“Professional. That’s what it is, professional.”
“noisily complimenting himself whilst nodding repetitively after inspecting his handy work.”
‘Now you have to skiv it!’
“A smaller version of the lady with a gaze that could set fire to oceans, has snuck up on our hero. Clearly without him noticing.
One can’t help but to be perpetually disappointed in his inaptitude.”
“Right! Skiv it! Thanks, miss.
But just to make sure, why don’t you show me how you would do it.”
‘Oh, Okay!’
‘Jeil!’
“With bright light blue eyes the adorable young woman looks back at her guardian in surprise.”
‘You! You, tricked me!’
“Flushed red and with tears in the corner of her eyes, the little lady points her beautifully crafted dagger at our hero.”
“Woah there! Easy with that. I’m just not sure how to skiv.”
“With a questioning gaze she looks at her guardian who finally sighs and nods.”
‘Okay, I’ll show you! Be grateful that the great me is helping you!’
“Thank you, great you!”
“With confident stride, the helper, Jeil, grabs a piece of scrap leather from a working station.”
‘Momma, always said that it is not enough to just make something well! You have to make it look good!’
“I see, your mother has a lot of wisdom. I completely agree!
Did she make you?”
‘Yes!’
“A snicker can be heard behind the pair, luckily the little miss is to concentrated on her work to notice her mother’s smile.”
“Oh, so it’s like sanding down wood? Make things smooth?”
‘Mhm. Then you make it look pretty with a hot stick.’
“Oh? Is that what tooling is?”
‘Mhm. See.’
“With great enthusiasm she points at the cuffs of her detailed leather jacket.”
“Not bad! Looks pretty good. But isn’t it rough always wearing leather?”
‘Not at all! Mom only uses the best leather! It is super comfortable!’
“Following little miss Jeil’s lead our hero starts smoothening the edges of the laced leather pants.
It has to be said, young master Ji, has some impressive focus, he has already shut out the world and hears nothing aside from the steady swipes of his dagger.”
“There! Not bad, if I say so myself. What do you think?”
‘It’s pretty bad. A bit better than some of the apprentices.’
‘My daughter has a good eye, it’s adequate for its purpose. Your quest should be done, so shoo.’
“After closing the prompt, asking him if he wants to learn leatherworking, our hero nods and waves as he walks out the workshop.”
“I thought the people with jobs would be happy I brought some business.”
“In many cases, our hero might be right. However, these crafters have these quests forced on them and cannot disregard anyone seeking their guidance.
Even if only the more prominent families know of this, they still have to endure different lords and ladies coming to their places of business time and time again.
Even a random passerby only has to utter words alluding to wanting to learn their craft and up pops a notification they can’t ignore.”
“Ye but. I’m special right? Slept for a thousand years only to take this world by storm!”
“One might vomit uncontrollably if our hero didn’t deadpan this particular sentence.
Even a sliver of mockery can be heard in his voice as opens the map, configuring a new route to his next destination.”
“It’s a good thing I managed to get away from the Oh family. I was afraid they wouldn’t let me out of their sights.
Don’t get me wrong. They are nice, but I love my freedom! I’m a man after all! I can’t be bound so early, I’m barely a thousand something, still in my prime!”
“Of our hero lives in his delusion, blissfully unaware that not one but two different organizations are observing him. Neither with innocent motives.”
“What!? Where!?
Damnit! Did they see me earlier?”
“Whilst our hero dug for gold, the hidden observers noted his every move.”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Those beasts! They wouldn’t.
Is nowhere safe? I can’t pick my own nose in peace.
I was just scratching! You hear you fiends!? Scratching!”
“Shiftily looking around, our hero starts sprinting, strafing left and right. A peculiar exercising technique.
From the perspective of an outsider, our hero’s movements may seem like after images.
But we, the initiated, see his abnormal movements. There is certain grace to the movements, yet, simultaneously you feel discomfort.
This is only natural, as he is practicing an art, not designed for his rigid body.”
“Did I lose them?”
“He most definitely did not manage to shake the observers as they do not track him with empirical means such as sight.”
“Pft! Empirical this.”
“In the shadows, two different individual mockingly grin and derisively snort. Comically, their actions alerted one another, an awkward exchanged is the result.”
“Great, while their making friends, let’s check this place out.
But, I’ve been wondering. Why aren’t there any gathering professions?”
“As our hero carelessly walks into the building, towering into the sky he reactively starts aiming his finger towards his nose before realizing his actions, smoothly fixing his hair instead.”
“Defamation! Slander! This is an assassination for my character!
This has to be the largest building in the city by far! Strange, that I didn’t see it from a distance.”
‘Can I help you young man?’
“An amiable elderly woman gently smiles as so generously speaks to our precious failure of a human.”
“Hi! Yes, I was wondering what you do here.”
“Looking around, the entrance to the enormous building looks surprisingly desolate.”
‘Here we do a lot of things, young man.’
“Yes, of course. But specifically though? For example, what do you craft here?”
‘Ho ho ho. Young man, we craft a lot of things here.’
“A gentle smile is shared between the two.”
“Of course. Of course, a lot of things. A lot of things. Of course.”
“Nodding and smiling our hero walks passed the friendly woman, opens a door and walks inside.”
“Poor old woman, must have Alzheimer’s.”
‘Can I help you, young man?’
“Silence lingers in the air for a few moments and our hero narrows his eyes.”
“Twins?
I can’t believe it! Twins!”
‘Can I help you, young man?’
“Or is it?”
“Running towards another door, our hero snaps it open, only to be greeted by yet another friendly old woman.”
“Triplets? What are the chances?”
“Despite the obvious illusion, our hero continues to walk through multiple doors.
Cold sweat running down his back.”
“Can it be!? Octuplets!?
“With a immensely serious expression our hero sinks into contemplation. Before nodding to himself, as if reaffirming something.”
“Nothing is impossible!
All with some kind of a mental disorder as well. Ah, such is old age!”
‘Enough. He is clearly an idiot.’
“Who!?”
“The room drastically changes as a man in a dress appears, standing by a flowerpot, slowly watering it.”
‘I’d like to ask you to leave. We don’t serve savages here.’
“What did you do to those old women!? How cruel to make the elderly work like that!”
“A blue vein pops on the forehead of the mysterious man, his right eyebrow slightly twitches.”
‘Get out!’
“But I got a quest in here, I need to learn your craft.”
“As the word make their way across the well furnished room a quest is activated.”
|Optional: Follow Rouk’s instructions|
“Order in chaos, order in everything. Such is the mantra of the formations.”
Learn the basics of Formation & Scroll crafting.
Reward: Rights to learn Formation and & Scroll crafting.
“An audible sigh can be heard as our hero smiles brightly, staring at the mysterious master formation and scroll maker.”
“Let’s hear it, what do I need to do?”
“An even more exaggerated sigh can be heard, master Rouk waves his hand and several materials materialize on a table.”
‘Mill these. Add this, Then use the concoction to write with. Follow the instruction in this book, first fifty pages.’
“After giving his instructions, master Rouk vanishes from our hero’s sight.
Of course we, the more adept, can see him sit down in a chair and slowly pour himself a cup of tea. Only our hero can no longer see him.”
“He can do whatever he wants. Looks like I should read this first.
I’ll be honest, wasn’t expecting this to be one of the crafting professions. Is this something like crafting? Very strange.”
“Masters of formations can be said to hold very high position in the world, able to arm the weakest with weapons of great power.
Creating numerous defensive and offensive formation, effectively making defenseless places a fortress.
Too many formations exist in the world and combined with scroll making it allows them to live very comfortable lives.”
“Hooo! Not bad, okay, I’ll take this more seriously.”
“It would seem that our hero is a remarkable reader, few moments passed and he has already put the book away.”
“Alright. So Ink is done.
Just have to imbue some mana into the pen, ink and paper. The pattern isn’t that complex either.”
“Despite Ji’s casual and nonchalant attitude, we can see him sweating profusely and his face becoming bright red.”
“…”
“It appears our hero doesn’t have a very high aptitude towards this, three papers wasted. The ink almost completely used up and his clothing drenched from perspiration.”
“I can’t believe that was so hard. What the hell was that!?
My head is throbbing. It’s like there is a heart in my head, pulsing.
I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in my life.”
‘Excellent job, it seems you aren’t as excessively stupid as you look.’
“Thank you! Your eight grandmas raised you right.”
“A strange look. A wave of a sleeve, an unknown force pushing our hero out but no words are spoken.”
Do you want to learn Formations & Scroll crafting?
Requires: One crafting skill points
“Why does it keep asking me? I can’t! I don’t have crafting skill points to spend.”
“One glance at the evening sky and we can see quite some time went by as our hero struggled with the intricate arts of formations and scrolls.”
“It’s time to get dinner. Should I contact Tio?”
“While looking over his inventory, our hero notices the miscellaneous crafting supplies.”
“Was I supposed to use these? But they gave me materials and tools to use. Strange.
Hey Tio!”
“Watch our hero picking up a tool, very similar to a mobile phone. A remnant of the past, resurfaced through different means.”
‘Ji?’
“Ye, was wondering if you want to meet up for dinner? I managed to finish three out of eight crafting professions.”
‘Oh. Sorry, but I’m currently busy right now, I had to go back to the office. There was an issue with the portal room.’
“Alright, I’ll be sleeping at an hotel tonight, don’t wait for me.”
‘I’ll come to your hotel then.’
“What? No.”
‘It’s decided then; I’ll see you later tonight.’
“Even if the fall of the human race was a great travesty, and their legacy mostly vanished. Their digital knowledge, believed to be timeless, gone in a day.”
“Narrator, man. Relax with the depressing stuff.
Full on flashback for a cellphone? Jesus.
Alright, let’s find a place to eat, sleep and then we can locate the next place.
Curious as to why there are more than eight marks on the map. Multiple similar crafters or are there more than eight professions?”
“It looks like it may rain. One should be prepared to tackled the forces of nature.”
“Okay.”
“As morning breaks, we see our still drooling protagonist, nearly slipping out of the bed.”
“Mrghp. Mrhm.”
“As our hero just said, that may be a good way to level faster.”
“Mahhrning.”
‘Good morning, Ji.’
“Mmm. So soft.”
“The female mammaries are proven to be soft to the touch, this specific field of research has been thoroughly proven, time and time again.
The same question, with the Fluo as a focus has still not been as extensively worked on.”
‘Do you like it?’
“Is good.”
“Eyes still closed, yet hands very much awake, it seems our hero may have some trouble regaining consciousness.”
“Oh, Tio. When did you get here?”
‘Sometime in the middle of the night.’
“Oh.”
‘I rushed over once I finished my work.’
“After our hero’s arrival, many dormant things were awoken. Causing the world to cautiously but enthusiastically prepare to take advantage.”
“Why am I naked though?”
‘I took the liberty to undress you.’
“Of course. And why am I wet?”
‘…’
“I see.”
“Even now, our hero is under observation.
One can only ask oneself in bewilderment, why one would want to pay attention to such a lowly being, and not just any being, a human, no less.
It baffles the mind.”
“Perverts.”