Zet awoke in his tent, still frustrated with the loss of even more EXP with Bot’s repeat destruction. He laid on the ground under his tent contemplating what actions he should take now. On one hand he had barely enough exp to summon bot again, but not enough to sustain him for very long. On the other he could not go mining without the assistance that Bot provided.

“Looks like it’s back to harvesting fruit for a while”, Zet spoke aloud, only to reinforce his present situation. Fruit harvesting was in many ways easier, and safer then going into the mines, however it provided substantially less exp and anything harvested had to be shared with the community. Taxes shouldn’t exist for people in this situation, but food was one area the strongest members of the community put their hands in. Any who went gathering food of any kind had to pay tribute to the group that managed the defense of the community. If you refused to pay, they would simply bar you from entry and if you managed to sneak back in, they would beat you before throwing you back out again.

Zet opened his status for a moment.

Name: Zet Class: None Level: 0 Exp: 51/100 Skills: None Unique Skill: Unit Forge

“Only 51 Exp, I was hoping to make 100 exp yesterday and finally get a skill, but the mines are just to dangerous for both me and bot right now. I can get maybe 3 exp per day harvesting and get food to eat, but no money will come of it”.

Zet made his way to the communal garden. The community grew the majority of its food here.

“Good morning Madam garden keeper”

“Good morning Zet, I take it your trip to the mines didn’t work out how you hoped?”

“No Maam, any plots open for me to work in today?”

“Your normal plot is still reserved Zet, just so you know though Limurt was asking for it, he seems to think all the good food growing there had something to do with the plot and not how well you tended it.”

“I still think your using your ability to somehow make food I grow better; I just tend the plot”

“Yes but you put more effort and diligence into taking care of your plants then any of the others, even the ones with the gardening skills don’t work as hard as you do”

‘yea I have to work that hard just for three measly exp’ Zet thought to himself.

This refugee community was lucky in that one member had a power that caused plants to grow more quickly around her. Many crops grew to maturity in days instead of months, though it required dedicated constant tending to keep them from growing in unwanted ways.

Returning to his regular plot Zet found that his apple trees had already grown too much and were now blocking the light from the other plants in his area. Starting with trimming those he worked his way through the area trimming branches, removing weeds, and disposing of anything that was unhealthy or damaging to the crop. After a solid fourteen hours of work Zet found himself having gained not three, but five exp for his trouble.

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Returning with his harvest he gave a third of his harvest to the garden keeper, which was the fee for using her garden, and afterwards delivered a remaining third to guardsmen’s area. Most of the guards were appreciative of Zet’s arrival because his food was often better than the other tributes they received. For this reason, there was always a guard stationed not far from Zet’s tent, officially because it was an area near the edge of the encampment and the guard was there to fend off any beasts that wandered in. Unofficially some of the veteran guards liked to look out for Zet, as he had been with the group longer than any of them and contributed much to the community the last 2 years that he had been without a family.

“Thank the gods, good food is back on the menu!” said an older man as he slid his half-eaten dinner to the side. “I know your trying to level up Zet but losing your food kills the morale around here you know.”

Dropping off the guard’s sack of food Zet sat and ate with them, telling them his recent stories of trouble in the mines and tragic loss of his hard earned exp that resulted from it.

“You have some bad luck with mines it seems. Two cave-ins’ in two days is nearly unheard of. You should stay out of there, for the sake of the other miner’s as much as your self.”

“Unless I can find another way to make some money I need to mine. I’ve nearly grown out of these cloths and the merchants wont trade food for clothing. Not to mention I need to buy some books.”

“Ahh yes you were planning to go mage as I recall, not a bad plan given your innate frailty but maybe you should try some of the other jobs, We could use someone to help skin the beasts we hunt, the leather we get from those trade for a decent bit, I could see you claiming a portion of that if you prove to be as good at skinning carcasses as you are at tending plants.”

That was an idea, Zet thought about it before agreeing to return the next day for lessons.

The following morning Zet returned to the garden to re-tend his plot earning himself three more EXP in the process. Finishing around lunch he made his way to the guard’s area and was led to the processing tent. Inside were several people dismantling animal carcasses and preparing them for storage and eventual consumption. Zet cringed a little as he watches some of them roughly tares the animal apart to get at the meat, ruining the fur in the process. Zet didn’t know anything about proper animal skinning, but he could tell that was the wrong way to do it.

Being shown to a woman he hadn’t met before he watches as she walked around a table with a near perfect animal hide laying separated from the meat.

“Zet this is Candice, Candice, Zet, he’s hear to try his hand at animal skinning, I figure he should learn from the best”

“You know I don’t have time to be training an apprentice!”

“He’s the one that grows your favorite grapes”

“Then he should stay in the garden!”

“He is classless and skillless and you know how little exp gardening grants”

That gave her pause,”classless and skillless and he grows the best food in the encampment?”

“Apparently he puts in more work than most”

“For one EXP per day no one wants to put in effort”

“I get three per day Maam, five today because my patch hadn’t been tended in a few days”

Both the guard and Candice stopped and stared at him for a moment.

“Kid the amount of work people put in to get a single EXP a day out of gardening is already a lot. Six hours of boring manual labor even with the skill” Candice said

“I’ve watched my neighbors Maam, most don’t do half of what they are supposed to, and all I know is what Miss Gardenkeeper taught me.”

“Tell you what Zet,” she said with a bit of respect in her voice. “Tomorrow morning you let me watch you tend your plot and I’ll take you on as my apprentice today.

And thus, began Zet’s apprenticeship.

Name: Zet Class: None Level: 0 Exp: 59/100 Skills: None Unique Skill: Unit Forge