The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop

Chapter 32: Clean. Die. Repeat. I

What was talent?

Orodan had this conversation with his first mentor Adeltaj Simarji long ago.

There were two types of talent. The first was a natural affinity towards something, the ability to grasp it quickly or being possessed of heightened proclivity for it. The other was working hard enough, straining beyond belief to where one’s efforts and hard work was a talent of its own.

But what if one possessed both sorts of talent for a single thing?

Orodan could be said to have both in the art of martial violence. He wasn’t only talented and able to quickly grasp skills related to being a warrior… but also worked hard towards it.

And the other thing Orodan was talented in, both in terms of affinity and hard work…

…was Cleaning.

Although he wasn’t sure if his beneficiary saw it that way.

“Orodan…! What are you doing to my house?!” came the outraged cries of the tanner, Mister Heatherswith. All while Orodan beat the rugs, dusted the paintings and essentially turned the leatherworker’s house upside down.

The man was a decent enough leatherworker, being near the Adept-level, but his house was utterly filthy. And Orodan would have the stench of tanning agents and rotten flesh stuck in his nose for the rest of the loop. It was as though the man brought his work home with him.

This loop, he had gone all out and bought out Fodgarton’s supply of cleaning supplies. A variety of cleaning solutions, soap bars, wipes, scrubs and tools were carried in one comically massive sack across his shoulder. He would need it to tackle the filthy monstrosity that was Mister Heatherswith’s home.

To the side, the man’s wife and daughter looked on in fascination and smug satisfaction as the floors were truly given the proper scrub they needed. But, as satisfied as the man’s family looked, Orodan could only feel utter dissatisfaction himself.

The stench, and the tanning agents… were almost bonded to the damned floorboards. His keen eyes could see an utter mess within even the deepest parts of the wood. It was as though this man walked around in pools of tannins at work and trudged home after every shift without changing his boots. What a mess!

Orodan had to admit… he couldn’t clean this man’s house fully and perfectly yet at his current level of Cleaning. He’d need to spend many more loops and broaden his horizons cleaning different environments before he could return and perform a perfect clean of this messy leatherworker’s home. To clean he floorboards and get the tannins out now, would necessitate destroying the house itself. Orodan just didn’t have the skill to cleanse the filth without utterly shaving the material out, yet.

He had already utterly cleaned his own house in far faster time. A Cleaning skill of 50 versus one of 40 made a massive difference in how quickly he managed it. As did the new fifth action.

One and a half hours on this loop, instead of the three hours it took last loop. He did it in half the time, and Orodan decided to use the time he’d gained by getting to work on the filthiest house he’d seen on his street.

It was a valiant effort, but doomed to failure at his current level of Cleaning.

Orodan identified three potential methods for perfectly cleaning Mister Heatherswith’s home.

First, was to increase his Cleaning skill past the Elite threshold of level 70. Not only was each level more impactful as the skill grew, but the qualitative benefit he got at level 70 might just allow him to manage the currently impossible task of getting the tannins out of the wood. As it stood, the tanner’s house was soaked to the core with the products of his work. What did he even do to get it that bad?

Second, was to use his Alchemy skill and create his own cleaning solution which would target the tannins specifically. Due to assisting in creating high-level alchemical concoctions in the last loop, Orodan’s skill level was decently high at 53. But his knowledge wasn’t necessarily proportional to his raw ability with Alchemy. That being said, creating cleaning solution was something incredibly basic. And even Apprentice-level alchemists oft made specialized solutions to clean gunk off magic forges and enchanting tables. Orodan felt that he could make such a concoction right now. But he’d have to visit the local herbalist to use her equipment.

Third, he was attempting at the moment.

To use Whirlpool Whirlwind to potentially suck unwanted dirt and tannins towards himself.

It was a strange skill of his that he developed during his training sessions against Arvayne, but one that he didn’t use in actual combat. It was at level 38 from all his sparring, but hadn’t really advanced beyond that due to the lack of use in his hardest battles.

The skill involved spinning rapidly in a synchronized manner that caused enemies, projectiles and objects to be drawn towards him. He was like a gravity core, pulling all inwards with him as the focus. Last loop he recalled the times where papers, dust and dirt would fly towards him in his initial uses of the skill, particularly at the lower levels. But at its current level he could consciously control what was drawn inwards.

“Mister Heatherswith, please take your family and step outside for a moment,” Orodan ‘asked’. The asking involved picking the man up like a sack of flour and depositing him outside his front door while he ranted and raved. “This will be a quick test, my apologies.”

Orodan took position within and activated the skill.

Skill activation was rather janky at lower levels, with fine control going out the window. If he attempted this at level 1 of the skill, he might’ve destroyed the neighborhood as every house would be sucked towards him. His raw might… made even the first level of a martial skill exceedingly deadly.

But thankfully it was at level 38 and Orodan now had some measure of control over it.

It was a struggle, but Orodan performed a Whirlpool Whirlwind…

…with just his fingers. He himself didn’t even spin his entire body. With simply the rotational force generated by his fingers he performed a miniature and controlled use of the skill. Replicating the mechanism and feeling of the skill’s activation with just his fingers wasn’t easy. Especially when it was a move that was quite far from the normal activation of Whirlpool Whirlwind.

But the experiment and boundary pushing led to gains.

[Whirlpool Whirlwind 38 → Whirlpool Whirlwind 40]

[Cleaning 50 → Cleaning 51]

But the result still wasn’t what he would hope for.

The trace amounts of dust, some surface-level tannins which were stuck to the wood and other debris flew towards his hand. But there were still deep levels of filth within the very pores of the wood that Orodan couldn’t pull out with a simple use of Whirlpool Whirlwind.

Using too much force with the skill would just damage the house and have floorboards being ripped out.

He sighed as he walked outside, loading his supplies up into the sack once more. It was a good effort, and he’d cleaned Mister Heatherswith’s filthy house to the best of his ability, but it wasn’t perfect.

He’d need to spend several loops working on all methods of cleaning this man’s house. Improving his Cleaning skill, making his own cleaning solution concocted specifically to flush impurities out of material and training Whirlpool Whirlwind to be more precise and train its finer control.

This would involve cleaning different areas of the town and broadening his cleaning horizons by gaining experience.

Moving forward, this would necessitate barging into random places in Ogdenborough and just… cleaning.

“Enjoying the view up here are we?”

“Yes, although I don’t know how many more times I can experience it before it gets old,” Orodan replied. “Let me guess, my disabling of the scrying eye orbs alerted you?”

“Well… yes. You bypassed our watchers somehow, but when our view from the scrying eyes was cut, of course we’d come investigate,” the dragon lancer replied. “Might I ask your name?”

“Orodan Wainwright. Might I ask yours?”

“Arendethar Althadin.”

“A pleasure,” Orodan remarked. “Are you perhaps trying to compete with House Vedharna? You needn’t bother, they pull off the flying lancer look better.”

“Insolence! Those imitators could never compare to the majesty of a dragon!”

It wasn’t Arendethar who replied… but the dragon he rode. Ulrusdun.

“It isn’t you but your rider that fails to match up,” Orodan spoke. “Silver robe and lance? The pegasi knights I’ve seen wear regal armor and match their mount’s harness and regalia.”

“See?! I warned you that wearing such sloppy attire would reflect poorly on us!” Ulrusdun exclaimed to his rider. “My brother continually mocks me for your disheveled and basic robe, and yet you do nothing to rectify the matter!”

“Your society’s focus on prestige and appearances is shallow! Don’t you think-”

Orodan tuned the bickering rider-mount pair out. He hadn’t intended to start an argument about draconic fashion sense!

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But soon, the conversation was cut short anyway as the mountain erupted and the peak he was on rose well beyond the clouds.

Orodan enjoyed the nice view from above for a second, before he activated Mana Black Hole. The machine froze just like last time as its mana was utterly drained.

[Quest Completed → Battle of Ogdenborough - Ancient war machine disabled]

[Reward Granted → Permanent +1 Action Increase]

The feeling of power settled within his soul and he felt it at its current limits. He could use sextuple actions now if he chose, but this would be his current limit. Regardless, it was a monstrous increase to his combat power.

Previously, Orodan could multiply his own attack power by four in the last long loop. But now… he could multiply it by six. Just by itself, he felt that this was a significant closing of the gap between him and the Avatar of Eximus. He mightn’t defeat the Avatar on this loop, but he was making progress.

And this time as the familiar lightning javelin flew towards him, Orodan met it midway with an action increase Shield Throw. It was a nice benefit, to simulate infinite ammunition this way. But, long as he didn’t throw the original shield, he could use an action increase to toss copies as many times as he wanted.

[Shield Throw 68 → Shield Throw 69]

The skill wasn’t at a very high level, but when backed by his Physical Fitness, Shield Mastery and Death Rage… it was strong enough to stalemate the attack of an average Grandmaster.

Shield met javelin, and the air erupted with a powerful explosion. The enemy Grandmaster’s attack was stopped and Orodan immediately fled to create distance from civilization for a proper fight.

He stopped roughly around the same stretch of Novarrian forest he did last time and dug his heels, preparing to make a stand. The spear and javelin wielding Novarrian shortly caught up and gave him a wary look before speaking.

“You flee no longer? A wise decision, a peaceful surrender will go easier for all of us,” the man spoke. “There are plenty more reinforcements approaching, and you cannot defeat us all.”

“I’m not surrendering,” Orodan replied. “And I’m glad to hear more reinforcements are arriving, as I’m counting on it. And you would be surprised what one person can do when they have time and infinite attempts.”

“What are-”

It was overkill, but six of him came into being and the Grandmaster was killed in an instant. To use so much of his strength on a single-Grandmaster was excessive, but it ended the matter immediately.

Soon, the enraged dual-Grandmaster and his two cronies arrived, and the man wasn’t happy about the death of his friend.

A melee ensued, and they too were killed. Which finally prompted a familiar portal to open fifty feet from him and the appearance of Cruxamar Aetholion.

The man was poised to deliver his spiel, but Orodan had no time for that.

Every skill was pushed to the limit and Orodan immediately entered melee against the Chosen One of Eximus.

Within two seconds, Orodan’s sextuple action increases had the man on the back foot. Orodan was as strong as a triple-Grandmaster Chosen One with a four times multiplier from action increases. So, if he used six of himself to launch an all-out attack? He could beat a Chosen One now.

He was on the verge of winning outright when a near-blinding glow suddenly emerged from Cruxamar’s eyes, and then the battle changed once more.

Orodan had to admit, his sextuple action increases allowed him to present more of an offensive threat to the Avatar. He’d even dare say he was a tenth as powerful as the Avatar of Eximus right now.

But that still wasn’t enough.

Eximus’s howls of pain rang out as the Avatar continued pounding Orodan into ever-reducing puddles of blood. Finally, he spoke.

“Foul! Where have you obtained such an accursed skill that can harm me through my Avatar? Has a dark divinity granted you fell strength? A blighted being such as you cannot be allowed to exist.”

Which was followed by the familiar charging of a beam of horrifying chronomantic energy which was divinely empowered.

Sadly, Harmony of Vitality was a skill that didn’t scale with action increases, as it was self-directed and any healing his action increase selves did, wouldn’t benefit his main body.

Darkness was his next destination as every particle of Orodan Wainwright was destroyed.

A keening wail ringing in the night sky awoke him.

The familiar emotional turbulence and impaired sensations that came with soul damage assaulted him. Each death against the Avatar of Eximus’s final attack left him with some heavy and lingering damage to his soul.

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But his Soul Manipulation was now at level 83, and Orodan’s stubborn willpower did not allow his soul to lose its integrity even when damaged. In a sense, all the experience he had with Eternal Soul Reactor was utterly invaluable now that he was attempting death loops against the Avatar of a God.

In a sense, Eternal Soul Reactor was a source of infinite energy of increasing levels of generation. As it ramped up, the strain on his soul was tremendous, so Orodan was quite practiced in maintaining its integrity even while under immense strain.

At its current high level, even if parts of Orodan’s soul were shattered or destroyed, he could clamp down and prevent the rest from going out of control while he worked on healing it.

Orodan spent the first thirty minutes after waking up, in meditation. He began healing his soul and repairing it to optimal condition. He even worked on strengthening it a bit during the healing process.

Orodan wasn’t a soul mage and didn’t study the arts too deeply. Despite that, he probably had a better understanding of the soul than most soul mages did. He was instinctively quite familiar now, with the structure of his own.

The outer layer was where one’s memories, experiences and surface level things came from. To assault and ‘destroy’ a soul often meant harming this part. Which could cause memory loss, changes in personality, and so forth.

The actual inner core however, was indestructible. Not even Gods could actually destroy this part of the soul. Only subject it to various amounts of pressure and damage in what would essentially be torture. This was also where things like Blessings and Quest Rewards were held.

Deeper than that? The topic wasn’t well researched as nobody could view the deepest parts of another’s soul. But personal accounts theorized that this was where one’s true character and who they were, was situated. Some even hypothesized that the System’s skills were held here, but nobody knew.

Regardless, the thirty minutes passed, and Orodan gained two pleasant messages.

[Soul Manipulation 83 → Soul Manipulation 84]

[Soul Strengthening 31 → Soul Strengthening 32]

For anyone else, suffering permanent soul damage with each death would be catastrophic. But to Orodan? It was an excellent form of soul training. The divine artifact and headmaster of soul magic at Bluefire were starting to lag near the end of his last long loop. But to train against an actual Chosen Avatar? What an excellent find!

He held full confidence in his will and current Soul Manipulation. He would not lose himself even if the entire outer layer of his soul was disintegrated. Memories and experiences seeped into the deeper layers and could be recovered with time and effort even if the outer layer was annihilated. This was how reincarnators came to remember their old lives.

With the matter of the soul settled, it was time to clean.

Orodan shot to his feet and immediately blazed over to Fodgarton’s, to secure some high-quality cleaning supplies.

This set of death loops would boil down to two things.

Cleaning and dying.

And maybe some soul training and ancillary skills learned along the way.

Until he could overcome the Avatar of Eximus, each loop would last only half a day. Just like old times.

There were then two phases to the day. The first phase involved waking up, healing his soul, ransacking Fodgarton’s shop in order to hone his Cleaning and building the warehouse. And the second phase involved stopping the ancient machine and facing the wrath of Novarria in response, which involved the Avatar of Eximus, and who knew what else when he eventually overcame that.

Orodan left Fodgarton’s with an extensive stock of cleaning supplies.

He deposited the sack at his hovel, but instead of getting to work, he experimented with one more thing.

The making of his own alchemical cleaning solution.

The herbalist was four blocks away, nearer to the edge of town. The woman wasn’t even a proper alchemist, having only picked up the basics of the Alchemy skill through passed down knowledge and practical application. She wasn’t a graduate from any crafting academy, but was still doing well enough for herself. Even the residents of a poor town like Ogdenborough needed cheap healing for their maladies.

Still, the woman’s shop was stocked with weaker alchemical concoctions, and most importantly… alchemical ingredients and reagents. Even if it was a rather bare selection of herbs sourced only from the local area, it was sufficient for Orodan’s purposes.

He crumbled the simple steel padlock in his palm and opened the door. After depositing a stack of fifty silvers onto the counter, Orodan began perusing the ingredients and found the three that would be relevant. Prepared bundles of the swoofler vine, which possessed corrosive properties. Bags of dried verwenta mushrooms which were toxic but whose extract was quite good at seeping into all kinds of material, and the firgon moss which was a neutralizing agent.

He gathered these ingredients and began utilizing the herbalist’s alchemical workshop to synthesize what he needed.

Frankly, Orodan’s Alchemy was at level 53, but his theoretical knowledge still needed work. Alchemy was as much a theoretical discipline as it was one that relied on skill levels. He had spent six months at Bluefire, and while this gave him the beginnings of a foundation in the art, he wasn’t fully educated in it. He’d need to spend at least the equivalent of four years at Bluefire to fully grasp all there was to know about alchemy and the discoveries of the modern Imperial-tradition of alchemy.

Assisting with high-level potions gave him the skill levels, but it didn’t necessarily correspond to knowledge, yet.

Still, creating alchemical cleaning solution wasn’t difficult. It was something that even Apprentice-level alchemists could do.

Orodan was about to get to work in preparing the ingredients, but then he made a most annoying yet fortuitous discovery.

The ingredients…

…were dirty.

It was both frustrating and exciting. Frustrating in that Orodan simply wanted to concoct an alchemical cleaning solution, but now that he knew the ingredients were dirty, how much inefficiency would there be in any products he made? Yet it was exciting, because Orodan wanted to see just how much better he could make any creations of his if he truly focused on the ingredients.

And the thought of leveling Cleaning in a new way was also a bonus.

Thus, before he could really start working on concocting an alchemical cleaning solution for himself, Orodan brought all the ingredients over to the washing pit. A proper alchemist’s workshop had running water, but Ogdenborough was poor and people drew water from wells. Consequently, the herbalist’s shop had a gigantic water barrel to which a faucet was connected, this drained into a pit for when things needed cleaning.

Orodan ran the faucet and realized that even the water was stale and a breeding ground for bacteria. This water wouldn’t do for cleaning the ingredients.

So Orodan went atop the barrel and popped the lid off. The water was a bit murky. Still serviceable for the needs of an herbalist, but not quite good enough for Orodan. Periodically draining and refilling it from a well was hard labor for a woman whose Physical Fitness wasn’t her focus.

So Orodan decided to help by cleaning the water.

His hand hovered above the open barrel and he charged an uncast Draconic Fireball to first heat the water up. This would purify some of the filth. And as the water heated up and the unwanted particles within decided to energetically flit about because of the higher temperature…

…Orodan placed his hand in the water and used Weapon Aura on the entirety of the barrel and its contents.

Six minds worked together in tandem. Death Rage activated to give him a boost in reaction time and his Physical Fitness was quite high which also added. Like that, Orodan accounted for every single particle within the water as his minds strained and he felt a headache approach.

Now that he accounted for everything, he commanded Weapon Aura to make the particles float upwards, towards the surface of the water. This part was easy enough, given how many other ridiculous things he’d done with Weapon Aura. At its current skill level this was nothing.

The hard part was the Whirlpool Whirlwind he planned on doing with his free hand.

His minds were strained, but without losing concentration he whirled the fingers and wrist of his free hand to utilize Whirlpool Whirlwind, and focused it upon only targeting the unwanted particles in the water.

[Whirlpool Whirlwind 40 → Whirlpool Whirlwind 41]

[Cleaning 51 → Cleaning 52]

A bead of sweat fell from his brow in concentration and nearly landed within the now utterly pristine barrel and pure water within. Thankfully, gravity was slow to Orodan’s reaction time, and he easily caught the drop before it dared contaminate the precious thing he’d created.

Out of curiosity, Orodan used Identify on the contents of the barrel.

[Name: Water

Description: Water of ninety-nine percent purity.

Tier: Initiate]

Identify gave an item’s name, description and tier. Most things like water were understandably mundane and were typically Initiate-tier. Alchemical concoctions would list their effects and enchanted items would list the enchantments alongside tier.

But, even with his efforts the water was still only at ninety-nine percent purity. The reason being, that between Orodan’s cleaning and his use of Identify, dust and natural particles in the air had entered the water. As the loops went on, he’d have to experiment and figure out a method of preventing dust from falling, and how to keep something from becoming dirty in minute ways after he’d cleaned it.

For this loop, the water would suffice.

Orodan then used the newly cleaned water to rinse the ingredients for his alchemical cleaning solution.

The swoofler vine and firgon moss were thoroughly soaked and had the smallest bits of them touched up with a cloth and brush after. The verwenta mushrooms weren’t to contact water, so Orodan simply used a fine brush and minute uses of Whirlpool Whirlwind to clean them to the best of his ability.

[Cleaning 52 → Cleaning 53]

[Whirlpool Whirlwind 41 → Whirlpool Whirlwind 42]

Throughout the whole process, Orodan realized again that Cleaning was a long road ahead of him. Each ingredient held minor impurities within, and Orodan’s current Cleaning skills and tools were nowhere near enough to perfectly clean an ingredient and rid it of all the unwanted particles within. He would have to develop new skills, bring them together in synergy and execute his vision flawlessly if he wanted to achieve this.

Thus, the perfect cleaning of an ingredient was a target benchmark to reach down the road in a future loop.

For this loop however, he cleaned everything to the best of his ability, and finally set to work on creating his own alchemical cleaning solution.

Unlike some potions he’d assisted in creating at Bluefire, he couldn’t just pour mana into it and empower the cleaning solution to create some fantastical product that would purify everything. Mana empowerment was a process only usable for certain potions, and even then only Orodan with his unfair Weapon Aura, titanic willpower and multiple minds could use it that way.

If he tried it with this alchemical cleaning solution, he would end up creating a lethal acid which would render the area uninhabitable and burn straight into the depths after destroying its container.

So for once, Orodan didn’t engage in any shocking displays which broke the standards of alchemy. Instead, he sat there and concocted a basic alchemical cleaning solution like a normal alchemist.

The swoofler vines were stripped of their skin and the extract squeezed out of them. The verwenta mushrooms were crushed into a fine powder through Orodan’s raw strength and combined with the swoofler extract. This mixture was then balanced by adding crushed firgon moss to it to lower the acidic effect. Without the moss, this would instead be a decent Apprentice-level poison.

Orodan didn’t exactly have any talent in Alchemy. But he did work hard, and he had certain advantages that regular alchemists didn’t. His willpower and ability to endlessly focus was one, as were his six extra minds. But the main advantage was Weapon Aura which allowed him to minutely track each and every change, down to the particle, within a concoction as it was made.

Using Weapon Aura, Orodan made sure to add the perfect quantities of each ingredient to maximize the effectiveness of the solution.

He created enough to fill five jugs, and while he gained no skill levels from the task, he did feel immense satisfaction at applying his Alchemy skill to come up with a practical solution to an issue.

[Name: Deep Cleaning Solution

Description: An excellently concocted cleaning solution for purifying materials of unwanted filth deep within.

Tier: Adept]

This… was possibly some of Orodan’s best work to date. Not just for the tier, but because he’d taken what should’ve been an Apprentice-level cleaning solution, yet made it so well that the System deemed it worthy of the Adept tier. And he’d done it without using simple mana empowerment cranked up to insanity with his energy generation.

Tier was decided not just on power, but also on the usefulness of the effects. A cleaning solution that could get deep inside the pores and cells of wood or stone to flush it of its impurities… was without a doubt quite useful. Magical items and other sensitive equipment could be cleaned with it. This would fetch a few gold if Orodan decided to sell it.

With the alchemy done, Orodan finally returned to his hovel. This time, with the intention of truly giving the place the deep clean it deserved. The very pores of the wooden floorboards, the foundations, the rocks… it would all be cleaned!

“O-Orodan… I can’t smell it anymore… the comforting smell…”

The man looked depressed beyond measure. As though something incredibly precious was stolen from him.

[Cleaning 53 → Cleaning 54]

His own hovel and Mister Heatherswith’s home had been obsessively cleaned by Orodan and his new alchemical cleaning solution. Indeed, the atrocious stench was now gone.

But, Orodan used Weapon Aura upon the floorboards and still sensed impurities within the cells. Some particles of tannins were almost fused together with wooden ones. Creating a solution which could target those would mean one that was strong enough to also damage the wood.

So Orodan’s journey to reach the heights of Cleaning still had a ways to go.

He wrapped up at the tanner’s house, much to the joy and gratitude of the man’s wife and daughter. He then continued cleaning the road towards the construction site at 4 Ale Road and assisted Vilia and old man Hannegan in getting the job done.

The warehouse was also finished in good time, with it only taking one-and-a-half hours instead of two this time because of Orodan being familiar with it. Which meant he had half an hour to spare before he had to get moving for the mountain.

“Old man, surely there must be something more I can do to increase my Cleaning skill? Tell me of some of the dirtiest houses in town,” Orodan asked.

Old man Hannegan was thoroughly flabbergasted by Orodan at this point as he’d seen him build the warehouse. So, he wasn’t surprised that Orodan was focusing so much on Cleaning.

“Your training to become the Republic’s greatest butler aside… have you considered offering your services to the mayor? His mansion is quite dilapidated from what I hear the occasional maid say,” the old man spoke, and Orodan mentally filed that away for oncoming loops. “And uh… never mind. The mayor’s mansion should be a good spot.”

“You were about to suggest something else, don’t hold back, come on old man,” Orodan pleaded.

“Urgh… will you ever stop calling me old? I’m only sixty!” old man Hannegan replied. “Anyway, it’s dirty work which is beneath the station of a talented figure such as you, but the latrines around town always require cleaning.”

The latrines? Now there was an idea. If there was anything was truly dirty, it would be those. And perhaps even worse, the cesspools. Ogdenborough didn’t have dedicated water mages like the average town did to deal with such issues. Next loop, he would target the cesspits and latrines around town. He might gain skill levels from cleaning such piles of filth.

“I see… anything else?”

“Well, you could always ask to clean the blacksmith’s forge or the tanner’s shop. Those get rather dirty,” the old man answered. “And the local healing house in Scarmorrow could always use a hand keeping the place clean for their patients. Anyhow, this is all moot as someone like you shouldn’t be wasting their time with such a thing. Why are you even doing this Orodan? I thought you always wanted to be a mighty warrior?”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive,” Orodan replied, and then he smiled. “Besides, I just like cleaning.”

“Enjoying the view up here are we?”

“Your dragon’s scales… they’re rather dirty aren’t they?” Orodan asked.

“Y-you dare?! My scales are among the most lustrous in all of Inuan!” the dragon roared. “I, Ulrusdun the Everlasting Haste, am possessed of a majesty beyond which you have ever seen human. Who are you to utter such a disrespectful thing?”

“It isn’t as disrespectful to you as it is to your rider,” Orodan spoke. “Isn’t he supposed to help clean your scales? I recall reading about the bond between you two.”

“You…! Aren’t you being a bit too insulting for someone who just decided to bypass our watchers and lounge atop Mount Castarian?” Arendethar asked. “Who are you?”

“Orodan Wainwright, you wouldn’t know me,” he replied. “Might I clean your dragon’s scales? I can see multiple areas where you’ve done a rather sub-par job. How high is your Cleaning skill, anyway?”

“It’s 41! What’s yours?!” the dragon rider exclaimed, almost embarrassed to be having this conversation.

“Level 54. But there’s more to Cleaning than just skill levels as I’ve been learning recently,” Orodan replied. “The method, the tools and equipment used, the goal behind the cleaning, it all matters.”

“Then what’s your goal behind cleaning? One can’t simply clean everything,” Arendethar remarked. “Take, for example, dust. What is dust? It’s no more than little bits of shed matter from everything around us, including ourselves. But we cannot eradicate dust outright. Rather, cleaning must account for the fact that dust has existed and will continue to exist even after we’re gone.”

“But does it have to?” Orodan posed in return. “There is cleaning, and then there is the skill Cleaning. What are skills if not our attempt to impose our demands and will upon the world? We do not simply perform the action for the sake of doing it, but we clean and use our Cleaning skill to achieve an aim, to impose our will upon reality.”

“Are you then suggesting that the Cleaning skill could be pushed high enough to alter reality itself? To make dust no longer exist upon anything it touches? To prevent dust from settling on things cleaned ever again?” the dragon rider asked. “How is that possible?”

“Why would it not be possible? I have a mythical rarity skill that allows me to alter reality itself to return attacks. No matter what kind or where the sender is,” Orodan replied. “It touches upon the concept of something greater that I have yet to fully understand. If it’s possible with this skill… then why wouldn’t it be possible with another?”

“Y-you have a mythical skill? I’ve never heard of you Mister Wainwright… who are you really?”

“It doesn’t matter. This conversation is about to come to an end,” Orodan replied. “You’re a good sounding board to discuss these things with Arendethar Althadin. We should continue this from now on.”

If Arendethar questioned how Orodan knew his name, it wasn’t a concern he was able to bring up.

The mountain erupted, the ancient machine arose, and Orodan used Mana Black Hole to disable it.

[Quest Completed → Battle of Ogdenborough - Ancient war machine disabled]

[Reward Granted → Permanent +1 Action Increase]

[Soul At Capacity → Reward Aborted]

Well, that was a giant letdown.

It answered what would happen if Orodan completed the Quest but couldn’t take anymore action increases due to his soul capacity being a limiting factor. For now, he could no longer farm the reward from the first Quest. But at the same time, it would be a good indicator of his soul’s growing strength when he did manage to acquire another action increase.

The flying javelin of lightning came his way, and Orodan casually slapped it away once more before fleeing down to the wilderness to avoid innocent casualties.

Orodan then stood his ground once far enough, and the Novarrian was killed.

The three following Novarrians were also killed, and it took Cruxamar Aetholion being possessed by Eximus to finally end him as usual. The darkness took him.

A keening wail ringing in the night sky awoke him.

Orodan stayed in bed for another twenty minutes as he worked on healing his soul. No skill level gains came from it, but that was okay. He had an endless number of loops ahead of him, and he was sure gains would come.

Clean. Die. Repeat.

This would be Orodan’s new focus.

No more action increases could be acquired until he strengthened his soul, and to do that he would need to bite down and commit to death grinding now.

However many loops it took, it was time to blitz through them.