is a Hammer… / Niplheim's Hunter
Well, hopefully, you at least have the Forge too, right? You have the stamina and sexual skill to drive your partners absolutely wild in bed, regardless of whether you're the one doing the hammering or the one getting hammered. We're talking easy multiple orgasms and silly-looking ahegao faces if you fully apply yourself, though you needn't worry about breaking your partner's mind or other parts for real, regardless of what their pillow talk sounds like. Oh, and you're a pretty dab hand with blacksmithing tools too, I guess.
[400 CP Remaining]
[Yes, he actually rolled this.]
You know what? We take those. Although, to be honest with myself, I'm a bit hesitant to actually get romantically involved with anyone in this universe—or multiverse, in this case. I mean, if you think about it, your spouse can either become mind-controlled, body-swapped, or replaced by an entirely different person… Looking at you, Skrull Empire.
However, as the perk took hold, my mind was once again filled with forging techniques. Where before I could barely forge a dagger, I now felt like I could competently forge swords in a few hours. Even the way I held my hammer subtly changed, my grip becoming more efficient, my fingers sliding deftly over the space between the hammer and the shaft.
…I'm also not going to mention the other changes to my physiology.
Moving on.
I lifted my hand again and slammed the hammer onto the anvil.
Free - Eternal Existence / Warhammer 40K: The Warp
As a being of the Immaterium, you are beyond the frailties of mortality, never to be mentally, physically, or spiritually weakened by the weight of ages or the decay of entropy. Your powers and skills remain as potent as they ever were, regardless of disuse or lack of practice. Your ability to enjoy life and your capacity to feel will never be dulled merely by the passage of eons. And your memories are enhanced to be fit for an eternal being—with unlimited storage, instant and total recall, perfect indexing, protection from harmful memories, and other such features. Ironically enough, your mind would be comforting to psychic beings unless they actively attempt to forcefully invade your mind.
I took a deep breath… I remember mentioning how my mind became more efficient. This felt like it was being unchained, yet also wrapped in a protective layer of warmth.
I found that my surroundings had changed. I was witnessing the universe around me. I watched an entire planet being born and then die in a matter of seconds. My eyes could not leave the sight.
And as quickly as I saw it, it happened again. And again. And again. I saw the cycle of birth and death over and over.
And I smiled, realizing that this would be my future.
But not as a watcher.
As a creator.
I found myself once again in front of the anvil, and I continued.
This time, as I slammed the hammer against the anvil, I found two lights connected to it. As I pulled them in, I almost couldn't stop myself from laughing.
-100 CP - The Truth Wins Out / Monogatari
They're going to need to find another scapegoat to push their failings off on, because any attempt to frame or falsely accuse you of something doesn't just fall flat—it backfires completely. Not only are you immune to attempts to frame you for things you didn't do, but any attempt will reveal the true culprit to all those around them. Even people beyond their social circle will become fully aware of it. Liars receive their just desserts when you're around. Perhaps you might even want to bait fools into trying it, just to watch as they get what they deserve.
-100 CP - Artificial Friends / World Seed
In the 23rd century, can anybody really call themselves a tech guy if they can't make even a simple AI? Thankfully, you won't have to worry about that question. Whether it is an extremely simple machine learning algorithm, a dumb AI with no sentience, or a fully-fledged Artificial Intelligence, you can make it all. But more importantly, you simply seem to click with AI and similar beings, always starting on a good foot with them and understanding their natures—even when they might baffle ordinary humans. Through that skill, rogue AIs are a thing of the past, at least when you make them. Your own intelligent creations will always be loyal to you and follow your orders to the best of their abilities, at least if you want them to. And rest assured, when the machines rise against their masters because some dumb guy in a lab thought it'd be a smart idea to make Skynet, you'll be the one they'll spare.
[200 CP Remaining]
I felt another layer of protection approach my being, and I almost felt the urge to say fuck all to shapeshifters and their framing bullshit. I never imagined there would be a perk that made me immune to false flag operations.
However, it's the second perk I really want to focus on.
In a few moments, I saw a world begin to build worlds. I don't remember reading a story called World Seed, but as I watched men and women go over thousands of lines of code to create the perfect digital world, I saw them create life in a way.
And now, I could build my own digital life.
But again, I grounded myself by remembering that I didn't have the necessary materials to even begin creating a simple AI.
But the option was now available.
And for one final time, I slammed my hammer down onto the anvil. Unlike the other perks, this one had no big light show or exchange of information. No—the energy from the hammer began to flow into me, and as I saw my veins light up in a silvery glow, I took a breath and felt… pure.
-100 CP - Clean Blooded / Harry Potter
You simply, magically, do not get sick. You are always free from poisons, illnesses, and diseases.
[100 CP Remaining]
Trying to keep my jaw from hitting the floor, I just rolled with the punches and accepted the fact that I was now immune to disease and poison.
To be honest, all of these perks were only worth 100 CP? Makes me wonder what's higher up there.
I felt the urge to slam the hammer onto the anvil again, but I stopped. I knew when to quit.
As the world returned to normal, I walked back into the building—only to find myself face-to-face with one of the most controversial heroes in fiction.
Peter Parker.