The process of harvesting a carnivorous plant was the same as with other living creatures. One just had to touch it to be prompted with a loot screen. The only tools necessary for Strangler Vines were a knife and empty vials.

"Just wait there while I gather these limbs," Manco told Cordelia.

"It's okay, I can help," she approached one of the vines that's lying across the path, but her knees wobbled and she slumped to the ground.

"Just sit still for a while, it'll pass," he told her.

Ignoring the acrid smell of burning vines mixed with the sweet and sour scent of their sap, he gathered the severed limbs into a heap.

After a few moments, Cordelia sat down next to him.

"You okay there?" He asked the girl.

"I was a little light headed before, but I'm okay now. Strange. I never got tired before. How is this possible?"

"That's normal. You just invoked three spirits in quick succession. It's just the game's way of telling you your Constitution and Willpower are a little lacking…"

He stopped talking to tossed the looted fragments to another pile.

"That Bear spirit's pretty powerful. Where'd you get it?"

"Cool, Huh?" She grinned and showed him a necklace with a stylized bear head. "A caravan came by the village the other day. There was this Gypsy lady. She gave this to me in exchange for a bunch of crafting materials. Newt eyeballs and Devil Snail slime, can you believe that? Yuck! Made me spend hours trying to catch those things!"

"Haha. I'd say it's worth it, but you've already figured that out."

"Yeah. I love it! It's really powerful. Shame it only lasts for about five minutes. I've only used it once when fighting the rats. I killed like a hundred of them within five minutes, then they overwhelmed me," she shuddered, reliving the unpleasant memory.

"The duration will increase with your stats and masteries. So you've already got, what, three spirits?"

"Yeah. The Starfish and Seagull I got as part of my starting gear. This Brown Bear's my third one."

"Mmm. You'll need more spirits. And stats, and equipment, and a lot of things. Shamans are among of the most versatile classes, but also one of the most demanding as well. You know that, right?"

"Uh, not really," she smiled sheepishly.

"I knew it," Manco sighed, "Now listen up…"

While waiting for the harvesting progress bar to fill up, Manco gave Cordelia a primer on the shaman classes.

Epoch of Liberty had several magic systems for different types of casters. In the case of shamans, they didn't learn individual spells but instead gained abilities by invoking spirits.

The lower level spirits provided small stat boosts and limited abilities such as Cordelia's Increased Regeneration and Featherfall. Medium levels spirits, such as her Brown Bear, could take a semi-corporeal form to cover the shamans, improving mobility, defense or offense. Higher level spirits can provide better stat boosts and access to more powerful abilities. Over time, spirits would grow with use, evolve and acquire new abilities.

Spirits, or souls, were released upon the deaths of living creatures, be they land-based, airborne, aquatic or even insectile. In rare cases, there existed spirits of old, powerful human NPCs.

Left alone, souls would quickly dissipate. In order for them to be maintained and invoked, they had to be contained inside a stable vessel. Sometimes the process occurred naturally, but most of the time, the souls had to be captured and bound using specially prepared ingredients and rituals. Cordelia's necklace and headdress were examples of spirit-containing vessels.

With the correct types of spirits, a shaman can fulfill a variety of roles in battle. By switching which spirit to invoke, they could be anything from front line attacker, defender, assassin, healer, or high-damage nuker.

Despite the obvious advantages, shamans also had plenty of limitations.

With the exception of weapon masteries, a shaman's abilities were almost entirely dependent on the spirits they had access to. Obtaining powerful spirits required time, dedication, luck or, failing all those, money.

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They would also need to improve their stats and masteries to fully make use of the borrowed powers. Having sufficient Willpower and Charisma were the bare minimum requirements to bend the spirits to their whims. Otherwise, a spirit might refuse to comply or, in extreme cases, overpower the caster and had to be got rid of.

Capturing a spirit is a tedious process. The tools involved wouldn't work perfectly 100% of the times. After being captured, a spirit would only exist for a few weeks in the temporary containers.

Binding souls to a piece of equipment was easy enough, but when the equipment became outdated, the owner was faced with the question of whether to replace it entirely or shift the spirit to a different vessel. Transferring spirit was an expensive and risky process. Oftentimes, it was cheaper and less time-consuming to just replace the gear and bind new spirits to it. Only very rare and powerful spirits could justify hanging on to a piece of gear one had long outgrown.

"That's the most basic stuff. There's a lot more you need to experiment and figure out down the line," Manco concluded the lecture.

"Yeesh! That's a lot of work!" Cordelia said, sticking out her tongue.

"Why did you pick this class, anyway?"

"I want a healing class, but the clerics and priests class just looked really iffy to me. So I picked this class on a whim. It looked really cool."

"But it's not really a healing class, though?"

"Yeah, I've figured that much. But it's grown on me. I don't know about later on, but right now it feels really fun. Learning new abilities with new spirits sounds awesome!"

"Yeah, but you really need to watch how you distribute your stats. What's your level now?"

"Sixteen. Those vines gave pretty good experience."

"Do you still have free attribute points?"

"Yeah, I haven't put any points in since level 11."

"I suggest you save as many attribute points as possible. Spend them when you're in a bind, but try to have 15-20 points when you reach level 25. The more the better."

"What happens at level 25?"

"You'll have an awakening quest chain. You know of that, right?" he looked at Cordelia, who nodded, "For many classes, awakening will unlock a new core attribute. Having spare points to put in will give you a big boost."

"I see. When I played Beta, I got a new stat at level 50."

"It's been adjusted to 25 now. Because leveling is much more difficult than during Beta…"

〔Strangler Vine (mature) harvesting complete. Items added to inventory〕

〔Fiber x 5〕

〔Berries x 12〕

〔Sap x 4 (vials)〕

〔Saplings x 3〕

"Whew!" With the last piece of strangler vines harvested, Manco stood up and stretched.

"Now what?" Cordelia asked, having finished with her share of the work.

"You can use the fiber and sap for crafting. The saplings could be used to grow new vines…"

"Eww! Why would I want to grow these things?"

"To protect your property? Or mess with people? These things' have a lot of uses!"

"No! I don't wanna get anywhere near them!"

"I'll take 'em if you don't want 'em."

"Sure, here…"

They opened a trade screen and Cordelia transferred all the saplings she had to Manco.

"What about these berries?"

"They can be used to make several types of drinks. For now, crush some of them and mix it with a vial of sap."

"And...?"

"Smear it on your clothes. The other vines will leave you alone," he explained and demonstrated at the same time.

"What about animals?"

"You've seen any around here? The vines have gotten them all!"

"Hmm… Okay" Cordelia looked wary but followed his lead.

A minute later, they were back on the path. No more encounters occurred for the rest of the way. After a while, they passed another warning sign for Strangler Vines intended for people traveling in the opposite direction.

Eventually, the glowing road ended and the damp, muddy ground gradually gave way to packed dirt, signifying they had left the Sighing Swamp.