Innate Skill
"Let's head to a clerk and get registered." Myrs said, point to the tellers booths.
I nodded and followed behind her towards one clerk sitting without a line before her.
The girl had long blind hair and blue eyes, however they weren't as clear and vibrant as Myra's eyes. Myra then began to talk to her about some details of signing up, however it ended soon and Myra told me I simply had to fill out a small form.
The form asked for my name, and position in a party. I wasn't sure what path I would take yet, but Myra told me I could change it at anytime and that it is only important when looking for a party with people who you don't know. Our innate skills will let us know where our future paths will take us.
I simply filled out a Mage for now, and handed it in. They then gave me a small chain with a dogtag plate on it, when I looked at it it was made of copper and simply had the information I gave before. Copper represented ranks F and E.
Myra was really excited about her tags, so she wslas holding them while smiling, she then led me to a nearby dungeon entrance she knew of before hand.
The Goblin Caves, filled with Goblins. The reason it was a cave for beginners was that there were no leaders in the Goblin caves, such as High Goblins or Shamans. Without these leaders the Goblins traveled in small packs of three, or more often than not alone.
This would make it easy for us to find two isolated Goblins to take out. The only problem now was that we had no weapons, however Myra explained to me that there were chests spread around the dungeon, and that we could find gear that way.
'It really feels just like a game. I don't mind, I just need to make sure I understand it is my life that I am risking, and there is no respawn.' I thought. Nervous to start my adventure, but also extremely excited.
We walked across the town, to a structure near the gate where we entered. There, we saw a massive stone.
"This is a dungeon way point, we can use this to enter any dungeon that has been linked with the stone. This is simply achieved by letting this stone absorb a return stone from the target dungeon. If you discover a dungeon you can sell the rights to enter through the guild. Anyways, only your party is able to enter the same dungeons as you, since the Dungeons have a type of Magic that creates a separate space for each party. This way no one really fights over the Dungeons." She explained. She then gestured for me to stand next to her, and when I did a light began to surround us.
I felt my body become inexplicably light, to the point of weightlessness, and then a grounding sensation as I was pulled back to reality.
I then opened my eyes to find us standing in a cave, with tunnels leading in all different directions. My mind cleared and I began to focus. We were now at risk of injury, and even death, so we were no longer playing around.
I noticed two chests in the room, so I made my way over to them. I noticed they had no locks so I simply went over and opened them up. In the first chest, I noticed a small book inside. I reached down and picked it up.
[Skillbook: Zap Lv.1 detected. Would you like to learn?]
'Yes.' I said in my mind. The book melted and the light seeped into my body. After which I opened my Skills tab.
[Skills-
Active: Zap Lv.1
Passive: Supercomputer Lv.1
]
////
[Zap][Lv.1]
Cost: 2 MP
Sends a strand of electricity flying through the air, seeking the enemy you aimed for.
///
'Autotracking? That's really nice. I will be able to only cast it five times. I need to find out how much damage it does and how long it takes for my mana to regenerate.'
I opened the second chest and found a rapier. I picked it up, and handed it to Myra
"Oh! Thank you, but what about you? You don't have a weapon." Myra asked with concern.
"I found a skill book, I learned it so I can help you from the back." I started. I was not worried that she would be upset, because I was not here to help her. At the end of the day I was simply trying to grow my own strength.
"That's so cool! I can't wait to see it. Let's head out and look for Goblins that are by themselves. Remember, we don't want to take on more than one, especially since I haven't used a rapier before." Myra explained, and began walking to a random tunnel.
I agreed with her assessment of the situation, our strength was low, and we could die if we fought two Goblins at once. I followed her and continued our exploration. We continued to come across chests. I opened them up, I insisted because of my 10 Luck, and we were able to get some protective gear. Myra had a shield now and I had an armored arm guard.
We had yet to find a Goblin alone, only having come across groups of goblins. We continued to walk, and had just picked up a couple valuable gems from a chest, when we heard footsteps from ahead. We stopped and prepared for the worst as we waited for the footsteps to come around the corner.
We saw a long green nose first, then the rest of the Goblin came around the corner. We watched and waited to see if another one came, but after another minute no more footsteps were heard.
Myra and I looked at each other, and nodded. I raised my finger, pointing it at the Goblin who was walking around the room without a clue.
"Zap."
I said, and a Streak of lightning fired out of my finger. It zipped through the air, and slammed into the goblin's head. It fell over, and convulsed on the floor.
[12!]
[Shock has been inflicted!]
"Myra now! Hurry and finish it while it is down!" I shouted.
Myra snapped out of her surprise, and hurried over to the Goblin. Taking a deep breath, she pointed her rapier at the Goblin's head, but I saw her hesitate. She was shaking, however she took another deep breath, and stabbed down.
*Squelch*
She pierced the Goblin through the eye, and the convulsing stopped.
[Goblin Lv.1 slain.]
[F-Rank core dropped.]
A small crystal lay on the ground, as the Goblin's body disintegrated.
"Whoa! We're seriously really lucky! Monster cores are used for a lot of things so they go for a lot! With that core we can probably sell it for at least 10 silver! That is almost as much as my grandfather make a year working on the farm!" Myra was excited by the amount of money we were making, and we had only been at it for a little less than two hours.
When thinking of how we will also unlock innate skills today, my thirst for being a Hunter only grew. We headed out again, searching for another Goblin to finish our task. I kept an eye on my mana, and after ten minutes I noticed I gained a point.
'One mana every ten minutes is not nearly enough if I were to be in extended battle, but let's hope there are ways to improve it later.'
As we searched, we continued to rifle through any chests we found, however it felt as though our luck was running out as we didn't find anything amazing. Only more basic protective gear, leather boots and a pair of leather gloves for Myra.
We then stumbled upon another Goblin standing in a room by himself. I cared Zap again and Myra quickly finished it off. It didn't fall to the ground this time, but with the surprise attack it wasn't able to defend itself in time.
[You have reached Level 1!]
[Innate Skill being awarded.]
[...]
[...]
[Re-Roll Lv.1 has been learned!]
[Re-Roll][Lv.1]
Cost: None
Cooldown: 1 day when used on the same object.
This skill is able to randomly turn something, into something else of the same category.
i.e. You may turn a shield into a different shield, but you cannot expect a shield to turn into a sword.
////
I was curious about the skill, so I used it on the armguards I had on.
"Re-Roll."
My armguards then changed into a sort of cloth wrap.
[Mana Wraps]
INT + 1
The items had effects now? Most likely because they are magical. The items we found before were normal items, things that could be found in our world outside the Dungeons. Thinking like that, other than the spell book we found at the beginning, we hadn't actually been very lucky when opening chests.
Myra was staring into the air reading carefully, when she suddenly smiled and turned towards me.
"I gained a skill that let's me grow vines. This will help me hold monsters still while we kill them. Although it takes a lot of mana, and right now I can only cast it twice before I have to rest... how did it go for you? "
I smiled, and took the leather gloves she had.
"Re-Roll."
The gloves then turned into a pair of thin leather gloves, with a small crystal embedded inside.
[Magic Gloves]
-10% MP Costs
"This is my skill. I can re-roll our gear into hopefully better gear."
"WHOA! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!" Myra shouted.
"I understand how it is helpful, but why do you think it's so incredible?" I asked, confused why she thought it was so amazing.
"You turned a normal item, into a magical item! Magical items can sell for dozens of silver! Even something like these gloves, which honestly are really incredible, can be sold for at least 75 silver! You're a golden goose!" Myra explained.
I then understood why that was such a big deal, buying a piece of equipment that was only worth a few silver, and turn it into something worth much more.
I then re-rolled her shield and boots.
[Leather Boots]
STR +1
[Magic Shield]
-10% Physical Damage
////
With this, we decided to leave the dungeon and sell the other things we found.
I re-rolled the two gems we found, turning them into a piece of jade, and a piece of ruby. Fetching a much higher price than the original pieces. We sold them, along with selling the core, we split the money for a profit of 8 silver for us each.
We made our way back to the guild, where we saw Gus standing outside, speaking with a tall muscular man. The two were laughing and talking in a friendly manner.
"Oh, hey there Myra! Artemis, it's nice to see you both unharmed. Did you go to the dungeons?" Gus asked as we walked closer.
"Yes Grandpa! Look!"
Myra then sprouted vines beneath her feet, and controlled them to form a chair.
"Ohhh? Would you look at this, seems even your daughter is talented as a Hunter!"
"And who might this be?" I asked, wondering.
"Ahaha, kid, I am the Guildmaster of this branch. My name is Atrius Flick."