Nodding to him, I headed out to return to the inn. At this point my arms felt more like wet noodles than proper limbs, so I let them hang at my side. Remembering my promise to Denise, I glanced around for anyone that would match our needs for a tank. There was no way I could simply scour the city tonight just to search, so I looked along the path between the crafting hall and the inn. Didn’t see anything, but I did look.
When I got to the inn, Denise asked how I was enjoying learning the craft skill. My reply was little more than a groan as I collapsed onto the bed, but I thought I heard her laughing at me before I passed out. The next morning she told me that she had a few potential candidates, but she wanted to follow them for a while to make sure they fit. In other words, make sure they weren’t foreigners and that they weren’t glory seekers.
Nodding my head to her, I told her it was a good idea and then went off to the crafting hall for my lessons. Today there was a different batch of foreigners here, so most of the ones from before probably left after they received the talent they wanted. Since I was actually paying to be here, I planned to stay for at least a full week. After that, it would depend on how far I’ve come.
Jackson greeted me with a smile once I arrived, standing at a workbench that had a long thin log placed on top of it. “Ah, there you are. Like I promised, today we’ll be carving some wood.”
“Are we making anything in particular?” I glanced at the log, thinking that it was likely going to be made into a bow or a staff.
“Well, that depends entirely on you. For today, I’m just going to watch and offer advice.” He grinned a bit, stepping to the side and waving me forward.
Well… not what I was expecting. Throwing me head first into the deep end, aren’t you? I started to question why I was paying for this when I was essentially doing the same thing that the foreigners were doing by teaching themselves. Stepping up to the table, I measured the distance of the log to be roughly two and a half meters, maybe a bit more.
After I pulled out my knife, I began working on chipping the bark off of the log, figuring it would just get in the way when I’m carving. That process alone took nearly an hour, because there was quite a bit of bark to take care of. Once that was done, I looked it over again before I started chipping away at the wood.
Over the course of the next few hours, the log that was originally a foot thick was whittled down until it was just a few inches in diameter, a roughly square shape forming along it. Every now and then, Jackson would offer a piece of commentary-- such as telling me that it is better to cut too little off than too much. You can stitch torn thread, reforge metal, but once wood was cut too small for what you wanted you had to throw it out.
Eventually I had the basic shape of a staff down, finally able to wrap my hand around its width. I had only cut a little more than a foot off the ends, leaving the staff at about two meters long. Looking over the result, I was a bit pleased with myself. It may be a bit rough, but it was something I made myself.
“Don’t forget the last step.” Jackson walked up to me, handing me some sandpaper. Looking down at the staff, I nodded, setting it down and diligently scraping the sandpaper all along the length several times to smooth it out. I repeated this process for each of the four sides, before smiling again at my work.
New Talent Unlocked!
Carpentry -- The ability to craft wooden items such as staves, bows, or even furniture.
Seeing that I had the Strength I needed, I again started putting my points in Endurance. Finally, my health hit the one thousand benchmark. Unfortunately there was no title associated with this benchmark of health like there was for mana. Maybe it was because so many people were getting that point that there wasn’t anything special about it anymore. Oh well, it’s not like I really needed a title related to physical abilities.
“So, what are you going to do now? Abandon the place like all the other foreigners?” Jackson suddenly asked me after I looked over the windows.
“No, sir. I fully intend to keep coming here to improve my skills.” Did he think he’d get rid of me after just two days? Not likely!
Jackson smiled at my answer, nodding. “Very good. That’s what I wanted to hear. It’s too late to start another project, so why don’t you come back tomorrow.” I nodded my head to him and left with my new staff. There was a bit of time left before I had to get back, so I decided to properly walk around town to search for potential recruits.
Well, that was the plan at least. After a while of searching and finding nobody that fit what I was looking for, I moved towards a back alley and just began swinging my staff. I didn’t have an instructor to help me this time, but I had seen plenty of martial arts movies back in the real world. So my movements weren’t entirely idiotic, just mostly. That’s why I wanted to come to an alley where nobody would see me.
I stayed in that alley for over an hour, extending my staff or sweeping it around in an arc how I had seen other people do. The motions weren’t that complicated, but my body wasn’t used to moving this way so it took some practice. Just as the sun was starting to set, I heard footsteps behind me, causing me to glance back. Sure enough, there was a group of three men standing at the corner of the alley, blocking off my way out.
“Ain’t you the archer guy that came into town a while ago?” The center man spoke up, brandishing a sword. Ahh… that’s right, I was wondering when this would happen.
Even though it had only been two full days since the attack, I guess the bandit I defeated spread word to his friends offline. So I could probably avoid a fight if I wanted, since they can’t positively identify me until tomorrow. Still this was interesting. “I might be. Just who are you, though?”
“The name’s Everest. I hear you done roughed up some of my men.” Everest seemed considerably more well balanced than the loser I fought in the forest, and actually carried his sword like he knew what he was doing.
“To be fair, they were the ones that attacked me. All I did was educate them.”
That caused Everest to laugh for a bit, before he grinned to me. “Educated them, you say? Well then, hand over whatever loot you took off of them and allow me to educate you.”
Thinking back to the event, I shook my head. “Sorry, they were carrying trash gear, so I didn’t bother looting anything.” Silently, I cast Reinforce on my staff, figuring this was going to turn into a fight. I could wipe them all out with my bow or magic, but this was the perfect chance to practice with my staff.
“You… what did you say…”
“I said your men were carrying nothing but junk. Well, you look like you have some experience, so you might have something better.” Assessing the situation, I knew I was at a clear disadvantage. Both my Strength and Agility were low, so melee combat was my weakest point. Not to mention that I didn’t have a talent to help me wield my weapon. If this was your usual scenario, now would be the time when some hero pops in to save me.
...Nope, no hero. Okay, guess I am relying on myself. Everest looked me over, and then grinned to his men. “Let me take care of this, boys.” Saying that, he calmly walked up to me, twirling his sword in his hand. “You think yourself some kinda big shot, don’t you? Can do whatever the hell you want because you beat up a few punks.”
“That’s me, the big damned hero.” I smirked to him, readying my staff. Keeping my voice low, I muttered a few words. “Enchant Defense, Power, Speed.”
Seeing what I was up to, and the soft light escaping me from my spell, Everest immediately charged up to me, swinging his sword as if to take off my head. “Let me show you the difference in our levels!”
Difference in levels? Aren’t you just a louder novice? I had been concerned before, but he wasn’t putting much into this swing. Using my enhanced speed and defense, I brought my staff up and pushed his sword arm up while ducking low, forcing him to miss me. “Hmm? And just what level are you to be making such claims?”
Seeing his attack deflected, he glared at me before growling. “I’m fucking one hundred and
twelve! Let’s see you deal with this.” He brought his sword up, and I had the feeling this was going to be a faster, more powerful strike. “Power Strike!”
….He announces his skill? I knew about this skill from Denise, because she had it as well. Knowing that, I decided to step out of the way of his attack as soon as he shouted its name. If it weren’t for the enchantment I put on myself at the start of the battle, that attack might have done some serious damage. Once his sword hits the ground, there was a loud crash, a small hole being cut in where he connected.
“Level one twelve, huh?” I grinned to myself. “Well then, let me see it, your Hidden Power.”
“You… how do you know about that!?” Obviously, the only people who should know about a Hidden Power are the ones that have unlocked it, letting him know that I was over level one hundred as well.
“How about you find out? Though, I want you alive so you don’t have to worry about me using it. You know the guards are offering quite the reward for you.” I decided to taunt him a bit, which was probably not the best move.
“Heh… heheh… alright. I’ve been wanting to try this out anyways.” He assumed an offensive stance, his sword out in front of him. The amount of focus he was putting into this was obvious, but there was something wrong here. He was leaving himself wide open.
Debating with myself, I decided not to risk walking into a trap, and allowed him to finish what he was doing. For all I knew, his Hidden Power was a certain kill counter, which would be devastating if I fell into it. “Come on, man. Does it really take so long just to charge it up?”
“Shut up!” He snarled at me, and then raised his sword again. “Snake Blade!” When he slashed his sword downwards, I thought he had lost his mind. The distance between us was still several meters, but suddenly his sword stretched outwards, winding like a whip to attack at me.
I didn’t have enough time to block or fully dodge, so I ended up with a cut along my arm. “Damn, that hurt.” I had only lost about fifty points of damage thanks to my mana shield, but still.
Everest was standing right where he was, grinning to me. “This is my win. Snake Blade carries a deadly poison in it that will drain away all your health.”
Raising my eyebrow to him, I shook my head. “Really man, you must be some kind of idiot.” I immediately put my mind to work on creating a spell to remove poisons. It fell into the Nature Magic category, so it didn’t take me very long.
Neutralize Poison has been added to your Spell List
“You! What was that?!” He snarled at me again, raising his sword up for another strike. Sure enough, my health began decreasing slowly.
“I said you’re an idiot. Why the hell do you yell out your skill names, and then take the time to explain them? Sure, you have to say the name of a spell to clearly imagine the patterns for it, but martial skills don’t need shit like that. And telling me about the poison? Didn’t your friend tell you how I killed him?” I put my hand on the area where the snake blade cut me. “Nature’s Blessing, Neutralize Poison.”
Although it cost some mana, I was able to immediately heal my arm and remove the poison effect. Well, my mana was instantly refreshed so it didn’t matter. Seeing that, Everest growled again. Serious, are you a bandit or a bulldog? “You..! Aren’t you an archer? So you’re really a caster type, huh? Get him, boys!”
Now that he was no longer relying on his Snake Blade and sent in the other two, I had it a bit easier. My mana was able to naturally deflect any of their attacks that got close to me, thanks to my grimoire’s ability. Of course, I didn’t let them know that’s why they kept missing. I’m not the type to explain my powers. “Is there any reason why I can’t be both?” While saying this, I began smacking each of the two thugs in front of me with my staff, though it hardly did any damage until I received a very friendly message.
New Talent Unlocked!
Staff Mastery -- This talent measures the user’s ability to wield a staff.
Grinning to myself, my movements came just a bit faster, the staff striking more easily. Any time they managed to inflict damage on me, I would simply use Nature’s Blessing to heal myself. The result was that I was easily able to grind up my Staff Mastery talent by beating the two senseless.
By the time the second thug was unconscious, I had gained another four levels with my staff. I’d have to spend some time in the Fighter’s Hall myself after this to properly train my skills. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about the leader, Everest. Feeling a wide cut along my back, I hissed out in pain. That time I took over two hundred damage, despite my defense. My health was also dropping much faster now.
“They may be useless trash, but they bought me time until the cooldown finished.” He explained his attack again… and it had a cooldown? I guess that made sense, since it didn’t seem to exhaust him like mine and Denise’s Hidden Powers.
Turning back to Everest, I channeled a large amount of mana into another Nature’s Blessing, healing my wound. I’d deal with the poison later, after I took care of this guy. “You should have gone for a killing attack. Now I’m upset, and have to educate you as well.” I tossed my staff to the side, letting it fall onto the floor.
“What, going at me unarmed, now?” Everest grinned again, raising his sword to indicate he had no plans of doing the same.
“What, are you crazy? Fuck that.” I raised my hand towards him, measuring the distance between us. The spell I wanted had a short chant, so it wasn’t a problem even if he decided to charge me. “Shifting sands, spiral down, become the anchor that binds. Headhunter.”
As if taunting me, he didn’t even bother to charge, making it obvious he intended to tank any spell I threw at him. Well, that’s fine, he can take this spell then. Just like my original instructor of earth magic had done to me, I caused the ground at his feet to twist and pull him down until he was up to his chin. “What the--! Are you scared to fight me like a man or something?!”
“What does that even mean? Aren’t those just the words of someone who lost?” I used Sculpt Earth and Stone to put his accomplices in similar situations, and then got to work on the poison that was still draining my health. Knowing I had to deal with this quickly and effectively, I opened my spell window and found the chant for Neutralize Poison. “Mother of all things, light which purifies, remove the veil of death from within.”
Pouring several times more mana into the spell than normal, I was able to cast it at a high enough level to remove the poison from the Snake Blade after it reduced me a little below half health. After that, I just had to cast my healing spell a few times to bring me back up as good as new.
“You.. just what level are you?” Everest had been watching my actions, seeing how I removed his poison and then healed myself without showing any signs of running low on mana.
“Hmm? I wonder. Well, I guess this is the difference between us after all. Now then… Ah, yes. Wings of light, signs of beginning, may my voice reach the farthest corner. Announce.” I called the guards from the gate that I had met before and told them I captured three members of the Eternal Brigade, giving them my location.
“You fucker! You think I’ll just sit here and wait for--” Everest looked like he was getting ready to log out, so I clubbed him in the head with my staff to knock him out. I might not be that good with it yet, but it was an automatic critical for maximum damage, given the circumstances.
It didn’t take long after that before two guards walked into the alley, looking at the heads of the buried bandits. “Uh… you did this?” They looked curiously to me, and I nodded. “Well, can you get them out? It would take too long to dig normally.”
“Ah, sure.” I pointed my hand to them, and cast Sculpt Earth and Stone again, lifting all three of the thugs out of the ground. “That guy talked like he was in charge, so he might be their leader.” I pointed towards Everest, telling them his name.
“Ah, no, he is high up in the chain of command, but he isn’t their leader.”
“I see, sorry
for the misunderstanding. Well, this way there shouldn’t be a problem with him for a while.” When you died, you appear at the last safe zone you rested in, but if you just logged out, you would return where you logged out at. Going by that, they shouldn’t be able to escape prison so easily, since it should be a safe zone as well. Though there is the chance of someone breaking them out.
Chapter 7
After returning to the inn, I filled Denise in on the events that had taken place. She seemed a bit upset that she had missed out on the fight, but figured that it didn’t matter much if they were opponents that I could beat with my low level of fighting skill. She also told me that out of the six people she was interested in, four of them had been eliminated because they were foreigners. At the same time, there was also another person added to the list that she’d be watching.
Hearing her report, I nodded to myself. “Alright. After this week is over I’ll be joining the Fighter’s Hall too, to get better with my staff skills. Then, I’ll be able to meet these people myself as well.”
The Dive: Birth of a Hero Page 9