Sten entered the main house of the orchard with a grim set to his lips but satisfaction radiating from his eyes. His basic gathering-satchel held the required solblooms and Livia knew at first glance that he had satisfied the hidden objective. He had healed something on the brink of death, stabilizing it and giving it a fighting chance.
For now, with the Skills available to him, that was all he could do. But as Livia closed her eyes and accepted her first assigned [Rare Quest] as completed, she gave him the ability to do more.
[Quest completed]
[Skill upgrade: Blood Control -> Advanced Blood Control]
It was still a Skill for a pugilist, but it was up to Sten how he used it. The advanced version could help him exert control over even the blood of others, if that was how he used it. If he took the Skill a specific direction it would then inform the subsequent path of his Class.
When he had taken the time to savor the moment he gave Livia a single nod, and Roldy took that as his cue to play the last part of his brilliant performance.
"I take it Hyde's [Quest] went well, I'm sure you have questions, but for now I believe we oughta just leave it at the magic beast having mystic powers, ey? Unexplainable to non-Casters such as..." He got no further before Sten’s openly questioning look of disbelief shut him up.
Kalle could have told him that wouldn't work.
Sten went to sit down by the hearth. "I could smell Livia in the forest; your wolf isn't the only one with a nose, Harold."
The pointed words made Roldy scratch his head in embarrassment. "No hard feelings?"
[Oooh, he's actually pretty good Livia. I think you may have finally found a real warrior.]
"No, it’s fine. I’m sure I would not have agreed to meet with Livia, not without knowing the real point. That said, how exactly did you make the System give me a special task? I have not heard of such things before,"
This was the tough part, how did you explain away influencing the System so directly?
They would not be able to do this with everybody; just come clean, they would need to come up with a better excuse. But in a way this was also a necessary stress test of Livia's ability to judge character. They figured they’d be relying on it a lot upon reaching Dormata.
They needed to learn if her intuition was enough to truly guide [Pitch Perfect] in a way that let her read the receiver to the degree that her own Skill-infused choice of wording hinted. If he's not at all trustworthy then the Skill wouldn't be making me put such emphasis on being truthful, right? Or am I already becoming like them and trusting to Skills to an unhealthy degree?
Her own hesitations ended up saving her, because Sten had a theory of his own: "Just what [Guild Masters] do?"
Them being able to provide such direct opportunities to other Classes so easily should be well known, a service provided; but then again, other places were not nearly so open as Salcret.
Most places had people who held their Class’ abilities as deeply personal secrets, in the end nearly all of it was an enigma outside of personal schools; unless people started writing things down like had happened in Mr Beards time… Livia laughed nervously. "I suppose [Organizer] may still be more important in a smaller place like here in Salcret, but this is why they have so many larger [Guilds] in Dormata, you see?"
Sten's face was inscrutable, but after a few excruciating seconds he gave her a solid nod.
Livia took her time exhaling, despite the whole-body temptation to release all the tension at once.
Sten had more questions, about if she could read lower tier Skills only or if she had found out what [Quest] to give him by talking to his family? If she knew of a way to upgrade the Skill even further, or do anything else unique?
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The truth was her [Quest] system let her simply pick a target and then showed her every available [Quest] she could provide, with options for things like reward and deadline. But with him not having even considered joining the [Guild] at that point, Livia felt it would be best if she skirted around the subject. If only the [Epic Quest] would show as easily…
Livia instead provided a distracting display of her vast swath of knowledge regarding different Skills from rare Classes, including not yet invented ones that would become more common in Mr Beard's future–the display made possible by the System voice reminding her of specifics and feeding her tidbits of information–together it all painted a picture that impressed him greatly despite his reservations.
Sten was actually surprised. Maybe I'm starting to see why both Kalle and Roldy follow her, despite her being careless with words and that rather strange, casual demeanor.
The warm atmosphere at Liam and Ella’s house made Sten decide he should stay around to get to know them all for a bit while he had the opportunity.
Kalle found out there was always a bigger fish, as he finally met someone he couldn't beat at Rock-Paper-Scissors, and Roldy and Oscar agreed to exchange pointers on healing and sparring with him later. Sten was laconic but they could tell he was comfortable, Kalle and Livia both got the impression it was almost like he was getting used to being himself again.
Livia relaxed more too in turn. "So uh, it's going to be another 2 weeks before I can issue another [Rare Quest], I won't be able to hand these things out like candy,"
There was the basic version as well, but to their collective disappointment that had proven to provide no rewards at all, it was just a way to familiarize people with the [Quest] system and make sure they didn't get confused later when on a time limit. "Despite the cooldown, [Guild] members will take priority unless we've all agreed to use one up for recruitment. So, Sten. Have you decided yet, are you interested in joining us for the spring expedition?"
The casual invitation almost brought a tear to Sten's eye but he kept his cool. He had always been a deeply loyal person, but his father made it impossible to direct that loyalty towards the family without enduring a life of misery. He still believed healing was his true calling, he had never enjoyed hurting people despite the addictive nature of training and developing your natural ability.
Here was his opportunity to be a part of something else, where the people accepted him and his true path both.
"I will accept." The grim line to his mouth remained, but the group in front of him were quickly learning to observe his eyes instead. They had been glittering quite a few times over the course of the evening.
He left soon afterward, citing preparations to make at home, but promised to be by the [Guild Hall] later when he had some time freed up.
Livia felt that it could hardly have gone better. Now we just need to figure out when to break it all to him, definitely before we get a bunch of other [Guild] members in Dormata, but probably the sooner the better, since we're deciding to trust him this much anyway.
Little did she know that Sten had been able to tell whenever she lied, or even skirted the truth. The signs of nervousness were just evident to someone who had spent so much time reading people's intentions and bodies.
When you trained week in and week out with the same group of people; sure, at first you observed when they were hesitant, confident, tiring or hurting. But eventually–over the years–you had experienced everything. Fighting somebody having a bad day, a trying time getting to sleep; somebody recently fallen in unreciprocated love… He had even caught on to one of his sisters' pregnancies before they themselves did one time.
He just had a knack.