Over the next two days I learned cooking, or at least I tried to. There was only so much time to learn and being able to level up my cooking ability would take a while, but I was able to cook passable food. Which would only get better the longer I tried. Erick said the food was okay, but I think he was being nice.
Cooking Novice 3
Each level of cooking increases your chances to make something edible and reduces the chance of you burning a meal.
2.5% less likely to burn your food.
2.5% chance to learn a new meal by eating.
I didn’t bring up the question about his skills again, he needed time to think. Whatever he chose would be fine with me as long as he was happy with his choice. If he did decide to keep being a knight, I would probably as the goddess to bless him to make his choice easier. Though I didn’t know if that would be fair, I knew she was in a difficult spot right now. Even if I didn’t know who the enemy was.
Sighing and looking back at the inventory list of everything we had, it was meager, to say the least. The village didn’t have a lot of money, mostly they traded for what they needed, but even then that wasn’t a lot. And with the hunters not bringing in food, they were unsure what would happen. I knew the village was in for a hard time, but there was no way I could stay here until there were more hunters. Alic already seemed angry at the time I spent here.
We would be leaving around noon, Eric was with his family so that they could say goodbye. I was surprised the villagers were not angry about me taking him from the village. The village chief told me that Eric was an adult and could make his own choices. He always knew that Eric wouldn’t want to stay in the village forever, especially after a trip to the capital. He had seen so much and wanted to learn even more.
Not knowing what he would need, I had hunted some extra animals and had the village tanner make some simple leather armor. Also traded for a pair of long daggers, just in case we would need them. Packing everything away in my inventory hoping nothing bad would happen.
Leaving the home I had been staying in, seeing that Eric was waiting for me. A large smile on his face.
“Let's get strong, then we can make a lot of money and I can send some of it back home.”
“I agree let's get stronger,”
Looking at his determination compared to mine, it shocked me that he was younger than me. He seemed so much more prepared for the world than I was. Though this was still a game to me, I haven't taken time yet to let it sink in that this was my new reality. Wither this was a game, or some hallucination while I'm in a coma, or even really happening. There wasn’t a moment where I slowed down to think about it. Though there would have to be time soon and thinking about it rationally. It would have been better to think about it in the village.
We walked out of the village quietly, the village was to busy working on survival to send us off. Not that I minded, I didn’t really get to know a lot of them. The herbalist was the one I spent the most time with. Sadly she didn’t have a recipe for a stamina potion. So I wouldn’t be able to make any of those to help Eric. Most of my time would be making healing potions, but I only had ten vials to use at a time, then they would have to be washed.
As we entered the woods Eric pulled out his sword and shield. I didn’t say anything, but there was little chance of us being attacked this close to the village. I wanted us to get farther into the forest before I asked what his decision was. After walking for ten minutes I advised him to put the weapon and shield away for now. It was only going to tire him faster.
When we had been walking for about two hours, Alic told me we would be in a good place to ask the goddess. He didn’t say what was good about it, but I trusted his judgment.
“Eric, let's stop here for a moment,” I said.
“Okay, What's up?” he asked turning to look at me.
“Alic says that this is a good place to ask the goddess, either to change your stats or to ask her to bless you to make being a knight easier.”
“Oh, I have thought about that a lot, I think asking her to respec me will be the best option. Even if my role changes, it doesn't mean I have to. Though I will have to adjust to a new fighting style.”
“You’re sure this is what you want?”
“Yes, I’ve known for a while, that being a knight wasn’t going to work out, but I wanted to do my best, when they kicked me out of the guard, I would have started trying to level on my own and start placing my stats in dexterity.”
“Okay, So how do I do this Alic?”
“Just ask her,” he said sarcastically.
Closing my eyes, ‘Oh goddess, please assist my friend to reset his stats so that he may become stronger, to assist me and himself.’ I prayed.
At first, nothing happened and I thought that it might have to be asked aloud. When Eric started glowing. His eyes widened. I took the moment to look at his stat screen.
Name: Eric Lore
Age: 17
Level: 10 (350/1000)
Class:
Race: Catkin
Health: 170 (+25)
Stamina: 170 (+25)
Mana: 170
Attribute points: 50
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 10
Attack: 25-30
Defense: 17
Gold: 2 gold, 71 Silver, 30 copper.
Equipment:
Head (Leather helm, Quality: Poor, Class: Leather, Defense: 2)
Chest (Poor Tunic, Quality: Common, Class: Cloth, Defense: 0 Leather vest Quality: Common, Class: Leather, Defense: 5)
Hands (Leather Bracers, Quality: Poor, Class: Leather, Defense: 2)
Pants (Leather leggings Quality: Common, Class: Leather, Defense: 5)
Boots (Leather Boots Quality: Common, Class: Leather, Defense: 5)
Main hand (Steel Sword Quality: common, Damage: 20-25)
Off Hand (Small Shield Quality: Common, defense 10)
Ring 1 (Lesser ring of health effect: +25 health)
Ring 2 (Lesser ring of Stamina, Effect: +25 Stamina)
Trade skill:
Skills:
Tracking - Novice 7 (30%)
You have discovered a track. Tracks are now easier to discover and follow. Easier if creature tracked is your level or lower. Harder for high-level creatures.
4% easier to notice and follow.
Skinning Novice level 6 (12%)
Your knowledge of anatomy and animals has helped you to learn to skin them properly.
You're understanding of skinning allows you an easier time of skinning the animals. 12% easier
12% faster when skinning an animal you are familiar with
10% faster when skinning an animal you are not familiar with
Butchery Novice level 6 (30%)
Your understanding of anatomy has allowed you to gain the basic insights in how to butcher animals to make meat. Further understanding will allow you to learn how to refine the cuts and get better pieces of meat.
12% better understanding of how to cut the meat.
Abilities:
Spells
Healing prayer Novice level 5
Heals for 10 health, 40 mana, 2-second cast
I haven't thought about him having his own armor when we set out, and I was surprised to see that he had a healing spell. I watched as he placed his points to better suit the new skills, he would get. 40 into dexterity, 10 into Constitution. Which brought his stamina back up to 420, before items, and his health to 270. I knew we would have to be careful, I didn’t want anything to happen to him. Especially since he wouldn’t respawn if he died, not before we got to a large city with an adventurer's guild.
Watching as Eric put his shield away, then looked at his sword.
“I really should have gotten a dagger before we left.”
“I actually grabbed two,” I said handing both Simple steel daggers over.
“It’s not better than my sword and I don’t really know how to use them to fight.”
“We can work on learning to fight with the daggers, I wasn’t sure what fighting style you would like to use, and we can buy better ones after we join the adventurers guild. A few quests with them and we should be able to buy you better daggers.”
“What about you, you don’t have a weapon.”
“I have magic, and as long as I am careful with my shots I will be fine. If I run out of mana, I just have to run towards you. Alice taught me to make mana potions and my mana recovery is pretty amazing, I have a skill that helps me recover it. Which I should probably start working on again. How far away is the capital?”
“About a month, by the main roads, following the forest, probably three months. The monster will get stronger as we near the town, then they will weaken when we get into an area where the adventures clear to keep the town safe.”
“I’d like to say let's take the main road so we can get there, but it will be better to take our time and travel through the forest, so we can level up some.”
“What are you going to do when we get to the capital, your looks will attract attention.”
“I guess we could try to find me a robe with a hood in a smaller village on the way to the capital, but we would probably have to send you in alone. The closer we get to the capital the worse it will be if others see me.”
“True, but you won't be able to remain covered the entire time.”
“When Alex reaches rank ten he will be able to start selecting racial talents, you should already be able to Eric though I see you haven’t. One of the first ones Alex will be able to choose is mimic, he will be able to look like another race, but only for so long at a time. The biggest problem will be if a noble takes a fancy to either of you. Even if you're in the guild, they could still try to buy you as Servants or Slaves. Be very careful in the capital, don’t accept gifts, always be cautious of your surroundings, and remember worse comes to worst, flee. We can always find another city to work in.”
“We will remember Alic, Can you tell me more about these Racial talents?”
“Each race has aspects of which they are good at. Take Eric for example, as a catkin, his racial abilities for level ten, should be acrobatics, athletics, and improved night vision. Each has its own merits, to unlock rank 1 requires 1 talent point, to unlock rank 2 requires 2 talent points and so on. You would need a total of 55 talent points to get a skill from 1 to 10. You get 2 talent points per level after reaching level ten. There is no level cap here, the only thing you have to worry about is old age. Well, you won't, but he will. If you want him to be one of your followers, I would find a way for him to become immortal.”
“I could become immortal? That's impossible. Everyone would do it.” Eric said, his voice trembling.
“Not impossible, rare, most people achieve this by accident. Any ally of Alex has an unfair advantage though, the goddess is already watching him. So by extension, she is already watching you. That is the first step in becoming immortal, gaining a gods interest. Unless you were born an immortal.”
“So what do I need to do? I have sworn to follow him, and although I may no longer be a knight, my word is still strong.”
“Be kind, show the goddess that you will be a worthy friend and trusted companion to her champion. Then kill something that displeases her, such as a cult worshiping a dark god. It will probably be a bit before that happens, but I’m sure you will run into something that needs to be taken care of. Right now we need to work on getting you both leveled, and letting Eric get used to his new abilities, I would also urge him to select the talent he wishes,”
“Thank you, Alic, you are a good friend, and I’m happy to know that you are here.”
“Thanks, Alex, but let's get moving, there is still much to do.”
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