Chương 50: Level one, again

Notification: You are dead. Respawning. You have been reset to level 1. You have lost 10 points from each of your attributes. You have gained skill Dagger. You have gained Dagger up to level 7. Your Bleeding Strike has increased to level 3. Respawning in Elmspire. Selecting equipment: Bone Bow. I open my eyes. I'm lying on a table, and there is an elf girl sitting next to me with a sad smile in her eyes.

"Welcome back," she says.

"Do you know where you are?" I sit up, and notice that I'm wearing very thin clothing, my spatial bag, and that my bone bow is laying across my chest. I catch it before it falls to the floor.

"I'm in Elmspire," I say. She nods. I notice that she isn't looking at me, but rather past me.

"Good. And what is your name?"

"Caleb," I say.

"Caleb Strong."

"Excellent," she says. She glances briefly in my eyes, then looks away again. Then she holds up three fingers.

"And how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three." She nods a third time.

"Seems you've revived intact," she says. Then she stands up.

"There is a shop nearby where you can get new starter equipment if you like." She gestures to my bow.

"You may need to sell that if you don't have the funds. I'm afraid the only thing we provide is the basic clothing that you're wearing."

"Th-thank you," I say. I check my spatial bag as I'm going, and I see that it still has everything in it. Still has the weapons from the bandits, still has the spider carapaces, the poison glands, and still has my ranger's blade. So I don't need a new sword. That's good. It also has my money in it. I have a lot of money. That's going to be valuable in the shop. But I don't go to the shop right away.

I want to make sure that the items I buy are fitting with my current level, and I don't expect to stay level one for very long. Because I have quests to turn in. Fifteen thousand experience from the spider hunter quest, twelve thousand from clearing the temple. Let's see what a difference that makes. Level 15. 65 stat points to distribute. Okay then. First and foremost, I'm going to boost charisma by eight points.

I don't know how bad things would be if I walked around with a charisma of 2, but judging by the way the elf girl didn't even want to look at me, I'm guessing it would be bad. Actually, while I'm at it why don't I just put eight points into everything? And I'll put the last point into willpower, bringing it back up to 32. I'm still down two points in everything from where I started before getting killed, but that's a lot easier to handle than being down ten points. I thought it was five last time.

Must be because of how high a level I was when I died. Can't let there be too much of a perk to regaining levels. But now that I'm level fifteen, I can go and get some equipment. But I'm not going to the shop by the temple where I respawned. I'm going back to Glacrow. He and I have a working relationship, and I trust his prices more than I trust a shop right where people respawn.

"Hello my friend!" Glacrow says as I walk in. I like being recognized. Then he looks at me and his face falls.

"Oh, no! Did you die?"

"Yeah, I died," I say.

"I need fresh equipment. I don't suppose you have another of those elven swords?"

"Glacrow has many goods, and he will offer them to at a fair price. But what is it that you really need? You need armor! We should make sure that you are well defended, so that you don't fall again and force us to go through this a second time."

"I have some stuff to trade," I say, and start pulling out the bandit weapons. They aren't bad weapons. Not as good as what I used to have, but better than nothing. Maybe I should keep some of them so to use. No, better to see what Glacrow has for me. I need something that does a lot of damage. I need weapons that can really hurt my enemies, that will cut through their hit points and stop me from getting killed again. Love this story?

Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! Glacrow begins gathering items from all over the store. He puts together a whole suit of armor and drags the display over to where I can see it.

"This armor is very good. Made recently by a master armor smith. It will protect you, yes." It looks like it's made of leather scales bolted into place to give the whole thing the look of being scale mail without the weight or the protection. But also without the restriction to movement. I take a close look at it. Leather scale armor. Uncommon armor 6/10. Set bonus (per piece): +6 armor. Pieces in set: 3.

"This includes armor for your chest, your arms, and your legs," Glacrow says.

"It will protect you well, yes. But you need boots! Boots good for traipsing through the woods. Good boots, that will help you wander." He brings out a set of wanderers boots. They're uncommon, level 7, and provide +7 armor. But they also provide the +20% running speed buff. That should be important.

"What do you have in the form of devastating weaponry?" I ask him.

"Something that does a lot of damage really quickly."

"Glacrow has something, but he is not sure you can afford it," he says. He pulls out a sword that curves inward. The blade is beveled and wicked looking, and the handle has a basket guard on it that looks like it will fit my hand perfectly. I inspect the weapon. Slayer's Blade. Very rare weapon 13/30. Damage: 160-172. That's better than what I had. Am I going to end up with better equipment after dying than I had beforehand? I look at the armor and the sword, and I nod appreciatively.

"How much is this all going to cost me, Glacrow?"

"Glacrow cannot give you the same discount as he would like to, unfortunately," he says.

"Because Glacrow must still make a living. But seeing all that you are trading in, he can part with the armor for thirty gold and with the weapon for another two hundred." I let out a whistle. That's a lot of money. I have it, though; might as well spend it here. I put three platinum pieces on the table.

"What can I get for the other seventy gold?" I ask him.

"Maybe a pair of bracers?"

"Glacrow has just the thing!" he says. He bends down under the counter and pulls out a pair of bracers, setting them next to the sword. Bracers of Might. Rare wrist armor 8/20. +8 armor. +5 strength. That will definitely help.

"All this for the three platinum?" I ask him. Glacrow nods happily.

"You have a deal," I say. My haggling doesn't increase, but that's okay. My defense rating is back up to 98, and I just remembered that I have another quest I can go hand in. I thank Glacrow for his help and head to the scout guild. I may have died doing it, but I made it to the edge of the forest. That means I can turn in that quest and get the experience for that quest. Oh, and the experience for finding a third bandit camp. That's another 35, 000 experience. Which is enough to bring me to back to level 19.

I need to remember this trick. I don't plan on dying again any time soon, but when I do, I need to make sure I have quests that I did at my highest level that I can turn in for a bunch of levels very quickly. I just gained four more levels, which also gained me 28 more stat points. This is going to wipe out my deficit, and start putting me at higher stats than I was when I died. I put two points into strength, eight into agility, and ten into vigor. The other eight I split between presence and willpower.

I'm now close in hit points to where I was yesterday. I had over 1100. Now I have 950. I have 608 MP and 684 stamina, and my defense is back up to 112. Most importantly, I don't have to grind to get back to a point where I can run with El and Gigi again. They may have as many as eight or nine levels on me, but I'll catch up quick, without needing them to protect me as much as I power level. That's good. It's fantastic. While I'm thinking of it, I should contact them. See if they're okay.

Neither one of them has met me back at the spawning building, so I'm guessing they both survived the battle. That's good. Hey guys, I say, though I'm only sending the message to Gigi. I'm back. How long was I dead? Caleb! She responds a few seconds later. I can almost hear the relief in her voice. I'm so glad you're okay. We haven't heard anything from you all day. I've been dead all day? Well, better than forever. Were we dead for a full day after the first tutorial? We've met back up with Ash and Vincent.

Want us to head back to Elmspire and pick you up? I can run with them. But do I want to? What levels are they? Ash is 29, Vincent is 27. What level are you? Oh, no, did you get reset to level one? I did, yeah. But I'm back up to 19 thanks to the quests we've done. That's awesome! We barely need to power level you at all. Are you guys heading back here? Should I meet you halfway? That's too complicated Gigi says. We might miss each other coming back. Why don't you stay put and we'll come to you?

Staying put doesn't sound like the worst idea. But it doesn't sound like the best one, either. It's going to take you guys at least three days to get back. I'll see if I can level up a few times while I wait. Sounds like a plan. Gigi says. We'll let you know when we're in town. So I have three days. The same amount of time I had in the tutorial, to try to get myself back up to a decent level.

Three days to try to catch my friends before they get back, so that we can adventure together without anyone being on the low end, without needing their protection. I think I can do this.