The way home took them through the Market Square, which lay directly North of the City Square, where there were stalls and carts being shuttered for the night. Streets were becoming sparse as people went home or to their favorite tavern, or even some adventurer parties leaving to hunt a nocturnal beast. The constant loud thrum of the City quieted to a soft buzz as the thousands of wagons were parked, horses and other beasts were stabled, and people stopped to rest. There was still music playing, people laughing and getting drunk, but a peaceful atmosphere had settled in as the sun set for the night.
As the Sun set, Veca, the largest of the thirteen moons, rose in the East to share his silver light to those in the dark. Veca only came out at night, unlike his siblings who stayed in the sky for multiple days at a time. There was Atepa, a small dull purple moon with three dark splotches; she was the youngest of the Siblings and the smallest. Atepa was used to mark the calendar week, which was ten days. Then Resia, the Huntress, a light-green moon crisscrossed with thin green lines; her rising and setting marked the beginning of a new month every three weeks. Licno, The Teacher, a dark blue moon dotted with tiny light blue spots, marked the beginning of the year with his rising and setting every twelve months. Then there was Nikos, a white moon in the middle of the Southern sky; Aisa, a light grey and white moon high in the eastern sky; Yana, a dark grey moon high in the western sky; and Giannis, a dull yellow moon high in the northwestern sky. Those were the moons that were in the sky at the moment. But there was also Borili, The Warrior, a dark green moon covered in small green splotches and lines, coming and going every four years. Colthorn remembered seeing Borili a couple years ago, so he wouldn’t be in the sky for another couple years. The other Sibling Moons were Vebru, Memnon, Silanus, and Senilla, but they’ve been gone a long time and Colthorn has never seen them before.
By the time they got home, the Sun had fully set and Veca had fully risen, and Colthorn gained another level in Analyze. Their home was the second floor of Perfect Potions, which was the potion shop that his father ran. His father, Jornan, was one of the only Tier 2 potion makers in the city and so he was highly sought after by adventurers and other merchants.
Alagossa unlocked the front door and they walked in, locking the door shut behind them. The storefront was dark but the racks of different colored potions could still be seen by the faint glow held in a few of the small bottles. They made their way past the counter and through a curtain into the hallway leading to the laboratory. The stairs were directly to their left, leading up to their living area, but there was light coming from under the door to the laboratory at the end of the hall, so they went there instead.
“Dad, we’re home!” Colthorn shouted, running ahead of his mom. There was a clattering sound of a chair, pounding footsteps, then the laboratory door was yanked open just as Colthorn got to it.
“Coal!” Jornan exclaimed, as Colthorn jumped into his chest for a hug. “Welcome home! How was the hunting trip? Did you learn a lot?”
“I gained three levels and two new skills! It was awesome! I got so many Horned Rabbits and even 2 White-Tailed Pheasants!” Colthorn said, releasing his dad to tell him about the trip. Alagossa squeezed past him to hug Jornan as well.
“Let’s tell him about the trip over dinner,” she said, pecking her husband on the cheek as she let him go. “Right now, you have a rabbit to cook!”
“Aw but mom...”
“No ‘but’s, your father was working, let’s let him finish.”
“Don’t worry Coal, I’ll be done soon!” His dad said as they walked towards the stairs.
An hour and a half later, Colthorn didn’t get the Cooking skill, but they were eating a late dinner of roasted rabbit, potatoes and gravy, and a salad.
“... and there was a cool looking mushroom with big blue spots on it! Mom had to pick that one, my Harvest Plant skill was still too low... Oh! And there was that time when...” Colthorn regaled his father with stories from their three-day trip. Talking about the different plants and materials they had gathered for Jornan to turn into potions, talking about the hunt and how they had to run after the quick Silver Hawk. And last, but not least, he told him about the new skills he gained and how he wanted to learn some Mana Skills.
“I’m going to be starting his Mana training in a few days,” Alagossa said.
“That’s great! Having some Mana Skills before Tier one would be sure to get you a good class,” His father said, “Speaking of training, you get the next three days to train with me, Coal.”
Colthorn paled, remembering.
“Can’t we start on the Mana Skills instead?” He said, almost daring to hope.
“You’ll have plenty of time to train those with mom, but Resistance Skills are important. I know you don’t like it and it hurts, but we need to keep going... at least until you get the skill, ok? Besides, I know you want to be a Survivalist like mom, one of the requirements to get that class is Poison and Acid Resistance.”
“It is?... oh, ok then. But only until I get the skills!”
With that settled, and with dinner eaten, Colthorn went to his room after saying good night to his parents. His room was between the kitchen/living room and the bathroom, his parent’s room was on the other side of the bathroom. It was a small room but it had everything Colthorn needed, a bed, a dresser, a desk, a hook for his backpack, and a ton of notebooks and papers of everything he’s ever drawn stacked on a bookshelf. He also had some beginner’s textbooks for herbalism and alchemy in there somewhere. And though Colthorn was exhausted, he immediately grabbed the notebook out of his backpack, which contained all the sketches from the trip, and sat down at the desk.
At the back right of the desk was a stack of blank paper, ready to be used. Next to the paper, in the back center, was a series of feathered quills that were each a different color displayed upright along the wall. The colored quills were just to help Colthorn remember not to dip a red-inked quill into the blue ink bottle, and he didn’t want to waste time wiping the nib everytime he wanted to switch colors. In front of the quills were ink bottles, the color of the ink corresponding to the color of the feather it was in front of. And at the back right of the desk was a small tray of sand, to dry the ink. Of course, he also had a cup full of charcoal pencils but Colthorn preferred to only use those for quick sketches when he was out with his mom.
Opening to the first page of uncolored drawings, he grabbed a black quill and went to work tracing and adding details. He went through each drawing, tracing with black ink, filling in the drawing with color, sprinkling fine powdered sand on top to dry the ink, dumping the sand back into the tray, then moving on to the next drawing. He only stopped when he feared that his sleep-deprived self might ruin the drawings if he tried to continue. So, he stopped, re-corked the ink bottles, wiped all the quill nibs clean and put them back in their little stands, threw off his clothes, and hopped under his blankets. A small quiet chime sounded as he drifted to sleep, but sleep took him before he could see what the notification said.
<<<>>>
Colthorn woke up to the sound of business. His mother, who worked the storefront when not out in the Wild, was loudly discussing potion effects with someone that sounded like an adventurer. In the street outside his window wagons were being pulled, blacksmiths were hammering, people were yelling, and the City was awake.
Groggily, he sat up and stretched the sleep out of his system, and opened his eyes to see the notification he had received last night.
Drawing gained 3 levels. +3 EXP.
Oh nice! He thought as he got up and ready for the day. Half an hour later he was freshly bathed and dressed, ready for the new day. Jornan was in the kitchen making breakfast over the wood-fired stove, when he walked in.
“Good morning dad!” he said, giving his dad a hug, “My Drawing Skill leveled up three times last night!”
“That’s great! Did you stay up all night drawing?” Jordan said accusingly.
“Not all night,” just most of it. “Can I take over cooking? I feel like I should be close to getting the skill...”
“Not all night you say, then what’s up with those bags under your eyes? And yes, you can take over, just keep those eggs scrambled and take the bacon off when it looks done.”
Colthorn dragged a chair over to stand on, otherwise he would have been too short to properly see the stove-top, and hopped up. The eggs looked unseasoned, so he sprinkled some salt and pepper, a little bit of cheese, and some chopped chives. He flipped the bacon, opened the doors to the stove, then stabbed three slices of bread on a metal prong and leaned it towards the fire. Soon the eggs were done so he dished it out onto three plates. He flipped the bread slices to toast the other side, then served the bacon onto the plates. Once the toast was done, he buttered and placed them onto the plates. Closing the small stove doors, to not let random sparks out, he grabbed two plates off the counter and took them to the table.
“Good job, it looks great!” his dad said, grabbing the offered plate.
“Thanks, I wanted to get that Ski...” he cut off as a chime sounded in his mind and a small blue screen appeared in front of him.
Congratulations
You’ve gained the skill: Cooking!
+50 EXP
You have been taught how to cook things and have proven yourself somewhat capable at it.
Passive Effects: You remember how to cook recipes you have learned before.
+10% WIL when learning new Recipes.
You gained 1 level. +1 INT, +2 Free Stats
“Yes!” Colthorn shouted, “I finally got the Skill!” He immediately put his Free Stats into Willpower and Strength; his next few levels would have to be spent playing catch-up with his Free Stats.
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“MMM!” Jornan shouted in reply, cheeks bulging with food. After a quick chew and swallow, he said, “That’s great Coal! After learning Acid and Poison Resistance, you should focus on getting your Skills to the Tier Cap so you can get better options for your first Tier class.”
“Wait, what? I thought once I Capped I could wait to Tier-up so I could level up my skills?”
“You absolutely can if you want to, however Giannis rewards those who already have capped Skills when they reach the Tier Cap with higher rarity classes or classes with better Perks. He might even reward you by offering you an Uncommon Class!”
“Uncommon? Like you and mom?”
“Yep, that’s another reason why your mom and I have been training you so hard lately. Normally, we’d have another four to five years to train, but because of your Quest, we only have three years to go. If you can Cap your Skills, and then Tier-up, at such a young age you can go straight into an Uncommon Class for sure. Both Mom and I went into Common classes for our first Tier Class then Uncommon for our second Tier. We thought that if we can train you to meet the requirements for either of our classes, you’d be able to take our Class in Tier one and get a step up in life... and since you took after mom, we’ve been training you to meet her requirements. You only have a few Skills left to learn, and then if you get them all Capped before reaching your Cap, we hope that Giannis will bless you with the Class.”
Colthorn sat, staring at his father with wide eyes. He’d never thought that he would be able to go straight into Survivalist at Tier one. He had been thinking he’d need to, and had been planning to, take the Common Class called Hunter first before being able to take his mother’s Class... Colthorn shoveled the rest of his food into his mouth, eating as fast as he could.
Follower of the Sibling Moons gained 1 level. +1 EXP
“Come on dad!” He said once he finished gulping down the last of his bacon, mind racing too much to notice the notification. He placed his dirty plate in the sink and dashed down stairs.
After handing mom her breakfast, Jornan and Colthorn walked into the laboratory. The wall to their right was lined shelves filled with glassware and tools of all sorts. At the wall to their left was a counter with intricate glass contraptions covered with enchanted runes to help concoct or extract various components needed for potions. In the center of the room was a counter that almost looked like a kitchen; Jornan used it to turn herbs, minerals, and monster parts into something he could work with. On the far wall was a counter where Jornan actually made the potions. Racks of various extracts, tinctures, powders, and parts were within easy reach of the center of the counter where a single glass contraption lay. On the wall behind them were three doors, one led to the hallway and the other two led to storage rooms where dangerous chemicals and other ingredients were kept. Some things just couldn’t be stored together after all.
“Alright Coal, while I’m working you’re going to be training Geologize, Botanize, and Basic Alchemy, so put those Skills into your Favored Skill Slots. That little EXP boost will be very helpful.”
Colthorn pulled up his Status page and looked at the Skill section to see what to rearrange.
Favored Skills:
Running 0th 50
Archery 0th 43
Basic Alchemy 0th 34
Analyze 0th 45
Drawing 0th 34
Stealth 0th 50
Skills:
Astronomy 0th 1 Botanize 0th 46 Cleaning 0th 35 Climbing 0th 37 Cooking 0th 1 Field Dressing 0th 30 Follower of the Sibling Moons 0th 2 Geologize 0th 21 Glanic Language 0th 13 Harvest Plant 0th 45 Hunting 0th 35 Jumping 0th 24 Knife Handling 0th 30 Standard Language 0th 19 Tracking 0th 36 Tumbling 0th 21
Obviously he wasn’t going to be using Running or Stealth today so he replaced those. Botanize was actively used to identify plants and their possible effects, and also passively helped to remember information about plants. Geologize did the same thing except with minerals and anything that came from the ground. They were two of the five commonly known knowledge gathering Skills: Botanize, for plants; Geologize, for rocks, gems, and metals; Analyze, for people and monsters; Appraise, for crafted items; and Identify, for magical effects. The different Skills could of course be used on the same thing, but they would give different results. Appraise used on a dagger would tell the condition of the dagger and a general range of its gold value, while Geologize would tell what the dagger was made of.
Since he knew they were most likely going to be practicing his Language skills later, he went ahead and replaced Archery and Analyze with Standard and Glanic Language. Standard was the language that everyone was able to speak, because everyone’s notifications were in Standard no matter where they were from. Glanic was the native language of Malroth and four other kingdoms to the West and South. What was the point of learning Glanic if literally everyone can speak Standard? Colthorn didn’t know.
Favored Skills:
Botanize 0th 46
Standard Language 0th 19
Basic Alchemy 0th 34
Glanic Language 0th 13
Drawing 0th 34
Geologize 0th 21
Skills:
Analyze 0th 45 Archery 0th 43 Astronomy 0th 1 Cleaning 0th 35 Climbing 0th 37 Cooking 0th 1 Field Dressing 0th 30 Follower of the Sibling Moons 0th 2 Harvest Plant 0th 45 Hunting 0th 35 Jumping 0th 24 Knife Handling 0th 30 Running 0th 50 Stealth 0th 50 Tracking 0th 36 Tumbling 0th 21
After reassigning his Favored Skills, Colthorn looked up to see his father coming out of one of the storage rooms with a crate.
“Alright Coal, while you were out with mom I got some new stuff from the Adventurer’s Guild and stuff from my friends up North. With this you’ll get quite a few levels.”
Jornan set the crate down one the center counter, and started pulling out paper wrapped packages. He opened each package carefully, and lined the various rocks, sands, powders, gems, crystals, mushrooms, flowers, and other plants in front of Colthorn.
“Now, I’m going to be over there,” Jornan said, pointing at the counter with all the glass contraptions, “and while I work, you use your Skills on these. Start from this side and work your way to that side, then repeat until I say to stop. Ready?”
“Ready, dad!”
“Good, now start,” he said, walking over to the array of glass contraptions.
Colthorn looked at the array of ingredients spread out on the counter in front of him. Most of them were things he’d never seen before, or had only seen in one of his father’s books, but there were some things he had Geologized or Botanized before. The dried pink Nap Flower petals, a bundle of Rain Grass, and Abalorweed roots were common enough materials that Colthorn had harvested them himself on multiple occasions with his mom. He had no clue about the rest though, so he got to work using his identifying skills.
Most of the ingredients looked to be some sort of rock or mineral, which made sense because his Geologize Skill was twenty levels lower than Botanize, so he was mostly using Geologize. If Geologize didn’t work, he used Botanize. If neither worked, then all he could do was study the ingredient and make a guess to what it was.
Diamond Dust
Useful ingredient for forging, enchantments, alchemy, etc.
The diamond dust notification was interesting, it was the first thing that Colthorn had seen that had an “etc”, everything else said “useful ingredient for Alchemy” and maybe one other thing. Colthorn couldn’t wait for his skills to be higher Tiered, and his Skills would actually tell him something useful. For now though, Colthorn kept with his training, cycling through all the items one at a time, then doing it all over again and again and again.
Three hours later, Jornan finally said stop, and Colthorn breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the same sixty or so items for three hours sucked. The only semi break of monotony was the five items that both Geologize and Botanize didn’t work on. He was pretty sure that one of them was powdered bone, and another was some sort of insect’s wings, but the three other things left him clueless.
Colthorn scrunched his eyes closed, feeling a dull ache from all the looking he just did. As he took a deep breath and opened his eyes again, a faint chime sounded in his mind and a small blue notification appeared in front of him.
Geologize gained 9 levels. +9 EXP.
Botanize gained 5 levels. +5 EXP.
“Nine levels!” Colthorn gasped, “that’s more than I’ve ever gotten before! How? Why?”
“There are a few reasons. First is because you haven’t seen these ingredients before, second is because of the time you spent training, and third is because these ingredients are rarer than the stuff I usually get,” Jornan said with a grin on his face. “And that was just the first crate! I have three more in there for you, but we’ll get the next one out when your Skills stop leveling so fast. I had these ordered because I wanted to help you train more effectively with some things that aren’t from here. An added bonus is that I can train my own potion skills with new stuff as well! Anyways, I finished my work with the more complicated bits, so let’s put these away and then work on leveling your Basic Alchemy Skill.”
Together, they quickly re-wrapped the ingredients and put them all back in the crate they came in. Jornan took the crate back to the left-most storage room, and Colthorn went to the shelving on the right wall to grab a box of glass vials. The vials were made of a special shatter-resistant glass, so that adventurers wouldn’t have to worry about their potions as they fought. Of course, the vials weren’t indestructible, but they could take a beating.
He set the box of vials on the counter at the far wall, next to the intricate glass contraption and the racks of processed ingredients.
“Alright, Colthorn,” Jornan said, coming out of the storage room, “let’s get started. Now, you already know how to make a basic healing potion. Today, I’m going to show you how to make a slightly better potion. You ready?”