Damian had been walking for three days now.
The enjoyable forest walk had turned into torture quickly enough.
"Just a little longer." He gasped. "As soon as I clear the quest, I stop there."
He was tired, but the fact that he had come so far gave him the extra push he needed.
"Eating while walking, carrying all this equipment on my back, and having to climb a tree and tie myself to its log to sleep each night safely will pay its effort. I feel it in my bones."
His bones were right, and soon, he reached a small opening inside the forest. On a little hill in the opening stood an abandoned wooden shack, not too large, not too small. It had a small porch and damaged fence parts surrounding it.
Next to the shack was a river deep enough for fish and other aquatic life, shallow enough not to swallow him.
[Quest Complete!
Reward Of Choice
+100 experience]
A screen appeared before him.
[Congratulations, you leveled up!
300 experience to the next level
2 points to allocate]
And another followed it.
"Did I make something to make patrons happy, or was it just luck?" Damian thought, smiling uncontrollably at the situation.
He decided to check the shack first to see if it was safe.
"Some windows are broken, and the door has small holes but looks fine enough," Damian said, inspecting the front of the shack.
"There probably was a small garden in the backyard, but it looks destroyed."
He approached one of the windows and peeked inside.
"Look at all this dirt and dust." Damian cleaned the window with his tunic arm. "Better. Now, what we got."
Damian carefully inspected the interior. "Some fishing equipment, tools, a clay stove, two stools, a table, and a wooden bed."
Satisfied with his findings, Damian moved to the front door.
A simple lock on the outside kept the door shut. Two metal pieces, one nailed on the door and the other to the wall, held a wooden board passing in them. "I guess it's good for keeping animals out," Damian said before pulling the wooden board out.
He opened the door and moved to the side as dust rushed outside.
"I need a mask for the health of my lungs." Damian grabbed a cloth from his sack, tied it around his face, and entered the shack.
"Moss, dust, rotten food, this is bad." Damian rushed to the window and opened them one by one. "Before night falls, I need to freshen this place."
He grabbed a bucket and a stick from the shack.
"I can fill this bucket with water from the river and make a mop to clean the windows and the floors. I can think about my reward and points later."
Determined to clean this new 'safe' place he found, Damian moved to the river at the bottom and filled the bucket with water.
"Damn, it's leaking a little." He grabbed mud from the river bed and applied it around the hole. "Must do it for now." He carefully carried the bucket back to the shack.
From there, it was like any regular spring cleaning, minus the song to motivate him and a mother to help him.
Damian cleared the dust and cobwebs around the house using his makeshift cleaning tool: A rag tied to the end of a stick.
After dusting, he cleaned the rag and dipped it in water to clean the windows before moving to the next step.
Damian used his dagger and a hatchet from the town to clean most of the moss inside.
"And thankfully, whoever lived here left behind a straw brush." He grabbed the yellow trusty tool and swept out the dirt, glass shards, and all the things he didn't want on his floor.
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His arms ached, and his muscles burned. Exhaustion made his movements sluggish, but Damian felt fine. He stepped away, looked at the shack, and smiled proudly at his work. "Now, this is a house worth living!"
It wasn't. It still needed repairs, and the outside required even more cleaning, but for Damian, the abandoned shack might as be a mansion.
Damian sat on the porch, watching the forest scenery.
"Calm and peaceful. I can focus well enough here! Open status screen."
The screen opened. This time, it had an exclamation mark on the top right corner, with a small number 2 on its bottom.
Damian clicked on the exclamation mark, and two sub-screens opened, one for the unassigned points and one for the quest he cleared.
"Let's take the reward first."
[Quest: Quest: Escape the town with supplies before Lyrian Knights arrive.
Status: Cleared
Rewards:
A: Random book of entry-level craftsmanship (smithing, carpentry, sewing)
B: 150 krots + 50 experience points]
Damian scratched his chin. "My uncle always said take the money and XP early since most entry skills are learnable from NPCs with high relationships, but considering I am in the middle of nowhere, option A looks tempting."
Damian thought a little longer. "It is not like it's a hard choice. I already have over 2000 Krots from the town. I choose A!"
A book appeared out of thin air and fell into Damian's hands. Its cover was constantly changing.
"Please be the carpentry. Please be the carpentry." Damian repeated. "I have no use for metal smithing, but I can easily grind carpentry in a forest!"
The rate at which book cover changed slowed until it finally stopped.
"Entry-level book of carpentry." Damian read its title. "Yes!" He pumped his fist and raised the book to the air. "Consume!" He shouted.
Anti-climatically, nothing happened.
"I said, consume!" Damian repeated himself, but nothing again.
"Wait." He opened the book and skimmed through the pages. His eyes widened, and his head moved closer to the book with each. "This an actual carpentry book."
He looked around, expecting Diablo to come out and make fun of him as he explained the learning mechanic, but nothing. "Wait, do I need to learn this."
"Ha, what a joke. Why do I have to endure all the hardships of Beasts and Demons with none of the advantages? Well, at least I have something to kill time, I guess."
He put the book next to himself and moved to his stat screen. "Now, to what I should put my precious points on."
He watched the screen for ten minutes straight without making a move.
Quietly rambling as he strategized the best stats.
But soon, he gave up. "If I started in a safe town, I could just dump it all in Learning Efficiency and stamina and grinded class skills for money and bonuses, but I don't have this luxury here."
He scratched his head. "Still, it is just two points, not like the end of the world." After more thinking, Damian decided to put both points in endurance.
"I have no mana and no need for explosive power or lighting-fast speed since I am not a fighting class. Stamina dump it is."
[Name: Damian
Level: 1->2
Class: Crafter
HP: 12/12
MANA: N/N (Unavailable due to the Clogged Core trait)
Strength: 6
Endurance: 8+2
Agility: 8
Will: 10
Magical Prowess (MP): 3
Learning Efficiency (LE): 12]
Damian closed the status screen. His body gleamed faintly.
He stretched and got up. "I already feel better. Let's find a shovel and bury all rotten food before night falls so I can sleep comfortably."
***
Night had fallen. Damian was exhausted but not enough to fall asleep. He sat before the clay oven, warming himself on its flames before it died.
The warmth calmed his mind.
But there was no long-lasting comfort.
Creaking sounds from outside gave him goosebumps.
"Lurker." He whispered and quickly reached for his spear.
The monster was slowly climbing the hill, approaching his shack. Its ghostly pale flesh shone under the moonlight, and its disturbingly long arms, adorned with razor-sharp claws the size of Damian's forearm, dug into the ground as it walked.
It had a large mouth reminiscent of a leeche with no visible sensory organs.
"It already knows I am inside the house."
Lurker was infamous amongst newbies because it either outright killed many of them or at least injured their characters to the point of no reason playing on that anymore.
It wasn't fast, strong, or durable, but it had a brokenly powerful attack that could one-shot almost all characters under level 10 and a location ability of a mid-game mob."
Damian's eyes turned to the vials of Deathwing goo, but he shook his head. "I can kill a Lurker without wasting a vial."
Damian watched as Lurker approached his house.
"It has a moderately long cooldown for its location ability and is too big to enter from a window. If I can bait it to attack the door, I can sneak around and kill it."
So Damian did. He barricaded the door and waited for the monster to reach the door.
Lurker ferociously attacked the wooden door, slowly chipping it, but Damian waited.
"Not yet," He calmed himself, standing next to an open window on the back.
As soon as the monster clicked, he jumped out and rushed to the front of the house.
As soon as he arrived, Lurker opened the door and rushed inside. Using this opportunity, Damian lunged forward.
"Die!" He shouted, his spear piercing Lurker's flesh, scattering a brown mucus-like substance around.
"Ha!" Damian cried, pushing the beast towards the still-burning clay oven.
Ambushed Lurker screeched and trashed the cabin with its claws but to no avail.
Damian had managed to make it fall and burn.
Both sides struggled and put everything on the line, but Damian had the advantage and determination.
His hands grasped the spear so hard, they turned completely pale, while his muscles stretched to the point of near tear.
"That giant claws of yours give you a massive attack range but also a massive weakness!"
Lurker struggled for a little more before finally dying.
[Lurker Killed!
First beast kill bonus activated! Doubling the experience!
+500 XP]
[Level up! 2 -> 3
300 XP to next level]
[2 unassigned points]
Multiple screens appeared before Damian.
He swiped them all away. "I will look at you tomorrow." He grabbed Lurker's half-burned body, dragged it out, and tossed it away. "Surprisingly light." He thought.
"I killed my first beast." He looked at his spear, lying on the ground, its tip covered in brown mucus.
"And I will kill more. This world may be hard and unforgiving, but I can survive."