Chapter 62 - The Duke Marinated in Caffeine
Thud thud thud thud thud. Thud thud thud. Chirp chirp—chirp chirp—
"Gah...!"
A peaceful morning. Out in the bunker yard for some photosynthesis. I was reading gallery posts, groaning in agony at my first outing in ages.
I'm the gallery user who posted about drinking Moddy's drink yesterday
Went to the duke's office this morning to report on the effects, but he wasn't there.
Asked the guards on duty, and they said he was at the training grounds. Why the hell would he go there? Anyway, I hurried over to report.
But when I got there... the duke's condition was off. (GIF of Adrian with bloodshot red eyes)
He was in that state while receiving my report. I hadn't done anything wrong, but I was scared shitless and trembling anyway.
Managed to finish the report and was gonna head out, but then the duke picks up a weapon?!
Couldn't just ignore that, so I hung back and watched. (GIF of rapier thrusting at invisible speed)
(GIF of wooden dummy shattering to pieces)
(GIF of Adrian shooting a bow)
(GIF of wooden dummy's head exploding)
(Image of Adrian staring down at the weapon in his hand)
We were all jaws on the floor in awe, but the duke seemed weird and kept testing all sorts of stuff.
Anyway, thanks to that drink, I got a rare show—sharing with you all
A post that felt like it revealed some unknown benefit of caffeine. Explained why the duke's reply was taking so long. He must've been testing everything out.
From the GIFs, looked like the duke had chugged the puppy coffee milk.
"Energy drinks seem too much, and selling puppy milk would kill a few people."
Thanks to this post, I could make a judgment. Only the nutritional tonic left.
But no related posts at all. Maybe it's the weakest effect?
Would have to wait for Duke Adrian's reply.
True enough. Sora seemed totally fooled by the cute bipedal puppy packaging.
Time to enlighten her.
"Haha. It's over twice as strong as the beer-can-looking one. Looks can be deceiving, right?"
Sora stopped her goro-goro vibrations at my words. She was pretty shocked.
Watching her, it reminded me of my first time. Kid me buying chocolate bread and coffee milk without knowing better... Tossed and turned all night, couldn't sleep.
Duke's state now was just like mine back then. I understood better than anyone, so I'd wait a bit longer on the message.
But hopefully before lunch. Wanted to show the gallery users the new items ASAP.
I made a little wish and clicked a post that caught my eye.
As the title says, brothers.
This material is truly amazing. (GIF of empty beer can)
Super lightweight metal you rarely see. (GIF of aluminum ingot from melted beer can)
Takes massive effort to make this.
But Moddy brother uses it for booze containers? No idea why, but if it's in hand, use it.
Lightweight, so if we solve strength, can make something great.
Planning alloy experiments, so brothers, please gather iron containers at workshops. Requesting, brothers.
Doing recycling in a world on the brink of doom? Clicked in, and it was about aluminum alloy research. Even naturally extracting it despite the cans being alloys already.
Aluminum was super rare before electrolysis, right? Things I took for granted, never thought about.
Maybe something useful in my head?
"Alloy... what aluminum alloys were there..."
Racking my brain for that old aluminum docu. But my dumb head only recalled one.
No more knowledge left. Better pass this on at least—messaged the dwarf blacksmith guild master.
Reached out thinking it might help, but it felt lame once said. Copper's common; probably already in plans. Felt silly for getting excited alone.
But our guild master brother disagreed.
Like getting an answer in an unsolvable situation? Super happy over my lame info.
If anything else pops up, tell him right away.
Browsing gallery in high spirits, then finally—the duke messaged.
Big trouble talk. Addictive, but not life-ruining.
Duke thought same as me. Only tonic left. Energy drinks a bit strong too.
But check anyway.
Testing. Saw comment about skills improving—probably related.
Not hard, so accepted right away.
Duke horrified by puppy coffee milk. I held back laughter, bought and sent the promised items right away.
Wonder if he'll go out fighting after chugging caffeine later? Effective till he gets used to first taste.
But the vibe...
"People getting stronger after caffeine? It's like..."
Stimpacks? Heard screams from somewhere.