Chapter 9

Back at their small shack, Ezekiel and his two siblings were inside waiting for evening to arrive. He spent a copper coin to purchase a board game called Snakes and Ladders since it was simple enough that even those who didn’t know how to read could play it without any problem. Since it wasn’t worth a whole copper coin, Ezekiel added a couple of small blackboards, some colorful chalk, and a blackboard eraser that the two young boys could use to draw.

He would have liked to teach the boys how to read and write but unfortunately, Ezekiel also didn’t know how to read and write the language of this world. He searched for a bit to check if he could use the 1st level spell Comprehend Language to learn how to read and write and there was a whole debate about it. The major difference was he could actually speak the language as it was spoken by the common people, it was just he didn’t know how to read and write it and because he could already speak it, he was wondering if he could use the spell to learn the language.

Again, some of the debaters said that it would probably be easier just to learn the language the common way by learning it from the local teachers with a book guide. Ezekiel thought that the next time he went to the village market, he would search for a teacher to learn how to read and write but if he did earn enough coins, he would buy the Comprehend Language Spell and would check if he could learn the language using the spell.

The two boys were extremely delighted at the new things that Ezekiel gave them but what they were interested in the most was the board game Snakes and Ladders so they spent several hours playing it under the light of the candle.

They did interrupt their game by eating the last of the sliced bread and milk that he purchased and flavored using the Prestidigitation spell and by the two kids’ reactions, they were still very fond of the bread and milk although more than likely, it was because of the different flavors that Ezekiel kept giving the bread and milk using his Prestidigitation spell.

During that night, loud laughter could be heard inside the small shack of the siblings and Ezekiel was glad that he was making his brothers happy.

After several hours more, Ezekiel checked the time and it was already nine in the evening so he told his brothers that it was time to sleep. The boys complained a bit since they enjoyed playing the game so much but they were actually sleepy already and when he told them that the candle was now so small, the boys relented.

Ezekiel tucked them in after blowing out the candle and then he continued the fairy tale that he was telling them the night before and after a few minutes, the boys were asleep. In the meantime, he browsed his System Shopping Page to check the items that he could purchase that would help them in their daily lives. Ezekiel thought that purchasing just bread and milk wouldn’t do and that he would need to diversify their food. He would need to actually think of purchasing raw food that he could cook so he could save coins and make sure that they were getting all the nutrients their young bodies needed.

He also browsed the site for the things that he would need and he saw a portable foldable camping wood stove. He could use the wood from the forest to cook and grill food and with just one copper coin, he could purchase it and it comes with a free pan. He purchased it immediately and it went directly to his 4th tab which was his inventory.

Ezekiel then suddenly thought of something. His 1 cubic meter 4th tab which was his inventory wasn’t big enough so he checked how he could increase it and according to the character panel, it stated that to increase the size of the 4th tab, an additional cubic meter would cost him 50 coppers coins and the total size of his inventory would be 2 cubic meters. To increase it again, he would need to purchase 1 cubic meter again but the cost would increase to 100 copper coins. He noticed that the price increase for every cubic meter was the same as the price of the spells when it came to increment pricing.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The good thing about purchasing the size increase of his inventory was for every cubic meter increase, the range would also increase by 1 foot. Right now, to store his things in his 4th tab, it shouldn’t be more than a foot but once he purchases the additional cubic meter, the range would increase to 2 feet and so on. That was good since an inventory with remote capabilities was as powerful as a spell.

He didn’t increase the 4th tab space yet since he really had limited coins for now but he might be forced to since he was still planning to hunt some more game the next day.

Ezekiel actually forgot to check his experience bar so he did so immediately. He went to the 1st tab where the search bar was located as well as the character panel and there it stated that he currently had ten percent experience points to reach level 2. He still didn’t know if the experience point came from killing the boar or some sort of achievement like 1st time killing an aggressive enemy or something like that.

He already had 5 percent experience before and he knew that it shouldn’t have come from him killing the pheasant since according to the rule for gaining experience as stated in the character panel, experience could only be gained from enemies that were aggressive towards him and the bird clearly wasn’t.

Ezekiel thought that it could be some sort of achievement like the first time killing a living being or something of that sort. It could have even come from something like the first time earning coins since when he noticed the experience bar, it was after he sold the pheasant.

Ultimately, because of a lack of detailed knowledge about gaining experience, he would just accept the experiences as they come. It would have been better if he knew exactly how to grind for experience since having a higher level would help him a lot.

Ezekiel was hoping that if they found a game animal the next day, it would also earn him experience. He then went back to reading the rules of his system. He found something interesting regarding purchasing items. It stated that if he purchased something large that didn’t fit the 4th tab, it would manifest directly to the nearest clear space that was large enough to hold the item. That relieved him a bit since that meant he could purchase large items even if he didn’t have large enough space in his inventory although the problem with that was, he couldn’t take the large item with him.

He then switched to browsing the system shopping site and he had an idea of browsing for tiny homes. Ezekiel found some tiny homes that would make their living condition comfortable but unfortunately, the cheapest one would cost him a gold coin.

Ezekiel wondered if it was safe enough for him to sell something pricy like salt. He decided to hold off on doing something like that and wait until he reached level 2. He continued browsing for things that he could buy cheaply that would help them with their living condition.

Since he already purchased a portable folding wood camp stove, the next thing that he would need to purchase was food that he could cook which could save him coins. For 1 copper coin, he purchased 2 kilos of rice. He planned to cook porridge the next day. He then purchased ingredients like garlic, tomato, onions, spring onions, ginger, carrots, and bell peppers and a copper coin allowed him to purchase a few grams of each.

Another copper coin allowed him to purchase a knife, a cutting board, and a pot where he could the porridge. Since the foldable camping stove came with a pan that he could use to fry things.

He then remembered to purchase cooking oil so another copper coin allowed him to do that together with a small bottle of salt and a small bottle of pepper.

Ezekiel was so glad that his 4th tab inventory could also work as a refrigerator since it seemed like time froze inside there based on the status of the bread and milk that he purchased and stored there.

Lastly, he purchased an aluminum folding table that he would use as his kitchen table. Now regarding water, Robert pointed at the water barrel that stored water from the well near the village and his brother said that fill it to the brim every three days for drinking purposes and right now the water was still halfway filled. Robert said that filling the barrel was an arduous job that would take the three siblings a full day so they were frugal in using it and would use the water from the river for other things like washing and bathing.

After all the purchases that he had made, Ezekiel's coins dwindled to 89 copper coins. Since he was planning to hunt game animals the next day, he knew that his 4th tab inventory wasn’t big enough since he was now also using it as a refrigerator so he decided to purchase another 1 cubic meter of space and his coins dwindled to 39 copper coins.