Aya woke up to her head resting on Mars' shoulder. The taller girl had her arm wrapped around Aya, pulling her in to rest more comfortably on her shoulder.
Aya smiled, gently moving out of the other girl's grasp to sit up and crack her stiff back.
It had been a long night of waiting for yet another attack, but so far none had come.
Moving out couldn't come soon enough. Aya couldn't wait to be free of all this, no city was perfect but Mericross' crime couldn't be compared to Axen at all.
At least they wouldn't have to worry about things like this with a doorman.
Mars yawned, stirring from her own slumber. She stretched her hands over her head and rubbed her sore neck.
"What time is it?" She asked.
"No idea, I left my phone in my room," Aya said, giggling at her friend's sleepy face. "It looks like it could be 10 am or something though,"
"What a night huh?" Mars said with some humor.
"Not my first rodeo, unfortunately," Aya said. She stood up and then offered a hand to Mars who accepted.
"I could use some more sleep," Aya said yawning.
"You and I both, looks like we're both sleeping until noon at least,"
"You got that right," Aya groaned as she walked back to her room for a second round of sleep.
----------
"Thank you for letting me rest here Beatrice," Yvlena said standing up from the comfortable couch.
"Oh it's no problem my dear, I admit I've never seen an elf sleep, but you seemed mighty comfortable," the old woman said.
She handed Yvlena a parcel which the girl accepted gladly.
A gift.
[Yvlena Acquired
Bread x1
Cheese X1
Bread and Cheese Recipe (common)]
"Just something for the road, and to show my appreciation," Beatrice said.
Yvlena stepped forward and hugged the woman.
"You've been the kindest to me since I came to this town, thank you, Beatrice," Yvlena said tenderly.
Beatrice smiled and for an instant Yvlena could see her grandmother's face in the old woman's model.
She teared up, not knowing it was possible in the game.
"I'll be going now, I've got to get my sword fixed," Yvlena said. Beatrice nodded and went back to making food.
Yvlena exited the cottage with a weight in her chest, that couldn't have been her Grandmother right? Was she seeing things now? Too emotional?
She had seen her mother's face in Selendriel too, Yvlena could only wonder how close her mother and father were to the developers of the game.
----------
"Oh hi Yv!" Soren said the moment he laid eyes on the elven girl.
"Hi Soren, I have a huge problem," Yvlena said wincing and bracing herself for a boisterous reaction from the NPC.
"What's that? Don't tell me you went and broke your beautiful sword!" Soren said looming over Yvlena with laboured breathing.
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"Did you?!"
"Uhhh no, no, it's not broken perse, just uh dented,"
"Dented?!"
"I'm sorry Soren, it wasn't my fault I had to fight the Swamp Guardian Crocante and he ate my sword!" Yvlena whined.
Soren paused and processed what she just said.
“Crocante? Swamp Guardian?”
He gasped so loudly it sounded like a puff of air had just been sucked into his chest.
"You were in the Avaresh Swamp, that means..." The man held a hand to his mouth. "But how? That entire area had been taken by the Miasma,"
He looked at Yvlena, pointing an accusatory finger at her.
"And you! You fought the Swamp Guardian? What kind of girl are you?"
"I guess I didn't tell you, I cleared up the Miasma. I'm the Harvest Guardian,"
Soren dropped to his knees, dramatic as ever he hugged her boots with tears streaming down his face.
"Oh goddess Selendriel ever divine, god Vaelindor ever faithful, they've answered our prayers," Soren wailed.
"There he goes again," One of the passing NPCs said from behind Yvlena who could only watch quietly.
"Soren!"
The hulking lad stood upright and took the sword from Yvlena's hands.
He examined the corroded blade carefully thinking about what he could do. Despite her best attempt the digestive fluids of Crocante's stomach had eaten too deeply into the blade.
"This may be pretty hard to fix Yv," Soren said.
"You mean, it's already really badly damaged?" Yvlena asked.
Soren nodded sadly.
"But tell you what, I will hold on to this for now, and if you can find two Plain Ores of Gliresea something can be done," Soren said.
It was the most serious she had seen of him so far and it worried her.
What was she supposed to do now?
"You're the Harvest Guardian I know I can't just recommend you any old weapon, but I can also tell you're a summoner, why don't you get used to fighting without a sword,"
"You mean just relying on my summons?"
"Yes!" Soren said enthusiastically. "Gliresea ores are hard to find and you will have to be without a weapon for quite some time,"
"I... understand," Yvlena said, she swallowed uncomfortably.
"I know it will be hard but try it out for some time and come back to me," Soren said.
Yvlena nodded again, beginning to walk away from the forge.
----------
Yvlena arrived back at the Rose Manor to begin tending to the overgrown grass and weeds, all the while wondering how she was going to tackle the Minor Miasmic Entity in the Verdant Lake with no sword.
"I think I have to grind? Yeah that's what it's called. With my summons some more, if I'm going to rely on them,"
She took out the Moon Sickle gazing upon its intricate design, it had helped against Crocante but would it really be suitable as the weapon for her era?
Yvlena the Harvest Guardian.
"Only one way to find out which path I take, I still don't know what a dark summoner is, is there even a light summoner?"
She used the sickle on the tall grass. Shearing it with ease.
[Yvlena Acquired
Fiber x10
Wild Seeds x10]
"More seeds, at least I know I'm not going to run out of common herbs for a while," she joked.
----------
[Yvlena Acquired
***
Luna Orchid (Herb) x2
Fox Tail (Herb) x5
Fox Glove (Herb) x3
Star Root (Herb) x2]
"That's all the harvesting done,"
[Subclass Skill: Herblore Leveled Up]
[Subclass: Leveled Up
Herbalist(Harvest Guardian) 10/10]
[New Path Unlocked]
[Subclass evolution complete]
[Garden Mystic (Harvest Guardian) 1/10]
"New path?" Yvlena asked in confusion. All she knew was that her Subclass could evolve but not what it would evolve into.
"Garden Mystic? What the hell does that mean? Do all my stats get a boost or something?"
Yvlena's question was answered by the series of notifications popping off on her screen.
[Congratulations on attaining the next evolution of your Subclass.
The Rose Manor and Harvest Guardians alike, have many secrets only as you progress through your tasks as Harvest Guardian can you begin to uncover the mystery of your predecessors.
More rooms within the manor are now open to you]
"Tell me something I don't know," Yvlena said with a snort. "Wait there were locked rooms?"
After some more thought, she recalled there had been rooms she couldn't enter.
"I guess I wasn't eligible for certain mysteries until now," she laughed.