For food, I didn’t consider calling Ennolf, or going to some fancy restaurant. I couldn’t afford the latter, and had no reason to intrude on the former’s life with his wife. I hadn’t even checked to see if he was logged in. Instead, I simply purchased a cheap loaf of bread from a street vendor for ten copper pieces.

I walked through the city while I ate the stale bread, my gaze sweeping around. I could see a number of other fallen like myself that looked rather lost. Their players must have given up not long after character creation, just like mine did.

With that thought in mind, I began to consider what sorts of skills I would need to become successful. Ideally, there were three categories of skills that would allow me to make a large amount of money. The first two were typically known as the lifestyle skills, separated into Crafting and Gathering. Meanwhile, the last one was a single skill, Appraisal.

Crafters and gatherers were obvious. While NPCs could make basic equipment, they wouldn’t compare to equipment made with the proper skills. Gear created by an NPC couldn’t have any special bonuses such as enchantments applied to them. When it came to gatherers, there was a chance that gatherers could get more or rarer materials than what had previously been in the ground.

For example, a level one herb, if pulled by a master herbalist, could potentially become three or four herbs, or even an entirely different herb of higher value. This was why I had spent so much time gathering random plants overnight.

Finally, there was the Appraisal skill. This skill was extremely lucrative, because gear dropped by monsters was naturally unknown. Unless it was like a skillbook with the title printed, there was a chance that a dropped ring could even be cursed. For that reason, people needed to take these items to appraisers.

For fallen in the level range of ten to twenty, this was a very popular skill. However, for those of lower level, or for players, it was considered garbage. The reason was the cost to use the skill. Not only did it have a mana burden cost, but it also had an experience cost to identify each item. Above level ten, a Fallen had the power to hunt monsters to gather some experience for themselves to fund the skill. Before that, they were effectively powerless to do so.

As for players, they would rarely sacrifice their hard-earned experience for the sake of identifying items. Instead, they would much rather spend money that they can easily come across.

Ideally, I would like to take all three paths, but I knew that was impossible. As I experienced before, it wasn’t possible for me to train ‘proficiency’ type skills in the same way I trained my stat toggles. In order to master crafting and gathering, I would have to spend a great deal of time doing the deed itself.

Appraisal, on the other hand, might be perfect for me. I could never level up, so my experience was accumulating endlessly. That skill would give me something to do with it. The only problem was getting my hands on the skill.

The odds of a monster having a skill like Appraisal were basically nil. The only way that I would be able to get the skill was either to manually learn it myself, or undergo a quest from an existing appraiser to learn it. If they knew my level, they’d never even bother to give me that type of quest…

With a sigh, I resigned myself to manual study. Thankfully, I still had the herbs in my inventory, so I could use those to practice. It would definitely not be enough to get me the skill right away, but it would at least be a good start.

I asked for directions, and made my way to the city’s library. Entrance cost a silver coin, but that wasn’t a problem. I paid and made my way through the aisles of books, scanning the different shelves. Only when I saw the book labeled ‘Basic Herbology’ did I pause, taking the book and finding an isolated table to read at.

Looking at my inventory, I quickly pulled out the seven different sets of herbs that I had picked overnight. If I compared them with the information in the book and successfully identified all of them, that should at least make some progress towards getting me the Appraisal skill. At the same time, I might be able to get the Scholar skill.

If I was lucky, some of these might be worth selling, though that was a slim chance. Most vendors purchased herbs in bundles of ten, and the highest amount I had for any particular type was only eight. Unless I managed to get lucky and find an incredibly rare herb, I would need more to be able to sell them.

Flipping open the book, I was tempted to only skim through it to find the information that I needed. However, I would probably need to read the entirety of the book if I were to get the skills that I wanted, so that’s what I did. Starting from the introduction, where it explained the basic naming conventions of herbs.

Herbs were not given any fancy names based on who discovered them. Rather, they were identified based on their effect when consumed raw. Higher level herbs with the same effect were denoted by their level. When multiple different herbs had the same effect at the same level, it was instead considered what was the most powerful potion that could be made using the herb and only up to one other.

For instance, the Petrification Herb by itself only causes drowsiness. However, it can cause petrification when combined with the Earth Herb. I nodded my head when I read that. Thus, it was known as Petrification Herb, while the weaker one was known simply as Drowsy Herb.

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I don’t know how long I spent reading before I found the first of the herbs that I had set out. Once I saw the picture, I immediately recognized it, and began comparing it with the samples that I brought. Yeah, that should be it… this is a Cure Herb, then? I smiled when I heard that, since Cure Herbs could recover a small amount of health when eaten raw. They were also a key material in health potions.

As I read more and more, I identified the other herbs that I had found. Holy, Poison, Water, Strength, Agility… as for the last set, they were simply weeds. Although I was deflated upon realizing that, I still made sure to finish reading through the book from beginning to end.

Completed Book: Basic Herbology

Information saved!

I blinked at that message, not immediately aware of what I was seeing. This wasn’t covered in the lessons taught to NPCs, so it must have been some form of specialized knowledge. “You seem surprised. First book?” A voice snapped me out of my confusion.

Looking across the table, I saw a pair of red eyes staring at me. A halfling male with red hair, red eyes, and a matching red shirt sat across from me with a smile on his face. “That’s your first book since you became a player, right? I was really confused, too, when it happened.”

I hesitated, planning to tell him that I wasn’t a player. It was only a common courtesy, after all. However, I simply sighed, nodding my head. “That’s right. What does it mean that the information is saved?”

The boy grinned. “Get this. Any time you read a book, the system automatically saves the information to your account. Then, if you come across anything related to the information, the system will pull it up for you. Convenient, right? The NPCs around here don’t know anything about it, so it’s gotta be some sort of hidden system.”

He wasn’t wrong. There were multiple hidden systems like that, though most of them were hidden from the players. Enchanting was one that could be found more easily. There were also a number of systems that NPCs wouldn’t be taught because it requires more specialized knowledge, or it wasn’t relevant to us. This seemed to qualify for that.

“Hey, if you’re done with that book, can I use it?” He asked eagerly. “With this new system, I want to see what happens if I read every book in the library.”

My eyes widened when I heard that, but I still handed over the book without any complaints. “Are you expecting some kind of hidden skill or quest?” I asked, to which he nodded his head.

“That’s right! Just think, maybe the path to become a sage is locked behind reading every book in the game.” As soon as he said that, he flipped the book open and began reading. “I’m Karlson, by the way. What’s your name?”

“I’m… Drake.” I said as I stood, putting the herbs back in my inventory. Now that I had successfully identified all of them, they were properly labeled.

As I turned to walk back to the shelves, I heard Karlson calling out to me. “If you’re looking for the Scholar skill, you need to read a total of ten books to unlock it.” He said, making me pause. Ten books… I’d be lucky if I finished by the end of the day. “Here, give me a second and I’ll get you some easy ones to read through quickly.”

He closed the book that I had handed him, and began to sprint into the aisles. “The books can’t be too short, or something like a children’s book, or it won’t count.” After he said that, he emerged from the aisle carrying a stack of nine books. Thankfully, none of them were even half as thick as the one that I had just finished reading.

“Here, these should be good. I read through them yesterday. They all contain information about the surrounding terrain, monsters, and basic survival skills.” Karlson smiled, setting them on the table where I had previously been reading.

Afterwards, he went back over to his own side of the table, and started reading through the book that he acquired from me. Taking his goodwill for what it was, I began to read through the books he set out for me, thanking him in the process.

The fact that I already knew most of the information in these books made it rather easy for me to get through them quickly, though I found that the other boy still managed to read faster than I did. Despite reading a longer book, he was done with his well before I finished my own, and went off to grab another book from one of the shelves, this one apparently a history book.

I could imagine Karlson getting along well with Nuoda, as she was also interested in learning the lore of the world. However, Karlson seemed to be more interested in doing it because of whatever secrets may be hidden. Or, that may have just been the excuse that he used to keep doing it. “Aren’t you going to run out of silver if you spend every day in the library?” I asked when I finished my third book.

“It’s fine!” Karlson smiled brightly. “I go out and gather some materials in the field whenever I am done in the library, so I can keep this up as long as I want! The librarian even promised to give me a permanent pass if I visit ten days in a row.”

I gave a small nod, knowing that meant that he had to be earning at least four silver every day from his gathering. Not an easy feat without participating in combat, so I was sure that he had some skills of his own.

Regardless, I focused on reading the nine books. As he had said, I gained the Scholar skill the moment that the final book had been completed. I was surprised that it was still classified as a ‘Martial’ skill, but that was probably just because it was a stat enhancement like the others.

Once I was done with the books, I stood and grabbed them, preparing to put them back. “I’ll see you around, then.” I said, Karlson giving a nod without looking up from what he was reading.

“Don’t worry about the books. I know where they go. The librarian gets real mad if someone puts them back in the wrong place, so I’ll take care of it. You didn’t see where I grabbed them from, right?”

I blinked, giving him another look. He was far too familiar with this library, given that it was only his second day as a player. I could only imagine that he had spent literally the entire first day in this library. “Thanks again, then.” I nodded my head, turning to leave the library. Finally, it was time to properly hunt.