Volume 3 Chapter 1: My profession: Moonlight Sculptor

Baran village was bustling with a drastically increased number of users.

"All kinds of sculptures! Food for sale! Low durability armor or weapons, will be repaired cheaply."

"Sculpture, What's That?"

"20 silver per piece! Is it Expensive? As expensive as it is pretty: what is art if not original."

The explosion of interested women accepted the user Weed!

The sculptures, which he made one by one, appeared alive.

Big stone sculptures don't sell easily. In order to be popular, smaller means more attractive.

Models were also produced. Some were cute tiny pairs; the female users were enormously interested.

Weed simultaneously cooked while selling sculptures. Attracted by the smell of stews and stir-fry, people gathered. People who came to buy a sculpture were also interested by the smells of the cuisine.

"What are you cooking?"

"It's poison."

"Eek, poison? You're trying to make poison? This delicious scent that's being given off...."

"Yes, you will die twice when you eat it, because it is that delicious, it is a poisonous drug! Taste the cooking. Enjoy even the slightest bit!"

Weed's hand hovered over with a spoon, giving the users a chance to taste the stew.

First of all the smell! The sweet taste was made from water boiled with wild edible greens, which were good for the body. The moment when it entered the mouth, the taste unraveled. With the stew, the eyes of the female users widened.

"Wow, delicious! Brother, can I buy some?"

"Yeah! We want to eat this often... mister, how much is it?

"For the stew, 15 silver."

"Far too expensive for one dish, isn't it?"

The faces of the male users became distorted. As if 15 silver was that significantly high a price! However with price, Weed never compromised. There was no room to compromise with money.

"The reason for my cooking is to allow many people to eat more delicious food. The path always changes, but it feels good. It seems cooking is expensive, since it brought complaints from everyone."

"Well of course it is!"

"I would like to sell really cheap; however, the cost in materials of this is nearly 14 silvers. There is something else, the cost in food skill. When you consider all the effort I make and everything I do, I'm selling for next to nothing. Sniffle. The requirements for delicious food are driving me to give up my dreams of using cheap ingredients to create a cheap meal such as stew and other things. Regardless, it is really distressing. Sniffle!"

Weed cried detestably, it was an act. If he was stabbed and bled, Weed would not shed a tear. This was an investment. An investment in ingredients for no cost!

"Brother!"

The investment paid off, the female users cried out (lit. the text said cried out, "quack...").

"We can just buy his food! I mean, come on! To cook something this tasty, after all my mom would say cooking is from the heart. It takes time to create good food like this, undoubtedly that is the common case."

"Yeah, I understand. Sorry about that Chef, cook more and sell it."

The couple went and put out as much as 20 silver. Neither of them asked for change. Weed expression changed to a smile.

"You can never know when you will eat delicious food. Once again, money earned."

Weed sold a lot of sculptures and food.

I did in fact say that the materials did not even cost 1 silver.

It was cheap, as most of what he sold was wild ingredients. The remaining materials also were very cheap. In the mountain villages, unlike in towns, the prices related to food were considerably lower.

They saved me from needing to buy cooking ingredients in the city; they were also rich with recipes yielding various dishes.

"Hey! One bowl please."

"Seaweed rolls for us."

"I came back for more, hehe."

There was no end to the customers. Cooking skills and sculpture rose to the intermediate level, and the popularity was absurd. Even jokes grew along, while there was no need to lie when he did business, he had to lie if they got the idea that he was Weed.

It made him feel good to give the customers a more thorough service! However, from time to time, there were customers that annoyed him.

"It's the same guy from the television."

Two women approached, trying to view every aspect of Weed's face, and they stayed.

"You are the Princess Knight, aren't you?"

After participating in the high school play as an adult, he received his prize and attached to it was a nickname! This rapidly spread throughout the internet.

Because of this, there were quite a few people who knew his face. Some people may like to be really popular, but the case is different for Weed. Of the many nicknames, Princess Knight was unmatched.

"That, well, you see, the shape is wrong."

Weed turned his eyes to avoid their attention. Anyway, because of Weeds delicious cooking, as well as the significant rise in health and mana, countless users came even deliberately to eat it. Even some people going out to hunt as a party came to eat.

"15 silver, the price for the special nourishing meal for hunts is 30 silver. Thanks. Have a pleasant hunt!"

As an alternative, if durability was lost they got a free sculpture, and for expensive cooking, repairs were free of charge. Because of this, the price was no problem.

Let's say they bought food for 30 silvers; if users wished to hunt around the town they could achieve enough money to pay for it. Food that increased the maximum amount of health and mana was more than worth that much for starting a hunt.

Of course, there really were expensive dishes. Dishes made by joining the eggs of a signature tribe and the fruit of heaven. Eating either of them can lead to death but cooking them together gives the dish a sweet taste. The fruit of heavens cost was 15 silver while the eggs of a signature tribe was a whopping 95 silver. However, not only was the price to cook the food expensive, it was also very complicated.

Houdini could not have recreated such an equation; to neutralize the strong potency and double the effect giving ingredients; it would have needed to be completed along with the food. Creating a chicken soup with ginseng and dates, with various medicinal herbs without destroying the taste, an effective amount of cooking proficiency was needed to fully pull out the special characteristics.

Those are the difficulties and hardships of a chef.

Thus, after the challenges and failures Weed had to go through in joining the eggs of the signature tribe and the fruit of heaven, this dish was created.

(Four lines were skipped, its pretty much naming of the dish by combining two names into one. Overall, it translates horribly in English. For instance: "Buds on the Main nuts." Real Korean translators would be needed to sort that kind of mess out.)

Combining the eggs of the signature tribe and the fruit of heaven mutually affects strength, intellect and luck, but not just that, this food significantly increases health.

When Mapan joined Weed, he had high expectations for the town.

"Now this is my end as an exhausted merchant! Now a good life will flash before me."

One can say a merchant's road is difficult. In Mapan's mind, he brushed past it now, the suffering had passed.

"Whew, it was a really tough time."

When he initially selected to be a merchant, he had been loaded with hopes and dreams.

As a merchant, Mapan really liked:

Money!

Power and money!

Fame and money!

To eventually live to dominate the world through money.

He majored in economics, capitalism as a philosophy rather than economics itself; his firm belief was to achieve his goal bit by bit.

Versailles became the continent all the money came to, so he wanted to acquire a tremendous reputation and establish a chamber of commerce. The money inside the kingdom is said to be given to (or by?) the aristocrats. In a word, he chose the way of merchants to earn big bucks.

But not everything went the way he wanted!

From the start, the road of a merchant was rough. Not allowed out of the city for four weeks, the only thing he could have done was to run errands. Hotels, weapon stores, exchanges, etc., hard work commissioned to collect a pittance. In order to do the merchant's quest, Mapan jumped, ran and rolled!

T'tiring!

With the progress you made, you have achieved the qualification to gain the merchant's profession:

There is no merchant that is not money hungry:

I urgently need 300 pieces of Rabbit Leather. I will give you one gold coin for them, will you get them?

This is your formal quest to be a part of the merchants of Rosenheim kingdom! However, get it done as quickly as possible. I'd like you to get them within three days.

The Exchange owner requires Rabbit Leather

The owner of the Exchange requires a large quantity of rabbit leather. He needs it as soon as possible, your reward will be better the sooner you give it to him.

Difficulty: E

Reward: Merchant Profession

Quest limit: Three days

If you fail, this profession's master's confidence in you will decline and you will not receive a referral for one month.

"Hooray, money to earn!"

Singing with delight, Mapan accepted the request.

"A gift of one gold coin and also the beginning of my career as a merchant. With it I'll gain lots of money"

The rabbits in front of the castle are the common beginning monsters, made for total beginners. One rabbit leather sold for 10 copper to grocery stores, so the total purchase price should have been 3000 copper. So he calculated that 30 silver should have been sufficient.

Of course the other party needed to have some profit. Now it came to finding an appropriate price for both sides.

"BUY Rabbit Leather! I will purchase for 11 copper!"

Mapan cried out with a loud voice in front of the castle. Hoping that massive amounts of users hunting rabbits would come running for a profit. Nearby another merchant shouted even louder.

"Rabbit Leather 30 copper!"

Some people next to her rose into a harder cry.

"Buying Rabbit Leather 50 copper. Unlimited amount!"

"Damn! What happened...."

Rabbit leather should have only cost 10 copper, it should definitely not have been purchased at these tremendously high prices.

"What is happening?"

Mapan asked perplexed, but the answer made him wail in despair.

"Did you not know? To receive the merchant occupation, not just one or two people are collecting rabbit leather, and not just for that, they're also collecting rabbit leather for sewing. When people learned that rabbit leather was required by many, the price skyrocketed."

Mapan was in tears.

The prices would ruin his starter merchant.

The merchant occupation had a forced three day time limit. After using up all his money, with no other choice, he stayed up and hunted and just barely got 300.

Thereby he became flat broke.

"Thank you, now you are a merchant!"

The owner of the exchange gave him a pat on the shoulder for a job well done; little did he know that Mapan's shoulders drooped. That had only been the beginning.

The road of a merchant was a hard one indeed.

To raise the level of his skill, he had to purchase loot from users at an expensive amount of money. Due to being weak, he ignored combat, but in order to purchase loot a war of dried blood and tears was being waged. Throughout the trip to this remote village, Mapan had hoped that there would not be a lot of sorrow waiting for him at the end of the road.

Waiting for someone to come to his stall to sell loot was nothing really difficult, but people came and asked for unreasonable prices.

"The suffering has ended!"

Ever since Mapan had fulfilled a partnership with Weed, all of his anxiety and fears had been reduced. Recently he only trusted Weed.

"I will follow him anywhere. My trust has been born anew!" (lit. parturition)

Mapan was firmly determined.

A great warrior! Adventurer! Master of battle!

Knowing that, Mapan had been confident. He sustained that emotion until they reached the town.

"How does he do that?"

Mapan wanted to scream.

He rubbed his eyes to look again, Weed was making food, and in between he sold sculptures. To make matters worse, he was repairing!

"Euheuheuk!" (I guess its Korean equivalent of wtf!)

Weed was cooking and someone was secretly weeping. The one crying was Mapan.

The Weed he knew as the great warrior was now selling food and sculptures.

"Isn't that of the worst kind of job?"

This was not something he could solve with but a guess. He needed to know, but Mapan was hesitant. Afraid to know the answer he didn't have the courage to ask.

"Weed, what is your profession?"

"Me? Obviously my line of business is that of a sculptor."

"Sculptor?"

Just as if he had been smashed in the back of the head with a blunt object, Mapan felt sick.

"If artists and sculptors are as popular, I'm making a living as a cleaner!"

Melancholy took a hold of Mapan; he pointed at the boiling cauldron with a trembling hand.

"Well, what about cooking, then?"

"It's a hobby."

"Repairing that...."

"It's hard to learn the skill of sculpturing. To learn blacksmithing, the way to manufacture weapons and armor I had to advance my repair skill to the intermediate level."

Since partnering with Weed, Mapan's fate had blossomed, so he could not have gotten discouraged.

"Well, yeah. So he's not pitiful, but what is it this job does?"

In his mind, the character called Weed could not fit this condition. It is enough to go down in history as a very luxurious Carrick tea schnauzer! (LMAO, google it)

(the next two lines I skipped as it is hard to phrase. I think that it is more or less Mapan thinking that it's hard to know from what he sees now and the abrasive Weed he met earlier. Also about him second guessing.)

"How often do you find characters that become like yours?"

Mapan had greatly misunderstood Weed's tearful plight.

He had beaten the scarecrow at the beginner class training center; he had eaten from the instructor's meals and he had grown strong very slowly.

In order to increase one skill, he had made sculptures that were pleasing to the eye. He also became a cook for NPC soldiers that were part of the punitive group he accompanied.

He cooked tens of thousands of dishes and bowls, created thousands of sculptures. Weed was barely a child, accustomed to terrible situations, who could only count on his own skills to grow.

Mapan learned what had happened, one by one every step of Weeds story, right up to this very place.

'This man is even more commercial minded than me' he thought.

Confucius had once said: "when there are three people walking, my teacher is bound to be among them. I'm afraid, I must learn from him. "

Mapan did not regret his choice of partnering with Weed. He actively bought loot besides Weed and opened up his own stall.

Anyway, quantity was the law.

While watching Weed's motions as he sold food and sculptures, Mapan found that a new type of merchant had been awakened.

"What a wretched liar....!"

Occasionally some were astonished.

"I'm not drunk; I can see that you are making profits with lousy ingredients!"

Sometimes people were angry.

(The line that shows up here is a bit ambiguous. It either means that people walked off too proud to believe in the merchant, or some Korean saying talking about a merchant's pride is like being on foot disappearing from place to place. Either way, real Korean translators would be nice.)

"You damn crook, you must be a complete impostor, right?"

Weed gently matched the buyers' obnoxious attitudes with brilliance and eloquence. With just a few words, Mapan watched him change their mind into paying ten silver coins (for cooking) and also fifteen silver coins for sculptures. After two days, Weed stretched and placed his sculptures lightly into his bag.

"They were pretty much all alike."

The sculptures had been carved during the trip from Levias. Only half of them had been sold. If you already had a sculpture, much to the artist's bad fortune, you wouldn't buy a second one. Unless you met with a collector, people would buy only one as a souvenir.

Even if the cost of a sculpture was low at ten silver coins, the price would be higher, about 30 silver coins. Intentionally, selling ten sculptures would only earn you three gold coins.

This had been quite useful in the early days, when Weed had been poor, but considering his current level the profit from his wood carvings amounted to chump change.

Among the possible buyers in town, mostly anybody who would have had an interest in sculptures had already bought one. Weed thought he shouldn't bother to sell any more.

When his repair and cooking skills went up to 40% Weed broke down his stall.

He looked besides him towards the horses and noticed Mapan buying loot.

"Let us depart soon"

"Why? What are you talking about?"

"I told you in advance that we will go over the Bar Khu mountain range."

He had to return the cup of Freya to the church in Herridia within three months, and not much time was remaining. So even if he had had a wish to stay, he couldn't have remained in the village.

Furthermore, a lot of knowledge was required to become a master sculptor, so he had to improve. Weed had only become strong by taking different paths, but he could not forget the main point of his strength: sculpting. Weed went around to the general stores and shops and quickly prepared for the trip.

"Take care!"

At the village entrance, the Mayor and the soldiers came to see them off.

"Come back and see us later"

"Of course. I will not forget all the help you three gave us."

Dale, Becker, Hosram. They said goodbye to the chief leaders and the ten others.

"See you later."

"Yes, sir! It is time we leave to see the capital, after our business is completed, we will return."

Weed and Mapan bought the local specialties of the big cities as they traveled south of Rosenheim Kingdom.

Pearls and jade, white wine, cheese, olive oil, and mithril were all specialties in the southern cities.

For the Kingdom of Rosenheim, technological and commercial power was not that grand.

Jewelry, food, and processed ore he knew nothing about were being actively traded.

Among the kingdoms in the center of the continent, there were some cities and countries that specialized in producing weapons and armor.

Naturally, the country's weapons were more durable and had excellent attack and defense stats; they were superior in comparison to any other country.

Thus, users who started in the center of the continent had an advantage. However, in terms of adventure and opportunity, the kingdom of Rosenheim was not that bad of a choice.

"Jade for 40 please."

Only Mapan could buy jewels. With the accounting skill, a better deal could be possible, resulting in buying at a cheaper price. However, if you attempted to drop the price down too excessively, the deal could be canceled.

When that happened, the exchange owner would not do a business transaction with you for a maximum of ten days, so it was necessary to pay attention.

Weed saw that Mapan was finishing the bargain.

"The price for the jade is 760 gold. Are you sure you want to buy it?" "Uhm... Can't you cut the price further?"

"This is the limit with my skills."

Weed's hands trembled and shivered as they entered his pockets. Then 800 in gold coins came out. Mapan gave the money to purchase the jewels to the seller and passed the change and jewels back to Weed.

"Where do we go now?"

"To Falcon village to get some pearls."

50 pearls were purchased for 690 gold, then, after going to the coal mine village, 3 kg of mithril was purchased.

As Weed was buying these special items, his pockets were rapidly emptied accordingly. Soon enough, the fortune he had had dwindled, and his innocent money bag lost the fight. At the end of the ordeal 50 gold was all that had been left.

His former property: 1700 gold.

The money, painstakingly conserved, ran out in what seemed to be a brief instant.

In the United Kingdom of Briton, beyond the mountains of Bar Khu, the price for jewels was at least 25% higher than on this side of the mountains. More so, even if one was no merchant, marginal profit from market price and fame could be gained, so a large amount of available goods was purchased.

"But are you all right?"

Every time Weed moved to a town to buy the specialty items, Mapan's eyes were questioning.

In the midst of walking down the street, he stopped. Hard at work, glances were thrown at Weed; eventually he chose and drew out a growing root. He picked up his backpack and transferred what he had worked hard for into his bag. He did it with a pleased smile.

"Hey Weed, what are you doing?"

Mapan could not resist his curiosity, Weed's answer was simple.

"You mean this? I pulled out an herb."

"If it's an herb...."

"I learned Herbal Medicine, the terrain here is steeper and there are a lot of medicinal plants."

Mapan swallowed his breath.

"Oh!"

His idol Weed's profession was finally revealed to be the worst and most unpleasant as of this moment.

"I judged this person too wrongly!"

Death Knight of the undead were have came from will listen solely because loot just assume bastards want to Holding all your!

(Wasn't sure how to approach and transcribe this. It is pretty much just Mapan griping and unhappy with Weed's strange actions. Sort of like: "You tricked me with all of that undead loot, and had me holding all this crap." Could be entirely wrong though, so if you have any thoughts/changes feel free to say it. Possibly can also suggest Mapan thinks Weed is holding out on him.)

Mapan had listened to weed solely because he had been holding the loot of high level monsters like the Death Knights. (Best I could do with what was given to me to work with)

Fortunately, it couldn't be picked up just anywhere. Even though the chances were slim, Mapan's trust in Weed was extreme enough to barely consider the thought.

However, Mapan was still a man. A man who believed in justice and providence.

Thanks to Weed, he had gained many benefits so far. Through the loot he had sold he had obtained a lot of skills and money! He bought the jewels at a reasonable price and raised his skills even further.

This situation had not really been that bad at all, so there was no need to cancel his decision in partnership.

"As a man once said, you cannot turn back on your path!"

Mapan worked hard to buy the specialty items.

Weed's capital was not that much, so the priority was to buy food, such as olive oil or cheese. Those items would not achieve high profits in transactions, but as a stable low-risk income, it had its advantages.

The trick to grocery transactions was to buy large quantities separately at cheaper prices loading them in a wagon he had bought.

Mapan thought that a wagon was absolutely necessary for a merchant.

It had cost over 100 gold, however the horse had been too expensive, so he bought a near dead mule.

Weed disposed of the multiple bags he had had this whole time. Instead, he got help from Mapan to purchase a backpack from the general store to put his herbs in, which could hold 20 times its own bulk, and reduced the weight by a quarter.

Weed and Mapan could now be seen as full-fledged peddlers.

***

Bar Khu Mountains.

The mountain range was located between the southern part of Rosenheim kingdom, and the eastern part of the United Kingdom of Briton. Both countries bordered them, but they were called the paradise for monsters.

Overflowing with monsters! Rugged terrain!

Here both nations had armies of rangers stationed to sweep through the monsters periodically. If not for that, the kingdoms of Rosenheim and the United Kingdom of Briton would have suffered from a general fatigue because of all the monsters.

Ku Oh-oh!!

The horrible sound ascended, resonating out of the Bar Khu mountain range.

It was the roar of a fierce animal.

It was the sound of rampaging animals.

Breaking branches and rough screams were audible.

As expected because of its reputation, it really was the paradise for monsters.

The amount of non-dungeon monsters appearing on the field would be worth a struggle. Finally, the monsters sluggishly appeared in front of the wagon Weed and Mapan road in.

Lycanthropes. Werewolves were around level 100 monsters. The Lycanthrope variant was known to some extent to be at level 150. Of course, in these mountains they were the lowest in the food chain. Because of this, they were pushed out of the heart of the mountains and infest places like the ones Weed and Mapan were currently traveling through.

Like dogs, Lycanthropes often traveled in packs. Even now, over 10 appeared at once.

That roar a while back seemed to have been howling wolves, perhaps the crying sound of these Lycanthropes.

Discovering prey in their hunting grounds was the reason for their howling.

Sitting on the chair in the wagon, Mapan was restless.

"Oh no, they all appeared, more importantly what do we do!? Hey Weed, Weed you said that you will handle this."

However, in the meantime Weed teased the carving knife hard from aside the assistant driver's seat.

Zahab's carving knife. This unique item was something any sculptor could only wish for in their dreams. Depending on how the carving knife flows through the grain of the wood, a sculpture was created.

The lycanthropes approached slowly. Even as they appeared they resembled wolves, with the exception of the head which had a human-like appearance, as well as their body shape. The gray hair was full of small holes. Transformed into a wild dog or worse; at the end of the attack, they undoubtedly changed back.

Proficiency in the handicraft skill has been improved.

Intermediate level of handicraft skill is 4.

The ability to use hand tools and an additional 5% increase to all stats.

When the Intermediate level in the handicraft skill rose by 1, the ability was enhanced by 5% across all stats. After having absolved the beginner course at the training hall, a 3% increase was given by itself. When you think about it, the effect could be extremely increased; however, it was even more difficult to raise the skill level.

"That was quite fortunate."

Just prior to this, Weed had gone to extreme detail in shaping wood sculptures to elevate his expertise in sculpture mastery by 1.5%.

After all, there had been plenty of branches and foliage. It took time to work with a piece of wood from ancient trees, and these were also very difficult to obtain. Considering the thousands of years they had lived, to be able to render such a tree, it was more difficult than expected.

Weed's sculptures were almost as lifelike as they could possibly be. You did not have to be satisfied with the degree of decently made sculptures.

Sculpture occasionally rose in quality surprisingly well too, though it did not really create much momentum. Rightly, given that he gained intermediate mastery considerably fast, he was at 1.5% of his level. Just as the skill increased, the abilities were also enhanced.

"Look above, Weed!"

Mapan's face was full of tears. As with the day before yesterday, Weed put away the carving knife. Instead he took out the black sword and listened. This was the clay sword which had the cold attribute!

"Do not sit down for too long, it is satisfying to work, yet it is also good to relax and stretch the body a little bit right? It is a pity we missed the transformation process, but that is fine as well. This group here shouldn't be the only Lycanthropes living in the Bar Khu Mountain range."

Weed watched the lycanthropes personally.

It would have been good to see the transformation process in order to better create a sculpture of them.

They seemed to not only have one type of appearance, so he should be able to produce a sculpture step-by-step so that the skill could rise. Weed got off the wagon and held his clay sword, Mapan let out a scream from behind him.

"Surely you are not intending to fight with that sword?"

Mapan was freaked out to see a clay sword of all things!

Because of arduous hunting in Levias, the durability of the clay sword had easily dropped almost to nothing.

So far Weed had grabbed quite a lot of equipment from the undead monster drops, though the black sword was still only made out of clay.

He had to use these low durability weapons exclusively, since the axes and maces he received were a pain to wield.

Also, the Death Knight's weapons and clothes had a requirement for the user to be over level 200, so Weed did not have much of a choice as to which weapon he could use.

People did not hunt alone in isolated places due to preference. Whenever the clay sword broke, it was replaced, which he had done dozens of times.

In the meantime, one... two... now the lycanthrope group exceeded over 20 members.

Mapan saw that their faces were completely black. Weed put the sword away.

As descendants of wolves, lycanthropes were said to be peerlessly brave. They kicked hard at the ground, springing up, and roaring wildly.

Keuahang!

The lycanthropes let out a bestial roar!

Dominating the battlefield with it, the old mule was terrified and ran rampant, Mapan foresaw his death. The Lycanthropes moved with great speed, so escape wouldn't be possible.

It was then...

"Khan heng!"

Exploding out of Weed's mouth burst forth an intense cry. Dust rose, the dry leaves piled on the ground cracked, crumbling to nothing. Even the branches seemed to tremble, as if they were about to break.

The roar overwhelmingly swept away those who heard it.

Skill: You have used Lion's Roar.

1% rise in the proficiency of the Lion's roar skill! Lion's Roar current skill: level 1, at 1%. As the skill level rises, the power increases.

The lycanthropes hesitated, turning their heads feeling troubled after the roar. Weed did not miss the opening and ran at them, beating them down with his fists.

"Form a circle!"

A complete massacre!

"Yip!" (or animal noise for whining)

Weed promptly charged with his bare hands and grinded the lycanthropes to dust!

It was a great change from Levias, after mostly facing Death Knights; level 100 lycanthropes could not even be considered enemies. It's said that as they number a lot they could cause substantial damage but that was all talk. The horrifying lycanthropes rushed towards Weed.

"Seven celestial steps!"

Kicking off the ground, they ran at him, clawing with their nails and teeth, Weed avoided them using his footwork skill, using the battle to rehearse it.

Until now, the skill was not his chosen method to pass an opponent using footwork.

The footwork in Royal Road was quite peculiar.

In the midst of sprinting forward, taking a sharp turn in a 90-degree direction while running would be impossible in reality. That was due to the law of inertia. However, with this step skill, you could achieve the impossible. During a sprint you could switch to the opposite direction, the instant rate of acceleration to reach that speed was almost invisible to the naked eye.

As the name implied, you could make a total of 7 step changes, instantly twisting in any direction while running, or possibly dropping in speed suddenly, appearing to vanish.

The value of this skill was what you would expect to be demonstrated from a superior 1st rate martial arts.

"Seven celestial steps!"

Although the lycanthropes came in from all directions, Weed's body escaped, breaking through the enemies' encircling net.

Like connecting the (Big Dipper?), he changed directions instantaneously and created vague after images.

Illusions!

As usual, the lycanthropes attacked the illusions. Outside of the encircling net, Weed reversed the charge. Each time his fist landed on a patch of grey fur, a lycanthrope turned to ash.

The Bar Khu mountain range was overflowing with monsters! The worst word to describe them would have been tranquil. They certainly were not.

"Khan heng!"

"WOAH!"

The tremendous sound of a yell could be heard from the mountain range.

Weed had just used Lion's Roar!

In order to improve his proficiency with his Lion Roar skill, Weed yelled, committed to using the skill whenever a monster appeared. Day or night, mighty shouting echoed because of Weed. Most people would have already been sick of all the monsters in the Bar Khu mountain range. But Weed thought otherwise.

Experience and money! And items! There is no limit to the gangs of monsters to fight, which Weed liked; a place like this truly felt like home to him.

"Somewhere out there is an undiscovered dungeon, there's got to be!"

The southwestern part of the mountains had not been explored. Around towns and villages it might have been; however, other users didn't intentionally seek out monsters.

Rather than to focus on that, he placed more interest in his sculpting skill. Zahab's sculpturing art had also left Weed the swordsmanship skill Engraving Knife! This had greatly enhanced Weed's damage. It was an attack technique that ignored enemy defenses and resistance; as the skill increased, the power did as well.

Emperor Geihar left the skill to give life to sculptures behind!

The sculptures would love the master who carved them and fight at his side.

Higher art stats were required for this powerful skill, until then, further growth is needed to complete it. This was the skill that allowed Emperor Geihar to conquer the continent. If life could be given to sculptures, under any circumstance Weed would absolutely follow that man's will.

"Skill confirmation! Life Giving!"

Give life to sculptures: the skill that Emperor Geihar left behind for his successor, the parts of this technique is unknown.

Limitations: Can only be used with Advanced Sculpture mastery.

Skill requirements: Mana 5000. Art Stat 10 (permanent consumption). Level decreased by 2.

CAUTION!

Sculptures are unique items and have strong personalities and a sense of pride. When they see another sculpture identical to them, they will fight it to prove who's superior.

In order to use this skill, you first needed to get to a high skill level in sculpture mastery, which was still even farther away than the amount of the Hong Kong's gross domestic product was big (Not sure if its correct like that, sounds kinda weird to me...).

All these consequences just to give life to a sculpture, art stat points were consumed and the level declined, meaning you couldn't indefinitely repeat this.

"The requirements of this skill are ridiculous. At least it must be a useful technique!"

As the engraving knife technique and the skill to grant life to sculptures, techniques left by two Master Sculptors, were this powerful, Weed could imagine how powerful the remaining three skills would be. In addition, he thought, what about after obtaining the five skills and mastering sculpting?

Weed had had the opportunity to become a Weapon Master in martial arts; however, after much agonizing he had given up the chance and had remained a legendary moonlight sculptor.

He could learn skills relatively quickly through handicraft and pieces of art, which even benefitted swordsmanship. But even this would not be able to match the tail end of a knight's swordsmanship skill. Sculptors were resigned to this. Though there was a chance, but to take it, one had to take the maximum advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves before him.

"Sculpture destruction, granting life to sculptures and even the engraving sword skill! While simultaneously maximizing power, I need to find the remaining skills.

[I also have to obtain the final non-sculpting (note: not too sure, but I think this means master-of-all crafting).]"

"I also have to reach the highest level in every other crafting skill" (this was the best I could come up with)

The rise of sculpting skills would affect everything.

When no monsters appeared, Weed sat with Mapan and sculpted. He made sculptures of the fighting scenes with monsters or the surreal landscapes and its trees!

Intermediate sculpture skill has risen to level 3.

Sculptures well mere delicate and detailed.

Finally, intermediate sculpting skill level rose to level 3.

After this, Weed took out the emeralds, pearls and jade that he had purchased from all around Rosenheim kingdom.

"What are you doing?"

Halfway through the mountain range, Weed had abruptly pulled out a blue jewel, Mapan's face showed his confusion. He had no doubt that the reason wasn't to boast in his wealth, and certainly not to share the gems with the monsters.

"Taking a good look at the gems?"

But Mapan then found himself surprised because of Weed's next action. He had started shearing the gem with his engraving knife.

"Argh!"

Mapan unwittingly felt like screaming. He had personally purchased the jewels, knowing full well their worth. He knew it far too well.

Those were some absurdly valuable jewels!

Although the gemstones may not have been processed, the price had still been amazingly high. Without hesitation Weed continued to carve the jewels surface with his carving knife.

"What...what have you...?"

Just before he attempted to stop Weed's actions, Mapan's eyes widened in surprise, because the gemstone was being gradually carved little by little.

The degree of the etching wasn't even visible unless you looked at it very carefully. The way the gemstone was cut down, the luster radiating from it deepened.

Mapan watched blankly as Weed's hands continued to move.

"It's beautiful!"

*crunch.

With Zahab's carving knife every trim of the jewel made slight changes to its form, while Mapan watched the process with admiration in his eyes. The jewel had seamlessly changed from a dull aspect to a gem worth a fortune.

"Maybe all of those jewels can become that gorgeous?"

Weed's Intermediate sculpture level had risen, making it possible to work with gems and other special materials.

By default, skill and dexterity were needed to form the gems.

It was still too early to do this, even with having reached intermediate level he was still lacking in his handicraft skill. Zahab's engraving knife was a truly a unique treasure for a sculptor!

Through it the requirement had been met and the jewels were worked into beautiful objects influenced by Weed's art stat.

Weed's art stat was currently near 300. The occupation of legendary moonlight sculptor gave a +100 for the art stat, and for every created sculpture that was placed as a masterpiece, it would steadily rise.

Because his art stat was astonishingly high all sorts of effects could be granted to his work.

"This number looks really good....!"

Mapan's body trembled and shivered.

This was because of what he imagined would be the consequences afterwards.

Buying and selling the raw gems from the Rosenheim kingdom to the United Kingdom of Briton would yield a small profit. However, what would happen if Weed faceted those gems and sold them? Also, if the jewel was worked with the utmost heart and soul of the engraver, how much would they sell for...?

"There is no way to guess the possibilities!"

Mapan fell into a deep silence that he refused to break. He was also carefully driving the wagon, so as to not interfere with the work of the faceting.

It was deceptive to think of the effects of sculpting caused from handicraft.

The creation of a rough sculpture ended up stunningly beautiful, food became very aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and proved to be even more delicious. Weed's sculpting and cooking were very much indebted to his intermediate level in his handicraft skill (dexterity). This skill was showing itself to be truly worth the work to raise it.