User: Claff:

Health 140/140

Stamina 75/140

Mana 82/140

Quests [3]

Kill Goblins 37/∞

Kill Slimes 0/∞

Cat Ear Bulbs 60/10

Party [1]

Grifith

SKILLS

PASSIVE

Enhanced Body Lv 2 [58%]

Increased Mental Capacity Lv2 [93%]

Regeneration Lv3 [46%]

ACTIVE

Arcane Magic Lv2 [95%]

Barrier Magic Lv2 [20%]

Game-like Storage Lv2 [87%]

Storage

1. 4 shirts

2. 37 goblin cloth

3. 60 Cat Ear bulbs

4. 16 goblin claws

5.

6.

That was one hell of a first day. I harvested 6 times the required number of Cat Ear bulbs, which Grifith guarantees the guild would still pay for, and credit for 37 goblin kills. It turns out every goblin has a 100% drop rate of the loin cloth, which the guild also buys at a rate of 2 copper a piece. The claws are closer to about a 40% drop rate apparently. They still sell for 4 copper each though, so I'm more than happy with today's outcomes. Over all, Grifith has a pretty sweet grinding spot. In just 10 hours, I earned over 5 silver. And that's before I accounted for the bulbs.

The drain the barrier training put on my mana was pretty bad, but when regeneration bumped up to level 3, it became more manageable. That got me an insane rate of 42 mana per hour. At least it felt insane since I started with 24 per hour.

I finally worked out the math for how the multipliers for my regeneration work too, especially after a confused couple answers I got from Grifith. Regeneration started with a 2 time multiplier, and Enhanced Body and Increased Mental Capacity each had a multiplier of 1.2. Each level in Regeneration added 0.5 to the multiplier, which means at level 3, I had a 3 times multiplier to both my health and mana regeneration. At level 2 of my other two passives, they’re each at a 1.4 multiplier.

I’m so glad I took the time to read and consider each skill description. I’ll be an absolute beast at higher levels. I’ll be slinging mana bullets like there’s no tomorrow! I need to keep this grind up though. Those skills won't level themselves.

I shook my head to get back to the present. Grifith and I were getting close to the guild hall and were going to go our separate ways from there and then meet up back at the field tomorrow. I need to remember to buy a knife and bring some food for myself tomorrow though. It was awkward asking Grifith if I could borrow some food from him. He seemed happy enough to share what he had, but I need to be self-sufficient going forward.

We got back to the guild hall, and it looked like there was still a couple hours of sunlight left. I hadn’t worked so long in quite a while. But with how much fun I was having, I don't know if it could be classified as work.

First thing I did when we got back was check in with Luke. He seemed happy to see us, and a little surprised too.

“Back so early? There's still plenty of time to get some kills out there.”

“Well, we got quite a few kills already today. And I got more than enough Cat Ear bulbs with the help of Grifith.” I pointed to him as I said his name.

Luke seemed happy that we worked together. “Alright, if you say so. Hand me your tag so I can credit you for the kill and pull the loot and the bulbs you got today.”

I was a little nervous about pulling the loot out of my storage skill, but after I took out the full stack of 37 goblin loin cloths, it looked like there was a cap of 10 mana for pulling out large stacks. Relieved, I pulled out the rest of my loot.

“Is there a bin or something for me to put the bulbs in? I gathered quite a few.’

Luke looked incredulously at the stacks of loincloths and claws I had. “How in the world did you get so many goblins? It IS your first day, right?”

“Grigith showed me his secret spot for goblin hunting. Turns out he found a spawning point that he just farms. It was pretty awesome, and i got quite a good bit of skill XP too”

Luke laughed a bit at that. “I’m sure you did. It’s quite impressive. I’ve been asking him about that spot for a few months now, but he refuses to share where. I gotta assume it’s close to the bulb field. But I guess I won't pry. I’ll go grab a bucket and count this all up for you. Be right back.”

He returned a minute later with two large buckets. “This good enough?”

“Should be. One second.” I took out half of the 2 inch wide bulbs and put them in the first bucket. “Oh yeah, that’s plenty of room.” I dumped the rest in the second bucket.

“You know you only had to grab like 10 right? Sure we’ll pay for the rest, but then I have to do so much more work.” Luke started fakely complaining. He took the buckets and left to go do his paperwork. I took a seat in the now more crowded room. It looked like other parties were coming back around now too.

I wasn't much for socializing, so I got a drink and nursed it for about half an hour until Luke came up to drag me back to his booth.

He reached down and grabbed a small bag and started pulling out coins. “Your total today is 6 silver and 20 copper. Quite the impressive haul for a newbie. It usually takes people their first full week to get this much. Guess it's a good thing I set you up with Grifith. I’ll see what other quests we have for you to take tomorrow.”

He started to turn around before I called out, “Hold up on that. I think I'll just be hunting tomorrow. Grifith invited me back, and I want to focus more on skill grinding for a bit. I can still make enough just off drops, so I'm not worried about money for right now.”

Luke looked surprised again. “Wow, Grifith doesn’t usually take kindly to strangers, let alone invite them back. I guess you made a pretty good first impression.”

“Not exactly. In fact, the first impression was horrible. The second impression really helped though.” I then told Luke about my first meeting with Grifith.

“Yikes. Charged at him and he still let you stay huh? Good thing you helped him out. Otherwise he probably would’ve kicked you out of the field tight after you finished the Cat Ear quest.”

“Yeah. Regardless, we’re on good terms for now. I’m interested in keeping it that way. But I gotta go. I’m headed up stairs to see if I can get a cheap knife and maybe some rations for when I'm out hunting.”

“Yeah, they’ve got decent stuff. Good luck out there. I assume I'll see you tomorrow?”

“Same time as today.” I waved him off and headed up the stairs. I was happy to see Sarah still working. I waved at her and she came over.

“How was the gear? I don’t see any bloody scratches, so I guess it worked out well?” She smiled and circled me, checking for any wounds.

“It was great! I had a good time out hunting goblins today. I actually came up to see if I could get a dagger or knife or some sort of backup weapon for tomorrow’s hunt. That and some rations would be awesome.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Absolutely. How much were you thinking of spending? Got another 8 silver for me?”

Okay, she has to have some sort of social skill. There’s no way I was actually tempted to spend 8 silver on a Hagrid damned knife.

“No, I'd like to see what’s available before I decide to put any money down.”

She gave a cute pout at that. “Yeah sure. Over here on this wall,” she started to guide me around, “we have some cheaper knives. These range from 1 to 5 silver. And on the shelves by the checkout counter, there’s a variety of food rations for you to pick from.”

I started to pick through the knife collection and grabbed one that fit comfortably in my hand. Looking at my fingers on the handle, I could start to see the effects of the Enhanced Body level increase. They looked slightly slimmer, and felt a bit stronger.

“How much is this one? I like the way it feels in my grip.”

“Let me see.” She took the knife from my grip and removed the sheath.

I probably should’ve checked the blade myself. Rookie move, man. Rookie move.

Sarah put the blade back in and said, “This one is a good one. It’ll run you 3 silver.” She handed it back to me and continued, “We also offer maintenance services as well for any product bought in our store.just keep that in mind for if the blade dulls or gets chipped.”

“Oh that’s perfect. Thank you for your help.”

“Absolutely. It is quite literally my job after all,” she said with a smile. “Take it up front and mention my name if you please. You’ll find a variety of rations next to the counter. The bottom shelf is 15 copper a piece, and the price goes up by 10 copper with each shelf. I recommend staying away from the bottom, but that’s completely up to you. Hope you find what you're looking for!”

“Thanks again. I’ll see you later!” I left before I could say anything else to make a fool of myself.

I got to the counter and found some other people searching through the bottom shelves of the rations. One looked to be some sort of dog beastkin, and the other looked more like a smaller minotaur. They seemed to be arguing about which one they wanted to get. I guess beastkin come in a wide variety, just like the rations.

The dog man turned around and saw me looking at them.

“You got a problem, bud? We’re having a private conversation over here!” He sounded like he had a Boston accent. When I got a better look, he appeared to have a wolfish face and sharp teeth and nails. His gray hair was cut rather short.

“No problem here, just waiting my turn to see what’s good. I’ll take any suggestions if you have them.” I tried being polite to defuse the situation. He seemed pretty upset for some reason. I definitely wasn’t trying to start a fight, though I did prepare a barrier just in case.

The dog man growled and said, “Meats what’s good. Not that this bovine ass realizes.”

“Oi Roobs, calm yourself. I said we can get a couple for you, I just don't do meat that well. I CAN have it, but what’s wrong with me having shrooms and veggies? You ain’t gonna be the one eatin’ it!” The mini minotaur had a similar accent. Closer inspection showed he had a brown cow head and legs, but beefy human arms.

Oh, I crack myself up.

“I don't like no greens, dammit! But fine! Get what you want, Tav. Just keep that crap away from me.”

They seemed to have reached an amicable resolution and headed to pay for their food.

Finally my turn.

I squatted down to check what was available. Most of what was on the bottom shelf were green bags that were labeled as meat, mixed, or vegetarian. The second shelf had more of a description on the now blue bags, with sandwiches, stews, or sauced meats. The third and fourth shelf had purple bags on both, with labels for what looked like full course meals.

I decided to grab a couple of the blue bags and went to pay after the other two were done. When I walked up, the cashier looked a little apologetic.

“Sorry about those two. They’re good people, if not exactly the friendliest. Tavro does his best to keep Rooby in line, but it doesn’t alway work out. Anyways, what can I help you with?”

“I get it. No problem. I’d like to purchase these 5 ration packs, and this knife. Sarah said the knife was 3 silver?”

“That I can do for you. We do a bulk promotion once in a while to get people to keep buying the rations, so it’ll be 1 silver for those. 4 silver total, if you please.”

He stuck his hand out and I gave him the money. He reminded me a lot of Luke, with both of them having disheveled brown hair and holding themselves in a surprisingly confident way for their ages.

“Are you by any chance related to Luke? You two look so similar.”

He smiled a bit and said, “Yeah, we’re twins actually. I’m surprised you didn’t notice this morning. Though I guess you were still daydreaming about Sarah at the time. My name is Duke, by the way.”

Luke and Duke, huh? Quite imaginative on their parents part.

I blushed a bit at his comment. “That obvious huh? I was trying to keep it lowkey. Though your brother was straight up ogling her earlier.”

“Oh it’s pretty well known he has a major crush on her. Don’t worry about it though. You kept a better lid on it than most do. Half the clientele we get come up to the counter already pitching a tent, and the other half are women.”

“Hah, you got me there. Anyways, I gotta head out. Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime. Good luck out there.”

I stashed the knife and food in two of my bag slots and headed downstairs and back to the inn to get some dinner and call it an early night.

This time, Thaggerd was standing at the counter talking to his daughter when I walked in. He turned around quickly when he heard me walking in.

“Claff! Glad your back, my boy. Did you have a good first hunt today?”

“That I did. I found a good spot to grind out some levels too. All of my skills leveled, one of them even twice! And I’m ready to celebrate about it!”

“That's quite the feat! I remember my glory days when levels came that easily. Well, those are words of an old man speaking. How about a large plate of meat and a couple drinks to wash it down with? I’ll even get you one of our cuter servers.”

He said that last part while nodding to Theona. She traded places with her father and gave me a blushing smile before running off to get my order.

“And here I was hoping that was you you were talking about!”

Thaggerd gave a full body laugh at that and shooed me along to a table. It was still relatively early, so there weren’t many people in here yet. Just one group of 4 humans chatting at a table off to the right, and a couple of dwarves that looked to be taking a break before the dinner rush.

Theona came back with her hands full of a plate with two large portions of meat on it. She set it in front of me and gave a cute smile before going to get a couple of drinks.

When she brought them back, I offered her a seat and one of the drinks she brought. She hesitantly accepted and started sipping at her mug while I took a swing of my own.

Hagrid, you did right in making these dwarves. This is probably the best drink I've had in either of my lives.

After my second drink, Theona and I started a little conversation about work and how it was going. I told her a bit of how my day went, and she told me about her family’s business. Turns out that Thaggerd inherited the inn from his dad before Theona was even born. Her mom passed away when she was still little, and it’s just her, her dad, and her cousins running the place. I made sure to give plenty of compliments on how well it was run, the food, and how clean everything was.

“Thanks. We definitely try our best around here. It’s starting to get late, so I should get back to my counter. Hope you enjoy your meal.” She downed the rest of her drink and scurried out of sight.

I felt bad about how we ended that conversation. She seemed happy at first, but I guess talking about her mother got her into a bad mood.

Okay, so don’t talk about the Half Moon family history. Lesson learned.

I downed the rest of my meal and left a few copper coins as a tip. I went to my room and decided to practice my barrier before I slept. I put one barrier right in front of the door, and poured about half my remaining mana into it. After spending so much at the guild, I only had 50 points remaining, though 30 regenerated while I was eating dinner.

I spent another 5 points on a barrier in the middle of the room, and made sure to make this one so that I could touch it. I wanted to try hitting it to see what kind of damage I could do to it. Using the goblin as a baseline should let me know how much physically stronger I've become.

I stood in front of the barrier and readied myself. It was more of a psych up than anything. Once I felt prepared, I twisted my torso and landed the hardest punch I've ever done. Checking on the barrier showed it could take another five more of those before cracking.

Well, there’s a reason I wanted to be a caster and not a melee fighter. I suck at punching, and I don't know the first thing about a sword.

I nudged the barrier with my foot and laid down. That’s when I remembered I had the second level to learn. I called my status up and focused on Barrier Magic Lv2 [32%]. A few seconds and a horrible headache later, I got the notification.

Increased Barrier Manipulation learned.

Ooh that sounds fun. I wonder how I can manipulate it.

I sat up and cast another barrier and tried adding a second face to it, making it look like the corner of a room.

Success!

I walked into the corner of it and cast another in the opposite way, caging myself in my own skill. The mental strain was a bit much, with two altered barriers and a supercharged barrier running at the same time. If I were in battle at the moment, I could definitely handle it, but while I was just goofing around and practicing, I decided not to strain myself too much. I dropped the two angled barriers, but left the barrier in front of the door.

I looked at my status again, and saw that the changed barriers cost twice as much. I was down to 24 mana and starting to feel slightly light headed, so I sat back down.

Apparently the straining from having multiple barriers up was great training for mental capacity too. That short burst brought me up to 99%.

Tomorrow’s hunt should have a much smoother start than today’s did.

I look forward to it!