8 Lucid
"Oh! Look at that dear! I thought Kusuo was the only guy who made such a happy face when he eats sweets, but Miss Snow is doing them as well." Dad continued in his mind. (I guess it's because she's pretty that it works out so well, unlike when Kusuo does it. Hehe, he looks like me.)
'Wipe that smirk off your face old man, I can see and hear your bs.'
He's lucky I'm eating AND that we have a guest over, or else...
'Forget about him, I'll just keep eating.'
Munching another mouthful, all my problems seemed to disappear...
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----------Snow White POV----------
(I may or may not give the MC an actual, permanent name and just give her random aliases. Hmm... Elias... Alias... COINCIDENCE?!?!?!)
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(I wrote the first 1,500 words for fun. They are weird.)
Chocolate, Vanilla, Mocha, Strawberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, Neapolitan, Salted Caramel, and most importantly... Cookies & Cream.
Have you ever seen an ice cream tree?
Mint ice cream enough to feed a whole town covered a trunk made of waffle pastry. Unlike a plain ice cream scoop atop its fragile cone, the thick waffle trunk narrowed into multiple limbs, then into branches, and finally into twigs.
Instead of a massive, spherical ice cream scoop, patches of the frozen sorbet bonded and clung to the pastry for dear life. Decorating the sorbet are gigantic chocolate chips the size of watermelons, all snug and unevenly scattered throughout the mouth-watering confection.
Literally any normal tree, but the leaves are ice cream, the trunk is the waffle cone, and the fruits are whatever toppings that suit them.
It wasn't just one tree, for many more inexplicably popped up like magic. It wasn't just one type, for many trees of different structures, different sizes, and different flavors all emerged from the ground.
The weather wasn't cool either for the sun was out, basking the land below with midsummer warmth.
Chocolate, Vanilla, Mocha, Strawberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, Neapolitan, Salted Caramel...
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Walking through the forest of confectionary, my mind continued naming the flavors of the flora left behind. A branch from a vanilla tree is in my hand, missing half of its original length, gone from the world and inside my belly. Still, no matter how much I ate, the feeling of 'fullness' never came, like I'm missing something.
Unable to do anything about it, my little stroll continued. Not too long later, I stopped.
It was there in the distance, a lone mountain stood, sticking out like a sore thumb. Not just any mountain but by far the biggest, tallest, pointiest mountain I've ever seen, towering over the trees, over me. There were no clouds drifting about, but I'm certain that they would not even reach past its 'waist'.
Interestingly enough, even with that height the snowcaps only took up about 1/6 of the summit. I expected around 3/4 of the whole mountain to be fully covered in snow due to its sheer size. Mt. Everest would look like a kid compared to it.
Thoughts questioning where the heck this beast of a mountain sprang from came and went, either from popping up from the ground like the trees did or it always being there, when a soft breeze passed by, carrying with it a heavenly scent.
With no hesitation, I bolted. The waffle trees, the sorbet leaves, and the topping fruits all blurred from my vision, leaving only the mountain crystal clear within sight. With every powerful step, ice cream flakes continually flew up like dust, creating a rainbow fog trail you could taste. They also stung my eye a bit but they stayed wide open, determined not to lose sight of the mysterious mountain.
Soon, I reached my destination.
The scent carried by the breeze originated from this mountain, however, now that I am closer, it seems like it actually came from its summit.
From a distance, it already looked pretty massive but now that I'm standing near its base, the extent to which the mountain pierced the sky seemed unreal. It was truly intimidating, insurmountable even... if I was a normie.
'Reaching the peak would be pretty easy but... that's too much of a bother.'
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Finally thinking of a lazy method, my status limiters loosened for two particular stats, filling my entirety with an incredible feeling of limitless power.
My hands couldn't help rubbing against each other in anticipation, before separating by around a meter.
'This is the first time I'm doing this again since high school so I might get it wrong.' The passage of time had made this simple action unfamiliar, and with my introverted nature, there was never a good reason to do it. For the action is simple, then the solution is pretty straightforward.
'Just don't get it wrong.'
With that thought, I clapped.
*Clap* [A/N: Did you know that the word 'clap' itself is an onomatopoeia? I didn't.]
Yep, I just clapped.
It's not a normal clap though since it's a loud clap. How? Well, I used a special technique to make it louder. This special technique is the main reason why I doubted I could do it in the first place. While doing this technique, the clap would definitely be louder but the side effect is that it won't sound like a clap, but something similar to this:
*Bang*
...except, what came out was this:
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*BOOOOOOOOM*
A thunderclap emerged, its shockwave spreading in all directions. The sound created was much larger than intended, stunning me in place for a good amount of time.
Looking back, the sight revealed the impact of clapping while having SSS Ranked Strength and Agility. Far from my true strength, yet, still terrifying even to me.
Nearby ice-cream trees were brutally obliterated, with those further away receiving enough force to be uprooted and sent flying. Even those much farther didn't come out unscathed as the pressure stripped away the trees' sorbet segment, leaving behind a devastating scene.
Small twigs littered the ground. None were near me, but with my eyes the mess was clear. Farther away, thick branches were entangled amongst themselves, creating an extensive wall of wooden, jagged stakes. Barely visible were the still-standing tree trunks torn in half, their upper half sent hundreds of meters away, unrecognizable within the colossal wreckage.
No feeling of remorse arose within my heart, and while the scene is frightening, it was too insignificant to matter.
'Eh, it's a dream anyway.'
Wait, wait, wait, what???
'So, you must be asking how I know it's just a dream, and well, should you even be questioning me? I'm OP enough to realize this, and since I am in a dream, I can do whatever I want. How I know all these things though might be the effect of Tremendously Enhanced Mental Faculties, but I don't have all the answers.'
'What I do know is that none of this is real and my instincts are telling me that waking up now is not the best idea, so I stuck around.'
'Anyway, since I can kinda control my dreams, maybe I can go all out in here in the future? A training area where I can hurt no one is necessary with all of my new powers, assuming that training here is actually effective.'
While I was internally monologuing to particularly no one, the results of my little stunt were immediate as the ground beneath me started rumbling.
Miniscule at first, but as time passed, even little pebbles began to shake. With their quaking came a distant noise, the sound of tumbling ice coming from above. It only grew louder, deeper.
Turning around, enormous waves of ice and snow charged down the mountain slope. With its size, towns would find themselves buried deep underneath the snow with little hope of remaining unscathed, so what could measly little me possibly do?
"AVALANCHE!"
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On this very day, under the brightly shining, summer sun and clear blue skies, The Frozen Land of Fragile Timber heard a mountain's roar.
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Chocolate. Vanilla. Mocha. Strawberry. Mint Chocolate Chip. Neapolitan. Salted Caramel. Cookies & Cream.
Long ago, the Eight Flavors lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when Snow White clapped. Only Cookies & Cream, master of the Oreos, could stop them, but when the world needed them most, they vanished.
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'I was right!'
Licking a smidgen of the 'snow' weighing down on me, my lips couldn't help grinning.
'I finally found you Cookies & Cream!!!'
Indeed, the 'snow' and 'ice' avalanche from earlier was the one and only Cookies & Cream. It was the reason why I went and hard-clapped in the first place and rushed over like a mad man: it was all for ice cream.
You can't blame me, I've been walking in that damned forest for quite a long time, searching for this flavor. Who knew it would be on top of a mountain. Dreams are weird man.
Still buried beneath the dessert, I organized my mind and thought, 'Anyway, I need to get outta here. Too claustrophobic to actually eat properly.'
Even after getting caught up in an avalanche, the only thing to really complain about would be the mild inconvenience of being buried alive. The whole experience wasn't life-threatening since my endurance stat of XIII is not just for show. Even regular people can survive avalanches if they do the right procedures, or if they're lucky.
As for me, I'm very, very lucky. And strong. Just built different.
While struggling to climb out of the delicious death trap, as up can be down or sideways or down sideways, something sharp poked my arms. Pulling it over revealed that it was a sharp tree branch.
'The avalanche must have been powerful enough to drag me all the way out to where all the broken trees are at.'
Suddenly getting an idea, I smeared a bit of C&C onto the branch, before taking a bite.
Before teleporting to the Saiki world, multiple tubs of C&C were wolfed down like some wild animal due to their delicious taste. Today, I've made a revolutionary discovery! Eating C&C with waffle-cone-based branches is just as good!
'Bringing about that avalanche really was a good idea! Now I get to enjoy both of them together!'
With renewed vigor, one bite became two, two bites became two thousand...
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--------Third Person POV--------
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Desolate was the land with no signs of life within. Lonesome was the towering mountain, the only one of its kind.
*Burp*
"Excuse me. That was really good."
Joyful is the woman, for... eating everything in sight like a madman holy crap you should've seen her gobble that-
"It looks like I ate everything."
The woman's voice was soft, the disappointment evident in her tone and the way she continually looked around, hoping to find any signs of confection. Finding nothing, she turned towards the lone mountain.
"Might as well check for sure. Good food shouldn't be wasted after all."
Dainty hands reached for her hood to firmly cover her lustrous hair. With her hair secure, the woman performed a crouching gesture, and with no visible strain, jumped higher a human should be capable of, even higher than the lone, empty mountain.
Drag immediately began to work against her: her clothes; fluttering, her hood; threatening to be pulled off. Within less than a second in the air, unexpectedly, the resistance simply vanished, allowing a relatively peaceful journey through the sky.
She landed atop the mountain's summit, and from the high vantage point, she searched her surroundings.
To her dismay she still found no residual dessert, forming a downcast expression. It didn't last long, remembering that by the time she woke up, she'll be in a whole new world. With clear anticipation on her face, her eyes shut and her mind focused.
Gravity shifted and she was suddenly lying down on something soft. With a bit of uncertainty, golden eyes finally opened to see a normal room, very different from her own.
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--------"The Fairest of Them All" POV--------
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This... is surprisingly comfortable from what I expected it to be.
From what I remember, for some reason, an incredible amount of fatigue and nausea hit me after trying to teleport, nearly causing me to throw up my precious ice cream. After that... dreamworld.
Unsure about the softness beneath me and worried about the result of the teleportation, my eyes opened.
A moment was all it took to register all the new things within this new environment.
Light blue walls surround me, covered by a similarly colored ceiling. A comfortable bed with blue sheets located within one of the room's four corners is the material I currently lay on, being also the one serving as my current source of comfort.
On my right is an old TV on the verge of breaking down, placed on top of a grey TV cabinet.
Tilting my head a little to the right allowed me to see more. Past the TV was a wooden desk parallel to the wall, and right above it is a closed, glass window with accompanying blue curtains.
Bookshelves lined up in the corner opposite mine, filled to the brim with books. Some had illustrations on their spine while others did not, but the most common thing is that they contained characters similar to Kanji, or maybe they are Kanji.
Perhaps I was in a Japanese home, and if not, somewhere in China? Did Koreans use Kanji in their language?
'All in all, I'm probably in Asia. If not, then... some Chinese cultivation world.'
With no difficulty, I sat up straight to better judge their quality. Assessing the books, they looked to be of high quality just like the books in my original world, a big relief.
No Xianxia for me today!
I might go to one in the future when I've collected a bunch of OP skills. I've never properly read one from beginning to end, but I did see some characters with titles like 'Immortal', 'Universal', 'Phoenix', 'Heaven-Defying', etc. so the characters should be powerful.
Anyway, there was a row of books that immediately caught my attention. 77 similar books lined up in a neat, organized manner. While staring at them, there was this small feeling of satisfaction that overcame me, just like when you finally complete a hard game level you've been stuck on.
Apart from being satisfying, that row of books actually had English letters I could read. Unconsciously squinting, those letters were revealed:
G-I-N-T-A-M-A
Huh?!? Why the hell are they here in this world? Am I actually still in the same world but just teleported to some Japanese guy's-
A screen started materializing before my eyes, covering the view and interrupting my thoughts.
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[Ding!]
[The Status Screen has been updated!]
'Hmm?'
A status update?
I'll think about this situation later. Whatever update this might be is more important.
'Status.'
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[Elias Williams] |
[Age]: 25
[Level]: <985> |
[Titles]: Otaku, Otherworlder --> (NEW!) Otherworldly Traveller, (NEW!) The Mistress Of Space And Time,
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[Stats]:
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[Skills]:
Protogenoi-K |Rank: XX|
Magicule Breeder Reactor |Rank: XIII|
Ultimate Dominion |XII|
(NEW!) PSI Resistance |Rank: SSS|
Physical Resistance |Rank: S|
Torment |Rank: S|
(NEW!) Lucid Dreams |Rank: B|
Combat Mastery |Rank: D|
Disguise |Rank: E|
Game Mastery |Rank: E|
Language Mastery |Rank: E|
Acting |Rank: G|
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Scanning the screen, most of the information displayed stayed the same, with a number of new additions to mainly the skills, titles, and most noticeably, my name.
'Snow White? Mistress? Lucid Dreaming? What happened while I was eating?!'
'System, can you explain to me why there are so many new things in my status?'
[Affirmative] (Okay.)
[During your fatigued, unconscious state-]
'Wait.'
Cutting my System off, I withdrew my previous request and replied with a new one.
'System, can you start with why I started feeling sick during the skill activation?' And consequently, why I passed out. From recent events, I've had a bit of trauma regarding surprises: Bad ones, anyway. Me getting sick in this supposedly OP body is definitely one of them.
It was similar to a hangover but much, much worse.
[Affirmative] (Sure dude.)
[The host used the skill 'Protogenoi-K' to travel to another world]
'Uh-huh.'
[This can be accomplished through the use of two of Protogenoi-k's skill effects: TheFabric or TheWay]
[Both skill effects are different from each other yet capable of allowing the host to travel to another world with the difference being that]:
-[The skill effect, 'TheFabric', is a 'Space and Time' Authority over The Omniverse]
-[The skill effect, 'TheWay', is a 'Travel' Authority over The Omniverse]
['While not travel-oriented, TheFabric' allows the host to manipulate Space and Time to not only travel to different worlds but also reach specific moments in that world]
'That's useful.'
['TheWay', however, focuses on transporting the host to whichever destination the host may desire, even areas that lack the concept of Space, Time, Order, Chaos...]
'That... I don't know what to say to that.'
[Either way, both methods allow for travel between worlds]
[To explain further, 'The Fabric is similar to-]
'It's alright, I've got it. Can you now explain why I got sick, in ONE sentence?' Hmm... one thing I've noticed is that my System has a tendency to go on and on. Not a bad quality, but this just isn't the place to do so.
[...understood]
'Is it just me, or did the System sound a lot less energetic after that request?'
[Simply put, the host is too weak to use Protogenoi-K completely and can only use it to a limited capacity, or else the host will suffer from a range of ailments]
'Too weak?'
Never thought I'd be told that with my planet-ending stats, but Protogenoi-K is ranked XX after all. Me being too weak to handle the skill does make sense. Protogenoi-K can destroy an infinite amount of worlds, but it doesn't mean that I could... for now.
'Then, System, can you answer my first question in... three sentences?'
[Understood!!!]
'Huh... I wasn't hearing things.'
[The host had successfully traveled to another world but was unable to travel directly into the designated world, and instead of landing in the world of Saiki K, the host barely managed to arrive in the Saiki K Universe, appearing directly in the middle of nowhere with a high velocity heading straight for the designated world]
[Fortunately, as the System had been fully integrated with the host, the skills that the host possesses can be used by the System to avoid obstacles along the way]
[The new skills and titles were obtained during the time the host was unconscious, hence there are no existing memory data to fully answer the host's inquiry]
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'So basically, my System doesn't have a clue. It took three sentences to say "I have no idea".'
Still, the information provided is useful, and with a little bit of summarizing...
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1. My teleportation to another world was somewhat successful.
2. Protogenoi-K is more OP than I first thought, and I can't use it fully.
3. My System can use my skills to a limited degree.
4. My System likes to 'talk'.
5. Linking to the first point: I'm not the second-strongest in the Omniverse. Ugh.
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Thinking about the last point annoys me. I should have known that things are never easy. Damned wishes and their damned trucks.
Welp, there's nothing else I can do about it. With my body, Getting op should be a breeze. For now though...
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Lacking the previous eagerness, my eyes scanned through the new additions to the status screen, revealing information about them.
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A temporary name given to the host by people due to strange circumstances.
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That makes sense since from what the System said earlier, I came from space. Since I come from space, naturally, there is absolutely no way that a person falling through the sky would land on a bed without demolishing the house, so someone must've found me and placed me here. But the System did say that she can use my skills...
That must be it. The System used my skills to slowly but surely drop me off on a comfortable bed, and then someone must've found me and given me that name since it is pretty strange that you'd find some random person inside your home, sleeping on your bed. Yep, that makes sense.
As for why I'm not in prison for breaking and entering or whatever charges exist, I'm sure that was because of the System as well.
Good job my dear System, you did well.
Next one then...
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[Otherworldly Traveller]
A title given to those who possess the capability to travel to different worlds.
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[Otherworlder]
- Fool, don't cross the street without looking left and right first, next time.
---> [Truck]
- Fool, don't be a shut-in NEET next time.
- Fool, don't die from overwork next time.
- Fool, don't play chess with a random person online who knows you and your shut-in sister's identity as the two greatest gamers of all time and win, next time.
- Fool, don't try to be...
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[The Mistress Of Space And Time]
A title obtainable by a singular entity, one which Space and Time cannot disobey nor displease.
- Unparalleled, Omniversal Space Authority
- Unparalleled, Omniversal Time Authority
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'Those are some nice titles I've got.'
While both of them are cool, Otherworldly Traveller is a nice replacement for the Otherworlder title since I did 'die' in my sleep, not really a cool way to go. Even more so when it was a truck that was the cause of my 'death', a death that occurs in my apartment room. I wasn't even on the Ground Floor but several levels higher!
The Mistress Of Time And Space title puts me at ease a bit. Knowing that I have 'Unparalleled, Omniversal Authorities' is pretty sick, even though I'm too weak to use it completely or how good that actually is.
Looking lower, my skills were on full display with their rank. Most were familiar, the exceptions being two of them. Interestingly enough, the System didn't mark all the skills I've gained once I was outside my apartment as new even though I haven't checked my status for a long time.
Skills like 'Game Mastery' and 'Disguise' weren't there when I first checked my status so they can be considered new, but only the two unfamiliar skills and titles had that indication. The system did inform me when the skills were obtained which prompted me to use them, so maybe that's why they didn't have that kind of 'new' marker.
But now, looking at the new skills... Lucid Dreaming is self-explanatory since I most likely got it while dreaming, so why is my other skill at such a high level when I don't remember using it?
Before being able to scan my new skills, a gasp reached my ears-
Amidst my musing, a crouching figure appeared on the desk.
The figure was undoubtedly a guy, but his get-up was weird. In the first place, how did he come in through an open window, and why?
Green tinted glasses or shades concealed the color of his eyes. Short, dark-pink hair crowned by two similarly colored antennas resembling lollipops framed his blank expression, almost deadpan. 'Now that I think about it, I've seen him somewhere before-'
Holy shit. It's him, isn't it?
IT'S REALLY HIM, ISN'T IT?!?!?!!
Wait... Since he's here... then am I in his room? Did the System send me to his room?
IT'S REALLY HIS ROOM, ISN'T IT?!?!?!?!
*BAM*
Suddenly, the door slammed open followed by two people rushing in. Compared to the Psychic still crouching on the desk, they were comparably more average in terms of looks.
""We%^o*$e. =o. #^@%*. Ms. Snow!""
(A/N: I've changed Miss to Ms. since Miss in Japanese is apparently Ojo which I'm guessing is some kind of Ojou-sama rich girl kind of thing. What I wanted was a simple -san, so Ms. it is.)
The combination of both my Language Mastery skill and my years of experience as an Otaku allowed me to identify that they are speaking the Language of the Gods/Japanese.
I can't understand them though, simply watching anime doesn't exactly allow for a wide vocabulary nor actual knowledge about how to speak Japanese. I was also more concentrated on reading the subtitles and watching the show than listening to the characters speak.
""W%. (#$. @!. ?e^c-. %^*. We. |
They continued, but my attention had already gone from what words they spoke to their appearances. 'Hmm, they look extremely familiar-'
Holy shit. It's them, isn't it?
IT'S REALLY THEM, ISN'T IT?!?!?!!
Wait... Since Saiki is here, and they're here... then I'm in their house?
IT'S REALLY THEIR HOUSE?!?!?!
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(A few moments later...)
Holy shit. It's 'THE DESSERT', isn't it?
IT'S REALLY, 'THE DESSERT', ISN'T IT?!?!?!!
Wait... Since Saiki is making that face while eating 'THE DESSERT'... then it must be good?
*Nom*
IT'S REALLY THAT GOOD?!?!?!