He reviewed the notifications from the fight while he walked. Both he and his Herder level had increased by one, leaving him at level 8 and his Cat Herder skill at level 7. His parry skill had gone up two levels and now sat at level 7, and his blades had increased by one to level 10. It seemed he was rewarded at level 10 with a new facet to the skill,
[Congratulations, you have achieved level 10 in the Blades skill]
[Level 10 bonus: +10 to agility and +5 to strength applied to all actions using a bladed weapon]
He nodded appreciatively at the bonus, swinging the two crude blades in his hands experimentally. He did feel a touch faster than before. He’d have to see if it made any difference against Reggie later, if he’d healed enough to face him properly by then.
It was around mid-afternoon by the time he made it back near the clearing, he recalled the cats into their bag as he heard Harl’s powerful swings resonating through the forest. He called out a greeting to the lumberjack as he entered the clearing proper, and the player rested his axe on his shoulder as he turned to greet him. Seeing Morgan covered in blood, both red and green, and with a chunk taken out of his face, he raised an eyebrow at Morgan’s condition.
“You OK, mate? Looks like you’ve been in the wars. Goblins, I take it?” Harl gestured to the swords that Morgan carried. Morgan explained the fight, skipping over the cat's involvement. Harl nodded at the tale, eyeing him up and down. “Two against one, and to the north? Must have been a hell of a fight. I don’t think I could take two at once. Must be that training paying off.”
Morgan agreed, “It’s definitely helped. I can have a word with the captain if you’d like to join in?”
Harl shook his head, “As much as I’d like to, it’s not a priority for me. Logs is all I need, and I’m already a dab hand against beetles these days. It’d take too much effort to get me to a point where the time investment would be useful to me. Better for me to hide for a few hours if I have to than train for days.”
Morgan nodded at the logic, “That makes sense. Thinking about it, I really need to focus more on my own contracted work. All these days and all I’ve managed is one vial of sap. And that’s only if the alchemist can make one it of the small number of plants that I gave her.”
The lumberjack looked a little concerned when he heard the statement, “You really should, mate. You seem like a good sort, and it’d be a shame to lose you. Two of the guys I met at Kandalan are gone, already, I think. At least, when I try to message them, the system tells me they’re no longer able to reply. One of them was a layabout for sure, the other seemed pretty switched on though.” He shrugged.
“Thanks for the reminder. That’s all the impetus I need to get back out there.” Replied Morgan, seriously. “My harvesting level has gone up quite a bit since I got here, so I’ll go try some more Valoplant. I’m running out of space in my inventory, you got any room?”
Harl nodded, gesturing to the cart. “Feel free to dump some stuff in there. If you’re not back by the time I leave I’ll take it with me to the inn.”
Morgan smiled appreciatively at the lumberjack as he moved over to the cart, “Cheers Harl, that’s good of you.”
He dumped the two swords and the iron plates into the cart. With his hands now free, and a slot in his inventory left for Valoplant, he headed back off into the forest, heading west.
The rest of the afternoon was spent heading to spots of the plant he’d seen already on his previous walks. He was now managing to harvest the triangular stem more often than it failed, and within a few hours he’d scoured the immediate west of the clearing. As the sun was starting to sink into the eastern sky, he walked back to grab the items from Harl’s cart and help him load up some logs before heading back to town.
After a visit to the inn to drop off the cats, he headed out to empty his inventory. He sold the dark metal swords and iron plates to Tag, the blacksmith, who told him he’d melt them down to create an alloy from the dark metal and iron. The resulting metal was almost as good as steel, but heavier. It was in fair demand despite the extra weight, apparently, as it had the added benefit of being easier to enchant.
Morgan asked the smith if he knew of any enchanters, but the man shrugged, “Enchanting is a mystery to me. I send the finished dark iron weapons and tools off to the capital, and they send back gold in return. I do, however, have this I can show you though.” The man held up his forge hammer, which was cast of the dark metal.
Morgan identified it,
[Identify - Dark Iron Forge Hammer - Tool]
[Use: Allows the working of metal]
[Enchanted: +5 Effective Smithing level : -20% Durability loss]
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
[Heavy: +15% Stamina use]
[Durability - 52/55]
[Melee Damage - 40-55]
Morgan nodded appreciatively at the heavy hammer, and the wiry man grinned at him, “Made it myself. I could make you a sickle out of dark iron with some of what you’ve bought. As it stands, I’ll give you 50 silvers for the swords and 18 silvers for the plates; or I’ll do you a dark iron sickle and you get 30 silvers. What’ll it be?”
Morgan pondered this for a moment. Unless it was enchanted, the sickle wasn’t going to be more useful for harvesting than the one he had already, and it didn’t seem like enchanting opportunities came around a lot in the small town of Caslon. He questioned the smith, “Could it be sent off for enchanting?”
The smith raised an eyebrow, and nodded slowly, “I mean, it could, but it’d cost an arm and a leg. I got the hammer enchanted myself on a trip to the capital. Cost five gold, and I knew the guy well. I suppose you’d have to get in contact with an enchanter, agree a price, send the item and wait to retrieve it and pay for every step. I guess you’ll be taking the silver for now then.”
“Thanks Tag,” Morgan replied, “If I gave you my sword and sickle for repair will they be done by morning?”
The smith confirmed they would, and he handed them over. The smith returned a heavy handful of silver for the metals, and with his business there concluded, Morgan headed over to the alchemist.
Heather greeted him warmly as he entered the shop, “Good evening to you Morgan, what have you got for me today?”
The player grabbed the small piles of Valoplant and Versfern from his inventory and placed them onto the counter. “We can start with this lot,” Morgan smiled at the alchemist, “58 of the Valoplant stem, and 43 Versfern.”
The black-robed woman nodded approvingly at his haul. “Would you like me to process the Valoplant? I have this for you from the ones you gave me last time.” She pulled a vial from somewhere in her robes and handed it to Morgan. He identified the liquid,
[Identify - Valoplant Sap]
[Use: Heals up to 100HP over 30 seconds]
It was the same as he’d been given by Ralph after he’d taken the Merloc’s ice bolt to the face. Morgan briefly wondered about how long ago that’d been. It felt like months ago. Thanking Heather, he took the vial and stored it, asking for the new batch of the plants to be processed.
After she’d agreed and the stems had been whisked out of sight, he bought out the new plant he’d harvested, the Violet Corpsebloom. The blossom looked dark and sinister in his hand. Heather gasped when she saw it. “Where did you find this? This is a Corpsebloom, and you don’t find them often. They only grow where a powerful magical creature has fallen. It feeds off the mana decay, and stores it in the sepals, here,“ she pointed to the thick dark green leaves that grew off the stem under the petals, “and is a high-end ingredient in some very powerful magics and potions. The petals vary on a spectrum from blue to red, dependent on the density of the mana they store. These violet ones are an impressive find. I can give you 75 silver per blossom if you’re willing to part with them.”
Morgan’s jaw went slack with astonishment. With six of the blossoms, he could finally afford some new gear. He agreed readily, and after some calculation, Heather handed him 4 gold coins, 53 silvers and 80 coppers. With the meagre silver he already had on hand, the day’s takings had bought him up to a staggering 5 gold coins and 53 silvers. He thought back to the 24 Corpsebloom he’d destroyed trying to harvest, before shrugging away the faint feeling of loss. His mind was wheeling with the possibilities as he bade the alchemist farewell.
A quick visit to the grocer to trade in the Bellishroom netted him another 12 silvers for his small hoard, and with a spring in his step he headed to training with the guard. As he practiced with Reggie, he tried to decide on his spending priorities.
He’d love some boots; it wasn’t the most critical item, but the canvas soles he’d been running on this whole time were decidedly uncomfortable on rough surfaces. The chainmail he’d seen in the blacksmiths shop was a definite, he decided, remembering back to the times he’d been mauled. The memories also reminded him he desperately needed a helmet – he'd been stunned and knocked out what felt like a disproportionate number of times. He hadn’t seen a helmet in any of the shops or the smithy, but asking Rollin revealed that he could buy a guard helmet for a gold. He wondered about a larger bag, another item he hadn’t seen yet, and resolved to ask around to see if there were any in town. He’d enjoyed the feeling of protection offered by Harl's shield when he’d used it, but he hadn’t done much training with one yet. Asking Rollin and Reggie if they’d teach him the basics, the pair acceded readily to his request, telling him they’d start in a few days.
After an evening of striking, parrying and dodging, the guard broke up training for the night and Morgan retreated to his room to rest. On his way up, he handed the innkeeper 80 silvers to cover his next ten nights. He’d try to keep a gold as a backup, and the rest would be his to spend tomorrow morning. He fed and played with the cats for a while, watching as they gambolled about, their paws sounding heavy now on the wooden floor. Taking the Astral Crystal from his inventory, he chanted the activation phrase.
“Morgan! Hi!” Claire's voice emanated from the crystal, “How are you getting on?”
With a smile he replied, “All well, thanks, it was a good day.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Came the response, “Mum and Dad are out right now, but I'll pass that along, they’ve been more than a little worried. We’re missing you here.”
With a wistful tone, Morgan replied, “I’m missing you guys too. I feel like I’m on another planet so very far away from home. At least I’ve got the cats to keep me company.”
“Cats?” Interjected Claire, “What cats?”
Morgan frowned at the crystal, “Well... It’s a long story that I don’t think they’ll let me tell. The short version is that I inherited a litter of kittens by accident. They’re almost grown up now.”
Claire paused for a moment before responding, “Thats... Unexpected. I’m glad you’ve got some company though. What are they like?”
Morgan and Claire chatted for a while, the crystal remaining white as Morgan described his small menagerie.
“So, you’ve only named four of them?” Claire asked quizzically, “You’ve got Tom, Luna, Trip and Scrap, right? How come the other two, the white one and the tabby one, don’t have names?”
Morgan grinned at the crystal, “You can’t pre-name an animal. They make their own names eventually. I’ll let you know when they’ve decided who they are.” He could almost feel Claire rolling her eyes over the connection. The pair talked for a while longer about Claires acquaintances and their pets' names, before Morgan called it a day and made Claire hang up the call.
Feeling content, he got himself into bed, letting the cats array themselves around him. Warmed by the small creatures and thoughts of his pile of gold, he fell into a deep sleep.