RPG Life in another World

Why won’t the damn door open?!

I’ve been struggling for 5 minutes trying to get it to open up so I can go get some breakfast and head out to hunt some goblins. Still bleary eyed from having woken up late, I went to the bed and threw the pillow at the door in frustration. When it bounced off a blue tinted wall of seemingly nothing, I remembered that I left the barrier up all night. I reached out with my mana to take it down and checked my status to see if anything happened while I was sleeping.

User: Claff:

Health 140/140

Stamina 140/140

Mana 160/160

Quests [2]

Kill Goblins 37/∞

Kill Slimes 0/∞

Party [0]

SKILLS

PASSIVE

Enhanced Body Lv 2 [70%]

Increased Mental Capacity Lv3 [10%]

Regeneration Lv3 [85%]

ACTIVE

Arcane Magic Lv2 [95%]

Barrier Magic Lv2 [42%]

Game-like Storage Lv2 [95%]

Storage

0 g 2 s 20 c

Bowie knife

4 shirts (2 red, 2 blue)

5 rations (3 sandwiches, 2 stews)

I gained 11% in Increased Mental Capacity just for leaving it up overnight. I also got another 10% in Barrier Magic too. I might have to do that more often. I didn’t even notice the mental drain of having the barrier up all night. And since it wasn’t damaged at all, there wasn't a mana drain to maintain it either.

Excited at the new method of training, I went and had a breakfast of some sort of porridge with a mystery meat that tasted like the orc I had the other day. I was careful not to fill up too much, but it was honestly too damn good!

I bade farewell to Theona and headed straight for the field where I met Grifith yesterday. On my way out the gate, I started to pay more attention to the various stores and other buildings. I saw a bookstore, a leatherworker, and a blacksmith too. There was even a shop that advertised enchanted goods.

I’ll have to check that out when I have more money. There’s bound to be some cool stuff in there.

After I made it a decent way past the city gate, I fired off my customary two mana bolts. I had to keep regeneration on its toes, after all. I won’t be lacking with my training.

I found two stray goblins and even a slime on my way to meet Grifith. One shot took out each of the goblins, but I had to use two bolts to hit the slimes’ core. It did drop a core as loot though, so that’s pretty exciting. I added that along with the two loin cloths and claws I got from the goblins to my bag.

Grifith was waiting for me when I arrived at the herb field. As soon as he saw me, I got the add to party notification. I accepted and he got to work collecting his herbs. I called out to him and let him know I was going to be practicing my barriers today between goblin kills.

“As long as I get my detection practice on, you can do whatever you want, kid. Just don't hurt yourself.”

I had regenerated to 155 mana by the time the goblin spawned. I started casting my regular barrier when I remembered I had my altered barrier to try out. I canceled the cast and switched spells. I rotated the barrier so that the goblin was facing the corner and finished casting as it came to.

It saw Grifith sitting in front of it and went berserk. It ran right into the barrier and fell back with a bruised, oversized nose. As it got up to try again, I cast a second altered barrier behind it to finish the trap. There was only 8 seconds between the goblin appearing and it being fully caged.

Grifith kept his meditation up for a round 6 whole minutes before I bothered him.

“Can you remove its legs or arms or something? It would be a lot easier to maintain this if the goblin wasn't constantly trying to attack you.”

He looked annoyed at me asking. “I could, but it'll just heal itself over time if I don't kill it quick enough. At most, it'll buy 3 minutes.”

I rolled my eyes and said, “That's still 3 more minutes for you to meditate on.”

“Fair enough.” He got up and made a few slices with his dagger that I couldn't see. When he stepped away, the goblin was completely missing its arms and legs and was screeching in pain on the ground. It was a rather morbid sight and I immediately regretted asking him to do it.

Okay, not asking for that again.

Grifith sat back down and closed his eyes again. The yelling and cries of pain from the monster barely seemed to phase him. It was like he was used to this.

Maybe he is used to this. Maybe this is how he originally practiced his skill, before I came along to cage them up.

It was too creepy to think about, so instead I asked if he minded me killing it. After he nodded in the affirmative, I put my hand inside the barrier and fired a mana bolt.

I decided leave the barriers up for next time and as practice for maintaining the altered barriers. I still felt a bit strained, even with just two of them. I figured it would make decent practice for my mental capacity skill, and this way I don't have to waste mana every 10 minutes putting them back up. I'd exhaust myself too quickly if I did that.

Instead, I decided to add to the barrier’s man's supply every chance I got. I made sure to keep myself at 100 mana, but every extra pint I got went straight into strengthening that cage.

The whole morning, there were only two stray goblins. I asked Grifitht to take care of them, since I was still concentrating on the barriers. At around lunch time, I had added about 150 mana to the front barrier, and 30 to the back one.

Most of the goblin spawned didn't pay attention to the back barrier, so it didn't take nearly as much damage. But the practice of maintenance on two altered barriers brought me to the cusp of Barrier Magic Level 3 in just one morning. I felt a sense of pride at how fast I was leveling, but quickly cooled myself when I remembered Thaggerd’s comment about the lower levels coming easy.

Lunch rolled around and Griffith and I sat around for a bit eating. He didn't seem very talkative today, so I concerned myself more with what my plan for the future was

I theoretically could survive solely on staying here and farming this one goblin spawner, but that felt way too boring. I wanted adventure in my life, and while this was exciting for now, I wanted more. Goblins were just trash mobs that barely did anything for me anymore. Having one as a prisoner for essentially over a day left much to be desired.

I could try picking a different spawner to farm.

I'll ask Luke later when I go to sell my cloths and claws. Though I think I'll keep my slime core for now. It's pretty cool.

The slime core in question looked like a blue billiards ball with a dark blue smiley face on it. I don't think it has many uses, but I could definitely tell there was some mana in it.

“Hey, do you know anything about what a slime core can be used for? I got one on my way here this morning, and I don't know if I want to sell it. I might not, and just have it as a keepsake, but if there's something cool to be done with, if l like to know at least.”

Grifith seemed shocked for a moment, as if he forgot I was here. He quickly cooled his face, but I could tell something was on his mind.

If he doesn't say anything, then I'll ask him about it when we're on our way back. We might be on lunch, but we're still working. I need his head on straight.

“Yeah, they can be used as minor mana batteries. I'm sure you can feel the mana stored in it. There's only about 2 points in there, but you can add 3 more if you want. It's not very effective, and can only hold a maximum capacity of about 5 points of mana before it's in danger of cracking. Most caster keep one on them as a last resort kind of deal. They charge it up and forget about it unless they're in a dire emergency. Then they drain it to add to their mama pool. Gemstones are far more effective though, the better quality ones having a higher capacity. I think I heard diamonds can hold north of 70 points. Far cheaper to just get some mana potions, in my opinion. But I'm not a caster, so who am I to judge.”

Wow, that's the most he's said all day.

“I see. They really are garbage, huh? Only worth 4 copper for a reason.”

He nodded and went back to his food. Looks like he brought just bread and some meat chunks today.

After I finished the bite I was working on, a goblin popped up in the barrier cage. Grifith got up to take care of it when I told him to let it be for now.

“I charged the cage with enough mana to last us a few minutes. Chill for a bit and finish eating. It's not going anywhere.”

He nodded and sat back down. The goblin ended up yelling and banging on the barriers for 15 minutes before we decided to end our misery. A quick stab from Grifith and the goblin's head rolled.

“Why didn't a second goblin appear? It was in there for over 10 minutes, so shouldn't another goblin have spawned?”

He shook his head.

“It has to do with the mechanics of the spawner. Some spawners only shoot out one a day. Other, more rare spawners spawn 1 per minute regardless of the previous monster's existence. Those can be tricky, and are guarded carefully. They're usually found in an area of high monster volume, like the Dark Forest on the south eastern part of the continent. They have to be regularly culled and maintained, otherwise a horde of monsters would attack a city. That's also why adventures are so important. We keep the monster population low.”

“Well what about this one?”

“This one has conditions on its spawn timer. It's set to spawn one goblin every day at sunrise. However, if that goblin is killed within 50 feet of the spawner, it'll spawn another one 10 minutes later. That's how we're able to farm it so successfully. That's why I get here so early, and why I leave early too. Yesterday, I grabbed the last goblin before we left and dragged it to the road before killing it. Didn't you wonder why?”

“I did, but I was also too tired to ask. Plus I was dreading the hour walk back to the city.” I mumbled that last part.

“Hah. Fair enough. You did pretty well for a newbie. Hell, you're still doing pretty well. Your talent with your skills is amazing. If you hadn't shown off like you did yesterday, I was young to kick you to the road after you finished getting your 10 Cat Ears. And I mean that literally.”

“Yeah, Luke mentioned you can be a hardass at times. Glad I'm useful though. This practice at keeping the two barriers up all day has made some serious gains for me. For starters, the skill itself is almost level 3. But my mental capacity skill is almost half of the way to level 4, and regeneration should reach 4 in maybe another hour, two tops.”

“Congrats! Pretty soon you'll be able to call yourself a proper copper rank.”

I'm glad all this talking is getting him out of his rut, but what does he mean proper copper rank? I've already got my file tag and everything?

“I can see you’re confused, so let me clarify. You might technically be a copper rank, but the other adventurers won't give you any respect until you're at an average of level 5. Only then will they stop giving you crap about it. The only reason you're not getting it so bad right now is because we get back to the file hall before most of them. I start early in the day, hell, I'm here before sunrise to catch the first goblin. So that's why I get back early too. It might not seem early to you, being new and all, but most adventurers don't get back till around sunset. I like to be home and getting ready for bed around then so I'm properly rested to start the next day.”

“Doesn't it get boring? Killing the same goblin over and over? Don't you want any variety?”

He looked glum again when I said that.

“Yeah, it can be tedious. Usually whenever I need a break, I'll come here and drag the first goblin to the road and finish it off before going back home for a rest day. But other than that, it can be decent practice for skill training, if used correctly. And the money isn't half bad either. Even split between the two of us, I'm sure you got more than just a couple of silver yesterday.”

I nodded in agreement. “That's fair. I did get 6 silver yesterday. It was one hell of a haul.”

“Exactly! I average 11 silver a day! It might not be the most glorious work, but it still pays well. I don't even need the money from the herb collection. It just gives me something to do between goblin kills.”

We both chuckled at that. Today has felt less exciting than yesterday since I was mostly meditating on keeping the barriers active. The excitement of skill progress outweighed that though.

I could already imagine how badass I'll be when my skills reach level 100. Some quick math tips me that I'll be regenerating almost 3 points of mana (or health) per second. I’d be unstoppable! Of course, I have to actually get there first, but that's only a matter of time.

That reminds me, is there a cap to skill levels? I'd be practically immortal with a level 100 regeneration, let alone with a level 1000 regeneration. I'd be almost a god at that point.

I needed to do more mental math. It's a good thing I have a mental skill to help.

Carry the two, cross out the one. HOLY HAGRID! That's 278.6 mana regenerated per second, if all my passives got to level 1000. Big if, but still. That's a lot!

My eyes went wide at the thought of defeating an army of dragons with nothing but my mama bolt skill. I imagined the bodies crashing to the ground as a never ending storm of unstoppable mana bolts shot out from both of my hands and even my feet.

“Alright kid, I see your face. What crazy scheme are you plotting over there?”

I told him my little day dream. And he rudely started laughing.

“Sorry Claff, but I doubt you'll ever find that kind of glory. There's no level cap that I heard of, but every level becomes harder to get them the last. Sure you have potential with your regeneration, but you'd have to live a long ass time to get to the point you're thinking of. I wish you the best, but don't get your hopes up. We got some goblins to take care of in the meantime.”

And like that, the rest of the day went much like the first half. I kept the barriers running, and Grifith occasionally killed the goblins inside. We ended up going a little later than yesterday, but we still made it back to the guild hall before sunset.

There were more people than yesterday evening, but it was still relatively empty compared to my visit yesterday morning.

I found Luke and got paid for the Goblin kills, claws, and loincloths. I totaled just shy of 5 silver today, but that was expected since I didn't collect any herbs. Grifith and I had to deal with more strays today, so that made up the difference in our otherwise lower lol count due to keeping the goblins alive for longer.

Luke and I didn't talk too much today, so I went to Half Moon Inn to get some food in me and get to my room.

I forgot to pay this morning to keep my room, but Thaggerd figured I was coming back and left it as is, besides regular cleaning. I paid him a whole silver, partially as thanks and partially as a late fee. He was a good sport about it though. That's why I liked this place.

After dinner, I went to my room and set a barrier in front of the door. I added as much mana into it as I could before passing out. I was getting more used to being low on mana, so I got a good amount in there. Then I stripped my armor off, sat on the bed, and pulled up my status. It was time to see the fruits of my labor today.

User: Claff:

Health 140/140

Stamina 125/140

Mana 12/160

Quests [2]

Kill Goblins 0/∞

Kill Slimes 0/∞

Party [0]

SKILLS

PASSIVE

Enhanced Body Lv 2 [90%]

Increased Mental Capacity Lv3 [96%]

Regeneration Lv4 [35%]

ACTIVE

Arcane Magic Lv3 [13%]

Barrier Magic Lv3 [40%]

Game-like Storage Lv3 [20%]

Storage

0 g 6 s 15 c

Bowie knife

5 shirts (2 red, 2 blue, 1 brown)

4 rations (2 sandwiches, 2 stews)

Leather armor set

I needed to start jogging or something to level my Enhanced Body skill, but other than that, everything was shooting up in levels. Tonight, I had to learn the next spell level in both Arcane Magic and Barrier Magic. Barrier Magic earned an entire level today, and I used just enough mana bolts to push me over the edge to the next level.

Let’s see what Arcane Magic has in store for me!

After recovering from the headache, which seemed to be getting less intense with every level, I pulled up the notification.

Improved pattern for Mana Bolt has been learned.

Another improvement, huh? I wonder when I'll get the next spell. I wonder what improved about it this time. I’ll find out tomorrow, but I’m itching to know.

After arcane came Barrier Magic’s turn. One headache later i got

Improved pattern for Basic Barrier has been learned.

Maybe the spells come in sets of 5? The first level in a set is the spell, and the next 4 levels are improvements? That would explain everything so far. And that would also explain why 5 is a big number for adventurers in the guild. They’ll give some respect when I can show I can handle myself. Not that I've had many issues with anyone yet, but still.

Tomorrow’s a new day. And I'll be able to see Sarah when I finish working tomorrow too! It’s nice having something to look forward to.