Sweat dripped down Lloyd’s forehead as he lay exhausted on the ground, he hadn’t realised how bad it was before, but overusing mana was really draining. His head was throbbing like he had tried to headbutt a steel beam, and he was almost starting to see things that weren’t there.
Over the last three days, Lloyd had worked himself to the bone trying to finish the curing process, and he was finally done. The thing was, he had severely underestimated how much mana this would need, as he would never have imagined it to take his entire mana pool.
Seventy-three times over.
Lloyd had been stuck in a Sisyphean cycle of waiting for his mana to regenerate and infusing it all back into the leather, which was incredibly draining. This process had been anything but enjoyable, but some good did come with the bad.
While he was waiting for his mana to regenerate for the thirty-fifth time, Lloyd had been messing around when he discovered a way to regenerate mana faster. He had been experimenting with making mana strings when he realised, he wasn’t losing mana while doing so.
After looking into it further, Lloyd realised what was happening, the almost impossibly thin mana strands were actually catching the ambient mana, absorbing it and channelling back into his hands. This ended up creating a system where Lloyd tried to find the most efficient way to collect mana like this.
In the end, Lloyds best method was creating a net out of mana strings and swirling it through the air around him, effectively trawling for mana. Unfortunately, even his best method still wasn’t great, only boosting his mana gains by around twelve percent, but it was useful when he needed such large quantities.
After their third coating, Lloyd could barely believe how hard the leather was, he didn’t think there even were any pre-system materials that could match it. Even when he stabbed it as hard as he could with Thunder bone it remained unscathed.
With this armour on, Lloyd could be a lot more confident in this part of the forest as only things like the giant parrots would be able to pierce his armour, though not easily. If he was attacked by an enemy that was overly strong, he would now be durable enough to make some distance while they chased him.
But he couldn’t think too far ahead just yet, he still had to actually make the armour, and then worst of all, he still had to inscribe it. Luckily, Lloyd had thought ahead and drawn up designs for the armour and inscriptions beforehand saving a lot of time later.
Without the worry of coming up with designs on the spot, Lloyd was a lot less stressed and had a lot less work to do. All he had to do was follow the instructions he had already laid out for himself as closely as possible.
For now, he could only rest, his body was simply wrecked from expending so much mana. It was a slow and monotonous process, but after six hours of just lying on the floor trying to sleep, Lloyd was back in a state where he could function as usual.
While he was painfully tired, Lloyd knew he wouldn’t be able to get any sleep without at least starting to make his armour. After preparing for so long, the anticipation would leave him with insomnia until he made a start.
Driven by his desire to realise his innumerable sketches, Lloyd grabbed the first piece of leather and got to work. He trimmed and shaped the leather, bending it around stones until it was the perfect shape.
Before he knew what he was doing, Lloyd had already grabbed the second piece, working on it just as he had in his mind so many times already. As he went to reach for a third, his body refused as it forcefully shut him down, sending him facedown into the dirt.
Lloyd blacked out instantly, his body was so depraved of rest it ignored every mental prod to stop as desperately tried to quiet his mind. As much as Lloyd wanted to continue working on his armour, he just couldn’t, his body had been worked to the bone, and he needed time to rest.
A soothing quiet mixed with the feeling of extreme hunger pulled Lloyd from his slumber, his body refreshed yet in need of more. He was so glad his body had forced him to stop, because if it hadn’t, he would have kept going potentially ruining the craft in his drowsy state.
Looking back at the leather he had tried to work on before he passed out Lloyd couldn’t believe he’d thought it was okay. The leather was bent incorrectly and unevenly completely different to the plans he’d laid out, he had come really close to ruining the material.
As bad as what he had made was, it wasn’t too bad because with a bit of effort it was reversible, nothing to worry about long term. Disappointed in himself for being so careless, Lloyd went to go fix the deformed leather but was stopped by an excruciating pain in his stomach, he was hungry.
This wasn’t just the normal ‘I haven’t eaten all day’ hunger either, this was the kind of hunger you got after fasting for a week. Lloyd reluctantly put the leather back down as he set up a small stove with some large rocks.
Lloyd flicked his hand as a knife made of mana blinked into existence appearing in his palm. Whilst trying not to think too hard about the malformed leather, Lloyd diced up a small slab of meat leftover from the eel that attacked when he first entered the swamp.
A flame cracked to life under the stone as Lloyd ignited some sticks and grass with supercharge -which could still create a small burst of electricity like electrify. Using the blade of the knife as a utensil, Lloyd pushed the eel around the stone covered in lizard fat until it began to brown.
Realising a new use for his bowl previously designed for making his bestial bonding agent, Lloyd cleaned it out with mana strings and tore open an egg. It was really weird, with these eggs, you couldn’t really crack them, they were soft and malleable, likely belonging to some kind of snake he had failed to encounter during his time in the swamp.
Compared to a chicken egg these were far creamier and carried a richer flavour being much nicer than any other eggs he’d tasted before, though he suspected eggs from a high level chicken would far surpass these. Mixing them in with the lizard fat, Lloyd stirred them in circles, slowly adding the fried eel along with some torn up salt bush.
The runny yellow mixture soon solidified into an omelette just as Lloyd had aimed. His ravenous hunger was screaming at him to eat, and Lloyd was more than happy to oblige.
After wolfing down the omelette he had just created, Lloyd felt instantly better. Now that he wasn’t hungry anymore, Lloyd was finally ready to finish his armour.
Lloyd reshaped the armour hammering it to the specifications of his sketches, correctly this time. the leather bent into shape perfectly, sliding into the other pieces, only needing to be joined.
This point was where Lloyd tried out something new, he hadn’t tried before for some reason, but this time Lloyd had cured the leather strings he was using to bind his armour. This way, Lloyd’s armour should develop a stronger connection, binding together more effectively.
Lloyd exhaled deeply, readying himself to truly begin making his armour. Lloyd laid out the leather in the shape it would get connected in. he punched in holes, repositioned and remeasured things until he was finally ready.
He summoned the cured, leather string from his spatial ring and began threading it through the holes cut in the leather with expert precision. By the end, Lloyd pulled the string clamping the armour shut tight, before cutting off the overhanging string as closely as possible.
The leather sat firm and stable, showing no indication of falling apart, much to Lloyds relief. Now, the only thing that remained before Lloyd could start inscribing was to add a unique element in hopes of getting a specialist skill.
Luckily, Lloyd had designed the armour for this exact purpose and all he had to do with the material outliers was slide them into pre-placed holes and tightening the space with a well-placed leather string.
Lloyd looked at his creation all over, from all angles, scrutinizing it for any mistakes. All he could find was a few misalignments that were swiftly delt with by shaving off a few millimetres of leather.
The armour piece was had perfect form with nearly no visible mistakes, if he put it on right now it would still be an amazing piece of armour, but he wasn’t done just yet. Before he could wear this armour himself, he still had to go through the tedious process of inscribing it.
Lloyd felt a bit queasy when thinking about how much more mana he would have to spend while inscribing everything but snapped himself out of it as he activated energetic inscriptions. He was a mage who made armour, he needed to use mana for both, he couldn’t go getting an aversion to it, that would just get him killed.
Lloyd slowly traced the energy blade across the leathers surface, gradually acclimating himself to the feeling of expending mana again. After how badly he had messed himself up by overusing his mana, Lloyd had to get used to the feeling again, as his body was currently associating it with negative emotions.
After a few minutes the feeling of illness went away, leaving him with only the sense of slight discomfort, something that would take longer to go away. Hopefully this was only a temporary side effect as it would be very inconvenient if this was a long-term problem.
Something about overusing his mana made him feel like he was doing something different to normal, like writing with his left hand -although without the control problems. The feeling wasn’t dissipating, but it was becoming more bearable to the point Lloyd could push it to the back of his mind.
With the discomfort now only a slight mental nudge, Lloyd could properly focus on what he was doing. The inscriptions on the leather were a sea of intricate, twisting swirls curving into pointy tips like roiling waves.
Interwoven between the inscriptions laid the runes of strength, endurance and of course lightning. Lloyd paid the process his utmost attention, perfecting everything down to the most minute details, he wanted this craft to succeed.
With how expensive -and limited- the materials he had poured into it were, if something went awry, he wouldn’t be able to replicate it should the need arise. Hopefully, this wouldn’t be a problem, because from what he could see nothing was majorly off.
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After one final scrutinizing, Lloyd decided to call it done, as there was nothing more he could do at this point. In a ritual that had become unsettlingly natural to him, Lloyd summoned a mana blade and sliced open the scar in the centre of his left palm.
Crimson blood poured out over his hand, dousing his fingers and wrist in a coating of red. At this point the pain from doing such a thing barely phased him, and the wound was already closing, but it was more so the idea of doing it that felt weird to him.
Pushing his thoughts about this step to the back of his mind, Lloyd clenched his hand to force some more blood from the wound before slamming his palm against the leather. The deep red stood out like a beacon against the dull green of the lizard skin, almost looking ritualistic in nature.
Despite the cultish appearance of his new armour, Lloyd knew it couldn’t be farther from it. This armour was his more than anything else and he had the soul binding tag to prove it.
Tempest bracers (Uncommon) A set of extremely durable bracers bearing the might of thunder, strike down your foes with the power of the heavens. The fangs of an Ossec cavern spider betray their former owner, embracing the power of lightning as they help you take down your foes. The storm grows stronger, let none survive its wrath. (Enchantments, Lightnings bite, self repair, Soulbound)
Lloyd wasn’t sure what to think of this, the description was a whole lot of flavour text and not a lot of information, but it did tell him one thing. His plan had worked, the incorporation of the spider fangs was a key element of the bracers, and it sounded like it worked well.
Lightnings bite was no-doubt just a play on words relating to the fangs and the element of lightning permeating the bracers, but it did sound powerful. The fact that it straight up said the fangs had betrayed their previous owner by helping him seemed to stand as a testament to their strength.
The final thing going into Lloyds pre-emptive evaluation of the bracers was the sheer amount of experience they awarded him.
Level up available.
You have reached lvl 15 in your profession.
Profession skills available
Level up available.
You have reached lvl 16 in your profession.
Two levels might not seem like a lot, but at this level it was a significant reward. Getting the experience equivalent of this in his class would need him to kill one if not several of the profundi crocodiles that infested the swamp, something he barely managed to do once.
What made these levels even more valuable, was that level fifteen came with a bonus, a skill selection. It had been a long time since Lloyd got a new skill for his profession, and not to mention, he had four choices this time around.
[Mana drill (Common)] – summon an apparatus to drill straight holes through any material you could possibly use for crafting. A helpful mana tool to assist you in your crafts, cheap and effective, it can bore its way through near anything given enough time and mana.
[Blueprint (Common)] – use mana to lay out an intangible blueprint across your work to test designs without permanent consequences. Your blueprints can be repurposed and replicated should you share them, allowing for mass production of tools and armour, a must have for any army.
[Rejuvenation (Uncommon)] – regrow small fragments of leather around failed cuts, this leather will not be as strong as the original and is liable to weaken over time. measure twice cut once, but if not try again.
[Model replica (Uncommon)] – use mana to create a perfect replica of someone to model your armour for. The model will aid you in creating more accurate measurements when designing armour, creating good fits and adequate protection all around.
Lloyd considered his options, all of which had their individual use cases that could prove useful. To start, mana drill, certainly useful for making points to connect armour and weaponry, but he could already do the same with freehand mana and to some degree string saw.
Blueprint was a great idea, create a mana overlay on your leather before inscribing it, but even though he hadn’t considered to do it before, he could replicate it without a skill. All Lloyd would have to do to copy the effects of this skill was lay a series of mana strings across the surface.
This method couldn’t be shared with others for mass production like with blueprint, but it didn’t really matter to him as he wasn’t going to be interacting with another person for up to ten years -and that was only if he did manage to escape the tutorial.
The next skill, and the first uncommon was an interesting one, rejuvenation would supposedly let him regrow parts of the leather he was working on if he made a bad cut. The skill was seemingly great, but its caveats ruined it for him as Lloyd couldn’t afford to have a weak spot on his armour -and certainly not one that got worse over time.
Compared to the monstrous creatures that lived in the forest, Lloyd’s body far too weak to sustain any major damage, so he had to rely on his armour. If this armour had weak spots ridden throughout it, his enemies would have spots to aim for. The prospect of being able to patch mistakes was good, but not good enough to endanger himself with flawed armour.
Lloyd was confident enough in his abilities to go on without this skill, and ultimately, he felt it was best, the increased danger just wasn’t worth it.
After eliminating the first three skills, Lloyd was only left with one, and perhaps the most promising one at that. Model replica was a perfect fit for him, its use case was clear and simple, but something he dearly needed.
A perfect replica of someone’s body to help you design armour, this was something that could greatly boost Lloyd’s efficiency when designing armour as there would be less guesswork around measurements.
When he made his bracers, Lloyd was wrapping mana strings around his forearms, trying to get a measurement and it was just really clunky. If he had what was essentially him as a mannequin, Lloyd would be able to make a perfect fit with no ambiguity.
Unlike blueprint, this was not something Lloyd could achieve with mana, as it would be near impossible to perfectly replicate someone that way at his level. Perhaps if he had a mana pool five times the size, he would be able to do something close to this, but even then, it would be unreliable.
Lloyd’s mana control was still ultimately not the best, he could control how it formed but not perfectly. Even if he knew the exact measurements of the person, he was trying to replicate it would only be able to be so close.
Unlike the margins of human error, this skill was dependable, and promised a perfect replication of the target every time. this was just what he needed, a way to improve how well his armour would fit, and find where its weaknesses laid.
It would help him far more than any of the others, so he didn’t hesitate to add it to his repertoire.
In excitement to test it out, Lloyd quickly consumed the information the system implanted him with upon selection. After picturing himself in his mind and activating the skill Lloyd very suddenly lost around a quarter of his mana as a clone of him appeared in front of him.
Well, he used the term clone very loosely, all the proportions were exactly the same, but it really was like a mannequin. It was a pale blue colour with more detail than a traditional mannequin, he could see the outlines of individual muscles and reposition it like it was a real person, but it wasn’t fully there.
Some places the system seemed to consider unimportant for making armour were smoothed over, the face was a mostly smooth mask with no distinguishing features besides its nose. While the model’s hands remained normal -which Lloyd assumed was for making gauntlets and whatnot- the mannequin’s feet were combined into a solid shape, as its wasn’t considered necessary.
It was uncomforting seeing a copy of him that was so accurate yet so alien at the same time, but it would definitely help. Taking off his bracers, Lloyd put them onto the dummy, and they fit just how they did on him, revealing the minute oversights he’d made without this kind of tool to assist him.
Reequipping his bracers, Lloyd considered what he should do next. He definitely needed to finish his making the new armour set, especially now that he had this skill to assist him in the process, but he felt he shouldn’t continue just yet.
After seeing how he had gained a new enchantment on his armour so easily after incorporating the spider fangs, Lloyd couldn’t help but want to keep experimenting. Problem was, he didn’t have anything else to use, he hadn’t exactly been successful when it came to harvesting beast carcasses, so he didn’t have anything else to incorporate.
Lloyd had a simple fix for this problem that also came with the benefit of testing out his newest creation, plus it was about time he went hunting again.
With all of his equipment and materials stored safely in his spatial ring, Lloyd was ready to set out again, not necessarily to travel, but just to gather some more beast parts. He came to the mouth of the cave, weaving through the plasma mines he had placed a while ago, Lloyd looked eagerly into the sunlight as he pushed the debris filling the entrance to the side.
Due to how quickly Lloyd had ventured through this area the first time around, he didn’t really know what kinds of beasts inhabited this region. Thanks to his unnecessary rush, Lloyd was completely in the dark on what to look out for, as he had only encountered a few species out of the myriad of creatures hiding in the forest.
Eager for adventure once more, Lloyd took deep breaths of the cool, damp air as he jogged across the forest floor. Leaf litter and dirt scattered beneath his heavy footfall but hidden beneath the sea of ferns they may never be seen.
Lloyd enjoyed himself but didn’t let his mind stray too far from his task at hand, he still had to make his new armour set after all. As things stood, Lloyds current armour was too weak for the forest this side of the swamp.
His armour had been fine for the area he had been in when he created it, back then the strongest beast he had encountered and fought in earnest was the Ent-wood megalania. While the lizards were strong, their overly aggressive nature and tendency to charge with an open maw left them at a huge disadvantage against someone with ranged options.
The other side of the forest certainly had some powerful monsters hiding within, as shown by the miscus chieftain and iguana titan. Thing was, when Lloyd was trapped in the guildhall he hadn’t known of their true power, or in the case of the iguana titan, their existence.
The compelling force that drove Lloyd to the miscus village in the first place was the desire to find stronger foes so he could stay at a level similar to his foes. Now, obviously this plan had fell through at some stage after getting jumped by the miscus for beating the fuck out of a child, but that was besides the point.
His armour wasn’t intended for the monsters lurking in the forest, it was designed for the monsters strong enough to be seen as a threat but not strong enough to actually be one. Had Lloyd know of the incomprehensible horrors just waiting for something like him to walk by, then he would probably still be in there.
Lloyd could now understand why he had been designated as B-tier by the system, he had been ignorant to the true scope of his threats and left far earlier than he should have. His old theory of having to reach an absurdly high level to get a better grade were wrongly founded.
That idea had been birthed when he still believed that he was a significant threat to the monsters of the forest, his opinions skewed by hubris and newfound strength. Getting B-tier as a designation was actually very generous for how early he had left.
Lloyd could only assume he was given such a high score for making an uncommon item while in there, not for his overall success. Had he just stayed long enough to make some armour that was genuinely good Lloyd might have gotten a better score.
Looking back, Lloyd now realised just how obviously the system had incentivised staying for longer. A not-so-subtle detail Lloyd could now see but had ignored at the time was how the carcasses he was given slowly improved in quality over time.
This wasn’t to say Lloyd was now surprised, at the time Lloyd had entered the dungeon after being on the island for only a few days. At the time Lloyd had felt he had spent more than enough time in the guildhall than was needed, but this was based on a pre-system timeframe.
In the modern world Lloyd was used to, everything was fast paced and to someone who was younger like Lloyd, this sense of quickness was only more normal. He should have realised from the timeframe of the tutorial alone that this wouldn’t be something he could blitz through in a few weeks.
When he sat in the magical, nebula filled room before the system, Lloyd had been told that he would be on this island for a decade. At the time Lloyd had been in a state of shock and not realised the weight of this revelation.
A decade was over half of Lloyds life so far, at the time of the integration Lloyd had been seventeen so he wouldn’t get out until he was twenty-seven. This realisation brought Lloyd to a halt, by the time he got off this island he would have spent well over a third of his life without seeing another living person.
This horrifying realisation didn’t come alone, it also carried a deeper emotional weight.
“Holy shit” Lloyd only managed a muted whisper as he fell to the ground, caught in a mental maze of comprehension.
In just a few weeks it would be his birthday, every year his family would come together for his and his brother’s birthdays, -As they were the only ones in the younger generation- but this year, on his eighteenth, he would be here.
On one of the biggest events of his life so far, his shift into adulthood, Lloyd would be stuck fighting for his life on this god forsaken island.
Lloyd didn’t react, he simply didn’t know how to. Lloyd just sat on the ground completely despondent hiding in the shadow of the ash tree above.
Was this really how he would spend the next decade of his life, fighting for it in a forested hell?
