Year 1566, spring.
A few weeks had passed since the “accident”, as Luca referred to it, and he was slowly overcoming it. Yes, it hurt whenever he would walk about and see maids and servants turn around and chuckle. Or when he learned he had been nicknamed the Green Hero or the Failure. But still, life went on and it had improved over the weeks.
First of all, he never went back to his inn but was instead lodged in the royal castle. The king, despite being very angry about his poor display, decided to keep him close to him and hide him. Apparently, all the human’s kingdoms were in negotiations to decide what to do with their heroes and whether or not they should meet. For the time being, it was decided the heroes should train inside the cities they arrived in or at least not venture too far outside the walls.
This was fine by him, he had no intention to go off adventuring and killing things. Which left him with a dilemma, what would he do? The kingdom would not cater for him forever and it was clear they expected him to help in fighting back the wilderness. Plus, his [Legendary Otherworld Hero] blessing was nothing to scoff at: whatever he would do, he would excel at it.
So why stick to fighting? Luca had looked at the wording of the blessing time and time again, wondering how he could use it to its fullest benefit.
[Legendary Otherworld Hero: As you reach level 10 and chose a class, you will be only offered legendary and unique choices. Furthermore, as you come from another realm, your class will have the potential to adapt concepts from your world and further change throughout its evolution, proving more versatile than legendary classes usually are]
And one thing he had noticed was that there was nothing specifically about fighting class in the blessing description…
He hadn’t remained idle during this time either. Most of his time not spent brooding or hiding away in his chamber was spent in the royal library, where he read all sorts of books to try and understand the world he now lived in. That was how he got his first skill, [Reading], which became his first source of experience.
[Reading (common) lv10: Allows you to read faster and better understand the subtility of any writing. Can be leveled up through recurrent practice or by deciphering complex books. +100% reading speed. Base reading speed is equal to WIS+INT]
His [Reading] skill was already level 10, which for a classless utility skill was the maximum that could be attained. Each level-up granted him a tiny amount of experience, which was enough to bring him to level 2.
From what Luca had gathered from his reading on classes, skills, and levels, everyone chose a class at level 10 which would rank from Common to Mythic, depending on the life one had lived and the experience one had already gathered up. You could always refuse to choose a class at level 10 and wait for better options to be offered to you, but this was a dangerous bet as after level 10 you’d only level up through your class. Furthermore, skills were classified into class skills, which could reach the level of your class, and classless skills, which everyone could pick up but were capped at level 10. So not having a class effectively meant you could not progress in any skills at all.
Most people would pick up all the common classless skills during their childhood and when they reached their fifteenth year they would choose a class for which they had been prepared. Leveling up would then be easy until level 30 and most people reached level 40 before they died. Beyond that point, leveling became difficult as the experience cost rose and the challenges one needed to overcome became harder and harder. Very few people went beyond the class specialization which happened when you reached level 50.
Time alone to think was what needed Luca, and he had got plenty of it. The king paid him very little direct attention, probably thinking he was a failure, and he was free to plan to his heart’s content. And now he was ready and had an idea of what to do going forward.
First, he would need to level up through the practice of common classless skills. But he didn’t intend to take any random skills as he had an idea where he wanted his class to be headed. So he would have to learn [Writing], [Drawing], [Arithmetic], [Geometry] for a start.
Second, he needed to go out. Luca paused in his thinking. That prospect terrified him.
But he needed to. Yes. He needed to.
In the last weeks, Acai, a priest of Techna had been assigned to him to help him navigate through this new world. He had been given a room next to Luca so Luca only had to go out and knock to get him and inform him of his plan.
“I want to get to the crafting district”
Acai’s eyes lit up at that. The last weeks had been beyond boring for him, spending all his time around books and as a priest of the goddess of arts and industry, he loved the crafting district.
“Sure thing. You finally got tired of all those books eh? Told you you should go outside. Here, let me get ready and we’ll go in a minute.”
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Acai donned his red and brown robe which showed his priestly status, washed his face with a bowl of water and he was ready to go.
“So what made you change your mind? Finally realized you’d never man up with them books?” Acai teased him as they walked outside the palace.
“Huh.”
“Still not very talkative are you?”
“…”
“Well at least tell me what you want to see and why. Maybe I can help a little.”
Luca didn’t want to be that socially inept. But this new world, the shame he felt as he fainted in front of the whole kingdom, and the sheer oddity of having a perfectly functioning body made him feel very much out of place. Yet, Acai was right, he had to try and talk.
“I’d like to see carpenters first. And woodcarvers and such.” Luca paused and took a breath. “I want to see and learn their way of crafting.”
Acai stopped in his tracks. They were right outside the palace but no one had recognized Luca yet as he was wearing a cloak that obscured his face. A few people still protested as they almost bumped into them.
“You… You know you mustn’t take a crafting class right? I know you’re not excited about fighting, but it would be such a waste of your Hero boon to use it on a crafting class. At least pick a magic class if you like wood and paper so much… It would be terrible for the relationship between the church and the kingdom if the hero failed to be a hero you know. I won’t help you get a crafter class ”
That was unpleasant. For all his friendly talks and manners, this was a reminder Acai’s role was as much here to spy and control him as to help him find his way.
“I know! I swear I won’t take a crafting class !”
Acai looked at him with dubious eyes.
“What do you want me to do? Pledge an oath to Techna?”
That seemed to please Acai. Oaths to gods were binding in this world, especially for Heroes who had been summoned by said gods. Acai hesitated a bit then said with regret. “Yes please do.”
That hurt. He didn’t feel especially close to Acai, but that was the man he had spent the last weeks with, the one he was the closest to in this world. A cruel reminder of how alone he was. But he had a plan, he would not be alone forever. And so he pledged.
“ I, Luca Yilon, hereby swear not to take a crafting class I would be able to learn through visits and teachings of the crafting district. May Techna, goddess of arts and industry bear witness and strike me down with her might if I betray my words or intention.”
“May Techna bear witness to your oath”
Luca felt something tighten around the heart of his being and a notification informed him he had taken an oath to Techna. A quick look at his status showed him the details of his oath, with its exact wording being recorded. He sure hoped he hadn’t messed up, but this should be fine with what he had in mind.
“Should we go now?”
The rest of the trip passed in silence, as Luca had nothing more to say and Acai was in a very uncomfortable position.
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The following weeks passed in a blur as Luca drowned himself in learning so as not to think of his life and his solitude. He would spend every morning in the library, reading about different crafts and techniques, then after lunch, he would visit different parts of the crafting districts, observing how crafters worked and sometimes asking questions to help better understand what they did.
Never once had he revealed he was the kingdom’s hero but eventually rumors had started to circulate about the hooded man with the priest visiting the crafters. But most crafters were more interested in their works and happy to explain the basics without giving too much care about who was asking. Of course, they never revealed the more important trade secrets, but they told enough to Luca to help him theorize what they did.
As night would fall, they’d come back to the palace and eat a quick dinner. Afterward, Luca would practice his skills to exhaustion, through drawing, writing, and calculating. As his skills capped at level 10, he reached level 5. Overall, he kept himself so busy he didn’t feel his solitude too much, but it was still there, lurking in his mind. And now he had to find other classless skills to level. Plus, he didn’t have much time left, Acai had told him the kings had come to an agreement and a meeting of all the heroes and kings would soon be held.
[Drawing] and [Writing] had both been common skills and leveling them had granted him enough experience to reach level 3. [Arithmetic] and [Geometry] on the other hand were uncommon skills that had both granted him one level through practice. Now, if he wanted to keep grinding, he needed to work on some rare skills as they would give the more experience. It was time to test another of his ideas.
It had been a few hours since night fell outside and Luca had finished to level up [Arithmetic]. Leveling the skill had not been too hard as he remembered enough of the mathematics of Earth to write complex demonstrations and or make and solve difficult problems. The system recognized his work only if he wrote the demonstrations or explained them to someone. He needed to express his knowledge in some ways for the system to boot in.
His room had a table with papers and inks, which he had abundantly used to practice his skills. He took a new piece of paper and got to work. This was going to be more difficult as he wanted to try and design an object. He would start by making the blueprint for woodwork as those should be easier. He started drawing a basic chair, calculating the right proportions, choosing the type of wood and the way the wood would need to be prepared so as to be both resilient enough and easy to assemble.
The first attempt was a failure, the back of the chair being too big compared to the feet. He tried again but this time he realized the bars he intended to use for the back of the chair were too heavy. He started again. And again. And again.
As dawn finally came and the first rays of the sun poured into his rooms, Luca finally collapsed in exhaustion, his first blueprint done. As he closed his eyes, he was rewarded with the chime of the system and three notifications appeared inside his waning vision.
[Congratulations! You have conceived and drafted a [Sturdy chair (common)]blueprint. You have been awarded 10 exp.]
[Congratulations! For designing a blueprint by yourself you have been granted the [Conceive (rare)] and [Design (rare)]skills. You have been awarded 400 exp.]
[Congratulations! You have reached level 6. Experience to level 7: 107/640]
Luca smiled as he drifted away into sleep.