Even ground, p.11
Into New Eden: A LitRPG Isekai, page 11
After a while, he was able to find both Skill Masters, and after leveling up once to get the necessary Ability Points, he was able to learn and max out [SPRINT] and [SP BOOSTER]. He then used the rest of his EXP to level up again and raise his stats some more. Alexx had briefly hoped that messing with his max HP through the SP Booster Skill would result in his HP bar being more filled, but unfortunately, the amount reduced to remain the same percent.
[NAME]: Alexx
[SPECIES]: Human
[LEVEL]: 10
[EXP]: 475/1200
[STATUS]
{HP}: 39/75
{SP}: 225/225
[END]: 15
[STR]: 45(+22.5)
[AGI]: 8
[DEX]: 8
[PER]: 8
[REMAINING ABILITY POINTS]: 3
[SKILLS]
[MIGHTY] Lv. 10
[POWER ATTACK] Lv.10
[SP BOOSTER] Lv.10
(Passive) Reduce HP and increase SP by 50%.
[SPRINT] Lv.10
(Active Cost: 3 SP/sec) Increase movement speed by 100%.
~~~~~
"So, do you think we can cultivate this stuff?" After returning, Soze had brought the Moss Wolf carcasses and pelts to the Kitchen. The bodies needed to be broken down for their meat, but he also felt that it would be better to store the Wolf's Boon here. In real life, he had once heard someone compare cooking to chemistry, and if that was true the cooks here had the best chance of using the moss to make better medicine or even figure out a way to grow more in the village.
"Hm... I have a few ideas." Soze was currently speaking to Aman, he was effectively the player in charge of the Kitchen and was the one who created the Blood-Berry Blend. Out of all the players with an interest in cooking, he was the most experimental, having already tested over 100 different ingredient mixes and cooking methods since he arrived two weeks ago. "By the way, try this," he said, holding out a bone spoon with some minced fish.
Soze reluctantly took a bite, taking a moment before calmly swallowing. "I don't know what you put in there, but it tastes like how sweat smells."
Most people have learned to avoid Aman since he would regularly have others test his creations, and so far the Blood-Berry Blend was the only success. Currently, he was experimenting with using a large flat stone as a frying pan and was trying to saute some river fish. Soze was one of the few people who wasn't afraid to be a taste tester, as his experience with survival situations had taught him to be very tolerant of poor tasting but nutritious foods.
"I figured as much, it was Brown River Trout sauteed in Spined Deer blood."
"And you thought that would work because...?"
"Because the first time I used Spined Deer blood I got Blood-Berry Blend. It worked once, I need to know what other combinations there are." Aman paused for a moment before grabbing some berries out of a bowl. "Maybe if I add some Red Berries..."
"So those ideas about Wolf's Boon?"
"Oh right. Well, the most obvious answer is the domestication of the Moss Wolves themselves. That would definitely give us a steady supply without worry, and I bet the hunters would love having them work as trackers."
"Obviously, but what's your plan?"
"Cultivating it without live wolves is iffy." Aman tasted his concoction again; his face scrunched up in annoyance and he added more Spined Deer blood. "Based on the description the moss should grow even without the wolf sweat, but it might lose potency or growth rate. Regardless, each pelt will probably have a limited time where we can keep harvesting Wolf's Boon from it before needing a new one, so for the time being we should make sure each pelt is left to grow before getting used for anything else."
"Good thing I brought it all here then, the Workshop guys probably would've started tanning them already."
"Mmm... the only option I can think of is to find a more readily available substitute for Moss Wolf sweat. Probably best to include the body fluids of the wolves themselves."
"You're not suggesting we use urine right?"
"No, god no. I can't even imagine that being healthy, I was thinking about blood."
"...You think about blood too much."
"Look, you wanted my suggestion and there you have it. Now if you don't mind I need to focus before I burn this."
"I'm going, I'm going." Soze left the Kitchen, grabbing a Spined Deer skewer from one of the other cooks as he went. 'Well that's taken care of, now what?' He and Loran typically spent entire days out hunting, now that they had returned early he wasn't too sure what he should be doing. Glancing down at the cuts in his hunting gear he decided to go repair it before making his way to the Workshop, finishing his skewer along the way while telling nosy players to wait for his announcement at The Pit tonight.
Once he arrived he didn't bother any of the players currently working, so he searched for the materials he needed before working on the armor himself. They didn't have any real thread, so sewing the cuts shut involved using a sharp piece of bone to make holes around the cut and using thin strips of rabbit leather instead. It was a slow process, but Soze found it enjoyable, nostalgic even. It reminded him a lot of his extreme camping trips since he would need to build all his necessities from scratch. Eventually, Soze was done with the cuts on his chest piece.
"Hey, Soze!"
Just as he was checking the rest of his armor for damage, Soze looked up to see Alexx jogging towards him. "Hey kiddo, what's up?"
"Do you really have to call me that?"
"Is it that bad?"
"Not really," Alexx shrugged, "it's just a little weird seeing your avatar calling me 'kiddo'"
"In that case, I'm gonna keep doing it." Soze chuckled as he watched the young man roll his eyes at him. "Anyway, you were looking for me?"
"Yeah, can you teach me Sprint?"
"Why?" he asked, mildly surprised.
Alexx then began explaining his earlier thought process, even demonstrating some of the changes he made to his fighting style.
"So, what do you think?" Alexx asked excitedly.
"I don't know, it seems a little too risky. Especially how you want to lower your HP even more. That's definitely too much."
"Uh.... about that."
"...You already learned SP Booster, didn't you?"
"And maxed it out, yeah," he said, smiling sheepishly.
"Haa... well now I have to teach you Sprint." Alexx had already made himself more vulnerable for the sake of being able to use this Skill, not teaching him at this point would just be stupid. "Give me your hand."
The two grasped each other's hand like in a handshake while Soze opened his menu.
[NAME]: Soze
[SPECIES]: Human
[LEVEL]: 10
[EXP]: 1125/1200
[STATUS]
{HP}: 101.3/160
{SP}: 160/160
[END]: 16
[STR]: 10
[AGI]: 21
[DEX]: 22
[PER]: 15
[REMAINING ABILITY POINTS]: 4
[SKILLS]
[ANALYSE] Lv.10
[HUNTER] Lv.10
(Passive) Increase damage against beast targets by 30%.
[SPRINT] Lv.10(Master)
(Active Cost: 3 SP/sec) Increase movement speed by 100%.
He then pressed the (Master) icon next to the [SPRINT] Skill, causing a notification to appear in front of Alexx.
[PLAYER (Soze) WOULD LIKE TO TEACH YOU THE {SPRINT} SKILL]
[IT WILL COST {1} ABILITY POINT AND {100} EXP TO LEARN THIS SKILL]
[LEARN SKILL?]
[YES] / [NO]
Once he confirmed it, the points were removed from his menu and the 100 EXP was added to Soze's. Alexx then took a moment to raise the Skill to level 10 before thanking Soze.
"It's no big deal."
"Well, I'm gonna get something to eat, wanna come with?"
"Hm, I just ate, but it's not like I have anything better to do. Besides, maybe I can get you to eat Aman's latest masterpiece." Soze took a moment to put his armor back on while Alexx shivered at the thought of being Aman's next victim, and the two-headed for the Kitchen.
Village Life(3)
The players had cleared out a large number of trees just to make the village and were clearing out more every day, so Yin and Yang had to walk for quite a bit before finding any Maple Trees. The two sisters had tried to talk during that time but after Yang's earlier outburst it felt too awkward, and it certainly didn't help that there wasn't much for them to talk about.
Aside from a few pitiful attempts at small talk the most they were able to discuss was how Yin should allocate her EXP points. As much as Yang wanted to protect her sister she didn't just tell Yin how to build her avatar, instead trying to explain the system the best she could while offering advice from her own experiences with RPGs. To her credit, Yin was a very fast learner and was able to easily figure out the basics despite having had no interest in video games prior to New Eden Online. The only reason she needed help now was that she had already done everything she could think of.
Yin has officially raised all of her Skills to level 10, and while she still had tons of EXP left she didn't just want to use it to level up but didn't see much reason in learning any of the other Skills available. The only one that stood out was [ANALYSE] but both Loran and Soze knew it and they were going to stay in a party with them for the foreseeable future, so her learning it too was somewhat redundant.
Eventually, Yin decided to just raise her level to 12.
[SPECIES]: Human
[LEVEL]: 12
[EXP]: 1065/1600
[STATUS]
{HP}: 80/80
{SP}: 240/240
[END]: 16
[STR]: 9
[AGI]: 22
[DEX]: 22
[PER]: 25
[REMAINING ABILITY POINTS]: 3
[SKILLS]
[CRITICAL STRIKE] Lv.10
(Active Cost: 20 SP) Increase damage of next attack by 50%.
[FAR SIGHT] Lv.10
(Active Cost: 1 SP/sec) Increase range of vision by 200%.
[HUNTER] Lv.10
(Passive) Increase damage against beast targets by 30%.
[SP BOOSTER] Lv.10
(Passive) Reduce HP and increase SP by 50%.
She had enough Ability Points remaining to learn new Skills if any are created in the near future, as well as enough EXP to quickly level them up.
"Alright, as long as you're sure," Yang told her. Yang then took one last swing at the Maple Tree before a great creaking and snapping sound could be heard from the base of the tree. Yang stepped to the side as the tree fell with an enormous crash. Yin had kept out of the way by sitting in the branches of a nearby Birch Tree. "Okay, I'm pretty sure that will be enough for Rika to make the armor."
"Yes, I certainly can't imagine one set of armor requiring more than a whole tree, but..."
"But what?"
"How exactly do you intend to get this back to the village?"
Yang stared blankly for a moment before taking in just how massive the tree was. "Son of a-!" The trunk of the tree was nearly a foot and a half thick for most of its almost 20-foot length, even without the branches it would weigh more than a ton, and the whole thing might be double that. "Okay, you know what, give me a second." Yang then tossed her Stone Ax to the side and rubbed her hands together, approaching the base of the tree.
"Yang, there is no way you can carry that back to the village."
"I just raised my STR to 25, I at least need to try."
"Of course you do," she sighed with a slight smile. 'Always so headstrong.'
Yang bent down next to the trunk of the tree, her left arm over the top holding it to her side while her right went under to lift. With a determined grunt, she attempted to stand.
Yin had expected the trunk to move slightly, maybe for it to come off the ground; but she certainly hadn't expected to see her sister cleanly lift the tree off of the ground!
Although the players hadn't fully discovered how their stats compared with reality, many understood that gaining even a few levels gave them superhuman abilities. In truth, having a 10 in any stat was the absolute limit of what a human being was capable of, though dulled slightly to compensate for the variety of ways they can be applied. Yang's 25 STR gave her lifting strength that easily surpassed Olympic heavy lifters.
"See... I told... you... I got it," Yang grunted. She then tried to walk forward, but she felt like her legs were locked to the ground. Even with superhuman strength, she was still lifting something too heavy for a human to budge; it was only stubbornness that let her get this far.
"Yang let go, it's too much!" Yin ran over to her sister in a panic.
'I... can... do... this!' Yang didn't respond, but Yin easily read the determination on her beet-red face. Her nose began to bleed as her blood pressure increased from the strain.
"NO, YOU CAN'T!" Yin grabbed Yang's shirt and neck. "SORRY!" she yelled as she pulled her sister away from the tree.
Ordinarily, Yang was strong enough to easily shrug off her sister's efforts, but her hands were already struggling to hold on to the tree trunk. The two girls fell to the side, panting on the ground, while the tree trunk fell to the ground with a loud, dull thump.
"You... didn't have to do that," Yang said through labored breaths.
"I'm not going to just watch as you kill yourself trying to LIFT A FUCKING TREE!"
Yelling was already out of character for Yin, but Yang was certain that she had never heard her sister cuss before. "I- I wasn't going to die from this."
"Check."
"What?"
"Check your menu."
Just wanting to calm her sister down, Yang opened her menu, not expecting to see anything of note; but much to her surprise, she had lost a few points of health from lifting the tree. "Oh holy shit, I actually lost HP from that."
"Exactly," Yin huffed, "now shut the fuck up and don't scare me like that again."
"Wow sis, never seen you this angry before."
"I can't say I've ever been this angry before."
"...Not even when I-"
"Stop." Yin silenced her sister, sitting up and putting her hand over her mouth. "I know what you're thinking, and it. Wasn't. Your. Fault."
"Of course it's my fault," Yang said, pulling her sister's hand away, "if it wasn't for me you wouldn't be-"
"Shush, none of that matters anymore." Yin locked eyes with Yang. "I don't care and you shouldn't either. Now take a moment and calm down." She then lay back in the grass.
The area was far from the noise of the village, and the falling of the tree had caused most of the animals to flee. A moment of quiet came over the two sisters, silently staring at the clouds and sky between the branches.
"Hey," Yin was the first to break the silence.
"Yeah?"
"Would you say this place is a good game? Aside from the whole 'trapped' part."
"...Probably. It's as pretty as most nature sims despite being an RPG and the game mechanics themselves seem decent enough. Why?"
"I'm just starting to see why you like these games so much. I never saw much point to them, it just seemed like a waste of time, but maybe that's the point? You make your choice and it matters for no other reason than because you chose to do it. It's all so very..."
"Fun?"
"Liberating."
Yang scoffed, "can't you just say 'fun' like a normal person?"
"I prefer liberating," Yin smirked.
"Yeah, yeah," Yang pulled herself to her feet. "Anyway, let's go. I need to get Alexx to help me with this, if I can lift it the two of us can probably pull it. He'll probably hate it though." Yang held out her hand.
"Why would he hate it?" she asked as she was pulled up.
"Oh, sis, you are going to love this story."
The two sisters made their way back to the village, laughing along the way.
~~~~~
As Loran woke up from his nap he could see the sun beginning to set in the sky, he had slept through the rest of the day. 'Damn, must've been more tired than I thought.' Crawling out of his shelter, he stretched for a moment before making his way to the Kitchen. A few people tried to talk to him along the way, mostly about his party's run-in with the Moss Wolves, but he just grunted and kept walking. 'There were five people in the party, why do they all want to talk to me?'
Soon enough he was at the Kitchen and grabbed a Wolf Meat Skewer from one of the cooks, thankfully most if not all the cooks had learned that Loran wasn't one for idle chit-chat, so they didn't bother with anything beyond basic pleasantries. Much to Loran's surprise, there seemed to be a new kind of animal being butchered; he was about to ask about it, but then he turned to see Aman mixing some kind of black paste with a mortar and pestle and decided to leave. He didn't know what was in that bowl and he had a firm desire to never find out. 'It's getting late anyway, I should be heading for The Pit.'
Ordinarily, Loran wouldn't bother going since there would be so many people, but he also wanted to try announcing his idea for creating a new sensory Skill. This would be the quickest way to know if others had tried it, and if not get more people trying it to create the Skill faster.
The path between The Pit and the Kitchen was very short, and soon Loran had arrived. As usual, the area was bustling, with about a dozen people milling around and at least three times as many sitting around and chatting in their own little groups. Loran continued walking around, trying to find a place without too many people.
"Loran! Over here!"
It was Alexx, along with the rest of the party near the center.
"Oh hey, didn't see you guys."
"Mh, surprised to see you here," said Soze, drinking from a wooden bowl.
"I have my reasons. Besides, I ended up sleeping the whole day, may as well see if anything interesting happened."
"Did the hunt really tire you out that much?" Yang snarked.
"You really need to sleep better kiddo."
"Again, not all of us are used to sleeping in hell, Soze."
"I think you're the only one who's been complaining about being tired," Alexx said.
"...Am I seriously alone in this?"
