They all had wildly different days during the time they spent there in Van Vicci’s rainbow valley.
The one thing you might have said their experiences had in common was how they all provided the opportunity to learn something, even if the lessons were sometimes a tad obscure and perhaps not meant to hit you fully until years later.
For an immortal like Van Vicci, a decade did not seem such an unreasonable time for a lesson to sink in.
Although some of the lessons were quite practical.
Elin was actually dragged into a little village of fishers, located by a lake that was green with algae but for some reason smelled lovely in spite, where she met a people who resembled little otter humanoids.
The fish they caught were nearly three times their size–or about the size of Elin herself–and the wild fish clearly knew the game too. Seeing them make a catch for the first time had made quite the impression on Elin, in regards to these small and chipper folks' bravery.
The long, widemouthed fish splashed fiercely, dragging their captors' little boats off for dear life and attempting to even eat them if they were left with no otter option. Hah, I’m too droll.
Elin ended up running an auction house for them, since they had no ability to speak–yet the Rainbow Spirit or some inhabitant of this valley, had managed to teach them basic maths and writing.
She found herself standing tall in their town house, improvising a system of sales with her crayon in hand, that the previously curmudgeonly fishers had taken to with surprising enthusiasm.
If Elin was reading things correctly, the most skilled fishers had been feeling short changed for quite a while now. Even when they caught the very best of fish, they would seldom get the compensation they deserved.
Usually they were mobbed and forced to sell to the loudest, most obnoxious customer, just to get rid of the morning haul with some semblance of dignity intact.
A proper system of evaluation and bidding was needed, so Elin was put at the head to sort things out. It was hard work, with hundreds of customers coming by each day, but she had a small crew of silver haired oldsters to help her out with all their fish expertise.
They communicated it all by pointing things out for her on the fish, yipping and pointing excitedly for the good parts, and nibbling her hand gently when it was a bad piece of chum.
That first night they made a bed for her by the lake, out of some pillows which they had all worked to get made for her that day–using the precious shed fur of their young.
By the end of the week she had become quite the popular figure, and learned much of the ins and outs of judging the rare foodstuffs in a way that would have been impossible back home in Salcret with its one tiny lake. Livia is going to be jealous as apple sauce when she hears of this.
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Not everyone had as much fun. Albert got stuck working with an old goat of a brewer, who insisted they make nothing but poisons all week, since he claimed alcohol was one. Albert did not agree, except in the sense that sugar would also be a poison if you overconsumed, but he quickly found that arguing was useless.
Even after he started working hard and learned the strange formulas consisting of everything from strange coloured clay to insect eggs, it was still not enough.
Then they had to concentrate everything, and some of the ingredients had quite the process to make that happen successfully.
He learned better and better eventually, and even got the unrequested leave to bring a whole bunch of the concentrates with him in his bags, but when was he ever going to poison anyone?
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Algernon was dropped in the middle of the sky when the swirl of colour finally left him. He had just been on the ground, perched firmly on Oscar, and so he panicked for half a second, before he noticed how easy it was to fly here in this strange looking valley. The warm air was buoying his wings enough that he barely had to exert any energy.
Looking around, there were plenty of sights to see, but even with knowing this was a Great Spirits domain he did not exactly feel comfortable being exposed in a strange environment like this, and so he headed for the nearest tree.
Well there the young owl could at last relax–at least a bit–and get a proper look around, despite the reduced vantage.
It took him only ten seconds to spot another owl.
She was the most beautiful bird he had ever seen. Her wings resplendent, her piercing eyes watching him with becoming hostility, with handsome pride improving her posture. And best of all; She blended in perfectly with her surroundings, due to her deep brown having turned almost to an autumn yellow.
Only having owl eyes of his own enabled him to spot her.
Her name was Alessandra, and that was the beginning of a week containing the most delicious denial, the most reticent chase, ultimately ending in; well, nothing much.
But oh, did he learn some things about love that week. And not just the emotion, but the play of it. The game of the heart, how it felt dealing with someone who went from hot to cold on a dime, from available to out of reach and yet; still paying you attention. From dreamlike to leaving you in a frightening nightmare after having brought you to challenge the darker places of the valley.
Not least of all he learned a thing or two about flirting, after seeing it done to both himself and between other fowl. His closest experience to such things before this had been Harold’s unbecoming advances. Yuck.
In the end he was torn away, but he left something of himself behind.
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Alfred and Sten were both stuck in respective scenes that kept replaying, with Alfred being taught that plenty of nature’s treasures had learned to hide from things with a nose like his, so they could keep maturing. He was pretty lost the first few days, but eventually he caught on to what particular signs you needed to watch for. Especially in far off, new places like this, so much stranger from home than what he had been expecting so soon in his journey.
While the Classless, in Oscar and Felix, both got lessons to do with things other than working in the System.
The not-yet-Aspiring [Enchanter] was put into a sort of therapy exploring his stubbornness, conducted by two Cloven sisters who often gave contradictory, yet somehow both astute advice.
And after that first tumultuous day, where Oscar learned to sleep without snoring, lest he get his nostrils twisted, he woke up to find that you could feel full from a breakfast consisting of nothing but nectar.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
And for the rest of the week, after the Sprites saw him trying out his new sword in his usual routine–he was convinced, after much haranguing–to be taught to dance by the flying creatures; after they commented how his footwork was so typically human, and thus useless.
He was close to getting into an argument, since he could hardly recall hearing of any great Sprite warriors in history, but one thing they told him convinced him to at least try their lessons out.
‘Every good warrior has experience fighting a Human;Who do you know who’s ever fought a Sprite?’
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They did not all spend the time in isolation either, when it would truly be more beneficial they all went on breaks and got to travel the valley more freely, even ending up meeting for small periods to discuss the amazing sights they had seen, and what they had been doing–before being whisked back to the challenge once they had a proper mental reset.
The only one who was not seen by any of the others, until the sixth day, was Livia.
They finished their game, with a score of 5-4 in Livia’s favour, although she had to dig deep and use knowledge from every nook and cranny to win in the end. Including Earth, Mr Beard and certain nuggets from the book series which brought her here, that even her System assistant had forgotten about.
Like all games, whether it was chess or Connect Four, if you had an opponent it meant you could learn something.
Van Vicci had been impressed by the girl’s ingenuity, if not always her attention to detail.
They shared a few final words before it was time to summon all the others, whom Livia had only gotten to see the occasional scene of throughout the week, courtesy of the Titan’s strange magic.
“I got you in the end, Van Vicci, and trust me, whether you were going full throttle or not I am gonna hold this over your head if we ever meet again, I mean, you’re how old again?” They had become tentative friends over the course of the week, but she still would not have dared being this bold with him unless he did not so clearly enjoy a good ribbing.
“Hah, you can trust that I was. Just perhaps not to the extent of using any boosting items, or magic, but you’re level 10, resorting to that would be ridiculous, take your win and go away, you unscrupulous Manling,”
It was true she had been pushing past the limits of what her own moral would have allowed if the stakes had been real–but then again–they had been playing out scenarios that reached decades into the future.
Livia was not blind to the fact that it was impossible to predict who you would ultimately become so early on in your journey. Reading so much had at least taught her that.
“You have time yet, but you will need to learn more of how to lead when the stakes get raised, and you cannot count on everyone being from the same village and having similar mindsets. Since, again; you will never have that chance to build your ideal team, you cannot afford to be waiting around for the perfect candidates. In time you have to learn to shape, and to lead in a myriad of situations, and often with an even greater number of personalities in need of meshing, and meshing well if everyone is meant to not only survive but thrive,”
It was true he had started repeating himself, a bit, but Livia felt strongly how having a friend of this caliber to whisper in her ear on her journeys would have been worth… Van Vicci’s weight in gold, if it had been possible. Maybe I should just ask again, he might at least tell me why not…
Once they were ready Livia went back up the hill, as Van Vicci went over to the alabaster throne to assume his position. They were going to open portals and bring everyone through one by one. And once she had gathered everyone up in front of the throne, they were in for the scare of a lifetime.
But not before Livia had given them all individual pieces of shady advice as they stepped through, that she had worked out in advance with Van Vicci’s help, making it appear as if she had been watching their misadventures closely all along. Do I suck for needing the help of a level 100 Titan to manage my first real air of mystique? No, it’s my [Guild] members who are at fault. My cackling witch-bit was gold. GOLD.
When they had all fallen over with terrified expressions, while Livia stood tall with raised fists, proclaiming herself Queen as she dug her heels in by a hidden rock; was when they all slowly realized who they were looking at behind her, and like a wave all three who were in reach of their 10th level reached their capstones together.
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[Power gained - level 10: Esperlock]
[Skill Granted: Emotional Materials]
[Spell Granted: Ritual Summoning]
[Skill Granted: Spectres of the Past]
[Spell upgrade: Wailing Bolt -> Mercurial Wailing Bolt]
[Spell Granted: Eye for Flaw]
[Spell Granted: Moonlit Visage]
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[Power gained - level 10: Chaos Druid]
[Skill Granted: Voices of Reason]
[Spell Granted: Plantation Cousins]
[Spell Granted: Ray of Disarray]
[Spell Upgrade: Nourishing Remains -> Path of the Druid]
[Spell Upgrade: Regenerating Form -> Regenerating Boon]
[Spell Granted: Spellguard of Eden]
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[Power gained - level 10: Accountant]
[Passive Granted: Threadbare Beginnings]
[Skill Upgrade: Basic Bookkeeping -> Advanced Bookkeeping]
[Passive Granted: Cultural Dabbler]
[Skill Granted: Fishing Connoisseur]