Summoned to another world, but I'm a coward!
Chapter 3 - I'm a coward, so what?
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It took more than a minute for Rick to get a grip on his panic. Just seeing all those men and women pierced by vicious birds only to get drained to a husk reminded him of the trauma when he died on Earth.
Your Mental Resistance attribute has increased by 1.
Violence, blood and death absolutely frightened Rick even in this new world. As a modern man brought up in a civilized society, how could he have the stomach to pick up a weapon and bravely charge against the bloodneedles raining from the sky?
"Keep up your shields!" A guardsman sergeant yelled at his cohort of troops. "Let your partner besides you poke them to death."
Of course, if he chose to, Rick could have pimped out plenty of overwhelming battle powers in the Point Shop. Yet he resolutely refused that approach. 'I'm not a fighting man. If I suddenly get the powers to blast a hole in the sky, I don't know how that will change my outlook on life.'
Power corrupts, he believed. Rick wanted to avoid a fate where his powers made him arrogant and overconfident to the point of constantly looking for trouble. When presented with the Point Shop, some might chose to become a dazzling knight, a devious necromancer or something else with the potential to crush adversity. The chance to relive their fantasies and become legendary figures of myth was a dream come true.
Your Stealth skill has increased to Beginner 2.
Most would have been crazy to resist that temptation. Perhaps one of the intentions of God for running this kind of scheme was to see what ordinary mortals did when given earthshattering power. It felt galling to be treated like a lab rat even as Rick himself took advantage of the powers afforded by the shop. At the very least Rick picked his powers to fit his temperament rather than let himself be redefined by the gifts that could have fallen in his lap.
Your Seclusion attribute has increased by 1.
Some might not have the intention to become a hero after they arrived in Avandis. Yet how could anyone, when granted supreme power, not be tempted to use it? Even if they started out weak by picking titles like Prodigy that accelerated learning and skill acquisition, they'd all be tempted to flex their new muscles and make a mess out of things my stomping all over the status quo.
"We're running out of arrows! Why hasn't the delivery from the armory arrived yet?!"
Rick had overheard a few harrowing adventures of King Matt Demonbane. Tales where his comrades betrayed him, of how a sorcerer ripped away the life of his girlfriend, of how he massacred an entire city during the war for the throne. The king might enjoy an exhalted position now, but no one could deny the rivers of blood he spilled to get to his position in his second chance of life.
Your Stealth skill has increased to Beginner 3.
Maybe most people would call him a fool to refuse any offensive and defensive skill. Rick cared little for the opinions of others. To live a free life, to explore the world without attachments and to take pride in his own small works were already sufficient blessings to satisfy a normal mortal like him. Even if he skipped the chance to grow immortal or become a God, he had no regrets for his choice.
This exact crisis could have broken him and made him reconsider his choices. Yet the former Earthling only felt more resolve in the correctness of his path. He had his own Dao, and while it might not be as flashy as others, it fit his convictions like no other beliefs.
Your Mental Resistance attribute has increased by 1.
'I don't need the fucking System to tell me right and wrong.' Rick grumbled a little as the rain of bloodneedles lulled a bit. Wounded guardsmen, punctured merchants and plenty of splattered monsters cried out in pain in the open streets. A few enterprising adventurers even took advantage of the pause to finish off the wounded Bloodneedles for easy Merit. Rick glanced at his sheathed dagger before discarding the idea to do the same. 'I'm not going to risk my life to earn a few paltry rewards.'
The next wave of Bloodneedles chose to dive down shortly afterwards, cruelly savaging the slower and more greedy adventurers. This torrent had grown thicker than the first wave, so much that a few even splattered against the marble statue of Matt Demonbane, whose proud stature was the only obstacle between the Bloodneedles and Rick's defenseless body.
Strangely enough, even the hardened beaks of the monsters couldn't damage the statue at all. Perhaps his 26 luck did count for something as the statue turned into a pretty good shield. Faint blue lines appeared on its surface which not only repelled the Bloodneedles, but also blew away the blood and dirt that splattered on its surface. It was an extraordinary sight that momentarily mesmerized Rick.
Your Mana Perception skill has increased to Beginner 4.
The statue was enchanted! Rick could faintly see brilliant webs of mana that had somehow been engraved into the statue. With his pitiful skill in mana engraving, he could only faintly discern the purpose of a few peripheral patterns. The majority of the patterns remained vastly out of reach. No matter, the protection it afforded was enough for Rick to remain still and keep utilizing his stealth skills.
Among all the death and killings, heroes emerged from the crisis. Famous adventurer groups organized themselves and protected critical junctures, allowing the townsmen to prepare their shields and bows to resist the Bloodneedles more effectively. A few groups even sought out-of-place townsmen and other bystanders, feeding them potions if they needed before dragging them off to shelter.
Your Stealth skill has increased to Beginner 4.
Yet somehow none of the rescuers even glanced at Rick even as he huddled underneath the imposing statue of their king. The confusion, the string of bodies and the constantly diving Bloodneedles somehow caused everyone to overlook the hiding Artisan. Even at his low level he was being overlooked. Not that Rick blamed them. Now that his panic receded a little with the strengthening of his mind, he figured he might as well stay and grind his skills.
A huge wave of formless energy then stretched across the air. It swept a thin but unstoppable line across any Bloodneedle it encountered.
"The Great Lord is back! Ice Master Feyer is with him as well!"
Next, a series of flat ice planes shimmered into existence over the town. The Bloodneedles that crashed against the surface instantly froze into icicles before they could even attempt to free their beaks.
It was if the Gods had descended. The Great Lord jumped into Rick's view. He must be the person in charge of Greenwall as an extravagant red cape adorned his exquisitely armored form. With a single strike of his sword he shot out beams filled with compressed mana, cutting apart any Bloodneedle in its way. Just the aftershocks of those attacks posed enough of a threat to blow him away. With tearing eyes Rick narrowed his eyes and tried to appraise the seemingly invincible figure.
To his surprise, the appraisal felt remarkably easy, as if the grand warrior in question was giving it a little push.
Name: ??? Title: The Great Lord of Greenwall Level 124
'The fuck! Even the system thinks he's a beast!'
The Ice magician meanwhile stuck to the south of the town, as all kinds of ice walls shimmied in and out like a show of entertainment. Perhaps it was just as well he couldn't appraise another monster in human form.
With the help of these two exemplars, the town guards and adventurers focused less on shielding themselves and more on rescuing the heavily wounded. Only a couple of adventurers behaved unscrupulous enough to loot the fallen of their belongings.
"Get lost you trash!"
"I'll remember your face!"
Rick felt tempted to make a quick run before stopping himself. It wasn't as if he needed the wealth at this moment. He stayed put until the wave of Bloodneedles slacked and puttered out entirely after half an hour. Sadly for him, besides another level of Stealth, he hadn't gained any more upgrades. 'Now that my masteries are a little higher, they aren't easy to raise, especially considering I'm not in a fight for my live anymore.'
The guardsmen secured the streets, keeping order, preventing adventurers from looting the dead and directing brave townsmen to drag away the remaining wounded. Enterprising adventurers could be seen scouring the streets for any wounded but still living Bloodneedles to squeeze off a little more Merit.
Event Quest: Great Bloodneedle Migration Quest Update Since you have been unable to earn Merit, you have failed this event quest.
Please strive to fight harder the next time Greenwall is in danger!
Seeing the sky had cleared, Rick finally emerged from his hiding spot. Seeing that some people were gathering the Bloodneedle corpses for some reason or another, Rick decided he at least wanted to get some materials of his own to work with. Already having an idea in mind, he unsheathed his dagger and went to the nearest stain on the ground. With a bit of fumbling due to his lack of skill and low strength, he finally managed to wrest away a thin beak. He moved on to the next corpse, and slowly worked his way up until he managed to gather fourteen beaks in good condition.
"Hey you! Stop that!" A guardsman officer shouted to him, somehow managing to pierce through Rick's thin veil of obscurity. "It's not safe here. Scram and let the big boys work."
The impromptu scavenger sighed and obediently turned in the direction of his inn. His harvests for today hadn't been bad. At least he came out of the ordeal much better than the dead and wounded. He actually didn't know how to feel about that. Should he blame his luck for finding a statue that could act as his wind screen. Somehow he felt no survivor's guilt. 'Is this mental resistance and willpower at work? Or just due to the fact I'm not a native to this world?'
It hadn't been apparent in his first day in Avandis, but Rick felt less attached to this new and exciting world. 'I think my mind is still treating this life as a game. It's impossible to for me to become fully immersed in this world when I have the mindset of treating this opportunity as a source of entertainment and fulfillment.'
That bothered Rick a little, but considering he escaped a lot of death without turning into a shellshocked mess, he stopped thinking about it. After all, he wasn't a shrink. Let someone else figure out this philosophical stuff.
Only after he reassured the worried innkeeper that he was fine did enter his room and collapse on his bed. Despite his mental resistance, the stress of surviving a battlefield remained harrowing to someone used to the leisure of old Earth. He considered his actions during the last fight and found it amazing that he hadn't sought out rescue. 'Fortunately, these Bloodneedles don't seem to be high leveled enough to sniff me out.'
The threat that the Great Bloodneedle Migration posed came from their immense numbers. If it had been just a few formidable monsters, Rick might not have been able to escape unscathed. Rick reminded to himself that Avandis remained a world filled with danger. In fact, of the entire continent of Oarwa alone, humans and other civilized races only really occupied 10-20% of the landmass. Even as the Elswick Kingdom tried to beat back the tide of monsters and set up frontier towns like Greenwall, the fight against monsters remained fraught with peril where random deaths loomed close.
Still, the risks matched the rewards. Loads of adventurers brought back valuable raw materials that made it easy for Rick to get his hands on. The various production guilds only sent a couple of less valuable members to oversee the market so Rick didn't expect any trouble from them as long as he kept his nose out of their core businesses.
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Furthermore, the Great Lord that ruled the town was desperate for commerce. Greenwall's rich forests and exotic monsters provided valuable streams of wood, herbs, monster parts and more. However, its inability to expand the safety cordon outside the walls meant the town had a shortage of ore and metals. In order to encourage merchants come and trade and therefore keep the coins flowing, taxes were kept low and the collectors usually didn't cause any trouble.
All of this meant that Rick could enjoy favorable conditions in the month he planned to remain in town. Considering the local specialties, he decided he would commit to leveling pill refining and woodworking. Having processed the deadly situation he had the fortune to escape unscathed, Rick summoned the remainder of his energy to feed his Possessed Chronicle before writing down everything in his logs.
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Despite the casualties that numbered in the hundreds, life went on and people resumed their lives. The Great Bloodneedle Migration was just another rare event that reminded the townsmen they were pioneers. Perhaps a few generations later, their descendants could enjoy a generous amount of land and wealth. It was only with that thought that the Greenwallers gritted their teeth and resumed work on building up the settlement.
As for Rick, he came back to the less populated plaza and sat down near the statue of the king. He chuckled as he fist-bumped the statue's feet. 'You're my lucky charm, old buddy.'
For the next days, he had a plan. The deadly migration had reminded the people that danger could come at any time. In such situations, having one of Rick's Swift Crane Rebirth Pill wouldn't hurt. Therefore, after Rick setup his table as an impromptu stall, he immediately hawked his pills without shame. He even jacked up the price of common pills to eighty silvers while charging an extravagant hundred-and-twenty silvers for an uncommon quality pill!
"Are you fucking crazy? What is it with these stupid pills! Not even 80 silvers, I wouldn't even spend 10 silvers for this piece of lizard dung!"
"Hahaha, even if you managed to craft a few uncommon quality medicines, if the recipe is shit the end product remains shit."
Anyone would ordinarily spit blood upon seeing such extravagants price for pills that healed only about 30-40 health. With that money, plenty of people would opt to buy a lesser health potion that healed about a 120 health in a couple of gulps.
Yet despite the ridicule, Rick steadily received some business during the day. First to arrive was surprisingly the drunkard who bought Rick's first pill. He came with a friend who was obviously an off-duty guardsman.
"Heya pal." The drunk greeted Rick with an amiable smile that didn't reek of alcohol for once. "Lotsa merchants returned to the Gods. I'm glad to see you're still in this world. I'm actually here for another of dem cultivator pills. The one you gave me... well let's say it helped more than I thought yesterday."
"I'm glad to hear it." And Rick really was glad. In a way, he warmed his heart after hearing something he made by his own hands could make a difference in the world. "I've got plenty of pills here and I'm planning on making about a hundred more. I have to warn you that I raised my prices though..."
The drunkard laughed at that bold declaration, though his guardsman friend widened his eyes. "I'll take two uncommon ones. How about two gold for old time's sake, eh?"
As Rick prepared two small sacks for the pills, he nodded and smiled, agreeing to the price without a hassle. 'That's about a half week's worth of stay at the inn I'm slipping through my fingers, but... ah fuck it, it's not even worth raising the level of my haggling.'
It proved to be a fortunate decision, for as soon as Rick waved them goodbye, a trickle of other guardsmen started to show up. Naturally Rick wouldn't allow any more easy discounts and haggled as if his life depended upon it. In a way, it actually did, as Rick would no doubt land in dire straits if he ran out coins. Even with that restriction, the steady sales attracted a number of curious adventurers and townsmen. A few, flush with exchanging their Merit for coins, bought a pill or two for emergencies.
Your Haggling skill has increased to Beginner 4.
Just like his other skills, the mastery of his haggling increased fairly quickly by the time Rick exhausted his current supply of pills. After that, he spent the next three days in a small cycle of buying ingredients, concocting pills and selling the products to worried guardsmen and adventurers.
With a satisfied smile, Rick softly said, "Skill List."
Skill List Skill Mastery Strict Contract-Making Beginner 1 Woodworking Beginner 1 Blacksmithing Beginner 1 Alchemy Beginner 2 -Pill Refining Beginner 4 Drawing Beginner 1 -Drafting Beginner 1 Painting Beginner 1 Haggling Beginner 5 Mana Perception Beginner 4 Mana Engraving Beginner 1 Mana Manipulation Beginner 3 Stealth Beginner 5 Sprinting Beginner 1 Herb Lore Beginner 2 Appraisal Beginner 2
Though he crafted a hundred pills, Rick actually hadn't been able to raise the mastery of his skill by much.'It makes some sense though. Just repetitively doing the same things over and over won't expand my horizons. Even my level gain has stalled to halfway to level five.'
And after refining his pills after the first hundred, he started to produce poor quality pills that were so awful that Rick threw them away.
"Inventory: Lucky Coin Pouch."
Inventory Lucky Coin Pouch 20 Copper Coins 38 Silver Coins 75 Gold Coins Possessed Chronicle Self-replicating Bread x1
At the very least, Rick's coin pouch grew a little fatter with all of the sales. Sadly, he had to hand over about twenty gold as 'tax' to the guards. And inexplicably, Rick lost a whopping nine gold coins from the effects of his Lucky Coin Pouch in an extraordinary instance of misfortune. Evidently, twenty-six points in luck might not always prove to be a benefit.
Despite all that, Rick remained happy with the end result. Due to the high prices, the Artisan easily earned five times the cost of ingredients, enough to earn the envy of plenty of Alchemists. In fact, if Rick stayed and sold any more pills, the local Alchemist Guild might pay him a 'friendly' visit.
With regards to the experience gain that his Artisan class granted him, while his first couple of successful crafting might earn him boat loads. Yet after that, the experience gain dropped off sharply, as if the System was telling him to stop bothering with the same recipe and move on to something more exciting. That made him sigh a bit. 'I've already established a small but solid market. If I keep refining these pills and sell them once a week, I'll definitely be able to earn a steady income.'
His heart wasn't in it. Rick was an Artisan, a Forgotten Nerd and a Vagabond. All of these combined stirred within his heart a spirit of adventure. He only experienced a tiny bit of what the vast world had to offer.
Having decided to stop selling the Swift Crane Rebirth Pill, he nevertheless wanted to try and milk a few more coins out of his invention. Thus, after packing up his gear, he walked towards the guild district. After glancing at the entrance of the Alchemist Guild, he shook his head and made his way towards the Adventurer's Guild.
Business seemed to be at a lull so a cute catkin receptionist quickly greeted him. "Ah, welcome sir. You're the apprentice pill refiner, right? How many I be of assistance?"
Actually, Rick was only a beginner in pill refining, but he wasn't in a hurry to correct her assumptions.
"I'd like to sell my recipe for the Swift Crane Rebirth Pill to the Adventurer's Guild."
He retrieved his Chronicle and opened his very slim recipe section. He put the book down on the counter and made sure to press his palm against the surface, preventing anyone from reading the detailed recipe. However, it didn't block any appraisals, allowing the receptionist to appraise the displayed recipe without actually instructing her how to make the pills on her own.
The catkin worker twitched her furry ears. Rick swore that she did it on purpose. "It looks like you are offering a genuine recipe, but this request his highly unusual. Not that we don't have an interest in it, seeing that it's the first medicine made out of local herbs we've seen that's in the form of pills. But isn't it more appropriate to offer this recipe to the Alchemist Guild? I'm sure they'd reward you handsomely to such an offer even if pill refining isn't exactly popular in the Elswick Kingdom."
He could only smile wrily at those words. "I'm not a member of the Alchemist Guild. For my own reasons I don't want to involve myself with them. So does your guild have any interest in the recipe?"
"I'll need to bring this up to my superior. Can you wait a moment please?"
After a brief wait, the receptionist returned with a modest smile. "The guildmaster says this recipe isn't very sophisticated, but we're willing to spare some silvers to save other Alchemists the trouble."
"Just a few silvers!" Rick slammed his fist down the counter with an aggrieved expression. "I wasted a lot of herbs figuring out the right proportions alone. You should pay me at least ten gold for this valuable recipe!"
An intense round of haggling erupted. Unfortunately, a novice like Rick was no match to someone who could be trusted to man the counters of the most important guild in Greenwall. With only three gold and forty silvers, Rick left the guild with a grumbling expression. 'I'm never going to be able to get good deals with my nonexistent charisma.'
This was an unfortunate flaw in his aspiration to become a self-sufficient craftsman. Even if he slowly grinded his Haggling skill, without the corresponding attributes to support his trades he'd always be taken advantage of by dedicated merchants. 'Oh well, it's not like that piece of paper had much value to start with. I should be happy with what I got.'
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Your experiment has failed to produce a weapon.
You have gained 1 experience.
Sighing, Rick dismantled the piece of crap he called a spear and retrieved the Bloodneedle beak he painstakingly tried to affix to a spear shaft. Woodworking had not gone as well as Rick had hoped.
While timber had not been too difficult to acquire, it was a pain in the arse to work it down to a functional shaft. With his meager strength, he could only barely saw down the much stronger wood that had been nourished with life mana for its entire existence. It took an enormous amount of labor to slim down the wood into rectangular shafts, that further needed to be worked in a cilindrical shape. The work was monotonous and devoid of any opportunities for improvements, at least with his current mastery.
Not only that, Rick had to work with inadequate tools. The portable woodworking kit he bought from the Point Shop all came in smaller than usual sizes. This made it harder for anyone to work with them unless they possessed higher than usual strength, dexterity and precision. Someone stupid like himself who dumped most of his points into luck naturally had no qualifications to wield these tools effectively.
'I think I'm going at this the wrong way. An Artisan with beginner masteries shouldn't be producing masterpieces at the get go. I should work on my fundementals instead. If I give up my goal to make a spear that's good enough to sell... then I should be able to slim down the size and complexity of my work. These thin beaks... they're suitable for puncturing.'
A minor epiphany hit Rick. He took a spare block of wood and split them up into a series of narrow shafts. Compared to the previous shafts, they looked smaller and shorter. This made it more difficult to attach the beaks to the end of the shaft, but Rick merely rushed this procedure and used some twine to wrap it all together. After a final check, the Artisan beheld his latest work.
Your experiment has succesfully produced a Crude Bloodneedle Javelin.
Due to its poor quality, you are not permitted to name this weapon.
Due to its poor quality, as an Artisan, you do not receive additional experience when crafting your next ten copies of this weapon. When crafting the next hundred weapons, you will suffer escalating penalties to success rate and experience gain.
Your Woodworking skill has increased to Beginner 2.
You have gained 50 experience.
He pretty much expected such a result. The javelin deserved to be named as a crude weapon. He didn't even dare appraising it out of shame.
Looking at this sorry excuse for a throwing weapon and the large pile of junk next to his work table, Rick already had a premonition that he had no talent in woodworking. Come to think of it, the time pressure of picking skills during his shopping at the Point Shop had perhaps pushed him into making some questionable decisions. He never had an aptitude for heavy manual work. At least the difficulty in pill refining lay in figuring out the order of ingredients and the manner in which you manipulated mana.
'I'll have to try blacksmithing once I travel to a city with plenty of mines. If it's as trouble some as woodworking, I don't think I'll fall in love with it. Such a shame if that becomes true.'
If he had a clearer plan, then Rick might have chosen other skill in place of woodworking and blacksmithing. Cooking, tailoring, leatherworking... any of those choices were a better fit for him. Right now, he couldn't even dream on acquiring those skills. Even reaching a mastery of Beginner 1 in tailoring meant he needed to study about all kinds of fabrics, as well as getting hands-on experience learning the basic fundementals of the craft. The only way to do that in less than a year was if he chose to become an apprentice to a Master Tailor, not that anyone of them would accept someone of Rick's age.
What he lacked the most was passion. He knew very little what woodworking and blacksmithing was capable of. If he gained a lot of attributes, received a few pointers from some old masters or got hold of a valuable skill book, then he might still not figure out what to do with these troublesome crafts. With his low level and low attributes, his chances of encountering something inspirational enough to ignite his passions for the crafts were too slim.
Then again, the advantage of picking too many crafting skills was he could always choose for himself which ones he'd like to develop further. He had no mom to yell at him to eat his veggies. He could just eat the meat every day! One of the reasons why he chose a general crafting class was to leave room for further specialization. Once he tried a bit of everything, he could pick and choose his preferred professions and match his future direction.
'Let's see what the future holds. For now I'll just finish processing the other beaks in order to grind a few experience points.'
Rick turned back into the drudgery of crafting crappy javelins. In the end, he cobbled together a dozen of these weapons. Too ashamed to sell them here where even kids would laugh at what he created, he could only store them in his Backpack and try to get rid of them in a different town.
He learned a lesson today. Crafting was more difficult than he thought. Not even luck could compensate for lack of knowledge and rudimentary skill. Rick lack the fundementals to truly embody a craft. He needed to take a step back and try another approach. Since he had the gold to spare, he could spend some of it to buy what he needed.