Level 1 Fallen

After Wisteria left, Diane and I prepared ourselves to fight our way back out of this cave. Given how small the corridors were, my movement skills didn't provide me with much of an advantage in leaving.

However, we soon found that our concerns were needless. After another minute, there were still no undead making their way towards us. Even the slowest abomination would have had the time to arrive, so the two of us hesitantly made our way forward, quickly covering our mouths at the sight of the next room.

When the skeletal mage died, all of its undead familiars must have 'expired', with countless bodies strewn across the floor in a mountain of flesh and gore. We did our very best not to breathe the entire way out of the cave, at which point Diane silently climbed up onto my back.

Understanding her intention, I used Glancing Steps-X to quickly flee the area, heading back north towards the city. Once we were well away from the forest, both of us took deep breaths, glad to fill our lungs with fresh air. "I officially hate undead." Diane emphasized, making a gagging noise.

"Same." I grunted, letting her climb off my back so that we could walk the rest of the way. "Is your player going to be logging back on?"

However, Diane shook her head. "She's probably still sleeping. I sent her messages about the trait discovery, and that we were done fighting, but she hasn't responded. She probably won't be back until tomorrow morning."

I simply nodded my head at that. "In that case, once we get back to town, you should visit the library. You'll need to read up on various ingredients if you want to train your alchemy further."

Diane's eyes briefly lit up at that. It was always refreshing to see how she went between her cold roleplay demeanor and a typical halfling girl, depending on whether or not her player was logged in. "Got it. I'll try to research the plants we could find in Ilsan too, while I'm at it. What are you going to do, Drake?"

I thought about that for a moment. "I'll ask around. We already have the ability to create water, so our biggest threat with the desert is neutralized. However, we'll still need to consider food, and maybe shelter. Our tents might not be enough to protect us out there."

Diane nodded thoughtfully. "If only we had a way to make our own shelter with skills." She muttered, causing me to blink.

"Honestly… there might be a way to do it, but it'll require work on your end." I said, and Diane looked up at me in confusion. "If you perform skills in a nonstandard way through channeling, you can sometimes get a new skill out of it. Like the enchantment book, but manually. That's how I got Mass Appraisal originally, and Confuse."

"If you learned and cast Sand Lance, you could channel it to turn it into a wall skill, and then condense it into an earthen wall. From there, you could channel it to create a small structure all at once, creating a new construction skill."

Diane's face tightened at my words. "Couldn't you do that? I don't have unlimited mana to burn on skills like you do, so it would probably take me days, or maybe even weeks to get the right skill created. If you worked on it, you could get it done in just a couple hours, right?"

I couldn't help but chuckle wryly, shaking my head. "I don't think so. I've used skills in nonstandard ways with my Myriad Strikes-X almost constantly since I got it. However, it hasn't resulted in any new skills. I don't think the skill creation system recognizes skills cast through enchantments. Otherwise, trust me, I'd be happy to make a skill like that."

Diane huffed, shaking her head. "I'll talk to my player about it when she wakes up. There might even be a convenient skill for that already that she can find for us. In the meantime, I'll book us a couple rooms at that inn we watched last night."

I nodded my head in agreement, and we soon came back to the city's gates, entering it normally this time. That said, I was curious about the possibility of creating new skills with my existing ones. But first, I needed to check if there was anything else that we required before we could leave the city.

Looking around, I walked up to a nearby guard, waving for his attention. "Excuse me, can I have a moment?" I asked, and he turned to regard me. Seeing the glowing brand on my forehead, a product of my Camouflage skill, he nodded warmly.

"Of course, player. What would you like to know?"

"My party and I are planning to cross into Ilsan soon, and I was wondering if there were any skills or items that we needed before we make the trek. We're on our way to Evergreen." When I said that, the guard nodded his head knowingly.

"I see." He said, an almost playful smile on his face. "I've heard of quite a few players wanting to visit Evergreen lately. Though, it's a good idea to investigate first, before entering unknown territory. First of all, you will need skills to create water, as it is very scarce in Ilsan. Even as a player, you will probably not survive long enough to reach the first oasis if you don't have that."

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I nodded my head in confirmation. "I learned Create Water already, so that's not a problem. Is there, by chance, a spell or skill to create food?"

The guard couldn't help but laugh at that. "I'd hope not. Every restaurant would go out of business if people could just cast a spell to make all the food that they needed. Instead, you'll want to stock up on rations from the general store."

I let out a small chuckle, understanding his point. "I see. I hadn't thought about it like that. Is there anything else?"

The man hummed thoughtfully, looking at my equipment. "If I were you, I'd strongly consider some lighter, cloth armor. The heat in Ilsan would roast you alive inside that heavy armor of yours. If you must keep the armor for skills, I'd enchant it with temperature regulation, which you can get from the enchantment shop."

Unfortunately, my armor's enchantment slots were all full. "I'll take that under advisement, thanks."

"No problem, just trying to help. Aside from that, though, I just recommend a compass if you don't have a navigation skill. It's easy to get lost in the desert, given how often sandstorms crop up." After saying that, he smiled and waved, returning to his patrol.

Once he left, I made mental notes of what he had said. I would need rations, a compass, and perhaps some new clothes. Though, on the subject of rations, I couldn't help but recall Ennolf, my friend that decided to start up his own city to protect unfortunate Failures. Given that he specialized as a chef, he might have more insights on food-related skills.

With that thought in mind, I sent him a message via my friends list, asking if he knew of any good skills suitable for acquiring food on the road. It took about five minutes before he responded, so I started walking along the streets, looking at various shops.

There's the Create Bread magic skill. He eventually responded, catching me by surprise. I accidentally ended up learning it while experimenting with various types of skills. The bread is fairly tasteless, but the skill can be channeled to create different types of bread. I've almost got the skill ready to evolve, so I'll let you know what it turns into.

I pursed my lips, deep in thought. After a moment, I walked to a mailbox, and sent Ennolf one of the Enchantment Skill Books we acquired from the previous dungeon. This was a long-term investment, so I was sure that Diane would agree on the necessity. Can you enchant the skill onto this book, and send it back?

Thankfully, Ennolf agreed without any complaints, seeming quite happy that such a skill book existed. When I got the skill, I immediately learned it myself, planning to teach it to Diane through a quest later.

Now I just needed another random wand to enchant the item onto. Thankfully, those were easy to come by. I purchased a basic Travel Wand with three empty slots, similar to the one I already had, for eighteen silver and enchanted the new Create Bread skill onto it.

From there, I made my way to the local skill tower, eager to try my luck. Only to end up disappointed when I learned that all of the basic skills had already been sold out to other players eager to train them into powerful abilities later down the line…

Dejected, I made my way out of the city gates, looking for an open area where I could train my skills in peace. There were a few skills that I wanted to try to create, though I wasn't sure if I would be able to. A martial skill likely wouldn't be able to create long-lasting effects that would persist after I went to sleep. So, creating a structure or disguising it as something else wouldn't work.

I wanted to try to combine Martial Intent-X and Internal Recovery-X to create a skill that I could use to heal others, but that would require me to have a target to heal. And, I was not particularly keen on going to the forest and training that skill combination on giant spiders…

I also wanted to use Scout to create a new sensory skill, but needed a proper hearing-related skill to make what I wanted. In the end, I began practicing my Shadow Arsenal-X, pushing what I could create with this skill. It was similar in many ways to Martial Intent-X, but imbued my ki with a shadow element.

When I thought of that, my eyes widened, and a thought occurred to me. I did have another elemental martial skill, Crystal Wall. Curious, I began trying to channel it and a downcasted Martial Intent-X together, wanting to create a skill to make crystal weapons.

For the first hour, I was left with failure after failure, the skills not properly fusing together. I would either activate one or the other, or both at different locations, but the two never did what I wanted. However, I kept this going, making one crystal wall after another, until finally…

When the sun was nearly setting over the horizon, and sweat was dripping down my brow, I focused on the two skills once again. In my mind, I created a diamond blade with a razor edge. Channeling the skills together, I unleashed them at the same time, attempting to realize my vision.

Suddenly, I felt something sharp in my hand. Looking down, I saw the sword that I had imagined. The jagged blade gleamed in the light, and the handle was covered with rough edges that dug into my palm. Okay, maybe not the most practical skill… I was so caught up in the simple idea of wanting to create a new skill, I didn't stop to consider the fact that diamonds were perhaps not the best material to make weapons out of.

I should have combined it with ki arrows. Crystal arrows would be much better as weapons… assuming that they didn't snap the bowstring. That would certainly not be a good result.