Chapter 3: First time in town
The next day, with the first light, Arthur woke up.
Feeling his body all over, he was happy to see that all the pain was gone. He was only slightly hungry and thirsty, which he solved by creating a loaf of bread and some water in his mouth for 0.7 points. The steaming hot bread was so as delicious as he remembered from his previous life. If the nobles of this town saw what he, a beggar, was eating, they would surely faint.
His body was now worlds apart from where he began yesterday, but it was still weak. After just standing up he felt the energy draining out of him. With only 4 in Vit, it was no wander his stamina was not even half of a regular male.
From the memories of the previous Arthur he had a rough understanding of the stats. They were, for the most part, self-explanatory. Str was basically muscle mass. Unlike games, Str had a substantial effect on speed, which was mainly dealt with by agility. Agl increased the body’s flexibility and coordination. It also improved the 5 senses.
The last 2 were a bit more complex. Vit was a representation of the body’s toughness. Skin and bones were toughened. However it also had an effect on a person’s natural ability to heal, resist diseases and stamina. It was one of the wonder stats for tanks, if it was a game. As for Mag, the original Arthur had no idea what it represented. The current Arthur was different. To him it was obvious it was linked to the MP, most likely at a 1:1 rate. It may also increase magic damage, but he was unable to prove that theory.
A normal man his age would normally have all stats except Mag above 10. The reason he was so weak should be obvious, malnourishment and occasional beatings left him, in a way, crippled. It was also the reason for the (0) near his level. That indicated the actual level. Usually the actual level would be the normal level, the only difference is to a child who is below 15, he has an actual level of (0), with diminished stats also in brackets, and someone afflicted by a temporary stats reduction poison or curse. In other words, the level is actually calculated by the stats the user has. If someone increases his stats by a certain amount, the level would also increase. Or someone can kill monsters and increase the level by adding the UP to the stat. One level awards 5 UP, meaning that someone increases his stats by a cumulative of 5, they also gain a level, but with no UP. The reason Arthur had 0 as his current level was because of how special level 1 was. To be a true level 1 you need to have 31 stat points. In other words, 10 for every physical stat and a minimum of 1 in Mag.
Of course, it wasn’t all that simple. There was a big restriction on this system. After leveling up three times using training, he would have to hunt monsters for ten times that amount until he could increase stats with training. Meaning, every 3 levels trained you had to kill for 30 levels until you could train again.
Feeling a bit dejected by his current situation, Arthur didn’t despair. He did have the broken skill Create. If he could make some powerful weapons, who could stand up to him?
Going out of the alley, watching the unfamiliar yet familiar road, Arthur was startled. Because if the memories, he was always walking with his head down, the original Arthur did not often see people’s faces. The current person was not like that, he was a person from the modern earth. When he walked, his head was held high and back straight. It was not because he was arrogant or conceited. That was the normal position a human should walk in, in his mind.
Looking at their faces, all of them showed contempt, disgust, and some even held hate on them. He wondered why people would show him such emotions. In his old world, if he saw a beggar on the street, if he didn’t give him a coin he would at most ignore him. And that’s what everyone would do. But here, it was like he carried the plague. Everyone kept away from him and threw him hateful glances.
Still, he kept walking. His destination was the inn and the clothing store. Hoping to get a bath, than maybe some clothes.
For money he used his Create ability. As the previous Arthur only saw copper coins as a currency, he was limited to that. He could make 5 copper coins in an hour. When he reached the entrance to the store, he already had 10 copper.
Inside the clothing store there were 2 ladies who kept browsing the goods and an old man sitting at a desk. Before any of them could say anything, Arthur put 5 coins on the table and asked for a pair of pants, boots, underwear and a shirt.
The shop owned was stunned for a second but quickly got up and delivered the goods. From start to finish, aside for Arthur, no one said a thing. He knew he probably overpaid, but he didn’t care.
With the clothes bundle in hand, he went into the inn.
Seeing the innkeeper look at him with the same eyes as everyone else, Arthur frowned, but it still didn’t stop him. He was way too uncomfortable being so dirty, and he wanted a bead to sleep in tonight, but, before he could ask the innkeeper already barked.
Stolen story; please report.
“What the hell are you doing in here? You’re scaring my customers! Get the fuck out, you stinking beggar!”
Arthur was quite enraged by the sudden swearing, but he still kept it in. He was way too weak and even a light punch from this guy would kill him. He shallowed his anger and said.
“Sir, I just want to take a bath. May I ask how much would that be? Don’t worry, I have some coins.” He said in the most polite way he could muster.
The innkeeper was a bit stunned that the beggar in front of him didn’t run away and even asked for a bath, but hearing he got coins, his greed won over him and told him the price.
“3 Copper coins. No less. Now if don’t have it, scram!”
Hearing this Arthur was quite happy. Not because the price was low, it was actually quite impossibly high. From the prices the market people screamed earlier, with one copper you could eat and drink for the whole day at a nearby tavern. There was actually a currency even lower than copper, iron, but as the previous Arthur never got money in his possession, he didn’t know how they looked, he only knew of the copper because his father showed it to him one day, when he made a big sale that had to be paid in copper.
So a bath worth 3 sumptuous meals was extremely expensive, but to Arthur it was quite worth it. He had eleven coins in his pocket and he could make more any time. A bat was way more important.
The innkeeper was wide eyed when he saw the beggar in front of him take out 3 coins made of copper. He even studied each coin for a bit before pocketing them and saying.
“I don’t know where you stole those from but business is business. Come.”
He took Arthur upstairs into a room. The bath was actually a tub not much different from a modern tub. It was made of wood.
“You can get water from the well in the back.” The innkeeper instructed than left.
There was a well in the back of the inn, but carrying a water bucket all the way up the stairs with his stats would leave him half dead. Arthur got another idea.
He imagined the water he usually used to bathe in, not too hot not to cold. Because he imagined the whole tub full, it cost him 0.8 mana. He only had 0.2 but it luckily allowed him to make a hit of shampoo.
After the bath, he was refreshed. Because the shampoo, all the smell turned from garbage to peaches. He now looked like a normal young man, albeit a lot thinner.
Donning on the new set of clothes and boots, he was finally comfortable in his own skin.
After going down the stairs, the innkeeper who saw him was flabbergasted. Was this really the beggar who came in earlier? It had to be mentioned that Arthur's walking posture was just like a noble. Normal commoners all walked with their back hunched, showing servitude. Someone who could walk with his back straight and had held high was either a noble or a great warrior. The innkeeper could definitely saw that the young man in front of him was no warrior, for he was too thin and looked to sickly, just like a pale sickly noble.
Arthur didn’t know this, but the healing potion he took repaired most of his injuries, including skin damage. Right now, with a clean face, you could actually see that he had smooth skin with only a slight stubble of beard.
The innkeeper was instantly scared stiff. When he taught of the fact that he could actually take out 3 copper coins like they were nothing and seeing how he actually looked after he cleaned himself slightly, his legs started to tremble. Thinking of all those actions, he quickly wanted to return the coins and ask for an apology. Who could imagine that the young man in front of him wouldn’t even register his presence in his eyes and went out without a second thought? This action made the innkeeper feel even surer that the man was a noble.
Arthur actually didn’t even care about the innkeeper. He just wanted to get out of here and go to some weapon shop. He was sure he could make enough coppers for a weapon, but making a weapon seemed to be difficult. In the first place he never held a sword or a spear so he didn’t really know how it felt, but he could imagine it. A single steel sword would cost him 3 mana which was more than he could afford.
Walking on the road again he was a bit happier. Now people no longer looked at him with negativity. They most likely wouldn’t even connect his actual appearance with the way he looked before. Right now, Arthur was just another youth in the town, some even connected him to nobility so nobody would show him disdain.
Walking towards the blacksmith shop, his mana regenerated so he started making coins again. By repeating this process until he had 13 coins, he finally found the shop. Just after he finished his 13th coin, and was about to enter, he suddenly stopped in place. A System message blocked his vision.
Due to diligent training, you have gained +1 Mag!