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Congratulations on your up coming death!!!!
Based on the Afterlife Lottery that every mortal is entered into, you will be given a chance at reincarnation! Since your upcoming death is classified as ¡®Tragic¡¯ the odds of winning this lottery are only worse than winning the lottery three times in a row; much more difficult than winning the Martyr or Extremely-Tragic lotteries! We look forward to seeing you soon!
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Without even a moment to process what he¡¯d just read James felt an even greater literal shock at what happened right after he finished reading: an earthquake started, his parents and the doc were too far away, he was close to the stairs, and the brakes on his wheelchair were broken. It was a perfect storm of misfortune.
He tumbled down the stairs, the wheelchair -his prison- also became his murderer as he tumbled down from a third story to the first. His fragile legs broke and the bones pierced his arteries, he slammed his head into several stairs because his hands wouldn¡¯t listen to him. He had no chance of survival. The last thing he heart was his mother and father screaming as the pain rose up and dragged him into a world of darkness.
Prologue Author Note (yes, you should read this)
Random Reader: Why are you posting your author note as a separate chapter?
Val: Because I wanted this prologue to be how I like my snow: untouched.
Hello readers! Welcome to EtB! Where we shamelessly rip of popular youtuber''s intros just for the heck of it. I''m your host Valquist! The king of overly-long author notes!
I know that a lot of people aren''t interested in author notes and just want to get to the book, but as the author I like having contact with you all and hearing feedback. So, please allow me this selfishness. For those of you who just want the book, don''t worry! You will get chapter one soon. If I got everything squared away yesterday (and RRL''s scheduled releases doesn''t have a problem, again), then it should come out in about 20 minutes. So take that as some small measure of comfort.
So, I''d like to thank you all for your support. After just the prologue is up we have over 200 followers! That is honestly more than I was expecting, and it''s almost the same amount of views on the prologue, which means that most of you who read it bookmarked it! I hope that means I did a good job. I gotta ask: how was it? Do you like this one more than the original? For those of you who didn''t read the original, this prologue combined chapter one, two, and three together in one package. A lot more efficient, am I right?
So, the current update schedule I have is every monday (because only one person sent me a messege with a suggestion of a time) and I kinda like that. Their suggestion for monday was so that "people would have something to look forward to". Gotta say, I''m flattered. If my book could help your mondays be more bearable then I''m happy to supply! So it''ll stay like that for a few weeks until I decide if I like it or not. I''m kinda thinking of adding thursday as another update day.
Here''s a fun little story: the original idea for EtB was that someone from our world went to another one and discoverd that he was super talented in magic. The ''One Punch Man of Magic'' if you will, but he decides that he didn''t want to learn magic, and wanted to use a sword instead. The story grew from that idea. I needed a justification for him to not want to use magic, so I made him crippled. I ended up not making him ''The One Punch Man of Magic'' because I was kinda sick of reading books with OP MCs (a lot of them get boring fast) or MCs that get insanely strong outta nowhere (same problem). Anyway, thought you guys might be interested in that.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
So, I have a request for you guys: Could you give me game recommendations? I use other video games I play to help give me inspiration for my own system, and ideas for how I could improve it or make it more balanced. It''s more or less completely fleshed out at this point, but having more ideas always helps. Two big inspirations for me as of late are Nioh, and Persona. I played (and loved to death) Persona 5 back in June, and I got Persona 4 recently that one has been helping me with some ''sneaky sneaky'' ideas I have for the system (see if you can spot them), and Nioh has helped me work out the kinks with my ''Talismancer'' and ''Ancient Calligraphist'' classes. So, if you have any recommendations you think could help, please send them my way. I would greatly appreciate it.
So, a few things about the new EtB. The plot line, and characters are VERY different. I don''t plan on putting our MC in the castle (so early) like last time, and there will be characters that we don''t meet this time around, and characters that we won''t meet till much later. The time frame is also over a year before when I dumped our MC in the original plot line. I just want to make that clear for people who just think that this will be exacly the same with a few changes. It will be kinda the same with A TON of changes. Just as an FYI.
Oh, and I want to put this out there to solve a mystery I left in the original: the MC woke up in a prision because the Overseer wasn''t paying close enough attention to where he put him, and dumped him in the middle of a bandit camp. The bandits took everything from him, and beat the snot outta him before dumping him infront of the castle. He didn''t remember any of it because his mind hadn''t finished settling in his body before they knocked it unconcious. Okay, Mystery solved. It was gonna be a funny reveal in the original plot line.
Have a good day! Look forward to chapter one!
My song recommendations for this update are:
Hope (One Piece) cover by Amanda Lee
Dead Silence by Nathan Sharp
The Triumph by Jeff Williams
Chapter 1 (Draft 2)
Where does that confidence come from?
It¡¯s completely unfounded.
Power is like a poison after all.
It slowly creeps into every fiber of you body,
and when it¡¯s settled in it destroys everything you love.
The manager was bored, though he was often bored. Raften the Overseer was his name. Overseer just being a fancy way of manager; it was his job to send human souls to the afterlife they earned and to deal with the ones who win the Afterlife Lottery.
Raften didn¡¯t have a face. His body was like a ghost, with his torso in clear definition while his head was faded away into nothing. He legs also faded the further you went from his torso with his legs below the knees being in the same situation as his head: with nothing there.
For his secondary job he didn¡¯t have to do much beyond reading. He never met the souls he routed to their afterlife. Here is how it looks for him:
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The soul ¡°John Smith¡± has been judged!!!
John Smith was a plumber in his life. He worked hard at his job. He was very honest about his practices and always tried his best to help the customer. He had a Wife that he was faithful to and three kids that he doted on. Cause of death: old age. Due to his behavior and character in life it has been determined that ¡®James Smith¡¯ has earned a place in Heaven.
Send to Heaven? |Yes| |No|
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See? Secondary job: easy. It was always a quick summary of the person and he was required to read all of it. It was a job with a lot of reading. Unfortunately though it wasn¡¯t a job that was actually needed, it was just something God gave him to do while he waited for his primary job, to become relevent. He had to meet with mortals that won the Afterlife Lottery.
The Afterlife Lottery was an interesting little thing; every mortal is entered into it the second they are born. There are two factors that determine if you win or not. The first is how you die. Every death is classified in different ways for example being the victim of a double murder suicide as a result of your ex-father¡¯s drunken rampage is determined to be a ¡®Tragic¡¯ death.
The classification of your death depends on two things. The emotions felt during the death and the rarity of the type of death. A car accident is only ¡®Semi-Tragic¡¯ because they are often very quick, not allowing you to feel many emotions before they happen and because they are a very, common type of death.
The second factor determining whether you win is your ¡®Time of Death¡¯ (ToD). Your death qualifies you for a specific category like ¡®Tragic¡¯ once you qualify your ToD determines if you win or not. It¡¯s essentially a window of time where if you die while qualifying for that category: you win the lottery. The higher rarity of classification the bigger the window of time for ToD is open and how often it shows up.
Based off these two categories you have a 1 in 100 chance of winning the ¡®Martyr¡¯ category but, only 1 in 985 million chance of winning the ¡®Semi-Tragic¡¯ category. People who die peaceful deaths don¡¯t have any chance of winning. Literally, there is no ¡®Peaceful¡¯ category; the lowest category is that of ¡®Semi-Tragic.¡¯
There are a few more things to know about the Afterlife Lottery: If you have earned ¡®Hell¡¯ as your eternal punishment in your life time you will not be entered into the lottery. The second thing is a special clause that was implemented a few hundred years ago that even if your death was tragic if you died satisfied you wouldn¡¯t win. For example, if you¡¯ve seen Stur Wers the moment when Haan Soloo lets Kyloo Rin kill him would be tragic, but since Haan was satisfied with his death he¡¯d have no change of winning the lottery. That clause had been implemented to deal with all the complaints.
Raften¡¯s job when meeting with these people who win is to ensure they get to reincarnate in another place of their choosing. If they want to keep the memories of their previous life then they have to be sent to another-non-earth-world. This prevents people from using the knowledge in their previous life in ways they shouldn¡¯t. The last person who did something like that ended up as an Oracle in Greece.
When winners are sent to the other worlds it is also Raften¡¯s job to grant them their wishes. It is almost always a cheat skill of some kind because that¡¯s what people usually ask for-that, and the random pervert here and there who wants a harem but, how it works is something like making a purchase at a store. Raften has a certain amount of energy or ¡®money¡¯ to spend on each person, and he has to use it all.
So that creates limitations on the power of the gift itself which prevent stuff like invincibility or immortality. It can be more or less anything: A skill, an object, a person, etc. There have been some creative people in the past but most ask for super powerful weapons or skills or something similar. It was almost never anything interesting, but for the random times when whatever they ask for doesn¡¯t take all the ¡®money¡¯ up he can use his own judgement to decide how the rest should be spent, they get no say.
Raften glance at the alert that appeared in front of him. It appears that someone won the ¡®Tragic¡¯ Lottery for the first time since last year; and not just ¡®someone,¡¯ it was a fifteen year old kid. Rare for a teenager to win in the ¡®Tragic¡¯ category. Semi-Tragic was way more common (for how rare it was) with all the bad teenage drivers these days.
The paperwork he needed for the Afterlife Lottery winners wasn¡¯t prepared yet, he¡¯d have the kid wander around for a little while to buy time to prep it. IF he¡¯d had it ready he could have had the kid appear right in front of him, but what¡¯s the fun in that? He could even wow the kid when he came to visit!
******
James sunk further and further into the darkness until he felt some weight support his back. It wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d fallen onto it, but like it had risen to meet him. It was comfortable, and the persistent dull ache in his legs was -shockingly- gone.
He opened the eyes -that he hadn¡¯t realized that he¡¯d closed- and looked down.
He was being supported by some kind of faintly glowing plinth, or at least it looked like one. It was way too big to be an actual plinth, which were designed to support statues or vases, but it was certainly the same architectural style. He had landed in the center of the plinth and the edge was about 2 yards away from him at the closest. Beyond the plinth was darkness, unlike the darkness of shutting of the light in your room it looked more like smoke, he could see it roll, shift, and waver.
James slid his legs under himself and stood up¡he¡stood up?
Stunned he looked down at his legs, the legs he¡¯d had for fifteen years. The legs that had kept him in constant pain, and had bound him to a wheel chair, the legs that had kept him from attending public school, the ones that had looked like someone had tried to recreate Frankenstein¡¯s experiments on. Those legs-his legs, were whole.
Almost subconsciously he noted that he was wearing a white t-shirt, grey shorts, and was barefooted.
James slowly stepped forward and stumbled slightly. It was amazing. There were new born deer that were more elegant at walking than him, but he could walk! He carefully turned around -almost face planted- and began slowly making his way to the other edge of the plinth. It took a few laps but he got the hang of it enough to not make every step look like a drunk walk. It still wasn¡¯t anything anyone would praise for grace, but he couldn¡¯t find it in himself to care about that detail. After all, he had the rest of his life to practice now.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
After what must have been the thirtieth lap he turned an something was different at the other side: there were stairs. They looked like the were made from the same stone that the plinth was, and they were floating in the air with out any visible supports. Once he accepted the fact that stairs could appear out of no where the strangest thing was that smokey darkness had split and was clearly avoiding the light given off by the stone.
The whole situation he was in was extremely weird. Was this a dream? What was he doing before he got here?
Tracing back to the chain of events that got him in ¡®The World of Fog¡¯ he was surprised to realize that this was probably an after life of some kind. Thinking about it for a long minute he realized that he couldn¡¯t bring himself to care about his own death, he certainly felt bad for his parents-they¡¯d miss him, but hopefully they¡¯d try to have another kid, one who wasn¡¯t a failure like him.
To anyone looking at the situation it would be odd to accept death so quickly. They¡¯d panic, or go into shock, or wish that they hadn¡¯t died, anything! But to James, death had been a very real reality for years. Because of how fragile his legs were the fear that they would break in just the wrong way and pierce his arteries was a constant fear, it was also something the contributed to his death. Living with this weight on his shoulders James got used to the idea of death, and had long since accepted his own. It¡¯s why he didn¡¯t panic, or particularly react to being dead beyond:
¡°So this is what the after life is like. Not what I expected.¡±
The sound of his own voice was off, it didn¡¯t echo like it would shouting in a canyon, and it wasn¡¯t deadened by the fog, not it was more like the sound was¡stagnant. Similar to how he imagined it would be like to be in a booth coated in sound absorbing foam. It wasn¡¯t unnerving to him, but it was weird.
He slowly trod over to the stairs and put the issue of sound out of his head as he tried to figure out how to use stairs. Walking right off the bat wouldn¡¯t work-he¡¯d just fall, so he did a kind of crawling walk up the stairs. His hand were on the stairs and he was hunched forward as he slowly made his way up them. After a few steps he started to slowly stand up with each passing step until he was completely upright and slowly walking up on his own.
*****
10,865
10,867
10,869
He¡¯d started counting steps a while ago and quickly discovered that it was a good thing that he appeared to have infinite stamina, or he would have been in trouble after the first hundred or so steps, and he only started counting after he¡¯d walked for over several hours, so his current count was a ¡®little¡¯ lower than it should be.
The most interesting thing that had happened was when the incline of the stairs became noticeably steeper from step 5,011 to 8,872, and so shallow it was almost flat from 8,873 to where he was currently. It was actually flat enough for him to practice moving faster, and he¡¯d even started skipping steps at that point.
Fortunately, he was still mostly content with the novelty of walking, or else he would have been bored out of his mind ages ago. He¡¯d started counting mostly out of curiosity.
Finally, after reaching 14,950 steps he noticed something change ahead of him, there was another glowing platform slowly revealing itself from the smoky (or foggy?) darkness. He pushed down the urge to run and kept up his count, he stepped onto the platform with 14,999 steps.
¡°One off? Are they trying to kill people with OCD, or is the actual value something reasonable?¡±
A voice reached his ears from somewhere above his head, ¡°No, I do that to mess with people who actually count. The real value is 19,999, it¡¯s more fun to have that ¡®so close, yet so far¡¯ feel.¡±
Looking up James noticed a¡floating body? He could see the chest wearing some kind of robe, but it lacked a head, arms, and legs. The weirder part was that he could see floating crocs where he assumed the feet would be, a giant pen floating just off center of where the head should be, and ink staining an invisible right hand.
The floating body continued his speech, ¡°Well, it¡¯s not that important in any case. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Raften the Overseer! Welcome to Trans¡¯Du Niir!¡±
The body¡Raften, extended his arms to each side like he was basking in the non-existent light, or praising the sun, and waited for James¡¯ reaction.
What¡should his reaction be? His main response was confusion, followed by curiosity; he really wanted to know why Raften was wearing crocs. After a moment¡¯s hesitation he decided being polite would be the safe way to go.
¡°Um, thank you?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t mention it kid!¡±
A heavy and awkward silence fell as they stared at each other. James was waiting for him to say more (and still curious about the crocs), and Raften was waiting to be showered with questions. After about ten seconds Raften cleared his invisible throat-clearly unable to take the atmosphere-and said in a smaller voice,
¡°Do you have any questions for me?¡±
¡°Yeah, why are you wearing crocs?¡±
¡°Hah?¡±
James was amused to note that his question had completely blindsided Raften, and the floating body had frozen in the air even his robes-which had been swirling in the non-existent breeze-had stopped dead. A few moments passed before Raften shook his invisible head like a dog and James watched the pen go flying.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± James could tell that he¡¯d take the wind out of Raften¡¯s sails, again, ¡°I¡¯ll just launch into the presentation.¡±
Raften reached deep into his robes and pulled out a giant pad of paper and quickly drew on it with a crayon-also produced from his robe-before turning it around. It was a poor drawing of what appeared to be a ghost, some kinda black smudge, a poorly drawn stick figure, a squiggly line, and at the far right some kind of flat line with a lopsided sun drawn above it and something that looked like a dying tree on the flat line.
Raften used the back of his crayon to point at the ghost first. Recognizing a long lecture incoming James had sat down crosslegged while he¡¯d been drawing.
¡°When humans die they come to this place,¡± the pencil moved to the black blob, ¡°¡®Trans¡¯Du Niir¡¯ it is the in between place for mortals. It¡¯s like a giant waiting room for deadies while God judges their souls one by one. The big guy doesn¡¯t want any mistakes so he and his son personally meet with every dead person. It¡¯s nice of him, but really inefficient. They¡¯re behind schedule by about 1500 years at this point,¡±
Raften mumbled in a lower voice that James could clearly hear, ¡°I know because he has me double check his work to stave off boredom.¡±
In his louder ¡®presentation voice¡¯ Raften continued his explanation, ¡°And that¡¯s where I come in! Since God is such a generous guy he created the Afterlife Lottery to allow mortals who died unfulfilled or dissatisfied because of tragedy the chance to reincarnate into another world! Well, technically you could reincarnate back on earth, but rules are rules and you¡¯d have to forget everything.¡±
James raised his hand and cut in, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d like to keep my memories, thank you.¡±
Raften used the crayon to give him a thumbs up, ¡°Other world it is. Anyway,¡± he cleared his throat again and pointed at the stick figure, ¡°My job is helping the souls who win the Afterlife Lottery settle into their new worlds, and to grant a wish to them. I¡¯ll pick a world for you to land in based off a few questions I¡¯ll ask you, and then we¡¯ll work out what your wish should be. Sound good?¡±
James nodded, he didn¡¯t have any preferences.
¡°Great! You¡¯ve already answered the first question so, second question: do you want to land in a world with magic, or advanced technologies, or one more similar to your own?¡±
¡°Magic, I¡¯ve loved the thought of it since I was a kid.¡±
Raften flipped to the next page of his pad of paper and used the crayon to scribble something down. James noted for the first time that it was pink.
¡°Third question: Do you want to stay human?¡±
¡°I¡¯d prefer to, but if you need me to I can be non-human, it just has to be a humanoid like an Elf or Beast-Kin. No Orcs, Skyriim made me dislike being one, and I definitely don¡¯t want to be a goblin or anything like that, sorry.¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s fine! We¡¯ll keep you ''human'' then,¡± Raften noted that one down too, James had the funny feeling that the guy without a head was smiling mischievously, ¡°Fourth question: Do you want to be in a world where you can gain levels like a video game character?¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯d be great! I always loved the thought of being able to see hard evidence of training. The closest things we had on earth were tests, and those weren¡¯t as satisfying.¡±
¡°I totally get it. I sneak video games in here occasionally, and I know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±
¡°God doesn¡¯t notice?¡±
¡°Nah, he totally does, he just let¡¯s me get away with it. Moving on.¡±
They went through a list of questions. It was fairly short all things considered, just 20 questions. James felt like there was a joke somewhere in that thought.
¡°Now! It¡¯s time for the fun part,¡± Raften said gleefully, ¡°time to grant your wish!¡±
¡°What have people wished for before?¡±
Raften let out a long sigh and hunched a little, ¡°Most of it¡¯s actually boring. Just various cheat skills or what not. Please don¡¯t be a pervert and ask for a harem, I beg you. It¡¯s one of the most pathetic and expensive wishes. Definitely not worth the cost.¡±
¡°First: I¡¯m not interested in a harem. Too much trouble. Second: cost?¡±
¡°Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this to you. Imagine that you have a bank account with 1000 dollars in it, and we have to spend it all. You get to pick ONE thing to spend that money on, and I get to pick the rest. Got a problem with that?¡±
¡°Maybe, are you going to pick things that¡¯ll ruin my day?¡±
¡°No, I don¡¯t get any kicks out of sadism.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯m fine with it.¡±
¡°Good, what do you want to wish for?¡±
James sat back and thought, he thought of possible cheat skills and weapons, he thought of items and stat buffs, but then a thought popped into his mind completely unrelated to all of that: his parents. His gut sank as he thought about them.
He sat and pondered for a while before he looked back at where he guessed Raften¡¯s head was.
¡°Could my parents be comforted about my death?¡±
A long moment of silence fell, but unlike the earlier ones this one felt¡warm. Raften then chose that moment to burst into tears.
¡°What a great son you are!¡± James could see tears streaming down is invisible face, ¡°Using your only wish on behalf of your parents! How wonderful!
¡°Sure, there¡¯s no problem comforting them! It a pretty cheap one too, so I¡¯ll pick something nice out for you!¡±
Raften reached up and began wiping the tears off his face as James cut in.
¡°Actually, can I request that you not pick stuff out for me that will make me OP?¡±
¡°Why do you want that?¡±
¡°I think, becoming strong too fast takes away from the pride you gain in reaching that point.¡±
¡°I can respect that, in a way. I¡¯ll pick stuff out that will help you out and give you a path to become strong then. Do you have any more questions for me?¡±
¡°Are there any special rules or things to know before I go?¡±
¡°Yeah, you won¡¯t keep your appearance or your name, I¡¯m required to give you a new body, and the system that the world you going to uses won¡¯t let you start leveling up until you turn sixteen, sorry, but you¡¯ll have to kill a month, waiting.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±
¡°Anything else?¡±
¡°Why are you wearing crocs?¡±
¡°Get outta here!¡±
The floor shattered underneath James and dropped him into the darkness.
Chapter 2 (Draft 2)
I¡¯m so certain because it¡¯s happened to me
I was a hero too,
but
power destroyed every thing I held dear
and I became the villain.
You won¡¯t be far behind.
After falling for a while he felt weight under him again but, unlike when he ended up in ¡®Trans¡¯Du Niir¡¯, it wasn¡¯t a comfortable weight. Based of the creaking and rocking it was probably a wood cart. Opening his eyes confirmed his suspicion, as he saw that he was in a wood cart loaded down with burlap sacks and jars that were emitting a strong odor, despite the seals they had on top.
Looking to the front of the cart he saw an old man driving the carriage biting on the stem of an unlit pipe. He had a straw hat on his head and well worn clothes. Looking closer he noted that the man wasn¡¯t that old, his hair was white, giving him the impression of being older than he was, but he only appeared to be in his forties.
The man noticed that he was awake and turned around with a cocky grin smugly adorning his face, ¡°You sleep like that on the job and you won¡¯t get paid kid.¡±
Thinking quick he decided to roll with the situation and said in a flat tone of voice, ¡°I¡¯ll finish the job without any issues.¡± Hopefully this statement would bait out details for the ¡®job¡¯.
¡°Hah! With hands like yours, I bet you¡¯ve never done farm work boy.¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, I learn quick.¡±
The driver snorted and was content to let the conversation die after that.
Crimson was pretty confidant that he wouldn¡¯t have any issues, he really was a fast learner and was good at remembering instructions and¡wait. Crimson? Where did that come from. He tried to ascribe a name to himself and what came to mind was Crimson Hokori. He thought of himself as Crimson, and had been since he¡¯d woke up without thinking about it.
Even when he looked back on his past life he knew that he had a different name before, but when he imagined his mother calling his name all he could imagine was ¡®Crimson¡¯. Well, it wasn¡¯t that big of an issue, Raften did tell him that he¡¯d be getting a new name, the only thing that surprised him was the way he learned it.
Anyway, focusing on the situation it appeared that Crimson hadn¡¯t been left high and dry by Raften like what usually happened in those fantasy world novels he¡¯d read before. Instead, Raften probably set him up with a job from the offset to earn some money to live. The fact that the ¡®old¡¯ man wasn¡¯t questioning him to deeply was also a huge blessing; Crimson wasn¡¯t a fan of lying and tried to avoid it as much as possible. Though it might be hard to go along with the situation he¡¯d do his best.
As the cart started to slow the ¡®old¡¯ man called back to him, ¡°We¡¯re here boy, get your lazy carcass outta the cart, I need to show you where you¡¯ll be working for the next few days.¡±
Crimson nodded and stood up. He noticed for the first time that he had a bag slung over his shoulders and he was wearing rough clothes. They actually looked worse than they felt. The pants looked like wool and touching the outside they felt like that too, but the inside pressing against his leg felt more like silk or fine cotton. His shirt was the same, uncomfortable and cheap from the outside, fit for a king on the inside. His bag was also bulging with stuff, but he didn''t have time to look as he hopped out of the cart and followed the ¡®old¡¯ man -now his Boss- around the old and weathered farm house.
¡°I¡¯ll start you out chopping wood. It¡¯s an easy enough task for even a kid like you.¡±
¡°Yessir.¡±
Boss grabbed the wood axe leaning against the back of the house and led Crimson over to a tree stump. There were un-cut logs on one side, and cut ones on the other.
¡°Do as much of this pile as you can. We¡¯ll have supper when the sun hits the tree line. Got it kid?¡± Crimson nodded, ¡°Good, if, by some miracle, you finish the pile come talk to me, I¡¯ll be tending to the missus. I¡¯ll get you set up with another task. Let¡¯s hope a city kid like you can survive five days on a farm.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
¡°Don¡¯t worry sir, I¡¯ll do the work.¡±
Boss grunted and walked off.
Crimson felt deeply annoyed with Boss, but did his best to hide it. He didn¡¯t mind doing the task so much as he hated that Boss was looking down on him. It wasn¡¯t a good feeling, and it dredged up memories of being stuck in a wheelchair. A shocking amount of ¡®sympathetic¡¯ people are just pretending to be nice, while they looked down on him as they smiled so ¡®kindly¡¯.
Rolling up his sleeves he picked up the axe and got to work chopping wood. Raften had really done a number on his new body, it felt like he could go forever without getting tired.
That thought was disproved just a little while later as he started panting heavily while chopping. It¡¯d probably been a few hours since he¡¯d started, but getting tired like this was weird to him. How he was used to it was that his hands would start shaking abruptly and he¡¯d be forced to stop whatever he was doing. This bone creaking, muscle burning tiredness accompanied by heavy breathing was not something he was used to in the slightest. It was¡nice.
Before, getting tired was a sign of his weakness. He¡¯d barely do anything strenuous and be forced to stop for a long time. Now, it was a sign of how hard he had worked. It felt like his body was saying: ¡°This is what it¡¯s like to work hard¡± and he felt a satisfaction from it as permeating as his tiredness.
He was forced to take a break not much longer. Raften had definitely messed with his body, there shouldn¡¯t have been a way for him to finish most of the pile with only one break. Anyone else probably would have needed five or more at this point. The ¡®him¡¯ of before would have had to rest every log or two.
After just a five minute rest he felt ready to get back to it, and it didn¡¯t take him long to finish off the pile. Looking up at the sun he¡had no idea how long it would be till the sun reached the tree line. Maybe another two hours? He¡¯d never read the time by looking at the sun before, apparently Raften didn¡¯t give him every skill he needed to survive, not that this one was very important, and it was at least something simple he could learn on his own before he gained a Status.
He walked back across the yard and knocked on the door. After a few seconds of rustling and the din of footsteps heading toward the door it popped open and Boss stuck his head out the door.
¡°What is it kid? Chicken out already?¡±
¡°No, I finished the pile. What do you need me to do next?¡±
¡°Finished al-!! *Ahem* Very well then. Follow me.¡±
Boss led Crimson across the yard and to the field out back. By industrial standards it was tiny, but by that era¡¯s standards it was probably a huge one.
¡°We have those [Earth Mage]s who pass through every year replenish the field so we don¡¯t usually have to worry about the yield, but I¡¯m busy looking after the missus so I can¡¯t give it the time and attention it needs. Your job is to go through the field and check on the plants, weed them, whole nine yards. Got that?¡±
Crimson nodded and Boss launched into an explanation of which plants were which. He pointed out all the weeds and explained how to ¡®take care¡¯ of each one. It turned out that the field was split into two halves. The first half was food for the family, the second was medicinal herbs they sold to [Alchemist]s and [Pharmacist]s for a profit. Apparently the area was really good for growing herbs that were used in tier I through IV Healing Potions, and Tier I and II Antidotes. So they got a tidy profit from their sales, it was also helped by the fact that they were only half a day¡¯s travel from the capitol.
It explained quite a bit. From what Crimson understood of this era of history -admittedly it only applied accurately to Earth- Boss¡¯ farmhouse was way too big for his profession. It also explained why he¡¯d hire help. Why he¡¯d hire Crimson was something only Boss and Raften knew, and maybe not even that first one. Though, that info about the capitol being close was useful. He¡¯d have to go there soon.
¡°By the way kid, are your hands okay?¡±
¡°Huh?¡±
Boss rubbed his finger under his nose in embarrassment, ¡°Well, you¡¯re a city kid, if you aren¡¯t used to working with farm implements you¡¯d probably get a blister or two.¡±
Looking down at his hands Crimson did indeed see a few blisters between his two hands, and a few slivers. He pulled the slivers out and shrugged. He hadn¡¯t noticed them because he was used to tuning out pain, and they were quite a bit less painful than his legs had been.
¡°Don¡¯t worry Boss, I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s not a big deal. I¡¯ll get to work now.¡±
Boss nodded with a bit of concern on his face as he walked off, the checks over his shoulder unnoticed by Crimson.
Crimson got to work checking the plants. He¡¯d only received a crash course in plant care so he couldn¡¯t do everything, but he could handle the basics, and it wasn¡¯t like it was a task requiring surgical precision. He did have to be careful, but it wasn¡¯t hard. He walked through and checked the field until he noticed that the sun had hit the tree line and headed in.
Learning about Alchemical herbs was very interesting to him. It wasn¡¯t like he was going to become an Alchemist, but he might find it useful to know that stuff down the road. Especially if he has to collect it for a request or quest or something. He was kinda running under the assumption that the Adventurers Guild existed, visiting the capitol after the job would allow him to double check that. Well, assuming he made enough money from his current job, if it wasn¡¯t enough he¡¯d go looking for work again. Simple as that.
He knocked on the door again, ¡°Come in boy!¡±
Crimson eased the door open, he felt a bit guilty just walking into someone¡¯s home - even with their permission.
There was a big front room and stairs in one corner of the room, for being just a farmhouse it had a reasonably rich interior. There was a table in the center and he could see a kitchen-like area on the other side of the room from the stairs. He could see Boss coming down said stairs with a basin of water in his hands.
Boss looked at Crimson and curled his lip, ¡°Boy, you¡¯re filthier than a goblin, go wash up in the well out front, then you¡¯ll get your meal.¡±
Crimson crushed the wave of annoyance he felt and walked over to the well and washed off. It was going to be a long few days.
Chapter 3 (Draft 2)
Chapter 3
¡The greatest rewards
are the ones earned through hard work and effort¡
Hard work and great effort will be rewarded.
-Excerpt from the Book of the Favored
It had been¡a long month. Very, very long. Crimson had spent the month working. Day in, day out working all day. After he¡¯d finished his four days working at Boss¡¯ place he¡¯d used the money he¡¯d earned -which was quite the pretty penny- to move to the capital of Aldea, called Falst. It was just a day¡¯s worth of walking away, but it was mostly uphill since the capital was situated on a mountain. It taken him a little less because he¡¯d run quite a bit of the distance, but he¡¯d still arrived at sunset and had been forced to sleep outside the gate.
Once the sun rose -and Crimson with it- he¡¯d entered the city Raften had worked his magic yet again; Crimson was on the citizenry roster and had been allowed to enter without any issues. He didn¡¯t even need to pay the toll!
Falst was a dense city and definitely wouldn¡¯t exist anywhere outside a fantasy world. The first thing he noticed was the castle, and it was simply monstrous, he didn¡¯t even want to try and estimate the highest point, not to mention the fact that after he walked through the gate he was immediately under a portion of the castle. The whole castle had platforms and arches that extended over the whole city, it still allowed sunlight in, but essentially you could reach any point of the town from the castle.
If he had to guess the design was to allow magic casters to bombard enemies from above. He¡¯d been a little curious about how they dealt with flying monsters until he learned about the magic barrier that covered the entirety of the capital. No problems on that front, the only way in or out was the gates, the only publicly known way in or out. If he had to guess there were a few secret ways out.
The town itself wasn¡¯t much to write home about, at first glance. It was like a wheel with the spokes being main streets each leading to a total of eight gates into the city, all leading to a great courtyard in the center where trade was hosted outside the walls of the main castle area. The side streets appeared to be very haphazard and irregular, but after becoming acquainted with them he¡¯d discovered that they were laid out in a fun and intricate pattern; he¡¯d figured it out working a delivery job.
Once he¡¯d figured out that pattern, he could get anywhere in the city extremely fast. That, and he¡¯d discovered several secret passages that led him to other parts of the city. It was practically a dream city for anyone who¡¯d read Hairy Potter and loved Higwarts¡¯ secret passages. In his own opinion he actually had a pretty good knack for finding them.
He¡¯d learned that not only was Falst a secret passage filled city with a completely insane castle, it was also a strong trade city. It was situated fairly close to the center of the continent and had several great trade routes that allowed it access to most of the continent, because of that it had several huge plazas with shops and stalls set up for trade, the biggest one being the one next to the castle walls. That particular market was funded, hosted, and protected by the king.
Crimson didn¡¯t visit that particular market very often in his free time, it didn¡¯t sell very many products that he was interested in, and it was more expensive than a few of the other plazas. Not to say that he didn¡¯t spend much time at the King¡¯s Plaza, but his visits were all because of work.
The very first day he arrived in Falst he went straight to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, admittedly, he¡¯d had to ask several guards for directions, so it wasn¡¯t directly to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, but it was the first place he intentionally visited. Nothing particularly interesting happened during his visit. He hopped in line and registered at the guild, the most interesting thing that happened was when someone accidentally stepped on his foot, but that wasn¡¯t a big deal.
The guild had some interesting rules. Crimson had been allowed to register, but he wouldn¡¯t be allowed to move above ¡®Brass¡¯ rank if (until) he got a [Blessing of the Gods].
The ¡®[Blessing]¡¯ was simply a Status. It allowed the person who received it to take on a [Class] and Level Up. Crimson had spent pretty much all of his free time collecting information about the status and the world he lived in to help prepare for when he would get one himself.
Now, about his rank in the guild: ¡®Brass¡¯, it was non-combative or dungeon diving and the lowest possible rank. It was there for people under 16 and allowed them to get general work (chores). There were a few unique rules surrounding Brass rank:
1. At least one job must be accepted every week (Crimson had taken on at least one almost every day, more if he had the time)
2. If, after turning sixteen, the Brass member does not receive a [Blessing] then they would be removed from the Guild. (Not a problem for Crimson, Raften had practically guaranteed that he would have a [Blessing])
3. Brass ranked members may not accept any requests that will result in a fight of any kind, nor may they enter any dungeons. (Crimson didn¡¯t have a problem with this rule he¡¯d be beaten to a pulp in any fight as is, but the second half of it was kind of funny; dungeons have a barrier that prevents anyone without a [Blessing] from entering. After looking into it a little more there were a few cases where children without a [Blessing] were able to get into a dungeon, but they were rare.)
4. Brass ranked members must attend classes hosted by the guild to better acquaint them with dungeons, and their potential [Blessings]. (The lessons were seriously invaluable, he¡¯d personally pay to attend them, but they were free and mandatory.)
There were a few other minor rules, but those four were the interesting ones. He found the rules as more of a help than a hinderance in this situation. Especially that fourth one.
In between that class and his time in the guild sponsored library. It was an interesting thing with the Adventurer¡¯s Guild: They provided a lot of resources, but for the most part the members weren¡¯t forced to use them. It was kind of like going to school in that way: you could study and do well, or muddle your way through it.
The mind blowing part of the resource availability was how few members took advantage of them, the class and the library were available to everyone with a membership, even the clerks, but Crimson was often the only one in the library aside from the librarian -who he¡¯d quickly befriended- and it was almost a shock to see someone else. In the offered class he was one of just four students, all of them Brass rank, and they don¡¯t pay attention at all.
If he had to guess the reason why most people didn¡¯t take advantage of these resources probably came down to something like a social stigma, or peer pressure. There seemed to be this attitude about the class being a ¡®waste of time¡¯ and ¡®why spend time reading a book when you could just kill the thing¡¯. It was the closest thing Crimson could see to a train wreck waiting to happen, and it did happen often. Just by asking a few simple questions he¡¯d learned that most of the deaths in dungeons resulted from a lack of information.
Guild members wouldn¡¯t enter a dungeon with the right weapons, armor, general gear, medicine, and that was before even setting foot in a dungeon! They also wouldn¡¯t research what kind of traps or boss encounters to look out for, the most they did was buy a cheap map -the one that was barely passable as anything more than a bunch of scribbles- and clomped right into the dungeon!
Just watching the lot of buffoons made Crimson want to bang his head on the wall.
That¡¯s all not to say that there aren¡¯t any sensible people at all, occasionally he''d see other people from the guild in the library, but he didn''t know them in the slightest, so he didn''t care about them but, one of the other Brass ranks spent her time studying with Crimson. Her¡¯s was a weird exception, she did have a [Blessing] and she -from all appearances, but he couldn¡¯t be 100% certain- had a [Class] of some kind, but she had requested to be a Brass rank. When he¡¯d asked her she said something about ¡®starting from zero¡¯ and ¡®wanting to work her way up¡¯. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Well, her reasons aside she completely fascinated Crimson to no end. She was the first Elf he¡¯d had any ¡®close¡¯ relationship to before. The most he¡¯d ever seen elves outside his time in the library and in class was when he was out working.
The Elf, who¡¯s name was Verity, was actually quite the interesting character. She had golden hair and it took him a while to find out her eye color because her eyes always looked like they were closed, but they were green. She reminded him of¡a duck. At times it felt like she was just toddling after him like she was a duckling who thought the first thing she saw was her mother, and the first thing she saw was him.
Crimson didn¡¯t actually find it that annoying. She was a wellspring of knowledge and answered a lot of his questions, and he was able to help her find the answers to her questions, and most of her questions were about magic. It was a proper ¡®Give-and-Take¡¯ relationship.
He knew quite a bit about magic for someone who could only use two spells -[Campfire] and [Fire Light]- so it did make at least a little sense why she¡¯d ask him. As for why he learned magic? It was a process of elimination thing.
When he first started researching [Classes] he gave some serious thought to being some kind of magic class, turns out it¡¯s possible to learn some of the weaker magic even without a class so he gave it a whirl. He quickly discovered that he hated it to high heavens.
Learning magic takes a lot of time and effort in addition to complete and utter focus. The problem with that? It reminded him of his time stuck in a wheelchair with weak and malformed legs. Just the thought of that irritated him to no end, at least when he was researching info for literally anything else he could at least jog in place or do push ups -not an easy feat while reading, but he made it work- but he had to hold absolutely still while learning magic so that he could properly memorize what was necessary.
That was the other thing about magic: it was almost entirely route memorization, completely boring! If it was at least a puzzle or something he might have been able to stomach it, but it was just simple memorization. While Crimson was pretty proud of his memory even he couldn¡¯t stand that much memorization on top of what he was already studying.
After all that he decided that under no circumstances would he get a magic type class.
That left a few other options. The classes are broken up into roles like an RPG (Tank, Healer, DPS, etc.) the classifications are as follows:
The [Assault] type Classes: DPS. They included stuff like [Spearman], and [Executioner].
The [Defender] type Classes: Tanks. The poster child of this type was the [Defender] class, but there were a few more.
The [Magic] type Classes: Duh. They were any Classes that primarily used magic. Everything from [Priests] to [Pyromancers], and everything in-between.
The [Support] type Classes: Buffs. Support types rarely engaged in direct combat, they focused on strengthening allies, or weakening enemies. Stuff like the [Leader] Class, and [Bard]s would fall here.
The [Production] type Classes: They make stuff. Production types are also a non-combat class, they create stuff for others to use. Classes that fall under this: [Blacksmith], [Enchanter], [Alchemist], and more!
The [Enigma] type Classes: everything else. If if didn¡¯t work anywhere else, then it goes here. Crimson didn¡¯t find any good examples for this one.
Running through the list he nixed [Magic] types from previous experience, said ¡®nope¡¯ to [Support] Classes, and decided that he didn¡¯t want to be a meat shield, so he discarded [Defender] type Classes as well. He actually wasn¡¯t too against a [Production] class the thought of creating something with his hands was satisfying, but he definitely wouldn¡¯t get one for his primary class, maybe a sub-class.
That left [Assault] type classes. He liked the idea, but he wasn¡¯t too sure which one to pick, so he left that final decision to ¡®future him¡¯ and just researched the different [Assault] Classes.
Speaking of thing he researched, he spent a lot of time researching magic. He had learned his lesson with the two spells he knew, so he wasn¡¯t STUDYING magic, but learning about which magic spell exist and their uses. Just in case. Crimson was the type to overstudy for every test, just in case.
He quietly kept telling himself that as he studied things that he really didn¡¯t need to.
Interspersed with all that studying, classes, training, and work he even slept a few hours. Fortunately the inn was pretty cheap, so it didn¡¯t take too much of a toll on his far-too-small-for-his-tastes: wallet.
With all he¡¯d saved from all his jobs, and working for Boss he had enough to buy a weapon after he choose his class, but he was really worried that he didn¡¯t have enough, despite checking the prices several times. To save money he lived in the cheapest reasonable inn he could find, ate very simple meals that covered enough nutrition to be healthy, and walked everywhere instead of riding the magically powered transit system. His knowledge of secret passages made up for his decision not to ride the Magic-line.
That all covered his first two weeks in Falst. The third and (current) fourth weeks he¡¯d also started training with a sword which really narrowed down the [Assault] classes quite nicely. The type of sword he¡¯d started training with was the dream of every weeb: a Katana. There was a pretty interesting story about how they were introduced to the continent by a man with unusually shaped eyes who a large amount of women were mysteriously attracted to. It made him think that he¡¯d found one of the perverts who asked Raften for a harem. Fortunately the guy had passes away 50+ years ago, so Crimson wouldn¡¯t run into him.
The fighting style he¡¯d started learning was one that focused highly on speed: attacking fast, moving fast, and adapting fast. Personally, Crimson was really proud of it, but it made him feel like a glass cannon. Fortunately he could find party members in the future to cover for him.
Speaking of party members Verity had asked to join his party if he got a status on his birthday. Apparently with all the time they spent helping each other a bit of trust had built up and she was willing to work with him. The fact that he¡¯d never made a pass at her probably helped things. It turned out that she had a [Magic] type class that focused on healing, but she wouldn¡¯t tell him which one yet. Not until they¡¯d had the chance to work together for real. He was personally fine with it.
Based on the way everyone treaded around their [Blessing]s it was like revealing a dirty secret. He had literally met some guys who would happily reveal their fetishes, but wouldn¡¯t say a word about what was on their [Blessing]. Thinking about that day still made him want to gag, things had been revealed that never should have been revealed. Crimson would never understand how it was possible to consider..¡¯stuff¡¯ like that¡attractive. Moving on from that thought, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore.
It was kind of a given that some stuff on the [Blessing] had to be revealed, but a lot of important information wouldn¡¯t be given out until the party was ¡®permanent¡¯.
Well, he and Verity were essentially in a party together from that point on, but it was like test driving a car more than anything else. Not even a rental.
He looked up from the desk he¡¯d been studying at and mentally reviewing the month.
¡°Verity.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°My birthday is tomorrow, we¡¯ll know if I¡¯ll have a [Blessing] then.¡±
¡°Yes, I know that, you¡¯ve told me five times already,¡± she reached up and halfheartedly covered the big smile that crossed her face, ¡°A bit excited are we?¡±
Crimson ignored her, she¡¯d start teasing him again and he wasn¡¯t very good at dealing with it.
¡°The sun¡¯s going to set soon, so I¡¯m going to turn in.¡±
¡°Will you even be able to sleep tonight?¡±
¡°Yes! No! Maybe! Probably!¡±
Verity put her chin in her hands and partially opened on of her eyes as her grin grew big enough to start showing teeth, ¡°You¡¯re so honest when you¡¯re excited. What class are you going to pick?¡±
¡°I¡¯m torn between [Assassin] and [Swordsman], I should have met the requirements to unlock them both, but I¡¯m not sure which one I¡¯m going to go for.¡±
¡°Pick [Assassin].¡±
¡°Well, that answered my question, I¡¯ll pick [Swordsman].¡±
Verity dropped the grin and puffed out her cheeks, ¡°Are you trying to spite me?¡±
¡°No, no I¡¯m not,¡± he waved his hands in the air as if her accusation was a pesky fly, ¡°Have you ever done that thing where you flip a coin to make a decision and weren¡¯t happy with how it ended up, so you chose the other thing?¡±
¡°No, but I can see the logic behind it.¡±
¡°Right, well then, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡±
¡°Hold on a sec.¡±
¡°Hmm?¡±
Verity actually looked serious.
¡°I finally understand how to learn magic now, that whole memorizing thing is hard, but what spells should I learn?¡±
¡°Well, you said you had a [Magic] type class that focused on healing right?¡±
She nodded.
¡°But you still won¡¯t tell me which one.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a secret for now.¡±
¡°So just learn the basic [Lesser Healing] spell for now. If you picked the [Priestess] Class then learn Purification. It¡¯s a big hard to learn, but there¡¯s a pretty good pay off, and it should be one of the few things you can effectively uses with your low stats.¡±
¡°You know nothing about my stats.¡±
¡°Just guessing, you did tell me that you are Lv.1 after all.¡±
¡°That I did, continue good sir!¡±
¡°Yeah, yeah. If you choose the [Pure-Hearted] class then pick [Reduction Barrier] it¡¯ll be super useful because we don¡¯t have a tank, and it¡¯s easier to learn than [Purification]. Finally if you chose [Druid], learn [Detoxify] it¡¯ll see more use than petrification in our first dungeon and it¡¯s easier, but don¡¯t downplay [Purification] because-¡°
¡°You¡¯re blabbing again Crimson.¡± Verity had a weirdly content look on her face as she said that.
¡°You¡¯re the one that asked! I¡¯ll see you tomorrow morning.¡±
¡°Night!¡± She said with huge full arm waving as he walked away.
He turned and looked at her from the door way, ¡°*sigh* Yes, good night.¡±
He needed what little precious sleep he could get. Tomorrow promised to be an exciting day, and Verity¡¯s hyper nature tired him out. Weren¡¯t elves supposed to be super mature and calm?!?!
Chapter 4 (Draft 2)
Does not the [Blessing of the Gods] show our true nature?
It reveals more about us than we even want to admit to ourselves
to show your [Blessing], in it¡¯s entirety, to another is one of the greatest signs of
trust that the races under the Gods¡¯ authority can possibly give
or, at least, that is my belief.
-Musings of a Scholar
The sunlight snuck through the entwining pathways of the overbearing castle that sprawled over the city. It wormed it¡¯s way down to the window of an inn and through the rotted shutters to shine on the face of a boy with black hair. Crimson cracked open one of his mercury colored eyes and slowly sat up.
He hadn¡¯t got as much sleep as he¡¯d wanted the night before, the excitement had burrowed it¡¯s way into the deepest parts of his mind and made it ¡®hard¡¯ -nigh-on impossible- for him to sleep. He¡¯d eventually passed out from sheer exhaustion, but it had felt like a long process.
He sat for a second, waiting. Unlocking a [Blessing of the Gods] was something that would occur ¡®sometime¡¯ on the person¡¯s birthday. Based off the records he¡¯d read it was probably after the TIME that the person was born. Off the head he couldn¡¯t remember when his mother had born him into the previous world, so he couldn¡¯t be sure when he would be ¡®Blessed¡¯.
He stood up stretching and reached down to pat his legs. Even after a month with his legs healed he still couldn¡¯t get used to the idea. Never, in his wildest dreams, did he truly believe that he would be able to walk around like that, so his morning ritual usually included checking to see if he was dreaming.
He walked over to the corner of the room and dipped his hands in the cold water of the basin sitting on the table there, gritted his teeth, and splashed it on his face. The cold pierced his being and woke a hatred for water in him that swiftly died down as he shook like a dog. He grabbed the towel hanging from a hook set into the wall and dried his hair as quickly as possible. He kept it cut short, so it would dry quickly, but it was still cold.
He popped a Castus Leaf into his mouth from the basket on the side and bit down. It looked more like a pea pod than a leaf, but it¡¯s purpose was very different from any food. It was the closest thing that this world had to oral hygiene, and while it was the only thing, it was extremely effective.
Crimson had done a ¡®before¡¯ and ¡®after¡¯ comparison and discovered that it had literally dissolved the plaque from his mouth. So, in a way, the dental care was better in this world than his old one. Kinda a weird thought.
After he¡¯d finished his morning routine he sat down on the floor and began to meditate. It was something he¡¯d started in his old world and something he¡¯d kept up even in this one. He wasn¡¯t sure how to ¡®properly¡¯ meditate, but he liked to focus inward on himself. He paid attention to his breathing, his pulse, the flow of blood through is veins, and the feel of his clothes and the air against his skin.
He swapped between focusing on these things in a rhythm and tried to ignore the discomfort of sitting on a wooden floor for half an hour without moving.
If pressed Crimson wouldn¡¯t be able to tell anyone if what he was doing had any positive effects what-so ever, but it was a habit at this point, and one that he liked. It made him feel kinda cool.
After his time meditating he stood up and stretched his -now sore and sleeping- legs. He hobbled over to the dresser, quickly put on his ensemble and tried not to fall over during the process. After another quick glance in the mirror to make sure that there weren¡¯t any details of his clothes that Verity could mock him for he headed out of the inn, waving to the elderly innkeeper and his towering body builder-esque son and headed into the winding backstreets.
If he went by the main and backroads he¡¯d be able to reach the guild in ten minutes of walking, five with his knowledge of secret passages.
He walked over to the statue of the ¡®Ladykiller¡¯ troll and pressed the hidden button on the back of it¡¯s ankle. The wall behind the statue wavered a little as Crimson walked through the illusion there, and the bricks melted back into place after he¡¯d passed through, the illusion hiding the whole thing as he walked down the stairs into the passages.
He walked through the passages that were well lit with magic light and made his way to the adventurer¡¯s guild. It had been hard at first to navigate underground, but once he¡¯d started paying attention he¡¯d notice little symbols near the ceiling. They were able to lead him pretty much anywhere once he remembered what symbol meant which location.
He¡¯d had to skedaddle pretty fast the one time a passage had dumped him in the castle¡¯s ¡®archives¡¯. He didn¡¯t particularly want to end up in prison for exploring the passages.
One interesting thing about the passages that he¡¯d noticed was how few people used them. It had only taken him a day to find his first passage so he couldn¡¯t imagine that nobody else knew about them, but he¡¯d never run into anyone in them. Weird.
He exited the passages as close as he could to the guild and strolled through the front door. Adventurers were an amusingly lazy bunch for the most part, the guild was almost completely empty despite having been open for about an hour. There was one party picking up requests and another was leaving, but aside from those two parties there were only the guild receptionists, and their guards.
The guild had an open main area with three ¡®publicly available¡¯ floors. The first floor had a few different request boards for Brass, Bronze, Silver, and Gold ranks. Brass rank requests were almost all chores of one kind or another. Crimson hadn¡¯t looked too closely at the other three as of yet, but he knew that they contained ¡®hunting¡¯ and ¡®retrieval¡¯ requests, ¡®capture¡¯ and ¡®escort¡¯ requests wouldn¡¯t start appearing till the higher ranks. There was a bar and restaurant area taking up half of the first floor off to the left after entering and the reception desks and request boards were to the front. Off to the right was a staircase leading to the upper floors, and a massive double door leading off to the guild¡¯s training grounds.
The second and third floors were open to the main area and had balconies to keep anyone from falling to a lower floor. The second floor had three receptionists instead of the first floor¡¯s seven, and the third floor only had one. It represented, in a way, the level of strength at the guild, with most of the members being Bronze, Silver, or Gold, and sharply decreasing from there.
The second floor had the library in the back in addition to the reception desk. The third floor had the Guild Master¡¯s office and a room for ¡®top secret¡¯ records in addition to the high ranker¡¯s sole -and bored- receptionist.
Crimson walked over to ¡®his¡¯ receptionist Sherry, don¡¯t ever make alcohol jokes around her, and greeted her.
¡°Good morning Sherry, how¡¯s business?¡±
She grinned and tapped her pipe out.
¡°A¡¯m doin¡¯ well, it¡¯a just be rea¡¯ quiet for da next ¡®our.¡±
Her accent was one of the thickest he¡¯d ever heard, it¡¯d taken a few days for him to be able to understand her.
¡°Your prediction is better than mine, I was guessing it would be at least two hours.¡±
She tapped the side of her nose with her pipe in an ¡®all knowing¡¯ manner.
¡°¡®at¡¯s just a¡¯cause you dinna pay ¡®tention to which o¡¯ us are runnin¡¯ da desk on whi¡¯ days. We got dat new girlie ¡®Chime¡¯ runnin¡¯ a desk. Dese¡¯ ¡®ere mo-rons tink more with ¡®deir lower ¡®aves than wid ¡®deir tinker.¡±
Barely following what Sherry was saying -she became harder to follow when she talked fast- Crimson was able to get that there was a new girl and the guys liked her.
Sherry¡¯s mind, body, and actions were all completely opposing each other. Looking at her she gave the feeling of a dark elf seductress with her deep black hair, gently tapering ears, smoky grey skin, and love of the color red, but she had a ¡®bit¡¯ of a smoking problem. She didn¡¯t smoke around Crimson because she knew he didn¡¯t like smoke, and respected him enough to not, but she smoked every other second.
Based off the way she talked the other guild members thought she was a country bum, and she was from the county, but she was no bum, she was probably the best and most efficient receptionist. She remembered every person that ever entered the guild and could see through lies in a heartbeat. It was for her mastery over her job that made Crimson choose her over the other six, the fact that the male guild members tended to avoid her leading to her line usually being shorter helped things. They were attracted to her pretty face, and scared off by how she acted. Her usual customers were parties made mostly of girls, she stood up for them.
¡°So these lazy bums come in earlier just to see a pretty face?¡±
¡°Ya got ¡®dat right. See-in as ¡®dese bums winna leave for a few ¡®ours justin to ge¡¯ a chance atta date ¡®wid her.¡±
Crimson snorted, ¡°What a waste of time. Do you have any jobs for me today?¡±
¡°Nah, ¡®dake a day offa yur work boy. Yuh¡¯ve made more workin¡¯ ¡®ard in da past month dan some of dese ¡®pro-fess-ion-als¡¯. Ya be needn¡¯ a break boy.¡±
¡°Sure, thanks Sherry. I need to brush up on stuff in the library anyway.¡±
She threw back her head and laughed, ¡°¡®id¡¯s a¡¯most a shock wid you around boy. I dinna seen sumuns likea you dat iz so mo¡¯ivated to work. Ah hey, beforins I forget ya should know dat dere main road should be ¡®voided for de next liddle while. ¡®Dere¡¯ll be a royal ¡®pro-cess-sion¡¯ soon. ¡®Dinna want ya to get crushed in da crowd.¡±
¡°Thanks for the heads up. Good luck with the ¡®bums¡¯.¡±
Crimson walked away as Sherry laughed mockingly and relit her pipe.
He headed up to the second floor and settled in to read more about classes. Since he¡¯d decided what his primary class would be he would have to change his research focus to decide on a sub class. After some thought he¡¯d decided to get a production class; being able to reduce the cost of being an adventurer by doing ¡®something¡¯ by himself would be a huge help.
After an hour of studying, comparing skill data, and the cost of different production classes he was interrupted by the blonde-long ear herself: Verity.
¡°Hiya Crimson! Sleep well?¡±
¡°Good Morning Verity. I slept alright.¡±
¡°Liar! I could see the bags under your eyes from five shelves away!¡±
¡°¡¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ignore me!¡±
¡°¡¡¡±
¡°Crimson?¡±
¡°¡¡¡±
¡°Hey, please don¡¯t ignore me¡¡±
¡°¡¡.¡±
She went quiet for a few seconds before changing the subject, teasing him once in a while is fun, but it stops being fun when he gets like that, ¡°What are you researching?¡±
¡°I¡¯m looking into production classes. Since I¡¯ve decided on a primary class I need to figure out which sub classes I¡¯m going to get after all.¡±
¡°And a production class?¡±
¡°Yeah, I need something to do with my hands on a rainy day after all.¡±
¡°You sure it¡¯s not about money?¡±
¡°Maybe a little.¡±
Verity burst out in a laugh that was quickly silenced by her own hands as the librarian could be seen a few shelves away. She¡¯d already been thrown out 1, 2, 3, 4¡many, many times. The librarian was confirmed to be at least level sixty, though her class was still unknown. Her existence was one of the reasons why a lot of the guild members stayed out of the library, aside from the afore mentioned ¡®just kill it¡¯ attitude, and she scared the living daylights out of Verity.
Crimson didn¡¯t mind her much, but he didn¡¯t cause problems and just read quietly for the most part, so he didn¡¯t have much cause to raise her ire.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
After giving Verity a death glare she moved on to other shelves, and Verity was left with her life after yet another life threatening visit to the library.
She let out the breath she¡¯d been holding and slumped down onto the table across from Crimson.
¡°That was too close, I thought I was going to die.¡±
¡°She wouldn¡¯t kill you, at worse she¡¯d throw you out of the library like last time.¡±
¡°The only reason I wasn¡¯t hurt was because I landed on top of that fat-passed out guy!¡±
¡°Yeah, good thing he was a [Defender] too, you couldn¡¯t hurt him after all that.¡±
¡°It wasn¡¯t intentional!¡±
¡°Keep it down. Are you some kind of M?¡±
¡°N-no, I¡¯m not.¡±
¡°Why the hesitation?¡±
¡°The librarian is behind you staring me down.¡±
Crimson quietly chuckled, ¡°Well, if you¡¯re gonna hang out here then you can make yourself useful. Grab ¡®Bang, Clang, and Clack by K. Boom¡¯ for me.¡±
¡°Sure! He has a funny name.¡±
¡°Well, his name was Kalm, but his title was ¡®Emperor of Bombs¡¯ so he combined them for his pen name.¡±
Verity walked off between the shelves, she may seem stupid at times, but she had the library¡¯s lay out as perfectly memorized as Crimson. It explained how she knew where the book he was referencing was.
They spent a good few hours in the library studying. Normally they¡¯d be training, but Crimson didn¡¯t want to be in the middle of a work-out when he got his [Blessing], so he turned to studying. At about noon they took a break to eat in the guild¡¯s restaurant -expensive!- before getting back to work.
The annoying thing about Crimson¡¯s work was that a lot of stuff about the [Blessing] was speculation, or hadn¡¯t been backed up by evidence, so if he wanted to confirm any simple pieces of information he had to look in several places to double check any information before he could accept it as fact. In the end he spent a lot of time studying for little information.
The reason that information was so sparse was quite simply the secrecy surrounding the [Blessings]. He¡¯d already had a first hand experience with what people would be willing to reveal instead of the contents of their [Blessing], and he didn¡¯t want a repeat of THAT. Most of the people willing to ¡®reveal¡¯ the content of their [Blessings] would usually lie to make themselves seem better, or would do it for attention. Essentially, all the journals and quite a few of the books were written by a type of people Crimson couldn¡¯t stand.
It was probably about three in the afternoon (as near as he could guess) when he heard a quiet *ding* in his head.
|
Blessing of the Gods
Bestowed to: Crimson Hokori
Witnessed by: Charity, Justice, Hope, Love, Luck, Knowledge, War, Fear, and Sloth
Recommended by: Raften
|
¡
It looked more like a certificate than something cool.
¡°Hey Verity, what are these ¡®Witnessed by¡¯ and ¡®Recommended by¡¯ sections?¡±
Verity froze for a second, then squealed in excitement and jumped up and down before she ran around the table and hugged Crimson.
He could see the librarian inbound out of the corner of his eye, while a certain, ¡®shark¡¯ song played in his head. Crimson was unable to warn her of the danger, his lungs were too busy being crushed by her bear hug. Right as she was about to reach them Verity calmed down enough to talk again.
¡°You got your [Blessing]!!!¡±
Verity said a lot of other things, but for the most part Crimson couldn¡¯t understand them because of how incoherent her excitement made her.
Glancing over he could see that the librarian had halted her advance and was quietly clapping her hands in approval. She gave Crimson a happy smile then went back off into the shelves. She had oddly let Verity off for the first time.
He was finally able to break Verity¡¯s hold on him and fell back gasping for breath.
¡°Would you cut that out?! You almost killed me there!¡±
¡°B-but you got your [Blessing]!¡±
¡°Yeah? I was telling you that I was going to get one.¡±
She stared at him for a long moment.
¡°Aren¡¯t you happy?¡±
¡°Of course I am! But your reaction is way to excessive, and you still haven¡¯t answered my question.¡±
¡°Alright then, if you say so, you just don¡¯t act like it¡oh right, you¡¯re the tough guy type who has to hide their emotions!¡±
¡°Just answer the question.¡±
¡°Right, right¡what was it again?¡±
¡°What do these ¡®Recommended by¡¯ and ¡®Witnessed by¡¯ sections mean?¡±
¡°Well, to get a [Blessing] one of the Nine Gods has to recommend you to the other eight, and three of them have to witness it. We don¡¯t actually know which of the gods recommend or witness it because it¡¯s almost always blank, but we do know about this process from a revelation to the High Priest of the Favored given by the God of Charity.¡±
¡°Why was none of that mentioned in all the books I¡¯ve read?¡±
¡°Because all the books you¡¯ve read have numbers and facts in them, or stupid morons bragging! None of them are about the gods! Don¡¯t you believe in higher power?¡±
Well, he had met Raften so, ¡°Yes.¡± He was probably an even higher power than these gods.
¡°Right, well, I¡¯ll leave you alone. Going through your [Blessing] for the first time is really personal, even if you don¡¯t really get it.¡±
Verity slipped off through the shelves, and quickly found herself accosted by the librarian. The last Crimson heard of her she was pleading for mercy as she was dragged out of the library.
The screen from earlier had disappeared, but the second he thought about looking at it, it reappeared. There was a [Continue?] button on the bottom. He tapped it.
|
Registering Blessing¡
¡
¡
Registration Accepted.
Administration over Crimson given to Raften¡
¡
¡
Administration Accepted.
Calculating Data..
Calculating Titles¡
Calculating Base Stats¡
Calculating Skills¡
Reading Affinities¡
Registering Inventory¡
¡
¡
¡
¡
Data Complete.
Titles Registered.
Base Stats Calculated.
Skills Registered.
Affinities Registered.
Inventory Registered.
Welcome to your Blessing!
|Start?|
|
Quickly hitting [Start] Crimson started to browse through his [Blessing].
|
Name: Crimson Hokori
Titles: Blessed Luck, Charismatic Prestige, Manasworn, Fiscally Tight-Fisted, Early Riser, City Mapper, Extreme Luck, {Blessings of Trans¡¯Du Niir}
Class: [WorldWanderer] 0/0
Sub-Class: [Empty]
Sub-Class: [Empty]
Alignment: Good
Health Points (HP): 100/100 r/s 1.3
Magic Points (MP): 150/150 r/s 1.5
Stamina (STA): 130/130 r/s 1.1
Strength (STR): 13
Agility (AGI): 14
Constitution (CON): 11
Vitality (VIT): 13
Intelligence (INT): 15
Wisdom (WIS): 15
Perception (PER): 14
Willpower (WIL): 16
Charisma (CHA): 9
Luck (LUC): 90
Skills:
[Sword Mastery I]
[Calligraphy I]
[Memorization I]
[Secret Sensing I]
[Mental Mapping I]
Spells:
[Campfire IX]
[Fire Light VIII]
==[Worldwanderer] EXP: (0)
++Next: {NA}
==[Sub-Class] EXP: NA
++Next: {NA}
==[Sub-Class] EXP: NA
++Next: {NA}
|
There was¡a lot more information on the [Blessing] than he was expecting. There was some stuff he wasn¡¯t sure about, but it was all fairly interesting. Looking at STR and AGI he was fairly certain that if he¡¯d gotten his [Blessing] a month ago they would be much lower than currently. It was only because he¡¯d been training so much that the physical stats had gone up, or because Raften messed with some things. He wasn¡¯t sure which.
His CHA being below average¡wasn¡¯t a surprise. It was based more off your ability to convince other people things than appearance, he wouldn¡¯t be able to win an argument unless both sides were using facts and logic instead of just pure emotion. That little aspect of him lead to some long winded, and fruitless, arguing online. Too many people wouldn¡¯t listen to the facts, and just wanted to shut him up and have him agree with them.
Looking at INT, WIS, and WIL made him feel a little proud, and he wasn¡¯t too sure about PER, it seemed a little high.
LUC¡yeah, he didn¡¯t really believe that one, or maybe he did? He was born with a completely messed up body¡but that was fixed when it should have been impossible¡but he did die¡¡after thinking about it for a while he just threw in the towel. No point in thinking about his LUC stat.
The standard value for all the stats -except LUC- was about 10, so for the most part he was above average, not on ¡®genius¡¯ level, but above interest. Except, of course, for CHA. While 10 was the standard value for CHA too it was a stat that was commonly seen at 15, or at least as far as the records he found were accurate.
The titles he had were really interesting, but he didn¡¯t really understand what the point was in having some of them, and ones like [Fiscally Tight-Fisted] felt a little insulting. He was just careful and aware with money, there¡¯s no need to make a big deal out of it!
Well, titles aside, it was good to see that he was able to start off with a few different skills, and his training with the guild landed him with the [Sword Mastery] skill, which made him happy that it paid off. As far as the other four, three of them seemed, in a word, useful. [Calligraphy]? It could be useful? He wasn¡¯t too sure.
Brushing off the questions he had, he decided to look at his affinities, he could ask Verity about some of it later. What questions she could answer at least.
|
>>Affinities
>Elemental:
Advanced Affinity for [Fire]
Basic Affinity for [Water]
Advanced Affinity for [Earth]
Simple Affinity for [Wind]
Acute Affinity for [Lightning]
Extreme Affinity for [Metal]
Advanced Affinity for[Magma]
Advanced Affinity for [Ice]
>Dynamic:
Acute Affinity for [Purity]
Simple Affinity for [Holy]
Advanced Affinity for [Profane]
Insane Affinity for [Mana]
Advanced Affinity for [Life]
Advanced Affinity for [Death]
>>Antitheses
>Elemental:
[N/A]
>Dynamic:
Dislike of [Void]
Hatred for [Corruption]
|
It was actually even more interesting than his status page. Leaving aside his actual affinities it was rare to have ANY kind of Antithesis, they were definitely a bad thing, but they were rare.
Affinities made it easier to use [Spells] or [Skills] that were tied to that specific elements, the higher the affinity the easier it is. The reverse is true for Antitheses. They made it harder to use those elements.
Affinities were divided into two categories, Elemental and Dynamic. Elemental affinities were things that could be found in the natural world, and Dynamic affinities were concepts as the enlightened races understood it; enlightened races being any race that could receive a [Blessing from the Gods].
Elemental affinities were definitely far more common than Dynamic, and both were more common than an Antithesis.
The information Crimson had been able to find on Affinities was far more complete than most other things, if he had to guess the reason was because it was easier to speak broadly about Affinities. Everyone knew they existed and which ones existed, so people were more open with them than with everything else.
That aside there was one other page he wanted to check before calling over the stereotype breaking elf. The Inventory.
|
Currency: 2857G
Slot 1: [Letter from Raften]
Slot 2: [Empty]
Slot 3: [Empty]
Slot 4: [Empty]
Slot 5: [Empty]
Slot 6: [Empty]
Slot 7: [Empty]
Slot 8: [Empty]
Slot 9: [Empty]
Slot 10: [Empty]
|
Surprisingly, it wasn¡¯t empty. Setting aside the gold he pulled out the letter.
|
Heyo Red!
It¡¯s been a while hasn¡¯t it? How¡¯s the month been? No point in responding, I won¡¯t get it!
|
Raften was the one who named him Crimson, couldn¡¯t he stick to it? And why would he ask questions he knew he wouldn¡¯t get a response for?
|
You¡¯re probably wondering about how stuff works here.
|
Duh, he¡¯d spent a month research a variety of topics to learn more. Why state the obvious?
|
Well, I¡¯m the guy in charge of your [Blessing]! I get to decide when your hard work will reward you with a skill, and when you¡¯ve earned a title!
As per your request I won¡¯t be babying you, or making it too easy for you, but I need my entertai¡you need my help! Don¡¯t worry about it.
Anyway, the starter package I had for you had 2000 Gold, but I forgot that you wouldn¡¯t get it for a month! That¡¯s my bad ;P
|
Crimson¡didn¡¯t have any words for this guy. He felt the strong urge to punch Raften if he ever saw the faceless guy again, and the emoji, really? Wasn''t this guy supposed to be something like a god? Have some class.
|
Anyway, to make up for it I included the currency feature in your [Blessing] as an apology. It¡¯s super, duper useful! No need to thank me!
I also moved the money from your account here! You don¡¯t need to worry too much about it being stolen from here. It would take a [Thief] with a level over 95 to be able to steal from you as-is! Praise me, praise me!
|
Well, that much at least was useful, and it explained why the 857G amount looked familiar. It¡¯d taken him the whole month of working to earn that much, and no! He wouldn''t praise Raften!
|
I bet you¡¯re wondering what gifts I gave you! If you look on the main page of your [Blessing] you¡¯ll see the titles: [Blessed Luck] and [Charismatic Prestige], those are from me! What do they do? Not telling! HAHAHA! BTW, that {Blessings of Trans¡¯Du Niir} comes standard with the other world package, other people can¡¯t see it even if they look at your [Blessing].
Anyway, I also gave you that [WorldWanderer] Class. Just treat it like an empty slot, it¡¯ll give you some nice bonuses.
The last thing I did (that I¡¯ll tell you about lol!) is that I lowered your affinity for [Mana] by a level. I think you¡¯ve learned about Affinities enough to know that you should thank me. Go on, say ¡®thank you¡¯ to the ceiling.
|
Crimson actually considered thanking the ceiling. He had learned enough about affinities to know that his affinity for [Mana] was the second highest possible, and having the highest possible would SUCK.
The highest possible affinity for an element is [Bound]. Those who are [Bound] to an element literally have their bodies become that element. He hadn¡¯t been able to find a record of someone who had reached the highest level of a Dynamic ability, so he didn¡¯t know what would happen then, but needless to say, he would have felt stuck.
Those who are [Bound] to an element can¡¯t use the element in opposition to the one they are [Bound] to, and they can¡¯t have any other affinities. Powerful? Extremely. Limiting? Certainly. Worth it? Not to Crimson.
He decided to mutter ¡®thanks¡¯ under his breath instead of to the ceiling.
|
One last thing: I¡¯ve included some sheets detailing [Skill Evolution] and [Class Evolution], I felt kinda bad because I knew that you wouldn¡¯t be able to find any records for something so important. Consider this one a freebie from me.
See ya Red!
Your Monogamous Overseer,
Raften
|
Monogamous? Doesn¡¯t he mean magnanimous? If he actually meant monogamous that would be¡nope, just nope.
He quickly flipped through the attached papers and discovered that Raften was telling the truth, but he couldn''t use that information at the moment, so he''d look more closely later, after he''d answered his immediate questions.
Time to call in Verity, she could answer those questions, and they might be able to visit a dungeon that weekend, he wanted to train his [Sword Mastery] a little before heading in.
Chapter 5 (Draft 2)
By limiting our understanding of ¡®strength¡¯ to [Levels]
we can better understand our own measure.
The problem with that,
is true strength breaks beyond levels.
-Taken from a treatise on Classes and Skills
Crimson dropped to one knee panting, his SP was shot, and looked at the man standing across from him; his sword instructor: Mars.
Mars was a bear of a man, literally. He was a Bear-Kin with an absolutely massive frame wielding an equally massive spear. When he¡¯d first started training Mars had used a sword as well, before switching between a variety of weapons, all in an effort to get Crimson used to fighting against various weapons.
He¡¯d learned quickly that a spear was one of the worst match-ups for his sword. It had a range that was able to keep him at bay and he had to fight for every inch closer to Mars, after a long practice bout he was able to slip in close and harass him, but that didn¡¯t last long after he jumped back. By that time Crimson was already too low on SP to keep up with him and had to take a breather. It didn¡¯t help that he was a speed type fighter. If he was stronger he could have focused on breaking through Mars¡¯ reach instead of slipping in.
That was the first bout after he got his [Blessing]. He didn¡¯t get to have a questioning session with Verity, she¡¯d peaced out after leaving him alone in a desperate attempt to avoid the librarian AND Sherry or, more specifically, Sherry¡¯s guard: Scot. Scot¡¯s real name was Scotch -what are the odds?- but his nickname was Scot.
From what he could tell neither Sherry, nor the librarian, actually HATED Verity, if anything the relationship felt more like they were disciplining a mischievous child. A mischievous child in her early thirties if the lecture he¡¯d heard Sherry giving her was accurate. She fulfilled one of the Elf stereotypes at the very least: being older than she looks. At a glance she could easily pass for just a year or two older than Crimson.
He¡¯d quickly given up his search for her after hearing that she¡¯d run off from Sherry and headed in for training instead, and it so happened that Mars was there too. Quickly taking advantage of his presence he requested a spar against the grizzled bear-kin, which quickly turned into six sparring matches, all ending in defeat.
It wasn¡¯t really a surprise that he¡¯d lost, Mars was a Mythril rank adventurer after all, the only reason Crimson wasn¡¯t dead was because he was holding back. There were ten ranks with the guild -eleven if you counted Brass, and nobody does- and Mythril was the second highest rank. The only reason Crimson was lucky enough to have Mars as a teacher was that he had accepted a request from the guild to teach the Brass class for two weeks.
Crimson was particularly lucky because [The Crushing Spear] Mars was still willing to help him out on occasion, and considering the fact that he¡¯d just got his [Blessing] that day, it was a huge pay off.
|
Skill: Level Up!
[Sword Mastery I] > [Sword Mastery IX]
Bonus Sword Damage increases to 9%
|
A part of him wanted to do a little dance¡but that would rob him of precious SP for his next bout with Mars, if he was willing of course. After a two minute wait -about a hundred and eighteen seconds to be more accurate- his SP was back to full and he stood up.
¡°Mars, are you willing to accompany me for another bout?¡±
Mars glanced over at his training party members for a long moment before turning back to Crimson,
¡°Sure kid, helping you is doing wonders for my [Teaching] skill.¡±
¡°[Teaching] skill?¡± Crimson felt a grimace cross his face, ¡°That explains why my [Sword Mastery] shot up so much.¡±
¡°It¡¯s part of it, but the other part is that you already have some experience with that dinky little training katana you¡¯ve got there.¡±
¡°My ¡®dinky little katana¡¯ as you put it is what¡¯ll let me beat you one day old man!¡±
¡°Hah! You? Throwing out trash talk? Don¡¯t make me laugh kid. That barely qualifies!¡±
¡°It¡¯s a challenge.¡±
¡°Call it trash talk, you¡¯ll be laughed at if you call that a challenge.¡±
Crimson quietly gritted his teeth; he had let his emotions get the better of him and had said some things that he normally wouldn¡¯t. ¡®Trash talk?¡¯ ¡®Challenge?¡¯ It was his belief that stuff like that was nothing but words. Actions speak louder than words, and he couldn¡¯t banter with anyone. His inter-person communication skill was far too low.
¡°Very well O Greatest of Teachers! I shall take your advice, but waiting for you to come to me would be far too troubling for you, I shall come over there!¡±
¡°What¡¯s with the fancy talk ki-¡°
With a look of intense concentration Crimson threw himself at Mars, interrupting what he was saying. He quickly slashed at Mars¡¯ wide open chest, but found himself quickly intercepted by the spear. It was more or less what he¡¯d expected, so he quickly angled his sword to slide down the shaft in an attempt to rid Mars of a few of his fingers, but with a quick flick Mars sent him flying.
This was also something he expected, Mars wasn¡¯t Mythril for nothing, and he¡¯d been sent flying like this before. Honestly, even if the guy stood still and let Crimson wail on him he wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt him. His Constitution was much higher than Crimson¡¯s attack, and the wooden training katana didn¡¯t add much to his overall attack value.
He noted that his HP had dropped by a few points, shook his right hand, stinging from the impact, and moved his sword to his left hand. Being ambidextrous had it¡¯s perks.
Mars crossed the distance almost faster than he could follow before slowing down and sending a strike Crimson¡¯s way. He crouched low and did his best to deflect the monstrous -wooden- spear that was rushing toward his chest, but he full understood that he wouldn¡¯t be able to negate this attack, just a little would do.
It was enough! He had been able to move the spear off to the side where Mars was no long pushing him back, but to the side, trying to send him flying. Crimson went with the force, controlled it, and went into a Mars assisted spin that ended in a slash towards his neck.
With a flick of the wrist Mars moved the butt of his spear in a circle, intercepted Crimson¡¯s slash, and slammed his katana onto the ground-pinning it there, before drawing his leg back and sending a roundhouse kick towards Crimson.
He made a quick decision and dropped to the ground. Fortunately, the force of his own kick was able to throw Mars off balance enough for Crimson to be able to retrieve his katana from it¡¯s spear prison, and roll to the side and onto his feet. If Dirk Souls has taught him anything, you always smack the boss¡¯ booty! Well, not that that strategy was accurate in real life, more a joke trying to ignore his impending doom as Mars brought his leg back around and sent Crimson flying, again.
It felt like he¡¯d been hit by a truck, and his HP had decreased by half. He just had 22 HP left! The other spars that day hadn¡¯t been this tough, at most he¡¯d been pushed back a few feet or let with a bruise that had robbed him of a few HP. That was the most damage he¡¯d taken in this life ever!
The level of pain was quite manageable, but he was completely winded, forget hit by a truck, more like a belly flop from a hundred feet up!
As he was on all fours, with his body trying to remember what ¡®breathing¡¯ was and trying to suppress the panicked desperation he felt from the sensation when Mars stepped on his back.
¡°Kid, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve even realized it, but you¡¯ve gotten cocky, when we first met you¡¯d never have done anything like smack talk or challenging. That¡¯s no good, I have to beat this lesson into your body, the same lesson my master beat into me: ¡®Don¡¯t get cocky, there will always be someone stronger. The second you think ¡®I am strong¡¯ is the second you will die.¡¯ Always accurately measure your strength, don¡¯t overestimate your opponent, don¡¯t underestimate.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
¡°Always push yourself to be stronger, never stop, not even for a second. You¡¯ll be able to surpass me one day if you do that.¡±
Mars removed the boot from Crimson¡¯s back,
¡°I don¡¯t have anything else to teach you, learn the rest on your own. Good luck, kid.¡±
Crimson had long since gotten his breath back and slowly stood up watching Mars¡¯ back as he walked over to his party members.
That lesson¡it was an obvious one. He¡¯d already known that. It had been clear to him every moment of training. Mars was Mythril rank, that meant he was at least Lv.81, being so close to someone so much stronger than him had always made that clear. Crimson was aware and yet¡when did he stop believing it?
He rubbed the giant boot print shaped bruise on his chest and bitterly chuckled. He felt like a child proudly showing scribbles to a master painter and calling it ¡®art¡¯. Well, at least something good came of this little ¡®lesson¡¯ (see: ¡®abuse¡¯).
|
Skill Level Up!
[Sword Mastery IX] > [Sword Mastery X]
Bonus Sword Damage increases to 10%
Pick from the following sub skills:
|Power| |Impact| |Speed| |Skill| |Footwork| |Focus|
|
He¡¯d gotten quite a bit out of the lesson Mars had taught him¡¡¯don¡¯t be cocky¡¯ huh¡
All six quite beneficial, and he really liked the
and ones, but it didn¡¯t take him long to pick the one he needed.
|
Sub Skill Applied!
Sub Skill [Focus] is added to [Sword Mastery X]
[Sword Mastery X]: A Skill for those who walk the road of swords, seeking mastery over them.
Lore: When Justice gave man a means to Judge one another he also gave them a means to protect themselves from unjust judgements. The Sword was his gift.
Bonus: 10% Damage Bonus
Sub-Skill:
: Ability to think clearly in a fight. Natural emotions won¡¯t have any effect on thinking during battle.
|
No surprise there. It did what he thought it did. It was definitely the most unimpressive of his six choices, but if he¡¯d picked any of the other five he wouldn¡¯t have learned anything from Mars¡¯ last lesson. ¡®To be able to think clearly in a fight.¡¯ Yeah, this would work for him.
He glanced at his [Blessing] noted that his HP and SP had finished refilling, and stood up stretching. It had gotten quite late in the afternoon, and he¡¯d missed lunch. Might as well see if he could find Verity and dinner in one go. Well, after sniffing his shirt he decided a bath would be first priority.
He strolled out of the training room and waved to Sherry as he walked out of the front door. There was a bath house, an inn, a stable, and a weapon shop within direct sightline from the guild¡¯s front porch. The bath, inn, and stables all had discount for guild members, with higher rank members being able to get higher discountsss¡.Crimson flipped around and walked back into the guild.
¡°Whas da probem¡¯? I jus¡¯ saw you walk out!¡±
The pipe was languidly put out.
¡°Yeah, I forgot to update my membership, I got a [Blessing] today. If I¡¯m not mistaken that means I can rank up to Bronze?¡±
A blindingly bright smile crossed her dark face, so unlike her usual look.
¡°Congratulations Crimson!¡±
¡°Where did your accent go???¡±
¡°I¡¯m intentionally not using it.¡± She waved it off as nothing, ¡°I¡¯m really happy for you!¡±
¡°Thank you, and if you could turn off your accent why didn¡¯t you do that earlier?!¡±
Sherry completely ignored everything after his ¡®thank you¡¯ and said, ¡°You do qualify for Bronze rank! I¡¯ve actually had the paper work filled out and ready to go for a few hours now!¡±
¡°Since when?!¡±
¡°Sign here and here. Initial here, and here.¡±
¡°Completely ignored, again¡*sigh*¡±
Crimson complied with Sherry¡¯s instructions. The sheet looked something like a job application form, and he¡¯d filled out something similar when he became Brass rank.
As a side note the rankings are as follows: Brass, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Black Gold, Adamantite, Orichalcum, Legendarium, Mythril, and Eternium. Bronze covers people from Lv.1 to 10, Silver from Lv. 11 to 20 and so on.
Ranking up was kinda an ordeal. Say he wanted to go from ¡®Bronze¡¯ to ¡®Silver¡¯ he would need to be at least Lv.11, and have completed several missions for the guild. It didn¡¯t matter if he was Lv.100, he wouldn¡¯t be able to rank up until he¡¯d completed some missions. Not that it was a big deal.
After finishing up the paperwork he brought out his guild card and passed it over to Sherry. She went through a door in the back and came back with a stamp that she pressed down on his card. The only noticeable difference was that his information was now laid out in a ¡®landscape¡¯ format instead of a vertical one.
Sherry passed the card back.
¡°Lookin¡¯ fore''rd to seein¡¯ yuh here fur some rea¡¯ quests soon.¡±
¡°It¡¯s back!¡±
¡°O¡¯corse mah speakn¡¯ is back. Talkn¡¯ all norma¡¯ is ¡®ard.¡±
¡°*sigh* Before I go, have you seen Verity in the last hour?¡±
¡°Nah, not since dat girlie ran from mah Scot.¡±
¡°Too bad, well, thanks Sherry, see you later.¡±
Sherry busied herself relighting her pipe as Crimson left. Considering how much she smoked he couldn¡¯t fathom how she didn¡¯t have a voice like grinding rocks.
Crimson headed out of the guild and decided to take one of the many ¡®long ways¡¯ home. He walked along the lane to a secret passage that was so well hidden he¡¯d actually found it by accident instead of on purpose like most of them.
As he walked to the building that housed it, he passed by some guards who were dragging a screaming young man down the street. Crimson didn¡¯t feel any need to help the guy, the guards in Falst were actually pretty competent. Also, Crimson couldn¡¯t understand a single word of what the guy was screaming, it certainly sounded like English, but not a word could be understood.
Well, him aside Crimson walked around the side of the massive two story building to the side door, stepped on a specific brick, pushed on a specific design on the door frame, and pushed the door open. Instead of the interior of the building what greeted him was stairs down into the passage.
He¡¯d found this one while delivering a particularly heavy package, and had leaned up against the door to brace himself to open the door with his free hand. After that it had taken a few tries to recreate the exact combination of things to be able to use this passage again.
After walking through the passage, but before he exited he got an alert from his [Blessing].
|
Skill Level Up!
[Mental Mapping I] > [Mental Mapping II]
Ability to remember paths taken and building¡¯s layouts increased. Increased sense of direction.
|
It seemed like a useful skill, but Crimson didn¡¯t think that he¡¯d need to grind this one. The ¡®free¡¯ level up put a pep in his step all the way back to the inn. The front room was empty so he slipped up to his room quickly¡wait a sec. He forgot to take a bath¡and he was still hungry¡
An hour and a half later he walked back into his room gnawing on a hunk of bread. The cost of the bath house had decreased from 80 bronze coins to 70, the discount was worth it! He was also reaping the benefits of his own forgetfulness.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Mental Mapping II] > [Mental Mapping IV]
Ability to remember paths taken and building¡¯s layouts increased. Increased sense of direction. Speed of memorization increased. Accuracy of mental maps increased.
|
He had purposely taken an extremely complicated path. These two leveled up too!
|
Skill Level Up!
[Memorization I] > [Memorization II]
Increased memorization speed to 20%
Total Memorization Speed: 120%
Skill Level Up!
[Secret Sensing I] > [Secret Sensing II]
Ability to detect secrets enhanced.
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The second one went up when he noticed that there was a secret door in the scribe shop he went to to pick up writing implements. 8G for what he picked up! The amount practically tore apart his soul! Shopping for weapons and armor tomorrow¡would probably kill him. The market price for a decent Lv.1 Sword was 600+ gold, and the armor¡better not to think about it too much. He¡¯d already prepared himself for it, a little.
He¡¯d bought the paper and writing implements to work on his [Calligraphy] skill, did he have a use for it? Not yet, but he doesn¡¯t feel like he can leave any of his skills alone. Well, first things first, before grinding out his [Calligraphy] he¡¯d need to pick up his Class.
He¡¯d been waiting till he was alone in his room on purpose, while there aren¡¯t many Classes that can see other people¡¯s [Blessing]s when they have it open, he knew for certain that there was at least one person in the guild who could: Sherry. She had the [Truthseeker] Primary Class. While he knew exactly where she was, it was better not to risk someone seeing something they shouldn¡¯t, even if the library SEEMED safe there was always the possibility that there was someone else who could see it.
Honestly, opening his [Blessing] for the first time in the guild''s library had been dangerous before he knew what was on it. It was unfortunate that none of this really occurred to him until after he¡¯d decided to call Verity back for questioning. Because of that he¡¯d decided to wait until he got back to his room before picking his Class. It just seemed like the sensible thing to do, all things considered.
He opened up his [Blessing] and selected the [WorldWanderer] Class. Raften¡¯s letter had told him to treat it like an empty slot, and when he¡¯d tried to inspect it earlier he¡¯d been given an ¡®error¡¯. After selecting it a list of Classes he could pick popped up.
|
Primary Class Selection:
|Scribe| |Farmer| |Alchemist| |Cartographer| |Scout| |Pyromancer| |Mage| |Cryomancer| |Swordsman| |Guardian| |Defender| |Executioner| |Samurai| |Knight| |Worker| |Builder| |Tamer| |Teacher| |Negotiator| |Shop Keeper| |Mana King| |Ruminator| |Strategist| |Appraiser|
|
To say the least it was an interesting selection. Some of the Classes like [Mana King] were actually tempting. Amusingly enough if he''d been given this page without doing any prior research he''d probably would have picked [Samurai], but he had done research, and knew that the Class didn''t match his fighting style. Well, he¡¯d made his decision already, might as well stick to it.
|
Class Selected.
Downloading¡
Installing¡
WorldWanderer Applied¡
Loading¡
Class [Swordsman] is functional.
Swordsman Class:
Description: A class for those who tread upon the path of true Sword Mastery.
Gives: 200HP, 2 STR, 2 AGI, 1 CON, 1 VIT per level.
Stages: ?
WorldWanderer Bonus: 50HP, 1STR, 1AGI, 1CON, 1VIT, 1INT, 1WIS, 1PER, 1WIL, 1CHA per level.
|
What was this overpowered Class? Well, it wasn¡¯t overpowered originally a regular Class gives 6 stats per level up, but now¡what the heck Raften? He was going to get strong on his own and you went and meddled. What the heck man? Well, no point in looking the gift horse in the mouth, and even if he complained it wouldn¡¯t fix anything. Better to work on grinding [Calligraphy] instead.
SS: A Feast of Gratitude (Non-Canon) + Monday SS Poll
It was a room that could be described with two words: simple, and open. Well, it was clean too, but only so many references can be made in a chapter, so it¡¯s better to keep them down.
Despite it¡¯s simplicity the room was rather on the massive size, and there was a banquet table running through the center of the room fit for a giant. Good thing too, it was Raften¡¯s table. The table, that could have fit twenty plus people, was only just big enough for him alone. Crimson and his party of five were sitting at a smaller circular table, just off center of the room.
At the table with him was Verity, ****, ********, and ****. It was a rare opportunity for the five of them to just sit down and relax. Even ******** was more relaxed and smiling. The same could be said for **** who could only be counted on to smile on a regular basis if they had just taken down a particularly difficult fight.
For once, Verity had set her teasing sights on **** instead of him. Sherry approached with a glass of sherry and greeted them, but couldn¡¯t stay long because Raften stood up and made a simple opening speech. Blah, blah, blah, and ended by saying the words that it was clear that he himself was waiting to say, ¡°Let¡¯s eat!¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
At once, a bunch of giant turkey¡¯s walked in carrying turkeys. While most of them were the size Crimson was used to seeing, Raften¡¯s was much bigger. Clearly, one of the turkeys hadn¡¯t stepped back fast enough when volunteers were asked for.
The cannibalistic trend continued with giant, anthropomorphic potatoes carrying in the mashed potatoes, and so on. He did get a little worried when the cranberries came bouncing in like slimes, but his fears were unfounded, as they didn¡¯t spill a single drop. Okay, there must be something wrong with physics on that one.
He glanced at his party members to see if anyone else was concerned, but no dice. Verity and ******** were too busy fighting, again. **** found the whole thing hilarious and was giggling happily. **** was too busy tearing into his Turkey.
Wait a sec. when did he steal the entire Turkey?! He¡¯d eaten most of it too! How? HOW???
Well, it didn¡¯t matter, too much. The giant turkeys had noticed their plight and were clearly eager to assist in the extinction of their species because they brought three more over to Crimson¡¯s table.
He glanced over and noted that Sherry¡¯s table were eating their meal in the idyllic, thanksgiving commercial way. It didn¡¯t even look artificial!
Well, no matter, he didn¡¯t need anything perfect. His friends were great, they helped him, supported him, and they helped him bring untold pain and misery to every dungeon they visited. He couldn¡¯t ask for anything better.
And that, was the true meaning of Christmas.
SS: Slave Driver, and Deepening Suspicions
Verity cheerfully strolled into the Adventurer¡¯s guild. She¡¯d had a ¡®chat¡¯ with the guild master the day before, and had him place her in the Brass rank class. Well, he owed her a favor anyway, so it¡¯s not like she¡¯d had to threaten him too badly.
Her mood took a serious dive as she noticed the Chain Smoking, Grump Queen of Alcohol: Sherry, and her loyal dog, The Fun Killer of Hard Alcohol: Scotch. When she¡¯d commented the day before about their name¡¯s relations to the intoxicating substance she¡¯d had to suffer through the intense misery of a lecture given by a hillbilly.
Fortunately, she¡¯d been able to escape the incoming chores when a kid with extremely unnerving silver eyes had distracted Sherry, long enough for her to escape. She¡¯d also been able to move fast enough to escape her loyal hound and talk to the Uptight Jerk of Coffee Addiction: The GM. Five minutes, and a few¡¡¯heavy¡¯ comments later he had broken down, let her join the Brass class and drop her old rank to the dirt.
She¡¯d then skipped out of the office in a chipper mood while he poured himself another mug of sludge. Coffee, *bleh* it was super bitter, and sugar wasn¡¯t enough to cover up it¡¯s origins from the pits of taste hell.
As she was walking down the stairs to the first floor she passed by the silver eyed boy again and made eye contact. WHAT? She flipped around as he passed by and stared at his back; he was too engrossed in his own thoughts to notice that she was staring at him.
What was that feeling¡trust? She could trust him? Her instincts were screaming at her, saying ¡®you can trust him, he¡¯ll help you get what you want¡¯.
Humans were the most versatile race, Beast-Kin and Dwarves were the power heavy races, while Dark Elves and Elves were most suited to magic. One thing that set these four races apart from humans -beside the obvious- were their instincts. Beast-Kin all were born with the [Danger Sense] skill, even the ones without a [Blessing] were better against ambushes than a human, elf, dark elf, or dwarf with training.
Dwarves had a sense for the earth, and could sniff out treasure like nobody else. Dark Elves were the same with beasts and monsters, could read people to an extent, and made the best tamers, but Elves¡were the kings at reading people. They could know at a glance if somebody held dark or evil intentions toward them, and they could figure stuff out about people in a heartbeat, so for Verity¡¯s instincts to be telling her that she could trust that silver-eyed dark-haired kid¡was nothing short of mind-numbingly shocking. It was usually a warning, not a good thing.
She had watched as he walked into the library completely oblivious to her, and had to restrain herself from following him. Instead she went to the second best source for all her silver-eyed informational needs: Alcohol Queen!
She had hurried up to Sherry¡¯s -empty- line and inquired after the silver eyes. She hadn¡¯t learned much, just stuff that could be found on official, publicly known, records: his name was Crimson Hokori, he joined the guild a week ago, he was Brass rank, he¡¯d already taken and accepted twenty requests -all of them, except one, were fulfilled- and he visited Sherry the most of all the receptionists. After day three she¡¯d been the only receptionist he visited.
It didn¡¯t tell Verity a lot about Silver-eyed Crimson, but it told her enough. The biggest thing was that he was extremely hard working and motivated. The other thing was that he had an eye for reading people, to an extent. Probably nowhere near as good as an elf, but since he picked Chain Smoker Sherry and almost exclusively visited her, he probably had and eye for honest and hard working people, just like himself. Well, it was all just conjecture, if she wanted to know more, she¡¯d have to talk to him in person. Unfortunately, she had to pay the price for her questioning, and was forced to polish the training equipment.
Which was why she was visiting the guild the day after she¡¯d registered, she¡¯d originally wanted to go hunt down Silver-Eyed Crimson the second she¡¯s finished talking to Chain Smoker Sherry, but the chores, then she still needed to settle down in Falst, and familiarize herself somewhat with the layout, just in case. So she waited until a day later, but she would wait no longer! Where is he?The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
There! Nope, not him, just some other black-haired idiot, his eyes were even a stupid bleh color. What color? She¡¯d just said it, a bleh-stupid one!
After hunting him down and getting to know Crimson she had confirmed her initial instincts about him: he could be trusted. The question then switched from: ¡®Could he be trusted?¡¯ to ¡®Could he actually help her?¡¯ He was Brass rank when she first met him, so she thought that there would be no way to confirm it if, or when, he got his [Blessing].
Shockingly, he was able to prove himself useful after just a few days of knowing him! Despite her being at least double his age, he knew more about magic than she did! Well, admittedly she¡¯d never had an interest in magic before she got her current class, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise, but still¡a small part of her pride started squirming.
She had ended up asking him for help when it got too overwhelming, and quickly came up with another name for him: Slave Driver. He was an absolute fiend! A villain! A-a-a Slave Driver! He rarely let her take breaks, forced her to learn a lot in a short amount of time, and forced her to show up every day! Her head hurt!
She¡¯d started teasing him to show that she wouldn¡¯t be crushed under his heel, and it sort of worked, but her work load increased. She made a deal with a devil!
Well, despite the agony she suffered at Silver-Eyed Slave Driver Crimson¡¯s hands, she couldn¡¯t argue with the results. She had already learned a few spells and kept checking in with him to make sure that she was learning the right ones, he even sacrificed some of his time -which she knew he treasured as much has he did money- to help her when she couldn¡¯t comprehend something. When her [Treatment] spell hit Lv.X she¡¯d thought he was an angel for a quarter -no- half a second! But when she told him all that happened as a half hearted ¡®good job¡¯ and he assigned another spell for her to learn. He was a Slave Driver, not an Angel!
The trend continued on for a little while, with Verity spending a few hours every day in the library with Crimson and the rest of the day studying her assigned spells on her own time, until a day before when Crimson told her his birthday was. There was a problem. She couldn¡¯t identify the source, but there was definitely evil intent directed at Crimson. If it was directed at her she could have seen through the source in a second, but since she was only close enough to sorta feel it there was no way she could tell who it was.
Crimson certainly couldn¡¯t feel anything, while she had seen him polishing his mind and body, he certainly hadn¡¯t polished his instincts! She kept a close eye on him and tried to follow him home, but was shocked when he slipped into a secret passage, she didn¡¯t even know that Falst had secret passages! She couldn¡¯t figure out how to get in either, and he¡¯d never told her what inn he was staying at! There was no way for her to find out what was wrong.
The next day she met him in the library much earlier than usual, and had to suppress her laughter as he tried to suppress his clearly overflowing excitement. She doubted he even noticed how much he was shifting in his chair like a small child. Then, he got his [Blessing].
It was honestly a happy moment for her, she¡¯d seen it all too often when a child would be so excited and ¡®absolutely certain¡¯ that they¡¯d get a [Blessing], but then never got one. Seeing his expectations being fulfilled was both a relieving and happy thing! It was also fortunate, she¡¯d just gained a trustworthy party member! Well, she¡¯d let him be the leader, she wasn¡¯t really suited for ¡®leading¡¯.
It was also a perfect opportunity for her to leave him and search for the source of the ill intent. Verity swung by and told Sherry what she was up to and asked her to make up an excuse for her so Crimson wouldn¡¯t be worried. She¡¯d sent Scot ¡®after¡¯ her so that she could avoid lying to him, and Verity left the guild ¡®running away¡¯ from Scot. Truly an awe-inspiring performance, millions would pay to see it.
Once outside she hid in the shadow of the guild and found a nasty looking weasel of a man, a weasel-kin, hiding outside. Based off her instincts screaming at her it wasn¡¯t hard to figure out the source of the ill intent. It took her the rest of the afternoon to catch the slippery scum and beat some answers out of him. Apparently -after many punches and head whacking-, Crimson¡¯s use of the city¡¯s secret passages had passed straight through a gang¡¯s territory, and they were looking for a chance to silence him, in case he saw something he shouldn¡¯t.
She hadn¡¯t even known they existed till the day before and they were already causing trouble for her¡great. Hopefully he¡¯d be okay until tomorrow, she could convince him to move into the guild-owned inn instead of wherever he was staying. Knowing him, he was probably staying at the cheapest place he could find. While that knowledge might be enough for her to find him under normal circumstances, the sun was setting, and she had to turn the weasel in. She wouldn¡¯t be able to find him in time. All she could do is pray.
Chapter 6 (Draft 2)
The Adventurer¡¯s Guild is an independent
organization serving globally as freelancers,
monster hunters, and all around handy-men.
While no country lays claim to the guild,
That does not mean that we are above the law,
it could even be said, that we are even more subject to the law.
-Adventurer¡¯s Handbook pg.1
Crimson, still reeling from the shock of his simple class being OP, decided to work on the [Calligraphy] skill. He¡¯d worry about looking closer at his Class later. His cheap and tiny room didn¡¯t have a desk or anything like that so he sat on the floor cross-legged, and removed the calligraphy set he¡¯d bought, along the the large stack of paper that came with it.
He¡¯d actually bought the cheapest set with ¡®everything¡¯ in it. He had had dip pens and ink brushes along with ink stones to grind his own ink. It probably wouldn¡¯t last long; he wasn¡¯t using it to send letters, but grind a skill.
First thing he did after grinding the mix of water to ink stone that the storekeeper had recommended was write the English alphabet in two rows of thirteen, one half at the top of the page, and the other half in the middle. He did so casually without paying attention to his handwriting with the dip pen. After that he rewrote the letters again under the sloppy ones, writing slowly and carefully, trying to make his handwriting as neat as possible.
That much alone was enough for it to level up once.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Calligraphy I] > [Calligraphy II]
Amity with writing implements increased to 25%
|
Twenty five percent was quite the jump for just one level up! A grin streaked it¡¯s way across Crimson¡¯s face. Seeing the effects of your hard work and effort play out in front of you was truly satisfying in a way that his old world could only attempt mimicking.
He swapped the dip pen for the brush and wrote the letters again in cursive as neatly as possible. The fascinating thing was that he could immediately tell the difference. With the other skills he¡¯d leveled up he couldn¡¯t see an immediate difference, but with [Calligraphy]? It was instantaneous!
After writing the alphabet in cursive he switched back to the dip pen and slowly began writing again, this time he was trying to mimic some of the fancy lettering he¡¯d seen on old letters. The lettering that wasn¡¯t cursive, but totally was. Well¡it was something. Certainly a massive fail. The letters looked more like a child¡¯s scribbles, no, a child¡¯s scribbles would look better¡practice makes perfect. He tried again.
And again.
Once more.
Last chance!
The sheet was full, front and back. His final attempt actually had a semblance of legibility, and his hard work paid off.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Calligraphy II] > [Calligraphy III]
Control over writing implements increased to 10%
|
Hmm. Doing all that made him wonder something. Hang on. He went ahead and neatly wrote -huge difference already!- the alphabet in print and filled up another sheet, front and back only with the print writing. Nothing. He filled another one. Still nothing. It took filling up the front of the third sheet to get any results.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Calligraphy III] > [Calligraphy IV]
Amity with writing implements increased to 50%.
|
Okay, while it wasn¡¯t hard evidence he could confirm within a reasonable margin of error two things about the skill. First: it appeared that there was more value in training new things than training things he could already do. Second: [Calligraphy] was a first tier skill.
Skills were divided into three tiers based on the difficulty to level them up. ¡®First tier¡¯ was the easiest, and the ¡®Third Tier¡¯ was the hardest. The annoying thing about that? The difficulty rating of a skill wasn¡¯t included in the [Blessing] since it appeared to be something like a hidden value.
Since he¡¯d gotten [Calligraphy] up to Lv.IV in just about an hour or so he didn¡¯t think that it could be anything other than a first tier skill. An extremely fast first tier skill at that. Well, when he¡¯d glanced at the first few pages of the notes Raften had left him earlier he¡¯d learned that the first five levels of a skill were easier to grind than the second half. Something about the difficulty increments going from linear to exponential.
Getting back to work he tried to replicate various fonts and styles with the dip pen to keep himself from getting bored he even started writing down tongue twisters to. Once he¡¯d filled up another two sheets front and back he got another alert.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Calligraphy IV] > [Calligraphy V]
Ability to replicate styles of writing increased to 50%
|
That made the biggest difference of the night. He could replicate fonts from his previous life pretty well, and the unique style of the Falst characters.
Interestingly enough the written language of the world looked a lot like someone had warped the English alphabet. It was similar enough that Crimson hadn¡¯t needed to learn the language. The only letters he¡¯d had a hard time with were: N,S,Q, and Z. That had been quickly rectified without any issues once he¡¯d entered the guild.
Crimson kept at it, even used his [Fire Light VIII] to work for an extra hour after sunset before turning. It was fairly cheap to use, and he didn¡¯t have any other uses for his MP, so it wasn¡¯t a concern. Too bad it didn¡¯t level up.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Leveling magic was extremely different from leveling skills. First were the requirements: some magics required specific Classes or Skills, some had minimums stat requirements, and some required having specific spells or skills at LV.X.
Second thing was how they were learned. Spells could be learned by anyone so long as they passed the requirements, and had enough MP to cast it. If they met the requirements they needed to seek out a book that taught the specific spell that they were after.
For some of the spells out there like [Campfire] the ¡®book¡¯ was no bigger than a particularly long pamphlet, and others, like the [Apocalypse] spell, were massive tomes that hit 40+ pounds in weight. Never say scholars are soft, not the ones that had to deal with those books! Any warrior would run in fear at the sight of the truly thick spell books.
Once they had the book they would have to study and comprehend it¡¯s ¡®chapters¡¯ for each chapter they comprehended they would gain one level in the spell, up to Lv. 5. Once Lv.5 is hit just studying the spell isn¡¯t enough, there are requirements for each level afterword.
For spells like [Fire Light] the requirements were just using it for a steadily increasing period of time, simple. He¡¯d used it enough to instantly get it to Lv. VIII. Campfire was similar, but some of the stronger spells had truly ridiculous requirements, in fact, it was common practice to study up to Lv.10 then go and fulfill the requirements from there.
The problem with spells was that their levels degrade with time. While it is impossible to lose a skill short of a memory wipe, it can drop down to Lv.1 over time. That period of time changes from spell to spell.
For Crimson it would probably take about a month for both of his spells to drop to Lv.1, and he would never let that happen under normal circumstances. All he would have to do is brush up on what he¡¯d read from the spell books and that would cover it. Knowing all that it was no surprise that INT was needed for more than just MP, it was needed to remember all the spells, and keep them straight.
Laying in bed with the reddish light of [Fire Light] winding it¡¯s way across the room Crimson had to repress the giddy excitement that was roiling in his gut, having a Class, leveling skills, he had waited for so long! But, he couldn¡¯t debase himself by acting like a giddy child, and if Verity noticed that anything was off she would definitely tease him. He snuffed out the light and fell into a light doze as several hours passed.
*creak*
His left eye, the one partially concealed by the pillow, flickered open. He kept the rhythm of his breathing uninterrupted, as he tried to see who¡¯s foot cause the sound of that creak. He spotted a cloaked man in front of his bed. No time to think, he had a dagger!
He threw himself back as he appraised his chances of victory. The man was..not a man. While he was cloaked Crimson could see his face fairly easy, and it was a boy, probably about his age, looking at him with a desperate and gaunt face. Considering his age, the chances of being above Lv.5 were not high, and his stance with knife was horrible. Not even Crimson on day one had a stance as horrible as this kid, if he had Mars would¡¯ve beaten him black and blue.
In other words, his chances of victory? Reasonable, to reasonably high. Assuming that the whole thing wasn¡¯t an act to make Crimson drop his guard. He would definitely have to be careful of the dagger, the moonlight seeping through the cracks of his rotted shutter reflected off a liquid that, if he had to hazard a guess, was probably poison.
It was also interesting that was already showing itself to be useful, he could certainly feel panic thrashing around in him, but his thinking didn¡¯t feel impaired at all. He could even think quite clearly, clearly enough to grab the basin of water off the table behind him and throw it at his would be attacker who had frozen.
The water splattered all over the room as the basin went flying and slammed into the attacker¡¯s arm and chest, sending the knife flying into the corner of the room, and sending him stumbling back. Crimson rounded the bed and mimicked the selfsame move that Mars had used on him earlier that day: a roundhouse kick, but unlike his bear-kin teacher he didn¡¯t hold back, and he sent his foot into the spot that no man wants damage. What? It¡¯s self defense. He needed to incapacitate his opponent, and it fulfilled that duty wonderfully.
His attacker dropped to the ground, in too much agony to even scream, his mouth flapped open like a fish, but no sound came out except an agonized wheeze. The sight made Crimson, the cause, wince in sympathy. He wouldn¡¯t be getting up any time soon. Which was good for Crimson, but bad for his attacker¡¯s chances at being a father in the future.
Crimson walked around the invalid, careful to keep an eye on him, and grabbed the dagger. He then walked over and sat on the bed holding the knife in a menacing manner while staring at him broodily.
What to do? He couldn¡¯t kill the kid. His conscience wouldn¡¯t let him do it, and he honestly had a hard time imagining himself killing another person. A goblin? That¡¯s fine, but another person? He couldn¡¯t imagine it.
Well, first things first: he needed to know why he was attacked. Too bad he didn¡¯t have any rope, but considering the damage his attacker wouldn¡¯t be able to stand up and attack faster than he could react.
¡°Why did you attack me?¡± He said with a bright and warm smile.
The kid flinched, a smile, used correctly, could be scarier than screaming, shouting, or threats. It was a mind game to scare him into talking, hopefully it would work, he¡¯d never actually done anything like this before.
With an unnaturally high voice -that Crimson pretended he wasn¡¯t the cause of- the kid told him that ¡®he would never talk¡¯. Cliched garbage.
The fake friendly smile on Crimson¡¯s face widened, ¡°That¡¯s too bad. I was hoping we could have a nice talk. Well, I suppose there¡¯s nothing I can do. I might as well give you a little ¡®gift¡¯ before you go.¡±
Crimson stood up and then slid the dresser in front of the door before walking back to his bed. He grabbed the rucksack he kept next to the head of the table and walked back to his seat on the bed.
¡°Oh that¡¯s too bad, my bag¡¯s all wet.¡± Fake look of sadness, he was the one who¡¯d gotten it wet after all.
¡°I hope you can pay me back for it,¡± he directed his ¡®sad¡¯ look at the boy, ¡°if not I may have to give you a ¡®punishment¡¯ instead of a ¡®gift¡¯.¡±
A look of terror broke through the pain on the boy¡¯s face and he began to desperately attempt crawling to the door. A difficult process considering he didn¡¯t appear to be able to effectively move any bones connected to the pelvis, and couldn¡¯t let certain ¡®things¡¯ touch the ground and add to his agony.
¡°Where are you going? I was just going to give you a lovely tattoo! I got a new pen today and I¡¯d love to try it out on you, but I¡¯m not too sure if this is the type of pen you¡¯re supposed to use. I think you¡¯re supposed to put the ink under the skin, but I don¡¯t have any special tools for it¡oh well! The pen is sharp enough to put it directly in without any problems, no special tools necessary!¡±
Crimson pulled out the dip pen he¡¯d purchased with his calligraphy set and clutched it, and a bottle of ink in the hand not holding the knife as he walked over to the boy. He broke down, and told Crimson everything.
Apparently, there was a gang that used a certain area of the passages underground as an escape whenever they performed robberies. They¡¯d spotted Crimson entering near their territory and thought that he had seen them/would rat them out. They had done some research and found out that Crimson didn¡¯t have a Class or a [Blessing[ so they sent their newest member to ¡®take care of him¡¯ as an initiation.
After hearing all that Crimson knew that he¡¯d have to move to the inn near the guild. The discount from his rank up would help him stay there without losing too much, and it was safer there, he wouldn¡¯t be staying in an inn on the edge of the slums anymore.
He put away his ¡®tattoo¡¯ tools and drug the dresser back from the door frame. He then stuck his head out the door and screamed bloody murder. The innkeeper¡¯s son came running just a few second later and Crimson handed the boy over to him with a quick explanation about what happened -minus his questioning- and informed him that he would have to change inns in the morning.
The innkeeper¡¯s son didn¡¯t have any complaints with what he¡¯d said and dragged the kid off to the guard station less than a block away.
The owner came in not much longer after his son had left and moved Crimson to the floor in his room for the rest of the night, which wasn¡¯t restful, and he left first thing in the morning-after paying what the innkeeper was due of course. Fifty bronze for what he¡¯d broken, and fifteen silver for his stay. Handing over the money had hurt, he could probably had lowered the cost if he¡¯d been willing to haggle more, but it wasn¡¯t worth the time he¡¯d need to spend.
He quickly left after that, heading to the guild via wide open streets. They were fairly empty at that hour of the morning because the sun had yet to show itself. The whole area was just barely lit up with pre-dawn light, but it was a still a pretty sight, and breathing the morning air free of pollution was pretty nice too.
The guild wouldn¡¯t be open for another hour so he sat down on the steps in front of it, and leaned against the side wall.
One part of him was really grateful that he was a perpetually a light sleeper, the other part of him was honestly shocked that the kid had broken after just that much, there was no way that should have worked. Maybe he was lying? Well, regardless the actions he had taken sickened Crimson. From the offset he knew that he wouldn¡¯t kill the kid, and he knew he couldn¡¯t torture him either, so he¡¯d threatened him. Even if it was stupid and shouldn¡¯t have worked, even if he hadn¡¯t hurt the kid -after the kick-, even if he¡¯d gotten what he wanted, he still couldn¡¯t help but feel guilty.
If he had to kill someone to protect himself then he would do it, without hesitating, but once he¡¯d subdued the kid killing him would have been murder, plain and simple. Self defense was fine, anything more was too far.
Murder, Torture, Cruelty, all things that turned his stomach. Not long after he¡¯d arrived in the world he¡¯d decided that he would do whatever was needed to get what he wanted, for the first time: he decided to draw the line, not in sand, but in granite.
He would never do something like that again.
With his new resolution some of the guilt he felt left him, not all, but some. Maybe it wasn¡¯t guilt, but a fear of what he¡¯d become if he kept going down that path? Well, either way he wouldn¡¯t do it again.
Crimson took a deep breath, his introspection had eaten up about fifteen minutes, so he decided to use the approximately forty-five minutes he had until the guild opened to grind his [Calligraphy]. He actually wanted to meditate, but that would leave him way to open to an attack or an ambush, or Verity. He must never forget how dangerous that woman is with the right teasing material.
To fit his mood he decided to write a paraphrased version of Edgar Allen Poe¡¯s Pit and Pendulum in his best recreation of the ¡®chiller¡¯ font.
It was a grueling process, and he¡¯d decided to leave out quite a few details too, to finish recreating the short story before the guild opened; he barely made it, and his efforts paid off, but he¡¯d need to pick up some more paper. He was out.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Calligraphy V] > [Calligraphy VI]
Control over writing implements increased to 20%
|
¡°Crimson, what are you doing out here?¡±
Verity, and Sherry were standing together, in front of him.
Chapter 7 (Draft 2)
The Gods gave power unto man,
to grow,
to weaken,
to succeed,
to fail,
to love,
to hate.
The God, Justice,
gave unto man the ability,
to find truth in fiction,
to right wrongs,
and Judge their fellow man
for their sins,
and their virtues.
-Lore for the Skill: [Discernment]
Crimson stood up, confused. Why were these two together? They weren¡¯t exactly enemies, but Verity often went out of her way to avoid Sherry like a guilty child avoiding her parents.
¡°Crimson, what are you doing out here?¡±
¡°*sigh* Okay, before I tell you, why don¡¯t we go sit down, and you need to promise not to overreact.¡±
¡°Ah ¡®ave no probem wi¡¯ dat, boy.¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
Crimson stepped aside and let Sherry open the door with a key she¡¯d procured from¡where? Her status? He didn¡¯t see her operating it though? He shook his head, thinking about that would be nothing but a waste of time.
Crimson held the door for both of the women and let them lead the way over to the restaurant area. Once they¡¯d picked a table he sat down with them. The guild was still technically closed for a few more minutes, so no-one was around to eavesdrop on their conversation.
¡°Alrighty, why are you here so early in the morning Crimson?¡±
¡°I was attacked in my room last night.¡±
¡°WHAT?!?!?!¡±
¡°WHACH?!?!?!¡±
Their voices overlapped, but he wasn¡¯t sure which word Sherry had shouted, ¡®WHAT¡¯ he assumed, not ¡®watch¡¯ like it sounded.
¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯m fine. Not sleeping in that inn ever again, but fine.¡±
¡°Details man, details!¡±
¡°There¡¯s not much to tell there. I was attacked in my room sometime in the middle of the night. A guy tried to stab me with a poison knife, but I woke up before he could. I rolled off the bed and threw my basin at him. It hit and nocked the knife out of his hand. I then put him out for the count with a kick and questioned him.¡±
¡°¡®Out for the count¡¯¡Crimson¡did you kick him in ¡®that¡¯ spot.¡±
¡°Yeah.¡±
¡°You¡¯re quite cruel, aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°It was self defense.¡±
¡°It feels overboard for self defense.¡±
¡°It was necessary.¡±
¡°Yo-¡°
¡°Jus¡¯ move ¡¯n yuh two! Wha¡¯ ¡®appened next?¡±
¡°Well, I questioned him. Apparently, one of the secret passages I used in the city ran right through the territory of some gang. They followed me for a little while and found out that I was really weak, so they sent one of their new members to ¡®take care of me¡¯ as initiation. After that I had the innkeeper¡¯s son hand the guy over to the guards and came here.¡±
¡°You were in front of the guild most of the night?¡±
¡°No, I came her AFTER getting some more sleep. Not much though.¡±
Verity distractedly commented, ¡°Hmm. That about matches up with what I know¡¡±
Crimson stared her down, ¡°¡®What you know?¡¯¡±
¡°Yeah, I left early yesterday to chase down a guy who was watching you, he was pretty slippery so it took a while. I wasn¡¯t able to catch up with you and warn you. I wasn¡¯t sure if they¡¯d be making their move last night though, I¡¯d hope that losing the weasel would have made them back off, but since they didn¡¯t I can¡¯t say that they¡¯re very intelligent. What if we had prepared a trap for them?¡±
Weasel? Whatever, moving on!
Crimson cupped his face with his palm, thinking, ¡°Well, moving that quickly might¡¯ve been the smarter option. It all depends on how much information they were working with. If they knew for certain that there was no way for you to reach me in time it was definitely better to move quickly, before I knew to be on guard, or had a guard. If they didn¡¯t know that then yes, it was stupid.
¡°What really concerns me here is what they think I¡¯ve seen to warrant such an aggressive action. While it was just a newbie they sent after me, they did try to kill me, and technically, they aren¡¯t wrong for using me as initiation, I am only Lv.1 and have only one Class, there¡¯s no reason to believe I should have been able to win; especially if they think that levels are everything.¡±
¡°What level do you think your attacker was?¡±
¡°No clue, he didn¡¯t attack me or fight back-he just froze, but his CON was low enough for a kick from me to do some serious damage. Based off that I¡¯d say that he¡¯s either less than Lv.5, or has taken a Class that doesn¡¯t give any bonuses to CON. Well, considering the fact that he froze, I don¡¯t think he has much combat experience, so I think the first one is correct.¡±
¡°Yah, probree raht. I canna find any probems whi¡¯ yer tinkin¡¯ process.¡±
¡°Yup, and it is hard to believe that anyone higher than Lv.5 would be performing initiation as a new recruit. They¡¯d probably just be accepted based on virtue of their level, and be expected to prove their loyalty later.¡±
He nodded; it was moments like this that reminded Crimson that Verity wasn¡¯t as stupid as she acted. Well, she didn¡¯t really act that stupid to begin with, more inconsiderate than anything else.
¡°Crimson, what were your plans for today?¡±
¡°Equipment shopping, training, and checking into the Guild¡¯s Inn. I also want to do some more research on other classes that might interest me, but it¡¯s probably better just to worry about my current class before another one.¡±
¡°True, especially since you need to be Lv.3 before you can take a Sub-Class.¡±
¡°Lv.5 with your primary class, and Lv.3 with your Sub-Class to use your third slot, I do know this Verity.¡±
¡°Ah dare say dat dis boy know more dan you girlie.¡±
¡°He does not!¡±
¡°Wid how much you ¡®ave to ask ¡®im for help Ah¡¯m an iddy biddy sure he knows more.¡±
¡°I just don¡¯t know much about Magic! I know more than you with everything else!¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She¡¯d turned to Crimson with that last denial, but he held his hands up in surrender.
¡°Don¡¯t ask me. I don¡¯t have enough information to objectively determine who knows more, but you are right about magic.¡±
¡°Girlie, da boy is too nice to say, but yuh don¡¯t even ¡®ave common sense about Magic in dat brain of yurs.¡±
¡°I do too!¡±
¡°Only afta da boy shoved it into dat brain of yurs. Yuh dinna know nutin¡¯ ¡®bout two weeks ago!¡±
¡°If this is going to go on for a while, can I go?¡±
¡°NO!!!¡±
¡°NO!!!¡±
It was a pincer attack of sound. He thought that he could feel his eardrums handing their resignation letters, in the past he was used to it because of his mother, but he¡¯d gotten used to things being fairly quiet by this point.
¡°Ouch.¡±
¡°*sigh* We gonna save dis for lata girlie.¡±
Verity avoided Sherry¡¯s eyes, she did get confrontational, but after words she got embarrassed, Crimson wished she was the same about her teasing. It would be nice to be left alone.
¡°Sure. Crimson, I¡¯ll go shopping with you today. Fortunately, it¡¯s fairly close, and we don¡¯t need to be too worried about safety, it¡¯s a good thing I don¡¯t want to change his diapers after we get attacked.¡±
Crimson slammed his head onto the table; he really couldn¡¯t handle teasing, at all. Verity laughed at him, and Sherry patted his back. He hoped it was a sympathy pat, and not a pity pat.
He slowly sat up, and tried to pretend that nothing had happened.
¡°It¡¯s highly doubtful that we¡¯ll be attacked rather, it¡¯s more important to secure good weapons and armor for me. I want to head into the dungeon tomorrow.¡±
¡°Ah nah. Yuh not gonna be enterin¡¯ no dungeon until dat gang¡¯s off ya back. Gottit?¡±
¡°Sure, the chances that they¡¯ll have to run before tomorrow are pretty high, if I¡¯m reading things right.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Well, the kid I caught ¡®happily¡¯ told me everything. He-¡°
¡°Did you kick him in the b-¡°
Sherry smacked Verity on the back of the head, ¡°A lady shunna say such words.¡±
Verity looked at Sherry before slowly turning back to Crimson and spoke carefully.
¡°¡Did you kick him in the spot again?¡±
¡°First of all: No, and I wouldn¡¯t have done that again anyway.¡±
¡°Was it because he was covering it too well?¡±
Ignored.
¡°Second of all: Stuff like torture doesn¡¯t sit well with me. I scared him a little with some remarkably lame threats, and I feel bad about doing THAT much!¡±
¡°Das a good ting. Stay dat way.¡±
He nodded.
¡°And Third of all: so long as he wasn¡¯t lying I believe the gang will be caught or chased out of their territory very quickly.¡±
¡°Why do you say that?¡±
¡°Because he told me everything so easily. It felt almost like threatening a five year old.¡± Or Verity. She was tough, but she crumbled under pressure from people who she got along with pretty easily.
¡°Well, I can accept that, but I agree with Sherry, we¡¯re not going into the dungeon until we¡¯re certain that they¡¯ve been caught.¡±
¡°You, agree with Sherry? Impossible, there¡¯s something wrong here.¡±
¡°Impossible! Crimson, confused? Did the moon rise instead of the sun? Did dragons start flying backwards? O¡¯ Sherry! There is truly something wrong with the world here today! For Crimson to be confused? It is truly inconceivable!¡±
Crimson felt his face turn the same color as his name.
¡°Yeah well, I-¡°
¡°Ah¡¯m a jus gonna stop yah ¡®ere. Ifin Ah let yuhs get inta it we cou¡¯ be ¡®ere for ¡®ours.¡±
Verity sat back, smug in her victory, while Crimson tried to ignore her, it wasn¡¯t working.
¡°Anyway, the shops¡¯ll open in a few hours. I need to kill time until then. Sherry, could you open up the training room for me, and the library for Verity?¡±
¡°Hey! Wait a sec-¡°
¡°Shur, we jus¡¯ hit openin¡¯ time too.¡±
¡°Great! Verity, meet back here, on the first floor, in an hour and a half. You should look up more about the spell [Boundary]. I think you¡¯ll find it useful. Based on how fast you¡¯ve learned some other spells I don¡¯t think you should have any difficulty studying up to at least Lv.3 before we meet up!¡±
¡°Hey! I-¡°
¡°Well, I gotta go!¡±
Crimson waved to Sherry as he walked off to the training room that had just opened up, leaving Verity and Sherry alone together.
¡°He¡¯s such a Slave Driver!¡±
¡°Izzit rea¡¯y so ¡®ard?¡±
¡°Yes! There¡¯s no way I can do it!¡±
¡°Well, good luck. I¡¯m rooting for you!¡±
¡°Your accent disappeared!¡±
Sherry left Verity alone at the table wallowing in her misery. She had asked him for help learning magic, and she really did want to get better at it, but she think her sorta-teacher failed to comprehend what a high bar he set every time! She stood up and sprinted to the library -ignored Sherry shouting at her- and got to work. She¡¯d show that Silver-Eyed Slave Driver that she could do it!
Crimson walked over to the weapon rack and pulled up his [Blessing]. He wouldn¡¯t be looking at any dangerous information that day, so it was fine even if a [Truthseeker] spotted it. He just had to avoid inspecting his Class, and his titles.
Hold on, in the letter Raften left him there was some info on Classes, right? He¡¯d only glanced at the papers and had focused more closely on the ¡®Skills¡¯ section anyway. He decided to take a closer look to make sure he didn¡¯t screw anything up too badly.
*flip*
*flip*
*flip*
Crimson felt a smile cross his face, it was one of anticipation, and excitement. There were a few different Classes listed on the last page, and the requirements to unlock them. One of them answered the question he¡¯d had about what Sub-Class he should get first. Meeting all of the requirements would be a bit annoying, but it would be worth it. He¡¯d have access to everything he needed once he got into the dungeon, but it would take a bit of luck.
A few of the other Classes caught his eye, but some of the more interesting ones actually clashed with his current fighting style, and he discarded the Magic type classes out of hand. He didn¡¯t mind helping Verity, but actually studying magic himself, except in times of necessity, was a no go.
Well, he¡¯d worry about his second Sub-Class later. It was time to pick the first skill for his [Swordsman] Class. He¡¯d put it off the night before in favor of working on [Calligraphy], but he would wait no more!
|
[Swordsman], Available Skills, Pick One:
|Slash| |Hack| |Flash Slice| |Guard Break| |Mordhau|
|Lesser Block| |Lesser Parry| |Sheath| |Draw| | Lesser Evasion|
Installing [Lesser Evasion]¡
Learned Skill: [Lesser Evasion]
|
He felt like it was an obvious choice for a speed-type fighter like him. The only other Skills he¡¯d considered for a second were: [Simple Parry], and [Draw]. None of the directly offensive skills interested him, for now. He needed stuff that would keep him alive for longer to begin with, and he knew from Raften¡¯s letter that Skills that indicated that they were a lesser version of the original had the greatest potential for growth, which meant that [Lesser Block], [Lesser Parry], and [Lesser Evasion] were instantly the best choices there.
Crimson genuinely thought that [Lesser Parry] could be as useful as [Lesser Evasion] for his fighting style, he¡¯d have to get that one next time he got to pick, and he considered [Draw] for the chance at getting a skill for Iai, but he¡¯d have to save that for later. Definitely on his ¡®must get¡¯ list, but he¡¯d train for it instead. With a katana, knowing Iaido is a must to be ¡®cool¡¯.
That settled, Crimson grabbed a wooden katana, complete with wooden sheath, and started practicing against the air. It wasn¡¯t very effective for grinding skills; If he really wanted to level his skills up it would be better to have an actual opponent. Based off what happened the day before, he couldn¡¯t be sure that Mars would help him, in fact it was unlikely, and the rest of the training room was still empty. That left him with no choice, but fight the air like his life depended on it!
He may not have actual opponents, but he could burn his moves into his mind and body! Plus, he did have something to train against. Wooden Post-kun, Crimson and his katana are coming for you! Well, all jokes aside, it was kinda disappointing to not be able to work on grinding his new skill. Just jumping from side to side wouldn¡¯t do much, he needed something to dodge.
He considered throwing something over his head and dodging it as it fell, but the one time he tried it, it didn¡¯t seem too effective, and he''d hit himself on the head.
Well, regardless he worked on his forms, carefully and precisely attack while moving as fast as he could while still getting it ¡®right¡¯. After an hour of that -and a break to restore his lost SP- he decided to work on [Calligraphy] instead. The lack of a training partner meant that he¡¯d just be wasting his time if he kept working on [Sword Mastery] on his own. He didn¡¯t even level up once for his troubles, but he did feel like he was close.
Unfortunately, he was out of paper. Where could he get some more¡Sherry? Maybe he could buy some off her, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to ask.
Well, the negotiations went well, but the paper was expensive! Sherry wouldn¡¯t give it to him for free, and it was even priced higher than market value! He was rather stuck, and the shops were still closed, and he couldn¡¯t stand the thought of not making use of the rest of the time till he and Verity left for shopping, so he gave in. 1 Silver a sheet! That was three times market value! The highest quality paper he found in the shop he visited the day before was, at max, 80 Bronze coins per sheet, the highest quality in the shop! This stuff was cheap quality!
With his wallet and soul crying out in agony he bought ten sheets. It would probably take most, if not all, of these sheets being filled for him to level up again! He would definitely load up on paper later. If he bought in bulk he even bet that he could get a discount! The thought of a discount was like putting a band-aid the stump of a severed limb, it wasn¡¯t actually doing anything, but at least it was a bit comforting.
He got to work, and spent the rest of the next hour at a table in the library -far away from Verity- working on his [Calligraphy]. With his skill as high leveled as it is, it was easy for him to -near- perfectly recreate fonts and writing styles that he remembered at a fast speed. He was no longer human, he was a god of writing! Kidding. It wasn¡¯t good to become arrogant, he could feel the shadow of Mars¡¯ boot on his back, even though it was only a bad joke he hadn¡¯t even spoken aloud.
Well, it served as good practice regardless, he was able to fill up eight pages and was pleasantly surprised when -on the seventh page- he received another level up for [Calligraphy]. He¡¯d figured that he¡¯d have to fill up all ten to reach the next level. Maybe he got more experience for writing well quickly?
|
Skill Level Up!
[Calligraphy VI] > [Calligraphy VII]
Amity with writing implements increased to 75%
|
75%? That was huge! Well, this one didn¡¯t have as big of an effect as he¡¯d originally thought. ¡®Amity¡¯ was a synonym of ¡®Harmony¡¯ or ¡®Cooperation¡¯. Based off that he had two theories for what it did:
One: it reduced the strain of writing implements. He didn¡¯t really take note of how his body felt while writing, so he couldn¡¯t confirm if it was this one. He would never succumb to Writer''s Cramp!
Two: it made it easier for him to use various writing implements. He couldn¡¯t really tell if there was a difference with this one because he was already used to his two main writing implements: the dip pen, and the calligraphy brush. He¡¯d been swapping between them constantly during the whole process after all.
Well, it didn¡¯t matter if he didn¡¯t get any bonuses even up to Lv.X, he¡¯d still grind it. Skill evolution could make it useful later on, even if he didn¡¯t have a current use for it, and he did have a use for it, Raften''s note guaranteed that.
Well, he was out of time. Time for the most wonderful kind of shopping trip: the one for sharp objects.
Chapter 8 (Draft 2)
You have such great desires and goals,
but they all amount for naught.
They are, in the end, nothing but self-serving
lip service.
The deranged ramblings of a child in denial.
A lie.
Something you tell yourself so you can sleep at night.
If only your party members knew
After all¡
Crimson didn¡¯t have to go far to meet up with Verity, she was on her way out of the library at the same time he was. They met up and headed to the weapon shop.
It wasn¡¯t far from the guildhouse and it was more or less what could be expected from a traditional fantasy weapon shop. There were racks on the walls holding a large variety of weapons: spears, axes, swords, and evens some exotic ones, like kusarigama. There were tables in the room with a similar assortment laid out haphazardly on top, finally, in the corner, there were barrels with bargain bin weapons.
At a glance Crimson could tell that there were sticks on the side of the road with better quality, and he didn¡¯t have any practice in identifying weapons. Well, it wasn¡¯t hard to tell a weapon was in bad shape when he could see the cracks in it from across the room. Unfortunately, given his nature, he had to thoroughly checked out those bins in the hopes that he¡¯d find a hidden magic sword of some kind, but no dice. He talked to the clerk and learned that those swords were sold by blacksmith apprentices, or were already used by owners who didn¡¯t know anything about weapon maintenance.
The funny thing about the shoddy weapons was that, despite the cracks, they could actually hold out better than they looked, better than modern weapons in the same shape. They were actually usable in a fight so long as the durability hung on for dear life, it was really just the attack value that suffered. Fortunately, the barrels of garbage weren¡¯t representative of the whole stock. He completely dismissed everything in the barrels with out a second thought. It wasn¡¯t a hard decision, there was even a Greatsword leaning next to the barrel that was more cracks than sword, and cost less than a cheap meal at a mid class restaurant.
The swords in the middle of the room, on the tables, were all decent. Quite frankly: middle of the road. They were the stuff that reasonably skilled apprentices made and sold, or they were used weapons that were actually taken care of by the previous owner. There were a few in that pile that Crimson was actually considering with some degree of seriousness, but he decided to put those ones on hold to check the ones on the walls.
These weapons were all made by blacksmiths and craftsmen that had completed an apprenticeship, or -rarely- by a talented apprentice. None of these swords were pre-owned in any way, shape, or form. Crimson made a mental note of two katanas on the wall and checked out the last group of weapons in the room: the ones in glass cases at the counter, and the ones hanging on locked rack behind the counter.
These weapons were made by blacksmiths who were at or near master level, or weapons that had such unique effects that it drove their price through the roof. There was one such weapon in the form of a morning star that had the ability to send enemies flying, but didn¡¯t deal much damage. He wasn¡¯t interested in it, but the thought of a giant troll flying through the air with a confused look was slightly amusing.
He was forced to disregard the other weapons and looked more closely at the different katanas.
BORING!!! The Slave Driver made the best kind of shopping trip, the one for weapons, BORING. Verity had seen all kinds of shopping trips before, she remembered seeing one man weeping openly during a shopping trip with his girlfriend because of how long it had drug on, and she felt empathy for him!
Crimson was way too meticulous! He started with the garbage weapons, the ones that would probably be disposed of sometime next week, and thoroughly checked them over! He looked at every type of weapon, even the ones he didn¡¯t need! The shopping clerk was a big beefy man who looked like what a dwarf would if it grew three feet, and he was nearly in tears from how many questions Crimson had asked him.
He had more or less lost his voice when another employee came in and bailed him out, and Verity swore that Crimson -The Slave Driver- never even noticed! He was worse to shop with than anyone else¡*sigh*
On a small level Verity could empathize with him in this situation, picking a weapon is a serious matter, one that should never be taken lightly. To give an extreme example of how important it is: she¡¯d once overheard another adventurer state that he put more effort into picking his weapon, than he did his wife. First: they were very happily married, second: his party members had actually applauded him, his wife applauded with them. She was there!
Well, that was the only level that she could understand when it came to Crimson¡¯s weapon shopping. There was absolutely no need to browse through the weapons that even Crimson himself knew that he wouldn¡¯t buy, but of course he would check, and ask about EVERY. SINGLE. ONE! Verity knew that he¡¯d decided to get a katana that day, so why was he looking at spears too?!?! He even inspected a great club -bigger than him- with the seriousness of an actual buyer!
Why???
Why???
WHY???
She actually started fantasizing about using the morning star he was looking at to slop her brains all over the floor when he walked back over to her, and called a break.
A BREAK????
It was at least three hours past noon, and he just wanted to take a break!
¡°NO, we are not leaving here until you have picked a weapon. JUST PICK ONE!!!¡±
The employee standing behind him nodded emphatically as his emaciated body was filled with the light of hope, and Crimson didn¡¯t notice.
¡°Why are you screaming at me? I thought you¡¯d want lunch by now?¡±
¡°JUST DO IT NOW SO WE DON¡¯T HAVE TO COME BACK!!!¡±
¡°Alright then.¡±
Just what was wrong with Verity? She started screaming at him out of nowhere. Well, it didn¡¯t matter, he¡¯d learned quite a bit about the standards of weapons in his time looking at all the shop had on offer, it was an excellent way for him to kill two birds with one stone.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Memorization II] > [Memorization III]
|
Too bad, there weren¡¯t any bonuses for this level up. That just meant that he¡¯d get one the next time. He¡¯d also learned something important about the skill, two important things as a matter of fact. First: it was a tier two skill. Second: it only helped with memorizing stuff, remembering stuff afterwords wasn¡¯t perfect. In other words: while his memory was good, he tried to remember too much in a short period of time, and so some of what he¡¯d memorized slipped through the cracks.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
If he wanted to remember it all he¡¯d probably need the [Memory] skill.
At one point during the whole process the clerks had swapped, which was a good thing. The first guy seemed to have some kind of cold, and was losing his voice. The second guy appeared to have caught it too, as his voice started going out too. IF he had thought about the cause a bit more, he might have realized how much taking he¡¯d forced them to do, instead of the casual conclusion he reached without much -¡®any¡¯- thought.
Fortunately, he didn¡¯t need to worry about that two much, he¡¯d narrowed his choices down two three: a Lv.1 [Honor¡¯s Weight], a Lv.1 [Broken Righteousness], and a Lv.1 [Wayfarer¡¯s Companion].
The first looked like it belonged on some chivalrous knight or annoying cliched noble, it was an elegant and gaudy thing that he couldn¡¯t describe as anything but, ¡®mildly usable¡¯, and the cost was way too high for it¡¯s performance. The only real reason he considered it for was the fact that it had a special skill that reduced the rate that it¡¯s durability decreased. Interesting? Yes. Worth it? Not to anyone who understood the concept of ¡®money¡¯.
[Broken Righteousness] had a really interesting design, it looked almost like it had been splattered in blood, and there was a design on the blade that made it look like someone had taken the shattered remnants of a blade and pushed them together. Really cool, had some interestingly high damage too, but the price didn¡¯t make it worth it, and with Crimson¡¯s fighting style it would do less damage than the [Wayfarer¡¯s Companion].
The [Wayfarer¡¯s Companion] did less base damage, but it had an ability that had a slight bonus to AGI, and it was lighter than [Broken Righteousness]. That combination made it far more suited to Crimson than the other two, even if they were better blades. He mentally decided to call it [WC] for short.
[WC] was definitely the most plain looking of the three blades. The sheath and grip lacked any decoration, and were a simple white color. The tsuba was just a simple piece of steel as well but, that was only at a glance. Once he¡¯d started look closer he noticed how much effort went into the piece, while it lacked the gaudiness of the first blade, or the coolness of the second, it carried a quiet dignity that the other two couldn¡¯t match, and that all didn¡¯t even mention the blade.
If he had to describe the blade in a word it was¡artful. While the western style swords on display lacked a sheath, all the katanas had theirs. The difference was probably due to the fact that the sheath mattered more for proper use of a katana, than it did for a longsword or the like. This lead to a master level blade being hidden in plain sight. Well, only the quality of the blade was master level, everything else was just really good.
After taking a close look at his final three it was quite obvious that the [Wayfarer¡¯s Companion] was the best option, as a side note it had the best durability stat of the bunch, but [Broken Righteousness] wasn¡¯t far behind on that one, just a few points. [Honor¡¯s Weight] had a durability less than half of [BR], so even if it halved the durability decrease by half, it didn¡¯t win as far as durability goes.
Looking at the price made Crimson scream and cry bloody tears internally, 995 Gold! He knew it would be high, but that high? It was truly agonizing for him to fork over the requested amount. So, he haggled the price down to 783 Gold, which took him over an hour¡¯s worth of arguing! Both he, and the shop keeper, were completely out of breath by the time it was done, and anyone watching would only have seen two people politely chatting with smiles on their faces, while a certain Elf was hitting her head on the counter for some weird reason.
Crimson quickly stuck his new katana and it¡¯s sheath in his inventory, carrying a sword like that in the open around town would only attract trouble, then he bought a set of small knives for back up weapons, just in case. They were plain things, and they were as long as his forearm from tip to pommel. They also lacked the elegance of his [WC], so they only cost him 10 gold a knife, for a total of four.
After that, he and Verity -who had a massive bruise on her forehead that she healed with magic- headed to the armor shop. The process of buying armor was quite a bit smoother than buying a weapon for him. All the leather armor available in stock was actually made by the owner and his daughter, and because of that the quality was consistently good. Looking closely at a few pieces while waiting for the shopkeeper he could tell that they outsourced for the plate armor, chain mail, and gambesons.
After a short wait he was fitted with some good quality leather armor that was pretty light and didn¡¯t hinder his joint movement at all. This was truly a fantasy world, there was just no way on earth to produce armor that didn¡¯t affect movement. True, the weight was still a factor, but it wasn¡¯t on the level where it was truly a concern with this set.
The price was also pretty reasonable, and he walked away with 500 less Gold coins in his pocket. Hopefully this armor would last for a while. It was a good thing Raften had given him 2000 Gold, else he would only have been able to buy a sword, and going into a dungeon without any protection was not a pleasing thought.
As he walked out of the shop he noticed that Verity was dragging her feet and acting forlorn,
¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±
¡°You said we were going to eat after you bought a weapon.¡±
Ah, he did say that, he had forgotten¡she was really taking this pretty hard huh? She looked like a beaten puppy, and not a grown woman.
¡°Sorry, I forgot, let¡¯s go get something to eat.¡±
¡°You¡¯re buying.¡±
¡°I refuse. You have enough money to pay for yourself.¡±
¡°It¡¯s the principle of making a lady wait!¡±
¡
¡
¡
It was at that moment that Crimson realized how well his parents had trained him.
¡°Fine, we¡¯re going somewhere cheap to eat then.¡±
¡°No! I get to pick!¡±
¡°I¡¯m treating you, I get to pick. There¡¯s a good stall on 8th street that serves some good quality meat for a low price.¡±
¡°That¡¯s across town and-,¡± she paused for a second ¡°Is it really delicious?¡±
¡°Dunno, I haven¡¯t really thought about it, and the walk is worth saving the money.¡±
¡°You and money!¡±
It took a while, but Crimson won the argument. He lead Verity to a nearby secret passage -which she acted like was a big deal for some reason- and took a meandering root to 8th street. Fortunately, Verity wasn¡¯t joking when she said that it was on the other side of town, so he benefitted pretty heavily from his time walking.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Mental Mapping IV] > [Mental Mapping V]
Increased sense of direction, ability to remember where previously mapped location are, accuracy of mental maps increased.
Skill Level Up!
[Secret Sensing II] > [Secret Sensing III]
Ability to sense secrets increased to 30%. Instincts will now waver up in the face of a secret.
|
The new bonus to [Secret Sensing] was kinda interesting. When he was standing next to a secret passage he felt a sensation in the base of his skull that was almost imperceptible, unless he was paying attention. When he started paying attention it helped him realize just how many secret passages he had missed, he even discovered another layer of tunnels underneath his traveling layer! He would have gone and explored it immediately, if Verity wasn¡¯t with him pestering him the whole time.
The sad thing of the whole experience was that he and Verity still made it to the stall faster than if they had taken the streets above, traffic was that bad.
As a side note: [Mental Mapping] appeared to be a tier one skill, and [Secret Sensing] appeared to be a tier two. There was also the possibility that he just wasn¡¯t getting any good XP for [Secret Sensing] and it might actually be a tier one, but there wasn¡¯t any real way to test that one.
The arrived at the stall and Crimson was able to buy 12 meat sticks for just 3 copper, what a deal! It still hurt spending the money, but it was necessary. Verity ended up eating eight of them and he ate three. The last one was given to Sherry when they made their way back to the guild to train and practice some more before sunset.
Crimson made sure to take an even more confusing path on the way back and the benefits of it were oh so sweet.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Mental Mapping V] > [Mental Mapping VI]
Accuracy, size, and speed of mapping has increased. Ability to forget mapped areas added.
Skill Level Up!
[Secret Sensing III] > [Secret Sensing IV]
Ability to detect secrets increased to 40%.
Skill Level Up!
[Memorization III] > [Memorization IV]
Memorization Speed increased to 30%.
|
Sweet indeed. He¡¯d discovered a large amount of new passages with the added power of [Secret Sensing], and [Mental Mapping] benefitted greatly from the weird route to get from the stall back to the guild. He was pretty tempted to spend the rest of the day grinding those three skill through exploration, but his current focus was on [Calligraphy], so he¡¯d have to put them off.
Fortunately, he¡¯d remembered to stop at the general store on the way back, and he¡¯d picked up a hundred pieces of paper for a total of 20 Silver. Paper was a pretty expensive commodity, but it was so much cheaper than the scam that Sherry had been running. He¡¯d also picked up a graphite pencil and a wax pencil to add to his collection. The second one was pretty much a black crayon though.
He then spent the rest of the evening until just before sunset working on [Calligraphy], and thanking his lucky stars that he¡¯d learned the [Fire Light] spell, it save him so much on the cost of candles!
|
Spell Level Up!
[Fire Light VIII] > [Firelight IX]
Cast speed reduced from 40% to 45%. MP cost reduced to 1/3.
|
Not that he was really grinding the spell, but it was nice to see it go up. The cost was now small enough that his MP Regen actually out paced the cost of using the spell, so there was no skin of his nose.
|
Skill Level Up!
[Calligraphy VII] > [Calligraphy VIII]
Control over writing implements increased to 30%
|
Overall, it was a very satisfying day. He still had some time left before he had to go, so he spent some time swinging around his [Wayfarer¡¯s Companion] to get used to his new blade. Mars was on the field too, but he ignored Crimson.
He didn¡¯t actually feel too bothered by that, he had just ¡®graduated¡¯ anyway, better to wait and see what¡¯ll happen.
He headed off to bed in the new inn after bidding Verity and Sherry goodnight. The next day would be very important, his first steps if you will.
Chapter 9 (Draft 2)
You brought ruin,
calling it peace.
Agony,
calling it healing.
You seek redemption,
but all you do it sin.
Are you satisfied?
When you wake up,
will you realize
what you¡¯ve done?
As per the norm Crimson was up extremely early, he was excited enough to beat the sun this time, and spent his usual half hour meditating. After he finished meditating in his dark room he held up his hand to cast the [Fire Light] spell so he could see during his morning routine. As he cast the spell he noticed weird blue lines flowing under his skin to his hand.
Once the blue reached his hand it flowed out of his palm and intwined in the air, and formed into the small red orb of [Fire Light]¡What was going on? He recast the spell a few more times and focused entirely on the blue flowing through his arm. Did this happen when he was using it to practice [Calligraphy] too? He was entirely focused on writing, so it was possible.
He quickly formulated a hypothesis about the identity of the blue lines. The only thing he could possibly think of it being would be [Mana], or the [MP] in his body. While his [Blessing] did show in exact numbers how much [MP] he had, he could get a feeling for how much he had by focusing internally on himself.
He¡¯d been especially aware of it during his meditation, but the fact he could SEE something was odd beyond all doubts¡or was it normal? Maybe everyone could see the [MP] or [Mana] as it formed into magic? He¡¯d go ask Verity.
He quickly moved through his morning routine and put on his armor over his usual clothes, they were good enough to act as padding underneath, not great, but good enough.
After he finished he walked downstairs and didn¡¯t see Verity, in fact, most of the inn was empty. The only person was the inn keeper¡¯s daughter. She was standing with folded arms and her head bowed like she was praying or deep in thought, but he could tell that she was actually sleeping. Sleeping on your feet like that? An impressive skill. What was even more impressive was the fact that she woke up the second he got close, and didn¡¯t even act like she¡¯d been sleeping.
¡°Can I help you?¡±
¡°Yeah, what time do most people sleep in to?¡±
¡°Most people sleep till at least 10 in the morning.¡±
¡°Seriously? That¡¯s late!¡±
¡°Well, most adventurers don¡¯t enter a dungeon till about noon or after. Some of the more motivated ones will start at nine.¡±
¡°How lazy!¡±
¡°Most adventurer¡¯s are.¡±
¡°*sigh* and here I wanted to get started as soon as possible.¡±
A chilling glint appeared in the girl¡¯s eyes. ¡°Want me to go wake up your party members?¡±
¡°Member. I only have one other party member, an elf girl with green eyes and gold hair named Verity.¡±
¡°Elf, Green Eyes, Gold Hair, that would be¡room 5. Be right back!¡±
¡°Thanks.¡±
The girl skipped off up the stairs and a few seconds later Crimson heard a loud shriek. She skipped back down the stairs and cheerfully told him,
¡°She¡¯s up now. She¡¯ll be down in a few.¡±
¡°Thanks, I never caught your name.¡±
¡°Melody! Yours?¡±
Social norms in this situation would be¡a compliment then introducing himself?
¡°That¡¯s a nice name you have there, my name is Crimson.¡±
¡°What a weird name.¡±
¡°I think so too, but it¡¯s the one the gods wanted me to have.¡±
One ¡®god¡¯ in particular, but she didn¡¯t need to know that.
¡°The gods? Not your parents?¡±
Crimson felt his smile become wooden and fake, and did his best to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut.
¡°I left my parents rather abruptly, I don¡¯t even know if they still remember me.¡±
¡°Oh¡¡±
It wasn¡¯t a lie, but he got away without answering her question.
Verity chose that excellent time to come down the stairs with a grumpy look on her face. In this case ¡®grumpy¡¯ being the same as ¡®murderous¡¯.
¡°I¡¯m going to kill you!¡±
¡°Not now, we don¡¯t have time for that,¡± he got a tight grip on the back of Verity¡¯s jacket and kept her from leaping over the counter and turned to speak to Mellany¡err Melody, ¡°do you have any food in the back we can buy?¡±
¡°Sure!¡±
She brought out some food from the back, it looked edible, so Crimson didn¡¯t care too much about what it was. He paid 10 Copper for the lot, and split it up into four groups. He gave two of the groups to Verity and told her to eat one of them for breakfast.
She complained to him about starting so early, but he responded by reminding her that she agreed to follow his lead, and just offer advice. She immediately responded by advising him to start later, but he told her that starting early was better. He even listed out several reasons why, and she couldn¡¯t really argue with them. She then mentioned the potential danger of being attacked.
¡®Didn¡¯t they decide that they weren¡¯t going into the dungeon until the people who had attacked Crimson had been caught and all that¡¯. He was kinda surprised that Sherry hadn¡¯t mentioned to Verity that they had been caught, she¡¯d mentioned it to him on his way out of the guild last night.
Grumpily, she gave up the fight and munched on her breakfast as they both headed to the east gate. They showed their adventurer¡¯s card to the guards and were let easily through the gate. After that it was a half-hour jog to the nearby dungeon.
The first part was downhill, no surprise considering Falst was built on a mountain. The second part was along the side of another mountain -there was a steep cliff next to the path- and the third part was up another mountain. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t have to go all the way up to the peak, just half way up. The dungeon entrance was rather well marked with the bright green torches, the stone pillars, and the sign that labeled it as [Goblin¡¯s Retreat].
[Goblin¡¯s Retreat] was one of the three dungeons PUBLICLY owned by the crown -Crimson was inclined to believe that there was at least one other, but he didn¡¯t have any definite proof, more on that later- and was the dungeon that most newbies went to. The other two dungeons were [Slime¡¯s Cavern] and [Haunted Graveyard]. Based purely off the names it was pretty easy to guess the environment of each of these dungeons, but it isn¡¯t possible to use the names to guess the difficulty of the dungeon.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
A dungeon is given a level range to determine the levels of the monsters inside. [Goblin¡¯s Retreat] ranged from Lv.1 to Lv.20, [Slime¡¯s Cavern] ranged from Lv.1 to Lv. 33, and [Haunted Graveyard] ranged from Lv.45 to Lv.100. Because of how broad a level range can be it isn¡¯t possible to properly arrange it into tiers like with adventurers, so just the level range was stated.
When Crimson had learned all of that his first question had been: If both [Goblin¡¯s Retreat] and [Slime¡¯s Cavern] had some crossover in their level range, why is [Goblin¡¯s Retreat] the first pick for most people? The answer: the danger involved.
When faced on a flat field a Lv.1 Goblin will always be stronger than a Lv.1 Slime. They have a better instinct for fighting and have weapons that can deal more damage, but if compared when fighting indoors? The slime becomes far more dangerous.
While slimes lack a goblin¡¯s instinct for direct combat, they are far better at setting ambushes. Waiting on ceilings, walls, in gaps between bricks, everywhere they can. Unprepared adventurers will almost certainly die until they understand what they¡¯re looking for. That was why everyone went to [Goblin¡¯s Retreat] before [Slime¡¯s Cavern]. Not going to [Haunted Graveyard] early was a given.
Crimson and Verity walked through the innocuous cave lined with the green torches until they reached a wall of mist at the end of the cave. There was a guard post at the wall, but the guards only glanced at them for a second before retiring to their sleeping positions once again.
Quite the tight security, Fort Knox would be SOOOOO jealous.
Crimson took a look at Verity and got a nod and grin from her, apparently she was over being forced to get up early. He then equipped his sword, and pushed through the fog wall. It was weird, almost like there was a layer of ice resisting him before it gave way and let him pass through, and his clothes weren¡¯t soaked when he walked out on the other side.
On the other side of the fog wall was a valley in the center was a massive mansion, appropriately sized for a giant. From where he was standing he could see the land dip and rise, see caves and cliff, and see pathways all slowly and meanderingly lead to the mansion in the center. He could see goblins of different sizes and builds wandering in groups along these paths, some were waiting in more wide open areas, while others appeared to be waiting in ambush.
¡°Well, let¡¯s do this!¡±
¡°Yeah, when we get a little further in, I have a question for you about your magic.¡±
¡°I hate to say this, but you know a bit more about magic than I do.¡±
He waved her statement off, ¡°It¡¯s a question you¡¯ll be able to answer.¡±
She looked at him for a long moment then shrugged. ¡°Alrighty then. Now, pick a path O¡¯Leader!¡±
He looked around for a moment, then shrugged and took a path that lead around the edge of the valley, instead of to the mansion. From his research he knew that the higher level monsters appeared more when getting closer to the mansion. Well, high level for a Lv.1 noob like him.
It didn¡¯t take long to reach a wide open area with a single goblin in the center. The funny thing was that these creatures thought they had set a trap. There were actually a total of three of them. Noticing them wasn¡¯t even bragging, they were just so obvious that even a three year old child could have spotted them.
Crimson considered his options for a second, then leaned down and picked up a rock with his right hand and drew his [Wayfarer¡¯s Companion] with his left. He was curious to see how taking damage from a distance would make them react.
He winged the fist sized rock into the oversized head of the ¡®trap¡¯ goblin and waited to see what would happen¡it flinched, and started looking around. Do they have bad eye sight too? Or was he just out of the aggro range?
Crimson signaled Verity to stay put and took a few steps forward. The goblin had stopped looking around and was standing there stupidly again. Clearly, it wanted another rock to the head, and he was happy to oblige. Unfortunately, he missed that throw, and had to try again.
It was a hit that time and the goblin flinched and looked around again. Really? He¡¯d had an idea that goblins were stupid, but this stupid? No way. Maybe it was just that stupid because it was Lv.1? He could only hope.
Crimson considered his new options, and opted to see how close he had to get to aggro the stupid thing. Crimson walked to within ten feet of it and stopped. The goblin finally noticed him! It screamed, pointed, and ran at him. The other two¡didn¡¯t react. Were they too far to see too? They failed in their ambush! You had one job gobs!
Crimson glanced behind him just in case to make sure that there weren¡¯t any goblins sneaking up on him and casually dodged the first strike of the goblin who attacked him. He was starting to see why a beginner would start here, it was possible to kill this thing without training.
He flicked his blade out and scored a critical hit. The goblin¡¯s head separated from it¡¯s body for a second, before the whole thing disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke that was sucked into the ground instead of floating into the air. A few objects dropped onto the ground too.
Crimson double checked to make sure that he wasn¡¯t being attack, then picked them up. There were five items. A tooth, a claw, a *hurk* toenail, its club, and a black orb, the size of his palm.
He threw away the toenail and looked closely at the orb. It looked like obsidian, and he could see some kind of blue symbol glowing in the center. It was interesting looking, but he¡¯d have to wait till later before he could properly investigate, no point in wasting daylight!
¡°Hey Crimson!¡±
He shoved it all in his inventory and turned to Verity who had moved closer.
¡°What¡¯s up?¡±
¡°Let them hit you! I won¡¯t get any XP unless I participate by healing you!¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
A Lv.1 basic goblin would only be able to deal a single hit point of damage against his CON. Not a big deal.
He walked over to the goblin on the left and baited it into attacking him with it¡¯s club. Just to be careful he let it hit only his right arm. He would still be able to fight even if it became unusable in some way.
Well, even if goblins were super weak, it was still not good to underestimate them. These were the most basic goblin type there is, and the weakest as well. The only danger they present is in higher numbers. If Crimson was swarmed by a good twenty or so he would be in serious trouble. Chances of death instantly soar.
After letting it hit him a good twenty times he had Verity heal up all the damage in a single casing of [Lesser Healing]. He could hear her rejoicing in the background as he ended the sad little creature¡¯s life with a quick slash across the throat. He snagged its drops -it dropped the club this time- and moved on to the last one in the area.
He let it hit his arm again a few times, had Verity heal him, and then spent twenty minutes just dodging its attacks. He could have gone for longer, but it collapsed, so he cut its head off and grabbed its drops.
He¡¯d let it attack him so that he could grind [Lesser Evasion]. He¡¯d check the results later, he didn¡¯t want to leave himself too open to being attacked.
Continuing along the path he and Verity reached another group of gobs. This time, instead of baiting them one by one he ran through the group of four to catch their attention. He let one hit his chest then stabbed it in the throat with the dagger while blocking another with his [WC].
Instead of continuing the fight he broke off and backed away, to see what they¡¯d do. Well, they chased him, up to a certain point, then stopped and started looking around. Bingo! He¡¯d found the edge of their aggro range.
He sheathed his dagger and unclipped his katana from his belt and waited till all three gobs had turned around. He slid his sword into its sheath then did his best attempt at Iai. It¡wasn¡¯t very good. Well, that much was to be expected. He¡¯d only casually used it against dummies before, and never in a ¡®serious¡¯ fight.
Even so, for it to be so bad that he didn¡¯t even kill the gob in one hit¡was quite pathetic. Especially for an enemy of this level. Not referencing Lv.1 here mind you, but level of danger.
Well, it did lose an arm, so there was that much at least, but it still wasn¡¯t much. It turned around and screamed at him, but the other two kept walking away¡okay. He had no other choice but to accept how stupid those two gob were. Your friend is back here dying! Are you okay with that?
Well, it was a good opportunity to test something he was curious about since he realized that they had an aggro range. He grabbed the goblin he¡¯d injured with his free hand and dragged it a good ten feet up the path -past Verity who was giving him a weird look- and dropped it to see what would happen.
It immediately scrambled with the unrivaled desperation of a starving fat man at a buffet back into its aggro range - completely ignoring him and Verity. He thought fully walked back into the aggro range of the three goblins and let them attack him. He was actively dodging, but in a three v. one he was unable to dodge every attack, but that just meant it was good practice for Verity.
He also ignored the voice in the back of his head asking him if he was actually taking the lesson Mars had taught him to heart.
After five minutes the first goblin died from blood loss and the whole exercise became much easier for Crimson. The other two fell over and stopped moving after about fifteen minutes beyond that and he easily killed them.
Pick up the drops and move on.
That makes a total of 7XP so far for Crimson. Nice! The first level up should only take 10XP, and since he was letting Verity heal him the whole time she should be just 1XP behind him.
After a few minutes of walking the ground started to slope upwards. A gob tried to jump down at them using the height advantage, but it was alone. Crimson stepped to the side and stuck out a leg and tripped it. Verity used her staff to beat its head in, and they moved on. Amusingly enough, he got XP for that one.
At the peak of the slope they found a cave. There were ten or so gobs hangin out near it, and Crimson decided to bait them out one by one. By moving just slightly into the edge of one of the gobs¡¯ specific aggro range then winging a rock at it he was able to face them one by one. He was able to kill five of them easily with that method before the other five noticed, and grouped up. Surprisingly enough, these ones were a little smarter. Maybe they were Lv.2?
Well, it didn¡¯t matter, both he and Verity had Leveled Up through the whole process, and he felt like he was on top of the world.
*Kekekeke*
¡°Crimson, I don¡¯t like that evil laugh.¡±
Even though he wasn¡¯t stupid enough to charge into the five that had grouped up, he still knew he would win! He-!
¡
¡
For some COMPLETELY unknown reason he felt the ghost of a boot print pressing into his chest. Well, he¡¯d still collect their lovely XP.
Since they¡¯d gone out of their way to group up he was forced to use a hit and run strategy, to reduce any damage he might take. He still made sure to take a hit so that Verity could get some XP, but it ended pretty easily. The gobs had nothing in the way of defense, so a single hit from him was enough to dangerously injure them. No, the problem came AFTER he killed all the gobs.
The problem appeared in the form of some very loud growling from the cave, and the chanting that came after it.
¡°¡±Uh-oh¡±¡± Crimson and Verity spoke in unison.