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Hashoku Tensei (Worm/Celestial Forge SI) by AppleGrowth

Chapter 1 – Dropped into Deathworld

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Chapter 1 – Dropped into Deathworld

"All right, Mom I'll remember to cross the streets safely and I'll stand at the correct train platform. Yup, I'll try to make a good first impression. OK, OK, O—Look I'll call you when I reach the office. Or I'll message you to let you know if I reached safely. We can talk during my break or after the workday. Yup. Uh-huh. Yeah, love you too. I'm putting the phone away now, OK? Bye!"

With a mix of nervousness and excitement, I walked along the sidewalk of the street. Dressed in somewhat formal wear, one of my hands clutched my backpack tightly, while the other clenched my phone in my pocket.

It was supposed to be a typical day. I'd just left my house and was on the way to the workplace of my first job, for the first time. Well ok, it wasn't really a typical day for me, but from someone else's perspective? This was indeed something mundane.

Every adult had to work, but this was my first job! An activity for which I would get paid for. In a way, it was the start of a new adventure. So, when I woke up that day, I was uncharacteristically energetic, I'm sure that even my resting heart rate was higher than normal. Which is why, unlike someone going about an ordinary day I could somewhat say that I was prepared for what happened next.

One second I take out my phone to double-check the platform number for the correct train, the next I fall flat on my face. Now this might not seem like a big deal, but blunt force trauma to the head isn't something to underestimate. I certainly didn't feel like it was a small matter when I felt the entire world spinning around me, suddenly feeling my fine motor skills going into disarray and then hallucinating about being in a completely different place from where I fell down.

'OK I actually know what it feels like to hallucinate, and this isn't it. Did I end up getting knocked out? Did someone drag me somewhere else?'

I knew what it was like to faint too. Blacking out for a couple of minutes and waking up in a slightly different location surprisingly wasn't all that surreal, it mostly felt like skipping a cutscene in a game, although regaining consciousness does take a good minute. Which is why I was reasonably confident that this wasn't such a case.

I was in an alleyway next to a park of some kind. But that wasn't a problem. I rarely left the house so being unfamiliar doesn't necessarily mean this place was that far away. No, it was the fact that the hue of light coming from the sky was entirely different from a couple of seconds ago. It was like an entire light shade of grey had been added to my vision. Not something I would have noticed unless the change was as abrupt as this one. The fact that the sky was clear meant that I couldn't blame it on the clouds.

The floor of the alley was actually dirty, and it was only by some saving grace that I landed on the cleanest spot. I would have hurried to get up, but my head was still spinning, and I knew that abruptly standing would likely end up with my ass on the floor again.

"Fuck, did I get mugged and thrown in an alley somewhere? Huh?! Wha—What the heck happened to my voice?!"

With a sinking feeling in my gut, I looked down to see exactly what I'd been dreading.

Since I was lying on the floor on my hands and knees, I could see exactly how tiny my hands were. My depth perception wasn't out-of-whack because of my head wound, but because of my new body (!).

By now I'd recovered enough to trust myself with handling my valuables, and frankly, I couldn't actually conceive myself waiting any longer. Fumbling around I found that my phone was exactly where I'd left it before I'd tripped, in my right pants pocket.

Unlocking the phone with a quick swipe upward, I distantly realized that the facial recognition still worked. It was something that gave me hope and yet also had me bracing for even more shenanigans. An alert from an app that I didn't remember downloading stopped me from opening the Photo application and checking what I already pretty much knew had happened and it didn't take me long to realize that I was right to not get my hopes up.

~Ding~

Note:

Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of The Celestial Forge!

If you don't know what that is then you can simply think of it as an Ability or Superpower that periodically gifts you with technological, magical, or simply supernatural Knowledge and Power!

I understand that you might not have wanted this to happen to you, but to me, The Celestial Forge is akin to a hot potato, I truly swear that I had no choice but to give it to the closest compatible soul!

I'm afraid that I won't be able to follow you to wherever it is that The Celestial Forge takes you after it finishes bonding with you, so I've written this message to give you my best wishes and hopes to meet you once again in the future! The infinite Omniverse can be a surprisingly small place once you're immortal!

(I'm sure you'll have plenty of stories to tell me when we reunite. The Forge's initial transportation effect is supposed to take its host to a place where they can spread their wings and achieve maximum growth after all!)

Regards,

ROB.

P.S. I took the liberty of detecting any recent wishes you had and gave you a new body that will allow you to relive your childhood like you wished to.

P.P.S. Ah, I accidentally peeked into the world you will be going to and once again wish you the best of luck, with an actual minor luck blessing. It's only powerful enough to prevent injury and death from accidents, but you'll need everything you can get if you're going to Worm, and this is as much as I can give!

P.P.P.S. Also, sorry about your job. If it helps, you can make saving your new local multiverse your first job in case you feel lost or directionless.

P.P.P.P.S. Yes! I managed to fit in another note with a few more concrete details about the Forge and its powers for you! You can check it out when you have time! Farewell!

Nervously chuckling I reread the message multiple times for no apparent reason. Opening the Photo application, I checked over what was undoubtedly a new 12 or 13-year-old body, dressed in a smaller child version of the clothes I remember putting on early in the morning. Even my backpack was a shrunk-down version but otherwise exactly identical to what it was before.

"T-This has to be a joke. Ha-ha, I didn't sign up for this shit man. I was actually looking forward to interacting with shitty customers and doing other Sales crap. I don't—what the hell am I supposed to do?"

Shakily, I stood up. It was honestly a wonder that I hadn't immediately fallen down with the headache, the existential crisis and the unfamiliar feel of the smaller body, but somehow I managed to stumble over to the grass in the park and found myself a bench to sit on under a tree. I'd only gotten this far when the world froze all around me. The leaves that were gently falling from trees stopped mid-fall and the world turned grey-scale.

Yet, instead of turning my already depressive mood further down, I felt music slowly pushing out from my soul (?). A feeling of strength rose in me as if something awoke in both my spirit and my body. The odd thing though was that somehow these feelings felt familiar in a really odd way. Like a dream that I thought I had but couldn't confirm, now becoming clearer to the point of perfect recollection. All while in my mind's eye a Star that I could only really describe as Celestial grabbed my attention.

Dice Roll

Music

My first act after being reborn as a Spartan in freakin' Nasuverse of all places was to scream my lungs out and shit my pants. Just kidding, a real man in Sparta doesn't wear pants after all! HAHAHAHA! Yeah OK, all in all, after a few months days of freaking out and being named the liveliest baby of the generation, I'd truly started to appreciate the benefits I'd gained. Look we don't really have proper mirrors here — I mean who thought squinting into the reflection of a piece of bronze was a good idea, just use water dude — but from what I can actually see? Holy moly am I good lookin'! Of course, I also realized this when everyone stopped to stare at me and complemented what was essentially a toddler with words like 'regal' and 'handsome'. Heck, I'm so good-looking that things around me sometimes look better for it! Actually, I could have sworn my toy wolf looked a lot uglier when I first got it…*shrug* eh probably just my imagination. Don't get me wrong, everyone here seems to be hit with some kind of supernatural juice when it comes to the looks department but I'm just one of a kind.

Speaking of supernatural, is it just me or is everything kind of easy to break around here? Oh, it's not just me huh? Yeah, learning to control my strength was something I had to learn early on. It helps that it was kind of normal here, plenty of people to go to for advice. The Magic tho? The literal supernatural force that had me jumping for joy for days? Yeah, not a lot of people are willing to teach anything to do with that. Eh, I'll figure it out on my own eventually…

"Woah~! So that was me? Yeah of course that was me! I have his memories now. Or is it my memories? Gah! Who cares! More importantly, freakin' Magic! I don't even care if I'm in the Worm-vers—Ah right…I'm in the Parahuman Universe…"

It was honestly impressive how quickly my mood could change. One moment I was ready to lie down in the trash-filled alleyway and die, the next I started having the time of my life, revelling in my new abilities, no longer having the fear of being a weak little child, alone in the cruel world.

The fact that my new abilities and appearance came with their set of memories meant that my excitement wasn't borne of something new, it was the result of the feeling of security my strength gave me. However, that feeling was quickly dampened when I realized that against the threats of this world, it wasn't nearly enough.

And yet, somehow I couldn't care less about the city destroying Kaiju or roving bands of murderhobos. Sitting alone in the park I realized that before thinking about the plight of others and the fate of the universe I had to somehow survive being broke and homeless.

"Back when I read Worm fanfiction, I always created hypothetical plans to survive in this world, but that was all about how I would defeat Parahumans. Somehow…I completely neglected to think of how to get basic things like food and shelter."

Going through my phone, I let my thoughts wander. 'Well, let's look on the bright side. Apart from the part where I'm probably a homeless 12-year-old, at least I'm not stuck dealing with the cast characters from the story! Huh? There're other Notes here.'

Extra Note:

Oh yeah just wanted to let you know that you have a background setting for your new life.

You're a freshly orphaned boy, who's being relocated to his distant family member's home!

You should probably not go too far away from the park. Your old handler from Social Services left you at the park, while the new one who works at Brockton Bay should be coming to pick you up soon!

Until then, well…you're a kid now so go frolicking in the grass or something!

My grip on the phone tightened until it started to creak dangerously, only stopping when I remembered my new strength would probably crush the device into junk if I took my anger out on it.

"I just had to jinx myself huh…?"

Just as I was contemplating kicking down some of the trees in the park, I heard a voice calling out to me from behind.

"Hey, Daniel! Daniel Hill? Is that you kid? I'm Ben Hammond from Brockton Bay Social Services, uhh Diana from the Phoenix Department was supposed to be here with you right? Ah fu—shit, she did say she was in a hurry, did she tell you to wait here by yourself?"

For a moment I just stared at the man, contemplating whether this was really happening. "Uhm yeah, that's me, and yeah she seemed like she had somewhere to be, so I was…playing in the park?" I don't remember shit man, but if you're just gonna give me all the answers to your questions then keep talking!

"Well alright, but next time don't go so deep in the park if someone's waiting for you, OK? What do you say I buy you some ice cream at the Boardwalk as compensation for making you wait alone before I take you to meet your Uncle and Cousin, yeah?"

"Yeah!" I'm 12 now, might as well play it up and act like it. Some ice cream doesn't sound too bad either…

"Ha-ha, sounds good huh? Maybe we can get your family some ice cream too."

Under his breath, Ben whispered some words that I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to hear. At least my superhuman physique was working as intended. "Lord knows the man will need more than a little ice cream to deal with being a single parent to two children now."

Walking to the back seat of a sedan of a brand I couldn't recognize; I found the courage to ask the question I'd been dreading to ask since I'd read the latest note from ROB.

"Say, uhh, what exactly is my Uncle's name again?" Please don't be what I think it is, please don't be what I think it is….

Pulling out his seatbelt, Ben rummaged around the little storage compartment attached to the car door until he found documents stashed there. Squinting, he read the papers while releasing the handbrake, before he put them away.

"That'll be one Danny Herbert…actually it's Hebert. And your cousin is Taylor Hebert."

'Ah fuck. I really am in the Worm-verse. Being homeless and not related to the Queen of Escalation might not have been such a bad thing…' I let my head hit the back of the seat and lay there listlessly.

Perhaps misunderstanding what was going on in my head after seeing my behaviour, Ben spoke up. "Hey…I know you're going through a tough time, but I just want you to know that you have people there to support you all right?"

Chuckling, he continued. "The Hebert's might not be as good-looking as your side of the family, but they're genuinely good people. From what I've heard Danny's well known in some of the Social Services circles. He's been working for the Dock Workers Union and taking care of them for a long time...So what I'm trying to say is that he's someone you can rely on and trust to take care of you."

He looked at me one last time and then turned his attention back to the road as the Car moved forward. "I know how difficult it must be for you. But just try to give them a chance. I've dealt with a lot of similar…situations, and I find that the most important thing is keeping an open mind."

"Right uhm…I'll try…to do that," I said lamely. Honestly, I was still a little overwhelmed with the situation.

As I was thinking of awkwardly continuing the conversation, I was hit with an intense feeling of vertigo. Like an earthquake had passed through my body, I could only tightly grip my seat until it passed.

While the feeling passed quickly enough, it didn't save the cushioning of Ben's car from my hands. Quickly hiding the evidence by sitting on it, I tried to act as normally as I could.

"Hey, are you OK kid?" Your concern is thoughtful but unneeded Ben!

"Uhh yeah…d-did you feel that? It kinda felt like an earthquake…or uhh something?"

"Sorry, kid I didn't feel anything. You feelin' under the weather?"

"Uhh yeah, must be tired from the…uhh long trip. I'll be fine in a bit."

That somehow seemed enough to stop any further enquiries, but Ben seemed a little unconvinced. However, I was still thinking back to what I'd felt. It was brief enough that I couldn't properly remember exactly what happened but somehow I had a bad feeling about it.

It was Magic. Or maybe Magecraft. Honestly, at this point in time and space, it didn't really matter, but we'll settle for calling it something like Magecraft-based Magic. Or something else. After all, at the end of the day, Magecraft followed everyone's rules, while Magic made its own rules.

But that wasn't what was truly important. No, it was the fact that for the first time, Mystical energies thought to be nonexistent moved. Even if this only really happened in the body of a single peculiar child, in just one of many interconnected worlds, It meant that the moonlit world had finally gained its first true member.

What did this mean for the world? Not much, after all. I mean to them it's just another Parahuman. Sure, he might be strong, charismatic or unique amongst their number but to the world he was still a Parahuman.

Then why speak of it at all then? You see the earlier one was a trick question! While the movement of mystical energies might not mean much to the world, they did in fact mean quite a lot to the "World".

For the "World" that laid dormant since the time of its creation. Sleeping since its inception, this meant that it was an excuse or maybe a cause to WAKE UP.

To Wake Up and find that they had a giant dead Worm lying on them. To Wake Up and find another massive, depressed Worm slithering across them. To Wake Up and see millions and billions and trillions of little pieces torn off from the massive Worms scattered across their body.

To Wake Up and discover that these slithering, disgusting, alien things were slowly preparing to kill you?

Naturally, the newly created/awakened "Will of the World" that identified itself as "Terra", composed of thousands and thousands of Parallel Earths acted normally…and promptly freaked the fuck out.

Terra

Remaining CP: 200CP

Total Word Count: 3167

Unused Word Count: 2167

Perks Gained this Chapter:

Her Majesty's Majesty (Fate/Legends - Empire of Antiquity) (100CP): They say that every hero of these times was a marvel to look upon. The statues that remain from these years in modern times would seem to give that impression and should you eventually have one made of you, it won't fall short. Whether it's being beautiful or handsome, you stand out like a shining jewel even among heroes. Many can't help but gasp once they see your visage and it'll smooth out plenty of problems for you, not the least of which is finding a suitable partner. Your beauty will also affect the things that you make and rule over, even something as large as Rome itself, but this effect slowly takes hold over time. While a sword you wield may slowly become more ornate and finer over days of use, an empire might need years to be fully affected, but it and all its people will be shining by the end. You can have this stop at a certain level if you like, whether that's to keep some parts of your empire ugly or just to stop everyone from maybe becoming self-obsessed snobs that never stop looking in mirrors.

Roman Holiday (Fate/Legends - Empire of Antiquity) (Free): The earlier ages had greater potential, I'm sure you've heard it all before. But even among the people of ancient Greece, you've actually stood out more than most. You have the potential to be a hero, should you work long and hard. Your physicality is enough to let you break down a tree with a few steady blows and run several times faster than an Olympian athlete of the day and while your body is far from immune to bladed weapons, you find that the fists of normal folk feel like children on your body. You even have some magical potential of note, being capable of manipulating a decent amount of mana in the Age of Gods fashion should you find someone that can train you to do so or, should you be born later and prefer it, have around a hundred high-quality magical circuits to learn to use.

Workshop (Personal Reality) (Free): Your very own Workshop! A mostly empty room with tables and seating implements. It begins with plenty of space to build basic things. However, since your Personal Reality is located within your Soul, how much more space you'll have in the future depends entirely on the growth and strength of your soul!

You can rearrange the Space in the Workshop to create Rooms for storage or simply separate crafting sections!

Your Workshop starts with absolutely no tools whatsoever! You can 'Bind' Tools to the Workshop after bringing them inside and focusing really hard!

Once Bound, a Tool can't be taken out ever again. If destroyed, bound Tools will fix themselves given time, with the time increasing with the complexity, rarity and durability of the Tool.

*The energy used to fix your Bound Tools comes from your Soul, so try not to break too many at once! Your Soul might go *poof*!

Access Key (Personal Reality) (Free): This is a special key that lets you access your Personal Reality and its contents. When inserted into any lock on any door, the door opens to reveal a gateway into your Reality at a predetermined location within it. You are the only person who can take the key from the lock, The gateway remains open as long as the key is in the lock, and if the key is ever lost or stolen you will find it in your pocket a few minutes later. You cannot close the door as long as you are inside the Personal Reality.

This is a special Power that lets you access your Personal Reality and its contents. When used on any door, the door opens to reveal a gateway into your Reality, a space located within your Soul. The Gateway remains open as long as you consciously apply your Power to it. If the Door is open, the space inside is considered as part of the Local Reality and can be accessed by anyone normally. You cannot close the door as long as you are inside the Personal Reality.

*Note that your Personal Reality does not have Fiat-backed protections. Any protections already there are a result of the nature of the Spiritual Space itself. For e.g., when the Door is Closed, any methods to try and locate and enter your Personal Reality that don't have any way to deal with the Spiritual will naturally fail.

Entrance Hall (Personal Reality) (Free): This is the room your Access Key opens a door to. It starts off as a 5-meter cube with dark, black walls, floor, and ceiling.

Inside the room, there are 2 Doors by default. The first is the one that leads to your Local Reality, in other words, the Door you used to enter. The second leads to your Workshop.

Additional Doors might be added with extensions granted by the Celestial Forge or if you ever become capable of doing so yourself.

A note from AppleGrowth

Author Notes:

So yeah...another Celestial Forge Worm fic. Its not very original of me, but I'm hoping to have a lot of fun with this.

I guess you could say its kind of an AU? I basically needed a proper excuse to make sure that Daniel doesn't get insta-killed when he identified himself as an outside context problem. Which is why I introduce you to "Terra"!

For clarification the world isn't going to suddenly start following Nasuverse Rules. There's no concept of "Gaia" and "Alaya" here. Which means that there is no established "Counter-Force" that exists here.

But "Terra" has woken up, and while I'm unsure if in the original Nasuverse "Gaia" and "Alaya" are forces that span across parallel worlds or whether there are different versions of "Gaia" and "Alaya" accross different worlds, things work differently in the Worm-verse.

Due to the Multi-dimensional nature of the Entities and the fact that they have connections created across countless worlds, "Terra", who woke up while all of this was happening also became a Multi-dimensional existence. She is essentially the "Will" of all the Earths that the Warrior and Thinker reached and tentatively connected to.

Normally, any and all changes in Self-insert stories come from the SI themselves, that isn't the case here. "Terra" being in the background hasn't changed anything in the past, but now that she's here? Yeah things are gonna be wild.

About the author

AppleGrowth

8/28/2023, 2:52 AM

Bio: I love eating apples. Recently I've also started enjoying writing.

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Hashoku Tensei (Worm/Celestial Forge SI) by AppleGrowth

Chapter 2 – Meet the Heberts

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Chapter 2 – Meet the Heberts

I'd taken the time to read Rob's notes on the Forge, while Ben drove. Reading that my Soul might go *poof* wasn't exactly exciting, but at least I knew I would have a place of my own even if things didn't work out at the Heberts.

'Hm?' Another star from the Forge made itself known to me. Mentally, I focused on latching on to it and felt it come to my grasp easily.

D38 Roll Result: 25

D51 Roll Result: 2

"My Magic isn't something the common man or wizard can appreciate. It takes a certain understanding of time, a certain appreciation of Infinity to really see the truth of the matter. That blankie I enchanted when I was in the cradle? Yeah, I still use it. What does it do? What do you think a baby wants from a blankie? They give a feeling of comfort and security. As a babe, it protected me from the cold and reassured me against the dark. Now? Yesterday I walked through literal Dragon Fire. I'm still here aren't I, what does it say about that?"

I know actual Magic now! Sure, it's slow as hell, but still! Magic!

OK, it's probably not going to be useful to me at all in the short run. I can only cast Charms and Wards that will be weak in the beginning and become stronger over time. I'll try to think of them as a long-term investment, but they aren't something to really rely on.

'Still, I should be able to put some weak enchantments on some things.'

In the short amount of time that I'd come to know Ben, I'd decided that I quite liked him. But you seriously need to stop asking so many questions man…

"Well, this is it. Casa de Hebert. Now, I know you said you didn't want anything else, but are you sure about only buying Bug Spray? Brockton might look a little more beat up than most places, but it isn't that bad." Keep your hands off my magic bug spray! I need that stuff!

"Uh, I just saw this huge cockroach at the park…it kinda freaked me out."

Saying so, I just decided to simply shoulder my backpack and walk to the house. Apparently, my other luggage had been delivered separately and had either already arrived or would in some time.

I'd been feeling oddly energetic for a while now. I'd thought my improved physique was to blame, but it could have been the other thing I'd done before coming here.

'Maybe I ate a little too much ice cream?'

I knew that interacting with my 'family' would be necessary, so like with all things I didn't like but had to do, I would engage them on my terms. That way I would dictate when the conversation would end, which would hopefully be soon after it started.

The house I saw was indeed old, just like it'd been described in Worm and its fanfiction. But when placed next to similarly old houses, it honestly didn't look that bad.

Waiting by the porch were the two people I didn't want to meet. Both tall and thin, and bespectacled, they radiated feelings of awkwardness and uncertainty. The girl, with long dark hair, outfitted in an oversized hoodie stood on one of the steps with the shade covering her upper body as if she couldn't decide whether she wanted to come all the way down. The man had walked to the bottom but hesitantly stopped when he realized that his daughter didn't seem to be walking forward anymore. Mentally, I cringed. Ugh, OK game-face on.

Pasting a bright smile on my face, I stepped forward. "Hello, my name is Daniel Hill, I'm 12 and 3-quarters old. I have many hobbies, but I've recently been into jogging and callisthenics. Thank you for accepting me into your beautiful home!"

My hand shot forward to firmly catch Danny's and shake it, while also giving the slightest of bows.

At the side, I saw Taylor twitch and step back. My smile became a bit more genuine; my teeth were probably shining with a light that repelled her depressive grimdark-ness. Hehe. Perfecto!

'How's that! Simultaneously channelling my best Kirishima Eijiro and Inasa Yorashi impression while following Kakashi's example in OPSEC without making it obvious.'

"Woah! That's a strong grip young man. I can see you weren't kidding about working out huh?"

Chuckling, Danny turned so he also had Ben in his periphery. "So uh, Ben. You called us yesterday. It was…a little short notice. So, we've just got your room set up with your stuff, it just got delivered earlier today. And…"

These two really have a talent for making things awkward. Perhaps sensing the stagnating conversation, Ben took over.

"Ha-ha, you know how the paper pushers can be. It was a sudden thing for us too. Why don't we let Taylor show Daniel around while we talk? He's even got some ice cream for you two."

"Of course! In fact, Taylor's been getting into fitness and running recently too. You kids probably have a lot to talk about." No, we don't, and I'm going to make sure she feels too intimidated by my weaponized social-fu to want to interact with me. Then I can go back to the blessed silence. HaHahahah!

"Hey there! I'm your cousin. I know I already introduced myself, but you seemed a little out of it so, yeah!"

Taylor stared at me for a moment too long to be normal. Rubbing her arm with the other hand she spoke. "I'm Taylor. I'll uh, show you to your room."

"Sure! Can you show me to the kitchen before that? I don't want the ice cream to melt."

"Right...It's this way. We only have two stories so I can just give you a short tour."

'This is the perfect simulation! Baby steps. If I can stay unaffected by Taylor's depressing shenanigans, then eventually it'll be the same for this whole world and its bullshit!'

D38 Roll Result: 3

D47 Roll Result: 24

The Celestial Forge chose this moment to toss another star at me, one that I apparently didn't have enough celestial juice for. I tried to hold onto it regardless and found it hovering just within reach, waiting for me to build up the power to take it. Neat!

POV – Taylor:

Yesterday, I'd been told I would be getting a new family member. Apparently, Mom had a distant cousin she rarely spoke to. She was married and had a family of her own, with a husband and son.

It was a shock to learn something new about Mom. Of course, it wasn't good news, everything just had to be tinged with negativity. The 3 were involved in a car crash, only the kid made it through. My cousin. A little brother.

'I didn't exactly have many expectations. But this…'

I knew that Mom was pretty, I knew that I hadn't inherited any of it apart from her hair, but Daniel took it a step further.

He was a head shorter than me, maybe 5'3? His hair was probably long for a boy, almost reaching past his ears, it was the same black, but it wasn't curly like me and Mom, instead, it had a wavy, silky flow to it that swayed with the wind, yet was otherwise undisturbed by it. He had vibrant green eyes, and his skin had a slightly healthy tan.

He was a little too muscular for a 12-year-old. And overall, his features were a little too good-looking to be normal, with a presence that seemed to shine. He was easy on the eyes.

I'd been expecting a depressed little boy. They might not have been exactly like me, but I doubted anyone would think we were related if they put us next to each other.

Maybe it was different for him. He wasn't at fault for his parents' death. Not like me. A quiet part of my mind whispered.

"Hello, my name is Daniel Hill, I'm 12 and 3-quarters old. I have many hobbies, but I've recently been into jogging and callisthenics. Thank you for accepting me into your beautiful home!"

It was weirdly formal yet also didn't seem impersonal. Almost like giving an interview. Dad seemed to like him and the man he came here with was smiling at the scene.

For some reason, my mind couldn't help but think of Emma. Making the comparison, I'd instinctively stepped back. I felt like Daniel's smile had stretched wider and for a moment I almost let my thoughts take hold, but I dismissed them. I was just imagining things. I wouldn't let the Trio ruin my perceptions of a family member I'd just met.

"Hey there! I'm your cousin. I know I already introduced myself, but you seemed a little out of it so, yeah!"

Yes. He was an energetic person. I thought someone like that would annoy me, but somehow I didn't seem to mind it as much.

My relationship with Dad was strained, but maybe this wouldn't be as bad. I'd go with the flow, start small and see where it takes us. I'd promised myself that I would try to turn anything negative into a positive. There wasn't anything objectively negative about this, so all I had to do was remember to remain positive. I'd dreaded having an extra person in the one place where I knew I was safe from everything life threw at me, but as long as I wanted it to be, maybe this could be a good thing?

"I'm Taylor. I'll uh, show you to your room."

"Sure! Can you show me to the kitchen before that? I don't want the ice cream to melt."

Well, if things went bad I could at least say they started off on a sweet note. Ha-ha. That was bad even for me…

POV – Danny:

It was hard. Being reminded of Annete in this way. New relatives, he never heard about until they were already gone? The situation was bizarre.

He'd thought to call Annete's parents but couldn't go through with it, didn't know how the conversation would go, and didn't have the courage to speak to them.

"You don't have to worry about the finances Danny. Daniel's parents left a fund for a situation like this. He's a good kid – a little odd at times like all kids are – but still a good kid."

It made a strange kind of sense. With the way the world was now, leaving wills and things like them for after your death was logical. It was something he was starting to consider, after this incident.

"Ah the money's not exactly the problem, it just feels like…I'm already not sure if I'm doing well with Taylor. The Association work feels like it never ends, I'm not left with a lot of time. Does your department really think it'll be good for him here?"

"Don't sell yourself short. It was determined that this would be the best place for him. Besides, this might be good for Taylor too. The files say she's been recovering from an accident of some sort, right? She looked a little glum.

I've got 2 little sisters myself, and focusing on them always got me to forget my own problems. They'll look after one another I'm sure."

Taylor was…Yes, she wasn't happy I knew that. Apparently, it was obvious to others too.

She just wouldn't open up to him. It'd already been, what? A month, almost two. She wouldn't let him help her, and…and it made him feel angry. Not at her, never her. Just at his impotence.

Daniel didn't seem like he'd just lost his parents, but it could have just not set in yet. Maybe he was compartmentalizing. Or maybe he was just that resilient. Dock workers were some of the toughest bastards out there, he'd seen his fair share of strong men and women, seemingly made of stuff harder than steel.

He was doing a lot better than Taylor and he himself was like, after Annette. He couldn't quite remember what everything was like right after losing her, that part was just a blur. But things never seemed the same again.

Maybe, this would be good for Taylor. At the very least I can think of it as trying something, seeing if it works. Lord knows I don't do enough for her.

Yes. He would try harder. Not just for Taylor but for Daniel as well.

POV – Daniel:

I'd handed the ice cream to Taylor when we were near the kitchen during the impromptu tour. It was only after I'd settled into my spacious room in the basement that I realized something.

'I'm supposed to be freshly fucking orphaned! Here I am jumping around all chipper-like. Fuck!'

Well, it didn't matter anymore. I was human at the end of the day. I'd just own it and move on. I'll avoid any topics related to that stuff and hopefully, no one finds it odd.

As for whether I was actually depressed? Hell no. I'd promised my Mum that I would call her when work ended, I wasn't going to go back on it. The only difference would be how long it would take me to finish work.

ROB had made it clear that he wasn't interfering in my life at all, so I would have to rely on myself. I was the owner of the Celestial Forge, even if I didn't know everything it was capable of, I would milk it for all it was worth. I'd save this sorry excuse of a world and get back home.

I knew that at least in the short term I was a little aimless, but at times like these, I just had to make do with what I had.

Nodding I brought out a bottle of bug-repelling spray from my backpack. When I bought it, it might have only been used to kill insects. But now, after I'd enchanted it with my Magic? The Bottle and its contents quite literally 'repelled' bugs away from it.

'First I'm going to make this room, and carefully make most of the house bug-free, only leaving some space for bug girl. Then I'll start enchanting some other stuff around here and get some protections going. Taylor has enough range to practice outside. I'm not going to let her put disgusting insects on me just to let her creepily track me around. I'll secretly cast some protections on her stuff as compensation.'

I had a lot of work to do.

Remaining CP: 0 (300CP locked)

Total Word Count: 2391

Perks Gained this Chapter:

Old Patient Magic (Circle of Magic) (100CP): You have learned how to cast charms, wards, and protections over places that grow more and more powerful, stable, and harder to damage with age. A door you reinforced with magic a year ago will be tougher than one you reinforced a day ago, and a scrying mirror you made decades ago will be able to see further than one you made a couple of years back. The growth rate may not be much, and it grows slower over time, but it does add up over decades and centuries.

I Know What We're Going To Do Today (Phineas and Ferb) (400CP): 24 hours just doesn't seem like enough time to get stuff accomplished, but you'd be surprised what determination (and this perk) can get you. You can now complete days and even weeks' worth of work in just a few hours, and this effect increases tremendously when you have a few helpers, to the point where a small team can work with you to complete years' worth of work in a simple afternoon.

Choreographic (Free): Ever had a feeling you just weren't sure how to express? Well, now you can do so through song. You have a perfect singing voice, combined with a decent understanding of choreography, and the capacity to break into song almost anywhere and have musical accompaniment start up for you.

A note from AppleGrowth

As you can see, Daniel isn't very good at making casual conversation with strangers, but when he has a goal? When social interaction becomes a ladder to climb or an objective to complete? He bulldozes his way through, with mostly positive effects.

Well, it used to be a lot less effective in the past. But after the effects of [Her Majesty's Majesty (Fate/Legends - Empire of Antiquity)] people just seem to be a lot more agreeable. I wonder if he realizes just how much its helping him?

I tried to write Taylor as best as I could. I'm sure many people will still complain and disagree with me, at least I think that because I haven't ever written Taylor before, but I think I nailed her character at this point in time pretty well. I've deliberately kept the exact date vague, but I'm sure the more dedicated readers will get a good idea on their own. The same goes for Danny of coarse.

Edit: After someone on Sufficient Velocity caught on to the fact that I'd left the [Choreographic (Free)] Perk out, I felt shame for trying to weasel my way out of writing songs or at least finding them, because Daniel is just the kind of SI to want to musically dominate people randomly. Well, I decided to alleviate my shame and add in the Perk in the List at the back. Nothing has changed as far as Chapter 2 content goes. I mainly added it cause I felt that it would be an interesting challenge.

About the author

AppleGrowth

8/29/2023, 10:12 AM

Bio: I love eating apples. Recently I've also started enjoying writing.

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Hashoku Tensei (Worm/Celestial Forge SI) by AppleGrowth

Chapter 3 – Clean, Fix and Reevaluate your Goals

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Chapter 3 – Clean, Fix and Reevaluate your Goals

My stay in the Hebert household has been surprisingly pleasant so far.

I was still a little uneasy about being so close to and sleeping in the same house as Taylor. The girl had killed this world's equivalent of Superman in the future. But I managed to hide those feelings and slowly started to get used to her.

It was then that I suddenly recalled something that had a heavy impact on me as a child.

It was a little ironic, me being scared of her when I'd estimated that the PRT would've classified me as a Muscle Brute 3 or 4. But it wouldn't be the first time I'd found myself discovering irony at the hands of a bullying victim.

I'm ashamed to admit that I almost became a full-fledged bully back in 2nd grade. Taking my class-clown tendencies too far, making fun of the quiet kid in class. It was never physical, but pulling their pants down in front of everyone was as far as I'd gotten.

The next week, karma struck me when I managed to fracture my arm and even get my neck in a cast while enjoying my weekend. When I'd recovered enough to move, my mother had taken it upon herself to let me remain active despite my injuries. One of these trips outside had us visiting the home of a friend of hers – the mother of the quiet kid I bullied.

I'd expected scorn from Ellis. Maybe he would tattle on me? Kick me while I was down, maybe? Blackmail?

Instead, I'd received a warm welcome with actual concern. I was taken to the couch and given a controller to play video games with him.

When I realized that what was happening was real…I'd cried and apologized to both him and his family. That day I'd learnt to be a kinder person. Incidentally, that was also how I'd gotten into video games.

It was when I'd recalled that memory that I'd started paying closer attention to Taylor. Not paying attention to the Parahuman, a future Skitter, but to Taylor Hebert, the high schooler.

I'd come to realize that this Taylor wasn't the Queen of Escalation, the teenage Warlord or the dangerous Parahuman I'd read about.

'Not yet anyway…'

Right now, the girl was mostly quiet, responding when spoken to, and when she didn't have something to do…she just looked lost. I didn't know the signs of a suicidal person, but a quick Spyder-Finder (Pshh! Who uses Google anyway? Not Earth-Bet obviously!) search didn't let me remain ignorant for long.

Of course, any thoughts on reaching out to her were quickly dispelled when I saw her when she was actually focused on something.

'The intensity and focus with which she tackled her math homework was unsettling….'

She was a bomb waiting to set off. A chain-reaction explosion that – in the original timeline – was enough to kill an Alien God.

In the end, I was afraid of the consequences of helping her because that would involve digging into her problems and touching her sore spots, which could end up with her looking for an escape. A cornered animal was dangerous, a cornered Taylor was…

While the memory of me striving to be a better person always stuck with me, so did something I saw on my first airplane ride when I was 6. It was there that I saw that when the plane gives out oxygen masks, if you can, you wear your own first and only then help the person next to you.

Essentially, you had to help yourself before helping others.

The only way Taylor would open up to me was if I revealed my powers, and let that be the bridge to connect us, but well….

I wasn't going to risk myself fixing Taylor's problems. I'd help her when I was in a position to do so. And the best way to fix her problems was without her knowing who helped her and how. I'd long since decided that I would never willingly expose my powers to anyone and would mislead others into thinking I was a simple Brute if they found anything. Coil might have been an asshole, but I would learn from his example when protecting oneself.

No matter how guilty I felt every time I looked at her, knowing that I could do something, to improve her life, and stop her from feeling like she had nothing to live for, I—I'd wait until I was powerful enough to make sure if I do interfere I'd be able to actually help Taylor.

Danny on the other hand was where the actual positives to living here came about. I…didn't have a father back on Earth-Prime (It was what I'd decided to call my Earth) so spending an entire day he took off from work with him was…an experience.

A/N

Music

"Triangle head. Rectangle head. Perry. Greetings, I see you're as carefree as ever. Well, it doesn't matter. It's Summer Vacation and I'm bored out of my mind. Huh? What do mean you just want to relax today? I'm going to get my fun either way, it'll be a lot better for you if I didn't have to extract it from you with the Fun-extract-inator. Where did I get it? You don't need to know. What you do need to know is that…I know what we're going to do today."

"What 'Cha Doin'~?"

"Goddamit woman! No one invited you!"

Oh right, there was also that. I was a little bummed when I found out that the Forge didn't actually give me all the memories from my alternate self in the Phineas & Ferb universe. So, while I did get the talent to build things I already know how to make, at much, much faster speeds, I didn't get the knowledge to build all the crazy stuff my other self helped P&F build. I also didn't get any smarter, so inventing them myself was a no-go. After all, it was their inventions, I'd just helped them make them faster. Also, I guess I can sing now, which is well…OK?

Well, it wasn't all entirely useless.

Danny's day off was spent mostly with me and the Heberts deciding to clean and repair the entire house. Well, it started as cleaning but as we 'somehow' worked at normal human speeds but made such insane progress, I was able to convince Danny to get a bunch of spare old tools and building supplies from his dockworker contacts.

The Forge might not have given me any Knowledge on how to build anything yet, but being prepared was something I could do. Getting tools to build literally anything would have been next to impossible for me without taking massive risks. This way no one would suspect a thing!

Sometimes, my genius scares me. Muhahahahaha!

Then again I think I might have gained a little more than I bargained for. Like, a lot more.

The people whom Danny called for the tools and raw materials ended up coming to help out with the repairs when they heard what we were doing.

'*Sigh* This was going to turn into a whole social thing huh?'

It seems I was going to meet the Dock Workers of Brockton Bay.

Well, I'll talk to them politely and slowly back off to quietly work on the house, the least I can do for Danny is help fix up his house quickly with the help of [I Know What We're Going To Do Today (Phineas and Ferb)]. The man did take me into his home out of nothing but the kindness of his heart.

POV – Danny:

It was supposed to be a small thing.

Take a day off, spend some time with and get to know your newly adopted nephew.

Then Daniel suggested we clean the house, and somehow…it led to this situation.

"""Rise and shine, a mess to face,

Together we stand, in this cleaning race.

Gather tools, let's make a plan,

Turning chaos to order, hand in hand."""

I'd only asked Kurt and Alexander to lend me some power tools and see if they could get some of the endless abandoned construction material that could be found at certain points of the Bay.

Instead, when they learnt what we were doing they somehow ended up calling all the boys and girls to help fix the house up.

Well, the dockworkers were out of work right now, that was why I even had the time to take a day off. And with the constant heavy snowfall well…suffice to say no one was working today.

They'd all driven here ready to renovate the whole damn place! Work like this would take a month or a week at best. And yet somehow, we were making remarkable progress.

"""With determination burning bright,

We'll fix and clean with all our might.

From attic's dust to the floor below,

In unity, forward we'll go."""

I could tell that the kids weren't comfortable with the dockworkers' presence at first. Taylor had mostly clammed up, sticking to Lacey and helping her out quietly. Daniel was better off, making polite conversations with Kurt, Alexander, and Bill.

Then at some point, he left the formalities. He began taking an actual interest in talking to them. When the dockworkers realized that he was in incredible shape for a 13-year-old, they started giving him bigger jobs. At some point, Daniel was helping and observing all jobs across the house, he made sure to be involved in every aspect of the work done on the house.

He also seemed to be touching every part of the house where the work was done and muttering something. He was probably checking them. Or maybe he was playing around?

"""Sweeping, scrubbing, in perfect grace,

Transforming disorder to a peaceful space.

Mending, painting, every nail and glue,

With our combined strength, there's nothing we can't do."""

It was easy to see how happy he was when he was working. Seeing him smile today made it obvious that his attitude on his first day wasn't quite authentic. But it made sense, there was no way he wasn't affected by the death of his parents. Trying to act like everything was fine was understandable.

But now? It felt like he was actually having fun. And it showed when he began humming quietly as we worked.

The tune was nothing special. But somehow it seemed amazingly well in synch with the work we were doing. Then as he got louder, and louder, others began to join in and hum with him.

As Daniel continued humming, I saw him looking at Taylor. I couldn't quite make out his expression, but it seemed complicated.

Then he began to sing.

"""Cracks and leaks, we'll make them right,

Aiming high with each ladder's climb.

Crafting solutions, creativity soars,

Laughing and working, opening new doors.."""

He was good. Really good. It almost felt like I could hear music playing in the background.

All while singing, he slowly made his way to where Taylor and Lacey were working.

At that point, many of the other dockworkers had joined in the singing, Lacey included. Taylor looked bewildered like she couldn't understand what was going on.

When Daniel reached her, she looked even more surprised. As if she couldn't believe he snuck up on her.

Then when he pulled her in to start dancing, her eyes were so wide with surprise that it almost looked like they would fall out, and in her surprise, she ended up going along with it long enough that she couldn't really stop without making it awkward.

"Through the sweat and tears we've shed,

Our bond grows stronger, there's no thread.

In every challenge, we found a way,

Together we brighten even the darkest day."

Then it was just Daniel singing, with a new verse he added to the song, while everyone else continued humming the same tune loudly.

Daniel's dance wasn't any specific dance style. Without the song he was singing it might have even looked plain weird, but with it, somehow it worked. The dance incorporated the work they were doing, with him dragging Taylor around with him to hand materials to everyone, placing planks of wood along the floor that was opened up, and other little jobs.

Taylor, despite following Daniel's lead, still looked ready to run, as if she was expecting something terrible to happen. But as the dance went on she looked around at everyone still working and singing with smiles on their faces and slowly became surer of herself.

Looking at that hurt. I knew she was being bullied and that she didn't want my help or interference, but did she think that things were so bad that the people here, my friends and colleagues, would actually make fun of her or hurt her?

As they continued to dance and work, Taylor's expression showed disbelief. Whether it was the fact that we were singing or whether it was the fact that she wasn't getting a negative response to dancing in front of everyone, I couldn't tell.

That disbelief eventually turned into a smile. Not the awkward upward twitch of the lips I was so used to seeing. A genuine smile that I realized, I hadn't seen in years. I was so surprised that I'd stopped singing, it didn't register to me that at some point I'd also started singing without realizing it.

"With smiles that light up the room,

We chase away any hint of gloom.

Hand in hand, we face the unknown,

Turning obstacles into steppingstones."

With encouragement from Daniel and all the Dockworkers, that smile eventually turned into laughter that hadn't echoed through the house since Annette.

And if everyone noticed the stray tears falling down her face as Taylor laughed and sang? No one commented about it, simply continuing to work.

Daniel took off Taylor's glasses during the dance. I noticed him muttering something while holding them with a look of intense concentration before returning them but didn't think much of it as I was still reeling from the fact that Taylor had just laughed, possibly for the first time in years. He'd probably just been wiping them.

"""Sweeping, scrubbing, in perfect grace,

Transforming disorder to a peaceful space.

Mending, painting, every nail and glue,

With our combined strength, there's nothing we can't do."""

He had other things to think about now. Like the looks some of his friends were giving him.

He hadn't told them that Taylor was being bullied. They only knew that she'd gotten hurt at school. One of the reasons Taylor had hidden it from him had to be because she was ashamed of it, which is why he didn't tell other people about it. He thought of it as something only she had the right to share.

But he doubted they would let him go without an explanation after today.

"""As the final touch is made, and the work is through,

We'll stand back and admire, feeling content and true.

With shared endeavour, we've answered the call,

Uniting our energies, we've conquered it all."""

POV – Daniel:

D38 Roll Result: 12

D22 Roll Result: 1

Everyone in the Hebert household was occupied with their work, singing or their thoughts and emotions.

As they worked they didn't realize that the speeds at which they worked were so incredibly fast that we were finishing the entire renovation of a house in a single day. Work that normally took months, or even longer, was accomplished in comparatively no time at all, through sheer efficiency of movement, teamwork, and a little bit of P&F insanity.

So lost in the song and dance that no one noticed me casting Magic. Slowly enchanting the entire house, brick by brick, plank by plank. Even the screws and smaller components were enchanted.

A/N

'[Old Patient Magic: {Reinforce Structure}, {Self-mending}, {Anti-Scrying Field}, {Healing Field}, {Anti-Spatial Interference Field}]'

The Magic was incredibly weak right after I'd cast it. To the point where it would have next to no effect for a while. But it was that fact that allowed me to cast it so many times, for every part of the house.

The Magic would slowly make the house tougher, repair itself with time, heal its occupants of basic injuries, resist scrying attempts, and even interfere with the use of Spatial Magic or technology.

'[Old Patient Magic: {Restore Sight}]'

When I got the chance to grab Taylor's glasses, I'd taken the opportunity and added an enchantment that was meant to restore the vision of anyone who wore it. It was something that was meant for people with no eyes, or a curse on their vision. While it wouldn't do something like that now, slowly fixing Taylor's vision to normal would still be in its purview if given a few months.

The house would take longer, right now it was barely tougher than its base materials would suggest, could only 'repair' itself at a rate slower than time and the elements would deteriorate the condition of the house, barely give resistance to any scrying attempts, only accelerated the speed at which a small paper cut would heal by a small percentage, and give the slightest amount of interference to spatial effects that would probably go unnoticed.

This would change as the enchantments grew in strength over time.

D38 Roll Result: 1

D22 Roll Result: 16

As I had started using Magic I'd noticed that the source of the Magic I used from the Perk that allowed me to cast Charms, Wards and other Protections, was completely different than the Magic Circuits gained from [Roman Holiday (Fate/Legends - Empire of Antiquity)].

While Magic Circuits felt like veins running throughout my body that let me feel my Od (Internal Mana Supply) and the Mana (External Mana Supply – Breath of the Planet) in the air, the Magic source for [Old Patient Magic (Circle of Magic)] was like a ball of fire I could feel at the centre of my being.

Something that I was quick to notice was that my emotions often affected the Magic I used to cast the Wards and Protections.

So, I could tell myself that I'd only sung the song and danced to make my Magic more effective and distract everyone from consciously noticing the effects of my speed-building perk. But that wouldn't be true. Those accidental benefits were something I'd only realized after the fact.

The actual reason was because of how easy singing had become with [Choreographic (Phineas and Ferb)], and I'd realized that helping Taylor was not the same as eliminating the reasons her life was bad.

'Being Taylor is suffering'. A famous line in the Worm community.

When I saw Taylor, uncomfortably working (suffering) in the corner, I realized that instead of making the dockworkers go away or letting Taylor leave the work and the presence of so many people in her house, I could do the opposite and let her enjoy their presence and working alongside them.

It was an uncomfortable realization.

Just removing the things that cause problems or removing the person from the situations that cause problems doesn't always solve the problem.

I couldn't save Earth-Bet by killing Scion or stopping Gold Morning. There were so many things that were wrong with this world that it wouldn't be enough.

When I came to this world and received the Celestial Forge, I'd only thought of stopping its destruction because of the responsibility the power of the Forge would provide. And the fact that if I didn't kill Scion and simply ran home the first chance I got, the Entity and its Shards could track me home to Earth-Prime and infect my home world.

Mostly I just wanted to go home after being done with this world. I had no attachment to it. No obligations.

But now, after staying here for a few days, I knew that I didn't want Danny to die. I didn't have that much of an attachment to Taylor, but now that I was slowly letting go of my negatively biased view of her I knew that I didn't want her to go through all the things that happened in Worm, only to get her 'happy' ending.

Kurt, Lacey, Alexander, Bill, Kevin, Martha and all the other Dock Workers who I'd met today were also good, hardworking honest people. They'd taught me a lot about handling tools from the smaller mundane ones to the heavier power tools, the basics of construction, tool maintenance, and about building things in general.

Could I really just abandon them? Leave them to die in this hell-world?

Shaking my head, I mentally reviewed the Perks I'd gotten today. The second was still waiting at the periphery for more power, while the first one…

It was access to an alternate universe. One with potentially unlimited resources.

'I could leave.' I realized.

It would take some effort, but I was capable enough to get a one-way ticket to a remote corner of Earth-Bet. Open a door to my Personal Reality and enter the [Mundane Supply World (The Celestial Foundry)] and simply spend all my time preparing for Gold Morning.

No one would bother me. If Contessa hadn't already come to me then I doubt she would come after me now. Plus, the Forge and other Magical effects would be invisible to her.

The Door to Earth-Bet would always be open as long as I stayed there, but it would still be very far from any other parahuman. Even if Shards could access the Forge-given world, I would still be better off there.

"Fuck…Why didn't you give me this perk when I first arrived here? Then I could've left without a single thought!"

It was already too late. I was getting attached.

Before I came to Earth-Bet, I didn't have any friends. Oh, I had acquaintances. I even had old friends I knew from school. But I hadn't stayed in touch with them, and we'd drifted apart. I'd even stopped playing video games after starting college and lost touch with all my online friends.

I didn't think I was lonely. But I sure as hell don't remember getting along so well with people so quickly before. Then again it could have been the Phineas and Ferb magic and positivity that infected me.

Leave it to me to befriend a bunch of sweaty, muscular dockworkers.

"Fuck it! I'll stay for now and decide later!"

'At least I know I have another option to consider if things go wrong…'

Just then the Forge attracted my attention when I'd gathered enough power for the latest star to come my way.

Instead of memories or other information about a pile of resources, I just heard a voice in my head and became aware of the ability to summon a piece of paper with something written on it.

'What. The. Fuck?! Is Evil Sexy Taylor?!' The thought of that girl in a skimpy black leather outfit armed with a whip came to mind…

'Fuck no!' And I violently smashed my head into the wall of my room to clear my thoughts.

Thankfully, the basement walls were pretty tough

"Daniel?! Are you all right down there?"

"Ah, shit! Yeah! I'm fine!"

Quickly summoning the piece of paper, I read its contents.

"*Whew*~." After finally reading what I now knew was a deed to a shop, I breathed out in relief.

"OK, it's Tailor. Not Taylor. Got it."

When I finally calmed down I realized that there was possibly a Dark Elf setting up shop somewhere in Brockton Bay.

Remaining CP: 0

Total Word Count: 3792

Perks Gained this Chapter:

Choreographic (Phineas and Ferb) (Free): Ever had a feeling you just weren't sure how to express? Well, now you can do so through song. You have a perfect singing voice, combined with a decent understanding of choreography, and the capacity to break into song almost anywhere and have musical accompaniment start up for you.

Mundane Supply World (The Celestial Foundry) (100CP): This item gives you access to all the materials that one could get on Earth, but with one caveat, you'll have to find and harvest them yourself. Your warehouse gains a portal that is linked to an artificial plane of existence that is of infinite size in all directions, where humanity or sapience of any kind never developed. You can find an unlimited number of any resources given enough time, but they are spread around as would naturally occur in nature, meaning you have to often move when you exhaust the local supply. Resources are always located in environments where you would find them on Earth, and when you travel to this world, you are able to choose which environment you arrive in or return to any prior location you have been to before. Environments have realistic distances between them, so if you need something found in several biodomes you need to return to your warehouse or use a fast transport of some kind. Every time you gain a perk that requires access to a new raw material, this raw material appears in the most native form in this supply world and has to be collected as it normally would be. If your material is only found inside stars, you better be ready to get a rocket to go collect it somehow.

Sexy Evil Tailor (Dungeon Keeper Ami) (200CP): This is a deed to a tailor's shop which includes a Dark Elf Tailor. She knows exactly what is needed to make a person look their most sexy, evil, and impressive, able to create clothes for any shape and size ranging from leather strips covering the important bits all the way up to dark billowing cloaks. No matter what look you are going for she can help you pull it off and look good doing it, though she normally works for gold she will accept any currency. At the end of the week, she will give you your portion of the profits made from other customers. You will receive a new deed every jump to place as you wish. Beware though, she does try to push the leather underwear look.

A note from AppleGrowth

Author Note:

Not how I expected the chapter to go. Yeah, I know right? And I'm the author here!

To be honest I'd gone into writing this story thinking it would turn really grimdark. With the SI struggling a lot in the beginning. Maybe even till the middle of the story.

Hell, I'd thought up certain storylines if he got certain darker Perks from the Celestial Forge. Leave it to Phineas and Ferb to dispel all darkness and embrace the Summer spirit, despite being in another universe. There's still a chance for darker things to happen, but the darkest routes would have been the ones where he had no people to rely on and no one for him to fight for.

Daniel has realized that his idea of helping Taylor and 'saving' the world were both not quite right.

So instead of trying to stop Sophia and Emma and possibly get stalked or attacked by Shadow Stalker and get the PRT involved, which he already decided he wouldn't try until he was strong enough to accept the consequences of, he just tried to cheer her up.

There are of course consequences to his actions that he hasn't noticed yet.

In Worm, the first people to accept Taylor were the Undersiders. That was why she got attached to them.

Now? Taylor realized there might be a lot more people who could maybe, hopefully, be nice to her. To give her a sense of purpose and prove that she isn't useless. She still won't open up to them completely, but maybe instead of galivanting as a Hero and helping random people, she could first try and help the struggling Dockworkers? After all, they were so nice to her.

Of course, Taylor is still being bullied and Earth-Bet is still in danger of being destroyed by The Warrior. Even with this little slice of happiness, there are many more challenges ahead.

So, yeah…You can expect an interlude or a smol chapter with Taylor's reaction and if not that then at least it'll have Danny's discussion with his fellow Dock Workers after he tells them what he knows about Taylor.

I'm still planning on what happens next but… what do you say? Dockworkers Vs Shadowstalker wanna make bets?

About the author

AppleGrowth

9/6/2023, 4:52 AM

Bio: I love eating apples. Recently I've also started enjoying writing.

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Chapter 944 - hashoku tensei 1-3