I spent the next couple of days just trolling around the Interknot to find out what was going on. Learning as much as I could about the hollows, and making contact with the local 'fixers' who would direct jobs directly to me.
Along with that, I also went around getting what I needed to actually explore Hollows in general in a Bangboo that was loaded up with a more recent Carrot. A bangboo being a knee tall plushy android of sorts that could help me in the hollows with various things.
And a Carrot was a minature super computer that could record maps through hollows and while connected to Bangboo stations. They could update in real time to make maps in the twisted spatial construct that was hollows.
So I had basically everything I needed to enter the Hollow for short times and with my nature as a 'Thiren', a Noble Phantasm as well as a giant ass sword. I was fairly confident in my ability to protect myself inside of a smaller Hollow.
"Hmm... What's with cat's getting lost in the Hollows?" I muttered thoughtfully with some annoyance at seeing the stream of lost cats in particular who had a habit of throwing themselves into Hollows.
Then I paused at seeing a more interesting commission. [Quick Commission Request! A truck filled with a crate of concentrated soup seasoning was left when a driver crashed when an Ethereal attacked him on the road and diverted his crashing truck into the Fourteenth Street Hollow. The crate isn't too large or particularly heavy, but I need the seasoning bricks within the crate! Rewards and details within. DM for info. This commission needs to be done today!]
Seeing the requester I blinked thoughtfully as it was General Chop. The owner and chef of the soup shop, Waterfall Soup. Just down the road, and the payment wasn't anything to sneeze at either.
As this soup seasoning block reminded me of the way tea used to be made into bricks that you would shave pieces off of said bricks. And they were extremely highly concentrated and worth alot of money.
So I quickly dm'd the man and it didn't take him long to send me the details along with a warning to be careful. Which was a clear sign he knew I was just a noob to being a Hollow Raider.
Still with a job in hand, I quickly got myself a taxi, close to the Fourteenth Street Hollow and seeing as I was an actual Hollow Investigator. All I had to do was mark down my name with the officials working the wall surrounding the hollow watching for Ethereals.
"Tsk tsk, the good side of being an official 'adventurer' not just a raider looking to steal what people lost in the hollows. I can get in and out without much issue." I muttered as I walked towards the swirling black massive sphere that was the hollow.
And with a deep breath I held out a hand towards the hollow before I pushed into it.
My vision swirled with rainbow colors, mostly purple and other darker colors. But all to soon my vision cleared as I was thrown with extra speed through the air and I quickly took in my surroundings before I hit the ground and almost hit a containment chain link fence before stopping.
"Fucking portals. Why do they need to add momentum to our exit?" I muttered in annoyance before I pulled out the Kubikiribōchō and rested it on my shoulder with one hand.
Then I pulled off my sun glasses with my eyes glowing as I took in my surroundings and as my Bangboo at my side started buzzing as it also looked around tried to triangulate where we were.
"Alrighty... Even if the Hollow is fucking weird and could have thrown the truck anywhere, most likely it didn't put the truck in like the center of the hollow. And the driver said it was on the ground and not like atop a building or anything." I muttered thoughtfully.
Then I paused as the gatcha system pinged out.
[Enter your first Hollow- Bronze Ticket]
"Whelp that's something at least. I will probably get a silver ticket for getting out I guess." I mused but before I could tear open the ticket to see what I got.
A metalic clanging rang out and I looked over to the side to see a malformed creature approaching from out of the shadows of a nearby building.
It's body was seemingly made out of twisted crystal, one of it's arms were sharpened into what looked like a spike and it's head was a minature hollow that floated above it's neck.
"Oh my first Ethereal!" I said thoughtfully before I refocused and then said solemnly. "Cybele!"
And from my eye's came a beam of purple light and everything in my range of vision took on a grey sheen with that Ethereal staggering before screeching as it's skin broke and tore apart as it forced itself through it's grey skin.
But then... Abruptly it's hollow core that made up it's head also started to turn to stone before it abruptly shattered with rainbow ether exploding outwards as the core collapsed.
'Huh, so the Ethereal's cores are very vulnerable to being turned to stone and thus being shattered. That's good to know, and a sign I am perfect already for wrecking weak Ethereals.' I mused thoughtfully even as the gatcha pinged out another ticket.
[Killed your first low ranked Ethereal- 1 Bronze ticket]
I looked around and not seeing anything else. I just began walking through the trashed street as I tried to look for landmarks that matched the picture the driver took before he fled his crashed truck.
A soft plodding along noise rang out as my Bangboo also followed along before it yelled out. "Ena!" I looked downtwards it as it hurriedly pointed down an alleyway. All the while, on it's facescreen was an arrow and below said arrow was text saying [This way!]
So I decided to just follow my Bangboo who probably knew where it was going with it's Carrot data? Hopefully anyway. Bangboo's were kinda one and all goobers and adorable. Not exactly the symbol of reliability despite their great number of uses.
But as we entered the alleyway, seeing as there wasn't any signs of Ethereals I just popped the two bronze tickets without much hope for them.
[Stone Skin]
|Common Ability|
Allows you to cover your skin in a stone like texture that enhances your durability and increases your mass.]
[Black Knight Set]
|Common Item|
Dark Souls - A set of armor and weapons wielded by the Black Knights of Lordran. The armor is perfectly fitted to your body and will keep conforming to your body as long as your body shape does not change too drastically. The set contains a Greatsword, Battle Axe, Halberd, Sword, and Shield.]
"Well... I mean it helps keep my innards as they are." I muttered helplessly as neither draw was that great as Zabuza's sword was better in all ways compared to the black knight weapons.
Except for unless I got stuck fighting in really tight corners maybe?
Still with a mental flex I put on the black knight armor which stretched around my body and with a couple motions I realized it was indeed perfectly fitted to me and barely restricted my movements.
'Now the question is whether this armor can block bullets?' I thought helplessly as this world had plenty of heavy munitions and I didn't want to test if this armor could block an rpg for exampls.
But then a loud rumble rang out and I looked behind me... Only to freeze as a fucking wave of low level basic humanoid ethereals began pushing into the alleyway we were in.
"Ena! Ena ennnnaa!" The bangboo screamed as it grabbed my hand and moved to pull me away so I quickly picked up the heavy ass mechanical plushy before I started sprinting away down the alley as well!
I ran for my life as I quickly made my way up into a nearby apartment building tower and then with a scream from my bangboo, I leapt from a broken window at the third floor to land on the next door building... With my knees and and sides screaming at me from the roll I used to break my fall.
"Ena!" The bangboo cried and my face twitched as I saw several crystal covered ethereals pointing at me and roaring at me from the window I jump through.
And they tried to leap towards me... But they didn't have the sprinting running start I did.
So they just fell down three floors and splattered on the floor.
"Wait... I can see the nearby buildings from up here!" I muttered as I pulled out my phone and I looked at the picture that the driver took. And looking in the distance, I could see a large buildboard sign atop a building for some New Eridu shoe brand.
With a bit of care and my bangboo I probably needed to give it's own name hanging onto my shoulders. I used the hook end on the dark knight axe I got to climb down the building with a couple of controlled jumps.
Then we quickly ran as quickly as we could to get away from the distracted wave of Ethereals down the street to get to the building I saw in the distance.
And without too much fanfare once we got there. I found the crashed truck and in the back of the truck was a large wooden crate that I hefted onto my shoulder after taking a picture of the crate.
"Alright, lead us on out of here Silver!" I said with a bit of cheer as I looked down at the bangboo who snapped to attention with a salute.
As for why I called him Silver... Well he was the cheapest Bangboo I could find that could host a Carrot as well as having decent movement abilities so I didn't need to worry about him as much.
And that cheapness resulted in the bangboo being very plain. All but unpainted or decorated besides a simple layer of silver paint/threads covering it's plushy form. Unlike most of the Bangboo's running around that were highly decorated to make them stand out from other Bangboo's.
So, something I needed to fix at some point.
Silver looked around with it's face screen showing a spinning infinity symbol along with a question mark... Before it pointed its stubby arm at a random alley way and yelled firmly. "Ennnaaa!"
And there we went. We quickly ran down the alleyway and as we ran. A portal of swirling colors filled our view abruptly and we were teleported again.
But we weren't just teleported randomly in the hollow. I almost tripped again as the sounds of cars filled my ears and in the distance I could see a highway filled with New Eridu traffic as we both hit a road curb as we ran out of the hollow onto a sidewalk apparently.
"Where the... Oh, just across the street then." I mused as I looked back towards the walls of the hollow that was like thirty feet away.
With a shrug, I sent a dm to General Chop saying I got his package and that I was on my way currently.
-
I quickly made my way across New Eridu with another thought crossing my mind helplessly. 'I really need to join a crew or something. Doing commissions like this without backup and especially a vehicle is fucking stupid.'
As it turns out... I spent like a good ten percent of the commission payment literally riding to and from the fucking Hollow. The ride back was especially expensive as I had to order a truck to come pick me and the crate up as it woudn't fit into a normal sedan taxi with how large it was.
But with a huff, I carefully put the box down in front of General Chops resturaunt with him saying helplessly. "Did you do this alone kid? That is... Certainly brave of you."
And even as I took the fifteen thousand dennies as payment. I couldn't help but say just as helplessly. "I just arrived in New Eridu, boss. I just got my Hollow Investigator license a couple of days ago as well. I don't know any crews, and they don't know me."
General Chop nodded in understanding before asking curiously. "So you come from the Outer Rim huh? You got that rough look, I guess, especially with that giant sword you carry so easily. So, you got any talents besides being a strong Thiren?"
To which... I shrugged and said with a grin. "Got a stupidly high Ether Resistance rate. I have never even felt a tinge after being in one for more than a day. But besides my ability to kill large amounts of weaker Ethereals VERY easily. I am just a normal investigator, I suppose."
Chop just snorted and said with amusement. "It's not like I was asking you to be a Void Hunter or something Jake. Anyway, hey you did me a major solid and saved me a good deal of money. So I will ask a couple of crews I trust myself if they are interested in someone who can already take care of themself."
I nodded in thanks as this guy obviously had his own connections and with the money in hand. I was wondering if I should start to look into getting a W engine so I could infuse my attacks with element effects and such.
Woudn't it be just... Fucking funny if I could enhance Cybele with ice to make monsters unable to move even more for example!?
But as I put away the money my face pinched as the gatcha dinged in my mind.
[User has accomplished his first 'D Rank' Commission. 1- Gold-ranked Ticket]
[First clear of each tier of commission will give a ticket. Only upon accomplishing five, and then ten, of that rank of commissions will the user. Get further tickets of that rank mission rewards.]
"Thank you, General Chop, I look forward to a call," I said with a nod to Chop, who gave me a wave before he went into his shop with the crate to make sure it was secured.
Once I got home and nice and comfy in bed... I then opened up the last ticket for a reward for all my efforts.
First, it rolled into some weird 'Advantage Skill Ticket in the Platinum tier' And then with another roll it settled... And my face twitched as I said flatly.
"Oh, this is some bullshit... I just reincarnated from being a chef in my last life and now I get stuck with this!? I want to be a hero! Not someone who seduces the waifu through her stomach!" I finished with an exasperated whine.
[Grandmaster Cooking]
|Legendary Skill|
You are Grandmaster of Cooking, better than any mortal has any right to be. You can cook any meal ranging from Elder Dragon Steaks, to Leviathan Sushi, your foods, in addition to being incredible in taste are also bestowed with special wonderous effects depending on what you are cooking.]
And then my face pinched as I wondered something... How difficult would it be? Honestly, if I made a Shogeki Souma, Mind Break level burger to seduce Anby?
Or made an entire buffet line for Ju Fufu?
My mind was filled with magical recipes for food and how to imbue my... Emotions into said food to raise their level even without the aid of truly magical ingredients and such.
And then my face twitched as I realized something. I could make Squid Jerky strips that gave basically eldritch madness resistance as well as poison resistance for up to twelve hours as well.
Which meant... I could make spicy sticks that made people highly resistant to ether overload after being in a hollow for too long!
To say nothing of the other food that could make people stronger temporarily or even permanantly even if in small amounts.
"Haaa... It's such a great fucking perk, obviously. But I didn't become a chef again!" I whined before groaning as I rubbed my face before screaming into my pillow.
And with that. I basically accepted my lot in life at that point.