Gestation by John Gold (love books to read .txt) 📗

That means you were telling the truth about the rest, too.”

Caris gives you: Means of Reinforcing Wood for Craftsmen

Of course, I’m only too happy to get a book of skills for the craftsman class. Carpentry is the main class, while the secondary focus is on reinforcing wood.

“You’re boosting your skills just in general? I don’t know if you can learn any non-class skills, but you might as well give it a try. Good luck!”

He turns and heads toward the pier, and I watch him go. A complete stranger decided to help me. What, is my karma good?

With the book in hand, I vow to do everything I can to work on these skills. Even something as little as the ability to shoot a bow and arrow had turned out to be critical in Hell. And now, I have the chance to learn a secondary class ability.

Time to get to work. I have food, so now, I need herbs and wood.

I spend the whole way back to the smithy gathering plants. Half of them I don’t know, and some glow to tell me they’re useful. My herbalist skill and perception let me see what’s growing around me. It’s evening by the time I get back to the blacksmith, and I have a 90% overload. Half a ton of herbs is great!

In Project Chrysalis, every different area has its class skills, the foundation of that class. Healers have healing, craftsmen have crafting, warriors have armor-wearing, archers have fast and accurate shooting. Everyone can use edged weapons, though warriors get an additional bonus to the damage they do. Boosting your attributes enables you to do much more damage, which is why an archer will never kill a warrior at the same level with swords or knives, all things being equal. Because of that, I’ll never be a great healer or buffer. I’m more of an attacking mage.

The whole next day I spend trying herbs and brewing poisons, which just gives Clarissa something to laugh at. But when I start drinking the poison I made, she freezes, her jaw slack.

“You little idiot! That’s poison!”

“I know.”

“So, you want to poison yourself?”

“Yep. I’m developing my resistance to poison.”

“Why?”

“I want to make sure nobody can use them to kill me.”

After that, Clarissa starts teaching me how to brew poisons. The concept is the same as brewing potions in a pot, you just have to use different tools: retorts, flasks, and distilleries. The way I brew potions is practically stone age compared to what a real master can do. For example, she can make complicated potions mixing two or more effects from identical ingredients. It’s hardly surprising that alchemists and potion-brewers are held in high regard. I’ll only be able to make potions like that if I become a craftsman, since it’s the class skill that lets you mix effects.

Three days later, I get what I’ve been going for.

Skill learned: Poison-making

Poison-making: +1

Effect on the poisons you make: +1%

∞ ∞ ∞

Two more days go by as I boost my skill to 25. Obviously, the fourth-order limiter is back in effect, and I can’t get anything past that until I pick a class and get myself recognized as a capable citizen. Still, I have a huge advantage over anyone studying in the big cities. I have a whole island with all kinds of herbs and a well-developed herbalist skill. I can carry almost half a ton of ingredients, and nobody’s going to get on my case about gathering resources belonging to some clan or other. Plus, I wouldn’t have been able to learn that skill if I didn’t have a potion-brewing master nearby.

Clarissa also agreed to teach me how to prepare ointments. There’s so much to learn! Depending on the way you make them, not to mention the active ingredients, the ointment can soak in immediately or stick around on the skin. They work for a long time, too, unlike poisons and potions, and healing is far from being the only way you can use them. You can even make poisonous ointments. For example, if you rub some of one of those on a doorknob or the hilt of a sword, you can kill without ever being noticed.

After a week of testing everything out on myself, I’m the proud owner of a new skill.

Skill learned: Ointment-making

Ointment-making: +1

Effect on the ointments you make: +1%

∞ ∞ ∞

I have to wonder whether there are other nutjobs out there who spend three days, plus the money, leveling-up non-class skills they probably wouldn’t be able to guess at. There probably are, but they have to be focusing more on combat skills than crafting skills.

The only reason I got this skill is because I know the effects the ingredients have and how to make them, thanks to my cooking skill.

∞ ∞ ∞

Resistance to poison: +0.01%

Poison damage ignored: 224/second

My ointment-making skill is up to 25 two days later. I’ve focused solely on making them for myself and using them to deliver poison, though I’ve also copied my teacher’s entire book of potions and recipes down on paper. I could have done it all using blood magic, with my own blood as the basic ingredient for the ointments and poisons, but that’s something Clarissa doesn’t need to know. New recipes automatically appear in the book, though I have to copy them by hand.

Healing myself so often has got me to the point that it’s a habit. I’m always doing it, even when I’m not taking damage. There’s something soothing about it. For now, the game is a way for me to relax away from the real world, so I spend eighteen hours a day in my capsule. The rest of the time, I’m either sleeping or eating. Something’s wrong with me. I need to start reading up on medicine.

∞ ∞ ∞

Eliza was on her way to the office. That day, she’d received permission to run some studies she’d been dreaming about for quite a while. Life as a student psychologist was one long string of them, interrupted by more relaxing seminars