It’s a beautiful day. The sun is out, only a couple of clouds to be seen up high, the overwhelming sound of a river flowing and a bear that’s growling.

“JUUUUUMP!!” Wacko yelled as hard as he could.

Without any thinking, he jumped into the river and felt the current sweep him away. The current might not look like it was strong when standing on land but it was a strong one for sure. He got pushed underwater in an instant but was able to get back up to the surface of the water fairly quickly.

The bear growled and suddenly took a dash at the two left standing on the side of the river. Hanma knew bears were fast and that they could swim but his best chances were to take a big dive into that river.

Tak did not hesitate as well, he immediately jumped after Hanma. His big basket wasn’t much of a help but that’s something he did not want to lose.

The bear was running in their direction and at an insane speed that no ordinary bear should have. It seemed they were lucky enough to be more than a few meters away from it when it started to consider them as a snack.

The bear jumped after them into the river, certain that it would be able to devour its new prey. It was heavy though, so heavy it almost sunk to the bottom of the river when it hit the water. The current was way worse below than it was up top. The bear was dragged away by it and started hitting several rocks underwater and then *THUMP*... It hit its head on a rock. The light in its eyes dimmed and nobody would ever see it again. Of course, the three soon to be adventurers did not know of this and were still fighting for their lives to get to the other side.

Tak was struggling the worst. He had his heavy basket still clung to his back and couldn’t move as well as the other two because of it. He actually started to consider dumping it. Even if it would decrease his chances of survival. Not that it mattered. He was no ordinary farmer like he made the others believe.

Wacko was already making strides and Hanma couldn’t decide if he should go help Tak or save himself first. After a second or two he decided it was best to help. He tried to swim back to Tak as the river took them all downstream.

“Grab my hand!” He screamed.

“I am trying but I keep getting pushed in all directions! Hold on!”

Wow, is he actually able to keep a cool head like this? Are farmers trained for situations like these? I am panicking really hard right now! Aaargh almost there. Just a little more!

Eventually, Tak was able to reach Hanma and grabbed his hand. Together they slowly swam to shore, sometimes getting dragged down by the current and almost drowning because of the water pushed down their throats as they gaped for air.

They made it to the riverside and climbed upon the rocks that separated the river from the land.

“Blurgh! *cough cough*. Let’s never do that again.” Tak said.

“You should be glad we made it. Rivers can be dangerous like that, what if we hit a rock or something. One of us could have been dead. A river this strong should even be in a forest like this. It’s no mountain for damn sake. Wacko is from the mountains, right? He would know best what to do then... Where’s Wacko by the way?!” Hanma jumped up and started searching for his teammate.

“WACKO! Can you hear us?”

After a minute or two he could see Wacko run towards them. He already had a headstart and was a quicker swimmer. He made it to shore way before them.

“Ah, there he is. It looks like he was faster than us. Good for him. I was worried the bear might have got to him.”

“Speaking of which. Where is it? I am pretty sure it jumped in after us.” Tak said.

“Guys! I see you made it. You even have all your gear! Good, we're going to need that to set up a camp and fire right away. We are drenched and need to dry and warm ourselves. Hanma we need your axe to gather firewood. Best to search for dry branches. We can’t waste any energy. We just spilled it all.”

Wacko didn’t give them a second to reply and strolled further into the forest looking for a good place. It couldn’t be too far out from the river and it had to be big enough for 3 persons and some tools. But also not too big since they would want to be able to protect it.

Wait… my ring?!. Hanma grabbed into his pockets wildly searching for it. It didn’t take him long to find it.

Thank god it's still there. I should put it on just in case. Losing it would be devastating for me. Plus, I think my father would rise from the grave just to give me one last lecture if that happened.

Hanma softly brushed the gem on the ring with his fingers. The gem started to lit up and then as quickly as it lit it began to lose its light.

Ring Activated

Bound to Hanma of the Foji clan

Ah, that’s right. My family was an official clan. Too bad I don’t know what happened to the rest of them. I wonder why no one ever visits. Maybe I am the last of my family? Dad an mom never spoke of any other family.

“Hanma hurry!” Tak shouted.

“Coming!” Hanma yelled back. He took two steps but suddenly stopped.

Wait, what?! What did I just see? Ring activated? Does it hold more power than the appraisal spell? Hold on, can I let it appraise itself?

“You know what, you two walk ahead! I need to think for a bit about how we're going to gather food!”

He had to make some kind of excuse to be alone for a bit. He did not want the others to know about this.

“Hanma, you sure? It can be dangerous. Apparently, some of the animals in this forest aren’t your run of the mill ones.” Tak wondered why he’d wanted to be alone right now. Did something happen? Besides almost drowning and getting eaten by a bear.

“I will be close behind don’t worry!” Hanma shouted back.

Tak followed Wacko and they started chatting. Hanma was slowly walking forward and couldn’t focus on what was being said at all. He was thinking of something else lost in a deep train of thought. So bad he almost stumbled over a rock.

“Dangit. Need to be more careful. But first.”

He tried a couple of movements with his hand and ring, nothing happened. He then touched the gem again. Still nothing.

“Why won’t it work.”

He then slid his finger over the gemstone and to his surprise another strange image appeared in his head.

Information

Name

Hanma Foji

Class:

Blacksmith

Subclass:

-

Age

19

Rank

Unranked

Skills

****

Wait this information is about me? Name, Class? Does it mean Job? Subclass? It knows my Age. And there’s a Rank as well. Might this be the explorer rank? Weird, the ring is sending all this information straight to my head. What's with the skills?

As soon as he thought of the world “Skills” another box appeared in his head.

Skill

Level

Metal Basics

1 [MAX]

Tool Handling

3 [MAX]

Leather Works

1 [ 86%]

Weapon Forging

2 [62%]

Armor Forging

1 [78%]

Unlockable