CHAPTER 4: NEW EQUIPMENT AND ENTERING THE FOREST AGAIN

Soon, a short and stocky looking man with a big beard emerged from the door at the back. “What can I do for ya boys?” He asked with a smile.

He was the same height as Titus, but he had well developed muscles and arms as thick as Yimso did. He was half human and half dwarf; one of the many races that shared this world with humans.

The dwarves, as most of you know (Maybe you don’t 😊), was an artisan race that had developed and engraved their skills with working with metal into their blood over countless years. Most of the masters and grandmasters of blacksmiths appeared from this particular race.

The Dwarves were shorter in height than the humans at around 4 to 4 and a half feet tall on average but had stronger muscles which came in handy while working with metal.

They had quick tempers and were very straightforward in nature which often gave people the impression that they were very rude. They also loved booze by nature. It was said that the best way to get close to a dwarf was by buying him a drink.

The best thing about dwarves was actually their straightforwardness though. They would always say what was in their minds without beating around the bush. People rarely find themselves being deceived by the dwarves unlike humans on the other hand.

And if you befriend a dwarf, you wouldn’t be mistreated. They were hard to please though, so good luck with that.

“Hey old man, we want to scrap our old equipment for new ones.” Yimso said while placing their old equipment on the counter between them.

“Oh, already? There are lots hanging on the walls there, you can have yer pick.” The man said to the boys as he started inspecting their old equipment which had been worn out and even damaged in many places.

”Alright then, we’ll be back soon.”

They nodded and started going through the equipments in the store. Yimso and Puvi headed towards the plate and leather section while Hikivi and Titus headed towards the cloth armour section.

Puvi was currently using a pair of level 6 bronze grade short swords. He went towards the rows of swords and picked up a two of them.

STEEL SWORDS

WEAPON

LEVEL 9 EQUIPMENT

TYPE: LONG SWORDS

GRADE: BRONZE

+2 AGILITY

-THE TEMPERED STEEL MAKES THE WEAPON HARDER TO BREAK.

CREATOR: BLACKSMITH AAN

DESCRIPTION: A PAIR OF STEEL SWORDS FORGED BY THE BLACKSMITH AAN.

_________________________________________________________________________

He had previously been using two swords as well. But the ones he picked up just now were a pair that gave 2 points in agility when equipped together.

Nodding in satisfaction, he picked them up and went to the armour section to check out some light armour.

A couple of minutes later, he walked to the counter to find the owner who had just finished inspecting their old equipment.

A few moments later, the rest of the team too came to the counter after picking their equipment and the blacksmith totalled the cost.

STEEL BREASTPLATE

LIGHT ARMOUR

LEVEL 9 EQUIPMENT

TYPE: CHESTPLATE

GRADE: BRONZE

-15% DAMAGE REDUCTION

CREATOR

DESCRIPTION: LIGHT ARMOUR FORGED BY BLACKSMITH ANN. DOES NOT RESTRICT MOVEMENT OF USER. MADE FOR CLASSES THAT USE LIGHT ARMOUR.

STEEL BREASTPLATE

PLATE ARMOUR

LEVEL 10 EQUIPMENT

TYPE: CHESTPLATE

GRADE: BRONZE

-40% DAMAGE REDUCTION

-15% DECREASE IN SPEED

CREATOR: BLACKSMITH AAN

DESCRIPTION: PLATE ARMOUR MADE BY BLACKSMITH ANN. HAS HIGH DEFENSIVE CAPABILITIES BUT RESTRICTS THE MOBILITY OF THE USER. HEAVY ARMOUR.

STEEL TOWER SHIELD

LEVEL 10 EQUIPMENT

TYPE: TOWER SHIELD

GRADE: BRONZE

-BLOCKS 40% DAMAGE

-10% CHANCE TO NEGATE DAMAGE FROM ATTACK BLOCKED.

CREATOR: BLACKSMITH AAN

DESCRIPTION: A SHEILD MADE BY BLACKSMITH AAN. ITS ALMOST 2 METER TALL BODY COVERS THE USER’S WHOLE BODY(USUALLY).

STANDARD MAGE ARMOUR

CLOTH ARMOUR

LEVEL 9 EQUIPMENT

TYPE: ROBE

GRADE: BRONZE

-15% DAMAGE REDUCTION

-REDUCE MAGIC PROJECTILE DAMAGE BY 20%

CREATOR: BLACKSMITH AAN

DESCRIPTION: CLOTH ARMOUR MADE BY BLACKSMITH AAN WITH IRON SILK, MAKING IT AS TOUGH AS STRONG AS IRON AFTER COMPLETION. DOESN’T RESTRICT MOBILITY AND IS AS LIGHT AS LEATHER ARMOUR. STANDARD BRONZE GRADE MAGE ROBE.

After calculating, the pair of swords was priced at 40 silvers, the light armour at 30 silvers, the plate armour at 80 and shield at 50 silvers, and the two standard mage armours at 50 silvers each. After paying the owner a total of 300 silver coins, the owner gave back 50 silvers which they got in exchange for scrapping their old equipment. They then headed towards a pharmacy to restock on their potions.

There they bought 20 healing potions and 20 mana potions that were priced at 80 copper coins per piece and a set of empty containers for 10 copper coins.

A total of 32 silver coins and 10 copper coins was spent there.

*Note: 100 copper coins= 1 silver coin, 100 silver coins= 1 gold coin….

“Where should we head now?” Yimso asked as he turned to look at his companions.

“How about we go to the training field? You know, to test the new skills they got yesterday.”

Puvi said as he turned to the two mages.

“Oooh~ That’s a great idea, let’s go quickly.”

Hikivi said while looking at Yimso, itching to try out his new skill.

“….” Yimso stared at them as his lips twitched.

“Okay fine. But I’m not going to be a target for attack skills, got it?” Sighing helplessly, he went towards the training grounds with them.

****

The training field had several rooms that were as big as a basketball court and also rooms as big as football courts which people could rent to test out their skills in or have sparring matched.

They decided to rent the smaller room and entered. There were different weapons kept neatly in racks on one side while the other side had a few dummies made of yellowwood and ironwood, which was much tougher than the former.

The [Binding Chains] was a pretty good control skill. The chains were able to hold Yimso for 4 seconds before breaking, even after he had used a physical strengthening buff on himself.

Titus used the [Wind Blade] on a wooden puppet that was shaped like a person and on the third time, the blade of wind went through the puppet, cutting it in half.

Satisfied after trying their skills several times, they headed to a diner where they had their dinner and headed back to the inn.

**Back at the inn**

After getting back to their rooms at night, Hikivi started working on a new item as the rest discussed what to do from now on.

“We spent 2 gold and 82 silver coins on equipment and potions and we are left with a total of 5 gold, 40 silver and 400 copper coins.”

Tito said as he looked at the bags of coins on the table.

“Let’s enter the forest again tomorrow. We need to reach level 10 as soon as possible.” Yimso proposed.

“Mmm.” The other two nodded their heads in agreement.

They wanted to reach level 10 as soon as possible because it was at this level that they could finally fulfil the requirements for a ‘tier promotion’. The classes would also become more diversed from here.

Like Hikivi and Titus for example. They are both mages, but upon reaching level 10 they could choose what type of mage they wanted to be. Hikivi had decided on going towards the [Dark Mage] branch which focused of dark and curse type magic while Titus had decided on the [Sorcerer] branch which could use different elemental magic.

If you succeed in you tier promotion, your class would also go through a ‘class up’. You could opt to complete your tier promotion in further levels, but the earlier you promote, the better, as you would be missing out on bonus stat points that come with the tier up.

Tier 1 mages were called novice mages, tier 2 were called senior mages, tier 3 were called advanced mages, tier 4 were called grand mages and tier 5 were called arch mages.

A swordsman went from novice swordsman to senior swordsman to advanced swordsman to master swordsman and then to grandmaster swordsman.

There was another reason that they wanted to complete their tier promotions as soon as possible; the system. The system had prompted them to complete their tier promotion as soon as possible as their system would be upgraded as soon they did.

Their ‘system’ was already different from the one the residents of this world, so they were curious as to how much more different it would become.

The four of them had another advantage on the people in this world though, which was that they had come from a world that had made several scientific technological advancements unlike this world, where they had developed towards magical advancements.

The knowledge that each of them had would be world changing if passed on to researchers in this world. The most technologically advanced inventions they could come up with wouldn’t be much better that a wall clock, imagine that.

“Okay guys, let us go to bed now. We need to pack our stuff and leave before noon tomorrow.” Yimso said as the discussions came to a close.

They all nodded and went to bed as well.

With that, their day came to an end.

__Next Day__

The four of them woke up early in the morning and finished packing their bags. They then went down to have the inn’s complimentary breakfast and immediately headed for the forest at around 10 in the morning.

“Alright! Let’s race to the forest!”

Yimso shouted as he ran ahead. “What do you think we are, kids?” Titus asked wearily, but still chases after him.

10 minutes later, they had all reached the edge of the Yellow woods. Puvi had reached first, followed by Yimso and the then the two mages in the end.

“I’ll go ahead first.” Puvi said and jumped onto a tree branch, then onto another, disappearing from sight while the others slowly made their way in.

Yimso wielded the shield on his left hand and walked in front while the mages followed closely behind.

The sound of birds and insects entered their ears as a few squirrels and rodents occasionally appeared.

Rustle, rustle

Suddenly, a big tree in front of them shook, making several leaves fall to the forest floor.

Whoosh

A figure suddenly dropped from the tree and landed next to them. “The path ahead is clear.”

END OF CHAPTER 4: NEW EQUIPMENT AND ENTERING THE FOREST AGAIN