The rest of that day proved to be an interesting one. Leo asked Zumra several questions and they ended up coming to an arrangement. The first question Leo asked concerned his stats, particularly if there were any he wanted to prioritize for a Mixer.
“None of your statistics are absolutely vital to be a good Mixer, as far as I know.” Zumra answered. “Intellect is recommended for a couple of reasons, however. I’m sure you’ve seen that combining different items appear on a list that you can access. Raising your Intellect will increase the size of that list, allowing you to catalog more recipes. That isn’t a necessity, however, as there’s nothing stopping you from writing those things down yourself and putting them in your Storage for safe-keeping. Luck is a choice also, due to your ability to occasionally increase the rank of items you make with Combine. It should not be relied on, however. As for the others, I’ve raised most of my statistics to around C rank, and I personally haven’t seen any difference in my ability to Combine items.”
Leo would definitely keep that in mind. He’d stick to his current plan of raising Intuition and then immediately pivoting to Fortitude. His next question involved the elements and their interactions with each other. Most of which confirmed what he remembered, but he learned where the element of Air fit in, boosting Fire, regulating Water, counteracting Earth, and weakening Wood. He also asked about Dark, Light, and Aether, and Zumra had some notes about all three.
“Light is order and purity, but also stagnation. Dark is chaos, disruption, and change. As you’ve noticed, Dark will create things that will heal wounds and spur the body’s natural recovery when Combined with Wood. Light, however, is essential for curing ailments and removing curses, so you’ll want to collect an ample amount of either.”
“As for Aether, it has rather unique properties when interacting with other items. I’ve found two that I've been able to make wonderful use of. The first is that, when combined with Wood materials, allows you to create mana recovery items - the only combination which seems to do so. The second, which might be of more interest to you, is that you can also combine them with parts that you’ve specifically taken from creatures. If the creature had any unique abilities or magic, you can create something that allows you to mimic that ability temporarily. Unless that ability is passive, however, I’ve found great difficulty in making use of them before their effects run out, and they become even more unwieldy to use the higher the rank of the ability. Since I’d have to use materials from Aether, which is typically harder to find unless you purchase it elsewhere, as well as materials from specific creatures, I haven’t done much with this interaction, but you might find it useful if you’re willing to sink some materials and credits into the ordeal.”
That was something Leo would have to look at when he had credits to put into it. The Aether material he had was probably the highest rank he’d naturally come across for a while, but it wouldn’t really matter what he made with it if he couldn’t control it.
Finally, he came to a business arrangement with Zumra. Since Leo didn’t have a storefront, Leo could store his creations on Zumra’s shelves, and Zumra would get a cut of the credits for the sale. Zumra also showed him how to access the Labors’ shop, which was its own window in Leo’s interface. Leo was sure it differed for Zumra, but Leo himself didn’t take long to figure out how to navigate the shop to get what he needed. He could make things and put them on sale in the shop for people on other worlds, and have things in Zumra’s storefront for the people actually on Heom. He bought some E rank Wood based materials. Some flowers that had healing properties, and watched as they appeared in his Storage.
He also bought a few dozen vials, being dirt cheap to buy. He made two E ranks and a D rank health potion, burning up all his mana almost instantly. He could have a few by the end of the day, but it took about an hour for his mana to recover. Still, creating a D rank item got him an achievement.
You’ve created a D rank item for the first time! Achievement Reward: D rank Unrestricted Karma.
With that, he parted with Axilya for the time being, but not before she bought the D rank healing potion he made. With Zumra taking a cut, he got 200 credits even, which would definitely help him to buy more materials. She said she’d ask around for anyone who’d train him, and who wouldn’t just tell him to try to get a skill for whatever he wanted to learn once his Total Rank went up.
You’ve sold an item made with Combine for the first time! Achievement Reward: D rank Mental Karma.
Mental Karma? He went to use it along with the other Karma he’d gotten earlier. Once he did, the interface only allowed him to select Intellect, Intuition, or Will. So the mercantile achievements, and likely the quests, would involve Mental Karma.
He put both into Intuition, finally raising the stat to D-. He felt an immediate change after doing so. His vision seemed sharper, he picked up more smells from the shop and the surroundings, and his senses in general seemed to be enhanced. He might have still been too swept up in everything that was happening at the time, but he didn’t remember being much of a jump when he raised Intuition to E+.
With that out of the way, Leo left Zumra’s shop with some recommendations of where he should go next. A clothing store to get a few spare outfits that he could toss into storage so he didn’t only have his black shirt and jeans to wear, to say nothing of his underwear and shoes. After that shopping spree, he went to a public bathhouse, washing away all of the sweat and grime of the previous day before putting on some of the new clothes he’d just bought, mainly a dark gray shirt and a pair of brown, baggy pants.
All the while, he’d create E rank healing potions until he ran out of mana, saving a few to put up in Zumra’s store, and putting the rest in the Great Labors shop to sell across worlds. He ended the day feeling like he had more of a handle on his present situation and his future, and when he woke up the next morning at the Fixed Pearl, he found that some of his items had actually sold overnight.
You’ve sold 5 items made with Combine! Achievement Reward: D rank Mental Karma.
He got curious, and so he willed the interface to show him what other achievements he could have, and it brought up a list. His next achievements were 10, then 50, then 100, then 500, and it continued on like that. There weren’t any mercantile achievements that dealt with the type of item sold, save for selling an A and S rank item for the first time, so he wouldn’t be getting those any time soon.
Those combined with crafting quests, as Leo had taken to calling them based on Zumra’s description, seemed like they’d be his main method of raising his ranks while getting trained by someone, and it created an interesting loop. He had to sell things to make credits, so he could buy materials to make items for the quests, or more items to sell, then start the cycle again.
Once he made his way back to Zumra’s shop to give him more potions to put up, he found Axilya there again to share some news. She’d found someone that could train him with specifically swordsmanship, but would still have to ask around for someone to teach him magic.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Wow, that was fast.” Leo said. She said it could be a couple of days to weeks if she looked for a laborer specifically.
“I went to a guild that’s stationed in Heom to ask, so there were just a lot of people to ask at once.”
“There are guilds?” This was the first Leo was hearing of them.
“Yes, and most of them would likely adore having a Mixer working for them, but only to be their supplier for various potions and other items.” Zumra answered for Axilya. “Otherwise, many would have you working a certain way, only doing certain quests, or following a sort of code. They're an interesting sort, but I’ve found selling to them rather than working under them to be much more lucrative.”
“Mmm.” Axilya nodded in agreement. “They’re good for making sure you always have someone to do quests with, and they’re quick to mobilize if there’s an Urgent quest that needs to be done, but I haven’t had a need to join one. It might be a good idea for you though, if you can’t find people to do E rank quests with whenever you get around to it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind Axilya, thanks.”
“Anyway, You’ll find the trainer on the outskirts of the town, near the east gate. His name is Okin Verakith, and he used to be a knight. Just be careful, I’ve heard they’re kind of abrasive.”
Leo shrugged. “I’ll deal with it as long as they’re actually teaching me something.”
With that, he set out to the eastern outskirts of Normouth in the afternoon. Walking part of the way, and getting a cart ride for a few credits almost all the way to the East gate of the city before hopping off. Following directions given to him by Axilya, he followed along the streets near the city’s walls, weaving through a crowd that gradually thinned as he moved further away from the gate. Eventually he spotted a house that matched the description. A single story home, larger than most in the same street, painted black and standing out among the unpainted wood or stone homes surrounding it. It also had a tall fence that completely blocked the view of a large yard to the side of the home.
Approaching the house, Leo found someone else already at the door. At the sound of his footsteps, the woman standing in front of the front door turned to look at him with a curious gaze. She looked about his age, had platinum blonde hair, in a bit of contrast to her tanned skin. What drew Leo’s attention were the cat ears atop her head, the same color as her hair, and her catlike tails, two of them, to Leo’s surprise.
“Are you here for Sir Verakith as well.” She asked, one of her ears twitching while she waited for an answer.
“Yep.” Leo answered. “Got recommended to come this way by a friend of mine. Have you been waiting at the door for long?”
“Just a bit.” The woman replied. “I’ve tried knocking a few times, and I thought I heard some movement within, so I believe he’s home but…” She trailed off, then glanced back at the door.
“I’ll try to get his attention, then. Allow me.” He stepped up to the door, as the woman stepped to the side. He knocked on the door, hard. Not rattling it off its hinges or anything, but loud enough that anyone inside would definitely feel it. A knock he’d grown quite proficient in from having to wake his aunts or uncles up after they forgot to keep the door open for him to get back when he was younger. It happened so much that he thought that some of them wanted him to just wander off after not being let in, but if he banged on the door too hard then he’d get yelled at.
In any case, he tried this knock a couple of times, with several seconds in between, before he finally heard footsteps stomping toward the door.
Just as he was going to go for a final set of knocks just to be sure, the door all but slammed open, as the smell of alcohol flooded Leo’s senses, he looked up to a very tall man angrily glaring down at him and the woman beside him. “What the fuck do you want!?”
Name:
Leonell Bolden
Stats
Title
-
Fortitude: E- (0/10)
Class
Mixer
Reflex: E (0/10)
Element
-
Intellect: E (0/10)
Total Rank
E
Intuition: D- (0/10)
Status
Health 100%, Mana 100%
Will: E- (0/10)
Skills
Combine, Auto-Loot, Appraise, Storage
Luck: D (0/10)
Skill: Combine
Mix different raw materials into a new item. You choose the shape of the form. Final form is affected by rank and element of materials.
Store Combine results into a mental guidebook that grows based on Intellect rank.
Skill: Auto-Loot (Mixer)
Automatically separates mixable materials from slain creatures. If the [Storage] skill is active, automatically places loot into storage space.
Skill: Appraise (Mixer)
Look at a creature or material and gain information on them. Information includes: Rank, Element, Class, Statuses, Titles. May have difficulty appraising creatures of higher rank, or creatures hidden by another skill or effect. Skill affect boosted by Intuition Rank.
Skill: Storage (Mixer)
Creates an inter-dimensional storage space that only you can access. Storage increases with Total Rank