Over the next five days, before the second round of fights would start, he had a plan on how he would spend his days. He decided he would start each day doing a dungeon run, pushing himself as far as he could in the low E grade dungeon. So far he had made it to the 16th wave, a decent start, considering he had only been here for a few days but he needed to push further, to both grow in level and also so he could gain more loot to sell so he could buy materials and item. That led into the second thing he would do with his day, crafting. The main objective here was to create better clothing that would double as armour and also weapons, this was primarily for himself but he decided he would also take commissions from his friends to help him boost his crafting level as well. He didn’t want to rush into making his own gear, he wanted to put a lot of thought into it, so that whatever he created would see him through to the end of E grade at the least.

He had decided, on the weapons front, that he would craft a sword, one better than what he had, and also a ranged weapon, something like a spear, but more like a glaive, he would need to research this though. To succeed in doing this he had decided that he would need to read up on runes more, but also decided he would also see if he could grab a book on rituals, maybe something that helped increase the strength or power of what he made outside of his own affinity.

Following this would be another dungeon run, again for power and loot, as coin was going to have an impact on what he could achieve in his crafting as there was much to buy that would greatly increase the power of what he could craft. After this he would spend time with Viv, Gabe and Eric to try and help them all bond an affinity, although he wasn’t sure how this would work just yet, but it was worth a try. He would then get ready for the nightly soiree or any other event that occurred at days end, then repeat the process.

The only thing he considered, which might be the most dangerous thing of all, would be creating more advanced affinity. This would help in the dungeons and gaining power, doing so while he was in the tutorial was the smartest thing to do as he could utilise the time adjustments of the dungeons, but this also came with the risk of getting so badly hurt again that he would be out for days at a time, which was hard to hide from anyone, and that would cause suspicion to grow with not just the other people from Earth but also the clan and major faction reps. Still, he was considering it.

His first day after the soiree went well, in the dungeon he had finished the 17th wave before he had to give up, finding that the worms that we was stuck fighting took a lot of effort to take down, they were hard to get to under the ground so he had to wait for them to rise up and attack, this coupled with the fact that after running the first 15 waves he was usually down in mana and didn’t have much left to use was having an impact, the alpha wolf was still causing him trouble, as that was where he was still using a majority of his mana attacks, he needed to come up with a more efficient plan. The good news was that he had gained an additional level in his class from all of the fights which jumped him up to his next race level.

He went and sold all of the loot he had, outside of the Constricting Silver Heart from the alpha and the starling feathers, and after identifying them earlier found that the hearts were the cause of the ability that the shifting wolf had. They allowed for it to constrict space from one point to another and through that move undetected and quickly. The heart still held some of that power and said it could be used either in crafting or alchemy, and as such had decided to keep onto them. He had also decided to keep the Starlight Feathers, as like the heart they seemed to have some tie to the stars, again the description was vague but noted the use in crafting. That and all of the good loot he had like the ore and the new reward he got from the dungeon, a branch of Elder Wood, which its description describing that it was able to channel and hold many spells through the veins running through the wood itself, were kept for crafting.

The first thing he bought was a book on rituals, one specific to crafting in fact, as well as some paper and a pencil so he could right notes, sketch designs and start figuring out what his plans were for crafting. He also made a wish list of things he wanted to buy, this predominantly was different metal, wood, and gems, all for the purpose of making weapons. On top of that there was treated leathers that he wanted, one even made from the scales of a wyrm that, although not currently made into any type of clothing, or even enchanted, was worth just over 3 gold coins.

The weapons that were sold were also expensive, even though he didn’t actually want to buy any, an advanced ranked sword, that contained one spell that was enchanted into it, was nearly a gold coin in itself. Considering he could buy the material to forge a sword, shape it and enchant it with the same spell, and it would cost him less than 10 silver coins it was a complete rip off. But did give him an idea. If he got to a point where he was needing coins more than anything else, and he was done crafting for his friends, he could make the advanced weapons for cheap and sell them directly to his peers for cheaper than the shops and still make a good amount of coin off of it. He would just need someone to play middleman, or women, for the transactions as he had no desire to deal with that part of it.

When it came to his research into runes and rituals, he was able to find a number of rituals that would pair well with certain runes and gems, essentially what was needed was items of certain powers that would be used to transfer that power into the runes and gems during the ritual and essentially powering up the item he wished in a very specific way that allowed for very specific spells. One example of this was the hearts and the space constricting magic they held. From what he read he would need a lot of hearts to make it work and an obsidian gem that would be used to hold that power and link to the runes, essentially granting the holder of the finished item with the same, if not similar power, as the alpha shifter.

This was apparently a common practice in the multiverse as people wanted to use certain elements that they couldn’t bond, and the only way to do so was with specifically crafted item, however it was an expensive process to have something like this crafted, you had to factor in time, materials and complexity, leading to huge mark ups that many people couldn’t afford. That was unless you did most of it yourself.

After a few hours of reading and note taking, even jotting down some ideas, it was time for his second dungeon run of the day, this time completing the 18th wave but not being able to go further, gaining one more level in his class and getting more loot in the process. The reward this time was a pouch of ash from the remains of a mountain that had been reduced to nothing by the breath of a dragon, weird but also kind of cool. After selling the loot again he had a balance of nearly 18 silver coin, having gained nearly 9 silver coins from his dungeon runs minus the cost of the rituals book.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He spent time with the others after that, testing to see if they could connect to any of the basic elements, this was an odd process, they sat in Shaun’s room and one by one he would bring forth an element using his gauntlet, at least that’s what he told them, instead he tried to flood the area with an element using his affinity and had them meditate on it, having them focus on the surroundings and seeing if they could, in anyway, tap into it using their minds. It was a long process, and kind of boring for Shaun, but he stayed focus and continued to help guide them as he could. They stopped after a few hours with no success, but it was only day one, they had plenty of time left to try. They spent time going over anything they wanted him to craft for them, any upgrades they wanted to existing equipment and so on.

Both Viv and Gabe both wanted some speciality arrows, ones that they could power with their own mana and when released would cause different effects, as well as some kind of reinforced clothing to help protect them and daggers for close combat. Eric asked if he could upgrade his own armour, sword and shield, he had done some of this in the past but that was a long time ago and Shaun was a lot better at crafting now than he was then.

They had also informed him that they created a new team, it was now the three of them, and shockingly Li Al Sal, the number 2 on the leaderboard. Apparently, that had been an interesting experience, earlier that day they had been approached by her while they were eating at a restaurant, Li questioned them, a lot, both on Shaun himself as well as their plans for what happened after the tutorial. This turned into a long conversation on their fears for what was to happen to their world, questions on the factions and what their roles would be after, and how Shaun himself was going to factor into everything. Li was so shocked when she was informed that he wouldn’t be aiming for any leadership role back on Earth, to the point that she questioned his sanity, but when Viv explained that he was to back her, and that their goals were aligned in doing what was best for not just themselves but for every person and creature on Earth, Li had decided to conditionally join them. Similar to Shaun, she had no desire to lead, but she did share their goals, meaning Viv was currently the perfect person to back.

They asked him if he would agree to meet with them and Li to talk everything through and so that he would get a chance to get to know her, he agreed, if only so he could make sure that she wasn’t going to betray them. They all proceeded to get ready for the soiree after that, and when they were called they all went to the room where they would again be thrown in with all of the reps, but this time it was a lot less intense. Shaun was met by only one of the reps, Eurios from Life’s Union, what proceeded was one of the most boring talks of his life, the entire time he was told about the war with Death, how the undead were nothing but a disease that had to be wiped out. That turned into what he could do for them, how as a living creature in the multiverse it was his duty to stand against the undead, how if he didn’t he put his own world at risk. The entire time he felt like he was being preached too, and very quickly decided against ever joining this major faction. They reminded him too much of the religions on Earth that looked down on those that didn’t do what they said. He had never really met anyone from Death’s Legion so had no bias against them at this point, if anything he liked them more than Life’s Union after the meeting.

When he was finally free from Eurios he couldn’t have been more relieved, if each of the meetings with the reps were going to be like the one he had just experienced, his decision to not join any of them was going to be the easiest decision of his life. He had made sure he was polite during the entire thing, not wanting to offend the woman, but it took every ounce of control he had not to just get up and walk away. When he met back up with the others afterwards, all of them getting invites to this soiree as well, he found that they had decided that they would stick as a group, all of them joining the same factions or clan, a united front when it came time to head back to Earth. They had a debrief after where he explained his meeting with the Life rep, and the more he spoke the more each of them looked on in disgust. It seemed they were all in agreeance when it came to the war between life and death, they wanted none of it happening on Earth.

Shaun wasn’t tired when he got back from the soiree, his need to sleep having been greatly reduced with his rise in levels, so he got started on Eric's equipment upgrades. He had some extra metals laying around from the last stage of the tutorial and also the metal that Eric had given him. He had told them if they wanted something new and more powerful they would need to explain what they wanted and provide the materials. In the end, after a couple of hours, he had made several new pieces of armour, he had reinforced much of the metal with the Tiranium Ore he was given, the end result was a chest plate that was so much stronger than anything that he had seen any of the other warriors wearing, he used some new runes in it as well, ones for reflection, the purpose being that attacks would have a portion of their power reflected away from the plate, as well as a spell for healing. He had also made vambraces and gauntlets for him as well, which covered the rest of his arms, meaning his entire upper body was protected.

The spells in the gauntlets were decent as well, one arm had a force rune in it, when powered up with Eric’s mana he could send a blast out of his arm and send his opponent flying, giving him either space to recover or a window of opportunity to attack. The other had a fire and explosion rune built into it, so if he ever needed to punch someone it would cause as much damage as being hit by an elemental strike, just less condensed.

When he was done, the night had pretty much passed and he only had time for an hour or two of sleep, but it was worth it. Not only had his skill levels increased but he had gained 3 levels in his craft for creating 5 different pieces of advanced armour. That pushed him up a few levels in his race as well, the end result of his day of nonstop training had paid off more than he imagined and he couldn’t help the joy he felt when reviewing his status sheet before finally going to sleep.

Name: Shaun Clermont

Race Human (E)

Level: 37

Class: [Advanced] Elemental Blade Slinger - Level 41

Profession: [Advanced] Elemental Creator - Level 33

Health Points:2390/2390

Stamina:1853/2350

Mana:2658/7830

Stats: (Available Points: 64)

Strength: 235

Dexterity: 384

Endurance: 235

Vitality: 239

Intelligence: 186

Perception: 184

Willpower: 180

Soul: 783

Affinity:

Basic: Earth, Fire, Nature, Air, Water

Advanced: Lightning

Titles: New Initiate, Apex Predator, Planetary Forerunner, Elementalist, Expert Solo Dungeoneer

Heritage: Azreal's Legacy (Hidden)

Skills: Class: [Advanced] Blade Mastery (Level 18), [Advanced] Earthen Echo (Level 29), [Advanced] Enhanced Mind (Level 32), [Advanced] Elemental Strike (Level 29), [Advanced] Stone Skin (Level 24)

Profession: [Advanced] Elemental Fusion (Level 6), [Advanced] Creators Control (Level 5), [Advanced] Element Coercion (Level 3), [Advanced] Meditation (Level 3), [Advanced] Mana Sight (Level 24), [Basic] Rune Knowledge (Level 25 - MAX)