Crabore after Crabore fell to my rusty spear. 

Well…not really. More like seven of them fell? 

Three dropped frost ores. I wasn’t able to kill more because my rusty spear gave out. Even my worn leather armor’s durability dropped to zero. The armor’s really negligible; my Ancestral Constitution gave more armor than it did. The loss of the spear, however, was a bit problematic since the knockback effect of my [Charge] depended on using polearms or spears. I could sneak it an additional attack as my target recovered. Actually, it gave even more bonuses if a lance-type weapon was equipped. But where the fuck would I find lance here? It probably meant the lance that was used by charging knights during medieval ages because a lance was technically a polearm. 

Why would we have a lance up here in the snow-covered mountains? Jousting Mirdabons?

As to the matter of my spear, thankfully, there was a repair shop in the mining village so I didn’t need to go back to Sumuel in the main village. I sold the carapace that I gathered and sold it in the exchange to pay repairs of the spear; I didn’t bother with the armor. 

Rinse. Repeat. This time, Crabore after Crabore did fall to my rusty spear. And the durability of my spear also fell quite fast. My shield was also rendered unuseable. Damn, they weren't kidding that leveling a Mardukryon was hard.

“Fucking gold sink,” I said as I trotted back to the village. It was hard to save up rings at this point. At least the Crabore always dropped a carapace so I could sell them. 

Not that a gold sink was bad. All games of this sort needed a gold sink or else their economy would go awry. Monsters in MMORPGs dropped money and loot, the loot could also be sold for money. There were even games where you could buy in-game currency with real world money. All those sources of money were akin to the government of your country indiscriminately printing money out of its ass. I have experienced the economy of MMORPGs spiral out of control because of inflation. 

“I want to sell fifteen pieces of Crabore carapace and six Crabore claws,” I told the nice lady Mardukryon at the counter of the exchange. 

“That would be two stone rings and six wood rings.”

I accepted the rings without trying to haggle. My statistics in my Social Tab was almost as nonexistent as the fucks I gave to the sufferings of the human race. A common tip I found in the forums of Nornyr online was to choose carefully which NPCs you want to invest time in building up a relationship. Religion, Affiliation, Diplomacy, Intimacy- those were just some of the statistics under the Social Tab. 

While I was in the Mardukryon village, my main goal was to become close with the blacksmith to reduce repair costs, raise prices when I sold loot to him, and to get a discount when I buy stuff from him. Who else should I build a relationship with? The staff of the exchange? Or maybe the Miner’s guild? Since I was collecting stuff from the mines for Sumuel, might as well get chummy with the miners, right? 

I shrugged my shoulders. If I was going down the path of fighting others, then the Hunter-Warriors would be my best bet. But for now, I wanted some information about iceiron so I entered the Miner's building right next to the exchange. 

“Excuse me,” I said to the Mardukryon manning the front desk. Always talk to the person behind a desk. “Can you give me some information about iceiron?”

“You looking to join us, youngling?” he leaned forward menacingly.

“Not really. I have a quest from Master Sumuel to collect some iceirons. I would be grateful if you help me.”

“Well, you need a pickax for that, youngling. Trudge along to the mines and swing your pickax. Put your back to it.”

“Don’t the Crabores drop them?” I asked. 

“Crabores only eat frost ores. For iceirons, the mines off you go. Not too deep, mind you. The first couple of levels will give you what you want. But be careful of the critters inside. Hunter-Warriors have already left for one of their Hunts. No one will look after you, youngling.”

“I’ll be careful, Mr. Miner. I think I could take on the monsters inside,” I said. “But where do I get a pickax?” 

“You could buy one with us. We’ll even teach you how to use it.” He presented a pickax. It was probably the cheapest they had but it cost all my rings. [ Beginner: Lvl. 1 Mining] came with it. “Of course, if you join our lodge then we’ll teach you more about mining. You’ll also be able to join us when a group ventures deep into the mines while accompanied by the Hunter-Warriors,” he said with a wink.

What he meant was to get the whole package, the whole Miner skill tree and questlines, then I have to join them. I declined because I really wasn’t sure how to proceed with choosing a class. 

I needed a few more frost ores then I'll go inside the tunnel to look for iceiron. As I went for another Crabore run, my mind wandered to the classes and the skills associated with them. Besides the racial tree and very, very rare quests, skills came from classes, jobs, or professions, whatever the term you used. There were classes that you could easily apply for while there were ones that were hidden. 

The first thing that came to my mind was what’s preventing me from just applying for everything? Jack of all Trades, Master of All. That would be my title. It turned out that there were lots of things that would prevent me from doing what I planned. For example, Hunter-Warrior’s would want total loyalty to the way of the blade rather than the way of the pickax…something like that. The real examples I’ve seen online were with human characters because, weirdly, most people still wanted to pick humans! Just like what the Dalkanus observed. An example was that if you enrolled in the mage academy, they would expel you if they found out that you’re also training to be a knight. Another was that if you were a dwarf gunner of a certain kingdom, another dwarf kingdom of cannoners wouldn't want to have anything to do with you. 

Blacksmith and Miner were professions that wouldn’t possibly conflict with each other, at least that’s what I’m trying to find out now.  

Despite these restrictions, an interesting thing was that you could actually gain skills from other classes without joining them. Most starting classes would give their very basic skills, sometimes free, sometimes for a fee. And, just like the real world, you could bribe, threaten, or trade the "instructors" for the higher level skills. It's technically a hidden quest that required plenty of imagination. People actually stole healing scrolls from a human church until there was so much stolen that the guards were increased and players were caught and temporarily sent to jail by the NPCs. 

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

How stupid was that? Getting jailed by NPCs. 

Loot:

Frost Ore (1)

Crabore Carapace (1)

Crabore Claw (1)

“Ladies and Gentlecrabores,” I said with a flourished bow. “Your lives are no longer forfeit. You are free to go for your god has completed his collection of frost ores.” The Crabores showed no reaction and simply went about their daily virtual reality lives and crawled around. For their insolence, I killed the ones I met as I went to the mouth of the tunnel. Just kidding, it was just a waste to leave them alone. 

I took out my pickaxe and sung, “Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it’s home from work we go.” It was the song the dwarves in Snow White sung. Wait. Home from work we go? “Oh, it’s not a going to work song. I’m such a dumbfuck. Good thing Eclairs’ not here.” She would always point out if she knew something that I didn’t. She probably kept a score of how many times that happened. Well, whatever made her happy. 

The tunnels were lit by luminous rocks, placed at intervals along the way. The light coming from these rocks were dim. Fortunately, the four eyes of the Mardukryons worked well in the dark. I could see very well inside the tunnel as if it was night time but the sky was clear and the full moon was out. 

Frost ores and iceirons were very rare in the first level. I mined everything that I could. There were some Crabores crawling around but I just let them go their merry way. I was too focused on looking for iceirons. 

“I only got three,” I said mournfully as I peered down the path going to the level below. “Guess I have to go down for more?” 

Four, five, six, seven. I quickly found more iceirons and even frost ores. But I didn’t rush. The miner back in the village did warn me that there’s some shits here that I should be careful of. I quickly found one of them.

 “Huh. So that was what’s living on this level,” I said. My Ancestral Constitution, now level three, was up as always, giving me an additional five armor and a maximum of ten regeneration. That was pretty good if I may say so myself. My [Charge] was level two because I was charging like a retard from the time I logged in. Given that I was only level four, I was probably doing well in leveling my racial skills. “I bet I could take you on,” I told the crab monster.

The Spiked Crabore was twice as large as a normal one and it was covered in ice spikes. Just beyond the Spiked Crabore the tunnel widened into a small cavern. There were clearly some shiny minerals inside. Minerals that I need. Obviously, this guy needed to die. 

My four eyes narrowed as I looked at its orange name. It wasn’t attacking me yet. I reared up, thinking about a battle cry but came up with nothing so I just charged at it. As I got close, its orange name turned red, confirming my suspicion that it would turn into an aggressive state if someone got close to it. 

I speared it, knocking it back an awesome distance of less than a meter. It didn’t even flip. 

A small static sensation told me that I was damaged as well. The fuck? 

[Tip]

Be careful when attacking certain monsters. Even without directly attacking you, certain armor, skills, and aura of monsters could hurt you. Environment and terrain could also affect the way your battles goes and even hurt you.

[Perception] and other skills of the same type could help you analyze the situation and avoid unnecessary damage to yourself.

"I'll have to look for a skill like that later."

Before I even regenerated the damage, I attacked again, and again, not minding the damage. It was quite negligible anyway given my regeneration. Then the Spiked Crabore took a swipe at me and took a big chunk of my health. “Shit,” I said and charged at it again, pushing it further down the tunnel. I chased after it and leaped over it as it snipped at me. I had to get into the small cavern so that I have space to run around and kite it. 

I kept my distance as it followed me into the cavern, jabbing it with my spear then running back until my health gets full. “No problems at all,” I said. “Just need to do this methodically and carefully.” I scratching noise made me turn back. Rubble was falling out of a crack on the wall of the cavern. Was the mine caving in? I claw suddenly burst through the wall, opening up a tiny tunnel.  it said over the claw. 

Before the second fucker could completely emerged, I needed to kill the first fucker. It snapped at me when I was distracted. I responded by knocking it back into the tunnel, away from the second Spiked Crabore. I stood my ground and exchanged blows with it; I didn’t have time to kite it. If there were two of them, I wouldn’t have enough room to run around in the small cavern. Munching on my last pieces of Mirdweed, I continuously attacked the Spiked Crabore. My health was hovering near its half mark. 

There was a crash behind me. The second one got out. 

With a final thrust of my spear, the first one died. A fifth of my life remained. 

I charged the next Spiked Crabore. I’ll kill this guy, mine these minerals, and go out. I couldn’t keep this up if they kept on spawning all over the place. 

Warning: Rusty Spear rendered useless because its durability has dropped to zero.  

[Rusty Spear] unequipped.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I cursed. I kicked at the Spiked Crabore then ran to the other side of the cavern. My damage decreased because I no longer have my weapon.

[Tip]

Always bring repair kits or have a smith in your party to keep your equipment in top shape even in the middle of a fight. You can also bring different types of armor to meet all kinds of challenges that come your way.

“I don’t have money for that!” I said. “I’m dirt poor right now!” I tried using [Charge]. My speed did increase. I reared my upper body and brought down my hooves on the stupid crab. It didn’t budge but only flinched. Fortunately, my damage also increased slightly even if I used only my hooves. 

The Spiked Crabore snapped at my legs. I returned with kicks. As my health dropped below fifty percent, I would retreat and heal back the damage. My shield eventually broke, but I wasn’t worried. As long as no other Spiked Crabore would spawn, I could take this one down. Retreat wasn’t an option. Well, it was an option, technically. I didn’t want to retreat. 

There was a large bluish shining rock pulsing on the side of the cavern as well as enough iceiron to complete my quest. I couldn’t simply leave all these loot. 

“Die, you stupid shit,” I said, stomping its spiky back. The return damage caused by the spikes was annoying. A couple of swipes from its large claws made me retreat. I didn’t want to risk my health low enough that I would start limping. That’s like sealing my own coffin. 

I charged again and kicked it while it flinched from the charge. I then ran for the tunnel out of the cavern. It followed me. I turned around and used [Charge], and as it flinched, I used the opportunity to jump over it. It had a hard time turning around in the narrow tunnel to face me, giving me a window of opportunity to kick it a few times. 

I repeated my strategy until I was able to bring that dumbfuck down. 

Grinning, I started mining the blue thingy. There was a loading bar above it that increased with each swing of my pickax. 

With your mining you obtained:

Glacial Fragment (1)

“Now, I’ll just get these iceirons and get out of here fast.”