Seeds of Discordia

Everyone looked at Avery.

After a few moments of silence Artem asked, “I don’t mind it, but I have to ask why? We only met today and don’t really know each other that well.”

“It’s because we met today,” Avery started. “I don’t know about any of you, but after I looked around, I didn’t see anyone I recognized here. I mean besides Mercer.”

“I know them, but I’m sure you’ve noticed from the interaction I wouldn’t team up with them,” Mercer commented.

“We could tell,” Roman and Artem said.

“I’m not saying that we have to stay in a group till the end,” Avery continued. “We can do a few floors, see if we mesh well. If we don’t then we can look for another group. No hard feelings.”

“So, you want to do something like a temp thing?” Mercer asked.

“A temp thing?” Blair asked.

“Temp, like temperature?” Artem questioned with a confused look.

“No. Not like temperature,” Mercer shook his head as he started to explain. “It’s short for temporary. In my world we have places called Temp Agencies where they group people with businesses for a certain amount of time. If they are a good fit, then the company hires them temporarily.”

The more Liam listened to everyone around him the more he noticed some similarities his world and theirs shared. Even if there were differences it was shocking to him that he could recognize certain things.

“I had those on my world too,” Liam said then looked at Avery. “So, if we’re going off the temp theory then what you’re essentially saying is the group would be considered the business and we are the temporary hires, right?”

Avery stared at the two guys. “Sure…I didn’t know there was a term like that.”

“It’s more of a business term than a regular term. I’m surprised you knew of it,” Mercer said as he looked at Liam.

“We had a lot of businesses in my world. Technology was widely used there and needed people that understood how to run them at a cheap cost. I’m going to have to get used to not seeing a television or a phone anymore.” Liam said as he looked away from the group.

“What’s a television?” Artem asked as he looked confused.

“And a phone?” Ariyana questioned with much interest.

“Technological devices. One is big and only shows T.V. shows, movies, or the news,” Liam explained. “The other is smaller and can do the same as well as take pictures and you can communicate with others from a farther distance.”

“So, a phone is like a coms device minus the picture taking feature?” Blair and Roman asked trying to understand.

“Yes,” Liam replied.

“We’re getting off topic,” Avery interrupted before they could say anymore. “What do you guys think?”

“Hold on. I don’t want to put a damper on this, but you can’t form a group with those who were assigned to different dungeons,” Roman added. “I’m not sure what dungeon you all got, but I was assigned to the black Dungeon.”

“I was assigned to that dungeon,” Liam replied. He then looked at Avery who nodded. “So was Avery.”

“I got the black dungeon as well,” Blair answered.

“Same here,” Ariyana and Mercer chimed in.

“I did too,” Artem finished up.

“Ok, now that we have confirmed that we’re all in the same dungeon. I’ll ask again,” Avery started. “What do you guys think?”

Liam thought about it. He really didn’t know anyone here. Having to go around and try to find anyone who would be willing to take him in with his class felt like trying to play the lottery. And he sucked at that.

Liam shook his head as he continued to think.

Here were some people who knew his class and were fine with it. He might not know them that well, but that worked out well for him. They didn’t know what went down these past couple of years on his planet nor did he think they would ask.

With a nod he stated, “I’m okay with it.”

“I’m fine with it as well,” Mercer said.

“Same.” Ariyana smiled.

“As long as you don’t back stab me, I’ll agree,” Blair stated as she crossed her arms and leaned back.

“Same here,” Roman agreed.

“I don’t know how well I’ll do, but I’ll do it,” Artem said.

“Alright, now that’s taking care of what’s the plan now?”

The group thought for a bit without saying anything.

Liam broke the silence as he said, “I think we should make preparations before tackling a floor. I want to check out at least one or two crafts tomorrow and see what they entail as well train my weapon. I also want to try and get a new skill or ability so I’m not relying on just my weapon.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Avery stated. “We should also go as a group to the Mage Tower so you three can unlock your actual Mage class.”

“You guys should see if you have any magical capabilities as well,” Mercer added.

“Sounds good.” Liam nodded.

“Then we should probably get some rest,” Blair suggested. “From the sounds of it we’re going to have a busy day tomorrow.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Roman said as he stood up. “Where should we meet up tomorrow and when?”

“Let’s meet up for breakfast in the morning. Let’s say…ten?” Mercer suggested.

“That’s well and good but how do we tell when ten is?” Artem questioned.

“There’s an internal clock you can see when looking at your stats and such,” Mercer explained.

The others stared at him for a moment before pulling up their stats.

“Huh,” Avery started.

“Holy crap there is!” Ariyana stated with shock.

Mercer gave everyone a disbelieving look. “You mean you guys didn’t see that?”

Everyone gave a sheepish look while not trying to look at him.

Mercer shook his head as he muttered, “I fear for this group already.”

“In our defense we were a bit overwhelmed by all that has happened,” Avery stated as she tried to hide her embarrassment.

“Uh huh,” Mercer said. “We’ll I’ll take my leave now. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Later,” the others said as they stood up and left too.

 

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“All that reading and all I got was a level and a half?” Liam thought as he closed the screen. He noticed the first five levels were easy to get, but as he continued to press on it was getting hard to level. “Are all the stats this way?” He shook his head. “It probably depends on what I’m trying to level.”

He sat the book off to the side and began to reposition himself. “Let’s try some of the techniques it was talking about.”

He crossed his legs and placed his hands on his knees, trying to keep his back straight. This was the first position the book talked about. The book had said it was a good starting point. Next, I’m supposed to close my eyes and do short breathes to help clear my mind.

He closed his eyes and he breathed in and out in a slow pace. As he did this, thoughts of the day flooded his mind.

“Clear the mind,” he thought.

Images of meeting everyone appeared in his head. Nalia, Adva, and Phorge appearing and explaining everything played back.

“Clear the mind.”

No change.

Liam opened his eyes as he thought to himself, “If clear the mind doesn’t work then let’s try a different phrase. But what would work?”

He thought it over and couldn’t think about what a good phrase would be. He looked around the room to try and get some inspiration. After a moment his eyes fell on something. It was the cover of the book.

With a shrug he said in a whisper, “Worth a try.”

Liam closed his eyes again and started his breathing exercise over. “Calm the storm.” He thought as he breathed in. Images started to slow down. “Calm the storm.” He breathed out as the scenes slowed even more. He did this three more times until his mind became empty.

An eerie silence filled him until the sound of a water drop lightly hitting a liquid surface echoed. Another drop hit. A new sound mixed in with the water drop. It was quiet at first, but slowly started to grow a little louder and faster as the water drop kept pace.

An image of water bubbling in a vial and going through tubes to an open glass beaker outlined in the background of Liam’s mind. Appearing next to it was a hammer floated up and then swung down on a piece of metal. Sparks exploded from each strike.

A sewing needle with a thin string attached to it snaked around until it dove in and out of a piece of cloth. A scalpel appeared next, scraping against an expensive looking jewel. An odd dark colored rock appeared next with a symbol being etched into it.

As each item being worked on finished, they began to float and circle around a ghastly greenish blue ball of light. When the last one got into place tendrils from the light began to snake out and touch the items. Images of creatures appeared above the finished products. Each creature let out a deafening roar causing the light to grow so bright it was blinding.

As the blinding light engulfed Liam’s vision a feminine voice whispered, “Crafting is filled with hidden potential. Learn, practice, create, repeat. Craft with the soul to awaken the art once lost and forgotten. Place faith in the creations and the creations will lead you higher than you’ve ever been.”

Liam suddenly opened his eyes and was panting. He looked around to see he was still in his room. He looked down to see beads of sweat rolling down his face and arms.

“What…was…that,” Liam spoke between breathes as he placed a hand on his heart. “That…was…,” he gulped, “not what…I was expecting.”

Liam slowed his breathing down a bit as he tried to organize his thoughts. “Crafting is filled with hidden potential? Craft with the soul to awaken the art once lost and forgotten? What does that mean?”

Liam continued to wrack his brain around what he saw and was told. After a couple minutes he said, “I’ll have to think about it more later. For now, I’m guessing I shouldn’t fight the fact that my class is Crafter. I will have to see where it leads me to.” He then opened the couple of notification screens that were waiting for him.

 

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“Congratulations! Core Spirit Attribute Will Sub-stat Zen is now at level 6.”

“Congratulations! Knowledge Theory – Calming the Storm has reached level 7.”

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“Hm. I got a level on my Knowledge Theory and two levels on my Zen. That’s not bad at all,” Liam said as he looked pleased. “Now that I think about it. I haven’t really seen all my stats. Let’s start with the Body stats.” He then brought the page up and saw.

 

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Liam stared at the page. “I don’t have any ailment resistances yet, nor Crafter’s endurance. That makes sense.”

His face grew dark as he stared at the Resilience sub-stat. He remembered Phorge saying this sub-stat has to do with strengthening one’s pain tolerance along with the natural defenses of the person. He wasn’t completely sure about how you could determine a person’s natural defenses, but the pain tolerance; He knew all too well how raising that can be beneficial.

Memories from the past filled his head. He felt his right-hand ball up tightly into a fist. The tension of the grip started to make is arm shake which caught his attention and snapped him out of it. He shook his head to clear the negative thoughts away as he muttered, “I think I have a good grasp as to why that’s as high as it is.”

He looked at the others trying to think of why they were at the levels they were at. He shook his head as he couldn’t think of anything. “I don’t understand how the others were computed this way.”

“Let’s see the Mind stats.”

 

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“Hm,” Liam muttered to himself.

As he looked over these stats, he tried to come up with how it came out the way they did. Some made sense after thinking them over, but he shouldn’t have had any mental Resilience yet.

He clicked on the drop-down portion of it.

Liam took in a deep breath and slowly released it. After seeing them it made better sense as to why they were there.

“She is nowhere to be found,” Liam muttered to himself. “Hopefully she died on that planet and did not get summoned here.”

He locked the memories of his step mother away and decided not to think about it anymore.

He looked over everything once more before dismissing it and bringing up his Spirit Stat page.

 

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Liam was shocked to see his Spirit Stats. Besides his MP Recovery, the levels on these sub-stats were over halfway to ten. He might have had a couple in his mind and body sub-stats, but it looked like his Spirit was looking good. However, he didn’t have anyone to compare them with so he couldn’t be sure if this was normal or not.

Liam shook his head as he dismissed the page. “There’s too many unknowns that I need answers for. For now, I should take things slowly and figure everything out as I go.”

A thought came to mind as he said, “Speaking of unknowns. I haven’t seen what I got from that fight, yet.”

He pulled up his inventory and saw some new items. He clicked on each and read the description given.

 

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“Starting Armor Set bag. Open to receive items? Yes No?”

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Liam clicked yes.

 

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“Beginner gloves. Light Armor. Item Rarity – Common. Item Quality – Poor. Armor +5.”

“Beginner Sleeveless shirt. Light Armor. Item Rarity – Common. Item Quality – Poor. Armor +5.”

“Beginner pants. Item Rarity – Common. Item Quality – Poor. Light Armor. Armor +5.”

“Beginner boots. Item Rarity – Common. Item Quality – Poor. Light Armor. Armor +5.”

“Kassan’s Beginner’s Goggles. Item Rarity – Common. Item Quality – Poor. Armor +5. +5% to Perception when worn over the eyes.”

“Kassan’s Beginners Goggles. Goggles made by Kassan when he was just an apprentice crafter. Although the quality is poor, he was able to pass on a perception bonus to help other beginner crafters spot details while working better.”

“Beginner Light Armor set. Basic armor set given to people whose dexterity is higher than their strength or constitution starting off. When wearing the complete set wearer gets a +5% bonus to small and throwing weapons. Would you like to pull out the items? Yes No?”

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“Let’s check it out,” Liam thought as he clicked yes.

Liam watched as all the items appears on the bed side by side. After checking them out he took off his clothes and tried them on. After he slipped the boots on, he looked at the mirror that was in the corner of the room.

The fingerless gloves fit snug on him and ran up to his elbow. His dark sleeveless shirt was fit around his shoulders and neck, but a little loose letting his chest and stomach to be able to breath. The dark colored pants looked like they were the equivalent to skinny jeans, but they were flex-fit formed allowing him to move freely. His new dark leather boots ran halfway up his shins and covered some of the pant legs.

He moved his arms around and crouched a few times to get a good feel for his new clothes.

“Not bad,” Liam muttered. “They fit nicely. Not too tight nor too loose. I can make swift movements without anything restricting me. The only thing I’m unsure about is this.”

He then looked at the goggles in his hand. They were basic black strapped and rimmed goggles with emerald colored lens. They reminded him of cosplay alchemist googles from his old world. After debating it over and over he finally slipped the strap over his head. He laid the eyewear on his forehead and looked at the mirror.

“I look so stupid,” Liam thought. He then brought them over his eyes and gave a sigh. “I don’t see how this ca…” He started to add until his sight changed.

He saw things a bit clearer. Details he didn’t see before were now seen on some of the items around him. The stitch patterns of his clothing were slightly more noticeable as he looked at his outfit through the mirror.

He turned and saw the details of the chairs and bed clearer. Smaller objects on the other side of the room looked like they were a bit closer now as well.

“Whoa,” Liam whispered in awe as he took in the new sight. “I don’t care if they look stupid on me. This is so cool.”

After taking in the feeling, he finally took off the goggles. “Alright. I’m going to have to practice training with this armor set, but for now I’ll wear my old clothes when I’m not in the dungeon.”

He glanced at his internal clock and saw that the time read six a.m. “I think I’ll take a break from this for now.” He waved his head side to side as he thought something over. “Since I’ve already worked up a sweat I might as well go for a jog to start the day. It’ll help break this armor in a bit.”