I rolled my eyes slightly as I followed Kerr into a medium sized room that had two odd looking tables in the middle of it and shelves ringing them that were full off various Soul Shards and clear orbs that looked like Soul Cores but didn’t have the internal glow that Soul Cores had.

“Right then, so I’m just going to assume that you have no idea what any of these things are, am I right boy?” Kerr growled as he turned towards me.

“Other than the Soul Shards,” I agreed. “But I’m guessing that those orbs on the shelves are ‘blank’ Soul Cores.”

“Hmph,” Kerr grunted. “So, you’re not a complete waste of air then. Yes, that is correct.”

Then he turned towards the two tables in the centre of the room and placed his hand on one of them. When he did this the whole thing lit up and strange geometric shapes began to form above it.

“This is called a Soul Altar and we use this to draw out the essence from Soul Shards and imbue it in the Blank Core,” Kerr explained before wandering over to one of the shelves and grabbing a Blank Core and two Soul Shards. “First you pace the Blank Core into the slot in the centre of the altar and then place the Soul Shards that you want to use to turn it into a Soul Core in these blank spaces in the diagram that surrounds the Core. As you can see there are eight spaces where you can place Soul Shards but you’re an exceptionally long way away from being able to use that many.”

“How many can I use?” I asked cautiously. Kerr was actually being quite helpful right now, so I decided to risk asking him a question and hope that it wasn’t a stupid one.

“This formula is for a Basic Stat Core that uses a maximum of three Soul Shards,” Kerr replied as he pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it over to me.

I nodded and as I took it from his hand a prompt appeared asking me if I wanted to learn the formula for what was called a ‘Basic Stat Core.’ I immediately accepted and the piece of paper flashed once and turned to ash as new knowledge flowed into my mind. Once my mind had finished processing this knowledge, I realised that I could now make a Soul Core that could provide a minor boost to a single Stat depending on what Soul Shards I used. Like Kerr had already mentioned I could use up to three Soul Shards but depending on the shards I used I might only need to use two if one of the shards was strong enough.

As I already knew each Soul Shard had affinities for certain things like Strength or Constitution and it was the strength of these affinities that was what decided both what sort of Soul Core they would create and how many Soul Shards I needed to use to make them. For example, I could use three Soul Shards with a Lesser Affinity for Constitution to make a Basic Constitution Core. I could also make a Basic Constitution Core from a Soul Shard with a Medium Affinity for Constitution and one with a Lesser Affinity. I couldn’t properly use a Soul Shard with a Major Affinity yet because my Crafting Level was still too low but eventually I would be able to use a single one to create a Basic Stat Core but something told me that using a Soul Shard with a Major Affinity for something as simple as a Basic Stat Core would be a complete waste.

I also knew that the maximum number of Stat Points that a Basic Stat Core of any type could give the user was three but there was practically no way that I would be able to make even one Basic Stat Core that provided that many points any time soon. It was possible that I could make one that provided two extra Stat Points but very unlikely until I Levelled Up my Core Creation Skill. Using less Soul Shards with higher Affinity for the Stat that I wanted to make a Core for would make it slightly more likely that the Core would provide more than one Stat, but the chance was still pretty low.

“Right then,” Kerr said. “If you’re ready let’s get started making Basic Constitution Cores from the Soul Shards that you collected for me. If you’re lucky and do a decent job I might even let you keep one as payment.”

I nodded slowly in agreement as I pulled the Soul Shards out of my Inventory and placed them on a small shelf that was attached to the main part of one of the Soul Altars. Most of the Soul Shards that I had collected from the Toads had a Lesser Affinity for Constitution but a couple of them had a Medium Affinity. I decided to use three of the ones that had a Minor Affinity first so that I could get a hang of what I was doing. Kerr handed me a Blank Core and I placed it in the socket in the middle of the Soul Altar like he had shown me and then placed the three Soul Shards that I had chosen to use first on the Soul Altar. As I did this the altar started humming slightly and Kerr nodded in satisfaction.

“You made the right decision to use the Soul Shards with Lesser Affinity first,’ he told me in a somewhat grudging tone of voice. “There’s a fairly good chance that you will botch making your first Core. Alright you should know what to do from here.”

I nodded in agreement and placed my hands on either side of the altar as I stared at the geometric shape that was slowly changing in front of my eyes. I didn’t really know how but I could tell that the symbols in front of me were asking what I wanted to do with the Soul Shards that I had placed on the altar. I had to choose between selecting to make a Basic Agility Core and a Basic Constitution Core and quickly selected the latter which caused the three Soul Shards to glow as a reddish mist floated up from them.

This was the ‘soul essence’ that gave Soul Cores their power and I now had to funnel the mist into the Core as best as I could. As it turned out doing this was actually exceedingly difficult and by the time, I was done I was dripping with sweat from the exertion. However, despite my exhaustion nothing could stop a smile slowly creep across my face as I looked at the freshly completed Soul Core in front of me.

“Well done,” Kerr murmured grudgingly as I removed the Core from the socket and examined it. “You might even be slightly talented at this.”

Basic Constitution Core (Support Core)

Item Tier (Rarity)- Crude (Common)

Required Level: 1

Stats increased

+ 1 Constitution.

My smile widened even further as I read the basic description of the Core that I had made. It only provided a single point of Constitution, but I had still successfully made a Soul Core on my first go.

“Alright kid, wipe that smirk off your face and get back to work,” Kerr grumbled but I could tell that he was secretly pleased that I had succeeded in making a Soul Core on my first try. “You managed to get more than the ten Soul Shards that I sent you to collect so I want to see at least another four Basic Constitution Cores by the time you’re done here. If you manage to make more than five in total, I will let you keep one of them. I will also give you your next task when you’re done so come and see me then.”

“I actually have some more questions about Soul Cores,” I aid quickly as the old man turned to leave.

“And I will answer them when you’re done with your task,’ Kerr told me firmly before slowly walking away.

I frowned slightly before grabbing another Blank Core from one of the shelves and placing it in the socket.

“Right then,’ I muttered to myself. “Let’s get to work.

The next Core that I made cracked as I funnelled the soul essence into it and when I checked the description it was called a ‘Flawed Core’ and that it was considered a trash item that didn’t do anything which was a bit disappointing. But I knew that these things happened sometimes, so I wasn’t too worried. Eventually I was able to complete four working Soul Cores with only one more Flawed Core to show for it.

Just when I was about to start working on the fifth, I received a message from Warren.

“Hey man,” my friend said as I placed the first Soul Shard on the altar. “Just letting you know that we’re all Level 5 now and we were wondering if you were nearly done since it’s after lunch now?”

I blinked slightly at this as I realised that I had completely lost track of time and it was now past midday.

“Sorry Warren but I’m not quite done yet,” I replied with a sigh. “It turns out that making Soul Cores is actually quite difficult.”

“Alright, well how about the rest of us go and start learning how to use our own Crafting Skills,” my friend suggested.

“That seems like a good idea to me,” I agreed. “What did everyone choose in the end?”

“Well I decided to learn Weapon-smithing and Armour-smithing,” my friend explained. “Kelly learned Tailoring like we planned as well as Jewellery Crafting which will allow her to make things like rings that you can slot Support Cores into. I also heard from Fern, it seems that she also chose to learn Alchemy but she’s planning on focussing on making poisons while Evie mostly wants to learn to make healing potions and the like.”

I nodded slowly. These all seemed like good choices to me, there were a couple of other Crafting Skills that people could learn but most of them were things that allowed those who learned them to do things like build houses and stuff like that. But most of us weren’t really interested in things like that because we were more interested in going out and adventuring than we were in sticking around in one place while a house or other large structure was being built.

“Alright I’ll see you guys back at the inn later I guess,” I told my friend who agreed and signed off leaving me alone in the small room at the back of Kerr’s shop. I still had eleven more Soul Shards that I had harvested from various monsters but I some of them couldn’t be used to make Basic Constitution Cores so I decided to put some of them back in my Inventory since I didn’t know whether Kerr would be happy if I used his Soul Altar to make any other type of Core until I had reported back to him.

With a sigh I got back to work, I had reached Level 2 in my Core Creation Skill earlier and I hadn’t failed to make a Core since. Making Soul Cores had become quite a bit easier because of this but it was still fairly tiring at this point. Hopefully making Soul Cores would only continue to get easier as my Core Creation Skill Levelled Up.

Unfortunately, I still hadn’t managed to make a Basic Constitution Core that provided more than a single extra point of Constitution. Until now.

This time I managed to get much more of the soul essence to enter the Core than I had previous times and once I was done the whole thing flared so brightly that I thought that it was going to explode. Reacting as quickly as possible I launched myself as far backwards as I could before activating my Ward Skill but to my surprise the glowing faded a few seconds later. I kept my Ward up as I slowly crept closer and eyed the benign looking orb suspiciously for a few moments before examining it.

Basic Constitution Core (Support Core)

Item Tier (Rarity)- Average (Common)

Required Level: 1

Stats increased

+ 2 Constitution.

“Now that’s more like it!” I laughed as I picked up the faintly glowing orb to compare it with one of the others that I had made. Sure, enough it glowed slightly brighter than one of the weaker ones. “Right then, I think I can make a couple more with the Soul Shards that I have left.”

As it turned out that next Soul Core that I attempted to make was a failure which was a little bit disappointing, but I did manage to successfully make another two Soul Cores before I ran out of Soul Shards.

“Alright,” I muttered as I wiped my face. “I guess that I’m done now. I’d better take these to Kerr.”

“Are you done in there lad?” Kerr grumbled at me as I left the room carrying a tray full of Soul Cores. “Good job, you took slightly less time than I expected you to and you only failed to make a working Soul Core a couple of times.”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied politely as I placed the tray of Soul Cores on the counter. “Can I ask you some questions about Soul Cores now?”

“I’m assuming that you want to know more about things like that Lightning Magic Core and whatever weapon Core you have, right?” Kerr asked and I swear that I saw a grin flash over his face briefly, but it could have just been my imagination.

“Well actually I’d guess that magic can still be learnt from certain monster types that can use that type of magic,” I replied thoughtfully. “That might require me to increase my Core Creation Skill Level though.”

“That is one way yes,” Kerr agreed. “So, have you thought about how we make Soul Cores that give you weapon Skills?”

“The only thing that I thought of was that we use the Soul Shards from other people or monsters that use weapons,” I replied thoughtfully after a few seconds.

“Very well done,” Kerr nodded. “Except for one thing. There are no true Races alive today that can learn Skills without a Soul Core. What’s more is that if someone learned a Skill from a Soul Core you can’t use their corpse to create a Soul Shard from their body that can teach that Skill. So, we can only make Soul Cores like that from monsters.”

“Uh, you said that there are no true Races alive today that can learn Skills without a Soul Core to help them. Does that mean that there were once?” I asked.

“Indeed, once upon a time all Races could perform such a feat. But that ability was taken away from us because some people abused it,” Kerr sighed. “As such many of them were cursed to roam their ancient halls for eternity. And yes, they are how we get a lot of the Soul Shards that we need to make that type of Soul Core.”

Undead monsters were nothing new in a video game and it wasn’t unusual for them to be really important to the lore of the game world. However, the fact that they were in this one was rather interesting. I fell silent as I considered the implications of what Kerr had told me when you considered how this world had come to be. In most games something like what Kerr had referred to would simply be part of the backstory but in this one it was entirely possible that all of this actually happened back when the world was being made ready for players. Maybe I was stretching, and I was definitely going to ask Katy if my theories had any basis in (virtual) reality, but it still made a little bit too much sense for comfort.

“Okay is there anything else that I need to know?” I asked once I had finished thinking.

“Not about Core Creation,” Kerr sighed looking more tired than I had ever seen him like admitting to the origin of Skill Cores had cost him something. “How about we move on to the next task that I have for you?”

“Alright,” I agreed. “What do you want me to do?”

“What you were just doing really,” Kerr replied with a shrug. “I want you to make Soul Cores. As many as you can. In return I will allow you to use the Soul Altars in the back whenever you want give you a discount on new formulae when your Core Creation Skill Levels Up enough to learn them as well as buying the Soul Cores that you make off of you. I won’t pay you as much as I would normally until you pay off the debt that you owe me though.”

New Quest Unlocked!

Kerr’s Helper- Part 2

(Uncommon Ranked Chain Quest)

Kerr has given you the task of creating simple Soul Cores to fulfil the influx of orders that he has received. He has promised to pay you a small amount for each Core that you give him. Once you have fulfilled his current orders he will give you a new task.

Rewards

Permanent access to Kerr’s Soul Altars. Payment for Soul Cores. Reputation with Kerr.

“Okay, I’ll be honest I’m a little bit confused as to why you want me to do this,” I replied as I processed the information that had appeared in front of me once Kerr had finished speaking. “This seems to benefit me a lot more than it does you.”

“Because it’s hard for me to make Soul Cores these days,” Kerr sighed. “As I’m sure you noticed making a Soul Core uses up a lot of energy and with all of you outsiders wanting as many Soul Cores as possible it’s just too hard for me to keep up. So, I needed someone else to help me out and you just so happened to come along at the right time.”

I only barely managed to keep myself from rolling my eyes at this.

“So, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time?”

“Pretty much,” Kerr admitted. “But I got lucky too. Most people fail at making Soul Cores about thirty percent of the time when they first start off. I honestly didn’t expect you to make more than five Cores with the Soul Shards that you had but you made two more than that. Hell, you even made a Soul Core that can give someone two extra points of Constitution.”

“I take it that’s relatively impressive?”

“Yes and no,” Kerr replied. “In theory anyone can make something like that if they make a lot of Soul Cores. Still you did do well to make one on your first day.”

“Thank you,” I replied as sincerely as I possibly could. Kerr was acting quite differently than he had before and I was beginning to realise that he was showing a side of himself that he couldn’t really show most people. Especially since there were definitely some outsiders who would take advantage of a fragile old man without a second thought.

“Anyway, I suppose that you should be on your way,” Kerr said as he picked up one of the Soul Cores and handed it to me. My eyes widened slightly as I realised that this was the Soul Core that provided points of Constitution instead of one. Seeing my surprise at his generosity Kerr chuckled.

“Heh, don’t worry about it, kid,” Kerr chuckled. “Like I was going to make you give away the first Soul Core that provides more than one Stat Point.”

“Well thank you,” I nodded as I put the Soul Core away in my Inventory. “But to be honest I am probably going to give it to a friend of mine.”

“And that’s your decision,” Kerr nodded. “Now get out of here I need to close the shop.”

I nodded once more in agreement before bidding the older man goodnight and heading back to the inn where I found everyone else waiting for me.

As soon as I sat down at the table my friends started bombarding me with questions and I held up a hand to at the very least slow them down so that I could answer them.

“So how did it go?” Kelly asked once they had calmed down. “Did you manage to convince Kerr to teach you Core Creation?”

“Yes, yes he did,” I replied.

“And what’s the next task that he has for you?” Evie queried before anyone else could speak.

“Well that’s the thing,” I sighed. “He wants me to make as many Soul Cores as I possibly can and in return, I can use his Soul Altars- that’s what the Crafting Stations for Core Creation are called- whenever I want. He also promised to pay me a bit of money for every Core that I make and that he’ll sell me more formulae at a discounted price.”

Warren who had been silently shaking for most of my explanation finally gave up and burst into laughter drawing irritated looks from nearby tables. Eventually he calmed down and just sat there grinning at me for a few seconds while I glared back at him irritably.

“It never stops for you does it?” my friend asked eventually. “Your whole thing where dumb shit keeps happening to you. You can’t even buy a freaking piece of gear without getting some weird chain Quest that gives you some sort of advantage over everyone else.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” I asked in confusion. While I did feel like Kerr had been quite generous with the privileges that he said that he would give me I didn’t think that I had done anything to deserve this sort of reaction.

“He means that we have to pay every time we want to use a Crafting Station and since there are a limited number to go around when compared to the number of Outsiders like ourselves, well I’m sure that you can figure it out,” Kelly replied with a long drawn out sigh. “Although I will admit that there are a lot more Crafting Stations for our Crafting Skills than there are for yours.”

“Ah, well then I apologise then Warren,” I said eventually. “You are absolutely correct that my ‘condition’ kicked in once again. Although I would like to point out that this event doesn’t give me as much of an advantage as you so succinctly put it as the other times my little condition has.”

Warren started shaking again but he managed to prevent himself from bursting into the sae explosive laughter that he had previously. I completely understood Warren’s mirth as irritating as it was.

“We’re just going to get used to stuff like this, aren’t we,” Evie sighed, and Fern nodded in agreement as Katy, Warren and Kelly chuckled slightly.

I chose to ignore them for a bit and eat some of the food in front of me instead.

“So, did you get to take any of the Cores that you’ve made with you or not,” Kelly asked.

“Actually, yes I did,” I said as I retrieved the orb from my Inventory and passed it to Warren who took it curiously. “That will give you two more Constitution. Sorry everyone I’ll make more to give you guys later but increasing our Tank’s ability to take damage is too important right no to give the Core to you.”

The others all nodded in agreement with what I had said which was what I had expected but it was always good to make sure that everyone was satisfied with how the loot was distributed. Even if though I had actually made the Soul Core that I had given Warren not looted it from an enemy.

“So, did you guys make anything useful with your own Crafting Skills?” I asked and everyone nodded happily.

“I have some health potions to give everyone,” Evie said as she pulled out a handful of vials full of a reddish liquid. “Sorry they’re not very good but they should help if I’m not able to heal you on time.”

“That’s plenty dear,” Kelly said quickly as we all put the potions in our Inventory. “I started working on a set of robes for myself that will give me slightly more defence and Spirit regen. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish it but it today, but I should finish it tomorrow.”

“Yeah and I’ve started working on a new shield,” Warren said once Kelly had finished talking and it was now that I realised just how lucky I was that Kerr had given me unfettered access to the Soul Altars in his back room. It seemed that it was going to be quite difficult for outsiders like us to actually Craft things until we got to a larger city or gained the ability to make Crafting Stations of our own. “I should be finished tomorrow as well but I’m basically only going to be making my own gear until I have a full set of armour.”

“I made some Improved Arrows which basically just provide a slight boost to my damage over my normal arrows,” Katy continued once Warren was done talking. “I thought about trying Woodworking first, but that tutor looked really busy, so I decided to learn Fletching first.”

“And I’ve made s a Leather Vest for myself,” Fern said finally. “It doesn’t provide a lot of defence and it only has the one Core Slot but it’s better than nothing.”

“Alright then,” I said now that everyone was done. From my own experience learning Crafting Skills in this game was quite time consuming so I wasn’t surprised that no one else had learned more than one Crafting Skill either. “I guess that we should go to bed once we’re done eating then.”

“That’s right you have to go to work tomorrow,” Evie nodded. “So, we should probably finish up as soon as possible.”

The others all nodded in agreement and a few minutes later we all made our way upstairs and bid each other goodnight. Once inside my room I logged out of the game and dragged myself out of my Rig and had a shower and a bite to eat before going to bed. I wasn’t really looking forward to the mess that I was almost certainly going to have to deal with tomorrow, but I still had to make money outside of the game. At least for now.