{Prides POV}

Back inside the game, I got up from my seat in the parlour, and went to go find Ezos.

“Hey Pride, welcome back.” Ezos was sitting behind the counter just like always, except this time there was a woman with him.

“Hello Ezos, is she a customer?” Curious, I asked Ezos who this person was.

“Nope. Pride, meet my sister, Kallen.” Ezos stood up and motioned towards his sister, who in turn nodded her head towards me and introduced herself.

“Hello. Just like Ezos said I am his sister Kallen. I take it that you are his new assistant?”

“Yes, it is a pleasure to meet you.” Giving a slight bow I replied courteously. Kallen was rather attractive. She was about 5’10 (1.7m), long blonde hair, brown eyes, and a slender figure covered in smooth white skin. Her skin though, had various tattoos marking her arms and I could see one peaking up from her shirt and onto her neck.

“Oi, you’re supposed to be Pride, not Lust, so stop eyeing up my sister and instead eye up our stock.” Ezos seemed to have noticed my gaze and ordered me to go do inventory of our materials.

“Sorry about that, I was just curious about how this giant could be related to an angel.” Being a smartass has earned me a few points with Ezos before, so I hoped that these words didn’t poke at any bad spots.

“Oh my Ezos, careful, or your sister might be taken away by a child of the gods.” Dramatically swooning Kallen then laughed when she saw Ezos flustered face while he thought about how to deal with this situation.

As amusing a sight it was though, I had to leave to go do the inventory as Ezos had asked, and off to the back room I went.

About halfway through, Ezos came in and said,”Hey Pride, you willing to do a tattoo, seems we got a customer.”

“Alright, have they chosen everything already?” closing the box I was looking in, I stood up to face him as he then handed me a piece of paper with the design, chosen seal, and dye.

“Hmm, a dragon snaking up their ankle, wyvern’s blood for the dye, and a simple permanent seal. Fancy.” Reading off the list I then found the wyvern’s blood, and the seal from the boxes.

“Pop quiz, what kind of effects should this tattoo give?” Before I could go out, Ezos decided to test my knowledge. I am his assistant after all.

“The design should give either fire resistance or strength, seeing as it is on the ankle though strength would be the better, and the dye tends to help reflexes and flexibility. Down side though tends to be itchiness on the applied area. Correct?” Recalling what I learned I answered Ezos and awaited his response.

“Almost, since it’s wyverns blood being put into the design the downside would be a burning feeling, not itchiness. It is rather weak though, and comes infrequently. The person in question wanted the tattoo to increase strength and flexibility. Good luck.” And with that he let me pass.

With the supplies in hand I walked over towards the curtain that the customer should be behind, and was greeted by the sight of Kallen seated in the chair.

“Hey Pride, I assume Ezos already told you about the design right?” Waving her hands towards me I realized that she was the person I would be tattooing, and instantly the pressure to succeed was increased tenfold.

“Ye, yes he did. Just to double check, you want a dragon coiling around your ankle in wyverns blood correct?”

“Yep, and I would like for it to increase my ankle strength and flexibility please.” Smiling at me she then raised her leg and set it on a table in front of the chair.

Sitting down I grabbed my tool and started tracing around her ankle. The entirety of my focus was put into ensuring the design would not only look good, but would give the appropriate buffs as well. I first traced from the trail, and slowly did the rough outline of the dragon as I went around her ankle, lifting it up and twisting it carefully to reach all the spots.

Once the design was roughly outlined, I went inside of the lines and put the scales onto it’s skin, and detailed the face. The face gave an impression of ferocity, with an open maw flashing rows of teeth. The eyes seemed to pierce one’s skin and the wings were open, as if the design itself was about to leave her skin and pounce.

Having the design fully traced, I then grabbed a brush and carefully followed the lines with the wyvern’s blood. The blue liquid slowly filling in the lines while I ensured it was thin enough to only stay in the outline, and not drip out on the underneath of the ankle.

Once I finished, I looked at Kallen to tell her I was about to draw out her mana, to be met with her smile as she looked at the dragon on her skin.

“I like the design, it really does seems like a ferocious dragon!” I swear her smile inflicted some kind of status effect on me, as I was entranced for a few seconds before remembering what I was going to tell her.

“Umm, just so you know I am about to draw out your mana, so be prepared for a bit for pain, also, I will need to make three points, since the design curves around your ankle.”

“Alright, stick it in me then.” Winking at me, my face flushed a crimson red before she burst into laughter, no doubt amused by my embarrassment.

I then took up my tool once more and found the points I would draw from. Since I would be doing this three times, I could be a bit more gentle than normal, and almost like giving a shot, I slowly put the tool in before pulling it out to allow for the mana to flow.

I repeated this two more times, and after the design filled I applied the seal.

Once finished, I was greeted to the sight of a window in front of my face.

Due to the quality of the tattoo, you may choose to add an extra effectIntimidation:

Intimidates opponents and may add fear to those that see it.Harden:

Hardens the area applied as if it is dragon scales. Costs mana to maintain.Berserk:

Owner goes into a berserk state. Costs mana to initiate. Can only be used once a day.

Wow, seems putting more concentration gave the tattoo a pretty cool set of things to choose from.

“You seem to be spacing out, is everything alright Pride?” Curious, Kallen asked me what I was doing, and I quickly explained what happened and what she could choose.

“Wow, that means that this tattoo would be about a master quality! Amazing to think you are just Ezos’ apprentice.”

I had been taught about the quality of crafts, but I never knew that the quality could add effects to the piece. Quality went on a scale like this: terrible, poor, average, great, grand, master, expert, grandmaster, legendary and finally godly. It was a large scale, but it was a universal scale for art, blacksmithing, and tattoos.

“Anyways Pride, I would like for you to choose, seeing as you are the artist.” Kallen flashed another smile, and I felt like I was playing a game of Minesweeper. My choice would affect her for life, since this is a permanent tattoo, and I would rather not mess up.

“Well, in that case… How about Harden?” Choosing harden the tattoo glowed and Kallen let out a small, “Oh,” as the effect probably was given to her. I went Oh as well, but that was due to the window in front of me.

Body Artistry has increased to level 10

Seems as if doing higher level works gives higher experience, as before that I was at level 8 with 92%.

“I heard some yelling from back here. What’s going on?” Ezos entered the room and looked at us questioningly. Kallen and I then explained the situation to him before he spoke again.

“Hmm, tell me Pride, what level is your Body Artistry skill now?”

“10 sir, it jumped up a lot from this.” I answered quickly and waited for his response.

“10 huh, well in that case congratulations, you no longer are an apprentice!” Ezos congratulated me, but I felt rather confused.

“Wait, what do you mean I am no longer an apprentice?”

“You see Pride, once you reach level 10 in a skill, generally that means you have an understanding of the action, so apprenticing will give you nothing. In fact, most people get stuck at level 9 for a while since they don’t accomplish anything noteworthy, nor do they completely understand their trade.” Kallen supplemented for her brother and a sense of, you guessed it, pride welled up in me.

“Well then, since you are no longer an apprentice, I guess that makes us business partners then eh?” Ezos proposed this while offering his hand to me.

“Yep, I still have a lot to learn though, so guide me for a bit longer then.” Once I said this, another window popped up in front of me.

Job UpdatedYou have completed you apprenticeship and are now a 'Body Artist', as such you have gained the following additional changes:

+10 Dexterity

+5% Growth for skills related to tattoos

-More respect from citizens in professions related to the arts

-Can read tattoos

That last bit about reading tattoos confused me, but when I focused on the dragon I had just finished I was shown a window with its details.

Winding DragonOwner:Kallen DanrothArtist:PrideQuality:MasterThe first master quality tattoo by the artist Pride, this dragon seems to be alive and ready to devour any that oppose it. Increases strength and flexibility of owners ankle, as well as can harden the area by controlling one’s mana. Owner may get rashes on skin.

Huh, so that’s their last name. Probably should've known that but oh well. Anyways, the screen seemed fairly detailed about the tattoo, listing it’s positives and negatives in a clean fashion. The downside though was a bit different than expected, but it isn't necessarily worse at least.

“So, now onto payment I suppose. How does 50 gold sound?” Kallen said a price rather easily, but to me that was a huge sum, enough to pay for two weeks of rune courses!

“Seems fair to me. So Pride, once I take off the material costs and deduct some since you were my apprentice when you did this that leaves you with about 40 gold. Sound good?” Ezos said this while smiling at me and I wanted to run around the room like a toddler on a candy rush.

“Ye, yes! Thank you!” I gave a bow towards Kallen and she giggled a bit at the scene.

“Well then Ezos, I’m off, don’t want to keep my group waiting too long.” Kallen said this while heading towards the door after giving Ezos the money from a pouch on her hip.

“Stay safe then alright, and feel free to come by for some visiting.” Ezos happily sent her off while telling her she was welcome back.

Once Kallen left I curiously asked Ezos what she does.

“Kallen is an adventurer to put it in simple terms. Her and her group go around the islands hunting creatures, mapping new lands, and doing odd jobs for various people.” From Ezos’ description, Kallen seemed rather similar to the normal player.

“Anyways Pride, now that you’re not my apprentice anymore, lets talk about money.” After starting with that I was subjected to talking about splitting material costs, building upkeep, picking up shipments, etc. The end deal was that I would pay him 10% of the cost of my tattoos to use his facilities, and would pay for the materials I use. There were other agreements in that, but those were the two big ones.

“Since that’s taken care of, are you going to keep working here for a while, or will you go take some courses at the magic guild?” Ezos posed a very good question, and after debating for a while, I decided I would go the next day to sign up for the course.

“Well then, in that case why don’t you man the shop here for a bit while I go out. Keep ‘er safe.” With that Ezos left the parlour and went out into the cold night, while I stayed in the shop thinking about the amazing future I was going to have now.

A shame that fate decided otherwise.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Hello. Another chapter for you guys. I tried to make this one a bit longer so as to counter the slow upload speed, but tell me if you prefer short, daily updates instead. Like always, comment any questions of mistakes, and thanks for reading!

(PS Formatting this chapter sucked. The page just did not want to cooperate and kept on making huge spaces, highlighting random stuff, and changing it's alignment. If you know how to prevent it from wonking out, please tell me. Thanks) Advertisement Previous

Chapter Fiction

Index Next

Chapter RSS About the author 1 Fictions 0 Posts 0 Threads Ito8 Follow Author Sunday, February 8, 2015 3:04:40 AM Canada

Bio: A simple Canadian teenager who likes to read, write, and do martial arts.

Achievements Comments(8) Set Compact Log in to comment

Log In Load Comments Please enable JavaScript to load the comments! Log in to comment

Log In Settings Theme (Entire Website) Dark Light Dim background 0% 20% 40% 50% 60% 80% 100% Font Size 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 22 24 28 32 Reader Width Max 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% Font Family Default ————— Open Dyslexic Atkinson Hyperlegible ————— Arial Roboto Open Sans OS Default Comic Sans Lucida Verdana Ubuntu Ubuntu Condensed Franklin Gothic Garamond Caslon Minion Font Color Indent Color Scheme Theme Default OLED Black Royal Road Dark Dark Gray Gray Light Gray Sepia White Paragraph Spacing Close × Give Reputation to User: Points You can specify how many points you want to give (minimum: 0, maximum: 0). Comment (optional) Why are you giving this user reputation? Give Reputation Close About

Royal Road® is the home of web novels and fan fictions! In our amazing community, you can find various talented individuals who write as a hobby or even professionally, artists who create art for them, and many, many readers who provide valuable feedback and encouragement.

Amazon Affiliate Royal Road® is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Theme Select Dark Light

Follow Us On Need some help? Create a support ticket

Contact Contact Us by Email

Advertising Ads for Authors

Programmatic Advertising Royal Road® © 2013-2022 Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Blog | Status Tap again to scroll to the top!