As Noah stood up he realized something was at his feet. Inspecting it, he found a sword and shield that he could take. He smiled lightly at that. He wouldn’t be facing his first enemy with just his hands and feet. Picking up the sword, he found its weight was something he would have difficulty carrying, and while the wooden shield was lighter, He knew that his combination of stats wouldn’t allow him to fight for long. “Damnit let’s go,” he said, moving over to the stone door where it slowly opened. He let both his sword and his shield hang at his sides as he didn’t want to waste energy trying to keep them in a defensive position until he had to.

Looking through the slowly opening door, Noah realized that there was no one in the next room for him to fight… or it was more a corridor that turned to the right after a few meters. “So the enemy doesn’t have line of sight when I leave the safe room. That’s good at least.” The walk towards the next room was a short one, as the path to the next room seemed to entirely be to avoid line of sight from the creature in the next room.

“A goblin. Damnit I’m going to be the person who was almost killed fighting a single goblin.” he complained as the creature had already noticed him. He brought up his shield and advanced into the room, bringing his sword above his head. If Noah remembered right, due to the balance of the blade of standard western swords, they were better at wide and high swings. The goblin almost waddled towards Noah with its hatchet in one hand. The thing was barely a few meters away when it launched with surprising speed at Noah, causing him to raise his shield in panic, and feel the pain as metal and splinters pierced his left arm.

Stepping back, Noah could see the hatchet in the goblin’s hand was dripping blood, as the stinging in his left arm caused the shield to be even harder to lift. “Damnit, the god gave me a shield that can’t even block the first enemy!” He cried as the goblin brought his blade up, only to look at Noah and charge again. Like it was going to lick the blood off the hatchet. Noah barely had tin=me to think about what hatred had done to the goblin's behavior before he barely dodged the next strike. Rolling badly and feeling the pain in his head where a bruise would likely form.

“Gah!” Damnit, the pain was really getting to Noah as he tried to stand back up, only to have the goblin swinging diagonally again. Knowing he couldn’t dodge, he brought his shield up as he tried to jump back, his posture growing wildly unstable as he had barely gotten to his feet before the movement. When he didn’t feel the force of the hatchet he thought he was safe, only for a green hand to grab the shield and force his arm to the side, leaving him defenseless as the hatchet swung down, likely aiming to cut his arm clean off.

In desperation, Noah lunged himself towards the side the goblin was holding him, bringing his sword up to try and desperately parry the hatchet. The harsh metallic sound and lack of force on his sword arm told him that something happened to his sword, and as the hatchet cut a large gash in his right arm, Noah screamed in pain. The sword and shield fell out of his hands as he clutched at the bleeding limb as multiple layers of skin were sheared clean off from the imperfect parry.

Falling to his knees, Noah noticed that what once was a sword was now barely a broken blade on a hilt. Looking back up at the goblin as his left arm left his right arm to grab the poor excuse for a weapon, he found it laughing as it raised its hatchet one last time. The goblin’s laughing face reminded him of that damn god, and his rage spiked. Even with the pain running through his body, he did one last gambit, completely ignoring the goblin’s hatchet, he lunged up, bringing the broken straight sword up to pierce the neck of the goblin.

The goblin’s eyes showed surprise and panic when it realized that its whimpering prey still had fight left in them and caused it to hesitate long enough for the blade to sink into its throat. “Gak!” it tried to cry out, even with its quickly filling windpipe. It batted Noah away. The broken straight sword was still in his hand. With nothing stopping the bleeding now, its neck dribbling blood, it advanced towards Noah, but with its ability to breathe gone from the stabbed neck, it quickly fell, never to get up again.

Seeing the goblin fall, Noah looked at his own body. His arms were bleeding profusely. The pain was dulling his mind, “If I die after defeating this thing” He couldn’t finish his sentence as a wave of light-headedness washed over him. “Damnit, get to safety, then complain about this shitty start.”

Noah woke up, face down in front of the gently crackling fire. Confused at what happened, he got up, looking around to see why he would wake up in this room. He couldn’t remember getting in here, so what brought him back? As his arm raised to rub at his eyes, he noticed something missing. “Wait, where did my injury go?” Immediately moving to inspect the arm that should have had one impressive scab if it didn’t scar, he found that his arm even had the hairs that should have been cut off as well as a few layers of skin… thinking about it, Noah was glad he had autism or he would’ve probably thrown up by now.

Taking a moment to calm down an idea popped into his head. The god might have put a healing effect in the room so his summons couldn’t be foolish and die from one bad mistake “At least one thing to be thankful for” Noah’s vision soon came across the notification at the side of his vision. Recognizing how this would work, he mentally motioned for the notification to appear.

[Congratulations. You have gained power. Power can be used to improve your stats, abilities, applicable bloodlines, and functions you haven't discovered yet.]

Seeing that notification, he smiled. Even if he was put at a disadvantage, his power growth wasn’t limited by anything. Switching to his status screen he found a few new things: First was his new skill: swordsmanship. At least his trivia was rewarded with a skill he could apply. Delving into the specifics. The skill was at the minimum level and didn’t seem to give any reward.

The next thing that caught his eye threw him into thought. His stats and his grand forge ability had an option to improve. His stats could be raised by 3 points for the single power he could spend, or he could gain a weapon slot in grand forge. The fact that his mind bloodline couldn’t be upgraded didn’t faze him. It didn’t seem like something that could improve.

Thinking about what he should choose his mind immediately went to raising his stats. From what he could tell. They were all pitiful except for ego… what the hell did ego even do?

[Ego: the measure of one’s ability to exert their will upon situations. Ego can be applied whenever you are forcing a change upon your surroundings and is vital for many abilities.]

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“Heh, of course, that’s the only good stat. Something that doesn’t even help me!” Noah screamed out, the stress of the fight not going away even after his rest. He looked down at his pathetic form only to realize something, he still held the broken sword in his hand, and there wasn’t any new equipment waiting. “Aaand that chooses my path.” He thought out loud, quickly selecting to get a slot for his ability, finally making it useful. “I at least need a weapon that is useable if I’m going to get out of here.”

His mind immediately noticed the change. He only noticed when it started to leave, but a charge that was running through his body started to surge towards… his stomach? It felt like the area where his stomach should be, but as he felt the essence of what seemed to be “power” a new sensation appeared. The charge fully faded as he realized, he could sense the potential of grand forge, ready to be formed.

Noah knew he only had one thing he could make. The only material was his broken straight sword, and his only skill was his beginner swordsmanship, but with a casual thought, he knew that the grand forge wasn’t a point and click skill. He had to put the effort to form his potential into a weapon. “Ego might have a use for me down here after all.”

Placing the broken remains of the sword in front of him, he willed the seed out of his…. Core? Might as well call it core because thinking about what it should be called will be an annoying and pointless undertaking. He almost facepalmed as the seed had returned to its spot from his distraction, he guided it again, guided along his spine before it reached his shoulders, leading it through the bones of his arms until it was placed on the sword, and the essence showed the equivalent of hunger then. It had its vessel. Now time for the form.

Exerting his will, he thought about what he needed. A fine sword that would be reliable. But like his swordsmanship, would be the key to his potential. He had to close his eyes to keep as much focus as he could, guiding the forming seed into what he wished. And he was glad at that moment his ego didn’t drop. It was almost wriggling around as it tried to form a shape, molding into something easier to handle, but his will was firm, and the continued the process. Pushing his very being into making the sword what he wished.

As he recoiled from the seed as it stopped hungering, his mind felt, weaker. Shaking his head he focused on the thing in front of him. It wasn’t some spectral or intricate weapon, but a sword a little larger than a long dagger in his hand. It felt as balanced in his hands as the sword that broke beforehand, even with the change in length. “I did it,” he said, panting heavily.

That didn’t stop him from diving into his status screen to see what had changed, though it confused him a little.

Noah:

Power: 9

Str: 3

Agi: 3

Con: 2

Int: 4

Wis: 2

Ego: 6

Skills:

Abilities:

Divine forge: create weapons from objects and one's skills, granting innate power from the fusion

-Apprentice’s blade

Power: 2

Bonus stats: STR+1, AGI+1

Hated: Your very presence empowers foes and causes them to lack mercy.

Bloodline:

Unbound mind: Your mind is unshackled by the restraints of normal man. But with such a free mind, there are dangerous paths of thought that can debilitate you.

His stats didn’t add up. His strength and agility should have increased, and his ego dropped. He checked his sword to see if that had any insight.

[Apprentice’s blade

A sword epitomizing one’s path of swordsmanship.

Power: 2

Bonus stats: STR+1, AGI+1

Feed this sword achievements of swordplay to enhance combat ability

Path boon: Sword's resonance with one's swordsmanship increases personal stats. Boost the resonance to enhance the effect.]

Seeing the explanation excited Noah. His weapon gave him free stats! But that meant that his total stat pool had been reduced by 3. Did he need to sacrifice more power to make a weapon? Closing the window, he noticed two more notifications appear.

[Tier 2 seed has been forged into Apprentice’s blade

Material(s): broken sword - no path, no creation bonuses

Skill: swordsmanship (beginner) - path of the blademaster

Result:

-weapon power=2, no special combat abilities, weapon growth through achievement

-path modifiers: Resonance with skill formed.]

[Congratulations on forging your first weapon. Just a little information on Grand forge for you. Every weapon should have a mastery condition that will allow you to enhance its boosts. There is also a path attuned to your weapon. This is a secondary mastery condition that will give you permanent boons instead of boons tied to your weapon.

You can also forge higher-tier weapons by dedicating more power to them, but each tier cost is double the previous tier, and the forging process is considerably harder. Just make sure to level your ego from time to time to keep up with the demands of your weapons.]

Noah felt gripes rising in his mind but he was just glad that he got the incidental rewards of the lucky people instead of being thrown in this cave with no tutorial benefits to speak of. The new sword explained the loss of stats, he had forcefully created a greater weapon than he was supposed to and it had drained his body to accomplish the task. “Seems my ego might just get me out of here.”