While Bethany wasn’t expecting the context of her next Trial to be the same as the first, after all a clearing in the forest is no place for butter churning; she hadn’t expected the setting to be so radically different. Instead of alone in a wood somewhere, she found herself at what looked to be a small market stall of some kind in a bustling city centre. It wasn’t like anywhere she had ever been before though. The signs glowed in bright colours the likes of which she hadn’t even seen before and though humanoid she seemed to be the only actual human. Instead, everyone seemed to be either a toady looking creature or a tall thin being with an extra arm that looked how she would imagine a human might if you sucked all their fat out, pulling their skin-tight to their bones and muscles. Oh, and removed any face holes i.e. nostrils and mouth. That is to say they looked seriously creepy. She still trying to take it all in when she heard a voice from behind her.
“Oi, are you paid to just look around? No, I didn't think so! Get over here,” shouted a gruff voice from the nearest stall.
The man speaking was short and looked more toad-like than most with slimy yellowish skin, bulbous eyes on the top of his head and a large throat that seemed to flare-up at her. As Bethany inspected him his nameplate popped up, [Merchant Stilwart Chilbrow, 12], she was shocked to see such a high level, plus this was the first person other than herself she'd met with a title. She hurried over to the stall. She was scared to annoy the person who was clearly a much more powerful person than her measly level 1. As she rushed over the man flicked through some screens clearly only visible to him.
“Right then, obviously you are here at the start of a butter churning Trial. Says here you are level zero which is what we are paying for so can’t get annoyed there.” He paused and quickly flicked through several screens in rapid succession.
“This is your first Sponsored Trial ever?" His voice immediately softened from the gruff aggressive shouting to a warmer tone. It was still gruff but in a supportive way rather than an angry one.
"You must be so lost. Right if you could get started on the churning and I’ll come explain everything once I have got the stall up and running. Sorry for shouting though, I thought you were just dumb. The butter churn is in the back. I’m Stilwart by the way, pleasure to meet you.” He held out a slimy hand before quickly pulling it back and wiping it on his apron before offering it again.
“I’m Bethany”, Bethany said shaking his hand before squeezing behind the stall next to him and setting up on the small stool and familiar looking butter churn next to it. Happy to see at least something she recognised she got to work and tried not to gape at her surroundings.
Though she would never admit it, she was terrified by the whole situation. In many ways it was scarier than having a known death time coming. After churning for a while and getting properly settled Bethany remembered she had a method to get at least a little more information and pulled up the Trial screen.
Sponsored Trial: Butter Churning (uncommon) 1
Provide support to sponsor [Merchant Stilwart Chilbrow, 12] focused on butter churning. Further terms tbd.
Time Limit: tbd
Once again, she found her eyes drawn to a particular word and focused on the fact the Trial was sponsored causing another screen to pop up.
Sponsored Trial
Unlike normal Trials a Sponsored Trial involves you doing a task assigned by a sponsor, this being has paid for this right and will pay further a wage agreed between the two of you as well as provide food and board for the duration. This Trial can be quit at anytime at which point performance of both you and the sponsor will be analysed by an assigned Trial Master. If either of you are deemed to have behaved poorly there will be repercussions.
This opened up more questions than answers but at least explained to Bethany why she was here and why this Stilwart person had been expecting her. Having gotten some basic answers, she picked up the plunger of the churn and began the process more vigorously. Unlike back home however she didn’t close her eyes; there was too much excitement happening around her. She smiled at people who approached the stall but let Stilwart do all the talking. Eventually what Bethany would have called the morning rush had died down and Stilwart sat down next to her. She put down the plunger and looked at him expectantly.
“Have you read the rough message to understand the basics?”
Bethany nodded.
“Good that makes this easier. Basically, I’ve paid some of my Trial Credits to have you summoned here to help me out at the stall, so I can focus on my selling. I say you, obviously I didn’t pick you personally, instead I expressed interest in somebody fitting your skill parameters to come work here and you were a Trial Taker who fit the bill. In terms of pay. You are only level 1 and it’s your first Sponsored Trial, so clearly you are unlucky or very new. How about I pay you two Trial Credits for six days’ work and then give a seventh day to explore? Further I’ll provide room and board.”
Bethany narrowed her eyes, she may not know what a Trial Credit was but that seemed a suspicious offer, he knew she wasn’t familiar with Sponsored Trials and seemed to be taking advantage of that. Perhaps that’s why he picked low level people and everything prior had all been an act.
“How about a Trial Credit per day, plus the rest day,” Bethany counter-offered, the toady man scoffed,
“You are level 1 with no skill ups in butter churning. That offer is absolute rubbish. I could stretch to three Credits. That’s one for every two days work.”
“No that’s not good enough, five Credits, I’ll give you a free day’s work like you are giving me a free day to explore, I assume I’ll need Credits to properly find myself a weapon to protect myself here.”
“Okay, in the spirit of that how about we go back to two Credits, but I also provide you with a basic weapon of your choice and some basic lessons on this world and Trials as a whole. That’s a skill-made weapon so it will travel with you between your home and these Trials.”
That offer sounded good to Bethany and the concept of a weapon that would travel with her between worlds seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.
“Deal.” They shook hands again and both got an update to their screens.
Sponsored Trial: Butter Churning (uncommon) 1
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Provide support to sponsor [Merchant Stilwart Chilbrow, 12] focused on butter churning.
Time Limit: 7 days (6 working days agreed)
Reward: Butter Churning Trial Credits (0-10), 2 extra Trial Credits, Half-staff
Concentrate here to exit Trial (warning leaving early will be reflected in grading)
Name
Bethany Oakfenny
Title(s)
Solarslut
Mana Type
Cosmic (rare)
Level
1
Trial Credits
5
Skills:
Half-staff (common)
1 (5 Trial Credits)
Butter Churning (uncommon)
Pending
"For the sake of honestly I want you to know in general your work at this stage is worth roughly a Credit every three days, or at least that’s the most common offer you’ll get. There is wiggle room there but generally people know not to push too far away from that. Everybody has heard horror stories of people who tried to take advantage of Trial Takers and were banned from the system or worse."
Bethany didn't actually harbour any hard feelings; she hadn't been fully taken advantage of and learning a rough evaluation of her worth made the trade feel worthwhile to her. She felt at peace with the agreement and looked forward to chatting to Stilwart more and getting more information out of him.
Seemingly satisfied Stilwart headed off into the market to grab them both some lunch and left Bethany to keep watch over the stall.
He returned a short time later with some skewers with steaming meat on them. He was carrying four and offered three over to Bethany keeping one for himself, presumedly having eaten the rest of his portion as he walked. Bethany examined the meat on the sticks. It smelt good; very good, a little like a cross between lamb and goat. The cubes were all a dark brown, not burnt but just a rich full colour. She took a small bite from the corner, pulling off a larger chunk than she expected revealing the lighter brown insides. It tasted delicious. She didn’t often eat high quality meat and while this clearly wasn’t a quality cut, it was different and had been cooked well with spices which were extremely rare back home. She quickly devoured the rest of the skewer and was halfway through the second before slowing down and getting Stilwart’s attention,
“This isn't toxic to me or going to turn out to be people, right?” She asked alarmed at the thought.
He chuckled, “No you are good, no sentient beings were harmed in the creation of your lunch. Good though, isn’t it?”
Bethany nodded and got back to chewing through the rest of her skewers. Once finished she wiped her hands and got back to work, feeling a little more confident than she had with an empty stomach. She’d been distracted by everything around her, but eating had reminded her she hadn't had anything that day at all because of the whole Lewis thing.
That first day passed fairly easily, she churned several barrels worth of butter and it was selling fairly regularly. Occasionally kids would stop to watch, dragging over their parents and settling in for as long as a quarter of an hour at times trying to peak behind the stall to see Bethany work. These kids were what helped Bethany feel at ease. After all it’s harder to be scared when there are children bouncing excitedly and playing games that seemed vaguely familiar to those of her own childhood. Even if some of those kids looked like the kind of person she would have discussed around a bonfire late at night back home. A couple of children even slipped her small amounts of money standing on their tip toes to push bronze coins onto the counter. Bethany half expected Stilwart to snatch these up, but he was actually very careful keeping everything she earnt separately, although he didn't leave them on the counter for fear somebody else would swipe them.
As the number of customers started to peter out, Bethany felt a little at a loss. She was exhausted, but it wasn't exactly late. She couldn't just go to bed. Not that she knew if they even had beds there, these species could have not needed sleep she didn't know. But she also didn't know anybody here or anything to do. She was starting to panic a bit when Stilwart noticed. Fortunately, Stilwart hadn’t forgotten his promise and dragged her away talking animatedly about his plans to capitalise on her popularity. He took her to a small one-bedroom apartment. Despite being smaller than Bethany was used to it was superior in every other way. It was dry and warm and not just warm near the proverbial fireplace but warm everywhere and comfortably warm too. Stilwart showed her the basic amenities such as the fridge and microwave. These alone were enough to amaze Bethany, and though she didn’t recognise the food and drinks stored in the fridge she was determined to try as much as she respectfully could before time came for her to leave. Stilwart left her there for the night with the handful of bronze coins she’d earnt as tips, promising to introduce her to the family the next evening when it was all a little less overwhelming.
Before leaving, he had explained the coin system to her, it was extremely basic with fifteen Bronze making a Silver and ten Silver making a Gold. Beyond that it got complicated, but Stilwart explained she was unlikely to encounter anything higher for a long time. These coins were however skill-crafted and Bethany found she could examine them much like people.
Bronze Coin
The lowest form of currency used on most planets that are Trial initiated. 15 Bronze are worth a Silver.
Stilwart further explained these coins were fairly standardised across the planets as they were the only universal currency, meaning that they would travel through the system’s rifts and to Trials where many other forms of currency wouldn’t.
After he left Bethany collapsed on the bed in her small room. Her day had not gone at all like she had expected and while safer than she had dared to hope for it was extremely overwhelming. She’d met aliens, travelled to a new world with technology far beyond her own and bartered in a type of Trial she didn’t know existed for a currency she had never heard of before. She silently cursed Tem, they had clearly known about the existence of Sponsored Trials and while they couldn’t pull up all her information on her upcoming Trial could almost certainly see it was a Sponsored Trial and had withheld that info from her. Despite having all these thoughts flying around her head she was physically and mentally exhausted and after grabbing a quick dinner of the soup Stilwart had recommended, from the fridge he had pointed out, she found herself falling asleep almost as soon as she had settled on the almost uncomfortably soft bed she had been provided. Despite being so tired she slept fitfully and kept waking up from nightmares and having to remind herself where she was and that she was safe, probably. It didn’t help that the reality of being on an alien planet was just as scary as what she could have imagined.
After one particularly aggressive nightmare that resulted in her falling to the floor, she decided to get up. Wrapping herself in a blanket and warming herself a hot drink that resembled tea she went and perched outside. Despite it being the middle of the night lights still shone in the city, but Bethany could still just about make out the stars far above. They were obviously completely different to the stars she was used to back home with some being much closer and larger than those back home. She spent almost a full hour out there gazing around in wonderment at the stars and considering how many other planets, with other star systems there were out there for her to discover. When she eventually got back to bed, she slept much more peacefully and dreamed she was soaring among them.