Crafting_AfterlifeRPG

Stonesmith level up! Ha ha ha! You are really dedicated to Stonesmithing!

Unique Decorative Granite Dagger:

Damage: 1 Accuracy: 0 Durability: 1/1 Value: 0

This unusual decorative dagger tells a story to those that can read it. Unfortunately it was made with crude tools, but it will be forever tied to that event.

Well, that is new. I've never thought I would get a unique dagger or a special description for something. This clearly references the knife fight. That's honestly pretty neat. Also, why did I get four levels for just that?

Gary had thought he wasn't a good writer, and he was awful at drawing, but the fight had made him think a lot about what makes a dagger good or bad so he was somewhat inspired to dig around in his bag and find another lump of granite.

Gary made his way up stairs. "Here's the memento, what do you make of this? I didn't think I could get anything special on stone junk like this. Also, what is my time?"

Title gained! Trained Knife Fighter No bonuses. Awarded to those that pass the knife training given by the weapon shop owner in Lux.

"Hm?" Weapon Shop Owner took a long look at the dagger. "I don't know. That class is something special for players and developers. I don't know anything about it and I'm not really allowed to say anything more than that even if I do find out," there was a long pause while Weapon Shop Owner slowly turned his body and head away from the dagger before finally moving his eyes off it and to Gary's face. "Anyway, your time is just over 10 hours."

Gary's heart sank. He thought he had done well at this. A lot of things had gone wrong in his life lately and without realizing, he had put a great deal of importance on this silly quest. Somehow in his head, this was his chance to prove he wasn't useless at everything, but reality doesn't care what hopes you might have. "Oh."

"I told you that you could finish early if you were dedicated. Why didn't you write a simple note that said you fought me? That dagger took about 43 minutes. Furthermore why didn't you attack me right away after touching the wall the first time?" Weapon Shop Owner asked.

"You don't have to be mean! The answer to both questions is that I wanted to do a good job and not just pass quickly," Gary looked away and crossed his arms.

"There's your answer. You have dedication to doing a good job and you did. I have a high degree of confidence in your ability as a knife fighter I couldn't ask for a better student and expect great things from you. If you had dedication to getting done quickly, you probably would have come out with a shaky understanding of knife fighting in 6 hours. Also that crazy attack you pulled at the last minute wasn't something I would expect from a human, and I mean that in a good way. How did you come up with that?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking about what attack would surely hit me and everything kind of clicked in place," Gary mumbled. He was still defensive after what he viewed as a failure and Weapon Shop Owner's harsh wording.

"It was quite a move. I am looking forward to seeing what you will do in this world. The next matter of business is to get you to buy some propper crafting tools. Please trust me on this, get a chisel and hammer set from the specialty shop. I think he might have a quest related to soul binding too. He might have some interesting things to say about your stone knife too. One more thing, and please think carefully, will you be showing that knife off to any other players?"

Why is he so fixated on crafting? He did say something about not being allowed to talk about this class. Well, I don't like many other players in this game. Mikey ditched me as soon as he got a chance, I don't think he is really mean, but I surely won't give him another reason to think I'm a loser. I also don't have any reason to show it to Cassandra. I'm sure she wouldn't know or care about it. I guess it's possible I would meet someone else that knows about crafting and is nice, but it sounds far fetched at this point.

"I seriously doubt that I will ever show it to anyone, but if I have a good reason I might," Gary said while carefully watching for any reactions.

Weapon Shop Owner had an ever so slight shift when Gary said he would not, making Gary think that he was satisfied with the answer. "Alright," was all he said.

He is normally so talkative... Something is fishy. I better check in with that soul binding guy.

"Well, thank you very much. I've had a nice time and learned a lot. I'll come back and see you again soon." Gary said.

"Ha ha ha ha! The pleasure is all mine. Please show me more interesting stones when you get a chance!" The stiff and uncoordinated movements would have confused Gary before, though they looked out of place for a human, Gary thought it looked like pure genuine mirth from the robot now that he had gotten to know him.

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Gary took off and snuck across town careful to avoid any players and eventually made his way to a mix mashed four story hut.

Half was wood. Mostly the left half and third floor. The second floor looked twisted and made of mud. And the rest was either straw and some light blue stuff or stone. Though it was wild and haphazard, nothing stood out. Almost as if someone was copying the nearby buildings with unusual materials.

Gary walked in and quickly ducked into a corner to pretend to look at some glass beaker set.

"Yes, sir. It's a-"

"I can see what it is." The player cut off the NPC. "How much are you asking?"

"27 silver and 42 copper coins on acco-"

"Enough. I can pay 25 silver." The guy held up the coins.

"Hmmm... I guess that-"

This time the NPC stopped because the coins clattered on the counter. The player didn't say anything else and simply walked out.

"What was his problem?" Gary asked while the shopkeeper picked the last coins from the floor. Finally feeling safe enough to show his face, Gary approached the A.I.

"Hmm? I guess he might have a problem staying near cities because he bought a repair kit." The NPC flashed a fake smile. "What can I help you with, sir?"

"You can drop the act. I like it better when you NPCs say and do what you really want. Weapon Shop Owner and the innkeeper both sent me to you for a crafting quest. Also I guess I should show you what I have..." Gary opened his bag.

"That blabbermouth? That isn't like him to sen- what in the world is that?!" The NPC looked ready to hop over his counter when he saw memento knife.

"I have the stonesmithing class, but I have no idea how to use it. I guess your quest would give me a better idea how to craft. Can you also recommend a cheap hammer and chisel set?"

The NPC worked his jaw and looked from Gary to the knife several times. Gary was starting to think he broke the poor machine.

"Well, I've seen it now. I guess this set will give you the most mileage. It's 2 silver 21 copper. The quest is to take this equipment and use it to bind 5 souls of monsters into these crystals when you are done I will pay 5 silver."

Gary tried to follow Weapon Shop Owner's advice for making good deals. "Would a flat two silver be reasonable? And how do I use the soul binding equipment?"

"Yes. Just hold it when you kill something, you'll figure it out," with that the NPC turned around and walked out of the room.

I guess that's that. He sure is different from Weapon Shop Owner.

Gary looked at the soul binding equipment. It was a box with a handle and a slot to fit one of the five crystals and a cone on one side. He also inspected it.

Prototype Soul Net Can be used five times. Only fits specialty soul crystals. Can capture any monster grade.

I don't understand what this all means. Well, I guess it's time to fight some more goblins.

Gary made his way across town silently in the near shadows again. On his way to the cave a message popped up.

Shadowedger level up!

40% bonus to agility when the threshold of a shadow is cast across your body.

40% stealth for the part of your body covered in shadow.

40% physical and magical power for the part of your body covered in light.

With only an extra 5% bonus to his agility and strength, Gary would expect each level up to be more manageable, but what actually happened was that each time was enough to throw off all of his understanding of how to move his body. As a result Gary fell directly on his face.

Gary quickly got up and looked around. A few nearby players failed to notice him, so he moved on and tried to put the incident in the back of his mind.

Gary didn't know about magical power, but for sure his physical power was getting out of control when he was in the light. Running with one leg in the shadows felt like having one leg that was lightning fast and could hardly support his weight, and another that was some kind of super charged machine leg that could fling him into the sky with a poorly timed flex.

Gary had done his best to keep his strides even in spite of one leg doing most of the work, most of the time. Sometimes he would even just pretend to run with the shadow leg while he hopped on one foot. It worked fairly well and didn't look odd so it was good enough until he exited a shadow or got a level up.

For the rest of the way, Gary kept only a small part of his body in the light and once again started to relearn how to use his body.

"Hello again." Granite Cave Guard One waved. "Good to see you back. You only have 23 goblins left to kill," He smiled at Gary.

Gary waved back. "Hello. Thank you. By the way, where is Granite Cave Guard Two?"

The NPC stiffened "you aren't really supposed to know yet, but there's a second quest to free him. I wish they would have given me some human name like Steve or something," the NPC's eyes focused and he became still in that way that made Gary think he was getting defensive.

"Oh, sorry. If you want I can call you Steve?" Gary offered.

"No thank you. It isn't my name. Just enjoy the quest." Granite Cave Guard One said while looking straight ahead.

I messed something up, but I don't know what. I don't know what else to do about it either. I guess I just have to hope he will tell me after the quest is done.

Gary came down the cave in search of goblins and soon found another two in the first room. It seemed that two would respawn here. Before they noticed him. Gary got his knives ready and put the Prototype Soul Net in his left hand.

Ha managed to sneak all the way up to the first one and kill it with one hit, but also breaking his first knife in the process. The device in his hand lit up and Gary felt his mind flooded with conceptual ideas about what a goblins spirit might be.

A goblin itself was just a small green man with pointy ears teeth and nails. It's body was weak, but the body didn't interest Gary.

The goblins mind was more interesting. Not as smart as a man, but not at all like an animal mind. Animals follow instinct and have no concept of time or understanding about how other things think. Goblins have crude language, but in some ways their thinking falls short of animals. In spite of the ability to think and communicate the goblins mind is full of only hate and ideas about how to trick others.

Still, that isn't the soul. The soul is the part that drives this forward. It's the electricity that makes the circuit do it's job. It's the the brick mold that made the bricks that make a bridge work. The soul is the part that says all of this is a good idea and it should keep pushing.

What drives a goblin? What filled it with hate and trickery? What keeps it filled? Hunger? Desperation? An evil goblin king? Culture?

Gary ultimately understood that it was up to him to tell the story of how the goblin got here and he settled on a classic. Goblins simply see the world as a place that takes from them. A cruel and harsh place that will kill them without mercy or reason. As this is all they see, this is also how they act. All they understand is cruelty.

Gary could feel the machine working his concept into a story for this goblin. Gary helped think out the finer points of the story, but the machine made it happen.

Goblin Soul (Quest)

This mildly cursed item will enchant you with hunger. The desperation of this goblin was strong and painful. You will know what it is to take and from your enemies you will take all that you can.

5% life steal for all damage.

Curse of hunger.

10% chance to loot before death.

Quest item. Not useable.

With that, Gary's mind snapped back to reality where the lifeless goblin thumped to the cave floor. The other goblin's head snapped to attention.

That was weird. The machine took over my brain and I expected that to last half an hour, but it was only a second an most. I wonder if this soul is good. It looks good to me. If I had something like this, I might not be struggling. Is this what other players get regularly? Oh well, it's time to fight.

Crafting

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