*thoughts*
~effects~
+++++
Chapter 04: Gaining a new Skill
*So, now it’s time to try if my plan works out, I hope it does.*
With that in mind he sat in a quiet corner, so that no one would disturb him. Neuron knew that no other player would be in this city, Kyle’s brother was probably hunting/questing with his party, and Kyle was busy beating scarecrows. But it never hurts to be on the save side, and the corner was quiet comfy.
Neuron has remembered a book he read some time ago, where if you “believe” hard enough that two things are connected, they become connected. It helped, if the objects are actually quite identical, like two bronze coins or two arrows. If you have established that connection you can move one if you move the other, like they are tied by an invisible thread.
Now the “instructor” came in, because he had work to do in his smithy he came rather late, as soon as he entered he looked around to see if the freedman is diligently training, but he couldn`t see him anywhere, and thus went inside his office.
After half an hour of fruitless concentration Neuron shot some arrows, to relieve him of the boredom he faced while concentrating and of the doubts he had, because nothing happened.
When the “instructor” heard the sound of bows, he put his head out seeing the boy training. While returning to his office he thought
*Maybe that boy isn`t so bad after all*
He even began to hope, if only a little, but the spark was there, that he is going to complete the beginner training
Neuron then sad down pulled out a barley bread and chewed on it.
*It’s like eating gesso, but at least it refills my satiety*
But he soon got enough of it and put half of the bread back in his inventory. A good thing about this bread, at least in game was, that it could be stored like forever, even if the crust is broken and the interior is connected to the outside it’s possible to store it for over a month. Thus making it the ideal food for beginners
After his one shooting session, he went back to do the concentration thingy
*I`m doing this only half an hour more, if no skill is generated after that, I`ll quit*
After half an hour
*just a little bit more, come on A.I. gimme something*
But he soon began to nod off, because concentration is hard to maintain, and it tires the mind out quickly, but Neuron was soon woken up by a system message:
* Through your special actions a skill has been generated
As soon as he read the message he became exited
*what could it be?*
“Open skill window, new skill”
* Mana connection: Beginner1
You are able to connect yourself and something you touch
The connection will be invisible until you specify the property
Possible property 1:
You may choose a Property
*Sweet, well what property should I choose, hmmmmm*
He pondered for a while till a smile appeared on his face
“Thread”
* Thread has been added to the list
* Mana conection Beginner Lv1
You are able to connect yourself to everything you touch
The connection will be invisible until you specify the property
Possible properties: 1
Attention
everything can only be connected in a straight line,
If something is in between, the manifested connection will go right
through it and possibly become stuck
PropertyMana CostThread100 per meter
*What? 100 Mana!? That’s all I have right now!”
After feeling depressed for a while he remembered, that he could level the skill, and thus decreasing the needed Mana.
So he took a pebble, thought of him being connected to it, now it was a lot easier to believe, because he had the skill as amplifier.
Then he pictured in his mind, that the connection became a thread, and suddenly a blue thread, the color of his Mana appeared.
Neuron let it hang down, and it stopped right over the ground, because his Mana ran dry.
[i]*I have to level up the skill, or my Mana, it will be a long time till I can use it*
At this moment he noticed, that the thread came out from his Bellybutton.
*Eh, that’s actually looking gross!*
But because he couldn`t do anything against it, neuron went to pick up his bow, nocked an arrow on the string and shot it.
While repeating that, many times, the pebble was slowly nearing the ground.
Neuron never noticed, but he held the skill active, thus the thread grew longer, although very slowly, because of his Mana regeneration.
Then the next time he went to gather the arrows he got to know the ground in an unfortunate way.
* You fell: -20Hp
While walking, the thread got tangled around his feet, causing Neuron to fall flat on the face.
Because the pain was quite real he remained on the ground, holding his face while groaning and spitting out grass and earth
* Endurance
Reduces physical damage and slightly increases life.
You are prohibited from distributing stat bonus points to this stat.
It rises depending on the players actions
*Okay, I`m not gonna level this up, I`m not some Masochist*
…
*Let me see, how much the skill has leveled up*
* Mana connection: Beginner Lv1 20%
*I`ts growing nicely*
From this point on he never canceled the skill, he let the thread dangle from his side, everyone who saw that looked at him strangely, but Neuron didn`t care, because he now knew that all are NPC`s
Arriving at the Tailor he went right in, they didn`t even exchange a little hello. Their friendship hit rock bottom, when Neuron heard, the tailor laugh while he had one of his fits, and thus, making him dislike the Tailor.
Entering the backroom, he took out the sewing utensils and began to patch up some socks, having fixed 10 socks, when he moved to the pants.
He saw himself ready to try, because of the notice that he leveled up his tailoring skill, and that came with a detailed description of how to patch clothes, apparently first you have to level up through try and error, after you get your reward.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The trousers where to be patched up with scraps of cloth on the part of the knee, and eventually also on the behind, some also had to change the bottoms and 5 also had a zipper that had to be replaced.
*Wow a zipper, this world is actually quiet high tech^^*
But before he could begin, he needed those scraps, so he went out of the room, to ask the Tailor for it. Which gave him a big sack full of scraps
“In there you can find anything you need”
*Oh, great, even more work*
Neuron took the sack, and went back inside; there he sorted the scraps by color and pattern.
Now he was ready to begin sewing.
+++
After two days in game, it was the time his favorite TV- Show is being aired, so he decided to log out, but before that he had to look at his progression.
In those two days he switched between the Quest, and the archery training, but he also did some minor quests, when he became bored of his routine, thus leveling up once.
He invested all 5 points into intelligence, because he wanted to increase his mana to be able to make a longer thread.
He also gained +2 Strength and +3 Dexterity
Repeating the process of switching between the archery and the Tailor 2 days passed. When he felt tired, he slept in the same corner, where he once gained the new skill.
Status WindowNameNeuronLevel2ClassN/AFame0Infamy0TitleN/AHealth122Mana320Strength13Dexterity15Wisdom10Intelligence15Vitality10Luck0Endurance1Base Attack3Defence0Magical ResistanceFire0%Water0%Earth0%Air0%Dark0%Holy0%
* Bow Mastery Beginner Lv2
Increases attack power with Bows (+20 % Attack Damage)
Increases accuracy with Bows (+6 % accuracy)
Raised by Shooting arrows
* Tailoring: Beginner Lv02
* Mana connection Beginner Lv4
You are able to connect yourself to everything you touched
The connection will be invisible until you specify the property
Possible properties: 1
Attention
everything can only be connected in a straight line,
If something is in between, the manifested connection will go right
through it and possibly become stuck
PropertyMana CostThread60 per meter
* You are now able to disconnect/connect the thread from your body
His mana connection had increased the most, because he kept it active the whole time.
*yes now I can finally use the skill, for the purpose it was created
Neuron positioned himself in front of the nearest target, readied his bow and let the arrow loose, which hit quiete near the center, but now that was nothing to be impressed, because the target was only 5m away. Now neuron activated Mana thread and began trying to pull out the arrow but the arrow didn`t move an inch the whole target did, and soon falling to the ground, breaking the arrow when it landed.
Because the target wasn`t made for this purpose. While pulling out an arrow you have to place the other hand on the target that is normally made out of straw, that was formed into a compressed rope, and then rolled up, to form a big circle, this circle is then of course fastened, so that it can’t unroll itself, and then placed on a easel.
*There goes my hope, maybe if i…..
But he couldn`t come up with an idea, and thus shrugged it off while thinking
*Well it wouldn`t be practical either, me having to put down the bow each time I have to pull out the arrow*
Before he logged out he sent Kyle a whisper,
“I`m gonna log off, I`ll be back on in about 4hours game time”
They promised each other to tell when they`ll log off, and when they`ll come online the next time, because knowing that they were the only players in the town, gave them a feeling of loneliness. Kyle’s brother was adventuring with his party, and thus not planning to come back in the near future.
Neuron and Kyle were like every Noob, so they couldn`t differentiate between a player and an NPC, but just by knowing, that each and every Person they talk to is an NPC depressed them.
“Alright, but wait a moment, I have news”
“What” Neuron asked quite curious?
“Well I sent my brother a message, what you’re doing for the moment, and finally he replied...”
Kyle paused a moment to get the courage to tell Neuron the rather bad news
“Aaaand, come on tell already!”
“Well he said, that normally you have to sew just some bottoms on to get the tailoring skill”
“What!!”
But Kyle couldn`t hear him anymore because he deactivated the whisper. He knew quite well, what would come now, he shook his head and continued pummeling down at the scarecrow
“Is that true, Is that true!!?” He asked, but no one would answer.
Neuron went in a back alley and finally left his anger out
“What the f..k is going on, oh I`m so gonna, grrr. Rrrrrrah…”
If someone was to turn in this alley, he wouldn`t have understood a single word, but nonetheless he would have sped up, or made a detour, because the meaning was quite clear, this guy was pissed. Actually so pissed, that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he`d begin to spit venom
Well this reaction was quite understandable, for him at least.
He just heard that he had to only sew on bottoms, which he had done in abundance the last 2 days. Actually he patched/repaired all socks totaling to 63, he also fixed 20 trousers, and 15 shirts.
Neuron soon exited rage mode, and began thinking, how to get back at the tailor.
But before that came the TV!
End of chapter 04
https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/0756404746
This is the book, from where I derivated the skill, I read it some time ago, so the description isn`t clear. If anyone has gotten interested in this book, please read it, I think, that it is worth it^^