Daniel stood in his workshop slaving over a piece of hot metal. He hammered on the rough forged knife for a few more strokes before it became too cool to work with. A minute later he set the knife aside to let it finish cooling; he had done enough work for one night and it was time for him to go home. He would finish up the shaping and start on the rough grinding for it tomorrow.
Glancing at the clock in the corner of his workshop he saw that it was already well past midnight, almost 2 AM in fact. He needed to stop working so late, but he had been in a groove and hadn't wanted to break it. Limping over to the door of his workshop he grabbed his wallet, phone, cane, and keys before he turned and strode out of the building. He turned and locked the door behind him as he left, and began his short walk home. He lived a little less than a mile away from his workshop so he had decided that he would walk to the shop that day, or he guessed it would technically be yesterday. He really needed to stop working so late.
As he walked he noticed how quiet the street was. It didn’t feel like a natural quiet either; it felt like the quiet right before a fierce storm as if at any second all hell could break loose. He kept walking, he couldn’t put the thought out of his mind, but he was probably just being paranoid.
He walked up to an intersection that at this time of night had a blinking yellow light with no cars in sight. He took a right turn still following the sidewalk, the only sounds were the scuffing of his shoes and the click, click, clicking sound of his cane impacting the ground. That was when he saw it. There in the middle of the road was a flipped car. “Holy shit!” he said, moving as fast as he could to the car, but with his leg that wasn't more than a fast hobble. As he approached the car he noticed a blood trail leading away and into a nearby alley.
The person must have been able to drag themselves away from the crash to safety, but why aren't there any ambulances or people here to help? This crash must have made a lot of noise when it happened. There should be at least one person here to help.
He started to follow the blood trail from the car to the nearby alley. The trail went in between two warehouse-like buildings before the blackness of the alley made it all but impossible to see. He called out to see if they were all right, but when he got no response he grew concerned. From the look of the trail, they seemed to have lost a lot of blood in the crash so they might have passed out from blood loss after they made it to safety.
As he got closer to the mouth of the alley he began to hear strange noises. At first, he thought they were ragged breathing, so he decided to try and call out again. “Can you hear me? Are you hurt badly?”
Peering into the alley it took his eyes a second to adjust to the near-total blackness, and what he saw horrified him. There were three small green creatures all looking at him as they leaned over the corpse of a person. At first, he didn't know what he was seeing, but when he fully comprehended what was happening he backed up and let out a horrified gasp. The creatures, already looking at him, all stood up and grabbed small iron shivs that he hadn't noticed in the dim alley, the light from behind him glinting threateningly off their edges.
As he backed up he felt a searing pain emanating from his bad leg causing him to fall to one knee, he turned to look at what had caused it. He saw a 4th small green creature standing behind him, the tip of its shiv covered in blood-- his blood, he realized. He instinctively retaliated and hit the creature with his cane before it could get another strike in at him. He heard a loud crack as his cane made contact with the creature's face and sent it sprawling to the ground.
He quickly remembered the other three monsters that had been in the alley just a moment before and turned to face the oncoming threat, but the monsters were just standing there in the alley looking at him and shoving each other trying to make one of the others go first.
Using this opportunity he quickly grabbed the handle of his cane and removed the outer covering that was concealing the razor-sharp blade beneath. He had made this cane sword himself and in this moment of desperation, he was very glad that he had.
The creatures seemed to realize that they had given him too much time to prepare and all rushed at him together. He tried slashing at the first creature but ended up hitting it with the flat of his blade instead. He gritted his teeth at the failure; he had never been good with a blade and was now greatly regretting that he hadn't practiced with one more.
The second creature tried to stab him in his wounded leg, but he quickly stepped back trying to avoid the blow, but at that moment his leg buckled again and he fell onto his back. The third creature, seeing his helplessness, pounced on him trying to stab his eye. Seeing the pouncing monster from his prone position he instinctively angled the tip of his blade at it. The creature thankfully ended up impaling itself on his sword, but the weight of the monster still ended up landing on him, trapping his blade beneath it.
He pushed the small green creature off of himself only to see that the first two creatures were once again upon him. He managed to kick one of the creatures away, still laying on his back, but the second was able to stab its shiv into his exposed side causing him to cry out in pain.
He tried to retaliate as the creature retreated, but with his sword still lodged in the body of the creature that had impaled itself, his attempted strike went nowhere. He ended up using all of his strength and just flung the small child-like body of the creature at the other of its kind, freeing his sword as the corpse slid off of it. The creature that had stabbed him easily evaded the hurled corpse of its ally and using the time he had gained from the throw he quickly rolled over onto his non-injured side and got to his knees. His whole world was pain but he tried to work through it as adrenaline coursed through his body. He didn't have the time because those little monsters were on him again.
This time when he swung his sword he was able to cut one of the monsters across the chest causing a stream of green blood to come pouring out of the wound. The second one stopped its charge and just stood there looking at Daniel, he didn't understand why until he felt another stab of pain from his shoulder blade. The first creature that he had struck with his cane had managed to recover and stab him from behind for a second time. Thankfully the shiv had hit his shoulder blade and only caused superficial damage, though it didn’t feel that way.
Turning around the best he could, he swiped his blade at the monster. He managed to land a lucky blow as it had not backed up after its attack. In a move that probably used up the rest of his luck for the year, his haphazard swing managed to separate the creature's head from its body. Knowing that he still had two more monsters to deal with he quickly turned back around to face them. They had grouped back up while he had been taking care of the first monster that had attacked him and were preparing another charge. Knowing that he had a reach advantage because of his sword while they only had knives, not even mentioning their unusually short frames, he came up with a plan of his own.
Daniel, knowing that he probably wouldn't survive another round of attacks since he had gotten fairly lucky so far, would only get one more chance at this. The two monsters charged together and he quickly pointed his blade at one of them. It tried to dodge, but he was able to adjust the blade in time, letting a monster impale itself on his blade for the second time that night.
Quickly letting go of the handle of the blade he turned to face the last charging creature, the one that he had sliced across the chest during the last charge. It was running at him, shiv pointed at his chest with both hands. He grabbed both its wrists and broke its grip on the knife; he wrapped the smaller creature up into a sleeper hold, it struggled in his grasp, but its raw strength was nowhere close to his own. He waited until it went limp then grabbed the dropped shiv and stabbed it into the unconscious creature's eye.
As soon as that last creature died all of the sound seemed to come rushing back into the world; he heard the chirping of crickets and cars driving down the nearby highway. Those simple sounds almost made him cry in relief.
He shuddered in pain as all of the adrenaline left him in a rush and the pain from the injuries he had accumulated suddenly came rushing back with a vengeance, causing him to fall limp to the ground. As he lay on the ground he couldn't help but wonder what those things had been. They looked like the old depictions of goblins from tabletop games like dungeons and dragons. But that was crazy, right? There was no way those things were real. If someone had told him that they had just killed four goblins he would have called them crazy. But he was looking at their corpses right now, what was really happening?
Before his thoughts could spiral any further a screen popped into his vision, and he instinctively started reading the words that were hovering just before his eyes.
Congratulations, you have killed 4 level 1 goblins and have reached level 1: you now have access to The System. You are one of only 10,000 humans to gain access to The System before global integration. You have gained access to two feats of your choice. Note that when The System is fully integrated all other users will gain access to only one feat. Not everyone will receive the same options; some individuals are better suited to certain choices and the benefits they provide. You however do not have this restriction and all existing feats are open to you. A rare or unique class will also be provided to help you along your path to save the world.
Daniel was surprised by the message but with nothing better to do, and since he was currently bleeding out on the ground anyways he just mentally shrugged. I’m already dead so why not listen to the weird voice in my head. Besides, he knew he was crazy and this was all some kind of hallucination caused by the blood loss.
Currently available feats (organized by current and past actions):
Goliath Strength- You gain massive strength
Troll Regeneration- You gain the ability to regenerate almost any wound as long as you survive long enough for it to heal. This feat also provides a lesser benefit to your endurance. This feat has reduced effects in combat.
Mana Channels- You gain almost flawless mana channels and gain the ability and knowledge to use mana effectively.
Crafting Legacy- You gain the knowledge of the crafters who have come before you in a chosen field. Let these ancient craftsmen and craftswomen make you the best in the world.
Basic Weapon Mastery- You gain a basic understanding of all weapon types and their uses.
Specific Weapon Mastery- You become a master of one weapon type.
Ki Cultivation- While mana focus on the external use of power, Ki focuses on the internal allowing a user to strengthen their body and mind.
Enhanced Reflexes- You gain massively enhanced reflexes.
Enhanced Endurance- It becomes almost impossible for you to become fatigued. This feat also provides a lesser benefit to your rate of healing.
Bonded- You receive a random Tier V bonded beast companion.
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There were a lot of options in front of him, and he really didn't know what to pick. What he did know was that if he didn't act fast he would bleed out so he immediately chose Troll Regeneration.
Congratulations, you have chosen the feat Troll Regeneration.
Immediately after he made his decision he physically felt the wounds on his body closing. It felt like that itching sensation you get when a wound is healing and new skin is being grown, but ten times stronger. He looked down at his right side, where one of the monsters had stabbed him, and lifted up his shirt to examine the wound only to see it close at a visible rate.
His eyes went wide as he saw the effects of the first feat he had chosen in action and wondered what another would do for him. Now that his life no longer seemed to be in danger, he would more carefully look over his options.
There were a few choices that stood out to him. One of which was Mana Channels. When he was younger he had played games and read books that all had magic in them, what kid didn't want to be a wizard and fling magic around. But he didn't want to make any decision too quickly, so he decided to read through the rest of the list to see what else might appeal to him.
There were many options available to him. There were what he could only describe as race changes such as turning into a vampire, werewolf, or some other creature. There were also other options like picking a soul-bound weapon, but since he didn't know what that meant he passed on that option as well.
The only option that really appealed to him was the Crafting Legacy feat. He was already a blacksmith and wanted to see what else he could learn from this new magic.
Congratulations, you have chosen the feat Crafting Legacy; This is a Legacy feat that only one person can have at a time. You will lose access to all profession slots, and will instead have access to all professions currently available through this feat.
This feat will impart the vast knowledge that all previous owners of this feat possessed and will enable you to unlock skills that they have learned or earned through various profession quests.
Information transfer starting in 5
4
3
2
1
A splitting pain stabbed through his head as thoughts and information not his own flooded into his mind. Seconds later he felt sweet release from the pain as his mind faded to blackness.
~~~~~
It felt like hours later when he woke up. Groaning in pain he slowly sat up. He vaguely realized that his body no longer hurt. Reaching up a hand he touched his face only for it to come away bloody. What the hell happened? It felt like he had just been kicked in the head by a horse. The thing had said it would give him the knowledge of others, was this why his head felt like it was about to explode? His head throbbed and he had a terrible migraine, but now was not the time to focus on his own pain. Before all of this had started there was the lady who had been in a car wreck and presumably been killed by the goblins. He didn't want to think about what else they might have done to her, but he needed to take care of this.
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Standing up he looked for the bodies of the goblins, but couldn’t find them. This made him panic for a moment thinking that maybe he hadn't killed them and they had fled after he passed out. That fear quickly vanished when he noticed copper coins on the ground where he remembered each of the goblins’ corpses had been. He bent down and grabbed each of the coins. He could think about all this later, for now, there was another more important thing for him to do.
Reaching into his pocket and grabbing his phone, he quickly dialed 911 as he walked over to where he had first seen the body. His call was quickly answered and he gave his location and a brief, somewhat altered version of the truth to the operator. After the call, he checked the time on his phone, a little past 3. He had been knocked out for almost an hour after he had chosen the Crafting Legacy feat.
When the cops arrived he gave a statement, repeating the altered version of the story he had given the 911 operator about finding the body. He didn't know how they would react if he told them he had killed some monsters that had been eating this woman and could have also been the things that killed her. He told them he was walking home from his shop after a long day at work, only to find a flipped car and a blood trail leading to the alleyway. He told them that he didn't know how long it had been since the accident had taken place as he had found it after it flipped. He also said that when he arrived there were scavengers already feeding off the body which he had scared off. That would hopefully explain any bite marks or missing flesh on the woman's body. If he had to guess, he would have said that the woman, who he later found out was named Miranda, had probably bled to death before the goblins found her, but he couldn't be certain.
After about half an hour of talking with the gentlemen in blue and giving them his information in case they needed to contact him in the future, he was free to go. He grabbed his cane, which he had sheathed before the police arrived, and began to walk away when one of the officers commented. “Hey, Mr. Martin, why do you need a cane? If you don’t mind my asking. You seem like you're walking fine to me.”
Turning, he started to reply before realizing that he wasn't limping. Faltering for a second he quickly said. “No, it's fine. I have an old knee injury that sometimes acts up, so it's good to have around.”
The officer nodded at his answer and went back to his work. Daniel continued to walk away thinking about his leg. His new feat Troll Regeneration must have not only fixed his stab wounds but also his leg. This new skill was even better than he had first thought.
It only took another 5 minutes to walk the rest of the way to his house. Unlocking his front door he walked inside, closed, and locked it behind him. He was greeted by his dog Kota at the door. Kota was a massive dog. Daniel hadn’t known exactly what breed he was when he had gotten him, but he’d done one of those new DNA testing things on him a while back and found out Kota was over 70% grey wolf. When Daniel had first found Kota he was scheduled to be put down by an animal shelter due to people’s unwillingness to adopt such a large dog. There weren't many families that wanted to take care of such an animal. Daniel had decided to adopt the dog since he had a lot of land to let the dog run around on. Since most of his property was wooded he had thought that he might be able to teach the dog to hunt for some of his own food, taking some of the strain of caring for such a large animal off of his shoulders.
Kneeling down he hugged the big dog around the neck and began to scratch him all over. This quickly turned into a belly rub causing Daniel to laugh at his dog’s playful nature. All of a sudden, another system message popped into his vision.
Congratulations, you have gained an animal companion. Since your bond with this animal has reached a sufficient level you have gained the Level 1 WolfDog Kota as a companion. You may now decide what level of experience split you want to allocate when either party gains experience. This decision will be permanent!
A new box with sliders and his and Kota’s name appeared in his vision next. Under each name were two sliders showing much experience each of them would get for any experience they gained. The sliders started at a 70-30 split on both sides. He could only assume this was the average choice that most people chose. Kota would gain 30% of all experience he gained and he would gain 30% of all experience Kota gained. However, he decided to make the split a 50-50. He didn't know what other people did, but he wasn't about to make himself stronger at Kota’s expense.
After he made his decision Kota stopped rolling around on the floor and looked at Daniel quizzically. As if he too knew what Daniel had chosen. Shaking his head to remove these weird thoughts from his mind, he decided that he would take a quick shower then go to bed. He was just so tired, and couldn't believe that it had been only around an hour since this had all started. Maybe when he woke up he’d find that all this had just been an unusual dream. He could only hope.
~~~~~
The next day started just as oddly as the previous day had ended: with weird messages.
Congratulations, you have gained 1 experience for killing a level 0 squirrel.
What the. He hadn't killed anything today. He sat in bed for several minutes before Kota walked into his room with some blood on his muzzle. Then he remembered what had happened when he came home last night. Just as quickly as Kota had entered, he left, and Daniel decided he would go find the dog again later.
Well, at least I know that all this isn't just a dream. It is very real. Wondering how much experience it would take to level up, he sat up in bed and opened a status screen he somehow instinctively knew that he had access to.
Daniel Martin
Age: 27
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Level: 1
Tier V Class: Juggernaut (Class Specialization Perk Available)
Primary Profession: Crafting Legacy: Level: N/A(Please open for more information about available Professions)
Secondary Profession: N/A
Strength: 16 -> 20
Endurance: 12
Constitution: 14 -> 18
Dexterity: 13
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Willpower: 10
Charisma: 10
Free Attribute Points: 5
Free Skill Points: 5
Free Profession Points: 0
Class experience to the next level: 1 out of 1,000
Profession experience to the next level: 0 out of 1,000
Feats: Troll Regeneration, Crafting Legacy
General Skills: Identification
Class Skills: N/A
Spells: N/A
Profession Skills: N/A
Daniel understood most of what he had read on his skill sheet, but there were still a few things he did not understand and a few that he would need to look into more. One of which was why all of his mental stats were at 10. He decided to go into more detail about his stats. Focusing on each stat individually he read what popped up.
All stats start at a base of 10 for humans. These numbers can be increased with training. Otherwise, they can only be increased by distributing stat points gained every level.
Strength: This stat determines how much a person is able to lift. This stat also increases melee damage for some weapons. Increasing this stat will increase this effect.
Endurance: This stat determines how long a person can run before collapsing. To a lesser extent, this stat also determines how much pain a person can endure. Increasing this stat will increase this effect.
Constitution: This stat determines how healthy a person is, and how quickly they can fight off disease, infection, poison, etc. This stat also has an effect on how much damage a person's body is able to take before failing. Increasing this stat will increase this effect.
Dexterity: This stat determines how precise a person's fine motor skills are, and how good someone is with their hands. This stat also has an effect on a person’s reaction time, and damage with some melee and ranged attacks/weapons. Increasing this stat will increase this effect.
Intelligence: This stat determines how smart a person is and how fast they can learn. This stat also has an effect on the size of a person's mana pool and to a lesser extent their mana regeneration. Increasing this stat will increase this effect.
Wisdom: This stat determines how wise a person is. This stat also has an effect on a person's mana regeneration and to a lesser extent their mana pool. Increasing this stat will increase this effect.
Willpower: This stat determines the complexity of magic and other complex tasks a person is able to control. This stat also affects the strength of spirit. This stat will increase this effect.
Charisma: This stat determines how trustworthy you seem to other people and to a lesser extent how attractive you are. This stat benefits some spell casting effects but mainly affects others’ first impressions of you. Increasing this stat will increase this effect.
This all made a kind of sense to Daniel. He had never been the best in school and had only gotten his college scholarship for sports. He had lost that scholarship because of his knee injury during the last game of his senior year of high school. Even after several surgeries and a lot of rehab it had never been the same. He had never really trained his mind in the traditional sense, so he could understand why his physical stats were so much higher than his mental ones.
The next thing he needed to figure out was what his new class did. It had said this would be a rare or unique class, but he didn't really know what that meant. He focused on his class and a new information screen popped up.
Juggernaut is a Legendary Tier V Class that can only be gained through special circumstances. The Juggernaut specializes in strong defenses and siege-breaking attacks. This class can use magic but that must be unlocked by a trainer with the appropriate knowledge before it will become available. The Juggernaut gains +5 points to strength, and +5 points to constitution every level with an additional +5 free stat points to allocate however the user wants.
Congratulations, you are now a level 1 Juggernaut. You have 5 free skill points to use in the Juggernaut skill tree. Each skill can be upgraded five times. Each upgrade increases the power of the skill but also increases the cost. The cost of the skill increases by one point per level to a maximum of 5 points at level 5.
Heavy Blow ( 0/5 ): None can stand against the strength of your blows. Active. 1-minute cooldown. Double the strength of your next attack. Cost to increase: 1 Skill Point.
Tough Skin ( 0/5 ): Make your skin as durable as bark. Passive. Increases the durability of your skin. Cost to increase: 1 Skill Point.
Heavy Charge ( 0/5 ): Charge an enemy, stopping for nothing that gets in your way. Active. 5-minute cooldown. Select an enemy and charge forward up to sixty feet until you reach the targeted enemy. Cost to increase: 1 Skill Point.
Death Blows ( 0/5 ): All who stand against you on the battlefield will become fuel for your survival. Passive. When you or a party member deals fatal damage to an enemy, recover a portion of your damage dealt to the enemy as health. Cost to increase: 1 Skill Point.
Daniel thought about the fight he had been in with the goblins and how they had almost killed him with little more than pointy shards of metal. He didn't want something like that to happen again, so he decided to choose ‘Tough Skin’ with his first Skill Point to see what would happen. He wanted more survivability if he got into another fight like that, but also didn't know what to expect and wanted to be cautious. He did want to pass out again like with what had happened with Crafting Legacy.
After a second of waiting he felt a slight tingling all over his body but after a second the sensation was gone; with how short it had lasted it could have just been his imagination. He decided he would put some more points into the skill, but first, he wanted to see what the description read this time.
Tough Skin ( 1/5 ): Make your skin as durable as Bronze. Passive. Increases the durability of your skin. Cost to increase 2 Skill Points.
The description for the skill had changed, so he put another two skill points into the skill upgrading it to ( 2/5 ) to see what would happen. This time the tingling sensation that had only briefly appeared last time stayed for a solid 10 seconds. Long enough that he couldn't dismiss it as just his imagination. He knew what he had to do next but he didn't like it. He went into his kitchen and grabbed a knife from the drawer. Taking a deep breath he pressed the knife to his arm and in one quick motion drew the knife across the palm of his hand, and... nothing happened, no pain, no blood. The only sign that he had tried to cut himself with the knife was a small white line that vanished as he watched. ‘Well, that was weird.’
opening up the Skill Tree again he noticed that there was a new node that branched off of the Tough Skin node.
Reinforced Muscles ( 0/5 ): Make your Muscles as durable as bark. Passive. Increases the durability of your Muscles. Cost to increase 1 Skill Point.
That was another interesting skill that also made him question the Tough Skin Skill. Just because his skin was more durable didn't mean the rest of his body was. Would a blunt force weapon still be able to hurt him through his skin? That was something to worry about, but the new skill also made him wonder if maybe the skill tree connected to Tough Skin was completely about reinforcing his body. At least for now he wouldn't want to go too far down that path because he might not be able to defend himself.
Putting all of the stats out of his mind for now Daniel decided he would look for Kota. Going out into his backyard he called out for his dog. Only a minute later he saw Kota come bounding out of the woods. Kneeling down he began to scratch the wolfdog. “I'm going to go to my shop, Kota, and I will be back for dinner tonight.” pouring out a bowl of food for the dog before leaving, he probably didn't need it since he had a morning snack already, but he could always eat it later.
Grabbing his keys, wallet, and phone. He left the house. Walking down the street he walked past the spot where it had all gone down yesterday. The worst part about it was the bloodstain that he could still clearly see in the no longer darkened ally and all the way across the road. He stood there on the sidewalk and looked at the blood for a minute, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness from the night before welling up, before too long he continued his walk to his shop.
Arriving back at his shop he began his work for the day. He started up his forge and waited for his forge to get up to temperature before putting in the knife that he had been working on the night before into the forge. Letting the metal get up to a nice yellow glow he pulled the steel out and began the shaping process. It took him another thirty minutes to finish the shape of the knife, and another ten to finish the rough grinding of the knife. He shaped and fit the handle and then glued the handle to the tang of the blade using epoxy. After the glue had set, he gave the knife a proper edge, and he was finished.
He looked at the blade he had made laying on the workbench in front of him. It was close to 18 in. long from the tip of the blade to the end of the handle. It also had a small crossguard, and an African-blackwood handle and was single-edged. It was an amazing piece of work considering the amount of time he had put into it. The forging process felt effortless, and he couldn't figure out what had changed, or at least he couldn't until he got a new notification.
Congratulations, you have created a steel knife. Quality: Good. Rarity: Widespread.
Experience received steel knife: 50 profession experience (Experience Banked for more information please see your Profession: Crafting Legacy). 12.5 class experience: Juggernaut (12.5 experience diverted to animal companion).
You have completed the hidden quest For the Forge 1 of 5 (Widespread). by crafting one item of good quality or better out of Widespread Rarity materials
Rewards: You have unlocked the For the Forge (Widespread) Crafting Legacy questline and one Profession point as well as additional knowledge about the Blacksmithing Profession.
Complete more Crafting Legacy quests to receive more rewards.
Daniel fell to his knees clutching at his head. His mind was flooded with new information. He learned the proper way to hold a hammer, how to heat iron up to the proper temperature, the proper way to shape metal when to reheat the metal, and some even stranger things. He learned about different reagents that could be used during the crafting process to unlock different metals’ innate abilities or other cosmetic or esoteric effects.
Like how he could put BlueGrass into a crucible of Moulton steel or iron so that when an item was cast the metal would turn as blue as ice. The change was completely cosmetic. He had never even heard or seen BlueGrass before but now he knew its various properties it was… weird to say the least.
Now that he knew that his feat could be advanced through hard work he would need to figure out how to advance it faster. As if responding to his musings another pop-up entered his vision.
Quest: For the Forge 2 of 5 (Widespread): Craft 20 items or better of good quality or better and 1 of superb quality or better out of Widespread Rarity materials.
Reward: Knowledge, 1 Profession Point and unknown (The reward may change depending on how the quest is completed).
Okay, well now he knew what his next step should be for him to craft some more items. And based on the new knowledge he was given it should be a lot easier to make items above the good quality.
He took his hands away from his head and his headache was fading rapidly only to see that his hands were covered in blood. Running over to the bathroom in his shop and looking in the mirror. He looked horrible, his brown hair was matted down with blood and so was his close-cropped beard. His ears, eyes, and nose were still actively leaking blood giving him a terrifying visage. He tried his best to wipe and clean all of the blood away, but in some ways, it only made things worse. He had never known how hard dried blood would be to get out of hair. It took him the better part of thirty minutes to clean up to a sufficient level and his shirt was stained with blood from the process. He quickly stripped it off and grabbed a new one from his office that he kept in there. It didn't smell the freshest, but it was better than the alternative of working in a shop without a shirt on.
After all of that panic, he had almost forgotten his train of thought, but he quickly remembered and got back on track. wanted to know what the different qualities and rarities did and what they meant. He thought about bringing up info on both the quality of items and the rarities, and a new screen entered his vision.
Qualities represent how finely crafted an item is. Quality can have an impact on the durability of an item, how sharp an item is, how well balanced an item is, and many other smaller factors like durability and sharpness.
Trash: -25% quality
Awful: -20% quality
Shoddy: -15% quality
Poor: -10% quality
Damaged: -5% quality
Basic: 0% quality
Good: 5% quality
Superb: 10% quality
Excellent: 15% quality
Masterwork: 20% quality
Heroic: 25% quality
Rarities: shows how common or hard an item is to find. This can also be an indicator of how powerful an item is
Widespread
Common
Uncommon
Scarce
Rare
Epic
Mythic
Legendary
Relic
Artifact
Unique
This was all very interesting to Daniel. Knowing this he could put more effort into different areas of the crafting process and make better quality items. Like the balance of a blade or how well the handle fits in the hand. All of this extra work might slow down how fast he would be able to make items, but it would be worth it if he could get something better from the unknown reward from his quest. He also found it interesting that it gave no information on what individual rarities did he would have to keep that in mind for the future, but for now, he decided to get back to work.