Ambrose awoke early in the morning, reflecting on his Skill increases from the day before. By separating them into common and uncommon ranks, he was able to figure out a working theory.
Common Skills were generally just about getting a basic understanding of things and he gained levels with them just by using them, though specifically trying to improve at something greatly increased this rate, as seen with his Small Blades and Running Skills, nothing like the threat of death to improve oneself.
Uncommon Skills were much slower to grow as repetition alone was no longer enough, though they each seemed to have more impact on how effective he was at doing something, rather than congratulations you learnt how to do it. There were still Skills about getting the basics of something amongst his uncommon Skills though, stopping it from being a hard rule, just like there were also common Skills that directly improved his natural abilities. Each of these Skills, whether common or uncommon, only seemed to grow when using them in new ways or specifically trying to improve them as could be seen with his Perception Skill, after all, he was always hearing and seeing things but the Skill had barely budged despite its common rank.
He could only make assumptions about the rare ranked and above Skills, but expected that it would take specific effort to improve any Skills that started at common upon reaching rare, likely requiring proper breakthroughs and active development of the Skill. As for Skills that started at rare like his Cruelty, Ambrose wasn't sure but had a feeling they would be easier, acting more like the training wheel skills, though they were likely designed to go further beyond than the common Skills. It also occurred to Ambrose that the magic theory Skills that Whesker had mentioned the other day, might just be rare ranked, acting as the basic information for the Skill level above, like the common Sewing Skill he was planning on getting acted as the tutorial and basic foundations of the uncommon Tailoring Skill, magic theory acted as the foundation for the magic casting Skills, though this was all going on several different assumptions, the key one being that the fire magic basics book was an epic ranked Magic tier Skill, something Whesker had never actually specified, it was entirely possible that it was only rare, but seeing as he had yet to see or hear of any other mentions of magic from within the town, it seemed rather unlikely. Following the thought thread further, Ambrose figured it would also likely be that the magic theory Skills were actually only Mundane tier and something he could learn. After all, anyone can gain the knowledge of how to become an Olympic level athlete, that doesn’t mean that they have the natural ability or aptitude to be able to do so.
Gaining an understanding of how magic worked in this world would likely be immensely useful in whatever Ambrose decided to follow, likely being necessary for higher ranked crafting at a minimum, and being able to know the limits or downsides a potential enemy caster might face would increase his survivability against those chosen few. Though Ambrose wasn't sure he could tolerate learning all about magic, while being unable to learn it because of his patron. Whether his ponderings on Skill ranks were correct or not didn’t really matter for now, though using the logic might assist him in gaining new, higher ranked Skills, later down the line and it wasn't like he could afford the fire magic basics book to even attempt learning the magic theory Skills from it anyway. For now, Ambrose needed to train the Skills he had and checked over his sheet, making a copy and reducing his list down to the most important Skills for his continued survival.
He ended up with Running, Dodging, Tumbling, Small Blades, Perception, and Stealth. Each of which felt self explanatory to Ambrose as the Skills he had used to survive the few encounters he had had so far. From there he also had a secondary list, First Aid would obviously help patch himself up, but it also gave a better understanding of injuries, which Ambrose surmised would assist in learning how effective his attacks were, overall boosting his Small Blades Skill. Assessing would also help with this goal, but with higher levels he would also hopefully gain more and better quality information, stopping him from getting into fights he couldn’t handle, like the one against the Dungeonese Sheep. Pain Resistance had started on his primary list, but as he couldn’t see a way to train the Skill without walking around bloody and bruised, it was downgraded to his secondary list as a reminder to come back to it. Observation was his most direct usage of Perception, using it would train both Skills at once. Lastly for his secondary focus list was actually his Jumping Skill, it didn’t provide anything to his Dodge Ability, but the Jump action allowed you to get out of the way of things before they got there, which while almost matching the description of dodging something, was apparently an entirely different thing, and seeing as Ambrose wasn't interested in being killed again any time soon, thought it might be worthwhile and easier to train that Dodging.
Ambrose used the system to create a list containing his current choices, leaving it as a constant reminder of what he needed to focus on for his continued survival.
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USER CREATED NOTE
Primary Skills to train:
Dodging
Perception
Running
Small Blades
Stealth
Tumbling
Secondary Skills to train:
Assessing
First Aid
Jumping
Observation
Pain Resistance
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With somewhat of a plan set out, Ambrose closed his eyes once more, and began to listen. Perception consisted of the five different primary senses; if he wanted to grow the skill as quickly as possible, he would need to focus on each of the senses separately to try and enhance them. Improving his use of sight and sound seemed like not only the easiest method, but also the most useful for survival, though he had plans to test out each as well of the five, and even some of the other, lesser known senses that the Skill hadn't given specialised Abilities for, like proprioception, the sense of self or equilibrioception the sense of balance, though wasn't entirely sure how to just yet.
Using only his sense of sound and spatial awareness, Ambrose began to use his Derive Conclusion Abilities to figure out what was happening in and around the tavern as the small town began to wake in the pre dawn light.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
He could hear birds, chirping all around, but a larger grouping was focused in the direction of the docks and the fishermen. Ambrose concluded that this was because the birds would be attempting to steal from the fishermen.
The occasional clanking of metal on metal and other banging from downstairs indicated that he was not the first up, and that someone was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast and likely cleaning out a barrel for the use of meat storage. The fact that he could also hear the occasional footstep suggested that it was the heavier and louder Jobe, rather than the light footed Mariella or Luce.
With these two things set in his mind, and not hearing anything further that he could turn a provable conclusion, Ambrose got out of bed and began to head downstairs, before stopping and realising that even this was an opportunity to grow.
Dropping his stance and quieting his breathing, Ambrose began his operation. First he tied his rope to his bag and quietly lowered it out the window. Then he flicked through his memory of last night, he couldn’t remember the door creaking as it opened but decided to take it slow anyway, and beginning to create a second list with the system, this time he was creating a list of items he could use to improve his use of his Skills, in this case, slippers or soft bottom shoes and oil would both reduce the amount of noise he would make on his journey down the stairs.
First he peeked out the door, it was clear one way but unable to peek out the other, Ambrose added a small mirror to his list. Not hearing any movement upstairs, he slipped open the door as little as needed, and pushed his body out.
Now in the hall he continued his path, running his hands along the wall to see if any information could be gained from it. There wasn’t, the wall simply felt like wall. Continuing his way down towards the stairs, he stopped at the top of them and took the time to pause with each step, looking over the stair and comparing it to the ones next to it, trying to see if one of the boards was out of place, or any other signs that it may betray him. Not seeing anything, Ambrose took step after step, sticking to the side closest to the wall, stepping only on the nails.
Making it to the bottom with nary a squeak, Ambrose approached the hardest section. It was important to confirm with his own eyes the conclusion he had made just before, to either increase his gains, or correct himself to improve later on, but getting into the kitchen was certainly creating an unnecessary risk of being spotted.
Slowly creeping towards the kitchen, Ambrose peaked around the corner directly at Jobe, at the same time as Jobe looked out the doorway and then looked at him.
The man was preparing something out of sight and offered Ambrose a contemplative look.
“Good morning Ambrose, are you trying to sneak up on me. You have met Luce right?”
“Hey, a guy has got to raise his Skills somehow. I’m going out to get a run in, oh god I am becoming one of those people. Ew. Anyway, I will be back in time for breakfast.”
Jobe rolled his eyes at the Outworlder, who just strolled out of the tavern, stealth plan blown, at least for now.
Ambrose recovered his bag, realised he had zero use for it, and returned it to his room. No longer burdened by his meagre possessions, he stretched out and started out running. He did a light lap around the inside of the wall, waving to the tired looking Merf when he passed.
He paused to confirm the reason for the cacophany of bird song, which was of course the fishermen. Once he made it back to his starting position he had somewhat learned the path and some of the obstacles that might appear in his way, as well as knowing how long it took. With this information in mind Ambrose took a second lap, this time at a faster jog. When returning to his starting spot Ambrose took a breather and took a small break to practise his Tumbling, focusing on rolling from a standing position and returning to his feet in one smooth motion. Once he had managed to do so successfully, he finished off by taking a couple running leaps, marking his distance in the dirt each time and once he had failed to improve his distance, he took it as a sign to go for another lap, this time at full speed.
When returning this time, Ambrose was gassed, dripping with sweat and in pain, the run around the town taking far longer that his flight from the wolfspider the previous night, he also wasn't as fuelled by adrenaline as there simply wasn't the threat of immanent death driving him. Decided on taking a five minute break to catch his breath before going anywhere, Ambrose sat and stretched out once more, not wanting to stiffen up too much seeing as he had such a large day of hauling Loobin corpses in front of him, not to mention he would still need to find and kill the creatures. Once he had recovered his breath and was all stretched out, it was time to return to the tavern for his complimentary breakfast, a feature Ambrose had negotiated for the previous evening, though seeing as all he had to do was ask nicely, he hadn't gained a Skill for his efforts.
The small family of three and their guest sat down and enjoyed a basic meal of fresh bread baked by Jobe, and fruit. During the meal, Ambrose took his time, chewing each bite thoroughly to savour the flavour attempting to grow his perception, though he didn’t seem to be having much luck with the simplicity of the meal, perhaps tonight he would be able to gain something through the use of his Deconstruct Recipe Ability if he managed to work out what went into the evenings stew.
As Ambrose chewed away, the group enjoyed a pleasant chat, mostly around educating Ambrose about various bits and pieces of information, including towns folk, world history, events, and more, which Ambrose would then respond with interesting and mystical sounding information from his world, like the internet, and anime.
With breakfast well and truly done by the time the conversation had dried up, it was time for Ambrose to return to the dungeon to make good on his half of the bargain. Mariella had prepared a different bag for Ambrose to use, which was essentially a padded wooden plank that he could tie a body to, to haul back to town. She had also prepared several other bits and pieces, seeing as Ambrose was to stick around for the time being.
Ambrose waited for a moment alone and grabbed Prism out of his main bag, shoving the orb into the small pouch he had been given to hold his bandages, water pouch, and the snacks Mariella had snuck in.
Ambrose surveyed the dungeon, Prism now floating by his side. They had already confirmed that Ambrose was allowed to bring out the corpses of creatures, something that he hadn’t been sure about after the reaction of the Wolfspider the previous evening. Prism had asked that any of the unusable matter was returned to the dungeon if possible, as the reabsorption took far less time when direct access was available, otherwise it would take days up to weeks to do so even just outside the dungeon, and that was after the matter had broken down.
Ambrose still didn’t want to risk using the lower level Loobins, knowing that if the usable parts of them weren’t consumed or made use of, that he would be breaking a rule, something he would likely find out at some completely random time. Fortunately Ambrose knew the basic wandering groups he had found on the outskirts were not the only option, and he began seeking out a group of the more advanced ones, hoping that the higher intellect he believed the first group he had encountered was in fact due to a higher level, and not that the Loobins had just stumbled into some old adventurer camp and were just the same dumb creatures.
He had seen what appeared like camps in the area surrounding the fort on his way past it, but hadn’t seen what inhabited them. Having no better option, Ambrose began the trek down the valley, having to avoid a sheep on the way, but not encountering any resistance going down.
Ambrose was correct, the small camp was indeed filled with Loobins.
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Loobin (Dungeon), Greater Level
One of several ‘prey’ creatures within the dungeon, ‘The Gaol of Neterin’, they use their long prehensile tongues to gather nutrients from the earth, or the bone marrow from bones left behind by other creatures.
* Strength of Body: Approximate
* Speed of Body: Approximate
* Strength of Mind: Approximate
* Speed of Mind: Lower
* Strength of Soul: Lower
* Speed of Soul: Lower
Weaknesses: Core at the centre of their bodies.
Strengths: Tongue.
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The Attribute’s were far higher than before, and the level to go with it. Happy that he was correct in his conclusion, and happier that selling some meat wouldn't count as risking his life just yet. Ignoring the fact that gathering the meat was risking his life, and with his Assess information out of the way, Ambrose began to watch the camp.