by Pegaz
Smiling at the lack of any spoiled meat, he put everything back in.
Now that he'd completed that skill, he had nothing left to worry about! Putting all fifteen of his Idlers into the Vision skill, he figured it would come in handy during his night-time hunts. He didn’t want to have to feel around in the dark for a tree to sleep in ever again.
That came up as 14h 25m, same time as the 10x Storage skill had needed.
Curious, John calculated how long it would take him to go through the whole area, factoring in his current speed and stamina. After throwing around some numbers, he decided that it would take him at a number of years.
He needed to get his Sprinter skill up, so he could run longer and cover more ground per day. That would shave at least half the time off, he guessed.
At level 10 Sprinter, with the max bonus, he’d be a lot faster while running. Plus, at that level, he would be able to run for two and half hours at full speed without stopping before he ran out of stamina.
He planned to cover this whole area in about two years’ time. To do that he needed to cover about fifteen miles a day. But then, he also wanted to check out the buried treasures and the mysterious ‘???’ symbol on the map. The icons are somewhere, but with all the red markers for the bears he couldn’t see them clearly.
All this in mind, John set off at a walking pace to the West again, toward the closest red dot on his Transparent World Map.
A month later, he found the first buried "Treasure" listed on his map. It was a grey, circular stone—both sides flat, an inch thick, and about 3 inches both in length and width. He had no idea what it was, but if the system called it a treasure, he figured it must be good for something.
Four months later, he found the first ‘???’ symbol listed on his map. It was a small, glowing green rock. The system didn't say anything even after he picked it up. He needed to find someone to appraise the item.
But first, his killing spree.
Chapter 21
The Shocked Town
19 Months Later
It was a beautiful day with a few clouds in the sky. The sun was out, but wasn't too hot either.
Paying no heed to difference in time, John strolled into the Speciality shop. His clothes were a little worn out, and he was barefooted. He was a little taller and broader now, standing just over six foot two.
The masked woman was sitting at the counter, seemingly unbothered by almost anything at this point. She idly stared out the window, barely acknowledging John’s presence in the shop.
"Hello,” John stepped forward and sat in the empty seat after greeting her. “I'm here to complete the deal we made a while back." He noticed there were quite a few more white hairs on the woman’s head compared to the last time they’d met.
"I thought you’d forgotten about me,” the woman turned her head with a steady and precise movement, her words matching the motion with almost calculated precision. “Or that maybe you’d moved on, or even died.” She was now staring directly at John, or, so he thought. “I did not expect that you would come back after two years."
At the rate she was speaking, John couldn’t help but wonder if another two years had passed since stepping in here! Biting back a smirk at his own joke, he addressed the woman with a fondness.
"Well, what can I say? There were more of them then I expected, and the area was much bigger. If I hadn’t got used to the terrain and picked up my running speed, it would have taken a few more years. Anyway, can I please borrow the bag now? You can come watch if you want."
The woman nodded and stood up, surprisingly with great ease for someone her age. She walked through the back-door and returned with the small bag she’d described during John’s first visit. The shop keep sat back down and passed the bag to John.
"Not coming? You trust me that much, or is there some secret here I don't know about?" John wondered if there was some way the woman could track this bag.
The woman just shook her head dismissively and returned to gazing out of the window. John shrugged his shoulders and exited the shop.
While he was walking to a mile away from the city, he opened the system to check his stats after two years of hunting.
Welcome to the Idle System 1.8
Name: John
Age: 17
Idlers: 0/43
Time Pool: 0
Skill Points: 0
HP: 145
Attack: E (450 Points)
Defence: N/A (30 points)
Stamina: S (1 Hour)
Closing the system, he thought over a few of the events that had passed during his time in the forest. Time-wise, it had taken a total of sixteen years to complete the Sprinter skill. If he hadn’t had the Time Pool to help, he would have still needed at least another year to finish killing the bears in the area.
After killing groups of bears at a time, he would increase the Sprinter skill’s level, becoming faster and able to fight for much longer. He eventually completed the skill before finishing the area. His kills added up in the system, and he gained a total of more than forty years in the Time Pool. The rest of the time was split between most of the defensive skills and the Maximum Idler skill.
After some astute observations during this time, John also figured out that one or more from the defence skills had somehow increased his attack skills. He still hadn’t figured out which one. Another detail he noticed was that if he had more than one Idler in any skill, he could get them to work on multiple things at the same time, like the Bone Density skill. With three Idlers in the Bone Density slot, he could work on Toughness, Marrow, and Cell Production at the same time. The only drawback was that it didn’t show the time needed when doing this; it was like playing blind.
Over the years, his HP had increased by one point per skill level in the list of defensive skills. The only one that was excluded from this was the Mind Strength skill.
What had John worried now was his Stamina. The Sprinter skill was the only thing that increased his stamina rank temporarily, but unfortunately it was a pain to get the full use of this perk. Sprinter only activated when going over eight miles per hour, so if he was fighting at a slower pace, then his stamina usage was a lot greater per fight.
Opening the system again he checked over some skill levels.
Attack List:
Palm Toughness - Idlers 2/99, Power Level - 30/100, Speed - 18/100, Ignore Defence - 0/100
Knuckle Damage - Idlers 2/99, Power Level - 30/100, Speed - 18/100, Ignore Defence - 0/100
Elbow Damage - Idlers 2/99, Power Level - 30/100, Speed - 18/100, Ignore Defence - 0/100
Knee Damage - Idlers 2/99, Power Level - 30/100,Speed - 18/100, Ignore Defence - 0/100
Feet Damage - Idlers 2/99, Power Level - 30/100,Speed - 18/100, Ignore Defence - 0/100
John walked to about a mile away and opened the bag that he borrowed. Then, he used his Storage Space, which, at this point, was massive. Everything inside didn’t even cover up the space's floor yet, and he still had a mile upwards worth of space after that.
He kept the bag open and willed everything to come out, tossing everything inside of the monster bag. The bag's opening stayed the same size, but the bag sure didn't. It kept growing and growing to accommodate all of John’s items.
When everything was settled inside the bag, John tied the knot closed and looked at its mass. The poor thing had stretched to roughly sixteen feet high and around thirty feet wide.
Just what is the maximum size of this bag? I’ve got to ask when I get back! There’s no way I’m going to test it just in case it bursts.
Before lugging all of this back, he decided to check on his defence skills, especially the Skeletal Muscle skill. If it wasn’t high enough, he didn’t think he could pull this bag to town on his own.
Defence List:
Flesh's Strength - Idlers 1/99, Regeneration - 20/100, Time - 1y 1mo 22d 14h 16m 54s
Organ's Strength - Idlers 2/99, Regeneration - 20/100, Lung Capacity - 10/100
Blood's Capacity - Idlers 3/99, Cell Speed - 15/100, Transportation - 5/10, White Cells - 5/10
Bones Density - Idlers 3/99, Toughness - 15/100, Marrow - 10/100, Cell Production 5/10
Muscle Elasticity - Idlers 3/99, Cardiac - 10/100, Skeletal - 10/100, Smooth - 10/100
Mind's Strength - Idlers 2/99, Thinking Speed 32/100, Senses - 3/10
Elbow Joint - Idlers 0/99, Friction - 0/100, Toughness - 0/100
Knee Joint - Idlers 0/99, Friction - 0/100, Toughness - 0/100
Shoulder Joint - Idlers 0/99, Friction - 0/100, Toughness - 0/100
Ankle Joint - Idlers 0/99, Friction - 0/100, Toughness - 0/100
Misc List:
Maximum Idlers - Idlers 19/99, +1 Max Idlers - 42/2159, Time - 18d 13h 42m 24s
Maximum Workers - Idlers 0/99, +1 Idler Workers - 0/2061
??? - Idlers 0/99, ??? - 0/1, ??? - 0/1 (unlocks after thinking speed 50)
??? - Idlers 0/99, ??? - 0/1, ??? - 0/1 (unlocks after Senses 8)
Closing the system, John grabbed the tied bag opening and swung it over his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, he started to pull it towards town. The system told him the weight of the bag was estimated to be around two metric tons.
Skeletal Muscle's extra strength is really coming in handy right now! Lift with the knees and not the back!
John pulled the bag ever so slowly, each step he took sank into the ground about an inch from the weight of the bag. As he got within view of the town gate, the guards were shocked at what they saw.
One guard ran up to see what the commotion was. He saw John pulling the ludicrously sized bag and was stunned into absolute stupefaction. After a few seconds, he came out of it and told John that the bag was too big to fit inside the city entrance. The door was only fifteen feet by fifteen feet.
"No problem, it's all loose items inside the bag!” John reassured the guard. “It will shift to fit through, just get some people at the top to push the bag under the entrance. Whether you help me or not, I'm coming through."
The guard gritted his teeth for a few seconds, then ran back into the city. He decided he’d better get help, just in case. A dozen or so guards came out to help, standing a foot apart from each other above the entrance. They were armed with sticks to push the bag through.
John was on top of the drawbridge now, which was creaking so badly that he thought it would collapse underneath him. However, it managed to hold through and John kept going.
He crossed through the city entrance, and the bag did get stuck. The guards used their sticks and John pulled extra hard. The city walls shook whenever John pulled on the bag, dust was coming off the walls. Some guards even thought it was going to coming down!
By this point, half of the bag was inside the city already. John carried on pulling. Making his way down the narrow streets, now it was the houses’ and shops’ turns to get scraped. The bags trying to expand across the width of the street, but the buildings lining the path prevented it from doing so. Nowhere else to go, it extended upwards instead.
After the majority of the bag had passed through the gate, the bag now reached higher than the houses they passed. The sounds of tiles dropping onto the floor increased with every step, and John began to shout apologies for each broken edifice.
"I'll pay for that."
"Sorry about that."
"That one was already loose, to begin with."
John kept this up for about two hours as he made his way to the Guild Hall. The entire city had been blocked off because of him. No one could get in or out. People were trapped in their houses or various shops all along the road. Leaving his bag just outside, John strode into the Guild Hall with great presence.
Making a scene, John proudly carried himself to the middle of the hall where he stood atop a chair and yelled out.
"I need help to unload all this stuff! They’re items to complete some quests multiple times! I know how many are there, so I trust there will be no sleight of hands whatsoever! Anyone who helps will get paid, so don't worry about that! The more people that help, the faster this gets done! Then we can all carry on with our lives!"
With his voice still bouncing off of the walls of the hall, John returned to his bag that still sat outside of the Guild Hall. He found the opening of the bag and untied the knot, spreading it wide so that the contents were visible. With a wide smile, John waited for people to come help and opened up the system again.
Completed List:
Flesh Strength - Immunity and Placement
Organ Strength - Stomach Acid
Mind Strength - Memory
Continuous - Continue Option
Impurity Filter - Filter Option
Analyser Eye - Godly
Senses - Time, Sight and Hearing
Idlers Speed
Dismantler - Master Option
Directions - Map, Transparent and Icons
Absorption - Water
Vision - Night and Life
Storage - 1x, 10x and 100x
Sprinter - Reduction Cost
Chapter 22
Shopping
John was organising the people who decided to help out, and each person carried at least two items into the warehouse, after the staff checked it and wrote it down. Very soon piles of paperwork formed.
Hearing the commotion, Tom came downstairs. Upon seeing John for the first time in two years, the man felt a weight being lifted off of his shoulders. Tom had worried that something had happened to the Sider, and even secretly sent people to try to find information. After months of nothing, however, he had to give up.
Rehearsed smile returning to his tired face, Tom approached John and was about to speak up, when John began to address the crowd.
"There's a total of 326,967 Continuous Bear Hides and Gallbladders! 3,26,967 Claws at 10 per set and over 9,809,010 grams of the best part of the bear's meat!”
He took a deep breath and continued, the crowd absolutely gawking.
"With everyone helping, we'll get through this as soon as possible. I've already worked it out for you guild members, and the total I am to receive comes down to £26,155,000. I even rounded down for your sake!"
He turned around and saw Tom, his calm and composed demeanour absolutely failing to mask how pale-faced he was. If he squinted, John could almost make out a drop of sweat streaking down Tom’s cheekbone.
"Guild master, what's wrong? Don't tell me the Guild Hall can't afford it? I've already promised these workers their pay, and I can't pay them if I can't get paid by the guild."
John’s voice boomed through the hall, as if he just so coincidentally spoke loud enough for everyone to overhear. The workers stopped what they were doing and stared at Tom, their eyes turning into daggers.
"No, we got the money,” Tom recovered, speaking in just as loud of a voice. “You just took me completely by surprise, that’s all. I'll pay the amount directly into your Adventurer Account."
Even if Tom wanted to deny paying earlier, there was no way he could now.
"Wait, who dismantled all these bears? Was it someone the guild as approved of?" Tom eyed the evenly-cut corpses, almost admiring their work.
John clearly heard the man’s question, but didn't answer him. He pretended not to hear him and went to the counter to set up an Adventurer Account. From what he gathered, it was something like a bank that charged a service. Typically, no adventurer below a Rank B even needed one, which made for an annoyance when filling in some of the forms. A good amount of time later, he returned with a new ID card and passed it to Tom.
"Who was it that dismantled these?" Tom asked again, a hint of avarice bubbling through his friendly guise.
"A friend. Someone the guilds approved of. He doesn't want his name disclosed, though." John put on his best poker face. If Tom exposed that the dismantling job wasn’t done professionally, it could shave millions off of the total worth of his items.
"You do know,” words drawn out like syrup, Tom’s visage returned once more to a veil of impenetra
ble calm, “the consequences of lying about this, right?” Something about his gaze hardened, hinting at a seething frustration hidden deep within. “If proven that you are lying, the consequences would be quite grave.” His lips twinged the slightest bit at the words, “A fine of thousands... No, millions."
"Let the work speak for itself,” John did not waver. Two years ago, he might have shuddered under such an obvious threat, but he’d grown since the last time he’d been here. “Anyone here can see how each hide has no damage done to them. The claws still have the tips attached; the gallbladder hasn't burst, and even the meat is trimmed to the best part and whole.
"I only just learned how to skin before I left on this trip, there’s no way I could become so skilled in such a short amount of time, right? Two years is a long time but, it’s not THAT long," John smiled at the crowd, all of them were eating his words up like candy.
Tom had no ground left to stand. It was true, all the evidence pointed to the fact that a master must have dismantled these corpses. There was no way John could have become this good with only two years. Deciding to cut his losses and to go along with John’s word, Tom gave his approval.
After an hour, everything was sorted out. John's adventurer rank went from H to F because of the number of quests he did, in addition to surviving in the wilderness for two years, and the strength he had shown dragging a bag that weighed over 2 tons. To his dismay, he found that he needed to complete a unique quest to get to rank E.
John looked at his adventurer card.
Name: John
Age: 17
Rank: F
Quest's completed: 326,975
Money: £26,155,000
There were about 200 people who helped out, John gave each one £300, totalling to £60,000.
The first thing he purchased with his money was a copy of all the area maps the guild had for sale, whether they were close to this town or not. He pretended to put them inside the bag, but they went directly to his storage space. The system started scanning them one by one while in his storage.
There was a total of 975 highly detailed area maps from all around the world that the guild had mapped out. Each one costs £10.