Whoa. That was all that I could think of as I looked around.
Sometimes I forget that I'm eight-years old, so seeing the towering trees above me shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Another thing I noticed was a young man with messy brunette hair, grey long sleeve shirt, and blue jeans striding casually towards me.
"They say there is a person who will tell you how to survive in this land... oh wait. That's me," He said, with me completing the end of his signature statement.
The Guide took on a ridiculous flabbergasted look at my knowing of his catchphrase. I simply smiled and tilted my head. Without any preamble I closed my eyes, spotting the… Sluggish copper axe in my inventory and summoning it from my inventory.
I hefted the axe in my young hands, and all I can really say about it is that the reforge is right, it is sluggish.
"Um…" The Guide droned as he watched as I began to chop at the base of a nearby tree, "How much do you know?"
"I know a lot, actually," I said, not looking back at him, "Wall of Guide."
"Ouch," he said with an audible hiss, "I can take any offensive name, but not that."
I turned to him after breaking my third tall tree, picking up the stray fruit and wood. Causing him to reflexively take a step back.
"Oh, but why are you connected to it?" I asked innocently.
"I'd- rather not answer," He said rubbing his chest in nervousness, "too personal of a question."
"Yeah, I can live with that answer," I said with a shrug, there's no point asking now as I still had a lot to do with the allotted time I gave myself.
In twenty minutes I cleared a rather large spot in the forest, eliciting a whistle out of The Guide.
"Damn kid, you move quick."
"I gotta, I didn't give myself a lot of time."
"Which, speaking of," he responded, a little too quickly for my liking, "How much do you know about the powers you have?"
"... Less than I should," I admitted, feeling my age as he crossed his arms with disappointment on his face.
"Would you want me to help you?" he asked, with barely concealed anticipation at my answer.
"Yes please."
With a roar, he immediately picked me up into a crushing bear hug, laughing all the while.
"It feels so good to still be in business!"
With a wheeze I palmed his face, causing him to drop me with a sheepish grin.
"Alright, alright," I grumbled, recollecting my breath, "Now start from the top with my Journey Powers."
———————————————————————
Thankfully, Andrew–The Guide–wasn't an utter NPC and could follow me as I explored the surrounding area and explained the power menu.
"[Research]," He started, holding out a single finger in counting, "Self-explanatory, you consume materials to later make infinite amounts of it."
"Uh huh," I replied, sliding into a wide crevice in the earth, spotting a wood chest for my efforts.
"Which then leads to [Duplication]."
"[Duplication] can only recreate but so much at once before needing to recharge, certain items and materials have larger and greater draw on your Research allowance."
"Wait, so I can't duplicate gold coins into Platinum coins for infinite money?" I asked, head rearing back at the information.
"Well yes, but you can also increase your daily allowance by researching more items."
I opened the chest, a spear, some shurikens, three recall potions, 19 torches, and 75 wood. Which caused me to research them all except the recall potions, I still wanted 17 more before I researched them.
Looking at my sharp copper shortsword, I decided to also research it for the Final Fract-I mean The Zenith later.
Pulling open my [Duplication] menu, I began to study it.
___
[Duplication Menu]
280/230
Weapons (2/566)
Armor (0/218)
Vanity (0/110)
Blocks (1/192)
Furniture (0/859)
Accessories (0/273)
Equipment (0/140)
Consumables (0/87)
Tools (0/117)
Materials (1/951)
Miscellaneous
___
Huh, that's weird. Why is Miscellaneous uncounted? Oh well.
"[Sub-World Time] allows you to alter how time flows here, how long each day is, how long you'll be staying here, and the time dilation between our two worlds."
"Wait, you know-" I started in curiosity as I mined the empty wood chest before getting interrupted.
"Before you ask, no one from either world can make the crossing like you can."
"Well shucks, then I guess there is no saving someone by transporting them here," I surmised in a joking-manner of tone.
"Yeah, you'd have better chances of removing the egg from a cake," He retorted. Giving me room to exit the little hole in the ground to explore further.
I guess that makes sense. Due to me not being from either world, I am basically a floating soul with godly potential. Cool, very cool.
"As I was saying- ah yes, Sub-World Weather," Andrew said, picking up where he left off.
"Sub-World Weather only really allows you to cap off the further progress of this world weather. It doesn't really grant you control."
"Then [Personal Power] allows you to summon townies as long as you meet their requirements."
I slowed down my march through the forest in confusion, Letting Andrew Catch up as a result.
"So that's what it meant by [Alter NPC Appearance]," I said with wonder, "I'd honestly thought it would allow me to change how a npc looks!"
Andrew snickered at that, before the smile left his face.
With dead eyes, he summoned a simple wood hunting bow and a singular arrow before firing it with instinctive precision at an approaching green slime. I didn't see it due to it being around the bend of a tree.
After holding that position for a moment, Andrew unsummoned the wood bow and resumed his conversation like the pause never happened.
"No, that part allows you to summon certain townies like the Nurse or Armorer."
"Huh," I replied simply, taking in the information passively.
"Also, don't call us npc's. That's derogatory and it'll get you in a lot of trouble," Andrew said, giving a stern look as we walked.
I acquiesced. I'd rather not be a victim of the angler's shenanigans, or the nurse charging extra. Ugh.
As we we're about to approach the treeline, I suddenly felt a bit of fog lift from me, as the tiniest morsel of childish wonder had returned and I couldn't help but smile. Just as we breached it I saw a few scattered sunflowers gleaming golden from the sunlight.
"Ah, so that's what I felt," I said to myself, as I closed my eyes to find the "happy" status effect.
If only it was there.
Again, reading my thoughts, the system then revealed that I had two status effects currently on me.
First it was "Happy", increasing my move speed and decreasing enemy spawns. The other was "Hungry", which dropped my defense, damage, and attack speed. Ouch!
I summoned an apple I got from a random tree I chopped, biting into it I felt a veritable flood of energy flow into me. Like someone had hooked up a house generator to me for a second. The apple was at just the right amount of sweetness and tartness, making the next bites a thoughtless reaction.
"Whoa, what was in that apple, crack?" I said, eating core seed and stem as well.
"Hah ha, How do you know about crack with your age?" Andrew rhetorically asks.
I gave a nervous laugh, hoping that The Guide would read the room and not press any further. After a few silent moments where I found another chest in a nearby cave in a hill, Andrew began again.
"[Unique Crafting] is something beyond what I know. I know everything the past Hero of Legend has crafted, and I hope to remember what you craft as well."
Just as I was about to flip the latch on the chest, my hand slowed to a near stop before restarting the planned action.
"So, I can create anything, as long as I have the materials and a goal in mind?" I asked, not really knowing how he'll answer the question.
"Well yeah," Andrew said, simply, "sometimes you'll fail at it, consuming the materials, but when you succeed, you'll be able to craft it again without fail."
Outwardly, I nodded and hummed understanding. Inwardly, I was shaking in my neuronic bones. I already had the idea of crafting a mixed gear set of Shadow Scales and Tissue Samples, of forging bronze from copper and tin! There was so much I could do!
I was so preoccupied with my fantasies that I took the items from the chest without much thought. And decided to finally get back to Terraria basics.
Using the leftover wood from researching, I began to craft a wood bench. I tried to summon it in hand, much to my confusion when it didn't appear. I kept trying to will it in existence, something that Andrew thankfully noticed.
"If it's any kind of furniture, you'll need to summon it on the spot, not in your hands," he clarified.
Following his instructions, I pointed at a relatively flat area of ground and summoned the wood bench. Just like every other summoned item, it instantly appeared, a wooden thud the only remark of its sudden existence.
There I placed an empty bottle on it, watching as the moment my hand left the mason jar on the bench, transforming into a classical empty potion. This time I was no longer surprised.
Kneeling at the bench I began to summon some of the mushrooms I've collected, I began to craft lesser healing potions, which I simply let the system do by itself. Two empty mason jars appeared in my hands, before a massive amount of a data-moshing effect began to skew my perspective of the two bottles. However, it wasn't the sight of the bottles I was concerned about, it was the sudden sinking feeling in my occupied hands that drew the most of my attention.
It was strange to finally blink and to fully see two lesser healing potions in the third dimension in my adolescent hands. And honestly, seeing how easy it was to make items had my mind racing with its implications. Only the voice of my companion snapping out of the reverie.
"Heh, the Last Hero had the same reaction to crafting as well," he chuckled out, hands in pockets while leaning against the cave wall.
"You're so going to tell me all about that," I said, wonder still in my voice, "but please, continue explaining."
"Right-o!"
"[Enemy Harvesting] allows you to focus on certain parts of objects on an enemy in order to give you a higher chance of dropping that item."
"So if I aim at trying to get Queen Bee's fur as a drop, I'll get it?"
"I don't know why you'd want that, but sure," He said, with an instinctual shrug.
"Next, [Sub-World Infection]."
"Like [Sub-World Weather], there isn't much you can do with the power, all you can do is control in which direction the spirit fly throughout."
"Wait," I said, now crafting a wood hammer for later in the meantime, "what's stopping me from letting the world become fully corrupt?"
As I said that, Andrew's constant smirk dropped. A sudden, unnatural darkness filled the pit of his eye sockets as he looked not at my eyes but at my chest — at my soul. It felt like something cold and horrible arced up my legs and into my core of my being. I was frozen – unable to choose which fear response I wanted. Then came The Guide's voice, which held no life, no personality. It was like a doppelgänger had changed skins with the snarky man.
"You don't want to do that because you will never have the chance." And there was no further preamble.
Like a lightswitch, the usual brunette's appearance and personality resurfaced, and while it took a second for the smirk arrive, it did all the same.
While I sat there, nearly pissing my own shorts from such a horrifying presence unleashed.
"Now, where was I?" That Thing – I mean – Andrew rhetorically asked.
"Hold," I spoke, voice steady despite my current state.
"I almost pissed my pants."
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Thank you all for collecting my story! This is my first foray into a story this ambitious. While I have a lot of events in the story lined up already, I'm also curious as to what y'all want to see out of this story.
If you have spare power stones, throw them my way. Otherwise, all I really ask for is your opinion and continued support.
Ciao!