The recycling centre was at the top of a hill on the outskirts of the city, so in order to save time, Daz had asked Rimmy if he could ride on his shoulders while the colossal Golem ran in the directions he gave, which the Crystal man was more than happy to do.

After all, not only his survival but his Master's survival also lay on the line, so the dignity of one Golem meant little to him if carrying Daz was faster than the two of them running alongside one another.

Thanks to this, Daz now had a moment to check his other skills and his armour while he waited for Rimmy to reach the city centre. It was a marvel to watch the giant crystal Golem destroying the road with his well-paced running due to his weight.

Dig [E-Rank (Lower Tier)] Description A skill vital to any craftsman for large construction work. Abilities Increases the efficiency of digging by 20%. Makes digging 20% easier. Ore Discovery [C-Rank (Higher Tier)] Description A vital skill for all miners and self-sufficient craftsmen. Abilities Grants the host a sixth sense that allows the host to discover nearby gem and metal ore vein deposits. Basic Craftsmanship [E-Rank (Middle Tier)] Description

A skill for those who have only just begun their long and arduous journey as a craftsman.

Most toddlers affiliated with the system have this skill passively after playing with some building blocks, but hey, who am I to judge you for being a slow learner?

Abilities All crafting done by the host shall be 5% more efficient. The host will have a slightly easier time crafting all things. The host will have a slightly easier time understanding how something was crafted. Shovel Smash [D-Rank (Middle Tier)] Description A skill said to have been created by the God of Shovels himself to grant those that dedicated their lives to the way of the shovel a chance to protect themselves or advance on their conquests via the way of the shovel. Abilities Allows the host to channel one type of their own energy into the flat side of a shovel's blade as a form of attack. Increases attack power of shovels used by the host by 10% when the skill is active.

Those were all of Daz's skills that he had gotten from his class besides his Tool Identification skill which he didn't identify because the skill had stopped existing upon him receiving his Higher Identification.

This made sense to Daz since Higher Identification was clearly a vastly superior version of the skill. He also hadn't bothered checking out his System Integration skill since he already knew that it was only used to make accessing the system easier.

Daz had chosen not to inspect his Godly Base Management skill just yet, purely due to the fact that he felt like he would immediately go back to his base to test it out upon reading its abilities, which he obviously didn't want to do since saving Rimmy was of the utmost importance currently. He had, however, Identified his new outfit.

Travelling Gear of Altros, the Wanderer [B-Rank (Higher Tier)] Description A set of clothing that was handcrafted by a master tailor and shoemaker upon the request of one of the most famous wanderers of the desert world Kaynar, Altros. It has seen many an adventure and has been restitched and refitted several times, having many changes added to it such as enchantments and insulated padding. It was no longer powerful enough to serve its master, so was sold on a black market for a meagre price due to its enchantments fading. It had somehow found itself to be in the possession of a collector of odd and curious things who travelled between worlds. This collector found himself to be trapped on a world hosting an experiment, so sold the set of clothes to the system to increase his chances of survival. The outfit now belongs to a promising host and is expectant of the adventures he will add to its threads. Stats Defense: 3,000 Agility: 400(Sealed) Strength: 200(Sealed) Constitution: 200(Sealed) Luck: 700(Sealed) Heat Resistance: 4,000(sealed) Durability: 10,000/10,000 Skills Self-Repairing Self-Cleaning Armour Hardening(Sealed) Strength of The Desert(Sealed)

Immediately after seeing the description of this outfit and its stats, Daz had a few questions for the system which he asked from atop Rimmy's shoulders.

"Hey, System, please confirm the purchase of the stat 'Defense'. Put zero points into it, just unlock the stat," Daz requested.

He knew it was a cheap skill since it was one of the few basic stats he had bothered to look up, but he chose not to buy it at that time because he felt like it wouldn't have made much of a difference unless he had invested into it heavily, which he didn't want to do.

Thankfully, with the help of his outfit, he could instantly gain a huge amount of the stat upon unlocking it, which Daz was more than willing to sacrifice a few merit points to enable.

Confirmed. The total merit balance of the host is now 3,950.

Daz immediately checked his status afterwards. It wasn't that he didn't trust the system, it was just that he wanted to make sure the stat from his outfit had correctly transferred over to his own status.

Host's Status Basic Information Name: Daz Species: Human (Beginning stages of evolving) Age: 20 Sex: Male Class: Shovel Knight Affinity: Chaotic Neutral Energies Lifeforce: 3000/3000 Jewelled Core: 50/50 Stats Strength: 50(60) Dexterity: 50(60) Constitution: 50(60) Agility: 50 Charisma: 100 Ingenuity: 500 Defense: 0(3,000)

"Perfect, now I have two questions. First, How do I unseal the stats on my clothes? And second, Can I sell things to the shop like the collector in my armour's backstory?" Daz asked with excitement evident in his voice.

He had shifted around on Rimmy's shoulder unintentionally out of mild excitement, resulting in Rimmy losing his balance slightly, but he quickly regained his centre of gravity and resumed his destruction of the main road with his running.

Confirmed. To unseal the restrictions placed upon the Travelling Gear of Altros, the Wanderer, the host must learn the skill, [Higher Enchanting SS-Rank(Middle-Tier)] to restore the previous enchantments, returning the item to its status of an S-rank(lower tier) item. The skill [Higher Enchanting SS-Rank(Middle-Tier)] has a price of 1,250,000 merit points and requires Golden Shop Access to purchase. Denied. Selling items to the shop requires Platinum Shop Access or higher.

"Fuck me. So expensive. Well, I guess I'll buy the weakest version of the skill first then work my way up to cheapen the price after today's attack. But really, Platinum access?" Daz mumbled.

He looked at the broken city that he and Rimmy were quickly approaching and he sunk into thought. After a few moments, he spoke to himself once more.

"I guess I need to work hard today to increase my point ranking. It's reassuring to know that I can definitely sell stuff eventually though, assuming I don't fall behind. Now I can start using these 'inventory slots' the base is giving me, huh?" Daz whispered to himself. Rimmy found this very strange, but every person had their own quirks, and he was an eight-foot-tall Golem, so he had no right to complain about someone talking to themselves.

Regarding Daz's inventory slots, he had quickly figured out that they worked like any other function from the system. He just had to think about using them, and they were used. Each one could hold only one item or a set-piece, like his outfit, and the only one he was using currently held his shovel since he didn't want to regularly carry it around.

Daz soon stopped thinking about the matters related to the system and jumped off of Rimmy's shoulders. They had reached the centre of the run-down city.

It was unbelievable how much damage mass-panic and an uncountable amount of attacks could inflict on a city that previously housed one million people. Blood. Smashed buildings. Bodies. Abandoned cars. It wasn't a pleasant sight, to say the least.