Chapter 3: Cry Wolf
xxxx
Holy butt, figuring out the stats was harrowing. That is all.
Vitality has been changed to Stamina. Sustenance has been changed to Endurance. Endurance has been changed to Fortitude.
I also updated the formatting in Chapter 1.
xxxx
This time, instead of charging straight through and slaughtering everything in his way, Veritas circled around the very edge of the mobs' detection radii and herded them together expertly. This was Konoha's premier prankster at work. He'd learned how to lead wild chases out of necessity to escape the various Genin and Chuunin sent to capture him, and he was making use of his expertise here. The monsters were nowhere near as agile as your average Chuunin, or as intelligent for that matter, making his job very easy.
"Now!" cried Gunter.
Veritas backflipped consecutively, creating a distance of about five meters in as many seconds. Before the monsters could give chase, a hail of arrows struck them as they were bunched up. Following that up, Kirhi lobbed a ball of lightning past his position. When the ball reached the center of the mob, it exploded, lancing them with chain lightning.
All in all, these abilities weren't intended for maximum efficiency, considering the amount of time it took to prepare them and the unfortunate side effect of being indiscriminate with targets. These sort of area spells seemed seemed more appropriate for a siege or battle, but the terrific burst damage of the skills did mean that mobs could be wiped in relative safety, just so long as the person leading the mob on didn't get caught up in the attack as well.
As the dust settled, Veritas could see that, while all the rabbits and raccoons had been exterminated by the combo attack, the foxes were still on their feet. Their gait looked unsteady though, and Veritas figured that at this point a single sword slash would be enough to finish each of them.
Attack!
This time with a fuller awareness of his surroundings, he tore through the monsters with ease. He still wasn't as fast or strong as he'd like, and his unfortunate death had taught him that his body was highly fragile. Also, these monsters were the lowest of the low, designed to strengthen newbies and prepare them for the challenges ahead. Veritas doubted all the monsters from this point on would be so predictable.
"That was very good, Veritas-ssi," Gunter congratulated.
"I agree, you lead the monsters on really well." Kirhi scanned the field. "Looks like it'll take some time for the monsters here to respawn, so we should move to a new area."
Veritas looked up from viewing his stats window. That engagement had increased his level to 2 again and he was now 18% of the way to level 3.
If I'd killed all the monsters, I probably would've gained something like three levels.
Because of the nature of experience distribution in a party, the persons who did the most damage would get the majority of that exp. The only exception was in support classes, who would also receive bonus exp based on the heals, buffs, and debuffs administered. Essentially, the game was discouraging leeching by encouraging partying with like-leveled players and active participation in combat.
I guess I'll grab a few more levels this way then suggest we do some more meaty fighting.
And so, after three hours of mob nuking, the party took a break at the Serabourg Pavilion. This was where new players would appear as well as the crossroads to all the major sections of the capital. It was crowded, but in a good way. Veritas checked his level while appreciating the hustle and bustle of this lively city.
::::
Character Name: Veritas
Alignment: Neutral
Level: 7
::
Class: Warrior
Title: None
Reputation: 0
::
Health: 840
Mana: 100
Strength: 60+10
Agility: 80
Stamina: 60
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 10
Fighting Spirit: 17
Endurance: 78
Fortitude: 4
Leadership: 5
Luck: 5
::
Attack: 21
Defense: 0
::
Magic Resistance
Fire: 0%
Water: 0%
Earth: 0%
Black Magic: 0%
::::
He'd invested all the points he'd gained from leveling up into Agility. Each level up netted him five bonus points to distribute into stats, separate from passive stat growths affected by class and actions taken.
He'd gained forty stats of each of the three core melee stats, Strength, Agility, and Stamina through the Training Hall. Compounded with the twenty bonus points gained through the class change and the further ten points in Strength from his Hard Iron Sword, his stats were very impressive for his level.
130 extra stat points gained through the weapon and training equated to having the equivalent of twenty-six levels. Essentially, stat-wise, he was on par with a level 33 player.
I just knew that it would come in handy, thank god. Good thing I didn't pussy out and kept going 'til the end just like Weed-nim. No pain, no gain!
He had 4 points in Fortitude, and he vaguely recalled gaining them during the fight in which he died.
Maybe the stat rises if I'm fighting while I'm in a tight spot, or if my health is really low. Or maybe it goes up when I take damage. I should look it up later.
His endurance stat had been building up during his training, and he figured it was a stat that rose when doing something repetitively.
~ttiring~
A clear sound played as a window appeared in front of him, displaying the whisper that Gunter had just sent.
Gunter: We've just turned in our quests. Can you meet us at the marketplace?
Veritas: Sure, I'll be there in five minutes, he whispered back, speaking into the system's voice recognition software, which then transliterated his speech into written word.
Looking down at his tattered clothes, Veritas could guess why he was being called to the market. He very well couldn't do any tanking with near-broken clothes. As he walked to the western ward of the city, where the combat classes' markets were located – whereas the eastern ward hosted the craftsman classes' markets – he tried to decide between cloth, leather, or metal armor.
Mmm, metal armor would give me more defense to take more hits, but cloth and leather armor would have superior mobility and degrees of motion. All the ninja back home wore cloth armor for that purpose, but I think metal armor would look pretty awesome. I'd like a helmet with horns, and spikes on the armor! … But low level armor probably looks like crap. But still, I'd like to be awesome looking, so I might as well get used to wearing metal armor, or else I might mess up when it counts later on.
He met up with Gunter, who was waiting for him at the entrance.
"After we get you new armor, we have to go buy supplies for tomorrow, so Kirhi is looking for a place to stay in the meantime."
"Tomorrow? Why not tonight? It's a full moon out so it's not like vision would be much of a problem."
"Oh yeah, let me explain. At night, monsters are 50% stronger, but also give 30% more exp. So normally, it's not worth it to hunt at night unless you're exceptionally skilled or powerful for the level range of monster you're fighting."
"... Let's do it, Gunter-nim."
"Huh?"
"Let's hunt at night!" Veritas grinned, his eyes practically sparkling with anticipation.
Finally, a chance to really test my skills!
"Are you sure? You're still at a pretty low level."
Veritas understood that Gunter wasn't looking down on him, but was concerned for him. He was thankful for that, but he knew his own body better than anyone. If he thought he could do it, chances were he could, sooner or later.
"Don't worry, with some new armor, I should be good to go, even at night. Honestly, I'm really impressed with the combat ability of the Warrior class, although I'm a bit disappointed that I won't be able to learn magic," he lamented.
"Hm? What do you mean?" Gunter asked.
"I had a hard time picking between a Mage and a Warrior, you see..."
"Sorry, what I was trying to say was that once your Intelligence stat hits 300, any class can learn magic from that point on. You haven't really been locked out of using magic, but mage classes can obviously use magic from the very beginning, and will also have much higher intelligence and wisdom stats."
"Really?"
"Really." Gunter motioned to himself. "Do I really look that untrustworthy that I'd try to lie to you?"
"Ah, no, sorry if it sounded like that."
"No offense taken, Veritas-ssi."
Veritas perused the armor selections, looking for the one that would be best for him. Some had level restrictions, and others had stat restrictions on top of that. In the end, he chose the Dull Copper Armor, a level 5 equipment. Buying a full set of armor meant that he'd just spent nearly all of his savings that he'd made while grinding.
After talking with the shopkeeper about armors, it had come to his attention that full plate armors were rare at lower levels because of how much Agility they reduced. The partial plate armor that he'd just bought covered pretty much covered his whole body, but full plate armor also, on top of that, protected the vital joints and had an underlying coat of mail to further increase defense. Underneath that could be worn leather and cloth armor to maximize a melee class' defensive stats.
"Veritas-ssi, I've just finished speaking with Kirhi."
"What did she say?"
"She said that she's fine with trying to hunt at night. But!" Gunter emphasized the 'but' very heavily, "if it looks like it's getting too hairy, we'll all run away together. For safety's sake, I'll set some basic traps at a certain point that we can lead the monsters through to slow them down so we can escape."
"Alright, that sounds reasonable."
"At my skill level, the quality of traps I can place are wooden traps, and the duration of the traps are two hours. When I raise my Trapping skill, the duration should go up as well as the quality of traps I can place. Until then, this is really just a stopgap measure."
"Yup. Got it, Gunter-nim."
"Then let's go. Kirhi said she'd meet us at the entrance to the usual field."
Veritas decided to bring up his suggestion as they walked. "Gunter-nim, now that I'm properly equipped, I think we should try fighting the monsters in a straight up fight."
He was given a very pointed look. "Veritas-ssi, you are still only level 7. Armor or not, these are night monsters we are talking about. I admit, you're a pretty fast, agile, and flexible person, but the monsters don't only gain strength at night. The nighttime affects all their stats, and that includes agility as well."
"Actually..." He decided he should mention the bonus stats he'd gotten from the Training Hall, "the thing is, I'm a lot stronger than I look."
"Oh?"
"I didn't only get this sword from completing the Training Hall's Basic Training Program, you see. I also got a boatload of bonus points from abusing myself with four weeks of mindless repetition."
"How many?"
He coughed and looked around before leaning in to whisper, "For-forty points to Strength, Agility, and Stamina."
"What?! Eight levels' worth of stats?!" his party mate exclaimed loudly.
"Shhh, shush!" Veritas looked around surreptitiously to see if anyone had been listening, but it seemed no one had. "Not forty points overall, but to each stat. Never mind that-"
"How can I not mind that, Veritas-ssi?" Gunter demanded, "That is indeed a boatload of stats, that's... that's twenty-four levels' worth of stats!"
"I just don't want others to get wind of this, you hear? Not that most people could swing a sword for four weeks straight, but it gives us an advantage, doesn't it?"
"That it does, but wouldn't this be something worth sharing?"
Veritas shook his head. "More competition. Because my effective level is higher than my actual level, it means we can probably hunt at more dangerous hunting grounds, and when my level gets higher, I suspect we'd be able to go into hunting grounds far earlier than the rest of the players. Whether most people wouldn't be able to finish the training regimen isn't the problem. The problem is that those who do manage to finish it would be our direct competition for hunting grounds."
"I see what you're getting at, Veritas-ssi. Although I can't really agree wholeheartedly, I'll go along with that for the moment." Gunter grimaced, the idea of keeping such a thing secret against his nature. "I'm sort of a goody two shoes, I've always shared my things with others whenever possible. I'm just that kind of guy."
"Heck, I'm a nice guy too, but sometimes there are things you just can't tell others."
"Let's ask Kirhi for her opinion first."
The two of them arrived at the gate and ushered Kirhi into a corner before relaying to her what Veritas had just told Gunter. She reacted just like Gunter had, although this time they were in a nondescript corner where no one would notice one of many parties in 'strategy meetings'. After that, Veritas explained his reasoning behind keeping the advantage of the Training Hall, four weeks and all, a secret."
"I agree," she agreed without hesitation.
"Kirhi..."
"Gunter," Kirhi said in a severe, almost mother-like tone, "this is our chance. If we stick with Veritas-ssi here, we can boost ourselves faster than with any other regular party member. What's more, if we ever take the time and effort to finish the Training Hall's regimen, we'll be stronger too. I wouldn't gain much out of it except Health, but you have the same core stats as a melee class. You'd benefit from it just as much as Veritas-ssi has."
"But..."
"But, nothing." She put her hands on her hips bossily. "You promised me, Gunter. You insisted I play Royal Road with you, and I had one condition. When I absolutely want... need you to do something, you said you'd do it. Didn't you?"
"Bu-I-... yes..."
Veritas winced as Gunter looked down at the ground, scuffing his feet in the dirt. It was almost as if he was getting reprimanded by his mother. It was one part embarrassing, one part shameful, and 100% awkward.
"Mm, sorry about that." Kirhi grinned. "I'm normally really friendly, but I always show this really ugly side of me when I'm around this childhood friend of mine."
Veritas grinned back with his foxiest smile. "Don't worry. To be honest, if you were friendly all the time, I don't think I could go to sleep at night for fear of getting stabbed in the back."
Gunter had to ask, "So then, how did you manage to die out there with those kind of stats?"
"I was being an idiot and got surrounded. It's my first time in VR so I wasn't completely used to moving my body like I do in real life, and I was wearing that dinky newbie outfit with no defense."
He nodded knowingly. "Ah, that would do it."
"Hey, so, how about getting out there and killing us some night monsters, hm?"
"I'm up for that. Gunter, if we let Veritas-ssi take the aggro, we should be completely fine. All we should need to do is fire at will."
"Whatever you say, my lord and master." Gunter rolled his eyes as he bowed deeply, at which Kirhi kicked him in the shins.
"No sarcasm allowed. Now let's go!"
The three of them set foot out of the open gates. There were far fewer players present, and none of them were solo farming. It was much too dangerous for the average player to fight alone at night, so when players did go night fighting, they did it in decent sized parties to minimize risks. The exp gains would be lowered overall by the addition of more people, but it beat sitting around for the sun to rise.
Their party, on the other hand, could hardly be considered average. Wielding the new knowledge that Veritas was more than capable enough, stat-wise, to handle the monsters that came out at night around the capital, the three ventured out with confidence.
Now armored, Veritas could fight without worrying about taking full damage from the monsters like he was before. He weaved in and out of mobs, slashing monsters with a reverse grip that allowed for accurate, fluid strikes at the expense of strength and reach. He dodged another swipe with a quick spin and used the centrifugal force to launch an immediate counterattack, killing the assailing fox.
Although he was armored, he made a very pointed effort not to get hit. Kirhi'd explained that because their party lacked a dedicated healer, the only healing they could do was out of combat. Taking a lot of damage in chip damage over time would lead to difficulties or even death if they couldn't find an opening to rest.
I think I don't mind not having a healer though. This is good training for my reflexes and sensing ability. As long as I'm concentrating and have enough Agility, I can dodge the attacks. It's strange though, I'm wearing full armor but I don't feel constrained at all. I feel a little weighed down, but I've got the same degrees of freedom as I would not wearing armor.
With him at the forefront slicing and dicing away, the party soon made short work of the monsters in the area just outside the gate. Slowly, they pushed outwards, towards the edge of the forest where higher leveled monsters resided.
It took two hours to reach the forest proper, fighting through dozens of monsters while focusing on not getting hit, while also dealing with new monsters spawning in behind them. It was harrowing, but by the time they broke through to the forest Veritas had gained a level.
As they rested near the forest's edge, Veritas felt that something was wrong. Somewhere, something or someone was emanating killing intent.
Trying not to make any sudden movements, he reached for his sword. As if on cue, the bird calls silenced and, apart from the noise of combat across the distance by other players, their immediate surroundings became void of noise.
"Scatter!"
Before either Kirhi or Gunter could digest what he'd said, the enemy leaped from the treeline and ran at them.
Fast!
The wolf jumped at him, which he'd already predicted. Veritas spread his legs and lowered his body closer to the ground, assuming a stable stance, as he prepared to draw the sword from its sheath in a crude imitation of the iaido style. As the wolf passed overhead, his upward swing caught it in the belly, while its claws caught him in the shoulder blade as it performed a midair somersault.
He looked to his health bar quickly, noting he was now 75 health points down.
Looks like this one can fight.
"Get away from the treeline! More of them might be there!"
With Gunter and Kirhi moving out of the way, he could now focus completely on the wolf circling him slowly.
The wolf was fast, certainly. He had no trouble tracking the wolf in motion, but his body simply wouldn't react quickly enough to allow for a perfect kill. The wolf also possessed cunning. He'd never expected the wolf to switch tack so quickly and make as unorthodox an attack as a somersault strike.
He backed up slowly towards his party, trying not to gain the aggression of another wolf. The opening he created by breaking stance encouraged the wolf to renew its attack, charging at him once more.
Throwing away all pretense of any traditional stance combat, Veritas tossed his sword up and backwards into the air and ran towards Gunter and Kirhi. Calculating the trajectory of the sword and the approaching speed of the wolf, he estimated that he'd have to take another hit because he'd thrown the sword too shallowly. Just as the wolf jumped, he performed an immediate stop and backflipped. Grabbing the sword hilt as it fell, Veritas swung with an overhead strike while the wolf's claws struck his shoulder.
His health now at 395, he decided he should press the attack and ran at the wolf.
"Veritas-ssi! Behind you!"
Ignoring Kirhi's cry, he front flipped and brought his sword down in a stabbing motion on the wolf's head with both hands.
::::
Critical hit!
::::
He immediately gained a level from the kill, but there was no time. He swung to the side blindly at the other presence. Without any line of sight, he missed while taking a gash to the side from a second wolf. He turned, but already the wolf was circling around him and closing for another attack. Veritas swung blindly again scoring a minor nick while taking a cut on his other side. From his position, he saw a third wolf exit the forest.
Shit! Health is 265 and there's another one of those bastards coming this way!
"Veritas-ssi!"
Grasping the sword with all the strength he could muster, he swung with all his might behind it. The wolf's attack struck his chest and his Mighty Blow likewise, but the system did not register a kill. If he had to deal with two wolves at the same time, it would be trouble.
Then, as if his prayers had been answered, an arrow sung through the air and pierced the wolf in the eye. The time it had taken Gunter to carefully aim had been worth it, despite worrying that the shot might come too late.
200! Exp at 82%, shit! If only I'd leveled up and gotten that bonus health!
There was still some distance before the last wolf reached him, and during that period arrows and lightning bolts flew past him. The wolf zigged and zagged, taking some hits but dodging most with its agility.
I can't let this drag out any longer. We need to kill this wolf and get the hell out of here before more show up. My only chance is to inflict a critical hit to a vital point and take it out in one blow or give it a wombo combo that it can't react to.
The wolf stormed him, but Veritas couldn't find the right opening so he abandoned both offense and defense and focused entirely on dodging to buy more time. He rolled to the side as swiftly as he could, barely avoiding the swipe.
Egads, looks like these wolves were meant to be hunted in parties even during daytime, much less by a three-man group at night when they're stronger by half!
The wolf wheeled around for another pass, dodging more arrows and lightning.
They really need to work on their aim! If it's come to this, I have to go all out.
Despite being a programmed being, Veritas could feel that the wolf really did act like a real animal. If so, he'd gamble this fight on that suspicion, just as he'd done in times past and come out victorious. He took another hit while backing up more just to be safe.
::::
Fortitude rises by 1 point. (+1 FRT)
::::
Health, 135. Now, come at me, you beast!
Sensing its prey to be on its last legs, the wolf came in at full speed, making no effort in dodging incoming spells and arrows. It already knew that if the one with the sword died, the rest would be easy pickings.
Veritas grasped the sword by the end of the hilt loosely and raised his arm. As Kirhi and Gunter watched, he threw the weapon, using all his knowledge and experience of throwing weapons to turn the sword into a fast and accurate missile. It struck the wolf in the shoulder, dealing heavy damage.
"He threw his weapon?!" Gunter loosed another arrow. "It worked, but now he has no weapon!"
Taking a deep breath, Veritas closed his eyes momentarily to gather his concentration. Just as the wolf reached him, he shifted to a stable stance and performed an uppercut with his dominant right hand. The impact to the wolf's jaw jarred its upper body, causing it to rise several inches. He squatted from that position then used an axe kick, first striking the same spot on the jaw with his foot and then bringing it down in a swinging motion to bash the wolf's forehead. Then he re-entered the stable stance and finished the wolf with a side punch, using the momentum of his moving body to strengthen the attack.
::::
You have leveled up!
::::
He breathed a sigh of relief when he received he level up, knowing that the fight had ended.
I guess that's the good thing about this system, the moment you get exp is when you know you won. None of that 'I thought you were dead but you got back up' bullcrap.
Veritas plopped down where he stood, feeling fatigued.
"That was amazing!" shouted Gunter as he ran to the collapsed Veritas with a health potion in his hands. "I didn't know you knew martial arts, Veritas-ssi."
"Well now you do."
"Must be nice having a backup if you lose your weapon," lamented Kirhi, down about the fact that she had been effectively useless in the fight with the wolves.
"That aside..." Veritas grinned, "I suggest we stick with foxes and below until we all have the Agility we need to properly take on wolves."
"I second that motion. Kirhi?"
"No objections."
I got a point in Fortitude that fight, huh? The message popped up when I took that hit that brought my health really low. So maybe I do get Fortitude if I fight while I'm at low health... Or maybe I needed to pass a certain threshold of damage taken.
While Gunter and Kirhi tended to his wounds, applying bandages and health potions, Veritas opened his stat window and pumped his bonus points into Agility.
Hmm, I should buy some of my own healing supplies when I get back to the city.
"Right, we're all healed up. How are you on potions, Kirhi?"
"I've still got about twenty left. If we stick with the weaker mobs that should last us several hours."
"You up for more hunting, Veritas-nim?"
"For sure... Hm? Nim?"
Gunters eyes sparkled as he smiled widely. "Yes, nim! You were amazing out there! You also saved us all from certain death with your skills, so the least I can do is refer to you with respect, I insist!"
"I'll also do the same," Kirhi piped in.
"Well, alright, I don't mind. Then, let's do this, guys."
And so, until the sun began to rise high in the sky, they hunted back and forth across the fields, leaving nothing in their wake. The monsters, they killed, and the dropped loot, they scooped up immediately. Because the strength of the monsters were a known quantity, they could afford to fight a little recklessly and go through their potions at a faster rate in exchange for faster exp gain.
At the end of their hunt, Gunter and Kirhi emerged at level 18 and Veritas at level 14.
Still putting all his points in Agility, he now had 125 points in the stat. With 35 more points in Agility than when they'd first tried their hand at fighting wolves, Veritas didn't doubt that he was now fast enough to hunt wolves alone, without needing to trade hits in the process.
With both Gunter and Kirhi needing to go about their daily lives, he'd been left to his own machinations, though not before they added each other to their friend lists.
Really, it's so convenient that you can be online in Royal Road while you sleep in the capsule. You'd think that the mind might become fatigued by being active all day, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The technology of this world is awesome!
Feeling like he should hunt a little more before logging off to train, Veritas stocked up on necessary supplies: bread, bandages, potions, and a hammer. The hammer had been particularly expensive, and he'd needed to buy it from the Smithy for twenty silver. A hefty investment, but when he'd looked at the repair costs for his battered armor – a whopping four silver – 10% of the forty silver that it had cost him to buy his armor – Veritas knew that he should absolutely repair his own equipment since he had the means to, lest he rack up huge repair costs over time.
The Repair skill couldn't repair all weapons and armor; At least, not initially. If the skill level wasn't high enough to meet the requirements for the item, it would only repair up to a small portion of the item's maximum durability.
Now that it was morning, all the players that had been resting and idling within the city began migrating out to the fields. Veritas was now having second thoughts about continuing to train.
I'd like to get stronger, but about now all the hunting grounds near here are gonna start filling up with parties and they'll kill a lot of the monsters. It wouldn't be efficient to try and hunt around them. Hm... Maybe... I can level up my Repair skill a bit by repairing stuff. At least, I think repairing would level up the skill, otherwise it'd be pretty stupid and pointless.
He started with his own armor and weapons. The first level of Repair could repair weapons and armor up to level 15, and each subsequent level in the skill would raise the repairable equipment by another 15 levels. Veritas set out his armor and weapons on the floor and held the hammer, but didn't know how to proceed. Uncertainly, he reached out and tapped the armor.
::::
You have repaired Dull Copper Armor.
Durability has recovered.
You gained expertise rating in Repair skill.
::::
Veritas opened up the skill menu and looked expectantly at the exp bar for the skill.
::::
Repair (Lv. 1 – 1%): Enables you to repair weapons and armors. Beyond Lv. 10, you can forge new weapons and gears.
Sword (Lv. 4 – 87%): Increases attack power and hit rating for swords.
::::
"... 1%? … … How am I supposed to level up this damn skill at any reasonable pace like this?"
… … Maybe I can try repairing other peoples' equipment? Maybe I can charge them to get their stuff repaired. Yeah. It'd be more convenient to pay less and not go all the way to the Smithy. Yeah, I'll do that. Hmm... twenty coppers?
Veritas repaired his weapon then made for the usual field, which was moderately populated this time. It was still early in the morning so there weren't as many people as there would be later on in the day.
Well, might as well make myself comfortable.
He dug up a bit of the ground to reach the soft loamy soil beneath the topsoil and used it to create an impromptu seat. Dirty, smelly, but whatever worked. From his seat by the city gate, he watched others fight. At times, he would cover his eyes in embarrassment at how inept others were at real combat.
So far, no one was coming, but they would eventually. Although players could log out wherever they pleased, they would reappear in the exact same spot when they logged back in. If the player wasn't careful about their choice of location, they could spawn next to dangerous monsters or large mobs. Because of this, players always logged out within a city whenever it was feasible.
After about an hour, a party returned to the gate to resupply in the city.
"Hey, need any repairs?" Veritas called out, "I'll do it cheap, twenty coppers per item!"
"Twenty coppers? That is pretty cheap."
"My weapon cost ten silver. The repair cost at the Smithy would be a silver."
"My armor cost a ton! I'd gladly take a cheaper repair!"
The individual members of the party handed him their equipment one by one, and he in turn repaired them, one piece at a time. Everyone was a newbie just like him, so he didn't have to worry about not meeting the level prerequisites for repairs. After all, no one but newbies would be hunting the lowest level monsters in the game.
After the repairs he made for the first group, the rest became smooth sailing. All it took was seeing that party bunched up near the gate, but not entering the city immediately to pique interests. Before long, other individuals and parties showed up at his doorstep, so to speak, curious about what was going on.
All that he'd needed to convey was a sense of convenience. By offering cheap repairs and staying so close to the hunting grounds, the incentive to use his services rose considerably. Time that would've been spent going all the way to the Smithy could be better used going to a nearby repairman to quickly return to hunting.
Each consecutive group drew the attention of yet other groups. In three hours, he'd made eighteen silver out of repairs, as well as bringing up his skill progress to over 90%.
As afternoon rolled around, Veritas tucked away his hammer after finishing one final repair request. He bowed, apologizing to those he hadn't been able to help. After all, he couldn't be expected to sit there all day, every day, and repair equipment. He was as human as the next person.
Just before he logged out, he thought to himself that the instructor's wife had been right after all. In the end, he hadn't regretted receiving the Repair skill.
xxxx