Today was the third day of my self-training. My skill inventory had increased a little and my mastery for those skills had increased a considerable amount.

Skill Windows - Ikite Dorau

Name Meditation

Rarity Uncommon Type Stamina Regeneration Increase Power Level 0 Activity Level Active Mastery 27% Information Information: A skill that, when used, increases the amount of stamina gained per second by 10%. Every 5% mastery increase, stamina gained per second increases by an additional 1%. Current stamina gain increases by: 15%. Name Shortsword Attack Style

Rarity Basic Type Weapon Technique Power Level 6 Activity Level Passive Mastery 24% Information A basic shortsword attacking technique. Must have a shortsword to be used. Power level may scale with the quality of short sword used. Increases damage done by short sword. Name Fist Fighting Style Rarity Basic Type Melee Fighting Technique

Power Level 6 Activity Level Active Mastery 39%

Information

A very basic fighting style that uses your fists to harm enemies. When mastery level increases, moves may be unlocked.

Name Overcome Hardships Rarity Rare Type Attack Buff

Power Level 8 Activity Level Passive/Active only in certain situations Mastery 1%

Information

A skill that gives you a x1.5 strength and constitution bonus when health goes below 20%. As mastery increases, buff may increase.

Name Blow Darts Rarity Uncommon Type Ranged Attack Technique

Power Level 3 Activity Level Passive Mastery 6%

Information

The skill that enables the user to shoot a blow dart out of a pipe accurately. A basic long range attack not many use that works mainly by ambushing. As mastery increases, accuracy and power level may increase.

Name Burnt Out Rarity Basic Type Stamina Regeneration

Power Level 0 Activity Level Passive/Active only in certain situations Mastery 3%

Information

A skill that has a 50% chance to give you back 25% of your stamina once it reaches zero. Amount of stamina regenerated increases by 5% every 5% mastery.

Name Whip: Weapon Style Rarity Rare Type Weapon Attack Technique

Power Level 2 Activity Level Passive Mastery 2%

Information

A skill that enables the user to use a whip as a weapon. Doesn't do much damage and cannot penetrate through hard exteriors. As mastery increases, power level and accuracy may increase.

So far, so good. However, I was starting to get a little concerned about actual fighting and getting stronger. How were these skills and mastery going to help me in an actual fight or a real world situation?

That is why I decided to spend today trying to, on top of gaining more skills, gain experience points by hunting.

Before I left though, Percy told me that Mei had some interesting items I could buy with what little coin I had, which was why I now stood in front of that familiar little shack.

As if by magic, the cherry wood door swung open by itself, a burnt smell floating out of the shack.

“Hello! Is everything alright in there Mei?”

Cough cough!

Mei tottered out into the street coughing like she had a frog stuck in her throat, a dazed look and silly grin plastered on her face.

“Whoopsies! Might have done a bit of an oopsie!”

She collapsed into my arms and I let out a small sigh.

“What did you do now?”

Unfortunately, she couldn’t reply because she had passed out.

* * *

I set her down on a bench just outside her home and went inside to investigate what had happened.

From what I could infer from the accident scene, it appeared as if she had exploded something that let out a whole lot of smoke. I don’t make a very good detective, I know.

Fortunately for me, she had regained consciousness by the time I came back out. She was rubbing her eyes and yawning, as if just woken up from a peaceful nap.

“So you want to tell me what happened in there?”

Mei opened her eyes and wearily looked up at me.

“Huh? What are you doing here? Aren’t you the weirdo with the console fairy?”

Did she just call me a weirdo? Had she seen herself?

“I came here to purchase some items from you, but you seemed to have a little… accident.”

This time, she was fully awake before she replied.

“Oh yeah, that thing. I didn’t realise it was a bomb until it exploded.”

I sighed and face palmed. Hard. How was she still alive if she was this stupid?

“Anyways, I think the storm has passed. Why did you have a bomb anyways?”

Her face transformed into a mask of confusion.

“Huh? I told you, I didn’t know it was a bomb.”

“But that doesn’t explain why you had it?”

At this point, I was getting frustrated and annoyed at her so I decided to just let it go.

“Anyways, are you open? I need to buy some stuff quickly because I’m wasting precious training time.”

“Oh yes, Percy came over just now and told me that you might need to buy some things for your… expedition I guess? Just come on in!”

Hopping off the bench, she skipped inside her home like a bomb hadn’t just exploded in her face. I, on the other hand, had to tread carefully to avoid stepping on random items scattered across the floor.

“So what do you need? Anything specific in mind?”

Being so concerned about whether or not my measly amount of money was going to be enough, I had actually managed to forget to think about what I was going to buy. Oh hell, I was beginning to sound a little like Mei.

“Uh, any recommendations? I’m a scavenger class that uses a short sword, blow darts, my fists and a whip.”

Mei pondered over this for a moment, still leading me further inside her home. How big was her house anyways? Last I was here I only saw the tiny room close to the front entrance.

“Well, let’s see your gear first?”

I nodded and showed her my substandard weapons. She looked at them individually, touching them, shaking her head and nodding at some. After a few minutes, she addressed me about my current gear.

“So all of your weapons are basically beginners weapons. To put it bluntly, they’re really bad.”

“Wait, but a level 70 Imp Assassin was using this whip. Surely he wouldn’t use it if it were really bad?”

Mei brushed it off as fast as fast as she had woken up.

“Well, that’s your problem. I’m no weapon’s master or blacksmith, this is just my, a common mage’s, advice.”

Not exactly common.

“So this is what I can do for you. Remember that room you were in the other day? The one where I merged you with your console?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“There’s some items in that room that may help you improve, along with some over here.”

She gestured towards a dusty table lined with a brown cloth. The table itself was white, with intricate carvings decorating the legs. A tapestry with a gold pattern hung from under the table. Overall, it didn’t fit in with the look of a mage’s home. On it were some distinct objects, covered in another layer of dust which I examined quickly.

Item Window

Name Knuckle Dusters Grade C+ Durability 30/30 Use Increases attack damage when fighting with fists Abilities Spike Information

These knuckle dusters are great for people who use some form of Fist Fighting Style. Their ability, spike, makes invisible spikes appear from the tips, increasing damage and penetration.

Name Ring of Increased Experience Grade B+ Durability 20/20 Use Gives increased experience when worn Information

A rare ring that allows the user to gain 10% extra experience when equipped.

Wow, a grade B+ item! This ring was by far the best quality item I had seen so far. It was yellow in colour, with a small blue gem embedded at the top of it that sparkled through the dust. The knuckle dusters seemed to be really useful too.

“Hey Mei, are you giving these to me?”

She jumped away from me and scrunched up her face into one of despair, as if I had just said that her mother had died.

“What??? Of course not! How could you even ask such a question? Do you think I’m a charity or something?”

I raised an eyebrow and sighed. So she was this dramatic too? These bad qualities were stacking up.

“Ok, ok, sorry for asking. How much are they? I’ll buy them.”

Immediately, her posture changed and the prices flew out from her mouth.

“45 coins for the knuckle dusters and 70 for the ring.”

My mind exploded. Just simple items like this were worth so much money? Oh dear, it looked like I was right to be worrying if I had enough. I didn’t think it could get worse, but it did.

“Another 25 coins for the snake head handle, 40 coins for the bone pearl, and 80 coins for the werewolf heart!”

I couldn’t believe my ears. She thought I, a beginner player, could afford all of these items? But she still wasn’t done.

“So adding them all up, it’ll be 260 coins. I’ll give you a small discount of 2% because you’re buying this many…”

“Stop! I can’t afford any of this! I only have 60 coins!”

“Well, well, well. That just won’t do, would it? How about this.”

She winked at me and took off her hat.

“Since you’re so poor, how about you pay me later and I’ll give these to you in advance. Also, I’ll have you complete a little quest for me? It’ll have it’s own rewards, of course.”

“I-”

I didn’t know what to say, had she been playing with me this whole time? Was she actually really nice and generous like Percy?

“I know, I know. ‘You’re so kind, Mei’, ‘I love you Mei’, ‘I’ll be your test subject Mei’. Stop, stop. I’m getting squashed underneath all these lovely ‘thank you’s’. I realise I’m the best and…”

Oh god. The drama queen was back.

Regardless, I was still in debt to her for offering to help me out.

“Say, Mei. What do I need these items for anyways? I can tell why I need the knuckle dusters and the ring, but not the others.”

“The snake head handle is kind of useless, but I can merge it with your short sword to increase damage by one. Who knows, it might even give it a poison ability. The bone pearl is… useless, except you can use it as a distraction or bait, and it gives off good light. The werewolf heart is the good part. If you put aura into it, it’ll summon a werewolf which you can kill for EXP once you’re good enough. It gives a decent amount and can be resummoned once you kill it. However, you can’t extract the aura from it, if not the heart won’t drop again.”

“Extracting aura? What’s that?”

Mei doubled over laughing at me like I had just said the funniest thing in the whole world.

“Ha! I forgot you were a noob. Extracting aura is the best way to gain EXP, dummy. To extract something’s aura, you have to get to the dead body before it disappears and use the skill ‘Extract’ on it, which you can learn from…”

She pulled up a chair and rummaged around the top of a large cupboard filled with what looked like a whole bunch of scrolls. Pulling out a grey, half torn scroll, she jumped off the chair and placed it on the table.

“Here! Just read what’s on the scroll aloud and you’ll gain a new skill, Extract!”

My mouth gaped open and I shook my head in disbelief. I had spent hours trying to gain new skills, when all I had to do was find some of these scroll things and read them aloud to get them? Next time, I told myself, I would actually ask before just going off to do things on my own.

Turning my head towards the text on the scroll, I frowned. What was this… language? It certainly wasn’t english.

“Mei, what’s this language and what are these words?”

“Hmm? I was kidding, you can’t read that language. Even though the game system links everyone and everything together to speak one tongue, that’s a tongue that isn’t spoken. It’s a form of enchantment, on the scroll. All you had to do was to hold the scroll and say whatever you thought those scribbles meant, then you’ll gain the skill! The way it works is, the scroll will pick up your intentions and force those enchantments onto you.”

“Uh, ok. So what do I say? Just anything? Like-”

A soft, visible blue aura lit up the scroll, it’s scribbles suddenly coming alight with that same blue colour. I watched as a fragment of that blue aura broke off from the rest and floated into my body. A notification appeared in the top left corner of my vision.

Notifications

You have learned Extract.

Skill Windows - Ikite Dorau

Name Extract

Rarity Uncommon Type Designated Move Power Level 0 Activity Level Active Mastery 0% Information A skill that, when used, drains all of the aura from the target and turns it into experience points (stops the target from despawning). Once used, the target will no longer drop items. Requirements: Target must be dead.

“Woah.”

That was the coolest thing I had seen in my entire time in the Afterlife.

“So how much more experience would I get by using this skill?”

“Oh, about like ten times the normal amount? You won’t get any loot from it though, and it’s dead body won’t despawn.”

Ten times! Nice! However, I had more things I wanted out of this occasion.

“So are there any other skills I can learn in there?”

I eyed the top cabinet greedily. Who knew how many more amazing skills lay up there, unused?

“Uh uh, Ikite. You’re not getting any more unless you pay for them and, unless you already forgot, you’re in my debt.”

Mei crossed her arms and attempted to block my vision of the cupboard, unsuccessfully.

“Anyways, weren’t you supposed to be in a rush or something?”

She clicked her fingers and the objects I hadn’t purchased magically appeared in her arms.

“These are all of the items. Just pass me your sword and I’ll merge it with the handle in a second.”

The objects clattered onto the table noisily and I winced at the sound.

“Mei, can’t you be a little more careful?”

“I could, but I don’t care!” She replied brightly

Groaning, I grabbed my designated items and put them in the small haversack I had handily equipped myself with in preparation for this moment.

As I was storing my newly acquired items, I watched as a yellow light filled the room, originating from Mie’s hands.

“Merge!”

The handle and my sword fused magically together, a new item window appearing over it.

Item Window

Name Snake Sword Grade C+ Durability 55/55 Restrictions 5 Strength Damage 9 Abilities Poison, Suicide Information

A fusion of a low quality shortsword and a snake head handle. The result? A mediocre sword with increased damage and poison ability! The ability, poison, has a 25% chance to give the victim of the blow the poisoned effect.

The snake sword’s handle was exactly the same as the snake head handle, but the blade of my shortsword had turned greenish with a scale-like pattern.

“Woah.” I was amazed. This was my first decent weapon and I was looking forward to trying it out.

“Thanks so much for everything Mei!”

Just as I was about to go, she reminded me of one last thing I had to do.

“Before you go Ikite, I need you to bring back three golden sparrow’s claws for me. Do that and I’ll reward you with some EXP!”

Another notification, this time a quest one, popped up into my vision.

Notifications

You have received the quest Gather Ingredients!

Quest Notification

Information Mei, the local mage, has asked you to bring back three golden sparrow's claws for her to experiment on. Quest Difficulty Easy Quest Conditions Collect three golden sparrow's claws and give them to Mei. Quest Rewards 400EXP Failure to Complete Quest

Mei will be extremely dissapointed in you and might throw a tantrum.

Wow, so players could also set quests for other players? Mei must have noticed my confusion because she quickly explained the process of quest giving.

“Quest giving is basically like trading. Think of it more like a task set to you by someone. If someone asks you to do something for them, the game system will automatically calculate the difficulty of that task for the person receiving it. Then it’ll create a reward suited to that difficulty level. Once the quest is completed, the EXP and rewards will be taken from the quest giver and given straight to the quest receiver! Quests like these usually have a money reward in it for the player, and can be used by employers to pay their employees.”

Damn, that was really cool. I was starting to think perhaps if we had this kind of system in my previous life, people would have had a much easier time at work.

“Once again, thanks for all your help Mei. You’re really not that bad, after all.”

“Not that bad! Not that bad! I’ll show you bad! Get out of my house this instant!”

The drama queen had returned.

* * *

(Day 4)

I had quickly found out that the most common animals to hunt in the forest were the orange hares, burgundy sparrows and the giant devil ants.

Because I was prioritizing levelling up, I couldn’t afford to not use Extract on the creatures that I killed. The majority only dropped items worth one or two coins anyways.

The previous day (or what was left of it by the time I made it out of Mei’s shop) had been spent falling into a rhythm of punching or slashing whatever came into my way during my time in the forest. Luckily for me, the orange hares (lvl 5) and burgundy sparrows (lvl 6) spawned rather quickly, allowing me a few minute intervals before I met one or the other.

I would spend this time changing weapons from my fists, to my sword, to my whip. The sword did the most damage by far, but I switched my attack methods to try and conserve the durability.

Both species of animal were relatively easy to kill, and gave me a decent amount of experience points with Extract. However, after a couple of hours grinding, the corpses became a problem. They had begun to stack up and attract some other predators that I wasn’t able to kill as easily.

These were the giant devil ants.

Giant? Yes. Each one was about my hip height and about a metre long. Deadly? Yes indeed. I almost lost my legs once or twice, thanks to their unnaturally fast movements and their snapping mandibles. To top it off, they had a protective shell covering the majority of their body, preventing me from using my blow darts against them.

I was forced to rely on my pure strength to crack their shells and my sword which durability was dropping fast. However, they did drop a lot of EXP and some useful loot, in the form of consumables that boosted my strength.

It was just about halfway through the second day when I spied my first golden sparrow. It flew high above the trees, the light catching it’s brilliant gold feathers.

Fortunately for me, my sense and dexterity were quite high, allowing me to jump from tree branch to tree branch while keeping it in sight.

My whip, surprisingly, became useful for the first time in a while. While running along the forest roof, I managed to catch the poor thing's wing with a flick of my whip. The sparrow came crashing down into the forest floor, dead from the impact.

Beautiful it was, but protected it was not.

I felt a little guilty at killing such a stunning creature, but when I saw the drops, something came over me.

I practically squealed in excitement as I watched two golden claws drop from the loot bag. On top of that, three golden feathers dropped too, which I bet were worth a lot. They all glinted in the midday light beautifully and I thought that a feather would make a great emblem on my shirt, so I asked Kimi to make a note to stitch it on later.

The fruits of the past day had been a two level increase, sixteen orange rabbit hides, four sparrow’s claws, fourteen sparrow’s feathers, nine giant devil ant’s mandibles, ten giant devil ant’s legs, two golden sparrow claws and three golden sparrow’s feathers.

Still dancing in happiness, I failed to notice that the bird’s noises had disappeared and the familiar treading of bunnies could no longer be heard.

A large figure loomed over me, concealing me in it’s shadow.

I froze and turned slowly around, only to come face to face with a truly giant giant devil ant.

“Well this is awkward.”