Devon learned a lot from the crafter, and when he walked away almost three hours later he paid a sum of 800 talons to the man for his services. The crafter was surprised first at the complexity of Devon's request for a piece of armor, and even more surprised when he agreed to the sum of 650 for it. According to the man, most of the hunters usually spent a lot more of their money on weapons than armor.
Many of the weapons produced here were made of bone gathered from the monsters out in the wilds. Most of the bits of metal he saw being molded were actually from scrapped weapons the terminal gave out.
Now that the craftsmen had spent a decent amount of time honing their craft they were able to produce weapons that were close to matching the quality of those from the terminal, and since the craftsmen didn't charge as much for them as the terminals a basic economy had risen up within the settlement, with the hunters being the backbone of funding.
But what he took real interest in was how the man laid out the general system of every profession he'd heard of. There were three main categories; crafter, gatherer, and processor.
Basically, the processors took raw ingredients that the hunters and gatherers brought back and broke them down into useful components so that the crafters could make something new out of them. Devon found it very interesting that there didn't seem to be dedicated hunting professions, so warriors could freely pick up any one of the three types of professions.
I wonder if that would put my profession under miscellaneous. I'd bet there are a lot of professions out there that don't conform to this primitive standard, but we don't have the means or the time to discover them.
Professions leveled up by producing good results, and those levels brought skills that could be used to better enhance the quality of the work done. Devon took particular note of the fact that the crafter had reached level 8 in his profession and hadn't gotten a single thing that mentioned improving combat related stats or abilities.
Devon found it interesting that all of the skills or abilities acquired by the normal professions seemed to directly increase the quality of products produced. Gatherers found themselves much more drawn to higher quality materials and crafters received straight-up percentage boosts to the quality of works they produced.
This was markedly different from Devon's own profession, where the single level up he's gotten so far gave him a utility skill. The Mask was undoubtedly a massive boon, but it was distinctly different from the skills provided by the other professions because its use did not technically directly correlate to progressing schemes. Devon could use The Mask for trivial purposes as well as completely nonsensical ones if he so wished. It wasn't like the crafters Weave, where it could only be activated when weaving.
When Devon left the crafter's station he noticed that the pathways were much more crowded than they had been earlier. He looked up at the sky and noticed that the daylight was quickly fading behind the mountain.
Most of the hunters must have returned by now. Seems like the fight pits will be held pretty soon too. I should see if Trey is back. Message known user Trey.
Waiting… Connection established.
[Trey]
What's up?
[Devon]
I'm back in the area.
[Trey]
What? I thought you were going to wait for the lockdown to be lifted?
[Devon]
Changed my mind. Gonna be fighting Vanir tonight, so meet me there.
[Trey]
Why? I was actually thinking of shutting those down.
[Devon]
No, don't. There's no reason to stop people from letting out a bit of steam.
[Trey]
And why are you in particular going to be participating?
[Devon]
To let off a bit of steam, obviously.
[Trey]
So you want me to leave them because it suits you in particular.
[Devon]
Yep! See ya there.
Connection closed.
To kill what little time remained, he went around and purchased some of the food available at the nearby food vendors. He almost cried when he was able to taste seasoned food again, even if it wasn't quite the same as earth seasonings. The leafstag had been amazing, but there was simply no replacement for actual seasoning. He made a mental note to have Trey send hunters a bit up the mountain so they could bring back some of those wonderful animals.
It's amazing how much useful stuff they've found already in this completely foreign environment.
After about another hour of wandering around and seeing the sights, he made his way over to the massive bonfire that could be seen throughout camp. Most everyone seemed to be gathered there by this point, many eating dinner and laughing over drinks.
It's truly amazing how adaptable we humans are. We were torn from our cozy lives just a week and a half ago and look how far they've come.
He saw Trey surrounded by a group of people all vying for attention and smiled. He had a knack for being popular, and Devon was certain he couldn't have been dropped into this world with a more suitable partner. After all, there was no way all of this could have been thrown together in just ten days if not for the confident hand of a natural-born leader to unify them.
Devon walked over, still in the disguise of Erik, and said in a loud voice, "Good heavens, is that you Trey? I never would have thought that the soccer captain who sucked so badly at math would be able to throw all this together."
Trey visibly flinched. Devon was the only one Trey had ever dared show his atrocious math score to. Not even his parents had known, because all Trey ever reported back to them was that he passed. As far as he saw it, they were better off not knowing Devon tutored him on the side.
Stolen novel; please report.
Trey looked at him for a moment before forcing a smile, "Erik… How lovely for you to finally show up," He said through gritted teeth, "Why, it's been so long since we've talked! I'm sorry everyone, but can we have some room?"
The crowd of people vying for his attention reluctantly wandered off when they saw Trey's mind wouldn't be changed, leaving the two of them alone.
"I see now why you weren't worried about coming back," Trey said, "Where'd you get a skill like that?"
"Got a bit of a unique profession that gave it to me. How are we doing here?"
"The settlement numbers around 500 people and change. I don't think there's really any more stragglers left to be found out there besides the weirdos that simply don't feel like joining anybody."
"And the situation in the forest?"
"Interesting, to say the least. Remember those gang members that I mentioned that were kinda putting the boot to everyone's neck to get them to do what they wanted? They got offed, all of 'em."
"Seriously?"
"Yep. Chick named Nix, along with her second-hand man Zane, killed them. Now they've used that momentum and the affection of everyone in the forest to start their own settlement. I've tried to reach out and contact them, but they don't seem to like the idea of cooperating."
"Interesting. What happened to the guns?"
"Nix gave them up to the overseers, then several people witnessed the overseers destroy them before their eyes. After that, the overseers came to me and told me that if I didn't hand over any of the 'cursed weapons' I might have in my camp they could get mean."
"Huh. And do you have any?"
"Nope. I don't think there's any left in the whole of the tutorial."
Devon had wondered why the system had classified his handgun as a Class D weapon, but he was starting to form a hypothesis. It came down to ease of use. If a level 5 with a Class D spear challenged a level 30 with a Class F spear the level 5 would get slaughtered. The strength of a spear didn't override the advantage that stats gave.
Guns were an entirely different story. He, a level 6, had been able to easily kill an overseer 20 levels above him with the use of his gun. In essence, the gun was considered cursed because it was an item that existed outside of the limitations that the system tried to set.
"So, what's the next step?" Trey asked.
"Not sure. I need to get in touch with Eve and I want to take a look over at the forest camp. Do you at least know what their numbers are like?"
"Similar to ours, if not a little more. They had a big advantage in recruitment because of how everyone ran away at the start. Remember how most people fled towards the forest?"
Devon noticed Vanir near the edge of an empty fight ring, looking around. With a smile, he said to Trey, "Looks like I'm up."
"You do realize he's going to wipe the floor with you, right? Vanir is something of a champion here."
Devon only smiled as he walked toward the ring. He pulled up the ladder, curious.
[Level Ladder]
1. Zane - Level 34
2. Eve - Level 32
3. Ray - Level 32
4. Nix - Level 30
5. Stein - Level 30
6. Ingrid - Level 30
7. Trey - Level 30
8. Ash - Level 30
9. Licht - Level 29
10. Vanir - Level 29
Vanir hadn't been on the ladder before, but he was bringing up the bottom now. Devon had no doubt that the youth had been working furiously to catch up to the ones above him. Even so, Devon didn't think he was going to lose in a fight.
"Was starting to think you'd chickened out," Vanir said with a massive grin as Devon walked up.
"Nah, I'd never let a dance partner down," Devon said, taking his shirt off to match all the other contestants.
Vanir laughed, "I don't know much about dancing, but I look forward to seeing what you've got!"
They moved to the center of the ring where Vanir said, "Alright, here's the rules. No skills, magic, or buffs of any kind. We settle this with our fists, you hear?"
"Loud and clear."
"Alright. Any style of fighting is allowed, that includes boxing, mma, martial artist shit, the works. Now, I'll let you decide this next bit. Do we allow grievous injuries, broken arms and whatnot? Lethal shit like neck snaps is of course off the table, but we don't gotta worry so much about injuries here, ya feel me?"
Ah, right. We have healing items here so we don't have to worry about something that would otherwise be serious.
"Yeah, let's go all in."
"That's what I like to hear." Vanir raised his fist in the air between them and Devon tapped it with his own.
They settled into their stances, Devon into one that focused on being reactive, and Vanir on one that made him look like he was about to spring forth at any second.
And he did spring forth. Like a rocket he closed the distance between them in an instant, taking Devon by surprise. He barely managed to shift his head aside before Vanir's fist flew past his chin.
However, Vanir's assault didn't end there. Devon grunted as he felt a kick land under his ribcage. He tried to retaliate, but Vanir had already made distance away from Devon.
He's slippery, like a snake.
Vanir shook out his foot, "Damn dude, you're built almost as tough as Trey, you know that?"
Devon smiled viciously before he rushed forward, going on the offensive. He threw a feint then kicked out with his left leg. Vanir stepped back to avoid the attack before instantly moving back in to counterattack.
Vanir launched punch after punch, yet retained all of his slipperiness as Devon tried and failed to counter again and again. Eventually Devon got used to the rhythm of the youth's blows, and managed to actually catch Vanir's fist before it could land. Vanir grunted as Devon put all the force he could muster into gripping the fist.
Then Devon yanked backward on Vanir's hand, pulling him in before Devon headbutted him.
Devon let Vanir's hand go as the youth stumbled backwards, reeling. But Devon didn't let him go that easily. He landed two solid hits to the stomach before sliding around behind Vanir.
Vanir wildly threw his arm back, trying desperately to catch Devon with a blow across the face, but Devon simply leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Vanir's neck, trapping him in a hold. He'd never practiced wrestling before, so it was a struggle to hold on.
Devon brought them down to the ground, where Vanir flailed and struggled but ultimately couldn't resist Devon's superior strength. Devon released the youth when he felt tapping on his arm.
Vanir rolled over, gasping for breath as Devon got to his feet, "Dude, were you actually a martial artist or something?"
"Nope. Living out in the wild just happens to pound some fighting instincts into you."
"Surely you gotta have a rare class or something then. Dude, I pride myself on being fast but you were right there with me, and it doesn't feel like you have the strength or endurance weaknesses that accompany that kind of speed."
"Common class, actually," Devon said with a smile. Of course, it wasn't as simple as that, but Devon felt like it might be a good lesson for Vanir to not know that specific nugget of information.
"Damn…" Vanir sighed, still on the ground. Devon reached out a hand, and Vanir gladly took it before Devon lifted him to his feet, "You're something else man, I'll give you that. We should do this again."
"Maybe. Got some stuff to do, but I'll see if I can find the time."
Devon walked back to Trey, who had his eyebrow raised.
"What?" Devon asked.
"Didn't expect you to perform that well is all. I thought it was weird you came down from the mountain at only level 27, but it seems like your time spent up there must have been quite interesting."
"Let's just say I had some rather painful but useful encounters."
"Fair enough. So about tomorrow…"
Devon rubbed his temples, "Please Trey, I'd like just this one night to relax and think about something that isn't life threatening. Right now, the best thing for both of us is to just have a bit of fun. It's the same for you too, isn't it? I can't imagine this leader business allows for much relaxation, especially with how you've managed to stay on the ladder."
Trey looked like he wanted to argue but then considered Devon's words. He breathed out a long sigh before saying, "You know what, yeah. We never did get to finish our drink before we got transported here, did we? There's a stand over here that makes a drink that comes somewhat close to booze, even if it tastes pretty awful. Let's get a drink."
"Buddy, now you're speaking my language."