Joe unlocked both Mining and Endurance before his first shift in the mines was over. In order to also help train his Night Eyes ability Joe kept his lantern a good distance from where he was working so the ability would compensate for the low light. He also frequently cast Lightning Jolt onto the ground. By the end of that first day Lightning Jolt was finally level 2.

Mining (Level 1). This skill applies to using tools to break ore from stone. Higher levels of the skill will allow you break through the rocks faster. To train this skill separate more ore veins from normal rock.

Key Attribute: Strength

Endurance (Level 1). This skill applies to physically exhaustive tasks that naturally drain stamina without an ability or spell being activated. Higher levels of this skill reduce the stamina drain allowing you to exert yourself for longer periods of time. To train this skill do more physical activities that drain your stamina.

Key Attribute: Vitality

As Joe was getting ready to run around before starting dinner, Ferric cautioned him to be sure he only ran short distances, as long distance running would unlock the Running skill, and he may not have enough skills for his desired profession. Joe made note of that in his head, knowing that he had no limit to the number of skills he could unlock, unlike others.

For his cooking training with Ferric Joe learned how to make bread and it was added to his recipe list. Ferric kept the crab stew from the day before cooking without stop so it remained safe to eat. Joe cut up several vegetables to add to it using his new bone knife.

Joe's days passed in a training routine that first week. By the time the traveling merchant arrived Joe had gotten to level 2 in his Mining, Cooking, and Mana Channeling skills, level 3 in Endurance, and unlocked Stamina Growth to level 1. His stamina exceeded his mana, 30 stamina versus 28 mana. His hit points were up to 26, so Lester said it was almost time to start on his Toughness skills.

Stamina Growth (Level 1). This skill improves your stamina regeneration rate after expending stamina to activate an ability or spell, or through physical activity. Higher levels improve the speed at which your stamina refills. To train this skill keep draining your stamina and allowing it to refill naturally.

Key Attribute: Vitality

The merchant was one of several that made circuits that passed through Rust's Edge for their iron ingots. The deer skins and wolf pelts were a welcomed extra. Ferric bought a lot of extra arrows for Sally so they could get more deer. He also asked the merchant to assess the value of the bone knives. She said they were strong and great quality, so would be worth about 3 gold coins each, which was a great value for the prices Rust's Edge usually got for their weekly sales. Ferric didn't want to part with any of them this week, but planned on gaining more before the next merchant arrived.

The merchant day is considered a day off for the residents of Rust's Edge, so no one was going back into the mines today. Joe decided it would be a good day to revisit the Cutting Crustaceans and see what he could now get from his Harvest spell with its new interface. Lester went with him to be sure the crabs didn't give Joe any trouble. Joe used his usual trick of distracting the crab with a thrown rock before sneaking up on it and hitting it with Lightning Jolt. It was even easier now, as his higher Intelligence combined with his higher spell level meant it only took a single jolt to kill a crab. He noticed it was significantly lighter now with his improved strength from the mining as he and Lester moved away from the river with the dead crab.

He now had 28 Harvest Points available. Despite his number of points, he couldn't get more than 5 steaks from the crab, probably due to how much meat it had in it. He had some interesting options for 20 points. One of them was a pair of crab shears. The other was a shell buckler. For this first one he took the shell buckler and all 5 steaks, 2 of which were already cooked. He and Lester moved around enough to kill 4 more crabs before they decided that was enough for the day. Joe had 3 more shell bucklers and 1 pair of crab shears with 26 crab steaks in total.

It turns out the Cutting Crustaceans absorb trace minerals from the river which runs past the iron mines which is what gives their claws such sharpness and their shells so much strength. He hoped the bucklers would sell well next week when the next merchant came. Sneaking up on his tenth crab also unlocked the Stealth skill for Joe, which gave a bonus to his Agility.

Stealth (Level 1). This skill allows you to lessen the clues you give off to allow others to notice you. This can apply to being seen, heard, or both. Higher levels of this skill make it harder for others to notice your presence unless you want them to notice you. To train this skill keep others from noticing you.

Key Attribute: Agility

The next day the pain began. While mining for iron ore Joe heard a whistling noise. A rock sailed into his vision, bounced off the ceiling next to him, and ricocheted into his shoulder. He got a CGS notice.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

You have been hit by a rock doing 20 points of damage. Current Hit Points: 6/26.

“Bullseye!” shouted Lester from the corridor behind Joe. Joe turned and Lester gave him a cheery smile. “How are you faring after that hit?”

“Ugh, I only have 6 hit points left., so I definitely can't take more than 1 of those hits at a time.”

“Yep, I purposefully aimed it to bounce off the rocks here because my full force attack would kill you at your current stats. No offense.”

Rubbing his shoulder Joe responded, “None taken. That's what this is for, right?”

Joe cast Healing Touch and immediately regained most of his lost health. A second casting brought him back to full. There was still a little bit of pain in his shoulder, but it quickly dissipated after the healing took effect. Before the end of that first day he'd been hit about 50 times by all three miners. His Defense skill unlocked, and he got to level 2 in Healing Touch.

Defense (Level 1). This skill slightly reduces the amount of physical damage you take. Higher skills improve the benefit of your Toughness attribute in regards to physical damage. To improve this skill take more hits from physical sources, but of course you have to survive them.

Key Attribute: Toughness

The next morning Sally went off on her own to kill a single deer and dragged it to the mine entrance. While casting Harvest Lester threw a rock at him again, which did a little less damage thanks to his new Defense skill and slightly improved Toughness. After the rock Lester also came and acted like a lunatic until Joe lost the spell. When he began to cast it again he didn't have to choose the harvest distribution again, it was still set from the first time he tried to cast the spell, so that was nice, at least. Joe lost the spell again because of the way Lester was acting. The third time he cast the spell successfully despite the distractions of Lester.

Joe's Focus skill unlocked the second day, granting him additional Intelligence. The Pain Tolerance skill still hadn't unlocked despite a second day taking a bunch of hits from rocks thrown by his fellow miners, so he decided to work through his pain on this third day. Joe cast Lightning Jolt on the ground as soon as he was damaged as a way to measure the passage of time. When his mana had completely refilled he would cast Healing Touch. He continued to mine despite the pain in his shoulder or back, or chest, or wherever the rock landed each time. By the end of the day he had finally unlocked Pain Tolerance for an additional point of Toughness.

Focus (Level 1). This skill allows you to maintain your mental acuity for longer periods of time. This is especially useful when casting spells that take time. Higher levels of the skill allow you to concentrate for longer without risk of losing the spell or the mental image you are focusing on. To train this skill keep trying to focus on something while being distracted or taking damage.

Key Attribute: Intelligence

Pain Tolerance (Level 1). This skill allows you to better ignore the feelings of pain as your body is damaged. Higher levels allow you to work through more intense levels of physical trauma to keep your mind where it should be rather than shutting down due to pain. To train this skill get hurt more without dying.

Key Attribute: Toughness.

It took two more months for Joe to raise all the planned skills up to at least level 5.

Skills:

Reading 2

Climbing 1

Mana Channeling 6

Cooking 5

Endurance 6

Mining 5

Stamina Growth 5

Stealth 2

Defense 6

Focus 4

Pain Tolerance 5

His Focus wasn't yet level 5, but it was the physical attributes they were mostly training. As he got and cast more spells his Focus would naturally improve without needing outside help. His improved Intelligence gave him the ability to get more knives or similar crafted objects out of the harvested animals which pushed his Harvest spell up to level 3 and also his Mage level up to level 3. He didn't get any new spell options, so he picked the Deflection Field that was offered at level 2, and got a new passive ability.

Sense Manachlorians (Rank 1), Passive. The manachlorian energy flows all throughout the world, but larger concentrations enable magical effects and objects. This concentration of manachlorians can be natural or facilitated by a creature. You can now sense the presence of higher concentrations of manachlorians.

His Night Eyes ability also went up to rank 2 due to mining with minimal light for months. His new statistics looked pretty good.

Individual Statistics:

Name: Joseph Pinkerton

Age: 18

Race: Felinoid

Class: Mage Level 3

Profession:

Hit Points: 108/108

Stamina: 184/184

Mana: 88/88

Strength: 20

Agility: 13

Vitality: 54

Toughness: 38

Intelligence: 44

Wisdom: 6

Unassigned: 4

And his new spell would be useful.

Deflection Field (Level 1). This spell acts like armor for the caster. The myth that manachlorian flow is blocked by restrictive clothing likely originated from the kind of protection this spell provides. Casters simply have no need for additional armor while this spell is active. At its current level the spell will last for 1 minute.

Mana cost: 10 mana per casting.

Joe couldn't keep the Deflection Field up continuously, but he could keep it up for a while. Between his Intelligence and Mana Channeling skill he got back approximately 5 mana every minute. He was feeling good about his ability to fight on his own, at least, unless he had to face something strong. The animals around Rust's Edge were fine, though.

At night a few times Joe would sneak into the woods and creep up to deer who were eating and slice their throats with his dagger. He would then grab them to keep them from causing problems in their death throes, his strength more than enough now to handle an adult deer. He had a secret project he wanted to work on and needed the deer for it. It only took three trips to finish his planned project, although he spaced the nights out to avoid suspicion.

Joe walked into The Rusty Cup one evening with two of the large canvas bags typically used for lugging iron ore out of the mine slung over his back, a smile on his face. He knew his secret project would go over well.