Accidentally Smithing Chapter 3

"Woooow!", Nik spoke awed. He seldomly had experienced a view like the one he was seeing now. Usually, the best views he got were from the window of a plane or one of the bigger buildings in his city. They all paled in contrast.

Straight in front of him, he saw a small clearing with a gray thing in the middle. He figured that it was his clearing but it looked tiny. It took him over a minute to go from one edge of his hill to the opposite but it was just a speck in the otherwise dark green sometimes blue field of trees.

To his left, he saw the forest and trees. He also only saw his mountain as it perturbed somewhat toward the forest but from earlier observations from his rock, he knew the mountain to go on a lot further in that direction.

His right was another story. A lake was wedged between the mountains one over. It was an intense blue with a slight tinge of purple. Why is everything here shifted towards the blue? This is so odd. Ohh so on earth everything is more greenish because that's the part of the spectrum with which the sun shines the most. Does that mean those suns shine more in the blue spectrum? His pondering over the nature of color soon turned back the view in his front. Primarily he was just enjoying the view after he had found a lake, but he was also looking for signs of civilization. It would be a bummer if there were no other humans here.

Nik sat down to enjoy the fresh air and hot sun in combination with the amazing view. He felt glad for whatever happened to him. He did miss his family. Especially his mother. They had seen each other a lot less over the last year. She and his father had to move to another city to get the medical treatment she needed as her illness had gotten worse over the years. He usually tried to avoid thinking about his parents. The thought of his father was always bitter in his head. He was a good father for most of Niks childhood but not once his mother got sick. He pushed the thought out of his mind. The river just looks amazing.

"I would love to go for a swim. I bet I am getting really dirty." he chuckled and smelled his armpits. Jup, should not have smelled them. He leaned back into this world's equivalent of grass, ignoring the insects, and relaxed.

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It was late afternoon when Nik opened his eyes again. He had chosen to relocate after some time and hiked up even further and towards the lake in hopes of finding a spring. He did stop once he had found one. It flowed down on the slope towards the next mountain and had wonderful refreshing water. He had drunk every couple of minutes until he was positive that he was going to explode after one more sip.

His status points had filled up quite a bit so he felt confident in following his track back at a fast pace. Descending the mountain was easy and following his markers back to his boulder was easy. He repurposed his sweatshirt as a makeshift tote bag and filled it up with vosrut berries he found on his way back. Some food is better than none even if slightly poisonous and he continually snacked on them. They were non-lethal after all.

As he ran back he had [Stealthy Movement] active when he was running. To save on resources he switched it off when picking berries. Early on he had collected wood to make a fire once he got back but just after a few minutes abandoned the idea again. He had seen enough wood in the area around the rock the day before and on his way to the mountains. There was no need to take up an extra burden for virtually no gains.

He was quite happy when he noticed the drain from [Stealthy Movement] reduce by a bit but didn't question it any further. The berries were also really yummy and he didn't keep to his earlier rule of reducing his intake. His belly really hurt but the hunger had won out. He also decided on calling his rock base, from now on. Thinking about going back to his rock or boulder just felt odd and quite frankly sad. Going home sounded nice but the rock was not his home, at most a circumstantial resting place.

Arriving at his base he was surprised by his speed. If he had to guess he had taken 40 minutes back and that was with half the time being taken up by picking berries. The picking had become tiresome very quick as well. To his displeasure, some of the more ripe berries squished very easily which caused his hands to become sticky. The different stages of ripeness of the bushes were bewildering. Some berries were in their prime, others unripe or overripe, and some bushes that identified as Vosrum bushes even had no flowers or berries.

Nik had planned on trying to skin the boar upon his arrival back and maybe even cook it. The results were quite different though. He only spared a glance at the unmoving monster. Maybe he should see about using the tusks to make anything but he had no inspiration for anything effort-related. His status had gone down by a lot, he was tired and his body felt clogged up. He would have assumed that having low mana would result in something like a headache since that was how it was always portrayed in books his head was fine besides being very tired.

Healthpoints 229/330 Staminapoints 17/310 Manapoints 7/100

He did get two more notifications he would have a look at later, he was super tired and just wanted to sleep. And while his ledge was not comfortable he felt at least somewhat safe up there. He also decided against climbing up all the way. The result of laziness and the need for some familiarity.

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Nik woke in the middle of the night refreshed. Something he had never really felt before. Checking on his status points he had at least an indication of why that was. All of his status points were topped off. Waking up had been accompanied by tiredness for his entire life. He looked up at the sky to see the planet that had shone brightly above him last night but didn't find anything. The big planet did shine to some degree but not as bright as whatever had illuminated the sky last night.

You have fulfilled a requirement for

a (movement-type) race skill,

a (miscellaneous-type) race skill,

and a (perception-type) race skill. New skills are available.

You qualify for obtaining the following Race skills [5 slots available].

[Running]: Running uses less stamina and a faster pace is possible. Works with other Movement skills.

[Digestive Herbology]: Resistance to the poisonous plants of nature. Eating poisonous plants can sometimes restore your status points.

[Tracking]: Find your way in familiar territories. Identify tracks and follow them.

Wow, that is impressive! 3 New skills, nice! From just some running, eating some berries, and following my own track back. This is easy. If getting skills is this easy I should only pick the ones I deem really good or ones necessary for survival. Hunger is an issue and if I could eat a whole bunch of those berries then I bet soon they will restore all of my status points. So [Digestive herbology] is a strong yes. He mentally confirmed the skill and just as the last times it appeared in his mind. Unlike the last time the pressure moved into his stomach and dissipated there.

Running might be interesting but I can run without a skill and don't know what kind of speed bonus it gives me. I bet I could train myself to use less stamina while running either way. I could train to do marathons or something that would definitely help or it might increase my maximum Stamina, that would be even better. [Tracking] on the other hand doesn't seem as useful. I mean I can already follow my sticks and while they are some effort following them doesn't take any resources. I bet [Tracking] would use some more of my resources and I got so low yesterday I shouldn't be wasteful.

So I am holding out for something better, if I don't get anything else I will pick running. Flying would be awesome or maybe a lightning strike, no scratch that, I don't want to electrocute myself.

Status: Nik Thems Race: Extraterrestrial Human [Lvl. 6] Class: Smith [Lvl. 3] Independent Skills: Evolutions [0] [Identify]

Stats: 0 Stat points available

Vitality 330 Healthpoints 33 - + Strength

1.37 Strength

23.5 HP/hour

47 - + Physique 310 Stamina 31 - + Endurance 29 SP/hour 29 - + Wisdom 100 Mana 10 - + Willpower 10 MP/hour 10 - +

Skills:

Smith [Lvl. 3]: 1 free Skill slots

[General Tool Proficiency]

[Lesser Hammer Strike] [0%]

[Empty]

Extraterrestrial Human [Lvl. 6]: 4 free Skill slots

[Stealthy Movement][Lvl. 6]

[Digestive Herbology]

[Empty]

[Empty]

[Empty]

[Empty]

HUD:

Disable/Enable APPLY Extraterrestrial Human: 0/10 Class Lvl. Smith: 178/300 Exp

What, the skills level, and by so much!! Maybe I should pick running. Being as fast as on a bike would come in handy at one point I bet. Ok, I am taking that as well and I am trying it as soon as I've had breakfast. Said breakfast consisted of a whole lot of berries. The other times he had eaten them it had taken him what felt like ten minutes before he got slightly sick. This time he didn't feel sick. There was still some funny business going on in his digestive track but it wasn't uncomfortable, only slightly weird.

Looking out at the dark night he wondered I slept more than ten hours and according to my health regeneration yesterday my expedition should have taken over 6 hours. When I got back it was still bright out and according to the sun maybe early evening. My stamina-regeneration tells me I slept over 10 hours. And it is night right now. That means a day here has to be at least somewhat longer. Or maybe it is winter here right now. That would be unfortunate, the temperature during the day is just perfect. Not that it really matters. I should actually do something now that I am awake. And so Nik considered his options.

Coming to a decision, Nik placed his ironstone and the few pieces of flint he had gathered in his back, stood up and turned to climb down. He was going to make a fire. Nik picked up the other half of the stone with which he had attacked the boar and went on to collect dry branches, sticks, twigs, and leaves. After some collecting, always armed with his stone, he had gathered up a sizable amount of each. Not being a member of the boy scouts in his youth nor being interested in survival tactics his whole life Nik struggled to figure out how to get his flint to spark.

Tedious minutes later he got the first spark and chipped off another piece of the flint in the process. Excitedly he moved all of his fire supplies towards the first ledge. Just to be safe he put his stone down by his side. He achieved his success by hitting a shattered piece of flint with a sharp edge against his ironstone.

Unaware of what the best shape for the logs of a fire would be, Nik put them up to resemble a tent. Inside he put the leaves and small twigs broken into smaller pieces. After several minutes of trying to get a fire going, he gave up. He didn't need one as he wasn't freezing and he didn't need light. Sure it would have been nice but at this point, he determined the effort to not be worth it.

Nik leaned back against the stone and stared at his spark starters absentmindedly. Slowly his thought drifted home, his real home. Back to his couch, bed, and most importantly his shower and toilet. The last almost two days had not been kind to him. He smelled pretty bad when he focused on his smell and relieving himself hadn't been fun either. Leaves kinda got the job done but his berry diet had made the whole ordeal less fun.

That brought him back to his stomach. He didn't feel bad at all anymore. The earlier present weirdness had disappeared and changed into comforting warmth, paradoxically it felt the same as a drink of cool water on a hot day or after exerting yourself. The more he focused on that feeling the clearer it got. It dissipated from his belly throughout his whole body. He felt whatever came from the berries go through veins into his limbs. Once it reached Niks muscles it almost vanished but not quite. It was still present but as it were in a dormant state, like a weight on a cliff waiting to exchange its potential energy to kinetic as if it were waiting for him to move. Concentrating on a saturated muscle he felt it urging him to move, experience freedom, and go wherever he wants to.

He opened his eyes and prepared to stand up but was shocked. The sun was not to be seen in his limited field of view but it was already was past dawn. How long have I been sitting here? Must have been several hours. Is that what meditation feels like? As he got up he felt his muscles pulse with energy. In a moment of pure bliss, he jumped down from the ledge and landed on the ground. Barely inconvenienced he got up and started jogging.

I was gonna check what running actually does for me so right now is a perfect moment to do so. As he approached the edge of his hill he decided on a tree to use as a benchmark tool when all the energy he had felt stopped boosting him. He almost stumbled. It felt as if gravity all of the sudden increased. He wasn't tired neither did he feel worse than before breakfast but he felt less. He sat down again to try to look inward to find out what happened. He closed his eyes and tried to go to the muscles that had felt especially strong his butt and leg muscles. He couldn't feel anything. He checked everything else and just felt normal. As he moved his perception over his belly he did feel a sliver of something. As he opened his eyes again he had a new race-skill option.

You have fulfilled a requirement for a (magic-perception-type) race skill. A new skill is available.

You qualify for obtaining the following Race skills [3 slots available].

[Internal Energy Sight]: Perceive the physical and magical energies, Mana and Stamina, flow through your body. Prerequisite for all Magic classes.

It also gave him the option of picking [Tracking] but he had only eyes for the new skill. 'Prerequisite for all Magic classes', damn I should have been trying that before falling asleep the first night. Could have been a mage. As he looked back inside his body he saw two distinctively different energies flow through his body. One was vibrant and full of life, it felt similar to what he had felt earlier. The other wasn't moving he noticed. It felt like it, but it wasn't. This is so weird, how did I not notice this earlier. After some more looking around his body with his new sense, he moved on. He did find out something interesting, some stamina was flowing into his body from his stomach. He assumed that to be the effects of [Digestive Herbology] which had actually leveled now.

Getting up he berated himself for getting off-topic so easily. He had some testing to do. He could imagine his technical internship advisor nag at him for not doing proper calculations as he started running around the hill on which his base sat. The first lap without running active took him 4 minutes. He had been going at a pace that he was confident he could have been doing for several minutes before his stat allocation. On the second lap, he went all out. His stamina was draining just as fast as yesterday on his way back. Three points per minute and three minutes for the whole round trip. It wasn't amazing for what he imagined to be a 700-meter lap but that was fine with him.

For the next round, he activated his [Running] skill. He tried counting again but this time he was so amazed by his speed that he forgot halfway through. No more tired than before and at the same stamina expense, he ran a few laps just enjoying himself. It took some time but eventually, he remembered his testing and counted again. It took him around two and a half minutes now to circle his base.

He did some more testing and found running at his previous highest speed to use about 1 less stamina per minute. When he went up to his newest high speed his stamina cost increased by around 1. Those were quite the gains through a skill. He would have never been able to run around for more than 5 minutes before and thanks to Stamina and his skill he had been running nonstop for the last 20 minutes.

All good things come to an end though. Niks thirst had been somewhat quenched by the berries but he was starting to get thirsty again and planned on going back to the spring, maybe even explore a bit towards the lake he had spotted yesterday. Having a small midmorning snack he started using his stealth and running skills to get to the mountain.

He followed the wooden guideposts he had put up yesterday at a brisk pace. The tension that coined his expedition yesterday nonexistent today. At one point during the run, he had increased his running pace further to his maximum to enjoy the wind blow through his hair and around his body. He felt invincible.

Around 120 Stamina and 20 Mana later he reached the spring. He bent down and started drinking from the fresh cool spring water. It felt good, just as refreshing as when he would get winded from running a single lap around the stadium even though there was none of the exhaustion accompanying him. He smiled to himself at the messages that had appeared in his mind's eye during the run.

It was bizarre. His skills had leveled in total eleven times. [Stealthy Movement] leveled to 10 and he felt the cost drop down further. The feeling he got from the skill now compared to when he first got it made him assume that it would take around 2 Stamina and 1 Mana per minute now. If the trend continued in the same pattern he would soon be at an equilibrium where the skill could always be active and his regen would take care of it. Running was level 6 now and he could go even faster than before, but its cost had also increased. Thanks to his casual observation of the energy inside his body his [Internal Energy Sight] had gained a level as well though he wasn't able to tell what they were. He knew that under no normal circumstances they would level that fast and that meant that something fishy was going on.

He spared a last glance towards his base before he took off and ran towards the river at the fastest pace he could muster visibly shaken. Wow, what was that? That must have been a trick of the eye.