I quickly stashed the items away in my inventory before any players saw me with them and walked out of the shop and down the high street, towards the inn. I did notice that some players spotted me leaving the apothecary and quickly scurried inside. I smirked, as I knew that, not only would they be swiftly kicked out for making a fuss. But also, I got the one and only secret from there.
Entering the inn, I spotted a burly man behind the bar, cleaning out a mug as he eyed me closely. It seems that someone has already been in here and caused a scene, if I were to hazard a guess by his guarded attitude.
"A room for the night please." I approached the burly man and placed 10 coppers on the bar, the standard fee for a normal inn room.
The man eyed me for a moment, before taking the money.
"Straight up the stairs, room number 2. Food is served from 6pm until 10, and any sign of trouble and you're out." He said, placing the key on the bar with a thud.
"Thanks, and you'll get no trouble from me," I replied, picked up the key and headed up the stairs after the innkeeper grunted in satisfaction.
I climbed the stairs and entered a dark, wooden hallway. There were only a handful of doors on this floor, so I quickly found my room and unlocked it and stepped inside.
The room was just what you would expect for a medieval fantasy inn room. A simple bed, a small table and a chair. And a window overlooking the main street of the village.
It had only been a little over two hours since I logged on. But the inn rooms not only offer a safe and clean place to sleep, but they also offer security. However, it was always best to pay a little extra in some cities, to stay at a nicer inn, as some players and NPCs could break in and either rob you or kill you. But considering this was the beginning of the game, nobody would have the skills to break in and make a clean escape without being caught.
Plus, there wasn't any reason to break in, or even steal in this village, as it was poor, and you wouldn't be able to find a fence to sell it off to anyway.
[Skill manual: Mana manipulation]
Reading through this manual will give the user the skill of 'Mana manipulation'. Upon use, the manual will be destroyed.
I pulled out one of the manuals and read the description. Like with the herbs earlier, it didn't offer much, other than what I could guess from the front cover.
But what I did know was that the person who got their hands on this before became the most powerful magic caster player in this world.
Not because of this skill, but because they learnt this before any other magic skill. Others who used the village priest or seer to learn magic could never learn arcanist spells, which would later be known as the core of magic itself.
The way I heard it was that the first spell you cast or are affected by, locks you into a certain type of magic. For example, those who use elemental magic, struggle to use divine magic, and vice versa. But those who learn arcanist spells, or arcane magic, aren't restricted by that fact.
That is simply because arcane magic uses the very fabric of mana as its core, unlike Elementalists, which use elements, and divine that use divinity as their cores.
Simply put, using other magic is like adding dye to water, it turns the water a different colour and is hard to become a different colour. But arcane magic is water to begin with, so it doesn't matter how many drops you put in, it'll always stay the same colour.
I'm just glad that the person who had these before was a complete idiot. They bragged about it to everyone who would listen, even writing a detailed explanation. Then, got their ass handed to them by a horde of ebony skeletons, notorious for having high magic resistance. The humiliation was too much, and they deleted their character, never to be heard from again. But by that time, it was impossible to get magic from any beginner village and by the time you got to a town, you would have been exposed to a different kind of magic, locking arcane magic out completely.
[Skill manual: Mana sense]
Reading through this manual will give the user the skill 'Mana sense'. Upon use, the manual will be destroyed.
I pulled out the second manual to clear my mind a little.
The skill's name was self-explanatory, you can sense mana. Whether it's from someone using a spell, or if an object has mana infused in it. I had a skill similar to this myself in my old life. Though, as I wasn't a magic user, I couldn't level it a lot. But from what I heard; it was a key skill for any magic user.
[Do you want to use 'Skill manual: Mana manipulation'? Item will be destroyed after use]
Clicking yes, the manual glowed before bursting into flames. This is the developer's way of making things flashier. But I guess it beats bursting into pixels.
[Mana manipulation: level 1 *New*]
This skill allows the user to manipulate the mana around them and inside them. Can infuse an item with a small amount of mana.
Level 1 skills don't offer much description, at least for magic. It isn't until you level them up a few times you start to understand them.
[Mana sense: level 1 *New*]
This skill lets the user sense when mana is around them.
'These descriptions are going to give me a headache one of these days.' I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration.
From what I can remember, you would feel a slight tingle at the back of your neck when something magical is nearby and the more you level it, the easier it is for you to locate it.
Testing the new skill of mana manipulation, I could feel the space around me become thicker, like was in a heavy fog. As I moved my hand in front of me, I could feel a very slight resistance to its motion, and a slight annoying tingling on my neck.
But that was about it. I didn't have any offensive or defensive magic, for that, I'd have to either discover magic myself or buy them. However, there wasn't anyone remotely close by who sold arcane spells, so it'll have to be elemental or divine. But I didn't know how that would affect my arcanist path, so I thought I'd leave that on the back burner for now, as I didn't want to screw things up just as they were getting started.
For now, though, I needed to steal the last two hidden gems in this village before I had the luxury of grinding. Looking outside, it was still early afternoon, which meant I wasn't too late.
Scooting off the bed, I left my room, locked it behind me and left the inn. My goal was where most newbies go, the training grounds.
It didn't take me long to get there. Once I did, I saw a nostalgic sight of countless players smacking wooden swords or spears against training dummies. This was because of a quest the instructor gave; hit the dummy a hundred times without any breaks and you'll receive the basic skill in the weapon you use, limited to either sword, spear or hand-to-hand.
I wasn't here for that quest though; I was here for what the instructor had hidden. Plus, it was more effective to fight actual monsters, or you'll miss out on learning a more important lesson than hit it with the pointy end.
A large, imposing man stood at the back of the training yard with his arms crossed. His bald head shone in the afternoon sun.
"Afternoon-" I began, but he cut me off.
"If you're here for training, pick a weapon and get to striking." He butted in, completely disinterested in conversating.
"Aren't there better lessons to be had than swinging a stick?" I said, swallowing back my annoyance and provoking him a little and judging by the slight eye twitch, it worked.
"What nonsense are you-" He started, but I returned the favour and cut him off.
"Better than, hit them with the pointy end." I cut him off with a shit-eating grin as if to say, 'How do you like it'.
"How would you like to spar then? If you think you're above these lessons." He offered in a calm voice but judging by the vein bulging on his neck, I could tell he was anything but calm.
"Sure, but a simple spar seems a little boring. How about a bet?" I said, trying to wind him up even more.
"You're dressed in threadbare clothes. I doubt you have anything I would want."
"Well, I could always do anything you say for a whole year. Though, I doubt that you have anything to offer in equal trade." I suggested, knowing full well how sadistic this instructor was.
"Oh, I have something even more valuable than your life." He bragged. That something was what I was after.
"Well, if you're afraid of losing it, then you're more than welcome to call off the bet," I smirked.
"Ha, as if I'd lose to you." He mocked.
[Quest received]
You have hurt the pride of Samson, the training yard instructor. As such, he has issued a duel, you must best him or suffer the consequences.
[Reward:???
Failure: unable to use your character for 1 year game time]
The other players started to take note of the commotion and started to watch as nosy busybodies wanted to do.
Ignoring the gathering onlookers, Samson, the instructor ushered me to an open space that was used for duels and spars. He picked up a wooden sword and gave it a few swings before motioning to me to pick a weapon.
Following suit, I also picked a sword. Even though I didn't want to follow the same path as I did in my old life, it wouldn't hurt for one quick round.
Standing at the duelling distance, I stared at the instructor and let out a long breath to calm myself. As I was releasing my breath, a man's face overlapped the instructor's. It was a young man with long silver hair and a relaxed, pleasant look on his face. Rage started to bubble up inside me as I stared at the reason for my death.
But as my long breath ended, the rage fizzled out and was instead replaced with a calm. In fact, all of my emotions seem to fade away, replaced with heightened senses. I could feel the groves in the wood of the training sword in my hand. The gentle breeze prickled my skin erecting the hairs on my body like lightning. The throbbing of my steady beating heart was like a war drum, dictating the pace of the coming battle.
And although my senses seemed to be heightened, no useless sound reached my ears, like the whispering peanut gallery that had gathered. My vision seemed to block everything else other than the instructor and the path ahead. My sole focus was on him and my immediate space, nothing else mattered.
"Seeing as you're my junior, I'll let you have the first move," Samson said as if he was being generous. Though, those who know him know that he just liked to see people despair before he crushed them.
"…" I didn't reply. I knew it was a moot point in mocking him anymore. Plus, as soon as I held a sword, regardless of if it was for training, I stopped caring for words.
Holding the sword in my right hand, I didn't care to lower myself into any stance for two reasons. I didn't expect this duel to last long enough to move through any decent number of moves. And, seeing as my body is back to that of a babe goo gooing at the sword like a piece of candy, I doubted I could bring anything useful to bear.
Instead, I bent my knees and burst forward into a sprint. It was both foolish and perfect, I knew that anyone who saw me doing this, regardless of any martial training, would think me an idiot. But that is why it was perfect.
As I rapidly closed the distance, I saw the look on Samson's face flash from annoyance, to shock, to a shit-eating grin, believing that it would be an easy win.
Entering his attack range, he swung his sword down with a modicum of skill, believing he was facing an idiot and needed only that. However, using the momentum, I spun on one leg and turned my body, so my back was facing him. My right hand had raised and blocked the swing of his with my sword, and my left leg had outstretched and landed a solid kick to his sternum, knocking him back a few steps.
The breath left Samson's lungs as did the audience, though for different reasons. Before he could process my strange attack, I had already spun back around and was already coming at him.
Swinging my sword down onto his head. He tried to raise his sword to block, however, since my kick knocked him for six, he had knelt to support his shaken body from the sudden lack of oxygen.
Our weapons clashed and his eyes widened. But before he could question the lack of weight in the attack, my fist landed square in his face and knocked him flat to the floor.
Placing the point of the sword a few inches away from his neck, I spoke. "I win." A shit-eating grin plastered on my face as I held back the ragged breath that wanted to escape from my unfit body.
Still groggy from the blow to the face, it took him a while to realise that he had lost. But when it finally settled in, his face twisted in hatred.
[Quest complete]
You have bested instructor Samson in a duel and in the process have shown him what it feels like to be humiliated.
[Reward: Tonic of true body building]