Point of Return

Nightingale took out a pouch that was slightly larger than mine. He seemed to be idle from my point of view but Im sure he was browsing through his inventory in his vision.

”Alright, here it is! ”

Nightingale took out a brilliant gold-tinted jewel about the size of a finger.

”This here is an amber lustre! ”

———

[Amber Lustre]

[Enhancement Material]

This jewel is used to enhance your weaponry up to +5.

———

”This… is what everyone is looking for. This jewel is the beginning of getting stronger. Aside from leveling of course. ” Nightingale explained.

”Im assuming we
e going to do some kind of duplication exploit or something along the lines of that? ” I pondered.

”Well, I haven quite gotten there yet. You know damn well that I would have already made hundreds of these and put them on the auction house if I knew how to duplicate these! ” Nightingale exclaimed with jittery excitement.

”So, I did some digging… figuratively. ”

”Whatd you find? ” I asked.

”This jewel can be found in slain monsters. But you can also find these jewels in the ground by mining and refining stone. ” Nightingale pointed towards the ground.

”Normally, I would say lets get some pickaxes and start digging around the mountainside! or something like that but magic got us covered. ” Nightingale was fidgeting with his codex in his lap.

”Lets see what you got then. ”

Nightingale created a party and I joined it. We made our way out the north gate of Levendale; the same way as I went for the slimes and goblins earlier. We passed by some other adventurers as we got closer to a cliffside beside a forest and a river. The sounds of horses and carriages on the gravel road come and go disturbing our idle chatter.

Upon reaching the cliffside, it became immediately clear that we weren the only ones there. Wagons line the cliffside as adventurers with pickaxes swing away at the stone and move the fragments to their respective wagons. Clanking sounds and the occasional grunt grows louder as we approach.

”They seem to really be going at it. ” I said.

”To nobodys surprise. I expected it would be rather busy here. We
e gonna go to the quieter part of the cliffside to keep our technique a secret. ” Nightingale replied pointing towards the far right side of the cliff.

The river that the road was beside flowed down the cliff from here and crashed into a larger pool of water about 40 meters down. Ahead of us was a large expanse of empty plains with the occasional spiked bolder.

Nightingale took out his codex. While he was preparing it, I took a closer look to examine it.

———

[Potentia Codex]

Crafted

[Specialization: Artificer, Savant]

[Attributes]

Intelligence: 10

Magic Attack: 32

[Required Attribute]

Intelligence: 15

(?) – Attributes of this weapon are reduced by 50% when equipped by a Savant

———

Come to think of it, Nightingale was at a much higher level than I was. Hes already level 11 and probably has access to greater magic spells than just the fireball that I witnessed coming from Omen. He must have grinded out levels in the first two days.

Nightingales codex flips open floating in the palm of his hand and magical green energy begins to circle his wrist up to his fingers.

[Wind Slicer]

An unexpectedly small slice of wind comes forth from the codex and cuts through a piece of rock and separating it from the cliffside.

Nightingale picks up a magic blue cube with his left hand from his pouch and moved it closer to the rock. Suddenly the rock disappeared into the cube without a trace.

”This is a storage cube. ” Nightingale said while handing me the cube.

”Certainly beats lugging around a heavy wagon. ” I replied while glancing at the other players.

”You can have this one, I made one for you in preparation for this. ” Nightingale replied earnestly.

”Thanks. ” I responded with a slight smile.

———

[Storage Cube]

[Pouch Item]

Stores resources and materials from Mythalgia earth

———

Thinking about following in Nightingales footsteps of breaking away chunks of rocks, I took out my weapon. Forgetting that I had a dagger, I thought about how I could use it. Its not like a sharp edge from a rookie dagger is going to cut away at the solid rock.

As I was about to put the dagger away I remembered [Enhance].

[Enhance] – Focus your mana to apply a strengthening effect to an object of your choosing within a short radius.

I imbued the rookie dagger with [Enhance] and reverse-gripped it before slamming it into the rock with the hilt. A large chunk of rock chips away and I caught it with my storage cube before it hit the floor.

”You got the idea! ” Nightingale looked over to me with thumbs up.

We collected rocks until our storage cubes were full and brought them back to Levendale.

+++++++++++++

It was now dark and the streets of the small town were lit up with lanterns alongside the path. Nightingale and I made it to the entrance of the guild hall before moving to the secluded corner of the building.

”Shin, I took a look at your skill tree when I did my first data mining session. I saw that you have [Efficiency]. Do you think you could go into the guild hall and take up the manufacturing profession from the front desk? ”

”Yeah, I think I know where you
e going with this. ”

Without asking any questions, I talked to the front desk and learned about the manufacturing profession. As usual, a panel opened up in front of me and displayed my profession skill and what I was capable of manufacturing. Luckily, amber lustres were a beginner item that I could refine even at level 1 manufacturing.

Nightingale traded all of the rocks collected in his storage cube and combined them with my stock. From the menu, I pooled together our collective 252 unrefined rocks and began the refining process.

[Efficiency] – When consuming a resource or ammunition, there is a 15% chance that the cost will be refunded back to you.

There was a 50% chance that refining rocks yielded an amber lustre. Luckily for us, my skill was able to activate at a higher than-average rate than expected and gave us 161 amber lusters that went straight into my item pouch.

Going straight to the auction house with Nightingale and talking to the NPC, the auction panel appeared on our interfaces.

Upon thorough examination, I found that players were able to directly trade resources and silver for real-world money directly from the auction house.

Nightingale and I looked each other straight in the eye but Nightingale broke the staring contest and looked down.

”I know you
e thinking about the money. I definitely was too. But you kno- ”

”We can sell this for money quite yet ” I cut Nightingale off.

The first thing that came into my mind was paying my rent and keeping the house afloat but theres an order to this. The most important thing is to become stronger first so I can make money faster and even more efficiently.

”You read my mind ”

”Come on man, weve been through this dance more than once ” I answered.

I listed 140 amber lustres on the auction house and the NPC took out a large sack of silver and gave it to us to our surprise. We just listed the amber lustres but they immediately sold.

I split the sack of silver with Nightingale.

”Im gonna go back to training nearby Freila! Ill see you there when you get to around level 10! ” Nightingale waved goodbye while running towards the northern gate.

I waved back and went our separate ways as I returned to the armory.

+++++++++++++

———

[Character Page]

[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 5 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: NONE]

[Attributes]

Strength: 11 | Agility: 11 | Intelligence: 11

———

This time I had all the silver to purchase whatever I needed. However, when I came to visit the armory, an NPC was running the front desk in place of the player that was once there.

I bought some new equipment and enhanced them with some leftover amber lustres.

———

[Potentia Shortbow +5]

[Specialization: Ranger, Savant]

[Attributes]

Agility: 25

Attack: 71

[Required Attribute]

Agility: 10

(?) – Attributes of this weapon are reduced by 50% when equipped by a Savant

———

[Ogreclad Chestplate +5]

[Formidable Woven Tunic]

[Ogreclad Greaves]

———

I made my way to the north gate to grind out some experience.