John and the party advanced into the jungle around the demon town. It was as good a place as any to begin looking for herbs, spices and other alchemical ingredients.

John kept his crossbow at the ready, so that he could participate if they got into a fight. He also had his dagger handy and could swap to it if the enemy drew too near.

The first thing of significance that happened after entering the jungle was a large green blob emerging from behind a tree. An acid ooze, a slime with animal levels of intelligence but which had to rely on sensing the vibrations of footsteps to locate its prey.

Combat was joined, the ooze was big enough it was prepared to attack humans and similar creatures. John loaded a bolt whilst Lavella drew a broadsword, wielding it with both hands even though John didn't think that was necessary. Vixen was armed with a club, Damon was duel wielding daggers and Granville was preparing a spell. The next thing John knew, a burst of flames which must have been the spell shot at the slime, he took this as a signal and loosed a bolt which went wide. The slime rushed at the group but the combined effects of the various slashing motions Lavella and Damon were making meant it went down before anyone got injured, even if the metal weapons were damaged.

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The group stopped to take stock. Lavella said a brief prayer asking Grenith, god of the hunt, to repair the weapons damaged in this one. She looked over the group but they were all uninjured so there was not yet cause to try the spell she had been looking to improve.

There were multiple plants around, John began examining them with a critical eye, as did the others. They had some trouble, although the alchemy skill covered identifying which plants had which properties, none of them had it at a high enough level to intuit what it would be for an unfamiliar substance. They also didn't have a viable way to store the acid of the ooze.

The next few weeks were similarly spent scouting the forest, trying to level the alchemy skill and unlock classes and getting into minor fights with easily dispatched oozes, though they did occasionally get ambushed by them and have their flesh start dissolving for a second or two before Lavella chanted her prayer of healing.

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It had taken six weeks until Time Day, Third of War for the whole party to unlock the classes though John still didn't have his but he was in a position to fund it. He'd found a way to use the cores to place orders and had requested the necessary glass bottles. All he had to do now was wait

Wolfe's father was really excited by the request, he felt Wolfe was ready for bulk crafting and this was an ideal test.

Sarah was now selling scrolls containing her spells which should help aspiring water mages practice but still had no idea how to cast the spell Thunder.

Coop was still learning how to make barrels but the requisite skills were improving, James had improved his teaching as well as those