Chapter 5

Friday morning, Alec was sweeping the front of the shop. The foot traffic had been increasing steadily since he had cleaned up the place. The fence had been painted, the gate oiled, and the lawn never got past one’s ankles. The shop still smelled horrid, but that was the price of having so many potent herbs in one space. He had even installed an extra bell on the front door, to alert him when a customer came in. That same bell had just rung, and Alec made his way to the front counter to find a nervous Sam standing at the counter. He watched as she reached for the counter’s bell, only to pull her hand back before she could ring it.

“Can I help you miss?” Alec said loudly, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Eep!” Samira turned around in a flash, looking as if she had been caught stealing. “Alec! Don’t do that! I’m just a little nervous to hear your news. Anyone would be nervous in my place.”

“Uh-huh, then why do you look like you just stole your sister’s dessert again?” He hid a chuckle.

“That was one time! Besides, she stole mine first.” Sam hid a budding smile. “Let’s get on with this, I’m nervous enough as is, no need to draw it out longer than it should be.”

Alec motioned her to follow him behind the counter and into his room in the back corner of the building. She followed him, her guard up as if something might jump out and bite her.

“You can relax, it’s just you and me, Sam. I have something to tell you and I don’t want anyone else to hear.” He closed the door behind her as she entered his room. It seemed smaller with two people in it. He motioned her to sit on the bed as he went to his chest.

“On the... the bed? Are you certain there isn’t anywhere else for me to sit? It… It’s just...” She stammered, cheeks pink.

“Oh!” The situation suddenly hit Alec. “That hadn’t even crossed my mind! I’m so sorry, let me get you a stool.” He practically ran out of the room in embarrassment. While he was quite aware that she was a woman now, he simply wasn’t interested in her in that fashion. That was no excuse not to treat her as a lady when he could though. “Here you are, I wasn’t thinking. I’ve never actually been alone with a woman like this.”

Sam’s blush deepened. “Well, care to explain what we are doing?”

Alec’s figure straightened as he steeled himself to share his trait with someone else. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but with this kind of power, he didn’t think it wise to share more than absolutely necessary.

“I want to tell you the truth about my trait.” He said, taking a breath. Sam must have seen that this was not easy for him, as her blush receded as she became serious as well. “It isn’t a simple identification trait. That’s only a part of it, a small part of it at that. My trait allows me to identify and enhance objects and entities. It’s how I bought these.” He pulled the armor out of his chest and handed it to her. “The only downside is that it takes experience points to use rather than health or mana. I killed a wolf and received 150 experience for it. I used 100 to repair the leather chest piece I was wearing, and then I traded that for these. I got this,” He grunted as he picked up a heavy weapon. It was basically a wooden pole with a metal ball attached to the end. “in exchange for helping a smith for a few days.”

Sam was running her fingers over the armor, as he handed her the weapon. It had also taken the three silver he had gotten, but that wasn’t important right now. “It’s wonderful.” She said as she took a few practice swings. She might as well have been swinging a branch for all the effort it took her. “I didn’t even stop to think about weapons other than a sword. This feels so, so right.” She swung it again, this time with a bit more force, and had to take a step forward to arrest her momentum before tripping into her stool. “Little hard to stop though.” She muttered, sheepishly.

“And this armor, I know it’s a bit beaten, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen!” She squealed, like a young girl with a new doll. She started to put the armor on over her clothes. “You said your trait lets your repair these? For experience points? What’s the big deal there, why the secrecy?”

“It does more than let me repair them. I can enhance them. If I had the experience, I could repair them as if they were just made, I could increase their armor, decrease their weight, or even change the material they are made of. The same goes for weapons, and I think,” He paused before saying the real reason he wanted her here, “people.”

She stopped as she was buckling her jerkin into place. “What do you mean people?” She asked, eyes fixed to his.

“I’m honestly not sure yet, the trait says I can enhance an entity that gives me the permission to do so. I haven’t told anyone else about this yet, so I haven’t gotten a chance to use it.” He watched her as she understood what he was saying.

“Will it hurt?” She asked, her voice quiet.

“I, I don’t know.”

“Do it.”

“You sure?

“Yes, Now do it before I lose my nerve.”

Alec used his trait on Sam.

//Name: Samira Watter

Age: 16

Level: 1

Experience: 0/200

Condition: Excellent

Health: 152/152

Health Regen: 6.00 per minute

Mana: 34

Mana Regen: 1.875 per minute

Physical

Strength: 8

Endurance: 8

Perception: 5

Agility: 5

Constitution: 9

Mental

Magic: 5

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 5

Fortitude: 7

Willpower: 8

Attribute Points available: 0

Traits:

Body of stone: Your body has a deep affinity with the earth. Your natural armor will increase with your level. Every 10 levels adds 5 natural armor. Your health is increased by 15%.

Cost: None.//

Skills: None//

//Would you like to Enhance this entity?//

“I can see your character sheet.” Alec said. “That is an amazing trait. Add five natural armor every ten levels on top of a flat fifteen percent increase in health? No wonder you want to become a warrior. Ok, I am going to bring up the enhancement menu, alright?” At Sam’s nod, he mentally said yes.

//Select the property you wish to Enhance.

Health

Health Regen

Mana

Mana Regen

Physical :

Strength

Endurance

Perception

Agility

Constitution

Mental :

Magic

Intelligence

Wisdom

Fortitude

Willpower

Trait//

“Well, at least it’s not overwhelming.” Alec joked as he read the list of properties to Sam.

“That’s everything on my sheet. Your trait is madness. What are the costs? How strong can you make me? What can you do to my trait!?!” Sam’s questions came rapid fire until Alec help up a hand.

“Let’s find out.” He selected health

//Enhance: Health

Current bonus Health: 0

You can add 1 point of bonus health for 1000 experience points.

You can restore 1 point of health per 15 experience points.//

“Curious. It seems I can heal you, and if I’m right, I can probably restore your mana as well.”

//Enhance: Mana

Current bonus Mana: 0

You can add 1 point of bonus mana for 1000 experience points.

You can restore 1 point of mana per 30 experience points.//

“Yep, also, I can give you bonus mana and health. The first point is 1000 experience points. I’m not sure if it stays at that rate or goes up though. Let me go through the other options.”

//Enhance: Health Regen

Current bonus Health Regen: 0

You can add .01 point of bonus Health Regen for 750 experience points.//

//Enhance: Mana Regen

Current bonus Mana Regen: 0

You can add .01 point of bonus Mana Regen for 1500 experience points.//

//Enhance: Strength

Current bonus Strength: 0

You can add 1 point of bonus Strength for 10000 experience points.//

The rest of her attributes were the same. It seemed that the cost was 10000 experience points to gain one bonus attribute. This may sound like a lot, but it was completely worth it. His mind spun with ways to use his enhancement to improve Sam’s fighting abilities. Finally, he opened the trait modification page.

//Enhancement: Trait: Body of Stone

Increase Natural Armor rate of increase from 5 to 6 for 15000 Experience points.

Increase Additional Health increase by 1% for 10000 Experience points.//

“This is intense.” Sam said, as she sat on the stool again. “With enough experience points, you could make me a god. What are you wanting to do?”

“I expected I would be able to make you stronger but not to this extent. We need to go into the forest as soon as possible to start gaining experience.” Alec started, but was interrupted by Sam.

“Why?” She asked, confusion on her face.

“Why what? The faster we get experience, the faster we can repair your gear and improve your attributes. I thought you would be more excited than this.” He replied, equally confused.

“But why the forest? Wouldn’t be easier just to enter the town’s dungeon?”

“Wait. What? We aren’t hunters, we can’t get into the town’s dungeon.” Alec looked at her then continued. “Can we?”

She looked at him like he was an idiot. “Alec, How did you think most fighting types got strong enough to start going into the forest? You know what, never mind, I really don’t want to know. Yes, we can enter the town dungeon. It costs one silver per person up to level five. At that point it becomes five silvers a person. I’m not going to ask how you didn’t know this.”

Alec looked at her for a minute before he opened his mouth, his plans adjusting with the new information. “This changes everything.”

-----

After agreeing to pay for the dungeon delve with her savings, Alec and Sam left to sign up for the dungeon. Only so many teams were allowed into the dungeon per day. The second team would enter after the first team left the dungeon and so on. The dungeon reset itself only once everyone from the current party left through the portal. Since the average delve could take several hours, the guild would send runners to notify the waiting teams when they were next in line. That party would then make its way to the portal square and wait for the team before them to finish their dive.

Alec and Sam stepped up to the desk, behind which a young Hunter’s guild member sat.

“How may I help you today?” She asked, her voice strangely melodic.

“We would like to sign up to enter the dungeon in the next available spot, please.” Alec said, withdrawing the two silver he had received from Sam and placing it on the counter.

“Names and location you can be found by our runner?” The clerk asked, writing them down on a list as they told her. She grabbed the silver, putting it into a drawer below the desk, at the same time removing two tickets. She wrote something down on the tickets and handed them to Alec. “You are the third dive party tomorrow. If you are unable to be found, you will forfeit your place in line with no refund.” She then handed him to sheets of paper. “You both look new, so please review the dungeon tips. You aren’t likely to die on the first floor, but it can get quite dangerous as you go lower. The guild does not enjoy seeing young hunters die due to ignorance. Is there anything else I can do for you today?” Seeing that they had nothing else to ask her, she called for the next in line.

Alec and Sam stepped out of the portal square and began their walk home. They were quiet, each reading the paper they had been given. It was mostly common-sense stuff. Keep your eyes on your surroundings, move slowly and quietly, that kind of thing. There was no information on the dungeon itself. The Hunter’s guild wanted them to be careful and safe, but it didn’t want to spoon feed them information. If you were given everything, you would learn nothing, after all.

They started joking with each other somewhere along the way, Alec deciding to walk Sam to her house. The engaged in a bit of small talk and just enjoyed each other’s company. When they finally arrived at Sam’s house, they said their goodbyes, and Alec started on his way home. His thoughts kept going back to the dungeon dive tomorrow. He was anxious, but excited. He would be going in with just a sword, after all. He hoped that having Sam tank the monsters within wasn’t seen as cowardly. Oh well, nothing he could do about it.