Michael sighed, and then said “Well, if I meet someone who pisses me off enough, I’ll get to test out that theory… Otherwise, I’d rather not torture people or animals just to find out if it’s possible. Although, if I can take things apart…” Suddenly, the hunk of rabbit meat in his hand disappeared, and then he brought out a completely intact, white-furred bunny: aside from the missing head.

He started laughing hysterically, and muttered “This would have be really overpowered… if it wasn’t for the fact that magic exists here. Hell, a low level healing spell could probably help someone regenerate their arm or leg as well. Anyone weak enough to be shoved into a bag-slot, could most likely be fixed with very little Mana.”

After that, he attempted to store only the skin or bones, but it didn’t seem to be possible. He also tried to remove the heat, when taking water out of his inventory, which didn’t work. The naked man asked himself “Wait a second, this, isn’t the real purpose of this feature meant to be used in crafting? I mean, normal adventurers probably only harvest the mana-core, plus whatever the easiest to carry, and most valuable parts of that particular magical-beast are. Unless they brought along a gigantic cooler with them, they definitely wouldn’t be able to haul a huge carcass back to town before it starts to rot. So… let’s see~, I really wish this shit had voice commands. Open the motherfucking crafting menu!”

Even though him yelling didn’t actually influence anything, his thoughts were able to bring up a message: “You have not learned any crafting professions. In order to activate the ‘Automated Item Creation System,’ please choose a basic crafting profession to unlock: Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Leatherworking, Alchemy, Enchanting. Warning: Only one profession can be active at a time. Progress will not be lost upon deactivating a profession, and it can be reactivated for a price of one silver coin per level. AICS requires mana-cores to operate.”

Michael smirked, before muttering “Hmmm~, potions and elixirs would probably be the most profitable, but that means there would be more competition; also, I don’t really ‘need’ them for myself, so that’s out. Enchanting, ugh, I’ll probably end up with that eventually, because it’s most likely the most difficult and rare; unfortunately, I don’t really have anything to use it on at the moment. I need clothing, but armor would work as well, plus, the only materials I’ve found so far are… hides, lots and lots of animal pelts.”

While wincing slightly, he mentally poked the box that read “Leatherworking,” and was immediately enveloped in a bright-white light. Then there was a ding noise, and his status-screen was updated.

[Player Information

Name: Michael
Titles: The Nudist, The Noob, The Immortal, The Lurker
Level: 4
Experience: 5/40
Age: Adult
Race: Human
Rank: F
Class: None
Specialization: None
Profession: Leatherworking Level 1]

When he opened his bag, he noticed the letters ‘LW’ next to each of the carcasses, including his own corpses, and the six leather strips in slot-six. Michael smirked, as he selected the level-one, core-less white-rabbits, and was given an option: “Would you like to activate Automated Harvesting? Warning: Efficiency is based upon the Luck stat, and profession level in comparison to the selected raw materials or ingredients.”

The moment he accepted, ten of the bunnies vanished from his inventory, and in his left hand appeared a stack of ten tanned, white, rabbit pelts. However, the strangest part, was that they were all completely intact; when none of the carcasses had heads before the process.

Without even trying to understand how or why that happened, he opened up the ‘Leatherworking’ screen, and glanced at the only pattern set that he had access to. “Basic Fur Armor: Costs ten small, five medium, or one large, Low to Uncommon Quality pelt, and one rank-G mana-core.”

Michael directly removed the last level-one white-rabbit’s mana-core, directly from his inventory, using his right hand. Then he shoved everything into the crafting box, and was given another option “Please choose the size: small, medium, large, or custom.”

For any normal person living in that world for their entire life, such a convenient and amazing ability would seem incredibly overpowered. However, he just groaned and muttered “Well, I guess it was too much to expect the armor magically adjust to the wearers size, huh?” as he picked his own body-measurements, and finally activated the ‘AICS.’

With a bright flash of light, he received a message: “Pristine Basic White-Rabbit Fur Armor: Grants the wearer two Defense Rating, and one Agility. Made to fit a short and muscular, male Human. Uncommon Quality, must be at least level-one to equip.” Followed by another notification: “Leatherworking has reached level two.”

It was supposed to be a full set, but there were only three pieces of clothing which appeared in his hands. Two snow-white fur boots, and a seamless kilt, which had ten rabbit-heads, placed at even intervals along the surprisingly elastic waistband. Michael quickly wore his newly-acquired gear, and smirked, as he looked at the change in his information-screen.

[Stats

Health: 40/40
Mana: 15/15
Stamina: 20/20
Mana Regen per minute: 20
Health Regen per hour: 40

Strength: 4
Vitality: 4
Endurance: 4
Dexterity: 3
Agility: 4(+1)
Intelligence: 3
Wisdom: 2
Perception: 1
Charisma: 1

Willpower: 14
Luck: 14
Aura: 1.8

Attack Power: 20
Defense Rating: 2(+2)]

Unlike weapons, which required the user to actually strike their opponents with them, armor was different. Whether it was a frail-looking cloth shirt, a pair of slippers, or an extremely revealing metal bikini, all that mattered were the stats.

When Michael put on the three pieces of equipment, his body became lighter and more agile, while his skin, muscles, and bones had become twice as durable. Unless his kilt and boots were destroyed, even when they were in tatters, he would still receive the same benefits.

Of course, certain areas would always be more vulnerable than others. A person wearing a full suit of plate-mail, could protect themselves better than someone who only had some bracers with the same amount of Defense Rating.

There were pros and cons to both light and heavy armor, but it was usually related to Class and Specialization. Since Michael hadn’t acquired either of those yet, he also didn’t have to be too picky about what equipment he used.

He snickered, and said “It’s kinda half-assed, but at least it didn’t include a fur coat and hat, cause there ain’t no way in hell I’m wearing winter clothes in this kinda weather.” Then the mostly white-furred, Triple-Tailed Fox, finally woke-up.

As she yawned and stretched her body, Michael pulled two large chunks of level-four crocodile meat, out of his inventory. Seeing and smelling that, the vixen yowled excitedly, jumping up and down on the ancient stone slab, causing small cracks to appear; he told her “Calm down damn it, here, eat.” as he dropped the hunk of bloody thigh-muscle, a few inches in-front of her.

Then he sighed, before starting to devour his ‘breakfast’ at a rapid pace. The taste was actually pretty good, and it was so fresh, that there was no bad smells… but if he didn’t have a decent amount of experience with eating raw fish, and preparing food, he probably wouldn’t have been able to consume it so easily.

After a few minutes, they had each finished off three pounds of chewy meat, and continued on their journey to the northwest. They traveled five uneventful miles, through the seemingly endless grasslands, but then the scenery started to change.

Until that point, he did notice the occasional patches of random flowers, but even at a glance, he immediately recognized the huge fields of maize. Michael muttered “Hmmm, smells like shit… I guess we’ve finally reached the outskirts of Carrabelle City, or at least the farms that supply them with food.”

There were hundreds of Goblins, Humans and even some Orcs spread around the cornfields, using scythes and wheelbarrows to harvest the crops. However, he could tell at a glance, that they were all level-zero, classless, unranked farmers; of course, just because their combat abilities were nonexistent, didn’t meant that their professions weren’t developed.

As he trudged through the already cleared away stalks, Michael and Inari were completely ignored. One was only about the size of a normal dog, and there were quite a few of them wandering around, plus, adventurers passed through rather frequently.

No one could tell that either of them were rank-F, so they just casually strolled by, without attracting any attention. It took them an hour to pass through the cornfields, and then there was wheat, barley, potatoes, and finally, they ended up at the actual farming village by nightfall.

Even with her slightly increased Agility, the vixen was still exhausted, so he decided to find an inn. Compared to Riverside, ‘Jacobstown’ was gigantic… but only had a population of eight-hundred or so.

There was a general store, a blacksmith, granary, a few hundred houses, stables for horses and cattle, pigsties, chicken-coops, and even a large town-hall at the center of the village. Everything was pretty spread-out though, so it took him a while to find the inconspicuous, two-story building he was searching for; it was called “The Roasted Maize.”

Next Chapter!