Chapter 9: Walking Before Running
Enon: I'm going to give you a list of materials to gather for a bomb. You must gather them around the mountain. Your time limit is two days.
Schmorge: Charcoal, niter/saltpeter, and sulfur?
Enon: I haven't even given you the list yet.
Schmorge: Those are ingredients for black powder where I'm from, and was curious if the list is the same.
Enon: No. It's not.
Schmorge: Ah. So much to learn.
Enon: Like I said before. Not those bombs. But these bombs.
Enon points to the wide variety of bombs on the shelves outside his hut. Schmorge follows his finger and looks at the bombs on the shelves.
Enon: Are you ready for the list?
Schmorge: Never felt more ready in my life.
Enon: I need six hundred Moonfly flowers, nine hundred graphite stones, four hundred limestone rocks, three hundred planks of fir, and fifty fire stones.
Schmorge: Fire stones?
Enon: They are all around the mountain, so go looking!
Schmorge takes a big sigh and starts to pick unique looking flowers. He shoves them quickly into his inventory to inspect each flower and their properties. The flowers that he picked up are Yellowroot, Durbock Root, Exetit, and he even picked up broccoli.
Schmorge: Oh, I'll eat that later.
He checks the crafting menu for any new crafting recipes. Schmorge walks further away from the hut up the mountain, gathering all sorts of flowers of different varieties. This time he picked up a Red Roxy Flower, a Vixen Flower, a Love Passion Fruit, an Oak stick, a Birch stick, and a Brownfly Flower. He continues to pick random flowers and sticks off the ground. He wonders why there are so many random things on a mountain. The next batch of things are a pineapple, a coconut, parts of graphite rocks, fox fur, Nizs Flower, and a daisy. Schmorge stops and gathers more graphite rocks realizing there are some bunched up in one area. He has six graphite rocks in total. Also realizing there's a predator nearby since there is some fox fur on the ground, Schmorge starts looking for a large stick, a vine, and a rock to make a makeshift weapon of some kind.
The system displayed a message on Schmorge's interface,
"You have obtained a crafting recipe: Crude Spear."
Schmorge: Not what I was looking for but I'll take it.
He scavenges for more rocks to create an ax head. As he picks up random materials off the ground, the system allowed him to create more recipes out of thin air.
"You have obtained a crafting recipe: Crude Axe."
Schmorge uses the stick from the crude spear recipe and the two rocks to create the crude axe. He continues looking for stones and the right kind of wood and flowers. Schmorge picks up a few more graphite rocks for a total of fifteen rocks. He stumbles upon a moonfly flower that stinks so bad he crammed it in the inventory as soon as he picked it up. He continues picking things up and crafting whenever it's possible.
...
...
...
Yuki: Are you having fun there?
Taiga: Just wondering... how much more material do I need to read?
Yuki: Why don't you tell me what you have read so far?
Taiga: Well I don't really remember the titles of these books because if I remember, they were pretty dated and had seen better days.
Yuki: Summarize what you read for me, please.
Taiga: So mana is the basis of all types of magic and is what powers all abilities and skills of all classes regardless of if they are a mage or not.
Taiga: Mana runs through the body like electricity through a battery and can replenish over time and varies as a person becomes more experienced with the usage of magic.
Taiga: Magic like a battery can power or enhance a person or their equipment if they have the capacity and control to do so.
Taiga: It can also be used in various methods of attack and defense if the user is knowledgeable in the methods.
Taiga: Magic can also be invoked through chant, glyph/symbols, or voiceless chanting and if I recall correctly, power of the spell might vary between them.
Taiga: Furthermore all three methods do take time to cast and thus can be interrupted if the enemy is either able to disrupt their concentration, mana flow, or consciousness.
Taiga: After that I kinda fell asleep.
Yuki: Hmm. Quite good for someone who had no help. But is it good enough for a student?
Taiga: Probably not so I'll get back to reading.
Yuki: You're such a good student. I really like you now.
Taiga reads some more material and starts spewing out the inner workings between mana, magic, and the different types of mages.
Yuki: Nice job. I think you deserve a passing grade for now. How about we start training before learning how to use the spell?
Taiga: Sure. So what is the first step of training I am learning?
Yuki: Focus all of your mana into your aura.
Taiga: Okay, I'll start focusing my mental power into activating the mana in myself.
Yuki: You cannot be thinking of anything else. Let your mind be free of all distractions.
Yuki: Don't think of love. Don't think of hugs. It has to be completely free even if they are positive thoughts.
Yuki: Now breathe.
Taiga slowly and deeply breathes in and out.
Yuki: That's good. Once you get a hang of it, it will come naturally when the battle commences.
Taiga continues his breathing exercise while Yuki watches over him.
Yuki: Now try to exert some mana into your aura at the same time keeping your breathing tempo controlled.
Taiga breathes in and out and proceed to loosen muscles to allow energy to flow out around him.
Yuki: Don't lose control now! It is very hard to not let it all go.
Taiga tightens his muscles a bit to allow for more controlled exertion of energy.
Yuki: Yes. That's the way. Now, carefully aim at the wooden post in front of you and cast "Fireball".
Taiga aims his hand towards the wooden target and exhales, "Fireball!". The fireball made a loud explosion shaking the ground a bit and kicking dust into Taiga's and Yuki's eyes.
Yuki: What?
Taiga: Huh???
Yuki: What is this?
Taiga: What did I do?
Yuki: This isn't what a normal fireball looks like.
Taiga: Could it be just a random extremity?
Yuki: You're not a normal magician, are you now Taiga?
Taiga: What now?... Should I continue practicing fireball?
Yuki: No. I think I'll teach you a spell that even I cannot handle.
Taiga: Am I ready for that?
Yuki: If you think you are, I won't force your hand to do anything.
Taiga: I'll do it.
Yuki: Are you sure? I don't want to force any bad intentions.
Taiga: I wont fail you.
Yuki: Okay. Wait right here. I'll go get the spell book.
Yuki: I'm back! Did you wait long?
Taiga: Nope.
Yuki: Are you okay? You spaced out for eleven minutes.
Taiga: Sorry. What do I do?
Yuki: Maybe we should stop for now. You seem out of focus.
Taiga: I guess the fireball took a bit more than normal. I guess I'll just rest up.
Yuki: I have a bed inside. You can sleep on it.
Taiga: Thank you. I'll head inside.
Yuki: It's right to your left once you head in.
Taiga: Thank you.
...
...
...
Padoru: It is padoru training hours.
Padoru:
Ariya: Did you ask for a trainer?
Padoru: May I has a trainer
Padoru: I want to become the big strong.
Ariya: Alright, but it will take me a day to find one.
Padoru: okay
Padoru: I hope they are big epic
Sapphire: Everyone out here looking like cautious hero.
Sapphire:
Ariya: Oh, it's Sapphire. How's it going?
Sapphire:
Ariya: I did manage to find a trainer for you, Sapph. Do you want to meet her?
Sapphire:
Ariya: Follow me, Sapphire.
Sapphire:
Padoru:
...
...
...
Soul: Yo Mystava, what's the next closest city?
Mystava: Grimselt.
HL: Where is my class trainer?
Mystava: Huh? Did you ask for one when Soul did?
Mystava: Beyond Grimselt is Durpagne, the capital of Sypathia.
Mystava: If you want me to find a class trainer, it will take me a day to do so.
HL: Ok.
Soul: Yo Mystava, me and HL would like to go hunt some low level shit.
Mystava: Good luck. But don't come crying when you need help.
Soul:
Soul: Aight bet.
Haru: Mystava, can you get me a trainer as well?
Mystava: Sure Haru.
...
...
...
Zen: Hanging with those idiots any longer will delete all my brain cells.
Zen: I need to find a way to get stronger on my own first before we do any fighting with other teams.
Zen walks into a tavern and takes a seat in the corner. He tells the waitress that he's not really ordering anything and she leaves him alone. Zen listens into the conversations that were happening near him.
???: Dude, that one chick knows how to grind.
???: Level grinding? That should be easy.
???: Not that kind of grinding. This kind.
The man in question was motioning hip thrusts into the air.
???: How much is she?
Zen whispers to himself on the situation.
Zen: Prostitutes, I take it.
???: She's basically free, only 10 cuivres per use.
???: Let's go now.
Zen walks out of the tavern and heavily sighs.
Zen: I'm not going to get much information or training in a pub like this.
Zen: I'll head to the training grounds then.
Zen walks onto the training grounds. It is completely barren of people because it is night time. There is just one person on the bench sleeping. Zen slowly walks past him without walking him up. The guy grabs Zen's arm.
Zen: What the fuck?
???: What do you think you're doing?
Zen: I'm just going to train real quick.
???: What class are you?
Zen: Trojan, why?
???: Lucky for you, I'm a master trojan that can train you.
Zen: Train me? You want to train me?
???: Not really, but if you want to get stronger, this is your only chance.
Zen: I'll take it.
???: Follow me.
Zen follows the mysterious man into the cellar. They approached a room with an underground tunnel. Zen followed the man into the dark tunnel.
Zen: Where are you taking me?
???: You don't know by now?
Zen: No?
???: Why don't you take a guess?
Zen: Your house?
???: Try again.
Zen: A different training ground?
???: Last chance.
Zen: Open field?
???: No.
???: We are going to the Underground World.
Schmorge
-------------------
Class: Bombardier
Level: 0
Skills: None
Inventory:
1 Yellowroot Flower
1 Durbock Root
1 Exetit Flower
1 Broccoli
1 Red Roxy Flower
1 Vixen Flower
1 Love Passion Fruit
1 Birch Stick
1 Brownfly Flower
1 Pineapple
1 Coconut
15 Graphite Rocks
1 Fox Fur
1 Nizs Flower
1 Daisy
1 Moonfly Flower
1 Crude Axe
Taiga
-------------------
Class: Magician
Level: 0
Skills: None
Inventory: None
Padoru
-------------------
Class: Elementalist
Level: 0
Skills: None
Inventory: None
Sapphire
-------------------
Class: Paladin
Level: 0
Skills: None
Inventory: None
HL
-------------------
Class: Duelist
Level: 0
Skills: None
Inventory: None
Soul
-------------------
Class: Healer
Level: 1
Skills: None
Inventory:
1 Basic Staff
Haru
-------------------
Class: Rogue
Level: 1
Skills: None
Inventory:
1 Short Sword
2 Goblin Tusks
1 Oak Stick
3 Cuivres
Zen
-------------------
Class: Trojan
Level: 0
Skills: None
Inventory: None