I didn’t get the Lumberjack skill, but I didn’t expect to. This was a magical effort, not the brute muscle hacking at trees. My Mana Infusion skill even increased to level 8.
I continued chopping down trees, at an incredible speed. I was hitting the tree with the axe faster than I could have with my fists.
Mana Infusion was a Mana discipline spell, so it was influenced by the modifiers of the Mana Manipulation skill. The game interface did all the heavy math, calculating that using Mana Infusion made me 22% faster and stronger. The power was intoxicating.
I could get used to this.
I was going to leave Mana Infusion active continuously from now on. It made me significantly stronger and faster, and it didn’t cost a thing. In combat situations it would be prudent to deactivate the ability, to conserve mana for spells, but other than that, there wasn’t a downside.
I toppled the second tree, and Mana infusion kept going up.
Another tree, and skill level 10. Another tree…65% progress. Yet another, and the spell reached level 11.
Mana Infusion Spell level increased to 11
Congratulations! You reached the rank: Apprentice
As Apprentice ranked caster, you can now ‘overcharge’ your body with mana, doubling the base bodily enhancement of the skill. Triples the mana drain rate.
That was pretty awesome. It meant I could chop down trees twice as fast, as if the skill acquired a ‘high gear’ option.
I did some calculations. With this new rank enhancement, my speed would triple and my mana drain will go up to 90 MP each minute. With my regeneration rate, I would lose 47 MP per minute. At my current mana total of 305, I’d be able to power Mana Infusion for 6.5 minutes or so. Then I’d have to use Mana Infusion normal speed for...23 minutes, until my mana pool refilled. Then I could double my speed again for another 6.5 minutes.
That meant…
I furrowed my forehead in concentration as I did the math. That meant that overall, my tree cutting efficiency would rise by 20%. Which meant, that instead of cutting down about 10 trees a day, I could do 12.
Not bad at all for a weakling mage, I thought as I grabbed the axe and went back to work.
I activated my double speed ability, and became a tree slaughtering machine. The axe was moving so fast and hitting so hard, it looked like a blur, even to me. Wood chips and dust filled the air around me like a fog, obscuring everything in my sight. I braced myself and dove into the monotonous task.
The only downside was, since I had gone up a rank the skill advancement slowed down.
I guess I had exhausted tree-cutting as a way to progress the skill. I’d have to find more challenging tasks to raise it.
Five hours later, I had increased the skill only once, bringing it up to level 12.
Eleven logs lay in a neat pile, ready to be turned into workable lumber.
With the sky getting dark, I headed back to camp, joining the rest for dinner.
We sat and shared another meal of Guba’s meat and herb stew. Again. I needed to recruit a real cook soon, or I might start chewing wood chips just to taste something new.
Woody had finished splitting all the logs needed for the Rabbit Warren into workable timber, and he’d reached Apprentice rank in his Lumberjack skill. The new rank didn’t make him more productive, but the description stated he could now work on harder wood, trees such as Oak and Steelwood.
The Miner brought back several ore nuggets and had leveled up his Mining skill.
Both of the goblin builders had increased their skill levels, and Zuban had a breakthrough working on the Rabbit Warren, they were going to finish it ahead of schedule.
The Lucky Bastard tree bears fruit again, I thought.
I opened the interface, checking overall progress:
Buildings and Construction
Max Constructor skill: 10
Builder count: 2 (skills: 10, 5)
Daily BP: 23.5 (7 + 10 + 7.5)
Under construction: Rabbit Warren (96 /130 BP)
Two more days and the Warren would be completed.
Vrick and Bek came back after a long day of scouring the forest for enemies to fight. All they managed to find were a couple of boars, which they had no trouble taking on. They brought home eight pieces of raw meat, but neither had made any personal advancement.
“In short,” Vrick reported, “Neither me or Bek know how to track down game. We can’t find any, so we walk around until something attack us. I think we have killed just about all the dangerous beasts inside the valley forest. Today we just wandered around, looking for a fight. We were lucky to find the boars.”
I had mixed feelings about that. On one hand, it meant the valley was now much safer, on the other, it meant an important source of food had been exhausted.
“You want us to go back tomorrow?” Vrick asked ”or go outside the valley, maybe? We’re bound to find more and better game outside.”
“No.” I shook my head firmly. “There are hobgoblins outside the valley. And other dangerous beasts” I said, recalling the Bear Matriarch who killed me. “I’ll think of some new assignment for you by morning.”
“Yes Esteemed Totem,” Vrick bowed and went back to staring at our newest female member.
Tika’s hunt went well, she added 14 units of raw meat to our total.
“Forest more safe now.” She said, “Can hunt good, danger not so worry.”
I nodded at her, “good work today.”
Our fisherman, who I decided to name Cobie, caught three fish today, bringing the day’s total food production to 25 units. After paying the clan’s upkeep, 13 pieces of food were left added to our previous ‘savings’ for a total of 31.
Now I faced a dilemma. I could use the food right now to summon a worker that would start contributing tomorrow. But the day after that, the Rabbit Warren would be finished, and I didn’t think we’d accumulate 30 more units of food to summon a worker by then.
Actually, I thought, there is no reason not to summon the Warren worker now. Even though he wouldn’t be the most effective at other tasks, he could still help out. I could use him to move the logs I cut, which would train his Haul skill levels up.
As expected, Guba wasn’t happy when I asked her to deliver another 30 pieces of food to the Breeder’s Den, but she complied nonetheless.
Once all the food was loaded, I summoned the new goblin. Our clan’s population had risen to 15, and our food upkeep to 13.
Goblin worker.
Level: 1 (0%);
HP: 14
P:1, M:0, S:1;
Skills: Haul 1, Breeding 1;
Traits: noncombatant
I laughed at seeing Vrick’s reaction to the new female. Now that we had two, he seemed torn as he kept glancing from one to the other.
That’s about all for today I thought to myself. I grimaced at the thought of what awaited me tomorrow; another day of chopping down trees.
Well, at least I’ll have company this time around, I thought and winked at our new female, to Vrick’s obvious annoyance.
***
The next morning after breakfast everyone dispersed to their respective assignments as usual. That left me with Woody, Bek, Vrick and the new Breeder worker.
I’d stayed up late last night, thinking about what assignments to give them. I decided that Vrick should branch out a little. During down times he should have a way to contribute to the development of the clan. Warrior type players often became proficient in combat related crafting skills, and since we were sorely lacking in the armor-making department, I decided to have Vrick try his hand as an armorer. I hadn’t dabbled with it myself, but it was a common Skill so I knew how to get it. Vrick just needed to fashion something wearable, using armor-appropriate materials. Once he got the skill, he would have an intuitive feel for the job, and could level it up by practicing.
Unfortunately, advanced armor types were complicated and required a blueprint or a sufficiently high skill level to design them.
; I opened the Settlement Interface, selected the ‘Crafting production’ category and checked the ‘Available components’ section.
Crafting
● 8 miscellaneous crafting component.
● 6 armadillo metal carapace
● 4 rabbit furs
● 16 pelts
● 12 beetle chitin
Furs and pelt couldn’t be worked into serviceable armor directly, they had to be turned into workable leather first, and that required a Tanner. Which reminded me, we needed yet another type of worker. I added the Tanner to my expanding recruitment list.
The Armadillo’s metal carapace could be used as is, but I knew metal was only workable by Apprentice or higher rank crafters.
That left the beetle chitin. I wasn’t sure if it was a raw material suitable for armor production, or if an unskilled person could learn the skill with it, but it was worth a shot.
Making up my mind, I turned to Vrick, “It's time you learned a useful craft, I think armorer would suit you well.”
He looked insulted, “I’m not some lowly worker” he crossed his arms defiantly “I’m a warrior. I was born to fight.”
I nodded, “That’s right, you’re a fighter. But look at what you’re wearing,” I pointed at his torn leather vest, ”this thing is barely wearable, let alone protection. Imagine how much more formidable a fighter you’d be wearing full leather or even metal armor.” I threw the bait out and watched his expression turned thoughtful.
I dangled another treat, “Imagine you and your warriors all wearing high-quality armor. You would be near invincible and easily defeat the clan’s enemies. You would be the envy of goblin fighters everywhere.”
That last was a bit of a stretch, but it worked.
His face lit up. “Alright, I can give it a try” he finally said. “How do I begin?”
“We have a dozen beetle chitin over there,” I pointed to the clan ‘storage’ pile.
“Grab a few and try to figure out a way to attach them to your body. It will probably take you a while, but you’ll get the hang of it eventually.”
He nodded and turned to the pile.
“As for you,” I turned to Bek, finding it hard to maintain eye contact. “How do you feel?” after the torture I put you through, I thought to myself.
“I feel good,” he squeaked. “More than good. I feel…” he looked around, searching for the right words and finally settling on “...I am more.”
I raised an eyebrow at his words. His vocabulary and sentence structure had improved drastically overnight. I looked at his character details on the interface, to figure out what happened.
Bek, goblin adept
Level: 4(20%);
HP: 31, MP: 45
P:1, M:4, S:-2;
Skills: Heal: 9, lucky bastard:3, drilling arrow:5, Mana Drain: 7;
Trait: Deformed
Resist: mental 20%
Well that was new. Our little Bek had Mental resistance.
My failed attempt to Dominate him must have triggered it. But why would that make him more articulate? Right, his ‘deformed’ trait. The mental resistance probably reduced the damage from his mental trauma, his psychological issues, allowing him to express himself more easily. Now I had a more intelligent clan Adept, what a lucky break.
Lucky Bastard Skill level increased to 12
I chuckled.
I could’ve assigned some menial task to Bek as well, but I preferred he increase his magical potential. It was too bad I didn’t have any other combat spells for him to practice. Training with him again would be a waste of my time, I was almost three times his level. Besides, he’d earned some rest.
“Bek, you’re getting the day off. You can do whatever you like.” He stared at me, slack-jawed and unmoving, so I shooed him off.
“Alright, you two” I waved to the last two goblins, “come with me.”
We walked over to the logging site. I looked at the axe in distaste, then made myself to pick it up.
In no time at all, Woody and I were chopping trees and trimming them into logs. Woody was properly amazed by my speed, but he didn’t let that affect his own work. The Breeder worker labored to exhaustion, rolling the logs to the next construction site, the Chief’s House.
The day passed by uneventfully, and by its end, we’d added 17 logs to our stock.
At dinner time I listened everyone’s the daily report and checked our progress in the Interface.
The most notable progress was shown by the new Breeder worker, her Haul skill had risen from level 1 to 5. Obviously rolling 100kg logs over rough terrain was a good way to develop muscles. Almost everyone else showed an increase of 1 or 2 levels in their respective main skills. Except for the warriors. They had maxed out the training potential for sparring with each other. I needed a new way to train them.
Vrick raised quite a stir when he entered the campsite later that night. A rattling commotion announced his approach. He was wearing a crude chitin chest piece.
Although calling what he wore armor was a stretch. It looked more like a quilt that he threw over his head, one made of poorly sewn together plates instead of fabric. The thing rattled and clacked every time he moved, exposing large gaps between the seams.
I accessed Vrick’s character information.
Vrick, goblins lieutenant
Level: 6(5%)
HP: 65, MP: 30
P:6, M:0, S:0;
Skills: Spears: 13, Brawling: 10, lumberjack: 4, Lucky bastard: 2, Armorer: 1
He learned the skill!
“Great job Vrick.” I complimented the smug goblin.
“Now that you’ve got a feel for it, keep practicing, in time you will learn to craft quality armor.”
He seemed insulted at the hint that his masterpiece was anything short of perfection.
“Actually,” He replied, “I realized something. I need a proper Armorer Workshop to craft better quality armors.”
I grimaced. Just what I needed, another priority building added to the queue. I looked at Zuban questioningly.
He shook his head, “I’m afraid I will have to acquire the Apprentice rank first, Esteemed Totem.”
“Sorry Vrick.” I turned back to my lieutenant. “Looks like you’ll have to do your best without a proper workshop for now.”
He frowned, but didn’t push it.
“By the way,” Zuban added, “we’re nearly finished with the Rabbit Warren, it will only take a few more hours to finish tomorrow.”
“Great news Zuban.” I beamed at him. “Good job!” I swear he blushed as he looked down.
“If that is all,” I yawned loudly, “time to turn in for--”
“Excuse Bek, Esteemed Totem,” Bek interrupted me.
He approached and held his hand out to me, on it lay a shining gemstone.
“I made for you,” Bek added, nodding his head to me.
I took the gem from him and almost gasped in surprise, it was an opal.
Opal’s were semi-precious gemstones in NEO. Not as expensive as diamonds, emeralds or rubies, but highly sought after. They had the unique capacity to store raw energy. It was possible to charge them with mana, basically making them magical batteries. A skilled craftsman could inscribe the gem, making it a single-use spell. The result was similar to a scroll, except the Opals remained after the spell was triggered, instead of crumbling away like scrolls did. The Opal could then be recharged again. That made them much more valuable than scrolls.
Bek’s opal was shining, meaning it was charged. Then I realized it was inscribed as well.
Inscribed Opal: Heal
Type: one-time use magic item
Rank: magical
Effect: Heal 19 hp
“Bek,” I said incredulously, “Where did you get this stone?”
“I find it.” he replied simply. “I want go to cemetery, pray to Corgoram. I find stone on ground, near cave. I pick up stone, and…” He hesitated for a moment. “Feel stone want magic. I give it magic. Now is yours. �
��I was touched by his gesture.
“This is a magnificent gift, but how did you learn to ‘give it magic’?”
He stared at me helplessly for a moment, then shrugged “I pray to Corgoram at cemetery, I find stone, then I give it magic.” he looked at me earnestly.
Could it be an additional bonus from Divine Intervention? I accessed Bek’s character info. Yep, it was listed right there. ‘Skill: Inscribe, level 1’. Bek now possessed a highly coveted skill, that gave him the ability to imprint any magically charged item with any spell from his own repertoire.
He could make healing Opals and hand them out to member of the clan, greatly increasing everyone’s chances of survival. But, we would have to have more Opals of course.
“You said you found the gem outside the cave?” I inquired.
He nodded, “Yes. maybe more inside.”
If the Danger-sense vibes I got from the cave were any indication, it wouldn’t surprise me to find Opals and Gold veins inside, probably protected by a couple of black dragons.
The value of the rewards go up with the risks in NEO.
“Thank you Bek” I smiled at him, ignoring Vic, “this is an excellent gift, you did very well.”
He stammered something in reply and bowed his head, and went back to the campfire.
***
I was restless the next day, Woody and I were splitting the logs into lumber while I impatiently waited for the Rabbit Warren to be finished.
Around midday the long-anticipated system message finally popped up.
New Building added to your settlement: Rabbit Warren
“Finally!” I dropped my axe, leaving it among the dozen pieces of lumber we’d made so far and ran toward the construction site eagerly, motioning the new Breeder worker to follow. I even went as far as to activate Mana Infusion at ‘high gear’ to get there faster.
Life Reset: A LitRPG Novel (New Era Online Book 1) Page 32