[SD:M/H] Checking Stuff - Chapter 11

“Huh”, Gem flicks their ear, “I guess to know more I’d have to identify the buckler. Though it seems the scroll is already known, if not known as to what it does.”

June shrugs, “The buckler is probably fine, but without a skill for it, you won’t even be able to ID an item close to your level, let alone above. Though the system should tell you what the scroll does if you ask.”

Gem shrugs and does just that.

{

Scroll of Rest 5E

When read out loud, the reader will within five minutes fall into a deep sleep. They will recover damage at their regular rate, plus the rate of a person with a Level and Body equal to the scrolls Level and Rank. The additional healing will repair any damage up to, but not including that which would require a regeneration effect. You can awaken the user or they will naturally wake up once as healed as the effect can facilitate and the user is fully rested or 8 hours have passed.

}

“Huh, I say again.” Gem shakes their head and smirks, “I guess I didn’t know what I would expect from a scroll literally called sleep. Kind of wish I had this irl. Being able to read a scroll and then fall asleep until fully rested would be amazing!”

June puts on a stiff smile. “Yeah, not being able to sleep when and as needed is a pain.”

Gem raises an eyebrow, “So you’re one of those types that doesn’t have a problem getting to sleep? Must be nice.”

June’s relaxes and shrugs, “Something like that. Anyway, I bet we can get the shield IDed in that village over yonder.”

Gem’s tail perks up, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go see if they’ll let us in.”

And turns out, they will. The guards looking after the kids are a little leery about the two until they realize they’re new players. Though they did still scold the pair about properly checking an area before sleeping, no matter how injured or tired you are.

Once inside the town’s wall, Gem and June find out it is quite the “quaint” location.

Gem can’t help but shake their head, “I guess you have to expect something like this for any place spitting distance from a newb town. Have to make everything look pretty.”

June shrugs, “I don’t think this is the developers work. The town is like this because of the people.”

Gem shakes their head, “Not what I meant. Rather, it’s like any tourist trap. You shine everything up so people will spend money, stick around , or whatever your deal is. Anyway, that shop with the sign featuring a wand crossed with a potion bottle is probably where we want to go.”

June looks over, “Oh, yeah, that’s going to be the place to go. And quick question, do you want to get the ID skill or should I? Err, not to say we both can’t get it. Rather, do you want to focus on leveling it or should I? Because I doubt you can keep the needed level with only your own gear IDing needs.”

Gem shrugs, “You seem to care about it, so I don’t mind you taking the lead. I’m sure I’ll be able to at least keep up with my level in gear.”

June nods and the pair head into the store.

Ding, rings a bell over the door. The reason for it is clear enough as there isn’t anyone in the shop's front. Then, from the back, they hear someone shout that they’re coming.

This gives them a chance to take on the shop. There is a dark herbal scent hanging heavy in the air and half shelf glass cases take up much of the floor space with floating orbs of light generously placed around the room. And while much of the product on display are potions. There are other magical items spread around the shop.

From the back steps a tall man. A truly tall man, such that the normal height ceiling forces him to bend over, if only by a little bit. “Welcome to my shoppe of magic and potions! How may I help a couple of newly minted travellers?”

June seems to be taking a moment to consider how she should respond. Gem ignores that and steps forward, “Hi! We just beat up a turtle and got some loot, but what do you know? Neither of us have a skill to identify said loot. Do you have such a skill up for sale?”

The man laughs in a careful manner, “Ah, so it was you two that caused the ruckus. Now, since you came to my shoppe, I assume you both have magic unlocked?”

The two nod and the man continues, “Excellent! I have just what you want. Not that it would be hard to find. Any city where you sort first pop up will have an excess of assay skill books. A gold piece each will do you.”

Gem tilts their head to the side, “That seems cheap. What with a gold piece being the smallest amount. Which seems stupid now that I think about it.”

The man nods, “Skill books start at 500 gold simply from the resources required. Most small places like this would settle for knowledge-based skills or bringing things to the city.

“Then you travellers arrived and the system gave us shopkeepers the ability to do this—”, He reaches into thin air and pulls out a book as if from behind a curtain. The air even waved around mimicking the effect. “—Whenever a new traveller wants one. Though the skill book will vanish if not sold.”

Gem frowns, “Why can you pull the book out of thin air, but the tutorial guide can’t?”

The man shrugs, “Might as well ask why they don’t also provide this skill. I, along with many others, believe it is to reward new travellers for exploring their options instead of using an assaying service. After all, if we just had a stack of skill books lying around, only the densest sorts would miss it.”

June, “But won’t people eventually get told about it? I mean, it seems like something I should have heard of before now.”

The tall man shrugs, “I don’t know how your world works, so I don’t really have an answer for you. However, if someone tried to spoil the fun here? The system would make it so the person being told doesn’t hear a thing.”

Gem sighs, “I guess this is all kind of new on our side and people are still hoarding knowledge.”

The man shrugs again, “I’m sure if enough people start redeeming assay skill books, the system will change how they’re given out.

“Anyway, You gonna buy them?”

Gem grabs a couple gold from their pocket, “I guess it is a good thing we beat that turtle!”

The man chuckles, “A bit more dangerous than necessary. Even a simple fetch quest will earn you multiple gold.”

Gem’s eyes go wide, “That’s right, why is a gold piece the smallest coin?”

The man shrugs, “It’s only gold, not even magical or anything. The only value it has is the stamped image which has magical safeguards against copying. Even then, their value is propped up by the fact the system will always take them at a set value for various goods and services.”

“Huh”, Gem nods, “Fair enough. Still, the coins are kind of big, all things considered. After all, gold is heavy. Then again, the system does seem to let them stack in the inventory.”

June shakes her head, “That’s not it. There is a limit to that. Oh, and there are other coin types.”

The man covers one hand with the other and as he raises that hand, the hidden hand suddenly has coins between the fingers. “These three are all you’ll need to know for now. There’s gold, the shimmering coin is attuned gold with this specific one attuned to light, and the ‘silver’ coin is mithril.

“The exchange rate is an even 100 to 1, kept in place by the system. Most adventurers and people with an elemental attunement will use them. Adventurers because your gear is all expensive and the other because you can make a gold coin into one if you infuse it with enough attuned Mana. Though the Mana to coin ratio sucks.

“Oh, and just because the exchange rate to mithril is the same, you can’t go and turn 100 AP into a mithril coin. The metal making up the coin isn’t worth more, but people like to actually use mithril for stuff.”

June, “But they use the attuned coins as well? At least I heard you can use properly attuned ones to replace Mana and even some material requirements.”

The man shrugs, “The Mana to coin ratio sucks. Better to just hire a mage with the coin than to use it. Now go to the guild hall and learn your new skill, they’ve got a room for that. I’ve gone through my tutorial spiel and a little bit extra since you were nice.”

Gem smiles, “Thanks Mr! I don’t know if we’ll be back, but it has been fun and informative.” And they grab June and half pull her out of the store.

Behind them, the tall man chuckles and shakes his head. “Ah, youth!” Before returning to the back of the store.

Outside, Gem doesn’t quite run, but they are certainly fast walking at a pace June feels is exaggerated for what they’re doing. Though it does get them to the guild hall in record time. However, the keyword there is ‘hall’.

As in, the adventurers guild location is one big open hall with only a few attached rooms. And it is busy.

June looks around with a frown. “This will take a while. Which line do you think we need?”

Gem shrugs, “No clue! Guess we’ll have to ask.”

June is about to turn to someone nearby to do just that, but Gem beats her to it.

“WHERE DO WE GO TO GET SOME PRIVACY TO LEARN A SKILL!”, Shouts Gem.

A couple of nearby people cringe back, but the room is rowdy enough that their shouting isn’t overpowering. Though that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get results. “BLUE ROOM IS FREE!”

June looks mortified as Gem claps her on the shoulder, “There we go! I can see the blue room off to the right. Let’s go learn us a skill!”

June follows, but she doesn’t let things sit as they are. “Do Not Do That! I do not like when people do things like that. It really, really does not sit well with me.”

Gem pauses and turns to her with a frown, “It bothers you that much?”

June pauses, a bit shocked at how serious Gem looks. “Uh, yeah. It makes me uncomfortable.”

Gem nods, “I’ll control myself from now on. I’ve got a few hang ups of my own and so I can understand that sort of thing. I might depend on you helping me through things in the future, so the least I can do is respect your own boundaries. Anyway, let’s go! The faster we learn the skill, the faster we can go out and adventure some more!”

June sighs and a small smile creeps onto her face. “Sure, let’s go learn and then have some fun.”

They make their way into the blue room and quickly learn Assay.

With that out of the way, Gem looks around the private room before asking, “So, do you think we’re allowed to take a minute in here to check out skill descriptions?”

June shrugs, “Don’t expect much. From what I’ve heard, they keep the information pretty sparse. Oh, and once we’re done with that, I can see about that buckler.”

Gem nods, “Good to know, I’ll take this corner to check through mine. Assay is going to get a bit of a workout right out of the gate. Now let’s see, Sense Mana, Lesser Mana Control, Wind Blade, and of course Assay.”

{

Sense Mana

The basic ability to sense Mana within yourself and, to a lesser degree, around you.

Lesser Mana Control

Allows for casting spells and the manipulation of Mana to a greater degree than the Magic Use skill.

Wind Blade

A spell to create blades of wind and throw them.

Assay

A spell used to identify things, drawing upon knowledge from beyond yourself with limits based upon the targets level and rank.

Assay Level Up

}

Gem, “Huh, Assay leveled up off of just that?”

June nods, “Assay is a more complex spell, so successfully using it on a new target is good experience. Now let me see that buckler.”

Gem hands the buckler over and June Assays it.

{

Lazy Turtle Buckler [2/2 a day] 5D+

Twice a day, the buckler can cover the wielder in armor reminiscent of a turtle’s shell. This shell armor will last up to a minute or five seconds after it receives an attack that could damage a person with a level and body rank equal to the buckler’s level and rank. While covered in the shell armor, the user is rooted to the ground, both unable to move and unable to be moved without sufficient force.

}

Gem finishes reading the blue screen and shrugs, “Not really my style. Do you want it?”

June frowns, “I’m not sure. For now, you seem to be into the whole ‘tanking’ thing. You can hang onto it until we find a proper tank and see if they want it.”

Gem nods, “Good plan. As long as I remember, I wouldn’t mind handing it off to a tank. The rooting effect by itself is worthwhile. Though twice a day is quite limited. Well, let’s go see if there are any make work quests that seem interesting!”

June rolls her eyes, “Please don’t call it that to their face. You know that, I know that, and they most certainly know that; but we should keep up the social niceties.”

Wind Blades Till You Can't - Chapter 10

Other Views - Chapter 12