A few hours earlier…
Issac's eyes snapped open as he breathed in a ragged breath of air for the second time in as many days. He had died again. He rolled over and curled up and rolled over into the fetal position. Then, the notifications came up.
He wanted to cry, to scream. At first, he was excited by the system, but then his leg was shattered by a hippo, he bled out in the snow, and then he came back—he actually came back. He didn't know what to believe. Then Gareth had taken them out again. That thing, that Kahn guy, had been terrifying. He had lost an arm, and then he was burned by that green fir,e unable to do anything against it, and then the sword had … Issac shook himself. He didn't want to think about it, ever.
"Hey, Issac."
He felt his brother's hand on his shoulder and jerked away.
"Don't touch me," he said, flinching away from Gareth's hand. "I told you I didn't want to go out again, but I… I trusted you. You said I would be fine."
"Hey buddy, it's okay. Look, I died too." Gareth tried to placate him, but it just made things worse.
"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Issac asked. "The fact that you and I died is supposed to make me feel better?!"
"If that makes you upset, you might not want to know how it ended." Tom's voice sent chills down his back as he looked up at Tom.
"What happened?" Issac asked.
"Luke and Travis were the only survivors. They managed to escape and gathered you guys up and marched back here. It's about lunch now."
Issac stumbled to his feet, finding utter shock. They needed to bring their bodies back to Tom. Otherwise, they wouldn't have come back. If Luke and Travis had not, then he might have. Issac felt his stomach churn before he threw up on the floor. He tasted nothing but bile as he heaved onto the floor.
"I'm really glad we're doing this outside," Tom said.
"Is Duncan still teaching that crafting class," Issac almost begged.
Tom smiled. "I think you missed the alchemy class. But I think they're working on runes right now."
Issac nodded and walked away from Gareth. He didn't want to deal with monsters, his brother, or anything crazy right now. He wanted to just not think about any of it.
He got to Duncan's workshop quickly enough. When he arrived, Duncan had just started going over runes.
"Runes are one of two languages of magic. They are three-dimensional shapes that command the mana going through them to change its nature. Or, in simple terms, this is the magic equivalent of C#. so if you're a programmer, you might find your calling in this."
Issac slipped in and sat down, listening intently as Duncan explained how runes worked, how to link them up, and why if they didn't create the runes exactly right, then the rune would explode. Or worse, improper runes could potentially do anything. Duncan's example was when Tom accidentally created a portal to a realm of Eldritch Demons.
Then Duncan gave them all their tasks. They were all given a bit of wood and ordered to sharpen it like the project they had done earlier in the day. Only this time, they were going to add runes to the spears. Duncan also warned them they were going to mess up a lot, so they needed to wear safety gear.
Issac was barely listening at that point; he was already carving the rune to sharpen it into his spear.
CRACK
"GAH!" Isaac screamed as he was pelted with splinters as the spear in his hand exploded.
DING!!!
You have Acquired the Skill: [Runes] - Uncommon
[Runes]: You have a basic understanding of how to put Runes together to achieve magical effects. +1% to accuracy when creating Runes per skill level. +2% to Rune comprehension per skill level
DING!!!
You have Acquired the Skill: [Carpentry] - Common
[Carpentry]: You have started down the path of transforming wood into tools, Furniture, structures, items, weapons, and armour. +1.25% to your Crafting Mastery when working with Wood.
"Right here is a great example of a failed rune," Duncan said, coming over and healing his hands.
Issac cursed as Duncan ruthlessly removed the splinters from his now-healing hands.
"Now, if you want to learn about runes, I'm sorry to say you are going to be dealing with a lot of this shit. Make sure your proportions, including depth, are correct. Especially depth, that's where you're going to be making the majority of mistakes."
Duncan finished healing Issac's hands as if nothing had happened. Issac grabbed a new spear and looked down at the unblemished wooden spear in his hands. How could he improve? Suddenly, he realized that he had not assigned his stat points from his first six levels or his two new levels.
He opened his status and remembered why he hadn't put points into anything. He didn't even know where to start. He sat there for a long while as he considered the issue. The problem was he didn't know what each stat was actually doing, not fully, at least, and he didn't know what would be helpful. Of course, he didn't even know what to do with his life, so that just pushed the issue even further back.
"Having some trouble?" Duncan's voice cut through his introspection.
Issac looked up to find the big blond man standing over him.
"Um, yeah. I'm trying to figure out where to put my, um, stat points." Issac admitted sheepishly.
"Well, if you want, I can help; I do know a thing or two," Duncan said as he sat down next to him. What seems to be the problem?"
Issac sighed. "I don't know what each of the stats do, and I'm not sure where to place them."
Duncan nodded sagely as he stroked the hair on his chin. It would be hard to call that a beard.
"One moment," he said, returning to the front of the classroom … 'workshop' Isaac internally corrected.
"Alright, everyone. I'm sorry. Can we take a quick break? Now, someone just asked an excellent question that I feel I should share the answer to with all of you."
That got everyone's attention, having them all turn to look up at him.
"I am now going to explain to you what each attribute does. Don't worry about taking notes; the entire session is being recorded and will be on the YouTube channel later," Duncan announced before launching into a full-on explanation.
"Strength is pretty self-explanatory. You get stronger. For combat, Strength is almost always better than agility. Strength gives you five points of stamina per point, so you last longer. Your DPS or Damage per second is also higher with a strength build than with an agility build. Since you're all crafters, I'm warning you now. Strength is needed for a lot of different crafting, so you're all probably going to end up with strength builds. I myself have a strength build." Duncan explained as he gave a mock flex of his arms.
"Agility is all about how fast you can physically move, as well as improving your fast twitch muscles. In particular, for those of you wanting to be fighters, there's something you need to know. Strength is generally more useful than agility for a direct fight, as it directly scales your damage up. In an actual fight, strength mains do more damage than agility mains. There are exceptions, of course, such as the affliction skirmisher builds. These guys utilize poison, curses, and even diseased weapons. Their objective isn't to score a good hit; it's to score any hit because every time they hit you, you get more poisoned, more cursed, and more whatever. These fighters start off weak but get deadlier the longer a fight goes on. If you are unwilling to use a poisoned weapon, don't use an agility build. Furthermore, as a crafter, agility is basically worthless unless you're dodging an explosion you created."
That got some chuckles, and Duncan flashed a smile at them before moving on.
"This brings me to our next stat: Dexterity is all about hand-eye coordination and accuracy. It's the stat that is more useful when accuracy is important. It is the stat that craftsmen, archers, and any class where you're more focused on where you hit than how much you hit. So not affliction skirmishers," Duncan explained.
Issac grabbed a notepad and started taking notes, but he wasn't the only one. Honestly, Isaac was pretty sure he could sell this information to people if money was worth anything at the moment. Then again, Duncan said it would all be on YouTube later; maybe other beta-testers were doing info dumps online?
"Constitution and Endurance are a little weird, so I'm going to talk about them together. Endurance makes your body tougher, so you take less damage, but Constitution gives you more HP, so you can take more damage without dying. The exact numbers are ten hp for one point of constitution and five points for endurance. Also, constitution and endurance boost your stamina regeneration, but only constitution affects health regeneration. For the solo warriors in the group, you want endurance, especially if you don't have easy access to healing. If you have a healer with you or some self-healing skills, you definitely want a constitution built. That being said, as humans, you don't care about either of these stats unless you're a tank, as our racial stats give us plenty of both," Duncan said. He was talking a little quicker now as he moved down the long list.
"Perception increases your cognitive speed. It improves all five of your senses and your ability to interpret those senses in a useful way.
Intelligence increases your mana pool by twenty points for every point you have. It also improves your memory and allows you to work on logic problems according to the flavour text. That last part supposedly helps with math. I don't know for sure, but in my defence, up until a week ago, this was a video game."
There were some chuckles at that, but Duncan kept talking.
"Will is the stat you use to manipulate your mana, health, and even stamina. It also increases your mana regeneration. Now, let it be clear: until you put points into Will, you cannot cast spells. Now don't worry if you ignore the stat; you will get +10 for all stats at level 10." Duncan said pointedly.
Duncan looked like he was about to run out of breath, but he kept talking anyway.
"Spirit increases all resource regeneration, health mana, and stamina. It also grants a bit of magic resistance in the same way endurance helps with reducing physical damage. It's an excellent choice for endurance builds.
Next up is the EGO stat. It helps with pain tolerance, mental fortitude against mental attacks, and aura skills. It is good for tanks. It does other things, too, but unless you want to be a [Mind Mage], it won't ever come up. And once again, you're human, and you get Ego at every level.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Charisma is the Casanova stat: It makes you more attractive, but be warned: It also makes you more fertile, so if you're taking charisma to sleep around, wear protection unless you want to be a parent." Duncan took a deep breath as he stopped talking, holding up a finger in the universal wait gesture.
"Finally, LUCK, luck works in two ways. The first is that it affects any randomized system function that is targeted at you and uses your luck stat to add a bonus in your favor. It's a bit useful, but it almost never comes up. The second is from the flavour text. It affects your subconscious mind, your instincts if you would. Basically, any skill with the word sense in it works off luck. The best example is the skill [Danger Sense]. That skill works like spidey sense, letting you detect danger before it happens. The higher the luck, the earlier your spidey sense goes off."
That earned him a few chuckles. And Duncan took a moment to catch his breath.
"Now, then, I hope that information was valuable. Please share it around," Duncan said. "Do you have any last questions?"
"Yeah, why do you guys keep telling everyone to assign your points in groups of 4, 3, 3, 2, and 2 every level to the same stats?" someone asked.
"Two reasons. First off, we get a level bonus every ten levels, so by the time we reach level 100, which is the cap, you will all have at least a 1000 in every stat, even if you don't assign a single stat point. That being said, we ask you to assign your points like this for two reasons. The first is that when you reach level 100, you'll end up with 400, 300, 300, 200, and 200 in your five main stats. The second reason for that is if you end up putting too many points into one stat without balancing it out, you will hurt yourself. For instance, if you put all your points into strength and nothing into endurance, then you're going to break your arm the next time you throw a punch."
Some people blanched at the realization.
"We tell you guys to use those groupings because it allows you to sidestep that problem, and if you just put points into whatever you think is useful at the moment, then you're going to end up with maybe 1100 points in every stat and specialize in nothing. At that point, you will need to sunder your entire build and start again. So better to get it right the first time."
Issac nodded along as he opened his status and immediately started to assign his stat points. Four into Dexterity, three into Strength and intelligence, and two into Perception and Will. He didn't want to go out anymore. He decided he was going to be a crafter. Maybe he would change his mind later, but right now, he wanted to be away from the monsters. He also put his three new levels into his [Student] class. He still had that free perk from his title and another perk from hitting level 3 in [Student], so he looked over the potential options. He ended up picking [Eye for Treasure] and [Metalwork].
DING!!!
You have Acquired the Skill: [Eye for Treasure] - Rare
[Eye for Treasure]: You can read the status of items and, to a lesser extent, people. +3% increase in the amount of information you can gain from items, weapons, and armour. +0.25% to the amount of information you can gain from people.
DING!!!
You have Acquired the Skill: [Metalwork] - Common
[Metalwork]: You have started down the path of transmuting clumps of rock in the ground into metal. Congratulations on taking the first step on the path of the Smith. +1.25% to your Blacksmithing Mastery when working with Metal
He really enjoyed the smithing classes, and it was his highest skill. [Eye for treasure], on the other hand, allowed him to read the status of the stuff he built.
The difference was immediate. His muscles bulged, his joints felt like they had been lubricated with silk, and his body felt, honestly, denser and more solid. He even felt a little smarter. He looked up at the example of the sharp rune and then back at the spear in his hand.
He had to cringe at his previous attempt; it was clumsy and poor. This time, he was much more careful in his approach. His perception had even increased to ten, allowing him to get a much better idea of what he was doing, carefully carving out the rune.
He kept referencing what Duncan had written on the chalkboard. The sharp rune was two wide, three high, and one deep. The actual rune itself looked like an upside-down and reversed seven with a little alteration on the end. ㄙ
He moved more carefully, slowing down as he carved the sharp rune.
<[Runes] has Reached Level 2>
<[Runes] has Reached Level 3>
<...>
<[Runes] has Reached Level 7>
<[Carpentry] has Reached Level 2>
<[Carpentry] has Reached Level 3>
<[Carpentry] has Reached Level 4>
DING!!!
You have Acquired the Skill: [Crafting] - Common
[Crafting]: Many great craftsmen can create wonders in their field. However, few craftsmen can touch upon dozens of disciplines to create something greater than the sum of its parts—+1.25 % to your Crafting Mastery when working with multiple crafting skills.
Issac pulled back, looking down at the wooden spear in his hand.
Runic Wooden Spear
Durability 20/20
Quality: Uncommon
Rune: Sharp
Material: Wood
His mind turned to armour, or the lack thereof. Most of the stuff people were wearing was the chainmail the larpers had brought back from the orcs. Besides that, most people wore little more than their regular clothes. Didn't they have all that old football gear down in the basement…? The second basement.
Issac got up and moved out of the workshop. He clambered downstairs to the basement. One part of the basement was walled off, and people were unloading meat into it. But they seemed distracted by something. Something about a fight? Issac didn't know, and he didn't want to know about people getting into fights.
Instead, he moved over to the piles of supplies. He found animal hides; he would grab some of those for the leather. He also found a few metal ingots and even the sports gear he was looking for. He ended up having to grab a cart to transport it all.
He ended up with more leather than he could use and a dozen sets of football armour. At first, he considered heading back to the workshop, but he didn't really want to share any of his gear yet. Then he remembered that they had a foundry that no one was currently using.
Pushing his stuff down the hall, he moved into the old metal shop. There was a sign on the door that said, 'Do not Enter.' He ignored that as he pushed into the room. He was temporarily struck speechless by what he found inside. The entire place looked like it belonged in a volcano. He placed his supplies in one corner before returning to the workshop. He had a few more questions he wanted to ask before he got started.
They were still working on Runes when he returned.
"Hey, Duncan, can I ask you some questions?" Issac asked as he pulled out a notepad.
"You just did." Duncan chuckled at his own joke. "But sure, what do you need?"
"First off, something has been bugging me: Why are all of the Orc armour made out of steel or iron, but their weapons are made out of that cream metal?"
"Ah, that's a good question. First off, the cream metal is called moonstone. To answer your question, it all comes down to magic conductivity. With a moonstone sword, I can layer on fire magic, and I would have a fire sword, but with iron, it's different; iron drinks mana like a man drinks water in the desert, and on top of that, the metal itself resists magical effects so it's a great counter for mages. So, sticking with my fire sword example, I'd lose at least 80% of the mana I put into it depending on the purity."
"So we can't use iron?" Issac asked, disappointed.
"Of course not. Remember, we can make armour out of iron and steel, and if we had some galvorn and deuterium, we could make high steel, which is even tougher. Throw some runes on it, and you've got yourself a suit of armour that grants magic resistance.
"Really, wait, hold a second. How would adding runes change things?" Issac asked.
"Well, you see, runes work on ambient mana. Unless you plug in a power source, the runes will be running on whatever ambient mana is in the area. This works best for arms or armour because then you're moving around a bunch and moving the item through environmental mana," Duncan explained. "Are you interested in runes? Or smithing?"
"What, oh yeah. I … I want to try and make armour." Issac admitted.
"Well, let me show you something," Duncan said.
He pulled out a piece of leather and carved a few runes into them.
"This one is a rune of durability, a body rune, a blood rune, an attack rune, and these connecting runes. If you combine them like this," Duncan said. Duncan connected the three runes with lines of tiny runes. The tiny runes had nine different runes that repeated over and over again.
Then his [Eye for Treasure] lit up.
Runic Leather Scrap
Durability 5/5
Quality: Inferior
Runes: Protection Ⅰ, Self Repair Ⅰ, Unbreaking Ⅰ, Thorns Ⅰ
Material: leather
<[Eye for Treasure] has Reached Level 2>
"Wow," Issac breathed out, stunned.
"Yeah, now this is just a piece of leather. In actual armour, you need to balance the runes. Then, of course, if you want to get higher quality effects, then you either need to repeat the same rune or make one rune really big." Duncan explained. Then he paused for a second. "Also, one important thing is don't try to flip or reverse a rune. That will change its effect or even reverse the rune's effect. For instance, if I flip the armour rune around, then this would be a rune of brittleness. Of course, if you combined the brittleness of the rune with the attack rune, you would end up with something like a rust enchantment. The moral of the story is that runes require a lot of experimentation. Just remember, we're not doing any proper crafting until you guys at least get to level 20 in your crafting skills. Until then, I just want you guys to follow my instructions and get skill levels.
<[Runes] has Reached Level 8>
<[Runes] has Reached Level 9>
<...>
<[Runes] has Reached Level 11>
Then Duncan looked at his phone.
"Um, class, I'm sorry to say something has come up. I will be back shortly," Duncan announced.
Issac barely heard the last part as he raced back to the foundry to begin crafting his first suit of armour.
You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Issac Brown
Race: Human
Type: Humanoid
LVL: 9
SubRace: Canadian
Age 15
Health: 280
Stamina: 455
Mana: 420
Health Regen: 3.5 per hour
Stamina Regen: 4.9 per min
Mana Regen: 2.8 per min
Titles: Awoken Myths
Immune
N/A
Resistances
N/A
Weakness
N/A
Bane
Manslayer
Classes: Warrior 1, Squire 1, Apprentice 1, Trainee 1, Pupile 1, Devotee 1, Student 1
Total
STR: 21
AGIL: 0
DEX: 28
CON: 21
END: 14
PER: 14
INT: 21
WILL: 14
SPIRIT: 14
EGO: 7
CHA: 0
LCK: 0
Base
STR: 21
AGIL: 0
DEX: 28
CON: 21
END: 14
PER: 14
INT: 21
WILL: 14
SPIRIT: 14
EGO: 7
CHA: 0 +10%
LCK: 0
Personal: +4 DEX +3 STR +3 INT +2 PER +2 WILL
Racial: +3 CON +2 END +2 SPIRIT +1 EGO
Skill Slots: 16/60: Skill Points: 0
Personal Skills
* [Pursuit Hunter] - Level 3
* [Storyteller] - Level N/A
* [Storage] - Level 2
* [Meditation] - Level 1
* [Runes] - Level 1 >> Level 11
* [Carpentry] - Level 1 >> Level 4
* [Crafting] - Level 1
* [Leatherworking] - Level 4
Warrior 1/6
* [Power Strike] - Level 4
Squire 1/6
* [Aura of Cleanliness] - Level 2
Apprentice 1/6
* [Magic Missile] - Level 1
Trainee 1/6
* [Dash] - Level 1
Pupile 1/6
* [Subterfuge] - Level 1
Devotee 1/6
* [Healing Hands] - Level 1
Student 2/6
* [Eye for Treasure] - Level 1 >> Level 2
* [Metalworking] - Level 1