Chapter Two: Gathering Herbs

Once Kaze arrived at the shop with Tharja, he waited for her to unlock it before heading inside. After he was inside, he took a few seconds to look around while Tharja got the herbs he needed to retrieve. On the shelves were different potions and mixtures of varying colors. The vials that contain these things came in different shapes and sizes. If he was being honest, he was surprised at the sheer amount of concoctions that were in this store. He had assumed that there would just be health and mana potions for sell. How wrong he was.

There were also bookshelves that were filled to the brim with thick tomes. These thick tomes seemed to have a layer of dust on them so he doubted that they saw much use. As he observed his surroundings, Kaze noticed a curious scent in the air. It smelled like a mixture of different plants, probably thanks to the alchemy Tharja did, but it also smelled sweet. He wondered why that was so. Still, he was forced to get rid of his train of thought when Tharja came out of the back with two plants in her hand.

Walking over to the counter she was at, Kaze listened quietly as she explained the characteristics of the two plants she wanted him to retrieve. The Rialo herb was prickly and long plant that didn’t grow that far off the ground. The Metriun herb was a short and thick plant that could be found near the roots of certain trees. She let him hold onto the examples of the herbs she had brought out so that he didn’t get the wrong ones.

Thanking her once again, Kaze headed outside of the village. He had wanted to explore the village a little more before going into the wilds, but it seemed he no longer had a choice. He didn’t mind though since he had a quest to accomplish. He was pretty sure that he would gain experience by completing it and maybe even level up. Now that he thought about it, what did his status look like?

Character Status Name: Kaze Gender: Male Level: 1 Race: Araneae Health: 110/110 Mana: 80/80 Stamina: 120/120 Stat Points: 0 Strength: 10 Dexterity: 11 Vitality: 11 Endurance: 12 Intelligence: 8 Willpower: 8

All he had to do was think of his status, and this blue screen would pop up. It was while he was looking at his stats that he noticed a question mark by it. Once he clicked it, a screen appeared telling him what each stat did. This is basically what it said.

Strength – increases physical damage and strength. Affects how much weight you can carry.

Dexterity – increases speed and accuracy. Affects your hand eye coordination and perception.

Vitality - increases health and health regeneration. Affects how resistant you are to physical attacks.

Endurance – increases stamina and stamina regeneration. Affects how long you can carry a certain amount weight.

Intelligence - increases your spells damage and effects. Affects how easy it is to learn new spells.

Willpower – increases mana and mana regeneration. Affects how resistant you are to magic based attacks.

It was a little bit different from most games but thanks to the explanation Kaze understood most of it. The next thing he looked at was his inventory. Supposedly the game was supposed to start you off with a few items, and he wanted to see if it was true. Clicking the inventory button, he watched as a box appeared with a small dagger, ten copper coins, and five loaves of bread inside of it. Taking out his dagger, Kaze examined it.

Old Iron Dagger Description: A slightly rusted iron dagger that has seen quite a bit of use. Damage: 1-3 Effect: None Durability: 18/20 Requirements: None

The dagger wasn’t that good, but it was better than nothing. Plus he had gotten it for free, so he was glad with what he got. Once Kaze was outside of the village, he practiced swing his dagger around a few times. He was pretty clumsy with it, but that was to be expected. He had never used a dagger in his life after all. It was also hard to hold thanks to the layout of his hand, but after a little bit of time, he was able to find a comfortable position. After swinging the dagger around for about a minute, he headed westward into the forest supposedly that was where the herbs were supposed to be.

As he walked, Kaze kept a lookout for any potential enemies. He was only level one so he was sure he could be killed quite easily. He wouldn’t lose any experience if he died seeing as how he didn’t have any, but he might lose some of the few copper coins that he had. Plus it would damage his pride if he died to a random enemy.

After walking for a few minutes, Kaze began examining the ground as he walked. He didn’t need to be exactly where she told him, so there was a chance that he could find what he was looking for here. It only took him a few seconds of looking before he found a curious looking plant. Digging it out of the ground with his right hand, he brought it closer to his face and examined it.

Weed Description: Just a plain old weed you could find anywhere Effect: Alchemy Ingredient

Tch, it was just a plain old weed. He was about to toss it out when he noticed the effect. Huh, weeds could be used as alchemy ingredients? He didn’t know a lot about alchemy but he had assumed he needed better plants in order craft stuff. Sticking the weed into his inventory, Kaze once again resumed his search.

It only took him another minute of searching to find one of the plants he was looking for. Judging from the looks of it, it was most likely a Rialo. He didn’t know for sure, but he would soon find out. Digging it out of the ground carefully, he examined the freshly uprooted plant for more information.

Rialo Description: A long prickly herb that is usually used in alchemy to craft potions. Effect: Alchemy Ingredient

Yes, this was what he was looking for. Placing the herb inside his inventory, Kaze began looking for more. Digging them out proved to be an easy task thanks to the claws on his hands. If he started out as a human, he would probably need a shovel to get the whole plant out. Around two minutes later he found the second plant that he needed.

Metriun Description: A short and thick herb that is usually used in alchemy to craft potions. Effect: Alchemy Ingredient

He found this one near the roots of a couple of trees. It seemed that Tharja did know her stuff. Not that he ever doubted her. Once he stuck the thick herb in his inventory, he proceeded to gather more of them. Some people might be irritated that they had to do this, but Kaze wasn’t. In real life he spent most of his time in front of a computer typing away so it was a nice refresher to be in a forest digging away for some plants.

Due to some mistakes on his part, Kaze ended up gathering different herbs from the ones he needed. He ended up storing them in his inventory anyway since they were also alchemy ingredients. He didn’t know what potions he would be able to make with them, but hopefully Tharja would show him. After ten minutes of digging around for more herbs that a blue box appeared in his vision.

Skill Gained! Herbalism Description: Allows the user to notice special plants in their surroundings easier. 1% chance of finding a herb in the same location as another one. Skill Type: Passive Skill Level: 1 (0%)

As Kaze read the description, he allowed a small grin to appear on his face. He had gotten his first ever skill! If he concentrated on his surroundings, he could now see a dim glow surrounding the herbs that he could gather. This skill would help him find rarer herbs that were hidden so he was glad he had gotten it. He also had a 1% chance of finding an herb in the same location as another. The chance of the skill activating was low, but he had a feeling it would increase once his herbalism skill was higher.

Now that he had this new skill, Kaze’s plant gathering went by way faster than it did before. Most of the time he spent was looking for herbs and now that he had this skill, the time was cut down quite a bit. A few minutes later, he had all of the herbs he needed to complete the quest. However rather than return immediately, he decided to gather ten of the other herbs he had already gathered. He might not be back here in a while after all.

Ylose Description: A fragile yellow herb that is usually used in alchemy. Effect: Alchemy Ingredient Thistleclaw Description: A prickly stemmed herb whose leaves resemble the shape of claws. It is usually used in alchemy. Effect: Alchemy Ingredient Feroku Description: A purple mushroom that releases poisonous spores when squeezed. It is usually used in alchemy to craft poisons. Effect: Alchemy Ingredient

These were the three other herbs he gathered then of. Ylose was a yellow herb that would crumble if you held it too tightly. Kaze had accidently crushed a few of them himself and therefore had to gather more of these than he did any others. The only thing really notable about the Thistleclaw herb was its leaves. They actually did look like claws. Feroku, the last plant he gathered, was the hardest one to get. He had to remove it from the ground carefully in order to not get poisoned. Thankfully no spores came out of the mushroom when he dug it up, so he didn’t have to worry about being poisoned.

Digging all of these herbs up had allowed him to level up his herbalism skill by one level.

Herbalism Description: Allows the user to notice special plants in their surroundings easier. 3% chance of finding a herb in the same location as another one. Skill Type: Passive Skill Level: 2 (61%)

Oh, that was neat. One thing he noticed as he looked at his herbalism skill was that he now had a 3% chance of finding an herb. He had assumed the percent would go up one every level but it seemed that wasn’t the case. Instead it went up by 2% every level, or so he though. He would have to get the skill to level three in order to be sure.

Another thing that Kaze though was neat was that he gained a little bit of experience for gathering plants. This was great because it meant that fighting monsters wasn’t the only way to level up. It made sense because some people might not like fighting but still wanted to level up so that they could increase their stats.

With a dagger in hand, Kaze headed back to the village. He was a little disappointed he hadn’t seen any monsters yet since he wanted to try his hand at fighting one. It would be dangerous, but he felt that the reward was worth the risk. He would have to focus on dodging though seeing as how he didn’t start with any clothes to protect himself. This was probably due to the race he chose since normal pants wouldn’t even fit on him. Could he even wear normal armor? This was something he would need to ask once he got back to the village.

As he walked back to the village, Kaze kept an eye out for any enemies. He hadn’t been out here that long, so he still had some time to spend. He didn’t have enough time to be killing a bunch of enemies, but he had enough time to fight one. Still in order to fight a monster, he had to find one first. Thankfully he managed to see one after a few minutes of walking.

Frogera: lvl 2

Holding his dagger out in front of him, Kaze watched the monster carefully. He had almost run into the monster seeing as how it’s green skin blended in well with the forest. Frogera, the monster, looked like a mixture between a frog and a human child. It had on brown clothes and held a spear menacingly in its hands. A frown appeared on Kaze’s face as he stared at the weapon his enemy was holding. This might be a problem.

Thanks to the spear it had, the Frogera would be able to attack him from a distance. Unless he wanted to get hit, Kaze wouldn’t be able to get in close. The only weapon he had was his dagger and his clawed legs. Both of these were close range weapons however so in order to use them he needed to get in close. The question was how.

As the two opponents circled around each other, an idea sprang into Kaze’s head. Grabbing a handful of dirt with his left hand, he waited for the Frogera to lunge at him before action. Jumping to the side, Kaze managed to dodge the quick thrust that was sent his way.

-0 HP! Attack Missed!

As the monster tried to pull its spear back, he lunged forward and tossed a clump of dirt into its eye. The moment the monster began scratching at its eyes in pain, he attacked.

Target is Blinded! -9 HP! -10 HP!

Kaze only managed to hit the monster twice with his dagger before having to retreat. Although the monster was blinded, it was still deadly with its spear. All it was doing was swinging it around in front of itself blindly, but the tip of the stone spear looked awfully sharp. He would need to play this carefully if he wanted to leave this battle unscathed.

It only took the monster a few seconds until it was able to see again. And judging from the way it was watching him, Kaze wouldn’t be able to use the cheap dirt trick again. They circled each other for a few more seconds before he decided to take the initiative. Lunging forward as fast as he could, he raised his dagger high into the air and swung it down with all his strength. Let’s see the monster take this attack.

-0 HP! Attack missed!

Huh? Kaze watched in confusion as the monster rolled on the ground and dodged his attack. Turning around to face the Frogera, his face collided with a clump of dirt. Instinctively bringing his hands to his face, he tried to clear the dirt away from his eyes. It was as he did this that he felt a sharp pain in his front leg.

-10 HP!

Grunting in pain, Kaze forcibly opened one of his eyes so he could see. The moment he did this, he noticed another spear thrust heading his way. Gripping his dagger tightly in his hand, he waited until the last moment to dodge to the left.

-0 HP! Attack Missed!

By slamming his arm into the outstretched spear, Kaze was able to make his opponent stumble. As his opponent fell forward, he ran behind him and kicked him down with his two front legs. As the Frogera fell to the ground, Kaze jumped up into the air and slammed his four bladed legs into the monster’s back.

-5 HP! -5 HP! -5 HP! -5 HP!

Digging his feet into the Frogera’s back, Kaze plunged his dagger multiple times into the defenseless monster. Whenever the monster tried to get up, it was forced back down by his body weight. After thirty seconds of stabbing, the monster was dead.

Removing his legs from the Frogera’s back with a sickening squelch, Kaze took a deep breath. Man, he had not expected the fight to be this hard. The monster was only one level higher than him after all. Guess that showed him not to underestimate any of his opponents. Wiping his legs off on the monster’s clothes, Kaze looked around for his loot. Unfortunately, he didn’t see any. Did the monster just not drop any?

It was while he was looking closely at the Frogera’s corpse that he noticed something. There was a small chest icon lying above its body. Clicking it with his hand, Kaze watched as the Frogera’s corpse disappeared in a mass of particles. In its place stood one copper coin. Grabbing the coin and putting it into his inventory, Kaze headed back towards the town. He would need a better weapon if he wanted to defeat higher level monsters.

As he walked silently back, Kaze replayed the battle over and over in his head. Was there anything he could’ve done differently to get better results? He probably could’ve used his bladed legs more, but he hadn’t realized their potential until the latter half of the battle. They also didn’t do that much damage. Still, they helped him trap the Frogera long enough to kill him.

After a few minutes of walking, Kaze reached the village with no more monster encounters. He wondered if the Frogeras were located in a different part of the forest that he was in. Maybe he had just found a straggler. If that was so then he was lucky. He knew how to fight them, and the next time he met a Frogera he would be prepared.

Stretching his neck, Kaze close his eyes and basked in the warm sunlight. He did this for a few more seconds before looking for Tharja’s shop. It took him a small amount of time to find it, but he located it in the end. Walking inside the store, he took a deep breath. It was time to complete his first quest.