It's been one week since I brought to the world of TBATE. What had I been doing in that week? Fighting mythic battles with creatures of legend? Discovering long lost civilizations? Finding my hot fantasy wife? No, no and no… I had been diligently boiling water everyday.
Well I had been doing more than that as well, and this is what my Skills are currently looking like.
BASTARD SWORD: 10/99
ATTACK: 1/99
MANA CORE: 25/99
FIRE: 5/99
WATER: 5/99
EARTH: 5/99
WIND: 5/99
RANGED: 1/99
MINING: 10/99
WOODCUTTING: 30/99
ARTISAN: 1/99
CONSTRUCTION: 5/99
COOKING: 60/99
FARMING: 5/99
RUNECRAFTING (LOCKED)
AETHER USER (LOCKED)
All the Skills with 1/99 were Skills that hadn't started using yet. Artisan leveled up through crafting tools and equipment. Ranged through using the Bow, but since I only had a few arrows I was hesitant to use them. Of course I could craft more, but currently becoming an Archer was relatively low on my totem pole of priorities.
As for Attack? Well that's just a healthy dose of genuine cowardice! The only way to level up Attack is by, well, attacking things. Living things. Truthfully I was a bit scared to see how much damage I would take from being hit. I wanted armor to up my defense, but even for metal armors the blueprints require some sort of leather or fabric. So I'm sure you can see my dilemma.
That's why I stuck with my previous goal of maxing out my cooking, but you see even that has been slowing down the last couple days. As I must gather the water, cook the water, meditate while cooking, occasionally harvest more wood to fuel the campfires and repeat. I typically spend the morning before I start my "job" by practicing with the sword, which thankfully also raises the Bastard Sword Skill. Each level giving me + 1% Skill Comprehension, that has been super helpful as it basically allows me to know whether I'm doing the movements right. With each level I know what mistakes I'm making and how to adjust.
At level 5 I was taught Vertical Slash, and at 10 was Horizontal Slash. Which may seem obvious when it comes to using a sword, but it basically has made it where I can do these attacks exactly as I'm supposed to. The drawback is that I have to start from the same position everytime. I can't horizontal into vertical fluidly yet, I have to be precise.
Though the really cool thing has been Magic! The individual element skills aren't very high as I remembered Mana Backlash from the comic and did not want to deal with that. Adding on the fact I was already meditating while waiting for my water to cook i decided to never let the combined level of the elements surpass my Mana Core Skill level. I most likely don't have to do that but it put my mind at ease.
At their current levels I had the basics of augmenting and conjuring with them available. I could coat my body in the element to augment, or I could cast ball forms of the spells. Fireball,Windball, Earthball and Waterball. Pretty weak right now, but I have been considering that augmenting my body with Earth mana could be a good substitute for armor.
Lastly is Farming and Construction. I have 5 levels in each due to creating a little garden patch that has several plots for wild vegetables and then another plot for the local berries. Of course I could harvest them naturally, but the Farming Skill does have benefits, with the level 50 unlock being Mana Produce! Basically allowing me to grow things that will replenish mana. Which will become nearly overpowered when combined with my Cooking level 50 Skill.
Cooking for Pleasure: Double the effects of any dish. Basically meaning if it normally offered 10 minutes of poison resistance it was now 20 minutes. Any dish that has extra effects was now doubled including ones that dealt with Mana. As long as I kept these dishes on hand I would almost never run out of Mana!
Construction's 5 levels came from finally making myself a bit of a better sleeping arrangement. I raised the base about 10 feet off the ground with a Platform schematic. Then used half walls to make a sort of guard rail wrapping around the edges. As for how to get down? I just build a staircase each time, rebreaking it to make it more difficult others to try to enter. It's a bit tedious but I prefer the peace of mind.
My next plan Construction wise is to build a walk path connected to my Hydration Station, and eventually make a covering over it so that I won't get rained on. But that's not too important at the moment.
However there is one thing that has become a necessity in the last couple days. I need meat! Eating nothing but plants and fruits have killed my carnivorous spirit. A thick juicy steak just might make me be fine with being dropped into a fantasy world.
Which is why, despite my cowardice, I'm going hunting. With a stack of water and a stack cooked veggie stew, I left my house, placing a marker on it so that it would show up on my compass. This let me know where it was without needing to open up my map and obstruct my vision.
I equipped my shield and sword, slipping between outstretched branches and shrubs. There wasn't a Skill for hunting, and the creatures you killed in RS were easily seen due to the open area. This was a dense forest though, and with me lacking any semblance of training in tracking, it was a boring hunt. I could do little more than walk aimlessly in circles around the edge of my encampment in hopes of coming across something.
It was several hours before I finally caught my first break and stumbled on to a rabbit that had a horn growing out of its head like a unicorn. It was white furred and the size of a Lynx. Its ears perked up as I got closer and when it turned to see it me it practically hissed before charging me in short hops.
I could only hope this was a weak rabbit and not some demonic Horned Rabbit, and was as strong as the rabbits Hajime faced in Arifureta. Though I probably would have died before I even saw it if it was one of those rabbits.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I got into what I figured was a ready stance and held my shield out in front. This was the plus side of a Bastard Sword, it was usable both two handed or one handed, so I was able to use the shield with the attacks I knew just fine.
I pressed my shoulder against the shield as the rabbit leaped horn first at me. I let out a sigh of relief when the horn didn't come crashing through my shield and was mildly surprised that the hit barely rattled me. Not letting the opportunity pass I slashed out with a vertical stroked, raising my sword up high and slicing down at the rabbit.
The tip of my blade caught the Horned Rabbit on its front paw and nearly lopped it off. It screeched in pain and fury, launching another attack at me. I was able to sidestep this and repeated my previous attack, now digging deep into its back. It squealed softly and twitched a few times before finally falling to the ground dead.
"Collect Horned Rabbit Materials" appeared as I looked down at it and I immediately accepted.
<-1%Stamina cost when Attacking>
<-1% Stamina Cost when Attacking>
<+1% Skill Comprehension>
I could only stare blankly at the final message. There was never a Pascifist status in RS? I should really take an in depth look at the entire system and stop assuming that everything is going to be like the game. But how in the world do Hunts and Warbands work in this world?! They aren't governed by video game mechanics here!
"Oh shit."