«Earning a Living» [SP-F1] The Closest Thing to Magic (Complete!)

[Emerath 0]

So after scouring the markets for hours on end, going on an adventure, and watching people in the plaza, Emerath felt that he was ready to finally decide on a profession. Emerath was of the mind that he truly wanted to be an alchemist. It only made sense. In a world where physical combat was king, everyone would be clambering over each other for items that would give them a sort of "magical" edge over the competition. Science wasn't too far off from magic in any case, and Emerath did love him some science, so it seemed like a good fit regardless.

Upon making this decision, he made his way to the biggest NPC shop he had found in the city, though he had no doubt there were others that were either equally as big, or bigger, given the vastness of the city around him. It was, of course, teeming with rookie crafters and beginner adventurers alike. He pushed his way through the crowd and tried to find the shopkeep that ran the place, and eventually found what appeared to be an older, kind lady. She smiled at Emerath's approach and gave a customary NPC, "Hello, what can I do for you today?" Emerath smiled back at the shopkeep, "I believe you teach alchemists here? I'd like to learn the trade."

The shopkeep's smile grew even wider, "Ah, another apprentice! There certainly are a lot of you lately! Here, I can help you with that!" She disappeared beneath the counter for only a moment, before coming up with some items. She shoved a basic mortar and pestle into Emerath's hands and some potion bottles to get him started. Emerath put the bottles in his inventory and poked the mortar and pestle, hopeful that it had some form of stats. But no, it was a simple item, used for only the basics of crafting. Emerath couldn't honestly have expected much different.

Emerath gave a quick bow to the NPC, and thanked her, and before she could even tell him to begin gathering materials, he was already on his way.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

After his encounter with the NPC, Emerath made his way through the city, his nose in a book. Occasionally he'd nearly bump into someone, sidestep them, and receive a nasty glare, but he was too busy reading to care. Emerath was not one to risk himself for items that he didn't need, or wouldn't use, and so he wanted to make sure he understood exactly what was expected of him in terms of crafting. The guidebook was a wealth of information, and he was gobbling it up greedily, not just in terms of professions. By and far, however, crafting appeared to be a little skill, a little luck, and a little creativity. You could make things in the game that nobody had seen before by using items nobody had thought to use, though certain things were still impossible. You couldn't make potions out of wool, for example.

Emerath snapped the book shut, and just in time, as he looked up from inside the gates to the grassy hills around the city. "Alright, I've done this once. I can do it again. Let's begin!"

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Berry Picking (Out of Combat Gathering)

• ID: 29524
• LD: 4 (Failure)

Emerath decided to start easy and try to pick some berries. He wasn't overly familiar with what berries were good and bad, not having been one to go camping much in the real world. Though to be honest, this was a game, so what is good in the real world, could be bad in the game. He found a nice bush and picked some red berries, and he was delighted that he could find a good number of them. He grabbed what he considered to be enough to make one potion, and then examined them.

"Sour Berries: Eating these will cause the person eating to lose 1 HP." Emerath frowned. Well, these certainly wouldn't make a good health potion... Emerath thought to himself, as he dumped the berries from his inventory with a sigh. He rose to his feet once more and looked for something he might be able to actually use.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Berry Picking (Out of Combat Gathering)

• ID: 29525
• LD: 7 (Failure)

Emerath scoured the green fields, looking for any berries that weren't red. Unfortunately, it seemed that there were a lot of the sour berries, or perhaps there were different variations of red berries. Emerath wasn't going to waste his time checking. He needed to start making money, and he couldn't do that picking useless berries all day. Finally, Emerath came across what appeared to be a blue berry bush. Ecstatic, he began to pick a handful, this time examining them before getting too many.

"Ill Berries: Poisons the consumer, 1 DMG per tick for 5 turns" AGH! Emerath stood up in anger and crushed the berries in his hands, causing them to explode in a light show. Emerath cursed under his breath as he thought, There has to be some useable healing berries somewhere in this zone! This is the beginner area! He stomped off, looking for yet another color of berry.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Berry Picking (Out of Combat Gathering)

• ID: 29527
• Loot: 4 (Failure)

This was starting to get ridiculous. Emerath was honestly starting to believe that there weren't any healing berries in this entire area. He had searched what seemed like every hill, and it was nothing but red berries or blue berries. He didn't even want to pick them. He didn't want to even try. If he even picked one useless berry it felt like a waste of time. Finally, in frustration, Emerath kicked a berry bush, causing a ton of red berries to go flying into the air. As each landed it exploded into pixels. It's time to stop looking for berries. This is useless!

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Herb Picking (Out of Combat Gathering)

• ID: 29530
• LD: 10 (Failure)

Emerath was done with berries. That was when he remembered that herbs were pretty much the staple of all healing potions. But did herbs have a special look about them? Emerath just decided to search around for something leafy. It wasn't too long before he stumbled upon flowers and leafy greens in a small patch in the field. He rushed over to them, and happily yanked them from the ground. When he had grabbed some, he pressed them to examine.

"Weeds: No Effect" Emerath let out a large sigh. This was going past frustrating. This was starting to get ridiculous. How in the world was someone expected to actually craft anything if they couldn't even find materials? He dumped the weeds from his inventory and sullenly made his way on his continued search.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Herb Picking (Out of Combat Gathering)

• ID: 29532
• LD: 7 (Failure)

Emerath sulked as he made his way through the fields. He had been out here for what felt like the better part of an hour, and he didn't even have one crafting material to speak of. He was about ready to give up, when he noticed a small hill of vibrant flowers. There were red ones, and blue ones, and yellow ones. He quickly made his way over to them, hoping and praying that these were actual materials that he could make something out of. He yanked a color of each out of the ground, and began to examine.

"Wild Flowers: Pretty, but useless."

Emerath sat there crouched down, just staring at them for a moment. Finally, after a moment he simply crushed the flowers in his hand. They exploded into a light show around his hand, and Emerath just sat there with his fist clenched for quite a while, his emotions overwhelming him. Finally, after a few minutes of overwhelming anger, he stood up. He was a failure as a gatherer. This was all completely and utterly pointless! He began to slam his boot into the flowers, crushing them and causing countless pixels to fly into the air. "Useless! Flowers! Useless! I'm useless! THIS IS ALL USELESS!" he shouted as he stomped the flowers into the dirt.

After a few moments of this, Emerath stood over the patch of soil huffing and puffing. Finally, he dragged his rapier from its sheathe and looked over the grassy plains. "I need to kill something. I need to kill something right now."

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Emerath vs. Boar

• ID: 29533
• BD: 10 (Critical Success) +2 DMG
• MD: 8 (Success)
• Emerath HP: 11/11 -> 10/11
• Boar HP: 6/6 -> 2/6

Emerath, in a blind rage, charged the nearest boar in the field. At this point, he hardly even cared what level it was, or how hard it was to kill. He just needed to kill something. He just needed to let out his rage. The boar hardly even had a chance to react as Emerath ran up to it and slammed his rapier directly into its forehead, creating a large digital hole in its skull. He saw the boar's HP bar decrease drastically, and he couldn't help but smile, despite himself.

The boar was not pleased by this, however, as it rammed Emerath's hand and shoved him backwards, driving the rapier from it's head. A minor blow, all things considered. Emerath grinned and went in for another attack.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Emerath vs. Boar

• ID: 29534
• BD: 2 (Failure)
• MD: 3 (Failure)
• Emerath HP: 10/11
• Boar HP: 2/6

As Emerath went in for another attack, he had forgotten to prepare the attack, and he flew right past the boar. He cursed under his breath. He had been too cocky from the last hit. The boar shook it's large body as it turned around to face Emerath, and made a swipe with its tusks. Emerath easily sidestepped it. If he couldn't hit, that didn't mean he was about to let the boar do so. Emerath gave a battle cry and thrust his rapier at the boar once again.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Emerath vs. Boar

• ID: 29535
• BD: 1 (Critical Failure)
• MD: 1 (Critical Failure)
• Emerath HP: 10/11
• Boar HP: 2/6

Emerath wasn't sure what he was doing now. Perhaps it was just that he had expended all of his actual battle capability with his fury, but it felt as if him and the boar were just toying with each other at this point. They were doing a dance, Emerath would thrust, and the boar would sidestep. The boar would ram him, and Emerath would just jump out of the way. Emerath would thrust, and the boar would swipe, a dance that kept each of them going, but no actual damage was done to either party.

Emerath's breath grew heavy as he stood staring at the boar. The boar seemed to be tired as well. Emerath shook his head, wiping sweat from his forehead. "This needs to end." The boar simply huffed a response.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Emerath vs. Boar

• ID: 29537
• BD: 6 (Success)
• LD: 15 (1 Crafting Material + 30 Col)
• Boar HP: 2/6 -> 0/6 Defeated!

Emerath had grown tired of fighting with this boar and decided it was time to end their dance. He needed to get back to doing something useful. It was about that time that he leveled his rapier at the boar, and prepared his attack. His rapier began to glow its dark red hue, as Emerath lunged for the beast. Before it had time to react, Emerath had flown past it, leaving a long red gash across the side. Emerath landed with a flourish of his rapier, and knowing that the battle was done, sheathed the rapier with a slight smile. The stunned boar exploded in a shower of pixels behind him.

Emerath was delighted to see the loot window pop up in front of him. Some Col and Boar's Blood. Emerath pulled the Boar's Blood from his pouch and examined it.

"Boar's Blood: A suitable base for beginner potions" Emerath was stunned for a moment, but after realization came to him that he had finally found the crafting material he was looking for, he just about did a leap for joy. He pumped his fists in the air and gave a victory cry. Who knew that all it took was murdering a boar in blind rage? He supposed it made sense, considering this was an MMO. Emerath placed the spoils back into his inventory and started to plan his next move.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

*Out of Combat Regen: 10/11 -> 11/11*

Emerath had started to make his way back towards the city when he found himself realizing that he had almost been going constantly since he got in the game, and had taken absolutely no time for himself to rest and recuperate. He wasn't really sure if that was necessary, but he sure felt tired. Perhaps mental weariness affected in game physical weariness. There was no way to be certain, but there was a way to rest.

Emerath climbed his way up a medium hill overlooking the area where it didn't appear there were a lot of adventurers in the area and no boars and plopped himself down in the warmth of the sun. He had only meant to close his eyes and rest for just a moment, but before he knew it he was waking up and the sun had moved considerably in the sky. Emerath yawned and stretched as he woke up, and muttered a bit about how foolish it was to sleep in the open, but also about how good it felt. Next time he'd be sure to find an actual inn, but he supposed he wouldn't get mad at himself for this one time.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Emerath decided it would be prudent to fight another boar, since that seemed to be the best course of action in terms of gathering, and was the most successful as far as he had seen. Perhaps after that he wouldn't be nearly as frustrated with not being able to find suitable herbs. He just hoped he'd do alright, since he wasn't exactly in a blind rage this time.

Slowly, Emerath stood up and worked the kinks out of his body, as he looked for suitable prey. He found one that appeared to be of sufficient level and wasn't surrounded by stragglers. He approached and unsheathed his rapier, readying a combat stance.

Emerath vs. Boar 2

• ID: 29626
• BD: 8 (Success)
• MD: 8 (Success)
• Emerath's HP: 11/11 -> 10/11
• Boar HP: 6/6 -> 4/6

Emerath was more prepared to take on the boar this time, but without the fury he didn't seem as hard pressed to slaughter the poor thing. His sword glowed red as he leapt foward, and him and the boar met in a flash of combat, a red gash trailing down the sides of both combatants. The boar hit the ground and spun around at his attacker, and Emerath did the same, holding his side as the digital gash faded away.

 

Edited August 31, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Emerath vs. Boar 2

• ID: 29630
• BD: 4 (Failure)
• MD: 3 (Failure)
• Emerath's HP: 10/11
• Boar HP: 4/6

Emerath and the boar came in for another attack with each other, and this time, rather than a hit on each side, they locked in the middle, Emerath's attack turning into more of a last minute parry as he realized that the boar was about to gore him with a tusk due to his careless stance. Emerath bounced off the blow and did a spin to the side, sliding backwards on his feet as he landed with a grunt.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Emerath vs. Boar 2

• ID: 29633
• BD: 7 (Success)
• MD: 9 (Critical Success) +1 DMG
• Emerath's HP: 10/11 -> 8/11
• Boar HP: 4/6 -> 2/6

Emerath properly readied himself into his combat stance this time, and prepared his attack, waiting for his sword to glow before lunging forward. He plunged his rapier into the boar's thick hide, and made an attempt to leap backwards, but the boar was faster, slamming its head hard into Emerath's chest. Emerath went flying backwards, and landed on his butt, nearly losing his grip on his rapier. Emerath held his chest as the redness faded away and his HP bar went down a couple more notches.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

Emerath vs. Boar 2

• ID: 29636
• BD: 9 (Critical Success) +1 DMG
• LD: 17 (1 Crafting Material + 30 Col)
• Boar HP: 2/6 -> -1/6 Defeated!
• Level Up! HP increase: 8/11 -> 8/13

As odd as it was, Emerath was actually starting to get a bit bored of this boar. They were starting to become easy prey, despite the damage they did to him. It wasn't nearly enough to warrant him being afraid of the beasts. Emerath sighed, and readied his rapier, before preparing his attack and lunging forward. It connected, as expected, and Emerath slew the boar in the explosion of light. With a flourish, he sheathed his rapier and watched as the loot window popped up. He opened it up, and found a boar's tusk and some more Col. He put the Col in his wallet, and took a look at the boar's tusk.

"Boar's Tusk: Can be ground up for medicinal purposes" As Emerath had expected, materials were in fact substantially easier to find slaying monsters of the appropriate level. He shrugged, as at least he knew that, and it wasn't such a fluke that he wasn't finding anything to craft with. He didn't really want to fight another boar though. Since he had a couple of materials, he thought it best to try some extra gathering and then head back to town to speak to the NPC.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

*Out of Combat Regen: 8/13 -> 9/13*

Herb Gathering (Out of Combat Gathering)

• ID: 29754
• LD: 14 (Failure)

Emerath walked with a bit of a cautiousness that came from not being at full health, despite that each boar was passive unless attacked. As he wandered through the hills in the direction of the city, he continued to look for herbs. Some extra materials never hurt. Despite that though, he continued to not be able to find anything that didn't look like weeds or flowers. He sighed, but at least he wasn't ready to pound them into dust for not finding anything useful.

 

Edited September 1, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

*Out of Combat Regen: 9/13 -> 10/13*

Digging Up Some Dirt (Out of Combat Gathering)

• ID: 29755
• LD: 2 (Failure)

As Emerath walked, he had a thought. He wasn't finding anything above ground, so why not under? Emerath wondered if he even could dig in the ground. He certainly thought it was time to test it. He knelt down, and began to scoop handfuls of dirt into his hands. Surprisingly, it came up and didn't turn into pixels when he continued to dig. I wonder. Is dirt itself useable as a crafting material? Emerath poked the dirt, and examined it out of curiosity.

"Dirt: What did you think it was?" No, of course not. That would be far too easy.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

*Out of Combat Regen: 10/13 -> 11/13*

Digging Deeper (Out of Combat Gathering)

• ID: 29761
• LD: 4 (Failure)

So dirt was out of the question, but that still didn't mean that there still weren't goodies hidden beneath the ground. Heck, even if he found an ore nugget at this point he felt like it might be worth it. He drove his hands into the dirt and pushed it away. Seeds, roots, hidden underground monsters or caves. Something! But Emerath was coming up completely dry. He did find some small rocks though.

"Small Rocks: You're grasping now." Is the game making fun of me? No. That would be silly.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Emerath

[Emerath 0]

*Out of Combat Regen: 11/13 -> 12/13*

You're Going to Need a Shovel (Out of Combat Gathering)

• ID: 29764
• LD: 12 (Failure)

Emerath began to dig like a madman. He continued to shove his arms into the dirt and push away as much of it as he could. Down and down he went, furiously digging for something, anything that would allow him to make amazing potions. It was no good. Emerath was waist deep and headfirst in a hole in the ground, and had nothing but some dirt, some mocking small rocks, and dirt stains.

Emerath huffed and pushed his way out of the hole. He rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. He tried to brush the dirt from his shirt, but that just made it dirtier. This was utterly pointless. All of it. He thought to himself, as he stared at the sky above him.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Emerath