004: The Worst Shoes

First thing's first, I needed to handle my wounds. That was what I thought, but that thought was discarded when I checked my wounds and found that they had all healed already, leaving many scar marks all across my body. The blood that had left said wounds was still there, so it wasn't as if they had scabbed over way too fast or anything like that, I had simply healed. "Is it because I leveled up?" That seemed plausible: A built in feature to help the body adapt to its new reinforcement, to heal all previous wounds. Or maybe it was like an RPG-type situation, where the new Health from leveling up outweighed the damage dealt in the previous level ups.

"..Tsah, it doesn't matter." I shrugged, deciding to go with the former assumption rather than the latter since it was more plausible. The fact was that I didn't have to worry about bleeding out, which was better than having to patch myself up. This meant I could move right on to what I had been planning to do from the start, to start work on my main operation: Not having to walk barefoot. And the dead tree right in front of me was going to help me with it, whether it wanted to or not. "Isn't that right, little buddy?" I gave it a little kick to the side.

You might think it was rude to kick the tree like that, but I didn't have any respect for my enemy. To defeat the Tree Spirit was a bastard, and in addition- Judging from its attack power and the dead body sitting on the dock, it was likely a sneaky bastard too. It was a cruel bastard too, wasn't it? It was toying with me for half the fight, although that might've been one of the only reasons I survived in the fight. "Damn bastard, treating me like some game. Serves you right!" I gave it a not-so-little kick... "Ouch." I got a splinter.

Enough thinking about the deed, I had to actually 'do it' now. For the sake of my poor feet, so that I'd never have to get a splinter when kicking my fallen enemy ever again... Okay, not for that reason specifically, but for avoiding foot damage in general in the future. "However, this raises the question. How do you make shoes?" While I had the skill, I had never used it before. Would it automatically be done, or would I have to manually act on it? It'd be smarter to test it than to waste materials, wouldn't it? Maybe I should test it?

Walking over to an ordinary tree, I took my Branch-Broom and began swiping it hard against it. With my own enhanced strength, combined with the durability and cutting power of the broom, I cut it roughly down the middle- Causing the tree to fall to the ground with a loud crashing sound. And with the tree now dead and gone, I then placed my hand on the wood and spoke.. "Shoe Make." I felt my mana flicker a bit, and yet.. Nothing happened. The feeling was like holding a lighter but not burning anything, if that made sense.

It made sense, I supposed. If skills that 'made items' simply did it automatically, there would be no point in a Blacksmith learning the way of the forge, and there would be no reason for an Alchemist to put herbs together. Which meant it was time for a dreadful thing, Trial and Error. First thing's first, I took the dead Tree Spirit and flipped it up on its pierced side, needing to let it bleed out, so its blood didn't spoil and whatnot. Quite a disgusting thought, really: Needing to bleed a tree. 

Next, plucking a leaf-blade from the dead Tree Spirit, I sat down on the grass and began to carve up the ordinary tree, cutting off a circle of its trunk and sitting down before beginning to whittle it down. Slowly, Surely, comparing its size to my own feet and then continuing. And in the end...

I broke it. It was an honest mistake, I applied too much force while trying to hollow it out and ended up cutting it cleanly down the middle. With a sigh, I discarded the broken "shoe" and took the other half of the circle that I had made and began to repeat the process again, taking extra care to not break it as I did so. Carefully, Delicately, until eventually I had made a shoe... three sizes too small, not having enough space to fit my foot. In addition, it was too wide too, fitting a frog better than it did my feet. However, it was a shoe, which meant... "Let's try this again: Shoe Make." I placed my hand down on the shoe and... Nothing happened, again.

I felt rather frustrated looking down at the failed experiment, but I felt like I caught on to what I was supposed to do here. If I was to think about it like a Blacksmith making a magical sword, would it make sense to only cast the spell after the sword was made? No, of course not: Making a sword isn't just saying that you want to make a sword, nor is it saying 'this is a sword' at the end of making one: You need to be actively working, thinking, and acting on the idea of making a sword. That was to say, "I'm supposed to be using this actively while working on it, huh?" I shook my head, understanding the general idea.

Plopping myself back down to the floor, I applied what I had thought yet again as I took out another chunk of wood from the ordinary tree. I was careful but not overly cautious, I was strong but not rough, and I made sure to take extra care that I was making something I could use this time. At the same time, I repeated a mantra throughout the process, chanting the skill name over and over to reapply it as I worked. There was likely a better way to do it, but this was the first way that popped into my mind to apply it, and I believed it was working so I continued.

Eventually, as the end of the day approached and the sun began to set, I completed a set of shoes. And as I did, a notification from my 'system' appeared before my eyes.

Construction Complete: Wooden Clogs (Low Quality) | +1 Defense | Maker: Theo

Heh. Mission accomplished. While it did work, I wasn't going to use this for multiple reasons. One: It looked awful, it was quite rough and while I did my best, I was still somewhat in a rush out of frustration. In addition, they looked... very uncomfortable, something I'd have to work on in the future. This was practice and nothing more. Sighing, I discarded the shoes and got up, looking over to the dead tree spirit. It had bled out significantly, its leaves no longer blood red but a pale green, although they were still as sturdy and sharp as any ordinary blade.

"...I'll leave it for tomorrow." I yawned, seeing the sun going down. I had already pushed my body a lot today, and while leveling up at healed my wounds I was still quite exhausted mentally and magically, meaning I wouldn't even be able to use my skills if I wanted to. Looking over across the lake at the manor from before, I might as well appropriate it since no one has here anymore. Stretching, I then reached down and picked up the Tree Spirit's body, beginning to carefully carry it to the manor and placing it beside the house on its side before walking inside. 

I walked into the manor with one hand behind my back and the other on my broom, walking carefully through the dark manor prepped to attack. Indeed, it seemed this place had been abandoned to some degree, the only person who lived here was most likely the man who was dead in the chair. This raised the question in my mind, however: How many people knew he lived here? If that entire town knew about it, then I likely wouldn't be able to stay here long. "Tsah, who cares." I shrugged, brushing away my worries. If I wanted to live here, I'd live here no matter what!

Ah, found the guest's room. Plop. Sleep time...

That night, I dreamt of black. It wasn't some darkness in a nightmare, or a dream for that matter: It was just sleep. An entire wall of black that blanketed over the darkness of the night, allowing me a short and peaceful night that ended with me waking up shortly after as sun penetrated the dark room's window. And so, it was time for me... To clutch up.

I hopped out of the bed and stood up, heading out the door and walking about the manor. In the kitchen of the manor, I found that the owner had made some loaves of bread most likely a day before his death, as the bread was still good. As the avenger who killed the tree that killed the man, I decided to take it upon myself to eat the bread so as to not let it go to waste. I then walked out the door of the house, still chewing some bread as I looked down at the dead Tree Spirit that was laying there, having not moved from its spot.

I plucked another leaf from it, but then stopped for a moment and thought carefully to myself. I recalled my skill list, and the skill that I had yet to understand.. Worst Shoes, the Passive Skill that came with the Cobbler Class. As I had figured, Cobblers were a production class that made shoes, but why did they have a skill called 'Worst Shoes' in that case? And why was it a passive? Cobblers weren't known for being bad at making shoes, otherwise they wouldn't have the job in the first place, so...

"...Maybe." Looking back to where I had discarded the first pair of shoes I made, I spotted them quickly with my perfect eyesight and quickly collected them, sliding them on my feet. Indeed, they sucked: They were just genuinely bad in all the right ways, enough to make me rethink it for a second. However, discomfort was nothing, I could handle this. Heading back towards the manor, I plopped myself back down besides the tree and cut off a part of the trunk, finding it much harder than the ordinary tree but managing it anyways after a bit of precise cutting and a long amount of effort.

I spent the entire morning on this, carefully carving it, running into the manor and finding tools like axes and chisels to work harder on it, just working as hard as I could to make these the best shoes that I could. Eventually, as the sun perched over my head at high noon, I found the shoes finished.

Construction Complete: Ent-Flesh Clogs (Uncommon+) | +3 Defense, +5 Agility, +4 Strength | Maker: Theo | A set of wooden shoes bearing the grudge of a Tree Spirit, its grudge lies in wait for the day its wearer dies to take revenge. +1 stat modifiers via Worst Shoes

Heh. Mission Complete. For real this time. The shoes were stuffed with fabrics from inside the house to make them more comfortable, and in addition the wood was just as durable as that thing was, as well as giving.. quite a lot of strength buffs, far more than I expected. Truly, it was worth spending the morning working on them. Kicking at the air, I quite enjoyed the sound of my foot cutting through the air like a blade, satisfied with it quite a lot.

I was just about finished with shoe making now, so it was time for the next thing that I wanted to try out... While I had been neglecting it quite a lot despite it providing me with the benefits it did, I was still an "Optometrist", not just a Cobbler. I could understand why it was labeled a 'failure class', I could hardly figure out how this might work myself, but seeing the eyes of this tree made me think... This just might work.

.

This is taking a while, actually. I'll stop updating here for a moment and follow up once I'm done.

Construction Complete: Ent-Eye Mask (Uncommmon+) | -3 Vitality, +10 Mana | Maker: Theo | A mask made from the eyes of the Tree Spirit, it is a full-face mask that goes from the top of Theo's forehead to the bottom of their chin, completely masking their vision. Its entire front is covered with eyes, giving the impression of a monster. +1 Stat Modifiers thanks to Worst Shoes, reduced Debuffs thanks to Worst Shoes.

It was... rather incredible, really. A mask that can bolster my mana by ten just by wearing it, but... As a cost, it reduces my health by a lot. Also, it looks quite scary, although I wouldn't have to deal with seeing it. It was something to wear during combat, rather than all the time. Ah, also, after I had made the mask I made a bunch more shoes from the Tree Spirit, although they weren't as strong as the first one I had made- Only giving a +3 in one of the three stats that my original one had.

That was fine, though. I wasn't going to be the one using them, after all.. Hehehe... "It's time to demonstrate the art of the deal." I snickered to myself, beginning to head off back to the village with a makeshift sack (made from a torn curtain from the mansion) full of shoes as I walked on my way, humming a tune to myself.

(Effective Stats with equipment on: Strength (8), Vitality (1), Defense (6), Agility (11), Mana (15), Luck (3)