“Let me see what skills I can teach you,” Kareem said, as he opened his profile. “Hm, these will do. Alright, let’s get started. Floating Metal Spear allows you to summon a metal projectile that will float around you for a bit, and can be shot at a target,” he explained, activating the skill to show what it looked like.

“That’s pretty interesting. I was expecting a bunch of Bolt type spells,” Frank said, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Oh, there will be plenty of those, I’m just starting with something more fun,” Kareem said with a chuckle. “Um, no sword in your arm?”

“Oh, right. It was becoming less effective so I stopped doing it. But you’re right, I got a reputation to maintain,” Frank replied seriously. He retrieved a sword from his Spatial Ring and stabbed it into his left arm. Might as well put my HP regen to some use.

“And you wanted to call me The Butcher?” Kareem asked, rolling his eyes.

“I’m only hurting myself though. And not really hurting,” Frank replied with a smile.

“Fine. Anyway, the way to cast this spell is to imagine…”

***

Two hours and eleven spells later, Frank was sitting on the ground, admiring his new acquisitions: Floating Metal Spear 1, Stone Shot 1, Crystal Spike 1, Shadow Bolt 1, Poison Bolt 1, Acid Bolt 1, Earth Spear 1, Water Splash 1, Hot Water Pot 1, Water Stream 1, Renew 1.

“A lot of those spells are basically the same, just different magic types,” he finally said.

“If you ask a random person to come up with a spell on the spot, they will probably give you some sort of fireball – a projectile of some sort. Plus, all the cool spells are grid-locked,” Kareem replied. “Still, it’s useful to know them just to counter resistances.”

“Speaking of resistances, I wonder if I can get the people who have these spells to attack me. Free GP and could come in handy, eventually,” Frank mused.

“Maybe. Although I imagine most casters will spend their mana on Magical Crafting to get Settlement Points.”

“Depends on what the Shop has to offer. Anyway, I am ready for the next one.”

“Can we get breakfast first?”

“Don’t you have food in your ring?”

“Come on, Frank. We’ve been at it for two hours. I need a break,” Kareem pleaded. His shoulders slumped when he saw the old man waving him off. “After the break, I’ll teach you a time manipulation spell,” he attempted to bargain.

“Time manipulation? Isn’t that far too powerful for a free to learn spell?”

“It has some significant flaws. But it’s the most unique among the spells you’ll learn,” Kareem explained.

Frank was still considering if he should cave. He’s going to teach me that spell anyway, but pushing too hard is bad politics, he mused. Turning his head toward the sound of approaching footsteps, he found Amy was coming over.

“Hey, I guess you’re still as motivated as you were yesterday, but they are serving breakfast. And Gabriel wanted to ask if we’d be drawing for the mine,” Amy said once she got close.

“Do what now?” Frank asked, unsure of what she was talking about.

Her gaze shifted between Frank and Kareem before she let out an over-exaggerated sigh. “You haven’t even seen the Notice Board messages, have you?” She could only shake her head at their confusion. “There should be a blinking panel on your left, next to the chat panel. We also have a Settlement Chat now, in case you somehow missed that too.”

Frank ignored her remark, pretending like he hadn’t in fact missed the City Chat feature yesterday. He focused on a blinking panel in his view, causing a large panel to pop up.

[Morning folks, this is Thomas. Apparently, this Notice Board is a thing, and we’ll be using it to keep everyone up to date. I’ve also got a couple of announcements. 1) Daily SP tax had been set to 0.5 SP. You can obtain SP by converting items using the Warehouse (store->convert to SP). 2) An option to sell your items to the Settlement has been enabled (store -> sell to Settlement, the SP value is the same as converting). The Settlement needs wood and food. 3) If you have any resources you wish to convert to SP, be it junk equipment, raw materials, crystals, etc. Consider getting them modified via Magical Crafting first, as doing so adds to the value. Steve will go into more detail on this. 4) We’ve decided that some opportunities will be decided by a draw, right now there’s only one such opportunity – mining ore in the mine by the goblin base. See Jordan's message for more details. 5) The current plan for building is Observation Orb -> Shop -> Bathrooms -> Well. Afterward, we’ll build a full wall to keep everyone safe.]

I guess drawing lots to decide who goes to the mine is a good idea. 15 SP might stir some competition, he thought after reading the first message. His eyes moved down, toward the next block of text.

[Howdy, Steve here. Yeah, as Thomas said, if you got resources, we can use Magical Crafting to bump up their SP values. You would split the added SP 50/50 with the crafter. Also, if you have mana and want to make some SP, come join the crafters!]

A message from Jordan followed, sharing what they knew about the mine and the process of mining ore, as well as the details on how the drawing would be done.

Frank closed the Notice Board and focused on the blinking chat panel. It was a message from Thomas, informing him about the decision to purchase the Notice Board. Poor guy had to have the same conversation over a dozen times and just couldn’t bear explaining the same things to yet another group. There was also a message from Gabriel asking if he wanted to draw for the mine.

Shaking his head to get rid of the strange sensation of having the Chat’s conversations download into his mind, Frank got up and stretched.

“Alright, let’s get breakfast. But you’re teaching me the rest of the spells right after,” he told Kareem, who had a relieved expression.

“I take it you are intent on training and don’t want to try for the mine?” Amy asked with a smirk.

“At least for a few days. Between junk items and Magical Crafting we should have no issues paying the tax, even if we stay inside,” Frank confirmed, as the three walked to the base.

Once there, Frank and Amy grabbed some food and joined the rest of their group. Frank started on his meal – various fruits, and pieces of grilled wolf meat, while Amy told the others that he wanted to train for a few days.

“Training sounds good, I just need forty-four GP to get Skirmisher IV,” Gabriel said excitedly.

“Are you going to train other weapon lines?” Frank asked.

“Not yet. I figured I’ll spend some time cutting trees. The Settlement needs wood, and we need SP.”

“Speaking of wood, can you bring me a bunch of sticks? I’ll spend the afternoon turning them into clubs, arrows, and such,” Frank said.

“Oh? I figured you’d spend your mana exclusively on training,” Kim commented.

“My Mana Channeling and Magical Crafting are pretty low, so it still counts as training. Besides, I need SP too, in case there is something nice in the Shop,” Frank replied with a smile.

Frank focused on his food, as the others began to share their plans for the upcoming days. They also talked about the buildings the Settlement could build. Kim and Amy were most interested in the bath and a house, while the guys were more interested in the Training Field, an area with boosted experience gain.

“Hey Frank, do you think you can make me some work out equipment? Like dumbbells, kettlebells, and a barbell with weights?” Clay asked.

“A barbell with weights might be tricky, but the others should be simple. As long as you provide the metal, of course. But why?” Frank paused eating to ask.

“You know how there’s a Fitness skill? I figured there might be a strength equivalent one. Even if I am wrong, it’s still good to do some power exercises,” Clay replied.

“Wouldn’t you need super-heavy equipment? To account for your super-human strength?” Stuart asked.

“Good point. Maybe there’s no skill?” Clay mused.

“Anyway, Frank, what did your new ability give you today?” Stuart asked. He was interested in skills and figuring out the System almost as much as Kareem.

“I haven’t actually looked yet,” Frank said, having forgotten about the rest time while he trained. “Let me take a look.”

Illusion Magic I (250GP)

Trickster, level 1: Even a small illusion can give an insurmountable advantage in a fight. Unfortunately, this ability is only as good as the user is creative. This skill lets you cast an illusion over an area with a 1-yard diameter, for 5 + 0.1*Level seconds. One minute cooldown.

What’s with the low-key diss? Frank thought as he paraphrased the description for the others. His groupmates expressed a mixed reaction: Amy thought it was expensive, Stuart thought it was awesome, while Benton was skeptical.

“If it was big enough to cover you whole, it would allow you to hide. Now that would be useful. But as is? I don’t know,” he argued.

“How can you say it’s not useful?” Stuart exclaimed. “Just think, you can cast it on your weapon so it looks like you are on defense, while you’re about to cut through a foe. Or use it to make your left arm appear idle while you cast a spell. Yeah, it’s not a full-scale reality-wrapping skill of legend, but it gives you a tremendous advantage in a fight.”

“It’s pretty good. But what if an opponent retreats or goes on the defensive for the duration?” Gabriel asked thoughtfully.

“But how would they know the skill was in effect? There’s no way to tell until something unexpected happens, and by then it’s already too late. You could even use it to trick someone into thinking they’ve landed a devastating blow, then catch them when they go in for the finish,” Stuart said, seemingly getting more and more excited.

“OK, so it’s more useful than it looked at first glance. What’s the consensus? Get it or no? I was aiming for the 500 GP Final Sprint,” Frank said.

“I mean, it’s useful if you’re having trouble dispatching monsters quickly,’ Gabriel gave his opinion.

“Probably more useful against people than against monsters,” Kim offered.

“What makes you say that?” Frank asked curiously.

“We are more cautious than monsters,” Kim said with a smile.

“Hmm, so one “get it” and five ‘maybes?’ Not very encouraging,” Frank tallied up the results.

“It’s nice, but 250 GP ain’t chump change either,” Kim said and shrugged.

“You people are crazy. It’s a guaranteed win against one enemy, maybe several once you level it, and you’re saying it’s not worth the cost?” Stuart chastised, shaking his head dejectedly. “Madness,” he muttered.

“I suppose I still have time to decide if I want it,” Frank said, as he got up. “I am off to do more training. Do bring me some sticks when you have a chance.” He began to walk away, but suddenly stopped and slapped himself on the forehead. “Almost forgot, Gabriel, can you use your Explosive Charges or Touch of Decay on me? For resistances,” he asked, returning to the group.

“Sure, I am done eating. Only have 50 D mana though, and it’ll take me over two hours to get it back,” Gabriel replied and got up.

“Hey, it’s free GP, I won’t complain.”

While they walked, Frank sent Kareem a message, letting him know he was back to training. Soon, they arrived at the usual spot and faced each other.

“Blast or decay resistance?” Gabriel asked.

“Let’s start with decay,” Frank shrugged. He’d get both anyway, but he figured making a bunch of exploding noises in the morning wouldn’t be appreciated.

“OK. A ten-second, stackable debuff will be applied for every second I am touching you. Each stack will reduce your stats by half a point, also, at four stacks a damage over time effect will be added, dealing 0.2 damage every two seconds. I can keep it up for fifty seconds,” Gabriel explained.

“Hmm, yeah, that should be fine,” Frank said after doing some quick calculations in his head. “Go ahead,” he added, offering his arm.

Gabriel grabbed his arm and activated the skill. Cold sweat covered his back, as a strange feeling came over Frank, like he was touching something disgusting. After a few seconds, the feeling of being sick from food poisoning came over him as well. He fought against the sensation, which seemed to all be in his head, as he couldn’t see anything wrong with his body. After suffering for thirty seconds, he cast Healing Touch, almost hoping that the healing would get rid of the horrible feeling. It didn’t.

“I, I can keep going,” Frank said, his voice dry, as he sunk to his knees.

Gabriel asked if he was sure, to which he nodded. Just twenty more seconds, Frank thought. Teeth ground tightly, he focused on his breathing, trying to ignore the world spinning in front of him. The damage was minimal, but he felt like he was dying. His muscles turned to jello and he was barely able to keep upright. Finally, he doubled down and heaved, undigested food gushing onto the ground.

“You OK?” Gabriel asked, holding him up, the skill immediately deactivated.

“Ugh, yeah,” Frank replied after wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Heh, all my stats are in the red, no wonder I feel like shit,” he said with a chuckle after checking his Profile.

“Should’ve paused in the middle, let the debuff wear off,” Gabriel said, shaking his head.

“See what happens when you push yourself too hard? Now we need to find a new spot,” Kareem’s voice floated into Frank’s ears.

His gaze wandered around, spotting the man shortly. Feeling too weak to reply, Frank focused on his breathing while staring at the spot in front of himself, afraid that he would faceplant if he closed his eyes. Ten seconds later, the debuff expired and he felt fine. He wiped his mouth again and got up.

“Well, that was an experience,” he said, checking to see if everything was back to normal. “Got two levels out of it,” he added with a smile.

“We can do it again once I am back to full, about two hours,” Gabriel said. “I am off to chop some trees, good luck with your training.”

“So, new spot,” Kareem reminded.

“Right,” Frank nodded, staring at the disgusting splash on the ground. He activated Clean, the spell flaring up in a sphere with a three-yard radius. The magical light ran over the ground with little result. He used the spell again, but the ground barely showed any improvement. “Yeah, it’s a long way from being useful,” Frank said bitterly. The spell was very expensive at 50 D mana, which made his lackluster results all the more annoying.

He gave up on the idea of cleaning up his mess and shuffled to a new spot some distance away. While walking, he told Kareem about the Trickster skill he could get. As expected, the man thought it was an awesome skill, but didn’t push Frank to take it. They reached their destination and sat down on the grass-covered ground.

“As promised, the time manipulation skill,” Kareem began with a smile. “Delayed Acceleration, ten seconds after being cast, speed is doubled for one second, then reduced to half for twice the duration.”

“Kind of a double-edged sword,” Frank mused.

“Correct. The guy who came up with it never used it in combat. The speed reduction afterward is quite dangerous, and with the ten-second delay, timing it well is also tough.”

“Levels are levels, I suppose,” Frank shrugged. “Why did he come up with such a skill in the first place?”

“He didn’t. He imagined an acceleration spell with no downsides, but this is what he got from the System instead.”

Frank nodded in understanding and followed Kareem’s instructions on how to manifest the spell. It took a good thirty minutes, interrupted by his skill spam to get rid of his resources, for Frank to finally get the spell to go off. He frowned while reading the description, uncertain if he should take it seriously.

You have learned a skill: Delayed Acceleration, level 1: Speed is the ultimate power, even if this version is flawed. Did you know there are those who will travel through dimensions just to kill a time manipulator? You do now. This skill will activate ten seconds after being used, doubling your speed for 1+0.2*Level seconds before halving your speed for twice as long.

Travel through dimensions, huh? Frank thought. I guess the takeaway here is that pursuing time magic could cause more problems than it solves. Still, a warning rather than a declaration of inevitable death. I take it getting killed by some time magic-hating dimensional being isn’t how the System wants me to go. He laughed softly.

“What else you got?” He asked Kareem.

“It’s the last skill, called Flare. It’s a bit unusual, the damage is crap, but if you hit a target three times in ten seconds it will proc a damage over time debuff, which does excellent damage. Not to mention, the DoT can be refreshed with a single hit. The spell is also not a projectile but just happens, making it mostly undodgeable.”

“Saving the best for last, I see,” Frank said as he absorbed the information.

He followed the instructions and after trying to visualize the spell for twenty minutes, got it to go off. There was a flash at the spot he was aiming at, as if light reflected off of polished metal, causing Frank to squint.

“Does it have a blinding effect on the target?” He asked curiously.

“Maybe?” Kareem replied, uncertain. “Anyway, that was the last skill, so we’re done here,” he added and got up, making ready to leave.

“Hold on,” Frank stopped the man before he could get away. “Why don’t you help me get resistances for the spells you taught me?”

“I don’t think so,” Kareem rejected.

“That’s cold. But think about it, it's the perfect way to get back at me for waking you up. Hitting me with acid, and poison, and shadow for hours.”

“Ha, knowing you, you’ll probably enjoy it,” Kareem said, barking a laugh and gesturing at the sword sticking out of Frank’s arm. “But you know what, I’ll do it. Masochist or not, having your skin dissolved by acid is going to hurt.”

“I hope so, this sword isn’t doing jack for my Pain Tolerance,” Frank said, rubbing his hands excitedly.

The next five hours passed quickly, as Frank practiced his new skills while Kareem bombarded him with spells. He couldn’t help lamenting his regeneration speed. It was insane compared to what others had, but still nowhere near what he needed to rapidly advance. Even after he put 5 points into Control, bringing his D mana regen to 292 per hour, 400 with Meditation. Two thousand mana may sound like a lot, but divided between ten spells, he was only able to bring them to level 5.

It was a bit better on the R mana side. Not only was his regen fifty percent better, but there were only three spells that used it, allowing him to sink one thousand into each skill. Water Stream got to level 8, Renew, which had a base cost of just 5 R mana, leveled to 14, while the somewhat expensive Delayed Acceleration only hit level 5.

Meanwhile, after suffering various effects for five hours, his Acid resistance reached level 7, Poison Resistance gained an additional 6 levels to reach level 7 as well. While Shadow and Sun Magic resistances got to level 5. Shadow Bolt and Poison Bolt dealt damage directly to HP, while Flare had some of its damage negated by Frank’s superior Heat Resistance. Still, the bit of damage from Flare and the agonizing feeling of his skin melting was enough to push Pain Tolerance and Unshakable Focus up by 1. Meditation went up by 2, while Stone Skin was up by 3.

Looking over his gains, Frank felt it was a nice haul as he managed to get 104 GP for just half a day worth of work. His total available GP now sat at 171, making the Trickster grid rather appealing.

“This was a nice session, but let’s take a break,” Frank said as he got up and started to put on his shirt. Despite the Acid Bolt being aimed at his chest, his pants had suffered quite a few small holes and now looked like Swiss cheese.

“Yeah, was about to call it myself,” Kareem agreed.

“Do you want to keep going after the break?”

“No, I need to get some SP. Besides, don’t you want that saber from the shop?” Kareem asked. Seeing the blank look on Frank’s face, he could only chuckle nervously. “I suppose getting your skin melted by acid is a valid excuse. The Shop is already up and you can access it even here, from the Settlement tab in your Profile,” he explained before leaving.

Frank plopped back on the ground and opened his profile. The Settlement tab had a list of all the members, but now also had an icon of a medieval market booth, with the word Shop on top of it. Focusing on the image brought up a new panel that listed all the items available. At a glance, there seemed to be several dozen. Feeling his excitement rising from the sight of colorful icons, Frank began to go through the available items.