It’s been a tough week. Everyday this week, Miles had joined in on the resistance training. He had joined in, so he was in it for the long haul now. It was harder than he thought it would be, and he was tired a lot yet he had a hard time falling asleep. Anytime he did manage to sleep, he woke up from nightmares of his arms getting burnt off. Despite all of that, it was also a fruitful week. He had finally gained meditation, just two days after resistance training started. Turns out actually having a need to calm his mind and soothe his soul helped to get the skill. Meditation really helped a lot to soothe his nerves, and he began meditating before bed every night. Then, 3 days ago, he finally gained Pain Resistance. Then the next day he got Lightning Resistance. All in all, he improved his skills a lot, gained three new skills, and rose by 5 whole levels. He checked his status.

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General Info:

Name: Miles Reamore

Class: [Child of Ateia / Linus Reamore (Sta)]

Race: Human

Level: 0th 57

Age: 8

Experience: 56 / 57

Health: 255 / 255

H. Regen: 3 / day

Stamina: 279.55 / 465

S. Regen: 4.5 / day

Mana: 90 / 90

M. Regen: 1.5 / day

Stats:

Strength: 50

Intelligence: 10

Constitution: 43

Willpower: 8

Alacrity: 40

Acuity: 20

Pending Stat Points: 0

Favored Skills:

Running 0th 51

Tumbling 0th 37

Jumping 0th 30

Spearmanship 0th 42

Footwork 0th 42

Thrust 0th 12

Skills:

Cleaning 0th 20

History of The First Empire 0th 14

Standard Language 0th 27

Empirical Language 0th 23

Mathematics 0th 32

Stealth 0th 3

Lightning Resistance 0th 12

Pain Resistance 0th 23

Meditation 0th 10

Skill wise, he gained the most levels in Spearmanship, Footwork, and the new Pain Resistance, with 25 levels in both his fighting skills and 23 in Pain Resistance. Getting the resistances didn’t make as much of a difference as he thought it would. In fact, it only gave 0.1% reduction. He did the math and even when he got it to max before he got to tier 1, it would only reduce the pain by 10%, which was far from the pain immunity that he was imagining.

In spear training with his Dad, he felt like he was making good progress with getting the parry skill for his quest, but they were reaching the end of the time limit. That’s why they were heading out for a hunting trip.

Right now, it was early in the morning, even earlier than their daily spear training. The sun hadn’t risen yet and Veca, the bright silvery-blue moon, was low to the west. Both Miles and his Dad had packs on their backs, packed with a water sack, a sleep roll, flint and steel, and a spare tunic. On his belt, he wore a knife and his pouch. What was really exciting was his brand new spear! Dad had given it to him just yesterday. Even now, Miles couldn’t help but admire its brasswood shaft, the wood a metallic golden brown, and a steel leaf-bladed head with a small set of wings below the blade. The wings resembled the nation's eagle. It was beautiful.

The plan was that they would be camping out for the night, and come back tomorrow. Mom had work today, but will be joining them in the woods tomorrow. So she saw them off at the front door. “Be safe, Miles.” She said, giving him a kiss on his cheek. “Listen to your father, and you’ll be just fine.” She hugged Dad. “Now you keep him in one piece until I get there, okay?”

“Of course, Love” His Dad said, giving Mom a kiss. They separated and Dad slapped Miles on the back. “Let's go, son! The day awaits.”

They made their way down the streets, heading west to the gates. Even in this early hour, Miles could see people here and there. A few of them were armored, carrying weapons like them. Those would be the adventurers! He watched them with interest. Because he felt he was pretty close to getting Analyze, Miles tried practicing it some more. They were a small group of four. One in full plate with a large shield, and he guessed he was some sort of Guardian Warrior at 2nd tier, focused on CON. Another wore a brigandine with leather armor for his arms and legs, he had a longsword. Miles guessed he was a Swordsman 2nd tier focused on STR and, from the way he moved, ALA. The other two were armored similarly, but had a bow or a staff. The parties Bowman and Mage. Miles guessed 1st tier, just because, and focused on ACU and INT respectively. The group looked like they were coming back from somewhere, their armor all muddied.

Adventurers were always going about the city, able to be picked out in any crowd. Miles thought they were cool, and he wanted to be an adventurer too! Mom and Dad used to be adventurers, until he was born. That was when they settled down and got their current jobs. But just imagining them fighting monsters was just way too awesome. He kinda knew what Dad could do, because they spared every day, but Miles had a hard time imagining what Mom would look like fighting. He didn’t know enough about her magic to picture it. He couldn’t wait to be an adventurer.

They left outside the western gate, and on the horizon Miles could see the treeline of the Brasswood forest. But before the forest, and as far as he could see to the left and right of the road, we're vast tilled fields and fields of growing crops. Dotted throughout were large farm houses or a field of cows or horses. As they walked on the country road, Dad explained what their goals for today were.

“Okay son, today our goal is to find some northern great worms to kill, or some goblins. Other than that, practice some skills! Your mom told me she already talked to you about some of the skills you could get on these hunting trips. Do you remember them?”

He thought back, trying to remember. “No, I only remember Hunting because it sounds cool.”

His Dad chuckled, “Well, that’s one of the skills we’re shooting for. The main reason we’re going hunting is, well first to have fun together, but also to get you some actual combat experience, which will get you some pretty good levels. On the side, we’ll start your learning on the skills: Hunting, Botanize, and Field Dressing. The three skills that most adventurers have. There’s no need to push hard on this though, because it’ll come with time during these hunting trips.”

“What do they do?”

“Hunting is a general boosting skill, it boosts any other skill that has to do with the hunt, but only while you’re hunting. So stealth, perception, movement, and even active attacking skills receive a small boost. This I think will be the easiest to get, because you already have stealth and footwork which helps.

“Botanize is one of the five information gathering skills. This one provides information on plant life.

“Field Dressing assists in, well, field dressing a carcass. Dissecting and getting all the useful bits of a creature is very important for an adventurer. Though if you have a bag of holding, and your Field Dressing level is low, you may just want to store the whole creature and take it to a professional.”

“Wait, I have, like, 20 questions.”

Dad laughed out loud, he seemed to be in a good mood. “Hit me.”

“First, what are the other information skills, and what do they do?”

“The five skills are: Analyze, which reads a part of a creature's Status Page. Appraise, which provides general information on items. Botanize, for plants. Geologize, for info on rocks and metals, and minerals. And lastly Identify, which provides information on magical things, like enchantments and spells.”

Miles thought about it, he was already learning Analyze but he never heard of the others until now. “Will I learn the other ones too?” he asked.

“You could, but our training for Tier 0 will only be Analyze and Botanize. If you want to learn them though, your Mom would be the best one to ask. She has all five of them, and she would know best.”

“Okay. Second question, you said that getting Hunting would be really easy because I already have Stealth and Footwork. But like, me and Aila have been playing and we try to teach each other our skills. She has a skill called Noble’s Posture, but I only level up Footwork when I try to learn it. Wouldn’t it make it harder to learn Hunting, not easier?”

“Well, how have you tried to get Noble’s Posture?”

“We place a book on our heads, and we’ve tried to run without it falling.”

Dad nodded, “I see what you mean. It all depends on the skills involved, what you have and what you’re trying to learn. For something general like Hunting, it covers a wide variety of things, Stealth and Footwork only overlap a small bit and synergizes well with Hunting but they’re not all that you’re doing while Hunting, and they help you do the other things involved. Meanwhile, Footwork and Noble’s Posture actually overlap a good deal. Both deal with moving with grace and not tripping over yourself. Because they overlap to such an extent, the system gives most of the experience towards Footwork. It’ll take you a very long time before you get the posture skill if you try it that way. You need to find how they don’t overlap. For example, sitting straight in a chair properly. Though I would say to keep trying. You never know what gifts the gods will give you.”

They continued talking together as they walked down the road. After a couple hours they eventually passed the farmland and the road turned south. To keep heading towards Brasswood, they had to turn off the road and through the countryside. There wasn't a set road, but a walking trail compacted by many feet. It took them another hour's walk to finally reach the tree line, but during this time his Dad would sometimes jog off the trail to pick a plant and he would bring it back to Miles to show him. After learning the names of each one, Miles tucked each one into his belt pouch.

By the time they finally reached the treeline, Miles was tired and starving. Luckily, his Dad called for a break. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” He said. “Let’s eat!” His Dad unslung his backpack and opened it up. He pulled out two linen wrapped sandwiches, made from the leftover meat from last night’s dinner and a nice olive tapenade. It was a bit heavy for a normal breakfast, but after the long walk, and the day he faced ahead of him it sounded perfect. He eagerly unwrapped his, and plopped down on a nearby rock, propping his spear on the tree next to him.

It made for a great sandwich, and with his hunger it might just be the best one he ever had. Apparently Dad agreed, he had his eyes closed, savoring the taste, and he muttered to himself “Gods, I love that woman.” but Miles overheard. He had to agree, he loved Mom too!

As they ate, Miles studied the brasswood trees curiously. They weren’t like any other tree he’s seen so far. These ones were golden-brown, with a slight metallic sheen to their bark. Are they made of brass? It would certainly explain the name. The weirdest part though was the leaves. They were turquoise, not green! These brasswood trees weren’t the only trees around, there were normal ones too, but all of the golden-turquoise trees gave the forest a magical feel to it.

After they finished eating, washing down their meal with water from their waterskins, his Dad made him wash his hands and face. “Don’t want to smell like food in the woods,” he said. “As we go in, I want you to keep your eyes open and aware of your surroundings, and when I say ‘quiet,’ I want you to stay still and quiet, ok?” Miles nodded in understanding, suddenly nervous again. “Alright! Let's see if we can hunt down something good to impress Mom.” They entered the Brasswood, following the same packed trail.

New Quest: Beginner Monster Hunter!

Task: Kill your first monster.

Time Limit: Today.

Reward: +1 STR.

Penalty: Quest failure.

“Wait, Dad! I got another quest! It says to kill my first monster, and I get a point in STR!”

“I was thinking you would get a quest like this, I had the same quest when I was learning to fight myself. With luck, we can complete both of your quests in one.”

The next hour was surprisingly uneventful, and far more casual than he expected. Despite being full of monsters, because of the sheer size of the forest, Dad said it would take them a little bit to come across their first tracks. He did see a couple of deer prancing away though. In the meantime, his Dad explained some of the forest etiquette practiced amongst the adventurers and foresters, and the basics on gathering herbs.

“In the Brasswood there are a variety of different herbs that can be found. For now, we will learn about the verdant daffodil,” His father said. They had been trekking off the beaten path and they stopped in a small clearing. He looked, and there was a patch of daffodils like his father said. They weren’t like the daffodils found in Aila’s gardens though. Instead of the colorful yellows, whites, and reds, they had deep green outer petals and a crimson center. His father picked one.

“You can eat these for a small rejuvenating effect,” he chomped down on the whole flower. “Or you can sell these to an alchemist and they can make health potions.” He picked another one and handed him the flower. “Here, you try one. They’re pretty sweet.”

Miles took one, and tried to eat it whole like his father had. It tasted warm and sweet, like he was drinking a warm glass of milk and honey. The warmth spread down his throat and chest. “These are so good!” he exclaimed. He went to pick another one, but his father stopped him.

“It’s not good to eat too many of them. You felt that warmth in your chest? If you eat too many of them with full health then you’ll become hot and uncomfortable. Plus, they’re worth a good bit of money.” He crouched down next to the flowers and motioned for Miles to do the same. “We might as well gather some to sell when we get back. When you’re harvesting a plant to sell an alchemist, you don’t just pick it. You have to use your knife to cut the stem. Something about internal energies, or ruining the essence. You’ll have to ask an alchemist for the specifics.” his Dad pulled out his knife and, almost gently, cut a couple of flowers. “Your turn.”

Miles pulled out his own knife and tried to mimic the way his Dad did it. Taking extra care, he gently cut away 3 more flowers. “Was that good?” he asked. He always loved learning about new skills, and this sounded like it’ll be another good one to learn.

“Perfect.” They stood up. “Alright, let’s continue on.”

He looked down at the remaining flowers in the field. “What about the rest of the flowers?” He asked.

His Dad shook his head. “We only need a couple of them. Many in the community depend on foraging in the forest, and if we strip it bare there would be no more flowers in the future and many will lose their livelihood. Also, there’s a rule in place by the guilds to not over harvest here.”

“Oh, ok.” disappointed, he sheathed his knife.

They continued on for a good bit longer, before his father stopped him and went into a crouch. Instantly, Miles was back on the alert, crouching next to his father, and readied his spear. He looked around, but couldn’t see anything. “Ok, Miles.” His father whispered to him. “There’s three kobolds up ahead. We’ve gotten lucky this time, all of them are tier 0. You will handle them yourself.” Miles blanched at the idea of facing all three of them. “Don’t worry, Miles. You are very strong for your age. You even have an active skill already. You can do this.”

“But there’s three of them! How can I fight them all at once?”

“They’re still a ways off. You have time to think. What can you do to even the odds?”

He thought a bit. “I could ambush them? Catch one off guard with a Thrust?”

Dad nodded. “Good thinking. Now go, before you run out of time to get in place.”

Miles crept forward in the direction his father had indicated. Stealthing in the underbrush of the forest, eyes sweeping back and forth. He still didn’t see them, so he crept forward a bit more.

Then, in between the trees, he saw them. Three ugly, scaled humanoids, in nothing but tattered loin clothes. They weren’t very big, in fact they were roughly the same size, if not smaller, than Miles himself. They were scaled and had faces long and angled, like a lizard’s, with a set of small horns. Two were wielding crude clubs and one with a small bow. The two with the clubs were somewhat bulkier than the archer, so Miles figured they focused more on Strength, and the archer on Alacrity. He hid behind the nearest tree, heart pounding. Luckily, it didn’t seem like they saw him.

He snuck another glance at the kobolds. They were heading his way!