Chapter 4: Chapter 4 Finding My Stride

Chapter 4 "Finding My Stride"

I woke to loud knocking on my door. Simba with on my chest licking my face clean of dried blood. I placed the little cat on the bed and walked downstairs to the door. My wounds had healed so a fair amount of time had passed. I was still a little mentally tired. I opened the door and the mother of the boy stood there, she leapt at me to give me a hug. I just waited till she was done. Her thanks took about 10 minutes to finish and then she handed me a book. I said I had something for her as well. I went to get my backpack and when I returned I opened it and produced the dead plains cat. It was a bit of showmanship on my part but oh well. She thanked me and started hauling it away. She said there would be a feast tonight for the village!

I closed my door and inspected the skill book.

Novice Skill Book: Cooking

Simba gave me the information on cooking. Agility stat and no subskills. +2% to better taste and effects. Well agility was one of my weak stats. I sat at the kitchen table and began reading the book. It takes one hour to learn a novice book and after that it dissolved.

Cooking 1 Tier 1 unlocked, +1 Agility, +2% prepared food quality

The sun was setting and I really didn’t feel like carving tonight. I walked outside to the saw mill and started making furniture. I zoned out as I worked and brought up my stat and skill screens since they were flashing. I had leveled: 12 stat points, 4 skill points. I dropped 10 stat points into magic because I wanted to utilize my meld wood spell more. The other two points went into my speed stat to raise it to 4. I would of never caught the lion if the boy had been lighter. I was actually pretty lucky all things considered. Now the hard part, skill points. I dropped two points in woodcraft to raise it to 9 and two into woodcraft: carpentry to get it to 11. I realized my mistake after I had hit accept. I should of put all points into my primary skill since it leveled slower. I had zoned out and had wasted two precious skill points. That will never happen again! Well at least I would be able to build the town its general store. I worked till morning and when the first rays of light came through I went to work. There was a large meat pie on the stoop of my house. The note said ‘lion meat pie’. I took it with me to save for when I needed it.

With a 315 magic pool things went really progressed well. It greatly increased the structure soundness and speed the building. I was surprised how I was able to move massive beams by myself with a little leverage, the benefits of the virtual world! Townsfolk came by to thank me for my efforts in building and saving the boy. I spoke to each briefly and let them know I was grateful for the opportunity Gwen had given me.

After working the day on the store I decided to build the oven that night. I figured since I had the cooking skill I should use it. The oven ended taking two nights to build. I needed to haul unused bricks from the other side of town. It turned out great and my first attempt at rosemary salt bread was edible if I soaked in butter. I spent the next few nights cooking everything I could think of from the real world. I ‘learned’ a bunch of simple recipes and got my cooking skill to 3. My food did not taste as good as the food made by the village women but I didn’t let it deter me as I wanted to be self-sufficient and raise my agility as well. The first floor of the store was also almost completed during those two days. I calculated 5 days of focused effort to complete the entire building.

It ended taking six days but I was very happy with the building. The meld wood spell was ridiculously useful. Drop a floor board, cast the spell and run my hand along the seam. Repeat. My woodcraft and carpentry only gained two levels each. My cooking skill reached level 5 and my food finally tasted somewhat edible to me. Also I practiced for an hour each day with a guard to hone my axe skills. I gained a single level in axe and axe: two handed.

It was finished! The general store could open. Elice Teeraj was crying when I showed her around. The first floor had plenty of shelving and racks. The basement was good for cold storage and the second floor had more storage and a small residence as well. It was perfect and more than she had asked for. She gifted me a small magic item.

Jeweled Trader’s Brooch, +5 Charisma, +3% better selling prices

Wow, +5 to a stat. I wondered how weak my character actually was in this world.

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Quest Completed: Gwen’s Twenty Projects, rewards ownership of the lumber mill and carpenter’s house in Malcum, 500 experience

On my way to my house I was intercepted by Gwen.

“So Tallis you have completed all your tasks and I have come to give you your reward.” She pulled out two parchments. One was a map of my lands and the other was the deed to my mill and house.

“Thank you Gwen. I hope to continue to serve the village. However I am thinking of traveling soon but promise to return. I need to gather some supplies and seek training.” I responded. After I read the papers they dissolved into dust and a notification lit my interface. I glanced at it.

You have collected the deed of ownership for the lumber mill and carpenter’s house in Malcum. This ownership is recognized by the current population of Malcum. If someone else attempts to seize your lands by force you will have 14 days (56 game days) to repel them. Failure to do so will result in the loss of your claims.

Huh? I wondered if another player could just walk in and claim my property. “No,” Simba added to my thoughts, “This is intended if the current residents are all killed, flee or imprisoned. As long as one remains your ownership will be recognized. You can sell your property to another player or NPC if you wish though.”

Good. I was worried my efforts would be lost. I said my goodbyes to Gwen and opened my map on my holo display as I walked. The entire village was shown and my area was highlights in bright green. It was quite large. The mill was 200 yards from the river and had a channel to float timber from the river into the mill. The entire area from the mill to the river’s edge was mine and it was also about 250 yards wide. The house was only about 50 yards further inland from the mill but I owned about three acres of land around the house as well! I started to imagine building a small manner on the land closer to the center of town or perhaps building up my current house... Plans for another time. I walked inside and sat down at my table to think. Simba hopped up on the table and sat staring at me, waiting.

Ok I needed to plan my character’s development. My goal was to get level 23 skill in both carpentry and foundations. It takes an NPC character about 25 years of constant practice to earn master rank but I was not that patient. I needed to level up and utilize skill points from leveling. That meant adventuring. Now that I had secured a base of operations I was comfortable heading out but maybe I could level a bit first on the plains? I also needed to gain access to new spells and equipment. For that I would need money. I currently had 3 silver and 245 copper to my name. Not nearly enough to purchase anything. My carvings of Simba were worth about 1 silver but they took about two hours to carve a single one. Not a great source of income but as my skill raised so would the value of the carvings.

I had 15 skills now which meant I could add another 8 without incurring a learning penalty. I needed to forecast those skills now so I wouldn’t be in trouble later. Magic would be the smart path. I opened the tab and looked at the primary magic and secondary magic skills. I couldn’t see the possible spells so I was going in blind. Fire (Light, Heat), Water (Cold, Rain), Earth (Stone, Metal), Air (Lightning, Force), Spirit (Life, Death), Nature (Plant, Beast), Chaos (Destruction, Darkness), Order (Law, Command), Enchant (Imbue, Runes).

I had to admire the game set up. It allowed a lot versatility but still forced you to focus on only a few areas or suffer slower advancement. A mage could not master all the magical talents without penalty and the penalty would grow since the mage would have other skills as well. Well I knew I wanted Spirit and Life. It was the access to healing magic that I needed. It also made sense to acquire Earth and Stone magic skills as well to help with my building. Four more skills.

I asked Simba what were common skills I would need. He suggested I get a riding skill, either land or air depending on my preference. That made sense and I made a note on my interface, perhaps I could borrow one the few horses in town to learn the skill. He then suggested Water and Rain to match my nature theme. Then to gain access to strong attack spells to go with either Fire/Heat or Air/Lightning. I thought about it and choose Air and Lightning. Simba mentioned that Air Magic: Force had flying spells, bam, I was sold. I noted it. No projected skill spots left. Ok I had spent 3 hours making these decisions, Simba was on his back on the table stretching. I grabbed two blocks of wood and my carving knives and went upstairs to carve in my room.

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