As I was removing my harness, a notice popped up:
Learned skill: Common Labor, F
“You were right. I’ll be learning all kinds of skills.”
Yes.
Arrjee asked us, “I know Forrest has not skinned an animal before. Anyone else?” Kossa, Onre, and Lenyet all responded that they had. I suspected he already knew that, but was preparing me for a focused lesson.
“We can’t ‘yuck!’ ourselves out of this, can we?”
No.
“Let us do the boar first. It’s smaller. Forrest, I’ll have you observe a lot on this one. You’ll get more hands on with the bear, but all of us will likely take turns in both skinning it and guiding you.” We pulled the boar carcass off the wagon so it wasn’t crowded next to the bear. Since he was the one with a sword, he indicated, “First I’ll remove its head.”
At that point Kossa volunteered to go into town and get some water, knowing that periodic rinses would be helpful. Onre went with her.
The village had positioned supports and two meat poles outside the gate for this very purpose. There were two sets, varying in height. There were no carcasses already hanging, so we placed a meat pole across the lower supports. There were also some big wooden blocks sitting free, obviously to be used for standing on for hunters that needed to get higher. I had never noticed this stuff before, and would not have known what they were if I had. It was all offset from the road by several yards, but not hidden.
He decapitated it, then we hung the remaining carcass by tying its rear legs to the meat pole. “Some people remove the head once the carcass is hung, but it makes sense for me to hang less weight in the first place.” That certainly seemed logical to me. Arrjee then instructed me to cut the hide down the center of its stomach from one end of the torso to the other. Then he did the same along two legs and I got the other two.
The next step was to begin separating the hide away from the meat. He showed me the layer of fat dividing the two, and demonstrating cutting that, leaving the hide and meat with no further damage. He came to a particularly tough region and asked to borrow my knife. There were occasional tendrils of tissue connecting the hide to the carcass, and he said those were for blood vessels and such. The knife hook, facing backwards, could catch such a tendril, and a pull towards you would cut and snap thru it easily..
He said, “A common use of this hook is to assist in gutting a corpse, but the bear got to the boar’s belly first.” I asked why we didn’t use it on the bear. “A sharp sword works too.”
We began to skin at a dedicated pace. “Your claws make this job easier than it is for us humans,” Lenyet told us. “With all the fat and grease, this job gets quite slippery. We sometimes use special, rough gloves or even grappling hooks to assist us.” With my heavily greased palms, I could picture exactly what he meant.
At that point Kossa and Onre returned, carrying a bucket each. They had company.
Oh boy.
Sterbian Morse – male Covargh, age 61
Level 41 Hydromancer, Butcher Chef
Grocer
Kossa introduced, “Lenyet Birch, meet Sterbian Morse, the former mayor and friend of my family.”
and an ex-friend of mine.
She continued, “Lenyet may become Forrest’s master and even a teacher at the school Before you start griping again, Sterbian, let’s just pretend for today the school isn’t happening and you have simply come out here to assist some young hunters and perhaps acquire some fresh meat to sell.”
In a stage whisper, “I’m cute enough that he lets me get away with stuff like that.”
Oh, so that’s the secret!
“Just barely, child, but yes you are.” Lenyet and Sterbian shook hands. To all of us, collegially, “It appears we may have some mutually beneficial business to discuss. I can assist in keeping the meat clean and chilled. In return I ask for a quarter cut of each. How long ago did the animals die?”
Arrjee replied, “Not more than 35 minutes, Sterbian Morse. That price is more than fair. We accept. And should you be interested in purchasing more, we would be willing to sell an additional half-cut of each at a wholesale price you name.”
Maintaining formality, reasonableness, and showing Sterbian there is no grudge. Good job, Arrjee! I wonder if that stems from his charisma.
Yes, and common sense.
“Let us see what we have got when the carcasses are completely skinned, young Arrjee Silverstone. Quality, fresh meat is always an asset.”
I wonder if that can be viewed as a double entendre in Covarghian. It sure would be in modern English.
Arrjee and I finished skinning the boar carcass. Sterbian then showered the carcass with a heavy garden-hose stream to clean it. He lowered the force but made the stream wider and colder and began chilling the meat.
Damn, that’s handy.
Yes.
Once he was done cleaning and chilling the boar carcass, he requested that Onre and Lenyat hold up the boar hide, stretched, with the fat side facing him. They did. He went back to a normal-temperature spray of the heavy garden-hose stream, and did a good job cleaning off remaining most of the fat and any other bits from the inside of the pelt. “Outside my shop there are two troughs. I shall fill them with salt water if you wish to soak the skins overnight. I’ll just charge you for the salt.”
“That would be most appreciated, Sterbian Morse,” Arrjee responded. Sterbian then asked if we would like him to remove the bear’s head. Arrjee didn’t seem to have expected that, but maybe for the sake of diplomacy he agreed to it.
The former mayor moved close to the side of the bear’s head. Then he started a narrow spray from his index finger and cut through the neck like he had a phaser.
“I guess that answers whether hydromancy has significant offensive capability.”
Yes, it does. I just checked, Water Beam becomes available at level 41. In his 20s he could acquire Chilled and Scalding Flows, and we observed the Chilled Flow a few minutes ago. He would not be a wonderful foe to face in serious combat.
“But a hell of a teammate.”
Yes.
“Does he have Scalding Flow?”
You will need to rank your Analyze to B to find out, or observe him using it.
We used the higher supports for the bear’s meat beam. The blocks came in handy as one-step steps to be able to easily tie the bear in place. Like the boar, it was hung upside down. All four of us teens took an active role in skinning the second carcass. As before, Sterbian cleaned and chilled the stripped carcass, then cleaned the bear pelt
Learned skill: Field Dressing, F
“Cool. I’ll be training that one.”
As you have time, yes.
“Everything is time now, isn’t it?”
Time and priority.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Now that both pelts and the carcasses were clean, Sterbian thoroughly cleaned our cart with a hot, heavy flow. The carcasses and pelts were placed into the clean cart.
Scalding Flow, check.
“Whether his role is adventurer, hunter, butcher, or grocer, he chose a great primary.”
Yes. But note that by level 41, many classes acquire broad utility.
“Yes.”
We used the water in the buckets to rinse our hands, and then added the buckets to the cart. Then Onre and Kossa harnessed themselves to move it into town. Drahm Frahm hailed us at the gate, and we greeted him. We continued following Sterbian to his shop, about one half mile from where we started.
There he told us he had decided to purchase a second quarter of each animal, and he volunteered to slice up the remaining halves into common cuts for a slight fee. We thought a half pig and bear was too much at once, even for both the Silverstones and Smithsons together, and offered to sell the third quarters at a slightly reduced price. He thought about it, but agreed. I was not sure if things just worked out that way, or if Sterbian had used shopkeeper’s savvy to get some of the meat at a lower price. Whichever it was, no one was dissatisfied.
He prepared the troughs with saltwater, and we placed a hide in each one. He told us to pick them up at any time after 7. Since Onre and I wouldn’t be having our grades, we agreed to do so. Arrjee told us where we would find a couple of hide tanning racks. As we placed the hides into their baths, Sterbian used his Water Beam to cut each carcass into quarters. We helped him bring them all inside and observed him cut our two quarters into manageable cuts. He then quick-froze and wrapped each one and provided four bags to carry the meat. Two were for Kossa’s family, and two for Arrjee’s and mine.
----------------------------------------
I looked up some data and did some quick calculations. “Sterbian,” I said, “Thank you very much for your assistance this morning. Now I have a very unusual favor to ask. As I am sure you know, I am a Ki Healer. I recently acquired a skill called HPR Boost. It is a self-heal, but at Rank F it is not very impressive. It should get a lot better as both it and HP Regen rank. To help me with that, could you scald me? I can use 300 ki to heal about 6 HP over 6 minutes. If you are willing, I would like you to scald the back of my head, ears, neck, and any scalding down onto my back. It is a full-body heal, so if you have the control to keep my health loss at 10 or less, I can gain most of it back in minutes, training HPR Boost, HP Regen, and Ki Regen.”
“Why are you asking me?” he asked. “Any of your friends can harm you.”
“I can have them cut, punch, scratch, or kick me. You are the only one that can scald me. My previous self died from extensive burn injuries resulting from a fire and explosion. Jacques’ world did not have magic or ki, and our doctors could only provide limited help, mostly in pain mitigation and fighting off infection. Anyway, he spent months surviving the burns, before he finally passed. You scalding me now will allow me to experience something he never could – the burns completely healing.”
Sterbian sighed, and looked at Lenyet. “As his potential master, what is your opinion on this? I am able to do as Forrest requests, causing about 10 damage to the back of his head and neck. I don’t have fine control, so he will likely be in pain for longer than his heal lasts.”
“This is sudden and unexpected,” responded Lenyet. “But unless anyone knows of a way to train a self-heal skill without becoming injured first, I have no objection.” He paused for several seconds, giving the opportunity for anyone to speak up. No one did. He then asked me, “How difficult will it be to rank HPR Boost to E?”
“Interface?”
HPR Boost, F + 32 / 100
Using it earns 5 RP per minute. You need 13.6 more minutes.
“It already has 32 rank points. I can get 68 more in about 14 minutes, but I’ll be essentially out of ki in 6. So this scald, then one of you doing more damage later. Three minor but boosted damage recoveries total, with my ki being the limiting factor.”
“As you wish, young wolf,” Sterbian told me. First we handled business. For the half boar and bear he was purchasing, he was about to pay Arrjee the agreed 2s 20b, not charging us any extra for his butchering work or the salt.
Arrjee asked him, “Would you divide that five ways, please? We all worked for this meat.” Sterbian agreed, setting out five piles of 44 bronze. Not everyone was equipped to carry so much loose change, so I ended up with a lot of it in my bag to distribute later.
We all went outside. I walked in front of Sterbian by nearly two yards, with my back toward him. “Stand still now. I apologize in advance if I end up scalding you more than 10 HP. I never trained Scalding Flow to do a light, specific amount of damage.”
It took him two tries. The first one was a very quick spray, but it only did three damage. It hurt, but I asked that he do it again. The second spray did six more. The pain was intense but Jacques knew much worse. I thanked Sterbian and activated HPR Boost. The pain remained as I watched my ki gauge descend. It took a while, but I finally saw myself gain a hit point. Before long, another. Before long, a tear. More tears.
Why are you crying?
“That’s not me. That’s Jacques. He had begged so long for death, and eventually received it. But he also begged for the burns to heal. Like they are now.”
Did you know this would happen?
“Me? No. But Jacques knew he needed it to happen.”
After another moment, our emotions were under control. No one had commented, but I knew their eyes had seen. I smiled to let everyone know I was alright. Kossa and Arrjee hugged me, and Onre joined in.
Soon we all thanked Sterbian for his time and assistance. He went back into his shop. Then our next order of business was to get all the meat into our respective ice boxes. Onre helped Kossa with hers, and Arrjee and I took ours. Lenyet remained with us. We agreed to meet behind the school in a half hour.
----------------------------------------
Everyone was home, including Grandma. They were happy for the bear and pig meat. After unpacking while describing our adventure, Grandma eventually asked, puzzled, “You say Sterbian helped you?”
Arrjee answered, “He was professional all morning, and even friendly sometimes. Kossa and her family have remained friends with him, and she asked him not to gripe about the school today. He didn’t, and they joked about the agreement being due to her ‘cuteness’.”
Carrie wondered humorously, “So I might be able to charm him, too?”
“Bring beer,” Arrjee quipped. She lightly punched him
Mom commented, “This is the first I have heard of him acting like himself in weeks. Maybe there is hope.”. Dad echoed the sentiment.
Grandma said, “I’ll talk to him. We have had our ups and downs, but for decades I believe we respected each other.”
“I believe sometimes the ‘respect’ was intimate,” Mom revealed.
“Hush, child. When your father passed, Sterbian strove to be a very good friend.”
Damn! How come I never thought of a Grandpa?
Because you are a dumbass.
“Are you ever going to get tired of saying that?”
Probably not.
“Good. Some things should remain the same.”
Dad asked Lenyet, “Is Forrest what you expected?”
“No, but I don’t really know what I had expected. All I knew from Runtel Trillet was that there was a new Martial Artist, an unborn awakened with healing, 16 years old, male. So far as that goes, yes, there he is.” He grabbed my eyes with his, and smiled. “Oh, Runtel also stated Forrest had very little experience but was willing to train hard. My observations bear that out.”
Weird overlap with English. But there was an actual bear.
Lenyet explained about my wish for Sterbian to scald me and its apparent effect. “I believe your son experienced more than a heal.”
Dad asked me what he meant. I explained about Jacques many weeks of agony before dying, and how the ability to heal such a thing now hit me hard.
Grandma asked me, “Are you okay now?” I responded that I was, and she accepted the answer. “Do you need any salve? I see that your health is solid green now, but if you are going to further train your self-heal, it would be a good idea to have a backup for when you run out of ki.” I expressed interest in acquiring some.
Lenyet continued, “I like what I have seen of your town. I have few ties to River, and I could probably convince my mate to move here within the next few months. Forrest, the decision is yours. Will you be my apprentice? I would come to Cottages for your tooseday thing.”
Carrie corrected him, “tuesday”.
“Right, until such time as I relocate, I would be here every tuesday.”
I replied, happily and formally, “Yes, Master Lenyet Birch, I accept apprenticeship with you.” We shook, and the deal was sealed.
An ignorance came into focus, “Oh, um Master. How does this work? Do I pay you?”
----------------------------------------
[family meeting, City of Cycles, First Duchy]
Belenay and Merz Sholut sat on a sofa facing their seated 16-year old daughter Niscus. Merz asked her, “Nisky, what is so important that you wanted to meet with us both this evening?”
“Please don’t call me that! I’m not ten any more. Anyway, I learned something amazing today. In a few months a new adventuring school will be opening in the Fifth Duchy. And if the rumors are true, it won’t just be like Onre’s school. They plan for it to be international. You know, including Trichyans and Skolturi Wraiths! I want to go there; you know I have dreamed of being an adventurer forever.. Plus, could there be a better place for me to develop my Empathy? Relating to everyone. And everyone being, well, everyone.”
“That does sound like it could be a wonderful opportunity,” Belenay responded. We could probably afford it, but I would need to find a replacement for you at our Household Fabrics store.”
“I love that store, Mom, and I love assisting you. I know I have been useful there. That is why I never joined the Adventurer's Guild. But for the past couple weeks, those kooks out front are getting to me. Constantly calling us half-breeds when we come in and go out, telling potential customers about the half-breeds who run it. Sometimes it scares me, Mom. They see that we are Human, but something is wrong in their heads. Something stupid and wicked. I can sense it. Even though I have never met her, I can sense her, too. Without her foolish and ignorant guidance, they would be hating somewhere else.”
“Pastrana Gold,” Merz added. “I have to work with her almost every day. She originally pitied me, convinced my evil, ‘half-breed’ wife tricked me into marrying her. But lately, she mostly despises me, referring to me as a ‘half-breed lover’. I’m not sure which is worse. I have spoken with the founders. They admit that no one likes her, but they say her masonry work is irreplaceable. They offered me more pay in compensation, but money isn’t the issue. I am sorry for ever sending her to your store, Belenay.”
“If it wasn’t her, it would eventually be someone else, Merz. In a way it is funny. Before she realized I was partially Covargh, I could tell she really liked what she saw in the shop. Now she denies herself the best in town because of her petty biases. That said, those ‘kooks’ as Niscus described them, are starting to worry me as well, and I’m not even an empath. The guard won’t do anything so long as they don’t enter the store and don’t physically interfere with people entering and exiting.”
“Well, let’s do it then,” Niscus declared.
Merz asked, “Do what?”
“She has made your job miserable, Dad. She is making mine and Mom’s miserable, too. Let’s move to the Fifth Duchy! Even if I don’t get admitted to the school, I hear it offers a very simple life, and people don’t hate each other just because they can. I want to feel that. I want to feel that on an empathic level.”
“Wouldn’t that mean she wins?” Belenay asked.
“No, Mom. She loses every day. It means we’ll win, just someplace else.”