Deep within the mountains of Sinboa, the lowest southern country of the world, a young man by the name of Kagami laid inside a large dark cave as snow blew harshly just outside. Feeling a sudden brush of cold air rush past his body, the man awoke on the floor.

He slowly rose to his feet, his body shivering from the blistering cold flowing in from outside. He wore merely brown cloth shorts with no shirt or shoes. He had rainbow hair with golden eyes. The young man could feel his body temperature lowering from the frozen cave around him.

“W-what’s g-going on...w-where am I?” That’s when a purple notification popped up in front of him:

[Skill Obtained] : Omni-skill – A mysterious power which allows the user to awaken a vast array of different abilities.

The man was confused by the vague description before pushing the [confirm] button on the pop up making it vanish. That’s when the world around him disappeared as Kagami stood in a white void, the cold feeling finally gone allowing him to relax for a brief moment.

“Huff...at least I'm not cold any more...but where the hell am I now?” Without warning, a corridor formed around him as he found himself standing within a Japanese-styled corridor with shoji panels covering both walls along with wooden floors. Kagami stood in confusion before noticing something at the north end of the hall.

Making his way slowly down the hall, the rainbow-haired man found himself within a large room with giant steel gates lined up in front of him, each one with the name of a class written on it in with what looked like different color mana. He cautiously walked past the 1st three doors, the 1st one being an artificer while the other two were a summoner and a mage. However, there was a lock symbol on each of the gates aside from the 1st one.

“Hmmm, seems the 1st one is the only one I can open. But...how do I open such a large gate?” He slowly approached the artificer gate, placing his palm against the cold steel gate. After a short moment of silence, the blue magical seal on the door vanished in a burst of blue wisps causing the gate to creek open before him.

[Artificer branch unlocked]

[Skill obtained] : Item enhancement – Infuse unique properties of an object into your weapons or armor. The stronger the property, the higher the chances to create a rare item.

[Class apparel obtained] :

Artificer (Novice)

“Good, seems I obtained clothes at least, now just need to figure out how to equip them....open menu” A purple menu popped up in front of him with your usual RPG options:

• Stats

• Equipment

• Inventory

• Quests

• Party

• Skill Gate

• Skill tree

“Here it is” Opening the equipment menu he equipped his new uniform. Kagami found himself wearing a green hooded-cloak with matching pants, black shoes and black leather gloves. “Good, now that I'm actually clothed, I should be able to leave that freezing cave”

Closing the menu, he began walking back towards the corridor. Reaching the end of the hall, the area changed once more with him feeling himself back inside the cold cave above the mountains. His hood blew in the breeze of the thick frosty air filling the cave. The novice artificer walked outside for the 1st time, pulling up the hood before carefully walking down the narrow-frozen path leading down the mountain.

Kagami gripped his cloak tightly, making sure to mind his surroundings to avoid sliding down the mountain...

After abut 30 minutes of wandering down the long-slanted trail, a pale blue slime jumped out in front of him, it’s shiny black eyes staring him down. “A-a slime? I forget if they’re supposed to be friendly or hostile towards humans”

Without warning, the slime opened it’s mouth, shooting ice spikes right for the defenseless artificer. “What!?” Kagami attempted to step out of it’s line of fire, only for one of the sharp projectiles to pierce his left shoulder. That’s when an HP bar appeared in the bottom left of his vision showing nearly half his HP had been lost from just a single wound from the slime.

Gripping his shoulder, he clinched his teeth in pain. “D-damn...since when are slimes this strong...than again...I am only lvl.1, it’s only fair something as weak as a slime could do this much damage. Tsssk, I'll have to kill it before it has a chance to land another hit on me”

Grabbing one of the ice spikes off the ground, he focused his sight on the monster before throwing it right for the slime’s face. The sharp projectile pierced through the creature’s head, causing it to stagger as it rolled back. (Now’s my chance!)

With his target knocked down, Kagami lunged towards the oozing monster, throwing a punch right for it’s face. It’s HP reached 0 as it was sent flying down the path, bouncing against the rocky terrain before falling apart into a mere puddle of blue goo.

[Ice essence obtained]

[Ice slime added to monster index]

“Huff...I did it, not bad for a lvl.1 if I do say so myself and it seems whenever I defeat a monster, it’s info is added to index. That should come in handy if I ever need to study a certain monster. Speaking of which...Open inventory”

The inventory menu opened before him, reveling a single item in the 1st slot. It was a blue sphere called: “Ice essence” Pulling it out from his slot, he found himself holding a pale blue ball that seemed as if it were a mere ball made of hard ice.

“So, this is the essence of ice. I might be able to use my artificer skill on something like this. Pressing the frozen orb against his chest, he closed his eyes, focusing his item enhancement skill...

His hooded cloak illuminated in a white light as the sphere of ice phased inside it in a flash of light.

[Item enhancement successful]

Artificer cloak (novice) - ice resistance buff- ice damage nullified to a certain amount while equipped.

As the enhancement took effect, Kagami realized he wasn’t cold any longer, even the feeling of being cold had been nullified by the infusion of ice essence. “Yes! Seems I won’t have to worry about being cold for a while either. Now to hurry and get off this mountain before any other slimes decide to greet me with another barrage ice spikes!”

Now running down the icy path, Kagami could see the bottom of the mountain not far from him. Now filled with excitement, he pulled back his hood, his rainbow hair blowing in the wind. Finally, the young artificer reached the bottom, coming to a halt as he panted before the opening of a large green forest. “Huff, huff...finally reached the forest. Was getting tired of walking down an ice-covered path, was worried I’d slip and fall down the mountain at any minute”

CHAPTER 1 Kagami the Novice Artificer

Catching his breath, Kagami began to walk through the lush green forest before him. A soft breeze brushed past his cheek as he enjoyed the peaceful environment around him. He could hear birds chirping in the distance with their welcoming song echoing throughout the forest.

Not long after exploring the forest, the chirping ceased as it grew quiet. That’s when a loud scream rang out behind him as a goblin with dark-green skin lunged from the trees above. Luckily Kagami managed to step out of the way just as the goblin attempted to pierce his back with a bone spear.

The small monster began sending a barrage of attacks in his direction, with the novice artificer managing to evade each one thanks to the creature’s lack of speed. (I’m keeping up with this thing’s attacks, but he’s not leaving much room for an opening. If I wait too long, I'll just end up tiring myself out)

Quickly thinking, he kicked dirt in the goblin's eyes, temporally blinding it. (Now’s my chance!) His assailant now open, the artificer snatched the bone spear from the short monster, piercing it straight through it’s skull as purple blood oozed from it’s body hitting the ground.

[LEVEL 2 ACHIEVED]

“Alright, seems I'm leveling up. Though...level 2 is still very weak, once I reach level 5 or 10, I should be able to defend myself against any low-rank monster in these woods”

[Goblin tooth acquired]

“Hmm, not sure what kind of effect infusing this with my equipment could have...I'll just hold onto it for now” Placing the small bone spear in his inventory he continued through the forest...

As it soon became noon, he noticed a town off in the distance. Wasting no time, he began running straight for it. The town seemed to have stone streets with many wooden buildings like your typical medieval town. He reached the dirt path that led out of the forest and straight to the town. Kagami decided to catch his breath, walking the rest of the way as a large wooden sign sat beside the stone path leading into the small city that read: “Town of Fenmire”

“Interesting name for a town, hopefully I can get some supplies here before heading further north” Making through town, he could see many citizens going about their day, such as an old woman wearing a brown gown hanging her clothes up outside to dry while a young brother and sister chased one another across the street with smiles across their faces.

(Heh, this town is quite lively for such a small place. Many here look poor yet are still happy) As he continued through Fenmire, he spotted a few people going inside a large stone building with many windows on each floor. “That’s probably what I'm looking for. The 1st step for any adventurer is to find the town’s guild or tavern to get information or quests from the tavern owner”

Making his way to the tavern, he pushed open the wooden doors, finding himself in a large tavern with two rows of wooden tables on the left and right side of the room with a large path leading to the bar in the center of the room. The tavern had wooden floors but stone walls and ceiling.

He spotted a young beautiful woman behind the bar as she wiped it town with a white cloth. She had long blonde hair, green eyes wearing a brown gown. A few people stared at the young artificer as he approached the bartender, his green hooded-cloak sticking out compared to the other’s brown cloth garments.

“Oh, welcome adventurer! I can tell by your clothes that you’re not from Fenmire are you?”

“Heh, is it that obvious? Yeah, I just arrived just moments ago. I'm hoping to either gather information about where I am...or take on a few quests while I'm here if any are available”

She looked at him with a warm smile. “I’m sure I have a few quests for you to help us with, but 1st you’ll need to pass the guild exam in order to qualify for quests. It’s just to confirm you know how to fight. As for information...aside from the surrounding area, all I can say is that there’s mainly forest around Fenmire aside from the frosty mountains that can be seen past the endless trees. Sorry sir”

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Kagami sighed looking down at the bar in disappointment before responding: “It’s ok, on my way here I didn’t see much either so I can’t expect everyone to know much about this place. As for that exam you mention, just what would I have to do?”

Her smile returned as she continued: “All you would have to do is beat our strongest warrior in a sword fight. Do that...and you’ll officially be registered as an adventurer of the dragon blossom guild!”

“Alright, where do I find them?”

“They're normally near the town square, just head further into town and you’ll see a woman wielding a steel sword or at least have one beside her, you can’t miss her”

“I forgot to ask you your name?”

“My name is Alice Craythorn, but you can just call me Alice. What about you adventurer?”

Kagami, I don’t remember my last name. Thanks again for the info” With that the young artificer made his way outside, searching for a young woman with a sword at her side. Racing through the streets, his rainbow hair blew in the wind as he ventured deeper through the city. After a few minutes of running, he spotted a large well in the center of the street with a woman sitting beside it reading a small book. She had long dark-blue hair with green eyes, dressed in a white cloth shirt and brown pants.

That’s when he spotted a steel sword beside her. (There she is!) Walking up to her the tall woman sighed closing the book before looking up at him with a glare, the sunlight reflected off her green eyes. “Let me guess, you’re here to hit on me like many of the other men that pass by”

“Actually, I'm here to take the guild exam so I can become part of the dragon blossom guild and take on quests” Her eyes changed to surprise as she rose to her feet. Excitement filled her eyes as she placed her book against the stone well, unsheathing her steel blade.

“Finally! It’s been so long since I've had a challenger! All the wimps of this town are too scared to take me on in a real fight. Happy someone is willing to challenge me!” That’s when she noticed he wasn’t wielding a weapon. “Wait, do you not have a sword? You came to duel me bare handed!?” Her excitement soon grew to frustration as she lowered her sword. “Sigh, you’re lucky I usually have a spare blade with me” Walking across the street she picked up another sword siting on a wooden porch before tossing it to the artificer.

“If you break it, you’re going to regret it! Now take up your sword and prepare yourself” Kagami gripped the steel blade with both hands as a crowd gathered around to watch the duel. She stared at him with a serious expression before advancing forward.

In a sudden gasp, Kagami attempted to guard as the warrior clashed with him, the sheer force of her blade sending him staggering back hitting the ground. “Tssk, is that really all you have? If I can knock you down that easily, then you might as well not bother getting back up and submit”

That’s when Kagami saw a bar slightly fill up above his blade:

Proficiency +1

(When I blocked her attack, it increased my experience using this weapon, which means...the longer I fight with certain weapons, the better my skill with it will be!) Rising to his feet, he gripped the blade tightly in his grasp with a smirk.

“Huh? What’s with that look on your face? Are you saying you want to keep going? Fine, but don’t cry when you get hurt!” The blue-haired swordswoman prepared to strike once more, lunging straight for him once more. All watched as Kagami brought her fierce strike to a sudden halt as their blades clashed.

“Heh, you really shouldn’t use the same attack twice, your opponent will find a way to counter it” The crowd were in shock at the man’s sudden confidence as the pair continued to clash, sparks flying in different directions.

With no other choice, she jumped back getting distance from her opponent. She stood there in both shock and confusion. (Impossible, I staggered him with ease the 1st time, but...something’s different, it’s as if...he’s learning with each strike of my sword) Clinching her grip on her sword she went straight for him once more, this time unleashing a barrage of strikes in his direction, only for him to evade each one just as he had with the goblin.

After nearly a minute of strikes, the warrior ran out of breath, leaving herself wide open to an attack. Holding the blade with one hand, Kagami sent a fierce blow to the woman’s abdomen as her eyes shook in pain. Many gasped as she stagged back, hitting the stone well with her book landing on the street beside her, her hair now a mess.

“Y-you bastard...you just got lucky, you may be good at dodging and throwing punches, but I can tell you barely know how to even swing a sword. I was wide open and you choose to punch me, rather than use the sword to strike me down. What? Is it cause I'm a girl!? Do you see me merely as a weak defenseless girl who needs a man’s protection!? Because I'm not! I got to where I am without anyone’s help and I'll continue without anyone’s help!”

All watched as a red aura began to swarm around the girl’s body, her hair began to whip around with part of her hair covering her eyes. Gripping her blade once more, she advanced right for the artificer, no longer holding anything back. A chill ran down Kagami’s spine, but he stood his ground, jumping into the air as their swords clashed in mid-air.

The citizens felt a sudden shockwave surge across the town square as both warriors continued to clash. Sweat ran down Kagami’s face while his opponent continued to weight her blade down on him with an emotionless expression on her face.

(D-damn, I can’t hold her back much longer...) With no time to think, he slammed his head against hers, causing her to stagger dropping her blade. Blood ran down Kagami’s head as he fell to one knee gripping his throbbing head. Looking down at his HP, he realized it was now at 1 Hp as his vision began to blur.

“Shit...I-I can’t focus my vision” All watched as he collapsed in the street losing consciousness...

CHAPTER 2 Art Of The Blade

A Few Hours Later...

Kagami awoke in a small bedroom as moon light filled the room. “W-what happened...last thing I remember-” That’s when he realized he had passed out during his duel with the woman. Feeling his hurting forehead, he could feel bandages over the wound. “Huh? Seems someone treated me while I was unconscious...but where am I?”

Rising to his feet, he walked across the wooden floor over to the brown wooden door as he pushed it open, leading into a narrow wooden hallway. Seeing stairs at the end of the hall, he made his way downstairs where he saw the blue-haired woman waiting for him at a wooden table.

“Seems you’re awake, glad to see I didn’t do too much damage to you during our duel. I’ll admit you have some skill, but when it comes to using a sword...you could use some training. I apologize for how I acted during our fight. I’m hoping we might be able to start over and I help you improve with your swordsmanship so we may have a proper duel”

With a smile Kagami nodded. “I agree, I didn’t realize there was such a skilled swordsman in this small town. If we form a party and hunt monsters together, I'll surely improve my sword skills in no time” A smirk grew across her face as she rose from her seat. “Then let’s head to the guild right now to sign up for some quests”

“But I didn’t beat you in the duel, doesn’t that mean I failed the exam?”

“Heh, all you really need is my validation to enter the guild, most of the monsters in this region are nowhere near my level. So, if you can survive a duel with me, then you’re considered strong enough to take on quests in Fenmire. Now stop whining and last go”

Tossing him his blade the pair made their way towards the tavern.

[LEVEL 5 ACHIEVED]

[Passive Obtained] : Magic detection – See and feel the flow of magic in the surrounding area.

Making their way back to Dragon blossom tavern, Kagami could feel some of the male customers slightly laughing at him behind his back, but did his best to brush it off.

“Hey Alice, haven’t talked to you in a while, I've come to accompany Kagami on his quests in hopes of improving his sword skills”

“Oh! Saiara, didn’t think you’d be joining such a new adventurer” Alice blushed, unable to look the blue-haired warrior in the eye. Saiara nodded, placing her hands on the bar. “Normally I won’t bother doing more than helping with the guild exams...however, I feel this one has potential. Not many can last that long against me, especially someone who’s never even used a blade before. It’s like he instinctually learned as we fought”

Kagami nervously blushed. “I just got a few lucky hits in, no big deal hehe” She gave him a serious expression as if he were hiding something before looking back at Alice. “Now then, do you have anything me and this novice can take on?”

“Y-yes! B-but 1st he needs to fill out a quick form to officially register to the dragon blossom guild”

Registration Form

THE DRAGON BLOSSOM GUILD

NAME : X Kagami

Class : Artificer

RACE : Human

Filling out the form he passed it back to Alice who was surprised to see what class Kagami had written down. She turned to him looking at the form before responding: “Wait, you’re an artificer?”

“Yea, why is something wrong?”

“Oh, nothing...it’s just strange to see an artificer learning to use a sword, I've always known artificers to be more of a supportive tactician type of class, then again, it’s rare to see an artificer these days, especially in a small village like finmire. Anyway, let me get our current quests for you!”

Bending down she grabbed a small leather folder, handing it to him. The folder read: “B+ - D” looking through the different requests he decided to start with something easy as he pulled out a C-rank quest:

QUEST

• Locate and eliminate any goblins near Fenmire

“Alright, we’ll take the goblin hunting quest to warm up” He smirked folding up the quest sheet and placing it in the inner-pocket of his green-cloak. Alice waved to them as they made their way into the forest just outside Fenmire.

As they walked down the dark path with only the moonlight to guide them, Saiara spoke up: “It seems I was right about you Kagami”

“What do you mean?”

“About you having a hidden potential, artificers are supposed to be a mere support class...and yet you seem capable of learning how to use a sword at a fast rate. I doubt many artificers can do the same. You must really have talent”

“T-thanks Saiara” That’s when he realized he hadn’t looked at his skill tree since he 1st came to this world. Stopping for a moment, he opened his menu and tapped the “skill tree” feature as a large purple screen expanded in front of him there were two branches before him:

• Technomancy

• Specialization

He saw “SP 2” Beside both branches which meant: “Skill points” Since he was only level 5, he only had 4 SP and could either unlock both branches but no skills, or he could open one branch and hope to have just enough for one new skill...

After a moment of pondering, he opened the technomancy branch where only one skill was lit up. It was worth 2 SP which luckily was the exact amount he had left. Holding down the skill, he unlocked his 1st skill tree ability as the branch expanded like your usual skill tree...

[Skill Obtained] : Vox Clock – Summon a sentient clock that aids you in tasks, exploration or combat.

Finally closing the menu, he threw his hand out in front of him. “Vox clock!” Saiara watched as a blue sigil that looked like a spinning clock illuminated the path before them as a small black alarm clock with tiny arms and feet floated up from the magical sigil. It floated in the air slowly opening it’s shiny black eyes as it saw Kagami.

It let out an excited cheer in a high-pitch child-like voice. “Yay! I’m so happy master summoned me! I will do my best to ensure my master succeeds in anything he needs help in!” The small round clock stood on Kagami’s shoulder looking around in amazement at the new world around him while Saiara looked at them in utter confusion.

“Uh...Kagami? What’s that thing on your shoulder?”

“Oh him? This is an ally I summoned with my new artificer skill: Vox clock. It allows me to summon a sentient clock to help me in battle or just simple tasks”

“Mmhmm! I’m Vox, I'm master’s loyal companion! I’ll do my best to make sure master achieves whatever goal he sets for me!” Kagami patted Vox’s head causing him to giggle.

“Alright Vox, your 1st task is to locate any goblin camps nearby, think you can do that for me?”

“I’m on in Master, CHU, CHUUU!” It cried out excitedly as it flew into the night sky, searching the nearby forest for any suspicious creatures lurking nearby. After searching for about a minute, he spotted a bonfire illuminating the forest off in the distance. Filled with excitement it’s metal bells rang as he soared towards the light. “CHUUUU, CHUUU!”

Vox reached the source of the light, spotting a large group of goblins with two large gray ogres standing just outside a large cave, almost as if they were guarding something.

With the targets located, the small clock raced back to his master’s location. Saiara stood waiting with her arms crossed with impatience while Kagami practiced with his sword.

“MASTER! MASTER! I FOUND THEM!”

‘Really!? That was quick, great work Vox, take us to them”

“YES! YES! This way master!” The small clock flew through the forest with the pair right behind him. Once the bonfire was in view, the sentient clock came to a stop with Kagami and Saiara ducking down behind a large bolder. The trio could see the monsters just walking around the fire letting out faint noises every now and again.

“So, artificer, any tricks up your sleeve?”

“Sorry, Vox is the only skill I have currently since I'm merely level one. Give me two levels and I might have another trick up my sleeve” He whispered back as they remained behind the large gray rock.

“Wait, you’re only level 5? I’m level 10- never mind...anyway, do you have a plan for taking down five goblins and two ogres?” The female warrior whispered back. Kagami thought for a moment before coming up with an idea.

“Vox, I need you to distract the two big brutes near the cave entrance while me and Saiara take out the smaller ones. Think you can handle it?”

“Yes sir master! Chuuuu!” Vox flew towards the group of Monters as his loud cry alerted them. The goblins began throwing spears at him, only for the small clock to dodge each one. That’s when Vox prepared a counter-attack. Taking a deep breath, a blue flame-like aura swarmed around it’s metallic body as it let out the loudest noise it could make.

“Huff.....CHUUUUUU!!” It’s bells rang rapidly as the monsters began to shake in pain, their ears filled with immense pain with drips of blood running from their ruptured eardrums. The group of creatures began running towards the nearby cave when Kagami and Saiara jumped out from their cover.

Kagami sliced a goblin in half, separating it’s upper-torso from it’s legs in a splatter of purple blood. Meanwhile Saiara went for one of the large ogres, decapitating one of it’s muscular gray arms off as it hit the ground spraying out purple blood.

“Hurry Kagami! We need to kill all of them before they have a chance to escape into the deeper parts of the forest!”

“R-right!” Wasting no time, Kagami began slicing through each panicking goblin as some tried to escape into the cave while others attempted to retreat into other parts of the forest. “Wait...that’s only four monsters, where did-” That’s when he spotted the last goblin running off into the darkness. “You’re not getting away, Vox stop him!”

“Yes master!” Taking off full speed, the small clock caught up with the retreating monster, firing sharp spinning cogs from it’s mouth as they spiraled through the air, piercing into the small monster’s back utterly defeating it”

“Sigh, that should be all of them, unless they were protecting something inside the cave” Shaking some of the blood from his blade, Kagami walked over to Saiara who pulled her sword out of the ogre corpse lying in front of the cave entrance. “Seems all that’s left is to investigate the cave” The artificer commented.

“Sigh, I hate caves, they’re always filled with gross shit”

“Haha, Saiara, you’re already covered in ogre blood, what’s more gross than that?” Kagami questioned with a smirk on his face. That’s when the blue-haired warrior realized her clothes had bloodstains all over them.

“Ewwww! gross and on my nice clothes too!” She franticly tried wiping them off but to no avail. The young artificer couldn’t help but laugh just as Vox came flying back to his side standing on his shoulder.

“I did as you asked master! Are you happy with me?” The young adventurer smiled lightly patting the small creature’s head. “Yes, you did a good job Vox”

“Chuu, chuu” It uttered in a soft tone to show it’s happiness. “Though, we might still need you, so keep on your guard”

“Yes master!” The trio slowly stepped over the ogre corpse before them, silently making their way into the goblin cave.