Chapter 15: New Ability

"System, what time is it," Deryn asked.

< 8:36 PM >

Deryn smiled before sighing unexpectedly. He was pleased with conquering 3 of the camps today and gathering hundreds of basic resources, yet wasn't too pleased with the final camp he had to leave behind.

He could go out and potentially conquer it now but thought it was best to do so earlier on in the day, potentially when some of the kobolds were out hunting which would improve his chances and minimise the risk.

He was sat in the training room surrounded by basic resources, which were being transported to the storeroom shelves he had built by the two kobolds.

Still, in mummy form, the mage kobold was in a makeshift cage Deryn built from slapping together some wood. Whilst this wouldn't stop the mage from escaping normally, it was tightly bound so held no chance at escaping.

He hadn't seen the mage cast a spell without holding a staff and upon questioning the mage with Kev and Archer 1 as translators he realised that the staff was a medium for the kobolds to cast their magic.

Just like how Deryn used the ring as a medium. This got him wondering if he could learn magic without relying on the ring. He could.

The system informed him earlier today that the system store had everything imaginable to Deryn, which also included the ability to use spells in the form of combat skills.

He was also told, rather bluntly by the system, that he already had a spell in his repertoire; phantom lunge. It took mana to cast and created illusions, which was a branch of magic called... you guessed it ?LOCKED?. He hadn't unlocked the necessary information for the system to tell him such things.

Standing up Deryn walked towards the more open part of the training ground and took out the contents from the wooden chests and iron chests, placing them in front of him.

Upon finishing he looked at his harvest.

2x Level 1 Fire element mana crystal

4x Level 1 Mana crystal

2x Level 1 Wind element mana crystal

Uncommon bow blueprint

Kitchen appliances blueprint (fridge and sink)

These were the only things of note he gathered. He had gotten other bits and pieces from the chests such as food and water, along with basic material bundles but he had sorted those in the kitchen and storeroom earlier.

After putting away everything he mentally opened the 6 kobold chests in his inventory. With a flash, light blue motes of light appeared before him.

Deryn shook his head at his stupidity. He only had 4 slots left in his inventory so when opening the kobold chests the rest of the items spilt out and landed in front of him.

"Note to self: Items don't disappear if inventory is full, rather they just appear in front of you... luckily" Deryn muttered, mentally scolding himself for a silly mistake. It could have cost him the rare loot he risked his life for.

Telling himself to be more mindful he took the remaining chest loot out of his inventory before looking at what he now had before him.

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< DING 6x KOBOLD CHESTS OPENED>

RECEIVED:

2x Inventory expansion stones

2x Intermediate resource pouch

1x Hunters binoculars

1x Warriors Leather Chestplate

1x Firestorm scroll (Level 2)

1x (2x) Reward coupon

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He also received a lot of random items, such as a broomstick handle... again. He instantly dismantled the junk items and opened up the medium resource pouches which put his stock of the three basic resources at a new all-time record high.

He now had 1201 units of wood, 1006 units of stone and 792 iron. This was more than enough to last him a short while.

The Intermediate resource pouches also gave him 126 silver, 62 copper and 14 glass pieces. These were marked as level 2 basic resources according to the system, whilst iron, wood and stone were level 1 basic resources.

The inventory expansion stone would add 5 slots to his inventory every use so he used both of them right away, bringing his inventory to 30 slots total.

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< HUNTERS BINOCULARS >

DESCRIPTION: A set of binoculars used by an experienced hunter in the past. Allows things up to 2.5km away to be seen clearly, as long as there is a line of sight.

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< Warriors Leather Chestplate >

DESCRIPTION: A durable chest plate made out of elehino leather.

STAT BOOST: +1 VIT, +0.5 STR, +0.2 AGI, +40HP

COMBAT ABILITY: Bloodbound heal: When the user is injured during combat a +20hp heal will be initiated. Works once per combat scenario.

RARITY: Light Blue (Rare)

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Upon equipping the chest plate Deryn felt a comfortable feeling was over him like never before. He basked in the satisfaction before looking at the character sheet.

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< CHARACTER SHEET >

Name: Deryn Adams

Race: Human

Health: 320/320(140) (0.28 Regen per minute)

Mana points: 79(30) (0.27 Regen per minute)

Strength: 2.2(1.3) < SYSTEM REMARK: STRENGTH INFLUENCES ATTACK STRENGTH AND WEIGHT CARRYING ABILITY >

Vitality: 2.8(1.4) < SYSTEM REMARK : VITALITY INFLUENCES HEALTH (100X1.8) AND RECOVERY OF HEALTH (2.8/10) >

Agility: 2.7(1.3) < SYSTEM REMARK : INFLUENCES SPEED, NIMBLENESS AND REACTION SPEED >

Intelligence: 2.7(1.5) < SYSTEM REMARK: INTELLIGENCE INFLUENCES MANA (2.7x20), MANA REGEN (2.7/10), THOUGHT SPEED, AND PROBLEM-SOLVING >

< CLASS >

Spearman (Trainee)

< COMABAT SKILLS >

Spearman skill: Phantom Lunge

< OCCUPATIONAL SKILLS >

< NONE >

< SYSTEM REMARK: HOST HAS GAINED: 0.5 STR / 1 VIT / 0.2 AGI / 40 HP / >

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Deryn's mouth dropped. His HP had now broken past the 300 thresholds. Although his base stats were low, the equipment he had boosting him pushed 3 of his stats over the 2.5 thresholds while his strength wasn't far behind.

Whilst the average human may have 1 in each stat, Deryn had around 2.5 times that. This didn't just mean he was 2.5 stronger comprehensively than the average human. With all his stats sitting around this mark Deryn could easily crush more than 5 of his original self without using any spells or weapons.

Deryn was lost in reverie for a few minutes before snapping back to reality. He still had a scroll to look at.

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< FIRESTORM SCROLL >

DESCRIPTION: A scroll that holds the powerful level 2 spell firestorm. This is a 10mx10mx20m spell that summons a tornado of fire decimating anything in its path before exploding. To use the scroll one must inject 10 mana into it and think where they want the spell to go.

NUMBER OF USES: 3/3

RARITY: Light Blue (Rare)

< SYSTEM NOTE: BE CAREFUL NOT TO GET TRAPPED IN THIS OR YOU WILL DIE >

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Deryn grinned like an excited kid. His face looked like it would split apart from the huge smile which took over it.

How could he not? He has another option now if he runs into a powerful foe. Just throw a level 2 firestorm at them and watch them crumble.

He froze.

"Wait... if it decimates anything in its path before exploding... how will I harvest the loot from the corpse if its ash..." Deryn muttered in realisation.

< HOST WON'T BE ABLE TO >

"aiy... so it is like a last resort trump card then" he sighed.

<...>

Deryn shook his head before realising his foolishness. Whilst he wouldn't get the loot if he ever had to use it at least he would live. No loot could compare to his life, it was his only one of course.

He would only use the scroll as a last resort, plus he wasn't sure just how big the explosion range was, so if needed he would use it and just run.

The 2x reward coupon didn't come with its own window like other items, rather a single line of information appeared in his mind.

< Can double any single reward with some limitations >

And that was all it said. Deryn wasn't too excited about this one. He had been spoiled by the 2x Reward system he got when the new system arrived so didn't think much of it, so he chucked it in the storeroom on a random shelf.

Finishing looking at the loot Deryn decided to have a quick snack before waiting for the daily advent points to come in at 10 PM.

After a shower and some food, Deryn sat on the sofa in the living room idly reading the chat as a notification rang through his mind.

< WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT >

< LESS THAN 12 HOURS REMAIN BEFORE THE FIRST TEST. A MESSAGE WITH FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE SENT TO YOUR INBOX. GOOD LUCK AND SURVIVE. >

Deryn wasn't expecting this announcement and was froze for a few moments before rushing to his inbox next to the two chat windows.

Upon opening it lines of information appeared before his eyes.

< FIRST TEST >

The first test will pit you against nearby alien races. In your case, this will be kobolds. You will have to defend again multiple waves of kobolds who will come to attack your shelter. Failure to defend will leave the shelter destroyed and potentially your life forfeited if you cannot escape.

Should you defeat the waves of enemies rewards will be given based upon performance and time elapsed.

The range enemies will come from depends upon the number of people in a shelter(s). As you are a single human in a shelter, the kobolds will only approach from a radius of 10km squared.

Good luck and survive.

That was all that was written.

Deryn re-read the entire thing 10s of times with a slight idea in his mind. As he sat there he suddenly jumped up as he realised what the slight thought was.

He had already killed the majority of kobolds surrounding him.

In a 10km squared radius to his base, there was only a single encampment left. Whilst this encampment may be bigger than the other (he couldn't tell due to the map not showing beyond the 10km squared limit) he had still wiped out 4 other camps.

"Wait... doesn't this mean as long as I kill the last encampment I will finish the task ahead of time and get the best reward possible..." Deryn muttered excitedly.

< HOST IS CORRECT... FOR ONCE. HOWEVER, THE SYSTEM DOESN'T RECOMMEND HOST BATTLE KOBOLDS DURING DARKNESS >

"Why?" Deryn asked.

< HOST HASN'T UNLOCKED INFORMATION WHY... THE SYSTEM HAS ONLY WARNED THE HOST DUE TO THE 100% CHANCE HE WOULD DIE IF THE HOST TRIED TO BATTLE THE KOBOLDS AT THIS TIME >

"Wait... 100% chance of death. HOW?" Deryn shouted the last part in utter shock.

< THE SYSTEM CANNOT SAY >

The system threw a cold bucket of water over his excitement with its words. Deryn wasn't the same weakling he was when he had first teleported here. Yet even when he saw the golden deer in the forest the system recorded his survival chances at less than 1%.

But here he was told he was 100% guaranteed to die should he try to fight the last kobold camp now.

Even after 10 minutes had passed Deryn couldn't figure out why his chances at surviving were so low. The only thought that crossed his mind was that the kobolds could potentially be waiting for him to attack them and had set up a thorough ambush but even that seemed a bit too far fetched.

Deryn shook his head and sat back down onto the sofa he had jumped off due to his excitement earlier.

He wasn't one to mope around so decided to look at the daily advent point gain for today.

He had 0 points after purchasing the buggy yesterday and his total now were 356 advent points. He had received over 100 points for killing kobolds today or his points would have been lower than yesterday.

Deryn had a few ideas on what to spend his points on.

The first was to upgrade his trainee spearman class to the next level (intermediate spearman) along with a skill lightning rush.

The second was to get a few more pieces of equipment such as a necklace and gloves, but these were costly so he could only afford one rare rank equipment priced at around 200-300 or two uncommon rank equipment around 100-150 each.

The third and final option he had in mind was to get some sort of a lifesaving piece of equipment or skill.

He couldn't decide which of the three to pick so asked the system. It would take just 6 advent points for the system to come to a rational conclusion on which of the three he should choose so he decided to go along with it.

< WHILST THE FIRST OPTION WILL IMPROVE BASE STATS, THE CLASS CAN BE IMPROVED WITH LIFE AND DEATH BATTLES AND GENERAL TRAINING >

< THE SECOND OPTION IS MORE VIABLE THAN THE FIRST IF THE HOST CHOSE A PIECE OF RARE RANK EQUIPMENT AS IT WOULD COME WITH A SKILL AND AN ADDITION OF STATS >

< THE THIRD OPTION IS MOST NECESSARY FOR THE HOST HOWEVER. WHILST THE HOST HAS OPTIMAL ATTACKING POWER FOR CURRENT SITUATIONS, THE HOST'S DEFENSE AND LIFE PRESERVING ABILITIES ARE NEXT TO NONE >

< THE SYSTEM SUGGESTS THE HOST CHOOSES THE THIRD OPTION. ULTIMATELY THE CHOICE LIES WITH THE HOST >

Deryn contemplated the input of the system. Although he agreed with the first two and understood the third point made by the system, he had the Windwalker ability to escape should it be required.

< THE SYSTEM HAS CONSIDERED THAT ABILITY. THE ABILITY WILL HAVE A 90% CHANCE OF BEING ON COOLDOWN DURING COMBAT DUE TO THE STYLE OF BATTLE THE HOST USES>

Deryn had forgotten that piece of crucial information. He had relied on the ability of the boots to wipe out multiple kobold encampments and didn't see himself changing styles anytime soon due to how convenient and strong it synergised with the ring of 4 elements spells.

"Ok system. I need a lifesaving ability or piece of equipment that is strong but reusable. I don't want anything like a scroll that has a set number of uses."

< THE SYSTEM WILL TAKE 20 AP TO RECOMMEND ITEMS/ABILITIES BASED UPON THE HOSTS CONDITIONS >

"Take them system!" Deryn said with no hesitation. He wasn't concerned with a mere 20 ap while his life was potentially at stake.

< CONFIRMED. THERE ARE 406 ITEMS THAT MEET HOSTS REQUIREMENTS WHILST COSTING UNDER 330 ADVENT POINTS >

"Ah, System can that be narrowed down any further? If it's an ability I need it to be able to take multiple strong hits before dissipating and be able to evolve, and if it's an item I need the ability to recharge it based on my current circumstances." Deryn asked once more.

< CONFIRMED... THERE ARE 12 ITEMS AND 2 ABILITIES THAT MEET THE HOSTS NEEDS AND REQUIREMENTS. SYSTEM RECOMMENDS HOST FOCUSES MORE UPON THE ABILITIES >

Deryn had a nose through the items before shaking his head. Whilst they were decent and could protect him from masses of damage, like a lightning shield which took 2000 damage before dissipating, it took 7 days to recharge which was too long. The rest of the items suffered from similar issues.

Deryn realised he could see more information about the items and abilities. After asking the system he was told defensive items/abilities had more information available to be shared before purchase than fighting items/abilities due to their nature.

He was slightly confused at this reasoning but the system didn't open up any more than this.

Looking at the abilities Deryn was slightly astounded. The first one downright disgusted him whilst the second one seemed slightly too good to be true.

Without barely any hesitation Deryn spoke to the system once more.

"System, I want the mana shield."