Chapter 3

"Run John, John!" My brother's voice echoing behind me. I could hear footsteps all around us. Pictures flashed by one after another; running through corridors, hiding as soldiers looked for me

“John...survive”

"Arghhh!" I woke up, half screaming in my bed. Where am I? My back was covered in sweat. Half panting I found myself in the room at the Inn. A nightmare..a very looking real one at that. I took a long, deep breath and tried to cleanse my mind. Always that dream. Always ending with that same sentence. I meditated for 10 minutes, a habit I had picked up after the death of my brother.

After a while, I glanced left and saw my clothes hanging on the chair.

“I still have the jeans and the brown sweatshirt, guess I need to buy some other clothes to fit in,” I said as I rose from the bed. The nightmare had cleared away my morning grogginess.

I quickly got dressed, walked out of the room before locking the door behind me. When I came down to the main floor I was greeted with the delicious smell of eggs and bacon. I sat down at one of the tables. After a while, Jen arrived at my table with a plate of breakfast.

“Morning.” She happily said to me.

“Morning.” I replied before saying, “Jen, do you possibly know how to open status?”

She gave me a strange look which disappeared a few seconds later, “It must be because of your little accident, well, it’s actually quite simple."

Just say, “Show status” in your mindJen explained before asking, “By the way, what’s your name?

“I’m John, John Crow,” I answered with a smile.

“Weird name." Jen giggled.

"Okay. Well, I must be off to serve other customers, see you later” replied Jen quickly before she ran off in a hurry.

I heard a growling from my stomach. I must be starving. I quickly began to devour the newly made breakfast.

After a finishing my meal I tried to do what she told me. I quietly said in my mind, "Show status!".

A blue window popped up in front of me with a ding. I nearly fell off the chair in surprise, luckily, I was just barely able to avoid it.

John Crow

Class: Crafting

Age: 24

Attributes

Skills:

Inscription

I was a bit shocked as I stared at the blue screen in front of me. To be honest, I didn’t think it would be so game-like.

After a few seconds of basically staring at the blue screen, I started to read what it actually said. After reading everything I thought " 10 in each stats...I wonder if the stats are the same as RPG games…"

Stats

Strength: The Physical power of your body.

Agility: Speed and flexibility of your body.

Endurance Physical defense and energy storage of your body.

Intelligence: Process information much faster (Faster Spells)

Wisdom: Understanding information better (Stronger spells)

"That’s pretty neat." I thought to myself before dismissing the blue window that popped up, "If I'm right, by thinking of something on my status I can make it appeared in front of me"

“Let’s try the same thing with my class,” I mumbled to myself.

As I thought about my class another blue window appeared right below the status window, proving that my idea was correct.

Crafting

Gives you the ability to learn all crafting skills available.

Current crafting skills: 0

“Jesus, isn't this...like awesome?”, I thought before making my skill window appear.

Inscription - Lvl 0

Gives the ability to create glyphs using mana and elemental cores.

I quickly began to ponder about the choices I had to make. Option one would be to focus on crafting and not fighting.

Perks= No danger involved and stable way to make money

Cons= I won’t be able to get strong.

Option 2: I can craft good equipment, fight a bit and then start my awesome crafting empire.

Perks = I will be able to protect myself and make a lot of money.

Cons = Slightly dangerous

Well, the choice wasn’t hard for me. I made a promise right after coming to this world. I want to become strong. Strong enough to protect my loved ones. Strong enough to make my own choices. Besides, If I can't handle a bit of danger, How can I expect myself to survive here?

I cleaned the last bit of food from the bowl with a swift move of my spoon. When I saw Jen at the counter on my way out, I decided to ask a couple of questions.

“Jen, can I ask you a few things?” I said, trying to sound polite.

“Sure, feel free!” She answered as she scribbled something on a note, probably someone's order I guess, "What do you want to ask?

“Do you know a place where I can buy crafting materials and books?” I replied.

“Yeah, well, you can buy crafting books in the bookstore around the corner. Just go left outside the inn until you see a large and wide tower. Then turn left again and you're about there” She explained before continuing,

“And about the materials. well, all the crafting stuff you can easily find in the general store. Just go straight out of the inn and you’ll see it. But the rarer materials can only be bought in auction shop or earned yourself by killing monsters."

“Thank you, then I’ll be on my way. See you later” I said with a smile plastered on my face.

“Okay, have a good day, John,” she said before I left the Inn.

I followed Jen's directions and quickly found myself in front of a very large building. It was extremely similar to a mall in my old world. Just some sizes smaller.

I entered the shop and saw tens of shelves with books lined up. At the end of the room, by the counter, sat an old man. The man looked like the typical librarian. Scrawny appearance, short white hair and a long white beard that reached all the way down to his chest. He stroked his beard while reading an old looking book.

When I arrived in front of the counter I greeted him in a respectable tone, “Hello”

“Aaaah!” His whole body shook and the book, unfortunately, dropped to the floor with a loud bang.

He turned his head upward with shock covering his face and he said, “Damn boy, you almost scared me to death”

“I’m sorry...but do you possibly have any crafting books for sale?” I asked the old man politely.

“Okay...” He said while eyeing me. “Let me just calm down first.”

After a moment of his "inner meditation," the old man asked, sounding very irritated, “What type of crafting books do you want?”

“Hm...” I thought, "What books do you recommend to a complete newbie interested in crafting?"

“To a complete newbie...” The man rose up from his chair. He walked through the many bookshelves, carefully searching.

After a few minutes, the man came back with three books in his hands and said, “ I have Ross - Tailoring guide for beginners, Monster crafting guide, and Blacksmithing - how to bend iron to your will!"

“Hm, what to choose,” I thought to myself. I can rule out the tailoring since such clothes won't really help me fight monsters. Blacksmithing is a good choice, but it will be too much of a hassle to find a place to work since you need lots of tools and a fireplace. The choice seems to be Monster Crafting. And to be honest, it sounds rather cool - craft equipment from slain monsters.

"The Monster Crafting book, please, " I said, trying to sound respectful (flattering is always good)

“1 gold coin then,” the man said, looking eager to resume his reading.”

1 gold coin? Damn that expensive, "Why so expensive?" I asked the man.

"Books are rare, my friend..." The old man said with a crooked smile.

I’ll go back to the inn, read the book and if I have some time over I’ll go buy the necessary materials.

About 10 minutes later I opened the door to my room and sat down on the bed.

The book had a cover of a different kind of tool with a big text saying, Monster crafting guide

I opened the book and began to read the big introduction words.

In this book, you will learn the importance of crafting, as well as how to gather materials from common monsters and how to craft equipment and weapons.

After reading the first sentence I decided to skip the introduction part and directly began to read the first part, "How to gather materials from monsters"

Wolves are big animals with thick fur. There are different species with different effects: The gray wolf living in cold environments are good a holding in warmth...

After a few hours, I was done with the book. I had read carefully, but I probably had to go back and read it again. I was shocked at how good the author was. He explained almost everything and made it simple to understand.

I quickly went down the stairs. I greeted Jen on the way and walked in the direction of the general shop. After entering the shop I arrived in front of the counter and asked the shopkeeper, “ Do you guys have any pelt?”

"Yes.."

After buying pelt, I made my way to the closest general store and bought wooden sticks, rope and iron arrowheads. Wasting an additional part of my precious money, I rushed back to the Inn in a hurry.

Opening the door, I left the bags with materials under my bed as I eagerly went down for dinner.