Name: Thomas
Age: 15
Level 6: 305/800
Health: 50/50
Mana: 100/100
Stage: 1st Circle Mage
Mana absorption rate: 5 mana/min
Breathing technique: Lazy Dragon Monarch
Bloodline: Gold Dragon Monarch
Strength: 7
Agility: 6
INT: 9
Charisma: 3
Wisdom: 5
SP:1
Free attributes: 3 (unlocked following the formation of his mana core)
Abilities: Appraisal
Description: Ability to analyze any person or thing within 2 levels of your power band. ex: you can view up to 3rd circle mages but are unable to view 3rd circle and beyond.
Store: Unlocked
The golden rays of early morning sun caressed Thomas' eyelids making sleeping any longer impossible. He didn't think that he would sleep as deeply as he did on a bed that would have been barely passable in a roadside motel in his old world but the fatigue over the past week resulted in the best night's sleep he had gotten in some time.
Mission List Updated:
1. Generate your own wealth, start a business.
Select a business you would like to start and secure the necessary resources.
Reward: 1000exp
2. Select one of the betrothals incoming
Reward: 50 exp
3. Establish yourself in your barony and improve your standing in the eyes of your residents.
Reward: 100 exp, 10sp
4. Begin the hunt- start clearing some of the forest of monsters
Reward: Exp provided on kill, higher tier kills may also provide additional rewards (this mission will remain until the forest is cleared of monsters)
Thomas reviewed the mission list just to keep refresh himself on the things he wanted to take care of. "Improving your standing in the eyes of your residents" seemed pretty arbitrary but he imagined a couple of ways that he could do that. First he would have to check out the situation in the forest and then begin to recruit additional guards to bring order to the city.
Getting dressed, Thomas made his way down to the dinning room located on the floor below. Seeing a cook setting down a fresh dish, the already gathered companions turned to him and stood up. "Young Master!" they bowed as he greeted them and bid that they sit to eat. The conversation was lively around the table, his slaves recounting the trip from the duchy while the maids told tales of living in the town. Sensing a lull in the conversation, Thomas decided to have an impromptu meeting to explain his reasoning for their steps moving forward.
"To start, Davis you and the other slaves are no longer in servitude. From this moment forward you are my subordinates and full members of the town. If any of you would like to leave, now is the time to do so though I would appreciate your continued efforts."
Davis and the other now former slaves looked around with Davis speaking up, "Young Master, some of us still have families from where we were taken. Would you be able to fetch them? We're deeply grateful for the release but if we're not able to be reunited, we would like to leave and make our way back to them."
Thomas understood this desire and stated as such. "You have my word that every effort will be made to restore your families to you. What I need from you in the meantime is to begin soap production. We'll use the 2 carriages we were given to start the beginnings of our trading group. We'll start with soap and then move onto other goods. Davis, you were educated in math and record keeping so you'll take the lead on these expeditions. I'll have missives sent out to your families to have them travel to the capitol to make it slightly easier to find them. Have them meet you at the inn on the east side of the city in 2 months. By then we'll have our first batch of soap to send and sell. Take your time getting back, prioritize safety of course and be sure to take 2 guards with you."
"Yes, Young Master." Davis and the group was relieved that their Lord would still look out for their families. They just hoped that this verbal objective was followed through. It wouldn't be the first time a noble promised something only to find it too hard and try to backtrack. They decided to put their faith in Davis as he unofficially became the leader of their little group while they learned the soap making process.
"Secure one of the buildings close to the manor that remains abandoned. We currently have 200 gold coins left in our treasury, let's see what it costs to get the building patched up. Ear mark 10 gold coins for travel expenses in the near future for the trading company. Davis, I want an order of 200 soaps ready in 30 days. Let's get a move on production. I'll be traveling into the woods today with some of the local guards to check out the monster situation. Everyone stay safe and most importantly have fun." Thomas finished with a smile. He wanted to make this barony an example to other regions. Looking after the citizens from the bottom up while ensuring he maintained ultimate decision making authority was probably his best bet to maintain prosperity later on. Only time would tell if this mindset would work with the citizens and surrounding nobility.
Shortly after breakfast, everyone gathered their necessary supplies and moved out to their assignments. Accompanied by 2 guards, both at the first level of aura mastery, Thomas made his way to the edges of the forest. "My Lord," one of the guards spoke up, "In the first layer of the forest you can find dire wolves and chaos bears. These monsters usually range from unawakened to tier 1 monsters. Only the tier 1 monsters contain mana stones but they can also use magical abilities depending on what type of monster you're facing. The bears tend to use physical enhancement magic while the wolves are dangerous wind ambush predators."
"Useful information, thank you." Thomas responded, walking along a makeshift trail through the forest. The deeper they ventured, the denser the foliage got with sunlight peaking through the canopy of the tree tops. Vibrant flowers dotted the areas around the trees with bird songs providing a beautiful symphony through the forest. The air was dense with the feeling of mana, presenting Thomas with the perfect environment to restore his mana in the future. Breaking him from his inner musings, the young baron heard the soft growling of a wolf coming from a bush to the right.
Another growl came from the bushes to the left and front. Suddenly a howl sounded off behind them and a blade made of wind whipped toward the trio from the right. "Scatter!" Thomas shouted, berating himself that he walked into a dangerous forest and distracting himself with his own thoughts. The guard to his left cried out, a wolf biting on his left arm as the guard stabbed at it with his dagger. Blood flowed from both freely, the wolf tearing through the section of the arm not covered by the vambrace while the guard's dagger found a new home in the wolf's neck.
System, quick. I need a spell from the system store.
***Host: Please review the below--**
I don't have time for that System. I trust you, just auto select something for me so I can fight back.
***Purchase selected. Good luck***
**Ding: Spell learned- Fireball- Lvl 1
DMG: 100 (adjusted depending on natural defense/resistance)
Mana cost per use: 10**
Spinning to his right, Thomas felt mana gathering in his hand right as wolf neared; mouth open ready to take a bit from him. "FIREBALL" Thomas shouted, hand thrown toward the charging wolf. Heat elevated instantly around him, condensing quickly to a fireball and flying toward the wolf. The wolf ignited almost instantly on contact. **Ding: Dire Wolf defeated. 20 exp awarded.
Thomas pivoted to his left, both hands raised throwing 2 more fireballs toward 2 other wolves. One of them happened to be a lvl 1 awakened Dire Wolf having been the one to first cast the wind blade, providing 40 exp by itself. His guards had managed to take out 2 other wolves brining the total count to 5 defeated in the span of 6 minutes.
Name: Thomas
Age: 15
Level 6: 385/800
Health: 50/50
Mana: 70/100
Reviewing his exp gains, Thomas felt a little better about the ordeal. It was his first time engaging in combat following his arrival to this world and his knees were shaking as adrenaline started to leave him. "Alright, lets collect the wolves for anything of use."
The 2 knights looked at each other before chuckling softly. "My Lord, unfortunately your fire makes their pelts rather useless. Only one of them was a lvl1 awakened wolf so we'll collect its mana stone shortly." The two got to work gathering the stone while Thomas looked slightly agitated. System, why didn't you get me a skill that would leave their skins useful for reselling?
***Host: need I remind you the directive was to auto select something for you to fight back. Additional parameters would have been needed if you wanted to keep the monsters bodies in pristine condition.***
As the guards finished collecting the mana stone, they heard soft pad falls followed by a howl of mourning from behind them. The trio spun around to find a much larger wolf. Thomas quickly used appraisal on the wolf, desperate to find out how f*cked they were.
***Ding: Lvl 8 Chaos Dire Wolf detected
HP: 250/250
Mana: 200/200
Affinities: Wind
...Shit.