《Master of All, Jack of None》 Chapter 001 Chapter 001 First but Last? ¡°I will now pass the mic over to the CEO of SID Tec, Mr. Edward Sid Torren.¡± ¡°Thank you, as you all likely know the fantasy life online world also known as Flow is one of the first major full dive virtual reality games promising to truly take the potential of the full immersion V.R system to its limits and beyond, we at SID Tec are thrilled to bring you the live announcing of our year long competition, one year ago when we first announced our competition I was unsure as to how it would be received to be honest, at the time the quality of the V.R games available were suffice to say barely touching on what V.R technology promised it would bring. But after we got some of our beta stage videos out we were bombarded with interest as well as applications to our competition.¡± The man at the podium pauses for a moment to take a drink and clear his throat before continuing. ¡°As you know in just a moment five lucky people will win our custom made V.R helmet, made specially with the comfort of our winners in mind with extra padding and neck support, our winners will be able to play longer and harder without having to worry about getting up with a neck cramp as was the case with the early models that were available when the helmets were first released. Each helmet is also signed by all the staff here at SID Tec, wishing our winners the best of luck and grand adventures in the world we¡¯ve created.¡± From the side of the stage a women in a sparkling black low cut dress walks up to the man and hands him a small stack of envelops before then taking a step towards the backdrop. ¡°Now before I read out our winners I feel there is something I should clarify, as you know six months after the competitions announcement we released information that the prize was not only the helmet and two years free subscription to Flow, but that our winners would also receive the option to take up one of five one of a kind character classes to play, this caused a lot of anger on the forums and so I will tell you now, while yes, these classes are one of a kind and hold unique skills and events that only they will receive, however each class still has its drawbacks, we¡¯ve paid close attention to making sure each one stays balanced, if compared to classes that are available they will be on equal footing with the highest ranked hidden classes, and just like the hidden classes in Flow our winners will have to learn the secrets of their class themselves.¡± The man gives a grin. ¡°Now then, the moment you¡¯ve been waiting for, for this completion we had our applicants fill out a number of questions as well as give us a small story about their lives and why they think they deserve to win, needless to say we had a very hard time sorting through so many applications but in the end we knew only five could win and so here they are, starting from our fifth place winner¡­¡± The crowd is silent as the man opens the envelope and leans towards the microphone. ¡°In fifth place is Michal Darion.¡± There is only silence as the man opens each envelope and calls out each name. ¡°In fourth place, Lisa Everet¡­ In third place, Henry Wicker¡­. In second place¡­¡± In a small room surrounded by white walls a young boy looking no more than eleven or twelve years old sat up in his bed with his eyes glued to the TV as names were called out one after the other, beside him were several nurses and a doctor who also watched the TV with breaths held. ¡°In second place, Sera Loris.¡± The boy let out a defeated sigh and flopped back onto the hospital bed, the nurses and doctor looking to him with sad but soft smiles, the nurse sitting beside him took his hand gently ¡°Don¡¯t worry Ren, you¡¯re still going to get one anyway even without winning one of those.¡± Ren smiled to her, that soft smile and eyes that had been filled with hope just moments ago though were now crestfallen almost brought her to tears ¡°Awww, come here Ren honey.¡± She leaned over the bed and gave him a big hug which caused him to blush, she always seemed to enjoy pressing her large bust against him when she hugged him, all the nurses did though to. ¡°..Haddon, so once again our five lucky winners are, Michal Darion, Lisa Everet, Henry Wicker, Sera Loris and Ren Haddon. My most heartfelt congratulations goes out to all of you and I very much look forward to seeing what you accomplish in game.¡± The man then stepped down from the stage, disappearing from view despite the sudden onslaught from reporters asking questions. Stolen story; please report. Ren was now staring at the TV with a stunned expression, as was the nurse that clung to him ¡°I¡­ I won?...¡± He blinked several times as the information began to register in his mind ¡°I won¡­ I WON!?!?¡± He jumped up and hugged the nurse closest to him tight ¡°I won I won I won I won!¡± The nurses and doctor had never seen him so thrilled before but as happy as the doctor was for him he was concerned. ¡°Ren you need to calm down before¡­¡± His warning was to late though, Ren fell into a sudden coughing fit and collapsed onto the bed, flecks of blood coating the sheets as he coughed into them beyond his control and then passed out. ¡°REN!!¡± the two nurses and doctor called out at the same time. A whole two weeks had passed before the young boy finally regained consciousness and slowly sat up in his bed, what had happened wasn¡¯t an uncommon occurrence, he looked around the room and shakily he slipped from the bed to make his way to the bathroom, plucking various monitoring patches from his body in the process, after reliving himself he stopped in front of the mirror and stared at himself, looking back at him was a boy that looked not much older than eleven or twelve years old, to sum up his looks in one word would be ¡®cute¡¯ short light blond hair covered his head and a pair of silvery blue eyes peered back at him from the reflection as he let out a sigh. ¡°You have to control yourself more Ren, you''re seventeen but still act like a little kid¡­¡± He sighed again and headed back to his bed slowly and crawled back under the sheets to sleep a bit more knowing the nurses would check on him soon enough and seeing he¡¯d taken the monitor pads off would know he woke up and prepare something to eat for him. Down the hall a doctor was on the phone to the secretary of the CEO of SID Tec. ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve received the package but as I¡¯ve already explained he can¡¯t login yet due to medical reasons, you¡¯ll just have to let the others pick and leave him with the last one, it¡¯s unfortunate but I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll be to upset about it, he¡¯s an understanding child¡­. Yes¡­yes that¡¯s fine, once he wakes and we feel he¡¯s ready I¡¯ll give you a call when he¡¯s about to login¡­ yes.. thank you.¡± The doctor hands up the phone and sighs ¡°Poor kid, I wonder how he¡¯ll take the news...¡± Ren laid in bed asleep, his body though would twitch every so often, his brow furrowed as he dreamed of the past, the past he desperately wished to forget but it would never let him. Images of his abusive parents flashed through his mind, large needles waved before him as they injected him with god only knows what kind of drugs which in the end caused his growth to stop and left his body weakened to point of near death until a drug raid by the police finally freed him from that hell. But always he would have dreams about his parents waving needles in front of him and needless to say he had an extreme fear of needles now. He awoke in a cold sweat, eyes wide and darting around the room which quickly fell upon the nurse that stood at his side with a worried look on her face ¡°Another dream Ren?¡± Ren gave a light nod to which he received a gentle hug from the nurse ¡°You''re ok now honey, your safe here.¡± The nurse ruffled his hair lightly and smiled to him ¡°Think you can get something down?¡± Ren just smiled and nodded, the nurse then pulling over a tray of food and sat there watching as he ate. Just as he was finishing the doctor walked in and smiled seeing Ren awake ¡°Ren, glad to see you with us again.¡± He had the nurse shuffle aside so he could take a seat beside Ren ¡°I¡¯ve got some good news and bad news for you though Ren. The good news is that a few days ago we received your V.R helmet.¡± Rens eyes lit up like fireworks at this causing the doctor to chuckle ¡°Now now, calm down, the bad news I¡¯m afraid is that we can¡¯t let you login just yet, I¡¯ve already contacted SID Tec and they understand the situation, if you can go a week without a relapse then I¡¯ll let you login ok?¡± Ren nodded, he knew well enough that he didn¡¯t have a choice but also that it was for his own well being.¡±Good boy.¡± The doctor smiled but then sighed ¡°There¡¯s one other thing as well, though you won first place SID Tec couldn¡¯t hold off on letting the other winners pick their classes, the date for the class selections was yesterday.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for Ren to comprehend the doctors words ¡°It''s ok, I understand, I couldn¡¯t ask the others to wait a week till I recover.¡± He grins ¡°I bet I¡¯ve been left with some weird class but I¡¯ll show them it¡¯s the best out of the lot.¡± The doctor chuckled and ruffled Ren¡¯s hair (Everyone seems to enjoy doing that to him) ¡°Well then we¡¯ll have to get things setup in here so you can go kick some butt in another world even if you came first but last.¡± Chapter 002 Chapter 002 Last isn¡¯t a bad thing¡­ right? A few days before Ren would be allowed to login to the Flow servers an official opening event was broadcast on the internet and TV, four of the five winners are present of course as the guest stars of the opening. Ren let out a sigh as he watched ¡°I should be up there to¡­¡± But he had to follow the doctor¡¯s orders. Standing at the top of a flight of stairs that led up into what looked to be a grand tower was the four winners along with the SID Tec CEO and his assistant, the reporter seemed more interested in the winners currently however. ¡°For privacy reasons I won¡¯t ask you by your real names but won¡¯t you tell us your character name and what you¡¯ve learned so far about the one of a kind class you picked?¡± The first one to step forward was a young looking man perhaps in his early twenties, his character looked like your typical ¡®Hero¡¯ shining black hair and deep sea blue eyes, the avatar had obviously been edited a lot at creation ¡°Hello everyone, my character name is Tristan and my class is Heroic Prince.¡± He let out an award winning smile and winked at some of the girls at the front row audience causing cheers and squeals of delight to come from them. Ren rolled his eyes ¡°Come on, how much of a playboy are you? And Heroic Prince? Urk even if I was there to make the first pick I don¡¯t think I could pick something with that name.¡± The reporter on the screen grinned slightly at the cry from the crowed, waiting for it to die down a little before asking his next question ¡°Heroic Prince, sounds like a class with a lot of bonuses.¡± Tristan grinned at that ¡°Yeah, while I¡¯ve only had a few days to play with it so far it seems the class as high affinity for a combination of swords and magic, and as you might guess from the name I get special treatment from nobles and royalty, my first day playing I was invited by the king to attend a banquet in honour of my arrival.¡± Under the live stream on his computer Ren could see the live chat being filled with a variety of comments from envious watchers, some comments wished him luck while others¡­ not so much. ¡°Interesting, we shall look forward to seeing videos of your exploits on the Flow BBS, and so next we have?¡± The reporter looks to the girl next in the line who steps forward. Like Tristan the girl looked completely altered to look like she was winner of the miss universe pageant ¡°Hi everyone! I¡¯m Selene and my class is the Mistress of Dance.¡± With that she drew out a long thin bladed sword called a rapier, often used in fencing and suddenly performed a dance at the top of the stairs, twirling, bending and swaying as the blade fought an invisible opponent, each step she took seemed to let off sparks from her feet and with a final heavy stomp as she finished a set of fireworks set off up from behind her. Causing the crowed to applause loudly ¡°My class is something like a sword dancer, my dances have different effects as I fight.¡± She bowed and blew kisses to the crowed. Ren watched her with an almost shocked expression ¡°No¡­ way¡­ am.. I ¡­ dancing¡­¡± He sighed with relief that such a class wasn¡¯t left for him. ¡°That was amazing.¡± The reporter clapped along with the crowed before moving onto the third person who stepped forward without needed to be prompted. ¡°Hello everyone.¡± This girl also had been ¡®touched up¡¯ to look like a stunning beauty though her attitude seemed more humble then the first two as she bowed to the crowed, her hood falling off to reveal her long blond hair and elfin ears causing wolf whistles to fly from the crowed causing her to blush ¡°u..umm.. ¡° she tried to speak but the wolf calls continued and some men in the crowed called out some rather vulgar remarks, almost instantly you could see the vein pop out on the girls forehead ¡°SHUT IT YOU PERVERTS!¡± She blinked then and quickly reverted to her shy nature ¡°u..umm.. I¡¯m Lara and my class is Sage of Ages. I don¡¯t know much about it yet but I think I can use all kinds of magic and even combine some that normal mages cant.¡± She bowed again and shuffled back into her spot with a blush. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Ren was stunned as much as the crowed was ¡°Split personality?... or just a psycho¡­¡± He shrugged to himself . ¡°The class sounds neat though but mages tend to always have a lot of weaknesses, but the classes special traits might make up for that to a degree. The reporter shook his head as he regained his composure ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s interesting Lara.. thank you for sharing.. err.. next we have?¡± The last winner stepped forward it was obvious enough that his class was of a darker nature given the black leather armour he wore and hood that covered his face completely ¡°I have no intention of sharing information about myself or my class¡­¡± With that he stepped back into the line. The reported just stood there for a moment before the last winners words registered in his mind ¡°Err¡­ right.. that¡¯s fair enough.. so!¡± Quickly recovering his composure he stepped back to Tristan ¡°Tristan, as I understand it the first place winner Ren Haddon was unable to make it to the class selection due to medical reasons and likewise is unable to attend the opening today, as the person that should have gotten the first pick of the classes do you think he¡¯ll be happy with the class that¡¯s remaining out of the five one of a kind classes?¡± Ren leaned forward and listened intently now. Tristan let out a chuckle ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be thrilled to know he¡¯s getting a class that¡¯s more useless then even a base warrior class.¡± He sniggers and the other three likewise gave there own chuckles. This left the reporter perplexed ¡°Is that so? Can you tell us the name of the class that was left?¡± At that point though the CEO that had been standing in the back ground the whole time with a scowl on his face at the conduct of the four winners stepped forward. ¡°That information is confidential unless the winner Ren Haddon himself wishes it to be known, but I can assure Ren that being last isn¡¯t a bad thing.¡± He smiled to the camera. ¡°I see, well then that concludes our interviews of the opening ceremony for Flow, we look forward to seeing everyone¡¯s adventures on the BBS so be sure to post your grand adventures there weather big or small!¡± Ren closed the live feed and then idly scrolled through the chat, he could have kept watching as some of the world was revealed but he didn¡¯t want to spoil the surprise, he¡¯d be there in a few days himself after all. As he scrolled through the chat he found that most of the winners seemed to receive bad comments, half no doubt from the simple fact that they had a class that no one else would ever get to play and the other was from their bad attitudes and most seemed to assume that the missing first place winner would be much the same ¡°What do they know¡­¡± He sighed ¡°It¡¯ll probably be best to just remain unknown kinda like that black hooded guy¡­. But I wonder what my class is? Tristan seemed to think it was a rather crappy class¡­¡± The words from the CEO though that seemed to try and reassure him that is wasn¡¯t did little to comfort him as he slipped back into bed. ¡°Being last isn¡¯t a bad thing¡­ right¡­.¡± Later that day¡­. Edward sat at his desk shuffling papers as his assistant entered the room ¡°Sir you wished to see me?¡± ¡°Ah yes, after that opening ceremony it seems that we may have made a mistake in picking those brats, we should have done a more in depth investigation.¡± He sighed and rubbed his forehead ¡°A playboy, a show off, a girl with anger management issues and a boy that is completely antisocial. Not only that but they had the nerve to call that class useless.¡± He growled ¡°Ren Haddon should be ready to play in a few days time, when he logs in I want you there to assess him, if he seems good enough then I¡¯ll revert that class back to its original design.¡± He smirks ¡°That¡¯ll show those other punks.. in time.¡± He looks down at a paper on his desk, tapping it idly ¡°Ren my boy, if what¡¯s written on your application is right unlike those other phonies then you¡¯re going to have the time of your life with this last ¡®useless¡¯ class¡­ if you persevere with it¡± Chapter 003 Chapter 003 First day in a new world Finally it was time, the agonizing week of doing nothing but browsing forums and reading comments about a game he had waiting for him was at an end, after scoffing his breakfast down to the amusement of the watching nurse another nurse and a doctor walked in carrying a large box and set it on the bed. Even the box for the custom V.R Helmet looked fancy, carefully he opened it and pulled out the helmet, along with the cables and instructions that went with it. Minutes passed as he browsed the small instruction manual and ran the helmet through its testing and adjustment phase, altering the padding inside the helmet to fit his head comfortably and then doing the initial body scans and mind link tests, the nurses had also hooked the helmet up to the TV so they could watch his first day, it would also help with monitoring him to make sure his body or mind rather could handle being linked into a V.R world. Laying down Ren got himself comfortable in his bed and slipped the V.R helmet on, looking to the nurses and doctor who smiled at him and nodded he pulled the visor down and closed his eyes. ¡°Flow Login Start.¡± For a moment it felt as though he¡¯d passed out, but a voice called out around him ¡°New user detected, starting orientation.¡± Suddenly he was surrounded by white and for a moment he thought he was back in the hospital but there was nothing else in the room¡­ no it wasn¡¯t even a room just an endless field of white that went on as far as he could see. ¡°Please follow the directions indicated.¡± A small yellow arrow appeared on the ground at his feet, it was a strange feeling, he knew for a fact that he was lying in bed yet he was standing here in this expanse of white, it felt so real. Somewhat timidly he started to walk forward following the arrow, as he walked more appeared and gradually the instructions changed asking him to sprint or jump, after running his way through a small obstacle course he came to a stop ¡°please wait here as your guide logs in.¡± Ren was almost speechless ¡°This¡­this is amazing! I¡¯ve never been able to run so much ever!¡± ¡°Since you¡¯re not yet in game the stamina system isn¡¯t in effect, technically you could run forever and never run out of breath.¡± A voice from behind made Ren jump and spin around, behind him stood a woman that looked to be in her mid twenties, she wore a business suit that hugged her body rather tight, the top two buttons were open to show off her ample cleavage. Pushing her glasses up to look at him a pink tinge seemed to start forming on her cheeks. ¡°You are Ren Haddon correct?¡± Ren simply nodded ¡°Hmm.. strange I was sure the character creation was turned off for you, did you already pick a halfling type race?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Ren looked down at himself, his body seemed to have been copied fully into the system and shook his head ¡°no¡­ this is how I look in real life.¡± He looks to the woman confused. The light pink tinge on the woman¡¯s cheeks only seemed to deepen ¡°Really? How old are you if you don¡¯t mind my asking?¡± Ren was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable, as though he was suddenly being hunted by something ¡°uh¡­umm.. s..seventeen¡­ the doctors say I have some kind of growth impediment¡­ for various reasons¡­ and that I¡¯ll likely never grow any older then I currently look¡­¡± He was about to say something more but was cut off as the woman dashed at him with a squeal of delight and hugged him tight to her ample chest ¡°Eeeeeeeee! Such a cutie!¡± She couldn¡¯t hold back any longer, she just had to smother the adorable looking boy. Ren could have sworn he heard one of the nurses shouting something and smacking the TV screen back in the hospital room as he was smothered into the chest of the business woman who turned out to be attracted to cute young looking men. Ren flailed his arms about wildly as his air supply was cut off by two soft mounds of flesh, it was a cross between heaven and hell. Though now that he thought about it he didn¡¯t actually need to breath here did he? His flailing finally got her attention and she quickly backed off with a deep crimson blush ¡°ah.. Sorry!¡± despite her words she still eyed him like a hungry predator which made him blush as well. With a cough the regains some of her composure and straightens her back ¡°Ok then! First of all welcome to Flow!¡± She beams a smile at Ren and then turns her attention to something on her right, lifting her hand she seems to tap at something in the air ¡°Right first up let¡¯s get your character sorted, have you thought about what race you want to pick?¡± Her eyes seem to light up and before he can answer she continues ¡°You really should take one of the Halfling races, you¡¯d suit it perfectly, ohh an elfling!¡± She pressed some buttons and in front of Ren appeared a copy of himself but with a set of elf ears protruding from the side of his head. ¡°Look look! You¡¯re a perfect match, you don¡¯t even need to make any changes to your appearance apart from the ears.. oh maybe just change the hair style a little.¡± She pressed some more of the invisible buttons in front of her and the hairstyle of the elfling Ren changed to a soft fluffed feathered style that just cried out to be touched ¡°Yes!, that¡¯s it.¡± The woman could barely contain herself ¡°Ahhh, to be able to embrace such a cute boy.¡± She hugged herself tight with her eyes closed as she seemed to image the scene in her mind. Almost a minute seemed to pass as she was lost in her day dream, her eyes shooting open ¡°ah!¡± she looked around and saw Ren staring at her bewildered ¡°Hehe, sorry, what do you think? It''s good right? It¡¯ll be a lot easier to adapt to movements in the game to if you keep the body the same as your real body.¡± She really was pushing to have her way, Ren just sighed and nodded, he did have to admit an elfling version of himself really was cute. With a few more button presses the model vanished and Ren glowed for a moment as the changes were applied to him, his clothes also changed from what he was wearing during the scan in his room to a set of basic clothes, a loose white shirt and a pair of brown pants ¡°Hehe, the basic clothes really suit you to, but I bet you¡¯ll look cute in any clothing.¡± The woman winked at him playfully causing Ren to blush. ¡°So then all that¡¯s left is to give you your class and send you off, as you probably know we unfortunately had to let the other winners take their pick of the classes since you couldn¡¯t make it and so were left with this class.¡± She seemed to push something towards him and in front of him a small window appeared.
New class available! Artificer ar-tif-i-cer 1. A skilled worker; a craftsperson 2. One that contrives, devises, or constructs something A long forgotten craftsman class that many underestimate The Artificer is a craftsman that uses knowledge from all known crafts to create truly unique items, weapons and armours Will you accept this class?
Ren¡¯s first reaction was a sigh of relief ¡°Thank gods it doesn¡¯t have a weird name like the others, I think I would have cried if it was called something like the ¡®princely dancing painter¡¯...¡± This brought a giggle from the woman. ¡°I¡¯ll have to agree with you there, a couple of the class names were a bit out there, so what do you think?¡± Ren read the rest of the description and smiles, being cooped up in a hospital room and being unable to run around as he pleased he took up a lot of handicraft hobbies like making model ships and planes, he had even tried his hand at sewing, the nurses were delighted at the scarfs he had knitted for them at Christmas. ¡°It¡¯s awesome!¡± He grinned up at the woman who smiled back at him. ¡°Mr Torren had a feeling you would, and because of that as a little bonus and as an apology from SID Tec for being unable to give you the first pick we¡¯ve made a few changes to the class. You¡¯ll find a lot of neat things hidden within this class that weren¡¯t going to be in there.¡± Ren¡¯s eyes practically sparkled up at her, the sheer excitement pulsing from his aura was driving her cute¡¯o¡¯meter to bursting point ¡°One more thing you¡¯ll need to know though, due to the special class you won¡¯t be able to pick your stat increases when you level up, each level they will be allocated automatically, this is to ensure your characters rise up properly as due to their rare nature the stats they use are a little different than others and there will never be a help guide for allocating them in the right areas for you. Of course you can still raise your stats individually by doing various activities in game, I even heard night activities can boost stamina and dexterity.¡± She lets out a small squeal and cups her cheeks as she blushes and looks at Ren adoringly. Ren was now scared stiff of the woman and edged back away from her ever so slightly. ¡°Ok! That¡¯s everything then! Good luck!¡± She lost control and pounced at him with that, giving him a big hug and burying his face in her cleavage once again before he vanished as he was taken into the game. ¡°Hehe, I¡¯ll have to get my own character ready and find him in game¡­.¡± Ren blinked as light enveloped him and for a few minutes nothing seemed to happen, but slowly sounds began to emerge, people chatting, the bustle of fast paced steps moving by, birds chirping. Gradually his vision came into focus on a tall structure before him, he recognised it from the live feed a few days ago, it was the building they held the opening ceremony at, wide eyed he looked all around him, the world felt so real, the sight the sounds and even the crisp clean air and smell of fresh baked bread from a nearby stall. A small bell like sound rang in his ears as a window popped up before him.
System Requirement! The Flow system has detected you have your race and class set, before you begin your journey though you still need a name! Please enter you name below
¡°Ah!¡± Ren blinked as a small Keyboard appeared in front of him, he thought for a moment before shrugging and entering his own name ¡®Ren¡¯
System Confirmation! You have selected the name ¡®Ren¡¯ Please speak your name clearly to confirm
¡°Ren.¡± He spoke it as clearly as he could and the window displayed a ¡®thank you Ren¡¯ message before vanishing. Looking around him once again Ren really had no idea on where he should start and with a shrug he started to wander around Aurora ¡®the city of beginnings¡¯ to learn his way around. Aurora had several districts to it he learned in his exploring of the city, the market district where the majority of shops were located ranging from arms and armor to items and accessories and food stalls, there was even empty stalls where players could set up shop for a time if they paid a small renters fee, while you could certainly just take a seat on the side of the road and try to sell your items that would leave the chance for thievery, where as the shop stalls were enchanted to prevent items on display from being stolen. ¡°Huh, no players seem to be using the stalls though, maybe crafting isn¡¯t that popular?¡± Ren shrugged and wandered off to the next district. The leisure district was a hive of activity, it felt almost like a theme park in some regards. Stalls lined the streets with npc¡¯s challenging players to various games with the chance to win prizes, the largest tavern in the city was also located in this district where players could logout safely and when they log back in they would receive a small ¡®well rested¡¯ xp boost for an amount of time. The leisure district also had some back alleys where more ¡®adult¡¯ leisure¡¯s could be found though only those that had their age verified could access such areas. Ren would have to wait a year still before he could explore back there¡­. Not that he was interested of course. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The next area was the housing district, there wasn¡¯t alot in this district aside from a number of empty housing plots with signs in the front yard stating prices for the plots, since the game was barely a week old no one of course had been able to afford a house yet but Ren had no doubt that within a couple month this area would become packed. The idea of having his own house in the game seemed neat to him but he didn¡¯t want a house in the starter city when there were so many places to explore out there still. The next district was the artesian district where all the various crafting halls were located, the npc smiths, tailors, carpenters and other various crafters were all hard at work crafting their masterpieces, Player activity in this area seemed rather low though ¡°I guess not many are interested in crafting?¡± Ren wandered over to watch one of the tailors as she made a dress inside her small shop. After watching for a few minutes the tailor spotted him watching her and smiled waving him inside to which he followed. ¡°Hello there dear, what¡¯s a little one like you doing running about on your own?¡± The woman seemed kind but her words hit a sore spot for Ren ¡°I¡¯m an adventure and I¡¯m not a little one I¡¯m an elfling.¡± He pointed to his ears to show that he wasn¡¯t a kid ¡°Oh my, so you are, I¡¯m sorry.¡± She smiled to him, the term ¡®adventurer¡¯ was how npc¡¯s identified players, they were an existence that was seen by them as being outsiders or abnormal beings with rare abilities, her fingers never stopped their work on her dress though as she looked to him ¡°What brings you to this old lady¡¯s store today?¡± Ren smiled up at her ¡°I¡¯m interested in learning various crafts.¡± The woman seemed to perk up at hearing this ¡°Is that so? Well it just so happens that I just received an order not long ago for coin pouches, they are quite simple to make but I must finish this dress before tomorrow so I simply don¡¯t have time, if I show you how to make them do you think you would be able to make about ten of them for me dear?¡±
Quest! Sally the seamstress has to many requests to fill and would like your help Difficulty ¨C F Requirements Sew ten coin pouches of adequate quality by the end of the day Bonuses may be received depending on the quality of the pouches turned in Rewards 50 xp 10 copper Affinity gain with the artesian district npc¡¯s
Ren blinked, a quest! He nodded eagerly ¡°I¡¯d love to help!¡± This brought a soft chuckle from the woman and she set down the dress she was working on to stand and fetches some items, setting them on a small chair. ¡°What¡¯s your name by the way dear?¡± ¡°Ah, I¡¯m Ren, it¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± He smiled ¡°What a well mannered young man, I¡¯m Sally the seamstress. Now then, watch carefully.¡± Unrolling a small amount of some basic looking fabric she placed down a circular template and cut around leaving her with a circle of cloth which she then sat down and began to sew the edges over to create a string hole along the edge and finally threaded a piece of leather strap through the hole and pulled it tight to form the pouch ¡°It¡¯s a very quick and easy way of making a pouch, while there are other methods of course but for a young tailor this is the best method to start with.¡± She smiled to him and set the materials down, stepping aside to give him accesses to it as she moved back to her dress.
New Recipe! You have learned how to make a basic coin pouch from cloth
Ren wasted no time in setting to work, he first used the template to cut out the ten circular pieces of cloth, making sure he kept each cut out as close to the next as he could to minimise waste of the bolt of cloth and then set about sewing the lace hole¡¯s along the edges of the pouches, with his experience from sewing in real life he had no trouble at all with pouches and finished them off with threading the leather strap through the hole of the pouch to pull it closed at the top, with the aid of the system he got through the crafting in about thirty minutes real time, he guessed that he could do it quicker if he had higher skill in sewing and tailoring. With a satisfied sigh he sat back and examined his ten completed pouches.
Coin Pouch This coin pouch was made by a novice tailor it¡¯s of a good quality¡­. But it¡¯s still just a coin pouch.
¡°Eh¡­ what¡¯s with that comment?¡± Ren blinked as two more windows appeared before him.
Skill Gain! Bag Craft level 1 Beginner (10%) For completing ten coin pouches without missing a stitch you¡¯ve gained the sub skill Bag Craft
¡°Sub skill?¡± Ren tilted his head curiously, he¡¯d yet to have even look at his stats. ¡°Show status.¡±
Status
[quart=Name,level]Ren,1[/quart][quart=Gender,Class]Male,Artificer[/quart][quart=Race,Fame/Infamy]Elfling,0 (Neutral)[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]100,100[/quart][quart=Strength,Dexerity]10,10[/quart][quart=Vitality,Agility]10,10[/quart][quart=Endurance,Intelligence]10,10[/quart][quart=Luck,Wisdom]10,10[/quart]
Title
None
¡°Mmm.. nothing of note there..¡± Ren gazed over his stats, all classes and races started with a base set of ten on all stats, this was to ensure people picked the race and class they actually wanted and not make their choices based on what would be the ¡®strongest¡¯ ¡°Show skills¡­.¡± What appeared before Ren was a rather complex looking window it seems he had beginner rank in all base crafting skills but what intrigued him was the sub skill listings of which he only had ¡®Bag Craft¡¯ currently which showed itself as being linked to both tailoring and leatherwork. ¡°Help sub skills.¡±
Help Guide Sub Skills Sub skills are skills inside of a main skill with a more specific area of focus for example A swords man will have his main sword skill Swordsmanship Level 1 (Beginner 10%) With training he may gain a sub skill inside the swordsmanship skill Slash level 1 (Beginner 0%) A ¡®Slash¡¯ is a basic attack movement for a sword but by raising the sub skill a single ¡®Slash¡¯ of the swordsman¡¯s blade will be faster and more deadly than a ¡®Thrust¡¯ Some sub skills will cross link between two or more main skills ¡®Slash¡¯ would be linked to ¡®Swordsmanship¡¯ as well as the ¡®Axeman¡¯ skill Or ¡®Thrust¡¯ would be linked to ¡®Swordsmanship¡¯ and the ¡®Spearman¡¯ skill By levelling sub skills the skills they link to also become stronger and more effective. In the case of crafting it¡¯s the same concept except the sub skills hold a focus on more specific items that can be crafted A ¡®Blacksmith¡¯ may gain the sub skill of ¡®Dagger forging¡¯ which in turn can be linked to a ¡®leather workers¡¯ ¡®Grip Craft¡¯ sub skill By training both sub skills and main skills the item produced will be of a far greater quality with a stronger blade and firm grip
¡°Wow¡­ this is really complex¡­¡± Ren''s eyes sparkled at this information, such a complex and deep system opened so many opportunities ¡°So that means my ¡®Bag craft¡¯ sub skill is linked to tailoring and leatherworking¡­so if I train it I¡¯ll be able to make bags that can carry more than normal maybe?¡± as he pondered this he didn¡¯t notice the tailor had stood up and was now inspecting the pouches he made, making him jump a little when she spoke out. ¡°My my, these are well made, you didn¡¯t miss a single stitch, I can¡¯t pay you anymore then I offered though since they are just pouches but I¡¯ll be sure to let the others know we have a promising young man walking the path of a craftsman.¡± She smiled softly to Ren and handed over the promised coins which he slipped away into his own pouch he had started with. ¡°Thank you very much Sally, I hope I can learn more from you again soon.¡± He gave a light bow and smiled brightly up at her as she waved him off.
Quest Complete! You completed Sally¡¯s order in time and with near perfect results Received 50 xp 10 coppers + Affinity with artesian districts npc¡¯s Dexterity +1 for nimbly using your fingers to sew without errors
¡°Awesome!¡± Ren yipped as he left the tailors workshop and headed off to the Inn to logout, his first day in a new world had come to an end.
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Chapter 004 Chapter 004 The restrictions Ren could only spend a few hours a day logged into Flow due to his health, but he didn¡¯t mind, the doctor had said that if he can improve his health he¡¯ll let him spend more time in game which perked up Ren¡¯s eagerness to attend the rehabilitation sessions to build up his physical strength to a normal level. The nurses were delighted as well having never seen Ren so happy before though they did scold him a little after he logged out for the first time, telling him to stay away from the clinging assistant women he met when he first logged in. He doubted he would see her again anyway as he settled into his bed and slipped his V.R helmet on. ¡°Flow Login Start.¡± The login was quicker than last time now, perhaps because the system had adjusted to his brainwave patterns or some such he figured as he found himself standing in the street of the artesian district, as soon as he took his first step his stomach growled and a small indicator appeared in his vision showing his character¡¯s hunger level was almost empty. He hadn¡¯t touched his starter items yet and quickly summoned his inventory ¡°Open inventory.¡± A window popped up before him and he selected one of ten bread rolls he¡¯d started with, shoving it in his mouth and chewing as he scrolled through his inventory to see what he¡¯d actually started with.
Inventory Coin Pouch (60c/0s/0g/0p) 9 Bread Rolls Water skin (100% Full) Crude Iron Dagger Set of basic villager clothes (equipped)
¡°That¡¯s it huh¡­ hmm there are four different coins? Show coin pouch inventory.¡±
Coin Pouch This is your basic coin pouch, it holds no protective enchantments to prevent theft, coins will automatically change to the next grade when enough are collected 60 Copper 0 Silver 0 Gold 0 Platinum
¡°Hmm.. if it¡¯s anything like other games it¡¯ll be 100 of the previous coin to make a single coin of the next grade, if it goes into a coin past gold then I guess things will get pretty expensive in time. Closing the windows he looked around the street, he could see a few people that looked like players but it still seemed the artesian district was being rather ignored by most. With a shrug he decided to head for the smithy to see if he could learn a bit from there. Upon entering the forge he was greeted by a large burly man wearing only pants gloves and a heavy duty apron ¡°Oi kid, don¡¯t be poking your nose around me forge, you¡¯ll burn yourself.¡± ¡°Ah, sorry sir.. I didn¡¯t mean to get in your way.. I was actually hoping that you might have time to teach me a little about using a forge?¡± The man gave a grunt and looked Ren over for a moment ¡°No chance kid, you¡¯d barely be able to lift a hammer let alone swing it enough times to forge a blade.¡± Ren felt his anger rise at this ¡°First of all I¡¯m not a kid, I¡¯m Ren and I¡¯m an elfling, second of all don¡¯t you think it¡¯s rude to base someone¡¯s abilities just from a glance?¡± The smith¡¯s brow rose at the sudden outburst ¡°That may be so kid, but this is my forge and what I say goes.¡± At his words a window appeared before Ren
Attention! Higher affinity with the artisan district npc¡¯s is required for this quest.
Ren sighed at this and politely excused himself from the smiths forge and stepped back out into the street ¡°Guess I need to find one of the other workshops to get a quest and raise my intimacy with the local npc¡¯s.¡± He spent the next hour roaming the street, poking his head into various workshops from which all he still received the message that he wasn¡¯t liked enough until he came upon the apothecary. He stepped upto the counter with a smile and introduced himself to the man that sat behind it grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle ¡°Hello sir, my names Ren, I¡¯ve just recently arrived in this city and I¡¯ve been going door to door hoping to pick up some odd jobs to earn a few coppers and maybe pick up some skills along the way.¡± The old man at the counter pushed up his glasses to glance down at Ren ¡°Ho oh, is that so young man? It¡¯s good to see the young ones being pro active in seeking out a living, even more so to be looking for proper work in the city rather than those that go gallivanting around the country looking for adventure and getting themselves killed in the process. It just so happens that I could use the help of strapping young lad like yourself, I¡¯ve an order of healing potions I need to get made before the end of the day but I¡¯m nearly out of one of the herbs I need, if you can go out and gather twenty of them for me I¡¯d be much obliged.¡±
Quest! The old man in the apothecary needs herbs to finish making his potions Difficulty ¨C F Requirements Collect twenty of them and deliver them to him before the end of the day Bonus rewards may be gained if you deliver more than the requested amount Rewards 50xp 15 Copper Affinity gain with the artisan district npc¡¯s
Ren nodded happily ¡°I¡¯d be glad to assist you sir, could you show me what the herb looks like and where I might find them?¡± The old man nodded and picked up a small bundle of herbs handing him a small almost weed like plant from it ¡°Take this one with you so you can recognise it, they grow often around the base of the trees in the open plains just outside the west gate of the city, be careful not to wander into the forest though lad, I hear wolfs often lurk along the tree line waiting for easy prey to get close enough.¡± Ren took the herb and examined it closely before putting it in his inventory and nodded to the old man¡¯s words ¡°I¡¯ll be careful sir, I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± He smiles and waves before heading out into the street and dashes off to the west gate. The western plains were packed with players hunting the beginner level rabbits and foxes, Ren though wasn¡¯t interested in combat just yet and since the rabbits and foxes only attacked if you hit them it was a safe zone for people that wanted to gather recourses like he did, wasting no time he made a bee line for the trees that were scattered across the plains, searching around the base of them for the herb. At first he was finding it rather hard to spot them as they blended in with the grass rather neatly, but after picking his tenth herb a message appeared.
New Skill! Herbal Aura Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive) Herbal Aura is a passive skill which makes any herbs within a certain distance of your vision give off a slight glowing aura making them easier to spot Increasing the skill lets you see further and makes the aura brighter This skill can be turned off if the auras become too distracting
Ren let out a whoop of glee ¡°Yes! Herbal Aura On!¡± Instantly as he looked down around the tree he could see several small glowing aura¡¯s coming from several plants at the trees base ¡°Oohh, there¡¯s other herbs here as well aside from the one the mister wants.. may as well grab them to.¡± Eagerly he scooped up every plant that held an aura and put them in his inventory before heading towards the next tree. ¡°Mmm.. only trouble is I can¡¯t identify them yet¡­¡± He shrugged and continued to pick every herb he could spot and soon enough he had almost double the amount of herbs that had been requested ¡°Yes, just a couple more and I¡¯ll head back.¡± He looked around for another tree but it seemed the only area he had not yet plundered of its herbs was along the tree line of the forest ¡°¡­. I only need a couple I¡¯ll grab them quick and run back to the gates.¡± With a nod he headed to the tree line of the forest, while he found plenty more herbs along the outer line of trees they weren¡¯t the ones he needed and so he edged a bit deeper into the forest. A few minutes later he¡¯d found the herbs he needed and was about to head back out of the forest when a growl from behind caused him to freeze. Turning around slowly he could see a couple of wolfs sniffing the air and gradually heading in his direction, luckily he hadn¡¯t been spotted yet though. He was getting ready to make a run for it but just in case he opened his inventory and got his dagger out for the first time just in case they caught up with him. As he tried to firmly grip the crude iron dagger it suddenly vanished from his hand and a message appeared before him.
Attention! Standard weapons cannot be equipped by your class
Ren blinked at the message ¡°Ehhhh!?!?¡± His cry caught the attention of the wolves instantly as they let out growls and pounced at him ¡°Ahh!¡± *** The peaceful western plains were a nice spot for characters to hunt and gather loot from the low levels mobs for a few easy coppers, players went about facing off against the rabbits and foxes with ease and the only cries that could be heard was that of players casting their skills and magic¡¯s as well as the occasional victory cry from new players¡­.. ¡°WAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAHHAAAAAAAAAA.¡± Dashing from the tree line of the forest the cry of a small elfling caught almost everyone¡¯s attention as the small boy raced like his life depended on it towards the city gates, tears streaming from his eyes as a pair of hungry wolfs gave chase, nipping at his heals. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. *** Just an hour before his time was up Ren jumped into the apothecary workshop and handed over a bag of herbs to the old man containing twice the amount he¡¯d asked for, the old man looked at him dumbfounded at the sight of the young elfling covered in scratches and his clothes torn and missing bits as though something had been trying to eat him. With a shake of his head he inspected the herbs and nodded with a smile ¡°Excellent work my boy this will keep me going for several days. You seem to have a passion for herbs, why don¡¯t you take this as an extra bonus.¡± The old man produced a book from under the counter and slid it across to Ren along with the promised 15 coppers.
Quest Complete! Though you only just made it on time the extra herbs you delivered were much appreciated by the old man Received 50xp 15 Coppers +Affinity with artisan district npc¡¯s Book of Herb Lore
¡°Wow, thanks mister!¡± Ren scooped up the coins and picked up the book to take a look at it excitedly.
New Skill Available! Book of Herb Lore This book on herbs will unlock the sub skill of Identify ¡®Herb Lore¡¯ As you don¡¯t have the main skill ¡®Identify¡¯ you will only be able to identify herbs until you gain the main skill Do you wish to learn this skill?
¡°Yes!¡± Ren had no hesitation in claiming the skill to add to his slowly growing collection ¡°This is awesome mister thank you very much!¡± He beamed up at the old man who chuckled. ¡°I had a feeling you¡¯d like it, now run along and enjoy the read, I need to hurry up and finish these potions, but do come see me again another time.¡± Ren tilted his head curiously then as he thought of something ¡°Maybe I could help you make them?¡± He smiled up at the man ¡°Hmm? Oh? Hmm¡­.¡± The old man seemed to think for a moment ¡°Well you did gather all those extra herbs so even if you fail a few it won¡¯t hurt any, alright my boy let¡¯s see if you¡¯ve got what it takes to be an alchemist.¡± He showed Ren around to a desk where he placed out some herbs and a mortar and pestle ¡°Right then, this is just a simple weak healing potion so you just need to add one of each herb I¡¯ve placed down and grind them together carefully, once they are down to a paste just pour it into a bottle with water and shake it up to mix it, see if you can make about ten for me.¡±
Quest! Thanks to your affinity and successful overachievement of the previous quest the old man in the apothecary has let you help him make some potions Difficulty ¨C F Requirements Successfully make ten weak healing potions before you run out of herbs You must start crafting immediately or the quest will fail Rewards 100xp Large affinity gain with the artisan district Weak healing potion recipe
Ren set to work straight away, taking one each of the two different herbs that had been placed before him and started grinding them together, at first he wasn¡¯t sure he was doing it right he looked to the old man and tried to copy the way he ground the herbs but he just didn¡¯t seem to get the same results, he tried to mash the herbs then grind and twist the pestle down onto them, his arms began to hurt just from making the first one.
Attention! Due to working your arms repeatedly your Strength has increased by 1
Ren blinked at this and grinned, his grinding become a little easier after that and soon enough he finished two potions, setting them neatly in a row on the desk, in his eagerness though as he ground the herbs for the third potion he bumped the desk knocking one of the potions he¡¯d completed onto the floor where it smashed open on the ground ¡°Eep!¡± he glanced to the old man and could see his brow twitch in slight annoyance. Doubling his efforts to be careful Ren continued to grind and pour, his strength increased a couple more times as well as his dexterity, almost instantly he noticed he was able to make his grinding motions slightly more easily thanks to the increases, after his seventh potion he received a new sub skill.
New Skill! From diligently making potions you¡¯ve learned the Alchemy sub skill Heal Potions Level 1 (Beginner 0%)¡¯ The higher your ¡®Heal Potions¡¯ sub skill the more potent your healing potions will become
Once he acquired this he made the last three potions a lot more easily than the first seven and soon he was done, looking back to the old man it seemed he was still busy with his batch of potions so Ren decided to take out the other herbs he¡¯d found and began to identify them.
Health Weed This weed has very weak healing properties, combining it with another herb may bring out stronger results when making potions
Mana Weed This weed has very weak mana restoration properties, combining it with another herb may bring out stronger results when making potions
Weed This is a weed¡­ Just toss it
Weak Potency Berry Combining this berry into a potion mixture will increase the effects of the potion slightly
Weak Poison Berry This is a poisonous berry, eating it is not recommended Can be used to make weak poisons
Antidote Weed This weed has slight anti toxin properties and can be used to make weak poison antidotes
Ren looked over the herbs ¡°Mmm.. to be expected I¡¯d only find very basic ones in the starting area, and why¡¯d I get a bunch of normal weeds? ¡­. Probably need to raise the aura skill to stop them from showing up.¡± Looking back to the old man again he spoke softly ¡°Sir, I¡¯ve made the ten potions, would you like me to use up the rest of the herbs I still have? Or do you want to save them for later?¡± The old man looked up ¡°hmm? Oh, done already? Let me see.¡± He stepped over and inspected the potions Ren had made, swirling the bottles looking for any sediment then taking a tiny sip to taste them ¡°mmm, not bad at all, a few of them are a little weak but that¡¯s to be expected from using such low grade herbs, why don¡¯t you go ahead and make more with what you¡¯ve got left there, and keep them for yourself.¡± He smiles and ruffled Ren¡¯s hair like he would a child. Normally Ren would object to the treatment but since he was getting some free potions he didn¡¯t say anything and happily went about making potions from what was left. At the end of the day Ren was left with five weak healing potions of his own which he slipped into his inventory, he thought it was a good bonus along with the extra skill he picked up since he wasn¡¯t getting any coin from this quest. The old man turned to Ren after having handed a crate of potions to someone at the door ¡°All done then my boy, thank you very much for your help, please come visit again when you¡¯ve time, I think you¡¯ve talent as an alchemist, I¡¯d be happy to teach you when I have the time.¡± Ren grinned up at him ¡°Thanks mister! I¡¯ll gladly learn anything you¡¯ll teach me about alchemy!¡± With a wave Ren headed out of the workshop and down the street to find a spot to logout. *** An uproar of laughter was occurring across the Flow forums once a player that happened to be recording at the time posted a clip on the BBS labelled ¡®Newbie chased by wolfs (Funny as heck LOL)¡¯ ***
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Chapter 005 Chapter 005 Still Level 1 but so what? The morning after the wolf incident Ren went through his usual morning routine of exercises and private tutoring before, the nurses had given him hell, teasing him over how cute he looked as he ran from the wolves in the clip that was posted on the Flow BBS. Eventually he managed to shoo them away with a glare that made with squeal and comment how cute he looked angry as well before they darted out of the room and down the corridor giggling to themselves. Finishing his lunch Ren flopped down onto his bed with a sigh ¡°I get the feeling that if I didn¡¯t have these health issues those nurses would never let me rest¡­¡± He blushed at the thought as he slipped his custom V.R helmet on. ¡°Not that I¡¯d complain about it¡­¡± ¡°Flow login Start.¡± Blinking a few times as his eyes adjusted to the now familiar sight of the main street in the artisan district ¡°Right!¡± He did some stretches quickly as he thought about what he should do today when suddenly a ripping sound from his shirt caught his attention. Looking down he saw his rather tattered shirt now barely hanging on after his narrow escape from the wolves the day before ¡°Right¡­ better go see the old lady to borrow a needle and thread..¡± He made a line for the Seamstress¡¯s workshop, the door making a light jingle as he entered. ¡°Hello dear how may I help yo¡­ my goodness Ren, what in the world happened to your clothes?¡± Ren blushed lightly ¡°Yeah.. i kinda got chased by wolves when I was gathering herbs yesterday, I was hoping I could borrow a needle and maybe a few bits of scrap cloth to patch it up with?¡± ¡°Dear me, of course you can dear, come and take a seat I¡¯ll fetch some off cuts that should do the trick.¡± She rummaged in a bag that looked to be filled with cloth scraps and pulled out a dozen decent size pieces that could be used to patch holes and set them on a table for Ren to use. As he understood it if he had the proper repair tool and skill he could repair items such as his shirt without much manual handling, but since he had neither it was all hands on work required ¡°If I do a good enough job I can probably generate the repair skill though if I¡¯m lucky¡­¡± he set to work, slipping his shirt off to work on it, patching the large holes and stitching back together the tares where he could, by the time he finished his shirt looked more like the shirt of a begger with all the patches and stitch lines. Luckily he was able to borrow a blanket from the old lady to wrap around his waist as he patched his pants, but again the result left him looking very much the begger ¡°heh, maybe I should sit in the main street with a hat on the ground see what happens.¡± He bet he could probably get a few coins at least but he had no intention of lowering himself to such a level. ¡°Not a bad job fixing those tattered clothes up, I admit even I thought they would be beyond hope, but they still won¡¯t last long so you really should try to get a new set?¡± Ren nodded his agreement ¡°Yeah, unfortunately I haven¡¯t been able to earn much coin for such things yet, what I¡¯d really like is to learn how to make clothes myself, that would save me a lot of trouble I think.¡± The seamstress¡¯s eyes seemed to light up at this comment ¡°My! Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier Ren dear, come come, take a seat we¡¯ll begin your lessons right away.¡±
Quest! You¡¯re affinity with the old seamstress has risen and with your words of interest in her area of work she now sees you as a potential apprentice Dificulty ¨C E Requirements Spend the entire day learning all you can from the old seamstress¡¯s lessons The more attentive you are the greater your skill will rise from her lessons Rewards 100xp New skill Extra gain in ¡®Tailoring¡¯ skill Affinity gain with artisan district npc¡¯s
Ren smiled brightly at the old women and eagerly hopped up onto the offered chair. ¡°Yes please.¡± The old women gave a grin of her own at her now new student. ¡°First of all when making clothes the placement of the stitching is important, depending on where you stitch the strength of the clothes can increase or decrease, more often than not though the snitching is done in places where it will have the least contact with skin to prevent irritation, comfort is one of the most important things to keep in mind when making clothes¡­.¡± His sewing lessons continued until well after the sun set, he¡¯d been paying close attention to every word she spoke, a lot of the things he already knew from his real life experience but he enjoyed watching how excited the old seamstress was as she took him through her lessons. ¡°Dear me, it¡¯s already dark out.¡± She blinked as she looked out the window ¡°You should have told me dear, I¡¯ve probably bored you to pieces with my ramblings.¡± Ran shook his head ¡°Not at all, you¡¯ve shown me a lot of stitching techniques I never knew, I only hope I can get as good as you one day.¡± He smiled up at her brightly only to receive just as bright a smile back. ¡°Dear me, such a sweet talker.¡± She chuckled softly and set some items out on the table before Ren ¡°Well then lets have a quick little test before I let you go, I think you¡¯ll be familiar with this item¡± She smiled at Ren as he looked down at what she had placed before him, a circular piece of cloth, a leather cord and a needle and thread. ¡°A coin pouch.¡± He smiled and picked up the needle and cloth. The needle flowed so much more easily this time and his stitching felt stronger somehow as he fed the needle through the cloth to create the loop hole for the leather cord. Stringing the cord through the hole and pulling it tight a small message appeared before him.
High Quality! You¡¯ve created a high quality item Coin Pouch This coin pouch was made by an up and coming talented tailor, while it¡¯s still only just a coin pouch the stitching is flawless, the pouch will likely never break a thread by natural means.
Ren blinked and handed the pouch over to the seamstress who looked it over carefully for a minute before setting it down and smiling to him ¡°Well done Ren, this stitching is high class work, no matter what area you try to work in the basics are always of paramount importance, just think of what would happen if a princess at a ball suddenly had the stitching of her dress come loose, dear me it would be quite the uproar, or if a merchants coin pouch.¡± She held up the small pouch Ren had made ¡°Was to come loose in the middle of the market square, certainly the quality of the material you use is important, but without perfecting the basics to hold it together even the highest grade of clothes made from the finest materials would be rendered useless.¡± She reached down and picked up several items from under the counter and placed them before Ren ¡°Take these with you, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find them helpful.¡±
Quest Complete! You spent the full day learning from the seamstress and then some! Rewards 100xp Boost to ¡®Tailoring¡¯ skill Affinity gain with the artisan district npc¡¯s Due to your extra efforts and passing the seamstress¡¯s test with flying colours you¡¯ve gained Sub Skill ¡®Stitching level 1 (Intermediate 0%)
Rens eyes bulged out of his head, Intermediate rank straight away from completing a quest! But he didn¡¯t have time to celebrate just yet as more windows still appeared before him
New Skill Thanks to the seamstress¡¯s lessons and your practice you¡¯ve gained the sub skill ¡®Cloth Repair level 5 (Beginner 0%)¡¯
Level 5 in cloth repair as well! Ren was over the moon as he closed the windows and saw that on the table sat a couple items still that the old women was giving him, picking them up he examined them.
Portable Tailors Kit This small portable kit contains the basic tools needed to perform tailoring and repairs while travelling out in the world
You¡¯ve obtained the recipe for a full set of basic traveller¡¯s clothes (cape included!)
¡°Wow.. I don¡¯t know what to say, thank you!¡± He hopped from his chair and gave the old Seamstress a hug which seemed to delight her to no end. ¡°It¡¯s been my pleasure Ren, but you should probably run along home now and get some rest, come see me again any time you wish.¡± Stepping out into the street he decided to check his status to have a look at his gains so far. ¡°Show Status.¡±
Status
Name Ren Level? 1
Gender Male Class Artificer
Race Elfling Fame/Infamy 0 (Neutral)
Health 110 Mana 105
Strength 13 Dexterity 15
Vitality 11 Agility 12
Endurance 11 Intelligence 11
Luck 10 Wisdom 10
Title
None
¡°Wow¡­¡± He made quite a few gains since he¡¯d started a total of 13 extra points in all, the strength from when he used his arms nonstop with the mortar and pestle making potions, his dexterity was from nimbly using his fingers while stitching, the extra 2 points in agility he¡¯d gained when running from the wolves with all his might, the vitality and endurance had popped up from times when he pricked his finger with the needle and the point in intelligence came up as he listened intently to the old seamstress¡¯s lessons. ¡°If I keep this up I¡¯ll end up double my stats before I even reach level 2, hehe still only level 1 but so what I¡¯m in no rush, I¡¯m gonna make sure I enjoy this world the way I want!¡± He grins as he cries out a little too loudly, quickly covering his mouth as he gets a few stares from some idle npc¡¯s and couple of passing players. ¡°Right!¡± He heads off down the street ¡°I need to think about how to make some coin with my skills!¡± There was only one thing he could think of that he would be mostly self sufficient with and so he headed out the gate to the western plains for herb collecting. ¡°I can either sell the herbs on their own but I¡¯ll try and see if I can head the apothecary to borrow a mortar and pestle and maybe buy some potion bottles.¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Normally at night stronger monsters would come out but the beginner area stayed the same with only the non aggressive rabbits and foxes, and being night he was about to spot the herb aura¡¯s a lot more easily as he went about collecting them up, making sure to identify each one as he picked it, he didn¡¯t want to fill his bag with plain weeds again. By the time the sun arose in the game world Ren had picked almost every herb he could have in the open plains and they now wouldn¡¯t regrow for a about one real time hour so he headed back into the city, ignoring the glances from players that seemed to recognise him from the clip on the BBS and giggle as he passed, that or it could be because of his now begger like clothes he thought. Entering the apothecary he was greeted by the old man ¡°hoo, if it isn¡¯t young Ren, what can this old man do for you today?¡± ¡°I went out gathering herbs today and I was wondering if I could borrow one of your workbenches to make some potions?¡± The old man smiled ¡°Of course my boy, do you need bottles as well or did you bring your own?¡± ¡°Ah.. no if I can I¡¯d like to buy some off you.¡± The man nodded ¡°Of course, for you my boy I¡¯ll sell them at the same price I get them at, five copper a bottle, and I¡¯ll even buy back any potions you make for ten copper if you wish.¡± Ren¡¯s eyes sparkled ¡°Really? Thank you so much!¡± Hopping up onto the chair at the workbench he set about making potions right away ¡°Right, well I¡¯ve got 60 copper currently so I¡¯ll make ten potions first and sell them.¡± As he worked every now and then he spied the old man peaking over his shoulder to watch him work only to walk away with a satisfied nod, and even on occasion he would point out ways Ren could move his wrist to grind the herbs better resulting in a small boost to his skill gain and also speeding up his potion making. Once he was done making the ten weak health potions he immediately sold them to the old man and received his first silver in return, he looked over the silver with a smile before handing it back to him with a grin, buying twenty more bottles and sitting back at his bench. He repeated this act of buying bottles and selling potions for several days, making the potions during the day then heading out at night to gather herbs when it was easier to spot them. At first he was afraid the old man would tell him to stop due to overstocking his potions but it seemed he sent them off fairly regularly to be sold by the merchants in the other districts, the price they sold for at market was 20 copper 5 of which was kept by the merchant as sales commission so in the end the old man was making a five copper profit while not really doing anything other than supplying bottles to Ren. Ren didn¡¯t limit himself to making only healing potions though, even though he didn¡¯t have the recipe for them he figured mana potions would be made the same by just swapping the heal weed with the mana weed and combining it with the potency berry.
New Recipe! Using your ingenuity you¡¯ve figured out how to make weak mana potions
Ren grinned at this and quickly swaped out the mana weed for the poision and anti toxen berry as well.
New Recipe! Using your ingenuity you¡¯ve figured out how to make weak poison potions
New Recipie! Using your ingenuity you¡¯ve figured out how to make weak antidote potions
This was starting to excited Ren, this ment he didn¡¯t need to actually learn how to make an item from an npc or a book, he could actually experiment and see what happens himself! Curiously he threw in a heal weed and a mana weed with a potency berry and ground them together, pouring it into a bottle and shaking it, the bottle shook for a moment then shattered ¡°Ack!¡± A chuckle came from behind Ren ¡°Tried to make something new and it blew up on you didn¡¯t it Ren.¡± The old man grins ¡°Well, your not to far off the right idea think about it for a moment and think on what it might have been missing.¡± The old man grinned and turned back to his work. Ren pondered his words ¡°He said to think about what I was missing¡­ that means what I¡¯d put in already was right but I need something more still¡­¡± he looked over the two of potions he¡¯d already made and picked up a health and mana potion, looking them over ¡°I¡¯m trying to combine two potions into one but I missed something? Each potion needs a weed and a berry to make¡­ berry! I only used one berry, it¡¯s probably one berry per weed used!¡± He excitedly threw the herbs into his mortar and begin grinding them, this time adding two potency berries ¡°Using two weeds and only one berry means the potion was to weak because one berry can¡¯t rise the potency of two herbs.¡±
Stat Gain! Due to logical thinking and problem solving you¡¯ve become a little smarter and wiser +1 Intelligence +1 Wisdom
¡°Yes!¡± Ren poured the mixture into a bottle and shook the bottle gently to mix it into the water.
New Recipe Using your ingenuity you¡¯ve figured out how to make a weak elixir
¡°I did it!¡± Ren whooped with glee and showed the old man the weak elixir excitedly. ¡°Well done my boy, you¡¯ve defiantly a talent for alchemy, how about a little challenge?¡± the old man grins ¡°See if you can come up with one more different kind of potion from the herbs you¡¯ve gathered, if you can I¡¯ll give you a little prize.¡±
Quest! The old man running the apothecary has given you a challenge! Fails if you run out of herbs before creating a new potion Difficulty - ??? (This challenge depends on your own ingenuity and cannot be ranked) Rewards 100xp ??? Affinity gain with artisan district npc¡¯s
¡°Hehe, I¡¯ll take that challenge!¡± Ren quickly sat down and looked over his collection of herbs. ¡°ok I¡¯ve made so far a heal, mana, poison, antidote and elixir potions, I¡¯ve used one of each herb in combination with the potency berry so the only choice that¡¯s left is another potion combining two or more herbs¡­¡± His first thought was to combine healing with the antidote weed, but it seems they weren¡¯t compatible herbs, he then tried the mana and antidote with the same result. He then tried putting two heal weeds together to make a stronger heal potion, he was able to make a slightly stronger healing potion but it only healed an extra 2% health and was still called a ¡®weak healing potion¡¯ he figured he¡¯d get the same result with the mana, poison and antidote if he tried to compile more multiple herbs. Though it made no sense to do so he decided to mix the poison and antidote herbs.
New Recipe! For some strange reason you decided to mix poison and antidote herbs to create a ¡®weak fake poison potion¡¯ This potion gives you the ¡®poisoned¡¯ status without the health loss
¡°Okay¡­.¡± Ren looked back to the old man curiously who just chuckled and nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the one my boy, seems pretty useless no?¡± He grins ¡°But this is a lesson for you, even by combining ingredients you think wont mix you may still get a result, sometimes it will be useless but sometimes you might find something special as well.¡±
Quest Complete! You successfully created the useless ¡®weak fake poison potion¡¯ Rewards 100xp Affinity gain with artisan district npcs ???
¡°Here then my boy, a promising alchemist needs his own alchemy kit I should think.¡± The old man smiled as he handed a small box to Ren. Opening it he found inside a mortar and pestle and several other measuring implements used when mixing potions. ¡°Wow, thank you!¡± The old man chuckled ¡°Never thought I¡¯d find a young lad that would get so excited over an alchemy kit.¡± At the end of the day Ren had made a tidy sum of 10 silver and 30 copper, as well as keeping ten heal and mana potions for himself, five poison and antidote potions and he also kept the elixir and fake poison potion. Exiting the apothecary with a wave he stepped out into the street and let out a yawn ¡°Mmm, time to sleep, show status.¡±
Status
Name Ren level 1
Gender Male Class Artificer
Race Elfling Fame/Infamy 0 (Neutral)
Health 110 Mana 115
Strength 15 Dexerity 15
Vitality 11 Agility 13
Endurance 11 Intelligence 12
Luck 10 Wisdom 11
Title
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From his constant grinding with the mortar he managed to gain another couple points in strength and one more in agility. ¡°Hehe, at this rate I¡¯ll be the strongest level 1 character around.¡± Still level 1 but he didn¡¯t care, he was having fun and making progress with his class slowly but surely. ¡°Tomorrow I¡¯m gonna go bug that smith again!¡± ¡°Logout.¡± Chapter 006 Chapter 006 The Smiths Trial Part 1 It was a new day in Flow and Ren was making a line straight towards the Smithy, he was determined to get training this time from the burly smith. Entering the forge he stood there for a moment as the smith hammered away at a piece of metal on the anvil, only noticing Ren when he straightened up and dunked the metal in a bucket of water, causing the water to bubble and hiss as steam rose up to the ceiling ¡°Mmph.. you again boy, I¡¯ve heard that you¡¯ve making yourself useful around some of the other workshops here, come to try and convince me to learn how to smith again have you?¡± Ren shook his head. ¡°No sir, You know your trade and I was rash to criticize your judgment so quickly, for that I do apologize, but it¡¯s true that I do still wish to learn how to forge metal but¡­ my first request now is that you teach me how to swing a hammer, I learned from sally and the old man alchemist, that learning and mastering the basics is the key to any craft, and for smithing I now believe that mastering to swing the smiths hammer is the key basic that must be mastered before one can begin to strike metal with it. So I ask you master smith with all respect, will you please teach me how to swing the smiths hammer?¡± Ren bowed his head deeply to the burly smith. A silence fell through the smithy, only the sound of the burning coals of the forge crackled as Ren kept his head bowed and awaited his answer. It came with a hand clapping on his shoulder ¡°Boy!¡± The first word was strong and stern, it made him shudder as he felt the impending rejection. ¡°You¡¯ve learned something good from those oldies haven¡¯t you.¡± Ren peaked up to see a broad grin on the smiths face. ¡°Hahahaa! Alright boy, Ren wasn¡¯t it? I¡¯ll give you a chance, only a chance mind you, a test to see if you¡¯ve got what it takes to become a tamer of fire and the elements.¡± Ren looked at him with a confused expression which brought a chuckle from the smith ¡°Just an old name some smiths were called back in the day, with our strength of arm and the sweat of our brow we wage war with the flame in our forge to meld cold metal to our will.¡± With another clap on Rens shoulder which nearly knocked him over the smith led him over to an anvil, grabbing a nail he scratched a small X in the center of it and then steped over to a wall of tools, picking up a small hammer and handing it to Ren ¡°Alright boy, you¡¯ve got three days to impress me, break this hammer on the anvil before the sun sets and you¡¯ll pass the first stage.
Quest! The burly smith has given you a chance to prove yourself Complete each challenge he sets each day for three days to win his favour First Task Break the smiths hammer on the anvil while aiming at the mark Difficulty ¨C E (May vary depending on players willpower and perseverance) Rewards Able to move onto the second challenge
Ren examined the hammer in his hand but was unable to identify it since he lacked the proper skill, he could see that it had a total of 25 durability though, but until he started he would have no idea of how many strikes it would take to decrease it by 1. Gripping the hammer in his hand he raised his arm and swung it down onto the X on the anvil, the sound of metal striking metal resounded though the smithy. It only took the first strike for Ren to understand how difficult this task was, striking something solid upon something just as solid there was nowhere for the energy of the shock to go but straight into his arm, the vibrations causing his arm to tingle. Gripping the handle he raised his arm again and brought it down to the anvil with a resounding clang. The hammer seemed to be a weakly made one, each strike reduced its durability by 1, so he had to make 25 strikes in total, the trouble being that already by the sixth strike his fingers were almost completely numb, his arm was heading towards the same. The whole time though the smith watched him, making sure every strike hit its mark, watching every grunt and furrow of Ren¡¯s brow as he forced his fingers to grip the hammer, not by feeling but by sheer will power. He had ten strikes to go, he couldn¡¯t even feel the numbness in his fingers anymore, it simply felt like they didn¡¯t exist, he had to rely on the few muscles he could still feel in his wrist to know that he was still gripping the hammer but even that feeling was almost gone and he would soon have to rely on the feeling from his forearm. And he was afraid that if the feeling of nothingness reached that far he would fail the task. The smith watched Ren with an expressionless face, Ren knew he couldn¡¯t let his body loosen, if he did the grip he had on the hammer would be lost for good, he had six strikes to go. *CLANG!* Each one seemed to get louder as he put more and more force into it. *CLANG!* Afraid for dear life that he would loose his grip if he didn¡¯t tighten it more. *CLANG!* His breath was heavy, his hunger bar had run out several strikes ago and now each strike devoured his health instead. *CLANG!* ¡°..Two more¡­¡± Ren reached deep within himself, he felt as if he no longer even had an arm, he let out his anger and frustration crying out in rage from the pain that resounded in his arm ¡°AARRGGGGHHHHH!¡± *CLANG!* ¡°I¡­ WON¡¯T¡­.GIVE¡­.UP!!¡± With a final Cry of determination which made even the smith jump the hammer came down for the final time, the resounding clash causing what could almost be a shock wave to burst from the anvil as the hammer shattered upon it.
Quest Complete! You shattered the smiths hammer on the anvil in time Rewards You can come back tomorrow to take on the second challenge
Stat Gain! For your incredible effort in completing the smiths first challenge your Strength, endurance and vitality have increased by 10
New Skill! You endured the pain of the smiths challenge and fought past it, pushing yourself beyond your limits to complete a task that should have been beyond your abilities
Staying Power Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive) Even if you¡¯re starving and out of stamina you have the fortitude to push past the natural limits of your body to complete your task head on Staying power reduces the amount of health drained when compensating for empty stamina Amount of health drained while taking actions when out of stamina is reduced by 10%
New Skill! You endured the smiths challenge and held firmly onto the smiths hammer for the entire duration of the challenge, your grip has become like iron
Iron Grip Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Active) You have the grip of iron, you can crush stones in a single hand and with time maybe more. Able to hold onto objects tightly Able to crush certain objects with your hand alone depending on skill level Any weapon, tool or item you hold cannot be knocked from your grasp Showing of this skill either visually or physically has the chance to intimidate or even inflict fear upon those around you 10 Mana/sec
Ren was to worn out to pay attention to the notices, even if the game reduced the level of pain one could experience, if he¡¯d felt the full amount his real body would have surely gone into shock and seizures. Collapsed on the ground unable to move and inch he couldn¡¯t see the smith standing above him. *** What the smith had seen was nothing short of a miracle, he had fully expected the boy to give up within the first ten strikes, but he just clenched his teeth and powered on, what surprised him even more as the more strikes he made the stronger they became, he knew that the boy was compensating making stronger strikes to maintain his grip on the hammer as his hand and arm became more numb, but to be able to actually do it was nothing short of a heroic stand, the pain must have been immense, but even now as the boy laied on the ground he could see him already recoving slowly, his hand lightly twitching as he worked even in his current state to regain feeling in his dead limb. The smith had mixed feelings about this situation, should he tell the boy the truth that he didn¡¯t expect him to pass and send him away till he was stronger?.... no¡­ he couldn¡¯t, to do so would be to spit on the outstanding determination and strength of will he had just witnessed¡­ no¡­ he had to push the boy further.. he had to unlock his potential even if by force¡­ This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. *** *** Back in the real world as Ren lay on the soft hospital bed the nurses where cheering loudly as they watched Ren on the TV connected to his V.R Helmet and hugged each other in joy as he completed the task, they had hoped he would logout then so they could dote on him a little but they saw that the smith wasn¡¯t done with him yet and decided instead to go speak with the doctor to convince him to let Ren stay logged in longer today. *** Ren was sweating like a roast pig, his vision was blurry but slowly he could feel his body gradually regain its strength, his arm and hand tingling from its slow regeneration ability¡­ if only he could eat something to fill his hunger and restore his body¡¯s full regenerative abilities¡­ almost on cue he was rolled onto his back by the smith who looked down at him stoically and leaned down to press a water skin to his lips, letting a light trickle of water caress his lips ¡°Drink boy, there¡¯s herb in the water that will help restore you.¡± Ren parted his lips to let the liquid flow into his mouth, it took some effort to swallow but after that first mouthful of water traced its way down his throat he could feel his body become a little lighter, he swallowed again and again and soon he was sitting up, grasping the skin and draining it greedily of its nourishing liquid before dropping it and taking in a gasp of air, coughing a little as some water went into his lungs. ¡°Haha! Easy there boy, take your time now.¡± Ren let out a groan and coughed a few more times ¡°My names Ren.¡± The smith chuckled ¡°As you say Ren, I¡¯m Donan.¡± He stretched a large callused hand out to Ren and helped him up onto his feet ¡°Ren, I¡¯ll be honest, I didn¡¯t expect you to pass that test, but you got through it.. however.. if you¡¯re serious about completing my challenges then pushing along with willpower along won¡¯t be enough, but, spend half the night on the bellows of my forge and you just might get strong enough to pass tomorrow.¡±
Quest! Donan the smith has taken a special liking to you and has offered additional training so that you might just pass his next challenge Dificultly ¨C E Rewards ???
Ren nodded and brushed himself off before scoffing down a bread roll and following Donan to the large set of bellows used to fan the fire of his forge. ¡°It¡¯s simple enough just keep pumping the bellows as I work.¡± The grin on Donan¡¯s face though spoke of just how hard it would be to keep up a proper pace with the bellows. Ren stepped up onto the bellows, Donan had to pull the bar down first so that Ren could get a hold on it and following his instructions pulled it all the way down, pushing the air out of it to fan the fires of the forge then lifted it back up and was about to pull it back down again but Donan stopped him ¡°No no, you have to do a full pump of the bellows each time, since you cant reach that high you¡¯ll have to jump. Ren¡¯s eyes widened as the true nature of this training was made known to him, not only did he have to push and pull but jump as well, this was going to be just as hard if not harder then breaking the hammer¡­. With a groan He pulled the bellows down and as he brought it back up he jumped to push it all the way up, though he didn¡¯t reach the full stretch of the bellows still. ¡°You¡¯ll have to use more strength then that boy.¡± Ren frowned as Donan went back to calling him boy, usually he was able to let words like boy, kid, child and the like fly over his head but then there would be a few who would just say it with a tone that grated on him, likely Donan was saying it as a tactic to edge him on to do better, and it worked. Pulling down and pushing up, he had to put his whole body into it just for that motion, but to jump and push it up further he had to almost flick his legs when they were already stretched out straight to give him lift, he couldn¡¯t start the jump as he was pushing the bar up as the pressure of the bellows bag sucking in air needed more strength then he could put into it with a jump, it wasn¡¯t until the bar was almost out of reach that it would start to rise a little on its own and to keep it going he had to essentially do a dolphin tail flick to jump from such a position. Thanks to the stat boost he¡¯d gotten from the hammering it didn¡¯t feel that hard to pump the bellows, to start with at least, but after the first half hour he began feeling the strain to his back, arms and legs as he continued the monotonous motions. Thankfully there was no failure conditions on this ¡®training¡¯ as several times he missed the timing for his jump and the bar slipped from his hands, Donan would just glare at him disapprovingly though and told him if he let go then he had to get hold of it again on his own. The first time it slipped he had to jump a dozen times before he was able to get enough height to grasp the bar. Eventually after having the bar slip half a dozen times from his grasp he started to try use his newly acquired ¡®Iron Grip¡¯ skill when he felt the bar was about to slip from him, each time he used it his fingers would suddenly clamp down on the bar hard, the bar creaking from the strong vice like grip caught Donan¡¯s attention more than a few times. Though it hadn¡¯t occurred to him when he was hammering but he now found it strange that he wasn¡¯t getting any stat gains during the training ¡°Mmm¡­ perhaps I have to complete the training with my current power in order to receive the boosts¡­. If I did this without the quest though I¡¯m sure I would have gained a point in something by now or several even¡­¡± He mumbled to himself as he continued the motions of pumping the bellows. He¡¯d lost track of time he didn¡¯t know if he had minutes, hours or seconds left till he was done, the pushing, pulling and jumping to pump the bellows was getting harder and more strenuous with each pump, the bellows wheezed and puffed with each breath he pushed and pulled from it. Soon Ren found himself taking on the same breathing rhythm as the bellows, focused on it even to help drown out at least a little of the strain on his arms and legs. At times he felt almost as though he was entering a trance as he followed the deep breaths of the bellows, an almost tranquil and serene state where the strain on his body vanished, but each time he reached it, it would vanished just as quick, his mind snapping back to reality and the strain on his body would crash down upon him. Each time he achieved that serene state of mind he would catch himself almost swearing as he was over and over again reefed from it back to the reality of what he was doing, but each time even though it was only for a split second he was able to stay there a little longer, a tranquil place away from this grueling training. *** Danon watched the boy curiously as he pumped the bellows, at first he fumbled trying to get a rhythm, then his grip would slip every so often, but the longer he watched the more he saw the boy correct himself and improve. What surprised him again was that eventually he stopped slipping from the bar, anytime it looked like he was about to his hands would suddenly tighten and the bar would creak from the strain of his grip. ¡°Just how much is this boy improving in a single day¡­¡± he muttered to himself. His surprises weren¡¯t over yet, as he continued to watch there were brief moments where could swear the boy lost sense of the world around him, his body was still moving but his eyes seemed to glaze over, at first he thought he was passing out from the strain but then he caught the boy almost cursing when his eyes returned to life, seeming frustrated that he¡¯d come back from where ever it was his mind had gone. Again and again he watched the boy go into this state of mindlessness, he was starting to become unsure if he was helping or destroying the boy¡­. Thankfully time was up though ¡°That¡¯s enough Ren.¡± *** Ren let out a groan as he let fingers slip from the bar of the bellows and collapsed to the ground, his legs felt like jelly and his back felt bent.
Quest Complete! You stuck to it and completed the smiths extra training, you¡¯ll find tomorrows challenge a little easier now Rewards The smith¡¯s second challenge will be a little easier for you ???
Stat Increase! Thanks to the smith¡¯s extra training you¡¯ve developed your body further! +10 Strength +10 Dexterity +10 Agility
¡°Haaa..lots of increases today..¡± He huffed and panted as he stumbled out of the smiths workshop, falling back against the wall of the building and sliding down into a sitting position. He didn¡¯t have a lot of time to rest since the quest held several stages, he had to log out and get something to eat and hopefully get a bit of rest before coming back to continue the smith challenge. ¡°I can do this¡­ right?.....Logout¡­¡±
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Chapter 007 Chapter 007 The Smiths Trial Part 2 Having had something to eat and gotten a little bit of rest Ren logged back into Flow to continue his training with the smith Donan. He found himself exactly where he had logged out just in front of the smiths workshop, before heading inside he ate some bread to make sure his hunger bar was full. Once inside he saw Donan talking with another man he¡¯d never seen before. Donan¡¯s gaze drifted over to the doorway to spot Ren and smiled ¡°Speak of the devil and he arrives.¡± He chuckled, the other man with him looking over at Ren curiously. The man carried the looks of a scholar type, neat short hair, glasses and a nice clean set of clothes, he looked to be in his mid twenties to early thirties. Nodding to Donan he headed towards the exit of the smithy but paused before Ren ¡°So you¡¯re the young boy that¡¯s got Donan in such a happy mood hmm?¡± Donan let out a grunt at his words ¡°Oi oi, Issac don¡¯t go spouting such nonsense to the boy you¡¯ll give him a big head.¡± Isaac chuckled and looked to Ren ¡°He¡¯s just too embarrassed to admit he¡¯s taken a liking to his new apprentice.¡± Donan almost growled as he stared daggers at Isaac ¡°Well, if you get tired of brutally bashing metal with a hammer feel free to drop by my workshop, it¡¯s just down the street a little ways.¡± He smiled and bowed his head lightly before leaving. Ren walked over to Donan. ¡°Who was that?¡± Donan just shook his head ¡°Ah.. he runs the enchanting workshop down the way, I had him drop by to do a few things for the next part of your test.¡± Ren¡¯s eyes lit up ¡°Enchanting? Like being able to make weapons do elemental damage and enhancing armor and making jewellery that can increase your strength?¡± Donan grunted lightly ¡°ahh¡­ I had a feeling you¡¯d be interested in it, hey! You better not be thinking of slacking off on learning smithing after you practically begged me to teach you boy!¡± ¡°No sir!¡± Ren gave a salute ¡°I¡¯m 100% committed to completing your trials sir!¡± Donan chuckled ¡°Alright then boy, get over here and we¡¯ll begin, this¡¯ll be another tough one.¡± He grins and led him over to the anvil he was training on before, the X mark was now gone and in its place runes now seemed to cover the surface of the anvil. ¡°I had this whipped up especially for you.¡± Donan grins and handed him a new smithing hammer ¡°Now then, for this trial you have to break the hammer again, but also after your first strike the runes on the anvil here will start to glow, you have to hit them as they appear, if you miss or are to slow with your strike there will be a penalty.¡± He grins again and stepped back, motioning for him to start. Ren looked at him curiously as though asking what the penalty was but he could tell by the look the smith gave him that it was meant to be a surprise. Looking at the hammer it had 30 durability, only 5 more than the last one, he should be able to do this easily with the stat boosts he got before but he knew there was some kind of trick with this one and he was sure he wasn¡¯t going to like it. He felt the weight of the hammer in his hand, with his extra strength it felt so much lighter than before ¡°I can probably knock 2 points off it with each hit now if I¡¯m lucky..¡± He raised the hammer and slammed it down onto the anvil, instantly one of the runes began to glow a soft blue, he pulled up the hammer and brought its head down onto the rune, upon hitting it a small amount of sparks flew from the point he struck and the next rune lit up. Time passed as he struck the anvil, every so often when he hit there would be no sparks from the strike, he had to assume that meant he missed the mark and unfortunately there didn¡¯t seem to be a set time the runes stayed glowing, some would remain a few seconds while others would only glow for one second or less even, neither did there seem to be a pattern or order in which they lit up. He managed to reach his 30th strike without too much trouble but the hammer did not break. ¡°Huh?¡± He looked to Donan who just grinned. ¡°What? You didn¡¯t think it¡¯d break more easily than yesterdays one did you? Better pay attention our incurring penalty¡¯s with each rune you miss.¡± He grinned. Ren blinked at his words, the penalties! Just what was it? He inspected the hammer quickly¡­¡±Wha!?¡± It still held 20 durability, no it just increased to 22 as one of the runes on the anvil changed to the next. ¡°This hammer repairs itself when I miss!?¡± Donan chuckled ¡°That¡¯s it boy, better get cracking if you want to break it.¡± ¡°Graaahhhh!¡± Ren doubled his efforts and began crashing the hammer down onto the anvil, he had to be accurate and swift with his strikes, his arm was tried but unlike last time it wasn¡¯t going numb on him, not yet at least. ¡°Concentrate boy, fast, strong, precise strikes, when forging the more time you take the more times the metal will cool and need to be reheated, and each time you reheat the metal to continue forging it lowers the quality of the metal, makes it more brittle.¡± ¡°Does that mean¡­ if someone could forge a weapon without once having to reheat the metal it would be a high quality weapon?¡± Ren asked curiously, his eyes not once leaving the anvil as he rained down his strikes upon it, now and then muttering a curse under his breath when he missed his mark. ¡°Hahah, I¡¯m sure it would be a masterpiece boy, but such a thing is impossible even for a smith that¡¯s completely mastered his trade, I heard of a man that could forge a blade with just 5 reheats though. I¡¯d give my best hammer to meet him and learn some secrets I would.¡±
New Quest! You¡¯ve heard rumour of a master smith able to forge a blade quicker than anyone else in the world, seek him out and learn his secrets Difficulty ¨C C Rewards ???
¡°Gack!¡± Ren swiped the window away quickly causing him to miss a strike. Letting out a growl he refocused on the anvil, his arm was burning with the strain now, his fingers going numb as they did with the previous challenge, he could handle this much though. He didn¡¯t know how much time had passed or how many strikes he¡¯d made though he guessed at least twice as many then he would need if the hammer didn¡¯t repair itself. It was probably thanks to the extra training he¡¯d done that it didn¡¯t yet feel as hard a strain on his body as the first trial but he still needed to pay attention to make fast accurate strikes. It was slow going, he was down to 12 durability but for every 2-4 strikes he would miss one sometimes several in a row, sending him back further then he was gaining. Finally though just as he could feel the numbness encroaching up his arm the head of the hammer cracked and shattered upon the anvil and Ren collapsed to the ground panting heavily as he was bombarded with notice windows.
Quest Complete! You passed the smiths second challenge Rewards Able to continue to the last challenge tomorrow New Quest! Return to the smith tomorrow to take on his final challenge Rewards ??? ???
Stat Gain! Though the challenge wasn¡¯t as hard for you as the first one it was still a tough challenge forcing you to be strong, swift and accurate +5 Strength +5 Vitality +5 Endurance +5 Dexterity +5 Agility
New Skill! Your continuous hammering upon a solid object has made your body adapt to the feedback caused by such impact
Shock Absorption Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive) Your body can now absorb the shock of hitting (or being hit by) solid objects and reduce the effects caused by such impacts to your body 10% Reduction to all effects caused by hitting (or being hit by) solid and blunt objects such as stun effects, damage, numbness, dizziness (This effect will stack with other blunt damage and impact reduction skills)
Donan chuckled and stood over Ren, offering a hand to help him up ¡°Nicely done Ren, you should go home and rest up for the last challenge tomorrow.¡± Ren looked at him curiously ¡°I can¡¯t train on the bellows again today?¡± ¡°Hmm? You actually want to go through more hardships than necessary?¡± Ren just smiled ¡°It¡¯s hard yes but I¡¯ve done nothing but gain from your training so far.. and it¡¯s fun..¡± Donan blinked and looked at him curiously ¡°Fun? Your actually finding such hardships fun?¡± Ren nodded ¡°Yeah! For a real long time I¡¯ve been too weak to do anything, just going for a walk would tire me out to the point of collapsing. But I can do anything I want now, I can work hard and become as strong as anyone else, I can challenge what life throws at me and push beyond. I want to experience everything the world has to offer the good and the bad, I¡¯ll take it head on.¡± He grinned up at Donan. ¡°My dear boy¡­¡± Donan sighed and reached down to ruffle Ren¡¯s hair lightly ¡°Your one of a kind.¡± His expression for just a short moment was no longer that stern gaze of a mentor. Ren could only describe his expression as what he imagined a proud father would show his son, it was only for a moment though, Donan let out of cough as he drew his hand back ¡°Right then boy, if you want to blaze a trail through tomorrows challenge then hop on that bellows and start pumping!¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Yes sir!¡± Ren grinned and made a salute before dashing over to the bar that was connected to the large set of bellows, jumping up to grab it and pull it down. With his recent stat boosts as well as the ones from the training the day before he found it a lot easier to pump the bellows so he decided until his arms began to burn he would train ¡®Iron Grip¡¯ currently with his mana and the cost of it he could only keep the skill active 11 seconds then had to wait for his mana to regenerate. Lucky it turned out that the longer he kept the skill active the better the gain he would get in mastering the skill, he managed to reach level 5 with iron grip before he had to stop and focus on pumping the bellows more, turned out that reaching level 5 also reduced the mana cost by 1 for ¡®Iron Grip¡¯ Now he set his mind to his next task, he knew from last time that he was on the verge of getting a new skill before he had to stop and this would possibly be his last chance to try and get it. He had to wait till his arms and legs began to burn from the strain though as he pulled, pushed and jumped to pump the large bellows. As he did he began to let his thoughts fade out as they did last time for those brief moments, it was almost like putting his body on auto pilot, it still moved the way he wanted but he was no longer actively controlling it and so couldn¡¯t feel the pain and strains being pushed upon it from his task. But he was still only able to hold the strange state of mind for a couple seconds before snapping back to reality, it was still longer then last time though so he repeated it over and over, each time understanding it a little more. Timing his breathing with the pump of the bellows he let his focus slacken and instead let his mind take in everything around him, without focusing on a single thing he became aware of so much more around him while being able to ignore the strains to his own body, it was hard to not let his mind focus on something sometimes just thinking that he had to stay unfocused caused him to focus. Soon though he was able to pump the bellows without a single thought, his body moved without having to consciously control it, the pains it felt were nothing but a distant memory.
New Skill! Thanks to the smiths extra training and your own determination to achieve a new state of mind you¡¯ve unlocked a rare skill most warriors and monks could only dream of achieving
Serene State Of Mind Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive/Active) A state of mind that warriors and monks alike spend their whole lives trying to achieve The Serene State Of Mind allows you to ignore pain inflicted upon the body as well as resist mind influencing effects Ancient monks would see this as a state of enlightenment Whereas warriors would call it the ultimate battle mind (Passive) 15% reduction to pain received 15% chance to resist mind altering effects (Active) Completely removes mind altering effects Ignores all pain incurred on the body 30 Mana/Sec (This skill will morph as it rises in level)
Stat Gain! You¡¯ve gained everything you possibly can from the smith¡¯s extra training, any further training via this method will not yield any further results now +5 to all stats
Seeing the last window Ren let go of the bar and fell to the ground, sitting on his rear as he caught his breath, with his focus returned he could feel the strain that was now on his body, it was easily twice that of the first time he trained on the bellows ¡°Damn¡­ if I use it to freely, once the strain returns after the skill ends it could probably still cause major problems, especially if in battle¡­¡± He muttered to himself as he panted heavily to catch his breath, Donan looking him over. ¡°Boy, that was twice as much as yesterday, I know you travellers get stronger quick but this is still astounding, you should get home and rest still though, your still going to need your full strength for tomorrow.¡± He helped Ren up and sent him off with a smile. As Ren exited the workshop a new window appeared.
Notice! The Flow system has detected your brain waves showing signs of sleep deprivation and would like to remind you of the pause quest function and recommends you use it
Help Guide Pause Quest The pause quest function allows a player to pause multi stage quests that are required to be completed continually one day after the next While the quest is paused you may logout for an indefinite amount of time without having to worry about logging back in at the specified time to continue a quest. To pause you must be between two stages of the quest you cannot pause during one of the quest stages After logging back in the quest will resume at the start of the next in game day cycle It is impossible to collect quest related items until the quest resumes Any xp gained or skill training done before the quest resumes will not be added to your character until after the resolution of the quest
Ren let out a sigh ¡°You decide to tell me this now?¡± He groans ¡°Well¡­ I can go to bed without worries now at least.¡± ¡°Pause Quest, logout.¡± Ren let out a sigh of relief as he set the V.R helmet aside and relaxed back into his bed ¡°Phew, I can relax properly now.¡± He rolled over and promptly fell asleep. The next day he didn¡¯t login at all, both the nurses and his doctor said he¡¯d spent too much time in the game the day before, though he knew the doctor was saying it out of concern he had the feeling the nurses just wanted to have more time to tease him in the various ways they seem to enjoy. Of course he had to put in his usual amount of time into his exercise routine. The doctor seemed quite pleased with his progress while he wouldn¡¯t be walking a marathon any time soon he was able to walk 100 meters before running short on breath, when he¡¯d first arrived he was lucky to walk 10 without collapsing, that just how much of an effect his ¡®parents¡¯ drug experiments had on him. Needless to say he¡¯d also developed a deathly fear of needles, all his medicine had to be something he could swallow, either tablets or liquids. Back when he¡¯d first arrived the doctors had hooked him upto an i.v while he was unconscious, when he awoke he went into a full blown panic attack at the sight of the i.v connected to his arm and had ripped it out. Ripping out a needle that¡¯s connected straight to your vein is a bad idea. In the end the doctors had to sedate him and keep him in that state until they were finished with all the initial injections to rid his body of the toxins from the drugs his parents had pumped into him over the years. Of course there were still times when the only way to give him certain treatments was via needle, at these times the nurses would often distract him, he knew what was going on and it still scared him, but thanks to the nurses it became bearable. Though if he was to actually see the needle he would fall into a panic without fail. Today the doctor told him he reached a good milestone being able to walk 100 meters, the further you can walk the further you can push yourself and in turn the further your strength will grow. Ren thought he somewhat understood his words, after all he was getting stronger in Flow and was able to push his character harder with each increase in stats he got which in turn got him even more stat increases. The next day after breakfast and his exorcises Ren laid down and logged back into Flow, eager to take on the last challenge from the smith. ¡°Flow Login Start.¡± He appeared back in the artisan district street in front of Donan¡¯s workshop, looking at the in game time it was just settling on sunset so he would have to wait till dawn before the quest would resume. He decided to head out and collect herbs while he waited. As he wandered around outside the city collecting herbs he took a look at his stats and some of his skills to see how they were progressing.
Status
Name Ren Level 1
Gender Male Class Artificer
Race Elfling Fame/Infamy 0 (Neutral)
Health 310 Mana 165
Strength 45 Dexterity 35
Vitality 31 Agility 33
Endurance 31 Intelligence 17
Luck 15 Wisdom 16
Title
None
¡°Wow, I¡¯ve actually gained a lot of stats while trying to learn smithing and I still haven¡¯t levelled up yet¡­ I bet the other four winners are at the top rankings for sure, probably completed tones of quests and have lots of epic loot by now¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh as he plucked up herbs from the ground and slipped it away before standing up and giving his cheeks a slap. ¡°Snap out of it Ren! You¡¯ve been having a blast so far, who cares what those other four are doing, you came here to have fun! Eventually you¡¯ll become known across the world as the best crafter, people will line up for miles to get one of your weapons.¡± He shook his head ¡°No no, I can¡¯t limit myself just to smithing, sure it¡¯ll be one of the more lucrative paths to take but I want to master every skill on offer to this super class I¡¯ve gotten! Right! After I finish learning the basics of smithing I¡¯m gonna go see that enchanter guy!¡± A growl from behind him caused him to stiffen up, turning around shakily he could see the tree line of the forest just behind him, he must have wandered to close while lost in thought. From the shadows of the forest several pairs of eyes glinted as more growls could be heard ¡°Uhh¡­ nice doggies¡­.. WAHAHHHHHHHH!!!¡± Chapter 008 Chapter 008 The Smiths Trial Part 3 Ren huffed and puffed as he leaned on his knees, thanks to his increased stats over the last couple days he managed to get away from the wolves this time with only a small slash the back of his clothes. ¡°Uuuu¡­ I don¡¯t think these clothes are going to hold up to much more repairing¡­.¡± Standing up and brushing himself off he took in a deep breath to calm himself down. ¡°Guess once I finish the last challenge ill have to try making a new set of clothes.¡± He nodded to himself and headed off towards the smiths workshop. He didn¡¯t have to wait long for dawn to arrive as he wandered about the street, eating another of his dry bread rolls and washing it down with some water. ¡°It fills my hunger but it really tastes like stale bread¡­ I¡¯ll have to look into cooking as well I think soon.¡± He paused in front of Donan¡¯s workshop and let out a small sigh ¡°So many things to learn, it¡¯s really daunting¡­¡± He gives his cheeks a slap ¡°Well, one step at a time, first I learn the basics and get the tool kits for each craft, then maybe I could tag along with a party as a kind of support role. That or just start up my own shop.¡± As soon as he stepped into the workshop he was greeted by Donan ¡°Here you are Ren, ready for your last challenge?¡± He grinned at Ren ¡°Yes sir!¡± Ren grinned and nodded before heading over to the anvil he¡¯d been training on so far. ¡°Good boy!¡± Donan gave a slap to Ren¡¯s shoulder ¡°Now, you¡¯ve been pounding on this anvil relentlessly for the last two days, its taken quiet the beating you know.¡± He grins ¡°So your last challenge is to break the anvil before your hammer does.¡± Ren¡¯s jaw dropped ¡°Wha.. what!? Break the anvil!? Is that even possible?¡± Donan let out a hearty laugh ¡°Hhahahaaa, I had the exact same reaction when I was given this challenge by my mentor, but I can assure you Ren my boy, its possible.¡± Ren stepped upto the anvil and examined it, he¡¯d never thought to examine it before so he was surprised to see that it did in fact have a durability.
Training Anvil This anvil was made for the sole purpose of being used for the smith¡¯s trial, it¡¯s quite a bit weaker than a normal anvil Durability 74/250
It was over half way down after receiving the punishment from his two previous challenges. Donan stepped over and sat a hammer on the anvil. ¡°And here¡¯s your lucky hammer for the day, remember you have to break the anvil before the hammer does.¡± Ren examined the hammer to find it had 30 durability and frowned, he would have to somehow take at least 3 durability off the anvil with each hit on average if he wanted to break it before the hammer did¡­ that¡¯s if the hammer still only lost 1 point per hit. ¡°Tough one isn¡¯t it.¡± Donan grinned at Ren ¡°Well, I won¡¯t blame you if you back down, back in the day I was the only one that passed my mentors trial out of the thousands of others so I know how hard it is.¡± Ren gripped the hammer firmly ¡°No, I¡¯ll pass your test.¡± He raised the hammer and slammed it down as hard as he could, he knew he would have to put all his strength into each hit if he was going to cause enough damage to the anvil, and it seemed to work to a degree. His hit took 3 points off the anvil but in turn took 2 points off the hammer. ¡°Damm.. that¡¯s not it¡­just adding more power to the strike isn¡¯t the trick to it¡­¡± Donan grinned at his words as he leaned back against a wall to watch him. Ren then tried hitting it normally and as he had thought it took 1 point from both the anvil and hammer. ¡°Mmph¡­ there must be something else¡­¡± Leaning down he rubbed his hand over the anvil to examine it closely, he could see and feel the impression marks made by all his previous hammerings, the runes from before were gone now though but the areas he had struck still held those hammer marks. ¡°¡­something¡¯s¡­ different here.¡± He traced his fingers over one of the impresions, it felt deeper than the other as though the metal was softer in that spot, as he continued to explore the anvil he found other such spots as well. ¡°That¡¯s it!!¡± Raising the hammer he brought it down hard onto the area that held the deepest impresion, then looked at his hammer and the anvil, the hammer had only lost 1 point and the anvil had lost 4. ¡°Yes! There¡¯s an impurity in the metal causing it to be weaker in certain parts!¡± Quickly he set about hammering the weak spots he¡¯d identified. Meanwhile Donan couldn¡¯t help but to watch in awe as he picked it up so quickly and for a moment he thought about ending it there since Ren had it worked out but seeing how excited and eagerly Ren was hammering away at the anvil he decided to let him finish. Soon enough the anvil began to form cracks where he hammered and finally split apart completely, the two pieces clattering to the ground loudly. ¡°YES!!!¡± Ren let out a whoop and jumped excitedly. Donan just chuckled as he watched Ren enjoy his victory. ¡°Alright alright, calm down my boy, come here and take this already.¡± He smiles broadly as he held out to Ren a tool belt that was fully equipped with all the basic tools a smith would need as well as a book.
Quest Complete! You¡¯ve completed all the smith¡¯s challenges! Your name has become well know throughout the artisan district as a young man willing to go the distance to learn everything your teachers have to show you Rewards 200xp Large boost to affinity with artisan district npc¡¯s +100 Fame Blacksmiths tool belt Book of repair
New Skill! Due to your insight and good judgment you were able to spot the impurities in the anvil and have gained a new skill!
Vision of Impurity Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive) You are able to see the impurities and weaknesses in all metals When smithing you will be able to hammer the impurities out and refine the metal to a higher quality because of it Higher skill levels will allow you to see impurities more clearly as well as see weaknesses in weapons and armor which can then be reforged and made stronger (Skill can be toggled on and off)
Skill Gain! For completing Donan¡¯s trials you¡¯ve gained an instant boost to a sub skill
Hammering Level 1 (Intermediate 0%) Hammering is a sub skill of Smithing This skill increases the power of your strikes as well as accuracy to allow you to work metal into shape faster and with less accidental markings increasing the quality of your work
Closing the windows he happily put the tool belt away and took hold of the book.
Skill Book Repair Would you like to learn this skill? Y/N
Before he could speak there was a loud knock at the door to the workshop and in strode a man wearing a shining suit of armor adorned with gold inlay. Ren¡¯s jaw dropped in surprise, it was Tristan the ¡®Heroic Prince¡¯. ¡°Yo old man, I¡¯ve heard you can teach the repair skill, how much do you want to teach it to me?¡± Tristan flicked his hair back in that typical pompous fashion that for some reason would make girls swoon. Donan gave a curious glance to Ren at his actions, Ren just shrugged bringing a smirk to Donan¡¯s lips. ¡°Sorry my boy, I only had one book and I¡¯m afraid I just gave it away to someone more appropriate.¡± Tristan¡¯s eyes widened at Donan¡¯s words ¡°Someone more appropriate? There is no one more appropriate for such a skill then I am, don¡¯t you know who I am old man?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard of you.¡± Donan nodded ¡°But for us crafters, having a shining reputation doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ve got the talent for our work. In any case as I said, I don¡¯t have the book anymore, you¡¯d have to take it up with the young man that worked hard and earned it.¡± He motioned to Ren who was still holding the book as he watched the conversation. Tristan¡¯s gaze fell onto Ren finally, seemingly only now noticing he was even there. ¡°You? You¡¯ve got my book? Hand it over.¡± Tristan held his hand out as though it would be natural for it to be given to him. Ren just looked at him dumbfounded at his attitude. ¡°Oh come on, I know it¡¯s rare to be in the presence of one of the great four winners of the one of a kind classes but don¡¯t freeze up on me, you should feel honoured that you¡¯ve got something I want.¡± Tristan now wriggled his hand once more in front of Ren for the book to be handed over. Donan watched the scene with concern and looked to Ren who just grinned back at him which made him raise a brow curiously. ¡°So¡­ you really want this book huh? Why do you even need it though?¡± Tristan let out an irritated sigh ¡°I¡¯m tired of having to pay to repair my own armor if you must know, while it barely touches on what I earn of course it gets tiresome having to come back just to repair it, so come on already hand it over.¡± During Tristan¡¯s talk Ren decided to go ahead and use the book, he had no intention of giving it to anyone let alone a guy him.
Repair Level 1 (Beginner 0%) The repair skill allows you to repair items Items repaired with beginner rank skill level will lose 10% of their maximum durability
Metal Repair Level 1 (Beginner 0%) This sub skill aids you in repairing weapons, armor and other items made from metals
As Tristan finished talking he noticed the glow coming from Ren as he used the skill book, his eyes widening in almost shock horror ¡°No! Wait! What!?¡± He glared daggers at Ren. ¡°You little shit! How dare you use my book!¡± He grabbed Ren and began shaking him violently. ¡°Give it back! That was mine!¡± Ren was lost completely lost for words as he was shaken back and forth roughly by Tristan, he was getting dizzy and any words he tried to speak came out sputtered as he bit his tongue from the shaking. Two large hands then came clamping down on Tristan¡¯s shoulders firmly causing him to jump slightly and tilt his head around. ¡°Get your hands off me you oaf, don¡¯t you know who I am!?¡± Donan smirked ¡°I know who you are boy.¡± Using his immense strength gained from a lifetime of smithing he picked Tristan up by his armor and hauled him towards the entrance of the workshop like he was a carry bag. ¡°You¡¯re a brat that thinks he owns everything around him even when it¡¯s not his, a pompous snot nose kid that doesn¡¯t know the meaning of hard work nor what that young boy had to endure to earn that book that you¡¯ve no right at all to even look at let alone touch it, and if I ever see you come into my shop again I¡¯ll throw you into the furnace!¡± With a growl he tossed Tristan like a rag doll out the door and onto the street. Tristan¡¯s armor clacked, banged and screeched as he rolled and skidded across the road coming to a stop dead on his back. He got up fairly quickly and stormed towards Donan ¡°You dumb brut!¡± In front of Tristan¡¯s eyes several warning windows were appearing but he swiped them away without reading them as he approached the large smith. ¡°I¡¯m a personal friend of Eric the lord of this city, I¡¯ll see to it that you get evicted and exiled from the city for this!¡± Tristan raised his hand to strike the smith. Donan just smirked as Tristan went to strike him and taking a breath shouted as loud as he could ¡°YOU¡¯RE BARRED!¡± Donan invoked a magic that all establishments that provided a service had placed on them allowing the owner of the building to ban people of their choice from entering their store, Instantly Tristan¡¯s fist collided with a barrier before it reached the smith his hand making a loud cracking sound which caused him to fall back and yelp in pain. Several windows appeared in front of Tristan which he read this time, they informed him that he was now barred from the smith¡¯s workshop and that despite his fame the rest of the workshops in the district would hold him in very low regard, his total fame also dropped by a whopping 20% due to his behaviour. He stood up once more, casting a heal spell on his hand and wriggled it around to make sure it was fixed, giving one more deathly glare to Donan and Ren he stormed off down the street, the majority of the other workshop owners were peering out of their shops due to the commotion and upon seeing Tristan there expressions turned to scowls. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Donan sighed and turned back around to face Ren. ¡°You ok my boy?¡± Ren just nodded dumbly as his brain was still processing everything that had happened, he wasn¡¯t sure if he should feel sorry for Tristan or fall over in a fit of laughter at seeing the arrogant guy get what was coming to him. He shook his head to snap out of his daze and smiled with a nod to Donan. ¡°Good boy, if that brat ever gives you trouble you come tell me, ill sort him out, ill use that tin can armor of his as my anvil.¡± He let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead ¡°I can see him becoming a pain later on.¡± He spoke as he looked out the door he¡¯d tossed Tristan out of. ¡°Anyway my boy.¡± He turned back to Ren. ¡°Before we were interrupted I was going to say one more thing.¡± Donan grinned and slaps his large hands Down on Ren¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m proud to name you my apprentice, now I know you traveller folks like to run off on adventures so I won¡¯t try to tie you down and demand you stay and work for me here, but anytime you want to brush up on your skills you come here, my forge will always be open to you.¡±
New Title! Thanks to your hard work you¡¯ve impressed Donan to the point that he wants you as his apprentice, you¡¯re the first person ever to be asked this of him
Donan¡¯s Apprentice When equipped npc¡¯s in the city of Aurora will recognise you as Donan¡¯s apprentice You may freely use Donan¡¯s workshop Donan will give you tips and tricks as you smith in his workshop increasing your smithing skill (and any related sub skills) gain by 20%
Ren¡¯s eyes went wide, his first title! ¡°Yes! Thank you so much!¡± Ren grinned broadly up at Donan who just chuckled and ruffled his hair. ¡°That¡¯s the way, now then before you can get to smithing though you¡¯re going to have to get some metal, I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t just give you what I¡¯ve got in stock without asking for compensation, so you¡¯ve three choices, you can buy the metal ingots from me to then forge them into weapons and armor, you can go buy ore gathered by others at the market or you can head to the mines yourself and try your hand at collecting some yourself.¡± It only took a split second for Ren to answer. ¡°I¡¯ll try mining ore myself, it¡¯ll be fun!¡± Donan chuckled as he got the answer he was expecting and pulled a mining pick that was hanging on the wall down and handed it to him. ¡°Alright then, take this and go bring back the biggest haul of metal you can.¡± He grins and ruffled Ren¡¯s hair. ¡°Once your rested up and feel ready, head out the north gates and follow the path towards the mountains, you¡¯ll have to stay away from the main mine, they don¡¯t take to kindly to freelancers taking ¡®their¡¯ ore, but if you follow the mountain side you should be able to find some smaller caverns where other miners have done some prospecting away from the main mine. Those areas are free for all. Or if you¡¯re feeling adventurous you can even start your own little mining cavern.¡± Ren nodded eagerly. ¡°That sounds cool!¡± He grinned up at Donan as he held the mining pick in his hands, the pick had a good weight to it but thanks to Donan¡¯s trials it was nothing Ren couldn¡¯t handle.¡± Thanks Donan! I¡¯ll bring back lots of ore so make sure to teach me lots!¡± He grinned and dashed out of the workshop and down the street. Donan chuckled at how eager Ren was as he dashed out of the work shop. ¡°Dear me, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen a boy so eager to do a job that most would look down upon.¡± As Ren made his way to the north gates he felt a breeze at his which reminded him of the claw marks the wolves had torn into his shirt again. ¡°Oops¡­ guess I¡¯d better see sally first.¡± He turned around and headed for the Seamstress¡¯s workshop. Entering the workshop he was greeted cheerfully by Sally. ¡°Ren! Good to see you again, what can this old lady do for you today?¡± ¡°I need some new clothes, these ones got ripped again, I was hoping I could buy some cloth from you so I can try and make them myself.¡± Sally just smiled and nodded. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m going to assume you¡¯ll be using the pattern I gave you before yes? The travelling clothes?¡± Ren nodded to her query and she pulled out a bolt of dull dirty white cloth, measuring out a suitable length and cut it from the bolt before folding it neatly and sliding it across the counter to him. ¡°It¡¯s not a fancy cloth but its durable and you can dye it easily to suit your tastes, for you just 1 silver.¡± Ren smiled and handed over the silver before taking the cloth. ¡°Thank you very much Sally.¡± He gave a light bow. ¡°Would you mind if I used one of your work benches?¡± ¡°Of course not dear, help yourself.¡± She motioned with a wave to a currently empty bench that had no current projects resting on it. With a broad smile Ren nodded in thanks and headed over to the bench, setting out the cloth and taking out his tailoring kit. When it came to crafting there was several options one could choose from to perform the crafting, one was to rely solely on the system and your stats to automatically attempt the craft, the system would simply take the cloth and change it into the clothes after a short amount of time, the quality and fit relying solely on the players skill levels, this was the quickest way to craft. The second was with the system assistance, the system would place red outlines over the fabric to show where to cut and stitch accordingly as well as making fixes to any errors from the player if their skill level was appropriate to do so such as straitening a cut or fixing a missed stitch. The final method was complete manual control, the red guidelines would still be shown but there would be no automatic corrections if mistakes were made even if your skill level would be able to fix it. These options allowed the players to craft the way they wanted, some would prefer a more hands on approach while others preferred to simply select their options and have it made for them by the system, there was though advantages to crafting manually, since crafting manually was seen as being harder skills would rise quicker and there would be higher chances of sub skills unlocking, the chances of making a high quality items also increased. Since he used to sew now and then in his free time before he got his hands on Flow Ren decided to go with the manual crafting option, after selecting the travelling clothes pattern the design guide lines traced out over the cloth he¡¯d laid out, showing him where to cut, this at least removed the need to trace the pattern onto the cloth and saved a little bit of time. The pattern only had one size, once the item was complete it would automatically change size to fit the player that wanted to equip it. This gave a base standard amount of materials required for crafting items and allowed prices to be the same regardless of a person¡¯s size or shape, this was put in place by the programmers more due to fear that people would cry ¡®racism¡¯ and such if they were charged different prices because they required equipment that used more materials and thus were charged more. Though those that complained would have no case, it was a headache they could avoid and so they did so. Ren cut along the lines carefully, he focused completely on his task not wanting to make a single mistake as he made his new clothes. Sally sat at the counter sewing together what looked to be a hooded cloak, though as she did her eyes were constantly watching Ren, her hands never stopped or wavered though. After cutting out each piece and inspecting them closely for any faults he set the pieces out and took them over to the dye tubs. Dyeing clothes wasn¡¯t a skill it was a free service for all, one needed simply to come to the tailor shop and request the colours they wanted, since Ren was in the workshop though he could dye the clothes himself. The travelling clothes consisted of 5 articles of clothing, pants, long sleeve shirt, cloak, belt and a tunic like vest. ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯ll have to think about some new shoes later to probably¡­¡± The pants and belt he changed to a dark almost leather like brown colour, the shirt he left almost as it was but instead of being a dirty white it was a bit cleaner bordering between white and grey, the cloak he coloured a dark green and the vest a dark blue. Thankfully he didn¡¯t have to wait for the dye to set in, simply using the dying tub opened an option window that allowed him to change the colours as he wished, of course the colours were still limited to what matched with the medieval type era Flow was set in so you wouldn¡¯t see anyone running around in a bright fluoro pink muscle shirt thankfully. With the pieces dyed Ren took them back to his bench and laid them out once more in order before he started to sew each piece together to form what would be his new clothes. His work was slow and careful, as he was doing everything manually he didn¡¯t want to make any mistakes so he would gain the most points he could from his work, thanks to his real life experience and the systems guidelines it wasn¡¯t too hard to stitch the clothes together nice and neatly. It took some time but eventually his clothes were finished and laid out neatly on the bench before him, a broad grin was plastered across Ren¡¯s face as he proudly admired his work. ¡°All done!¡±
Set Of Travelling Clothes (High Quality) These clothes though simple were made by an unknown craftsman who put their heart and soul into every aspect of its creation and it results prove it When worn +5 AC +5 Dex +5 Agi Durability 60/60
Stat Gain! Thanks to your hard work, concentration and nimble fingers you¡¯ve become more agile and accurate +5 Dexterity +5 Agility
Ren was over the moon with the outcome, even though it was just a set of plain clothes they were now a set of light armor with high durability and he even got a stat gain to boot! ¡°Ren my dear, that was some outstanding work you did, even on such a simple set of clothes you put in every ounce of concentration you had.¡± She smiled warmly at Ren. ¡°Not only that, I could tell you put your very heart and soul into your work.¡± She stepped over beside him and lightly let her fingers trace over the simple set of clothes that Ren had put so much time and effort into making as best as he could. ¡°Wont you let this old lady see how you look in them then?¡± She grinned at Ren as she knew he was likely eager to don his new clothes. Ren grinned and nodded, scooping up the clothes and dashed into a back room quickly to change into the clothes, it was possible to just equip the clothes from his inventory but he was caught up in the moment and forgot that such a method existed. It still only took a minute before he stepped back out now wearing his new clothes and stepped over to Sally to show them off for her. ¡°My my, now you look like a strapping young man.¡± Sally nodded and smiled warmly to Ren. ¡°Ren my dear, I¡¯m greatly impressed with your work please feel free to come back and use my workshop whenever you wish to make some clothes or the like, I would be delighted to teach you some of my tricks.¡±
New Title! You¡¯ve impressed Sally the seamstress with your hard work and dedication to crafting quality clothes and will gladly teach you all she knows of the tailoring craft
Sally¡¯s Student When equipped npc¡¯s in the city of Aurora will recognise you as Sally¡¯s student You may freely use Sally¡¯s workshop Sally will give you tips and tricks as you sew clothes in her workshop increasing your tailoring skill (and any related sub skills) gain by 20%
With a grin Ren gave Sally a big hug, catching the old women off guard for a moment but she then chuckled and patted his head lightly. ¡°Thank you Sally!¡± He beamed up at her. ¡°Not at all Ren my dear, it¡¯s a pleasure to see such a young man take such a deep interest in this old ladies profession, I would be a fool not to teach you what I know.¡± Ren stepped back finally, that broad grin still stuck on his face though. ¡°Thank you! I¡¯ll be sure to come by and learn from you.¡± He waved gleefully to her before stepping out of the workshop and heading down the street in his new clothes. ¡°Phew, that¡¯s enough for today I think, tomorrow I go mining!¡± He grinned broadly to himself eager to see what awaited him at the mines. ¡°Logout.¡±
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Chapter 009 Chapter 009 The Mines Ren¡¯s plan for the day was to login to Flow and head off for the mountains to find a mine to start collecting ore from, so far only the first step was working out. ¡°Hey hey, we need someone extra for our party wont you join us?¡± Ren was sweating lightly in panic as he was backed up against a wall after being cornered by a trio of girls. ¡°Uh..uhh..i..i¡¯m still only level 1 you know, I wouldn¡¯t be any help to you.¡± ¡°Aww don¡¯t say that, we¡¯ll find something you can do to help out, mmm.. maybe like giving us back rubs when we take breaks..¡± The leading girl¡¯s two companions both nodded eagerly at her words, they all seemed to be almost drooling at the thought of having a cute boy like Ren with them. A shiver ran up Rens spine. ¡°I..I¡¯m really sorry but I was already in the middle of doing something when you approached me¡­so¡­.¡± ¡°nnnnnnn!¡± Ren could have sworn he heard a voice calling out loudly in the distance but he was to focused on the trio baring down on him like a pack of hungry wolves. ¡°Awww, pretty please? After we do our quest we¡¯ll come help you with what you¡¯re doing.¡± ¡°EEeeennnnnn.¡± There it was again, Ren tilted his head around curiously, he could swear it was someone calling his voice. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I have to focus on training my skills currently I won¡¯t be any help at all on quests and¡­ guaf!!¡± ¡°REEENNN! I found you hehe!¡± The trio of girls were bowled out of the way as a tall busty elf women charged forward and clung to Ren, pulling him to her in a tight hug, his face being buried in her chest causing him to flail his arms about in surprise. ¡°Hey what do you think you¡¯re doing to him!?¡± The trio shouted at the same time. ¡°I¡¯m giving my Ren a big hug, see.¡± The unknown women squeezed Ren tighter into her chest causing him to flail more furiously in an attempt to escape, not that he actually minded the feeling of such lovely cushioning it was still an extremely embarrassing situation. ¡°Your Ren!? We saw him first and were about to head off on a quest together so get your hands off him you shameless hussy.¡± The trio were now steaming mad. The women holding Ren finally let go to face the trio. ¡°Who are you calling a hussy, it¡¯s obvious that you just want Ren to yourselves as well.¡± ¡°Wha..what! We just want to complete our quest and for that we need one more person.¡± They each nodded. ¡°Why focus just on him then? There are plenty of other boys that will start drooling over those fake avatars of yours and help you without question.¡± ¡°This is how we really look!¡± The trio were getting furious now, you could almost see the steam pumping from them. ¡°Ohhh? Really now?¡± The unknown women leaned down towards the trio to look them over carefully. ¡°Hmmm, not a single blemish on that lovely skin of yours though is there.¡± The leader of the group backed up a little. ¡°W..well.. I did a few little touch ups.. but this is my real body! Now stop getting in our way so we can go questing with Ren!¡± They pushed the women aside together to get to Ren behind her but stopped and blinked. ¡°Huh?... Ren?¡± As the group got into their heated talk Ren had slipped away and was now on his way out the north gate. ¡°Phew¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure how I¡¯d get away from that¡­that other women seemed familiar though¡­.¡± He shrugged and continued on his way towards the mines. The walk to the mines was relatively uneventful, as the road was often used to transport ores and supplies to and from the mines the road saw very little monster activity, the distance though was still quiet far. Ren managed to hitch a ride with a supply wagon on its way to the mine. The wagon was carrying food, medicine and some other necessities that could not be obtained at the mine. The wagon driver was an older male with short black hair and a short neatly trimmed beard. ¡°So lad, off to earn some coin working the mines are you?¡± Ren shook his head. ¡°No, I¡¯m hoping to find a small mine nearby where I can obtain ore for my own use.¡± The man lifted a brow. ¡°Oh? Been mining before then have you?¡± Ren shook his head again. ¡°Well lad, if you want some friendly advice I¡¯d recommend you take up a job in the mine for a while, you won¡¯t get to keep the ore you find but you¡¯ll earn some coin and learn the basics of mining.¡± Ren nodded lightly as he saw the wisdom of the man¡¯s words. ¡°That sounds like a good idea... to be honest I was just going to wander along the mountain till I found an old mining spot and hack away at it hoping I¡¯d find something¡­¡± The man chuckled at this. ¡°To those that haven¡¯t mined before that may be indeed what it looks like, just randomly chipping away at rock and hope you get lucky, but there¡¯s more to it then that I can assure you. When we arrive you should go find Earl, he¡¯d the foreman and even if your inexperienced, as long as you¡¯re willing to do the work he¡¯ll give you a shot at it.¡± In total the trip even by wagon took a bit over an hour real time, Ren made sure to note he¡¯d have to get a real big haul before heading back to the city, he didn¡¯t want to have to make too many trips back and forth as he trained his smithing skills. As the mine came into view it almost looked like a small quarry, a large semi circular rock face littered with mine entrances, each with a set of mine cart tracks leading into the darkness of each mineshaft. Leading upto the mine was a small shanty town, Ren guessed it was where the miners slept between shifts. There were several more sturdy looking buildings, one seemed to be an office of some sort, another was a large open area that looked like a cafeteria, and the other was a small smithy where tools were made and repaired. ¡°Well lad, I need to drop these supplies off, if you want to try your hand at some work just head over to the foreman¡¯s office there and ask for Earl.¡± Ren smiled and thanked the man before hopping down off the wagon and headed over to the office, knocking on the door someone within called out to enter and he stepped inside. Sitting behind a desk sorting through various piles of papers was a bald and rather dirty man, he glanced up at Ren, his brow rising curiously at the sight of the small elfling entering his office. ¡°Can¡¯t say I¡¯ve ever seen any elflings come here before, what I can do for you?¡± Despite his dirty appearance he seemed to have a polite personality. ¡°Sir, I was told that if I inquired I might be able to get some work here at the mine?¡± The foreman Earl tilted his head curiously and stood up, stepping around his desk to stand before Ren, looking him over with an appraising eye. ¡°While generally I won¡¯t turn anyone away if they¡¯re willing to try, are you sure you¡¯ll be upto the task? It¡¯s not an easy job, I pay according to how much you dig up, for lodging you can bunk in any of the available shanties, but you¡¯ll have to pay for your own food at the canteen.¡± Ren nodded to Earl¡¯s words. ¡°That sounds fair sir.¡± Earl smiled at that. ¡°A polite one hmm? I¡¯m going to assume you¡¯ve never mined before correct?¡± Ren nodded. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll have you team up with one of the more experienced miners for a few days, they can show you the ropes.¡± With that Earl stepped outside the office motioning for Ren to follow, as he approached the mine he turned his head left and right as if looking for something. ¡°Ah, HEY FRITZ!¡± He motioned for someone to come over. The man approaching them was about the same height as Ren but he was a lot wider, his arms and legs were as thick as small trees, his head was bald but from his face grew a large dark red beard, the dwarf trudged over to the foreman, a pickaxe slung over his shoulder. ¡°What can I do for ya boss?¡± Earl motioned to Ren. ¡°I know you don¡¯t usually like to teach the newbies Fritz but I¡¯m hoping you¡¯ll make an exception with this one, being around the same size and he¡¯ll learn better if he can see how you work rather than trying to imitate one of the taller fellas.¡± The dwarf looked Ren over for a moment, Ren just smiled and held his hand out. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Ren, its nice to meet you.¡± This made the dwarf rise his brow and weather it was on purpose or just an automatic reaction he reached out and shook Ren¡¯s hand with a nod. ¡°Mmm¡­ call me Fritz.¡± This seemed to be enough to make Earl think the dwarf would take on the task. ¡°Just for a few days show him the ropes if you would Fritz, don¡¯t go easy on him, though I know you won¡¯t.¡± He chuckles then as he heads back to the office. The dwarf didn¡¯t say anything else and just turned and headed towards the mine, Ren blinked and quickly followed. ¡°u..umm¡­ if this is going to be a hassle to you I can find someone else to show me the basics.¡± Ren caught up and started walking alongside the dwarf who just gave him a side glance and shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Seems he wasn¡¯t much of a talker. Before entering the mine the dwarf headed over to what looked like a station where the mine carts were kept, Fritz stepped upto the next cart in line and began to push it along the tracks, pausing for a moment to look back at Ren and nodded to the next cart behind him. ¡°That one¡¯s yours.¡± Ren nodded and quickly stepped the next cart that was in line and gripped the handles on it, pushing it as best he could. The dwarf made it look so easy but the cart was made of solid iron and even though it was on tracks it was still an effort to get it moving, but he managed to do so thanks to the strength he had gained from Donan¡¯s training. The dwarf¡¯s brow rose in slight surprise at seeing the elfling pushing the cart up behind him. ¡°Where to?¡± Ren smiled brightly to the dwarf. Fritz was a little shocked to be honest, his first expectation was that Ren wouldn¡¯t even be able to budge the cart let alone keep up with him as he pushed it along the winding maze of tracks that were in the mines. Not only that but he noted that Ren seemed quite happy about pushing the cart through the mines, his eyes darting everywhere as he seemed to take in everything with an unlimited inquisitiveness. Each mineshaft had at least two or three sets of tracks, one was for entering and the other for exiting, the third track seemed to lead off into other more narrow shafts that were used by a single person when they hit a rich ore vein. Fritz explained to Ren that if someone found an ore vein they had the right to claim it and mine it all themselves, especially if it was a more rare ore then just iron. At least that¡¯s what Ren had gathered from him, it wasn¡¯t explained to him in quite so many words. They eventually came to a stop down the end of a shaft, Ren was a bit worn out from pushing the cart already but he could feel his stamina regaining quickly and his eagerness was now burning brightly as they were about to finally start digging. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°You hit here, dig, find ore, put it in your cart and dig more.¡± Fritz pointed to a section of wall that looked just like every other part of the mine walls, but Ren wasn¡¯t going to argue against a dwarf, after all they were famous for being the best miners in every fantasy game and story there ever was. Ren took out his pick and look over the wall carefully, trying to see if there was some kind of hint about there being ore hidden within it but he couldn¡¯t see anything that would hint at such. Looking to the dwarf he was already hammering away at another section of wall with his pick, every so often a chunk of ore would fly over his head and land in his cart. Ren grinned and wondered if he could get that good one day. Eagerly Ren started to hammer his pick into the wall, chipping away the rock bit by bit, the pick was heavy and large so he had to use both hands to wield it, but something he did find neat was that he seemed to not receive much feedback shock from the strikes, likely due to the shock absorption skill he¡¯d gotten from hitting the solid iron anvil. ¡°Huh¡­ mining will probably be a good way to train that skill actually.¡± He grinned to himself. Originally Ren had thought he¡¯d have to hit his head against a wall or some such to train the skill but now it would basically train on its own as he worked on mining, not only that, hitting the stone wall with the pick was nothing compared to smacking the anvil constantly. Gradually bit by bit he dug out a small hole in the wall, following Fritz¡¯s example though he would both high and low, carving out an alcove in wall that reached up as high as Ren could reach with the pick and was at least three times as wide as himself, Fritz had explained that this was to ensure there would be space for him to move and swing the pick as he dug deeper into the mine wall. Thanks to Fritz pointing him where to start digging it didn¡¯t take to long before he felt the pick hit something harder than rock, pulling the pick back he could see a dull sheen nestled inside the rock and quickly set about digging it out until the clump of ore fell from the wall and at his feet. ¡°Yes! My first piece of ore!¡± Ren grinned and picked it up quickly showing it to Fritz. ¡°This is iron ore right?¡± Fritz glanced over at the chunk of ore Ren was holding out and nodded. ¡°Good work.¡± With that he motioned to Ren¡¯s cart. ¡°Put it in your cart, need to keep digging if you want to eat later.¡± Ren nodded to his words and eagerly set back to work digging out the wall, as they dug every so often a person would come by with another cart and shovel to remove the rocks and rubble they had made while digging, Ren later learned that the rubble was taken to a crusher to be crushed and sieved in case any smaller bits of ore resided in the rubble. The crushed rock powder that was left over was bagged and sent off to be used to make mortar for building. By the time Ren had just managed to cover the bottom of his cart with chunks of ore Fritz already had a full load and was ready to take it back. ¡°Come, turn in ore and take short break outside.¡± Fritz started to push his cart back out of the winding maze of mineshafts, Ren hurried to follow behind, even though he barely had a layer of ore in his cart he could feel the strain of the extra weight as he pushed the cart out of the mine. Once they were outside Fritz led Ren upto a weigh station where the ore would be tipped out of the carts onto a large flat tray that seemed to be enchanted to detect the worth the metal placed in it, Fritz took a pin out of his cart that unlocked it, letting it be tipped over. The ore spilled onto the tray and various runes began to glow along the edge of it which seemed to indicate how much ore was on the tray and the quality of it. The man inspecting the runes nodded and made a note in a book before counting out a handful of silver coins and passing them to Fritz who nodded and pocketed the coins before pushing his cart along the track which lead it to the back of where the unused carts sat. The tray with Fritz¡¯s ore on it was pushed away to be taken to another section of the mine to be loaded onto a wagon for transport and another trey was pushed in for Ren to use. Ren pulled the pin from his cart and with a little help from the ore assessor pushed it over to trip out his meagre spoils onto the trey, as he expected barely a couple runes lit up for him and the man handed him a single silver which caused Ren to raise a brow curiously. ¡°Isn¡¯t this to much?¡± The man just smiled and ruffled his hair. ¡°Think of it as a small incentive for the new kid, it¡¯s not much ore, but you worked hard to get it, next time I want to see twice the amount though.¡± The man grinned at Ren.
Quest! The assessor at the ore weigh station has challenged you to bring in at least double the ore you brought in the first time Difficulty - ??? Rewards Affinity gain with mine NPC''S Small amount of bonus pay depending on the amount of ore you gather
Ren grinned and nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best!¡± The man chuckled and waved Ren on so the next person could come in. Ren pushed his cart back into the waiting bay and headed off to follow Fritz to the cafeteria area where he was already seated and eating what looked like a beef stew with and a small bread roll. Ren took a seat across from him and pulled out one the few rather stale bread rolls he still had on him from when he first joined. ¡°¡­ I¡¯m going to have to start buying food now¡­ or maybe learn to cook.¡± He nodded to himself as he chewed the bread down, despite the state of the bread it still filled his hunger bar. Fritz seemed to give him a curious glance as he watched him eating the stale bread but didn¡¯t make any comment as he finished off his stew. Once they were done eating and relaxed for about five minutes they headed back into the mine once more, Ren eagerly set back into his section of wall, his mind set on digging up more than double what he¡¯d gotten before. Unlike last time Ren started to use some skills he thought might help a little as he went, and if they didn¡¯t then he¡¯d at least be training the skills. First he tried activating ¡®Iron Grip¡¯ which was now at beginner level 5 after using it so much during Donan¡¯s trials. At reaching level 5 the mana requirement had reduced by 1 down to 9 mana per second which meant he could use it for a whopping 18 seconds in all before his mana ran dry. By using ¡®Iron Grip¡¯ as he wielded his pickaxe he was able to focus on putting his strength into each strike without having to worry about his hold on the pickaxe, this let him dig a little bit faster for those 18 seconds he had, the base regen for mana and health was 0.2 per second unless you stopped and sat down to rest which would boost it to 0.5 per second, this meant it would take about 14 minutes for his mana to fully restore itself without stopping to rest, in battle that would be rather slow but for a crafting class that worked mainly outside of battle it wasn¡¯t so bad, but he couldn¡¯t afford to rest each time his mana ran out at the moment. Thankfully the mining skill was one of many skills his one of a kind class had started him with already learned, of course that didn¡¯t mean he knew how it worked. ¡°Show skill Mining.¡±
Mining Level 1 (Beginner 31%) This skill allows you to mine Skill level determines your ability to wield a pickaxe with speed and precision The higher the skill level the higher the chance of digging up ore Higher skill levels are required to mine higher quality ores (Most areas have set ore types available to mine regardless of skill level
¡°Seems pretty straight forward, the more I dig the better I¡¯ll get.¡± As he read the message he was still swinging his pick though a bit blindly, he still struck a piece of ore as he did so though and tossed it into his cart. He barely had the same amount as last time so far but gazing over at Fritz who¡¯s cart was about half full meant he was faster than before or Fritz may have slowed down to give him more time, he wasn¡¯t sure but he started to put even more effort into his mining regardless. By the time he finished his second layer of ore in the cart Fritz had already been finished for at least 15 minutes and had been waiting for him to meet his quota. ¡°Ahh.¡± Ren dropped the last couple chunks of ore into his cart which put it a little over double what he¡¯d collected before and turned to Fritz. ¡°Thank you for waiting Fritz, I¡¯m sorry if I¡¯ve caused you trouble.¡± Fritz seemed to just wave it off as nothing. ¡°Its fine, I don¡¯t mind waiting for someone that works hard and shows promise.¡± That was the most he had heard him say in one sentence and Ren could only tell that he gave a light smile by the way his facial muscles moved, his mouth for the most part was hidden by his beard. Ren smiled back at him and quickly got behind his cart to start pushing it as Fritz took off with his own. He¡¯d learnt a bit of the route to take to get to their mining spot but he knew he¡¯d get completely lost without Fritz to guide him through the winding mine tunnels. At the weigh station the assessor grinned as he saw Ren¡¯s load of ore this time. ¡°Ho oh, seems you went all out on the second run eh?¡± Ren shook his head though. ¡°I tried my best but I couldn¡¯t get it done before Fritz was done, he stayed back a little longer while I collected the amount I needed.¡± This caused the assessor to rise a brow curiously and glanced across to Fritz who was already halfway to the cafeteria for another break. ¡°Is that so?¡± He turned back to Ren and smiled. ¡°Then that¡¯s even more reason to class this as a win for you.¡± He grinned and ruffled Ren¡¯s hair playfully. Why does everyone do that to him!? He thought to himself but just looked up at the man confused. ¡°Why is that? If he hadn¡¯t waited I wouldn¡¯t have gotten twice what I did before.¡± The man chuckled. ¡°Fritz takes mining very seriously, he is a dwarf after all, its in the blood. That being said, he wouldn¡¯t have waited for you if you weren¡¯t giving it your all to meet my small challenge, and if the effort you were putting in was good enough for him then its good enough a reason for me to see it as your win.¡± He smiled and handed three silvers to Ren this time, again this was more then what would be the usual going rate for the ore. Ren looked at the coins ¡°Are you sure sir? Wont you loose money giving me this much?¡± The man chuckled and waved it off. ¡°No need, I¡¯ll be able to make it up later, some of the other guys were placing bets on whether or not you¡¯d beat my little challenge.¡± He grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll be collecting from them later, so a bit of that is your share.¡± Ren blinked but shrugged and pocketed the coins with a smile. "Ok, thank you very much, I''ll try and do better next time still." The man chuckled and waved him off to let the next miner in to weigh his ore load.
Quest Complete! Due in part to your honesty and Fritz''s reputation as the best miner as the mine you completed the ore dig challange Rewards 3 Silver Affinity gain with the mine NPC''S
It was about time for Ren to logout but first he headed to the cafeteria and offered to buy Fritz his meal as thanks for waiting for him in the mine but he politely refused, Ren then bid him a good day saying he was tired but would be back again to learn more from him. Fritz just nodded at that seeming to not mind his company in the mine. Ren then headed to one of the empty miners shanties and logged out for the day.
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Chapter 010 Chapter 010 Problem At The Mine For the next several days at the mine Ren¡¯s mining skill soared up the ranks, each time he continued to come back with a little more ore then the last time and each time this seemed to give a small rise to his affinity among the npcs of the mines. After passing beginner level 6 of mining though his skill gains slowed down considerably, this didn¡¯t stop him from mining still and in a few days time he had the skill teetering at level 7 and 99% Ren now sat at the cafeteria with Fritz eating the hearty stew and fresh bread roll, though Ren¡¯s ¡®being shown the ropes¡¯ time was well and truly over by now, Fritz had never dismissed him or told him to go mine in a different spot, but today he did have a question for Ren. ¡°Why does Ren mine?¡± Ren blinked at the unexpected question from the dwarf and set his bowl down to think for a moment. ¡°Hmm, lots of reasons I guess. To start with I was learning smithing from Donan in the city, but I have to supply my own metal to forge with, either by paying for it or collecting it myself. Collecting it sounded like fun so I headed here.¡± Fritz¡¯s brow rose curiously. ¡°Donan is teaching you?¡± Ren nodded. ¡°Yeah, I had to pass three trials.. no even before that just convincing him to let me try was a bit of a pain. So on my way here I was planning to just head along the mountains till I found a spot and start digging, but the man driving the wagon I got a lift on suggested I come here first and learn a bit about mining before I head off on my own.¡± Fritz nodded. ¡°Mmm good suggestion, Would have been hard for you if you didn¡¯t come here first.¡± Ren nodded. ¡°Yeah, I realize that now.¡± ¡°Your good enough now to head out though, why stay?¡± Ren thought for a moment. ¡°There¡¯s always more to learn, I don¡¯t have anything against earning some coin either, but mainly I guess I¡¯ve just gotten caught up in it.¡± He grins. ¡°When I¡¯m down in the ground with the pick in hand I feel like some kind of treasure hunter or explorer hunting down the treasures left lying below us. Sounds silly I know.¡± He shrugged. Fritz grinned though and shook his head. ¡°No, that is part of what drives dwarfs to dig, seeking the unknown, the chance that one strike might find a new never seen metal or stone.¡± He would lean down and pick up his bag setting it on the table and from it placed five chunks of rock in a row before Ren, one obviously had some iron ore buried partly in the rock but the others looked like normal rock. ¡°Pick rock with ore.¡± Ren tilted his head curiously and pointed to the rock he could see had the ore in it, Fritz nodded and took the rock away. ¡°Pick next one.¡± Ren blinked at the sudden quiz he seemed to be getting but slowly he reached out to see if he could pick up the rocks and Fritz nodded, he proceeded to pick up each rock, looking them over and also taking in their weight, Putting them down he then motioned to the rock that was heavier then it should have been, this was likely due to the ore held within. Fritz nodded and again took the rock away leaving three left. ¡°Close eyes and pick again.¡± ¡°H..¡± Before he could speak Fritz cut in. ¡°Close eyes, put hand over rocks, don¡¯t lift or touch, feel, feel the pulse of the rock.¡± Ren frowned slightly but did as he was told, closing his eyes and moving his hands over the rocks trying to ¡®feel¡¯ something from them, at first there was nothing but as he waved his hands over the tops of the rocks he gradually began to feel something, a pressure against his hands as they moved over the rocks and left them, he pulled one hand back so he could focus on the feeling in one hand better. He wasn¡¯t sure how long he had been sitting there for, waving his hand over the rocks, his focus on the strange ¡®pulse¡¯ of pressure that was gradually getting easier to feel as he passed his hand over the rocks, finally his hand came down to rest upon the rock with the heaviest pulse and opened his eyes slowly to peek at Fritz who had a broad grin on his face and nodded. ¡°Good work."
New Skill! By befriending Fritz and showing him you have the heart of a miner he has given you a test to teach you a rare mining skill
Metal Detection Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive) This skill lets you detect metals nearby Nearby metals will give off a pulse when you focus Higher levels will grant longer range of detection
¡°WOOAAAHHHHH!!!¡± A sudden cheer from around him broke Ren away from the window to look around and notice that he was surrounded by a large group of miners that had ended up watching him take Fritz¡¯s test with great interest. ¡°Way to go kid!¡± ¡°Man who¡¯d have thought Fritz would teach someone that ability of his, I¡¯m so jealous.¡± ¡°Damn, he tried to teach me that once but I just couldn¡¯t get the hang of it, what¡¯s the trick to it?¡± Ren was overwhelmed by the congratulations and occasional slaps to the back he received from the miners around him. It took about an hour for the merriment to calm down in the cafeteria in all and Ren¡¯s affinity with the mine¡¯s npcs gained a large boost as well. Ren was eager to head into the mine to test his new skill but on the way out someone rushed past in a hurry to the foreman¡¯s office calling out for Earl the foreman with urgent shouts. ¡°EARL! We¡¯ve got trouble!¡± Earl came bursting out of the office at the shouts to confront the man. ¡°Dennis? What¡¯s happened?¡± A small crowed had quickly gathered around now to find out what was going on, Ren and Fritz were also present. ¡°There¡¯s been an accident at the forge and Greg¡¯s ended up with severe burns, he¡¯s been taken by the healer already but he won¡¯t be able to work for at least a week.¡± Earl seemed to curse under his breath. ¡°Ok, send a messenger to the city, we need someone that can fill in for Greg while he heals.¡± The man nodded and quickly ran off to get a message ready as Earl turned to face the group of miners that had gathered around. ¡°Men, it seems Greg¡¯s had an accident and won¡¯t be able to fix our equipment for a while, we¡¯ll get someone else in to take his place till he heals up but it¡¯ll still take a couple days for them to arrive, so you¡¯ll have to take it easy on your picks, make sure they don¡¯t break as they won¡¯t be able to be repaired for a few days.¡± This announcement caused a small uproar. ¡°What are we supposed to do then!? Dig with our hands!?¡± As Earl stood before the onslaught Ren was suddenly dragged out front by Fritz, his eyes wide with surprise as Fritz then nodded to Earl and pointed to Ren. ¡°Donan¡¯s apprentice.¡± The crowed quietened at that announcement and Earl looked at Ren wide eyed this time. ¡°Oi oi¡­ is that true?¡± Earl quickly moved upto Ren and kneeled down to see eye to eye with him. Ren could feel the eyes of the miners upon his back as he began to break into a light sweat and nodded. ¡°Y..yes, I haven¡¯t learnt much from him yet though, I haven¡¯t actually forged anything, I came here to collect ore to use after all, i.. I did learn how to repair though¡­ but it wouldn¡¯t be a very good job¡­¡± Earl slapped his hands down on Ren¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Ren! If Donan deemed you worthy then I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve a fine talent for smithing, please, until the replacement from the city arrives wont you man the forge, even if it¡¯s not a perfect job if you can keep the men mining until the replacement arrives I¡¯ll be in your debt.¡± Earl bowed his head deeply as he begged for Ren to help. ¡°Wha¡­wah¡­ n..no, don¡¯t grovel like that¡­ i..i¡¯ll do what I can.. but are you sure? I don¡¯t have any hands on practice yet, I only just passed Donan¡¯s trials before coming here to try and gather ore.¡± Earl nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sure, Donan is well known here, he made the majority of our equipment after all, and if you¡¯ve passed his tests to become his apprentice then already you¡¯ve got more skill then you probably think.¡± ¡°¡­ok¡­I¡¯ll try¡­¡± Ren nodded and the miners all gave a cheer.
Quest! The mine''s smith has been crippled and you''ve been asked to take his place repairing tools until a replacement arrives Difficulty - ??? Rewards Affinity gain with mine NPCS Boost to Smithing skill Payment depends on amount of tools repaired
He was quickly escorted to the forge where a small mountain of tools had already piled up in need of repair causing Ren to gulp. ¡°I hope I can do this¡­¡± He neatly hung the smith¡¯s tools that were laying around away in their places before taking out his own tool belt, he felt it was only proper that he use his own tools that he¡¯d acquired to take on the task rather than risk damaging the smith¡¯s tools. Picking up the first pick that needed repair he could see the point on each end was blunt and chipped, he set it on the anvil and took out his smith hammer. Currently he had no real idea how to fix the picks on his own so he relied on the system fully to fix them. ¡°Repair.¡± As he spoke his hammer glowed faintly before he then tapped the pick with it, small sparks shot out and the pick glowed for a moment, the blunt ends reshaping into nice sharp points and the chips restoring. ¡°Wow¡­¡± Ren quickly examined the pick to find that it had permanently lost some of its durability like his repair skill had said it would, he handed it to the first mining waiting in line. ¡°Here, it¡¯s fixed but it¡¯s not as strong as it used to be I¡¯m afraid.¡± The miner just smiled and nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll get new ones eventually anyway, as long as we can keep digging is the main thing.¡± The miner turned around and showed off the repaired pick to the other who waited and even the foreman was there watching and gave an approving nod. ¡°Ok! I¡¯ll give it my all then!¡± Ren grinned and grabbed the next pick. Needless to say, having a continual influx of picks to repair, his skill rose quickly. By the end of the first day he¡¯d gained a whopping 6 levels to the general repair skill and another 7 to the metal repair sub skill. ¡°If I can reach intermediate tomorrow it might remove the durability penalty.¡± He hoped he could pause the quest at the end of the day but before he tried he had one more thing he wanted to try, taking up one of the picks that still needed repair he pulled the head off its handle and set it into the hot coals of the furnace, pumping the bellows to heat the metal of the pick head. Soon enough the pick head was red hot, he pulled it out with his smith tongs and set it on the anvil and gripped his hammer, the system already detected that he was going to try repairing without the auto assist, a small outline appeared showing the true shape the pick should be and highlighted the areas that were out of place. Bring the hammer down he began to work the blunt pick point back into shape. At first he wasn¡¯t sure he was doing it right but with each hit the pick gradually regained his point, he pounded the metal, constantly turning it after each strike to keep the heads shape even. In all it took him about an hour to manually repair a single pick but his skills gained another level for his hard work. ¡°Yes! I¡¯ll have to try that again tomorrow before I finish.¡± He grinned as he inspected his first manually repaired pick, it didn¡¯t look as good as the auto repaired picks but it still had the same amount of restored durability and the same amount lost permanently. Satisfied with his work for the day he paused the quest and logged out. When he logged in the next day and resumed the quest he found there was almost a full days worth of picks waiting for him. ¡°Damn, even if the quest paused they still had no one to repair the picks while I was away?¡± He set to work quickly, repair each pick and almost tossing them into the waiting arms of the miners as they lined up to receive one, he didn¡¯t even have time to stop and fill his hunger bar, though thankfully just repairing while having an empty hunger bar didn¡¯t drop his health by that much, and it trained his ¡®Staying Power¡¯ skill which he figured could come in handy one day. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Now and then as he worked he could spot Fritz lingering in the area for a little while, watching him before heading back into the mine. It was an hour or two after midday when he finally got two messages popping up before him not long between each other.
Repair Level 1 (Intermediate 0%) The Repair skill allows you to repair items Items repaired with Intermediate rank or higher won''t lose any durablity
Metal Repair Level 1 (Intermediate 0%) This sub skill of ''Repair'' adds a boost to the repair skill when repairing metal items Some rare items require this sub skill to be able to be repaired
Once he reached these ranks the exp gain from repairing the picks dropped extremely low. ¡°Damn¡­ even if I did this for another day I¡¯d barely get one level if I¡¯m lucky now. But still reaching this level with repair is awesome, when I get back to the city I can start earning coin by repairing items cheaper than the shops do.¡± With his skilled now having reached Intermediate the miners instantly took note of the better repair jobs he was making and finally by mid afternoon on the third day the replacement smith arrived to take over the forge, in the end the task wasn¡¯t that hard it was simply time consuming, he had to repair the picks nonstop almost for three days, only taking a break at night when the miners slept, though even then he had worked part way through the night to try and get all the picks still left with him fixed before logging. The mine foreman Earl approached him with a big smile. ¡°Ren, you did excellent work at the forge, I can see why Donan took you on.¡± He grins at Ren. ¡°We would have been in a lot of trouble if you weren¡¯t here, we would have lost several days work and not met our supply quotas.¡± He passed a small pouch to Ren. ¡°This is payment for your work.¡±
Quest Complete! You were able to keep the mine running by ensuring the miners had useable tools until the replacement smith arrived Rewards 1G 20S Large affinity gain with the mine NPCS Smithing skill boosted to Level 5 (Beginner 0%) ???
Ren was shocked to see the gold coin as part of his reward. ¡°Isn¡¯t this too much?¡± Earl chuckled. ¡°For keeping the mine up and running for three days? Not at all Ren. ¡°I feel it¡¯s not enough actually to tell the truth, if there¡¯s something else I can do for you just let me know.¡± Ren had to think for a moment on that. ¡°Mmmm¡­ well¡­ would it be possible for me to borrow one of your horse and carts later on? I want to gather a lot of ore to take back with me to practice my forging with.¡± Earl grinned and nodded. ¡°Is that all? Of course Ren, I¡¯ll have a cart set aside for you, just fill it as you wish and let me know when you¡¯re ready to head back to the city.¡± Ren grinned up at him. ¡°Thanks!¡± Earl chuckled. ¡°Guess you¡¯re going to head along the mountain to find your own spot to mine yes? If you wanted you could keep mining here for the ore you want to take back.¡± Ren just smiled and shook his head. ¡°I feel I¡¯ve taken to much from you already with what you¡¯ve given me, aside from that I think it would be a good idea for me to learn to look for ore on my own since one day I¡¯ll be out on adventures without someone guiding me to where to dig.¡± Earl just smiled at this and nodded. ¡°Alright then, make sure you talk to Fritz before you head off to, he¡¯s grown rather fond of you I believe.¡± Earl held his hand out to Ren with a warm smile Ren smiled and nodded. ¡°I was planning to.¡± He reached out and shook Earls offered hand before heading to the mine to find Fritz, thankfully he could remember the way to their mining spot and found Fritz digging away at the rocks at his usual pace. ¡°Fritz!¡± Ren called out over the sound of his digging. Fritz turned around to Ren and smiled lightly. ¡°All done? Back to mining?¡± Ren smiled. ¡°Yup! All done but umm¡­ well I¡¯ll be heading off to find my own ore to take back to the city with me now though.¡± Fritz nodded at this. ¡°Mm, thought so.¡± Fritz set his pick aside and reached up around his neck to pull out a necklace that was hidden under his beard and held it out to Ren. ¡°Take this, Dwarf medallion, shows you are friend of dwarfs.¡± He nodded Ren blinked at the gift and held his hand out to take it. ¡°Wow¡­ thank you Fritz¡­ i.. I don¡¯t have anything for you though¡­¡± Fritz just shook his head with a smile and held his hand out which Ren shook with a big smile. ¡°Once I¡¯ve gathered the ore I need I¡¯ll be back here before I take it to the city, we¡¯ll grab something to eat before I go, my treat!¡± Fritz smiled and nodded at the suggestion. ¡°I¡¯ll look forward to it.¡± Ren grinned and nodded, giving one more handshake before he headed off. He stopped at the cafeteria first and picked up some dried meats and bread rolls that he could eat while he was wandering along the mountain side, buying a dozen of each for a total of 12 silver and 60 copper, the cook also tossed him a couple of apples free of charge and wished him good luck on his ore hunt. Once he was finally out of the mine¡¯s area Ren followed along the edge of the mountain side, keeping an eye out for any small caves that other miners may have made, it took about an hour¡¯s walk before he came across what looked to be a small man made mine shaft, it wasn¡¯t too deep obviously having been abandoned by the one that started it, Ren stepped in curiously and placed his hand upon the wall of the shaft that only went a few meters in. ¡°Metal detection.¡± Instantly he could feel several pulses around him from almost every direction, while there didn¡¯t seem to be a vein of ore there was plenty still scattered about around him so he set about digging it up. Soon enough his inventory was full and he had to lug all the ore back to the mine to dump it into the cart that was waiting for him, thankfully as a crafter class it seems he got a bonus to his carry capacity as its logical that crafters would carry a lot of tools and materials, Ren later learned that some people that had taken crafting and merchant classes even hired themselves out as pack mules on hunts. As he headed back to the mine he pulled up his stat window curiously.
Status
[quart=Name,level]Ren,1[/quart][quart=Gender,Class]Male,Artificer[/quart][quart=Race,Fame/Infamy]Elfling,100 (Neutral)[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]365,165[/quart][quart=Strength,Dexerity]60,46[/quart][quart=Vitality,Agility]37,43[/quart][quart=Endurance,Intelligence]36,17[/quart][quart=Luck,Wisdom]17,16[/quart]
Title
None
As he¡¯d worked and mined over the last week he¡¯d gotten numerous messages of stat gains, so many that he hadn¡¯t been able to keep track of them but now he had time to look at it properly he worked out that he¡¯d gained a whopping 39 stat points in total from the last time he¡¯d looked at his stats, a couple of the points were even in luck which was a rather rare stat to get an increase in. ¡°I really need to do something about my lack of intelligence and wisdom though, I need more mana for my skills¡­¡± He already had a visit to the city library on his list of things to do, but the more his other stats increased the lack of those two stats became more and more apparent. With the mine being an hour away he tried to start running on his trips back and forth, this drained his hunger and stamina rather quickly though but he did gain a new skill after the fifth trip.
New SKill! Your constant running as granted you a new skill!
Running Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive) This skill lets you run faster and for longer while draining less of your hunger and stamina This skill will add bonuses to some movement skills
¡°Heh, that¡¯s probably a basic skill everyone gets early on, still useful though.¡± He decided from then on to run everywhere as long as he could. Each day was more of the same, he dug ore, ran to the mine and dumped the ore into his cart then ran back and dug more, he had no doubt that most would find it such a tedious task that wasn¡¯t worth the effort and just prefer to buy the ore instead but Ren only saw benefits to it. First he was training his mining skills, though the gains were getting smaller now, he would have to find higher grade ore to get better gains now but it didn¡¯t bother him too much, along with mining he was training his new ¡®metal detection¡¯ skill which he knew would be a priceless skill to aid him in finding new ores later on, he was also training his running skill and along with that he still got occasional stat gains from all the work. After about a week in total he was making his last dig before he would go back to the city, he¡¯d been heading towards something in the small mine shaft that seemed to give off a different pulse to the iron ore and he was nearly there, a few more strikes and the rocks fell away to reveal a strange glowing gem like ore, it held a soft green glow to it and he curiously picked it up and tried to inspect it but didn¡¯t have the right skill to I.d the rock, with a shrug he slipped it into his pack. As he slipped the strange rock away the ground began to rumble, no not just the ground the entire cave began to rumble, at first he thought the cave was going to collapse on him but then a message window appeared.
Notice! You''ve caught the attention of the ''Spirit Of Earth''
At the back of the small mine a golem of rock pulled itself from the wall and lumbered towards Ren, one arm outstretched as if to grab him¡­. *** ¡°Hey are you sure the dungeon is around here?¡± ¡°Yeah look there¡¯s a cave just up ahead, that must be it.¡± The small party of players headed towards the cave only to pause as a rumbling came from it. ¡°WHY MEEEEEEEE!!!!¡± Ren burst from the small cave and sped past the party, ignoring them completely as a large golem of rock lumbered along behind him at his heels, its large arms swishing back and forth as it tried to grab the little elfling. ***
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Chapter 011 Chapter 011 Forging Days Thanks to Ren¡¯s new ¡®Running¡¯ he was able to out run the earth golem and safely returned to the mine where he unloaded his last lot of ore into his cart which was now almost overflowing. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve been busy Ren, I think that will have to do otherwise you¡¯ll break the cart.¡± The mine foreman walked up behind Ren with a chuckle. Ren nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah, I got a bit carried away, but I want to make sure I¡¯ve got enough so I don¡¯t have to make too many extra trips, it takes a while to get here from the city.¡± The foreman nodded. ¡°Ah, I can understand that, it¡¯s a shame though, I think the fella¡¯s will miss you, having you around has brightened up the place.¡± ¡°Eh? I didn¡¯t really talk to many people though.¡± Ren looked to him curiously. ¡°Heh, there was no need, seeing a young man like you running around working so hard and eagerly lifted everyone¡¯s spirits. Reminded them of what it was like when they first found the wonders of mining, a few have even decided to head out in search of new mines to claim, that¡¯s the calling of a true miner. To go out and search for new ore veins and the hope of finding that new rare metal, It¡¯s just like the calling of an adventurer going into ancient ruins to find a long lost treasure, ours are simple more buried and in some cases a lot harder to find.¡± Ren grinned and nodded. ¡°Yeah! It¡¯s been a lot of fun, I¡¯ll keep looking for new ores as I travel to.¡± The foreman grinned and nodded. ¡°You¡¯ll have to come back and tell the fella¡¯s some stories then once you¡¯ve been on a few adventures hmm?¡± Ren nodded. ¡°Yup!¡± He gave a wave to the foreman before heading to the cafeteria where he just saw Fritz head to a moment ago and took a seat across from him. ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯ve collected all the ore I need for the time being.¡± Fritz glanced over to the cart sitting near the foreman¡¯s building and nodded. ¡°A good haul, your hard work paid off.¡± He offered a light smile to Ren. ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to you Fritz, you taught me so much even though you didn¡¯t have to and I know I was probably a bit of a pain to have following you around all the time while you worked, I really appreciate it.¡± Fritz just shook his head waving it off. ¡°It was fun, and if I thought you weren¡¯t serious about mining I would have dropped you on the first day.¡± Ren grinned. ¡°I got that feeling, even though I was barely digging anything up at the start you still let me stay though so I really do appreciate it.¡± Even under all his facial hair Ren could see Fritz was starting to blush from all the praise. ¡°Its fine, you earned my respect with your own hands.¡± He nodded and turned back to his meal, more playing with it now then actually eating it. ¡°Make sure you come show me things you make some time.¡± Ren smiled and nodded. ¡°Of course! I¡¯ll become a great smith and make you an awesome pick to use one day!¡± This brought a grin from Fritz. ¡°I¡¯ll look forward to using it then.¡±
Quest! You¡¯ve promised Fritz that you¡¯ll make him a high quality pick one day No time limit but the next time you visit the mine Fritz will be hoping you bring it Difficulty - ??? Rewards ???
Ren blinked as the quest popped up before him, surprised that his own actions could cause a quest to generate like this. Closing the window he looked to Fritz and grinned. ¡°Wait and see, you¡¯ll become the envy of the mine!¡± He grinned and Fritz nodded with a slight grin of his own. It looked like he really was looking forward to a new pick. As Ren finished his meal with Fritz a man walked over to them. ¡°Ren isn¡¯t it? The foreman tells me you¡¯ll be heading to the city with me as I take the ore in for delivery, we¡¯ll be heading out in a few minutes.¡± Ren looked up at the man then back to Fritz. ¡°Guess it¡¯s time for me to get going.¡± They both stood up and stepped around the table to come face to face, Fritz extending his hand which Ren grasped and shook firmly. ¡°Thanks for everything again, I¡¯ll be sure to come back and visit.¡± Fritz nodded before letting go and Ren turned to head off towards his cart to get it ready for travel. Once he got a tarp secured over the cart to stop any ore falling off during the trip the caravan driver came up with a horse and hitched it to the cart. ¡°I¡¯ll have one of the lads sit with you to drive the cart unless you think you can drive it yourself?¡± Ren shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve never driven a horse and cart before but if you can show me how I¡¯ll give it a try.¡± He smiled and the man nodded. ¡°No worries I¡¯ll have my boy show you the ropes on the way then.¡± The caravan driver headed off to get the few carts they had ready to leave and soon enough they were lined up and ready to leave. Ren¡¯s cart was at the back of the line as they travelled, beside him sat a young man that turned out to be the son of the caravan driver who showed Ren the tricks to driving a horse and cart on their way to the city which earned him the ¡®Cart Driving¡¯ skill which helped give him better control over the horse and speed he could travel at, he managed to level it up once before they arrived at the city as well. As the approached the gates the Caravan driver approached Ren. ¡°My boy here will go with you to where you want to drop the ore off then bring the cart back to me.¡± He nodded to Ren and his son before heading back to take the lead of his carts again and head into the city. Ren guided the cart around the back of Donan¡¯s workshop, hopping he wouldn¡¯t mind. Donan came out at the sound of the horse and cart, looking to the driver¡¯s curiously but then smiled as he saw Ren. ¡°Ren! Welcome back, I thought you¡¯d gotten lost out there.¡± He chuckled. ¡°No, it just took longer than I thought, I worked at the mine for a while to get the hang of mining before I went and gathered my own ore¡­ well some other things happened to though.¡± Donan¡¯s brow rose curiously. ¡°Sounds like a story, you¡¯ll have to tell me later hmm?¡± Ren smiled and nodded. ¡°Yeah¡­umm¡­ I was hoping that I could drop off the ore I gathered behind your workshop here, I¡¯ll get it smelted and out of the way as soon as I can I promise.¡± Again Donan¡¯s brow rose curiously and he looked to the cart with the tarp over it as Ren undid the ropes and threw the tarp off his eyes nearly bulged out of his head. ¡°By the¡­ Ren! You mined all that yourself!?¡± Ren grinned and nodded ¡°Yeah! I met a dwarf at the mine named Fritz, he taught me how to mine.¡± ¡°Fritz eh¡­ that would explain it, didn¡¯t happen to pick up something special from him did you?¡± Ren nodded and Donan chuckled. ¡°I should have figured, alright come on, let¡¯s get this off the cart, you¡¯ve got a hell of a lot of work ahead of you though, I want you to smelt all this down into ingots before you start forging anything, at least that way we can set it in layers up against the wall neatly and out of the way rather than have it laying around as loose ore.¡± Ren nodded as he moved the cart around and backed it up to a spot where he could start pushing and dragging the ore out of the back of the cart, letting it all tumble to the ground, he also emptied the ore that was in his pack out as well. Once the ore was unloaded and the cart was taken away Ren and Donan went inside and sat down for a chat where Ren recounted his experiences at the mine to which Donan listened intently. ¡°Sounds like you had a lot of fun.¡± He chuckles. ¡°Alright then, that¡¯s enough lollygagging though, time for you to start getting that ore out of my yard.¡± He grinned ¡°Come I¡¯ll show you how to smelt the ore, go bring in half a dozen or so chunks of ore.¡± Ren nodded eagerly and dashed out to grab the ore, bringing it inside and setting it down near where Donan was. ¡°Ok this here is the melting pot.¡± He pointed to a stone almost frying pan shaped pot that hung just over the coals of the forge, he went on to explain how the smelting worked. ¡°You place the ore in the pot and melt it by heating the forge with the bellows, the molten metal is then poured into the track there that guides the liquid down into the ingot molds, you let them sit for about six minutes and they should be solid enough to remove and set elsewhere to cool, now then there is more to it than that of course I¡¯ll explain it as we smelt your first batch of ingots.¡± Donan took the collection of ore chunks and dropped them into the stone pan and then had Ren pump the bellows until they melted. ¡°Come see this now Ren.¡± He motioned to the top of the pen where bits of the silver like liquid could be seen but most of it was covered but black soot of some kind. ¡°All that black on top is impurities in the metal, bits of dirt, dust, rock and the like, the more of this you can remove from the metal before pouring the ingot the more pure the metal will be, and as such it can make higher quality items.¡± Donan went on to skim the impurities from the molten metal, his skilled hand removed almost everything before he then tilted the pot over to pour the liquid into the track that led the metal down into the ingot molds, the molds consisted of two pieces of carved stone that joined together neatly to make a rectangular ingot shape for the metal to pour into, the stones then just needed a light tap to separate and let the ingot fall free once it was solid enough.
New Sub Skill! Smelting Level 1 (Beginner 0%) The art of melting metals into ingots to then be forged into items at a later time Skill level determines ore types that can be smelted and the quality of the ingot produced
¡°Alright Ren, the forge is yours.¡± Donan grinned and patted Ren¡¯s shoulder before heading over to another forge to work on his own projects. Ren set to work eagerly, scooping up as much ore as he could, filling his inventory completely before heading back inside to start melting it, it turned out that the ¡®Smelting¡¯ skill automatically removed some impurities from any metal he smelted and any impurities that lingered due to his lack of skill could still be removed by hand which he did as best he could. As the hours passed the mound of ore outside the workshop didn¡¯t really seem to diminish much but the pile of ingots that was slowly building up against the wall near the forge Ren worked at told him otherwise. Every now and then Donan would wander over and point out things he was doing wrong or ways he could do it better or more efficient. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The effect of Ren¡¯s ¡®apprenticeship¡¯ had his smelting skill rise quickly, by the time he was ready to logout for the day he¡¯d already reached level 5 with smelting, though his gain to the main smithing skill was small since he wasn¡¯t actually forging anything. Though smelting was classed as a sub skill it was almost a main skill in its own right. The days passed slowly as Ren continued to smelt all the ore he¡¯d brought in, his smelting was almost at intermediate now thanks to the bonuses of using Donan¡¯s forge with his apprentice title. Some people that came to the work shop even commented on what a hard working apprentice Donan had which seemed to swell Donan¡¯s pride a bit too much. ¡°Phew.. maybe I brought to much ore.¡± Ren chuckled as he looked at the ingots that were piling up, he had three separate stacks currently, one was the poor quality ingots, then the normal and then the high quality ingots he managed to produce, he was about half way through the ore he¡¯d gathered and had already gotten his smelting to intermediate. ¡°I¡¯m only producing normal or high quality ingots now.¡± He grinned. It took nearly two weeks real time to smelt all the ore he¡¯d gathered, while he could have done it quicker if he fully used the auto system but since he did some of the work manually things took a little longer, but he wanted to produce as many high quality ingots as he could and they had a higher chance of coming out if he was more hands on with the process. At the end he stepped back, whipping the sweat from his brow to admire the stacks of ingots he¡¯d piled up, each stack was stacked in a neat overlapping lattice pattern to keep them nice and stable if they went up to high, his total smelting had reached Intermediate Level 2, after he reached intermediate the exp he received from smelting iron plummeted almost to nothing, it was only thanks to the boosts he received from working at Donan¡¯s forge that let him reach level 2. ¡°I think I¡¯ll just smelt iron using the full system from now on.¡± Donan walked up behind Ren and patted his shoulder. ¡°Now that¡¯s a lot of iron, guess it¡¯s time to show you how to make something useful of it hmm?¡± Ren turned around with a big grin and nodded eagerly. ¡°Yes sir!¡± Donan chuckled. ¡°Alright grab an ingot and bring it to the forge.¡± Ren quickly grabbed one of the poor quality ingots, he was planning to use them in order from the poorest quality to highest, using the poor quality ingots to train his smithing initially and practice making various things before trying to make the proper items with the normal and high quality ingots. He handed the ingot to Donan who looked it over and nodded. ¡°Good, train on the crappy stuff first so you don¡¯t waste the good ones.¡± Donan dropped the ingot into the melting pot and Ren pumped the bellows to get it to melt, melting it down again helped to take some more impurities out of it, it was possible to even get it upto high quality if he paid attention to it, he had considered melting all the poor quality ingots back down again to try and get them to at least normal quality but he was simply too eager to get on with actual smithing. Donan took him over the next process, melting the ingot down and instead of pouring the metal into the ingot mold he set down a new mold. ¡°This mold will make a straight metal rod called a blank, they come in different shapes and sizes depending on what you want to make, a straight rod like this is for making blades.¡± They made several blanks as they waited for the first to cool properly. ¡°I¡¯ll show you how to make something simple that will use up just one ingot, a chef knife should do.¡± Once the first blank was cooled Donan picked it up with a pair of tongs and thrust it into the hot coals and embers of the forge. ¡°Now obvious since we are going to be working the metal not melting it the forge needs to be hot but not too hot.¡± He pulled the blank out to show it was now a bright white hot colour, holding it with the tongs he brought it to the anvil and began hammering at it, bit by bit he flattened the blank out, each hit making sparks as the hot metal spread out wider. ¡°The key is to make sure you hammer both sides evenly, if you focus just on one side you¡¯ll end up with an uneven blade.¡± Ren watched Donan intently as he worked the blade into shape taking in every strike he made and how the metal bent to his will and took on the shape he desired, with Donan¡¯s skill it didn¡¯t take him long at all to finish the blade. ¡°Now we just need to sharpen the little bugger on a whetstone, make a handle for it and polish the blade.¡± He moved to a bench where he had lined up various whetstones, splashing some water on one he began to sharpen the knife, by the time he was done the blade edge was sharp enough it could shave the hairs off his arm. ¡° Confirming that the blade was sharp enough for him he took a polishing stone and began to rub it over the rest of the metal of the knife to remove the dull look of the metal and work it into a nice smooth shiny metal sheen after which he attached a handle and handed the finished work to Ren who inspected it.
Chef Knife Durability 90/90 Damage 10-20 Bonus to cooking This knife was made by a master smith the blade is sharp and will degrade a lot slower than normal blades would
¡°Wow, that¡¯s awesome!¡± Ren grinned and handed the knife back to Donan. ¡°Ha, this was just a quick work, if I put my heart into it this pig sticker would have come out several times better, it¡¯ll still sell well enough though, turned out most travellers around here can¡¯t afford proper blades and often buy knifes like this to go hunting with.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Right then it¡¯s your turn now, show me what you can do.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Ren grinned and quickly grabbed the next blank that had cooled and using the tongs thrust it into the coals. Once it was hot enough and he had it on the anvil he could see the guide outline of the knife appear around the blank that was created by the system which he was very thankful for since he had no idea as to what he was really doing with smithing. Taking a breath to keep his calm, he didn¡¯t want to hammer away to eagerly and mess it up, he began to hammer the metal rod into shape, since he¡¯d received a boost to smithing that bumped it upto level 5 the blade took shape fairly quickly as it was a rather basic item to make. As he hammered the metal gradually spread out to fill in the system outline guide for the blade, because he was completely new to smithing he had to rely on the auto system a fair amount as he made the blade, while he was still doing as much as he could manually, if he wanted he could still use the full auto system and the blade would simply be made with a few random hits without any need of shaping by hand but Ren wanted to try and do what he could by hand at least for the first blade then compare the result with one made fully by the auto system. If nothing else though trying to do most of the work manually would net him some extra exp. When he finally finished the blade and sharpened it he had prompted the creation of three more sub skills, ¡®Sharpening¡¯, ¡®polishing¡¯ and ¡®Blade Forging¡¯. Three quite useful skills, sharpening would add a bonus to damage and polishing would add bonuses to durability as well as defence depending on the skill level, Blade forging added an overall boost to the crafting of bladed items both in its creation and result. The result of his work was still a rather weak knife, and he found later that making it by fully relying on the system it turned out much the same. In the end he decided to use the auto system to pump out knifes as quickly as he could and use up all the poor quality ingots, once his skill was higher he might try to make a blade manually again, he made note to read up on traditional smithing in future as well. It only took a couple sessions in game for him to push all the poor quality ingots through production into knifes, by the time he used his last poor quality ingot his smithing skill thanks to the boost he received from working at Donan¡¯s forge had reached Beginner Level 9 93% He broke past the beginner barrier once he made his first blade with the average quality ingots, This was initially his goal for the time being but he still had a lot of ingots left, he was going to take up the next one and try to whittle down the pile a bit more but almost as if on cue when he received the message stating his increase to Intermediate smithing (His three sub skills, sharpening, polishing and blade forging had also reached intermediate earlier since they rose faster than the main skill) there was a knock at the door of the workshop. Stepping into the workshop was one of the town guards who approached Donan and handed him a letter before then turning and leaving. Donan looked at the letter curiously before opening it and reading the contents. ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± He scratched his chin in thought before then tilting his head to take a glance at Ren. ¡°Pack your things boy, you won¡¯t be using the forge for a while.¡± He grinned. Ren blinked. ¡°Huh?¡± Donan just chuckled and passed the letter to him, taking it Ren read it over carefully. Master Smith Donan You are here by requested by our ruler Lord Eric of Aurora to take part in expedition into the recently discovered ruins beneath the Tarrag Mountains. As the duration of the expedition is unknown our lord is requesting you travel with the expedition to maintain the armor and weapons of the troops for the duration of the expedition. Materials and equipment will be supplied by our lord and you will receive appropriate compensation for your time and skill. Lord Eric invites you to come speak with him at your earliest convenience to discuss the particulars of the role you will play in this grand event. Signed Secretary of Aurora Ren blinked and looked up at Donan. ¡°So I can¡¯t use the forge while you go?¡± Donan chuckled. ¡°No my boy, you can¡¯t use the forge because you¡¯re the one going.¡± ¡°EEeeehhhh!?¡± Donan just chuckled again and slapped Ren¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Eric¡¯s a nice man, give me a second and ill write up a letter of introduction for you.¡± He stepped over to a rather unused desk that was cluttered with tools, pushing some aside he opened a drawer and pulled out a piece of paper that was charred around the edges and began to write out a letter to the lord of Aurora. It seemed to be a rather short letter, he folded it and handed it to Ren. ¡°There you go, you know where the lords mansion is right? Can¡¯t really miss it, it¡¯s the biggest building in the city.¡± He chuckled. Ren didn¡¯t seem to have much choice in the matter, Donan wouldn¡¯t let him use the forge any more till he came back from the expedition, with a sigh he headed out of the workshop and down the street towards the central plaza, looking around it didn¡¯t take long to spot the largest building, it looked like a small castle. Heading towards it he came to a stop at the gates that had two guards standing before it to stop any intruders. ¡°Halt traveller, what¡¯s your purpose at the house of the Lord of Aurora?¡±
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Chapter 012 Chapter 012 Preparing For The Expedition Ren found himself sitting nervously in what looked like a large corporate office, across from him was a large oak desk and behind it a rather regal chair that was currently empty. When Ren had been stopped at the gates he showed the letter from Donan and was led into this room then told to wait. With nothing better to do he opened his stat window to get a look at his latest updates.
Status
[quart=Name,level]Ren,1[/quart][quart=Gender,Class]Male,Artificer[/quart][quart=Race,Fame/Infamy]Elfling,100 (Neutral)[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]435,165[/quart][quart=Strength,Dexerity]65,50[/quart][quart=Vitality,Agility]43,45[/quart][quart=Endurance,Intelligence]44,17[/quart][quart=Luck,Wisdom]17,16[/quart]
Title
Donan¡¯s Apprentice
Except for his wisdom, intelligence and luck the rest of his stats had increased by about 5 points each, it wasn¡¯t really a huge gain and was to be expected since he¡¯d been doing work that didn¡¯t push him past his limits but it was still an excellent gain none the less, his stats alone put him on equal to about a level 43 character, though that was only in terms of the amount of extra stats he¡¯d gained, he had no doubt that most players would also grind in various ways to gain additional points outside of levelling. He still found his lack of wisdom and intelligence troubling, he felt his mana pool was severely lacking for the skills he had on hand to use. Closing the window he then opened up his smithing skill list.
Smithing Level 1 (Intermediate 6%) Smithing Sub-Skills Hammering Level 6 (Intermediate 42%) Smelting Level 3 (Intermediate 46%) Blade Forging Level 1 (Intermediate 23%) Sharpening Level 1 (Intermediate 53%) Polishing Level 1 (Intermediate 63%)
All his smithing skills were at intermediate from his smithing blitz at Donan¡¯s forge, though he was sure there was still more sub skills for him to unlock. As he closed the window the door to the office opened and in walked a well dressed man with short hair and a neatly trimmed beard that took a seat behind the desk before Ren. A letter in his hand which he sat on the desk. ¡°So Ren is it?¡± The man looked Ren over curiously. ¡°Yes sir.¡± Ren nodded. The man just nodded. ¡°I¡¯m Eric the lord of Aurora.¡± He picked the letter up once more and looked it over. ¡°I¡¯m surprised Donan finally took on an apprentice, you must have really impressed him.¡± Ren blushed lightly at his words. ¡°However, It would be foolish of me to just take his word, I hope you don¡¯t mind if I request a small test of you to show your skill, I can¡¯t risk sending someone with my men that ends up being unable to maintain their equipment.¡± ¡°Of course sir, if I don¡¯t meet your standards then by all means tell me so, I would hate to be the cause of any troubles during such an important event.¡± Eric smiled softly at Ren¡¯s words. ¡°I¡¯m glad you understand.¡± He stood up and headed over to a small side desk where a long box sat, opening it he pulled out what looked like an extremely old and not to mention rusty sword. ¡°This is an old treasure sword, it has no practical use as such, it was used in old knighting ceremonies and the like, as you can see its almost crumbling to pieces even as I hold it.¡± He held the old ornate sword out to Ren. ¡°I want you to try fixing it for me.¡± Ren gulped as he took the old sword from Eric and looked it over, as Eric had said flakes of rust were falling off the sword even as he held it, it would likely shatter with just a light tap. Standing up he placed the sword on the desk and took out his smithing hammer, touching it to the sword lightly before calling out. ¡°Repair!¡± The blade was enveloped in a glow, the rust seemed to melt away from the blade as the bright sheen of steel became visible, the chipped edges filled in along the blade and the cracks rejoined, Eric watched with wide eyes as Ren turned back to him and held up the now pristine ceremonial sword that just a moment ago would have fallen apart if you sneezed on it. Eric picked up the blade and looked it over carefully, inspecting every detail of the sword but he could find not a single fault with the repair. ¡°Truly you travellers are amazing people.¡± He set the sword back into its box gently and turned to face Ren. ¡°Ren, I have personally witnessed your skill and would be very grateful if you would use it to aid my men for the duration of the expedition.¡± He held his hand out to Ren. Ren smiled brightly up at Eric and shook the offered hand. ¡°I¡¯ll do everything in my power to not disappoint you sir.¡±
New Quest! You¡¯re now part of the expedition heading into a newly discovered dungeon, your job is to maintain the equipment of your fellows, no fighting is required on your behalf as your role is that of support. Difficulty ¨C B Rewards ???
Expedition Record Contribution points ¨C 0 Weapons Repaired ¨C 0 Armor Repaired - 0 Aurora solders dead due to equipment failure ¨C 0
Ren blinked at the two windows but before he could look them over properly Eric continued. ¡°Glad to hear it Ren, come this way.¡± Eric led Ren out of the office and down along the halls to a section of the keep that looked like a barracks, entering a room Ren saw rows of solders sparing against one another, a man in heavy armor marched up and down the rows of men shouting over the clashing of steel. ¡°Keep your back straight! Lift your shield higher, keep it that low and you¡¯ll get an arrow in the eye soldier. You! It¡¯s a sword not a bouquet of flowers, strike firm and swift, the only thing limp in this room should be what¡¯s between your legs!¡± Eric stepped up behind the shouting man and let out a small cough before speaking. ¡°How are the men shaping up captain?¡± The man turned around and immediately when he saw Eric he gave a salute. ¡°Sir! There a sorry bunch but I¡¯ll have them whipped into shape in no time.¡± The man cast a small glance to Ren before looking back to Eric. ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today milord?¡± ¡°I came to introduce the one that will be maintaining your gear during the expedition.¡± Eric motioned to Ren who smiled and gave a light nod. ¡°Hello sir, I¡¯m Ren, it¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± The captain looked at Ren curiously then back to Eric. ¡°Sir¡­ is this some joke?¡± Ren frowned at the remark but Eric replied swiftly. ¡°It is not captain, he is Donan¡¯s apprentice and I¡¯ve assessed his skill myself, he is the one you will be taking with you and you will give him the respect deserving of someone that you will be relying on heavily.¡± The captain didn¡¯t look completely pleased but he straightened up at Eric¡¯s words and saluted. ¡°Yes sir!¡± Eric chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, once you see what he can do you¡¯ll understand.¡± He patted the captain¡¯s shoulder before turning and heading off with Ren in tow. Leaving the captain somewhat baffled. Eric escorted Ren to the main gates of the keep. ¡°Now that we have you Ren we can finally start this expedition, it will take a few days once I put out the call to get preparations ready, get yourself ready in the mean time and come back in three days, we¡¯ll be ready to leave then.¡± At his words a small timer window opened before Ren showing a countdown of how much time he had to prepare for the quest. ¡°I¡¯ll return when it¡¯s time to leave then sir.¡± Ren smiled and gave a light bow before leaving the keep and heading back to the artisan district, he had three days to pick up a few more skills he wanted for the trip. His first stop was to finally visit Issac the enchanter. Issac¡¯s workshop looked almost like an antique store, the shelves were littered with items from simple jewellery to old furniture and clothes. Issac was spotted leaning over his desk, his hands hovering over a small silver amulet, his hands glowed lightly as he seemed to be enchanting it so Ren stood still and waited quietly until he was finished before letting out a light cough to get his attention. Issac turned around at the cough to see Ren. ¡°Ah it¡¯s Ren yes? It¡¯s been some time since we bumped into one another, what brings you to my workshop today?¡± Ren smiled and bowed his head to Issac lightly. ¡°Yes it¡¯s been a while, I wanted to visit sooner but I got carried away with other things. I came here hoping I might learn a little about enchanting from you.¡± Issac chuckled. ¡°So you¡¯ve gotten tired of smacking metal around then?¡± Ren shook his head. ¡°No sir, I¡¯ve actually been invited by Lord Eric to join an expedition where he would like me to maintain the armor and weapons of his men, we don¡¯t know what kind of dangers will lurk where we are going so I was hoping I could learn at least the basics of enchanting before I leave, that way I can enhance equipment of Eric¡¯s soldiers a little more.¡± Issac nodded to his words. ¡°I see, It¡¯s admirable that you wish to go that step further then what¡¯s been asked of you, I¡¯m sure Eric will be thrilled. But¡­ I¡¯m afraid as you are you to lacking in knowledge to learn from me.¡± Issac turned to his desk and began to write out a note. ¡°As an enchanter we don¡¯t use magic like mages do but we rely on understanding how the elements a mage uses works, what we do is a magic but its permanent unlike when a mage simply flings a fireball at someone, simply understanding that ¡®fire burns¡¯ isn¡¯t enough, you try to enchant a ring with only that much knowledge of fire at your disposal and you¡¯ll make a ring that sets the person who wears it on fire.¡± He chuckles and turns back around holding a letter out to Ren. ¡°Take this to the library, it should get you free membership to the library, there¡¯s also a list of several books I want you to read, if you can gain knowledge in at least the four base elements I¡¯ll show you how to enchant items.¡± Ren nodded and took the letter. ¡°Thank you sir, I¡¯ll learn about the four base elements as quickly as I can.¡± He smiled and waved before darting out of the workshop and down the street, thankfully he¡¯d passed the library once before during his exploration of the city so it only took a short run to get there. Before entering the large library Ren took a moment to straighten his clothes and catch his breath then pushed the large door open and slipped inside, inside the library was quite the sight, bookshelves that reached all the way to the roof at least two stories high, Ren slowly shuffled into the library, his head stuck looking straight up in awe of the towers of books until he bumped into a desk and fell back with a grunt. ¡°Oof.¡± He looked to the desk to find a young girl with glasses leaning over it to look at him curiously. ¡°Are you ok?¡± Ren quickly nodded and stood up, brushing himself off, the desk the girl was behind looked like the reception desk. ¡°Yes I¡¯m fine, sorry, it¡¯s my first time here, all these books, it¡¯s amazing.¡± The girl giggled at his comment and nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not the biggest library around but were proud of it.¡± Ren blinked. ¡°Not the biggest? Really?¡± His eyes bulged at the prospect of there being a library bigger than this one. The girl giggled again and nodded. ¡°Yup, our¡¯s can¡¯t compare to some of the larger ones in the bigger cities.¡± She smiled to him. ¡°Are you here to pick up something for your parents perhaps?¡± Ren blinked again. ¡°Huh? Ah¡­ no¡­¡± He frowned slightly as she seemed to have taken him for being a child, not that he wasn¡¯t used to it by now but it still weighed down on him each time. He pulled out the letter Issac gave him and handed it over to her. The girl took the letter and read it over slowly before then looking back at Ren curiously until she finally noticed his pointed ears. ¡°Oh my! I¡¯m so sorry, I thought you were just a child we don¡¯t get many elflings in this city.¡± Ren just smiled and waved it off. ¡°As for what¡¯s in this letter I don¡¯t see any problem with giving you membership to the library, well¡­ normally I would have to call the head librarian first but this is my apology for thinking you were just a kid.¡± She smiled to him before she set about getting a library card for him. Within a few minutes she was holding out a small copper plate no bigger than a business card to him and a small pin. ¡°This is your library card, it needs a drop of your blood to print your identification information on it.¡± Ren froze at the sight. ¡°I..i¡­isn¡¯t there another way¡­I ¡­ I don¡¯t like needles?¡± He eyed the pin nervously. The girl looked at him curiously then looked at the pin. ¡°Umm¡­ sure¡­ would a knife do instead?¡± Ren nodded and she rummaged under the counter for a moment before pulling out what looked to be a small fruit knife she likely used on breaks. Ren let out a sigh and took the knife with a nod and used the tip to make a tiny cut to his finger then pressed it to the card, the card glowed for a moment as his details were etched into it magically.
Library Card Holder - Ren Rank D Books read ¨C 0
Ren looked at the card curiously before looking back to the girl, before he could ask she began to explain. ¡°That is your library i.d card, it keeps track of your rank, how many books you¡¯ve read and weather your late on returning a book or not. The rank system determines what kind of books you can read, most books you won¡¯t be allowed to leave with though. The reason there¡¯s a ranking system is because some information is restricted, or the books are so old that special care needs to be made when reading them, so of course we aren¡¯t going to trust someone new off the streets to look after such special books, you have to earn our trust.¡± Ren nodded to her words. ¡°I understand, how do I increase my rank?¡± ¡°In various ways, making sure books you read stay in good condition, returning them on time, the amount of books you¡¯ve read, donating rare books you might find on your travels things like that.¡± Ren nodded again. ¡°Ok, with my current rank am I able to read the books Issac listed for me?¡± The girl nodded. ¡°Yup, there pretty common ones, he probably knew you weren¡¯t a member so pointed you towards these ones, If you want to just take a seat over at one of the reading desks I¡¯ll have someone fetch the books for you.¡± Ren smiled. ¡°Thank you miss.¡± The girl giggled. ¡°Just call me Rosie.¡± ¡°Ok, thank you Rosie.¡± He smiled and headed over to the desks that were set out, quite a few were already taken up by other players, most seemed to be mages likely reading to increase their intelligence or hoping to learn spells from the books, there were some other normal warrior looking players as well pouring through the books though they didn¡¯t seem to be treating the books as delicately as the mage types. After about ten minutes a young boy came along and set down a pile of books on Ren¡¯s table. ¡°Here¡¯s your books sir, when you¡¯re done reading just set them on the left side of the desk and someone will come pick them up.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Ren smiled and the boy headed off to collect books from other desks. Ren looked to the stack of books he had, there were four books in total each one seemed to be about a single element. Taking the first book from the pile that seemed to be about the earth elemental magic. As he read, the book explained the element from various standpoints of magic, when earth magic was used as protection great walls could be called from the ground or a person¡¯s skin could be made has hard as iron, when attacking spikes of earth could rupture from the ground to impale foes or stones be thrown at them, earth magic could also be used to heal the land or boost the growth of plants. In enchanting earth magic would boost the defence and durability of armor and weapons. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Thankfully the books weren¡¯t too thick, probably about a hundred pages not including the sketches and various other drawings, as he finished reading the book about the earth element he got two new messages.
New Skills! Speed Reading Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive) Time seems to slow down around you as you read, letting you read more in less time Knowledge Of Earth Level 1 (Beginner 0%) You¡¯ve gained an understanding of the element of earth This knowledge allows you to enchant items or cast spells more proficiently with the earth element Earth affinity and resistance increased by 5%
With a grin Ren set the first book aside and picked up the next which was the book of fire, the details within were set out the same as the book on earth magic explaining how fire magic could be used to attack by throwing balls of flame at foes, it could also protect one from burns by enveloping the caster with their own flames which would also damage any foes that got to close, fire had no healing aspect unless it was used on being that was comprised of the fire element such as a summoned elemental or a fire based monster. In enchanting fire magic could add fire damage to weapons or fire resistance to armor.
New Skill! Knowledge Of Fire Level 1 (Beginner 0%) You¡¯ve gained an understanding of the element of fire This knowledge allows you to enchant items or cast spells more proficiently with the fire element Fire affinity and resistance increased by 5%
Ren grinned as he finished the next book, his speed reading was increasing as well which meant he could get through each book quicker than the last, in the end it only took him half the day to get through all the books and attain the skills they had to give.
New Skill! Knowledge Of Water Level 1 (Beginner 0%) You¡¯ve gained an understanding of the element of Water This knowledge allows you to enchant items or cast spells more proficiently with the Water element Water affinity and resistance increased by 5%
New Skill! Knowledge Of Wind Level 1 (Beginner 0%) You¡¯ve gained an understanding of the element of Wind This knowledge allows you to enchant items or cast spells more proficiently with the Wind element Wind affinity and resistance increased by 5%
With a grin Ren collected the books that hadn¡¯t been collected yet and took them back to the reception desk where Rosie sat, setting them down and smiling to her. ¡°I¡¯m done with these, do you happen to know if there are any other books like these?¡± Rosie looked up as Ren spoke and smiled. ¡°Mmmm, I think there¡¯s about five other books on other elements that we have.¡± Ren¡¯s eyes shone at this. ¡°Really? Could I read them please?¡± Rosie giggled softly. ¡°mmm, I think a couple of them are a rank above you¡­ but¡­¡± She looked at the books he brought back then looked back to him. ¡°You treated these ones well, plus you¡¯re a cutie so I¡¯ll have them all brought to you.¡± She grinned and winked at Ren, causing him to blush and scamper back to his desk, leaving Rosie at her desk giggling at his shy nature. It didn¡¯t take long for his next stack of books to arrive and he quickly looked them over to see what was written on the covers of each, Light, Dark, Ice, Lightning and Arcane. As he read through them a couple turned out to be not what he was expecting, Light magic was essentially holy magic, Dark magic though was gravity type magic not the evil type, Ice and lightning were as expected and arcane was also known as void magic, basically it was raw magic without an element attached to it. He got the feeling there would have to be other magics still, after all none of the books he had seemed to touch on things like curses or necromancy, so he figured true dark magics were probably forbidden. By the time he finished the last book it was into the early morning of the second day, on top of earning the basic knowledge skills for the other elements he received another popup.
Stat Gain! Due to your hard work and diligence in learning everything you can about the elements you¡¯ve gained. +5% Resist to all elements +5% Affinity to all elements +20 INT +10 WIS
Ren was ecstatic, he now had 10% resistance to all elemental damage and 10% affinity with all elements, on top of that the 20 INT and 10 WIS would give a good boost to his mana finally. He took the books back to the desk to find Rosie was just entering the library to start her shift, seeing him at the desk left her stunned. ¡°Ren did you spend the whole night here reading?¡± Ren blinked and turned around to face her. ¡°Is that bad?¡± ¡°Of course it is! I wont give you anymore books until you¡¯ve gotten some rest and had something to eat.¡± She stomped her foot and pointed to the door. Ren grinned sheepishly. ¡°Sorry, I got carried away, but don¡¯t worry I¡¯m a traveller a day without sleep isn¡¯t much to me.¡± He smiled headed to the door. ¡°Thank you for letting me read the books, I learned a lot!¡± He grinned and waved before scampering out of the library to find something to eat, his hunger had hit rock bottom some time ago and was already slowly eating into his health. He didn¡¯t mind to much since it would help raise his ¡®staying power¡¯ skill which had now reached level 7, it now reduced the health he lost by 17% when his stamina was empty, it seemed to increase by 1% each level. He dashed back to Issac¡¯s workshop now and burst through the door nearly giving Issac a heart attack. ¡°By the! Ren don¡¯t scare me like that!¡± Ren came to a sudden halt and bowed his head as he apologised. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I just finished reading the books you sent me for and wanted to come back as quickly as I could.¡± Issac¡¯s brow rose curiously. ¡°Just finished now? You spent the whole day and night reading?¡± Ren nodded. ¡°Did you learn about the four base elements?¡± Ren nodded again. ¡°Yes, I even read up on the five other ones, Light, Dark, Ice, Lightning and Arcane.¡± Issac jumped up at that. ¡°Wha! Seriousely!? That¡¯s incredible. Come come, let¡¯s get to work on some basic enchantments right away.¡±
Due to your astounding diligence you¡¯ve gained affinity with the artisan district NPCS
Ren grinned and stepped over to the table Issac beckoned him to. ¡°First of all Enchanting is about imbuing an element into an item, this is done by way of runes or glyphs, a rune is a single letter in the ancient text.¡± Issac took a piece of paper and drew a rune on it. ¡°Each rune does something different and takes power from a different element, a glyph however is a combination of two or more runes in a special interlocking pattern which combines the runes into another new enchantment.¡± He drew another rune next to the one he¡¯d already drawn and then drew a circle around them letting the edge of the circle just touch on the furthest edge of each rune. ¡°This is just a basic example, some glyphs can consist of hundreds of runes, enchanting is still a widely unknown area of magic, even once you create a glyph it can then be used as you would a rune and attach more glyphs or runes to it, inscribing each rune or glyph though will cost mana and the amount of mana will differ with each rune and glyph depending on what it does.¡± Issac then took out a small pocket size leather bound book and handed it to Ren. ¡°This is your book of seals. Any runes or glyphs you learn or create will be inscribed into the pages of this book so you can refer to it when you need to. I took the liberty to pen a set of basic runes for each element and effect already, since you¡¯ve gained the knowledge of the elements it should be easy for you to do a basic enchantment.¡± He set a small tarnished copper ring on the table. ¡°Look through the book of seals and pick something you like to enchant this ring, if it¡¯s successful you can keep the ring.¡± Ren opened the small book and flicked through the pages until he found something he thought would be helpful to him, keeping the page open so he could envision the rune he wanted he placed his hand on the ring. ¡°Enchant!¡± The ring glowed for a moment and he could see the rune he wanted etch itself into the metal of the ring before the glow faded. Issac nodded approvingly. ¡°Excellent, pick it up and try to identify the ring.¡± Ren nodded and picked up the ring. ¡°Identify!¡±
Tarnished Copper Ring A simple copper ring that has been enchanted with a minor shielding magic +2 DEF
Ren beamed at the result, it was only +2 defence but it meant he was on his way, he showed the ring to Issac who nodded. ¡°Nicely done, I am happy to name you my novice.¡±
New Title! Issac¡¯s Novice When equipped the npc¡¯s in the city of Aurora will recognise you as Issac¡¯s novice You may freely use Issac¡¯s workshop Issac will give you tips and tricks as you enchant in his workshop increasing your enchanting skill (and any related sub-skills) gain by20%
Aside from giving you the basic runes and a few pointers while you work here I¡¯m afraid there¡¯s little I can do to help you with enchanting, enchanters you see hold very closely to the rune and glyphs they create, we don¡¯t like to share new enchantments we create this makes every enchanter unique as we each tend to branch off into different areas of study when it comes to enchanting, some might focus on ways of increasing the defence of armours, or others the damage of weapons, some will branch out into other areas, if the runes we¡¯ve discovered or glyphs we¡¯ve created become common place then we would lose trade, people will travel leagues to get a single enchantment from some master enchanters. If you wish to reach such heights you¡¯ll have to work with the runes I¡¯ve given you and find the rest yourself.¡± Ren just smiled and nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll find something really amazing one day then!¡± He grinned and Issac chuckled. ¡°I look forward to hearing about a new master enchanter one day then.¡± He smiled and turned to his desk picking up a book and turning back to Ren. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t normally hand this over to just anyone but word about you has really gotten around in this district so take this, it will help you with learning new runes and glyphs.¡± Ren picked up the book curiously.
Skill Book This book contains several sub skills connected with enchanting, do you wish to learn them? Y/N
¡°Yes!¡± Ren called out excitedly, the book glowed for a moment before vanishing and several windows appeared before Ren.
New Skills! Read Rune Level 1 (Beginner 0%) Allows you to read unknown runes and add them to your book of seals Dismantle Glyph Level 1 (Beginner 0%) Allows you to destroy a glyph with the chance of learning a rune from it Absorb Enchantment Level 1 (Beginner 0%) Allows you to remove an enchantment by absorbing it, refilling a portion of your mana in the process Enchanted Eyes Level 1 (Beginner 0%) Enchantments in the area will give off a slight glow
¡°Oh my god! Thank you so much Issac! This is amazing!¡± Ren pounced as Issac giving him a hug which caught him off guard completely. ¡°Gah! Hahahaaa, ok ok, you like it I get it now get off me.¡± Issac chuckled as he tried to push Ren off him. ¡°You just make sure you do your best with this to help those soldiers ok?¡± Ren let go finally and nodded before giving a salute. ¡°Yes sir!¡± He grinned and Issac chuckled. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ve got some orders to finish now so if you don¡¯t mind I need to get back to work.¡± He smiled and ruffled Ren¡¯s hair before turning back to his desk. With a nod Ren left the workshop and looked about before letting out a yawn. ¡°I¡¯ve got enough time to get some sleep before the expedition begins, I¡¯ll have to login at least an hour early to grab some supplies though.¡± He nodded to himself as he made his mental notes then logged out to get some sleep.
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Chapter 013 Chapter 013 The journey Begins Inside the courtyard of the keep npc soldiers and players were standing around in their groups, checking over their equipment and discussing travel formations, there was still a few hours before they would move out, the expedition was rather small for what it was, consisting of 50 npc soldiers not including the captain and few other commanding soldiers and a handful of support npcs such as cooks and the like, it turned out there was a limit of 50 players that could join the expedition, Ren was currently sitting quietly and nervously as part of a panel with four other certain players that were interviewing each player that wished to join the expedition. ¡°Name, class and level.¡± Said the man sitting in the middle of the panel, he was dressed in his full silver plate armor that held gold trimmings, his silken black hair neatly framing his face. ¡°Cyrus, warrior, level 60.¡± Tristan aka the Heroic Prince looked to Cyrus and nodded. ¡°Alright, join the other fighters over there, you¡¯re not in yet but you¡¯re a higher level than most of the others, were still sorting out numbers though.¡± Cyrus seemed excited by his words and happily strode over with the other fighters and began to chat with them. This had been going on for a while now and already there were more than 100 players in the ¡®maybe¡¯ group within the court yard waiting to hear the final results on the players that would be joining the expedition. Ren was seated on the far end of the panel out of the way, he looked down along the row curiously at the other four, this was his first time seeing them aside from Tristan, it had turned out that the expedition was actually a combined quest that involved the five of them together and would only activate once they each met specific requirements, Ren didn¡¯t know what the others did to meet those requirements but he guessed his was reaching intermediate with smithing and repair, since the letter arrived for Donan after he reached intermediate smithing, though since the quest seemed to involve him repairing equipment he thought that intermediate repair was a requirement as well. When Ren had first arrived Tristan of course had confronted him, blaming him for what happened at Donan¡¯s workshop and it seemed at first that the other three were in agreement with him until they found out the real story behind it which Tristan had twisted to make Ren out to be the bad guy, the other three didn¡¯t seem all that bad Ren thought, they had their quirks but they weren¡¯t nearly as stuck up as Tristan. Beside Ren was the blacked hooded player that until not long ago had revealed quietly to Ren that his name was Talon and that his class was Shadow Weaver, turned out he was actually a rather shy and quiet person and was happy to take a stealth type class and even gave a small apology to Ren for leaving him with the crafter class as his only choice but Ren just smiled and told him that he was enjoying the class immensely so far. Looking back to the applicants the last one to apply was below the level limit they had set which was 40, the player rather sulkily left the keep and Tristan stood up. ¡°Ok, that¡¯s all of them you¡¯ve all got your lists lets go pick our teams.¡± When Ren arrived the other four had been in a debate over what numbers of each class type they should pick from the players, Tristan simply wanted to take the 50 that were of the highest level regardless of their class, while the other had different ideas, wanting to ensure that there was a mix of fighters, mages and clerics, though they still could not agree on the specific amount so Ren had chimed in with a suggestion that since there were five of them and they could take 50 players that they each pick 10 players, these 10 would be the teams for the five of them. Thankfully they each saw the merit in this, even Tristan agreed, control and coordinating 50 players as a single group would be to hard so they would each pick their own team of 10. After some further inquiring Ren leaned that they each also had the requirement to ensure the safety of the soldiers, and of course none of them actually wanted to have the soldiers take an active role in the hunts because of this, it was then Tristan¡¯s ¡®brilliant¡¯ idea that one team should stay back with the soldiers while the other four went and explored. Ren frowned as all four looked to him, he looked to Talon who had seemed like a nice enough guy, though only able to see his eyes under the ninja like face wrap he now wore his eyes held an apologetic stare. ¡°He is right¡­ someone needs to stay with the soldiers in case something happens¡­ and¡­ you¡¯ll need time to work on their gear as well wont you?¡± Talon spoke softly and apologetically, he didn¡¯t have the nerve to go against Tristan. Tristan then spoke up again. ¡°And since you¡¯ll be getting 50 soldiers in your team you can spare at least four from your ten for us to have one more in each of our teams, six would be more than enough to look after the soldiers.¡± Lara spoke in for the first time now. ¡°But what if something does happen? 6 won¡¯t be enough to hold back some of the higher level monsters that might be there.¡± Tristan scoffed. ¡°We¡¯ll be killing them all before they even get to the soldiers anyway, unless one of you lot think you won¡¯t be able to hold off the monsters? Maybe you should take Ren¡¯s place instead.¡± Ren frowned at this as he so openly threatened them and they seemed to accept it so easily. ¡°Just what is your problem!?¡± Ren cried out finally cracking from Tristan¡¯s attitude. ¡°Acting like you have control of everything and everyone, I¡¯m taking my ten and I¡¯ll take care of the soldiers because your too damn lazy to but I¡¯ll be dammed if I¡¯m going to sit around and just twiddle my thumbs while you prance about like your king of the god damn world, I bet you already think everything in the place were going to rightfully belongs to you don¡¯t you and that were simply here to help you get it!¡± Ren having said his piece stormed off to pick his team members while muttering under his breath leaving Tristan and the other three with stunned surprise and even some admiration on the faces, except of course for Tristan who was now fuming as Ren turned and stormed away from them. Ren spent the next hour speaking with various players that he¡¯d taken an interest in, for the most part he tried to stay away from recruiting any girls for various reasons, mainly due to the fact that each time he considered asking one they would look at him and seem to almost drool, their eyes turning to that of a hungry predator. For the most part though each person he spoke to seemed happy to meet him since he was one of the five contest winners and was bombarded with questions about his class, most thought that his was pretty cool but at the same time they didn¡¯t hold any envy or jealousy towards him since the trade off of him being able to learn all crafts was that he couldn¡¯t fight. Some of the ones he tried to recruit seemed hesitant at first once he explained that he would just be leeching exp from them during fights, but once he offered that in return he would repair their gear for free and even try to add some minor enchantments to their equipment they were eager to join. In the end Ren ended up with his team of ten which consisted of three healer types, a battle priest and a cleric and a druid. Two fighter types, a samurai and a shield knight, two mages, an ice mage and a fire mage, and finally two stealth types a scout and a normal thief. For the last person on his team he picked a person that simply seemed interesting to him more than as a strategic choice, a man that seemed to have a hidden class called ¡®BowSlinger¡¯ as one could imagine it was a play on the western style ¡®gunslinger¡¯ but instead of guns he was able to wield a pair of small crossbows that were attached to his wrist bracers, he seemed to live and breathe the ¡®western¡¯ style as he wore a tanned brown coat and cowboy hat, he also wore a pair of whips and lasso on his hips, Ren made a guess that the man was a rancher in real life perhaps or simply really liked cowboys. ¡°Well.. repairin me gear is all well and good son but doin that is just as much to your own benefit as it is to mine since it means I can keep fightin and sendin exp yer way.¡± The cowboy spoke to Ren, it turned out that he had of course taken the name Clint. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what else I could offer you then Clint, I can make some minor enchantments on your gear as well¡­ I would offer to make you something if you wished but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll have any access to a forge while we travel.¡± Clint nodded and thought for a moment. ¡°Well, some enchantments would certainly be handy on some o me gear, but what I¡¯d really like is this.¡± He held up his arm to show Ren the crossbow attached to his wrist. ¡°Ye see, I got these when I took this class, there a unique weapon to my class only and that means its dang hard to come across a better set o them, now, seein as ya said you can be learning every craft with that class o yours I was wondering if you¡¯d be willing to try and make me a new set o these that will match me level, course I¡¯d be willing to pay for that.¡± Ren blinked and looked over the weapon curiously, the bolts seemed to be fed to the bow from a kind of clip that attached along the underside of the bracer letting about six shots be made before having to attach a new clip. Ren asked if he could remove it and let him take a better look to which Clint nodded and took the bow bracer off and handed to him, Ren then inspected it more closely, moving and twisting each part to see what kind of pieces made it all work.
You¡¯ve inspected a rare ¡®gadget¡¯ weapon type Quick Shot Bow Bracer This weapon made by an unknown weapon smith, designed it for quick rapid shots, the design apparently was based from a weapon that the smith was told about from a traveller from another world. The plans for this weapon have been added to your crafting list For learning the plans to a rare weapon you¡¯ve gained the following +5 Int +5 Str +5 Luk
Ren blinked at the pop up and handed the bracer back to Clint with a nod. ¡°Seems I can make it, I learned the blueprint for it as I inspected it just then, but I won¡¯t know if I have the right skills to make it till I get to a forge, I think I¡¯m going to need to learn some wood working or bow craft before I can make it. This was still good news to Clint and he instantly sent Ren a friend request which Ren accepted with a smile. ¡°Well, if you be able to make me some better ones eventually then you¡¯ve got yourself the only cowboy on this continent as yer friend for life.¡± He grinned and shook Ren¡¯s hand. With everyone having picked their teams those that weren¡¯t picked left the keep with grumbles and mutters, a few tried to start up arguments about being higher levels than others that were picked but Ren didn¡¯t pick his team for their levels, he picked the ones he thought would work well together and that would get along, after if they couldn¡¯t work together as a group they would only get in each other¡¯s way there levels being useless then. Tristan had a scowl on his face aimed at Ren as he moved to join the other four, Eric the lord of Aurora stepped forward to make an announcement. ¡°Soldiers of Aurora! It makes me proud to see you standing here before me, ready to serve your people, to fight for them and lay down your lives for them. Our mages have felt the presence of a dark energy emanating from an ancient cave system, what lies within we don¡¯t know, only having discovered the entrance due to this dark energy leading us to it. Whatever it is knows we¡¯re coming, I put out the call for the best able bodied men and women the city of Aurora could offer and you stepped forward without hesitation to face this threat. I won¡¯t wish you luck, because I know you will return victorious! Aurora Expedition Squad! It is time to sally forth!¡±
Party Request! Will you join the Aurora Expedition Squad Y/N
Ren nodded without hesitation along with everyone else that was present ¡°Yes.¡±
Party Joined! You¡¯ve joined the Aurora Expedition Squad An expedition squad is larger than a normal party, you will share exp with players and associated npcs that are within a 100 meter radius and receive 20% of the exp from squad members outside 100 meters. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Contribution points are awarded based on the performance of each person Including but not limited to Each player¡¯s individual assistance in each kill Dealing the most damage or dealing the killing blow to an enemy For healing allies For shielding allies For assistance performed outside of battles Bonus points will be awarded for each Aurora soldier brought back alive Bonus points will be awarded if the Aurora soldier¡¯s levels are increased when they return (Penalties will be incurred for hindering/harming allies or letting the Aurora soldiers die) Awards will be given according to the number of contribution points earned during the expedition with a bonus reward to the top 3 contributors
The information seemed easy enough to understand though Ren didn¡¯t think he¡¯d be able to earn many contribution points. His thoughts were pulled back into line as a cheer went up from the soldiers at Eric¡¯s speech, the captain Ren had briefly met before now stepped forward and mounted his horse. ¡°Men! Gather your things, we march!¡± The solders quickly lined up into a marching order and the players were guided into line behind them, the soldiers would leave first as they were the visual representation of the city where as the players were seen more as volunteers or mercenaries, they passed through the streets in a reasonably orderly fashion as they followed behind the soldiers, Ren and the other four led their teams in their march. Small groups of npcs would peek out of their homes and wave or give cheers, flowers were tossed at their feet, meanwhile players scampered to get out of the way of the marching troupe only to then watch them leave the through the city gates with envy of the quest they were embarking on. The trip to the dungeons location alone would take a couple day in game so Ren took the chance to start enchanting the soldiers gear before they got into any heavy fighting, being only at beginner rank with his enchanting the most he was able to add to a weapon was a 1-4 additional element damage and a +2 def to armours, but the soldiers seemed happy enough even with this as did the players in his team, more so once he told them that once his skill increase he¡¯d replace the enchantments with stronger ones as he was able to make them. Once word got around among the players of the other teams they were also lining up to get some enchantments off Ren, He explained to them his situation of being unable to participate in any fights and how that was why his own team was getting free enchantments, members of the other teams though would have to pay, but, Ren didn¡¯t want money, he could make that easily enough with enchanting once they got back to the city so he offered an exchange. The players would bring him any material and junk item drops that he could practice his skills on in exchange for his enchantments and subsequent upgrades during the expedition. Most seemed happy enough with the deal, not only would they get free enchantments but be able to offload their junk drops which would normally be worth peanuts back in the city shops. In the end three of the other team leaders also approached Ren and made the same deal with him, of course Tristan just glared at him at the popularity he¡¯d gained all of a sudden. As they travelled the players of course would spread out in small groups to hunt the local monsters off the beaten path whenever the soldiers stopped for a break, this caused a small influx of exp to head Ren¡¯s way and finally he received a notice he was starting to think he¡¯d never get.
Level up! You have gained 1 Level! 10 Stat points available Hidden class ability revealed!
Ren let out a whoop of joy and leaped into the air when he got the level, the blade he¡¯d been enchanting slipping from his hands and nearly hitting a player that was eating by the fire. ¡°Eak! Sorry!¡± With a sheepish grin Ren dashed over and quickly retrieved the sword and finished enchanting it before returning it to its owner then settled down to look over his new information. ¡°Show info on class abilities.¡±
Help Guide Class Abilities Some classes have hidden abilities or traits that can be unlocked, these abilities are specific to the class and have no rank or level Some classes have hidden abilities that are already in effect but have no information about them available until certain conditions are met
Ren tilted his head curiously. ¡°Show Artificer abilities.¡±
Artificer Abilities Slow and steady (Passive) Slow and steady increases the exp required to level up by 100% and reduces exp gained by 20% When levelling 10 stat points will be gained instead of 5 Skills gain exp 50% faster
Ren¡¯s jaw dropped, no wonder he took so long to level! He read over the ability carefully again and again, as his initial shock wore down he came to realise this was actually a pretty good deal for a crafting class, for a class that didn¡¯t focus on combat but skills this he figured was a kind of balancing ability to even out that he wouldn¡¯t be grinding on monsters more then he would be grinding on his crafting skills, he had been thinking that his skill gains were a little quicker than others. ¡°Something got you pickled Ren?¡± Clint walked over once he saw Ren gaping over something that was before his eyes but he couldn¡¯t see. Ren just nodded lightly. ¡°Yeah¡­ I got my first level¡­¡± Clint blinked. ¡°You¡¯ve only just gotten level 2!?¡± His outburst turned quite a few heads among the players and a lot of mutters and whispered conversations began. ¡°Seriously he¡¯s only level 2? How did he get in on this quest?¡± ¡°He¡¯s one of the competition winners man, this is some group quest between the five of them.¡± ¡°Really? But it¡¯s still a B rank quest.¡± ¡°Apparently he won¡¯t be fighting, his role is support, he¡¯ll be fixing our gear and stuff man, didn¡¯t you get that sweet lightning enchantment on your sword from him?¡± ¡°Yeah, but you mean that¡¯s all he¡¯s gotta do the entire trip? His crafting skills must be pretty good.¡± ¡°Yeah man, I overheard some others talking, they said he¡¯s got intermediate repair skill, he can fix our stuff without reducing the durability.¡± ¡°Woah, nice!¡± Everyone was surprised but since Ren had already proven his usefulness with the enchantments no one had any complaints about his lack of levels. The rest of the trip moved on without event except for one time when a player came to Ren holding a shining silver sword inlaid with gold, Ren looked at the player then back at the sword. ¡°If he wants an enchantment then he can come ask himself, politely.¡± The player seemed to gulp as he headed back to the swords true owner with bad news. They finally arrived at the dungeon entrance and setup camp for the night deciding they would enter at dawn after a good night¡¯s sleep, several soldiers were posted at the dungeon entrance though to make sure no one tried to sneak in without their teams, this brought a few grumbles from some players. Most logged out at this time to get something to eat or rest for a bit before the main event started, Ren also logged to take care of the essentials and get a bit of rest. The sun peaked through the trees and illuminated the cave entrance that would lead to their epic quest, all the players were chatting excitedly and prepared their gear as the captain of the soldiers gave his men a quick inspection and then headed over to where Ren and the other four were waiting. ¡°The men are ready, have you decided how we¡¯ll proceed?¡± Tristan stepped forward and went over the positions they would take, basically it was the four teams then the soldiers then Ren and his team leading up the rear. Ren didn¡¯t argue with it since he had no way of fighter and even if he did at his current stats he¡¯d likely just die quickly and be unable to for fill his role in the quest. Once they were arranged the teams headed into the cave, small glowing light orbs floated a couple meters above their heads, a basic mage spell that illuminated the path ahead, a couple orbs were sent further ahead into the cave so they would be able to see at least 20 meters ahead of themselves. It took a few minutes before Ren and his team were finally able to actually enter to the cave after all the other teams and soldiers went in, as they did a notice appeared before them.
New Dungeon! You are the first to discover a new dungeon Exp will be doubled for the first week The first monster killed will drop the best item possible +10 Fame
¡°Neat.¡± Ren grinned at the perks for discovering a dungeon. ¡°I bet Tristan is racing forward to try and get the first kill for that item drop.¡± He smirked lightly as he could imagine the other chasing to keep up, not wanting to let him gloat over getting the first kill. They followed the soldiers in front of them into the depths of the cave, it wasn¡¯t long before the light from the entrance was completely gone, around them small cave lizards and beetles scuttled about in a panic from the resounding thud made by the march of the soldiers. As Ren marched along behind the soldiers his head turning this way and that as he used his metal detection to keep an eye out for any ores, so far there was only a few bits of iron, he also noted that he could see the metal aura from the soldiers armor in front of him, this was something he took note of. Suddenly as he made his next step his foot landed on something that gave a slight screeched squeal before the sound of cracking, crunching and then a gooy splat sound. Blinking Ren looked down to see that he¡¯d stepped on a rather large beetle that had unfortunately scuttled under his boot. ¡°Oops, sorry little guy.¡± What happened next shocked him though as the beetle glowed lightly and vanished in a small burst of star dust particles and under his boot where the beetle had been sat a small rather well worn looking ring. Curiously Ren reached down and picked it up as he realized he¡¯d just gotten the first kill. ¡°Oh man¡­.Tristan is going to be so pissed.¡± He grinned lightly.
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Chapter 014 Chapter 014 Into The Black Deep Deep within a dungeon cave sitting around a fire a group of people eat their dinner, as best they could anyway. Sitting beside Ren as he tried to eat was Clint the self proclaimed cowboy of Flow, currently he was almost head over heels with boisterous laughter over the events of the day. ¡°Those four try hards were all charging ahead trying to hunt down the first monster.. and.. hahaaa.. and then here we are just trotting along when there¡¯s this crunch and splat.. HAHAAAA.. and he just looks down and apologies to the bug then gets a crummy little ring from it as the first kill prize HAHAHAAAA.¡± Clint finally falls on his back in a fit of laughter but crawls back upright. ¡°But the real kicker is when that pompous idiot parades himself back into the camp we setup waving around a rusty dagger he got from his first kill thinking it¡¯s the special drop and that it¡¯s got some kind of super secret magic attached to it!! HAHAAAA!¡± The rest of Ren¡¯s team was having enough trouble eating their food, but as Clint recounted the event they couldn¡¯t help but burst out in laughter as well, several people shooting out food and drink in the process while others choked on it instead. It took some time for the group to calm down and Clint finally composed himself enough to eat his own food. ¡°So what did that ring end up being?¡± He looked to Ren curiously along with the eyes of the rest of his team at the question. Ren took out the ring and turned it around between his fingers. ¡°Identify.¡±
Identify Failed
He let out a sigh. ¡°No idea, I must have tried to I.D it a hundred times now but it fails every time.¡± He brings the ring up for a closer inspection.
Ring? ??? ??? ????
Another sigh and he closes the description box to look at the ring. ¡°Guess I¡¯ll have to work on my identify skill more, one thing about it though.¡± He turns the ring over one edge was flat while the other had small peaks at an even spacing. ¡°It looks more like a little crown than a ring¡­¡± ¡°You killed the king of beetles! HAHAAAAA!¡± Clint cried out as he fell into another fit of laughter. Ren slipped the ring away and stood up after finishing his meal, he had to finish checking and repairing the soldier¡¯s equipment for the next day, thankfully they were well organised and once the camp was setup their armor and weapons were laid out neatly for him to inspect, there were only a few pieces that didn¡¯t have a minor enchantment on them as well now, once he was done with making sure all the soldiers equipment was in top condition he settled down on a stone that was reasonably comfortable to sit on before calling out. ¡°Ok, those that need equipment repaired or enchanted and have materials to hand in can come to me now.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for almost all the players to line up before Ren, eager to have their equipment repaired. As he repaired and enchanted the players equipment he asked questions about what kinds of monsters they had come across, since he was behind even the soldiers he had no idea what they were facing. it turned out that so far they were encountering giant spiders and bats that were around level 15-20 so they weren¡¯t having any trouble with it yet except for the poison from the spiders. Among the materials he received from the other players as part of his deal for fixing and enchanting their gear he received mainly monster parts, bat wings, spider fangs, spider silk, poison glands and the occasional rusty piece of equipment such as rusty daggers and small wooden bucklers, out of curiosity he tried equipping one of the bucklers and was surprised to find he could use it. ¡°At least I can use defensive equipment¡­ i might be able to bludgeon a monster with this at least.¡± He repaired and enchanted the small buckler and slipped it away. Once he finished repairing and enchanting everyone¡¯s equipment the last player to approach was again holding the golden trimmed armor and sword that obviously belonged to Tristan. ¡°Look, I already told the last person to tell him that if he wants his stuff fixed or enchanted then he¡¯s going to have to come ask me politely himself.¡± He refused to budge on this, he wouldn¡¯t do anything for Tristan till he came back down to earth some. The player frowned and headed back to Tristan¡¯s group. Ren knew that eventually Tristan would have to come see him himself once his equipment¡¯s durability got low enough. With everything done Ren headed back to the small fire where his own team was seated and began to pull out the materials and items he¡¯d been given, the monster parts and rusty equipment of course was seen as nothing more than junk items to the other players and would be sold for a few extra coppers so he doubted they minded handing it over for what they were receiving in turn, plus it meant they had more room in their inventory for the good drops they would want to keep. The first thing Ren did was pick up each and every item and use identify on it.
Spider¡¯s Fang (Material) This is the solid fang of a giant spider, some venom still coats it.
Spider Silk (Material) Spider¡¯s silk gathered from a giant spider.
Poison Gland (Ingredient) A poison gland from a giant spider Poison strength - Weak
Bat Wing (Material/Ingredient) The leathery wing of a giant bat.
The items seemed to have the status of being either a ¡®Material¡¯ or an ¡®Ingredient¡¯ and the bat wing was both it seemed. ¡°Hmm, I guess materials are for crafting things only and ingredients are for potions and cooking maybe?¡± Gradually his identify skill increased as he used it on each and every item that he¡¯d received but it still wasn¡¯t enough to ID the ring yet. Once he finished identifying the junk gear he proceeded to use repair, sharpen and polish on them, the rusty daggers became simple iron daggers, the small cracked bucklers became small wooden bucklers, following that he then enchanted them with minor defense and attack runes, once he was does he wondered if they would at least be worth a silver now instead of only a few coppers. Stretching and looking around the camp he saw that nearly everyone had logged off to get a bit of rest or take care of other needs while the soldiers slept, a few had been assigned to keep guard around the area in case any monsters came by. Having lost track of time as he worked on his items there were only a few hours left before the soldiers would rise and pack up camp, instead of logging Ren decided to get some sleep in game since he would get a little bit more rest that way with the time difference. A nudge to his leg woke Ren up, blinking and rubbing his eyes as they adjusted to the dark gloom of the cave, the soldiers were already packing up and getting ready to continue their march, looking down at Ren was Clint with a grin on his face, waving a bowl of soup before him. ¡°Wakey wakey, if you don¡¯t hurry I¡¯ll have to spoon feed you.¡± Ren shot up at this and grabbed the bowel to scarf down the now luke warm soup and a piece of bread. Clint chuckled at his sudden reaction before turning and getting his things ready. As they marched into the deep dark unknown once more Ren had out his book of seals, idly flicking though and looking over the runes Issac had written in for him, there was twenty all up in the book, once for each known 9 elements, one for each of the 8 base stats and 3 enhancement runes, defence, piercing and sharpness. After having enchanted all the soldiers and most of the other players gear his enchanting had reached Beginner Level 5, and when it did he received a notice that he could now make basic glyphs with 2 runes, looking over his available runes Ren pondered over what the combinations he could make would be, he would have to re-enchant all the soldiers equipment when they made camp again. As they travelled through the seemingly endless system of caves they were unmistakably heading in a downwards slope, some of the soldiers even commented that they would come out the other side of the world if they kept going deeper causing Ren and a few other players to chuckle. As they trailed behind the marching soldiers Ren chatted with the rest of his team, trying to get to know them a little, a few weren¡¯t to interested in chatting having only come along to get the enchantments Ren had promised and for the chance to take part in the expedition, a few though were friendly enough. ¡°Damn man, so you cant even use a dagger? That¡¯s harsh, every class can at least use a dagger.¡± Tommy the teams scout was walking along side of Ren and Clint chatting with them. ¡°I found I can use shields at least so I can probably bash the monsters with it.¡± Ren tried to look at the brighter side of he could do rather than what he couldn¡¯t. Tommy chuckled. ¡°Yeah! Go all Captain America on them man!¡± Ren and Clint both let out a laugh at the comment. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad I think, I bet I¡¯ll be able to make some awesome stuff once I learn more skills, maybe even make a weapon I can used.¡± ¡°What have you trained so far?¡± Tommy asked, both he and Clint looked at Ren curiously now. ¡°Ah, not much I think, tailoring, smithing, mining, alchemy, enchanting, repairing¡­ that¡¯s all I¡¯ve tried so far, I¡¯ve only gotten smithing, mining and repair upto intermediate rank as well as a few sub skills, I think they are the ones I¡¯ll use the most when taking on work for other players. I want to learn everything.¡± He grins. Clint let out an impressed whistle. ¡°To reach intermediate already in a craft though is impressive, you¡¯re probably the first one to do it, from what I¡¯ve heard not many have taken up the crafting professions and instead go for the classes that will get them out and adventuring, killin monsters and such. Ren just smiled. ¡°Crafting stuff is fun, I normally would get tired just from trying to lift a hammer let alone make a sword or shield with it aside from that with enchanting and repair I¡¯ll be useful to have in a party when dungeon crawling as well so I¡¯ll still get to go on adventures I figure, I wanted to learn cooking as well before the expedition started but I only had time to learn enchanting.¡± ¡°Nice, I hear foods made by someone with the cooking skill gives temporary boosts and that some higher tier foods can even give permanent stat increases. If you make anything like that you gotta send me a message man, I¡¯ll pay whatever you want for it.¡± Tommy grinned. Ren grinned back at him. ¡°Sure! Though it¡¯ll probably be a long time before I can make something like that, I¡¯d need the skill to be high enough as well as getting my hands on ingredients to.¡± ¡°No worries! I¡¯ll become your supplier once I hit the higher levels.¡± Tommy grinned again. Ren smiled. ¡°Thanks! Once I get a steady income from my current skills I¡¯ll be buying a lot of materials and ingredients that I can¡¯t get on my own.¡± ¡°That¡¯s settled then, lets add each other to the friends list, if I come across anything rare I¡¯ll let you know.¡± A window appeared before Ren at Tommy¡¯s words.
Friend Request! Tommy wants to be your friend Accept? Y/N
Ren grinned. ¡°Yes!¡± He smiled at Tommy broadly. ¡°You''re my second contact now!" Clint beside him chuckled. ¡°Oh? I was your first then?" ¡°Yup¡± Ren nodded excitedly causing the two to chuckle. A sudden cry from a nearby cave that split from the main one caught everyone¡¯s attention, as the last of the soldiers were about to pass it a small group of short green skinned monsters came charging out and jumped onto the backs of the soldiers from behind, some wield clubs while others had small makeshift spears and daggers. ¡°Goblins!¡± One of the soldiers cried out getting the attention of those nearby who turned and ripped the goblins from the backs of those they had jumped on, tossing them onto the ground or into the cave wall. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Damn! Guess one of the teams missed this cave or they let them slip past during a fight.¡± Clint raised his arms and began firing the small bolts from his dual cross bow bracers, the goblins were wearing only tattered cloth with no defence value and became pin cushions quickly under Clint¡¯s volley of shots. Tommy also equipped his bow and was firing arrows at the small green men as quickly as he could, aiming more for head shots and instant kills while Clint simply fired more haphazardly to overwhelm them with the combined damage of his quick shots. Both Clint and Tommy had stepped in front of Ren to shield him from any attention, this gave him mixed feelings, he was glad they would protect him but at the same time he was upset that he could not fight with them. The rest of Ren¡¯s team had also leapt into action, charging at the small horde of goblins that poured from the side cave as about twenty of the soldiers that were at the back of the line formed up into two rows of ten, bringing their shields up to form a wall which the goblins pathetically smacked at with their crude weapons and the moment they paused the shields dropped to let the soldiers strike them through with their weapons. A cry from one of Ren¡¯s team members drew Clint and Tommy¡¯s attention, one of the mages was being surrounded. ¡°Shit, I can¡¯t get a clear shot from here, I¡¯m going closer.¡± Tommy dashed forward into the mayhem while Clint stayed back to guard Ren still. ¡°You can go help as well Clint, I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Ren smiled to Clint who just shook his head. ¡°No can do, I think you underestimate your value here chief, if you die we may as well pack up and head back, two days without repairs to our gear, a lot of it would break by then leaving us sitting ducks.¡± Clint booted a goblin that got to close sending it tumbling back before it was filled with bolts. It wasn¡¯t long before the goblins were killed and everyone started to relax. ¡°That was too many to have been missed by one of the other teams, guess we must have passed them as they explored other connecting caves.¡± Clint looked to one of the soldiers. ¡°Relay that to the captain, any caves we pass now have not been scouted and may hide ambushes.¡± The soldier nodded and raced off to the front of the line to give a report to the captain who was already making his way to see what was going on at the back. The two healers in Ren¡¯s group went about healing the soldiers while the rest of his team sifted through the drops from the goblins, tossing any junk items into a pile for Ren to collect while keeping anything they deemed of value, a few brought some minor magic trinkets to Ren for him to identify, at most they added a few points to various stats which Ren already had the runes for so he didn¡¯t bother using ¡®read rune¡¯ on them. He didn¡¯t have time to sort the junk drops though and just piled it into his inventory, thankfully with his larger capacity from being a crafting class his inventory wasn¡¯t even half full yet, though he figured at some point he would probably have to start dropping some things. As they marched on they had a few more ambushes from the adjoining caves but the soldiers were prepared this time and drove them off easily, they soon reached a wider stretch of cave and decided to setup camp once more, with the ambushes the soldiers were getting tired more quickly and needed to time recover from the minor injuries. Ren approached the captain to inquire about something he noticed. ¡°Captain can I ask something?¡± Ren looked up at the heavily armoured man curiosuely. The captain looked down at him with a stern gaze but slowly it softened. ¡°You¡¯ve been a help with your repairs and enchantments, I¡¯ve no doubt they¡¯ve saved a few of my men¡¯s lives already, I can see what Eric was talking about now, what would you like to know?¡± ¡°Well, during one of the fights I noticed one of your men lost his weapon, rather it was knocked from his hand a fair distance away, do they not carry an extra weapon of some type for such moments?¡± ¡°Mmph¡­ I can see you point but it¡¯s hard enough for most of them to move with their current gear as is, having them carry another sword or spear would only hinder them more.¡± ¡°Umm¡­ well I was thinking, I¡¯ve picked up a lot of daggers from the goblins and such, if I fix them up and enchant them I thought I might be able to hand them out to the soldiers as a kind of back up weapon, it¡¯s only a dagger so it can probably just slip inside their boots or bracers.¡± The captain seemed to think for a moment before nodding. ¡°Alright, sounds like a good idea, let me know when you¡¯ve got them ready and I¡¯ll have someone distribute them around to the men.¡± Ren smiled and nodded before running off, this would help lighten his growing load a little. In the end it turned out that not just the soldiers took the daggers but also the players thought it was a good idea as well, some though Ren guessed would simply sell the dagger later but he was happy enough to hand them out and take the other junk loot they brought in off their hands. This time at the camp Ren didn¡¯t have time to fix up and inspect the junk drops he¡¯d collected up as nearly all the soldiers equipment required repair now from the ambushes they¡¯d sustained that day, once the soldiers and players gear was in top shape (he¡¯d noticed that no one brought Tristan¡¯s equipment over this time) he settled down to start experimenting with enchanting glyphs. He took out a rusty dagger and repaired it before then enchanting it with two fire runes, his guess was that it would combine the effects into a stronger fire damage. ¡°Identify.¡±
Old Dagger This old dagger was once in the possession of a goblin until now A minor glyph has been placed on this dagger by an unknown enchanter Attack 3-7 Fire Damage 5-8
Ren let out a whoop of glee at the sight. ¡°Yes!¡± Clint who was curiously watching over his shoulder let out a small impressed whistle. ¡°That¡¯s a nice enchantment, bit more than double the one you gave me before isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Ren nodded excitedly. ¡°Once I reached beginner level 5 it said I could make glyphs with two runes, so I guess using two of the same rune in a glyph means double the effect, pass me your cross bows and I¡¯ll upgrade them for you.¡± Ren grinned up at Clint who was more than happy to hand them over for the offered upgrade. ¡°Same elements as before?¡± Clint nodded and Ren went to work, using ¡®absorb rune¡¯ to remove the runes he¡¯d already placed on the bow bracers and then enchanted them once more with the new glyphs and handed them back. Clint strapped them back on with a grin. ¡°Very nice, their damage is getting closer to matching my level now.¡± Ren grinned up at him then blinked as a cough drew his attention, before him lined up was the rest of his team holding their weapons ready to hand over to him with a grin on each of their faces. Clint chuckled and patted Ren¡¯s shoulder before backing off to let him work. With the increased mana required to make the glyphs Ren was only just able to get his teams gear enchanted before it was time to get some rest, using absorb rune had helped since it replenished some of his mana when used on an enchantment. Other teams had seem him doing the upgrades and tried to get him to upgrade theirs as well but in the end they had to wait till the next day. As he lay down to sleep Ren took out the small crown like ring and tried to ID it once more now that his skill had gone up but once again it failed. ¡°Guess I probably need to reach intermediate to ID it..¡± He put the ring away and rolled onto his side, pulling his blanket over himself and closed his eyes. The next day Talon and his team had decided to stay with the soldiers, or more specifically with Ren, since his new enchantments took more mana he needed more time to regain it to enchant the next item so Talon and his team had voted to stay with the group and get their gear upgraded with stronger enchantments as they walked. Ren didn¡¯t mind really, it gave him something to do as they followed along behind the soldiers. Talon and his team were the friendliest out of the other teams so far to Ren so it only took the asking to learn about what they¡¯d encountered so far now. It sounded like most the caves simply led to dead ends, the monsters as Ren was already aware had changed from giant spiders and bats to goblins now, Talon had come across a couple of small goblin camps at the end of some of the caves and dealt with them accordingly, what was the most interesting Talon thought was that some of the dead ends came to an end at what seemed to be a bottomless crevasse that seemed to run though the underground alongside the caves they travelled, he¡¯d even dropped a lit torch down but it simply vanished without a sound into the deep. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t want to fall down there then¡­¡± Ren gulped and Talon nodded in agreement and once Talon and his team¡¯s equipment was all repaired and enchanted with Ren¡¯s new glyphs they thanked him and headed off into one of the caves that split off from the main again. As they continued on Ren began having a few of the soldiers hang back at a time to enchant their equipment as well with the new glyphs as the travelled, thankfully the captain didn¡¯t mind to much as long as it was only a few soldiers at a time that were out of marching order, that and he¡¯d gotten his equipment enchanted first which caused him to receive glares from the soldiers leading him to let them get their gear enchanted as well as they marched. A few hours later the cave began to get wider and higher and soon they were emerging out onto a plateau of some kind that overlooked the giant chasm that Talon must have been talking about, it must have stretched out before them at least two hundred meters across to the other side and before them was a single path across, a wide stone bridge that stretched across the breach, gods only knew how it was built there, a crisscross of arches under the bridge held it up and for the most part it looked sturdy. ¡°Men I¡¯m not taking chances with this thing, split up into groups of five once one lot is across the next can proceed.¡± The captain called out to the soldiers who seemed relived at the cautionary actions he was taking. Ren also thought that was a good idea. Already on the other side of the chasm was Sera (The mistress of dance) and her team, seems they had the role of advance scouts this time while the others explored the side caves, it was hard to tell but from a distance they seemed to wave and call out faintly that it was safe to cross. ¡°Once were across we¡¯ll setup camp and wait for the other teams to catch up, this is the first man made structure we¡¯ve come across down here and I suspect there will be more waiting further in and that means we need to be more careful.¡± The captain stood at the edge of the bridge and waved the first group to cross. Understandably the soldiers crossing first were rather nervous but once they found the bridge to be stable they made a quick march across to join the team waiting on the other side, each group of five was taking an equal share of the supplies across with them as well just in case. ¡°Big ass bridge in the middle of an even bigger ass canyon deep underground, thing just cries out ¡®event¡¯ don¡¯t it.¡± Tommy stood at the edge of the seemingly bottomless crevice and unceremoniously spat over the edge, watching the glob of spit fall down and vanish into the dark. ¡°You¡¯ll jinx it Tommy.¡± Clint commented as he also was gazing over the edge into the great black beyond. It was a slow but gradual progress as the soldiers crossed in their small groups, the last ones making it across leaving only the captain and Ren and his team. ¡°Ok you lot, who¡¯s going first?¡± The captain asked when suddenly a roar echoed from cave which they¡¯d come from. The scuffle of boots hitting the ground as well as cries and yells followed the roar, Ren¡¯s team drew their weapons ready to face whatever was coming. ¡°What did I tell you?¡± Tommy called out. From the cave burst out two of the other teams they didn¡¯t stop as the captain called out and just dashed across the bridge in a hurry, yelling at Ren¡¯s team to run. ¡°That can¡¯t be good.¡± Clint commented. The next to burst from the shadows was Tristan, his team was know where to be seen though, behind him instead lumbered a massive obese ogre wielding a massive wooden club the size of a small tree. ¡°Ok time to run!¡± Tommy instantly began to follow the other two teams as they ran across the bridge, followed quickly by the captain and the rest of Ren¡¯s team. Though Ren had raised his stats quiet well for his level he was still lacking when compared to the others, their speed letting them break away from him with a sizable gap that only increased as they ran. By the time Ren was half way across the bridge both Tristan and the ogre thundered up behind him, the others were already across and preparing to retaliate under the captains commands. The bridge shook with each heavy step the ogre made, cracks were appearing along the stone paving and bit by bit small pieces began to dislodge and fall down into the deep black that waited below. ¡°Leg it Ren! The bridge is gonna fall!¡± Tommy called out. ¡°Oof!¡± Something barged into Ren¡¯s side causing him to trip and tumble along the ground, only briefly did he spot Tristan with a smirk on his lips as he passed by. He tried to scramble up onto his feet but was met with a firm kick from the ogre¡¯s foot sending him sprawling forward onto his back. The hit had taken nearly all his HP in one go and he was stunned to boot, all he could do was look up and watch as the ogre lifted its giant club ready to give the final blow. The bridge let out a loud cracking sound as the stones gave way completely, falling out from under both Ren and the ogre, the ogre letting out a loud roar of frustration and rage as it fell down into the unknown depths followed by Ren who could only close his eyes and pray that Tristan would get what he deserved for causing this.
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Chapter 015 Chapter 015 Interlude Ren yawned and rubbed his eyes as he sat up slowly in his bed, sunlight trickled in through the gap in the curtains of the hospital room he called home, His room wasn¡¯t really what you¡¯d call a typical hospital room as he was situated in the permanent care wing. The walls were still that boring hospital white but he had a few luxuries that a normal hospital room would never have starting with that the room was his alone. Needless to say, having a private live in room at a top hospital was very costly but due to some luck on his part and a good lawyer, after his rescue from the hell he once called home all his parents assets and funds were seized, being as they were ones that made several of the new drugs available they had rather large holdings many of which the police were still trying to track down and seize. Sometime after his parents sentencing thanks to a lawyer that wanted to see Ren looked after once they heard about his case he was awarded a sizable percentage of their assets and funds as compensation, while he didn¡¯t really like the idea of using the money his parents had earned the way they did he knew well enough that he had no future without it. And so here he was now, his own room in one of the top hospitals in the country, for the most part it looked almost like a normal bedroom, he had a normal soft bed not one of those crappy steel tables with a sheet over it like some places have, a flat screen TV hung on the wall across from the bed so he could watch it while laying down, he had a simple desk and computer sitting on it, and of course beside his bed sitting neatly on his bedside dresser was his to this date most prized possession, the 1 of 5 only in the world limited edition FLOW helmet. He gave the helmet a light pat before he head to the bathroom to take care of business, once he was back there was one of the nurses waiting with breakfast. ¡°Morning Ren, did you sleep well?¡± She smiled to him brightly. ¡°Yup! How¡¯s your morning been Lucy?¡± Ren smiled back and took a seat to start on his breakfast. The nurse Lucy took a seat beside him. ¡°Mmm, not too bad, I¡¯m on the day shift today luckily so I get to play with you all day.¡± She grinned at him. Ren chuckled softly, as a part of his stay at the hospital he almost always had a nurse assigned solely to him at all time as the doctors were never certain when the ill effects of his condition might arise, while the female nurses tended to tease him a lot, the bond between them was more like a group of good looking older sisters fawning over their cute younger brother. ¡°Guess you¡¯ll be hopping back into that game again once you¡¯re done with the morning exercises?¡± She looked at him curiously. Ren glanced around to the helmet sitting on his bedside dresser then looked back to his food shaking his head. ¡°No, it won¡¯t let me back in till tomorrow due to various reasons, I thought it might be nice if I could go outside into the city a bit today¡­ if you¡¯re up for it?¡± Lucy let out a small excited squeal and hugged him. ¡°Of course! You know I love spending any time I can with my cute little Ren!¡± ¡°Oof.¡± Ren wriggled and flailed a little at the sudden hug, it was something he could never get used to, but he still enjoyed the attention, it made him feel like he had a true family at the hospital. ¡°Just don¡¯t go telling people I¡¯m your son this time.¡± ¡°Aww, but it was the only way to get rid of that sleaze ball that was hitting on me, humph! He had the nerve to call me damaged goods after that.¡± She hugged him tighter and ruffled his hair playfully. ¡°I only need my cute little Ren though.¡± Ren couldn¡¯t help but blush at her words, causing her to giggle and slip away. ¡°Ok, you finish your breakfast and get yourself ready, I¡¯ll go fill out the day leave form and inform the doctor.¡± She slipped out the door at that and headed down the hall to get things ready for the day out. After breakfast Ren got changed and hopped into his wheel chair, when he went out he had to always take the chair since he still couldn¡¯t be too active without incurring problems. Heading down the hall he was greeted by people that both worked and those that resided in the hospital like him, before taking the elevator down to the bottom level of the building he stopped at a small work station where the doctors and nurses would be when they weren''t looking after people. Lucy was at the desk filling out a form as Ren approached, she had already changed out of her work clothes and into her normal clothes which consisted of a pair of jeans and a short sleaved top, she noticed Ren coming and turned to face him with a smile. "All ready?" Ren nodded and she held out a clip board to him with a pen which he took and signed the day leave form, basically it was just a form that notified the hospital that he was spending some time outside. Lucy took the clipboard back and handed it over to the receptionist behind the counter. "Ok! lets goooo!" She ducked behind Ren and took control of his wheelchair, pushing him over to the elevators rather briskly. Ren was on the top floor so it would take a little while to reach the bottom of the 30 floor building. "So how are you finding that VR game so far?" Ren grinned. "It''s awesome! I''ve learned all kinds of things and I can do so much that I can''t in real life." She smiled and ruffled his hair lightly. "You know, I''ve heard some of the others saying that they are going to get the game so they can play with you now and then." "Really? That would be great! My character can''t fight though really, but I''ve learned neat things like blacksmithing and enchanting so I can make any equipment they might need." He grinned. "Oooh, I bet they would love to use the equipment that you make." The elevator gave a small ding as they arrived at the bottom floor and she pushed Ren out and down the hall to the entrance of the building. "Ah, don''t tell them I told you though, I think the others wanted it to be a surprise." She giggled softly as she wheeled Ren out of the building. Outside a taxi was already waiting for them, Ren hoped into the back seat as the taxi man helped Lucy fold up his chair and put it in the boot. "So where are we going?" Lucy slipped into the seat next to Ren and smiled to him. "Mmm, I was thinking the usual." He smiled back at her. Lucy nodded and turned to the driver that was waiting for destination from them. "Central plaza please." The man nodded and started the car up. "Sooo, have you been making any friends in the game yet?" Lucy looked to him curiously. "A few.. most of the people that I''ve gotten along with though are the npc''s that have been teaching me my trade skills. It''s amazing really, you wouldn''t think that they are just programs, as for other players well only two come to mind, they are a part of my team on a quest I''m doing at the moment, there''s Clint and Tommy, Tommy has a scout class and Clint has a rare dual cross bow class." "Dual cross bows?" Lucy tilted her head curiously. "Yeah, he uses small ones that are mounted on the back of his bracers, I think he''s really into cowboy stuff, he wears a cowboy hat and a coat like you see in the outback movies he would have gone for a pair of guns probably but I don''t think they exist in the game." "Sounds like an interesting guy, what about the other one?" "Tommy, mmm, I haven''t talked with him much yet but he''s funny." Lucy smiled and nodded. "Well if you feel your getting along with them then they must be a decent pair, you said they are on your team? Does that mean there are other teams?" Ren nodded and went on to explain the details of his current quest, even the cab driver seemed to listen intently to the story, though FLOW was still a relatively new game it held a strong appeal to people of all ages. Thankfully they arrived at the city central plaza before Ren got to telling Lucy about his current situation in the game, he knew she would turn into a completely rage monster if he told her about Tristan tripping him and causing him to fall, though he guessed Tristan probably was hoping more that he''d be squashed by the ogre rather than falling into a seemingly bottomless pit. Once his chair was ready for him he stepped out of the cab and settled down into it as Lucy paid the cab driver, he got a few glances from people, most of which he was sure were likely wondering why he was using a wheelchair when they just saw him step out of the cab with no troubles. Lucy came back around to stand behind Ren and take control of his wheelchair as the cab drove off. "So, shall we take the usual route?" "Yup!" Ren grinned and they began their trek along the line of shops and stalls. The plaza was something like an open air shopping centre, rows of stores lined each side of a large paved path way, which was also covered with a string of temporary stalls like you''d find at a market, various goods were up on display at the stalls, from homemade jams and blankets to fresh cooked foods and antique knick knacks. The shops that lined the edges of the plaza were your normal stores, from clothing to electrical and of course your chain food restaurants. They spent the next few hours wandering along the rows of shops and stalls, browsing over the wares that were on display. "So how do you think i''d look wearing that?" Lucy grinned at Ren as she pointed to a dummy in the store window, on it was a set of sexy black lace underwear. "How should I know!" Ren blushed furiously and began to wheel himself onwards only to be chased down and hugged by Lucy who ruffled his hair playfully. "Hehe, so easy to tease." She grinned and moved back behind him to continue wheeling him along the store fronts. "You need to get out more often Ren, maybe you''ll find yourself a cute girlfriend." Ren rolled his eyes. "Not likely, people judge on first glance, and at first glance I''m just some little kid or cute toy to be dragged around as some sort of mascot.." "Hmmm, already met some people in that game did you?" She leaned over his shoulder to look at him with a grin. "...I.. sort of.. I guess... a group of girls wanted me to join their party one time, but even after telling them I couldn''t fight they still wanted to drag me off with them, I could tell all they wanted though was to have the cute kid on their team as their mascot to fawn over." He frowned. "I get tired of it at times...and there was this other woman as well.. she seemed... perverted..." He shook his head to get the memory of the buxom assistant woman he''d met when he first entered the game... now that he thought about she seemed similar to the women that appeared when those girls grouped up on him to..."Couldn''t be..." He muttered under his breath. His thoughts were interrupted by a light gurgling from his stomach. "... time for lunch?" He looked back to Lucy who giggled at hearing the sound come from him and nodded in agreement before heading to one of the nearby food stalls, this one seemed to sell hot jacket potatoes with your choice of toppings, Ren got a Mexican bean fry on his while Lucy got chicken with sour cream and sweet chilli. "So what''s your impressions of the game so far?" Lucy looked to Ren curiously. "It''s amazing! It''s so realistic it really feels like your there, I mean if you look close enough you can tell that it all highly advanced computer graphics, but the fact that your actually there in a body that can completely interact with the world in every way possible makes it so easy to overlook, when your staring at a wolf that''s panting and looking at you like your its next meal, it''s hard to think that its ''not real'' when you can feel the heat of its breath on your neck, when I encountered one it scared me and I ran, I can''t use weapons so that''s partly the reason I ran but I could probably use my hands and feet to fight.. it just scared me too much.... ogres are even scarier..." His words trailed off quietly at the end. "Wow, sounds pretty neat, maybe I check it out sometime and go adventuring with you hmm? I''ll help keep all those drooling girls off your back." Lucy grinned. "Nothing wrong with being scared, but if you don''t fight doesn''t that kinda limit you from enjoying a lot of the game?" "So far it hasn''t, I''ve been training my crafting skills really hard and I think soon I''ll become a really valuable support companion, I can repair equipment and I''ve started learning enchanting as well so I can add permanent effects to equipment, like making swords do fire damage to enemies, When I get back to the city I''m going to go and find an npc to teach me woodworking next, I made a promise to make Clint a better set of bracer bows, eventually I gonna make a legendary weapon that a true hero will use!" He grinned broadly to Lucy. Lucy grinned back at him. "Well you better make sure he''s worthy of it before you hand it over." Ren nodded. "Yup!" This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Lucy''s expression then turned to one of slight disgust as she could see from behind Ren approached a man that looked at her with an obviously lecherous gaze, Ren was confused by her expression to start with until the man moved around past him to rest one hand on the table and lean over to looks at Lucy, seeming to completely ignore Ren. "Hey babe, you look like you''re bored sitting here babysitting your little bro, why not ditch the wheels and come catch a movie with me?" Lucy smiled up at the man. "You obviously haven''t been watching me long then have you, did I really look bored when I was talking, laughing and smiling? Aside from that what makes you think he''s my little brother? Could be my son or even my boyfriend for all you know." Ren coughed and spluttered on his soda at the last comment which Lucy just grinned at. "Now, you''ve been rather rude and interrupted my day with my darling, you''re not going to get anything from me so you may as well just turn and walk away now." She held up a hand as he was about to say something. "And before you try to push your luck, if you start trying to come on to me any further I''m going to scream at the top of my lungs for the police and I''ll have you done for harassment." The man almost seemed to growl now and turned to leave with a ''Tsk'' "You''ve got it hard.." Ren commented as Lucy let out a sigh and slumped back into her seat. "That''s one of easy ones to get rid of, some are a lot more persistent even after I give them that lecture. But you get the same kind of things happening to you know?" She grinned at Ren. "Uh... kind of.. I guess... but I think it''s more dangerous for you...at most all that happens to me is I get hugged and doted on." Lucy stood up and moved around to take control of the wheel chair. "Aww, you''re a sweetie, thanks for worrying about me." She ruffled his hair lightly before starting off once more on their trek around the plaza. Soon enough the day wore on and Ren let out a light yawn causing Lucy grin. "Guess that''s the bell hmm?" She wheeled Ren back to the road side where a row of taxies waited for customers and got into the first one in the line to headed back to the hospital. The trip back was a quiet one, Ren half dozed off as he recalled the last moments in Flow before he was forced out. Ren was plummeting into the depths of a dark void, a roaring ogre not far from him as his only companion on their way down, thankfully since the ogre was a lot heavier than Ren it was gradually distancing itself from Ren. Even though it was a game Ren''s heart was pounding as he fell to what would certainly be his death, it didn''t take long before the small amount of light that came from the cavern he fell from was no longer reaching him, leaving Ren in complete darkness, the sound of his heart and the wind rushing past as he fell was all he could hear, that and the ogre that was still speeding along ahead of him. Surprisingly Ren didn''t shout or cry out as he fell, it was more like he was holding his breath and waiting for the inevitable end to come, but it seemed that would not be anytime soon still, the crevasse slowly started to become visible once more as a soft green glow seemed to emanate from the walls, getting brighter the further down he fell. "Dammit! I don''t want to die here!" He had an idea but it wasn''t going to end well one way or the other, he tried to imitate skydivers he''d seen on TV and pointed himself downwards in an attempt to make his fall faster, he sped towards the ogre that was already out of view but its roars could still be heard. "I''m dead anyway so may as well try." He didn''t realize it but a slight grin had crossed his lips at what he was going to attempt. Soon the roaring ogre came into view, it seemed it was starting to run out of breath from all its roaring, Ren shot down at it like an arrow crashing into its oversized stomach and grabbing onto the folds of skin that wriggled and jiggled like a bowl of jelly, thankfully the ogre didn''t seem to notice its passenger. Ren had to take brief breaths of air to keep himself from passing out from the stink that came from the ogre, its skin felt slimy and sweaty, it was truly disgusting but he was determined to try and use the giant mass as a cushion for his fall. He couldn''t see past the flapping masses of skin before him so he had no idea if the ground was approaching or not, all he could do was cling to his makeshift life raft and hold his breath, every so often he had to use iron grip to stop from slipping from the ogre as they plummeted towards the ground. Seconds, minutes, maybe hours he had lost all sense of time as he clung desperately and soon it was brought to an end with a loud thud, crunch and splatter as the ogre hit solid ground, likely dying instantly on impact and Ren''s world turned dark on him, a single message popped up before him in the dark.
You have fallen unconscious due to a heavy impact Time of unconsciousness remaining 23 Hours 59 Minutes 56 Seconds While unconscious your body will remain in game and be vulnerable to attack
The state of unconsciousness had Ren laying or rather floating in an empty space of darkness, there were no sounds, no wind, no smells, nothing at all, he could move his body in this space but he doubt he would actually move anywhere by flailing about like a fish so he resigned himself to logging out. That had happened yesterday and he was now only a couple hours away from his body being allowed to awaken in game, he had no idea what was going to be awaiting him in the depths of that canyon like pit he was now at the bottom of. As the taxi approached the hospital Ren felt his drowsiness leaving him as he was now starting to get anxious about his condition in game and was eager to get back to the others and give an earful to Tristan. "I wonder what happened up there after I fell..." ******* Tristan made a leap as the bridge crumbled under him and just managed to scrabble onto the last piece of solid ground on the other side of the crevice and flopped onto his back, panting and gasping for air, but a huge grin was plastered on his face only to have it vanish quickly as a boot came crashing down at his head. He quickly rolled to the side and jumped up shouting. "What the hell! What do you think you''re doing!?" Clint growled and stormed over to Tristan grabbing him by the neck. "You tell me! What the fuck was that! You tripped him on purpose!" "Ha! As if I needed to, he wouldn''t have made it across anyway, way to slow." Tristan smirked but then let out a grunt as Clint''s fist connected with his face. "What the fuck! Let go of me you shitty cowboy wannabe, don''t you have any idea who I am!?" He face swiftly met another fist. "You think I give shit!? I should kick your ass off the side of this cliff, see how you like it eh!?" Clint roughly pushed Tristan to the edge of the crevice ready to kick him off the edge Sparta style before a voice yelled over them. "ENOUGH!!" The captain of the soldiers had strode forth and faced Clint and Tristan. "Both of you stand down!" Clint growled. "What! You want to take this shits side?!" "I''m not taking anyone''s side, now stand down or I''ll have my men detain you." Clint growled again and let go of Tristan who was smirking at him now, before stepping back though he flung one more punch to his face wiping the smirk from it. "Did you see that captain! He attacked me like some thuggish brute!" It was the captains turn to growl this time. "Yes, and I''d be doing the same if you''d done to one of my men what you did to that boy, men! shackle him. Tristan you will be taken back to the city and be tried for treason, you knowingly disrupted another persons attempt to flee causing them to fall to their death, not only that, your actions have removed a key personal required for this excursion, that boy was the only one capable of maintaining our equipment, now we have no choice but to return to the city." "What! that runt is worthless, just let me take the lead and I''ll complete this mission single han.." Tristan''s words were cut off as the captain slapped Tristan firmly with his armoured hand. "FOOL! No man is an army onto themselves, your arrogance and stupidity has cost us not only time and money but the safety of our kingdom, if the threat below isn''t dealt with soon it will be to powerful for even the entire kingdoms army." Tristan knew he was digging his own grave now but he sure as hell wasn''t going to apologise for tripping the little shit that wouldn''t repair his armour, he wouldn''t have needed it repaired in the first place if the kid had just handed over the skill book at the smiths. "It''s all that little shits fault." he growled under his breath. Before Tristan multiple windows had popped up, most were fame decreases, it was now heading into the deep negatives and several other messages arrived due to his fallen fame.
Notice! Due to fallen fame many of your class skills are now locked until you correct your fame rating
Notice! Due to your actions you have failed the expeditions requirements and can no longer participate in the expedition
Notice! Due to your fallen fame a onetime offer to change your class is being made!
Class Change! A class morph is available to you! Heroic Prince -> Dark Prince Dark Prince This class is only unlocked by the Heroic Prince falling from grace, all skills related to the Heroic Prince class will be lost and a new skill set will replace them Accepting this class will teleport you to a special event Do you wish to change your class? Y/N
A dark grin crossed Tristan''s lips. and he muttered softly "Yes..." A dark mist enveloped Tristan causing everyone to let out a gasp and step back from him, the mist covered him completely as he let out a laugh, the mist circled and spiralled into its centre and vanished along with Tristan. ******* Ren was now laying on his bed, slipping the Flow VR Helmet over his head and settling down to get comfortable, it was going to be a long trip. "Login." He appeared back in the black space of unconsciousness, a small window appearing before him.
Time left to regain consciousness 10 Minutes
Chapter 016 Chapter 016 An Abrupt End As the last 20 seconds on his timer started to count down Ren could feel his mind pulled back into his game body from the black void he was floating in, he could feel the weight of his body and the ground under him, his eyes cracked open, his vision was blurry but slowly came into focus as each second ticked down and as the last second passed the countdown window vanished. Slowly he sat up, blinking and looking around at his surroundings but before he could take it all in several notices appeared before him.
Notice! You have fallen from a great height, your body is crippled for the next 5 in game days unless healed earlier Movement and attack speed reduced by 30% Stamina and hunger reduces 20% faster Health regenerates 20% slower
Notice! New skill and title unlocked!
New Title! Lemming! You fall with the best of them! 5% damage resistance to falls
New Skill! Fall Resistance Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive) Reduces fall damage by 5% Reduces chance of being crippled from falls by 5%
Stat Gain! For surviving such an epic fall your endurance as increased! +10 Endurance
He was expecting something along the lines of what he''d received and felt that in the end the fall was almost worth it to get those extra skills that would help keep him alive longer in future. The stat gain was a very welcome extra too. With the windows cleared he could get a look around where he was now, just a few meters from him a small river seemed to run along the centre of the ravine he was now at the bottom of, the walls gave of a light green glow which allowed him to see, though it was still quite dark. Peering over the edge of the river he could see small luminescent fish darting about in the shallow waters, they looked like the kinds of things you''d see on a deep sea documentary, it was really quiet pretty. Testing the water he found it was fresh so at least he wouldn''t die of dehydration and he could probably catch the fish for food. Standing up he headed over to the wall of the ravine and examined the glowing substance using identify on it.
Glow Moss A simple moss found in deep caverns where moisture is abundant It gives off a soft luminescent glow
Curiously Ren scratched some of the moss off the wall, it retained its glow well enough and so he took out a spare potion bottle and stuffed it full of the moss to create a small glow bottle, tying a string around it he hung it around his neck and then filled two more to hang from each side of his belt at his waist and finally two more which he put into his inventory, he tried to apply some of the moss to his shield as well but he couldn''t find a way to make it stick to it. He wasn''t sure how much light the glow bottles would give if he moved into a darker area but any light was better than no light. Other than the fish in the small river there didn''t seem to be any other signs of life in the immediate area, he wasn''t sure if that was a good or bad thing though. Looking up the ravine wall he could see up about 5 or 6 meters thanks to the glow moss on the walls but beyond that it became too dark and the moss didn''t give off enough light to reach him, he knew he had no hope of being able to climb his way back up. Moving back to the river he filled his water flask and drank his fill then ate a piece of the dried meat he''d brought with him, he didn''t have a lot though as meals on the trip were provided by the cooks that came with them on the expedition, but he needed to keep his hunger full to keep his body healing. Next he opened up his friend list and tried to send a message to Clint to let him know he was alive.
Notice! Your location prevents the sending of messages
Ren let out a groan, seems he was completely cut off from the others in every way. "Nothing to do but start walking in a direction I guess..." He looked up along the two directions he had to pick from then looked at the small river. He could see the way the river flowed and decided to follow it up stream thinking it should lead him upwards at least a little. His pace was slow to say the least, with the effects of being crippled he had to take frequent breaks to let his stamina return before it started eating into his health which he wanted to keep at its maximum in case anything happened. It seemed though that even just walking in his current state was giving his body the effect of ''training'' as now and then he would get the occasional stat point gain as he pushed onwards. "Not exactly the best way to raise stats but I''ll take whatever I can get right now." Time trudged on slowly as he followed the river, he tried his hand at catching some of the luminescent fish but with his reduced speed they were just too fast so he had to continue to eat his quickly dwindling supply of dried meat. With nothing better to do as he walked Ren set about pulling out items that he had not yet identified and proceeded to identify them and then repair and enchant the equipment pieces, his repair skill was already at intermediate so fixing up such low grade pieces of equipment didn''t even give 1% towards his skill, but once he got out a fully repaired item would still sell better than something half broken and if nothing else by enchanting the items he could later use absorb enchantment to restore some of his mana in a pinch. After several hours of walking he pulled out once more that small crown looking ring and looked it over slowly. "Well, this give this one more try shall we, Identify."
Crown Of The Beetle King This crown once adorned the head of the king of beetles, however the king was killed and the throne stolen by the kings brother, the only witness, the kings son had his soul imprisoned within this crown. Wearing the crown allows the barer to communicate with the soul imprisoned within An astral projection of the beetle prince may be summoned from the crown, this projection can only be seen by the one wearing the crown as it has no physical form
Ren stared at the popup with a dumbfounded expression, he hadn''t been expecting much since it was from a beetle after all, and even though it didn''t really seem to be something that useful it was still a very unique item. Curiously Ren slipped the crown on his finger like a ring and tapped it a few time. "Umm... hello?" "Ah!..uh..h..hello?" A small voice stuttered back within Ren''s mind. "Oh.. you can speak into my mind from the ring? That''s a strange feeling..." "You don''t sound like my uncle, who are you? How''d you get the crown?" "Erm.... I kind of... stepped on him, it was an accident though!" "H..he''s dead?" "Yeah." Ren nodded. "Really?" The voice was sounding almost hopeful. "Yeah... I was just walking along and he kinda... scuttled straight under my boot." "YIIPPPPEEEEEEEE!" Ren was stunned by the sudden outburst. "Wha?" "Thank you so much for avenging my father! Please, wont you summon me from the crown so we can speak face to face?" "Err.. sure... how do I do that?" "Just say, Summon Teepo." Ren quirked a brow at the name of the beetle but said nothing about it. "Ok, Summon Teepo!" The ring glowed for a moment and a small ball of light separated from it and floated down to the ground, once it touched the ground it seemed to expand in size until it popped leaving a small almost blue ghost like image of a beetle staring up at him curiously. Ren sat down on the ground before it and smiled. "I''m Ren by the way." Teepo seemed to scuttle a little from side to side in some kind of show of excitement. "Nice to meet you Ren, I''m Teepo though you know that already now." "So...umm..." Ren scratched his head idly. "Is there some way to release you from the ring... err crown? " Teepo let out a small surprised chitter. "Y.. You would release me?" "Of course, I hate the idea of imprisoning someone... I know what it''s like to a degree..." Memories of when he''d first arrived at the hospital briefly flowed through his mind, of how he had spent months bed ridden, unable to move, or rather he was strapped down as the doctors had to keep him restrained so he didn''t hurt himself as his body went through rather violent withdrawals from the drugs he never wanted in the first place. "Thank you so much... but... my body is long gone, only my soul remains within the crown, I don''t know what would happen if I was released from it, would I goto the big beetle kingdom in the sky? or would my soul simply vanish... for now... I''m scared about what will happen.. your an adventurer though right? I''ll come with you! I''ll be useful I promise!" Ren blinked at the little beetles proclamation and gave a big smile. "Sure if that''s what you want." Teepo nodded several times eagerly. "So what kinds of things can you do then?" Ren asked curiously. Teepo went quiet for a moment now as he thought. "Umm.... not much actually... only the person wearing the crown can see me so I bet I could scout ahead for you in dangerous areas!" Ren nodded, that alone could be a rather useful aid, especially in his current surroundings. "Ok, do you think you can start scouting ahead of me up the river? If you come across any monsters or people or something interesting come back and tell me right away." Teepo seemed to give almost a small salute with one of his legs. "Yes master!" He turned and scuttled off into the distance rather fast before Ren could even ask about why he just called him master. To Ren''s surprise it didn''t seem to matter how far away Teepo got he was able to still speak with Ren via the ring, after questioning him Ren learned that even Teepo wasn''t sure how exactly the soul binding and astral projection worked but he said that even though his projection was off in the distance he was still aware of what was happening around Ren. Ren had lost his sense of time while down in that dark crevice but he guessed several hours must have passed at least before Teepo called out. "Master something is coming this way.... it doesn''t look friendly." His breath caught for a moment in apprehension, this is what he was hoping would not happen but it was no surprise considering where he was, he called Teepo back and looked around for somewhere to hide, he thought about ducking into the river but he had no idea what was coming and wanted to be able to move as best he could, especially with his current cripple effect. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Teepo scuttled into view in a couple minutes and crawled his way up onto Ren''s shoulder. "It''s almost here master." Looking around quickly Ren had little choice but to pick an area of wall that was the least covered with the glow moss and try to hide himself in the shadows of a small alcove in the wall. Ren''s heart was pounding as he waited silently in his hiding spot, listening intently for the arrival of this unknown creature and gradually over the sound of the flowing river he could hear a strange scraping, its timing was that of footsteps as it slowly approached Ren''s location. With a gulp Ren held his breath as it came into sight under the soft light of the glow moss. The creature looked like a humanoid animal of some kind, the first thing Ren took note of was its long and sharp looking claws that looked like they could rip through solid iron armor with ease. Its short muzzle seemed to twitch and sniff the air for a moment, its head tilting left and right as it caught an unfamiliar scent and then its head turned directly to Ren causing him slap his hand over his mouth to stop from gasping in surprise. The creature though it had eyes they were a dull white, it was blind and looking above its head was its name.
Mole Man Level-??
Ren began to panic, it was a mole creature and used its sense of smell to guide it, and it had caught his scent. Looking to the river now Ren gulped and made a mad dash for it before the mole man got any closer, at his sudden movement though the mole man leapt at him slashing with his razor sharp claws, the tips just caching Ren in the back to make a set of three claw marks across his mid back, easily cutting through the cloth clothes he wore. A small set of red numbers floated past Ren''s vision indicating he''d lost health and almost all of it at that just from the light scratch, he jumped into the river not stopping to see where the mole man was and quickly swam to the other side. As he climbed out the other side of the small river he heard a splash behind him and turned around to see the mole man had jumped in after him but to his surprise it didn''t swim, or rather it seemed it couldn''t swim, its arms and legs flailed about helplessly as it tried to scramble back to the shore it fell from. Ren could only stare as he watched the mole man gradually wear itself out and then slowly sink to the bottom of the river and lifelessly drifted down stream. With the mole man dead Ren fell onto his back and let out a sigh of relief. "That was to close..." As he laid there he ate and drank to restore his health before finally sitting back up, Teepo was sitting beside him watching worriedly. "Master are you ok?" "Yeah, I''ll be fine I just need a few minutes to heal. By the way, why are you calling me master?" Ren looked to the little beetle curiously. "That''s what uncle had me call him all the time... and it feels right." He seemed to shrug . "You can just call me Ren if you want." Ren smiled down at the beetle before he stood up and stretched out. "We should keep going now though. Do you mind scouting ahead again for me?" Teepo nodded and quickly scuttled off into the distance once more with Ren following along behind at his slowed pace. As he travelled Teepo had alerted him to several more approaching mole men and each time he would slip into the river to hide, thankfully they seemed to only ever travel on the left bank of the river as well so Ren stuck to the right side. "M..Master!" Teepo''s voice sounded from the ring rather urgently. "What''s wrong Teepo?" "I''ve found more master! A lot more!" "Are they heading this way?" "No, I think it''s their village." "Damn..." Ren instinctively looked back down the river the way he had come from, considering heading back the way he came. He''d travelled to far to just turn around though he had to try and sneak past them. "Teepo, are there any of them hanging around the river?" "None too close to it, they seem to be gathered mostly in one spot." "Alright, I''m going to try and sneak past using the river, keep an eye out and let me know if any start heading towards it." Ren slipped into the river once more and began to make his way up stream towards the mole man village. It didn''t take long before the cliffs along the left side of the river began to move outward to open up into a large cavern area. The area looked like it was once occupied by something other than the mole men. Old stone buildings filled the area, most were half destroyed by the flow of time while others looked like they had been pulled apart by the mole men for some reason. Ren soon saw why as he continued to sneak along in the river, in what could only be called the centre of the old ruin was what looked like a crude temple the mole men had erected. Stones had been laid out to make a circular platform with pillars surrounding it and in the centre was what looked to be an alter of some kind. Mole men were seated all around the circle and seemed to be preying as another stood at the altar, this mole man held a staff in its clawed hands and wore some kind of bone jewellery, Ren had to guess it was a shaman of some kind.
Notice! You''ve discovered the source of the evil in the caves Mole men are trying to summon a great evil to use against the races that live above
Ren blinked at the notice and let out a small gasp. "Crap.. you mean the quest objective is right in front of me and I can''t do anything about it?" He knew he had no chance of being able to do anything here. Just a small scratch from one of the mole men had nearly killed him, he sure as heck wouldn''t survive a small army of them. The only thing he could do now was find a way back to the others and let them know about what he''d found. With all the mole men gathered around the alter Ren was able to slip past with ease, a few did pass by the river on their way down stream, possibly to look for the missing mole man that drowned or simply to search for food or the like. Ren was able to quickly duck under the water until they passed thankfully, though a few did pause in the area long enough to cause Ren to nearly run out of air. Once he was past the ruined village he had Teepo keep an eye on the village for any mole men that might leave and head in his direction. Once he felt he was far enough away he had Teepo return and start scouting ahead once again. It would have been not quite an hour when Ren finally came to the end of the river, or rather the source of it. With a sigh Ren thumped his fist lightly on the moist rock cliff that stood before him, looking down as he watched the water flow out from under it through a small underwater hole. ############## Clint stood at the edge of the ravine looking down into the dark depths, it had been nearly 2 full real life days now since Ren had fallen down and he''d heard nothing from him yet, he could only assume that the fall killed him and he was waiting to log back in. With the bridge collapsed the soldiers had setup a camp and were now carving out stone from the walls in an attempt to create a new bridge. The supply wagons that were brought with them had been stripped down to use the timber for construction and anything too small for use was used for fire. They couldn''t hope to rebuild the bridge that once stood there. At most they were hoping to create a pulley and tether across the two sections of ravine to then ferry the men across, one at a time if need be. Only the captain seemed to have an actual construction skill, he''d made mention that he was applying his ''siege craft'' knowledge to create the pulley. The main problem was that they needed someone on the other side to properly anchor the ropes. To that end they had built a rather crude catapult under the captains instruction, the plan being to hurl a sizeable rock across with a rope tied to it that was heavy enough to have someone shimmy across the rope to the other side. Turning around Clint paused as he spotted Tommy sitting on the rock that was loaded to be fired across the ravine. "Ready for takeoff captain!" A loud rumble caused everyone to suddenly stop what they were doing and look around for the source, moments after a notice window appeared before everyone. "What the..." ############## The sound of metal hitting rock echoed through the bottom of the ravine as Ren now hacked away at the cliff side that the river flowed from under with his pickaxe. Hoping that he might be able to break into another cavern beyond. He also hoped that the sound of his actions would not reach the mole man village. He had Teepo stay down river to warn him if any started to approach, and though Teepo had told him the sound was almost completely gone at the distance he was at, Ren had a feeling the mole men''s hearing was better than most to make up for their blindness. He had no idea if there even was another cavern beyond the wall. The water could just funnel down a series of cracks that joined up down below to flow into the river for all he knew. His digging in that case would be meaningless but he continued with his plan regardless, he wanted to at least try rather then turn around and head all the way back to where he''d landed and go the other way. Several hours passed as he slowly dug his tunnel, creating a small tunnel that followed the river as it flowed through its rock water pipe. He knew he''d have no chance of simply diving down and swimming through the small pipe like tunnel the water flowed from through the rock. His crippled stats had greatly slowed his progress as well, normally he would have been ten meters into the cliff instead he was only just reaching five meters in. He stopped for breaks when he needed to let his stamina recover and tried to keep his eating minimal, but it turned out unless he ate the whole piece of food it simply wouldn''t add much to his hunger bar. He kept to the lesser portions though as he needed what little food he had left to last as long as it could, and he was rewarded for it.
New Skill! for trying to survive on small rations of food you''ve unlocked a new skill Rationing Level 1 (Beginner 0%) (Passive) You''ve learned to survive on smaller portions of food Quarter and half portions of food will fill your hunger more than they used to Higher skill levels will increase the amount of hunger filled by smaller portions
A very handy skill, he would have to train it thoroughly later. His thoughts were interrupted though as Teepo spoke to him via the ring. "Master! A group of those things is coming!" Ren cursed under his breath, put his pickaxe away, and quickly made his way out of his tunnel to slip into the river to hide. It wasn''t to long before Teepo scuttled into view and came to a stop by the bank of the river where Ren bobbed in the water, and soon after his arrival the familiar scrape of the mole mans clawed feet could be heard approaching. Ren slid down into the water till only his nose was slight above the water to let him breath, eyes peering darkness he could see movement as the mole men came into view. It looked like the shaman himself had come for some reason along with several tough looking mole men, Ren could only silently watch as they approached the tunnel he''d dug out and sniffed around it, his smell was concentrated within the tunnel so it attracted them. Which at the same time kept Ren safe as he hid in the water. After smelling and feeling out the tunnel the shaman began to chant something, waving its staff and holding out its free hand as a ball of blue swirling energy gathered in its palm. The orb grew in size as it chanted and as the spell seemed to come to a close the orb ignited into flame which the shaman then shot into the tunnel, intent on killing Ren as they believed him to be within the tunnel due to the strong scent that came from within it. An explosion rumbled from the tunnel and flames leapt out from the entrance causing Ren to gulp, he defiantly wouldn''t have survived that if he''d been in there. The flames died down but the rumbling didn''t stop, watching the tunnel Ren could see the cliff face around the tunnel he''d dug begin to crack and crumble. The spell had caused his tunnel to become unstable, but the other thing was that the river water had suddenly picked up the strength of its flow. Ren watched in horror as the cracks trailed up the cliff from his tunnel, water began spurting from the cracks like a burst pipe, and Ren could only gulp while the mole men had already turned tail and fled the area. "Oh no...." Was all he could say as he watched a sizeable chunk of rock be shot from the cliff like a cannon by the water pressure straight towards him.