12 A month later
A month passed by in a flash.
Luke lied down in bed after a long day of work, merrily looking at his status.
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NPC Status
Name: Lucas Ferland
Level: 4
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Path: Magician (Apprentice)
Specialisation: None
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Vitality: 10
Stamina: 10
Intelligence: 10
Perception: 10
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 12
Charisma: 8
Luck:1
Energy:20
Fire Affinity: 13%
Water Affinity: 15%
Wind Affinity: 15%
Earth Affinity: 15%
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Skills:
-Unbreakable courage Lv 2
-Beginner Cooking Lv 5
-Beginner Hunting Lv 5
-Beginner Hand-Hand Combat Lv 5
-Beginner Swimming Lv 1
-Beginner Smiting Lv 5
-Beginner Sewing Lv 5
-Intermediate Meditation Lv 5
-Beginner Fire Spells Lv 5
-Beginner Earth Spells Lv 5
-Beginner Water Spells Lv 5
-Beginner Wind Spells Lv 5
-Basic Magic Runes Lv 5
-Beginner Crafting Lv 5
Skill points: 16
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Talents:
Beginner Spell Casting Lv 5
Beginner Energy Absorption Lv 5
Talent Points: 4
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Luke had finished his advancement to Apprentice almost 3 weeks ago and had also earned a considerable amount of money form it the hunting trips he did.
Through those trips, most of his skills had leveled up to the max, excluding Unbreakable Courage, which was too hard to level up. It only barely went up by two when he faced down a bear. Naturally, he did not have enough strength to actually combat a bear, nor enough speed to run away.
However, he had remembered a certain Bare Thrills show where he said that the best way to face off. Bear is not to run or find cover, but to stand your ground, stretch out your arms and flail them around to look as large and intimidating as possible.
And it somehow worked! The bear stared Luke down for nearly 6 minutes before slowly retreating into the thick vegetation.
This boosted his level by 2 instantly, but it has been stuck there ever since.
He also had swimming, but he didn't bother wasting time to swim, when he could have been grinding other skills, completing missions, and earning money.
After reaching level 2, Luke took up many mundane missions which gave simple exp rewards, and some even gave a few skill points. There was a particular one which needed him to create 20 low tier wind-blade spell scrolls. This grind allowed his blacksmith, crafting and magic runes to directly jump to level 5, and also gave him a talent point.
It should be known that talent point points had a 10% drop change in hidden quests, and 15% drop chance in a main storyline quest. This just goes to show how rare they are.
Furthermore, Luke's equipment had also gotten a makeover. He sold the hunting rifle, since it was too heavy to carry around.
Instead, he settled for a gentleman's can, which he inscribed with magic amplifying runes by himself. This made it a working magic staff with some quite interesting effects.
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Magic Wooden Cane
Grade: A+
Durability: 44/45
Effects: 5% increase in damage output from spells
2% reduction in casting speed
2% reduction in mana consumption
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Although the effects weren't very large, they covered a variety of aspects which could in fact mean the difference between life and death.
It was already rather late tonight, and he planned on waking up early tomorrow since it was the big day.
…
The next morning, Luke quickly got out of bead and freshened up before wearing his apprentice robes and white mask. He had deliberately had an artisan carve his codename 'The Sage' into the left side of his cheek.
Looking through the mailbox, he found two letters. They were from Gard in Islesat, and Harlem in Roland.
He stopped a carriage and instructed the driver to head to The Guild of Magic. Currently, he had around 2 gold coins worth of money, which equaled to 40 silver coins. He could easily afford a carriage worth 3 copper every day to work.
Along the way, Luke opened up and skimmed through the contents of the letters.
Both parties said that nothing much happened, except that they both entered the respective armies, and receives the lowest level of knowledge for their respective pathways. This knowledge was then copied and parceled a few days ago to a safe deposit inside two separate banks, the password of which was written backwards throughout the tire letter.
Luke made a mental note of the two passwords and then used the tiniest amount of energy to ignite the paper into ashes, which he carefully collected using wind magic and disposed of outside the window.
Today was the day he would buy the knowledge needed to promote himself to a certified mage. He would then use his reserved exp to level up to level 5, using the knowledge he learns, and simultaneously choose his race evolution.
For this race evolution, since he could not find, or afford any suitable blood of mythical creatures, he chose to evolve to a newer level of the human race, and he would try and find mythical creature blood for the next evolution.
It should be known that randomly injecting oneself with the blood from random creatures would most definitely result in severe mutations, both on the surface and on the inside, turning you into a hideous monster.
Only the blood from mythical creatures or higher, like legendary creatures could be infused into the human body.
Therefore it was safer to simply evolve to another level of the human race. Although the racial talents gained would not be that great, it would be better than turning into a monster, or remaining at level 4 forever.
Soon, the carriage came to a stop, and Luke got off and paid the carriage driver before walking into The Guild of Magic's Leon headquarters.
He walked up to the receptionist, who was clearly the same as last time, and said,
"I want the knowledge to advance to a mage."
The initial knowledge gained was just an exchange of money for knowledge. However, from that point onwards, one needed to grind away at faction contribution points. This was why Luke chose to do the mundane missions from The Guild of Magic instead of somewhere more lucrative.
The requirement for this knowledge was 200 contribution points, which Luke had just fulfilled yesterday.
During this one month, even the chain mission Investigate had nearly been completed.
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Chain Mission (3/4)- Investigate
The unknown creature was not a naturally born being. Investigate the ones behind the creation of the creature that caused the deaths of 24 humans before being slain by your hands.
Clues- 11/12
You have gained the testimony of 11 of the 12 victims. The truth behind the mastermind of this entire incident will reveal itself from the testimony of the last victim.
Mission completion reward- 200 exp, 1 Talent point, 1 Skill point
Mission failure penalty- None
Difficulty- F+
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He desperately wanted the talent point, however, he simply could not find the last victim even though he actively searched for him.
But he now had 220 contribution points and could not buy the knowledge.
"Id?"
Luke patiently took out his guild member badge and handed it over to the receptionist who confirmed the contribution points below the achievements and said,
"5 Sliver"
"Aright"
Luke did not mind losing so much money if it meant he could become a certified mage.
So far, all his trips to the guild were met with disgust from the certified mages. Now, he could finally rid himself of that feeling, and transcend into a blooming butterfly that is Luke!
"Please wait a few moments"
The receptionist stood up and walked into the backroom, out of Luke's view, where multiple clanking sounds could be hear followed the creaking of a rusted hinge. Soon, a faint *thump* sound was heard and quickly forgotten amongst the chitter chatter in the reception hall.
Soon, the receptionist came out with a thick stack of papers, tightly bound together by thread.
"You can take it home or chose to read it here."
"I will take it home."
With that said, Luke turned around and left the Guild reception and entered another carriage to return to the apartment he had been living in for the past week. It cost 8 silver for the month, and it had a bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, a small balcony, and a guest room, not that that was used for anyone so far.
