Claire watched in elation as Layne left her current sphere of influence. Her desolate corridor, as she thought of it, had worked like a dream. The ambient feeling of desolation effect was worth every bit of the 35 points of mental energy it had cost her, adding to the realism of what she had created. Best of all, he had thought nothing of the blue moss sprouting in the corridor. A paltry return on investment of one life-force per plant per day did not quench Claire’s enthusiasm in the least. This was only day one, and in this dampness, so close to the sea, the blue moss would multiply and spread quickly. This was the turning point; she could feel it!
“It really worked,” Rick affirmed in awe from where he was floating. “But Claire, we need to get some real progress going. What you’ve been doing, while keeping us alive, is nowhere near optimal for a true dungeon. For a core with your potential, we need to expand and upgrade.”
I couldn’t agree with you more, Claire replied. Let’s see how our glasswing butterfly is doing. The sooner we learn more about our island adventurer neighbours, the better for us both.
Switching to the glasswing butterfly, Claire gasped in surprise. The butterfly had made it all the way to the outskirts of what looked like a small village on the top of a medium-sized, relatively speaking, plateau. From the butterfly’s perspective, rural looking huts stretched out into the interior of the village, while a mansion sat slightly separately on the slope of another hill leading away from the left side of the village.
The butterfly was fluttering in front of a washing line, where a woman was currently hanging clothes. She had a little girl with her who looked at the glasswing butterfly in awe, reaching towards it while the butterfly was hovering just out of reach, having reached its objective of discovering civilisation.
Smiling inwardly at the little girl, Claire took control of the butterfly once more, and fluttered deeper into the village.
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Still in Widow Hari’s hut, the widow finally said, “Good work, Blessed Lily, we are almost done.” Lily twitched at the words. She was still trying to figure out how to get unblessed without offending Widow Hari or any of the Gods that may be involved.
“Now,” the widow continued, handing her a dropper and a vial of black tar-like liquid, “just add two drops of this extract and we should see the results of our delicious tea.”
The widow was mad. Lily didn’t know what Agnetha thought she would achieve here, but she must’ve made a mistake. Unless it was just a giant test of her perseverance. Lily fervently hoped it was, because she could think of nothing else that would justify this ordeal. Even her skill increases. Nonetheless, she drew up some of the liquid into the dropper and then added the amount Widow Hari indicated. She supposed it would make the already dark liquid turn even darker.
Instead, the drops swirled around in their concoction, and then the whole batch started lightening.
“What is happening?” Lily asked in surprise.
Widow Hari smiled in self-satisfaction at Lily’s amazement. “You are seeing the interaction between the Widow’s tears liquid we created and the Dark of Night extract. From darkness to light, and then from life to death, just as the Gods decreed.”
Indeed, the fluid inside the pot became even lighter until it was almost translucent, and then another colour seeped in. Red, until the final result appeared similar to one of the bottles of red wine the Baron prized so much.
Lily gasped at the notification that appeared before her.
New skill unlocked: Poisons, basic +5
You have gained enough compatible skills to qualify for the following general class:
Herbalist
Qualifying skills:
Herbalism, basic 9/20
Identify 5/20
Nursing, basic 2/20
Observation 10/20
Poisons, basic 5/20
Do you wish to accept this class?
Yes/No
Widow Hari gave her a knowing smile. “Well, what are you waiting for? Are you going to accept?”
“How do you know?” Lily asked in astonishment.
“All is revealed to those who serve the Gods,” the Widow replied cryptically.
Lily just shook her head and accepted her new class, which created another notification.
Existing Rogue class detected.
Set new Herbalist class as primary?
Yes/No
In response to this notification, Lily selected No, automatically setting Herbalist as a secondary class.
Seeing she was done, Widow Hari said, “Well then, lets celebrate with a cup of tea,” as she scooped some of their brewed liquid into a cup.
“No!” Lily yelled, reaching forward to stop the widow in alarm.
Widow Hari laughed in delight at her reaction, deftly stepping out of her reach and said, “No need for fear, those in the Gods’ favour are protected.” Then she took a sip and swallowed.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Lily reached out to hold on to the counter, tensely watching the widow. Nothing happened to her.
“Ah, a particularly good brew - well done Lily! We’ll make a tea brewer out of you yet.” The widow smacked her lips in satisfaction. “Now it’s your turn, but maybe just a drop instead of a cup for now.”
Turning around, Widow Hari picked up a clean dropper and pulled up some of the liquid. “Come closer and hold out your tongue,” she commanded.
Lily stepped forward, numbly sticking out her tongue. This is it. I’m going to die, she thought.
“Have faith in the Gods, blessed one,” the widow continued. “You didn’t gain their favour for nothing.”
The drop of liquid tasted like honey, with a tiny bit of frankness mixed in. If Lily hadn’t spent the better part of her morning helping to create the brew, she would have thought it really was a simple tea. Although her next notification was no surprise.
New skill unlocked: Poison resistance +1
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By the time Lily left Widow Hari’s hut, the sun had already started to lower in the sky, bathing the village in an afternoon glow. Her observation skill twinged a couple of times, showing her people looking at her. Some frowned at the sight of her, and a few smiled and nodded towards her in some kind of acknowledgement. This didn’t help Lily’s nerves. Could they all tell that she learned the poison skill? Why was she attracting such attention? At least there were no sign of Bastian and his band.
She needed to get to Agnetha as fast as she could - she would know what was going on. And, anyway, it was almost time for her to accompany Agnetha on her afternoon rounds.
Walking along, Lily didn’t notice a little glasswing butterfly passing her by and heading down another twisting village path.
Entering Agnetha’s hut, Agnetha gave her one look, pointed towards the door, and said, “Out!”
Shocked, Lily froze, staring at her in surprise.
“Don’t look at me like that girl. Out! I’ll suffer no blessed person in my hut. Come back tomorrow when it has worn off.”
“Wait, you can see that I was blessed?”
“Yes, everyone can. You are literally covered in the Gods’ glow. Now, don’t let me tell you again, out! I’ll not be taking the chance of getting noticed by the Gods - not at my age, nonono.”
‘Ah, that explains the looks,’ Lily thought to herself. Then she nodded and said, “Okay Agnetha, I hope the rounds go well. See you tomorrow then.”
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It did not go much better at her father’s hut. Looking at her, he lost all the colour he had slowly regained from his healing the previous day.
“Oh, the nine hundred devils, how did you get that?!” he exclaimed.
Lily’s shoulders drooped.
“It was Widow Hari,” she whispered.
Her father’s voice raised even more, “Widow Hari! What were you doing with her?”
“I had to go learn how to make a tea, for my herbalism skill,” Lily replied, applying some Quick thinking to the situation.
“You had to learn tea-making from THAT zealot?!” her father’s voice raised another octave.
“I’m sorry, Agnetha took me and she said it was necessary!” Lily tried to defend herself before feeling Observation twinge. There was something about what Dane just said, the way he inflected his last words. Lily’s eyes widened.
Skill increase: Observation +1
“Wait a minute, you’re not just calling her a zealot - that’s her actual class, isn’t it? She’s a Zealot? What does a zealot even do?”
Dane’s mouth snapped shut, his eyes flickering to the side.
“Never you mind that, just see that you don’t move one single foot outside of this hut tonight. In fact, it’s just about bedtime, isn’t it? You should go to bed right now.”
Lily looked at the sun peaking in around the hut’s front door. It was decidedly not bedtime. But maybe it was better not to argue today. With a sigh, she nodded once more.
“Yes father, I’ll go straight to bed.”
“And if you get any quests, ignore them!”
<>
Well, that didn’t work, Lily thought sourly to herself after a very long night of rolling around in her bed, interspersed with dreams of butterflies. Lots and lots of butterflies with delicate see-through wings flying all over the island. She blinked again. The quest was still there.
New quest: Help Little Harry!
Talk to Widow Hari to learn more about this quest.
What was worse, was that Lily had already had the intention to help Little Harry. She didn’t know what to do. Should she ignore her sympathy for Little Harry now, just because of an unfortunate quest? What kind of person would that make her? Would she be any better than those selfish healers she so despised?
Helping Little Harry was the right thing to do, Lily knew it in her heart. She sighed. How bad could it possibly be to have the Gods involved? And she did owe Widow Hari three days of assistance. Looks like she wouldn’t be joining Agnetha on her morning rounds after all.
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Character sheet summary at the end of Chapter 17
Claire
Type: Life-Mind
Level: 1
Integrity: 56%
Processing speed: 35%
Functional capacity: 27%
Progress to next level
-470/250 LF Performance provision
928/500 Dungeon Investment, consisting of:
748/≥125 LF
180/≥125 ME
33/250 Skill Share Value
Core defence enabled
Cutting thorn barrier
5 LF to initiate
Continuous drain of 10 LF per day
Resources available
Biomass: 125
Mental energy: 20
Raw material: 251
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Lily Hunter
Primary class: Rogue Level 1
Secondary class: Herbalist Level 1
Status effect: The Gods’ favour for 24 hours
Active quests
Help Little Harry!
Progress to Rogue Milestone 1
1/250 EXP
Progress to Herbalist Milestone 1
0/250 EXP
First-tier skills
Deception 2/20
*Herbalism, basic 9/20
*Identify 5/20
Lock picking 5/20
*Nursing, basic 2/20
*Observation +1 → 12/20
Petty theft 1/20
Pick-pocketing 4/20
*New: Poisons, basic 5/20
*New: Poison resistance 1/20
Quick thinking 2/20
Sneaking 8/20
Sleight of hand 2/20
Second-tier skills
Spying 0/50
*Skills contributing to secondary class.
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Lily’s tab (Yes, Agnetha is counting.)
x1 donkey
x1 glowstone
10% of Lily’s profit
Three days assisting Widow Hari
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