Chapter 16: Chapter 16
Now behind the bear, Darius quickly opened his Inventory and took out the unused spell manual as well as the python fang.
[Would you like to change the empty spell manual into a small fireball spell manual? This will cost 5 Conversion Points.]
[Would you like to change the Reticulated Python fang into a small teleportation scroll? This will cost 3 Conversion Points.]
Darius immediately assented to both. Since midnight had already passed, his points had naturally refreshed, meaning that he had 10 of them at his disposal.
Without wasting time, both items transformed into the final versions he desired. The glowing spell manual shook a little, its cover and spine changed to a bright red color while its pages emitted a low heat that was comfortable to the touch.
The fang also grew in shape until it became a roll of parchment that radiated greyish-black energy. Darius quickly inspected them both as the Grey Bear began to turn around.
[Ember Spell - Manual
Durability: 10/10
Description: Contained within is the required knowledge to cast the simplest spell of the fire element, Ember. Due to the high quality of the material and the penmanship, the success chance of learning the spell is increased by 100% while the effectiveness of the spell is increased by 500%.]
[Short Warp - Scroll
Durability: 25/25
Description: Travel instantly between two separate locations. The maximum travel distance is 25 Kilometers.]
Darius was greatly reassured after he saw the scroll's description, as it would be his getaway method in case things went sour. Right now, he wanted to fight against this bear for it would be a good chance to learn more about the methods of spell combat as well as the different tiers of experience gain.
Darius held the Ember spell manual as the Grey Bear began its charge once again.
[Detected spellbook. Would you like to learn its contents?
Warning: The spellbook will be destroyed upon using this method! Continue?]
Darius hastily consented and saw the large book melt into a reddish slush that poured through his ears and flowed into his brain.
[Ember - Level 1 Spell
Cost: 1 MP
Description: Send out a shower of fire that burns all foes within range. This deals 5% fire damage.]
For a split second, Darius became dazed as the knowledge assimilated with his brain and memories, turning him from someone who had just heard the spell name to someone who had spent months practicing it to perfection.
Unfortunately, that split second was all the Grey Bear needed to reach Darius, where he was promptly swatted away with its large paw. The poor fellow was sent flying, his back whomping into one of the trees that had formed the edge of the unnamed forest.
Darius gasped for air as his lungs had been emptied by the hit and subsequent crash, his struggled breathing yielding some spurts of blood from internal bleeding.
[You have suffered 34 points of damage!]
[You have been inflicted with the 'Mild Hemorrhage' status effect.
Effect; -0.1 HP per second for 10 seconds.]
[You have been inflicted with the 'Mild Fractures' status effect.
Effect; -2 points in Strength and Agility for 1 hour!]
Darius skimmed through the notifications with his partially stunned mind. As a person who had never truly gotten into a fight himself, the immense pain and trauma from the bear's 'love tap' had sent him into a slight shock.
However, Darius was able to shake it off rather quickly, not because he had overcome it, but because of his high Intellect stat increasing his mental faculties.
Just in time to roll away from the Grey Bear's follow-up charge, which would have otherwise crushed him against the tree. Instead, it was now the Grey Bear who had smashed headfirst into the very same evergreen and cried out in pain.
It had visibly harmed itself, its head bleeding profusely from the collision, and judging by the shaking of his head it must have gotten at least a mild concussion.
Darius thanked his lucky stars for this short break, as he slowly and shakily rose to his feet, paling from the pain of his slightly broken ribs rubbing against each other and his abdomen feeling as if someone had cut it open with a knife.
He first checked the remaining HP of the Grey Bear as well as himself.
[Grey Bear - Level 3 Beast
HP: 10/20 MP: 0/2]
It appeared that the ursine had used up his mana to empower his charge. No wonder, the collision had really harmed enough to make it lose 5 HP, which was equivalent to Darius' previous efforts.
[Darius Stone - Level 1 Itemancer
HP: 15/49 MP: 18/21]
He was not doing so good himself, left with less than one-third of his initial HP. Fortunately, he still had more than enough mana to spam the dazed Grey Bear to the next life.
Darius had no sympathy for his prey and alternated between casting Ember to increase the Grey Bear's agony as he showered it in scorching flame and used Sparks to singe its fur, as well as to prolong its daze.
The Grey Bear was unfairly bombarded to death by a barrage of low-level spells that should have required a casting-time or chanting if it had been any other mage.
The bear let out a dying roar and stayed down, its scorched body looking and definitely smelling worse than the Wild Boar or Reticulated Python's corpse. In fact, one could argue that the two of them had gotten the bigger end of the stick.
The moment the Grey Bear died, Darius received the rewards for his struggle.
[You have gained 80 EXP, 10 Bronze Ando Coins, and 1 Common Health Potion.]
Darius limped over to a tree and propped his body against it as he slid to the ground. He then focused more on what he had achieved, pondering what to do next when more screens came up before him.
[Congratulations! You have reached Level 2!
You have gained 5 Ability Points and 3 Skill Points to spend as you wish!]
Chapter 17: Chapter 17
The moment Darius saw this, a wave of cool energy flowed through him, refreshing his mind, body, and soul. It appeared to have restored his HP and MP to their perfect values.
Additionally, and perhaps even more importantly, it had alleviated all his fatigue and had either healed or reset his body to the same state it had been as when he had spawned.
This little mechanic could become crucial in preserving his life later on, just like it had saved him right now.
If Darius were to complain, then only because his Conversion Points had stayed the same. However, since his Trasmutation Ability was governed by its own set of rules, he had expected as much. Still, he would have preferred to be wrong on this occasion.
Darius opened his character sheet.
[Name: Darius Stone
Race: Human
Class: Itemancer
Subclass: Magus
HP: 49/49
MP: 42/42
Level: 2
Experience: 5/200
Strength: 7
Agility: 7
Endurance: 7
Intellect: 21
Charisma: 15
Luck: 15
AP: 5
SP: 3
Skills: Analyze - Lv.1
Spells: Sparks - Lv.1, Ember - Lv.1]
Darius rubbed his chin and pondered how to allocate his Ability Points and Skill Points. He could raise his sub-par physical stats to the average amount so that he wouldn't be as useless in battle, but he came to the conclusion that it would be a foolish choice.
Instead, Darius placed 4 points into Intellect, raising it to 25, while sending his last free point into Agility. He felt the changes almost instantly.
His mind felt like it had been cleared of debris that had been blocking his nerve paths, allowing his synapses to fire faster. It was like taking an attention enhancing drug, only this would be permanent without any side-effects.
It was truly an amazing experience, literally feeling yourself becoming smarter on the spot, instead of slowly over a period of time.
Not only that, but Darius also felt his body become slightly limber as if a weight he had been carrying on his back had been lifted slightly, allowing him to move more easily.
Darius smiled bitterly, for he had realized something. He could easily become addicted to the bliss he received when allocating stats, to the point where he might turn into a junkie.
As for his skill points, Darius had compared both his spells with each other. They both did the same amount of damage, but Sparks offered a stun effect whereas Ember offered a burning effect. Darius clearly preferred a way to control his enemy, so he chose to place everything into Sparks.
'Sharing my limited amount of SP between two spells would be the epitome of stupidity. What I need first and foremost is higher battle power to ensure my survival.'
[Sparks - Level 4 Spell
Cost: 1 MP
Description: Send out a sparkle of electricity that can zap foes into a short paralysis. This deals 20% lightning damage.]
Darius was excited by this change. Every additional level corresponded to 5% extra damage to the base spell, while the cost for casting had not changed at all.
The SP had increased the spell's effectiveness in every aspect!
With his 25 points in Intellect, one Sparks spell would now do 5 points of damage! The same Grey Bear could have been killed in four shots! Not to mention, if he scored a critical hit it would now be a massive 15 points of damage!
His Supreme System truly deserved its name. Its ability to enhance its user was mindboggling. Just one level increase and his power had quintupled straight away!
Darius looked at his last 2 Conversion Points and used a little bit of refill his flask. As great and miraculous his level up had been, it had apparently not solved a natural issue that would plague the young boy's body which was... hunger.
He had pre-emptively solved his thirst issue by creating a flask and then re-filling it with water. Now, it was time to prepare some food. Darius was not too worried about this, as he had an idea to save costs.
He took out his iron dagger and thrust it into the carcass of the Grey Bear. Without ceremony, he ripped apart its innards which were quite difficult and painful given his low Strength and the bear's tough hide.
However, he eventually got it done in time. What surprised Darius though, was that a notification popped up before him.
[Congratulations! You have learned the skill, Skinning!]
Darius immediately checked the new skill out.
[Skinning - Level 1 Skill
Cost: 2 Stamina per minute
Description: Expertly remove the hide of any carcass with epidermal skin. The quality of all skinned hide is raised by 5%.]
Just like with the Ember spell, Darius felt a worth of knowledge flood his mind. He went from someone who was clumsily using a knife to tear open hide, to someone who could visualize the lines in which he should move his blade in order to effectively preserve as much of it as possible.
When he came out of his daze and looked at what he did, he almost vomited. Cursing himself for being such an amateur, he professionally separated the hide of the Grey Bear. Alas, just knowing how to do it did not make this task any easier as his body had remained the same.
While holding the slightly ruined hide of the Grey Bear, he felt lost. Yes, he had carved it out intently, but he didn't have any plans to use it! He didn't have the skills of a Tanner, so he could not cure it.
Still, Darius placed it in his Inventory. While he may not have such skills as of yet, he had discovered something interesting. He remembered that Caesar told him there were three ways to learn new skills.
The first was to learn it by teaching others or being taught, the second was to develop it oneself or train oneself in it and the final was through skillbooks. He had no way to do the first one yet, and he had overestimated the second one for sure, thinking only the third one would be relevant until he entered civilization.
But clearly, he had underestimated his trusty companion. The Supreme System had once again displayed its prowess by taking the clumsy acts that resembled a skinning skill and had actually presented him with the full thing.
Not only that, but he had gained the functional knowledge of the skill as if it came from a skillbook, which confused him. If this was the case, then what was the point of learning or buying skillbooks should they exist in stores?
Darius then pondered deeply and could only make a shaky assumption, which was that the Skinning skill was regarded as so basic and simplistic that even mimicking it had been enough to grant him the skill.
After all, once learned, he would have to use skill points to level it up. Caesar had stated as much, so even if he coincidentally discovered an old wise man who was a Grandmaster Skinner nice enough to train him, his skill would not grow in the slightest.
From this, Darius learned of an important dynamic for his skills system that could be summed up as: 'Easy to learn, hard to level up.'
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
6 Power
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