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Quest: Fetch!
Description: Gather materials for the System.
Needed:
Iron Ingot (0/1)
Animal Parts (2/5)
Rewards: 5 XP, Equipment (1)(Simple)
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A week had passed since I gave Caleb the Quest to gather materials for me to use. Looking back on it, I really didn’t think it through as much as I probably should have.
I had, naively, believed that he would be able to complete the Quest in a day, maybe two, just like most of the others. But, as it turns out, spare animal parts and chunks of iron weren’t exactly laying around.
I had actually chosen those items because I thought they would be relatively easy for him to get his hands on. I didn’t need wood or stone since I could just pick up sticks and gravel from the side of the road. Once they were inside my inventory space I could “fuse” items together and mold them like clay, meaning I didn’t need Caleb to cut down any trees or start a quarry for me.
But at the end of the day, those were just wood and stone, which didn’t make the best armor or weapons unless I stuffed a bunch of causal energy into them.
For now, I needed better, but still mundane, materials so that I could start making low-level Items for the Shop. Except, I can’t just snap my metaphorical fingers and make those materials out of thin air.
…Actually, I could. It’s just that it would take an insane amount of energy. Conservation of energy still applied, it seemed.
Which brings me back to Caleb and the problem at hand: No one wanted to give him anything.
The village acted as a commune with everyone dividing labor and resources amongst themselves. This meant that the leather and bone harvested from the livestock weren’t the shepard’s to sell, it was the village’s. The village had a blacksmith, but they didn’t sell tools, they were distributed to those who needed them. Additionally, the blacksmith refused to sell any iron ingots to Caleb for the same reason, it was for the village.
Now, this didn’t mean the whole village was like this. Many villagers had small businesses that they operated independently. Near the center of the village, someone had outfitted their house to act as a sort of tavern, selling homemade beer and simple food. Stuff like that.
But this all meant Caleb had few chances to actually acquire the materials I wanted. To get to the “animal parts” he had now, he collected the chunks of bone his mom had used to make bone broth for dinner one night. I had started to see the futility of the Quest at the time and counted the chunks for 2 of 5.
The look of shock and confusion on Caleb’s face when I pulled the bones into my inventory did brighten my mood a little bit. He had watched as they seemingly ceased to exist, one moment there, the next gone.
The transition was a little visually jarring. Maybe I should throw in some more flair next time.
Putting the fetch quest to the side for a moment, there is some good news from this past week. Caleb’s lessons on alchemy and herbology had expanded into general medicine and healing practices.
When one of their lessons was wrapping up, several villagers stumbled up to her door. Two were being half-carried and covered in welts in bruises, but all of the small group was stumbling and slurring drunkenly.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
They managed to explain that they had been drinking at the aforementioned tavern and the two had gotten into an argument. The argument escalated from mere words to a drunken brawl and now they were in need of some healing.
They were brought inside and laid on the beds before the rest of the villagers wandered back to their homes. Elder Huga began to look them over and treat their wounds as Caleb watched from the side.
She quickly used this as an opportunity to teach Caleb how to bandage wounds and apply poultices. One of the men had dislocated his shoulder and she had Caleb help her to reset it. And I dutifully recorded everything for later use. Maybe I’ll be a medical System next time? My host went around curing plagues and healing the injured, like a living saint. Something to consider.
After that, Caleb’s time with Elder Huga was spent studying first aid and human biology.
This world had a surprisingly accurate understanding of how the body worked, I found. Elder Huga even explained to Caleb the ideas of bacteria and how they caused disease. I knew Caleb’s look of shock at that was genuine but was probably because he was just as surprised as me that they knew that.
On the days he wasn’t taking lessons from Elder Huga, Caleb was instructed on how to not get himself killed in a fight by Garen.
Garen had included Caleb in his daughter’s own training to an extent. First, he would have them take and hold stances, constantly correcting small defects in Caleb’s forms. Then he would test them by throwing feints or knocking them to their feet, before instructing them how to improve their defense.
At the end, Garen would send Caleb to perform various exercises to strengthen his muscles while he sparred with Cynthia. This was great for me since I managed to add even more knowledge and data to the Combat Sense Skill. Caleb did his exercises too far away from them for me to get everything in full detail, but I still managed some decent breakdowns just with sight.
Also being shown the stances and the pointers from Garen had boosted Caleb’s Proficiency to {0.06}! So, he was definitely growing in the right direction.
Lastly, Caleb had saved up enough Points to increase one of his Attributes. He chose Body again, although I felt his focus hover over Mind for a minute before he decided. The energy accepted my guidance, and I pushed it into the flow I had set up the last time, strengthening Caleb’s muscles, organs, and bones.
The difference was still slight, and it would take a much larger investment to see any clear effect, but that would come in time.
I pulled myself from my assessment as Caleb’s father called him so they could make their way home, having finished their morning duties in the field. Almost unconsciously I pushed the notification of completion into Caleb’s view.
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You have completed the Quest: Farmhand (Repeatable)!
You have been rewarded 1 XP!
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While it had never been hard to manage the many pages and notifications I showed Caleb, it was becoming easier. I’d learned to almost segregate parts of my mind to do things automatically, like handling the Quest completion notifications, which had become rather tedious.
In fact, a lot of what had attracted me to being a System when Gaia made their offer was the idea of being a part of a grand exciting story. But I’ve come to realize just how long it’s going to take me to get to that level of ‘godlike System that decides the fates of worlds’. In the meantime, I’ve probably got dozens, if not hundreds of stories like Caleb’s ahead of me, with slow growth and lackluster lives.
On top of all that…I was getting a bit lonely. The only person I could talk to was Caleb and I didn’t want to break the illusion of being an all-powerful system.
I’ve been going through all my memories as a human and re-experiencing the books I’ve read, and movies and TV I’ve seen. But the lack of true connection and conversation with another person in these past two weeks has left me feeling…empty.
That’s something I’m going to have to deal with sooner rather than later, because I know this feeling will haunt me until I do.
Just as I was starting to brainstorm solutions to my lack of social life, a small shape manifested on the horizon. It was coming up the road that led from the village to the south. As it got closer, I could make out a horse pulling a small carriage with a man at the reins.
When Caleb and his dad were almost halfway back to the village, they noticed the sound of trotting hooves and turned to see the approaching vehicle.
The man driving the carriage was older, wisps of gray in his dark hair, and wore bright red and yellow garments with green pants. All of which were much nicer and more finely made than the simple rough linens that people in the village had.
“Greetings, gentlemen!” He called out to them. “Might you need a lift back to the village?”
The well-dressed man reached down a hand to Harry, who took it happily and climbed up into the seat next to the man. Harry then did the same for Caleb and they were quickly back on their way.
“How fare you both this fine day?” The man asked.
“We are quite well, Sir Lowell. The harvest isn’t far off now and the fields look to be rich in their bounty.” Harry replied. At least I wouldn’t have to call Lowell, ‘the man’ anymore.
“It’s been a few years since you last came to the village, has business been so good that you don’t need to visit anymore?” Harry asked, and Lowell chuckled.
“Oh, I almost wish it were so. My daughter’s dowry has bled my purse more than I would like, I’m afraid, which means you’ll be seeing me much more often.” He sighed.
Harry simply nodded and Lowell turned to address Caleb. “And who is this fine young man?”
“My name is Caleb, sir.”
Lowell reached out his hand and offered a strong handshake to Caleb as he introduced himself.
“Well, Caleb, I am Lowell Gundur of the respectable Gundur Trading Company. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Lowell bowed as deep as he could while keeping a steady hold on the reins.
“You’re a merchant?” Caleb asked.
“Oh, yes! I travel across the province to bring those in need what they cannot get themselves. For a price, of course. Gods, bless me, I wish I didn’t need to, but I do what I must.” He clutched his chest and flung his head back dramatically as he described his oh-so-terrible plight.
Caleb looked back into the cart with the many barrels and crates stacked tightly together and full cloth bags lying on top. Then he looked back at the merchant.
“Do you sell iron ingots?”
‘That’s my boy!’