“Hi,” I greeted the blacksmith as soon as I entered his workshop.

“Your Item Storage Box is done,” Alragus said before placing his hammer at the anvil and went to pick something up. He came back and placed a rolled-up piece of paper in front of me. It had a string around it to hold it from opening up and resembled the medieval times parchment or a scroll. “Here you go.”

“Huh? That’s… the Item Storage Box?” I looked at the paper scroll on the table.

“Yes,” was all Alragus said.

“So… how do I use it?” I had no idea what to do.

“Are you serious? Don’t tell me this is your first time seeing a Skill Scroll?” Alragus scoffed at me.

“Yes,” I gave him a glare, furrowing my eyebrows. Lying about it would’ve made me look like an idiot, so I made a mocking facial expression to try and get a hint across that I wasn’t some know-it-all.

“Humph. You open the scroll and read it. It will give you an option to learn the skill it has,” Alragus wasn’t a complete asshole and explained it to me in a serious yet non-condescending tone.

“Right, thanks,” I eased up. I picked up the scroll, untied it and rolled it open, so I could see what was written on it. “Item Storage Box Level Three.”

As soon as I’ve read the words a transparent window appeared in front me with an option to learn the skill. Obviously, I chose the ‘Yes’ option.

- “Oh my, how exciting. You’ve just acquired an Item Storage Box and a Level Three one at that. You can store all kinds of items inside of it, if you know what I mean. I hope you won’t forget to put something inside of me as well, babe. I miss you so much.” – Lavita was very on time and very excited about me getting an Item Storage Box, especially about the putting something inside of it part.

“Ah… ahem… yeah… sure…” I mumbled quietly through my gritted teeth.

“For the heat of my forge, you’re no ordinary schmuck after all. I was wondering why Savirei would bother referring someone like you to me, considering her tastes and all. Who could’ve thought?” Alragus dark brown eyes were glaring at me intently.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” I was puzzled by his comment, wondering if he was referring to how I learned the Item Storage Box skill. I couldn’t have known, but maybe there was some trick behind it which made it not work every time yet I learned it on my first try.

“Nothing,” he blurted, his weird facial expression not leaving his face. “By the way, next time you leave your stuff in my workshop I’ll charge a storage fee for it or… take it for myself.”

He went to pick up and then placed my self-made box I have left earlier on the floor in front of me. It had a handful of Halluspider strings in it since I’ve sold the Lesser Trent wood already.

“Oh, sorry about that. Thanks,” I really felt like a dumbass now.

Idiot… I rubbed the back of my head, but tried to keep a neutral facial expression. I was about to pick up the wooden box from the floor when it hit me. Hold on, I have this Item Storage Box now. I can test to see if it works.

“Mind if I open my Item Storage Box here?” I had no idea how it will work, so I wanted to have the blacksmith’s permission first.

“Humph, do what you want,” again, he gave me an eyeful.

“Thanks,” I grunted, a frown crawling onto my face. “Show Status.”

A transparent window opened up in front of me. It was a window I’ve already seen a few times, but it was still amazing to witness how it appeared every time. I tapped on the ‘Skills’ tab where all of my skills were listed and a new, blue rarity skill was among them as well. It read ‘Item Storage Box Level Three’. I tapped on it once and an option to open it appeared. I chose the ‘Yes’ option.

“Wow,” I gasped in surprise when a square shaped window opened in front of me. Just like Alragus said, it was about three feet in diameter, but differently from all other windows I had seen up to this point, the current one wasn’t transparent. It looked like there was an empty space inside of it and looked like a room of sorts but had no end to it. At the same time, it didn’t seem like it was out of reach either. I leaned to the side to see the blacksmith since it was obstructing my view. “Can you see what’s inside too?”

“Of course not. Nobody can see what the other person’s Item Storage Box contains. All I see is a thick mist,” Alragus answered as if he was expecting to hear the question. It might’ve been me, but he looked a little amused by it too.

“Right…” I leaned back to face the item storage window. Ok, let’s test it then.

I bowed down to pick up one spider string from my wooden box and, hesitant at first, put my hand inside the open storage box window. My eyes widened when I saw the inside of it shift and move to the sides. I didn’t move from my spot, but the space inside of the window moved from the slightest motion of my hand, making me gasp at the sight.

Eh? Wow, this is… kind awesome. I was taken aback by how unreal it looked, but here I was, meddling with a magical skill that could store items inside of it. Ok, so do I just ‘place’ the string here?

I didn’t know what will happen, so I simply placed the string inside like I would normally place something on a table. As soon as I released the string and pulled my hand out, a notification appeared that a Halluspider string was now inside the Item Storage Box. I didn’t see it at first, because I wasn’t looking at the text above, but now it said there was ‘1/60’ items inside the Item Storage Box.

I see. So, that’s how it works. But how do I to take it out? I put my hand inside of the storage box window and tried to take the string out of it. The thing was, I couldn’t see the item with my eyes, but as soon as I reached to take it, the Halluspider string materialized inside my palm. I pulled my hand with the item in it out and the count above changed to ‘0/60’ items. I did what I did before and put the string back inside the Item Storage Box again. Cool.

I became as excited as a little child getting a new toy. It was definitely a new experience for me. I went to put all the Halluspider strings that I had and the end count was ‘8/60’ items inside the storage box. I closed the Status Window and looked at the empty wooden box on the floor. I had no need for it anymore.

“Hey, do you think you will need this box?” I asked Alragus who was now tinkering with something at the anvil. My question got his attention. He placed whatever he was holding in his hands on the nearby table and came over to where I was.

“Maybe…” he squinted his eyes at me. “Mind if I ask where you got it?”

Where I got it? Aren’t you polite all of a sudden? I was looking for a snappy comeback comment, but I couldn’t think of anything on the spot, probably because he wasn’t a complete ass from the beginning.

“I made it,” I told him.

“You made it? Hmph, you have a Tool Crafting Skill?” He became curious.

“A Tool Crafting Skill?” I tilted my head to the side, feeling puzzled. “No, it’s just a normal Crafting Skill.”

“Huh? Are you serious?” He gave me a scoffing glare.

“Yes, I am. What’s the big deal?” I became annoyed with him. First, he made fun of me, because I didn’t know how to learn the Item Storage Box skill and now he was testing my patience about some Crafting Skill.

“It IS a big deal. Usually, people would get a specialized crafting skill. Like Blacksmithing Skill, Tailoring Skill, Leatherworking Skill, Tool Crafting Skill and so on. Are you saying your Crafting Skill has no specialization?” Alragus sounded rather intense with his words.

“Really? Well, I guess wasn’t so lucky then. My skill says ‘Crafting Skill’ and nothing else,” I threw my hands to the sides, acting like I was disappointed, but in reality, I couldn’t have cared less.

“Idiot, it’s quite the opposite. You are the lucky one here,” he raised his voice, pointing his finger at me.

“Huh? I was lucky?” I raised an eyebrow, feeling really surprised about it. “Well, the skill is written in blue, so it is rare alright, but I can’t make that many items, nor they are that impressive.”

“That’s probably because your crafting skill level is low. The more items you make the higher your skill level will become. And the higher your crafting skill level is the better items you will be able to craft. The frustrating fact is, it’s a long and arduous task to raise one’s crafting skill level, for anyone who has a specialized crafting skill that is. That’s why you were very lucky to get a Crafting skill that has no specialization. There’s only so many items a tailor or a blacksmith can craft, and believe me, it is very difficult to raise one’s crafting skill when you have only a few Crafting Recipes to choose from. However, if what you say is true, and your Crafting skill has no restrictions, you will be able to raise your skill’s level much faster and be able to make some high level and high quality stuff in the future.” Alragus shared his knowledge with me, but I could catch a slight envy in his voice.

“Wow, thanks,” I was grateful for such information nonetheless.

“By the way, how much for the box?” Alragus asked, pointing at the wooden box near my feet.

“Ah, well…” I was about to put a smug negotiation act on, but then quickly remembered I had no idea how much I could charge for it. Alragus was very helpful up till now and he didn’t charge me any fee for safekeeping the box for the time it stayed in his workshop, so me acting like an ass to get the best price possible for some crappy wooden box didn’t feel right. Instead, I thought I’ll try and make it a fair exchange. “You know, I need a few tools for myself, so maybe we can do a fair exchange?”

“What tools do you need?” The offer sounded appealing to him.

I didn’t know the names of most of the tools that I needed simply because I wasn’t much of a crafter at this point. So, other than saying I needed a good knife, I was vague with my list. Fortunately for me, Alragus was helpful. He was making many different tools for people as part of his trade. I got what I wanted and he got the wooden box from me. I was puzzled by why he would need it since I was certain he had an Item Storage Box of his own, but who was I to question his reasons. I was happy I got a few tools for myself basically for free. I would’ve thrown the wooden box away anyway. On a positive flip note, I was happy I won’t need to run to the Iron Thorns Wall every time I needed to make holes inside the Carnabbit Fur, or any other fur I might come across for that matter. After all was said and done, I finally left Alragus’ workshop.

Damn, this took longer than I thought. I stretched after I walked outside. However, it’s too early to eat, but I have nothing else to do. I have the Item Storage Box now, so maybe I could go to the dungeon right away. I’ll get a bunch of monster rabbit meat on the way and I should get to the Guardian Tree much faster now, since I know the way. I could spend the night sleeping in my hammock. Damn, it’d be so nice if I could take it with me. Then I could… Huh? You dumbass, you can take it with you. Hahaha! Holy crap. The Item Storage Box is totally awesome. Dungeon, here I… Oh, wait. I better stack on water first.

I was about to turn towards the city’s gates when I remembered it. I struggled to reach the Secret Area with the Guardian Tree when I went to pick up my loot to make that fur mantle for the old barber, because I didn’t bring enough water with me. Now that I have a way where to store the monster rabbit meat, I know I won’t starve, but having no water to drink would be bad. I went and bought the biggest water containers I could find and filled them with water which was free and available for everyone. The amount of water that I had in the end I knew would last me a week or so. It took a few extra spaces in my Item Storage Box, but it was necessary.

I wonder if there are other Skill Scrolls that would be useful to learn? I wondered, holding my chin up while passing the city’s gate. Maybe magic scrolls can be found in the dungeon too? This is a gaming fantasy world.

It might be possible. I still knew very little about this world. It was very real, but at the same time, it was unreal too. For me at least. All the people I have met seemed to be very real, but there were beast-humans too. Also, the Status Window, the character stats, levels, skills, magic items and who knows what else were not something I had ever expected to be real and usable. Yet here I was, equipped with two magical shields that boost my stats, I just learned a new skill simply reading it from a parchment, I could store items inside an empty space that only I could see and I was making my way to the dungeon to fight monsters that drop items. Can’t get more real than that.

We shall see. Let’s pick up my hammock first. I grinned happily which could’ve been viewed like a dorky smile. Fortunately, nobody was nearby right now.

I made my way to the dungeon, passing by a few adventuring parties that probably came out of the dungeon. The day was shifting to the second half and I had three or four hours until it starts becoming dark. I’ve visited the Guardian Tree secret area twice on my own, so I knew where to go now, but I still wanted to get at least a couple of monster rabbit meat pieces before descending to the lower floor.

- “Two experience points gained. You are building up a sweat, aren’t you handsome?” – Lavita’s sweet words sent shivers down my spine.

“I’d build a sweat with you too, lovely,” I replied half-jokingly, knowing she wouldn’t respond back.

Sometimes I’d let myself be amused by Lavita’s seductive teasing. It was fun, even if I was just faking it. She wasn’t a real person, but hearing Lavita’s voice helped me survive all the time I was stuck inside that secret area. I probably would’ve gone crazy if I had to listen to that lifeless, mechanical voice instead. Lavita appearance had saved me good, even with all frustrating Level Up moments she tortured me with. My face would heat up only from remembering it. By the time I became aroused listening to her, she’d be done and wink me goodbye until next time. I’d clear all the monsters in the zone I was at right after. Being sexually teased and then left alone was beyond frustrating. Even now, my face was burning from the fantasies of having sex with a woman. I so wished Lavita was real.

“Brrr…” I slapped my face with both hands. “Come on, pick up your pace. It will be getting dark soon.”

I was making my way through the second floor of the dungeon. There were some parts of the forest where the trees grew thicker and the spiderwebs were wider and longer, so there was no way for me to get past without alerting a spooky spider or two. They were taken care off easily and I have been blessed with some sweet words from Lavita. I got two spider strings too. Fortunately, I was able to avoid alerting too many spiders.

Some areas I passed through had no spiders in them. I accidentally touched some webbings when my mind drifted to some unrelated to the dungeon fantasies, but no Halluspiders came down the trees. They were probably killed by other adventurers who were in the area not long ago. I have seen groups of people in a distance when I was making my way through the forest, but didn’t bother approaching them. They could’ve been thugs like the ones I encountered before and I didn’t want to waste my time on them.

By the time I reached the third floor, it was starting to get dark. I knew it’d take about two hours to reach the secret area, but there was nothing I could do. My fantasies got the best of me and instead of getting there faster, I fell into daydreaming on several occasions which slowed my pace considerably. So, now I had to make it up by sprinting through the Lesser Trent’s zone. The walking trees were slow and there was no way they could catch up with me, or so I thought. I ran away from the Lesser Trents picking themselves up and going after me. I would’ve probably reached the entrance to the secret area if I ran without stopping, but a group of adventurers popped up in the distance in front of me. It looked like they were fighting one of those tree monsters. At first, I thought I’ll just run past them, but then a frightening thought hit me. If all those walking trees will continue to pursue me, they will reach those adventurers and will definitely engage them. I didn’t count how many Lesser Trents I have aggroed, but it could’ve been ten or more. It could’ve been less too. But even so, if it took a group of four or five adventurers to take down one Lesser Trent, they’d definitely be annihilated by five, six or ten tree monsters.

Tch… it’s your own doing. You have to take responsibility for it. I grunted, stopping and turning around abruptly. It was almost dark, but wasn’t completely pitch black. I could see three or four Lesser Trents not far from where I was, with one more picking itself up close by and a handful more even further distance away. Baah… Let’s just get rid of you all.

I gripped my shields with both hands and dashed towards the approaching walking tree monsters.

“Shield!” One hit with my skill attack was enough to take down the first Lesser Trent it hit.

- “Aah, you’re so cool, babe. Six experience points gained.” – Lavita cheered for me.

“Hah, I might as well enjoy it. Humph,” I blocked the two branch whip attacks from two Lesser Trents that were in range and quickly swung back at one of them. “Huh?”

- ‘Smack!’ – One hit with my new shield was enough to take the second Lesser Trent down.

- “Yey, another one down. Six experience points gained. I’m rooting for you, handsome.” – I could see Lavita dressed in a cheerleader’s outfit jumping up and down excitedly, her hands raised up high.

“Oops. Focus moron,” I was almost hit by a whiplash by another rotten tree. “Eer… there’s four of you and… more coming. Whatever, I’ll make quicky work of you anyway.”

I wasn’t bothered by the numbers since I could kill them with one hit now. My two shields added ten extra strength points to my stats, which certainly helped. However, the tree monsters could pack a punch, or whip a punch if that made any sense, so I still had to be careful to not get hit by them. I was basically surrounded by the walking rotten trees, with one more picking itself up behind me. I ignored it and engaged the two closest ones, killing one in an instant. I smacked another one in the middle of Lavita’s announcement of me gaining six more experience points and was about to attack the third one, but had to defend against the incoming attacks. The Lesser Trent behind me swung at me as well, but I ignored it.

- ‘Whip Smack!’ -

“Ouch!” I got hit on my back. “Ah, shit. I completely forgot. You bastard.”

I instantly turned around to deal with the rotten tree behind me, jumping away from two incoming attacks from the monsters in front of me. I got used to having the Lizardman Champion’s Shield protecting my back, I forgot I didn’t have it anymore. That cost me a whip smack and it hurt.

- “You’re so strong, babe. Six more experience points gained.” – Lavita told me after I got rid of the tree monster that hit me on my back.

Damn, having a shield on my back would’ve saved me from getting hit. Maybe I could get one more just for that. I quick thought flashed in my mind before I turned to the other incoming walking rotten trees. There were still a handful left with the very first ones I aggroed finally reaching my spot. Eh? Five more of you left? Ah, no, six. Whatever.

“Shield!” I used my Attack Skill: Shield to get rid of one Lesser Trent from the distance before jumping in to get rid of another one.

- “You’re on fire, babe. Six experience points gained.” – Lavita kept announcing.

“Oops, Shield.” I used my defense skill this time.

The hit from the Lesser Trent hurt, but it wasn’t life threatening. Besides, my Minor Regeneration skill kicked in and the wound was already being healed as I continued to fight the remaining rotten tree monsters. Before I could kill the last two of them, I heard noise behind me.

“Hold on, we’re coming to help!” A male voice shouted.

Huh? Help? I don’t need any help. I was about to turn to see who it was, but had to block and sidestep two whip attacks by the Lesser Trents that were still alive.

“Provoke!” The man holding a sword and a shield forced the two remaining rotten tree monsters turn to him.

“Fireball!” Before either of the two Lesser Trents reached the man, one of his team members cast a fire spell, hitting the further one with it. It didn’t kill the rotten tree, but the Fireball set it on fire and it stopped moving.

“I’m on it,” another man dashed to the side and around the Tank, making a semi-circle to reach the burning Lesser Trent. He swung with his big sword at it once before shifting his body around and landing another powerful slash on the tree monster. “And again!”

The rotten tree stumbled and puffed into a cloud of glowing dust, the burning fire disappearing within it as well.

- ‘Swoosh! Smack! Smack!’ – Two arrows hit the last rotten tree from the distance.

“Hah, huff,” the guy with a shield blocked one whip attack and deflected another one with his sword. “Finish it!”

“Graaarhh!” A beast-human with a face resembling a badger jumped out from behind the tank guy, nimble and fast, she landed a double slash on the tree monster with her two knives in each hand. At first, I thought they were swords, but they were really short.

“Out of the way!” The man with the big sword was in a half swing. The badger woman was fast enough to jump away right after her attacks. “Power Slash!”

And the Lesser Trent was no more.

Wow, these guys are good. Hmm… They made an impression of being stronger than Emmy’s group was. Power Slash? Is it the same as… No wait, I think it was Power Swing. Sounds similar though.

“Hey, are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?” My pondering was interrupted by the questions from the guy who had sword and shield in his hands.

“Ah, no. I’m fine. Thanks… for your help,” I said. They sort of helped, so thanking them was appropriate.

“Huh? Are you here by yourself?” The man tried to look behind me.

“Yes. I was just… making my way to the safe place to spend the night at when… those tree monsters got in my way,” I had to think of something on the spot.

“A safe place to spend the night?” He gave me a puzzling stare.

“Yeah, well,” I smiled. His reaction made it clear they didn’t know about the secret area I used to live at.

“You must be high level if you’re here by yourself,” the man with the big sword commented, putting his weapon away.

Great, here we go with the high level stuff again. I grimaced, slumping my shoulders.

“Sorry, my name is Garret,” the man with the shield introduced himself. “This is Jarrl, Sorren, Virghel and… Salis.”

“Right. I’m Rockin. It’s a… it’s nice to meet you all,” I introduced myself with a smile. They seemed to be friendly. So, just to be sure, Garret has a shield and Jarrl is the big sword guy. Sorren is the guy who cast the Fireball, Virghel is that beast-woman and Salis is the… female archer.

“If you’re looking for a place to spend the night, maybe you want to join us? You wouldn’t want to be attacked by the Lesser Trents while you sleep and we can take turns to keep watch,” Garret offered.

“Are you sure? You’ve just met me and… I don’t really know you either,” I wasn’t sure about it.

“Hah, I like him,” Jarrl smirked.

“Yeah, I think we can trust him,” Virghel added, but I couldn’t tell what her facial expression meant.

“We won’t force you, of course. But how do you intend to sleep with the Lesser Trents around?” Garret asked, not trying to mock me.

“Well, there’s a safe area not far from here with no monsters in it. It’s inside a secret area I used to live,” I told them.

“There’s a Secret Area not far from here?” Jarrl’s jaw dropped, his eyes flaring with excitement.

“Really? A Secret Area?” Garret wanted to confirm.

“Yeah, I can show you where it is. It’s… about an hour’s walk from here, though,” I didn’t mind showing them. There were no treasures left in it anyway and I felt like being nice.

“But… what about the reward from the Guild? You know, for finding the Secret Area?” Sorren asked.

“Ah, yes. It wouldn’t be fair of us,” Garret agreed.

Oh, it looks like they are decent people. I guess I can show them the place after all. Initially, I mentioned the Secret Area to see how they will react. If they became sleezy and sweet, insisting of me showing where it is, it would’ve told me they were not to be trusted.

“It’s ok. There are no rare monsters in it anymore,” I told them. “Anyway, I’ll be going now. Thanks… for your help again.”

“Hold on, Rockin. We’d like you to show us where the Secret Area is, if you don’t mind that is?” Garret stopped me before I could make a single step.

“Sure, I don’t mind,” I thought having a company wouldn’t be that bad.