“Lily, you wouldn’t happen to know if I’m being watched right now, would you?” I asked quietly.
She wasn’t out in the open, but her presence never left, so I assumed she was likely still watching or nearby. It took only a moment to get my answer as Crisplet shot a single ember.
Nodding, I activated Arcane Foraging, and immediately tuned out the common and uncommon, looking around. There appeared to be at least four unique items glowing. The first appeared to be a series of flowers where just the centre was glowing.
Next was interesting, and likely something I wouldn’t be able to get to easily, as it appeared to be inside the trunk of the tree, or it was the very core of the trunk.
The third one looked to be the root system of a small bush that had tiny white flowers, with a powerful smell that was both refreshing and sweet.
Lastly, one was a single flower. It was both blue and white and didn’t look to be open right now, but it was clearly glowing brighter than all the rest. Approaching it, I noticed it seemed to be almost centrepiece to this particular part of the garden.
Moving back to the first set of flowers, there were several of them, so if I took a couple it shouldn’t, hopefully, ruin the garden and they’d regrow. But if I took the tree core or the single non-bloomed flower—especially without knowing what they were—I might be straight up killing those plants, never to see them again.
So, I picked two of the flowers. They were vibrant purple, with a black line through the middle of each petal. In the centre, there looked to almost be seeds, as there was a soft black substance, but what really caught me was the smell.
I recoiled slightly, especially after touching the centre, as the unmistakable smell of death wafted up towards me.
Interesting. I used Transformation on them, just in case they were poisonous in some way, before storing them.
Would you like to store 2x [Rare] Morvella for 5 mana? Yes/No
Notification:
You have reached Level 5 in Culinary Transformation.
You have 3 available Evolution Quests.
I was surprised to see this pop up, pulling up the quests straight away.
Congratulations! Your Culinary Transformation skill has 3 available Evolution Quests:
Purify 50 ingredients of poison or toxins. - 0/50
Consume 5 unique toxic ingredients. - 0/5
Purify 5 unique ingredients of their magical toxins. - 0/5
That was unexpected, and it seemed very easy to complete. I was sure that I could knock out several of the magical toxins tonight by purifying a piece of drake, and get confirmation if it worked on the dragon or not by the quest results.
Heading to the bush, I dug down, noting the soil seemed very soft, so I suspected these were planted recently. Finding a small section of the root, and being sure to avoid the main root, I cut off several pieces.
Would you like to store 3x [Rare] Alren Root for 5 mana? Yes/No
Notification:
Evolution Quest:
Discover 3 rare or better ingredients using Arcane Foraging: Complete!
Five evolution options are available for Arcane Foraging.
Skill: Arcane Foraging → Purity Appraisal
- Clearly reveals the rarity level of the ingredient.
- Helps in assessing value.
- Identify subtle traits and buff potential.
Skill: Arcane Foraging → Forager’s Sight (Passive)
- Edible ingredients faintly stand out in your line of sight.
- Permanent forager’s sight.
Skill: Arcane Foraging → Forager’s Intuition (Passive)
- Subtle directional pull towards the nearest rare item.
- No visuals, no exact distance.
- Large radius based on skill level.
Skill: Arcane Foraging → Living Larder (Passive)
- Constant detection of edible items, radius based on skill level.
- Rare and above items register as a moment of awareness.
- Removes visual cues, creating intuitive understanding.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Skill: Arcane Foraging → Forager’s Senses
- Create a temporary ingredient map of your surrounding area.
- Radius and duration based on skill level.
I looked at all the skills several times, just trying to wrap my head around what each one did. I was still kneeling on the ground next to the bush when I was nudged from the side as Lily appeared.
Looking up, I saw staff coming down the path from the staff residence, re-entering the house after the earlier issues.
Getting up and dusting off the dirt on my pants, I headed inside. I remembered the library was on the ground floor, but even though this was technically my place, I felt like a stranger here, and it felt like I was intruding, walking inside.
I had contemplated even refusing the house, but thinking it over, it would solve the issue of having to find a house for Micca, Darren and George.
If they could stay here and look after the house, I could leave and keep adventuring, and only use it as a temporary base when we came back to the capital. It was also useful because I didn’t have to worry about Lily showing up at a random inn and causing panic.
But I worried about what the actual cost would be.
I made my way down the hall where Kathrine said the library would be, finding the reading room in the first door to my right, where I saw Milo seated with a book in hand already.
As I walked in, I couldn’t help but look at the room in wonder. The reading room became the library almost seamlessly, where there looked to be four shelves in the middle, along with bookcases along the walls.
What really surprised me, though, was how full the shelves were. I expected it to be mostly empty, but instead there were at least a couple hundred books.
At the far end there was a spiral staircase leading up, and Milo was seated on a cushioned wooden chair by a very large window facing the front gardens.
“Sorry to interrupt,” I began, but the comment was waved off immediately.
“Nonsense. This is your house—you interrupt whoever you like,” Milo said with a chuckle.
“I finished the rare forager quest, and I have some more options now,” I said, heading over to the seat across from Milo.
“How?” he asked, putting down the book.
“There are several rare ingredients in the garden that I harvested,” I explained.
I then went through and explained all the options I had now.
“How curious. So two of those remove the visual aspect. One just randomly draws you in the direction of a rare item, however far away it is, but doesn’t help you at all with uncommon or common, so in that respect it doesn’t feel very useful,” Milo said.
I nodded along. That’s how I saw it.
“Living Larder is very interesting. So, it removes the visual aspects of your skill and makes you intuitively know where ingredients are. I think this is by far one of your strongest. The Senses one is curious, but there are too many unknowns,” Milo added.
“What about the old ones? It seems pretty strong to be able to tell clearly the value and rarity of an object, right?” I asked.
“It is very useful, yes. Appraisal seems like it is tailored especially towards buying and selling at shops, since you’ll be able to tell the value and rarity of an item you use the ability on. Then the Sight version is an always-on but slightly weaker version of what you have now,” Milo concluded.
“So you think I should take Larder?” I asked.
“No. I don’t think this one is as clear-cut as it may seem. Let me think about it for a little while. You need to go clean up before this dinner tonight—you need to be prepared. It will seem innocent, but when it comes to court politics, it’s never what it seems. People are making moves thinking years, and decades in advance,” Milo said, looking very serious right now.
“Won’t it just be us and the King?” I asked, confused.
Milo laughed. “No, Trev, absolutely not.”
Shaking his head, he carried on. “There will probably be nobles there who are in the King’s favour, along with his advisers, likely his family members who are in good graces right now. One thing I need you to promise me: no matter how inconsequential it may seem, no matter how minor you think it is, do not agree to anything. Likewise, don’t say no unless you are very against it.”
He stood up and gestured around him. “This house, for example. I know you well enough now to know that you likely want to refuse it, right?”
He looked at me with a smile.
“I mean, sort of. I thought about it, but I also thought it might be a good place for Micca, Darren and George to live,” I explained.
Milo nodded. “Excellent, then you are thinking about it more than I expected. Yes, that’s exactly right. Their living here would also give their business credibility.”
“What if I need to do something to keep the place, though?” I asked.
“He already gave it to you. He will almost certainly ask you for something, but you won’t lose this house if you don’t agree. But also don’t anger the royal family. Being in their good graces gives you some protection from people we were worried about, especially with the alchemist guilds,” Milo said.
“Oh, I almost forgot! I also got level five on my Purify skill and got three quests with that one!” I said, just now remembering it.
After telling Milo about the quests, he nodded. “I think you’re right. If you get quest credit for purifying the dragon, then that would confirm you’ve removed the toxins. Also, I think by the sounds of those quests you’re looking at getting some very interesting evolutions to that. Speaking of working on skills though, while we’re in the capital, I want you to work on your runes, and I mean properly work on them.”
“I will. I promise,” I said.
“Alright, go get cleaned up. I believe you can go up those stairs at the end there? But I’m not really sure. I’ve not fully worked out where everything is. What I have decided, though, is that there is a room right next to the library here, and I will take that one as my own. There are some very interesting books in here,” Milo said with a grin.
I got lost going up the stairs and somehow ended up back at the main stairs to the foyer, and after getting a piece of coal thrown at me by Crisplet—who may have been right about which way to go—I finally found my way to the room.
I couldn’t help but laugh as Lily had already stolen my bed. Luckily it was large enough that even as big as she was, there would be enough room for me to squeeze on.
The private bathroom was far larger than expected. There was a bath that looked like it could seat at least six people. There was even a hearth in here that looked like it acted as a steamer for the room.
The room that I was most curious about, though, was in between the main room and the bathroom. There was a walk-in closet that I think I’ll never use to one side, and on the other was a room of pure darkness.
While the rest of the house looked to be lit up with the magical lanterns I was getting used to seeing, there was a thin, almost pearl-like cloth sheet in the entrance to the room, and behind it there was absolutely no light. I suspected this was Lily’s room.
Heading back to the main room, I walked in and jumped as I saw a well-dressed young man standing at the entrance frozen. I remembered seeing him earlier when they lined up to greet us. Right now his mouth was open, and he was staring straight at Lily, who was asleep on the bed.
“Don’t mind her. She’ll sleep there a lot. How can I help you?” I said as the hearth erupted into fire as I walked past.
“I… I came to drop off clothes for tonight’s dinner, if by chance you didn’t have any formal wear, sir,” the man stammered out.
“Thank you… uh, what’s your name?” I asked.
“Cameron, sir,” he said.
“I see. Thank you, Cameron. I will probably need those,” I said, taking the clothes from his hand.
“Of course, sir. If there is anything you need, all you need to do is ask,” Cameron said before leaving the room, likely faster than he expected.
Looking down at the clothes, I recoiled slightly. It appeared to be a vibrant red and white suit, with a terribly inaccurate depiction of a phoenix stitched into it.
I wondered if I could get a suit that’s got a cat or a fire elemental stitched into it instead.