"Gasp."
Will woke up in a panic. After collecting his thoughts did he calm down.
"Was that just a dream?"
He noticed a small arrow on the ground covered in blood and poison. It proved that what happened wasn't a dream.
"God…"
Will sat on the edge of his bed. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline, but he didn't think much when someone died in front of him. It wasn't anyone he was too familiar with, heck he didn't even know his name.
But still, the thought of someone dying like that made him shiver in fear. In the end Will has also had his fair share with death. He's never seen anyone die especially in front of his eyes.
Not only that, but he also had something to do with the lumberjacks death. If Will did not go too far off into the forest to collect wood, then perhaps the guy wouldn't have checked on him and would still be alive.
He didn't blame himself entirely, as no one could have foreseen a goblin attack. The lumberjack was just unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
After pondering about it, Will took a shower. He forgot to change his clothes last night, so the blood that covered his back dried up, and his shirt was now stuck to his body. But the death of the lumberjack was still stuck in his mind.
'I saw someone die. And yet I don't feel remorse or guilt for the man.'
Having played violent video games for years like God of War and such, Will has become a bit used to brutal deaths. Scientists have proved this fact. It isn't just Will, many people who play violent video do become used to witnessing violent murders.
Will decided that it wasn't worth pondering too much about it.
"Wait, how am I able to move?" Will was sure that he was still poisoned, meaning that he should be too weak to even move.
{HP 50/50}
{Status: -5% slow: 54 minutes remaining}
His poisoned status was gone. This confused Will. Before the poison lasted longer than a day and it did not disappear. And yet after a good night's sleep his poisoned status was gone.
But the -5% speed was still there.
"Was it because I slept on a bed?" ignoring the -5% reduction in speed, in some video games the character is healed after sleeping on the bed. It was a possibility but it hasn't been confirmed yet. Either way he was grateful that he wasn't poisoned anymore.
He did not think that anyone helped him because there were no signs of anyone helping him.
"Okay… what do I have here."
Will did not forget to bring his wood with him, as well as the stone axe before he sneaked in the inn.
Currently he has a gun, some ammo, a stone axe, 60x wood, and that was it. Even with such little stuff it felt like he was carrying too much. What he needed right now was a place to safely store his items, or even some sort of space inventory.
Will tried to inspect the gun which is without a doubt his strongest weapon to date. But maybe playing with it while in his room might be too dangerous. He decided it was best if he experimented with it outside.
"How do I craft this crafting station?"
Will looked at his book. He had the ingredients required to craft a basic crafting station, but he did not know how to craft it. It's not like he could press 'e' on a keyboard and a small crafting table will appear.
And the book did not explain it either.
But funny enough it did in fact record the goblins after his encounter with them last night.
{Goblin}
{a race that brings chaos to mankind. They steal, pillage, rape, and kill. They are weaker than humans. But their numbers and weapons give them an upper hand}
{they love treasure and female humans. They live in caves hiding until they go out to attack. They are weak against fire and their intelligent is below that of the average man}
It recorded more information due to the fact that Will had killed several of them last night. But right now his only concern was how to craft a crafting station.
"Maybe voice command? Craft basic crafting station."
Nothing happened.
He tried placing the wood on the ground hoping to get some sort of reaction, but nothing.
"How do I craft stuff?"
Will looked through the brown book thinking that he had missed something. How he wished it came with an instruction manual or a guide.
But there was nothing that could help him.
He put the book away and examined the shrunken wood on his hand.
"What am I doing wrong?"
He was tapping on his bed furiously, then something happened.
Floating words and numbers appeared on top of his bed. It was similar to the numbers that floated on his head.
"What?"
Will examined it carefully.
{Wooden bed}
{owned by the hotel. It is hard to sleep on and is not very comfy}
{durability: 60/70}
{spawn point set}
{Terrible: -5% speed for 1 hour to whoever sleeps on this bed}
{unable to craft due to lack of materials and also needs a basic crafting station}
This is the first time Will has seen this. When he touches something it records it in the book. But now it is showing information in front of him.
"Oh! So this is why I got that -5% decrease in speed." Will did not think a terrible bed could do that to him.
After a minute had gone by the words disappeared as if it was never there.
"What did I do?" Will retraced his steps carefully.
Then once again the words reappeared on his bed.
"I wonder…" Will took out his handgun and touched it with the tip of his finger.
{Handgun(magical)}
{Damage: 100(30+) per shot}
{Superior: +10% damage, +10% knock back, +5% critical hit}
{owned by Clement. Given to him by his lost son. It has been altered many times making it a one-of-a-kind weapon. But it was damaged many years ago and it cannot show its full potential}
{first setting: normal, shoots normal but deadly bullets}
{second setting: destruction, shoots explosive rounds}
{third setting: liar, kills those when the target lies}
{fourth setting: net, shoots a metal net that is designed to trap people and/or beasts}
{fifth setting: unavailable}
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
{sixth setting: unavailable}
{durability: 60/300}
Will was smiling. He did not know about this setting at all. Whatever he touched with his finger it showed all of the information.
But maybe this is the one thing he needs to craft a crafting station.
"Please let this work."
He grabbed his wood and poked it. And just like last time something appeared on top of the wood.
{wood}
{list of crafting ingredient available: basic crafting table}
This time it showed a picture of a crafting table as if there was a screen in front of him. He touched the crafting table, and it appeared on his hand.
"Finally!" Will cried out in joy. He could finally craft a bunch of stuff.
He set the table in the middle of his room which grew in size. It was as big as a school desk.
He touched the crafting table, and pictures of many ingredients showed before his eyes.
The list went from armor, weapons, and whatever he could craft at the moment. Most of them were very colorful and full of life.
There were also some pictures that were gray and dark. It was the ingredient that Will could not craft at the moment because he did it meet the requirements to craft it.
"Wooden armor, wooden weapons, shovels, decorations… and even building materials."
The building materials are something that Will was looking forward to. Like it's name suggests, he can now craft building materials and actually build a safe base, just like Minecraft and Terraria. This would literally let him build his own house.
There was more to building materials than people think. Will could take a material like wood, and he can transform it into a different shape.
The wood on his hands were misshaped, some were round and long, and others were short and different.
But with the building materials he can make the wood into a perfect cube, rectangle, round ball, pyramids and others. Imagine what a professional builder could do if he/she were to be able to have this.
Right now Will wasn't going to worry about this function yet. First he needed to find a way to protect himself by crafting good armour and weapons. After that only then will build a safe base.
Although he did feel safe in this village, thinking about that dragon made him shiver, and made him realize that this village could not protect him from all the dangers in the world. And who knows what other monsters lurked out there.
"What should I craft? Some clothes would be nice." Will noticed that his only set of clothes was ruined and he needed to buy some more.
"Should I craft some armor or some wooden tools and then get better stuff…"
Will was in deep thought. If he did craft the full wooden armor set then he would not have enough wood to craft a Pickaxe and a shovel. He would have to spend hours to gather wood.
"But if I craft all this I won't be able to carry it all at once. Gah! Why is this so difficult."
Will could not carry a shovel, a Pickaxe, a handgun, and wood with him all at once. Even an ordinary man cannot carry so many things at once or it'll create many problems. An inventory space would be very helpful right now.
Among the number of pictures it displayed on top of the crafting table, Will saw something that might help him.
"Then… how about this."
Will touched the wooden chest picture. And it appeared on his hand. Now he had 30x wood left.
The crafting station required 20 wood, and the wooden chest required 10 wood to craft. Out of the 60 pieces of wood he had with him half of it was now gone.
He placed it on the ground and it grew in size. It was a meter long and it looked basic.
The inside of the chest was small. It seemed like not even his axe alone would be able to fit.
"I hope this works."
Will placed 20x wood inside the chest. And surprisingly the wood was still in its shrunken size despite it having left his hand.
"Great." This meant that Will could fit a lot of materials in this chest alone. He was worried for a second that he would not be able to fit much into this tiny chest. But if it keeps the materials small then he could fit a lot more stuff.
"How do I pick it up?"
Will tried shrinking the chest again, but couldn't. It's because he doesn't know how to shrink materials once they have been placed on the ground.
"Maybe…"
Will got his axe and gently touched the basic crafting table. As he did that, it shrunk and it was in his arm.
"Yes! It worked."
It seemed that whenever he touched a placed item with a weapon it could shrink it down to size. He tried doing this by punching the bed earlier but it didn't work. It was his instinct that told him it would work.
Will tried it on the bed and it too shrunk in size.
"I can steal whatever I want with this." An evil thought crept up in his mind. But it was dismissed as nothing more than a joke, for now.
"Okay, the moment of truth."
Will touched the chest with his axe. If it shrunk in size with all of his wood inside, then he wouldn't need to worry about carrying too much with him. But if it doesn't work then it will prove to be harder.
And as if the gods were on his side, the chest did shrunk.
Will then replaced it on the ground again, and sure enough, all of his wood was in there.
"Yes!"
Will experimented with this new discovery. He could not place nor take things out of his chest when it had shrunk. It will only let him take stuff out when the chest is at full size.
After placing all of his stuff inside the chest, except the handgun, he left his room. He held onto his chest firmly to avoid losing it.
Before he left his room, he crafted two pieces of wooden armor, a wooden torso and wooden leggings.
{Wooden torso}
{Defense 1+}
{Agile: +10% speed, +5% agility}
{Durability: 25/25}
{Wooden leggings}
{Defence +1}
{Damaged: +5% chance of breaking when hit}
{Durability: 20/20}
Will did not feel uncomfortable wearing it, which is weird because it was made out of wood. But it felt like wearing cotton clothing instead.
The only downside to it is that it looked weird. How often does one dress with wooden armor?
The fat lady noticed Will leaving his room.
"20 copper co-"
"I know, I know." Will placed 20 copper coins on the counter and left.
The fat lady raised an eyebrow but took the money anyway.
Many of the villagers looked at Will weirdly. They had never seen someone wear wooden armor before, and it didn't look like it was made out of wood because Will could move so easily.
They did not pay much attention to it.
Will first went to a restaurant. He had not eaten today or yesterday. In fact he did not even get paid for doing lumberjack work. But he thought that he should leave it for now, because maybe the other lumberjacks would have realized that the reason that other lumberjack died was because of him. It was better not to say anything at the moment.
After having some decent food, he paid for it, then he went to the gate. But something caught his eye. It was a shop with the sign 'July and Son's shop' it was blacksmith shop. They sold many things in there, and that included weapons and tools that were better than wood.
Will would have gone in, but there was another sign outside that read 'closed' meaning that he could not buy anything from the shop for now. Once he has the chance he will go to that weapon shop and buy the tools he needs.
He could not go near the same place he went to gather wood because a bunch of people were there having a memorial service for the lumberjack who died, and who 'supposedly' sacrificed his life to protect the village from a goblin attack.
Feeling bad that the lumberjack died, Will cupped his hands together and did a little prayer for the man. Will then went to the other side of the village and started chopping wood once again.
After 2 hours of chopping wood he was taking a rest.
"There has to be an easier way than this."
Will only managed to collect 43 pieces of wood. At this rate it'll take forever to craft building blocks and create his own base.
"Hold on…" Will forgot to check the axe's condition.
{Stone axe}
{Damage: 3-4}
{Horrible: -30% agility, -25% wood production, -30% haste}
{Durability: 1/40}
"God I am so stupid." Will threw the axe away. It had the worst status he had ever seen. Not only that but it was so close to breaking. And shortly after throwing the axe it broke into 3 pieces.
There was nothing he could do at the moment to fix this situation. He could rob the weapon shop, but he did not believe he could get away with it.
This was not a Bethesda game where he could place buckets over people's heads and get away with theft. As much as he wants better tools at the moment, he did not dare to overestimate himself. Even if he does not go to jail, if he gets caught, he will be kicked out of this village and left wondering the outside world. It was not something he was willing to face at the moment.
And if he were to die, then all of his progress would probably be lost. He still has yet to confirm that theory.
Just as he was about to craft a wooden axe, he heard something.
*Clank* It was the sound of metal hitting each other.
Will quickly got up and pointed his gun towards the sound. He was not going to let goblins or anything else attack him.
"Woah, stop! Don't shoot!"
It was the voice of a young kid. He looked at least 13 years old. He's riding on top of a mule who was pulling a carriage filled with items. He had short blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles. His body was slim and he looked healthy and full of life.
"Sorry, I didn't hear you." Will put the gun away. He was too occupied that he didn't even notice the kid until now.
"It's okay." The kid sighed in relief. He thought that Will was here to rob him.
"What do you have in there?" Asked Will.
"Just some weapons, iron, copper, armor and such." The kid noticed Will threw his axe on the ground. His eyes shined as he saw a business opportunity.
"Do you need a new axe?"
"Yeah."
"Then would you like to buy one? I happen to have one in my carriage." The kid went to his carriage and got 1 Axe. It looked like he was struggling a bit but Will did not bother helping. The axe looked like it was in better condition than his old axe, but Will wanted to be sure it did not have any terrible debuffs like the stone axe.
"Here. It's only 7 silver pieces." The kid turned red as he had trouble carrying the axe.
"Can I inspect it first?"
"Sure."
Will took the axe from his hand and the kid felt relieved. Will had many questions as to why a kid was travelling alone, on a mule, with no one protecting him. It was a wonder how bandits did not steal from him.
{Iron axe}
{Damage: 5-7}
{Good: +5% increase wood production}
{Durability: 80/80}
"It is better. I'll take it." Will gave the kid 7 silver coins for him. it was worth every penny.
"Thanks. Would you like to check what else I have?"
"Sure."
The kid showed Will what else he had brought with him.
He has swords, battle axes, hammers, armor, shields, spears. Most of them were either made from copper or iron.
With the kid's permission, Will inspected all of them.
They were all either in terrible or good condition, it was random, but there was one problem, they were too expensive. Will only had less than 40 silver coins, and most of the things the kid carried were worth 7 silver to 50 silver.
He touched everything to record it in his brown book. Many new crafting recipes were added to his book,
In the end, Will thought it would be better if he crafted it himself. But there was something that caught his attention.
"What is that?" Will pointed at something that was in the corner of the room. It was lumpy and shiny as well.
"That's iron and copper ore. My uncle and mom are professional smiths. I just came back from my uncle's village after he gifted me all of this."
"Can I touch it?"
"Uh… sure." The kid thought it was weird for Will to touch the ore, but he didn't mind just as long as he didn't steal it.
Will entered the carriage and touched the ore, but nothing fascinating happened. It was added to his list of crafting recipes.
{Iron ore}
{Blacksmiths use this ore to smelt and make it into fine tools that are used to make everyone's life easier. It is much better than copper}
{Copper ore}
{a decent ore used to make tools that's better than wood}
As it turns out, he needs to find out how to smelt the ore before being able to craft anything. Even if he were to buy it right now, it would prove to be useless.
'Yeah I should have expected this.' He thought.
Shaking his head, he left the carriage.
"Thanks, Kid," Will said.
"Ah no problem. A happy customer is a loyal customer. How come I haven't seen you around?"
"I just got here. I am staying at a hotel."
"Oh! Then you must have met my grandma at the counter."
"Your grandma? Oh…" Will finally realized who this kid is. The reason they both knew they were talking about the same hotel is because it was the only hotel in the village.
"Yup. Bye." The kid pulled the mule with him and entered the village.
"So that's the kid… huh."
The kid was the one who's mother claimed that they were going to get married in three years. It wasn't his problem so he didn't say anything else. Although he found incest weird, he did not want to voice his opinion about it.
"Time for more wood."
Will used his new axe and swung the tree with it. To his surprise, he managed to penetrate it deeper than he could before. In only 2 short swings, he was able to bring a tree down.
"Oh yeah, this is so much easier."
After a single hour of cutting down trees, he now had 100 pieces of wood.
"Alright!"
Will then crafted more wooden armor.
{Wooden helmet}
{Defense +1}
{Feather: -20% weight}
{Durability 20/20}
{Wooden boots}
{Defense +1}
{meh: +2% damage taken increased}
Although some of his armor had minor debuffs he didn't mind. He now had a complete set of wooden armor.
Now that he had enough wood, he crafted a shovel and a pickaxe.
"Now this is starting to feel like a video game." Will said to himself.
After that he started digging and mining before the sun went down...