Chapter 2
2 weeks had passed now and I had one to two assignments a day transporting goods; to better train my body I ran with the heavy loads each time, when I had time over I went foraging in the forest and by now I had found all the plants; at least for this season.
When I passed level 3 in foraging I got a skill called “Plant Identification” which made me able to somewhat identify wild plants before I had plucked them, it was of course only at the beginner level so it wasn't very useful every time but it had reached level 2 and I had a higher chance of successfully identifying if the plants were poisonous or not.
My stats had also increased but only a little bit though since a delivery normally took somewhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours. STR +5, AGI +10, VIT +10, WIS +5 and most of all my END +20. Normally you wouldn't have this kind of increase in stats but I didn't loan or buy a carriage and carried all the goods on my back tied with ropes which looked silly. I could sometimes hear how players and NPC alike laughed and spoke about me.
One great thing about the job was that I heard a lot of gossip when I delivered goods to NPCs and I heard some useful information like there was one crazy old man who stood a couple hours a day in the training halls beating a scarecrow for no particular reason, this mother told me her kids liked to go to the beach and that they sometimes brought home plants that she had to throw out; I planned to go to the beach for my next foraging spot, a library is a good place to learn different things from books such as spells for magicians and sometimes skills for the other classes, if you went to a crafts guild you could learn a craft as a class or you could learn crafting if you had unlocked it somehow, there was a place where players could get help with choosing a class and from what I could gather most of the players had already before level 3 chosen a class; most of them chose the basic classes and almost no one was daring enough to go for a crafting class.
My level was now 4 and I still had 11 days left of quarantine. But still no idea of what class to choose. I wanted a class I could go solo with since it was hard for me and foreigners especially to get good friends with the majority of the player population being Korean and Asian.
If I took a look at what skills I had some “medicinal” skills and my highest stats were agility, vitality and endurance.
“Paladin? You would first need to be a swordsman and then become a knight I think.”
“Alchemist? No way that's a crafting class and I would be in constant need of people helping me or buying items, impossible to dungeon alone.”
“Thief or Ranger perhaps?”
“Speaking of Ranger I wonder if there's an Adventurer class?” I do love to explore... I'll go and see what the class skills are for it.
I passed several players who were looking for clerics, magicians ; which were mostly divided into ice or fire, and rangers; for the ability to aggro monsters from afar. Didn't seem like anyone was looking for adventurers; guess that might be because they don't contribute as much in fights?
I walked up the stairs and swung the door open, a loud noise of people chattering in raised voices could be heard. Most of what I could hear were lamenting over why they didn't get offered a better class or questions if there was a hidden class available.
There is no way NPCs or anyone would tell anyone about hidden classes. Are they stupid or what? Sure I would love to have a hidden class but those don't grow on trees and even if there was hidden class you could get in a city you would probably have to spend copious amounts of time and effort on random quests that would seem to lead nowhere.
The first floor of the building had NPCs explaining all non craft classes and the second floor had the craft advisers. Since the first floor was full of people I decided to go to the second floor and check out the craftsmanship classes.
“Look at that dude, what a loser going to the craft floor!”
“I bet he's scared of fighting so he chooses the easy way out”
I ignored the comments and proceeded ahead. Though I was kind of pissed off!
“Hello I would like to be advised on what craft class would suit me and some information on the other classes.”
“Good day sir! So you're interested in noble craftsmanship?”
“Yes the brutes down there don't even know how valuable a profession they are losing out on.”
“You are so right sir. Well let's skip the chitchat and show me your status, It's been so long since I last had a customer so i'll give you a discount.”
Geh, I need to pay? Oh well
*status window*
“Hmm... I see that the alchemist would fit you perfectly good sir. You have already learnt a subskill of the class so you should have no qualms about choosing it.”
“Before I decide on anything could you be so kind to explain what an Alchemist does?”
“Surely you know that only the alchemist can create different kinds of potions, elixirs and alcohol; though the cooking class can also make alcohol. Medicine mostly, but I think you know that if you can make medicine you can also make poisons. The primary stats that are important are Wisdom, for creating new recipes; and endurance, for being able to withstand the dangerous fumes”
“Those things seem interesting but is that all there is to the class?”
“Not satisfied are we!? Well I have heard that masters of the craft have been known to use alchemy against their enemies in peculiar ways.”
“Well now that was interesting to hear about”
“A word of caution before you leave, the path of an Alchemist is a long road that many give up on but the rewards are great if you have the courage to face the unknown”
I like the 'courage' part. I then went on to listen to some other craft classes but my favourites remained the classes that dealt with food mostly, but the repair skill and inspection skill seemed to be incredibly useful to have regardless of class.
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“I completely forgot to tell him about when you level up skills to a sufficient level then you might unlock some of the classes on your own without being forced to be part of the craft class” The Informer sighed and hoped the young man would return again.
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Ah the line is empty to one of the NPCs. I hurried towards the middle-aged man in somewhat ruffled clothes and a lethargic face. As I approached I could see why there was no one asking him questions. He was asleep while standing, snoring softly.
I wanted to tap on his shoulder to wake him but as I was about to touch him he spoke to me.
“Yes, how can I help you?” That was kind of spooky, did he fake sleeping or is it a NPC thing to react to players?
“I was wondering how you reacted without me touching you or saying anything?”
“Years of practice, son! Nobody has ever asked me before so I'm kind of happy you noticed my skills. Most people think I'm just faking sleeping to be lazy.”
“I would really like to know how you learn that skill and if it's from a particular class. Would you be so kind to tell me... Teacher!”
“Well who knew somebody would actually like to learn this lazy skill.” He bent down and whispered to me.
“My job ends right about now so let's go have a bit to eat and I will explain some things to you.”
“No problem, Teacher. Just show the way, food and drinks on me tonight!”
As I was following him I just hoped he wouldn't order too much expensive things. Sure I had 14 gold plus change but I don't think it would be a good choice to spend it on one skill I don't even know is any good. But it sure is cool being able to react like that while sleeping.
As luck would have it we just sat and ate at a normal looking pub and 2 hours had passed since we sat down and still no explanation. I decided it was high time to ask.
“Teacher would you tell me how you were able to react to me while sleeping?”
“Hmm...Tell you? Tell you what?” He was a little drunk but I hope he hasn't forgotten the drunkard!
“Oh yes it's time to tell you I guess. When I was a youngster no older than you, I met a magician on one of my journeys to the Brittania kingdom. Do you know how we met? I was sleeping outside and he stepped on me! He stepped on me, HAHAHA! Man was I angry, I was so angry I pounced on the nearest moving thing I could see through my sleepy eyes.”
“Did teacher beat him up?”
“No. I actually smacked a werewolf, I hit it right in the noggin and it died because of it. The one that stepped on me quickly shook my hand and thanked me for helping him out. I wanted to say I didn't do it to help him but he was so happy I just let it go. We introduced ourselves and it just so happened that we started travelling with each other. He had some unusual magic I hadn't seen before but that's not important right now, he was actually kind of annoyed at me because it was so hard to wake me up. So he started using magic on me to wake me up, HOHOHO! I didn't like to the thought of sleeping forever so I had him help me out in creating a new skill, to sleep lightly but soundly.”
So it was a survival skill, Norman sure can tell a tale. It's been fun listening to him.
“...nd that is the conclusion of one of my many adventures. Would you still like to learn the skill?”
“Of course teacher!”
“I'll tell you a little about it so you know what it does. You might have heard how magicians and clerics have a skill called 'meditate' which gives them increased mana regeneration. And some skilled martial arts professions actually have a similar skill to what I’m about to teach you.”
“It increases your stamina and health regeneration while you sleep.”
“So do you accept to be thought the skill?”
“Yes, Teacher.”
You have learned the skill: 'Light Sleeper' Beginner [1]
You fall into a light sleep, your health and stamina regenerate your def and m.def are increased during sleep.
+1 to def and +1% to magic resistance
“Great, oh I did forget to tell you a fun fact”
“There is a little difference about this technique. When you are using the skill you regenerate health and stamina which is similar but when using the technique me and my buddy Magenta developed. You also raise your defence and magic resistance while sleeping so if you get attacked you're hurt less.”
“Thank god it had the m.def or I’m not sure I would still be alive after all that magic he threw at me.”
('There is another bonus to the skill but I’m gonna let him figure it out on his own when he reaches a higher level. The buff really helps but it's hard to acquire it.')
“It's time I started heading home now.” Norman stood up but I still had one last question to ask him.
“Teacher Norman, You never told me what class you belong to. You said you were an adventurer but what do you mean?”
“Oh, how could I forget. It's called the adventurer class nowadays doesn't it. As I see that you still haven't decided on a class would you like me to help you in that?”
“Would you? I'd be happy if you could advise me.”
“Seeing as we're acquainted now I guess I could tell you about a class I found on my travels. It's similar to the adventurer class but quite different.”
*Kaching!* My eyes glowed and a small smile started forming on my face. Could this be a hidden class?
“But I can't tell you about it now. Come back to me when you are ready to leave town” (Leave town meant when the 4 week starting period is over)
I decided it was time to log off and work some more tomorrow.
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I asked the shopkeeper if there were any deliveries to be made but at the moment there were none. It's time I went to the beach and checked out how it looked there, I might as well raise my foraging skill and Plant identification skill.
Sure enough there were different kind of plants near the sea. Less than in the forest but still a few. The most abundant plant life was under water so I dove a lot to gather some new plants. It was much harder grabbing plants underwater then on dry land, but the scenery was oh so much more beautiful. Corals, seaweed and rainbow coloured fishes. What a sight to behold, it was worth it having chosen the starting point near the warm sea. Even though the heat was so bad sometimes stamina was decreased at a faster rate and I had to eat more often to extinguish my hunger.
I wonder if there are any underwater caves that might contain monsters and treasure. Or sunken ship and unexplored islands. A man's romance: the high seas. I decided that I'd explore the sea and all it's wonders one day when I’m a higher level.
The days passed and it was the last day. Soon I would be able to explore the world and kill some monsters!
The plants underwater had more positive effects on the body such as increased stats, health and mana regeneration than adverse effects. But there was actually one plant, thank god I didn't eat it that could kill a low level player. It wasn't actually a plant but an anemone. I got suspicious when my plant identification skill didn't even activate so I asked a fisherman what it was and he told me it was a deadly anemone.
I took a look at my skills and was pretty happy with what I had:
Light Sleeper Beginner [2] 27%
You fall into a light sleep, your health and stamina regenerate.
Your def and magic resistance are increased during sleep.
Foraging Beginner [3] 1%
You are able to learn Alchemist and Cooking skills to Advanced level
Poison resistance 4%
Plant Identification Beginner [2] 73%
You're able to distinguish between poisonous and non-poisonous plants found on land and underwater.
I did my last job here at the furniture store and I had increased my friendship a lot with the shopkeeper. He would tell me gossip that was floating around town that he learned from his customers, most of it was things I had already learned from deliveries and some explanations to classes. A pretty good tutorial if you'd like it. But yesterday he had heard from a customer about the crazy man that had been hitting scarecrows in the training hall. He had been coming and going for 3 months but he suddenly stopped a couple days ago. The customer told the shopkeeper that he had received a sword from the instructor and then never came back again.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“A sword?” is it a reward for spending so much time hitting scarecrows? But still who would want to hit scarecrows for 3 months only to get a sword. I quickly forgot about it and said my farewells to the shopkeeper. I had in my pocket only 8 gold left, spent a lot on medicine, food and I had bought an expensive backpack for 3 gold it had 10x the amount than a regular backpack. The weight got reduced by 4x so I wouldn't feel fatigued if I carried a lot. I filled it up with useful plants I could find and the most potent poisonous ones as well.
It's time I visited Norman so he might give me a clue on changing to the secret class.
As usual he was sleeping standing up and I tried to scare him but to no avail.
“It's time I see. Well follow me out of town and I'll help you.”
We passed the gates and at last I could begin the adventure, maybe it's time to hunt some rabbits and foxes.
“Go catch 10 rabbits for me unharmed and when you're done with that I want you to catch a fox the same way.”
Wait did he say unharmed? But they run away if you even get close to them. The only way you can hunt rabbits is by hurting them first so they attack you and won't run away.
“Teacher how am I supposed to do that?”
“Really youngsters these days. I'll show you.”
He went to the field and just sat down. A couple seconds later he had caught a rabbit and was walking towards me.
“Go!”
I first tried to jump on the rabbits but they would sometimes get hurt so I had to kill them. It didn't work at all. I tried what teacher did and sure enough the rabbits came close to me but when I moved they just ran away. After doing this for 2 hours I had only caught 4 rabbits but slowly I was starting to understand how to catch them. You had to move in their blind-spot so they don't notice you.
I think this is how he did it. Well he didn't say how I was supposed to catch them. I have some plants which can paralyse without hurting, maybe if I feed it to the rabbits i'll catch them faster?
{Ruffle, shuffle}
Ok, here rabbits come eat some tasty salad. I thought as I grinned with evil written over my face.
In half an hour I had caught all ten rabbits and now it was on towards the fox.
First I caught a rabbit and killed it for the meat then I filled it with paralysis plants and set it down in a half secluded place and waited for a fox to come eat it.
Finally after an hour a fox came close and started sniffing the rabbit. I was hidden up in a tree ready to pounce on it if the paralysis was too weak.
As if the fox knew something was weird it ran away without taking a bite.
“This is so annoying” I might as well use 'light sleeping'.
After a while I heard a noise as if something was choking, I looked up and would you look at that a juvenile fox had eaten the rabbit and now it was lying on the ground as if it had a hard time to move. The fox was mine and I went to Norman proudly with long strides.
“So you have finally accomplished my tasks!”
“Well without further ado I will tell you about the 'Guerilla' class.”
“Gorilla?!”
“No, no. Guerilla. It's a special class similar to the adventurer class. Guerillas are patient but strong fighters, they move fast in all terrain and are expert ambushers. They are most proficient hunting by themselves but provides excellent opportunities to hunt stronger monsters in parties. Since they are similar to the adventurer class they can also learn most of an adventurers skills and special skills only guerillas can learn. A downside is that they can't really learn any weapon to it's fullest potential and will always be weaker than other classes who specialise in particular weapons. Guerillas are versatile fighters and on a high level and skill mastery they can rival the strongest fighters under special conditions.”
He took a small break to catch his breath and I was smiling like a clown and chuckling silently.
“Preperation is key” he continued.
“Do you wish to transform into the guerilla class?”
Hidden Class! Guerilla
If you accept it, you can use exclusive skills related to the nature of the class. Do you want to convert now?
“Yes, teacher!”
I was enveloped in a green light and my status window popped up.
NameMaliceAlignmentNeutralLevel5ProfessionGuerillaTitleNoneFame50Health560Mana130Strength30+10Agility32+10Vitality42+10Stamina140 + 10Wisdom15 + 10Intellect10 + 10Poison Resistance4%Leadership0 + 10Luck0+10Attack28Defence4Magic ResistanceFire1%Earth1%Water1%Black Magic1%
Learnt new skill: Observation
+ 10 points added to All Stats
Learnt new skill: Ambush
+ 15% increase to Offence and defence on successful Ambush
+ Gained ability to equip Shoes and boots regardless class and race restrictions
+ Enables you to equip certain items specialized for the class.
+ Ability to raise Alchemy and Cooking craftsmanship to Master level
+ Gained ability to learn secret skills relating to the Guerilla class
Learnt new Footwork: Wind walking
Learnt new skill: Camouflage
I yelled “Skill window!”
Observation: Beginner [1]
See further to scout an area. See what lies hidden in terrain.
Uses 20/mana per minute
Ambush: Beginner [1]
Lie in wait to surprise an enemy or attack an enemy from their blind-spot.
If successful, the enemy is stunned/dazed for a brief moment.
10% critical hit chance increase on ambush
Footwork, Wind Walking Beginner [1]
Exclusive skill for the Guerilla class.
Uses 100 mana, skill active for 5 minutes.
No penalties when walking on hard terrain and running speed is increased
Camouflage: Beginner [1]
Exclusive skill for the Guerilla class.
You are more able to hide from monsters and enemies by blending in with your surroundings. Must use surroundings to your advantage, is not stealth.
Foraging: Beginner [4] 1%
Plant Identification: Beginner [2] 73%
Light Sleeper: Beginner [2] 30%
So Observation is to survey the field for monsters and look for hidden dungeons maybe? I might use observation when foraging to more quickly see what there is.
The footwork skill was an useful one for sure, if I increase the skill level I might not even need to buy a horse! Horses are really expensive and a pain to take care of, you need to feed the horse and be careful it doesn't run out of stamina and if it gets hurt you'll need to heal it. Just a pain in the ass.
I think i'm going to use it as often as I can and stock up on mana regeneration plants, they were pretty rare but not as rare as the stamina regeneration ones.
I turned around to thank Norman but he was already walking back, it seemed that he had done his job and was going back home.
I will check the other two skills after I have upgraded my equipment and set of to hunt and level up.
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I checked my status window again and remembered that I could learn Alchemy and Cooking so I headed over to the respective guilds.
There was no problem with learning the cooking craft since I already had the foraging skill, all they wanted from me was to cook egg 3 ways, scrambled, soft boiled and hard boiled.
I was actually pretty lucky to only need to do this kind of light problem. Other people people either needed to befriend a chef, change their class to chefs or to pay a ridiculous high sum of money. For beginners that is. 10 gold.
Alchemy was a whole other problem. Luckily for me I was already eligible to learn it and only needed to buy the equipment and pay a registration fee. Others needed to choose the class or find it as I did. Few did however. Alchemy was an expensive craft where you needed to buy ingredients or find them as loot or in nature. I already had the foraging skill so half my expenses are taken care of. I still had to pay 5 gold. Now I only had 3 gold left and dammit I was going to buy me a spear and some defensive gear.
I had bought a spear.
Bending Spear:
Durability: 50/ 50
Attack: 9-12
Level requirement : 12
Agility 50
Bonus: +1 Accuracy
A spear made of flexible wood with red feathers at the base of the tip to distract enemies.
1 gold and I still couldn't use it. I will have depend on my hands until level 12 then.
I also spent 1 gold to buy some basic defensive equipment for level 5 with AGI bonus.
I started killing rabbits with my hands and feet and after a short while I got a 'Hand to hand combat' mastery which improved my damage fighting without weapons.
It was difficult at first because I didn't really know how to kill a rabbit with my hands, back when I was catching rabbits for Norman I just used a big stone to kill them but now I had to use my hands. But I soon learned the weak points of rabbits and was killing them without any problems.
I had figured out how to use Ambush and it was pretty effective when I succeeded. I pretty much took no damage from the rabbits, weak as they were; because of the short stun period and increased offence by 15% they were dead after 5 hits.
Rabbits are level 2 monsters and me being level 7 now they didn't give any experience and so foxes are my next target. Foxes are though carnivorous animals and they hurt more.
The camouflage might come in handy soloing foxes but how am I supposed to use it. I'm going to go to where there are large obstacles like trees and boulders so I can hide behind them. Ambushing them will probably be easier as well.
“Observation!”
Ah there are some trees and high grass with one or two foxes, perfect place for some testing.
I climbed the tree and used 'light sleeping' to more efficiently erase my presence and to get my health up.
It worked like a charm the fox hadn't noticed me and I jumped down with my elbow raised to hit it in the back of the neck.
*Critical hit* *Ambush successful*
The fox was stunned for a short moment and I unleashed many kicks and fists on it's body; going for the eyes first, then the legs and finally when it lied there helpless I finished it off by kicking it on the head.
I had successfully killed my first fox but just the preparation alone took 10 minutes and I don't think it was worth it hunting solo right now but I need to be able to equip the spear before I join a party or the chances are slim they'll take me. The adventurer class was widely known for being weaker than the fighting oriented classes in battle.
“Haaaa... It took me the whole day just to get to level 12.”
“Tomorrow I can start spear training and my attack will get a large boost.”
I had continued killing foxes by myself until night had come and all monsters were 50% stronger. It was much harder finishing them off even after an ambush was successful, I had been forced to spend a lot of time using 'light sleeper' between fights and it had grown to level 4 which had increased my defence additionally and the rate of regeneration by a small amount. Ambush was at level 2, it had taken much longer time to increase it than 'light sleeping' but the bonus was higher per level at least.
I still hadn't found a way to increase the 'camouflage' ability and I was still at a loss for words on how to use it. It's an exclusive skill so I guess it's really good... While I was hiding I found some additional plants and plant identification was level 3 now with foraging soon at level 5.
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