When Scott woke up, he was immediately assaulted by a barrage of information. He rifled through this new information, realizing that he suddenly knew about enchanting and manipulating his mana. It felt as if he’d always known the knowledge even though he didn’t remember learning it.
Scott got himself off of his dirty floor and moved into his proper house. He looked around confused about the low level of light in his room until he realized that the power was out.
"Fuck!" Scott muttered to himself.
He moved out into his garage, and over to his generator. He cranked it up several times and the lights finally went on. After a long ice storm the year prior, he'd gotten a generator in case of the power going out. He took out his long extension cord, pulling it through the house into his bedroom. It would work for some time, but he knew that it was a temporary stop gap.
He left the power on for a few minutes, just long enough to get a few candles lit and find a flashlight, then proceeded to turn off the generator.
He walked back into his forge, trying to decide what to do. The new information about enchanting was whirring inside of his mind. Scott decided to give a shot at doing something with this skill, picking up his Dremel and diamond tipped metal engraving piece and went to work.
Scott learned techniques involving the runic language. Certain runes have been reported to have magical significance. He figured he’d try the rune Uruz. Uruz typically represented strength, in a physical or mental manner. For men, it could mean virility, for women fertility.
He was able to engrave this onto one of his pieces of work. He could decide what exactly the magic worked toward by focusing on that concept, reaching deep within himself and grabbing onto a strand of his mana, pushing them together and into the engraved rune. The mana felt slippery, and it took several hours for him to focus long enough to successfully utilize it. He felt a large portion of it splashing off of the blade, and instead of being put into the rune, it dissipated into the surroundings. Eventually, using this process he strengthened the designated physical attribute. He used this process focusing on the concept of increasing his and engraved the magical rune on his best quality vambrace. When he was ruminating about the specifics, he'd accidentally pulled on all of his mana, exhausting himself.
"Osh, fuck..." Scott slurred out as he lost consciousness.
He woke up to a pounding headache and pulled himself up. He looked at the vambraces.
Average Enchanted Vambrace
+3 Strength
+5 Defense
Vambraces forged and enchanted by novice rune smith. Enchanted with Uruz rune.
Quality: 4.7802
Durability: 116/120
He stared at the piece of armor for a second, stunned. If the average human stat were about 10, these were amazing! He could tell, however, that that took a lot out of him. He pulled up his Status Screen to see the exacts.
Name: Scott Smith Race: Human Class: Runic Artisan Level: 0 HP: 230/230 Mana: 13/220 Stamina: 300/300 Strength: 14 Intellect: 12 Agility: 8 Wisdom: 13 Dexterity: 16 Charisma: 7 Vitality: 13 Luck: 4 Titles: N/A
Skills
《Blacksmithing》Apprentice 3 (93%)
《Swordsmanship》 Journeyman 7 (31%)
《Enchanting》Novice 1 (57%)
The mana cost for a single piece to be enchanted was mind boggling to him. It took him about 220 mana for +3 to an attribute! Over the past minute, he’d regenerated 13 points. All things considered, it wasn’t that bad! Just under 20 minutes would allow him to regenerate his full mana pool. He also noticed that not only did his Enchanting skill go up, but also his Blacksmithing. He figured it was probably because of the item that he used. Items used were the basis for ranking up, or at least for Enchanting, that was the case.
All the implications of what he’d learned in the past 10 minutes made him mind reel. Who knows what other changes were applied. He looked over his status screen and saw that he had options concerning his class. He clicked the assimilate button again and fell unconscious.
When he woke up, his class was unlocked. He now had a level of 1 and knew a bit more about his circumstances. His class enabled him to learn most any craft, and improve upon it with runes. From Jewelcrafting to Carpentry, or even Masonry! Using different meanings of the runes allowed him many capabilities. His first order of business was to go into town. He took care of his forge before leaving in his beat-up pickup truck.
When he was twenty minutes out of town, he saw large pillars of smoke billowing out into the wind from the town. He could tell something was wrong.
He pulled off the side of the road when he saw someone on the ground. There looked to be a pool of blood surrounding them. He went against common sense, jumping out of his vehicle to help the downed person. The moment he jumped out of his car, what seemed to be a dirty child ran at him full tilt, angling a flint spear in his direction.
He froze like a deer in front of some headlights. Due to his inaction, the little freak stabbed his left arm! The flint spearhead lodged deep into his skin, causing searing pain to lance through his arm. Scott wailed like a banshee and yanked on the spear. He pulled it out of the child’s grips and, in his rage, stabbed at the kid! The spear stuck deep into the child’s thigh. The kid’s eyes squinted in rage and stumbled backward. It limped towards Scott, baring its teeth. When it was a few feet away, Scott was forced to stab it in the chest to keep it back. When the spear sunk half a foot into his chest, he sagged down onto the spear, causing Scott to drop it. A moment later, he realized just what happened...
He’d just killed someone… he… He stared at the still corpse for a moment and noticed a few distinct oddities. One, the ‘child’ was puke green, two, the ‘child’ was wearing rough hides just covering the necessities, and finally, that the damned abomination wasn’t a kid at all, rather a classic goblin with long, hooked nose, beady little eyes, and ears stretching out to the side.
During his brief combat with the goblin, a few of the blue screens popped up into his view.
You’ve encountered a Green Goblin Lvl 2
-177 (Crippled)(Sneak Attack 2.5x)(Critical!)
Bleeding Inflicted (-10/min)
-14
-103 (Critical!)
Congratulations! You've leveled up!
You have gained 3 attribute points from your level up. New class skills have been unlocked.
Some of the information that he gathered from the screen shocked him to his core, namely how close he was to dying. He checked his surroundings for the first time and saw some things he couldn’t explain. There were rats the size of a Doberman down the street and to the right, scorpions the size of a small car. Further down the street, he saw groups of goblins battling it out.
He was shocked by his surroundings. Just when he was in his car, he hadn’t noticed them in the least. How that was the case, he wasn’t sure.
“Hey, dumb ass! Are you going to just stand around waiting to die? Get over here!” a voice from behind him quietly exclaimed.
He looked at him and saw an unknown man crouching in just outside a doorway. The unknown person had shaggy black hair, a long nose, and distinct eyes. He stared at Scott for a moment and then repeated himself putting a bit more emphasis on ‘dumb ass’.
Scott quickly moved over to the doorway that the man stood in. He moved past him and entered a quaint little shop. It seemed to be a knitting shop. It had a small variety, mostly items for knitting and a few quilts and the like here and there. In the back there was a small group of three of gossiping old ladies. In another corner there was a lone boy grabbing his legs in a fetal position. He seemed to be about 15 years old.
“Who are you?” said the man as he passed by me, moving towards the back.
“Name's Scott," Scott responded.
“My name's Joel, the boy is Christopher, the old hags back there are Janice and Anna.” He said pointing everyone out. Christopher was short and skinny. His brown eyes gazed through his thick glasses, his apathetic expression putting chills in Chris’ spine. He had fairly long black hair and a hooked nose.
The old ladies were all covered in wrinkles, with Janice and Anna having brown hair, and Elizabeth had curly blond hair. They scowled at Joel's words about them.
He weakly waved at the group, before sitting in the other corner. His mind was whirring at a breakneck speed. He couldn’t figure out just what the hell is going on! ‘Okay, Scott. Calm down. What do you know? Well, there’s fucking magic, there’s that… Well, we know that there are monsters. So, according to the blue screens, we merged with another universe? Well, there’s that! Fucking hell…’ he thought to himself. “Do you know what’s happening?” Scott asked the small group.
“We know just about as much as you do," Joel responded.
“Nothing?” Scott asked, rather off putting.
“We were planning on getting out of town in the first place. After the things outside appeared out of nowhere, we haven’t been able to go outside. Looks like you learned that the hard way. Everyone who had access to a vehicle is pretty much gone. We aren’t all that keen on dying, so we’re staying put. Waiting for the cavalry to arrive. Once that happens, we’ll be okay.” Joel responded.
“It’s only been two days. They’ll come any day now, just you see.” Joel responded. He didn’t seem quite as confident about it as he said.
“What do you mean two days? It’s only been like… 4 or 5 hours.” Scott questioned. He couldn’t have taken that long assimilating, could he have?
“What are you on about? Are you okay? Jesus, when did that happen?!” Joel said just now seeing the wound on his shoulder.
“The goblin got me earlier. Right as I stepped out, just my luck…” Scott said faintly. He was feeling rather woozy. His vision started going fuzzy, darkness encroaching on the edge of his view. After a moment, he passed out.
When Scott came to, it was already dark outside. When he looked around the room, he saw no one there. He looked around for the group, seeing no signs of them. His worry began growing, 'what could have happened to them?' he thought to himself. He peered outside, seeing the usual street, except devoid of his truck. It took him a moment, but he realized that those bastards had taken his truck.
“What the fuck?!” He shouted out. His shout was a shock to the senses as he realized he couldn’t hear anything. Not the constant hubbub of the world, honking, cars running, A/C running, the occasional fly. Not a sound.
After a few moments, however, he did hear something. The sounds of small footsteps. His face paled hearing that. He slowly backed away from the door, trying to get as much distance as possible between him and the coming enemies. He recognized that it could only be one thing. Goblins.
They started banging on the doors, insistent on getting in. Scott scrambled around looking for another exit, but he couldn’t find one.
“FUCK! What the fuck do I do?!” He shouted to himself. He could freely shout such things due to the racket the damned goblins were making outside. He looked around for a weapon, as he would undoubtedly need it. He saw a pair of scissors in the back, and he ran for them. He would only need to get one lucky shot and he’d be able to take the goblin out.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It was at that instant, that the goblins were able to break the flimsy door frame and get in.
You have encountered a Green Goblin (Lvl. 2)!
You have encountered a Green Goblin (Lvl. 1)!
You have encountered a Green Goblin (Lvl. 1)!
It was at that moment, that he knew he fucked up.
The goblins that came through the door were a nasty bunch. The four foot tall ruffians were in a sorry state. The rags that covered their nether regions were falling off, and only the one with the sword had a vest. Their whole bodies were covered with mud. Stubby little hands ended with disgusting fingernails covered with gunk. Large ears sprouted out of their heads, and long crooked noses topped off the look.
When the goblins came in, Scott didn’t freeze up this time, surprisingly enough. He assessed his opponents, seeing that two of them were armed with poorly made daggers, and the other with a longsword, which to him was more of an arming sword/ bastard sword. He figured he just might have a chance. He didn’t know much about fighting with a dagger, always enjoying combat with a longsword by far. He lunged at the first goblin before it could react. He dragged the scissors across the creature’s throat, causing blood to spray out. The goblin went down. He picked up the sword, grinning at the other two. He was in his element.
He assumed posta di donna destra, waiting for his opponent to come closer. As the goblin took an awkward step forwards, he then threw the point of the sword towards posta longa, following with a pass forwards with the right foot. He allowed the sword to drop down and through into posta di dente di zenghiaro. The whole process, despite being lengthy to describe, was done in a couple of seconds, easily gouging into the goblin’s throat. (this is called ‘mandritto fendente’ translating into a forehand downwards blow.)
The second goblin went down quickly due to his large boost in damage from both superior strength and skill. The third goblin, seeing his friends dying with the span of a few seconds, turned to run. Scott attempted to skewer the goblin on his new sword, but he was just out of his reach. Once he got to the door, he was running off fast as a cheetah.
With his adrenaline rush subsiding, he realized just how lucky he was. According to the screens, if those goblins were just a few levels higher, he probably would’ve died. He inferred this from what his health seemed to be. He figured that the goblins health would most likely be inferior to his.
-90(Critical! 3x)(Sneak Attack 2.5x)
-66 (Critical! 3x)(Swordsmanship 1.51x)
He jumped back when over one of the goblins a faint green light shone. In the middle of the light, there was a floating object. It seemed to be a few coins. Curious... He moved over to the item, tentatively reaching out and grabbed it. The items he grabbed were a few battered looking copperish coins. They had nothing but the number on the headside, and a picture of the mob he picked them up from on the opposite side. There were 3 coins that he picked up from the body, but judging off the amount of kills he'd made recently without receiving anything before these, it was unlikely to get them from every kill.
Scott moved over the corpses, looking around to see if he could find any more useful items.
Seeing nothing, he moved to the door, peering out. It seems that nothing heard the racket, luckily enough. He shut the door as best as he could and went back inside. He decided that his best opportunity would be to enchant the sword. So, he grabbed one of the daggers, and the longsword and went to work.
He decided on the rune Kauno. It represented fire, and he knew that he could have a literal fucking blazing sword with this, granted it would take a large amount of mana to do this. As he waited for his mana to top up, he started carving into the sword. It was extremely difficult, practically impossible, but with his superior strength, he managed to carve a crude rune. He moved further back into the shop, and hid himself with some quilts. He put the three attribute points he received from his first level-up into Intellect to give him extra mana.
He got ready, grabbing a strand of his mana. He knew that he should be able to set parameters for the activation of said magic. The activation was as easy as being activated when he gave it a small burst of mana through his grip. He pulled on his mana, and more carefully put it into the rune. He could tell his efficency had sky rocketed as he was conscious about his efforts to keep a hold on every last drop of mana. The problem came in the form of the rune, wasting a considerable amount of the mana with an inefficent power usage. He gave all but the last several points of his mana so that he’d maintain consciousness, however he could tell that he’d have a pounding headache later.
As he finished the process of enchanting, he heard a quiet ding, notifying him of a new blue screen popping up.
You’ve leveled 《Enchanting》 up to level 2!
Enchanted Crude Steel Gobbos' Longsword
16-24 Physical Damage
+22-39 Fire Damage when active
A crude imitation of a sword looted off the corpse of a goblin. Later enchanted by a novice enchanter.
He figured from his current growth rate that just enchanting all of his gear at home would push him over level 5 or 6, if not further.
He decided to lay low for now, making sure the door was as secure as could be, and hunkered down for the night.
He woke up to the sound of chirping birds, and skittering car sized scorpions. What a life. Scott picked himself up off the ground, taking stock of the room before he moved out. He found nothing useful, not that he expected anything.
He walked over to the door, peering out. Across the street, there was a large church, with a group of goblins sitting out of the front. To the right of that, a line of businesses. To the left, the road curved around towards the road out of town. He needed to head that way, however there was a massive scorpion in the way.
The massive beast was the size of a small car, covered with seemingly strong chitin. He knew that it was going to be difficult to get through that. It was the color of sand, most likely a variety of desert scorpion. Even if he were to get stung, he knew it wouldn’t be too dangerous to him. It’d hurt like a bitch, but he knew that due to the nature of scorpion venom and it’s huge, monstrous pedipalps, the venom wouldn’t be as potent. Still, preferable to not deal with that pain.
It was turned the other way, and Scott hoped that he might be able to get through it. With his trusty sword, which mind you had a quality of 2.7, he believed he had decent chances. With the enchantment, the capacity of the sword went up massively. The only reason he was able to dish out the numbers he had was because of the weak nature of the goblins and his own strength that he no doubt developed from his hobby as a blacksmith. With the additional fire damage, he should be able to get through the chitin of the scorpion. Should.
He slowly crept up to the massive arachnid, putting a single point of mana into his sword, letting it activate the powerful enchantment. The sword went up in flames with a quiet whoosh! If he'd had a choice he would've done a murder stroke, grabbing onto the blade of the sword, turning the pommel and guard around to use as a warhammer. The only problem was he was likely to burn the shit out of his hands using that method, not to mention it likely wouldn't apply the effect of the enchantment. Instead, he thrusted with all of his power, causing a big number to pop up.
-134(Backstab 1.5x)(Swordsmanship 1.51x)(Sneak Attack 2.5x)
The massive beast let out a bloodcurdling screech, and whirled around quickly. It’s malicious gaze locked onto Scott, and it rushed at him. He could do nothing as it hit him like a freight train. He went flying.
-92 (Weight Advantage 1.5x)
He crashed in the side of a random car, cushioning him slightly. He looked at the scorpion, and saw it sluggishly walked towards him. He pulled himself up, straining to push himself into action. As the arachnid dashed at him again, he threw himself to the right. It crashed into the car, completely obliterating it. Standing up, he shook like a leaf in the wind, just barely able to get himself up. He staggered over to the dazed body of the scorpion. He clambered on top of the beast, not thinking clearly. Just as he did so, the stinger shot out, stabbing him in the thigh.
-19 (Poisoned -5/min)
A searing pain moved through his veins, as he shot up in a burst of adrenaline. He plunged his sword into the beast’s eyes repeatedly until it died.
-195 (Critical! 3x)
-186 (Critical! 3x)
Congratulations! You've leveled up four times!
You have gained 12 attribute points from your level up. New class skills have been unlocked.
“Status.” He murmured, not wanting to attract attention.
Name: Scott Smith Race: Human Class: Runic Artisan Level: 5 HP: 68/230 Mana: 220/220 Stamina: 300/300 Free Attribute Points: 12 Strength: 14 Intellect: 15 Agility: 8 Wisdom: 13 Dexterity: 16 Charisma: 7 Vitality: 13 Luck: 4 Titles: N/A
Skills
《Blacksmithing》Apprentice 3 (93%)
《Swordsmanship》 Journeyman 7 (31%)
《Enchanting》Novice 2 (19%)
《Rune Linking》 Novice 0 (0%){Ready to Assimilate}
《Rune Amplifying》 Novice 0 (0%){Ready to Assimilate}
Scott was intrigued by the possibilities that were presented in the skill menu. However, for the time being, he knew that he’d have to get to a safe place before being able to use those. He noticed that when his level of a skill or character level was 0, that meant he needed to ‘assimilate’ some knowledge from the system. He slowly picked himself up off the ground he knew that he should probably put use those points, but he couldn’t make himself care.
He stumbled out of town, only passing by without encountering any monsters due to dumb luck and a smidge of stealth on his part. Now began his long trek back to his house.
After several hours of walking, he was on his last leg. His stamina had already run out, and now he was using his HP to keep going. He knew that he needed to get to a safe place, or he’d pass out and be at the mercy of cruel Mother Nature. When he was ready to just lay down, he saw in the distance his house.
Scott nearly cried at the sight of his house. He’d been sure that that day would be his last. After he finally reached home, he got inside, locking all of his house down, and relaxed, eating and drinking his fill.
When he was finally safe from dying of exposure, he finally noticed the numerous messages that had appeared during his walk back home.
For enduring the tiresome trip back to your house, you’ve gained the following stats.
+2 Agility
+3 Vitality
Hidden Stat unlocked!
+10 Endurance
Congratulations! You’ve survived for 3 days.
For this milestone, the World Map option has opened up.
For this milestone, System stores have been opened. Locations of nearest store is available on the World Map.
Scott could tell this was an important thing. The fact that is was in a notification that, presumably, was sent to everyone who is currently alive, showed it was important. He wasn’t totally sure what could be bought at the store, but it’s likely to be important. It might sell food and consumables that would help -- like maybe potions! That notion got him thinking. It was obvious with his combat with the scorpion that weapons are important. If his guess was right, the only reason he did so much damage was because of the enchantment. It’s likely that the magical damage would get through the chitin mostly unaffected. That coupled with all the bonuses, caused the huge critical strike. If he had to guess the scorpion would likely be far beyond his level.
He knew that he needed better gear and to level up. For the moment, Scott decided to focus on equipment as that was the safest way for the moment. He’d tossed the Zweihander aside on the way home, as it was just extra weight. He needed to enchant all of his other gear, so he put his 12 points in Intellect and Wisdom equally. And so, it began.
You’ve leveled 《Enchanting》 up to Novice 3!
You’ve leveled 《Enchanting》 up to Novice 4!
You’ve leveled 《Enchanting》 up to Novice 5!
You’ve leveled 《Enchanting》 up to Novice 6!
You’ve leveled 《Enchanting》 up to Novice 7!
You’ve leveled 《Enchanting》 up to Novice 8!
《Enchanting》 Novice 8 (31%)
The process of imbuing an item with mana through the use of runes.
+8% Additional effect of rune
Over a week, he’d enchanted all of his armor and weaponry. He was an avid blacksmith so, it took quite awhile. His mana and mana regen was at 21 and 19 respectively. This gave him a mana pool of 310 and a mana regen of
14.75/min. Approximately every 21 minutes, he was able to enchant an item. Some examples of his work:
Enchanted Average Steel Cuirass
+9 Defense
+5 Vitality
Enchanted Average Steel Sabatons
+4 Defense
+3 Agility
Enchanted Average Steel Greatsword
62-74 Damage
+18 Ice Damage
25% Chance to Freeze opponent upon attack.
Enchanted Average Steel Greaves
+5 Defense
+2 Vitality
Enchanted Average Steel Spear of Thrusting
82-91 Damage
+20% Effectiveness of thrusting attacks
-10% Effectiveness of alternative strikes
He was now finished making armor and weaponry, at least for the time being. As he finished up, he realized he’d forgotten to assimilate. Scott found his way to his bed. As he got himself comfortable, he pulled his Status Screen up to assimilate. As he pressed the button everything went black.