Gifts and Skills

As the group walked down the street towards the village blacksmith many of the nearby villagers stopped what they were doing to stare at the small procession. Kyle frowned as he calmly walked up to the smithy, knowing some of these people were responsible for the bruises that even now scattered his slender frame. Upon entering the store, they were confronted by the smith, a massive bear of a man, who while he had never treated Kyle or Fi badly, hadn’t stopped those who had.

As the smith looked down at the boy his brow furrowed as he tried to figure out why he had entered his establishment.

Before he could speak he was interrupted by Thomas. “Bernard, if we could have a moment of you time the boy has need of a slightly interesting item”.

“What sort of item”, Bernard replied, warily eying the older man as he approached them.

“A chain sir, though I’m not quite sure as to the specific type I’m looking for as I’ve never heard of someone wielding one as a weapon,” replied Kyle giving the blacksmith a hopeful smile.

Bernard rubbed his stubbled chin for a moment, pondering what the boy meant. “I assume you want this as fast as possible?”

Nodding Kyle replied to the man’s question, “Yes, I’ve never really been welcome here and I kind of want to be gone by tomorrow if possible.

The blacksmith shook his head at this, “Even making a simple chain of say a meter in length would take me at least a full day, due to the individual links, although”, he said as Kyle’s face fell, “you could try to convince the Captain of the Guards to let me take one of the ones that they use for holding prisoners in the cells, we don’t really get many criminals in this small village”. He glanced at the boy apologetically, knowing that by all rights some of those who had harassed him over the years should have had a stint in the cells to cool off at the very least.

Thomas nodded, “This is an acceptable compromise, don’t worry Kyle I’ll make sure that the guards will give you what you need even if I have to pay for a replacement myself. Out of interest how long is the chain in question?”

“About three meters in length, figure that should give him a little leeway in how he chooses to use it, after my apprentice removes it from the wall, I’ll take of one of the manacles that are attached, should be done by morning, I do have a few other things to do first after all.”

“Very well I shall write a note, so the guards let your apprentice take the chains down”.

Nodding Bernard passed Thomas a scrap of paper which the priest then quickly scribbled out the request on, “Please tell your apprentice that if the guards make a fuss, I will pay for a replacement”, Thomas reminded the blacksmith as they walked out.

After they had left Fi looked up at Kyle, “Well that’s a relief at least, I thought you would have to go and ask for it yourself”, she said.

“My dear, Bernard wouldn’t want you two to have any issues, as Thomas is the only Priest of the System for miles, and as such causing him to become upset would be detrimental to his own development, as some of the other villagers have already found”, said the small owl currently resting on Thomas’ shoulder.

“Indeed, and besides that he actually quite respects the two of you himself, you haven’t let the problems some of the other villagers have caused for you to affect you too greatly, he might not have helped you but that’s only because he relies upon the villagers to buy his goods”.

Nodding at the older man’s wisdom Kyle continued down the street towards the inn where Al was waiting for them.

Entering the inn that had served as their home for the last few years, they watched Al silently for a while, burning the image of the man who had raised them from the age of ten into their minds. Despite Al’s gruff nature he had treated them well and more than a few villagers had been banned from the premises after they had tried to start a fight with Kyle.

Smiling at the sight of the pot-bellied man moving around behind the bar, his companion a monkey with light brown fur covering its body appeared from the kitchen carrying plates of food with him.

“Sit down, sit down,” he said impatiently, “you’re late, the foods getting cold”, as he placed the food down on a nearby table, “don’t worry about working tonight, we won’t be opening”, he fussed gesturing at Kyle and Thomas.

Smiling at his antics Kyle thanked him for preparing all of this for him.

“Sam’s been like this all day”, Al said sitting down next to Kyle clapping him on the back as he did so. “He knows you’re leaving and wants to make your last memories here to be as happy as possible.”

The fur around Sam’s face turned red in embarrassment as he exclaimed, “Oh, and what about you, you old fogey, you’ve been moping around all day!”

Al grinned at his companion sheepishly as the others turned to look at him.

“Fair enough, fair enough”

Kyle looked at the dishes arrayed before him, Sam had made all his favourites and he quickly, filled his and Fi’s plates with food before they began to eat.

After they finished eating Kyle began to explain a bit about his class causing a relieved look to appear on Al’s face.

“Well that’s a relief, I wasn’t sure if you could use what we got for you”

Kyle looked at him in question as he returned to the bar, reaching over and picking up a small package.

“This is from the four of us, something which Tom used in the old days, I fixed it myself”, he explained handing it over.

Kyle quickly unwrapped it staring down at the contents in shock. It was a long black hooded jacket with metal toggles running two thirds of the way down the front.

“It’s been modified to keep your legs as free as possible”, Al explained gently taking it from the boys hands, “It has plenty of pockets in which you can keep some small items and when you put the hood up it activates a minor enchantment to protect you from prying eyes, I also added a small amount of leather to the back for a little protection but it’s still only light armour”.

“Fi show him the stats, you should be able to identify items now”, said Thomas

Modified Leather-backed Coat

Armour Type: Light outerwear

Physical Defence: 7

Magical Defence: 5

A light coat that has been modified with a small amount of leather to increase defence. This item also has several pockets that can be used to hold items independent of your Companions Inventory. The hood has a minor enchantment upon it which obscures the wearers features when used.

Nodding Fi brought up the information.

Kyle stared at the item in front of him, realising that this was the first true piece of equipment he had ever received.

“I, I don’t know what to say”, he stuttered.

“Just put it on already!” cried Sam grabbing it from Al’s outstretched hands and wrapping it around Kyles shoulders.

Nodding Kyle slipped his arms through the sleeves feeling the coat coming down to his mid-thigh.

The others watched pride shining in their eyes.

“A perfect fit”, they said simultaneously, then laughed as Kyle blushed.

“Now the, I guess we’d better let you get on with assigning your skill points”, Thomas said as he cackled with mirth.

The User has 10 Skill points available for use. Would you like to continue?

Yes/No

Fi quickly brought up a screen as the others moved away to give the two some time to think.

The User currently has 3 new Skills available for Selection.

Skill Name

Skill Description

Lash

Sub-skill of chain fighting (Active)

Level 1

Costs 5 Skill points

An active skill modified from a whip technique, causes increased damage and slightly increases the likelihood of target attacking the user, this affect increases with each successive use. This Skill is a Sub-skill of Basic Chain Fighting.

Costs 5 stamina per use.

Current Bonus: 5% to attacks.

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Thick skin

Non-Class Skill

Level 1

Costs 10 Skill Points

A Passive Skill that decreases the amount of Physical Damage taken.

The User gained access to this Skill after taking large amounts of Physical Damage over a period of many years.

Adds 1 point of Physical Defence per Skill Level

Current Bonus: N/A

Basic Cooking

Non-Class Skill

Basic Level 1

Cost 5 Skill Points

Allows the User to cook basic food, while it is possible to cook without this Skill, the quality of such dishes is lower.

The User gained access to this Skill by observing food being prepared.

Kyle quickly replied yes, and a new screen replaced the previous one.

Kyle quickly put 5 Skill Points into unlocking a Skill Slot, and pored over his options, few though they were, he quickly concluded that he would unlock the Active Skill Lash, as he didn’t have much else to choose from.

Fi nodded at his choice and noted that the screens had also given them a hint in how to gain new skill options. Kyle nodded noting the description of the Thick Skin Skill with some irritation. Most the Skills he had at this time were basic Skills, upon the Skill reaching Level 10 he had the option of upgrading the skill with his Skill Points, this could increase the effects of the Skill by or give an optional new effect.

Looking down at Fi he asked her what her Skills were.

“Well until you Class up I only really have access to a few Skills, such as my ability to show you your Status and Skill Screens. I can also store a few items in a dimensional pocket with my Inventory skill as well as identify items and monsters. My own Status and Skill screens will be sealed until you Class up after every time you level up I will receive one point to spend on my stat and can pick one skill every five levels.”

Kyle nodded to himself, he knew that until they could do so Fi would be completely reliant upon him for protection, this meant the pressure was on him to upgrade his Class as soon as possible.

This explanation completed the two decided to have a quick look at Kyle’s status before retiring to bed.

Status

Name: Kyle Ferguson

Race: Human

Level: 1

Class: Chain Fighter

HP: 70/70

Regen: 0.7 HP per second

MP: 70/70

Regen: 3 MP per second

SP: 80/80

Regen: 4 SP per second

Exp: 0%

Strength: 8(7)

Dexterity: 9(7)

Constitution: 7(7)

Agility:12(9)

Intelligence: 7(7)

Wisdom: 6(6)

Endurance: 8(7)

Willpower: 6(6)

Stat Points: 3

Skill Points: 0

Kyle noted that his base stats which had been growing slowly since his status had been unlocked were still visible. This likely meant that they could still increased outside of levelling up. Checking with Fi who with one of her usual longwinded responses explained that adding points to certain stats like Intelligence or Wisdom didn’t make you smarter, or wiser. Adding points to Intelligence would instead increase your MP pool and influencing the power of arcane spells, whereas adding points to Wisdom would increase his regeneration rate by 0.5 per point and influencing the power of faith-based spells.

Thinking about his options for a while he checked with Fi to confirm his decisions.

“So… I’m think of adding one point each to three different stats for the moment. Strength and Constitution, because I’ll be fighting alone for a while and need the extra damage and health, as well as a point to Endurance for more SP and regen so I can use my special attack more often. He said as he looked at her.

She nodded and replied, “It’s certainly a start, but it looks like we’ll have to have a rethink when we know more about what this class of capable of”.

Kyle spent the points bringing his Constitution up to 8 raising his HP by 10 and its recovery rate by 0.1, his Strength in turn went up to 9 and his Endurance up to 9 as well increasing his SP by 10 and it’s regen by 0.5, looking over the changes with satisfaction he nodded at Fi who dismissed the screen.

They then bid the two older men, who were busy chatting and drinking with their respective companion’s goodnight. They had a big day tomorrow after all.