I'm standing at the reception desk. The hall is rather sparse of people at the moment, I had entered the hall when I saw the tavern next door reach capacity. The man at the desk looks bored. He speaks, while looking at the door.
“Here to hire or create a request?”
“Here to join the guild.”
His eyes pan down. “It's 2 silver for registration and you need to be level 5.”
I make myself sound disinterested, “I thought the guild will take anyone.”
“You're not anyone till your level 5, till then you're someone's kid and those someones get annoyed when the kid dies.”
“Can I turn in a request without being a member.”
“As long as you're level 5 when you do, the guild cut is higher at 30%.”
“Is there still an open request for clover?”
He squints at me for that, I don't care. “One silver per bushel before the cut, there goblins out there kid.”
“Is there a bounty out there for them as well?” The receptionist blinks.
“One silver per right ear, we don't take lefts, if you ruin the right ear, that's on you.”
“Before the cut?”
“Before the cut, anything else?”
“What state should the clover be in and how much is a bushel.”
“Entire plant including root, put pointer to your,” He looks at my hands. “Pointer to pointer, thumb to thumb, make a circle, fill that with their stems and it should be a bushel.”
He shows with his hands. I mimic him, he nods, I make a mental note to bring back five, I don't trust the size of my hands. I head out to leave. He shouts one last thing at me.
“Make sure to not harvest everything in a patch, the apothecary getting annoyed when he does his own trips outside.” Good to know, old man might be prowling in the wilds. That's step one done.
-----
I walk to the fountain, I drink as much as I can, then I touch the orb. I don't faint. Real quick end to the plan if I had. I walk by the east guard house. They don't pay attention to me. I've noticed that on the street, people tend to glance over me. Not worth their time. It's to my advantage this evening. I run parallel to the town towards the hill. I'm certain I've passed the barrier. I double back to make sure my theory is correct. Seems so, if I dump my mana the barrier won't block me. That's step two.
I climb the hill and run down the road into the woods. My goal is the brook. I keep an eye out for mandrake and ptras. The clover will be last. I found the mandrake first, good, I didn't want to test step 3 yet. The old man said they are edible raw, wish I had known that last time I was out here. I skin the outside as instructed and then bite down. It's bitter, really really bitter. It's the only food I'll be able to find here so I suffer. I'm going to get another apology from that old man then I'm going to kick him in the shin.
I made it to the brook, I'm surprised how close it was. Alternating running and walking help cover the distance. I drink some water to get some of the mandrake aftertaste out. I start my search for ptras. I stay near the brook, it's my only landmark other than the road. Night makes my search futile and so I climb a tree near the road. I don't want to lose track of where I am.
It's cold out here in this tree, but the over-large tunic is to my advantage, it's weird that it's never that cold in town. I spend the night rapid firing notifications, all I am seeing are Ts with an occasional Y. When I finally run out, a window pops up asking if I want to automatically open a window when receiving a new notification. I accept.
-----
I wake up to some mild cursing. It's the old fool going down the road. I don't move, he is already passing the tree I picked. Going home empty handed. I still don't know why he came for me in the first place. Doesn't matter, after he is out of sight I eat the rest of my mandrake. I didn't want my own cursing to alert him. That suffering out of the way I go looking for ptra again. It doesn't take me long. I wish it took longer. I prepare the root, it is similar to mandrake except instead of skinning the outside I simply cut the bottom tip off. It oozes a sap that is supposed to seal cuts. It's time to see what it takes to level [Tough Skin].
From what I can understand, my blisters from before did not level the skill. That tells me that friction damage is not the same as tearing damage. I don't use the knife directly for this, I don't want to test whether cut damage is different then tearing, instead I whittle a jagged end to a stick. I put the jagged end into the water in the hopes that it will clean it. I truthfully don't know what I am doing.
Stolen novel; please report.
-----
“Of course I know what I am doing.” I lie to Belna.
Belna is looking at a knife she had brought out at my request. I had asked her if there were any requirements to join the adventurer guild, she tried to dissuade me. When I told her that it was the only way to clear my debt she relented. I needed level 5, which was 16 exp or so I am told. Doing the math I knew I had enough basic skills to clear that hurdle. I told her my plan to gather clover, she warned me of the goblins. That actually could help.
I decided to make a big show of going to the guild to mislead anyone looking for me. They will assume I was heading east for goblins and clover. Personally, if I can avoid killing anything with social structures I will.
“Can you wrap the knife handle with the twine?” she gives me what I am guessing is a questioning look and then she starts to wind it with practiced skill.
That's about all my silver was good for, a rental for the knife and some twine.
“Are you sure you'll be able to cross the barrier?” Seems the story of my header against the town barrier has been spreading.
“I'll know when I attempt to cross it tonight, if not I'll be back to return the knife.”
“Don't hurt yourself.”
“Not planning on it” I lie again to Belna.
-----
“It's not mutilation if it's for a skill.” A notification box appears.
You have gained the skill [Tell Lie] Basic 8
Gain 1 exp
Thanks system for keeping me honest. I rake the stick across my left forearm. Deep enough to draw blood. I scream.
You have gained the skill [Tough Skin] Basic 3
Con raised to 8
You have gained the skill [Yell] Basic 4
Str raised to 9
I apply the ptra to my left forearm. It stings but it seals the wound. I run a bit before I need to take another break. The cool down walk is spent looking for more mandrakes. I unfortunately succeeded at increasing my stockpile by two.
-----
I spent 5 days out by the brook doing this routine. By my calculations I'm one exp away from level. Only [Tell Lie] and [Tough Skin] are still at basic 8. Apparently telling myself the same lie doesn't impress the system and there was nowhere left to scratch that wouldn't be risking a deeper wound. Both arms, legs, and even my stomach had bands of ptra sap sealed wounds. Back and face weren't options as I wouldn't be able to see if I applied the sap correctly. I'm just going to have to lie my ass off when I get back to town. It's time to find some clover.
Running to the east caused a new notification to pop up.
You have gained the skill [Running] Apprentice 1
Apprentice - Running does not wind you as much
Agi raised to 11
Stat leveling never seems to hurt if it's from a skill as opposed to leveling which always feels like I'm on fire. Maybe because it's gradual. I use my new found endurance and make it to the forest that is on the east side of town. The forest under brush is trampled here. I assume goblins. I pray to the system that my aura will dissuade them from attacking me.
The deeper I go the more clover I find. I only take half at each patch. Always grabbing at the base of their blue stems. When I get enough for a bundle I cut some twine off the knife, and wrap it around the stems. It reminds me a bit of the bunches of parsley you could buy at the store except with blue 4 leaf clovers and roots. After that I tied it to a long stick I found lying around. No, it's not the mutilater stick, that stick has been snapped into quarters. Then stomped on, which hurt but I still did it. I'm not accosted as I gather my bundles. There are times when I hear something but I convince myself it's just nerves.
Soon enough I am heading back to town, it's night time when I get punched in the chest again. I stagger back. The barrier always seems to stop me in the same way. I get up against the barrier out of curiosity. I can swing my legs forward but try as I might I can't get my torso across. It's like there is a stone in my chest grinding against the barrier. Enough screwing around, I step back and start to unwrap the last of the twine that's on the knife. I grip the handle, there is a snapping sound and then some smoke, I throw the knife past the barrier. If it's going to explode, I want the barrier between us. It does not. Moment of truth, I walk through where the barrier should be. It's as if it's not there. Good, I grab my stuff and cross the barrier. When I get to the knife, I gingerly lift it by the blade. I tie the twine around the handle as best I could. Even if the mana interface is probably broken, I don't want to risk touching it and fainting. With that secured I head back to Belna.
-----
“I thought your plan was to get to level 5.”
“I did level, I just didn't want to spend the points yet, you've seen how it stresses me out, safer to do it in town.”
You have gained the skill [Tell Lie] Basic 9
Gain 1 exp
You gained 2 unallocated stat points
I mean, is it a lie if it becomes true the moment you say it? Belna can clearly see my arms and legs but refrains from saying anything. My shirt is now sleeveless at this point, sacrificed to my ever growing need for cloth based foot wear. I asked if anyone had come by looking for me.
“Just the guard captain. I told her that I had seen you before you had gone to the guild hall. She didn't ask anything beyond that but I felt she wanted to.”
Not sure which is worse, that only the guard captain cared or that guard captain did care. It hurts either way.
“Is it alright if I sleep here tonight?”
“Sure, I'll be docking your pay for the knife.” More debt. I add two more points to mental fortitude. I hold myself to keep from screaming. Leveling keeps burning as much as it had the first time.
You gained lvl 5
Men raised to 31
Soul raised to 62
