Partying Up

The next morning Kyle and Fi were going over the battle the previous day.

“You were too reckless, I can’t go and find Thomas if things go wrong anymore, you do understand, that right? You were lucky that injury didn’t lower your stats and you could have lost the arm if it had been any worse! And us with no way of paying for high level healing to fix those sorts of injuries.”

Kyle hung his head as Fi berated him on his actions the previous day, after she had calmed down a bit they decided to have a quick look at Kyle’s Skill Sheet before anything else.

Kyle’s Skill Sheet

Currently available Slots

2/5

Currently available Skill Points

0

Skill Name

Description

Basic Chain Fighting

Class Skill

Current Level: 2

Progress 27% to next level

A Passive Skill which indicates the wielders proficiency with chain-type weapons, higher levels will increase damage dealt and unlock special attacks.

Current Bonuses: Increases damage dealt with chains by 5%

Lash

Sub-skill of chain fighting (Active)

Level 2

Costs 5 SP per use

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.

Costs 5 stamina per use.

Current Bonus: 10% to attacks.

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Basic Light Armour Proficiency

Class Skill

Current Level: 2

Progress: 11% to next level

A Passive Skill which allows one to equip and use light armour types, higher levels will give a small boost to certain stats provided by the armour and allow the user to unlock certain sub-skills.

Current bonuses: Increases the defence bonus of light armour by 5%

Basic Medium Armour Proficiency

Class Skill

Current Level: 1

Progress 0% to next level

A Passive Skill that allows one to equip and use medium armour types, higher levels will give a small boost to the stats provided by the armour and allow the user to unlock certain sub-skills.

Current bonuses N/A

Spend Skill Points to unlock remaining Skill Slots.

Spend Skill points to activate unlocked Skills

Current unlocking cost: 5

Slots remaining for unlock: 2

Skills currently unlocked:5

“Finally getting the bonus to my light armour. Okay can we look at the new skills I can unlock now?”

Due to your actions the following Skills have become available for purchase.

Skill Name

Skill Description

Basic Hand to hand combat

Non-class Skill

Level 1

Costs 10 points

A Passive Skill which indicates the wielders proficiency with hand to hand combat, higher levels will increase damage dealt and unlock special attacks.

The user gained access to this skill by fighting unarmed against enemies.

Current Bonuses: N/A

Jury-rigging

Non-class Skill

Level 1

Cost 15 points

A crafting skill that allows the user to modify various items with various degrees of success. Later levels increase this ability and may allow the user to unlock a greater variety of skills.

The user gained access to this skill by modifying several items.

Current Bonuses: N/A

“Wow both of these skills would be awesome,” said Kyle eying the Jury-rigging skill. The ability to unlock more skills was very interesting, but the other would also be a very useful skill to have in the future.

“Indeed, but please remember that you need to get the Thick Skin skill first please.”

Kyle nodded at the gentle reminder of his own mortality and suggested that they get some breakfast before heading out to do their various activities.

Once they had finished eating they went out in search of a tailor as Kyle’s coat was already looking very sad.

Entering the shop, a rotund woman at the counter greeted them.

“What battlefield did you crawl off of?” she asked taking in his coat which looked like Kyle had not only taken a large part of a volley of arrows but also had his arm nearly cut off which wasn’t far from the truth.

“No ma’am, I was fighting in a Zone,” he replied.

“A Zone! At your age!? And what do your parents think of this?”, she squawked in outrage before noticing a dark expression beginning to appear on the young man’s face as Fi signalled desperately at her to stop.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“It’s alright, there was no way you could have, I have need of some new clothes and shoes, I would also like you to fix the coat if possible, it was a gift.” Kyle said taking of the remnants of his coat.

“Dearie it would take a magician to repair that thing, luckily for you I happen to be one, what sort of things were you after? I also happen to have some small skill at leatherworking if you want to replace those shoes as well,” she replied, smoothly putting her faux pas to one side for the moment.

After a while a happy Kyle walked out of the tailor’s shop, his coat would be fixed later that night, the woman’s magic fusing the individual fibres together as he watched made been interesting to watch, but he had other things to be doing that day, he had however not walked away empty-handed. The woman who requested that he call her ‘Aunty Zerah’, had sold him the shirts and pants he had requested as well as some new boots and a leather vest which he could wear under his Coat for added protection, both were classed as medium armour and Fi had showed him the stats before he bought them.

Hardened Leather Boots

Armour Type

Medium Boots

Physical Defence: 3

Magical Defence: 3

A pair of boots, what more do you need to know?

Padded Leather Vest

Armour Type

Medium innerwear

Physical Defence: 5

Magic Defence: 4

A vest that can be worn under certain types of armour to increase protection.

These things and the repairs to his coat had all come to 1 gold and 1 silver coin but Zerah had rounded it down as an apology for what had transpired when he entered her store.

They then returned to the inn to retrieve the shell fragments before heading to a blacksmith. Upon entering the sweltering workshop, they were greeted by an unusual sight; a short stout man who wore not only the blacksmith’s apron they were already familiar with but a strange leather bag over what they could only assume was a voluminous beard.

The being which could only be some variety of Dwarf looked up at the approached a slight from appearing upon his craggy features.

“There something I can be helping ye with lad?” he eventually asked, as the silence soon started to become uncomfortable.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude, there were only Humans in the village I grew up in,” explained Kyle quickly, aware that he may have offended the man, who looked like he could break Kyle in half with a single blow.

“Ain’t worried about that lad, I remember the first time I saw a Human, ‘course I was a much younger dwarf back then,” he said rubbing his hand upon the bag which held his beard.

“But you might want to put that stuff down, I’m guessing it’s for me and I can’t actually see what it is at the moment.”

“Ahh…just some Rock Tortoise shell sir,” said Kyle his makeshift bag on the ground.

“I see,” said the dwarf as he crouched down to examine the goods, “have you got any more or just these scraps?”

“We hid about four times this amount in some ruins near where we killed the beast this came from,” replied Fi quickly.

“Alright, I can give you 1 gold and say 3 silvers for that quantity, I still have to most of it to get it refined at an alchemist because I don’t have the Skill for that, so it might be a little less than what you expected.”

Ten copper coins make one silver and ten silver coins made one gold, there were higher rates of currency but as a night at the average inn was about 1 silver, with another 5 coppers for each meal.

“That seems reasonable,” replied Fi whose eyes were glittering at the mention of a skill that allowed one to refine resources which could lead to greater profits.

“Anything else you want or is that it?” the dwarf asked.

“Oh, yes uhh… what’s your name by the way? I’m Kyle and this is Fi.”

The dwarf introduced himself as Comhan and armed this knowledge Kyle continued the conversation.

“Well Comhan, could you put some sort of weight on the end of this?” said Kyle bringing out his chain.

“Hmmm, this your weapon lad?” Comhan asked rhetorically, as he examined it, “should be easy enough, won’t even need to have it with me for most of it, so you can go and get the rest of the shell while I get started, anything in particular you want?”

“Just an ordinary weight right now, but could you tell me what it would cost to get another similar to this and maybe one with a simple spike as well?” replied Kyle who knew that although he had a reasonable amount of money now that was no guarantee that he would always have so much to spare and had given 4 of the gold coins that Adrian had given them the previous night to Fi for safe keeping.

“I don’t really do chains,” said Comhan, “I’m not the only blacksmith in town and there’s a Human smith who handles things like tools and arrowheads, who I will ask to make the chains themselves, I’ll need to sketch that bit that clamps onto your wrist by the way, he should be able to get one done by morning and I’ll take half to two thirds, will have to check with the other guy, as payment.”

“That seems fair,” said Fi as she glanced at Kyle who nodded his agreement. “If you don’t mind though Comhan I’ll stay behind and ask you about some crafting skills that could help in the future.”

“Aye I’ll throw some basic information in for free, see you back here later kid.”

Several trips to the ruins and back later, they had come to a final agreement on the price of the new gear.

“Right so that’s 4 silver coins for you and I’ll have at least the weight and the new chain ready for you as soon as tomorrow morning,” said Comhan as he handed over the money, Kyle pocketed his coin and walked out with a wave to his new friend, Fi following suit from his shoulder.

Deciding to check in on the progress of finding a party to explore the Zone with him, he headed towards the Guildhall, where he was once again greeted by the bespectacled face of Adrian, who stopped his conversation with a small group of Adventurers to call him over.

“Over here you two, I’m just going over the details with the party you will be travelling with,” he said.

“So, this is the kid?” asked the one who Kyle assumed was the leader of the group.

“Yes, this is Kyle and his companion Fi”, replied Adrian, gesturing at a seat at the table as they approached.

Kyle sat down at the proffered seat looking at the various party members in turn.

The leader was a man a tall dark-haired man with powerful build that suggested he was the tank that was mentioned the previous day, with him were two others, a petit blonde woman in a white robe, indicating she was at the very least a caster, most likely the healer of the group. She was watching Fi with shining eyes, her own companion, the only one in the party, looked like a small brown bear cub. The last member was a man with a build fairly similar to Kyles own, though the man who had long flaxen hair pulled back in a pony-tail was slightly taller, he also had some very interesting features, a pattern of green lines under his skin as well as cat-like eyes and a pair of pointed ears which caught Kyles attention.

“Trying to figure out what sort of Elf I am?” the man asked raising an eyebrow.

Kyle grimaced slightly as he realised that he’d been caught staring at someone’s less human features twice in one day.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m a half-breed of two different types of elf anyway,” the man said sending a small smile Kyles way.

“Actually, I grew up in an isolated village and you’re the first Elf I’ve ever really talked to, I have seen a couple around town though,” Kyle replied sheepishly.

“Oh? Interesting, anyway I’m Resald, and these two are Ulrich and Claire,” he said with a twinkle in his eye gesturing to the other two.

“Your companion, Fi was it? Is really beautiful!” exclaimed the short girl, who finally couldn’t keep quiet and began bouncing up and down in her seat trying to get a closer look at Fi’s iridescent scales.

Fi deciding to oblige her slowly slithered down from her usual position and Claire began stroking her, both of their eyes closing slightly in pleasure.

“And there she goes again, sorry about that kid,” rumbled Ulrich who looked slightly embarrassed at the scene.

“Don’t worry about it, Fi can make her own decisions,” Kyle replied grinning at the larger man.

“Well anything you want to ask, or shall we get down to business?” asked Ulrich returning the grin a small scar below his left eye shining in the dim light as he did so.

“Can you explain a little bit about your roles within the party? Just so I know where I fit in if I end up needing to fight,” asked Kyle.

“Good job not asking about our Classes, anyway, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed I’m the party’s Tank which basically means I try to make sure I’m the only one who gets hit”, Ulrich replied in good humour, “Claire is our Healer, and Resald is an archer type and serves as our main Damage Dealer.”

“The men who raised me the last few years used to be Adventurers themselves, so I know that asking about someone’s Class is considered rude, but they only taught me the basics as they wanted me to learn at my own pace.”

“Makes sense, so what do you think your Role in the group could be? We’ll try to keep you out of danger, but we won’t stop you helping out either,” Ulrich said as he acknowledged Kyle’s casual reference to him being an orphan.

“I’m sort of a multi-range Damage Dealer, I specialise in mid-range though and my Constitution is too low to take a lot of hits,” Kyle replied.

“Sounds like you know your stuff, we’ll be glad to teach a few things, that’s part of our job as I assume you’re going to join the guild after you Class-up?” Ulrich said, glancing briefly at Adrian who nodded his approval of the man’s idea.

“That would be great”, Kyle replied as he did indeed intend on joining the guild as not only was that one of the best ways to make money, but guild officials also had an ability, through the System, to give out a certain amount of experience depending on the difficulty of the request. No-one was sure how they did it, but this ability had made the guild into a powerhouse that spanned many nations since its creation shortly after the arrival of the System.

“Alright, well it seems like this will work out, lets meet back here tomorrow as I’m sure we all have some preparations to make,” said Ulrich and the others nodded at this, “mid-morning then?” he asked Kyle who nodded once again.

“Excellent we’ll see you then”, he said and they all got up to leave.

“Well, I’m glad that worked out, I had to ask quite a few parties before someone accepted the job, not many experienced adventurers want to babysit a beginner, no offence,” said Adrian after the others had left.

“That’s fair,” replied Kyle who reached down to pick up Fi as she was still drooping from Claire’s attentions earlier.

“They’re a solid party who specialise in woodland areas, so you’re in good hands, especially as they seem to like you, you should try to learn as much as you can from them,” Adrian advised.

“I intend to, there’s still so much I need to learn, anyway I should head back to the inn, it’s getting late,” Kyle said smiling at the studious man as he got up to leave.