"Saving one person at a time," thought Garnet. This was going to be a tough task. So many problems plagued the city yet she the only one person who had to deal with all of these problems. If she had help it would be different, it would be a lot easier. "What would Garnet do?" she thought. The old Garnet was someone who was gifted at talking and was very persuasive. There was a chance that she could do the same thing.
According to Zedd and what she observed, most people could not be trusted. Most people were only concerned with themselves. There was one exception to this rule that she knew of, the merchant.
Garnet had seen the merchant when she walked around town. Nearly every other day, he was at the marketplace selling his wares. It mostly consisted of a small amount of food. Most of what he sold was precious gems and luxury items to the nobles. The fact that he was still trying to sell food despite a minor loss meant that he was at least trying to do the right thing.
Garnet decided on a plan. She would hunt boars in order to harvest their parts. Their tusks sold for a bit of money to the stores in Antium because they could be traded for other things. What she needed though was their meat. The combination of high prices and low supply of food in Antium caused many problems and an angry people was prime for a revolt. In order to do this, she at least had to make some impact on the food supply. Garnet decided that in order to do this, she needed to move in the middle of the night. But to her surprise...
"Going somewhere?" asked Zedd.
"You're awake?" said Garnet.
"Of course," said Zedd. "I just want to know what you were up to."
"I have a solution to one of our problems," said Garnet. "I'm going to be hunting boars."
"Boars?" said Zedd. "Why?"
"The creatures that I kill seem to reappear after a period of time, but they leave their parts, so I want to harvest their meat," said Garnet.
"And you plan to sell it?" asked Zedd.
"Nope, I plan to get someone to sell it for me," said Garnet.
"Alright, but be careful, out there," said Zedd. "Take this too." He threw her a leather cloak to hide her face and head. "I've almost got Duke Charles Wellington to agree to meet you so don't do anything stupid out there."
"I won't," asid Garnet as she left. Garnet was wearing her leather outfit and snuck around in the shadows. The cloak made it hard to see her face unless you were right in front of her. She made her way to the East Gate.
New Skill: Stealth
Allows you to move in silence and undetected as long as you are in the shadows.
Level Up: Speed (Level 4)
The East Gate was filled with holes so it was easy to get out. This was her first time outside of Antium by herself. In the past, she was always followed by Kirk and Klarth. On her own, she needed to be safe, but she had a good idea.
"Call: Skeletal Dogs!"
Garnet summoned three of her Skeletal Dogs to accompany her and help her scout. They were weak, but easy to summon with her enormous pool of mana. If any one of them got hurt, she would know that there was an aggressive animal like a wolf around. She also did not want to use her magic because the lights could be visible from Antium, so she had to rely on her Skeletal Dogs and her short sword.
The boars were much more plentiful at night than the day, and they were often asleep. It gave her the chance to use Stealth to walk up to them and kill them with a single strike. Garnet thought of something she had learned. Hunting. It was sometimes necessary to survive in the wild and hunt wild animals for food. The bodies of the boars disappeared, but only after an amount of time had passed. She wanted to know if she could use her skills to harvest additional meat from the boars.
Garnet approached one of the bars. She activated Stealth and stabbed it in the head. As soon as it died, Garnet went to work. She cut off the skin and removed as much of the meat as she could from the bones.
New Class: Hunter
New Skill: Hunting (Level 1)
Allows you to harvest animal parts.
New Skill: Inventory Expansion (Level 1)
Allows you to hold more items in your Inventory.
Garnet opened her Menu. There was a"!" under Class, Skills, and Inventory. She checked her Inventory first, the number of slots had doubled from five to ten. She could now hold ten different types of items in it. Under Class, there was a new section. Trade Skills. Only Hunter was available and it now had its own skill tree too. The rest were displayed as ???. She would have to discover the others on her own.
"There's more!" thought Garnet. She would have to try out different things later on, but knowing that this was possible was a very big deal. She could acquire more meat from a single boar and guarantee it as an item.
There was a few more things she wanted to try. "Call: Skeletal Dogs!" The three dogs all reappeared in front of her.
Garnet picked up one of the Skeletal Dogs and put it in her Inventory. It had become an item! "It worked! But how?!?" It logically made no sense. It was a creature, but it could be stored as an item. Then again, the Hero System was beyond comprehension as well. She took the Skeletal Dog back out.
"Attack that Boar," Garnet commanded. The three dogs all attacked the boar together. The dogs bit and headbutted the boar until it was dead. "Now I can have them attack while I harvest!"
Level Up: Hunting (Level 2)
There was a problem with this. Although Garnet's skills were increasing, they were not providing the amount of experience she needed to level up and become stronger overall. She would have to find stronger enemies in the future. But right now, it was more important to focus on improving living conditions in Antium.
Level Up: Call Skeletal Dogs (Level 2)
Level Up: Call Skeletal Dogs (Level 3)
Level Up: Call Skeletal Dogs (Level 4)
Level Up: Call Skeletal Dogs (Level 5)
The Skeletal Dogs had almost caught up to her level from fighting. They were much stronger now. "I could have my own personal army in the future," she thought. Having the ability to summon was a huge advantage because it allowed you to outnumber the enemy. What should have been a 1 on 1 fight can instantly turn into a 4 on 1 with her ability. On top of that, at higher levels, she would be able to summon other creatures that were more powerful. The only problem was that they would have to hunt for experience to become stronger as well. Nonetheless, it was much more efficient.
Level Up: Hunting (Level 3)
By sunrise, Garnet had hunted almost as much meat as she had all day yesterday with Kirk and Klarth. Having more numbers with the Skeletal Dogs was definitely a huge advantage, but it was not something she could be caught doing during the day.
Garnet was able to sneak back into Antium the same way that she left. There were numerous holes in the East Gate and very easy to get in. If there was a serious invasion, the city would probably fall in an instant. Yet, no one took action to do anything. She made her way to the marketplace.
The merchant was there. Garnet walked up to his stand and looked. "Looking to buy something today miss?" he asked.
Garnet looked at the foods that he had. It was bread and vegetables. "Can I trust you to sell something?" asked Garnet.
"Yes, but I charge a 30% commission," said the merchant.
"You can keep all the money from the sales if you agree to my conditions," said Garnet.
"What is it?" asked the merchant.
"First, your name," said Garnet.
"My name is Samuel Clark," said the merchant. "Most people call me Clark."
"I will supply you with Boar Meat," said Garnet. "You will sell it to the people at a lower price and lower the price of vegetables and your other foods. To compensate for that, I will let you keep all the profits of the meat."
"Why are you doing this?" asked Clark.
"This city is in trouble," said Garnet. "But what we need is an economy to get started, but it just is not possible under the current conditions."
"So you plan to change those conditions?" asked Clark.
"Yes," Garnet replied. "And one of those things is to change the market. I will supply you with Boar Meat, you sell it. Deal?"
"Deal," said Clark. "But I want to know your name."
"It's Garnet," Garnet answered. "If you want to look for me, I can usually be found at Zedd's Workshop."
Reward: 10 Fame, Charisma+1
"I got something for doing that too," thought Garnet. "Is it because he knows my name now?"
Garnet walked around a corner and took out an empty crate. She filled it up with some of the Boar Meat that she had acquired and tried to pushed it over to Clark's stand. "Come help," shouted Garnet.
Stat Gain: Strength+1
Clark ran over and saw the crate of meat. "That's a lot!" said Clark.
"That's the point," said Garnet. "I need the prices to drop, the only way is to put a lot of it out there on the market."
"Are you sure about not wanting to keep any of the money?" asked Clark. "This is easily dozens of gold worth of meat."
"Yes," said Garnet. "This is not for me, this is for the people who need the food."
"Thank you," said Clark.
Garnet left the meat with Clark. Now, she wanted to test something else. Cooking. It was another necessary survival skill, but if it was affected by the Hero System, it could lead to huge profits and other unknown benefits. She only had 50 silver, which was not a lot, but with it, it was enough to buy some basic cooking materials. She had seen Zedd's Workshop and borrowed some of his equipment like his burners and wood. All she really needed was a cooking knife, a cutting board, and a pan to cook in. Total price: 40 silver. She was almost out of money again.
When Garnet returned to Zedd's Workshop, she saw Kirk and Klarth. Kirk had his head down with both hands holding on to it. Klarth was nervously pacing back and forth. As Garnet approached, she spoke, "What's wrong?"
"Oh my god you're alive!" shouted Klarth as he hugged her.
"Hey let go," said Garnet. "Get off of me!"
Klarth let go. "We thought something had happened to you."
"I just went out early to go to the market," said Garnet.
"What for?" asked Kirk who was still nervously sweating.
"To get cooking materials," Garnet answered.
Kirk and Klarth looked at each other. They were both confused.
Garnet went inside Zedd's Workshop and turned what should have been his laboratory into a kitchen. "Are you sure about this?" asked Klarth.
"It's not like he uses it," Garnet replied. "He has his lab in the castle anyways." On the table, she set up the cutting board and used the burner to heat the pan. She cut up the meat and started cooking it in the pan.
New Class: Cook
New Skill: Cooking (Level 1)
Foods prepared by a cook provide bonus stats or effects for a limited amount of time.
New Skill: Inspection (Level 1)
By focusing on an item, you can see more detailed information about it.
Level Up: Inventory Expansion (Level 2)
"It worked!" thought Garnet. Doing these tasks that other people do gave her new skills that were very effective. Garnet focused on the red meat in the pan. She could see more information on it.
Name: Cooked Boar Meat
Quality: Low
Durability: 10/10
As a few moments passed, the quality changed from low to medium. It was getting better because it was almost done. She turned the meat to cook the other side and waited. The quality of the item became high, meaning that it was done. With Inspection, she could prepare perfect food every time.
Name: Cooked Boar Meat
Quality: High
Durability: 10/10
Effect: Bonus Max HP+100 for 30 minutes.
"Try it," said Garnet as she handed some to Kirk and Klarth. She bit into a piece herself. She watched as the numbers on her health bar changed from a maximum of 350 to 450. Other foods would most likely have different effects.
Kirk was still hesitating so Garnet just pushed it into his mouth. "I said eat it!" she shouted.
"It's good," said Kirk.
Klarth then took a bite into his. "You're right!"
Garnet had learned a lot more about her skills during this experience, but there was one major problem. Time. No matter how many skills or abilities she had, she did not have the time to train all of them. She would eventually need to focus on a few. Those were most likely going to be her magic skills for combat, and maybe Hunting and Cooking for survival. Things like Blacksmithing or Farming were out of the question as they took too long. But, she thought about learning how to repair her equipment. That could be something useful.
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The Hero System was powerful, and there was still much more to learn from it. It not only came with combat skills, it came with a lot of practical skills too if the user could discover it. There was one thing that Garnet wanted to know most. That was whether it was possible to combine her sword skills with magic. The Class system had said that the initial Class selection could only be changed under certain conditions. She had to find out what that meant and what it could change into. For now, she was simply a Dark Mage with a sword. For now, she needed to get the food supply moving again.
"So what is the point of this?" asked Kirk.
"I'm going to have someone sell this for me," said Garnet.
"Are you becoming a cook now?" asked Klarth.
"Something like that," Garnet replied. "This is going to be the key to pushing through some changes in the system. Since the nobles do not want to change, I will change how the merchants work. To do that I need you to get me something from the castle."
"What is it?" Klarth asked.
"A maid outfit, but you need to cut the length of the skirt so that it only reaches down to my knees," said Garnet.
"What?!?" said Kirk.
"Just do it!" Garnet ordered.
Klarth brought back the clothes and Garnet put it on. She tied some of the parts tighter to make sure that it emphasized her curves and her physical attractiveness. The goal was to draw attention after all.
Garnet headed back to the marketplace in her maid clothes. Klarth and Kirk were following, but they could barely keep up now. She had gotten a lot faster thanks to her Speed skill.
"I don't understand the point of this," said Kirk.
"You'll see," said Garnet. "This is to add persuasive power."
When Garnet arrived, the marketplace was as dead as ever. Right now, Clark was the only person there. "No customers?" Garnet asked.
"Barely any," said Clark. "Few people come around the market now."
"I'm going to fix that," said Garnet. "Do you have anything to cook with?"
Clark took out a small portable burner with glowing rocks in it. With a match, the whole thing lit on fire. "If you want to put it out, you need to smother the fire with something."
Garnet cut off a few pieces of the meat and started cooking. "We're going to draw their attention with this," said Garnet.
"So the smell of food will bring people over?" asked Clark.
"It might, but that's what we're counting on," said Garnet. "Right now the market is dead because there's no people, but what we need is people who want to buy and sell. Taxes and tariffs are high and stay high because the nobles have no pressure, so what we need to do is motivate people to create pressure."
"How do we do that?" Clark asked.
"We create a clear shortage," said Garnet. "The tariffs and taxes cannot stay high if it is obvious that there is a shortage. So what we need to do is create demand for something that is plentiful, then turn it into a shortage."
It was economics. The market was dead because few people were willing to buy and sell. All Garnet needed to do was create conditions that would make people want to buy and sell. To do this, she lowered the price of the meat greatly so that people could afford it. She used the Hero System to create supply, and now all that was needed was to create demand.
"Set the price to only 1 silver per stick of meat," said Garnet.
"That cheap?!?" shouted Clark.
"Yes," said Garnet. "Remember, we're trying to create a shortage first, not make money. Besides you keep it all anyways."
Garnet started cutting meat and putting them onto sticks, creating skewers. She handed a few to Kirk. "Take them and pass them out to a few people, tell them you got it from the market," ordered Garnet.
Garnet's Sub-Class as a Temptress gave her the power to make people listen. This was something that she could use to draw their attention. However, she could still not openly say that the people needed to take action against the nobles. Instead, she needed to make them pay attention to their policies that were creating high prices and shortages.
Soon, there were a few people gathering at the market. "If you purchase meat from this merchant, I can cook it for you," said Garnet. She had caught the attention of a lot of men. She was using her sex appeal to her advantage, but it was a way to get things started and it was working.
However, they were suspicious. The meat was suspiciously low prices. That was her other trap. Klarth walked by, "This is good," he said. The few people turned to look at him, it was the skewers that she had prepared earlier.
"I'll take one!" shouted someone in the crowd. Garnet made one and handed it to him. "It is good!" he said.
Stat Increase: Charisma +1
The orders began to pour in. It was cheaper than other places and it was cooked for them as well. More people began to gather when they heard the news. Garnet could even see some of the city's guards.
Level Up: Cooking (Level 2)
Level Up: Cooking (Level 3)
Then, Garnet suddenly stopped cutting more meat. "Sorry everyone, but we're out of meat," she said.
Stat Increase: Charisma +1
"What?!?" shouted someone in the crowd. "How can you be out?"
"It's just too expensive to bring in that much meat," said Garnet. "The tariffs on bringing in meat is high, and we make very little off of this. I hope you all can understand."
There were whispers among the crowd. Garnet's abilities as a Temptress were able to persuade them to at least listen. The rest was up to them.
Over the next few days, Garnet repeated the process. At nights, she would sneak out and hunt Boar Meat. In the morning, she would bring the Boar Meat to Clark. In the afternoon, she would cook the Boar Meat to sell to the people at an insanely low price. Clark did not mind because he was making a profit either way.
Stat Increase: Charisma +1
Stat Increase: Charisma +1
Stat Increase: Charisma +1
Stat Increase: Charisma +1
This began to draw the attention of other people, specifically a noble. "That's Baron Gray!" said Clark. "Don't anger him," he whispered.
Baron Gray was a rather short and skinny man who wore a lot of purple on him. A purple top, a purple hat, and even purple pants. Purple was thought to be the color of royalty and it was most likely that was what Baron Gray was trying to give the impression of. He was about the same height of Garnet who was already considered somewhat small. He was being escorted by four guards. As he approached, the crowd turned silent. "I came out here to see what all the commotion was about," said Baron Gray.
"We're just selling cooked meat," said Garnet.
"You do know you have to pay taxes on those," said Baron Gray.
"Oh, what kind of taxes?" Garnet asked.
"Tariffs," said Baron Gray.
"But these are locally sourced," said Garnet. "They were hunted from the forest outside of the East Gate. They have not passed through anyone's territory."
"Then a sales tax," said Baron Gray.
"That's only paid at the end of the month to the King," said Garnet.
"Well I work in the name of the King and I order you to pay an additional income tax now," said Baron Gray.
Clark handed over a small bag of coins to Baron Gray. "Thank you," said Baron Gray. "You may go about your business." He then walked away.
"Why did you do that?" asked Clark. "I told you not to antagonize him."
"That's the point," said Garnet. "We are very public and drawing a lot of attention right now, if something happens to us, then the suspect will clearly be him."
Garnet had just secured their safety. Baron Gray had threatened Clark and Garnet with the name of the King in broad daylight with numerous witnesses. "Starting tomorrow, we raise the prices," said Garnet. "We're going to turn the people against the Baron."
The next day, the price of the skewers had gone up. It was now 3 silver. Nearly triple the price, but still much cheaper than most other foods on the market. There was outrage. "It was just 1 silver yesterday."
"I'm sorry, but since Baron Gray made us pay additional taxes, we have to raise the prices," said Garnet. For providing food to the town at a low price, they were being punished. Her Golden Tongue was very persuasive. Few people could resist her temptation. People began to spread rumors about the Baron.
Stat Increase: Charisma+1
"Did you hear? Baron Gray is trying to starve the city to death," said a man.
"Yes, I saw him extort money from the only merchant still willing to sell in this city," said another.
"I heard he threatened to kill that poor girl who was cooking the meat," said a woman.
These were the voices that targeted Baron Gray, an individual who was deemed acting out of line. But, it was exactly what Garnet wanted. For the first time in a long time, a few people were willing to voice their disapproval. The only problem now is that a noble would have to take action to start reducing tariffs before these people disappeared.
When Garnet heard the news. "The first step is complete," she thought. "Now I need to find a way to get nobles to do something." There was always a chance though that this could go wrong. In the worst case scenario, she should start a revolution and a civil war that threatens everything.
But this made Garnet think of something. She still had no idea how to get home. Even if she succeeded in saving Antium, she would need to find a way back to her own world.
Spoiler :
Name: Garnet
Level: 4
Class: Dark Mage
Sub-class: Temptress
Stats:
HP: 380/380
MP: 1280/1280
Fame: 20
Strength: 6 (+5)
Dexterity: 4 (+7)
Intelligence: 22 (+22)
Vitality: 8 (+5)
Agility: 6 (+7)
Charisma: 17 (+10)
PROFICIENCY:Weapon:
- One Handed Sword - 1
Magic:
- Fire – 0
- Lightning – 2
- Wind – 1
- Summoning - 4
SKILLS:Weapon (One Handed Sword):
- Horizontal Slash
Class (Dark Mage):
- Fire Bolt (Level 1)
- Lightning Bolt (Level 3)
- Air Bullet (Level 2)
- Mana Strike (Level 1)
- Mana Shield (Level 1)
- Call: Skeletal Dogs (Level 5)
- Recall
- Dismiss
- Enhanced Mana Regeneration (Level 1)Sub-class (Temptress):
- Enhanced Body (Level 1)
- Captivation: (Level 1)
- Mind Read: (Level 1)
- Drain Will (Level 3)
- Sexy Walk (Level 1)
- Stealth (Level 1)
Tradeskills:
- Hunting (Level 3) - Hunter
- Cooking (Level 4) - Cook
- Inspection (Level 1)
- Inventory Expansion (Level 2)Passives:
- Hand to Hand (Level 1)
- One Handed Sword (Level 1)
- Reflex (Level 1)
- Speed (Level 4)
- Physical Resistance (Level 1)
Unique:
- Hero System (Passive)
- Otherworldly Knowledge (Passive)
- Golden Tongue (Passive)
- Mana Compatibility (Passive)
- Quick Learner (Passive)
- Channeling (Passive)
- Charging (Passive)