Chapter Twenty-Two

To Lady Harmony White, a gift and investment. Your loyal subject, Betrold Gothheim.

The paper was of the finest quality. The kind the manor had received for special invitations. The ink shimmered of gold. The note neither asked for anything nor set any future expectations, but it was sealed in the chest, resting on a not-insignificant pile of gold coins.

“None of you made any loans in my name? Max said not to get into debt with this guy.”

“We were going to ask you the same question,” Bates said dryly.

“And what is with, your loyal subject?”

“Oh, I remember this.” Adric pipped in. “It’s an old form of address giving you power over them, indicating they support your authority.”

“Not as odd as the dungeon attendant calling me Eternal.” Harmony huffed. “But what does he want with this Gift?” She knew all about how most gifts made people feel like you owed them. “Not that we couldn’t use the money.”

“One thousand gold, ten times your monthly stipend,” Ambrosia said eagerly.

Better with numbers, of course, she’d counted it. “Should I give it back?” Harmony asked.

Ambrosia moved to hug the chest shielding it with her body from her friend. “No!”

“Dramatics aside, we could use the funds. I’ve been running this household close to the red. As a gift if he has any unreasonable requests you can always say no. I’d say he is buying future consideration and goodwill.” Bates answered.

Can her goodwill be purchased? Was she so easily swayed? The money did open up an idea she’d been toying with. “Fine. I’d like to purchase some equipment for Hyacinth. Can we fit in an appointment with Gear and Wex this evening?”

Ambrosia released the chest and adjusted herself to proper maidly form nodding her head. “I’ll see what I can do. This is slipping into the time I have scheduled for skill training.”

Bates pulled out the books. These were the replacements for “Harmony’s Diary” Having long since filled the old one up while pushing skill growth as the experts had suggested, but with her methods and not theirs. [Stride Before the Fall]

A Harmony grabbed the current book and opened it, taking a pen from Bates. It was time to add [Final Silence] to the book. The ability to have two of herself was sometimes useful, and training was one of them. Not that she could maintain it for long. She quickly jotted down all the information from its first uses.

After two runs in Nae’s Garden and the play early on that skill was level two. Irksomely even after all the uses [Stride] was still level one. Outside of calling up her status, she couldn’t get a feel for the skill the same way as the other ones. It didn’t have a spot in her the same way the other skills did, even [Mana Rotation] with its swirling churn was something she could get a sense of.

“Adric ready to be my test subject?”

The prince squirmed uncomfortably before agreeing.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

She cast the base version of [Final Silence] again. Max would have been better as it would have matched her first test, but he’d already left to do research for her and hopefully get some sleep. The prince declared his the effect over, and it had lasted the barest bit longer. That might not seem like much but if it grew linearly, at high levels it would be a significant boost. The [Strided] copy cast the [Mana Rotation] empowered version next before tossing the book over and dispersing due to the strain.

Dispersing didn’t end the effect, which had been a worry as her other skills didn’t have a persistent effect. The silence lasted fifty percent longer, which was a similar boost that she’d gotten when empowering base skills. Synergizing compounded the effects, possibly a side effect of her stat, the boulder of debris, rats, spiders, and dust from when she “cleaned” the attic at the manor months ago came to mind.

Next, she ran through lesser control of the skill, the trick she’d discovered of using it to muffle sounds. How large an area she could create Ambrosia summoned her loudest bird to see if it could be pierced. There was also how long she could maintain it.

Having a team helped make this so much more efficient than when she worked in her off hours at the manor. Working out exactly how [Cold Touch] synergized took time. There would also be no hurting people to test the combat aspect on. It didn’t make the quieting effect longer, but everyone inside the area felt so uncomfortable they had to leave. They could hear their blood rushing through their bodies but nothing else. Leaving the effect caused them to wince at the lightest of sounds.

“Time,” Ambrosia called.

Harmony suspected that the decision to call the session done was that she needed to comfort one of her pet birds who’d volunteered to be in that synergized silence. Adric looked pretty worn out as well, so no protest there.

“What’s next?” Harmony asked.

“Adric is due downstairs for some socializing. I’m going to check on getting that appointment with Gear and Wex. Bates will bring a refreshment for you to snack on, but this is your break time before we head to Lady Coodly’s Naewauld Manor. Knowing you those books will be calling to you. Don’t you want to read that Thibodeux?”

Want was a strong word for something she suspected she’d philosophically be disgusted by. It would probably be best not to get too worked up before seeing the old matriarch. Garden of Monsters felt like it would give her the greatest chance hit to what she needed to know.

Settling into a comfy chair she started to read. The author waxed poetically on how Nae’s Garden was the best dungeon for those looking to evolve. Completing all eight levels nearly guaranteed it if done alone, while a team could run it in a single day with smooth precision as they got close to their evolutions. Once you got past the gushing it was a straightforward appraisal of each floor and what you’d find there.

For the wooze and their brood mother. It had similar things to say about necromancy as the focused book she’d received from Peartree. The book delved deeper into specific strategies and why they worked than most local guides. Puppets worked well as bait. Poison as a cloud to be inhaled worked wonders. Fire was a terrible idea. It diverged from Harmony's experience around cold. You merely had to get around their natural defenses first.

She turned to the most important chapter for her right now. The second floor. Vinestrictors and twiggys. The sketch of the flailing plant monster was enough to cause uncomfortable flashes from [Recall]. Each plant had twelve to twenty vines, but only five trap vines they laid out along the paths and trails of the second floor that were well camouflaged into the environment. Having a team with enough cutting attacks to neutralize them was one method, if someone had a strength-based stat and the right tools they could handle them as well. Once you destroyed all the vines near the roots they were pretty much harmless. That or destroying the root system. There it talked about focused poisons like rot or stronger ones, as well as fire strikes that could pierce the ground with enough heat.

Twiggy’s were worse. Ever been attacked by a tree trunk thicker than a man? Normal slashing attacks that would work on the vines needed to hit consecutively in the right place. Their root system was kept internally at the base, but if you could keep it from rooting for five minutes it would start to weaken. Lop off the limbs and wait it out if you don’t have something like rot eat it from the inside.

She barely tasted the pastry handed to her. On the second read, she found a sheet of paper to take notes on different possibilities. The spicy tea she was sipping might as well have been warm water. Remove their weapons of attack or hit them with poison or fire destructive enough to finish the job.

Harmony closed the book. Those couldn’t be the only ways. Divers from the evolved kingdoms came here and soloed the tower. They couldn’t all have rot and specialized plant-killing spells. There has to be more. Where was that burst of inspiration? It wasn’t coming to her.