The next day started just as oddly as the previous day had ended: with weird messages floating in his vision.
Congratulations, you have received 1 experience point for your companion killing a tier 0 squirrel.
Your companion has gained 1% progress towards his first evolution
Daniel was half awake when he read the prompt and was utterly confused about what it meant until Kota walked into his room through the open door with blood on his muzzle. It appears as if Kota caught himself some breakfast.
Wondering how much experience it would take for him to level up again, he opened a status screen he somehow innately knew how to access.
Name: Daniel Martin
Age: 27
Race: Basic Human
Gender: Male
Level: 1
Tier 4 Class: Juggernaut (Please select your tier 5 class from the available options)
Crafters Legacy Professions: N/A (please pick your first profession though your Crafters Legacy Feat)
Physical Attributes:
Agility: 14
Constitution: 18 -> 22
Dexterity: 16
Endurance: 17
Strength: 20 -> 24
Mental Attributes:
Charisma: 12
Intelligence: 13
Perception: 15
Willpower: 19
Wisdom: 11
Free Attribute Points: 1
Free Skill Points: 4
Free Profession Points: 0
Coins: 4
Class experience to the next level: 1 out of 1,000
Profession experience to the next level: 0 out of 100
Feats: Comprehend Languages, Troll Regeneration, The Crafters Legacy
Lore Skills: Blacksmithing Lore: Lv. 1,
General Class Skills: Identification ( 1/5 ),
Class Skills: N/A
General Profession Skills: N/A
Profession Skills: N/A
Spells: N/A
Daniel understood most of what he had read on his character sheet, but there were still a few things he did not understand and a few that he wanted more information on. One of which was why all of his stats were in descending order. He decided to go into more detail about his stats. Focusing on each stat individually he read what popped up.
Starting attribute values reflect your proficiency with the associated stat. 20 being the highest indicating your greatest talent and 11 indicating a low talent.
Attributes are broken into two different categories that each have five different attributes. Your physical attributes which directly affect different parts of your body when increased. The same is true for your mental attributes which directly affect your mind when increased.
Physical:
Agility: This stat determines how fast a person is able to move their body when attacking or defending, and also affects how fast a person is able to run. 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.
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.
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.
Mental:
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.
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.
Perception: This Stat determines how good you are at perceiving the world and how well you are able to pick up small details such as locating traps. This stat also helps with increasing your processing speed of your surroundings. Increasing this 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.
The explanation made a lot of details click for Daniel. He was a professional blacksmith, so it made sense that his physical attributes would be his highest overall. There were only a few outliers like his Willpower which was his second highest right after strength and perception which was his 6th highest overall. It was interesting though his physical attributes hadn't been affected by his leg. Sure his new feat had fixed it up, but he had selected the feat after he had gained access to the system. It would be something he would have to figure out another time.
All in all Daniel stats made sense to him. He had always been a big guy and even in high school he had been over six foot. He had played varsity football in high school and eventually got a scholarship to play in college. He had eventually lost that full ride because of a knee injury he got during his last game of his high school football career. Even after several surgeries, and a lot of rehab it had never been the same. Compared to his body he had never really trained in the traditional sense since he never ended up going to college after the injury.
He also had the blacksmithing lore skill. He assumed he had gotten it because of his knowledge of blacksmithing from before the system, but if that was the case why didn't he have more lore skills. It was also only level 1 he assumed that if it was based on his knowledge it would be higher. The other more depressing option was that the skill was based on his knowledge and in this new system he found himself in he knew close to nothing. Lots of mysteries that brought about more unanswered questions. Somehow he would need to find a way to gain some more information, but as of right now he had no idea how he could do that.
All of the thinking about what he knew about blacksmithing brought up memories of his dad. He ended up following his dad's path as a blacksmith after his injury, and he had continued to learn under him for several years before he passed away… Everything he knew about blacksmithing he had learned from his dad. Daniel shook the melancholic thoughts out of his head and refocused on the present.
The system had said that he would gain a rare or better class, but he didn't really know what that meant. He focused on his class with the intent of getting more information on it, and moments later a new screen popped up into his vision.
Juggernaut is a Legendary Tier 4 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 a juggernaut must open up their mana channels to be able to learn any spells. Please find a trainer of an appropriate level to assist in the unlocking of your mana channels.
The Juggernaut gains +4 points to strength, and +4 points to constitution every level. Since Juggernaut is a tier 4 class you will gain +4 skill points every level. Your racial bonus will give you +1 free attribute point every level that can be distributed however you want.
You have the option of selecting a new specialization. Would you like to choose your new specialization now? Y/N?
You have 4 available skill points to use in any of your class skill trees. Would you like to use them now? Y/N?
Daniel, seeing no reason to say no to either of the options, decided to select yes to the first prompt that asked if he wanted to select a new specialization. A new window entered his vision but it was all wrong, and Daniel had no idea what to do as he read the new prompt.
ERROR! User does not possess the requirements for tier 4 class: Juggernaut. Tier 5 specialization can not be selected until prerequisites have been fulfilled.
ERROR! User has undergone a partial forced psionic awakening. Specialization requirements met. Please complete your psionic awakening to gain your tier 5 specialization.
Well, that was a very weird message, and Daniel didn't know what to make of it. He somehow didn’t possess the requirements for whatever class the system had given him because the system had just given it to him and wasn't something he had earned. Then whatever had happened with his requirements had been solved because he had gone through some partial psionic awakening. Whatever that meant.
As Daniel read the message and thought about what it could mean he could still feel his head slightly throbbing from whatever had happened when he had chosen ‘The Crafters Legacy’ feat. Was that it? Had whatever information the feat had downloaded into his head been the cause of this partial psionic awakening. Daniel didn't know for sure, but he would be surprised if he was correct.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Daniel dismissed the weird error prompts in favor of selecting yes on the other prompt he had been given, and hoped he would be able to gain some better information from this new option that would allow him to use his unspent skill points.
A class has a skill tree for each of its specializations. This is depicted by the tier of the class. A tier 4 class will have gone through four specializations, and will have four skill trees. A class will gain the option of selecting a new specialization every ten levels.
A class will also receive skill points at each level depending on its tier. Each skill tree will include four skills and the capstone skill in a skill tree that a user can select. A skill tree may possess branching paths, but users will only be able to select a single skill from one of these paths. Each skill can be leveled up a total of five times with the cost in skill points increasing as the skill level increases. However the capstone skill can only be leveled a single time for 15 skill points (1+2+3+4+5=15). Which is the total cost it would take to level up a skill all the way to level 5.
A user is unable to see all available skill options in a skill tree. They are limited to only see skills based on what they have unlocked in a particular skill tree. If a user has not learnt any skills from a skill tree they will only be able to see the tree’s first skill. Once the user has spent a single skill point in a skill tree the second skill in the tree will be revealed. However to see the third skill in the skill tree a user would need to spend a total of four skill points in that skill tree to reveal the next skill. To reveal the fourth skill the user would need to spend 10 skill points and to reveal the capstone the user would need to spend a total of 20 skill points in that skill tree.
Some skill trees also include branching paths. These paths only occur after the first skill, but they most commonly occur after the second skill in a tree. These branches may or may not reconnect which could change what skills a user has access to.
Skill Tree: Destruction
Heavy Blow ( 0/5 ): None can stand against the strength of your blows. 60-second cooldown. Cost to increase 1 Skill Point(s).
Level 1 (Active): Expend a moderate amount of stamina to double the strength of your next attack. 60 second cooldown.
Skill Tree: Reinforcement
Tough Skin ( 0/5 ): Make your skin as resilient as stone and let the weapons of those who stand before you bounce off your body with no effect. Cost to increase: 1 Skill Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive): Make your skin as resilient as bark.
Skill Tree: Siege Breaker
Heavy charge ( 0/5 ): charge an enemy stopping for nothing that gets in your way. Cost to increase 1 Skill Point(s).
Level 1 (Active): Expend a minor amount of stamina for each foot traveled. Select a target location within 80 feet, and charge forward up until you reach the targeted location. 5 minute cooldown
Skill Tree: Retaliation
Death Blows ( 0/5 ): All who stand against you on the battlefield will become fuel for your survival. Cost to increase: 1 Skill Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive/Active): when you or a party member deals fatal damage to an enemy, recover a portion of your damage dealt to the enemy. You may also direct this Recovered health to a Party member
Daniel looked over each of his skill trees then 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. They had hardly even been knives and they had almost done him in. He didn't want something like that to happen again, so he put 1 of his 4 skill points into ‘Tough Skin’ with his first Skill Point and waited 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 with ‘The Crafters Legacy.’
After a second of waiting he felt a slight tingling all over his body which eventually turned into an intense itch, but after a few moments the sensation was gone; with how short it had lasted it could have just been his imagination, but his skin felt different so he know it wasn't just his imagination. Daniel noticed some changes after putting his point into the skill tree.
Enhanced Muscles ( 0/5 ): By strength of arm you are able to do anything; no obstacle is enough to stand in your way. Cost to increase 1 Skill Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive): Increases the density of your muscle fibers increasing your explosive movements and has a small effect on your strength attribute.
Tough Skin ( 1/5 ): Make your skin as resilient as stone and let the weapons of those who stand before you bounce off your body with no effect. Cost to increase: 2 Skill Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive): Make your skin as resilient as bark.
Level 2 (Passive): Make your skin as resilient as stone.
Both skills were interesting, and Daniel was tempted to gain the skill ‘Enhanced Muscles,’ but decided that now was not the right time. He only has the 4 skill points, so going broad might be his best option for right now. Though Daniel decided that he would take a chance and decided to upgrade ‘Tough Skin’ one more time to see what would happen. This would only leave him with 1 remaining skill point, but Daniel decided that it would be a good use of his skill points.
The tingling sensation that had only appeared briefly the last time lingered for an entire ten seconds. The itching intensified until it abruptly vanished once more.
Daniel 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. This was all just so weird to Daniel, and now that he had confirmed that these powers he was reading on floating screens were actually real he could no longer dismiss this as a dream or hallucination.
He reopened the Skill Tree and checked the updated page for ‘Tough Skin’
Tough Skin ( 2/5 ): Make your skin as resilient as iron and let the weapons of those who stand before you bounce off your body with no effect. Cost to increase: 3 Skill Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive): Make your skin as resilient as bark.
Level 2 (Passive): Make your skin as resilient as stone.
Level 3 (Passive): Make your skin as resilient as iron.
The skill progression was interesting, but Daniel realized that 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 definitely something to worry about, but based on the name of the skill tree and the skills he had revealed it was a good bet that all of the skills in the tree would improve his body.
He decided that he would save his last skill point and attribute point for later. The last thing in his character sheet that he needed to look at was his ‘Crafters Legacy’ feat. clicking on it a now screen entered his vision.
Please pick first tier 1 profession to start using ‘The Crafters Legacy’
What followed was a long list of professions such as carpenter, masonry, cobbler, and many others. He chose blacksmith out of the available options. When he did the screen he was looking at vanished and was replaced by a new one.
Congratulations, you have started on the path of the crafter as a blacksmith. You will be given quests to advance your profession.
Quest For the Forge: Crafting 1 item of Okay quality or better out of Widespread Rarity materials.
Reward(s): Profession Experience based on quest completion, Quest For the Forge 2
Well, Daniel now had direction, he would go back to his shop and complete the knife he had left last night. But first he went out to his backyard, and called out for his Kota. Only a minute later he saw Kota come bounding out of the woods. He watched as Kota ran up to him and when he got close he knelt down and held his arms open. Kota ran into his arms and he began to scratch the dog all over.
After playing with Kota for a couple minutes he got up and began to speak to him, “I'm going to go to my shop, Kota, and I will be back for dinner tonight. Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone.” Daniel put out some dog food in a bowl before leaving. He probably didn't need it since he had a morning snack already, but he could always eat it later while he was gone. He also made sure he had plenty of water before heading out.
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. He lingered at the mouth of the alley. He had been unable to see it last night because of the darkness, but there was a large blood stain where the woman had been laying. In the light of the day it painted a grim picture about what had taken place last night. He stood there on the sidewalk and looked at the blood for several minutes, feelings of helplessness, and hopelessness from the night welled up. Before too long he continued his walk to his shop refusing to look back as he walked away.
When he arrived 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. While the forge was heating up he took the knife and took off all of the surface scale from the blade and worked it into its final shape.
Then he brought it back to the forge and began to heat up the blade to a nice even color before taking it out and quenching it in oil. Once he checked to make sure that the blade hadn't warped during the hardening probes he set it down and let it cool back to room temperature. A little while later, once it was cool enough to work with, he tested the blade with a file to make sure that the hardening had been a success. The file easily skated off the steel of the blade confirming that it was hard.
He took the knife and began to give it an edge with some hand sanding. During this process he made sure that all of the vertical sanding marks from the grinder were horizontal with the blade. Once he was done sharpening the blade. He began the fitting of the handle. He made sure the hole he drilled all the way through the handle was smaller than the tang of the blade then he began to heat up the tang with a portable torch. Once the tang was hot enough he began to press the handle into the tang. The hot tang burned the wood of the handle making sure the hand had a nearly perfect hit with the blade.
Once done he removed the handle and filled it with epoxy glue then refit the handle and clamped it to make sure it didn't shift during the drying process. While the glue dried Daniel stopped and got some lunch. When he retired the glue had set enough that he could begin his final preparations. He once again heated up the tang of the blade, however this time it was only the very tip of the tang that was sticking out of the handle. Once up to temperature he hammered it with a ball peen hammer. After a few minutes he had flattened the exposed tang which permanently attached the handle with the blade. It was just another precaution to make sure the handle would come loose.
With that finally done he began to shape the handle into its final shape on the grinder. He made sure that the handle felt good in his hand and that the balance of the blade was where he wanted it. After a few more small adjustments he was done and he looked at the finished knife that laid on his work bench in front of him.
The knife 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. It only had a single-edge. It was an amazing piece of work considering the amount of time he had put into it. The forging process felt effortless, and he still felt completely refreshed. His body felt like it could make another five knives of the same quality without getting tired. Then he got the system message he had been expecting.
Congratulations, you have crafted a Decent quality steel knife and have 50 profession experience (25 experience directed to main class: Juggernaut)
Item: Steel Knife
Item Type(s): Weapon, Thrown Weapon, Tool, One-Handed, piercing, slashing
Quality: Decent
Rarity: Widespread
Suspected worth: 151 coins
Features: A steel knife crafted by a mundane crafter.
Appearance: A single edge Steel knife with a black wooden handle. Has a small cross guard that can protect a welder's hand.
Congratulations, you have completed the Quest For the Forge and have been rewarded. Reward has been increased for exceeding the base requirements for the quest
You have received 100 (50 doubled for exceeding quest requirement) Profession Experience (50 experience directed to main class: Juggernaut), and Quest For the Forge 2
Quest For the Forge 2: Crafting 3 items of decent quality or better out of Widespread Rarity materials.
Reward(s): Profession Experience based on quest completion, Quest For the Forge 3
After he received the prompt stating that he had completed the quest he felt a faint throbbing in his head, but it quickly went away, so Daniel thought nothing of it. His next step was to craft some more items. He may not be able to complete all of the items today, but he was in no rush. Though he did need to know what all of the different qualities were. He had no idea, so he mentally requested more information on the item screen of the knife he had just finished. However before he did that he looked over the other prompt he had received and this was the one he was most excited about. He had only needed 100 profession experience to get his profession to level 1, and with the experience from completing the quest he had enough.
Congratulations, you have reached level 1 (0 ->1) in your blacksmithing profession, and have received +1 profession point. To receive stat points please choose your specialization.
Please choose your blacksmithing path from one of the available options now to gain your first profession specialization and skill tree. When a selection is chosen you will lose access to the other options until your next profession specialization.
Path of Strength: You work with strength and speed. Efficiency is your friend, your work is never-ending. You gain access to the Strength: Profession Skill tree +1 to Strength, +1 Endurance, and +1 Profession point per level.
Path of Fire: The heat of your forge is sweltering, but the heat can not touch your skin. Gain access to the Heat: Profession skill tree. +1 to Endurance, +1 to Constitution, and +1 Profession point per level.
Path of Perception: Your work is perfection. Not even the smallest imperfection can escape your notice. Gain access to the Perception: Profession skill tree. +1 to Dexterity, +1 to Perception, and +1 profession point per level.
Each of the options wasn’t bad, but Daniel wanted to stay true to his own style of blacksmithing. He picked the Strength skill tree. As soon as he made his choice the other options faded away, but before they faded away entirely he got a message saying that he received +1 strength and +1 endurance. After he dismissed that screen a new window entered his vision that showed the skill tree he had gained for selecting the strength specialization.
Profession Skill Tree: Strength
Hammer speed ( 0/5 ): Your hammer blows fall like rain: your blows are unrelenting in their desire for change. Cost to increase 1 Profession Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive): increase the speed of your hammer strikes by 5%
Since he only had the 1 profession point and he had no other option he put his one free point into the skill and looked at the new skill that was revealed as well as the level 2 effect of ‘Hammer Speed.’
Hammer Strength ( 0/5 ): The strength of the blows of your hammer shake the ground as you work. Cost to increase 1 Profession Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive): increase the strength of your hammer strikes by 5%
Hammer speed ( 1/5 ): Your hammer blows fall like rain: your blows are unrelenting in their desire for change. Cost to increase 1 Profession Point(s).
Level 1 (Passive): increase the speed of your hammer strikes by 5%
Level 2 (Passive): increase the speed of your hammer strikes by an additional 10%
The skills were interesting. He could definitely see how such skill would be useful for forging though he did wonder if the skills would work outside of just forging. He would need to keep that in mind for later. Also based on similar ‘Hammer Speed’ and ‘Hammer Strength’ were he bet that their level paths would be the same. He still didn't know what to think about this new world he had been thrust into so for now he tried not to think about it and dove headfirst into his work trying not to think about what these changes to his life might mean.
Next Daniel opened up a new window to gain some more information on what all of the different qualities and rarities were / did.
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
Okay: 5% Quality
Decent: 10% Quality
Well-Crafted: 15% Quality
Fine: 20% Quality
Superb: 25% Quality
exceptional: 30% Quality
Flawless: 35% Quality
Masterwork: 40% Quality
Heroic: 45% Quality
Divine: 50% Quality
Rarities: shows how common or hard an item is to find. This can also be somewhat of an indicator of how powerful an item is. Learn more about items to learn more about rarity.
Widespread
Common
Uncommon
Scarce
Rare
Epic
Mythic
Legendary
Relic
Artifact
Unique
This was all very interesting to Daniel. With this information he could put more work into specific parts of the crafting process which could help increase the quality of the item. Like the balance of a blade or how well the handle fits in the hand both of which could increase the overall quality of the item he was using. 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 better rewards for the quest. He already received double the experience for his knife being a higher quality than the quest asked for. 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, as he worked on improving his blacksmithing.
As Daniel got back to work at shaping a new piece of metal that he had removed from the forge it almost felt like a new force was guiding his hammer strikes as he worked, but something like that was taking place the effect was too small for an outside observer to notice.
Blacksmithing Lore: Lv. 1 -> Lv. 2