Chapter Two: Setting Up

Huh the message was at least the same as last time Tide thought as he closed the messages window and looked at the other two that had also appeared.

Congrats on learning two new skills!

You have gained the common skills, Meditation and Mana Control. Do you want to learn these two skills?

“Of course,” Tide thought and closed this window.

Congratulations you have completed the achievements “The First” and “Awakened”.

For being the first to complete an achievement in your world you will be granted the rare item, Ring of Storage.

For being the first to complete the achievement “Awakened” in your world you will granted +5 wisdom and + 3 intelligence.

Closing out this screen he felt a small ping of energy in front of him and a ring popped up in the air before falling to the ground. Quickly Tide bent over and grabbed the ring and put it on before making his way to the edge of the crowd and finally leaving the town square where they had been stuck waiting.

A couple of people saw Tide leave and followed suit. Unlike Tide, though, they were just running aimlessly without a purpose. Tide on the other hand was sprinting to the marketplace of the town. Perhaps he should have stayed and taught the others what he knew about there new world, but they most likely wouldn’t listen to a random stranger. They would just call him crazy and panic, pretty much just sealing their fates. Realistically, no matter what he did, most of them would die. Honestly, the less of them alive the easier it would be due to the fewer monsters the system would spawn. In the end Tide could only look out for himself and then worry about protecting others once he was in a position of power. Even then, he would by no means babysit people. In the world to come you had to pull your own weight.

Shaking his head and dispelling his thoughts, Tide refocused himself. Once the first week had passed the system would automatically decide which classes everyone receives based on how they spent the safe week. If you spent all your time complaining you would be given a trash class, almost guaranteeing your own death. On the other hand if you spent it well you could receive a high tier class and stand a better chance.

Last time, Tide managed to luck into a rare class due to falling in a pitfall and being surrounded by earth. From there he gained the meditation skill and increased his earth affinity which the system deemed worth of the rare class of Geomancer.  This time he would shoot for something much better.

Once he found himself in the market area of the village he quickly found the provisioner.

“I need a map, bedroll, 3 water skins, 20 pounds of hard tack, 20 pounds of salted beef, rope, axe, fire kit and a shovel.” Tide quickly listed out the items he had in mind for his plan. The NPC gave him a dirty look for being so rude, but just decided to go get the requested items.

NPCs or non player characters were just a randomly generated human programed to do whatever job the system gave them. Of course they had their own backstory and emotions, but in the end they were just tools for people to use.

After a minute or two the provisioner came back and began to stack all the requested items on top of the counter.

“That will be 6 silver and 23 copper, for all of this.” Tide reached into my pocket to find the ten silvers he was give for being a test rat, but couldn't find them. Panicking, he checked his other pocket and found it empty as well. Tide was about to give up and tell the man he couldn't pay, but realised that it might be in his storage ring.

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Tide quickly sent his consciousness down and into his ring checking its dimensional space. Sure, enough there was his ten silver. Willing them out of the ring, they appeared in his hand which swiftly deposited 7 seven silvers on the table. The man grunted before he reached into a pouch on his belt and brought out a handful of coppers that he began to count through. After what felt like an eternity of the man counting out the change, Tide was handed back 67 coppers.

Finishing up the transaction Tide pointed his hand towards the large amount of supplies and willed them all into his ring, besides the map. Grabbing the map, he placed it down on the counter and began to search for an optimal spot for him to train. He also took time to try and memorize the surrounding area for later use.

It took him about ten minutes to really let the map sink into his mind. Often times in this new world fights do not go smoothly and knowing a good escape route or place to hole up in was a blessing. Besides that, he was following the nearby streams and rivers looking for a point where they crossed paths with a cliff.

Nodding to himself he began to run in the direction of the site. Based on the distance it would take him about half a day to get there. He wouldn’t waste his time just running. Instead he would begin his favorite training method as he ran.

As soon as he left the town area and out of eyesight of everyone he began to slow down his run to a jog. For a couple of minutes, he kept his pace rhythmic and steady as he used a breathing technique that marathon runners tend to use, in through the nose, out through the mouth.

Once this was all situated, Tide reached deep into his mana pool and began to pull small traces of mana out and into the air around him. From his chest the small wisp of mana appeared and glowed a light blue. Making sure the mana moved forward with him as he ran, he began to form patterns with it. At first it started out simple with shapes like squares, circles and plain old squiggles. Every once in a while, he would stop and let his stamina recharge or pull a new wisp out of his mana well to replace a worn strand.  As the day passed and Tide neared his destination, his control grew. When he finally reached the stream, he was able to shape the mana into every letter in the alphabet.

Tide flopped to the ground, physically and mentally depleted from the long jog. After half an hour of heavy breathing and massaging away his headache, he opens up his stats to see how much they had improved since the start. During the first week stats seemed to be gained faster and Tide hoped that his training granted him some gains.

Tide Blackwater

Lv:1

Class: None

Health: 20 (Regen 4/h)

Mana: 25 (Regen 15/h)

Stamina: 20 (Regen 16/h)

Vitality: 4

Strength: 3

Endurance: 4

Reaction: 5

Agility: 5

Willpower: 6

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom: 5

Control: 8

Happy with his progress, Tide closed the window and jumped to his feet. He walked up to the river and made his way to the edge of a cliff and the shore of a small stream. He took a minute or two to think about his setup before bring the shovel out of his ring and started to dig.

After an hour of digging he finished up a hole deep enough for him to sit in while leaving his upper chest and head above ground level. Along with this he dug a small trench about a foot or two long connecting the hole and the river but made sure to leave a mound of dirt preventing the water from flowing so the hole wouldn't fill up yet.

Make it sure everything was in place he replaced his shovel with his axe, made his way towards a small grove of trees nearby and began to gather firewood into his storage ring. Tide even found a fallen dead tree and spent an hour or two collecting logs.

By the time he collected what he felt like was enough wood, the sun was about to set. He quickly made his way back to the stream and took a quick dip to get all of the soil and wood chips off of his body.

It was very refreshing after a day of hard work. He also took the time to wash his clothes and set up his bedroll while waiting for them to dry out. As the sun disappeared behind the horizon he through his clothes back on and laid down to sleep. Before he did though he checked his status. In his previous run he made it a ritual to check his stats at the end of each day in order to see how much he grew each day. Pleasantly surprised, Tide noticed he had gained a point in strength and endurance for his manual labor.

Closing the screen, Tide shifted into a comfortable position and fell asleep eager for the next day to start.