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CHAPTER 19 – SOIE VILLAGE
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Leveling fast, Bunny, her friends and the first batch of animals reached Level 60. For animals that experienced their first evolution at Lv10, they evolved again at Lv50. There was also a significant change in body mass; Once they had their new evolution, the animal's bodies started expanding in size. From Lv50 to Lv60, most evolved animals now stood at half a meter, almost doubled their original small frames.
Those that managed to evolved at Lv15 only managed their second evolution at Lv60, resulting in their size being miniature compared to their compatriots. Bunny did notice that the size gained did not give them more combat potential, like levels. For rabbits, they just started gaining more strength instead of agility.
Other then size, the animals also had additional characteristics: The Minks grew poisonous fangs, which was somehow expected as they were immune to poison. The rabbits had their horns glowing, becoming magic horns instead of normal ones. The cats simply gain stronger, longer claws, which looked more like small scythes sticking out of their paws. No raccoons around, so that will have to wait.
According to her Phantasm Encyclopedia, each step of evolution, brought them closer to sentience. From mindless animals into clever beings that rival humans. Starting from tier-0 which was simply animals who relied on instincts. Tier-1 would improve their intelligence, allowing them to learn better; The squirrels learn to trade, the cats became cunning, while rabbits started to work in groups.
Tier-2 was reached when some of them reach Lv50. At this stage, they gain more understanding of their surrounding and could start thinking more deeply on matters. The squirrels started helping the twins doing merchant work. The rabbits became more aware of their armor and would automatically ask for repairs. Nothing much was noticed from the minks and cats but they had only recently evolved.
According to the book, the animals would now increase in size according to their levels. They will keep increasing in size until their next evolution. Bunny didn't know how big that would be. Remembering her first conversation with Deft Hand, these animals would surely grow pass a meter tall.
The Phantasm Encyclopedia stated they would be able to start talking when they reached Tier-3, something Bunny would very much appreciate. At the moment, she would always need Gene with his Life-Link skill to receive any useful information from the animals. Bunny could command or give instructions easily with her Animal Trainer skill, but she couldn't gain any feedback without Gene.
Due to having lots of animals evolving, Bunny's Breeding Mastery reached intermediate levels. Unlike other mastery skills, Breeding Mastery seems to gain proficiency passively whenever she gain more animals or when the animals evolved. With the skills at intermediate, Bunny could view how many animals she owned.
Breeding Mastery – Intermediate Level 1
With this skill, by touching the animals in your care, they will have higher fertility rates
Wild animals are more likely to respond positively to you
Current Number of Animals you owned:
Rabbits: 334
Cats: 58
Squirrels: 63
Racoons: 26
Minks: 27
Hedgehogs: 2
“Not bad, we got over 500 animals now” Bunny commented while reading the information.
“How did you know that?” Angel asked
“Breeding mastery reached Intermediate, so numbers of animals was shown”
“So how many of each do we have now?” Angel asked again
“334 rabbits, 58 cats, 63 squirrels, 26 racoons and 27 minks.” Bunny listed out
“Is my bear and worm on your list?” Gene asked
“No, they are your animal companions, not my farm animals”
“Are we going to have to level all of them?” Angel questioned
“I don't think we need to, the higher levels can lead the lower one, just like the sewers”
“Alright then, I need to work on my Blacksmith skills”
“Remember to make some armor for the troops, there should be enough metals”
“OK!”
With that, Angel went into the poison cloud, took out her portable furnace and started smelting. Gene stayed near her, taking out his alchemy kit and started working too. Staying for extended periods within the poison mist improved their poison resistance. Proficiency in healing improved when they healed themselves. Lastly, working while in non-optimal conditions creates and enhance the 'Concentration' stat which was good for spell casters.
Bunny led the animals out and swap a few with the guards. Some were told to return to Sera-Ranch, Bunny's ranch in Serabroug, with the teamster Aaron on his next trip. Bunny then summoned another group of animals, giving priority to the younger ones. After healing them from their summoning sickness, she had the higher levels teach the newer ones basic tactics. She then directed the new group back into the dungeon for grinding, before joining Angel and Gene with her tailoring.
*****
Anna and Annie had been making much progress on their temporary stall. Although they had started out simply selling what Bunny provided, they took a 100 gold loan from Bunny so they could buy loot from adventurers that visited. Only offering 80% of what could be obtained from selling the same things at Serabroug, they did not expect business to bloom.
Traveling to Liar of Litvart from the Citadel of Serabroug took 12 hours of eastbound travel, it could be done in 3 hours on horseback but most people travel by foot. Linking the two was a dirt road. The destination of the dirt road, however, wasn't the Lair, it continued eastwards to Soie Village, which was another 10 hours walk. The Lair simply sit almost in the middle between the two areas. If players hunting around the region required things like selling loot, restocking food or repairs, they would need to spend a day traveling.
Many players used the twin's stall to dispose of their loot and restock so they could continue hunting in the surrounding areas. The players felt the prices the stall offered was reasonable and welcomed, because they saved the time needed for going back to the city. Also, the twins worked day and night in shifts, so players did not have to wait till daylight to trade.
Once every few days, Annie would hitch a ride on Aaron's cart back to the city to trade. With this method, the twins made much money. Occasionally, Bunny and co would buy raw materials from the twins to process. Bunny would Cook, Angel transformed shells, ores and metals into Shield and Armors, while Gene made different kinds of potions. These were then placed in the twin's shop to sell.
Capitalizing on the success of the stall, Bunny made a trip back to the orphanage to hire more children. She got another aspiring teamster, a novice cook, a promising blacksmith, a upcoming woodworker and two maid wannabes. With the new children, Bunny build a small Tavern, a fletcher-house and a blacksmith near the Lair.
The boy smith named Saul, due to inexperience, could only repair items and produce simple arrow tips. Linda, the woodworker, made quality arrows. The boy cook, Rice, and two maids, Beth and Brenda, tend the tavern. Business was good even if there were no alcohol since all the NPCs were underage.
Bunny also bought another horse and cart for Derrick, the new teamster. The new horse only cost 25 gold, a quarter the price of other horses, Bunny felt it was something the stable master desperately wanted to be rid of. It obviously come with extreme attitude problems, which Bunny easily cured with several hours of beat... let's just call it retraining. Since she was getting good gains in the proficiency of Animal Training, the 'training' went on for much longer until the rise in proficiency started to stall. However, she couldn't do anything about the new horse always farting.
On hindsight, Liar of Litvart actually had very good geographical location as a rest stop. Although the Soie Village at the end of the dirt road had nothing to be proud of, the area around the lair proved to be excellent hunting ground for players.
To the South of Litvart was the great forest, beginning with Treant park, where living trees around level 40 lived. Further into the forest, there are stronger animals like Black Bears at 50s, White Tigers at 60s, even Basilisks at 80s. There were multiple forest dungeons too, which consist of animals and plant monsters near 100. Basically this was good place for both solo and groups below 100. Fur or wood obtained as loot could be made into durable clothing or furniture by tailors or carpenters.
To the North of Litvart, there was a huge lake, the lake-shore was swamped with Crustaceans. Crab warriors, Shrimp soldiers, Lobster knights, Scampi fighters, Crayfish raiders... They varied in levels from 50-100 and were scattered randomly, so unlucky lone players would meet monsters too high or low for them. Shells obtained from these monsters could be worked by craftsmen to become interesting looking shields and armors. Overall, another good place for those below 100, but limited to parties.
With the success of the rest stop, Bunny renamed the ranch to 'Litvart Rest Stop'. She also build a shack over the entrance of the Lair covering it from casual views. With these changes, people started to associate Litvart as a Rest-Stop rather then some Monster Lair.
Angel made a small shrine of the Goddess Tokki near the entrance of the Rest-Stop. It was just a small stone statue of the Goddess of small animals, surrounded by stone rabbits. This allowed the rabbits and cats that guarded the area to roam around without fear of stupid players attacking them; Even the dumbest person would know not to attack rabbits when a goddess statue included them with her.
*****
Another week passed, and it was Saturday again, this equate to almost a month in RR.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Upon logging in, Bunny was greeted by her aides, the five original squirrels she had; Named 'Prize', 'Booty', 'Loot', 'Spoils' and 'Haul'. All of them reached Lv60 and had evolved, improving their smarts allowing them to give overall reports on the happenings when she wasn't around. Bunny had Gene made permanent Life-Links on these five animals with herself so she could telepathically communicate with them.
Prize was in charged of 'Sera-Ranch', focusing on leather production. Loot and Spoils handled 'Litvart Rest-Stop'. Booty and Haul each led a group of squirrels accompanying the two teamsters Bunny hired, They served as both protection and additional transport volume.
From the reports, the younger animals had been diligently training themselves. They were eager to gain another evolution which they somewhat associate with their social standings. The older animals tend to be more fixed in their ways, and had less ambition on gaining levels.
There were about 100 older animals that gave up on evolving, so they were assigned to breeding, rat hunting and leather production in Sera-Ranch. The younger ones where transported over to 'Litvart' for leveling and training on more difficult roles of crafts like sewing, woodworking and even cooking.
The racoons were the only ones that managed to gain a rare skill called shell-working which enable them to work with shell-loots Bunny obtained from players hunting Crustaceans. In addition to having a higher level, the equipment of the animals got upgraded too.
Overall Bunny was pleased with the animal's progress.
*****
The contract with Annie and Anna had ended, but the twins wanted to continue working. They had rejected their pay as they made more from running the stall at Litvart. They even proposed to rent the stall from Bunny at 2 gold a month.
Bunny rejected the offer
“You girls can use the stall as long as you want, if you continue to sell things we made”
“You sure you don't want us to pay rent?”
“We know you are rich, but didn't know you are a spendthrift”
“I'm not... I just want you girls to have a good start, merchant life is not always rosy. Save the money and use it to expand your business when you grow older, you will need some dowry too later on in life” Bunny replied, but maintained her stand, while giving Annie a cat smile causing her to blush.
The other children also decided to continue working for Bunny. She was a good boss and took care of them; The food was good, living quarters were spacious with safety guaranteed. Although they were young, the children were hardworking and liked being independent. Once in a while, they would return to the city to visit the orphanage to brag about their new lives.
While chatting with the Angel, Gene and the children, a status window pops up
Breeding Master has level up
Breeding Mastery – Intermediate Level 2
With this skill, by touching the animals in your care, they will have higher fertility rates
Wild animals are more likely to respond positively to you
Current Number of Animals you owned:
Rabbits: 353
Cats: 63
Squirrels: 67
Racoons: 33
Minks: 35
Chickens: 40
“What! When did I start owning chickens?” Bunny exclaimed while she read the info.
“Didn't you experiment with some eggs before?” Angel supplied
“But... those became the fried chicken we ate the first time coming here” Bunny replied
“Then how did you get chickens again?” Gene looked interested.
“How many did you own now?” Angel asked trying to solve the puzzle
“I don't know how, but now I owned 40 chickens.”
“Guess you need to go back to Serabroug to check” Gene suggested
“Yeah! You better check it out” Angel agreed
“Why only me?” Bunny pouted
“Because, we got other things to do” Angel commented nonchalantly.
“Arrrggg... I will just ignore the chickens, I can work on them later”
The original plan for the current weekend was to travel east towards Soie Village.
Angel who made the shrine of Goddess Tokki gain lots of amity from the goddess, so she wanted to try start a shrine or temple for the other deities. Soie Village was the nearest village, so the trio decided to just visit, and could possibly make a shrine.
Which deity's shrine to build would be determined by the conditions of the village. A farming village would benefit from Freya, while a village with lots of wild game around would benefit from Tokki. Lu would guard the village from harm if that was present. The current religion of the village must be taken into consideration too.
*****
Reaching the village, the trio were greeted by a sorry state.
Situated in the middle of abandoned plantations filled with weeds, the trio had arrived at a small, sparsely populated village. There were a total less then 100 houses, but most seemed damaged, making the area look like city slums. There were only children and old people around the village, as Bunny couldn’t discern anything such as liveliness on their faces.
Walking up to the biggest building, the trio were greeted with arguments between two person.
“We need to rescue those captured” A young voice shouted
“You will become needless sacrifice, we will wait for the soldiers to help” replied a voice of an elderly
“The kingdom soldiers will not return in a month, we cannot wait that long”
“But we must, there is no one to help us in our plight.”
“I will gather people to raid the bandits myself”
With the conversation ended, a young teenager left house, bypassing the trio.
“What happened here” Bunny asked he elderly
“Our village was raided by the bandits and the adults here were all captured”
“Why would bandits capture villagers” Angel asked
“They found a mine recently and forced us to mine for them... We are in a sorry state now”
“Can we help you clear the bandits” Bunny proposed
“I will punished them in the name of the Deities” Angel supplied
“Your bravery are commendable but, there are over 500 of them... there are only 3 of you. It is best we just wait for the kingdom soldiers to come help us.”
“There are over 400 of us, so the odds are not as bad.” Bunny smiled at the numbers
“If you have such an army, will you really help us? We have nothing to give in return”
Quest: Save Soie Villager
Soie Village was a peaceful and lively village, until the Kingdom's Eastern Border was invaded by hideous monsters. When the kingdom soldiers were called to relieve the monster threats, the bandits took the opportunity and ransack the village.
They had captured all the working adults and enslaved them in their fort in the Eastern lowlands. The village elder Garlen request of you to rescue the adults of the village.
Difficulty: D
Quest requirement:
Rescue the captive villagers! Number of captives: 100
Must be completed within 30 days
Quest Failure:
The kingdom soldiers would return from their border missions in 30 day,
After 30 days, Elder Garlen would request for their aid, failing this quest.
Since Elder Garlen did not place much hope in your success, he will not fault you for failure or quitting
“We do deeds in the name of good, we do not need rewards.” Angel accepted the quest
“The fight itself is worth enough, let see how we will fair as an army” Bunny agreed
Gene just nodded his head.
You have accepted the quest!
Walking out of the Elder's place, the trio met with the boy who was arguing with the elder earlier. He had a ragtag group of children armed with pitchfork and spades. They numbered 25.
“I overheard your talk with the elder, will you help us destroy the bandits” The boy asked
Quest: Solve Soie Village's Bandit problems
Beyond the border of Rosenheim Kingdom was a wilderness of monsters. Walls were built, and troops were dispatched in order to keep out the monsters that annually invaded the motherland. Whenever there were monster invasions, the soldiers of the kingdom who patrol around for security of the villages and towns would be recalled to repel the invasions.
Just as it was darkest below the lighthouse, Soie Village which was near the capital had be ransacked by local bandits whenever the soldiers were busy elsewhere. This had happened many times before.
To put an end to the recurring problem, Rod, a youngster in the Soie Village requested you to help the village militia to clean out the bandit fort.
Difficulty: D
Quest requirement:
Capture the Bandit Fort with the village militia
“Isn't this the same as the one the elder offered?” Bunny wondered
“We do intend to wipe them out, but some others may have opted to just rescue” Angel answered
“Ummm... so do we just accept?” Gene asked, back with his 'ummm...' due to the strangers around.
“Why not?” Bunny accept the quest.
You have accepted the quest!
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