(Prologue) Eli and the craftsman.

Alice.

Umm. Hello, I guess? I would like to say this since the start. This is a slice of life novel, not LitRPG heavy, this chapter probably has more LitRPG elements than most of the other chapters. So if you are not looking for things like this then I implore that you don't read it. I didn't really know what I was doing when I started writing it, so it is possible that I eventually re-write the first few chapters. 

Sidenote: This is my first story, one of the issues it has is the somewhat weak prologue and the fact that the chapter lengths are under 1k words until Chapter. 8, and chapter length increases to 2.3k on average in chapter 16. and aftewards. 

If you decide to read it hopefully you can look past all the weird chapter lengths and maybe the cliche'd starting plot. 

[Zeileheim]

A fantasy RPG game. That had a simple class system with combat and non-combat classes. The game allowed the player to select three classes that became fixed. It was an extremely complex game. Allowing players to create their own gear and techniques through certain classes. The item rarity was divided in 7 tiers. Creating weapons was not popular because of a certain mysterious NPC, the [Master Craftsman] “Kuro”. However, no one knew if he truly existed or not.

Some players thought it was just a myth or an in-game legend. Certain bosses dropped extra [Relic] grade weapons that had a marking with the shape of a half-moon on them. When said items were appraised, it would display who created the item as well as the process. All of the marked items had the same name on them… “Kuro”.

Most of the [Master Craftsman]’s items displayed weird descriptions such as ‘Forged with the mystic fire of the [Legendary Dragon Aizen] using [Eternal Mithril]’. The descriptions were surreal. Fitting for a legendary figure of in-game history.

Thus the Master Craftsman was born. And the weapon marking became his signature, there was a single problem. Said craftsman was not an NPC. It was a player character. The only player that was able to create such equipment.

Why did no one know?

One of the reasons was that he was a top player. Top players in [Zeileheim] are judged by their combat potential and stats rather than their classes. Which means non-combat classes were never there.

Kuro did not show up very often. All most players knew about him is two out of his three classes. [Tamer] and [Summoner]. Most players cursed him because he was one of the few players to have full [Relic] tier equipment. No one knew anything else about him. Eventually, even the developers said Kuro was a real NPC.

....

[Title unlocked: Legend]

Even the developers acknowledge you.

“How did this happen!”

I decided it would be funny to drop one random item from time to time when bosses were defeated. Yet people are making legends about a legendary NPC? How does that even make sense? Even the developers went along with it.

...

The truth behind [Master Craftsman] class. Maxing out [Alchemist], [Enchanter] and [Smith] classes. Caused them to mix together creating [Master Craftsman].

No one knew about [Master Craftsman] class. Who would be insane enough to not pick a single combat class?!

Of course, that would be me.

[Zeileheim]

It was the only MMORPG that I ever played. I liked the idea of creating items. So I went with the [Alchemist] [Enchanter] and [Smith] classes. None of them were popular. Craftsman classes were hard to level and NPC items were always better.

One of the reasons no one liked non-combat classes was that they don't give any type of stat bonuses. So they were considered useless for the most part. I thought that nothing could be better than crafting your own gear even if my character did not have combat potential at all, despite stats being so meaningful. ‘Nothing is better than crafting’ I thought so at the time. That is until I met her.

One day after a year of playing I found myself in the capital shopping for materials, however, I was sitting while being boiled by the scorching sun looking at the ground in defeat due to not finding anything. I saw a shadow cast over me and I heard a sweet voice.

“Hey, you the guy all in black.”

I looked to see who it was and who would say something so accurate about me, It was a girl with black hair and brown eyes, and had quite a charming smile and observant eyes. When I looked up to see her she suddenly said in the same cheerful voice.

“Let’s go on an adventure, ok?” I just looked at her like a statue, but ended up nodding and stood up. My thought process was, ‘I basically have nothing to do.’ I was not in high hopes due to how things normally ended up for me, as I was thinking I heard her voice.

“My name is Eli. Nice to meet you~!”

“Kuro…”  I instantly answered. She paused for a second from my unfriendliness but after some fidgeting, she decided to ask, something that I was not quite happy about.

“So, Kuro... What are your classes?”  I paused for a second hearing this but I said with a somewhat stiff voice.

“...[Alchemist], [Enchanter] and [Smith]...”

I expected her to maniacally die from laughter or just point at me in public and mock me, yet she did not say anything like that. Instead, her eyes sparkled and said in a joyous tone.

“That is so cool!”

She did not critique me, not even flinch to me saying it. She seemed to genuinely think that, which made me quite happy.

“Thank you.”

“Nn. More importantly…” She paused and started thinking of something, restlessly tapping her foot on the ground and holding her chin with her hand,.she was like that for quite a while. It was weird. I grew worried so I decided to talk to her.

“Eli?”

After a brief silence, she looked at me with an empty face and hollow eyes. I heard an empty voice.

“... Kuro.”

“W-what?!” What is with this girl?! She was silent yet again, looking blankly at me, she opened her mouth and spoke with the same tone.

“... Where do you want to go?”

So she was thinking about where to go. This girl… I decided to attempt to cheer her up saying something cheesy.

“I don't know, anywhere is fine as long as it's fun”

“Nn!”

She cheerfully nodded from my cheesy line. Looks like it worked.

We started our seemingly endless adventure. It was weird at first but we eventually started to get to know each other. Turns out we both had terminal illnesses. It was unexpected however we were happy that we could share our joy and sorrow together. I picked up the habit of marking the things I crafted with a half-moon symbol. I thought it was cool at the time.

Eventually, we got each other a set of [Friendship rings] they did not do anything special aside from telling you when your friend was near. When a set would touch each other the gems on them would shine. We both thought it was important to represent our friendship in a ‘physical’ way. The ring was in the shape of a silver coiled branch with leaves on it and a small emerald green gem on the top. We decided to wear them on our ring fingers because it meant a lot to us.

Two years later I acquired [Master Craftsman] when I reached the max level, LVL.120 I was really happy about the endless possibilities. And I “unlocked” two-class slots. I started grinding for the only combat class I always wanted with help from Eli.

I acquired [Tamer] and tamed Fenri a common lvl.1 wolf. But he was special to me. I found out that you could equip items to your tamed beasts. I decided I wanted to make the best gear and equip it to Fenri.

Eli jokingly suggested that I should become a [Summoner] and use summons to help me create weapons. ‘It might make the weapon rarity higher if the summon is rare or special in some way.’ She said.

I took it seriously... We embarked on a long journey. Fenri reached LVL.40. The highest level possible for a common monster. However, that was not going to stop me. I kept crafting new gear for Fenrii, as I got better. Fenri eventually surpassed LVL.40 somehow I got a message along the lines of. ‘Your beloved pet has transcended the impossible.’ and when he reached LVL.120 he became known as a ‘Fenrir’ the lord of wolves.

Eli refused all the weapons I crafted for her, saying: ‘Well… I don’t think I can accept this..’ I promised myself at that time that I would make a rapier and give it to her. I knew she liked them, and would not be able to refuse them once I did my masterpiece.

Two years later I met him inside a desolate cave. My smithing companion... The [Legendary Dragon Aizen]. A dragon with shiny silver scales. Amber eyes that looked into your soul with seemingly infinite knowledge. His mere presence was outstanding radiating regality and pride. The only legendary dragon in existence and theoretically the best summon. No one had ever contracted Aizen. Somehow I managed to make Aizen agree to help me make a weapon. However, when he first heard the idea as I was pulling out some [Eternal Mithril] He did not take it well.

“Are you insulting me?! You mere human! Asking me to heat a mere piece of tin! Do not look down on me!”

After begging for my life the dragon ended up agreeing seeing no one else had used this material to make something before. I started the process. He gave me a bloodshot gaze every time he had to heat the metal after hammering. Before long my work was finished… It was a black rapier with cobweb patterns engraved into it.

I named the rapier [Obsidian Weaver] because it shone like obsidian and had cobwebs on it. And it happened...

[Title Unlocked: Relic forger].

You have achieved the impossible, perhaps there are no limits?

The dragon seeing the rapier froze and then started to look at the rapier repeatedly then started laughing.

“Bwahaha... Very interesting human! Very well. I the [Legendary Dragon] shall serve you!”

Aizen bowed his head with peerless elegance giving an indescribable feeling of loyalty. We made a contract shortly after and he became my summon. I gave the rapier to Eli as the weapon I promised myself to give her. She reluctantly accepted it but she was fidgeting and looking at the ground with somewhat flushed cheeks afterwards.

I lived in a hospital, my parents would come to see me every now and then… The thing is, they would reluctantly see me. Every time I saw them, they restlessly tapped their foot on the ground as if waiting for this to be over. I didn't quite understand it. I lived in a lonely hospital room with a white tiled floor and a small window that had the beautiful view of a brick wall, well it is not like I could see the outside even if I wanted to.

I was born paraplegic, and a rare disease that made my body weak. The doctors told me that I did not have much time to live with my parents in the room. My parents kept solemn expressions however their eyes sparkled when they heard that, every time they placed their gaze on me they would just narrow their eyes as if they were looking at trash.

For some reason, I still received some education paid by my parents, I didn't quite understand it, I still don’t understand it. However, I am grateful for it.

One fateful day, my parents came in, their solemn expressions were the same however their gaze… It was warm, their eyes were sparkling, despite their mostly emotionless expressions they had a faint smile on them. I knew something was wrong... Everything was wrong. Doctors started entering the room, some were fidgeting, others were looking with anticipation as if they wanted to see what would happen. Others were shaking and looking at the ground.

The creaking door opened, a doctor came in while holding something that looked like a helmet and handed it to my parents while saying something to them. They eagerly got a hold of it and came closer to me. One of them whispered into my ear trying to sound regretful.

“I am sorry.”

The words I heard felt empty, afterwards everything was black. No room, no doctors. Only darkness… And endless abyss. Time went by and then I saw a light. It just looked like a circle, I could not see the ground however I felt it... I felt my body. I froze for a few minutes. The weird and unfamiliar feeling was not going away. I realized this was my reality now. I heard an emotionless voice.

[Welcome to the system.]

Days went by, I grew more and more familiar with everything. Apparently, this was some sort of enhanced VR prototype that was in experimental testing. More days went by, I kept talking with the integrated AI. That could keep me company; despite it being an AI it was rather disappointing. It worked more like a browser if anything. A year went by. One day out of boredom I asked.

“Is there something else I can do?” The voice did not answer instantly, it was silent. Then I heard his reply.

[There are VR games.]

I found myself intrigued hearing the unfamiliar concept, I wanted to know more. I discovered a certain game of a genre called ‘fantasy’ it consisted of adventures and surreal concepts and medieval age. It was quite weird but I found it amazing. I found an online game called...

[Zeileheim.]

In that game. I met her, my first friend, we went into countless adventures getting a few but precious companions. Sadly I stopped seeing her, ‘Maybe she met her end.’ I muttered with hollow words. I found myself depressed not doing anything... She made me make a promise before she was gone.

‘To live a happy life.’ I muttered grinding my teeth. As if that could happen! A world without you is not the same, yet you want me to be happy? She left me a memento but I don’t think I will ever use it. ‘Will I ever see her again?’ I muttered.

I found myself reaching the end of my life span two years later. That day... It was a starry night sky, however, I could not admire it. The silver moonlight was piercing through the leaves of the forest, the rustling of the leaves and the gentle breeze were perfect. But…

‘How did I end up like this?’ I muttered as my cold body hit the ground, making a dull sound. I made a promise, it was a simple one. ‘To live a happy life.’ yet… Right now I cannot even move a single muscle of my body. ‘Just like real life… haha.’ I lifelessly muttered. Even though she is dead… Even though I promised.

“How do you make a promise you can’t fulfill!” I managed to say with the little energy I had left. I was not happy with myself. Making a promise yet I cannot even fulfill it?! I am a fool, no. We are fools… She promised and died… ‘Now it’s my turn I guess?’...

I could not feel my body anymore, everything from my face down felt completely lifeless. I could not focus my eyes, I could not see. I felt my eyes getting blurry. I was crying. Was it really worth it to not go on a last adventure with her? Instead, we just talked…  Now here I am, dying…

‘I guess it is not my turn isn’t it?’ I said with a voice that was about to fade. I could not see, I could barely think. With the little strength, I had, seeing there was no point anymore. I made use of the memento she left me. I consumed an item called ‘[Cat’s Charm]’

‘I wonder if the description is true?’ I jokingly said.

[Cat’s charm: The universe smiles upon you. Be careful you don’t have 9 lives.]

Well, I am dead now, not like it matters if it smiles upon me or not… I wish I could fulfill my promise. I always wanted to live leisurely, yet I ended up like thi-...

[Logging out.]

[System error.]

[Retrying...]

...

[Title unlocked: Wish upon a star.]:

A star listened to your wish. Do not regret it.

...

[Effect of “Wish upon a star.” has been activated.]

[ -1000 Karma (Permanent)]

[Relocated.]