Renata was currently doing her usual morning routine of enriching her plants. They were growing quite nicely and it had only taken three months for them to appear fully grown. Soon she would be able to harvest them and bring them to Sarah to sell. Over the course of the last month Renata had made good progress with her magic training and she had almost finished the chant she was preparing for Joan.
She had managed to raise the levels of her earth and air manipulation to just below journeyman, they were both currently sitting at level ninety nine in the apprentice level and with only a few more hours of training she would be able to push them over the edge into the next level. Her *Enrich Seed* spell had reached the end of the apprentice level just recently. Renata had been using it on her plants and the various crops she would find in the surrounding fields. Renata felt sorry for a farmer every time she saw their crops were growing slowly or were wilting so she took it onto herself to help them, all without ever telling them what she was doing of course. When she reached the end of the apprentice level she was surprised to see that she didn't enter the journeyman level. She noticed two new things about her spell when she inspected it. First the spell had drastically reduced itself in mana cost, from three hundred and fifty to just one hundred. Secondly the level of the spell seemed to now be capped.
Enrich Seed {Apprentice MAX*.LVL}
A basic spell from the plant magic school. Must be cast on a seed that is in enriched soil, some seeds require specific types of enriched soil for the cast to be successful. When cast the spell will force the seed to become enriched.
Cost : 100 mana
Renata was curious and she focused on the text that was in front of the level, hoping for further information. After a few moments and a couple haphazard taps she got another message that explained what the text meant.
MAX* (Spell Level) The highest possible level for a spell or skill is determined by what tier the spell or skill belongs to. A spell or skill of tier one may only progress to the end of the apprentice level and a spell or skill of tier two may only progress to the end of the journeyman level and so on.
Leveling up her tier seven spell *Spell Tap* was surprisingly difficult due to how little it ended up actually being used. It currently supplied her with twenty mana per second, this meant with her current mana it took her less than a minute to fully replenish her entire mana pool. The spell was not normally learned by mages with such pitiful mana pools like the one Renata currently had, frankly it is a terrible overkill. She knew that she wouldn't be able to make any progress in leveling it for quite some time.
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Joan was at home with her mom leaving Renata with some appreciated alone time. She was currently outside in in her herb patch, she was slowly taking the plants out of the ground. With the amount of time and effort Renata had invested into the plants she didn't want to damage any of them so she took her sweet time, digging each plant out by the roots. After an hour of very careful work Renata had finished harvesting each of the plants. They were long and green tubular plants that had wispy leaves on top. The seeds of the herb were located inside of those wispy leaves and Renata saw that each plant produced roughly an average of five seeds. Although she likely could harvest the seeds herself she felt that it was better to allow Sarah to do it for her, she wanted a good price for the plants and Renata did not want Sarah to say that they were damaged and give her less that what they were worth.
Now that she had all off the plants uprooted she put all of them except one into her storage. It would be far more believable that she had managed to grow one plant by sheer luck than all of them. She took the plant she left outside of her storage with her as she went to the apothecary. The bell rung as she entered the front room and without much trouble Renata spotted Sarah in the front room carrying a box around. "Hey Sarah, I'm back!" Renata said while hiding the plant behind her back. "So you are, so you are. How did the seeds turn out? Don't be upset if they didn't grow, I told you it would be hard." Sarah gave Renata a motherly smile as she consoled Renata, little did she know that her efforts were in vain as Renata had actually succeeded in growing a plant.
When Sarah's eyes saw the plant she dropped the box she was carrying and it landed on her toe. "Howw?! ow ow ow... Renata how did you get that?" Sarah's mind was torn between the pain and the curiosity before her. It was simply silly to think that a child as young as Renata would be able to grow something, less a herb that took skill. "I grew it!" Renata proudly stated, one hand on her hip and the other raising the plant above her head. "Grew it? You grew that? Here, let me see it." Sarah went over to Renata with a slight limp and eagerly took the plant from Renata. "You grew this, that's a... that's... good job!" Sarah was confused but happy with the child, she ruffled Renata's hair and took a closer look at the white thistle, it seemed to be in really good condition. "You'll make a great herbalist in the future if you can keep this up. Do you want to keep it?"
Renata was smiling the whole time during their conversation, she had no intention of keeping the herb. "Nope, I was hoping you'd buy it Ms. Sarah." "Sure thing, I'd be happy to buy it, it's much better than the ones Aaron brings in, they are normally worth twenty copper pieces each but since it's your first one, I'll give you fifty for it, how does that sound?" In rough terms twenty copper pieces wasn't a small amount in this small bumpkin village. Renata had seen that a loaf of bread would normally cost one or two copper pieces, a cut of meat would cost maybe five to ten copper pieces depending on size and animal. The average family in the village had an income of roughly fifteen to thirty coppers a week. This all lead Renata to believe that fifty coppers was a pretty huge amount for just one plant, if she sold all of the herbs she had at the normal rate she would get a whole silver. Gold coins were manifesting in Renata's eyes as she thought of all the money she could make just by growing plants.
"Yep! That sounds great Ms. Sarah!" Sarah walked off with the plant and came back with a tiny pouch several minutes later. "Here you go Renata, is there anything else I can help you with?" When Renata took the pouch into her hands and felt the weight she began making a menacing grin on her face before quickly repressing it. "Erm yes... Can I have some more seeds?" Sarah nodded and went into the back room once more, five or so minutes later she came back and gave Renata another five seeds. "Good luck with those Renata, they’re from the thistle you sold to me, I hope you grow them into plants as good as the one you just brought me." Renata nodded and gave Sarah another grin as she left the shop, money pouch in one hand and seeds in the other. She felt like putting off her main objectives for a while to spoil Joan instead.
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In the middle of the village adjacent to the main road was the trading post. It was a small complex that was built with the road in its center, to each side were sheds for carts with smaller dirt paths that led into them. In front of the sheds, facing the road, were a series of wooden tables and crates. Depending on the day there could be anywhere from three to six people merchanting their goods. Most of the time there would only be the local food produce peddlers, but on some occasions a trader would pass through the village. They would often stop and set up shop for a day or two. Mostly they would be in the village so they could rest but because of the local monster infested forest they would stay to buy materials from the hunters and gatherers.
Today was one such day that a merchant had stopped and set up shop, taking a rest from his trip to the city of Barrok. Renata with her seeds stored away in her ring had walked straight to the trading post from the apothecary. She still carried her money pouch that she had received from Sarah as she walked along. It was a rather slow day for the merchant so he was leaning on his table, scanning the light crowd around him for any potential. He spotted a curious young white haired girl walking towards him with ease, she really did stand out. Without much resistance his eyes were attracted to the pouch she carried, he smirked.
"Oh hoh, hey there little girly. What I can I do for you today?" Renata clicked her tongue at being talked down to by the greasy man. On closer inspection he was a rather rotund specimen, his dark hair seemed to bound to his scalp with what one could only assume was the sheer amount of greasiness that the man exuded. His eyes looked at her in an almost predatory fashion as she attempted to talk to him. "Hello Mr. Merchant, I'm Renata." She looked at him expectantly for a second before he responded. "Oh, you can call me Lars. Was there anything specific you're looking for?" He leaned over the table top to get a better look at Renata, she was shorter than the height of the table and it hid her. Taking a step back in utter disgust Renata restrained her urge to let go of her breakfast.
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"Yes err Mr Lars, do you have any sweets?" Lars nodded before he turned around and opened a box and pulled out a piece of scrap cloth that contained a bunch of gem like hard sweets. "That'll be five coppers miss." Renata looked over the table at the sweets and confirmed that they were to her liking. "I'll take two of those bags please." Renata said handing over ten copper pieces from her pouch, leaving her with forty. Lars took out another bag and handed both over to her after taking the ten coins. "Pleasure doing business with you missy". After getting the sweets Renata went straight to Joans home to find her friend.
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Renata looked in through the front window instead of entering the house. She couldn't see any sign that anyone was inside the front of the house so she walked around the back so she would be able to see inside the other rooms. When she came to the back of the house she saw Joan with a tiny wooden sword in her hands. Sweat was dripping from her forehead as she repeatedly swung the sword. Only a few paces in front of her was her father, Ferald. He was watching her attentively and failed to notice that Renata had started spying on the two of them. Renata waited until Joan had the training sword hefted above her head and when she was about to swing it down Renata jumped up and at the top of her lungs called out to Joan.
"Hey Joan watcha doing!" Joan's grip loosened on the sword as it was coming down letting it slide out of her hands and fly in a perfect arc towards Ferald’s head. As Joan turned around to look for Renata, Ferald fell to the ground rubbing his head. "Ren! Dad is showing me how to use a sword, it's so fun!" Joan turned around to see her dad rubbing his head with one hand and picking the sword up with the other, he was giving her a face that sent shivers down her spine. As the hairs stood up on Joan's neck she turned tail and ran towards Ren. "Let's go Ren, dad doesn't look very happy!" The two of them ran from the backyard of Joan’s home all the way to the river bridge that they always ended up at. The old cobbled construction had essentially been claimed by the pair. "Hey Joan, look what I got us. That slimy merchant down by the stalls sold me these sweets." Joan's eyes glistened when she saw the multi-coloured treats and she eagerly took the bag that Renata was offering her. "Wow, thanks Ren. What do they taste like?" Renata shrugged her shoulders as they both ate a sweet, their lips pursed together and at the same time they both partially opened their mouths, "sour".
The two of them sat on the bridge, kicking the backs of their feet against the stone as they happily ate their sweets. The sun was starting to set by the time they finished eating, they took their time savouring them as it was a very special occasion to get sweets, especially for young village children. The water below reflected Renata's and Joan's faces as they looked down, ripples from fishes preying on insects slightly distorted their image. "You like using a sword Joan?" Renata said as she flicked a pebble into the water. "It's fun, I told dad to teach me so I can look after you. It's my duty as your big sister to slice up anyone who goes near you Ren". Joan said this while tilting her head and making wicked smile that was splitting her otherwise innocent face. Renata inched away from Joan but Joan just wiggled back to the same distance, there was no escape.
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Renata was back home after another evening full of playing in the river with Joan. It was time to push her air and earth manipulation over the threshold and see if they would be able to get past the apprentice level, she was unsure what tier these skills were and frankly she was really curious how much she could raise them. Without too much effort Renata pushed both of the skills into the next level, both had pretty simple requirements to advance which were obvious to one as skilled as Renata. To advance earth manipulation she had to be able to affect the density of the earth she created. To advance air manipulation she would have to be able to affect the pressurisation of the air she made. They were both very similar concepts, Renata had done this before in Zagon when she first learned how to manipulate those elements. The later stages were more complex but she was confident in her ability to replicate them in this world if she was given enough time. When she reached level one hundred in both skills she was prompted with six expected messages and one she didn't expect
Earth Manipulation {Journeyman lvl.1}
The ability to manipulate earth in a basic way
The ability to affect the density of any earth you manipulate, created or already existing.
You have gained 5 intelligence points!
You have gained 5 wisdom points!
Air Manipulation {Journeyman lvl.1}
The ability to manipulate air in a basic way
The ability to affect the pressurisation of any air you manipulate, created or already existing.
You have gained 5 intelligence points!
You have gained 5 wisdom points!
Congratulations! Due to the feat of raising three manipulation skills to the journeyman level you have been granted access to new classes. You may change your currently selected class preferences inside of your class status window.
Renata was happy to see that her manipulation skills could get beyond the apprentice level but the other message was totally unexpected, she wasn't even aware that classes were a thing in this world until now, her status page said nothing about them at all so she just assumed it didn't exist here. With her curiosity brimming she decided to investigate this new window. She opened it in the same way that she opened her other status window, by thinking it's name with the intention of opening it.
Available Classes (By Rank) Combat Class : N/A Rank 1. Earth Mage, Air Mage Non-Combat Class : N/A Subclass 1 : Locked Subclass 2 : Locked Subclass 3 : Locked
This was a lot of information for Renata to process but she quickly got a rough idea of what all of these things should mean by their names. It would seem she could have a combat and non-combat class at the same time, granted she only seemed to have mage classes unlocked which she could only assume were both combat classes. The locked subclasses were a bit of a mystery for now. When she focused on each of the mage classes she was given an explanation of what they were in another message.
Earth Mage
Requirements (1)
Three manipulation skills at the journeyman level, one of which being earth manipulation.
Requirements (2)
Five earth magic spells with a minimum of the journeyman level in each, one of which at least at the expert level. Earth manipulation at any level.
Benefits
5 freely distributable statistic points per level gained.
All earth related magic costs 25% less mana.
Learning rate of earth manipulation increased by 100%.
Earth magic spells granted at level 10 and level 25 of this class.
Air Mage
Requirements (1)
Three manipulation skills at the journeyman level, one of which being air manipulation.
Requirements (2)
Five air magic spells with a minimum of the journeyman level in each, one of which at least at the expert level. Air manipulation at any level.
Benefits
5 freely distributable statistic points per level gained.
All air related magic costs 25% less mana.
Learning rate of air manipulation increased by 100%.
Air magic spells granted at level 10 and level 25 of this class.
Renata gazed at the descriptions of the two classes and noticed that it seemed there was more than one way to unlock them. For Renata the first option seemed easier as she had vast knowledge of manipulation skills from Zagon and acquiring them was no issue. She could also meet the other set of requirements but it would take a bit longer and leveling up manipulation skills first was always a faster method of learning a new school of magic. Any spell that was below the level of the manipulation skill it was related to would level up incredibly fast. While both classes seemed to have good benefits Renata felt it wise to sleep on it and try to find out more information in the morning. With a deep exhale she sprawled out on her bed and slipped into unconsciousness.