Chapter 11 - Preparation
Name: Kyle
Age: 22
Magician Rank: 1
Soul: Eagle [Atk+5] (Count 1)
HP: 50 [0/500] (Rank 1)
MP: 10 [0/500] (Rank 1)
Attack: 3(+5) [0/500] (Rank 1)
Defense: 2 [0/500] (Rank 1)
Speed: 3 [0/500] (Rank 1)
Magic: 1 [0/500] (Rank 1)
Kyle looked at his status but he was confused with some of the things shown there. "Care to explain my status? I know some of them but some confuse me," asked Kyle. He knew what the number after the HP, MP, Attack, Defense, Speed, and Magic were but the one in the bracket confused him.
[First of all, I will tell you about the magician rank status] said Dodo and he continued, [You should already know that you will start at Rank 1 and will slowly advance to higher rank when you kill monsters in the wild. The number 0/500 is the experience you need to rank up to rank 2. At the moment, you have 0 experience and thus you will need 500 of this experience to rank up] said Dodo.
"Wait a second. If the 500 is the experience, why are all the status needs the experience? From my gaming knowledge the experience works for the whole thing," said Kyle. In games, the experience was not put in each of the status but instead works as a whole.
[Though I said that it is an experience, it is not an experience like in the games that you will get when you kill a monster] said Dodo, and Kyle was more confused. How could an experience not be an experience?
[From all the data I have examined about the magician when they killed a monster, the monster will release many micro-energy particles when they die. Some of this energy could potentially form the monster soul while most of them will be absorbed by the magician to strengthen themselves. The experience I make here is for the energy particles] explained Dodo and Kyle nodded.
He had seen it too that once a monster died, their body would release lights of different colors (similar to firefly) and the magician would absorb those lights. Why they absorbed the lights was unknown to him until now.
[There are many different types of energy particles the magician can absorb based on what status they have. If they want to increase their HP experience, they will need to absorb the energy particles for HP] said Dodo.
[However, based on the species of the monsters, they would release different types of energy particles. For example, an eagle will usually release the attack particles and speed particles. However, 95% of the time, they will not release anything. How much they release will be based on the monsters too. The basic monsters will rarely release the energy particles and thus, why humans did not know they are monsters. When a particle appears, they treat it as if the animal is mutating to a monster] said Dodo and Kyle nodded as he understood what Dodo was saying.
[You must have known when the magicians said that they are mid-rank 1 or high rank 1 or peak rank 1. That is all because they have filled some of the status experience to the brim and are waiting for another status to fill too before they advance to rank 2] said Dodo and Kyle's eyes shone as everything finally makes sense.
[Moving on from that, the +5 in the bracket next to your attack status is the status increase given to you by the eagle soul. The monster soul not only acts as the medium for humans to be able to use magic skills, but they also enhance some of the status owned by that human. Your eagle soul increases the attack stat by 5] said Dodo.
"Why is it in a bracket?" Kyle asked and Dodo sighed, surprising Kyle for a second.
[The stat is not permanent and for you to use the +5 attack, you need to use the soul which many magicians dare not to use] said Dodo and Kyle frowned and he asked, "Why?"
[Because of the compatibility. If by chance their compatibility is low, using the soul will damage their body and there are also cases where the soul left the magician's body permanently and the magician becomes a normal human back] said Dodo. When Kyle heard that, he was shocked. He never knew the soul could leave the magician's body.
[This problem only applies to the natural soul. There is no such problem with the artificial soul, I mean the part where the soul leaves the body because they have no life like the natural soul] said Dodo and Kyle frowned.
"Then, it will be a problem to me too, right?" Kyle asked because their target was the natural soul since the artificial soul was useless. They had no way to make the artificial soul as good as the natural soul.
[You will be fine because your compatibility with the eagle soul is perfect. Everyone will be fine if they get themselves a soul with compatibility as high as 90%. Below that, the soul can leave them if they use it. The eagle soul will never leave you unless you release it by yourselves] said Dodo and Kyle patted his chest because he felt relief.
"Looks like there is more to the soul than what I know," said Kyle and Dodo added, [There are many things that we have yet to discover.]
"How about the count beside the eagle soul?" Kyle continued his question.
[You can strengthen the soul by absorbing another same species of soul. Let's just say the soul in your body can fuse with the other soul of the same species to strengthen itself] said Dodo and Kyle nodded. He had read that there were methods in strengthening the soul other than rank up and now he knew.
Kyle looked again at all his status and he asked Dodo another question, "Is my status normal?"
[… Your status is super low. You are weak. Do you know that a normal human can have a maximum of 10 points per status and on average, their status will be 4 to 5 but your status is below average except your HP? I told you many times before to start exercising and now see what you get] said Dodo because he was frustrated.
Dodo had been asking Kyle to exercise many times in the past but Kyle was not the type that loved exercise. He did jog for a week but then, he never ran again because he was not in the mood. Dodo tried forcing him many times but Kyle got busy and busy each day and he never went to exercise again.
"Well, you know I am busy collecting data for you," Kyle felt guilty. He also knew that his unhealthy lifestyle would affect him sooner and later but it was hard for him to do it. "Now that I am a magician, I will put in some effort to exercise because we will need to fight monsters to collect their data."
[With this status, you cannot even last long in bed. Perhaps a few minutes? How will you get a girlfriend and get married in the future if you are this weak? You are 22 this year and you will need to get married soon. In your current situation, I doubt you will get any girl. What girl will want an unhealthy nerd?] said Dodo and Kyle was pissed.
"Do you know why I became a nerd in the first place? It was because we needed that data. I am not that nerdy before I met you. I admit that I am not a fan of sports and rarely exercise but I am not a nerd," said Kyle and he added, "Why in the world are you butting in my personal life? I will get married when I have to. If I want to, I can easily get a girlfriend."
[With your face and body, I doubt it] said Dodo and he continued, [Don't you know that before your barely passable personality, most people will first see your appearance? With that average face and skinny body, you will not be able to find a girlfriend easily]
"Most but not all of them. Even with this face and body, I can still get a girlfriend. Not all of them see the appearance. Many will like this face," said Kyle and he suddenly felt stupid fighting Dodo in this matter because he was still young and his youthfulness would stay longer since he was a magician and he would have a lot of time to get a girlfriend.
"Anyway, let's stop talking about this," said Kyle. "If a normal human has the maximum status points of 10, how about a rank 1 magician?" Kyle asked.
[A rank 1 magician can have the maximum status of 20. This status cannot exceed this number because their body cannot handle more than that] said Dodo. [The status of the soul, equipment, or skills do not count in this 20 because they are not permanent] said Dodo, and Kyle nodded.
"So, even if the status exceeds the maximum value while using equipment, soul, or skill, my body will be fine?" Kyle asked for conformation and Dodo said yes.
[You also need to know that many powerful magicians do not have a strong body but they have strong monster souls, strong equipment, and strong skills] said Dodo.
"So, I might become like that too in the future," thought Kyle. Since his body was weak, even if his magician rank advanced, his body would not turn any stronger than a magician of the same rank. He would also need to rely on the soul, equipment, and skills.
[No. I am not that lousy to let my master have a weak body. You will not only have a strong soul, equipment, and skills, you will also have a strong body. I will make sure you have a strong body even without you exercising every time. There are a lot of treasures in the multiverse we can use to strengthen your body. If we cannot get it, we can create it by ourselves] Dodo was burning with passion.
[If by chance we meet another system, I will be ashamed if I show them my shabby master] , said Dodo. Though he sounded like he wanted to help Kyle, Kyle did not like the last sentence. He did not need to hear Dodo's insult.
Kyle closed his eyes (he did not want to get angry) and asked another question, "A magician will usually live a long life. Can't you show me how long I can live? Those systems in novels usually have the lifespan status."
[It is impossible for me to know. I can make a rough estimation based on many other magicians but I cannot know the exact lifespan because I cannot use the life law and death law] said Dodo and Kyle understood. He thought that the system was super powerful but apparently, they have their limitations too.
Kyle did not know about other systems but he was sure that Dodo's special power was his hyper brain skill.
[I have explained everything to you. Now, tell me what kind of skill you want to construct?] Dodo asked. All the long talk happened because Kyle wanted to know his status before he made his decision on what skill he wanted.
"Hmm~" Kyle massaged his chin as he was thinking what type of skill he wanted. "A physical skill is useless for now because I can increase my attack with the soul and weapon," thought Kyle.
"A magic skill is useless too because my magic status and the damage will be low and I will not be able to use it many times because of my low mana. The same with many other skills," thought Kyle. All skills needed mana and without enough mana, the skill could not be used.
There were two main types of skills. First was the physical skill and second was the magic skill. Though physical skill was called physical, it still used mana to activate and that meant it was a magic skill too. However, there was a difference between the two types of offensive skill.
The magic skills would usually be made of 100% mana. Their attack would usually be projectiles or long-range while physical skills would need the use of solid media such as swords, spears, and many other types of weapons.
"Maybe a speed or defensive skill?" thought Kyle. If he had a defensive skill, he would be able to lower the damage he received and could last longer in battle. If he had a speed skill, he would be able to dodge many attacks with the speed and he could retreat from battle too if it gets dangerous.
Kyle thought for a few minutes and he finally made his decision. "Dodo, I need a skill that can increase my skill. If possible, I want a passive skill," said Kyle. Having an active skill was a hassle because it needed activation and use a lot of mana. Passive skill was activated all the time as long as he had enough mana.
[Ok. I will create a passive skill that will increase your speed. I will need some time to make the skill because it needs to be fully compatible with you and at maximum power] said Dodo and Kyle nodded. [While I get busy with the skill, how about you search for equipment online? Let's not waste any more time as our money will run out soon] suggested Dodo and Kyle agreed.
While Dodo was making the skill, Kyle went online and searched for suitable equipment. He already had in mind what weapon he wanted to use and immediately found a variety of them.
However, Kyle immediately used the filter function and searched for a cheaper weapon because they were expensive and he could not afford it. "Hah~ it will be easier if this Dojo can make the equipment too," said Kyle while he looked at the selection of daggers online.
Kyle's first choice of weapon was a dagger. Many magicians would usually choose a sword as their first weapon but the sword was heavy and with Kyle's physique, he would not be able to use them properly. So, he chose the lighter weapon, dagger. If he had more money, he would choose a gun immediately but he was poor and he could only afford a primitive type of weapon.
[This dojo will have a blacksmith in the future when you level up the dojo system and we will be able to make our weapon] said Dodo and Kyle was surprised.
"Is it normal for a dojo to have a blacksmith?" Kyle had no idea. He thought that the dojo would only help train magicians and all those stuff Dodo mentioned two years ago.
[Yes, it is. Those second type of dojos all have their blacksmith for their apprentice. They even have their own herbs shop, café, and many other things. I told you before that the second type of dojo is similar to a small clan. You know how those clans have their things in their clan to help their clanmates? The dojos are the same too] said Dodo and Kyle made an '0' mouth while nodding.
"I guess we will provide a lot of service to our customers," said Kyle and he continued searching for a cheap dagger.
[Obviously. In the beginning, this dojo will only offer basic service but as the dojo system level up, we will provide more and more things] said Dodo and he added, [Believe me that our dojo will be different compared to other dojos. Those first types of dojo will surely try to copy us] said Dodo proudly.
"Hmm~ This is a problem," said Kyle. He wanted to get himself at least a decent Rank 1 dagger but most of them were expensive. The cheapest one was 500 sola which he could not afford because he needed to buy defensive equipment too.
"I think this iron dagger will do," said Kyle and he put the iron dagger with attack+3 in the cart. That iron dagger cost him 200 sola. That was the cheapest one he could find. Kyle continued searching for a piece of defensive equipment but they were much more expensive than the weapon.
It was understandable why they were expensive because making defensive equipment was harder than making weapons. Weapons usually used metals while there were many types of defensive equipment and most of them were made of fabrics and other soft materials.
Looking at all the selections of the defensive equipment, Kyle gave up. The cheapest one was 800 sola and it was a white t-shirt. He could not afford any of the defensive equipment. In the end, he made do with the iron dagger. Once he had more money, he would get good defensive equipment.
With nothing else to do, Kyle went downstairs to see the construction of the dojo. When he got there, he saw that a quarter of it was finished. The front of the dojo where the counter was located was finished. It was nothing extravagant.
There were vending machines where the customer could choose which service they wanted to use and bought a ticket from it where they could use it inside the dojo. At the current age, everything was automated and Kyle did not need to attend anything even without Dodo with him.
However, he had Dodo and the whole Dojo was Dodo's 'body', so Dodo would take care of everything from receiving customers to security. All in Dodo's hand. Dodo could be considered the strongest one in the Dojo.
The customer waiting area was finished too and there were a lot of sofas lined up there. Where Dodo gets the sofa was unknown to Kyle but he had a feeling that Dodo used the energy given by the law of multiverse to create all those things including the vending machines.
Since he only needed to use 30% of the energy to create a new universe, to create a small thing like that would take him less than 1% of the energy. While he was looking at the construction, Dodo told him that he had created a skill for Kyle.
"That's fast," said Kyle because Dodo said it would take a while.
[Well, I cannot create a really good one because of the inferior soul] said Dodo dejectedly. He wanted to create a really good skill for Kyle but he failed.
"It is fine. You will create a better one later when we get the natural soul," said Kyle. Dodo cheered up and he passed on the information about the skill to Kyle.