After conversation with each member of the group they had figured out what they wanted and where the priority was. Gabe wanted an upgrade to his arrows and bow and also an outfit if there was time, Eric wanted armour, a sword and if possible a shield. The other warrior wanted the same and the rogue wanted daggers and if possible a short sword like Shaun’s. The mage was the only one that was left out, seeming not to need anything as much as the others, but Shaun did have a plan if everything went as expected.
He decided to start with the basic gear they already had and would continue to use, hoping that he could gain a few levels before he started crafting new equipment, it would also be much quicker in case they had to move out.
He started with the daggers, having the most experience with these, and went to work attuning both of the ones the rogue already had. He started with fire, imbuing it with as much as he could before making a slight change to what he had done with his own daggers. Rather than fully sealing the blade with earth, which would result in a Concussive Flame Dagger he instead taped in deeper to the structure of the dagger and intertwined his earth affinity with the flame, creating pockets of fire surrounded by a weaker earth shield. His hope was that it would cause an explosion on impact, the only issue was that the rogue would only be able to use the effect once in an emergency and would need to overcharge it with mana before using it to create instability. It would help them a lot in the upcoming fight though so he thought it was worth it.
*Successful New Crafting – Bonus Experience provided*
*[Advanced] Blasting Fire Dagger – A blade deeply imbued with the element of fire and contained by a barrio of earth. In stable form will burn those it comes in contact with. When charged with mana will allow for a one time use explosion which will unleash all of the imbued fire from inside.*
*Profession: Mana Crafter has levelled up by +2 levels. [Basic] Mana Crafter has reached Level 17. +4 Int, +4 Wil, +8 Soul*
*Race: Human has levelled up by +1 levels. Human (F) has reached Level 24. +4 Ap gained*
He inspected his work a final time and then handed it to the rogue, it hadn’t taken too long to craft so immediately picked up the next one and started getting to work.
“This is different from the ones you have? But how?”
“I changed it up a little, the ones I have wont do as much damage against the treant’s in the dungeon as that one will. The one I just made might be one time use but it is a good attack against the monsters that are weak to fire and will do a lot of damage, giving everyone time to finish off a boss.” Shaun replied. “I can make one of the same ones I have for this one or another of the blasting ones. Your choice.”
“You're right, this will be a game changer in that dungeon, can you make another of the same?” He replied.
As he set to work replicating the dagger he had just upgraded, the group each took turns inspecting the dagger, from what he could tell they were more than happy with the result, realising just how much it would help them fight the bosses in the dungeon.
It didn’t take him long to finish the next dagger and he didn’t gain another level, but he still had a lot more to draft so he wasn’t too upset about it. With that done he moved on to the warrior's sword, not Eric's, but the other one whose name was apparently George.
There was not much that he could do with a sword at this point but he did do his best. He used his attunement skill to fully saturate the sword with fire, it took longer than the dagger but Shaun continued to meditate while he worked which kept his mana up. Once he was done he coated the blade with earth, using his affinity with just a little bit of his mana meld and manipulation skill to alter the edge a little to make it sharper and really attune the blade. Finally, he decided to do something a little different. He attuned only the sharp edge of the sword with nature, he didn’t know if it would work but he hoped that this would make it easier to break through the shields that the monsters were able to use in the dungeon. It had taken a lot longer than the dagger to finish but really only an hour or so of his time, damn was it worth it.
*Successful New Crafting – Bonus Experience provided*
*[Advanced] Piercing Heat Sword – A blade deeply imbued with the element of fire and reinforced with the element of earth. The sword has the flames contained by earth and can be super heated by infusing mana to destabilise the barrier and heat the sword. The sword has a coating of nature on its blade reducing the effects of magical resistances on its strike. Note: if the sword is over infused with mana it will cause the sword to explode, releasing all energy from the blade.*
*Profession: Mana Crafter has levelled up by +3 levels. [Basic] Mana Crafter has reached Level 20. +4 Int, +4 Wil, +8 Soul*
*Race: Human has levelled up by +1 levels. Human (F) has reached Level 25. +4 AP gained*
Shaun couldn’t help but be excited for this, he had finally reached level 20 in his profession and now he got to pick another skill. He waited for the prompt to pick a skill to appear but what happened instead was more shocking.
*Race Human (F) has upgraded to Race Human (E)*
Human (E): The most common level of the Human species. The base level of Human in the multiverse, when born human babies are generally at the E rank unless one or both parents are still at F rank. The human species are known for being one of the most versatile creatures in the Multiverse, while they are considered to be generally weak compared to most, they have the ability to follow many different paths to power not available to many species. They are by far the most common race in the Multiverse.
*Race: Human has levelled up by +1 levels. Human (E) has reached Level 26. +16 AP gained*
My race grade has increased? Before he even got a chance to think about what this meant his whole body started being riddled with pain, it was like the very cells of his body were changing. He had no choice but to ride the pain and get through it, he felt his organs start to shift inside of him, contracting and then stretching, tearing apart and reforming together. He felt his heart stop beating, and he couldn’t take a breath. The others around him rushed to his side and were yelling at him, trying to figure out what was happening and what they could do to help. When his heart finally started to beat again it was changed, slower, but also stronger. He started to get an ache in his head that built, gradually at first, but eventually he lost the ability to see and feel and there was only darkness before everything snapped back together.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Finally his skin started to tingle, a black tar-like substance seemed to be flowing out of his pores until he was lying in a puddle of darkness. Eventually everything stopped hurting and he felt fine, no he felt better than fine, he felt great.
Sitting up he ignored the others, focusing only on his body, he touched his skin, feeling stronger and tougher, like it would be just that much harder to cut through. Upgrading his race had changed him, made him better, he was no longer the weakest human possible, now just in line with every other human in the multiverse if the details on an E grade human were to be believed. But still, he felt powerful.
“I upgraded my race…..” It was barely a whisper but the others heard him.
“How? That didn’t look like an upgrade! It just looked painful, and gross….”
“I hit level 25 in my race and it upgraded, like my class did on hitting 25. It hurt, but damn does it feel good.” Shaun answered, he also went through a few more questions that they asked while cleaning off the black tar that he had on him with the water he had in his inventory. They also moved a little further away to get away from the sludge before Shaun continued looking at the notification. Seeing the one he expected to be there for his skill choice.
*New Profession Skill Available: Please choose from one of the following options:*
*[Basic] Mana Transfer: The ability to transfer Mana from the user's personal supply into a compatible item to store for future use or to power an item.*
This was the same as last time, and he still didn’t have a need for it so he moved on.
*[Basic] Rune Knowledge: Runes, the written language that governs magic in the Multiverse, have a multitude of uses throughout the Multiverse, they are used in crafting to inlay spells in items, in rituals to act as focal points and catalysts as well as in a multitude of other ways. This skill provides a basic understanding of runes in how to both read and create them.*
This was the one he had been hoping for, as soon as he had offered to craft for Eric and Gabe he knew that if he could use runes he would be able to do so much more with the things he made. It was also why he decided to start with their existing equipment rather than do anything new, he hoped that he would be able to use runes to carve in something that could be used over and over again. He had one more option left before he picked it though.
*[Basic] Mana Plan: The ability to use mana to create plans of crafting ideas. Allows for a full replica of the schematics of what is wanting to be crafted and can be tested to see if it is viable. These plans can be saved down and named, to be recreated at a later date.*
This was definitely something he would get in the future, being able to create all of his ideas and save them for when he had the time and material would be beneficial in so many ways, but for now, it wasn’t as useful as the runes.
*Skill Gained: [Basic] Rune Knowledge (Level 1)*
He basked in the feeling of the new skill, he could feel some basic runes come through to his mind, most notable was the three elements he had bonded with but also runes for words like mana, channel, strike, infuse, blade, barrier and coat. It was an odd combination, but he could see the need for these sorts of words if he was going to be able to have others use the engravings he put on weapons.
He still had a lot to do, and he had lost some time upgrading his race, he didn’t regret it happening, especially when he was safe and surrounded by people that would protect him in case something went wrong. But he still had plans that he wanted to see though, mostly completing all five dungeons.
He skipped upgrading the blade that Eric had, he instead went straight into crafting a new sword. Taking one of the carbon steel ingots, he started heating it up until it had gotten hot enough that he would be able to use his mana manipulation skill much easier. First, he focused on getting it into shape, he spoke to Eric throughout the process, asking him if he wanted it longer, thicker, more pointed and even if he would prefer to wield it two handed rather than one.
Once the shape was settled, having gone with a longer length than his current sword, but keeping it one handed so he could also hold a shield. He then focused on the runes next, he played around with all of the different words he had in the runic language, trying to find ways he could phrase them together that would help out the most and eventually settled on Mana, Channel, Fire, Strike.
He hoped that this would mean that Eric would be able to channel his own mana into the runes, and be able to strike out with fire, very similar to his own elemental strike skill. Each rune would be carved going down one side of the sword, and each would be connected to the last, causing a running script down the blade. He didn’t know if it would work, it was his first time doing something like this, but he gave it his best shot. With the blade still hot to the touch, he used his mana manipulation skill to carve the runes down the blade, he made several mistakes, not getting the runes right, and would need to smooth out the metal and start over. It took him over an hour to just get the runes right, and when he did he felt that something was missing.
He looked over the runes multiple times and couldn’t find any mistakes, he was stuck and didn’t know what he was supposed to do. In a last ditch effort he started pushing his own mana into the runes, starting from the first and moving his way down. They sucked in as much mana as he could give them, slowly starting to glow the more he pushed into them. After 45 minutes of this, having to stop once to recover mana, as his mediation wasn’t able to keep up with the growing needs of the sword, the glowing of the runes came to a fevered pitch and then once they couldn’t take any more, the mana sunk into the sword.
*Successful New Crafting – Bonus Experience provided*
*[Advanced] Fire Strike Sword – A blade made from earth infused steel, and shaped through the element of fire by a Mana Crafter, the blade is enchanted to allow for a magical fire attack when channelled with mana. Rune Spell: Fire Strike – build up and unleash a strike infused with fire, strength of attack dependent on mana used, able to coat blade in the attack or project with additional mana cost.*
*Profession: Mana Crafter has levelled up by +2 levels. [Basic] Mana Crafter has reached Level 22. +4 Int, +4 Wil, +8 Soul*
*Race: Human has levelled up by +1 levels. Human (F) has reached Level 27. +16 Ap gained*
The levels were nice, but the sword was damn right impressive. Taking out some of the lizard skin he had in his inventory he finished off melding it to the handle to make it more comfortable and then looked over the finished blade. It was much sharper than his old sword and made for him to fit the way he wanted to attack, it gave more reach and had a spell engraved into it. He was impressed.
Standing up, he walked over to Eric and handed him the sword, not saying a word and just waiting for the reaction he knew would come. For a while Eric just played around with it, striking out and pretending to battle a monster in front of him.
“It’s perfect, so much better than the last one. You don’t know what this will do for us.”
Confused, he expected more questions or even for him to give the spell a go, until he realised that Eric hadn’t inspected the blade yet. “What do you think about the enchantment?”
Eric stopped then looking slightly perplexed before looking down and identifying the blade. When he did though the look on his face was priceless, the emotions ranged from shock, excitement and disbelief, it was everything Shaun wanted to see.
“But how……” Eric couldn’t even form words, it was amusing to watch.
“Why don’t you give it a go?” He was curious as to how it would work without having a fire affinity to boost it, he hoped it would still cause enough damage to an opponent, even without the boost.
Eric just nodded, took a wide stance and started to channel his mana, the runes started to glow with the more mana he infused into them and the blade started to glow red. With a strike through the air the spell was unleashed at the closest tree and the resulting blast was even better than Shaun had expected.
Everyone just looked on in shock, there was no other sword like it in the tutorial that they knew of, it was a game changer for their team and had just made the dungeon they were about to enter that much easier.
What came after was so many questions on how he had done it, what exactly his profession was and finally what was he going to make next. Their excitement had grown 10 fold and they couldn’t wait to see what equipment Shaun would make for them. After they spoke for a while, Eric split off from the group and practised further away with his new sword, Shaun however, just got straight back to work.