MagiCraft Master: A Mass Isekai LitRPG, page 4
Logan picked the [Artificer] class.
[Class chosen]
[Level Up!]
[Artificer Level 1]
[Class Skill Acquired: Empower]
Attributes:
Potency: 1
Efficiency: 1
Durability: 1
Control: 1
Focus: 1
Subclasses:
[Transmutation]: 1
[Enchantment]: 1
Class Skills:
[Empower]: 1
General Skills:
N/A
A fresh, tingling sensation rushed across Logan’s body. It was a sweet feeling that almost had a taste to it, rich and refreshing, like a mojito under the Mexican sun. This sweet liquid feeling washed over him, imparting Logan with some knowledge, some intuition that he couldn’t quite grasp. But he knew for certain that there was something new there under the surface.
Now, that definitely warranted a closer look. Logan was sure these Stats and skills would define him as a person in this new reality. He needed to lean into that, and he was nothing if not adaptable. And this was the time to prove it.
After wandering around a bit, he found a nice stick to make another javelin out of. Logan plucked a Numa crystal from his pocket and brought it to the stick. It glowed softly and Logan found to his surprise that while the first stick had eaten three of his precious crystals to morph into something resembling a weapon, now only a single crystal sufficed.
Logan quickly consulted the AI for some measurement optimization and used another crystal to fine-tune the weapon.
[Subclass Level Up!]
[Transmutation Level 2]
[Attribute Level Up!]
[Control: 2]
Oh, that felt good.
The notifications were followed up by an interesting physical sensation, a pleasant twinge in his brain that ran down his spine, like cool minty water with a hint of sugar. Logan smiled at that. This world was rubbing off on him.
He was satisfied to note the two javelins fit well in his hand. It felt good to be equipped with weapons in this wild new world. They made him feel more secure. Logan hoisted the weapons over his shoulder and got serious again.
Unless [Transmutation] meant he could turn grass into food, Logan had some immediate issues to deal with.
He still had a handful or two of berries left. He could hunt for small game with his javelins. That might be awkward, but maybe the AI might help him aim. That needed testing. While Logan was no slouch physically speaking, he wasn’t a damn specimen like those agents his father employed.
Water was sure to be found somewhere reasonably close enough. The forest around him was just so damn rich. Either that or it had to rain constantly. Logan looked up at the sky. It was almost a clear cerulean blue with but a few wisps of thin white clouds idly fleeting in the wind.
Worst-case scenario, the berries will hydrate me.
Looking at the sun, Logan figured he had a few more hours before dusk. By then he’d rather be sitting somewhere safe to wait out the morning.
There’s surely predators about, right? Cats, snakes? Trees are bad. Crazy monsters that dissolve into two. Caves are bad. So, where’s safety?
The unfortunate reality was that Logan knew very little.
Well, at least I have two sharp sticks …
He knew he still had to make a decision. His options were to wander around aimlessly and hope Freya was teleported in his general vicinity and not five hundred miles away. Or he could set up shelter, food, and a measure of safety.
Yeah, it’s not much of a choice when you give it half a thought, now is it? I’ll start looking for Freya tomorrow, unless setting up basic survival takes longer than I think it will. Probably will, to be fair … I don’t even have a knife on me.
The first order of business was finding water. Logan was sure that some stupid internet guide somewhere had said that the most important thing to secure was shelter, but if you built a shelter fifteen miles away from the closest water source, you were going to die of stupidity.
So Logan chose a direction that he hadn’t come from and started walking toward it. Finding even the smallest stream would do. Yeah, he could chew leaves and eat berries, but if he could just find a water source, it would make his life significantly easier. Didn’t have to be the Fountain of Youth. Anything that wouldn’t make him shit bricks an hour later would do.
As it happened, it didn’t take Logan long to find a little wellspring of water forming a bubbling puddle, from which two little streams went off in different directions. Logan rushed to it and started scooping up the water. He quenched his thirst and then some, knowing that it’d be better to go overboard now, as he had no container at hand.
He was just about finished when he heard a rustling in the bushes. A sense of danger washed over him. With reflexes he didn’t know he had, he rolled to his side and dodged the pouncing green cat’s extended claws by an inch.
CHAPTER 6
The green cat attacked ferociously. Logan kicked it away, but it managed to swipe at him. The beast cut his leg and a bit of blood sprayed out. Logan gasped in pain. The claws were a solid two inches, now tipped with his blood. The cut wasn’t deep, but Logan had no time to wonder at that.
He yelled at the cat in fear and anger and swished at the air in front of him with the javelins, one in each hand. The cat growled and began circling Logan. He matched the cat’s movements and watched its alert yellow eyes and the haunches at its back. Whenever they rippled, that’s when the cat would try to jump at him.
Logan noticed a large boulder, about six or seven feet tall, close to a tree with a very convenient nearby branch. Climbing up it would most likely be his best bet.
[If the initial dodge is successful, the chance of a fast enough climb is 66.2%.]
That’s less than Logan would have liked. He weighed his options as the cat weighed him. He tried veering closer to the boulder as he aggressively shoved a javelin in the predator’s general direction. It hissed and swiped at the stick. That was enough to prompt a frustrated attack. The cat lunged at him. Logan swatted at it with a javelin as if it was a club and then tossed the shirt-pouch at it.
The cat swiped at it, and it caught its claws.
Perfect.
Logan sprinted, tossed his javelins onto the boulder, and climbed the tree. His heart jackhammered. He felt like the cat would jump at his back and bite his neck any second now, yet he managed to scramble up the branch and onto the boulder half a heartbeat before the cat attacked. Instead of his neck, the beast managed to swipe at his leg. Again, there was pain, but it was not the sort of gash he’d expected.
The cat yowled in frustration and started circling the boulder. Logan tried to get his incessant trembling under control. His eyes never left the cat’s as he groped for the javelins. He grabbed one and stood up, lifting the weapon above his shoulder.
Hey, Genie, if you can improve my aim like you can my reflexes, now’s the time.
The green cat kept prowling around the rock, looking for an entry that wasn’t there. Eventually, it seemed to give up, yawning and sitting down on its haunches. As soon as it did, Logan threw the javelin, hitting the beast’s chest smack dab in the center. The cat yowled, clearly in pain.
[General Skill obtained: Marksmanship]
[Marksmanship Level 1]
“Hell yes!”
But despite the clean hit, the cat swiped and struggled against the javelin and eventually extricated it from its chest. A trickle of blood ran down the puffed-up green hair between its front legs. Logan stared at it in disbelief.
What the hell is going on?
Logan looked down at the wound on his thigh. He ripped up some of the cloth and looked down. It wasn’t even a proper wound. A nasty, itchy scratch, yes, and it was bleeding, the warm, red fluid slowly running down his leg. But the wound was not something you’d expect from an encounter with such a killing machine.
Logan considered the situation. It didn’t take all that long. It was obvious really. Somehow, for some reason, whatever laws of physics had been at play on planet Earth no longer applied here.
Great. Just great.
The cat might not rip him apart in two seconds as would have happened in Logan’s old reality, but he was sure it would mess him up in a straight-up fight. Logan took the Numa crystals out of his pocket, placed them on a patch of moss on the boulder, and removed his pants, all the while carefully watching the cat below.
He used the leftover javelin’s sharp head to cut a piece of a pant leg to tie up the bleeding wound on his thigh. It was tight and uncomfortable, but it got the job done. The cat attacked again. This time Logan wasn’t quite as ready. The beast found purchase on a crack in the boulder. It came two feet away and let off a primal growl and swiped at Logan. The claw came close. Way too close.
Fear gripped Logan, but he overcame it. Still sitting, he picked up the remaining javelin with both hands and delivered a horizontal baseball smash at the cat’s face. It swiped at the air inches away from Logan’s own face as it fell, yowling in rage.
Logan needed to act fast. He wasn’t exactly well-fed or rested. He looked at the Numa crystals next to him. It would be stupid to try his luck by wantonly throwing the last javelin. He had to magic his way out of this situation.
The green cat suddenly lunged upward, yowling, claws extended. Logan managed to deliver a kick to its face, and it fell down on its side. Logan felt a humming of blood and adrenaline in his ears.
I have to figure out a solution before this bastard figures out it should climb the tree to attack me. Any ideas, Parasite-Bot?
[Reconfiguring Neural Matrix … 9% completion]
[There are unknown variables, but increasing the overall weight of the weapon and the density and hardness of the impact point are the most-likely approaches to success.]
Logan looked around. There was nothing on the boulder except moss. His clothes wouldn’t help. He could use his teeth? But that didn’t sound appealing.
His eyes kept veering to the soft blue glow of the crystals. An idea struck him. He picked up three of them in his palm and closed his fist.
“Alakazam. Merge these three crystals into a javelin head. Make it sharp and hard and make it do real damage on impact.”
Logan felt a warmth in his palm and the blue glow shone through his fingers. Cringing, he slowly opened his fist. A sharp object had indeed formed in his hand. The javelin head was cylindrical, but for the three wedges lining it vertically leading up to a sharp point. As the crystals were dense to begin with, it had a nice heft to it. It pulsed and glowed with a soft cerulean hue.
[F-grade Numa-craft Javelin Head, 75%]
[Subclass Level Up!]
[Transmutation Level 3]
Wasting no time, Logan picked up another Numa crystal, attached the small spearhead to his javelin and willed it to attach. It worked. Logan was so happy he could cry. Even better, the crystal he had used still had most of its light left. He pocketed that one.
Logan held himself back from instantly throwing it at the cat and instead picked up another crystal. His heart was pounding. He watched the green cat intently again. It was getting ready for another attack.
[Empower]
[Skill Level Up!]
[Empower Level 2]
[Attribute Level Up!]
[Potency: 2]
[Efficiency: 2]
The Numa crystal Logan had used for the spell went dim. Logan looked at the javelin in his hand.
[F-grade Numa-craft Javelin, 75% (empowered)]
Logan shrugged. Whatever that had done, it was probably good. Then he stood up, a grim smile on his face, as he faced the predator down below in nothing but his underwear. The green cat stopped circling around the boulder. It lowered, its haunches rippling. Logan looked down at the cat. There was something primally empowering about the entire situation. The cat growled and jumped at Logan. He threw the javelin.
It struck at the beast’s head and a blue light erupted. A small explosion resembling a firecracker in sound and smoke enveloped the green cat’s head. It fell down on the ground, bounced once, and then went limp and still.
[Skill Level Up!]
[Marksmanship Level 2]
Logan couldn’t help but roar in jubilation. He pumped up his arms in glee and let it rip. Yeah, it would probably alert every green cat within a ten-mile radius, but the relief and triumph were too great. He shook his fists in the air, grinned, and shouted again, “Yes! Fuck you, green cat! Eat that Numa!”
Logan dropped down and looked at the aftermath. His weapon was still whole, the sharp, blue tip still glowing. The face of the cat had literally exploded. There was a charred red and black mess with broken teeth where the beast’s face had been. There was also a blue glint shining out behind an empty eye socket.
Logan knelt down and sighed. Well, at least there was water close by to wash his hands in. He stuck his fingers into the eye socket with a disgusting squish and retrieved a small crystal.
[F-grade Numa crystal, 100%]
“Okay, that is extremely awesome. At least now I know how to get some more.”
Then he picked up his weapon.
[F-grade Numa-craft Javelin, 50% (empowered)]
Logan nodded to himself and grinned. This had gone better than he had expected. Logan had been all but certain that the weapon had been destroyed in the explosion. Instead, now it had two more cat-kills in it.
“And I still have enough Numa crystals left to make at least one more javelin. I’m not sure if I should spend them like that, but it’s an option.”
Then, Logan glanced up at the rock. Yeah, he should get his crystals back. And pants. Pants were surprisingly nice in a survival situation.
CHAPTER 7
Logan washed his bloody hands in the spring well and wiped them on his pants. He walked back to the green cat and pondered. The corpse had hides and meat. Logan had actually eaten tiger meat, like any self-respecting son of a billionaire in search of novelty, and knew it was more sinewy and probably even less tasty than a fireman’s ass. Not that Logan had ever had that particular delicacy.
But to procure the aforementioned resources, one needed a knife and some measure of skill. Despite a myriad of experiences, Logan had never dressed a carcass, much less barehanded. Even if he managed to extract chunks of meat from the beast, he’d still need a fire.
Raw meat was better than starving to death, and Logan believed he could possibly make a fire with Numa crystals, if he were inclined to spend them on that.
To spend your Numa crystals or not to spend? Well, that’s no question at all.
Hell yes, Logan would spend them. If this reality was structured around these skills and levels like a video game—and it certainly seemed like it was—then his foremost priority was to pump those numbers up as fast as possible.
He crouched and placed his remaining crystals on the ground in a neat row. After going over them one by one, he concluded that nearly all of them were at full power, except for the one which was at 70 percent charge.
“Hey, Brain Tumor, what’s the best way to use these?”
[Reconfiguring Neural Matrix … 9% completion]
[Considering you now have offensive power to deal with the most dangerous threats you have encountered, it would be prudent to focus on avoiding physical damage and ensuring survival.]
That didn’t sound as exciting as crafting all sorts of zany Numa weapons, but the AI had a point. Logan tucked two crystals into his left pocket: one fully charged, along with the dim one he had used to attach the javelin head.
Okay, these are for survival, like making fire.
That left Logan with ten Numa crystals that could be used for more interesting applications. Another javelin was the obvious choice. The one he had could only kill two more cats as it was. The first javelin Logan had thrown at the cat lay on the ground, mostly undamaged except for the tip, which was slightly blunted.
Logan tapped a finger on his chin, considering defensive options, like a shield. Shields were cumbersome. A fancy word for slow. While Logan’s [Common Sense] wasn’t level 100, it tingled insistently. Against agile green cats, slow got you killed.
“Hey, Tumor,” Logan asked, “what do you think of the phrase ‘sometimes the best defense is a good offense?’ ”
[Reconfiguring Neural Matrix … 9% completion]
[Oversimplification of reality. The best defense is assessing and listing all the possible ways one might get attacked, estimating the probability of all those possible outcomes and preparing accordingly.]
“You’d be fun at parties,” Logan muttered. “Even father’s sycophantic cronies have more personality.”
Logan returned to the crystals. Okay, a shield was heavy. But what about a magic shield? Was that a thing? Worth a try. Because a heavy-ass traditional shield wasn’t an option.
Wait a minute.
Slow would get him killed. By that notion, speed would keep him alive, right? What about Boots of Swiftness? Could he make a speed or agility enchantment? Logan looked down at his feet. By virtue of having been yanked out of a hospital bed, he wasn’t wearing boots or any kind of shoes at all for that matter. But he did have socks on.
Socks of Swiftness? Okay. What about the shield?
That was obvious. Logan glanced at his wrist. He was still wearing his smartwatch. A grin spread across his face. A magic wristwatch shield? It didn’t get much cooler than that.
Excited by the idea, Logan climbed back up the rock, just in case another green cat was prowling in the bushes. Then he took his smartwatch and his socks off and placed the crystals next to them.
The socks weren’t exactly in stellar shape. In their previous life, they had been good socks. Sturdy, flexible, breathable, white. Now they were a soggy, green and gray mess. They were still intact, which was a bonus, but Logan wouldn’t bet tremendous amounts of money on their long-term survival.
Besides, if I stack too many crystals into the speed enchantment, I’m just going to trip over myself, right? Better to use just a single crystal on the “Soggers of Swiftness” and use the rest on a cool watch-shield.
