Saintess Summons Skeletons

Another storage item you say Hmm, I have plenty for sale still, you can buy one at the reception on the way out. Unless Richard gave a sideways look to one of the human spare bodies floating in their columns.

Unless?

Heh, I wouldnt be offering that to someone else, but if anyone, you might just be the one to accept. Crazy is crazy, after all.

Insulting someone isnt usually how you get them to accept something.

Richard stared at Sofia for a few seconds, hands on his pelvis.

See. Youre still here, waiting for the offer. I am starting to get a good read on you. Youre hungry, just like I was. Hungry for possibilities. Hungry for power. It doesnt matter what I call you. The incentive of getting something from someone as powerful as me, you just cant miss it.

Yeah, huge news. How did you figure that out? From the story of how I accepted a death quest from Sun to go to a Solar orbital station? Oh, right, I didnt even tell you about this one. So, this offer of yours?

Tssk. I can do without the sarcasm, is this how you treat a helpful old man? I was just-

You were just stalling for time because youre about to give me a bad deal. Look, Im not great at many things when it comes to social matters, but reading a skeletons body language is right up my alley.

Quite the annoying skill, if you ask me. Well, my offers not bad Its just Come here, let me show you my latest storage item prototype. I need someone to try it out and come back with feedback. Afterwards, you can keep it, of course, Richard walked up to the male spare body he had been glancing at before.

This guy is completely naked I dont see Is it hidden in one of his teeth? Old Orvod had something like this in the trial.

He did? How would you have found that out Anyway, close, but you missed.

Where is the prototype, then? Sofia asked, scanning the body with her mana senses, failing to pick up anything weird.

Richard walked up to the column and leaned his back on it. Tell me, how much do you care about your eyes? he asked, poking at his empty eye socket.

Sofia took a step back. This is going in a direction that I am not sure I like

Ke heh heh. Thats right. This bodys wearing the prototype storage item. Left eye.

I- Im not sure Ripping out an eye certainly wouldnt be the worst thing Ive done to my body, not by a long shot, but it does make me a bit uncomfortable, somehow

Before we get on to the specifics of that, let me give you the good points, alright? Good first, bad second. Please.

Nothings ever free Go on. Im listening.

You would be a real bonehead not too. I know the pajamas, slippers, and overall carefree attitude arent selling it well, but I am still one of the strongest in this tiny world, alright. Youre really lucky most of us old ones are not very uptight. With interesting people, at least. So! The prototype.

Richard teleported into the glass column. His bone fingers reached up to the floating bodys head, and with precise and careful movements, ripped out the left eye, then teleported back out, wetting the floor with some of the columns fluid dripping from his pajamas.

There you have it, he proudly told Sofia, holding up the wet and bloodied round eye. The first edition modern scar-less body-insert spatial storage! Just the materials to make this thing cost more than it did to build this entire underwater complex. Not that its much to me, but its still something. Took a lot of efforts to make this first functional prototype, but I can only stay in the spare bodies for so long, and its not quite the same as having your own body, so I need a volunteer to try keeping it on and using it for long periods of time, to be sure its all fine before I start ripping out the eyes of My more dangerous customers.

Riiiiight Wait Cant you just rip this thing out and heal the eye back? If the runes can regrow my entire body, just an eye should be fine That might be annoying, even, if I have to rip-out my left eye every time I die to get that thing back in.

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Richard scratched his skull. Nope. Not something you can undo. No healing. Youre stuck with it. Well, you can always replace it with something else later, but your real eye is gone. Linking this to your soul modifies your own template if you will, just like your other body-modification skills do. Like your half-empty insides. Dont think I dont see them. Clearly no matter what you did, it doesnt look reversible. This is the same. No amount of healing magic can help you there. Hence why this is a deal I can only offer to someone like you.

Im sure most human farmers out there would kill for a storage item to make their job easier, let alone sell an eye.

As if I would entrust my prototype to a random nobody! I need someone whos really going to use it and bring back good data, not some farmer whos going to end up murdered by a jealous neighbor.

Sofia took a second think, walking in circles under the watchful non-eyes of Richard.

I have a few questions.

Fire.

Uh?

I mean, ask away.

Oh, alright. First question : why?

Easy, I wanted to try a new technology, and the usual ring and baubles weren’t cutting it. So its an eye-

Second question, why would anyone ever pick this over a regular spatial storage item?

If youd just let me finish what I was saying

Sorry.

So, the eye. The idea was to extend the effective range of my spatial items. For conveniences sake. Tell me, what is the range of that ring of yours?

You made it, dont you know?

I do, you numbskull, this isnt about what the values actually are, Im just trying to illustrate a point!

Sure No need to get so worked up over this So the [Rubedos Tail Biter], which you made, can pick up items that I touch, or with some trickery, up to a few meters away, if nobody else is holding the thing. Its able to unload items anywhere in a sphere of about ten meters of diameter around the ring. So how much range does the eye have? As far as the eye can see? That would certainly be worth an eye.

Do you have any idea how far your eyes can see? If I want to be facetious, I can say it only sees what it can touch, and that wouldnt be completely false, but thats also not very interesting. Else, well, we can see stuff so far away in space that we couldnt ever hope to reach them, so you can always dream to have that kind of range. No, the range is more like, as far as the eye can see that your mana can reach.

Thats Pretty incredible already.

Isnt it? But itll cost you an eye, cant use the tech unless we replace a real eye. Its also race-specific so this prototype is human only.

Wait Human-only? Our eyes are nothing special

Yeah? Thats the point. Other races have different eye shape, muscle implementation, natural magic paths, and other such annoying things to work around. Human eyes are the easiest to work with, which is pretty nice, made for easy preliminary testing. I need someone to give it a real run, though. Its got other quirks besides the range and the lost eye, but thats less important. So, what do you think?

Im going to need the specifics, and a lot more details on how that thing feels to have in your head I also want to know what are the things you expect could go wrong, considering you believe testing is needed. And I want Erredis opinion.

Youre not making this easy.

Free stuff is free, Im rarely against taking it, but losing an eye forever is still a bit of a big deal.

Oh, trust me, I know. Give me a second to edit the description. That should be enough for you to understand the features. All experimental, dont forget. We can go over the stuff that could go wrong with your Dragon witness, if you want. Cant let you have the thing just yet anyway, I will have to tinker with it some to adjust for your lack of proper optical nerves.

Well I havent accepted yet.

Just have a look, its nice, isnt it?

What do we have here

[Relocation-Eye Prototype implant V0.1]: A peculiar new generation storage item prototype by craftsman T.L.D.R. It was completed a few years ago but never made it to the next stage of production for a lack of proper quality assurance testing. The space inside is a ten meters sided cube but its real appeal comes from the many experimental features.

Be warned: will permanently replace your eye.

Compatible with most vision-altering magic (no current conflict).

Passive mana cost : 20/ second

Oh, wow. You never mentioned the mana upkeep

A minor detail