March 23, 5319 A.A.

"Yeah" Mark answered, "I guess I'll be a craftsman"

Please select your two starting class skills.Architect

Armorer

Blacksmith

Bowyer

Carpenter

Cartwright

Cobbler

Engineer

Engraver

Goldsmith

Jeweler

Leatherworker

Mason

Shipwright

Silversmith

Tailor

"Woah, ok. what now? What skills should I take?"

"You don't have to speak to the menus, you can touch them and it's generally preferred for privacy. We need a carpenter, we have quite a few houses that need building and not much time to do it in. As for a second, we don't have a Bowyer and you will already be working with wood, so you should take that on as well."

"Carpentry I might be able to figure out, with alot of help, but I don't know a damn thing about bows... how the hell am I supposed to make one?

"Liam learned the basics in case he ever had the chance to take to the craft, but I also have a book on the subject. However this isn't a discussion Marcus, a carpenter and bowyer is what we need."

"Alright, I guess." Mark clumsily tapped on the Bowyer and Carpentry options, surprised at how the semi-transparent window was solid to the touch. As soon as he finished, two new windows appeared in its place.

Player MenuNameMarcusRaceHumanPrimary ClassCraftsmanTitleSecondary ClassFactionChilton VillageStatsLevel1Age28Health10Defense10Regeneration10Resistance10Endurance10Mana0Strength10Agility10Intelligence10Wisdom10Charisma10Leadership10Craftsmanship10

Skill MenuClassSkillsLevelStatBonusCraftsman0H/E/S/I/Cr0Bowyer0Endurance0Carpenter0Strength0

"Alright... so level 1, 10 points in everything except mana, and all skills at zero." Marcus glumly observed.

"Alright, off with you. Liam is our craftsman. He might be an ass, but he's a damn good carpenter and mason. Now it's miss Alexandra's turn."

"I'm not leaving. She's my wife."

"Do as you wish. Just be quiet, this is for her to decide. Alexandra, what did you use to do, and what skills do you have? Can you cook? Sew?"

"I AM a nurse, dead or not that hasn't changed. And I've never sewn a single stitch in my entire life. I don't intend to start now." Alex huffed.

"That's unfortunate. A nurse... maybe. How would you feel about being a cleric? Our god doesn't have much magic power to spare, so a holy healer who knows her way around wounds would be far more practical."

"I'm not religious, my parents always tried to drag me to church as a girl, but it never took."

"Hah! How about a god you can touch, and speak to? In Valheim, our gods are very, very real. Regardless it will be more a contract than anything else. Are you willing to represent Vidar in exchange for the power to heal?"

"Maybe. Is it really that simple?"

"It is, he is in the small chapel, just ahead" Dorian spoke as he pointed to a larger cabin than the rest, situated near the center of the settlement. "You may go and speak with him yourself. Just let Loretta know you are there to strike a deal with Vidar." Both Mark and Alex began to walk towards the chapel, however Mark was stopped by Dorian's hand planted firmly on his chest. "Not you. No one meets with Vidar except myself, and his priests. You have loitered long enough, it is time to get to work."

"I'm not leaving my wife!"

"Mark, it's alright. I can take care of myself. I'll be fine. Have fun with Liam." Alexandra teased.

"I... Alright. I'll see you soon."

Alexandra continued her steady stride to the plain chapel, and Mark was herded back towards Liam, who was back at work chopping logs. As he watched, he realized that Liam was not merely chopping firewood. The handle of the axe was nearly two thirds of his height, but that was all that was normal. The axe head was nearly four times as large as it should have been, the blade must have measured 14 inches along the edge. Mark couldn't imagine hefting such a monster, but the shirtless craftsman swung it in a seemingly effortless motion. The wood he was chopping was three foot tall sections of trunks sawn from the nearby monolithic trees. He lifted each massive cylinder of hard wood onto the chopping block with practiced ease, then swung his brutal axe to cleave his target. The wood gave way cleanly under the mighty blow, splitting perfectly along the line of his cut. The lumber almost looked as if it had been passed through a sawmill. He shifted his stance around the chopping block, and brought the axe down again, splitting one of the halves. He continued chopping until he was left with about two dozen boards, rough 4x4s, all three feet in length. At this point, Liam couldn't pretend to ignore Mark's presence any longer. "What the hell do you want outlander? I made myself clear. The old man might have summoned you, but you are not welcome here."

"I am a new craftsman. Mr. Riles said I am to learn from you. What are you doing? How do you swing such a large axe so easily?"

"You know nothing of this world. You think this axe is impressive?"

"Of course. I couldn't lift one half that size, let alone use it!"

"I am not strong. You are simply weak."

"Oh... Sorry."

"You think you can be a craftsman? You want to learn from me?"

"If you will teach me, yes. It's been a long time... but I used to enjoy the feeling of making something with my own hands."

"What skills did the old man assign you?"

"Carpenter and Bowyer."

"The work will be hard. We don't have time for days off. And weak or not, I won't go easy on you. This is a matter of survival. What you do after dark is your business, but from dawn till dusk you are mine. If you don't pull your weight, you will have your rations cut, or be banished from the village"

"Damn, you're serious aren't you?"

"Very. We barely survived this winter, and even the craftsman like myself had to go hunting. We have no food to spare on dead weight. Even our children work. A six year old is stronger than you are now, and eats far less. Decide now, are you determined?"

"There's no choice. It's work or die. I'm in." Mark sighed as he resigned himself. He wanted to give up, to cry. This was insane. But he couldn't abandon Alex. They were here together, and he had chosen this place because he was a coward. He was weak, but for her, he could endure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the sun dipped low over the western mountains, Mark collapsed for the seventh time. For his first days training Liam had shown no mercy. As the experienced craftsman continued to cut the lumber down, he had Mark chop the scraps for firewood, stack the rough boards in an orderly pile, and the rest of his day was spent sawing through much larger sections of trunk to be made into planks. Liam allowed no breaks except for a light lunch of coarse bread and dried meat or when Mark collapsed from exhaustion. No words of comfort or concern, and no aid was ever given. Liam merely checked to make sure he had truly worked till he dropped, and then ignored him until he had rested just barely long enough to recover before driving him on. If he didn't immediately rise, Liam bombarded him with verbal abuse and threats. After the first time, he learned that Liam knew exactly when he was strong enough to stand again. As mark lay limp in a pile of sawdust, focused only on the sun which teased him as it kissed a mountain with its blazing edge, Liam walked over to inspect him. "You are weak, but that will change with time. If you check your status windows, you will understand. If you work like this every day, I might be able to make use of you. Finish chopping the rest of this scrap into firewood you are free to go. I need to speak with the loggers about what we need now that I have you to deal with." Leaving him with that, Liam fetched a gray linen shirt from his house, and walked off towards the south gate. After regaining his breath, Mark lay down and enjoyed the break Liam's absence allowed him. When he finally felt at ease, he pushed himself up, and slouched against his chopping block.

"Show status window?" Mark mumbled, not sure of the command

Player MenuNameMarcusRaceHumanPrimary ClassCraftsmanTitleSecondary ClassFactionChilton VillageStatsLevel1.08Age28Health10.3Defense10Regeneration10Resistance10Endurance10.3Mana0Strength10.35Agility10Intelligence10.3Wisdom10Charisma10Leadership10Craftsmanship10.3

Skill MenuClassSkillsLevelStatBonusCraftsman3H/E/S/I/Cr0Bowyer0Endurance0Carpenter5Strength0

It took him a moment to notice in his exhausted state, but his stats had risen, ever so slightly. His skill skill remained at zero, but his carpentry and craftsman levels had risen, and their stat attributes had increased along with them. He understood exactly why he was so weak now, and why Liam claimed a child would be stronger. All his stats were at zero, but a child who grew up in this world could have chosen a profession and even if they only worked on it occasionally, their stats would still rise over time. He had a late start, and the only way to overcome this shortcoming was hard labor. As he sat staring at the village around him, another outlander appeared in the town center, in the exact same spot he had arrived. This new arrival wasn't the first. They had been arriving throughout the day. This man was the twelfth including himself and Alex. Mr. Riler was sitting on a wooden chair nearby, and rose and began his practiced speech. He was some distance away, and so couldn't hear everything, but this new arrival apparently had experience in virtual reality games, and wished to be a hunter. The old man was gleeful that he had a volunteer for a risky combat role, and failed to mention the terrible monsters lurking in the woods. Liam had told him enough throughout the day. He didn't speak much, but seemed almost gleeful to tell Mark about how horrible this world could be. Dire wolves, iron bears and gremlins were the most common around here, but worse lurked off in the shadow of the hills. As he watched the one-sided conversation, a woman with auburn hair in a white robe wandered down the road from the chapel. In his exhaustion, he didn't recognize her at first, but as she came closer, he snapped out of his detached trance.

He rushed to rise, but got up too quickly for his fatigued body, and immediately collapsed again, drawing a laugh from the new arrival. His wife rushed to his side, her face wrought with worry. He got up as quickly as he could to reassure her, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just exhausted."

"What happened to you? you look dreadful."

"Hah, thanks. Really though, Liam is just a tough teacher. Reminds me of your stories of Coach Lennard from your track days in high school."

"That's horrible. We just got here, and after everything we've been through..."

"Enough about me, that's just how it is. Tell me about the chapel, but I better get back to chopping while I still have some strength left." Mark tried to redirect the conversation back to happier things as he picked up his axe again.

"What! You just collapsed and you still aren't done!"

"I just have to finish this last pile... please just tell me about your day. I'll be done soon enough."

"Alright, just be careful." Alex pleaded "First I guess there's Loretta. She's nice, but she is used to being the only cleric and doesn't seem to appreciate the competition. A village this small having their own patron deity is very rare apparently, and as Vidar's only representative she has quite a bit of power here. Luckily, it wasn't her decision. Vidar is interesting. He looks almost human, but his eyes are gold and his skin has a faint glow. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but he is a very kind man- well, I guess he is a god not a man. Either way, he was kind. Most of his questions were about how I could help the village, and what I would do with his power if he gave it. I could feel that he would know if I lied, but apparently he liked my answers. He was also very curious about Earth, and asked alot about my experience as an ER nurse. Then he asked me to teach Loretta what I know, which I still haven't gotten around to telling her because I know she's going to HATE having to let me show her something. After that he made me a Cleric, I took triage and blessing as my skills, and the system gave me adept Nursing because of my experience, with subskills caretaker and healing hands."

"What?" Mark stopped his chopping mid-swing. "You started with an extra skill at 500? Liam said that takes YEARS to get to adept, not to mention the subskills!"

"Yeah, it's called nursing school, 5 years experience, and night classes at medschool. Already did the work."

"I never thought that might work... Why did my craftsman skills all start at zero then?"

"Because you were awful at it, only did it for a few months, and were fired?"

"Oh... yeah... maybe." Mark glumly replied, before hefting his axe once more, and laying back into the wood.

"Anyway, after that Loretta made me start memorizing a whole book of prayers. Each blessing requires a prayer to convey the power from Vidar to the targeted patient. Then she showed me the basic blessings which consumed the least amount of his power so I could practice without draining his energy. Until he gets more followers, he won't be able to spare much after helping the village and saving for aurels. So we walked among the farms and used minor blessings on the land to help the wheat grow. And then we..." Mark loved listening to Alex babble on about her day. He knew she loved going on and on about it, and he adored listening to her voice, happily rambling, gossiping. By the time he had finished his pile, the sun had already set, and he knew ALL about how much Loretta hated Dianne, the tailor. Apparently Dianne had sold her a robe with weak seams and paid one of the few town children to run up and pull on the back of the robe, causing it to tear away in the middle of town. All that because they were best friends, and Dianne had told Loretta about the man she wanted to court, only for Loretta to steal him away. It was all silly and useless. But he loved it all the same.

"That's the last of it!" Mark shouted, drawing stares from a couple walking down the nearby road.

"Wonderful, let's go get you cleaned up before we go to bed."

"Ohhh, that sounds amazing. I could use a hot shower right now."

"I'm afraid you will be horribly disappointed. No showers and with a river so close by, no baths either."

"Wait, it's spring here isn't it. And didn't they say the snows had just melted?"

"Yes."

"That river is going to be colder than a snowman's balls isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Damn... Wait a second. Where are we staying? There's no way all these people fit into just 12 houses."

"Ah, well... that's why they needed a second craftsman."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"With the twelve of us new arrivals, there are 49 people in this village. And there are 11 houses, not counting the temple, but Loretta does sleep there. So everyone is packed in 4 or 5 to a house right now. Luckily, being a cleric has it's perks. So we get to stay in a second bedroom built into the chapel instead of on the floor of someone's two-room cabin."

"Don't scare me like that. I can survive a frozen bath, but I need a damn bed." Mark rested his axe on the chopping block, and followed his wife to the river. He had survived his first day.