[You have gained 20 EXP and 1 Bronze Ando Coin.]
Darius had immediately cast another Sparks spell into the gullet of the snake, immediately killing it. It was charred internally, and a pungent trail of smoke wafted out from its esophagus.
Darius placed the carcass down and withdrew his iron dagger. Just like with the boar, he collected the fangs of the snake, which was a much easier task since it was surrounded by flesh.
Even though such things nominally had no value, to Darius they were precious. The day he wanted to convert an item upwards that was similar to these things, he would be eternally grateful for his thoughtfulness.
He also noted something interesting. Since the experience reward for killing enemies at the same level was 5 exp, he had wondered how much it would be for enemies above his level.
Well, it seemed like Darius had received his answer. For one level above, he gained 20 exp. That was four times his base reward, which made him certain that his path to progression lay in defeating stronger foes.
He also received a single Bronze Ando Coin. The currency for the Andrato Kingdom was called the Ando Coin, and there were three tiers. There was the lowly Bronze Ando Coin, the middle-class' Silver Ando Coin, and the elite's Gold Ando Coin.
The gap in value between these three tiers was truly great. 1,000 Bronze Ando Coins were needed to make 1 Silver Ando Coin, and the same applied for Silver Ando Coins to Gold Ando Coins.
Darius only knew that Ando Coins at the Bronze level could guarantee a living for all peasants and low-tier adventurers. The purchasing power of 1 Bronze Ando Coin was enough to buy groceries to last a family of four 1 week if they rationed carefully.
It should be noted that groceries were dirt cheap in Andrato due to an economical issue pertaining to dungeons, but Darius did not have enough information from the infopack to highlight this.
As for a Silver Ando Coin, in terms of economic value, it could be used to buy good quality housing or property, afford one a few servants and keep an extended family of about 12 living like a middle-class family for about 3 months depending.
As for Gold Ando Coins, they were almost exclusively used by the nobles and royalty, as well as top-tier adventures and professional mages. They could buy estates, fleets of slaves and servants, as well as maintain a whole clan for a year.
Darius held the Ando Coin and flicked it around. It was genuine bronze with the sigil of a sword bathed in holy light on one side, with the carving of a woman with delicate features wearing a crown on the other.
Thinking like this, Darius rubbed his chin. He had obviously considered manifesting currency with his Transmutation ability, but wanted to encounter society first before he judged whether that would be wise or not.
His Small Database Infoblock had provided him with a good amount of basic information, but that was it, all the information had been basic. It wasn't called a 'small' Infobock for nothing after all, as what it gave him was limited.
Darius had to pause his journey after walking about 10 kilometers because he was exhausted. As he rested with his back against the bark of a tree and his bum on the grassy forest floor, he had to admit, those games he had played with his nephews and son had never bothered to display how tiring long-distance walking could be.
As someone who had relied on vehicular transportation from the modern world, Darius was not really ready for long-distance trekking of this nature. At first, it had felt wonderful and invigorating, now Darius wished he could sprout wings and fly.
While rubbing his chin, Darius collected some earth from the forest floor and filled his flask to the brim with it. After that, he concentrated.
[Would you like to change the flaskful of sand into a flaskful of drinking water? This will cost 0.01 Conversion Points.]
It literally cost a pittance to change sand to water!
Then again, water was a simple substance and sand was also quite simple, so the conversion was basically only in terms of matter, not design, like with man-made things.
This also told Darius that changing matter from one type to another that was considered natural or of nature, cost far less than artificial changes. Once again, this should be a given, but building a habit of assumptions based on 'it should be obvious' when one can draw a factual conclusion was bad.
Darius made the conversion and felt the flask become slightly heavier almost instantly. He gazed into it and saw the clearest water he had ever seen that almost sparkled with purity.
Instead of being colorless, it actually glowed a little, showing that this wasn't simple water at all.
[Pure Water - Liquid
Durability: 1/1
Description: Water distilled by the most powerful methods known. This liquid can nourish the body of those who drink it, improving blood flow, lifespan, and vitality when consumed repetitively over a long period of time.]
Ah, the fabled water of purity. Back on Earth, when Darius had attended church to keep up his image of a god-fearing man, the pastor had held a sermon telling his flock that once upon a time, when their world was still young, the people had drunk from water that was so pure, it had boosted the longevity of early humans, which was how they had lived so long… aside from the various deaths by conflict or predators in the wild.
Curious, Darius drank a mouthful of the water. It tasted… strange. It basically tasted clean… like really clean. It was a hard sensation to describe, but it felt like he was washing his mouth and throat with something that removed all of his body's filth.
However, its effect was almost immediate. Darius felt energized and hale, his former fatigue greatly bleeding away as if he had rested for an entire day.
Darius gazed at the almost full flask with respect. If just one sip could yield such amazing results, then he should be fine for as long as the flask remained full. Afterward... well, all he had to do was convert some sand to water to retain this effect.
Darius rose to his feet and continued walking through this unnamed forest. It was truly located in an unassuming place, smack dab in the middle of the Plains of the Green which was treated as the outskirts of the Andrato Kingdom.
Towards the side of Plains of Death, the north was unconquered land that was considered to be where the territorial line of the Kingdom was drawn.
Darius had already emptied his flask 3 times by this point, and according to the minimap, he was still at least a day away from the edge of the forest. This frustrated Darius greatly as he truly wished he had a better means of movement than just walking.
It really did not help that his Endurance stat was merely at 7. A fragile 13-year-old boy like he currently was could not muster the necessary stamina to compete with a full adult.
Fortunately, Darius had not encountered any other beasts ever since the Python. While he desperately craved EXP so that he could raise his stats and spells, he was far less interested in risking his life in a hot-blooded battle.
Such excitements might appeal to more vigorous men, but Darius preferred to use his mind over his body… or his life for that matter. With time having passed, now came an issue that he had to solve since the sun was setting slowly.
Where and how to sleep peacefully.
Naturally, it had crossed Darius' mind earlier to create a survival guidebook with his ability, but he had ruled that out for two reasons. The first was that until the reset, he was left with 1.79 Conversion Points, and the second was the fact that he could not become a seasoned wildlife traveler with just a single book.
Even with the Supreme System's Database helping him catalog all obtained knowledge, he would still have to read the book and understand what he needed to do.
If reading books could make a person a professional, then education would be solely about cramming as much knowledge as one could in one's heads within a limited amount of time.
… perhaps that was not the best analogy in this situation.
Darius rubbed his hair and pondered his options. He thought about gathering a bunch of leaves to create tarpaulin for a tent, but the issue with that was the fact that he simply did not know how to put a tent together.
Instead, he decided to try something clever.
[Would you like to change the Reticulated Python fang into a teleportation scroll? This will cost 11 Conversion Points.]
Darius frowned. Just slightly above his point cap, so he could not gain one yet. Nevertheless, he was happy that something like this existed in the world of Faust, meaning he would be able to acquire it eventually. Then again, in a world of magic, Darius would have been surprised if there had been no such thing.
During the time Darius had spent long-distance trekking, he had realized that there had been a flaw in his thinking from earlier during the day. He had neglected the fact that in the games set in those worlds full of magic, things usually developed in incremental stages, and did not start out at the perfect stage.
As such, he had attempted to transmute his spell manual into something more sensible.
[Would you like to change the empty spell manual into a small fireball spell manual? This will cost 5 Conversion Points.]
He had almost jumped for joy when he had been offered that option. It wasn't that he was a fire magic nut or anything, but everyone who was someone knew that the fireball was the base of all magic.
Unfortunately, he had nearly exhausted his points for the day, leaving him no choice but to wait for midnight in order to gain this new spell.
[Would you like to change the Reticulated Python fang into a small teleportation scroll? This will cost 3 Conversion Points.]
'Well… that was also a bust till tomorrow.'
It seemed like no matter how Darius tried to worm his way out of it, he would be spending the night in the middle of a forest with both prey and predators alike… great.
Darius was reluctant to do that for obvious reasons. Mainly the fact that he was sure he'd die before he could even respond to any attack while asleep. He wasn't delusional to believe that he was so amazing that all predators would gloss over a free meal.
The way he saw it, Darius had two choices. He could either hunker down somewhere safe and sleep, or resume his journey and hold out till midnight to refresh his points. As it stood, he was favoring the second choice more, for it would be significantly easier to deal with threats while awake than asleep.
Darius, therefore, re-filled his flask and continued walking along. He was initially tempted to try and make some coffee, but he was beginning to understand more and more that his Conversion Points were special.
The limited amount he gained every 24 hours would not be enough to support his ever-growing list of wants and needs, so he had to keep some on hand for much more important endeavors.
It was around 5pm, Darius guessed based on how the sun was almost beneath the edge of the horizon. He wasn't someone who could read the time of day like this, but it was just a guess based on the typical celestial movement on Earth.
He had to keep walking for 6 hours…? Darius refused to do so. He was already tired of walking, and even with the Pure Water cleansing away his fatigue and restoring his stamina, the effectiveness was lessening with each time, presumably because Darius was adapting to it.
As such, he decided to make the best use of the time he had until the Pure Water stopped 'buffing' him actively and only worked passively. He directly broke into a light jog, moving at a steady pace in order to control his exertion.
However, he hadn't even reached 500 meters when he was already panting like a dog, and he paused to take a swig of the water in his flask. Once he did so, he felt suitably refreshed and renewed, beginning the process of jogging once again.
After the same amount of time, he was once again flagging greatly. However, Darius had crossed about 1 kilometer in just 10 minutes, which was a big leap from his former pace.
He still had about 20 kilometers to go, which would have taken him a full day at his former slow walking pace, but while jogging, he could be out in about 3 hours!
With his zeal fueled by the desire to get out of this woodland hellhole, Darius continued moving along while relying on the almost magical properties of water to keep him going.
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT