CHAPTER 3: MEETING THE BLACKSMITH

“Status.”

Immediately after, blue boxes filled with texts appeared in front of both Titus and Hikivi.

NAME: TITUS

LEVEL: 8

HP: 300/300

MP: 1100/1100

RACE: HUMAN

BLOODLINES: NONE

MAIN CLASS: MAGE

SUB-CLASS: NONE

TITLES:

[BEGGINER MAGE]

Effects:

HP= (V)* 50

MP= (I)* 100

[STATS]

STRENGTH: 4

AGILITY: 5

DEXTERITY: 5

VITALITY: 6

INTELLIGENCE: 11

TRAITS:

-OTHERWORLDER: ???

[SKILLS]

[FLAME MAGIC]:

-1. (1) [FIRE BALL] (3):

CHANCE TO INFLICT ‘BURN’ STATUS ON THE TARGET

CAN INCREASE THE SIZE AND INTENSITY OF FLAMES BY INPUT OF MORE MANA

MP COST: 200

[WIND MAGIC]:

-1. (1) [WIND BLADE] (1) (new):

MANA COST: 300

[PASSIVE]: NONE

[ACTIVE]:

-1. (0) [MEDITATION] (max):

SPEED UP MANA RECOVERY BY MEDATING

-2. (1) [LIGHT HEALING] (max):

CAN BE CASTED ON SELF OR OTHER TARGETS

RESTORES: 250 HP

MP COST: 200 MP

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

NAME: HIKIVI

LEVEL: 8

HP: 300/300

MP: 1000/1000

RACE: HUMAN

BLOODLINES: NONE

MAIN CLASS: MAGE

SUB-CLASS: NONE

TITLES:

[BEGINNER MAGE]

Effects:

HP= (V)* 50

MP= (I)* 100

[STATS]

STRENGHT: 4

AGILITY: 5

DEXTERIT: 6

VITALITY: 6

INTELLIGENCE: 10

TRAITS:

OTHERWORLDER: ???

[SKILLS]

-1. (1) [MANA WHIP] (1):

GATHERS MANA TO FORM A WHIP OF PURE MANA

-2. (1) [BINDING CHAINS] (1) (New):

FORM CHAINS OF DARK MANA THAT BIND YOUR TARGET.

STRONG TARGETS CAN BREAK THE CHAINS BEFORE DURATION ENDS

DURATIONS: 5 SECONDS

MANA COST: 100

[PASSIVE]

-1. (1) [LESSER POISON RESISTANCE]:

SLIGHTLY RAISES THE POISON RESISTANCE OF THE HOST

-2. (1) [LESSER FIRE RESISTANCE]:

SLIGHTLY RAISES THE FIRE RESISTANCE OF THE HOST

[ACTIVE]:

-1. (0) [MEDITATION] (max):

MEDITATE TO SPEED UP MANA RECOVERY

_________________________________________________________________________

The levelling and stat system for people of this world was like this:

Everyone is born with at level 0, when the total stat point count in only 4 or 5 at average. As they grow up, they level up to level 1 or 2, where their total stat points at average, is 15.

Now, these stat points are allocated by the system in accordance with their habits and lifestyles for other people. People who choose to become ‘adventurers’ and pick their ‘class’ can complete quests for which they receive monetary rewards but more importantly, [EXPERIENCE], an invisible source of power which the mysterious ‘system’ provides them with. After the experience you receive reaches a certain amount, you level up.

After you level up, you receive a fixed number of stat points according to your level which is automatically allocated your stats according to the class that you pick.

There are 5 tiers in each class.

Between level 2 to 10 you receive 2 stat points with each level up. Tier 1. Between level 11 to 20, you receive 5 stat points with each level up. Tier 2. Between level 21 to 40 you receive 20 stat points with each level up. Tier 3. Between level 41 to 60 you receive 50 stat points with each level up. Tier 4. And from level 61 to 100 you receive 100 stat points. Tier 5.

Everyone else seemed to have their stat points allocated by the system itself. But the system had given them the option of allocating their ‘unallocated’ stat points on their own accord. This gave them a slight advantage over other adventurers.

__Coming back to them__

“Awesome!”

They both yelled out in unison. They were both excited about their newly ‘learned’ skills and they were itching to enter the forest to find a monster to try out their skills on.

“Hey!” Hikivi suddenly jumped up from his seat.

“When are we planning to enter the forest again? I’m itching to test my new skill.” “Me too!” Titus chimed in as well.

“Alright, alright, calm down. Let’s go to sleep for tonight, we were planning on having our gear improved so let’s go to the blacksmith tomorrow.”

Yimso tried to calm them down and shifted his gaze to the shield in the corner; the wolf from earlier had left 3 deep claw marks on it. “I was planning on getting a new shield anyways.”

“Well, why don’t you try out that new skill of yours on Yimso tomorrow?” Puvi, who had remained silent for most of the conversation suddenly said.

Yimso: “….”

Hikiv: “….”

Titus: “….”

“H-hey, d-don’t even think about it. That [Wind Blade] would probably be able to cause a big wound on the level 8 Elite wolf that we took down today, let alone me.”

Yimso broke out in cold sweat thinking about his friend’s proposal. Especially after seeing the two mages that had their brows creased, as if contemplating on whether to go with the plan that was just proposed by Puvi, who was grinning right now.

“Oh, speaking of the hunt, did the stuff I made come of any use?”

Hikivi suddenly asked after hearing the wolf being mentioned. The foul smelling flammable liquid and the poison used by Puvi were both originally crafted by Hikivi.

“Useful, very useful.” They immediately nodded. “The wolf would have surely escaped if it wasn’t for it being taken off guard. Your items especially came in handy this time.” Yimso said.

“Yeah, and that explosive powder and fuel mixture, it blinded the wolf and gave us an opening to attack it first.”

Puvi added as he thought about the fight with the wolf, taking out a modified arrow with a vial containing a black liquid shaped as the arrowhead. “The explosive liquid was also what finished it in the end.” Titus too, added.

“Haha! See, I told you it would come in handy didn’t I?” Hikivi smiled smugly as he heard his friends praising his creations. With that, he opened up the information panel for the two items they were talking about.

POISON (Couldn’t think of a name)

TYPE: POISON, CONSUMABLE

CREATOR: HIKIVI

EXPLOSIVE LIQUID

TYPE: EXPLOSIVE, CONSUMABLE

CREATOR: HIKIVI

“Looks like you made the right decision in choosing this class.” Yimso said.

“Of course, when have I ever made a bad decision?” Hikivi said as he grinned.

“Well, I will be going first then.” Saying that, Puvi got up and headed toward the bedroom.

“We should get some sleep too.” Said Yimso.

Nodding their heads to show their agreement, they all got up and headed to the bedroom as well. Soon, only some light snores could be heard.

__Next morning__

Puvi was woken by the smell of food wafting out of the kitchen. He got out of bed and looked into the kitchen where he saw Yimso preparing breakfast. He stood at the door and wiped his eyes.

“I don’t know what’s cooking but damn, whatever it is, it’s has got to be better than Hiki’s cooking.”

At some point, Titus had gotten out of bed and made his way to the kitchen after smelling the food as well.

“Hey! I heard that you bastard!” Hiki yelled after hearing Titus making fun of his cooking while getting out of bed.

“Well I’m not wrong now am I?” Titus just shrugged at his complains as he shot back with a grin.

“Okay everyone, go freshen up and sit down. I’m almost done with this.”

Yimso’s voice drifted out to the kitchen as they were discussing about the ‘poison’ that Hikivi made for dinner last night.

__At the dining table__

Titus, Puvi and Hikivi had just sat down in their seats when Yimso came over with four plates in his hands. On each plate was a sandwiches made with white bread and the meat of the boar they had decided to store away.

“Oooh~ They look pretty good.”

All three of them mused and took a bite out of their sandwiches and gave their reviews on them.

“And they tastes great as well.”

“You think so? Then you can have more.” Yimso smiled in satisfaction upon hearing their praises as he brought over a bigger plate with some more sandwiches on it.

“Oh! Would you look at that…”

“What happened?”

Hikivi asked after hearing Yimso exclaim in surprise.

“Well…” He gave a short pause and continued while picking up a sandwich.

“I seemed to have levelled up just now by making these sandwiches. I must have been closer to levelling up than I thought.” He shrugged as he allocated both points into strenght.

Yes, in this world with systems, there were people who could gain experience to level up through ways that other than taking quests from the guild or killing monsters. They would pick a [SUB CLASS] through which they could get experience. Like [Blacksmiths] or an [Alchemists].

But not everyone could become a blacksmith or alchemist. These were professions that were difficult to learn and progress in and they were always welcomed almost anywhere, even if they had not reached very a high grade in their occupation. Most of the other sub-classes were only recruited by factions after they had achieved a high rank in their jobs. For example, the [Chef] sub-class that could cook food that could permanently or temporarily increase the stats of the person consuming it.

People without sub-classes could do these things too. Like how Yimso had made some sandwiches and gained experience points and Hikivi also made the two items.

Normally, the experience gained from these smaller sub-classes was so tiny that it was negligible unless you repeat it over and over. But he had made a sandwich with his own recipe, which gives much more experience than making use of an existing recipe. This had unknowingly pushed his experience to the required amount. You would also get more experience points by making dishes that tasted better.

“!!!”

The three others almost chocked at those words. He had just levelled up by cooking food for them every day.

“Alright, alright, quickly eat up now. We need to go to the smithy as well.” With that they resumed their meal.

**At the smithy**

It was around 7 am in the morning right now. Four people entered a smith at the ground floor of the inn carrying worn out looking equipment.

“Hey Old man, we’re here for some new equipment.” Puvi yelled as they entered the store. The smithy was pretty big; around 8 meters wide and 10 meters long. There were tons of weapons and armours on the long line of shelves and some were hanging on the walls as well. The store was well maintained. The sound of metal being beaten could be heard in the shop.

“I’m back here!” a loud voice was heard as the sound of metal being hammered suddenly stopped.

Soon after, a short and stocky man with robust arms and a big beard walked out of the smithy. “What can I get ya boys?” He asked.

End of chapter 3: Meeting the blacksmith