They all spent nearly two weeks wholly focused on training and developing their Skills, while Sten sorted things out at home and planned out how to leave without causing trouble, or bringing it with him. Occasionally he was able to join the group for training, and it gave them all a slew of new workouts to do and games to play that made you better at everything from handfighting for control of the wrist, to judging your reach and distance, to reading bodies in motion.
Livia was still low level, but the change in lifestyle these past months and the guided magic that her Skills had her body channeling still made her feel a lot stronger than ever before. She didn't spar fully with Skills, just lightly, but the exercises were all pretty fun.
It was just that the others kept going and going.
Roldy and Hyde were starting to work more on fighting together, but the [Druid] was already more than evenly matched with the others, and the mosswolf had impeccable timing when he wasn’t the opponents target, so it hardly made for a fair fight.
Just how Kalle liked it, or so he claimed until he was dragged by his leg at just the wrong moment, one time too many, and finally snapped.
As the next [Rare Quest] approached they all decided that a visit to Brunner's farm was in order. The man had mentioned before how he was figuring out a Spell he had gotten late in his [Arborist] Class and that they should all visit when they felt like they had grown enough to help figure it out. This was a conversation they had had without Livia, or she would have insisted they go over there straight away.
Today they were heading there at a leisurely trudge, with Roldy and Hyde dipping into the deeper parts of the forest for some stretches, with provisions for the animals that the young [Druid] had bonded with since returning home. It was a habit that Brunner had tipped him off to. Even just for a season, if those animals came upon hard times then the gratitude could last for a lifetime.
Harold got back to the trail and shook the snow off his shoulders. "Hey Roldy, did Brunner mention anything about the Spell, or did he leave you clueless for no good reason?" The [Druid] looked embarrassed, she was doing that easier and easier these days. "Sorry Livia, he mentioned it in passing but yes, I guess my mouth was going wherever my mind was taking me and asked a question about something else before he clarified, I just remembered since you talked about wanting to try the [Quest] for a Spell this time," She sighed theatrically, but they all knew they were there soon and it wasn't a big deal.
[His root-Class is Arborist so of course it won't be anything good, not so soon in his Class at any rate, forty is no big deal, fifty is a real capstone. Make sure to wake me for that.]
They went stomping up to the farmhouse to rid their shoes of the snow, and Brunner came out to meet them all with his jolly red beard and flushed cheeks. "Hello there everybody, and a new face, you’re Sten I take it?"
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They were all welcomed and given a warming bite, but then Livia quickly got down to business.
It was mostly her and the two Casters getting involved, but Oscar and Sten both decided to go along on the trip in case there was some good sparring to be had, once they had the Spell figured out.
Their [Guild] leader leaned in like she was the DEA; and Brunner the head of a smuggling ring. "So, Brunner, go on and spill, what is this Spell you got at level 40…” She eyeballed his soul, but didn’t give him a chance to answer before proceeding. “[Pillar of Forestry]? [Hatchetman's Revenge]? The obscure [Arcadia's Doom]?"
She remembered at the last second that maybe she should calm down a bit, that last one wasn't even from the correct books and LitRPG System… Brunner just laughed at her eager expression, but the rest of the group looked at each other uncertainly. Are those all real?
Even Mr Beard was suddenly unsure, and listening intently.
Wiping a tear from his eye, Brunner started explaining. "It's actually called [Tribal Garden], and I haven't been able to use it at all, so I may as well tell everyone who might know something. It isn't at all like my other gardening Skills in any case, I get no feeling of guidance nor inspiration no matter what sort of gardening I do. Any ideas–could it perhaps be a location I need to find, or even make?" He was not so much asking, as thinking aloud and still trying to figure it out himself. With the amount of experience he had to draw on, there was always the risk of forgetting something crucial.
Livia had a couple of ideas, but this one didn't seem so complicated to her, despite her not having heard of it before. "Well, who do you consider your tribe?"
The question made him consider for just a few seconds. "The people of Salcret would certainly count. I did grow up here after all.” He patted his beard, thinking back.”Although back when I was traveling I did treat everyone I met like my tribe, every Human certainly; even if I was quick to remove any and all who unapologetically broke the rules of decency,"
Livia just nodded like that confirmed it. "There you go then, at least you know who is involved that way. Now, if it was a leadership Skill, of maybe a [Chieftain] Class or something; then I would assume it is a replenishment Spell, that regrows the community garden.” Brunner listened with rapt attention. “I suppose it is possible that every tree you have a bond with and whose fruits are regularly harvested by someone you consider your tribe–will be regrown like magic–if you form the Spells effects properly in your mind and have access to enough of a magic pool,"
Now, that really excited the tree-loving man, and he was immediately contemplating the implications.
When he realized that would apply even to his kauri tree was when he went mental.