Mateo awoke with a bit of a start in the morning. He'd felt like he'd had a bad dream after having met with Viola last night, but he couldn't exactly recall its contents. The sound of frying eggs and the smell of some type of cooking meat drew Mateo's attention. He groggily looked at the tattered cloth he'd worn to work yesterday and grimaced. He was not exactly looking forward to the idea of working in that again, and hoped that he could get clothes soon. After a bit of cutting down the sheets with a sharp stone blade he found lying on a table in his guest room, he managed to fashion himself something like a toga. Staring at the blade, Mateo did consider a bit longer that he really hadn't see much in the name of metal tools around town. He remembered during the talks about the farm that he'd been told they had to trade for metal, and only used it on things that really needed. He set the blade down and stepped out of the room.
Bentley was humming some song Mateo didn't know of while cooking bits of meat and eggs on a pan over a small stove fire. Mateo leaned over, a bit curious, as he didn't see any source of burning, nor did he smell any type of smoke.
"Where's the fire coming from?"
Bentley looked back at him with a blink.
"You never seen anything like this before? Give me a moment."
He quickly moved the food around the ceramic pan before putting it all on a large plate, then taking the pan off the stove and disabling the heat. He picked up a small, smooth red stone. Mateo leaned in close with narrowed eyes to examine it. It seemed flawless, and completely round. Bentley let him look at it while explaining.
"This is a skill stone, imbued with Level 2 Heating, which good fer cooking needs."
Mateo looked at the stone carefully.
"A skill stone..? So it's a stone with a skill loaded into it?"
"Close. You can imbue a skill into a lot of things if you have the craftsman skill, but skill stones are a type of rare ore that gets mined way west of here. Some of the stones already have skills in them; Even rare or special skills that you don't find very often. Those types of stones are often added to or otherwise fashioned into weapons. If you find a blank skill stone and you have the right skillset, usually the Imbuing skill, you can put any skill you have into it at half level. There's some more to it, but that's the extent of my knowledge."
Mateo internally noted that he needed to obtain the Imbue skill later, because it sounded useful. He moved the skill stone around in his palm.
"Could using a skill stone help with gaining the skill stored within it?"
"Oh, it's not a very uncommon way to do it." said Bentley "Oftentimes to pass on skills, an instructor migh' have a low level version of the skill stone imbued, then have the disciple meditate with it till they absorb the magic."
Mateo flipped the stone around in his hand now while Bentley started plating the food.
"Mind if I borrow this, see if I can't try something similar?"
"Aye, go righ' ahead. You know how to meditate?"
"No, but I can always try."
"That righ' then? Well, come and eat fer now. Gonna take you to a tailor after this, get'chu some workin' clothes."
Mateo sighed in genuinely relief.
"Thank you very much, Bentley. I was hoping to do something about that soon."
He sat down to enjoy the breakfast before being led out, down the dirt path. He waved to a few Halflings as he passed, some having recognized him working on the farm from yesterday. A nice 10 minute walk later and they stepped inside a tailor. A woman turned around, smiling.
"Oh, Bentley! And there, the Man I've heard so much about. I was wonderin' when you might show up fer some properly fittin' clothes."
Mateo looked at her curiously.
"Heard so much about? Has word of me gotten around that much?"
"Well, yes. Not often a Man comes here and decides to stay. I'm Dea, dear." she put down a piece of tanned leather to offer a handshake, which Mateo accepted with a smile.
"Mateo! Nice to meet you."
She picked up a small measuring tape with a smile.
"Alrigh-t, let's get you some work clothes together! You'll have to go by the cordwainer later to get you some boots made, though. Bentley, will you be stickin' around for this or headed to work?"
Bentley looked up.
"Oh, ah- I should go ahead and get to work, I'll be back in a couple of hours to pick him up."
He tipped his head and got out. Odd, thought Mateo. He took note of just how quickly Bentley had scrambled on out of there once he was sure Mateo was set up.
Dea looked over Mateo, and began to measure him. She would make comments like 'never had a chance to make a Man's clothes before', and 'wow, you've got some scars, Sir!'. Mateo enjoyed her small talk, and before they'd even realized it a couple hours had passed. Mateo opened his mouth for a moment to ask if she had some kind of Skill that was accelerating some of the process for this, but then he closed his mouth. He didn't exactly feel like embarrassing himself with his lack of knowledge here. But after a bit more adjusting, she held up a cotton shirt with buttons, and some wool pants. Mateo quickly got it all on, before looking himself over with a smile. The material seemed unnaturally tough and oddly comfortable, so he thought to ask.
"Oh, what level's your Tailoring skill?"
"Ah, it's Level 9, dear!"
Mateo internally sighed in relief that he was right about it being a skill, because it'd have been even more embarrassing had he been wrong. He didn't exactly have a frame of reference for how good Level 9 was, but he thought flattery was the best route either way, so he smiled.
"That's pretty dang impressive! When'd you start?"
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"Oh, my mother started teachin' me when I was real young! Said I had a talent for it, she did. Now look at me, higher level than even she!"
Well, at least he was right about Level 9 being pretty high. Bentley came back in while they made more small talk about the area, Mateo enjoying the pleasant atmosphere. Bentley smiled at them both.
"How's it?"
Dea turned toward him with a wave.
"Oh, it's great! Mateo's a real treat, I'm glad to say! I'd heard than Men weren't exactly always too pleasant, so I'm happy about this one being so nice."
Mateo laughed a bit with a smile of his own.
"Oh come on miss Dea! You're too kind, and that's not to mention you yourself are quite nice to talk to!"
Dea hit Mateo with a piece of leather.
"Oh, stop, you!"
They both laughed together at that, Bentley chuckling.
"Well I'm glad to hear he gets along easy. I wouldn't have let him in if I'd sensed a bad bone in him, glad to see my hunch there was right. Come on, Mateo, let's get you some shoes."
Mateo stood up, leaning down some.
"Right, later miss Dea!"
"Goodbye, Mateo."
Bentley and Mateo both exited the building, Mateo immediately stretching and popping his back after having been hunched down for so long. Bentley led the way down the road toward the cordwainer. Mateo, about halfway there, decided to ask.
"So you mentioned yesterday having a lady you liked..."
Bentley let out a sigh.
"That obvious, huh?"
"You scrambled on out of there pretty quick. She know?"
"She might, she's got a pretty sharp wit. Might be waiting for me to say somethin' first."
"You gonna?"
Bentley evaded the question.
"Well, the clothes look real nice on you. Ya like em?"
Mateo gave a sly smile, tactfully deciding to let Bentley slide on that for now.
"Yeah, they're pretty great. How am I gonna pay her?"
"Oh, I'm sure we can find a way later. She knows I'm good for it."
Mateo nodded as they stepped up to the cordwainer's place finally. Inside was an older looking man with a pair of glasses looking over a pair of boots. He looked up at Mateo, nodding to the shoes.
"Try those on, boy."
Mateo blinked, surprised he'd not only been expected, but he already had shoes to fit someone his size ready. He wordlessly complied, trying them on, before looking at the man.
"They... fit perfectly. How did you-"
"Saw ya working the farm, heard you were with Bentley. Got your size at a glance and figured I'd get to work. Have em, I'll probably ask you a favor for em or something later."
He waved them off, evidently wanting them gone so he could get back to what he was doing. Mateo opened his mouth to speak, but only got out a "thank you" before Bentley motioned for them to get out. When they did, Mateo looked at him.
"Who was THAT?"
"Mister Sustar, been making shoes for about 100 years now. I've heard his skill level is over 50, making it Legend class. He's really nice, just seems grumpier than he is. The shoes he makes usually have a skill or 3 in them. You can probably wear em for life."
Mateo whistled, impressed at all of that. He stepped back and forth, his steps definitely feeling lighter. He got the feeling he could move faster than normal if he ran right now.
"What might that 'favor' entail?"
"Depends. He might send you to gather some materials he can't get from traders in the hills a bit north of here. Or he'll have you run some other errands later. His shoes are more than worth what he asks for, so definitely just do as he asks."
"I planned on it, I was expecting to still be without shoes for a day or two longer while these got made, so this was best case scenario for me."
Bentley looked at Mateo, then exhaled from his nose.
"You know, you're real honest for a Man, Mateo. You know that? I haven't known you that long, but. I feel like you are."
Mateo looked back at him.
"What? Nothing like that, I'm just... well, you guys have taken me in and given me work and food in spite of not knowing anything about me. Trust me, I'm normally way more prickly of a person."
Bentley looked back forward.
"That so? Well, I guess that makes sense. Come on, we've got a long day of hard work ahead of us."
"Right!"
The two of them returned to the farm, working till the sun neared the horizon, taking infrequent breaks to eat or drink water. Mateo smiled in satisfaction at the end of the day at a few popups.
[ENDURANCE BOOST LEVEL INCREASE - 2 > 3]
[PHYSICAL ENHANCEMENT LEVEL INCREASE - 1 > 2]
[STRENGTH BOOST LEVEL INCREASE - 1 > 2]
[GREEN THUMB LEVEL 1 ACQUIRED]
[HARVEST MASTERY LEVEL 1 ACQUIRED]
The more skills the better, though Mateo was wondering what Green Thumb and Harvest Mastery entailed. He decided to ask Bentley.
"Hey, what's the Green Thumb skill?"
Bentley looked at him in surprise.
"Green Thumb? You ever work on a farm before Mateo?"
"Hm? Yeah, every once in a while with my uncle."
"That so, guess that makes sense. Usually it'd take a month or so of hard work in a garden or farm to get that kind of skill. It's pretty useful for work here, so they might increase your share of crop now."
"I don't really need much more, so just tell them to pool it with yours."
"Sounds fine enough to me. We'll make somethin' special to eat tonight to celebrate."
"Out of curiosity, what level is your Green Thumb skill?"
"Level 3. The higher they go, the slower skills grow, so I'll prob'ly stop working on it when it hits Level 5."
"I see. Alright, let's get on home."
"Right."
The two of them returned to Bentley's dug out hole, roasting some pig together. Another skill popup hit in Mateo's vison.
[COOKING LEVEL 1 ACQUIRED]
At this point Mateo was almost annoyed with the notion that there seemed to be a skill for literally everything, though he appreciated that everything would get easier to compensate. He still hoped he wouldn't get some stupid skills later. When they sat down to eat, their dinner was once again full of bright talk and chatter about their workday. It was a simple and happy life, one that Mateo might have been fine with settling into till he grew old. But he knew. He knew there was a threat growing in the west, and he couldn't enjoy these days forever. So he'd enjoy them as much as he could for now.
When they finished eating, Mateo helped Bentley with dishes, before regarding him with a good night as they both turned into their bedrooms. Mateo stripped down, took a rag, and once again pat himself down with wet water till he was at clean as he could get himself. Once that was done, he sat on the ground, pulling out the Heating skill stone. He turned it over in his hands a few times, before closing his eyes. He wasn't experienced with magic at all, nor did he even know a proper way to meditate outside of some basics he learned in some therapy he'd been forced to go to. He'd never thought he'd be using those skills in this way, though. He tried to clear his mind and focus on the stone in his hand, seeing if he could get any kind of feeling from it. Something that might help him learn the skill inside. After 3 hours of trying different methods, Mateo finally caught some vestige of 'energy' coming from the stone in his hand. The moment he did, another ping happened in his head.
[ENERGY SENSE LEVEL 1 ACQUIRED]
He stared at that, but now could feel the magic in the air. It was as if he'd opened his eyes for the first time since coming here. It was a feeling akin to being capable of feeling background radiation. It was so faint but it was so there that he couldn't exactly ignore it. Still, even after that, he had no idea how to gain the skill in the stone. He sighed, deciding that was enough progress on that for the night and put it on his night stand, before getting on the ground and starting his workout again. He continued that for another 2 hours, till he saw the popup he'd been waiting for.
[STRENGTH BOOST LEVEL INCREASE - 2 > 3]
Once he saw that he let out an exhausted sigh, trudged to his bed, then passed out with his face in the pillow.