1-9
As Ash woke he found it hard to breath. Opening his eyes something soft brushed past his nose. Reaching his hand up to grab it a small, “Humu,” sound came from his waist. It was at that moment he noticed the naked girl clinging to him and the fact that her butt was in his face and her face was in an even more dangerous area.
Ash quickly pulled Yuki off him. “Ning Mastfer,” Yuki said sleepily as she rubbed her eyes.
“Where are your clothes?” Ash asked as he covered her with a sheet. Yuki pointed to the side of the bed where she had thrown the thin dress. “Why did you take it off?”
“Stuffy,” she replied sleepily.
“Uggg,” Ash grumbled as he reached across the bed and tossed Yuki her dress. “Are all beast men like this?” He asked himself. “Yuki for now on you can’t show your body so recklessly to the opposite sex,” Ash said in a lecturing tone.
“But master owns Yuki…And Yuki is an ugly demi-human so no one will want to see.”
“Yuki is anything but ugly,” Ash said quickly and it wasn’t a lie. With her red-brown hair, ears and tail mixed with her soft puffy cheeks and light tan skin Yuki was a young beauty. He hadn’t noticed it when he had first seen her thanks to the dirt and later because of everything else going on but now that she had called herself ugly he couldn’t help but notice the truth. “Yuki is very cute.”
“c-cute…Yuki is cute,” Yuki said while blushing. Even though Yuki is of a beast race master still thinks she is cute,” Yuki said with a half-smile.
Ash pulled up his shirt and turned his back to Yuki and he heard her gasp. “Maser is a sub-human does that make master ugly?” Ash asked hoping to get his point across.
He felt Yuki’s small hands brush across his winds causing a shiver to run down his spin. “So soft,” Yuki said in an awed voice. “Can master fly?”
Pulling his shirt back down Ash turned to look at Yuki. “No they are too small to fly with,” Ash admitted. “Do you get my point now? Just because you are a demi-human doesn’t mean that others will look unkindly on you. So please keep your clothes on.”
“Mou…Ok,” Yuki said blushing again.
Shortly after they woke a knock sounded on the door and a maid in her early forties with light blonde hair entered. “Miss Yuki my name is Lori I have come to start your instruction. Please come with me,” the lady said then she bowed to Ash and led the Yuki out of the room.
With Yuki gone ash readied for the morning and took a quick breakfast as it seemed that Emelia was sleeping in. In the least it seemed that Emelia had ordered the bath attendants to let him bath himself though they still offered their aid which he quickly and politely refused.
Ash left and headed straight for the labyrinth when he arrived he went straight to the plaque outside the door of the king slime’s room and warped to the third floor. Unlike the day before only a few people were on the floor and Ash quickly found his first target, a young kobold.
Like the floors before the kobold fell quickly though it gave him 5 experience. The monsters were getting stronger with each floor. After absorbing the kobold Ash found seven iron pennies and a small chuck of metal laying on the ground.
[Copper ore (poor quality): Used by blacksmiths to make various items.]
Putting the copper ore away Ash noticed a small arrow on his inventory section. Pushing it he noticed three new blocks had appeared. It seemed that his strength equaled the number of places he had to store items though it wasn’t influenced by the bonus from his equipment.
After killing five more kobolds Ash heard the welcomed “Tring,’ letting him know that he had leveled up. Each level had taken longer to reach but he was finally had reached level eight. Ash placed one point in each strength, vitality, intelligence, and stamina.
The kobolds were easy to kill so he started moving around more quickly and soon found a group of four moving together. Ash killed the first kobold before the creatures had a chance to ready their weapons. Without slowing Ash followed through turning his body slightly and catching the second kobold on side of the neck killing it. Before he could continue Ash felt a sharp pain in his aide as the Kobold struck him with its sharpened wooden spear. [Critical hit -25 HP, you have been affected with the bleed status.] “Crap,” Ash said as he dispatched the last kobold. “Even if they are week if they strike at an exposed part of his body they can get a critical.”
“Noob,” Jun said shaking his head.
“Just because you got a little stronger doesn’t mean that you can be so relaxed. This might be a lot like a game but in the end it is merged with real life. It is possible for even a low level monster to get a fatal strike if it hits in the right place.”
“These are things you should tell me before I figure it out the hard way,” Ash said as he held the wound on his side that was still bleeding. After he lost 10 more HP the blood final stopped and the abnormal status disappeared.
Ash quickly found a safe area and ate a small loaf of bread but the wound didn’t completely begin to disappear until his HP was completely restored. “I really need a healer,” Ash said as he watched the red spot on his side grow fainter. “Even if I hire a slave they won’t be able to pick a profession until they reach level 10. How does one even chose a job anyway?”
“Once you hit level 10 you simply have to find a trainer for your desired job. For a healer it would be church or shine. For a warrior there are a lot more options and variations,” Rachel answered quickly.
Well fist I need enough money to buy a slave that can reach level 10. I don’t think that Yuki would make that good of a fighter.”
“Why not she is of the fox clan. She should be very agile. She would make a good archer or assassin.”
“Maybe when she’s older,” Ash replied. “Making a fourteen year old girl fight for me just doesn’t feel right.”
“True entering the labyrinth before the age of fifteen unless you belong to a training school is prohibited in host places and even then you can’t join a combat school until you are at least twelve.”
“That’s a great idea. I can send Yuki to school,” Ash said quickly standing up.
With his wound healed and one problem solved within his mind Ash moved out of the safety area and started fighting once again. Now that he had leveled up the kobolds only gave him three experience per kill. With his 22 stamina along with his other bonus from his armor and weapon easily let him kill the kobolds with on the need to rest to rebuild his MP. His MP was only at 80 meaning he could use his absorption skill eight times before having to rest but thanks to his increase in Spirit he recovered 2% MP per minute. Using the juices he brought with him Ash was able to kill another forty-seven kobolds in three hours. When he heard the familiar “Tring” he waited with anticipation.
[You have reached 100% absorption rate of young kobolds. Abilities available: Stab (active), mining (passive.)
“Tring”
[You have randomly been award the ability mine.]
Ash quickly checked the description of the mining skill.
[Mining: Ability to use a pick to extract ores from hidden locations with a pickaxe. Able to tell where mining locations are. Level 1 0%.]
Checking his inventory Ash had three pickaxes that the kobolds had dropped along with fifteen copper ores and one iron ore. Looking around and not seeing anything that could be a mining spot Ash took a quick look at his status page. He still needed an astounding 3,368 experience to reach the next level and it would take over 1,123 kobolds to do that, but still the stab skill was interesting him.
Ash continued to kill kobolds and after killing another seven he noticed a part of the wall that glowed a light blue. As he drew closer a small window appeared. [Mining point.]
Equipping a pick from him inventory Ash hit the wall three times and a small chuck of metal hit the ground. [Copper ore (low quality.)] Ash was able to get three low quality copper ores before the mining point disappeared.
Once Ash was low of MP he would look for mining
points. In a little under four hours he was able to kill another fifty kobolds and well as mine from nine different areas advancing his mining level to 2 and earning him the “stab” skill.
“Stab (active): Cost 1 SP- level 1-0%- thrust forward with weapon (sword, spear.)
With both skills Ash moved to find the boss of the area. He had passed the room many times and quickly found it again. Touching the plaque so that he could use it to fast travel again later Ash quickly read it. [Warning boss room ahead: kobold warrior- suggested level of party 9.]
Ash didn’t understand why they wanted such a high level for this area. He was only level 8 and he wasn’t having much trouble not to mention the kobolds hardly gave any experience. Then again if he didn’t have the sword and armor that Emelia had given him it would be much harder. Ash he thought about this Ash pushed open the doors and walked inside.
As the room lit up Ash found a kobold twice the size of the others waiting on him. Pulling a longsword from a dirty scabbard it looked at him with hate filled eyes. When Ash was no more than five steps away a light red glow issued from the tip of the kobold’s sword and it flashed toward him hitting him in the chest and knocking him back two steps. “Crap,” Ash said knowing that if he hadn’t been wearing sturdy armor it would have been game over. Even with the armor he still took 10 damage to his HP.
Once again the kobold pulled back and started to charge its attack. Knowing what was coming Ash moved to the side just as the kobold lunged forward. Before the kobold could retreat Ash stuck hard at the kobolds head, a purple -34 popped up above the kobold’s head.
Before ash had a chance to strike again the kobold jumped back and started charging again. Ash followed the same pattern jumped to the side and attacking when the kobold launched its attack. After the third time Ash stuck the kobold it changed tactics and instead of charging it continued to fight him in an upfront battle. With his higher agility Ash was easily able to dodge the kobold’s attacks and within a few moments the kobold collapsed to the ground dead.
Like with the other bosses Ash bent down to absorb it though he didn’t hold out much hope but when the kobold stated to fade and turn into white like he was pleasantly surprised. Checking his abilities page he noticed that its absorption rate was only 1% but it was still absorbed so he couldn’t complain. “Why did it work on this boss but not the others?” Ash asked not understand the difference.
“Maybe it is because the past two bosses were rare monsters that rarely appear in the outside world while this one was just a common higher leveled kobold,” Rachel offered.
“I guess that’s a good a reason as any,” Ash said shrugging his shoulders as he began to check what the kobold warrior had dropped. Two copper coins and a piece of ore.
[Zinc ore (low quality): Used to make brass.]
Ach quickly put the zinc in his inventory and moved on past the door. It was late and he was tired but He wanted to find the next boss door so that he could quickly return to the first floor.
A few steps in Ash found that this floor was like the others. It was almost as if Ash had stepped into a small jungle. Unlike the floors before there was no designated path. As long as the trees didn’t block your path you were free to go anywhere. After walking less than fifty feet inside the room Ash felt something hit him and at the same time he lost seven HP.
Looking around he saw a nine foot tall bell shaped monster. As soon as he noticed the monster two thin vies shot out at him. Ash quickly parried the vine on the left with his sword cutting it off but only doing -4 damage to the monster. The right vine struck him in the leg for 3 damage and causing him to trip.
Quickly getting to his feet Ash closed the distance between him and the vine monster paying close attention to the vines that shoot toward him. At best he could block one with his sword so he was forced to do his best to dodge the other. Once he had closed the distance Ash used his new skill stab and his sword shot through the monster and a large purple -102 appeared. He had forgot to check his experience after the fight with the kobold boss so he wasn’t for sure but between the two fights he had gotten 110 experience.
After absorbing the monster Ash picked up a copper coin and thin piece of light red cloth like material that had been left behind.
[Rose silk (average quality): silk like material that tailors often use to make clothes.]
“Maybe it will sell well,” Ash said as he placed the rose silk in his inventory. “Yuki could use some clothes as well,” He said remembering earlier this morning and blushing.
It didn’t take long for Ash to find another vine monster. Even though he had learned its attack patterns it still took nearly a ¼ of his HP during the fight. After absorbing the monster all Ash found was a copper coin. “Maybe I should work more on my luck,” Ash said out loud wishing that the monsters would drop items more often.
“You should be happy with what you have,” Rachel said lecturing him.
“Noob,” Jun added in.
“You luck is already extremely high. Most common item drops are only 15-20%. Yet you get them 80% of the time for the lower level monsters. I think you should be good until you get to level 30-40 monsters. At the higher levels the drop rate is reduced to 5-10% on common items, 1-5% for uncommon and .01-.1% for rare.”
“Why haven’t I gotten any uncommon or rare items yet?” Ash asked thinking it weird.
“You have…Uggg,” Rachel said scrunching up her tiny face.
“Noob,” Jun added.
“Most low level monsters don’t have grand items but they give you different qualities of the items they do drop; low quality, average quality, and good quality. There is even a very small chance for a superb quality but it’s less than .001%.”
After fighting two of the vine monsters Ash was tired and his HP had decreased fast. If he was careful he could fight a bit longer but in truth he was getting hungry so he returned to the previous floor and used the plaque to return to the first floor.
Before heading back to the manor Ash made a quick detour to the adventures guild store. Unlike the other stores at the guild you had to order things to be prepared a day in advance and at the same day pay a small handing charge. When you sold things the price was slightly less then you could get elsewhere but it allowed Ash to only have to make one stop.
“7 Rabbit furs at 6 Iron pennies a piece, 52 slime cores at 12 iron pennies a piece, 73 low quality copper ores at 15 iron pennies a piece, 12 average quality copper ores at 17 iron pennies a piece, 6 low quality iron ores at 18 iron pennies, 1 low quality zinc ore at 18 iron pennies, and 1 average quality rose silk at 5 coppers comes to a total of 25 copper and 91 iron pennies. Will that be all sir?” the attendant asked as she handed him the small coin purse.
“Yes thank you,” ash replied as he put the coin purse in his pocket while transferring it into his inventory. At the moment he had 1 silver 77 copper, and a whopping 914 iron pennies. He had thought about turning the iron pennies in for copper but decided that he would keep 1000 of them so he wouldn’t have to ask for change, not to mention it felt nice to have such a large number even if they only amounted to a little more than 9 copper.
With his purse a bit heavier Ash decided it was time to return home for the night.
1-10
After arriving back at the manor Ash took a quick bath and changed his clothes into a set that Emelia had gotten for him. At first she had tried to get him to wear a frilly shirt but after he had refused it had been toned down to a black shirt with a little silver embroidery.
As soon as he stepped out of his room Ash was greeted by Yuki who did an awkward curtsy while bowing her head slightly. “Welcome home master.” Unlike the day before where she wore a cheap white dress today she wore the same clothes as the other attendants of the manor, a dark black dress with a small white apron attached at the waist. With her short stature and childish feathers she reminded him of a small girl playing house.
“I’m home,” Ash said with a warm smile.
“Milad
y is waiting for you please let me…umm…follow me,” she said after forgetting what she was supposed to say earning her a sharp glare from the maid who was shadowing her.
Trying to hold back a laugh Ash followed behind the small maid to the dining room where Emelia sat in one of the chairs with a warm smile. “You were gone for quite some time this day,” she said offering him a seat. “Anything interesting happen today?”
“Not much made it to the fourth floor of the labyrinth,” Ash replied. “Spent most the day fighting kobolds in the third floor though. I was thinking I really need healing support so I was thinking about having Yuki go to the adventures school here in the city. Hopefully she has the aptitude for it.”
Emelia let out a soft laugh. “Maybe one of the shines would let her become a miko but I doubt any of the churches would allow a demi-human to advance to a priestess. That said it might be a good idea to have her attend the school. They teach a variety of things though first she will have to learn the basics here first so she doesn’t embarrass you. It will also give you time to gather the five gold it takes for a year of schooling. You will also have to provide her with new gear from the schools shop as well as books… thinking of that does Yuki even know how to read?”
“I don’t know,” Ash replied solemnly as his mind was fixated on the sum of five gold. Of course the school wouldn’t be running for free but five gold seemed a little excessive.
“Yuki can you read?” Emelia asked when the young girl returned with a cold glass of water for Ash.
“A little,” Yuki said hanging her head. “Then have Lori teach you during your training.”
As soon as Yuki heard Lori’s name her ears dropped and her tail stopped mid-wag. “Yes milady,” She said with a solemn voice.
“Is she doing well?” Ash asked as soon as Yuki had left the room.
“Lori said she was energetic and nimble but she lacks discipline and often forgets what she is supposed to do or say. Give it a week and I think she will be ready to leave the manor though only barely. We can have her enroll in school then since they won’t start a new class until the first of the month.”
Reborn 1-5 Page 7