Going through Kors’ pockets, Vivian hummed to himself as he cached the items that had dropped when he died. At least Noah will be safe now. Not forever, but at the very least, for long enough to heal his mom and skedaddle back here so we can clear the Ruined Castle together, and I can finally check on that brat Kyung’s dad.
Lifting a sack of Gold, he rolled Kors’ body over again, just to be sure. No potions? Guess he used them all in battle. The Lady of the Lost is no joke!
Vivian shook his head. He patted Kors on the shoulder. “Thank you, Kors! I couldn’t have beaten her without you, buddy!”
Kors had nothing to say to that.
He flipped Kors over and shut the man’s eyes. Grabbing his arms, he dragged Kors’ body over to the roots of the yews. He twined Kors’ body into the roots, laying it out so it would fertilize the most plants.
Dusting his hands off, he looked down on the dead man and sighed. It’s not like I think I can solve whatever systemic inequities are causing problems in Noah’s life, but I can at least help out a little. Getting Kors off his back temporarily should open up opportunities for him, and if he’s got any brains, he’ll play dumb and let whoever has power over Kors assume the Tower took Kors’ party. People die all the time in the Tower.
If the guilds have really become a mafia or cartel-like situation wherever Noah lives, another party will take Kors’ spot. Still, for a little while, Noah will be safe. That’s worth something.
“So, uh… System, you gonna give me Compost…?” Vivian asked, looking up.
[Compost] Lvl 1
Vivian shot the system a thumbs up as Kors melted into the plants. “Thanks!”
Moving quickly, he repeated the process with Renee and Lewis, then his own body. Sighing, he turned his clippers over lovingly in his hands. “I missed you…”
He stood and checked the last of the wilting vines, retrieving his rake from near Lewis’ body. That done, he surveyed the vines. One of them has to be alive, right?
[Appraise Plants]
His eyes darted to a vine near a patch of fresh fertilizer. The vine withered, on the brink of death. It barely clung to life thanks to the fertilizer, while all its compatriots dried up around it.
Vivian pointed his hand at it. “Appraise this plant.”
[Appraise Plants]
Lady’s Vine
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
This thorned vine exudes a dangerous poison from its sharp thorns. A [Magical] plant, it requires a constant influx of mana or [SP] to survive.
“But this one is surviving in the fertilizer,” Vivian said, frowning.
[Appraise Plants]
SP: 0/5
“Oh, right. Five SP is brutal, huh?” Vivian drew out an SP potion from his newly-stocked inventory. Feels good to have items! I’m a real Climber now!
[Appraise Plants]
Human Fertilizer
The fertilizer composed from a recently-dead [Human]. If the human was a [Player], fertilizer contains [SP].
“Appraise Plants works for that? Gift horses and all,” Vivian muttered to himself. He drew out his trowel and shoveled more of the fertilizer around the vine. The vine perked up a little, ever so slightly healthier.
Looking around at the other places he’d left the bodies, scattered wildly around the clearing, Vivian licked his lips. I’m going to be shoveling stuff around for a while.
Wait, hold on.
He opened up his status menu.
[Status] Level Up +8
HP: 10/10
SP: 5/5
STR: 7
MAG: 1
SKL: 7
SPD: 7
MDEF: 5
DEF: 5
Ignoring his stats, Vivian turned to his skills.
[Dig] Lvl 8
Time to find out what this Dig skill can do! Here we go! Vivian lifted the hand trowel and stuck it into the pile of rich fertilizer.
A perfect hole opened up around the trowel. The dirt piled high atop it. As much dirt as it could realistically lift gathered inside it. He stood and carried the shovelful of dirt across the clearing effortlessly, not a single bit of dirt dropping from the blade. Pouring it down around the vine, Vivian formed a neat, round pile of fertilizer.
He licked his lips and looked at the hand trowel. Yeah… hmm. Might not be worth putting any more points into Dig. Or maybe I go all-in! Maybe I just haven’t activated it yet!
I can always die and reset my stats. After all, I should’ve hit a Checkpoint again… though it probably doesn’t proc for another day. Gotta be careful. After all, I don’t want to lose the Lady’s skill.
Speaking of…
Vivian called up his skills, then clicked on the new skill the Lady had dropped.
[What is Lost Cannot be Found] SP: 3
After an enemy sees you, 50% chance to re-enter concealment if you leave their line of sight.
If used on an object: As long as the object is considered [Hidden], no one but you can find it. 1x activation. Cannot use other effect if this ability is in effect.
Vivian nodded. “Nice!” The concealment chance plays into my NPC-centric stealth-adjacent build. It’s not true stealth, but being an NPC means that enemies don’t proc on me as quickly as they’d proc on [Players]. With this, even if I proc an enemy, I have a decent chance of exiting aggro. That’s going to be essential, with my low HP and dim chances of getting it higher, between gaining one stat point per level and my general lack of class skills. I guess I could get lucky and land a Legendary Skill to increase my HP, but all the ones I know with an HP-augmenting ability are on higher Floors.
As for the second one… it’s perfect for growing plants secretly in other people’s gardens!
Pity I can’t use both halves of the ability at once, but eh. Plus, the one-item restriction is a little annoying, but I can work with it.
Vivian pointed his palm at the vine. “What is Lost… and all that!”
The vine grew hazy in his vision, as though something prevented him from seeing it clearly. He blinked his eyes, but the vine only grew hazier. Turning away, Vivian tried to glance at it from the side of his eyes, but his eyes refused to obey him.
He grinned. “This is good stuff. Legendary Skills are the real deal!”