by Shane Walker
The rest of the smaller pieces took almost no time to finish in comparison since there’s so little material. After all pieces are done, I lay them out on a table and receive the pop-up I hoped for.
Man of Crafts activated!
Quality increased by 40%
Defense increased to 7!
Chance of Natural Enchantment 40%!
Bonus 35% chance for using material from magical creature!
Natural Enchantment Success!
Calculating Enchantment…
Due to Creator’s skills and abilities plus nature of creature used for material, this has produced a Unique Item!
Jack of Clubs
Unique Armor
Quality: 40%
Defense: 7(Base 5)
Attribute Bonuses: +5 STR +5 AGI +10 INT
Skill Bonuses: +5 Dodge +5 Stealth +1 to Crafting Skills
El and I just stared at it for a few seconds before we look at each other, slack-jawed and bug-eyed.
Then we just scream in excitement!
“OH MY GOD, JACK, THAT IS THE BEST ARMOR I’VE EVER SEEN!”
“Really?” I asked, trying to hold in my own excitement so it doesn’t feed hers and make her any more hyperactive.
She calms down and gets incredibly serious on me suddenly.
“Jack, you don’t understand! The stat boosts are decent, but the fact that you get ten skill levels plus the crafting boost? That’s unheard of! You must have done something amazing in a previous life to build up the good karma for this.” she says.
“Yeah. I was a real saint. What can I say?” I reply with a nervous chuckle. I knew I’d done nothing in my life to deserve any good karma, but I wouldn’t turn down some good old fashioned dumb luck if it was going to help me on my path to riches.
I threw on the armor and it fit like a dream. It was like wearing regular clothing that didn’t restrict movement, but it was also as hard as steel. I could only imagine what it would be like if we’d used the hide of an adult dragon.
My next order of business was upgrading the mine. Now that it had finished its first week, I had way more points than I expected. Apparently the bonuses from my skill increases hit early enough this week to increase the overall weekly point production. I had 11,000 points! I brought up the menu again and looked over my options for a few minutes.
After deliberation, I first expanded the third floor. Through more dumb luck, it was a 100% expansion, which doubled my silver production. That left me with almost 4,000 points left. I expanded the rail system two more times to double the current effect. I didn’t have enough points for any additional upgrades I wanted so I banked them for now. Still, it was mind blowing to see how much it could grow in just a week!
The last things to handle were money. I went around to the various shops and started selling off loot wherever they would take it. With all my bonuses to the prices I could sell for, our loot sold for almost 7,000 gold! After taking my cut and paying debts and what I owed the miners, I had around 5,000 gold left. That wasn’t counting my mine’s first week of operations though! With the boost in production, I grossed over 11,000 gold from the first week. I paid the next week of wages for the mines and made an agreement with Poppil for him to just pay my workers out of whatever he’d give me normally after this week. This way I knew my people were always paid.
Nik and I said our goodbyes and promised to come visit again whenever we could. Nik would apparently be required to at some point in the future, but he didn’t know exactly when. It was something to do with further training.
With everything sorted financially for the time being, I relaxed in the wagon I was riding in to the human realms and took a look at my character sheet in its entirety for the first time in awhile. Plenty of growth for the first week and a half!
Jack Alltrades
14 Rogue
Alchemist
Smithy
Strength 25*
Agility 82*
Vitality 40*
Intellect 120*
Willpower 10
Endurance 39*
*=Modified by item
Skills
Gadgets & Trick Weapons 6
Light Armor 7
Short Swords 8
Dual-Wielding 10
Block 5
Parry 6
Dodge 20
Bluff 2
Haggle 20
Stealth 9
Lockpick 5
Tracking 4
Leadership 10
Perception 10
Skinning 12
Management 20
Mining 10
Daggers 5
Leatherworking 10
Glass Working 6
Alchemy 5
Herbalism 5
Smelting 5
Blacksmithing 5
Armorsmithing 6
Weaponsmithing 8
*=Modified by item
16-Human Resources
As it turns out, The Realms had a very interesting solution to the potential issues that players could face with traveling with NPCs the way we were. In a tabletop game, it was easy to just roll for random encounters since you didn’t have to sit at your dining room table/basement fold up poker table for three days while your party escorted the halfling princess or...whatever you were doing.
No one wants to sit in a wagon for three days in full immersion. Nor do they really want to log out and leave their characters as sitting ducks. Instead, travel was broken up into hops.
You could travel up to one day at a time to the nearest city. Miraculously, every city in the civilized lands had another one within a day’s travel. In our case, the human capital was two hops from Gnometheran.
In all honesty, it was an incredibly peaceful ride all things considered. I guess the group of gnomes guarding the wagons on each side kept most of the monsters at bay. I supposed this was a small blessing considering we were completely surrounded by heavily wooded areas that looked like perfect monster breeding grounds.
Not to mention the fact that I was still shaky about fighting even after giving myself a week of nothing but crafting. As much as I wanted to play it cool, I still wasn’t used to that sort of pain and was having difficulties coming to terms with it.
“I think that’s quite far enough, lads.” said the man suddenly standing in the middle of the path. He was a tall, well-built human in very dark clothing that was obviously covering armor of some kind. “I’d hate for the guards in the town to hear this transaction, eh?”
Of fucking course. Bandits.
The guards along our column moved to surround him but were quickly disarmed by several additional bandits coming from the woods around us. My quick count said five on each side. (And yes, I did learn to start counting enemies.) Eleven of these bastards had encircled us and I had a feeling fighting even a couple of them would be tough. They didn’t seem to be focused primarily on hurting or killing anyone right now, though that could change at any moment.
“Word is there’s a great deal of iron traveling in this caravan. Give it to us and you can walk on in peace. Otherwise, there’s bound to be problems. Isn’t that right, m’boys?” this of course came from the man in the road. The rest of the bandits whooped and cheered in response.
I’m pretty sure he had a “surprisingly well-spoken leader of a group of bandits” checklist he was running through, and by-god he was determined to hit every box. Well, if he was going to play the part of gentleman thief then maybe I could talk to them.
“Hey, fellas, not sure what you heard or where you heard it, but this is just a convoy of general goods. I’m the Adventurer in charge of it and it’s a bunch of cheap, normal shit.”
Bluff check failed!
“Oi, boss! It’s an Adventurer! Bet he’s got lots of pricey gear on ‘im. That armor looks extra valuable.”
Fuck. The armor.
“WHO THE FU-” the cry from the back was quickly cut off by a gurgling sound. Pretty much everyone there, whether gnome, bandit, o
r me, turned to look. And let me tell you, we were not expecting to see a girl in her late teens casually walking forward as she cleaned the blood off her rapier with a kerchief. Her eyes were set on the next bandit in line.
“Sorry to have used you fellas as bait, but I had to make sure I found this entire group. Bounty don’t pay up unless they’re all dead.” she said with a surprising southern drawl.
She kept her straight, black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and had a dark complexion that could be mistaken for a tan at a glance. I decided there was no way for me to make any sort of determination as to what her ethnicity was, so I didn’t try. It didn’t really matter, honestly. She was saving my ass so I decided to drop it and be grateful.
The next bandit went for a diagonal slash with his polearm hoping to take advantage of his superior reach, but she managed to step into the space the attack started from and thrust into his neck as he completed the motion.
Honestly, the efficiency of her movements were...terrifying. Nothing seemed to be wasted in how she combined her dodges and attacks. It was a humbling reminder of how bad at combat I was.
At the same time, it lit a fire inside me. A fire that might get me killed, but a fire and willingness to fight. I guess I should start easy with the guy with his back to me that was intently watching the newcomer.
You Sneak Attack Bandit for 58 damage!
You Sneak Attack Bandit for 58 damage!
You have slain Bandit!
Holy fuckballs, these daggers hit hard. And it looks like this unlucky bastard wasn’t even wearing armor! The next guard turned to see me standing over his now dead coworker and was not pleased. He was certainly bigger than the one I just took out -his hammer and bulk just screaming HP.
You dodge Bandit’s attack!
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
Two attacks in rapid succession in response to his wild swing of the hammer, and based on the daggers’ attack speed I’d get two more in before he swung again.
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
“STAY STILL YOU WIRY FUCK!”
Oh, crikey! He’s getting pissed now! Then again, I would be too if I was missing every attack and getting hit for 100 damage in such a short amount of time.
You dodge Bandit’s attack!
His hammer wooshed a few feet over my head as I ducked the horizontal strike. I was starting to have some nasty flashbacks and didn’t feel like dragging this out anymore.
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
Holy shit this big bastard is still up!
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
He was already dazed from blood loss, so it was I figured I could get enough damage on him to finish him off. This time I remembered my arm crossbow and opened with that.
You hit Bandit for 18 damage!
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
You hit Bandit for 29 damage!
You have slain Bandit!
Holy shit, that big fucker must have had almost 300 HP! Well, it’s safe to say I’d have been screwed without the new daggers.
Bandit hits you for 50 damage!
The spear came out of nowhere. I looked up and the bandit staring at me was lean and dangerous. Somehow, he gave off the danger vibe more so than his big, deceased friend.
You’d think I could handle a spear by now. Oh that’s right. The last spear users I fought were basically rat kids that barely knew which end was pointy. Still, why is this guy giving me the heebie-jeebies?
Oh, fuck. I can see level and class info now. Obviously, combat is not my thing right now.
Name: Unknown (Bandit)
Class: Level 17 Fighter
Job: Level 3 Hoplite
Well, that certainly explains it! He’s a higher level. He’s also got a combat Job that he’s leveled up. Fuuuuuuuck.
“You might want to get out of here before he runs you through. Feel free to go polish those pretty little knives of yours or something. I’ll take care of this small fish for you.”
I looked up and the girl that’s been mowing down the bandits on the other side had made her way to me and my new friend. She had an incredibly athletic build and had that sort of simultaneously loose but ready look of a large cat waiting to strike at any moment. Finally she was in range of my ability to see her info and…
Name: Destreza
Race: Human
Class: Level 2 Fighter
Job: Level 18 Dueling Champion
What the fuck? Alfred, how can someone get a combat specialization at such a low level?
SCHIKT
I looked up while I waited on his response just to see a rapier running clean through spear boy’s neck. He probably should have gotten more training with that thing...
“According to the information I found on her Specialization, she earned it by winning a Dueling tournament rather than gaining the standard Duelist specialization through stats and skills.”
SHE WON AT LEVEL TWO?
By the time I was done wrapping my head around it, I saw she’d made her way to the leader of the pack. As the fight started, I was amazed by how well he was doing compared to his men! This long into the fight, they’d have already died. Not their fearless leader, though! He was just missing an ear, three fingers, and bleeding from three major arteries!
Good for you, Bandit Man!
After the fight reached its inevitable conclusion, I slowly approached Destreza to try to get more information about how she did what she did.
“I already know what you’re thinking and what you plan to ask. You had shock written all over your face once I was a certain distance from you. To be honest, it’s really nothing special, man. I still don’t feel like telling the story though. This bounty won’t turn itself in while I chat.” she said without really looking up. She’d found a spot on the side of the road to sit and clean her rapier.
It was a pretty basic weapon the more I looked at it. Not sure why, but I guess I assumed she had a nice one and the sword did a lot of the work. This thing looked like starter gear.
“How much do those bounties pay?” I ask, looking for my in.
“Five gold per bandit killed but it’s double if they’re wiped out.” she replied with a turned-up chin and a look of pride.
I tried not to scoff. I’m sure it could be good money for someone as efficient as she is.
“How many of these can you get done in a week?” I asked, trying to feel out her current monetary situation.
Destreza narrowed her eyes slightly but still gave me the information. “With tracking the groups to try getting them all at once, I can usually hit about three ten-man groups each week.”
“Three hundred gold a week? That’s pretty good. I’ll offer you an even 1000 a week. How’s that sound?” I asked, throwing out the bait.
The amount appeared to strike her as completely absurd because she just started laughing. After a moment, though, it gave way to suspicion.
“OK, how the hell could you afford that and what the fuck would you be asking me to do?” she finished the sentence with a tightened grip on her rapier as if I was going to ask something very untoward of her.
“Well to answer your first, let’s say I’ve lucked out on a continuous source of income that will only grow. In fact, it’s one I’m heading to the capital to improve upon. Thanks for saving our asses by the way.” I vaguely explained, remembering to throw in a nice “thank you” in there too.
She simply shrugged at that. I guess she wasn’t exactly doing it specifically for my benefit.
“As for your second question, I want two things. First, I want to know what sort of crazy ass build you’re running that’s letting you one shot these guys so easily and let you win a tournament at level two. Second, I want you to work for me. After how this went, I clearly need a bodyguard. I’d like for you to stic
k with me and protect me.”
“Well, as far as my build goes, it isn’t what let me win, but it helped.” she says with a smile. “As you probably saw if you saw my level, I’m a Fighter. I took a trait that swaps the per level Strength bonus with the Agility bonus, one for bonus Agility, and one for bonus Endurance.
When I got my level-up bonus, it all went into Agility. I do a lot of fencing in real life, so it was easy to build up the skills for it here. I just didn’t get any good bonuses with the rapier at first. Until I got the Champion Job, it was a matter of my own, real skill.” She stopped to polish the blade lovingly for a bit before continuing.