Lets just pretend the skills learned in this chapter were listed in the last chapter.

Namely Gardening and Negotiation

------------------------

A few days after buying my new laptop, my club skill leveled up to 30, however I didn't receive a event or notification informing me that the skill evolved. It was disappointing. However, the day after that, my training log finally cracked. The next few blows shattered it. I had seen this coming for some time, my new club was both powerful and heavy in comparison to my bat. It was unwieldy however, and I couldn't swing it and simply change directions the way I could with the light bat. But this also served to train up my DEX, and to some extent, My AGI. When the log broke, it signalled the ending of my training with the club. I just simply didn't have something else to smash my club against.

You would say the obvious thing would be to buy another log, or perhaps train on the thick solid tree in the backyard. But when I checked, the prices of the logs were not cheap. The heavy duty ones I wanted cost upwards of $200. Especially the decent quality ones. And smashing the tree would present more problems than it would solve. I was fairly sure it would kill the tree in under a week, then I have a new problem with my parents. They didn't mind me training on the log, though after I switched to the club I made sure to only train on it when they were not home. My level of strength was inhuman and I didn't feel like answering funny questions like "Why are you practising with a club thick enough to kill someone?".

The other option would be to train in the woods, alternating between trees. It could work, but the club makes a terrific slamming sound that was audible from a distance. If I was spotted in the woods like this, I couldn't see it going down well. The dents in the trees would also be noticeable. I could move deep inside the woods, but I'd have to travel more distance than I thought it was worth. My neighbours had tolerated the noise from my training with the bat, but once I started with the club, they came to our door and complained. In return, I visited them and after looking at their properties I made them a offer, in return for training for a few hours everyday, I would be happy to do gardening and fixing up parts of their property. The neighbourhood we lived in was a quiet one, there were a lot of old pensioners and a lot of them didn't have the strength or the ability to do some work on their homes. Instead of paying someone, they were more than happy to have me work there instead.

In return, I got to train my carpentry and I even learned a few new skills. The most notable being Negotiation and Gardening. Gardening allowed me to better handle plants, which pretty much amounted to less work pulling up weeds and doing planting. And negotiation allowed me to get better terms when talking to someone. When gardening, I had to ask the old lady how to get started. She was pleased to be able to help me and showed me how to recognise what what was a herb, what was a weed, what the name of this plant was, etc. From that, I learnt the subskills herbs, weeds, edibles. It was fairly useful when I was doing gardening. After a few days of this, I had even learned the skill identify. This allowed me to hold a item and think 'Identify' whereas a small box would appear.

Common WeedA common weed, unless for anything you know

SkillIdentifyLevel1Identify known items and display their characteristics

Really, the skill was just useless. It only told me what I already knew and when I attempt to use it on say on a unknown plant, it would just tell me everything I knew about it. Nothing I didn't know. However using it on a skill was sort of useful as I saw more information. Not everything was shown, but it displayed anything that I learned about the skill itself. Misinformation wasn't shown.

SkillBlunt Weapons: ClubsLevel34 [5%]Wield a club with better control.

Damage increases, control increases and you maintain a better grip

I still attended my job, the convenience of having money was too much. My banker skill was also low leveled, and I had high hopes for it. So everytime I was paid, I planned to take the money out of the bank and deposit it inside my balance. The skill looked to gain exp every second based on the amount of money it contained, summoning and depositing the money didn't seem to give much in the way of exp. Currently, it was at level 2 [21%] and contained $120.

It was Sunday morning and I was lying back on my bed. In my hands rested the current novel I was reading. This particular one was about a holy knight sent to slay a dragon. The knight Sanderl was both brave and courageous, even after being tricked into a crippling debt he did not falter. Standing before the dragon he held his lance high. "Foul Demon! Prepare to die!". Just as the dragon attacked, the knight raised his shield and uttered a short prayer. The flames roared and broke over the shield as- my mother knocked on my door. "Jon, you awake?"

I sighed and put my book down. "Yes mum"

She opened the door and walked in, her feet not making a sound on the blue carpet. She stood there hesitantly for a second, unsure on what to say. I could tell this wasn't going to be good news. And I was right. "Starla who is a friend of mine at work, she was going to attend a vacation. But she recently found she can't go" I could easily see where this was going. "She knows that I haven't used my vacation in the past couple of years and offered me the tickets. I asked my boss, and he said he doesn't mind my taking the vacation" Oh dear. I can bet this wouldn't include me "The thing is, the vacation is for two people" And there it is! "I'm sorry this is on short notice, but the ship leaves in a few days.. Do you think you could ask your friend if you can stay at his place?" I knew this was coming. I sighed out loud. Reluctantly I spoke "Sorry mum, but we are not really on good terms at the moment"

My mother grimaced. "I'm not willing to leave you by yourself in the house" I'm 18 you know? I've been cooking for you for the last month.. She carried on obliviously "I'll call a few of my friends"

I spoke up then "Mum, I'm fine with being by myself" Resolutely she shook her head. "Not in my house" Well that's just great.

After a few phone calls, my mother eventually found someone happy to take care of me. Holding the phone, she outlined my two choices. My aunt was happy to look after me, and I could either join her in the city, or she could come here to live for the next month. Upon hearing the choices, I immediately chose to live with her. This town was boring, there was nothing to do, I couldn't even train any new skills here. In the city, I would have a lot more opportunities. Things to do. I informed my mother of my decision and she spoke into the phone "Jon's happy to stay with you". She then turned to me and informed me "You can catch the train in 2 days", "Isn't that a bit soon?" I asked, a bit shocked at the sudden warning. My mother shook her head "Didn't I mention it? We need to catch the plane in 4 days. Two days is plenty of time to prepare yourself". Sighing, I then resumed my book. As I finished my book I received another levelup of storytelling. I dismissed the notification idly, I didn't care for that particular skill. The rest of the day, I spent my time clearing up various odds and ends. I had to talk to my boss informing her of the situation, but she was very understanding. She offered me my job back when I came back to the town.

The things I had to do done, I spent the next day reading and playing games on my laptop in the morning. I then spent the afternoon packing my belongings. Tomorrow morning I would be leaving on a train towards the city. It was a far distance away from the town and I was a bit excited to think of the adventure that lay outside this small town. However right now, it was time to decide which of my belongings would stay, and what would go. The decision was tough, but it had to be made. Ultimately, I decided to leave most of my books behind, as well as my club. I simply didn't have the space to carry them around. And the club was far too bulky to be missed, I would also be unable to train anywhere in the city.

Sitting on my bed looking down at my packed suitcases, I sighed. As I was finished, I decided to take a break. Getting up, I walked to my desk and took my laptop out of sleep mode. Navigating to google's search engine I typed in the name of the city I was to live. Browsing through the search results, I clicked on a few interesting entries. I then had a thought and checked out the job listings close to my aunt's apartment. However looking online, I was unable to find anything. I'd likely have better luck in person. Some of the information about the city was interesting, and there looked to be a few places I wouldn't mind checking out. Done with my research, I opened a game. And then I heard a *Tring*. Looking away from the laptop screen for a moment, I focused on the windows before me. And was momentarily stunned.

The skill Banker has reached level 3Your carried money is now stored inside the system

You can carry 3 different currencies

The skill Gamer has reached level 5Inventory skill has been unlocked

Shaking, I choked out the word "Inventory". Silently a black screen and silver separators appeared before me, the silver bars separated it into a 2x2 grid. A smile crawled over my face. With shaking hands, I took a book off my bed and reached out for the window. Upon touching a slot with my book, the end of the book vanished into mid-air. The window wasn't changed however, so I pushed the book completely in. The moment the book was completely inside, a small picture of the book along with a short description appeared inside the slot. However in my hand, I could still feel that I retained a grasp of the book. Pulling it back out, the picture and description disappeared. I pushed the book back in and as the picture reappeared, I released grasp. I took a look at the description.

'Are dragons tasty?' A fantasy novel written by Artis Page

I sat on my bed heavily, my hands shaking and my heart racing. I had longed for this, dreamed for it. And now it was reality. With shaking hands I reached under my bed, felt around for what felt like a eternity, my hands found the rough bark of the club, but it was not what I was looking for. I reached just a bit further and finally felt cardboard.

Grasping the corners, I slid a small box out. I lifted off the decoy textbooks and placed them to one side. Reverently, I took out magazine after magazine and almost coyly, I placed them inside my inventory. To my delight, I was able to place them all inside one slot. In the top right corner of the slot a small number appeared and steadily incremented as I placed the magazines inside. After I finished, the number had stopped at '46'

The magazines were used, old and some of the covers were ripped. But they were of incalculable value to me. Especially over the past month.

Jon's porn magazines x 46

Finally, I had absolute security. With the realisation that my collection was now safe, the dark blot in my heart disappeared, a weight lifted from my shoulders.

As a afterthought, I realised I could probably put my club in there too.

Reaching under my bed again, I grasped my club and touched it against a free slot, despite the club being larger then the window, I was able to smoothly slide the club all the way in. A picture of the club then appeared in the slot and I smiled. This was incredibly handy. Taking one of the textbooks I had removed from the box, I attempted to place it inside the same slot as the fantasy novel. But I met resistance and a window popped up.

'Textbook' and 'Fantasy Novel' cannot be stacked

A shame.

I took the fantasy book out and experimented with different combinations. Clothes were unstackable despite being the same genre, while socks themselves were able to stack. I only had 20 socks however, and I didn't want to waste the slot. I then experimented a little with my books. I came to the conclusion that while same kinds of books were able to stack, I could only take the books out in the same order I placed them in. I was also unable to summon the items about my body like I could do with my banker skill. Instead I had to reach in with my hand, grasp the item, and draw it out.

Ultimately I ended up filling the two free slots with the books I wanted to read and my laptop. Dismissing the inventory window, I repacked the rest of my things. Then I had a quick thought. I removed my laptop from my inventory slot and placed one of the full bags inside. Despite the bag containing unstackable items, the bag was able to enter the inventory with no problems. This logic..

But regardless, it was easier to carry the bag than it was to carry the laptop. So I switched them back with my laptop back safely in the inventory.

I wanted to see if I had gained experience from this messing around, so I summoned my character menu and tapped on my inventory skill.

SkillInventoryLevel1 [14%]Unlocks a 2x2 inventory

This lack of information.. Well. It was pretty normal.

With my packing finished, I took my book and resumed where I left off. Eventually my eyes began to tire so I turned off the lights and crawled into bed. I was still excited over my inventory window, but eventually my breathing slowed and my eyes closed. I fell into a deep slumber. Before I knew it, morning arrived.

Eating breakfast with my parents, a silent atmosphere surrounded the table. However as I stepped outside the door holding my bags my mother called out "We'll try to call you when we can". I followed my father out to the car, I placed my bags inside the boot and sat in the front seat. The ride was silent as he drove, when we arrived at the train station my father parked directly outside the entrance in the unloading zone. I took my bags out and my father gave me a simple piece of advice in a voice that sounded gruff "Have fun out there". I smiled back at him "Thanks dad" and stepped inside the train station.

Effortlessly carrying both bags in one arm, I walked to a seat with a good view of the train schedule. I took out my book from the top of my bag and started reading, keeping a eye on the clock. Eventually, it was time to move and the train pulled into the station. I got up from my seat and grabbed both my bags. I handed my ticket to the inspector and after he briefly checked it over, I stepped onboard. Looking around, I chose a seat in the centre of the carriage where two spots were free. Sitting in the window seat, I placed both my bags on the seat next to me and took my book back out.

Reading, I barely noticed as the train left the station. As I read, the train began to pickup speed. The scenery around us gradually changed from buildings to farms, then from farms to fields.

The wheels clicked and clacked as the sun lazily beat down on the ground, I looked outside occasionally, curious as to the new sights. But everytime I looked, I could not recognise any of the places I saw. The steady rhythmic rumbling of the train created a lure, my eyes began to droop and my book was harder to read. In a daze I lay back on my seat, my eyes closing for just a moment, with the steady rumble of the train luring me into dreamless sleep. But as if it was seconds later, the train hooted and began to slow down. Raising my heavy eyelids I looked outside the window, where there had been only green fields and mountains, tall skyscrapers now scratched the heights. The train began to screech and shudder as it slowed.

The train slowed as it the station and gradually pulled to a stop. Stretching, I got up and grabbed both my bags. Placing my book inside my pocket, I waited for the doors to open. With a soft hiss, they separated and I stepped outside. From a quiet rumble to a jumble of voices and machines. The shock was immense. Instantly waking me from the half sleep I was in. In front of me a small box appeared.

Entered Medeas Train Station

I stepped off the train and made my way to the entrance, pushing my way through the crowds of bodies. Eventually after what seemed like forever, I stood in front of the station next to the road. Looking around I hunted for a familiar face. Rows of taxi's lined up, awaiting their charges. Finally I spotted my aunt. Her plump cheeks and black hair tied into a bun with her short statue was instantly recognisable. Quickly hurrying to her, I greeted her "Hello auntie" with a smile, she grinned at me "Jon! Its great to see you!". Happily I replied "Likewise".

In our family, she was the undisputed favourite person. Everyone likes her.

My aunt stepped backwards and gave me a quick lookover. "You've grown" she chuckled. "Its been only a year since I've last seen you. And you are already this tall?". I shrugged helplessly, there was no real reply.

With the greetings finally aside, We walked to her car, after unlocking the boot, I placed my bags inside and closed it. I moved to the front seat where I climbed in. She pulled out of the carpark and into the slow traffic, as we drove, she pointed out places and gave me a tourist guide introduction. "Over there is a french restaurant. Don't visit. They are no more french than I am russian" "That building is the Stanley Raise. Most expensive place to live in the city". As she rattled off information about building after building I just sat back and enjoyed the sight.

As my eyes travelled across the buildings, I noticed a large building. Where the others looked inviting and had windows to peer in, this had walls of black that looked both fancy and posh. And gave no hint as to what was inside. Two large doors were set in the entrance, formidable and wooden. A small sign were placed outside "Invitation Only". Noticing my gaze, my aunt spoke "I don't know anything about that place. Its always been there as long as I remember"

Alongside the black wall, a man sat, his beard tangled and clothes tattered. A floppy hat sat on his head and his grim the very picture of homeless. A hat sat in front of him, collecting donations from any generous pedestrians that might care to help him. His face was downcast and his body screamed poor.

But that wasn't what attracted my attention. For above his head, floated a small box.

Talok Blainz lv.27

My body was frozen, my eyes fixated on the box. What I saw was a impossibility. The highest level I had ever seen was a aged pensioner who had fought in the wars. But even his level was a meager level 12. Here was a homeless man, sitting in tattered clothes and looking for all the world like he was someone to ignore and forget. With double the level. A impossibility.

The car drove on, my aunt still talking. My eyes fixated on the man as the car moved on. Just before I lost sight of him, he looked up, and with his crystal blue eyes, he met my gaze.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur, my thoughts were of the man sitting forlorn outside the building. I couldn't get him out of my mind.

His eyes were not the eyes of the homeless. His level was far beyond anything I had seen. And when he met my eyes.

I had felt a tingle of fear run down my spine.

Night fell and eventually I slept. But even in my dreams, the man haunted me, teased me, asked me in a croaking voice, "Wouldn't you like to know who I am?"

They were not pleasant dreams.