Jack was stupefied at the rather odd, yet all to specific and familiar aroma that assaulted his nose, bringing back all to vivid and specific memories from his time in the divine ream in a different future. hours upon hours spent, enveloped in this particular aroma as he went over several books and watched multiple demonstrations, involving a certain herb with precisely the same particular fragrance. Not too strong, nor too shallow, with a rather weak smell in corporeal plane, yet it caused special resonance with particularly strong souls, making one feel refreshed and energetic.
"Need to check something." was all Jack said, heading inside the poor excuse of a house, the wailing of the door making a stark contrast between what his soul could sense and the reality before him. It was in his mind that he could still picture the places where said plant was supposed to grow, surrounded by vast amounts of natural energy and slight amounts of divine energy thrown in the mix. Add to it all the cold climate of extreme altitudes and the final sight was just too surreal when compared with the dump of a building he was stepping inside.
Right past the door, the sight was no better, as Jack could see worn out walls on the building, some light shining through the hole ridden roof and walls, joined in by numerous plants snaking through said holes, further speeding up the deterioration of the building. At the far end of the room, he could see a counter in about as bad of a condition as the rest of the place, clearly absent of any and all maintenance. And while Jack noticed it all, his focus was still locked on two specific things within the room, both located behind said counter.
First, he noticed Crystal karia, the plant he that had drawn him in. There, right behind the counter he saw a set of seven, palm sized plants, pale blue in color and with small, black flowers. If the colours were changed, the plant would resemble a small strawberry bush, even the flowers being of similar shape. There would be no berries though, no matter the time that would pass since the special plant did not work that way.
The other 'thing' that drew Jack's attention was also right next to Crystal karia's, as there, huddled deeper in the corner was the frame of a person, hiding deeper in the corner as Jack's steps grew louder and louder as he neared. Another few, nibbled on, sets of plant shrubs were around the person, clearly used to sustain themselves and avoid death, for while Jack could not quite make out the person's gender, he could very well tell the poor state the malnourished body was in, weak arms pulling the sad excuse of a blanket closer to their frame. Once the being realized they had failed to hide from the new arrivals, a weak and weary voice asked.
"W-welcome strangers. What brings y-you here?"
Jack could tell by the voice, even with how strained and scratchy it sounded, the owner of it was a girl, trying their damndest to hide said fact from being exposed. Still, he had a few questions that needed answers, and he was willing to pay a pretty penny for them, thus he spoke, his companions remaining at the door, their heads peeking through with curiosity, though not willing to come further inside, lest they disturb Jack in his element.
"This is a herb shop, is it not? The sign outside clearly says so, though I do have to say that this place has clearly seen better days."
"It was once, a long time ago. It no longer is though." the girl replied, a choked and suppressed pain barely held back in her throat, the subject clearly a sore one for her.
"Does that mean those Crystal karias are not for sale?"
"What now?" the girl asked, a clear confusion on her voice.
"The plants to your left. The ones without any nibble marks on them." Jack explained, seeing the girl turn her head towards the plants and in doing so shining some of the light that sneaked through holes in the ceiling on her face, revealing two, dim eyes to Jack. The girl was mostly blind, he concluded.
"They have no value, aside from maybee being a curiosity. Many alchemists have said so." the girl sighed, more pain clear in her voice. "What use could sir have for them."
"Are you the one who grew them?" he asked further, waiting for a response. He felt a strong desire to appraise the girl, but still held back, feeling it the correct choice.
"I did, though mother found the seeds a long, long time ago."
"Say, girl" Jack started and saw the girl shrink into a smaller ball still the moment she realized her gender had been figured out, but continued on with his words " would you be willing to sell them to me and further still, would you be interested in working for me and my party to grow more of them still?" At the later words, Jack saw the super small ball of a person to shudder once again, though he left it was for a different reason. A moment later, he heard the girl speak once more, though this time most of the scratchy part of her voice was gone as she rose her head towards him.
"Sir might have not noticed, but I can barely keep myself alive, let alone tend to a garden. I..."
"Nothing that cannot be fixed." Jack interrupted her, feeling as if she was about to give up on the last bits of life she still held. "What say you? For the low price of all those keria's you don't need to grow more, I will heal you and even provide you with a place to work and live. A good offer, no?"
"But but old Fez will not let me go so easily." she whispered, a small ember of hope in her voice, laced with copious amounts of fear and caution, no doubt earned through more than one instance of painful lessons.
"A local thug boss?" Jack asked, as if already aware of her circumstances.
"Mhm." she whispered, as if afraid she would be overheard by one of the man's goons and she would have to face the suffering that came with the actions she had just taken.
"Just ignore him for now and let us deal with that. Now, tell me, would you be interested in my offer? A pretty garden could eventually be all yours once you are healed." he added, already having a suspicion forming in his guts about the girls origin, even without using his appraisal "That would not be all of course. A proper salary and a place to live would also be provided." Jack tacked on at the end, realising that just the garden alone did sound somewhat weird and not normal at all if one was not already aware of her likely origin.
"Y-yes please." her response was but a whisper, as if she was still scared beyond belief about the pain old Fez's thugs would bring upon her, though there was little else to lose and everything to gain, assuming the people before her were not sent by old Fez himself to ridicule her pathetic attempts to cling to life by any means necessary.
"Good." Jack replied, his voice soft as he approached, kneeling next to the girl and stretching his arms out, one towards the small patch of Crystal kerias and the other towards the girl, gently placing it on her head. It was then that he absorbed all but two of the plants into matter as he appraised the girl and realized he was right.
Viki Crystalleaf (16)
species- half crystal dryad
level- 2
Confirming his earlier guess, having already assumed she was still largely alive due to her half dryad heritage and the Crystal keria's she had bonded with, he used more than half of what he absorbed just now to infuse the girls body and reinvigorate it. It was not even a proper usage of his skills, only energy and vitality transfer, something he was skilled enough at even before his regression. In mere minutes the girls miserable and sickly form was visibly recovering- her thin arms, seemingly consisting of bone and skin alone were quickly filling in, revealing pale, but healthy looking arms of a young lady, her malnourished, sunken and pale face filled out and recovered a healthy pinkish hue with faint green undertones mixed in and her glassy, almost dead eyes recovered some sheen, revealing small, yet resilient gaze as she now locked her gaze on Jack, taking in his form and everything around her.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
While the task Jack had just undergone to transfer vitality from plants to Viki was not much of a challenge, the sheer amount needed for the girl to reach this state was staggering, proving just how extraordinary her life force was to begin with and just how long had she stayed in such a miserable state.
"This should be enough for you to stand on your own two feet for a while and get your bearing in your new place, though I do have to inform that the garden is yet to be acquired. Just a heads up." Jack added once he was sure Viki was fully lucid, aware of her surroundings and fully focused on present.
"It's fine, but the old Fez," she started, only to be stopped by Kaede who rushed over now that Viki seemed somewhat better. She could no longer stay at the door, clearly feeling sad for the girl.
"Don't you worry about him, little sister. We will make sure he does not harm you again, ever!" the last word was not sweet at all, slightly whispered yet filled with anger and contempt for the apparent bastard.
"I don't mind you taking a liking towards Viki here, but do be careful with that soft heart of yours Kaede. There will come a day, likely sooner than later, when someone will try and use it against you and our group." Jack warned, though judging from the light smile on his face it was a weak attempt at best.
"You might not believe it, but I am well aware of it already and I am taking concise steps to prevent such eventuality." Kaede replied, as she gently held Vikis' arm, continuing on "I am at ease allowing in to shine through because it was you who took initiative to interact with her. Unlike myself and the rest of us 'kids', I have faith in your ability to discern those with evil intentions from good ones. So really, we should be warning you to make sure your standards do not lower over time."
"Ha, ha." Jack chuckled "Warning noted." he then turned towards Viki and spoke "How about you introduce yourself to my friends here? They will be your family of sorts from now on."
"My name is Viki." she shyly spoke, carefully gazing at Kaede and the rest of the party who now huddled inside the decrepit building.
"Hello there Viki. I am Izumi." Izumi introduced herself with a light bow.
"Kenji. Nice to meet you." next followed Kenji.
"Sup. I am Fumiko." Fumiko waved as she smiled.
"Emi." Emi joined in with a single word.
"Chiyo. Welcome aboard."
"I am Kaede by the way. Come to me if you have questions or need assistance. Big sister will take care of you." Kaede beamed, already feeling attached to the younger girl.
"And I am Jack. A pleasure. There are more of us, but the rest are not combat oriented, so you will get to know them more as time goes on. Now, do tell us what you can about this Fez fellow so we can make sure he does not cause us any unnecessary problems."
Viki proceeded to tell everything she knew, which was, admittedly, less than ideal, what with the rather lacking amounts of knowledge she could provide. The general idea was clear though- Fez was a local thug who had some personal hatred towards Viki's mother and since the older woman had died on one of her excursions outside of town during one of her regular expeditions where she searched for new, rare plants she could try and grow, Fez had gone out of his way to went said hatred on the younger girl instead. And it seemed the man was gaining some sick satisfaction from seeing Viki suffer, thus he had gone out of his way to make sure she neither died nor was kidnapped to be sold into slavery in some black auction. Though there was a supposed silver lining- it seemed that this Fez fellow was a local thug at best, likely smart enough to stay small and out of the actual rulers sight, yet just unlucky enough to get in the way of Jack's party.
With the knowledge about the thug analyzed, the group realized it would be a hard task to track him down as is, thus they decided to wait for him to come looking himself, taking care of the issue once it happens. Jack assured there were no nasty tracking measures put in place that would lead Fez to Viki and thus she could calmly follow them along to their temporary home, something that the younger girl agreed to immediately, more than just a little happy to get away, too scared to find out what Fez would do should he learn of her recovery. She shuddered at the mere thought, though Kaede's reassuring squeeze on her palm calmed her down.
With that out of the way, the group, plus one, left the decrepit building behind, having collected everything that was of value here, most of what were seeds of many different plants that Viki's mother had stashed away in some extremely ingenious hiding spots that were still hidden even with the state the building was in. Then they quickly left, Jack and Chiyo ensuring that there were no one following them as they returned back to the inn. Jack did promise to step out of his 'den' every now and then to make sure Fez's thugs don't come around and cause unnecessary problems to them and other patrons for their audacity to take Viki away.
-----------------------------
"Let's see." Jack mused as he sat on a rooftop, his head resting on one of his palms. He was lazing around, though at the same time he was also keeping one eye on the old and decrepit building Viki had lived in, waiting for Fez or his thugs to come around. According to Viki, they would come by every few days to make sure she was still there, withering away, too weak and scared to do anything about it, but too unwilling to pass on, still stubbornly clinging to life.
He had spent a few hours here, his watch already on since they took Viki away. He had kept the place under his spiritual observation, though it did took a toll on his mind to do so for too long periods of time, thus he had to come over in person to remain aware and respond in time to the arrival of the thugs to come. He needed to be on top of things, to cut the problem at the root and to do so, he would need to figure out what he was actually dealing with here. Luckily, he did not have to wait for too long, since around what he assumed was midnight, a group of rough looking thugs, for that was the only word that came to Jack's mind at the sight of the men, came by and with large grins on their faces sauntered inside the building, laughing and calling out for the little shit inside, only curse once they noticed the now empty state of the place, with Viki nowhere in sight.
"Think she ran away?" one of the thugs asked, loud enough that Jack with his sharp senses could hear, only to receive a scoff from another of his accomplices in return.
"In her condition? Crawled away at best more like it. But no, I think someone came along and helped her away. With or without her agreement, that I do not know however. No matter though. There is no way I am going to let that bitches bloodline to get off that easily." the other guy sneered. "No one refuses Fez and get away with it." he spat, clearly irritated at the current situation.
Fez Bondi (41)
Class- brawler(uncommon)
Level- 7
Jack appraised the man who spoke last, a small smile creeping on his face as he found the root of Viki's problems. Then, for good measure he appraised the rest of the thugs as well, a slight sigh of disappointment escaping his lips. He had assumed this group of thugs could be more of a challenge, but it seemed that unlike the gifted that would keep growing with high speeds, most general public were indeed low leveled. Then again, even the guards at the gate were not all that high level either. Adventurers and kingsguard, those kinds of guys would, no doubt, be much higher power level, Jack reasoned as he jumped down, landing with a relatively loud thud, earning the attention of the group of five, at the helm of whom was Fez.
"What are you staring at, huh?" cursed at Jack one of Fez's henchmen, cleary too stupid for his own good, not that anyone of their group saw Jack willingly jump off the roof, falling three or so meters and landing without the slightest hitch. All he heard was a 'thud' of sorts and then there was a dude he did not recognize who had locked his gaze on Fez's group, a slight arrogance and perhaps even a hint of disgust displayed on that relatively young face. Clearly, he was there to cause Fez's group some trouble.
"I don't have the time your whatever bullshit you have in mind, so get lost before things turn for the worse." Fez warned, already thinking about ways to track Viki down.
"But there is a problem." Jack replied, a predatory smile creeping on his face as he eyed th group before him. He had spent some of the time between now and the time they had returned to the inn to figure out if he could take care of Fez and his thugs. The conclusion- Yes he could, so long as there would be no corpses rotting away in the side alleys after he was done. Nobody would care if a group of lowlives were to disappear from the city.
"I am here to make things worse." he added "Can't have you go and disrupt Vikis life any more than you already have, now can I?"
Jack Raja(?)
Age- 27
Species- human(?)
Level- 15
Class- Twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(EX)
Stats unassigned: +11
Attributes:
Strength- 24 (14+7+3)
Vitality- 22 (12+8+2)
Dexterity- 21 (15+6)
Intelligence-7
Spirit- 25 (20+5)
Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX).
Spells- temporary spatial storage (shrinking)
Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme.
Gear: amulet +2 vit: weapon- Gundao+3 str.
