- Skills: Item Box: Lv Max, Staff Technique: Lv 3, Character Appraisal
Ah, so this is Character Appraisal. Maybe I should try it out on the street; there might be some useful information.
Stepping out from the inn onto the street, I appraised people passing by. It turns out that Character Appraisal can reveal skills and their levels for both me and others. Unfortunately, when appraising others, their names and ages weren't shown, only their occupations. Perhaps it's a bit considerate of personal information?
Continuing to appraise people, I found that most ordinary folks didn't have any skills at all. Among those carrying swords, about one in ten had Swordsmanship: Lv 1, but nobody had Swordsmanship: Lv 2 or higher. Even Lv 2 seemed to be a rare skill.
As for myself, while my lack of实战经验（actual combat experience）is a concern, having Staff Technique: Lv 3 might be comparable to the legendary Swordsmanship: Lv 3, which is quite impressive.
If the enemy were to come all the way to the inn, fighting inside would be highly disadvantageous since my weapon is about as long as I am tall, making it cumbersome to wield indoors. Plus, it would cause trouble for the inn. It's better to fight in a spacious area where I won't bother anyone.
I stopped assessing people and decided to practice swinging my staff for visualization training. I veered off the main street into a deserted alley.
After walking for a while, two men approached from ahead. When I assessed them, one had Swordsmanship: Lv2, and the other had Swordsmanship: Lv1. They were dressed in black leather outfits that screamed "thug."
"You're Zenjiro Iwanaga, right? Come with us quietly," said the Swordsmanship Lv2 guy in a heavy tone.
Only the innkeeper and the people from the facility I ran away from know my name. It's clear where these guys came from.
There seem to be two more behind me. I can sense their presence. I never paid attention to such things before, but it seems my Staff Mastery Lv3 is working wonders.
"Hey, you must have the wrong guy! My name is Son Gokū!" I said, slowly pulling out a wooden staff from my item box, which I had cleverly disguised to look like something I pulled out of my ear. From now on, I'll call this wooden staff my Ruyi Jingu Bang.
The moment I drew my weapon, the Swordsmanship Lv2 guy's killing intent flared up. It seems I can even sense killing intent now.
"Speak up about what you want to know, and you'll be in for it. No worries. Just rough him up a bit—no need to kill him."
With his Swordsmanship Lvl 2 skills, the villain straight out of a period drama sends his henchmen after me. I couldn't help but smile at this; this confidence must come from his Staff Technique Lvl 3.
Following the boss's orders, the first henchman drew his sword and swung down at me from above, while the other two closed in from behind, ready to strike at any opportunity. They were supposed to just hurt me, not kill me, but they definitely looked like they meant business.
Anyway, the movements of the henchman in front of me and his sword were slow—really slow.
With plenty of ease, as he brought his sword down, I lightly tapped his wrist with the tip of my staff. Just one light tap, and the guy dropped his sword. At the same time, I felt a slight odd sensation through my staff.
Looking at his wrist pointing in an unnatural direction, it seemed broken. That odd feeling must have been the sensation of breaking the bone. Good to know.
The other two henchmen also drew their swords and swung them simultaneously, so I jabbed the back end of my staff into them twice. The jabs hit their chests easily. With a strong counter-thrust, the impact was significant, and both fell backward, not moving.
If only the guy had realized his disadvantage from my previous moves. Instead, the Level 2 dude grumbled, "Grrr!" and took a big step toward me, lowering his body. He held the scabbard diagonally with his left hand and drew his sword upward with his right.
The longsword he pulled out had a decent reach, but it was still just a sword's reach. No match for the longer range of my Level 3 staff techniques. I could sense his movements easily. Without even needing to back off, I arched my body and dodged his first strike, then swung my staff down hard from above.
*Thwack!*
A sound that should never come from a human head echoed as the staff crushed into his skull, embedding itself up to the nose. Despite the brutal blow, my staff remained intact—pretty sturdy, I must say. After pulling the staff out of the guy's head, he faceplanted onto the road. The lackey standing behind him seemed to lose his will to fight and ran away, leaving his sword on the ground.
Who knows what the fleeing guy will report, but at least they'll know I'm not someone to mess with.
I approached the two fallen guys on the ground and squatted down to check on them. Neither was breathing. I felt their necks for a pulse, but there was none. Did they bite their tongues and die like in those period dramas? But there's no reason to do that if you're not dead already.
Hey there! It looks like my jab, which caught them off guard, stopped their heart. Maybe they could have been revived with an AED, but unfortunately, there's no such thing around here, and even if there were, I wouldn't feel obligated to use it.
Since their weapons might come in handy, I should collect them. I stored all four swords in my item box. While I was at it, I wiped the dirty tip of my staff on one of the corpses' clothes.
What should I do with the bodies? Leaving them here seems risky, so I guess I'll store them in my item box too. Stashing away the guy whose head got oddly deformed is a bit gross, but oh well.
And that's how I survived my first real fight.
If someone messes with me, I'm going to mess with them back. I don't know how much retaliation is fair, but I need to make it clear that they shouldn't mess with me anymore and that there will be consequences.
So, how should I get back at them? Maybe I could stuff some explosives into those bodies and throw them back into their territory. Bombs, explosives, explosives, bombs...
*Piloron!*
"Would you like to spend 1 skill point to learn Alchemy Lv1? Yes or No?"
The *Piloron* sound means I can make explosives with alchemy. Of course, I choose "Yes."
`You've spent 1 skill point to learn Alchemy Level 1. You now have 136 skill points remaining.`
`You can now choose the new profession: Alchemist.`
`0. Do not choose now.
1. Martial Artist (Staff Techniques)
2. Alchemist
Please select a number from 0 to 2.`
Being an alchemist is definitely the way to go. My gaming experience tells me so. So, let's go with 2.
`You've chosen the profession: Alchemist. Your related abilities have increased by 50 percent.`
I'm not sure exactly what abilities have improved, but I'm sure it's something impressive.
`Would you like to spend 2 skill points to learn Alchemy Level 2? Yes or No`
`Yes`
`You've spent 2 skill points to learn Alchemy Level 2. You now have 134 skill points remaining.`
...
`Would you like to spend 10 skill points to learn Max Level Alchemy? Yes or No`
`Yes`
`You've spent 10 skill points to learn Max Level Alchemy. You now have 82 skill points remaining.`
`Your Alchemy has reached Max Level. Now, you can transmute any alchemy materials just by focusing on them.`
`With both your Alchemy and Item Box at Max Level, the Item Box Alchemy Workshop has been unlocked.
In the Alchemy Workshop, you can replicate objects and create alchemy items.
To replicate an item, place it inside the Replication Box within the Item Box.`
Alchemical items can be relatively easily created in an alchemy workshop if you know their composition and the alchemy process. In any case, the materials used will come from the ingredient box within your item box and the surrounding air and water. If a material is not available in the ingredient box or the surrounding air, the alchemy workshop will consume the alchemist's mental energy to create it. Be careful, as too much missing material can put a heavy burden on the alchemist.
Moreover, the alchemy workshop automatically remembers the process for creating items, including replication. Once you've made an alchemical item once, you can recreate it simply by focusing on it, bypassing the entire process.
It seems that once you make something with alchemy, you can pretty much produce it automatically afterward. And as long as you have enough mental energy, you can handle the materials. This is amazing!
When I used character appraisal on myself, my occupation appeared even though I didn't have one before. I couldn't see others' occupations, but I can see my own. Makes sense.
Name: Zenjiro Iwanaga
Age: 27
Occupation: Alchemist
Skills: Alchemy: Lv Max, Item Box: Lv Max, Staff Technique: Lv 3, Character Appraisal
I might as well try making some liquid explosives in the alchemy workshop. I think nitroglycerin is made by mixing glycerin into concentrated sulfuric acid and then slowly adding nitric acid while stirring. I vaguely remember the details about concentrated sulfuric acid, but as long as I get the feeling right, the alchemy workshop should be able to manage it, right?
First up, sulfuric acid. I think it's made of hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. When I created it, I felt a bit tired. There's probably no sulfur-containing gas around me, so my willpower must have served as the sulfur component.
Glycerin and nitric acid are compounds of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, so they should be possible to transmute just from the air, meaning I already have the materials. Glycerin transmutation! Nitric acid transmutation!
In the end, two colorless, transparent liquids were produced in the alchemy workshop, just like the glycerin. Glycerin should have a decent viscosity, and sulfuric acid should be about as thick as salad oil, but I couldn't tell inside the alchemy workshop. The specifics of the nitric acid were also unclear.
Nitroglycerin: Transmutation! (Not that I'd say it out loud. That would be painful.)
With all the ingredients ready, I focused on mixing them, and they combined within the alchemy workshop. I don't have any clay for making bottles, but I still have pieces of the wall I cut out when escaping the temple. I decided to move those into the material box and use them as bottle materials.
It's done. A bottle of nitroglycerin (temporary name). It looks like there's about a liter. Since the transmutation process should be recorded, I should be able to transmute "nitroglycerin" whenever I want now.
I took the finished bottle out of the item box and opened the lid. Inside was a colorless, viscous liquid. This must be nitroglycerin (temporary name). After confirming it, I put it back into the item box for safekeeping.
It seems that my current work in the alchemy lab isn't affecting my body too much. I thought there might be some kind of backlash when I got really tired, but it looks like there's no significant reaction at that level.
If I ever need to produce something in large quantities, there's a chance I could burn out quickly, so it would be best to take it step by step in such cases.
"Nitroglycerin: Transmute!"
"Nitroglycerin: Transmute!"