Stepping out of the gate, Owen opened his map. It showed a rough outline of the town, and the name Grest crossed through. It looked like the road continued further, but his map only showed the nearby area. “I really got to figure out these skills and their limits.” With that thought, Owen checked on his new skills from last night.

Fear Resistance ( II ): Prevents the User from the Fear debuff also aids slightly against mental attacks. Eagle Eye* ( II ): Aids the User with precision for ranged attacks, increased accuracy, and range. Unyielding* ( U ): Significantly protects from Mental attacks. Skill still needs to be fully decoded.

“Alright, so skills have levels; I’m guessing the ‘U’ means unique? They don’t seem to have any levels, but it says there’s still more.” With his skills in mind, Owen used Summon Weapon for the first time. Feeling a pull from his chest, he tried to understand what was happening. As a blue blade began to form in his hand, he thought it through. “I have mana, and when I use it, it comes from my chest. There was the warning I got when I used too much and it made me lightheaded.” Note to self: don’t do that again. “I can feel that pulling traveling through my body, into my arm, and out my hand. I can still feel it, there in the blade, so can I still control it,” pulling the strange blue blade closer, Owen looked at it intently.

“This blade thing isn’t a Ka-BAR though…” Owen huffed as he trod on. “Wait, it’s like all the other skills. I just have to want it.” Looking back at the mana blade in his hand, he pictured what one looked like. The simple black segmented handle, the small guard, and the 7-inch blade with a half-fuller. Its thicker edge was helpful as a tool, and the segmented handle helped to keep a grip on the weapon. Willing that image into the mana, he could still feel he felt another pull. This time, he tried to help “push” the mana, noticing this allowed it to travel faster. Opening his eyes, he was happy with the result. In his hands was the exact blade he imagined, even down to the matte black finish of the blade and handle. Taking a quick peek at his status, he was only down about 15 mana. “Hmm, a bit more expensive than what the skill description said. Maybe due to me changing its looks.” Trying to dismiss the weapon, blue cracks appeared along it, and it began breaking into blue dust that disappeared into the air. As Owen continued walking, he kept experimenting with the skill. He noticed that any new Ka-BARs he would summon had the same look and feel as the first. If he just let the skill do the work, it would take about 2 to 3 seconds for the blade to solidify. If he pushed his mana, it was down to about 1 second but cost a little more mana.

“Alright, so the skill can he helped along at almost no real cost once I get the hang of it. Well, it’s a good thing I’ll always have a knife on me now. I wouldn’t want to miss out on the cheesecake.” He joked to himself.

“Now, about those points.” Willing his Status screen back up, Owen considered distributing his Attribute points. He really wished he could round out his strength and boost his abysmal luck.

Attribute points distribution allocated. Proceed? YES | NO

STATUS Inventory Armory Other Name: Owen Class: Marine Species: Human Level: 2 EXP: 49/125 Health : 170/287 Stamina : 170/278 Mana: 19/116 Stats Strength: 20 Endurance: 17 Dexterity: 16 Vigor: 15 Intelligence: 11 Focus: 11 Faith: 10 Luck 2 Attribute Points: 0 Skill Points: 1

Owen face palmed, “Of course, that’s how it works.” After selecting yes, he then thought about his skill point. This caused a new screen to appear.

Please Select a skill to empower: Summon Weapon (Unique) Double Strike (Elite) II Basic Swordsmanship (Basic) II Heavy Slash (Common) II Sneak (Common) II Assassinate (Advanced) I Fear Resistance (Common) II Eagle Eye (Basic) II

“Shit,” Owen said as he stopped in place to digest the new information. “Hey, ARMS, what’s with the Elite and Basic tags there?” Not actually expecting a response, Owen continued to speculate. “There was the notice when I killed the Raider. Elite Variant. That means there is a rarity system here. So obviously I should upgrade the rarest one.” Selecting his Summon Weapon skill, Owen once again saw a box asking for confirmation. After selecting yes, Owen continued to walk while taking out his last beef stick.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Actually, that reminds me,” pulling up his Other Tab, Owen concentrated on the still crossed-out Shop option.

Unlock Shop functions for 1 Skill Point? Yes | No

“…Are…you…kidding me…” Owen once again stopped in his tracks, “I need to raise my luck stat more; this is some bullshit.” Owen mumbled out due to the beef stick. “I need to find more monsters to kill that will fix all these problems.” With that thought, Owen scanned the path he was on and his surroundings. He had been walking for almost an hour, and the scenery had barely changed. To his left was grasslands as far as he could see; in front, the path continued into the horizon. His right was the same till about 300 yards out where the treeline began. Turning his eyes upward, he noticed that the large sun had mostly fully risen, whereas the small sun that rose further left of it was almost directly in the center now.

“Weird.” Owen thought, “If it’s curving, it’s on its own path, right? Dammit, I shoulda paid more attention in science. Actually, how can I look at those suns?” Owen wondered, “Shouldn’t my eyes be melting cause of the UV or something? Man, all this weird magic bullshit is hurting my head.” Looking back at the strange small sun, Owen noticed it was odd. He watched the unknown object move as he finished his snack. It mostly looked like the top of an open umbrella. Each different section looked like it had a picture on it. As he thought about it, the small sun arrived in the center of the giant star. With a flash of gray light, the smaller sun seemed to almost turn, like a clock hand ticking down.

“What the hell was that all about?” Owen wondered as he continued his walk. Owen got his answer moments later as off in the grass, he noticed 4 shadowy blobs coming from the ground. Instinctually, he used his Inspect on the strange object.

Mist-Born: Formation stage | Level 0

Mist-Born: Miasma is condensing and will form an F-Grade mana stone.

00:24

00:23

Everything seemed to slow down as Owen’s brain went into overdrive. Formation Stage, F-Grade, is a monster going to appear. Since it’s F-Grade, should I ambush them. I have 20 seconds left, enough time to reach the orbs. I don’t have a ranged weapon, so I have to close in and destroy them first. With his mind made up, Owen rushed near to the strange blobs. Nearing them, Owen drew his blade and attempted to slash one of them. To his dismay, his blade seemed to harmlessly pass through it. Steeling himself as the counter in his vision flashed a red 0, Owen readied his sword. He watched as they filled out the shape of the monsters he had seen before. Owen fired off another Inspect to be sure.

Gobbo | Level 1 Gobbo | Level 2 Gobbo | Level 1 Gobbo | Level 4

Noticing that 2 of the creatures were relatively close to him and each other, he swung his blade as soon as they took the green hue they had in the village. This time, his weapon cut true as one after another, the two monsters lost their heads. Dismissing the kill notification, Owen slashed forward towards the other level 1. Cutting the creature through its face and into its chest, Owen turned, readying his weapon against the last one.

Owen watched as the strange creature barked and hissed before lungeing with its claws. Slashing at the monster to force it back, Owen noticed that his feet felt…wrong. Shifting his right foot back, the strange feeling left. Is this the skill working, he thought as the Gobbo lunged again. This time, he followed the feeling, turning his body and sliding his right foot back. With the Gobbo missing its lunge, Owen slashed down at it. With its corpse slapping into the ground, Owen rechecked his surroundings. “All clear,” he whispered to himself as the notifications came in

Exp gained 10. All Exp held until combat concludes. Exp gained 15. All Exp held until combat concludes. Exp gained 10. All Exp held until combat concludes. Exp gained 20. All Exp held until combat concludes.

“ARMS, can you merge similar notices, please.” With that, the boxes disappeared, with another taking its place.

Combat Exp gained 55 Rewards: F-Grade Mana Stones x4 Skill increase: Basic Swordsmanship

“Kebechet did a great job with you, ARMS,” Owen said as he returned to the path.