Chapter 2 – OPK is OP
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Part 0 – Quint Essentials
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Instead of rushing over to Ailla to join the other Champions, Oliver took a few additional months to do tests, as his new class needed the extra preparation. Just as Guardians needed great armor and Wizards needed powerful wands, a successful farmer would require an array of genetically modified seeds.
A swordsman could do great with a shinai, but he would be incomparably stronger when using a proper sword. For Oliver, to make his Botanist Class outshine others, he could not settle with just using normal seeds... especially when he was going for a combat-orientated Botanist, not just a simple food producer. Indeed, he had show Dietrich the power of vines used for defense, his next step would be to gain offensive weapons.
Other then Enhanced Seeds, Oliver also did intensive researching of the new world. Geography, Population Type and Numbers, Village Status, History of the various Rulers, Possible War Situations, Skills, Classes... etc... His research being both systematic and exhaustive. Quintessences was one of the topics he buried himself into, learning its tips and tricks, then finally his research bore fruit. He found a 'bug' he could exploit.
Each class came with 10 skills. To promote from Basic to Intermediate, a user must gain 10 levels in each skill. Reaching Advance, Master and Grandmaster levels, would required more then twice the effort previously. This information was taught to people of Ailla, which in turn transmitted to Oliver by Dietrich.
Oliver didn't need to grind skills like that locals. With blessings points, he would rank up the Quintessences and gain equal distribution to each skill... Taking into account that the people would be unlikely to level skills up equally, he tried a few tests on focused leveling. The results was within his expectations. He wrote them as the table below:
Class RankQuint ColorAverage Levels of skillsBasicGreenBelow 10IntermediateTeal10-29AdvanceAzure30-69MasterBlue70-149GrandmasterPurple150+TopRedHighest level in the world
Instead of leveling every skill of a class, Oliver focused on only 1, granting it much greater strength then reflected by the rank; Gust and Meditation were the only skills he needed for his Wind Magi class, and they were as powerful as a Grandmaster's at Lv150. All the rest of the skills within that class stayed at 1. By leveling up only skills he needed, Oliver saved on BP usage on the unused skills, things like Wind Armor, Vacuum Blades, Razor Gale even the ultimate skill Tornado Blast.
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Part 1 – Eredhel
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Eredhel sat alone on a large rock just outside her village. Playing with her long silky golden shoulder length hair; she would comb them neatly behind her pointed ears, then shake her head to mess them up, before repeating the procedure... Pausing her game with her hair, she glanced into the night which was illuminated by the full moon. Ailla had a huge moon which lit up the nights without waxing or waning, traveling through the skies just like its daytime counterpart.
Due to witnessing the death of her dear grandmother a few days ago, she was not able to sleep, therefore spending her time idling the nights away. From her earliest memories, she had been living with her grandparents without knowledge of who or what her parents were. Having one of the people closest to her depart, it was not easy for her young heart.
While staring into the dim surroundings, a shooting star reflected onto her blue eyes. Wishing upon the star, Eredhel prayed for the betterment of her village. She had been raised communally by the villagers and had strong ties to the place... where her life, her dreams and her everything resides. Yet, all was not fine, if things continued as they were, her village would cease to exist within a few months.
The village Eredhel called home was Hafford, a small hamlet situated at the fringe of civilization. On the regional map, it could be found on the South-Eastern corner of Leo, both the name of the region as well as the great city located at the center. As to not confuse the two, locals called the region Leo and termed its capital as 'The Great City of Leo'.
The Great City of Leo was ruled in a Plutocracy style, where those with money also gain political authority. Standing at the top were the 5 Great Families, also known as the 5Gs for short. Members of the 5Gs ruled their respective areas like Petty Kings or Lords and they fought hard to keep each other down. Since their power were comparative to each other, they ended up with only petty squabbles instead of an all out war.
Leo represented the lion, a great feline that ruled over grasslands. As indicated by the name, the region was mostly savanna, prairie and rolling hills, with plenty of bush and small forests dotting the landscape. That was the general view but if one approaches the boundary of the region, they would quickly find the borders very different. Surrounding the plains were mountain, swamps, jungles and other less habitable places.
Hafford was located right beside the South-Eastern borders, on barren mountainous land. It used to be thriving due to an iron mine nearby, but due to recent monster activities in the mine, the iron ore collection dwindled leading to overall poverty of the village. Having barren lands that cannot support agriculture and little things to trade for imported food, the population of around 2,000 were forced to rely on hunting wild beast for survival.
With the help of Quintessences, people who mined all their lives took little time to learn hunting, but being basic hunters and scavengers, they could not efficiently extract food and materials from the wild. Adding salt to the wound, Leo was mainly grasslands with abundant wildlife, which made hunting in mountainous regions near their village extremely non-profitable.
While making her wish, Eredhel noticed the comet switching directions and headed towards her. Grasped by fear, Eredhel did not have time to scream as she deftly hid behind the stone she was sitting on, watching the meteor crashed about 15m in front of her... Not crashed... because there was no crater, no flying debris and no sudden loud noise... it had somehow stopped abruptly before hitting the land devoid of flora. The spherical glowing object, as big as a house, hovered lethargically at the supposed point-of-impact.
An opening appeared on the glowing sphere with a pair of humanoid walking out while chatting. From her hiding place, Eredhel saw them as a man and a women who were each around 20 years of age. The woman was wearing a blue loose tunic which extended to her heels covered by a toga which draped off her left shoulder and glided just above her ample bosom. Her black hair flowed straight down her back ending just above her slim waist. As she was facing away from Eredhel, neither the woman's face, weapons nor quints were in sight.
The man who happened to face her direction had features like his outfit, simple and plain... except his hair, which was blue and tainted with yellow highlights... extremely loud yet somewhat appealing. On his left arm worn a bracer with 3 Azure Quintessences, signifying his strength of having 3 classes at Advance-rank. On his right hand, he carried a strange looking pole, which Eredhel thought to be his weapon.
“Here we are, landing near Hafford Village without alarming the locals. You should be able to approach the village tomorrow morning to make first contact. I still don't understand why you choose this place rather then the capital...” The woman said with a musical sound with a slight echo, very soothing to the ear.
“I don't find you interested, you have been distracted by air molecules when I explained earlier.”
“Hmph...” went her cutesy voice before it turned serious: “I have checked with a few allies, the way you spent BP is totally out of ordinary... Quint assignment, Bringing the internet and even Altering the church-classes... So many things that almost nobody else worked with... I know you will be successful, so I will just say: Enjoy your stay!”
“Don't worry, enjoying myself is the zeroth law... still I will complete my objectives... I'll go find 'Loser' after I settled your stuff. I can't promise you the world, but I will definitely get more then the minimum.” the man replied with a thumb's up.
With the exchange, the woman vanished back into the glowing sphere, which took off and sped into the night. The man watched as the sphere flew off before starting his walk nonchalantly towards where Eredhel hid. After reaching 5 paces away from her, he said something and a blue panel appeared in front of him.
“Eredhel, meaning 'Seed-Girl' or 'Seed-Lady' in the Elven tongue... I guess this is not just coincidence... care to come out and have a chat with me?” He asked
Eredhel was stunned for a moment, the man somehow knew both her location and her name. Although shocked by his action, she did not have feelings of fear or dread. The aura of the man was clam and collected, unlike the bad people she had met in her short 15 years of life.
Standing out from her hiding place, she greeted.
“Erm... Hello... You are? ”
“I am Oliver, sent here to help this village in crisis. Do you happen to know who the village elder or chief is? I need to talk with him or her before I start working.”
“Grandpa Halon, is the village chief.” Eredhel said proudly before shooting questions: “Where did you come from? Who sent you? How did you know our situation? What do you intend to do to our village? What is that glowing sphere? Who is that Lady...”
“Whoa!!... too many questions at a time...” Oliver stopped her by raising both palm towards her in front of his chest, then redirected her to business. “I'll explain later, so lets walk while we talk, I want to meet the Village Chief Halon as soon as possible.”
Eredhel glanced at the moon for a moment before replying:
“Not the best time to meet him now, its 8 hours from dusk and 4 more hours till dawn.”
“4 hours... hmmm... Guess I will create a surprise for him... Want to help me?” Oliver asked
“What do you want? What will you be doing?” The girl started her barrage of questions again
“I need a plot of land to grow some grains and vegetables” Oliver answered while tossing a farmer-quint at the elf-girl, who fumbled slightly, due to surprise, but caught the quint deftly.
“Huh?? This region is barren, nothing grows here, not even weeds” Eredhel replied but still led the way
“What if I tell you I have seeds that grow well in your so-called barren lands?”
“Hahaha... nice joke”
Walking for 15 minutes, the pair reached an open space at the Southern corner of the village. It was devoid of vegetation, just as the girl had mentioned, there wasn't even weeds. Oliver ignored her sarcasms and started plowing on the area estimated to be around the size of a football field. The 'weapon' he carried was actually a pole with re-attachable parts. By slotting a 'hoe head' and snapping it in place, it became an agricultural tool used to move soil.
Using the pole-turned-hoe, Oliver only tilled a small square of 30m x 30m, then he started sowing seeds while directing Eredhel to work on a similar sized plot next to his. Oliver made the plants grow much faster then possible even without their need for water and sunlight. His Fast Plant Growth from Botanist class at Lv300 could only be described as 'insane' as it forced plant saplings to break out from the loosen soil within seconds after planting.
By dawn, Oliver had made a small plantation with leafy Spinach, juicy Tomatoes and ripen Corn. There were also many heads of Broccoli and Brussels sprout along with bushes of Strawberries and Soybeans. Along with the food, he also had a small Haniwa garden. ((Google 'Haniwa Garden' for more info)); Villagers who woke up early and saw the thriving garden were awestricken and became statues with eyes and mouth wide opened.
The one most affected was actually the Elf-girl who helped made the vegetable parade. Using the basic Farmer-quint she had received, Eredhel with her skills at the lowest level, was able to decently grow the seeds onto the soil she deemed barren. It showed the potency of the seeds Oliver had, which grew regardless of whoever planted them.
With the seeds from Oliver, the food issues of the village could be solved. The the problem that plagued the villagers, one that they almost gave up upon, Oliver easily removed such hurdle without breaking a sweat. Taking another look at the man working beside her, his outline suddenly looked enigmatic, far different from the simple plain man her first impression dictated.
Then her expressions turned slightly darker. Grandpa Halon had always reminded her that there was no free things in life. She was happy about those seeds, they were considered legendary, but thinking of what Oliver would exchange them for, she could only shudder... What could the villagers offer for such miracle inducing agents?
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Part 2 – Halon
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The Elf species was split into 4 races, namely Wood-Elf, High-Elf, Dark-Elf and Dirt-Elf. The split was due to their living environment, which caused slight mutations to their bodies.
The Wood-Elf race populated the forest, they were the 'default' Elven type, with blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin, lithe body, chiseled faces and pointed ears. They had innate ability of planting, woodcraft, hunting and nature magic. Wood-elves, due to their affinity with nature, hated metals and metal-wares which were the tools used for deforestation.
The Dirt-Elves race were more commonly known as Elven Smiths. They looked similar to their forest cousins with their blond hair, blue eyes, pointed ears... etc, but they were different inside. Dirt-Elves had inborn skills of ore detection, earth moving and metal sculpting, making them excellent miners and smiths. They used magic for extraction, refinement and production of metal-wares.
The High-Elf race lived in the cities, build wizard towers and claimed that they had a higher purpose in life. Their environment caused their ears to be less pointed, faces more rounded and having slightly bulkier bodies. Due to prolong exposure to various forms of magic, they gain the ability to use powerful Elemental spells at the cost of their nature-affinity. The High-Elf race was once mistaken to be half breeds between human and elves, but that was in the past. Different species, even if they copulate, could not bear offsprings.
Drows, also known as the Dark-Elf race lived in underground congregation which caused their skin to darken while their hair turned white. They too lost their nature-affinity and instead gain powers unknown to others. They were a close group and secretive about their activities. The general consensuses was: they were born stealthy with dark magic affinity, however neither could be proven as no living Drow would speak of themselves... even under torture.
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Several hundred years ago, Halon was one of the pioneer that founded the village of Hafford. Since then, he had been the village chief till present times. There was a simple reason for him taking the position: He was the only wood-elf in the mining colony.
While establishing a new village, there would be conflicts. Hafford's mine attracted Humans, Dwarves and Dirt-Elves. The 3 races had their little quirks which often caused disagreements. Being different from the rest, Halon would be able to lead without taking sides. Being fair towards everyone, he was well liked by the villagers. There was also the unspoken truth that him being a wood-elf, his productivity in the mines or metallurgy would be lower then everyone else.
Halon had moved to this land devoid of flora for a simple reason: Love. He had fallen in love with a Dirt-Elf named Ceves. Putting her above his personal needs, he left his forest home and eloped with her into founding the frontier village. His actions won over her heart and they married soon after settling down in Hafford, knowing they would most likely never have children of their own.
Fate usually smiled at randomly at people. After 400 years of living together, Ceves was finally pregnant. Chances of interbreeding between different species was zero, however they were both elves albeit different types, they only had a tiny chance to conceive and somehow the miracle happened. It brought both happiness and misery to the couple.
Happiness was a given, which couple wouldn't be happy about having a child? But there was a problem with their age. The lifespan of an Elf was about 500 years; Elves grew up as fast as humans with their growth stopping at the around the age of 20. From there, they looked youthful until the last years of their lives, where they resumed their growth twice as fast as a human.
Ceves had gotten pregnant when both of them started showing signs of aging. With their lives coming to an end soon, they could only spent very few years with their only child. With that thought, they decided the child would be an orphan and they would raise her as their grandchild. With the promise of most of the villagers, they would raise the child communally so the impact of her passing 'grandparents' would be lessen.
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Few days ago, Ceves was no longer able to fight the passage of time and died peacefully in her sleep. Halon held back better but his days were numbered too. Being long-lived, he got over her death easily, but he ended up spending more time brooding over his daughter's uncertain future. Like him, she was born a wood-elf, which was judged rather worthless in a mining colony. If he could last a decade longer, he could either pass onto her the job of the village chief or prepare her the journey back to his homeland.
Lying in bed brooding, his Presence Sensing skill picked up a stranger entering the village. Being unable to sleep, he decided to spy on the stranger to pass time, as well as take precaution if the said being did anything detrimental to the village. Taking out a scrying orb from his bedside cabinet, Halon stalked the stranger using magical vision.
Surprised by seeing Eredhel leading a man into the village, Halon continued his visual stalking, which led him to watch the stranger growing plants at a neglected farm. Looking at the skills used, he reminisced time spent back in his hometown, growing trees and planting shrubs. Botanist class was very common among wood-elves living in the forests.
Further inspection told Halon that the man was more then what he had shown. The speed at which his plants grew greatly exceeded the ability his Azure Quint should have. It was even more powerful then some master rank Botanist he knew of. Watching his daughter growing the same plants, he suspected the unreasonable growth was due to the seeds. He had watched over her from birth, knowing that she had never grew any plants before. Armed with only the minimum of skills, she too was able to sprout the seeds quickly.
While watching the two having fun growing plants, time quickly flew by and morning came. Along with the brightening of the sky, clusters of villagers gathering around the vegetable garden. Halon couldn't fault the villagers for circling the area because in their current situation, the food grown by the stranger was indeed very tempting.
Few months ago, the villagers were joyous over discovering a new iron vein. The finding could increase iron ore production which in turn improved the condition of their village. The gleeful atmosphere had shortly turned grimed; Along with the new vein was a nest of underground creatures, that claimed the mines to themselves. With hostile forces within the mines, ore production trickled to a halt.
Mining into monster dens were occurrences that would happened to any mining colony and Hafford had experienced many such events in its long history. All they had to do was to hire help from the Great City of Leo and Adventurers would come to solve the problem. This time, however, the situation differed from previous: There was civil war going on in the Great City, sparked by the appearance of those who termed themselves Champions of God.
The 5 Great families had each backed a different 'Chosen One' trying to topple their competition. Whichever Gods or Deities that had appeared did not feel like a benevolent one. All 5 were locked in a stalemate, yet none had any intention to help with Hafford's crisis. Villagers of the rural mining hamlet could only hope that one side wins fast, so they could get their aid soon.
Thinking it was time to meet with this stranger, Halon got up from his bed to prepare. While getting dressed, he donned a bracer that had a wire attachment. After securing the bracer onto his left arm, he coiled the extending wire over his upper arm then across his shoulders. Locking them in place with a double shoulder strap which looked like an shoulder holster. Removing the Scryer Quint from the front of his chest, Halon carefully inserted the marble, attached to the end of the wire, into the empty Quint-slot located on his chest.
Through researching, trials and sacrifice, the beings of Ailla had made it possible to exceed their natural limit and expanded the amount of Quints each person could use concurrently. Orcs, Elves, Humans and Dwarves, they were no longer at the bottom of the natural world. Using attachments, they could now equip up to 3 different Quints at the same time, surpassing the solo slot they were born with.
Just like the USB connection, power flowed from the body to the bracer causing it to glow for a moment. Setting the Scryer-Quint onto a Quint-slot on his bracer, Halon placed two more quintessences into the 2 other empty Quint-slots of his bracer, grimacing as his body adjusted itself to 3 quints, instead of it normal capacity of one. With the quints equipped, Halon picked up his tunic and made himself presentable to a negotiation.
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Part 3 – Negotiations
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The sun rose shortly after dawn. Oliver and his vegetable rich garden was now surrounded with spectators. No one spoke up nor did anyone try to pick the ripe fruits and vegetables. They were stunned by the display of something they thought impossible. The only one spoiling the frozen scene was Eredhel, busy tending to saplings on a nearby plot of similar size.
Oliver was not omnipotent, nor was he almighty. He had simply done extensive studies while traveling from Earth. The soil around iron mines were always tainted with large amount of iron ions making them barren. Through his Seed Alchemy he not only made the plants he was growing resistant to the alkali land plagued with high metal concentration, he even selected food crops that would absorb the iron ions and enriched the flavors of the fruits and leaves produced.
Be it leaves of Spinach or Brussels sprouts, or fruits like Tomato or Strawberries, even staples like Soybeans and Corn, they all share a common trait: All were high in iron content. Since the soil at the village had too much iron ions till it was considered barren, the produce of the plants was, without doubt, top-tiered; The fruits were redder and the greens were darker. If the housewives back on Earth saw these fruits and vegetables, they would be going into a 'Free for all' in 'Mixed Martial Arts' style, just to gain the rights to purchase them all.
Looking at the crowd surrounding him, Oliver made an estimate on the population distribution using the sample size of his audience. Half of them were humans, with the remaining split between Dwarfs and Elves. Humans were seen everywhere in Ailla because they had shorter lifespans and reproduced very fast compared to the the other Beings, so finding large numbers of them in Hafford was nothing special.
Dwarfs would appear at places with iron ores, Hafford as a mining village attracted them easily, so their numbers too, did not stand out. The Elves were a little out of his expectations... then Oliver remembered Dietrich talking about the Dirt-Elves, understanding that these were not the tree hugging ones, Oliver withdrew his surprise.
While pondering over the population distribution, the crowd on the North side parted like the red sea. Instead of Mosses, there stood an old man... old elf, same pointy ears, lithe body, blue eyes, with the slight exception of the hair mixed with some whites giving a platinum blond shade instead of the normal yellowish hue. From the wrinkled face hiding any emotions, Oliver thought the elf was the person he wanted to meet.
“Target Info” Oliver whispered quietly while focusing on the elder, causing a blue panel to appear.
Status InformationName:Halon PinestalkerRace:Wood ElfTitle:Village ElderFame:437Infamy:0Quint Slots:3 (+2)Quint Arms:BracerSlot 1:Scryer – AdvanceSlot 2:Village Elder – MasterSlot 3:Negotiator – Advance
“Greetings stranger. Welcome to Hafford the frontier village” Halon greeted without preamble
“Hi! I am Oliver, are you the village chief?” Oliver returned
“Yes, I am Halon, the one who can negotiate on behalf of the village” Halon nodded then continued. “You have created quite a sight for the village, I am wondering what the cost may be?”
The first impression Oliver had of the elder was good. Instead of someone beating round the bush, the elder had gone directly to the point without wasting time. That scored majorly with Oliver, who disliked idle chatters. Since the other side had started negotiations, Oliver had no qualms to follow.
“I am willing to offer this farm that I am cultivating for some questions and 2 request.”
“Some questions and 2 request?” The elder pondered, finding the 'request' part being where the bargain might be. Well versed with negotiations, he continued without missing a beat: “I can answer any amount of questions to the best of my knowledge, but let's hear about your requests first so our village can decide if we want to bargain.”
“Nice! My first request is simple, I want that girl there to be my representative here.”
“Huh? Representative? For what and why?” the old Elf asked as he didn't understand. Murmurs of confusion was also heard within the crowd that gathered... while the girl in question was still busy farming her plot of land unknowing to the stares focused at her.
“You know, the seeds I am giving to this little village, I want someone to make sure they will not be horded by some greedy merchant and resold for a profit.” Oliver nonchalantly replied
“But...” Halon had no way of replying, the conversation was not moving as he had suspected... then he gathered himself. 'It must be the other request' he thought... but before he could put it to words, Oliver made another move.
“My other request is making a structure in the mines, a shrine to be precise.”
“Huh? But the mines have hostile creatures in them now” Halon was once again confused by the man, so he could only weakly counter.
“I know of that, I will build the shrine AFTER clearing the threat. How does that sound?”
“But... But...” Halon was now almost wordless. Relying on Calm analysis from his Negotiator class, he forcefully downed his emotions and asked:
“You want Eredhel as your representative and build a shrine in the mines after you clear the creatures in there?”
“Yes. Is there anything else you want for my request?” Oliver asked
“No... but are you sure you only want those simple things for seeds that can be considered legendary?”
“Hey now, are you going to use the negotiation skills to make yourself a worse deal?” Oliver questioned
Halon was totally stumped by the offer. It was as good as solving all the village problems without asking for anything in return. He had spied enough to know Eredhel would only benefit as a representative and a shrine in the mines meant nothing compared to someone clearing the monsters. In addition, the village would gain the rights over food crops that grew on their barren lands, which meant the village would finally be able to produce agricultural products. There was too much advantages on his side that Halon did not know how to further argue.
Seeing no answers, Oliver continued, but this time, he addressed the crowd:
“I take that the request are acceptable to you all, so I will proceed to ask some questions. First, do you people know anything about champions?”
“They are warmongers!”
“Idiots that are made used of by others”
“Useless people who side with those in power”
The answers were expected, but Oliver still sigh audibly. It was more for theatrical effects then actual disappointment. Sensing that the deal may go wry if Oliver's mood was dampened, Halon tried to be more uplifting.
“There is once a Champion that came to our village about a month before others, I think his name is Shallow... I can't really remember... He is packed with justice and knowledge and taught us many things about those Gods but he vanished right before he spoke of his God's name.... Since then we have not seen another Champion in person. Our knowledge of them is only from his telling and those in the Great City of Leo that refused to help with our crisis.”
Hearing that, Oliver bowed to the crowd before saying:
“I must first apologies... As a Champion myself, I have forgotten there are also idiots mixed within our ranks. There are over 200 Champions of various Gods send to this world promoting Faith... yet, even with stringent selection, there are still buffoons mixed within our ranks. Even if we served different Deities, their actions were incorrigible.”
Watching Oliver's apology, many of the skilled professionals nodded their heads in understanding; they too had the experience of clowns within the same industry making them look bad. Dwarven metalworker triple-charging other races, human innkeepers prostituting their daughters, weapon smiths unwilling to shoe horses...etc. The baseless generalization, due to a few black-sheep within their industry, tarnishing their reputations.
“I am here on behalf of the Lady Dietrich, Goddess of Progress and Ingenuity. As the village is now regressing, I am to correct the situation. These fruits and vegetables are just a little something from the Goddess. Do take them without worries.”
Oliver picked out a fresh tomato and tossed the fruit to one of the onlookers, a female human. Harvesting more fruits, Oliver handed them out in a particular order only he knew of. Judging from their facial features, those with purplish lips were given tomatoes, those with dark eye-bags received half a cob of corn while a pair of strawberries were given to those with yellowish Sclera.
“Eek... The tomato is spicy!” was the respond from the first female human that got her fruit.
“Ugh... Bitter strawberries!”
“Bleh... Sour Corn!”
Complains were flying by the time Oliver finished his distribution of fruits. Knowing that even if it tasted weird, the fruits were still valuable food, so none of the villagers actually puke the contents in their mouths, although, they did stop eating.
Seeing their responds, Oliver addressed the crowd again:
“I know a simple incantation that can make the fruits more delicious, so repeat after me:
We give thanks to Lady Dietrich's Ingenuity, while we Progress
Just speak of those simple word then take another bite!”
Coaxing the crowd, Oliver made them recite the small prayer before eating again. To their surprise, the fruits did taste much better. Reciting the incantation again, the taste went up another notch. By their fifth recital, the corn ears were sweet beyond words, tomatoes tickled the taste buds and the strawberries were juicy with a perfect blend of sweet and sour
As many had finished what they were initially given, Oliver told them to help themselves to more fruits. With a miniature banquet of Tomatoes, Cobs of Corn and Strawberries, the mood became merry and all the participants were happy.
Thinking it was time, Oliver addressed the crowd again.
“First of all, I need to tell you that the incantation has nothing to do with the taste!”
“Impossible!”
“That cannot be true, the taste does improve”
“What you just say is contradicting”
“What is happening?”
Eyeing the villagers with varied responds, Oliver continued his speech.
“This is just a simple trick. For those that have eaten Rockmadillos, the residue meat reacts with juice of the tomatoes to give a spicy taste. Monochrome-Bats' blood makes strawberries bitter and horned raccoon meat taints the corn with a sour taste. There is neither magic nor power within the incantations, just tricks to that lets your sense of taste normalize.”
Oliver had done intensive research on the food materials available to this village. By eating particular things, there would be visible signs due to indigestion; These were Traditional Chinese Medical knowledge Oliver gained when playing games based on Ancient Chinese Culture.
Those that had eaten Rockmadillos recently would have their lips turned slightly purplish. Bats and Raccoon meat would give their respective signs too. These outward signs were actually very faint, but easily seen when one knows where to look.
Giving a pause to let the information sink in, Oliver continued:
“If you feel the need, you are free to always recite the incantation before a meal. Trust me, it will make any food you eat taste better, because that is the taste of improvement. The taste of becoming better then yesterday. The taste of Progress, with the Ingenuity of Goddess Dietrich.”
Instead of angry eyes looking down at him for tricking them, the only stares Oliver got were eyes of appreciation and happiness. Just like a skilled magician, he had awed the audience with a feat, then disclosed the trick afterwards; treating them as children, teaching them about 'taste' in an interactive way. The people did not felt cheated, rather they fell in love with his interactive display.
By using his massive gaming knowledge on dealing with NPCs, Oliver skillfully captured the hearts of the villagers. Forcing them to pray to Goddess Dietrich would be counterproductive as that would grow resentment, so Oliver choose to win them over using his charm, then giving them the option to choose... This was one of the ways to obtain faithful followers.
“Hafford Village... Get!” Oliver whispered to himself, his voice drowned out by the cheers around.
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Part 4 – Apprentice
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While other villagers were watching the performance Oliver set up, Eredhel was focused on her little plot of farmland. Oliver had taken her as a disciple and he would be teaching her various things related to the farmer profession. The apprenticeship happened only a few hours ago so it was still livid in her memory.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
*Flashback*
“You are the first native of this world that I meet, furthermore, you are also one of the very few wood-elves in this mining village. Since your race specialized in my farmer-related profession, I don't think it is simply coincidence that I meet you... So, I intend to take you as my first disciple.” Oliver said right after tilling the plot of land
“Hahaha... You want me to call you master? Why don't you first show me what you've got, I don't randomly acknowledge just anyone as master.” Eredhel replied in a mocking tone, she knew Oliver had three classes at advance ranks displayed on his quint-gear, but there were plenty of master-rank miners and smiths in the village, so his skill ranks did not faze her.
Without a word, Oliver poked a hole into the tilled soil, dropped a seed within, covered it up, then press his palm about an inch away, channeling mana into the soil. After 2 seconds, seedlings sprouted. It grew bigger and bigger becoming a bush, then flowering followed by fruiting. Within half a minute, Oliver had produced a small strawberry shrub which was loaded with freshly grown fruits.
“Is this enough?” Looking at the wide eyed, opened mouth Eredhel, Oliver grinned and asked. He only managed to obtain a small nod from the dazzled girl. To Eredhel, this action reflected Oliver as a god-tiered master offering apprenticeship; a once-in-a-lifetime offer, which she had no reason to refuse.
The deal was sweetened further when Oliver presented her a quint-gear; A necklace type which she wore underneath her tunic dress. Quint-gears were expensive items due to the mystical technology to harness Quintessences. Prices of accessories type quint-gears were a notch higher then normal ones, because they not only function better, they were also worn as decorations, displaying the beauty of quints.
Being underage at 15 years old, Eredhel did not have any quint-gear. Happy on receiving her first one, she had immediately equipped the gear and slotted in the two quintessence she owned: One was the newly obtained Farmer-Quint from Oliver, while the other was the Escapee-Quint, Grandpa Halon made sure she was always equipped with. The last quint-slot on the necklace was quickly filled when Oliver passed her yet another one.
The last quint was one Eredhel had never seen before; A stick figure with a halo floated within the marble, depicting the Priestess-class. With the absence of Gods, holy-classes were never available to the populous until the coming of the minor gods with their champions.
*End of Flashback*
The first task her master gave her was to make a shrubbery similar to his. Oliver had done his within 4 hours in total, but about two thirds of the time went to plowing and tilling of the land. With his help on conditioning the soil of her plot, the land was easily set for agriculture. Oliver had told her to focus solely on the skill Plant Growth, so Eredhel had been channeling mana into the plants since then.
She was also given a bag full of blue leaves; chewing on them gave a minty taste as well as recovered a huge portion of her mana. These were simple mana herbs that grew as abundantly as weeds, Alchemist would pick them to refine into mana potions. Yet again, theses herbs were many times more potent then what was commonly found, allowing Eredhel to constantly recover her mana without breaks.
As Eredhel was working, cheers and claps erupted around her. Distracted by the commotion, she looked up from her work to see almost all the natives of the village gathered nearby, enjoying a party of harvested vegetables and fruits. Looking at the familiar people wearing merry faces, she wanted to laugh with them but ended up with a complicated look.
An old hand gently landed on her shoulder. It was Grandpa Halon, looking at her, curious about her reaction towards the festive mood.
“Why the glum look? Not happy with your new master?” Halon asked with a grin
“Since you know his my master, you ought to have seen what he can do. The villagers are celebrating at the result, they know nothing of the process.” Eredhel replied wryly.
“Indeed... It is like they only know that the hero defeated an army of monsters, yet they don't know he only used as much power as throwing a booger.”
“Ewww... Grandpa Halon, still gross as ever... but yes, what he has shown is only the tip of an iceberg.”
“Enough about him, how is your training coming along?”
“Oliver told me to make a similar garden, time limit is till sunset.”
“Oliver? Not master?”
“He said calling him Master sounds weird, so I am to call his name”
“Hahaha... he is a funny person” the old man could not help chuckling.
“It's not funny, at my rate of progress, I think I will fail the task” the young girl complained.
“Why don't you use the racial skill Green Thumb?”
“How?”
“Ah... first you must touch the plant itself, then you...”
Halon started teaching his daughter the finer points of their racial traits. He had always wanted to do it, but there were no plants around the settlement. Openly, he could not reveal their paternal relation, but as a father he still wanted to spent quality time with his daughter. Inside, he was exhilarated by this chance given to him, and gave a silent prayer to the God he had just been introduced to.
From far, Oliver looked at the pair, they were the only two wood-elves living a place where their race seldom appears. It was not difficult to guess that they were related. Oliver had purposely set a hurdle that Eredhel could not pass unless she could exhibit her racial trait; She could only succeed her first task by having Halon teach her.
{+2 Faith}
Watching as the text of gaining faith floated above Halon's head, something only he could see, Oliver grinned at the wood-elves as they continued their lesson. He was not dense enough to disturb their quality time together. Leaving them to themselves, Oliver made preparation to clear the mines.
---
As the villagers dispersed after getting their share of vegetables, Oliver left with them, moving towards the area where he spotted lots of smoking chimneys. He needed to arm his disciple. Hafford as a mining village, produced iron ores as its primary export. Due to the impassable mines, they had kept the last few shipments of ores; The villagers knew that selling metal-wares would net them more income then simple selling ores, so during such times, ore exports were stopped.
As expected, Oliver found that a good amount of smiths and metallurgy experts had settled into the area to practice their arts. Swords, Axes, Spears and polearms... Platemails, Chainmails and Cuirass... The variety of gears was large and the quality good. However, Oliver was not looking to arm his disciple with normal weapons.
Stats query: Strength, Luck, Skill RankNameStrengthLuckSkill RankPeter Panson102225Advance Tool makerTons Tarky108349Intermediate Horseshoe makerArt Hand31277Master Armor SmithDeft Hand284125Master Sword SmithAngnith92318Master Cutlery CrafterCarachon83162Advance Tool makerRustor31341Intermediate Metallurgist
Browsing the people using his status panel, Oliver looked for one whom he could custom ordered a hollow pipe with a 1cm internal diameter. Not trusting normal smiths to be able to hammer the smooth inside, he needed a Dirt-Elf. On top of that, he needed on who had at least master rank with high luck, which his final choice landed on a cutlery craft-master.
“Hello Master Craftsman” Oliver greeted the craft master
“Oh Hello there, savior of the village” the petite looking Dirt-Elf female replied with a grin
“Its nothing, I am just doing my part, call me Oliver”
“Oliver it is... call me Angnith. I don't think you are just here to say 'hello'”
“Ah, can you help me make a custom pipe? Something like this?”
Oliver took out his 'weapon', the hoe-head had already been removed, leaving a simple hollow pipe.
“... This is... Osmium... only Grandmaster-rank in Metallurgy can work with that...”
“I just want a similar one made of steel, can you get it done?”
“Steel? That I can do”
“I want the inside to be uniform and as smooth as possible, can you make sure of that?”
“Not a problem, come back in 3 hours and I will have it ready.”
Oliver did not waste the few hours time, he went around the villages questioning the locals about the monsters within the mines. From the descriptions he collected, the monsters were bipedal, amphibious humanoid, which walked with a hunch, having their front limbs only slightly above ground. They had bulbous bodies, large mouths lined with rows of sharp fangs and slime-coated greenish brown skin. Most had described them as 'meter tall walking frogs with mouthful of razor teeth.'
Matching what he heard with information on his panel computer, Oliver made sure he had the correct enemy. They were called Nasika, mutated frogmen that tended to move in small groups and almost never found alone. They had little intelligences and communicate via grunts. For Oliver, they were classified the same as wolves, just dwelling in caves with water rather then the forest. In short, they were expendables that he could massacre since the species would never yield prayers.
Three hours flew by very fast. Oliver visited Angnith again and he was delighted to find an exact replica of his pole. Other then the material and weight, the replica was in exact dimensions, which included not-too-random protrusions on various parts of the pole.
Eyeing him, Angnith asked:
“I noticed that this pipe is more then just a simple pipe, so I replicated it in exact volume. Since Osmium is much more dense then steel, I can't do anything about the weight.”
“Thanks a lot, this surpassed my expectations...”
“So... will you explain about those protrusions? I don't think they are there as decorations.” The metallurgist was curious on the workings of the item. She had done many strange works in the pass two hundred years, yet she was not able to visualize what she had just created.
“Might as well, since I want you to replicate the attachments too.”
Saying so, Oliver fished out components from his bag. Within here many things, including a Hoe, a Spade, a Bedding Fork, a Spear, an Ax... etc. The similarities of them was each of them lacked a handle, which made them short and easily packed away. Picking out the Spearhead and a Hoehead, Oliver deftly locked the attachments in place, changing his simple pole into a unique weapon with a hoe on one end and a spear on the other.
Smiling at the astonished metallurgist, he said:
“This is what those protrusion are for, they lock the attachments in place”
“Such a thing...” Angnith could not find words to describe her shock.
Removing the Spear and Hoe, Oliver placed them onto the counter with another one. He kept the other attachments before saying:
“Can you replicate these 3 for me?”
“Why not the whole series?” Angnith asked as she recovered.
“Because steel is not as good, in terms of durability. Even mithril is lacking because using it both as work tools and combat tools shaves off too much durability... If there are Osmium, I will gladly make a set.”
“Hmm... that's true, nothing can match the durability of Osmium... and what is this thing?”
“Oh! That's a Buttstock of a rifle.”
“???”
*****
Part 5 – Combat Farmer
*****
It was evening when Oliver finished his tour around the village of Hafford. He had a good grasp of the area layout, a self-drawn map of the town and its surroundings as well as a custom made weapon created for his disciple. Walking back to the vegetable garden, he noted that Eredhel was almost done with her plot of land. Unlike his, her plants were still flowering, unable to bear fruits without pollination. The difference in skill level was obvious.
There were other humans working nearby on several other similar plots. They were the first group of people Halon had assigned to become farmers. Youths who had yet to become full-fledged miners or hunters, they would be able to level up farming skills easier then those who had spent all their lives mining. As expected from a Wood-elf Village Chief, using grafting, he was able to populate the new plots of land even without waiting for the current batch of seeds to mature.
Walking up to the Elf-girl, Oliver tapped her shoulder to direct her focused from her plants to himself:
“How is your Plant Growth skill coming along?”
“Ermm... It is now at Lv12, still a long way to go...”
“Let's stop with the plants for now, I have a new task for you.
“Alright, what do you want me to do?”
“You are going to clear the mine of monsters”
“M-Meeee?” Eredhel stuttered at the new task
“Yes, you! I am going to teach you how to be a combat farmer”
“What?” Eredhel could not understanding why she was suddenly a combatant.
“My fighting style uses the farmer quint, I am teaching you that”
“How?” Eredhel's normal chatty speech was shocked into monosyllable questions.
“Enough questions, just follow me and you will gain the strength needed to protect yourself and things you value” Oliver said, while passing her the steel pipe custom made by Angnith along with 3 attachments
“...” Speechless, Eredhel quietly followed her master. She thought she had been surprised enough times by the man just this day, yet she was astound again. Being a combatant... a farmer type no-less... it sounded ridiculous and unheard of.
-----
At the mine's main entrance, two humans were waiting for Oliver. They were Lumen and Theo, ex-adventurers who had settled in Hafford. During their younger days, they had went adventuring, but on each of their last expedition, they barely survived and retired from the risky lifestyle. Lumen was a Fire Witch while Theo, a shieldbearer. Both had volunteered to act as escorts to help Oliver clear the mines of monsters.
Although both had retired, they were skilled in their previous profession. Both had lived in the Hafford for many years and would take up their weapons to protect their current home. Oliver accepted their help with gratitude. Although, he could easily wipe out all the monsters himself, having locals who knew the layout within the winding tunnels was never a bad option. Also, he felt better having them around to protect Eredhel, she was vulnerable.
*Clank* *Clank* *Clank*
Theo's full platemail armor clanked noisily as he moved forward to greet Oliver.
“Must we hunt in the mines now? Night is coming”
“The mines are always dark, so it matters little to the monsters be it day or night. Also, I sense some disturbance in the East, so I want to check that out tomorrow, lets just finish this fast, then have an early night.” Oliver nonchalantly replied
“You sure looked confident, whats the plan?” Lumen asked, grabbing her staff calmly.
“You guys will not be fighting, Lumen will be providing lighting so we can see, while Theo will be the lure, those Nasika are sensitive to noise, his armor can easily lure a few over for Eredhel here to kill.”
“Huh? Why me?” Eredhel asked
“Because this is training. I have already given you the strongest weapon, but if you go panicking and crying when seeing a monster, you will never be able to make a stand or protect things important to you. With Theo and Lumen, this is a safe environment for you to practice.”
After the team assignment and formation, the group of 4 moved into the mines, following a light flare created by Lumen leading 5m ahead. Oliver and Eredhel took the front, Lumen in the middle, with Theo being the rearguard. While moving, Oliver would bend down every few meters and touch the ground. At those places, glowing fungi Panellus stipticus sprouted out and and filled the area with their bioluminescent, casting a greenish glow into the surrounding.
Moving onwards slowly, the group had their first encounter, a group of 4 Nasika. Lured by Theo's clanking armor, they came to identify the source of the sound. Seeing the group of explorers, the nasika immediately charged forward. Believing in Oliver, Eredhel gingerly lifted up her pipe, pressed the buttstock against her shoulder, pointed the nozzle at approaching monsters, then channeling her Plant Growth skill into the weapon.
*Woosh*
Accompanying the sound of gushing water, Eredhel jerked backwards from the recoil of her weapon. The recoil was strong, which almost made Eredhel fall on her bottom. Luckily, she followed the precise instructions given by Oliver, standing with a leg in front, while distributing her body weight equally between her legs.
After recovering from her lost of balance, what greeted Eredhel were 4 corpse of peppered with holes. Whatever that shot out from her weapon penetrated the monsters from the front and totally destroyed them, leaving only their hole-ly carcass.
“What in the world is that?” Theo voiced Eredhel's thoughts, while the constant clicking of a full-plate behind her described the shuddering of Theo. Lumen on the other hand almost dislocated her jaws from over-surprised. Normally, each of those monsters would take half a dozen fireballs and more then a full dozen for the group... but just a single shot by the little girl eliminated all of them.
“Ecballium elaterium or more commonly known as Squirting Cucumber. What you see is the enhanced version of its seed dispersal effect. I call it Shotgun Cucumber” Oliver nonchalantly explained.
“Oh my, I am not going anywhere near that plant, this type of destruction... its insane” Theo claimed
“Ahh... don't worry, normally those seeds only travel around 5-6m, only by using the trick I taught Eredhel, can she increase the pressure of the pods to cause such destructive power... This is only the first encounter, I believe there are a few hundred more monsters to kill.”
With Eredhel's overwhelming firepower, Lumen's Light and Theo's clanking armor luring enemies, the group proceeded into the depths of the mine. Littering their path with blood patches of monsters that tried to attack them. Oliver was not idling away, with his glowing fungi, he created a lit path that future miners could follow.
Theo unlike his knightly outlook, had no qualms scavenging the carcass, cutting up and salvaging the amphibian meat, packing them into several empty bags he brought along. Dragging all the meat further into the mines was counterproductive, so he neatly stacked them at various locations, to be picked up on their way back. This caused his shiny metallic armor to be tainted with blood and gore, even when he did none of the killing.
After around two hour, the group reached the inner mines where the tunnels were smaller but more plentiful. Here, they were ambushed by a pincer attack. The 6 Nasika that came from the front were easily dealt with by Eredhel, but there were 4 more Nasika coming from behind.
Due the unexpected circumstances, Eredhel panicked and dropped her reloading pod, which gave the monsters enough time to close in and engaged Theo in close quarters combat. Theo and Lumen were previously adventurers who had seen worse, so absorbing the girl's blunder, they took center stage and engaged the rear group.
Both Theo and Lumen were somewhat happy for the occurrences because they were starting to feel redundant. With the destructive power of Shotgun Cucumber, neither had a chance to contribute to the expedition. Releasing their pent up frustration, the two quickly engaged the 5 monsters at the rear. Due to fear of friendly fire, Eredhel was not able to shoot another barrage.
Using standard formation tactics, Theo, as a Tank, knocked on his shield luring the Nasika to attack him, beautifully blocking their attacks, at most sustaining only tiny scratches. Lumen behind him flung fireballs repeatably which scorched the skins of the bipedal amphibian. Having worked together before, the two quickly dispatched the monsters without much trouble.
“What do you have to say to them?” Oliver asked Eredhel sternly
“Sorry” the girl replied meekly, she knew she had panicked and lost concentration.
“It's fine, don't be too hard on her, it's her first expedition anyway” Lumen tried to smooth the situation.
“Yeah, I think Eredhel has been doing great, a small mistake isn't that bad.” Theo chipped in.
“I am really sorry” Eredhel apologized again
“Just saying sorry can't remove those wounds you know.” Oliver hinted
“Ah... oh...*Heal* ” Catching on, Eredhel quickly activated skills of her other job - Priestess.
Within moments, stardust emitted from Eredhel's hands and floated towards Theo. As the dust touched his wounds, they closed quickly leaving a soothing feeling. Even the deep cut near his right elbow which Theo tried to hide healed completely without a scar. Most importantly, the stump which was originally his left pinky, started to itch, Theo had lost that finger years ago while adventuring.
Looking incredulously at his wounds then at Oliver and his apprentice, Theo could not help but blurt out:
“What kind of sorcery is this?”
“This is the magic Cure from the Priestess Class, it enables instant healing” Eredhel explained
“What about old wounds, this stump of my missing pinky had never itch ever since I lost the finger”
Since Eredhel could not answer the question, Oliver took over:
“All wounds that are not dealt by curses or death magic can be healed using the spell, but faith is required. The powers of the holy-classes are based on faith towards the Goddess. Faithful ones can harness more while those with shaking beliefs can utilize less. Those who don't believe in the Goddess can't even benefit from the spells.”
“How about internal injuries, my husband has been bedridden ever since he got hit by an ogre on his back when saving me” Lumen who had been quiet till now suddenly became agitated. The possibility of her loved one recovering made her lose her usual calm facade.
“That is very possible too, but as I have said, it depends on faith.” Saying that, Oliver handed a Priestess-quint to Lumen, then continued: “If you want to heal your husband, both of you need to pray sincerely towards the Goddess everyday. Theo, for your missing finger, ample faith is needed for healing that too.
Prayer is not about pointlessly chanting sutras, the most important thing is sincerity, a single sincere prayer is worth more then a thousand verse of mindless recitation. I can't say I know how devout you people can be, but you should both see some results after a week of heartfelt praying.”
“Erm... Lumen got the Priestess-Quint, can I get one too?” Theo asked unabashed.
“Sorry, Priestess is a gender specific job, females only... But I do have a Paladin job, it is something like a knight with basic healing skills, but no horsemanship...” Saying that, Oliver passed Theo a quint which he happily took and examine under the dim light. The representation of the paladin class was a sword pointing upright with a halo above it.
With their small talks done, the group of 4 continued their mission of weeding out the monsters within the mines. With the lighting from the glowing fungi, the mine took an eerie green glow, but that was much better compared to perpetual darkness. It also served as a reference on where they had been.
*****
Part 6 – Get!
*****
As the group of 4 venture deeper into the mines, they reached the the newly discovered ore vein. This new 'ore vein' that Hafford villagers found was actually a small natural cave, with walls filled with iron ores. It was also home to the Nasika, whom did not enjoy the interruption caused by the miners.
Since both forces could not co-exist peacefully and the Nasika were not sentient enough to negotiate, one side had to be removed. In the current situation, the people were driven out of the mines, it was up to Oliver to tilt the balance, removing the Nasika from the area so the miners could once again work there.
At the intersection between the mine and the natural cavern, stood a Greater Nasika. It was termed 'Greater' because it was almost twice as big as its common counterparts. Standing at 2m tall, the Greater Nasika gave off a dangerous feel. If this was a game, the underground mine would be a dungeon and this particular Nasika would no doubt be the Boss
*Woosh*
Multiple seeds gushed through of the steel tube that Eredhel was using. Guided by the length, the seeds flew forward and exit the pipe with high velocity, spreading outwards like a blooming flower as they sped through the air, embedding themselves into the flesh of the Greater Nasika, which was standing 20m away.
Previously, when the flying seeds hit the normal Nasika, they penetrated the bodies of the bipedal amphibians therefore slaughter groups of them. Unlike common ones, the Greater Nasika had higher physical resistance and skin elasticity, able to withstand the explosive power of Shotgun Cucumber.
The shot, this time, did not cause visible wounds, but the Greater Nasika did puke a mouthful of blood. It turned to stared angrily at Eredhel, before charging toward the group. With experience from previously, Eredhel tried her best not panic and reloaded quickly. Using the few seconds the Greater Nasika took to cover the distance to her, Eredhel was able to unleash another shot.
The second shot did not stop the charging monster, instead, it accelerated. This Boss monster did not have the intelligences of sentient beings, but it did not lack the cunning of an animal. Knowing that its opponent had distance advantage, it wanted to get into melee range as fast as possible. With the speed it was moving at, Eredhel would not have the chance for a third shot.
*Piak*
With the sound of snapping twigs, the Greater Nasika tripped and fell over, its body dragged across the floor due to its massive momentum, screeching to a stop only after a few meters of rough abrasion with the ground. The forehead of the Greater Nasika was decidedly missing.
Standing behind Eredhel, Oliver had deem the monster too difficult for his disciple, so he took action. In his hand was a 6 chamber revolver. Instead of a normal handgun using gunpowder and emitting a loud *Bang*, the pistol Oliver used only gave a small snapping sound that what breaking twigs would make.
“What is that?” Theo once again voiced out the question that the two females in the party had.
“Hamamelis virginiana also known as witch hazel, it is a stronger version of the what I gave Eredhel. The piercing power is excellent, but it only shoots two seeds per shot instead of dozens like the shotgun cucumber... Eredhel cannot handle this until she can aim better.”
“Another crazy seed dispersal plant?”
“In a way... Yes! These are way stronger though, the original plant disperses a pair of seeds up to 10-12m. Although the original is only about twice as powerful as the squirting cucumber, this little baby is at least 20 times stronger since I spend much more time mutating the seeds.”
“Are all champions as omnipotent as you?” Lumen could not help but ask
“Hahaha... I am far from that, I'm just a Shepard, leading people in the direction of my Goddess. Champions all have a similar jobs to mine, but just like not all smiths have mastery over metal, not all champions are out to do good.”
“You are already too powerful in my opinion” Theo quipped.
“Hahaha... don't worry about the small things... This is the only monster I have killed so far, so don't make it sound like I wiped the whole mine full of monsters all by myself.” Oliver chuckled as he moved into the natural cave.
The 3 remaining group members wanted to lambaste the enigmatic man, but decided against such useless actions. Oliver had proved to be more then a simple farmer, botanist or teacher. The trio felt that there was much more to him then they could dream of. Feeling lucky such a person was actually helping them, they quickly followed him.
The natural cave was not extensive, scouting around and killing a few more of those normal Nasika, the group found a cave with an underground river that was devoid of ores. The subterranean river was more like a 6m wide reservoir of slow moving water originating from the Eastern cave wall, following the approximately 10m ground contours and flowing out using an underground exit at the northwestern side. This was the place where the Nasika invaded from.
Digging into his pouch, Oliver produced special seeds again. Salacca ramosiana, a type of palm tree with long sharp spines along the margins of the petioles. By growing these palms in clusters, it became a bramble wall used to block the inlets and outlets of the underground lake. The spiky plant forbade anything bigger then a finger to pass through unharmed. As water could still flow by the thorny bush, it acted as a barricade against future monsters invasion without disturbing the environment.
Even though the Nasika came from upstream, there was no guarantee that other monsters would not approach from downstream, therefore Oliver grew the spinal palm on both passages while leaving the center accessible. This was done so that the mine was protected yet the miners could still use the water source. Spreading more fungus with bioluminescent to brighten up the place, Oliver made sure the bramble palms had enough light for photosynthesis.
Wadding pass the underground lake, Oliver reached the northeastern side of the cave, across the water, where a small platform stood. Impervious stones had contoured the river leaving a approximate 1 square meter of land. On this place, Oliver took out materials from his bag and begun making a small Shrine of Dietrich. Being told that shrines were 'save-points' where he could resurrect if he ever died, Oliver needed to build at least one, to ensure his continuity on Ailla.
The reason for building the shrine in the mines: Safety. If he were to expand the influence of Goddess Dietrich, he would no doubt garner hate of other champions. If the shrine was in the open, when other champions 'attacked' the village, there was a high chance his 'save-point' would be destroyed. To make sure his life-line was not at risk, Oliver had the intention to hide the shrine within the sparsely populated mine, where only the natives would know. He was the benefactor of the village, even if other champions forced a church there, the locals would keep his shrine from his enemies' eyes.
With the mine mostly cleaned of monsters and his 'save-point' ensured, Oliver led the group back to have a good night sleep.
-----
Back in Hafford Village, there were watches set to guard the mine entrance. The monsters within the mine was a reality, to prevent those monsters from invading the village directly, the more combat-able villagers had picked up arms, doing rotating shifts watching for possible monster activities.
This night, 2 ex-adventurers were loitering outside the mine entrance, looking bored but staying vigilant. They were not expecting any problems because up till now, the Nasika had not left the darkness of the mines.
“Such a boring task, doing night watch” said one
“Still we have to do this, the village is already in bad enough shape, I don't want things to get worse”
“Yeah, this is the minimum we can do for Hafford.”
“I heard that that Farmer Champion entered the mines earlier”
“Yeah, he went in with Theo and Lumen”
“Lucky them, they at least get to see some action...”
“So... you want to switch with them?”
“I don't mine switching with Theo, Lumen has such a hot figure... its a pity she's still chained to that paralyzed bloke. She should just remarry.”
“Its not possible, she would vowed celibacy if he dies... I want a wife like that too”
“Look, something is coming out of the cave.”
“Oh my... you and your big mouth... Prepare to fight!”
“Wait!... That's Theo, Lumen and that Champion”
“They seem to be carrying something, lets go help”
At about midnight, the group of 4 exited the mine. The whole expedition took less then 6 hours with most of the time spent on their descent. More then 4 hours had passed before the group reached the underground river due to plenty of fights with the Nasika, slow moving for safety and Theo dismembering the corpse of their foes. The remaining time was spent at the craven lake for making both the bramble wall as well as the shrine. The trip back was much faster: After about half an hour of walking, the group return to the surface.
With their return, they brought along some of the meat bags that Theo had previously stacked. The food situation in Hafford was still stressful even after Oliver offered seeds and created a small vegetable garden. The plants would take time to grow, so the bloody bags of amphibian meat, the group had retrieved, was gladly appreciated. The village could depend on these proteins to last them till their new farmed crops ripen.
Meat would spoil quickly if left in their bloody state, to prevent wastage, Theo sent one of the ex-adventurers to gather a team to recover the remaining bags the group could not carry. The meat would also need to be salted so they could last for months instead of days. A good amount of villagers were woken from their slumber to help process the food.
This night, many would lose sleep again... but they had smiles on their faces. Unable to sleep due to troubles and unable to sleep due to preserving valuable food... Although both cases led to sleep-deprivation, they had an extremely different feeling. The butchers, chefs and many other villagers had not experience such high spirits burning the midnight oil before.
Oliver had brought nothing but happiness to the people in Hafford. Be it the plants that grew on barren lands, the garden of greens, the clearing of the mine or the large haul of meat, all were due to his coming. As they learned of the Priestess-class having the ability to heal missing limbs and sickness, even more gained faith in Goddess Dietrich, making this village the first holy bastion of the budding religion.
Oliver seemed to have overestimated himself earlier when he claimed he had obtained Hafford Village. But by this time, the village was indeed within his grasp... Then again, all the things that happened, from then till now, could have been planned and foreseen... But that did not matter anymore, because what that was important, was the result.
----------------------------------------
Author's Notes:
- All plants involved are normal plants that can be found on Earth
- Most plant abilities are mostly exaggerated
- Plant names in Italics are their scientific names, so they are easier to google.
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