Brand New Life Online: Rise Of The Goddess Of Harvest-Chapter 9: Acquiring New Skills

[You defeated a Walking Spiky Purple Mushroom (Level 3)!]

[You gained 350 EXP]

[You gained 55 Gold]

[You acquired the [Spiky Purple Mushroom] x1 and [Poisonous Mushroom] x1 items!]

The moment the Mushroom was defeated, we both gained EXP, and I acquired the dropped items and gold. It seemed like that NPC somehow cannot get these items? It was weird, but I was not in the mood to question this game mechanics for the moment.

More than that, there was something else that happened after that tiny mushroom perished.

[Your Race and Job Level have increased from Level 1 to Level 2!]

[You gained +10 Skill Points and Stat Points]

[All your stats have increased]

"Ah… I leveled up!"

"Y-You did? Were you level 1?" wondered Acorn. "I thought you were an ancient fairy…"

"I'm not ancient, instead you say I'm actually quite young in a sense; I was just born," I said. "I think?"

"O-Oh… I guess that's why you're level 1 then… But the abilities you used are clearly not those of a level 1," said Acorn.

"Let me check something…"

I looked into my Status and saw that my stats had increased. I had read about this before, every level increased in both race and job increases your stats depended on the race and job you are. Warriors naturally got more strength and vitality, and mages received more intelligence, and so on…

[Player Name]: [Planta]

[Race]: [Dryad: Lv2/30]

[Race EXP]: [250/2000]

[Job Class]: [Farmer: Lv2/20]

[Job Class EXP]: [250/2000]

[Satiation]: [100/100]

[HP]: [50/50 -> 70/70]

[MP]: [250/250 -> 300/300]

[STR]: [12 -> 17]

[VIT]: [12 -> 17]

[DEX]: [12 -> 17]

[AGI]: [16 -> 28]

[INT]: [35 -> 47]

[WIS]: [40 -> 50]

[LUC]: [30 -> 35]

[Race Skills: 3/10]

[Spirit of the Forest: Lv1], [Photosynthesis: Lv1], [Green Magic: Lv1]

[Job Class Skills: 2/10]

[Agriculture: Lv1], [AGI UP: Lv1]

[Skill Points: 10]

[Stat Points: 10]

[Equipment]

[Spirit of the Forest Robes]

[Bracelet of Nature]

[Crown of Spirit Wood]

[Seed Pouch]

My stats increased! But by a little bit only, I guess the rest of the increase should be done through the Stat Points! This was something I've read a bit earlier in the forums: It was recommended for players to spend their stat points in their major stat.

It meant that if I was a warrior, I would increase my Strength, if I was a Tank, I would increase HP and Vitality, and if I was a mage, I would go for Intelligence and maybe MP.

"How many Stats does a single Stat Point give?" I wondered.

"How many? Well, one for one. Except with HP and MP, they give two points in exchange for one stat point," said the guide. "Your class is bad at physical strength, and you need MP for literally doing any attack, so you're more of a mage, increase your MP pool as much as possible for now. That's what I recommend."

"I see. But I increased my MP by 50 with a single level though," I said. "Shouldn't I increase another stat that increases less frequently?"

"Hmm… I guess you can do whatever you want but Mana is important," said the guide. "Didn't you use like 200 Mana just to finish off that Dark Beast? If you don't want to waste a lot of Mana Potions, you should invest in Mana."

"Ah, you're right. Let's see… I guess I will dump it all into mana for now…"

Ding!

[You exchanged 10 Stat Points]

[Your MP has increased by +20!]

"Now… Can I pick a new Skill? Oh, how do I level Skills? Using Skill Points too?" I asked.

"Yeah, two Skill Points is equivalent to one Level. Each Skill has a different max level while the Race Skill level increases when you evolve, so you cannot use Skill Points on that one, now your Farmer and Dryad Skill Trees are quite vast at the stages you are at. This is mostly because both the race and the job are good at a lot of little things but never specialize in anything aside from raising plants," said the guide.

"Hmm?"

"Anyway, you can select a Skill and acquire it by spending Skill Points. So pretty much using 2 Skill Points will level up a Skill to Level 1 and make it usable. Whichyou can place in the Skill Slots afterwards. But remember that you can only have ten and ten Skills, you can't have more, so you should be careful what you pick, if you pick too many skills, you won't be able to use them all. Sometimes investing in already existing skills is better… But it depends on what you want."

"Alright, let me see what I got here…"

I looked into the Skill Trees of both Race and Job Class, and found a couple of Skills that were available for them.

[Skill Tree: Dryad]

[Plant Synthesis: Lv0]

[Life Drain: Lv0]

[Spirit Magic: Lv0]

[Natural Charm: Lv0]

[Daughter of Nature: Lv0]

[Spiritual Shield: Lv0]

[Plant Companion: Lv0]

[Nature's Rage: Lv0]

[INT UP: Lv0]

[WIS UP: Lv0]

[MP UP: Lv0]

[Skill Tree: Farmer]

[Tame: Lv0]

[Cooking: Lv0]

[Brewing: Lv0]

[Crafting: Lv0]

[Sewing: Lv0]

[Fishing: Lv0]

[Alchemy: Lv0]

[Robust Body: Lv0]

[Farm Animal Companion: Lv0]

[Farming Tools Usage: Lv0]

[Terrain Adaptability: Lv0]

[Soil Manipulation: Lv0]

[DEX UP: Lv0]

[HP UP: Lv0]

Wow, there were too many Skills to pick! What should I even choose in this situation? I truly felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices, but deep down I really wanted a few of them. I had 10 Skill Points and therefore I was able to pick up to five different Skills, but if I didn't level up my other Skills, I wouldn't grow stronger and I might even get stale.

So I cannot really go crazy, I had to pick what I really need now.

As there was some level limit, it meant that I got 5 Skill Points per level of Race and Job. I had 50 levels I could potentially increase which meant that I had 250 Skill Points in total. I smiled a little. I was quite good at math.

However, I needed to remember something. I had to spend 2 Skill Points to level up a skill, and when I saw that some Skills had a max of level 20 such as Green Magic, it meant that I couldn't really get all my Skills to max level with these points. At best I could only increase the level of a Skill 125 times which meant that I could probably afford 10 Skills at level 10 at most… Perhaps 11, but there were clearly some Skills I wanted to reach Level 20 with, such as Green Magic.

Uuugh, this was complicated!

Agh, screw it, I was what other players call a "casual player" so I really shouldn't think so much about min-maxing, especially since my goal was not becoming the top player or something.

I should pick whatever I want… And what I wanted was…

[You have exchanged 8 Skill Points]

[You learned the [Life Drain: Lv1], [Tame: Lv1], [Cooking: Lv1], and [Farm Animal Companion: Lv1] Skills!]

[You have exchanged 2 Skill Points]

[The Level of the [Green Magic: Lv1] Skill has increased to Level 2]

[Green Magic: Lv2] has unlocked the [Plant Boost], [Wood Shield], and [Seed Creation] Spells]

Ohh! There were so many things one could get for just being Level 2! This game was really generous with their players, wasn't it? I was beginning to see why people had so much fun leveling, I guess…

So much customization really excited me… And it seems I could even evolve if I reach max level in my Race and do Job Class Change when my Job reaches max level! That would probably bring a whole new set of skills as well…

Anyways! These were the Skills I picked up:

[Life Drain: Lv1]

As a powerful Life-Attribute Spirit, you're able to manipulate the life of your enemies and drain it directly from their bodies. Any attack you deal will drain 20% of the damage dealt as HP, and 5% of the damage dealt as MP.

This one was an obvious choice, draining HP and MP from a foe was essential! I can already do it with my racial skill, but this will boost it even further, giving me the ability to acquire MP based on 5% of the damage I dealt. Which meant that if I dealt 30 Damage to a foe, I'd get… 1.5 MP! Wow, that was so little. Well, it was still something, and it would increase as I level it up.

[Tame: Lv1]

As someone deeply connected with nature and animals, you're able to tame a monster that is willing to be tamed or that has submitted to you.

Beating a monster to near death might not guarantee a successful taming, monsters are prideful creatures that sometimes prefer death over being with a jerk!

Try to be nice with the creature you want to tame. If a tamed monster is badly treated, it might run away, treat them well and keep them well fed.

As the Level increases, your maximum amount of Tamed Monsters increases by +1.

Current Max Amount of Tamed Monsters: 0/2

This was also a given. I really didn't like fighting that much, but if I could find companions to do it for me, all the better… I could tame up to two creatures, but what should I tame? And how? It said that even if I beat something to near death, it might not submit to me, so I had to try other methods… Maybe tasty food could work?

[Cooking: Lv1]

Grants access to the ability to cook in-game. Real life abilities can be transferred to the game, however, as the level increases, the quality of your meals will also increase, and might even include special effects that grant temporary buffs to those that consume them.

I wanted to cook so I picked this one.

[Farm Animal Companion: Lv1]

Channel your connection with the typical animals that are used in farms and summon a random Farm Animal to become your companion. This Summon will be loyal to you from the get-go and doesn't count as a tamed monster. It can develop on its own and require food and care. Every 3 Levels of the Skill, you can summon a new companion.

Each Level slightly increases the strength of your Farm Animal Companions. If a Farm Animal Companion dies, it can be summoned again, but 50% of their gained strength will be lost, and they will start with zero closeness with you again, so make sure to take care of them and not sacrifice them!

Max number of summonable Farm Animals: 0/1

And lastly, this one! There was also another Skill named Plant Companion, but I decided to leave that one for later, because if I could get something like a cow then it meant I could probably get milk. Or if it was a sheep then I'd get wool. But maybe I could get something even better, if I got something like a chicken, I could get myself an egg-producing machine!

Ah… Maybe I shouldn't think of farm animals like that, but they were farm animals for a reason. Such creatures could produce resources, and that was why humans kept them! Aside from meat that was, but I was not going to sacrifice a pig if I got one…

I guess I should summon it right away.

"Wow, you picked a bunch of weird Skills," said the guide. "I guess your race and class combination really gives you some weird mix of skills, huh?"

"Shut up and watch! Summon Farm Animal Companion!"

FLASH!

Suddenly, a magic circle emerged above the ground in front of me, as the figure of a creature standing on its four feet slowly emerged from it!

What could it be?

"Meeee!"

"Oh?!"

"W-What?! You summoned a creature?! Incredible!" said Acorn.

"T-That's… Seriously?" sighed the guide. "I shouldn't have expected a legendary creature…"

What emerged in front of me was a beautiful creature.

It had white and long, silky hair, a large pair of white horns, and wonderful yellow eyes, it was… a goat!

[You have summoned a [White Goat (Female): Lv1]!]

And it was a female! That meant she could give milk, maybe!

"Meee!"

"Agh, please, dear, shut up! You're too loud!"

"MEEEEE!"

The goat continued to groan until the mushrooms started to notice us some more…