Carl hopped out of bed and out of his room. He was too impatient to check out how his farms were faring to worry about toiletries.
When he exited his Warehouse house, he looked around for a bit until he saw a new door on the Warehouse door nearby labeled "Farms".
As he approached, he saw a note posted on the door.
"For the World Jumpers, there are a lot of things they can be doing with their time. Farming outside of a farming world is a ridiculous use of their time. And so boring! So you get, on the house, some analogs of the people you hired to run your farms. They have all the skills the real people had, but none of the sentience, so you don't even have to feel guilty about not paying them. Enjoy!
-Jump-Chan"
Carl looked at the note blankly.
"Jump-Chan? Are you there?" Carl called out while looking around. No answer. "Hmm, either I have a Jump-Chan, but she can't meet me, Spere 037 was wrong about my lack of a Jump-Chan and she doesn't want to meet me, or I still don't have a Jump-Chan and this note was part of the automated system set up." Carl rubbed his chin in thought for a moment.
"Not like I can do anything about it anyway." Carl finally decided.
Deciding not to worry about it, Carl shrugged and moved on. Opening the door, he saw the other side was the inside of the house of his main farm. Moving inside, Carl saw that everything was like he'd left it.
He moved to the terminal set up in the house. Browsing through it, he discovered he still had access to all the forum messages that were posted prior to leaving, but no new messages were coming in. "I guess time was frozen in that world when I left?"
When he checked on the market section, he found a notice that let him know that when he entered a jump world, the market would be connected to that world, and he could buy and sell goods to that world. The analog workers wouldn't make the decision to sell anything, unless he set the rules by which they would sell goods.
So Carl set the rules that of the goods they would sell, they would make sure they had a "full stock" before they would sell off to the market. He set the levels they would stock to before selling. Many of the precious things, like metals, precious gems, and magical items, he didn't want to sell for now. He would stock them up. Only when he felt he had a need to sell, or had a sufficient stockpile, would he let some of his stock go.
Carl then took a tour of his farms. As he teleported from farm to farm and watched each of the workers, he could tell that the note from Jump-chan had been accurate. These weren't the same people he had been working with. They didn't have that spark of life in them. They were just going through the motions.
In a way, Carl was very relieved at that. Having a bunch of people suddenly kidnapped and forced to be virtual slaves to his farms for his sole profit didn't really appeal to him.
After spending some time on his farms, Carl returned back to his house. He decided he would have himself a nice leisurely breakfast while sipping some root beer. It was almost a tradition at this point.
After breakfast, Carl went back to his room. The terminal for his body mod changes was set up. Carl then selected the available options to add to his body, especially including his knockoff spider sense, and clicked yes through the 'Are you sure?' checks.
Lights out.
Carl woke up once more, stretching while getting out of bed. Looking around at his room after yet another round of knock out, wake up, he chuckled.
"Time for breakfast again."
Carl took his time, leisurely sipping on fine Root Beer, while making himself waffles. The waffle maker came from the Farmville world, Carl had purchased it through the store, and installed it here when he discovered that it made the absolute perfect golden brown waffles, no matter what.
Forgot about your waffle while it cooked, and come back 30 minutes later? The waffle was not burnt, it was still perfectly cooked. "You can't get much better real life game mechanics than a perfect waffle, every time."
After spreading the butter and pouring on the maple syrup, Carl took the first bite, and paused in appreciation. "Perfection." He mumbled as he cut the second bite.
In the warehouse mod he had purchased the Food Supply that would be enough food to keep five people fed. For a given definition of food. The food had been filling, but bland. But now that the warehouse had access to the Farm's stock of food stuff and spices, he could feed an army. And, more importantly, the food was delicious.
He didn't regret purchasing Food Supply even though he now had enough farms to keep himself and an army fed. At the time he'd purchased it, it had been very necessary. And more importantly, it gave Carl the safety net he needed to be bold enough to go out and accomplish what he wanted to with no regrets.
If he hadn't had the guarantee of always available food, he might have been much more timid in his actions in the jump worlds of Pokemon and Farmville. And then he likely wouldn't be where he was now. So it was cp well spent.
And now that it had better food to keep his house supplied with, he was actually enjoying the time he spent here between jumps.
So Carl spent the next four days simply relaxing, watching movies and playing games for entertainment, only spending an hour or so a day in exercise, as opposed to the all day every day training or working hard of his past two jumps.
But soon enough, it was that time to review the next jump world's jump document and make his decisions for world insertion.
When Carl clicked on the terminal, it showed he had less than a day until his next jump.
"I wonder what would happen if I didn't make my jump decisions until then?" Carl wondered. "Would it drop me in as is with no perks or drawbacks? Or would it pull up someone else's jump decisions from the past and make me live with their build?" Carl shuddered at that thought. In some world's that could be very…horrifying.
"Just imagine if I was unlucky enough to be forced to live out the fantasy of someone who was a fan of the creepy romance of Twilight, and I got stuck as Bella. Ugghh. That would be horrifying." Carl gagged. "Living in a world of sparkly, effeminate vampires? I could handle that. Hell, being Mr. Sparkles McVampire could even be a hell of a lot of fun for a decade."
"But being stuck in some teen melodrama love life full of angst with a mind reading pedo stalker after me? Especially as a weak human? No thanks. Hard pass." Carl was horrified at all the nightmare scenarios his mind was conjuring up now. Where's the brain bleach when he needed it?
Pushing the existential horror behind him with some difficulty, Carl returned his attention to the screen. When he advanced to the world screen, he was pleasantly surprised. The world he would be going to was History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi.
"Oh, man, am I glad now I didn't go through all kinds of hoops just to get the slayer strength in Buffy the Vampire Slayer world. Because the martial arts masters of Ki that are in this world? They can bench press tanks." Carl laughed as he read the introduction.
"Welcome to the world of History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi. This world is much like the one you originally hailed from save for the crucial nature Martial Arts plays in the backdrop of global events. Through repeated training and years of physical punishment, humans are able to reach beyond what is the physical norm and achieve a state of physical perfection so great that modern militaries are unequipped to handle them..."
Carl reviewed what he vaguely remembered about the story. The last time he'd read the story was before he got the perfect memory from Savant, so his stored memories were a little fuzzy about details he'd learned from before he got the perk.
In this world, there were two philosophies of martial arts in opposition. The people of the organization YAMI who follow "Satsujinken", or "death giving fist", are of the mindset that martial arts was made to kill your enemies. Only by killing your enemies do you grow stronger. So they take that philosophy and run with it, embracing their murderous side.
The much smaller group of Master Martial Artists that make up the dojo Ryozanpaku follow the philosophy of Katsujinken, or "life giving fist". They believe that the true purpose of martial arts is to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
"And this is where I have to make a choice, isn't it?" Carl rhetorically asked. "If I'm being honest, I fall somewhere in the middle of these two philosophies. Killing everyone who you fight just to 'get stronger' is the path of a psychopath. But refusing to kill monsters that deserve death is just a different type of stupid. Or maybe a different type of stubborn?"
"I haven't even read the document, and I already know I'll be forced to choose a side. There will be no fence sitting unless you have the power to enforce your neutrality. And judging by my experience in the Pokemon world, my magic will probably be nerfed here as well, and ki will be the local power to get."
Carl sighed. For some reason he hated being forced into a corner and making choices that he didn't necessarily fully agree with. That's probably why the Socratic teaching method became a thing. "You try forcing hot headed youngsters to do what you say, and what do you get? Rebellion. But if you lead them so they come to the same conclusions themselves? Then they understand, and are not just fighting against 'The Man'."
"Well, let's get started. I already have an idea of what I want to do in this jump, so let's see what I can buy. I'm going to go with Drop-in. It's free and I don't want to accidently end up with the wrong background that would ruin my plan before I could even get there."
"As for age, I'll roll for it." As Carl said that, the table and d8 appeared in front of him. "A three. So I'll be dropping in as a 13 year old. Not bad, not too old, not too young."
"Next is the starting location. Five different locations, and one free pick. Dojo of Ryozanpaku. Koryo High School, where Kenichi goes to school. Yamigadani, a secret secluded glade high in the mountains of Japan. Despair Island, a private island in the sea of Japan controlled by masters of YAMI. Big Lock, a massive domed prison designed to keep master-class martial artists incarcerated."
"Well, that last choice is just a ball of fun." Carl sarcastically joked. "But with my sling ring and Drop in, I can just leave if I don't like the location I arrive at. They won't have any records of me, so leaving upon arrival isn't a big deal."
Carl rolled the dice. "A 4, looks like I'll arrive at Koryo High School. I can work with that easily."
Carl scrolled down to the next choice. "Okay, it looks like I have to pick one or the other. I'll go with Katsujinken, the life giving fist. While I don't think killing monsters is wrong, I don't hold with that nonsense of indiscriminant killing, either. And the masters of Ryozanpaku follow Katsujinken, so I'll have to as well if I'm going to apprentice myself under one of them."
"Okay, next is a choice of Sei or Dou Ki. Sei users focus their Ki inwards that 'results in an inner calm and centeredness that lends itself well to thoughtful action and awareness of surroundings…will frequently have moments of insight that may turn an unwinnable battle in their favor.' Dou focus their Ki outwards, often getting a boost to speed and strength by channeling their emotions into their fighting style. Well, the style and focus I'm going for in this jump will lend itself well to Sei Ki, so I'll pick that."
"Okay, next is a choice of Unarmed or Weapons focused martial artist. Man, this world really likes their dichotomies. I already learned the basics of Jujutsu and Aikido from High Stakes Fighter in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer world, and in this one I plan to learn from a Jujutsu master, so I'm obviously going to pick to be a Weapons wielder." Carl sarcastically joked while picking Unarmed.
A moment later Carl had a thought that made him shiver. "I am so glad the automatic service of this Jump Chain isn't so sensitive to take what I said as a joke to lock in my decisions. It would have totally ruined my jump build if that had happened."
Carl was remembering one fanfiction he'd read in the past where the main character, faced with a video game world that was asking for the character's chosen difficulty level, he had exclaimed "What the hell is going on here?" And then gotten stuck on hell difficulty on his first play through.
"Okay, no more tempting the jump chain to play a joke on me." Carl affirmed to himself.
Looking down the list, Carl saw that he could pick which martial arts style he wanted to learn the basics of. The first style would be free, and subsequent styles would cost 50 cp.
"Okay, since I'm planning to learn from a Jujutsu master, and this perk will give me all the basics of Jujutsu in this world, shoring up any weaknesses or holes in my knowledge, I'll pick Jujutsu. I could spend a measly 50 cp to do the same for Aikido, but it says the more styles I pick, the longer it will take to incorporate them into a cohesive and usable whole, so I'll pass."
"And Kenichi was learning how many styles? Karate, Jujutsu, Muay Thai, Chinese Kenpo, Furinji style, and weapons. Six of them, and he somehow became a master by the end of the manga while still young. I don't care what his opponents say, to be able to do that in the time he did, made him talented. Thinking back on it, his masters kept him humble so he never let his pride get in the way of learning."
Carl imitated an old wise man voice, "Once disciple think they know it all, their head become hard as rock. No more learning happens."
"But I've only got 10 years in this world, and I'm not going to try to overextend. I'll focus on just Jujutsu. If I end up becoming a master before ten years is up, then I can add something else. But until attaining mastery, I'm going to just focus on the one art."
In the world of History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, or HSDK, the rank of skill starts from the Disciple class. From Low Class Disciple, to Middle Class Disciple, to High Class Disciple.
After graduating from Disciple, they attain the Expert Class. After Expert Class is the Master Class. The Master Class is divided up as Low Class Master, Master, Grand Master, and finally Legendary Master.
"Okay, now for the perks. For a Drop-in I get Hidden Weapons for free. But I'm an unarmed focus? Wait, it doesn't have to be weapons, it could be anything, tools, data storage devices, even musical instruments. I can hide two items on my body and two for each article of clothes so that no one can detect them easily."
" 'The only way to fully disarm you is to strip you down naked and have at least three independent observers engage in a detailed simultaneous cavity search.' Hahaha, that's awesome. Not the body cavity search! But the hiding things in plain sight is awesome. I'll take it."
"Probing Eye 150cp is some next level Sherlock shit. 'Through a concentrated effort of observation and keen detailing of physical characteristics, you can determine an individual's true personality, notable traits, dietary preferences, recent activities, mostnoteworthy skills and favored fighting style.' Okay, I'm definitely getting this." Carl grinned happily.
There was a saying "Knowledge is power." Through his experiences, Carl felt that saying was very true. Because of his meta-knowledge, when he was in the BtVS world, he knew who the big dangers were, and he was able to take preemptive action to stop them and their shitty plans.
In the Pokemon world, he didn't have that meta-knowledge, and was blindsided by Lysandre and Team Flare's plans to kill off any opposition and take control of the region. If he didn't have his magic and sling ring teleporting cheats, who knows what would have been the results of Lysandre's plan. Carl may now have been sitting in his original world after less than two jumps wondering how he lost in the freaking Pokemon world of all places.
And with Jump-chan missing and the Jump Chain randomly picking places, Carl couldn't rely on meta-knowledge to get him through tough jumps. So the Sherlockian abilities of Probing Eye alone made this jump worth it, even if he didn't get anything else out of it.
Carl scanned down the list until he got to Etiquette 100cp. "You are instinctively knowledgeable about the etiquette and deference that must be shown in any martial art or martial culture." Carl snagged that, since he would be going to Ryozanpaku to beg a Grand Master of Jujutsu to teach him, not being unintentionally rude would only help him.
The next skill Carl picked up was Civilian Skills 100cp. "You find it exceedingly easy to apply your martial skills to mundane tasks. Leg strength developed through repeated kicking and great leaps could be applied to travel faster, and recreational parkour."
"Sold! You had me at recreational parkour." Carl exclaimed. "And I'm also getting shades of the Anything Goes Martial Arts of Ranma ½." Carl was especially thinking about Tea Ceremony martial arts fights.
"Okay, then. Master's Body will give me the body of a master after ten years. Even if I only go to this world and nope out of their battles to hide for 10 years, I'll still pretty much get powerful!" Carl laughed. "Going on a 10 year vacation will give me the body, but no training in how to use it, or how to advance beyond the Master level. So training trip it is." Carl firmly decided. "There's a huge disparity between having the raw power, and being able to use that power."
Looking over the other perks, Carl decided against Strength and Endurance and Speed and Agility. Those would be amazing if he weren't going to be training to get those very things over the next ten years. He didn't have anything against stacking on powers, but he felt that if he was forced to fight for that strength through hard training he would gain a lot more skill in using that strength, than if he got it first, and then had to train it. He could just be blowing hot air, but that is the way he would do things.
He already had his Tier 4 senses so he didn't need Perception and Awareness.
Stunning was a perk designed to make him look good. As in, he could sing that one song, "I'm too sexy" and it wouldn't be arrogant or ironic. But Carl felt he already looked pretty decent. And this early in his jump chain, he felt it was more important to go with substance than style. Maybe after his girls joined him on the jump he would upgrade how he looked, but until then, he wanted to remain as close to the same as possible for their inevitable reunion.
Youth and Longevity seemed like a decent pick, except that he was constantly changing ages in these jump worlds. It would really only be useful for Carl if he was quitting his jump chain anytime soon. Which, with the jump chain on automatic, he never had the option to stay in a world or return home. He could only helplessly go from world to world, being yanked out after exactly 10 years.
And Carl had been intending to gain some kind of medical know how sometime in the future, so in emergencies he could keep his people alive long enough to get them to the medbay. So he chose Martial Art Medicine 150cp that would allow him to apply his skills in martial arts to heal people instead of harming them.
The Master that Carl planned to study Jujutsu under, Akisame Koetsuji, was also a master at using massage, chiropractic, and acupuncture to heal. So with that perk and instruction from Akisame, Carl hoped to be a master of healing after 10 years, as well as Jujutsu.
And finally, Carl chose Enhanced Ki 150cp. Maximizing his gains in Ki training? "Yes, thank you. May I have another?"
Carl then looked over the General Items available. He spent 50cp to get 1,000,000 yen on a debit card. "Having the local currency is never a bad option."
He chose to get a pair of forearm protectors for his version of the "Sword" item for free. As Carl grew stronger, the forearm protectors would also gain more durability and strength. To the point they could tank virtually everything short of superheated plasma.
"A very nice item to help me stay alive. I like." Carl approved. "And another free item, the Data Book. A small book, PDA, or cellphone, that instantly organizes and records any and all information I've obtained about people I meet. Well, I've already got perfect memory so I won't forget anything, but that doesn't necessarily mean I don't have to think about things for a while to bring the memories up. And it would be good for if I'm making an information brief or passing information to others. I'll merge it with my Pokegear. Adding one more app to that useful device shouldn't be hard."
"I'll take Headquarters 100cp. With basic utilities, and tax and amenities free, and able to house 50 employees, it can be a useful base that follows me from world to world. I know at some point in the story Nijima, the information broker friend of Kenichi, will form the Shinpaku Alliance for information gathering and low level protection, so they can make use of the headquarters while I'm here, in exchange for information. Rent paid in information, I like it."
"And let's see, Entrance Fee 100cp seems to be a very useful perk that will also help me in every world. 'Regardless of the institution, be it a trade school, a university, a fine arts program, or even a martial arts dojo, you will always have the currency (and other obscure entrance requirements) that will allow you to begin your studies at said institution.' This will actually help me greatly in getting admitted to Ryozanpaku and having Akisame teach me. Not to mention any other jump worlds I visit in the future."
"Dojo 100cp is another item that I can take with me out of this jump. 'It holds all of the basic training materials and aids needed to educate disciples in our martial art, or engage in light-training yourself.' And it will be an attachment to the Warehouse in the future, very nice."
Carl checked over everything once more, ensuring he had all he wanted for his plan. Step 1, get to Ryozanpaku. Step 2, get admitted under Akisame Koetsuji. Step 3, get tortured for 10 years. "I mean, get trained for 10 years." Carl laughed. He knew it would be a difficult road, but necessary, if he wanted to get the skills and power of a master.
Carl finalized his selections, and blacked out.