The fight had left her shaken. The new ant had been fast and vicious. 2 attacks at once? That was super unfair. At least it wasn’t super tanky too. It had taken two hits and an ice touch worth of damage. She looked at the combat log and saw its chitin hide counted as armour, reducing incoming physical damage by 10%. From the maths, she knew that meant it had somewhere between 8 and 23 health. Her instincts told her it was closer to the top of that range. From it being level three and her sense of it in the fight as well as how strong it seemed after taking the first hit.

  On that note, her assess creature skill had gone up a point. She examined it closer.

  Assess creature: your ability to identify a creature’s attributes. Starting from the creature’s threat level to details about its stats and skills at the highest levels.

  That seemed useful. It would be pretty helpful to know when a fight should best be avoided.

  She noted that her Great-hammers skill had also increased to 16 during that last fight. She was glad to see steady progress there. It was hard to tell just how much it was helping her, but being able to skilfully follow up quickly on her attacks had saved her more than once. She should make sure she kept training that, even if she didn’t rush back into combat for a little while.

  She finally recovered enough to head back out. She undid her improvised bandage, removing her t-shirt and examining the two fresh rents in it. She hoped it could be fixed back in the village. She replaced it with her new shirt, grimacing as the slightly less comfortable fabric rubbed against her skin. She resolved to stay cautious for the rest of the day. So, she checked out her list of fruit trees, finding 5 more Bondi fruit and 2 purple to add to her stock. She also managed to remember where she’d spotted the plant Hestia had called ‘Amantia’ and picked a few. She made sure to keep the poisonous roots bundled up in her torn shirt to prevent them from touching her gathered fruit.

  By the time she’d gotten through all that. She decided it was late enough to stop by the village again.

  The eastern side of the village looked fairly empty once again, but she spotted the boy she’d gotten to fetch Stavos a few days back.

  “Hello again! Do you think you could fetch Hestia for me?” She asked politely.

  Once again the boy nodded and hurried off. A little while later Hestia appeared, waving at her over the barricade. Ash waved back but stiffened when she spotted Stavos following her.

  “Hey Ash.” Hestia said after she opened the gate. “Stavos here has come to an agreement that I hope you’ll appreciate.”

  Stavos folded his arms “What I said yesterday was… ill-advised. You contributed to our defence.” He sighed “When the healer arrives, and you’re proven to be non-infectious, you’ll be welcome in the village. I’ll also make sure our trades with you are fair and that any… rumours about you are not entertained.” He turned to Hestia “Good enough?”

  “Good enough, for now.” She smiled

  “Whatever. I presume you’ve brought more in that basket?” Stavos turned back to Ash, sounding businesslike. And holding out his hand. “Let me assess it.”

  Ash let him look through the fruit, cringing a little as he pulled out the plants wrapped in her torn and bloodied shirt.

  “Ummm… The herbs Hestia was looking for. But I got attacked so I was hoping the shirt could maybe be repaired?”

  “You got attacked?” Hestia asked concernedly.

  “More lizardmen?” Stavos demanded.

  “N-no. Ants. I may have headed into their territory. There was a large one, called an infiltrator, it rushed me.”

  “An infiltrator? That doesn’t sound pleasant” Hestia commented, taking the plants and examining the rents in the shirt.

  “Indeed, it is not” Stavos stated. “If the hive is producing infiltrators, it is more substantial than I feared.” He sighed. “Another thing to look out for. Anyway, what were you hoping for in return for all this?”

  “Well, dinner for tonight for a start. I think the boosted recovery is helping my… condition.”

  “I’d already said you could have that!” Hestia said, then waving Stavos down as he started to object. “How about this. Dinner and breakfast paid for until the healer arrives. And we’ll wash and fix your shirt.”

  “But we don’t know how long that will be! It could be days!” The village leader sounded annoyed.

  “Or it could be tomorrow! You’ll just have to take that gamble. These plants will provide a valuable antiseptic to treat wounded. Maybe even a poison for our weapons if I improve enough or a better alchemist arrives. And this is enough food to make 5 portions at least. I’d say it’s more than fair.”

  “Fine. But 5 days maximum. I won’t let our people starve over some ridiculous open-ended agreement.”

  “So dramatic!” Hestia laughed, “What do you think Ash? If the dinner is helping you recover, adding in a good breakfast can’t hurt!”

  “Okay. If you think it’s a good idea.”

  “Good. It’s also a pain to be called over here whenever you want. You’ll be allowed access to the village for a short while at breakfast and dinner to get your food and trade. But… No touching any non-specialist.” With that he turned to leave, calling over his shoulder “Don’t make me regret it!”

  “Wow. He is in a mood.” Hestia commented after he’d gone. “I don’t think he likes being in the wrong.” She turned back to Ash. “Anyway, come on in then! As the ‘great chief’ has commanded, it is dinnertime so you’re allowed!”

  Ash followed Hestia into the burgeoning village, looking around her with fresh eyes. She didn’t have much time to take it in before, but every time she looked in there seemed to be more progress. The people here had worked quickly, several buildings already looking fully completed. She spotted a few crafts people busy in what looked to be a workshop to one side, while there were a couple of completed huts set back from the main path.

  In the centre, just next to the entrance of the main hall, sat a firepit. A gazebo-like structure had been made atop it. A thinly thatched roof was supported at the corners by four tall sections of tree trunk, effectively sheltering the fire from rain and sun but completely open at the sides.

  The doors to the main hall were open and there was a large central table inside. A few bedrolls were laid out on either side, several villagers still clearly using the space as their home. At the back stood a high-backed chair with another, smaller door closed behind it. Doubtless that was where Stavos sat for meals, making himself look imposing.

  Hestia led ash to the fire, where a young woman was working over a large cookpot.

  “Beans today Tyra?” Hestia asked.

  “Yeah, but we’re running low on our stock. Might be down to stew after the next batch, if the next group doesn’t bring over some more.” The woman said, stirring the pot a little more before looking up. “Oh! You’ve brought her already! Ash, isn’t it? I’m Tyra. I hear it’s you I should be thanking for keeping my Jori intact.”

  “Oh, no problem.” Ash replied “I just helped how I could.”

  “And that’s all that can be expected.” Tyra replied simply. “So, you’re a specialist are you? With that club, yes? A melee fighter?”

  “Not exactly. I’m a sort of magic melee hybrid.”

  “Oh, how fancy! My Jori just unlocked his combat specialty yesterday and now he’s already being put to work on guard duty. Shame that his woodworking specialisation is going to waste.”

  “I know,” Hestia interjected, “But we need to make use of the few fighters we have, until more come at least.”

  “Sure, sure. But people look down on us craft specialists too much. What would you eat if I wasn’t here cooking it all up for you? Raw Purple fruit?” The woman laughed and Ash looked away nervously. That was exactly what she had eaten for breakfast.

  “Tyra.” She asked. “My memory is a little spotty. How does one actually get a crafting specialty?”

  “Oh, poor dear.” She looked over at Ash with concern. “Just get to level 10 in one crafting skill and you’ll be able to specialise, if you want. You only get one though! One crafting, one combat, one auxiliary.”

  “So, pick your specialties well.” Hestia chimed in.

  “Oh, miss fancy academy mage says to ‘pick’ well. As if most folks have got a whole bunch of level 10 crafting skills before they specialise. Waiting isn’t a luxury one can always afford. You see, a specialty comes with not just a boost in the progression of the skill and sub-skills, but can also influence growth in even minorly related skills. Waiting for the ‘perfect one’ might set someone, who doesn’t have access to any fancy training, back years!”

  “Well, sure, I suppose I should have chosen a crafting specialty already.” Hestia said guiltily “But I’ve never really enjoyed alchemy all that much. My auxiliary specialty in herblore helps me with progressing alchemy a little anyway too.”

  “Girl, just pick gardening and be done with it already” Tyra said, as if this had been a conversation she was tired of rehashing.

  “But, It doesn’t seem that useful…”

  “If you enjoy it, you’ll progress fast and make it useful. As I said, not picking something is going to set you back.”

  Ash was feeling a little left behind by the conversation. It seemed that the skills were divided into three categories, like they had been in the previous game. Combat skills were essentially anything that helped one directly do damage, crafting for the skills that directly helped one produce something and auxiliary for the more nebulous skills like lore-based skills or her assess creature skill. From what she gathered, now you could specialise in one of each of these for a big boost, with smaller cascading effects to related skills. That meant her combat specialisation in Great-hammers was currently boosting her progression with that skill. No wonder it was still advancing regularly, despite starting higher than most of her others.

  “Have you picked an auxiliary specialty Tyra?” Ash asked.

  “Not got a level 10 yet.” She replied “I was thinking to pick ingredient lore but I’m currently progressing ingredient optimisation more from making the most of our limited resources here. Might just have to settle for that.”

  “Seems like a waste to me.” Said Hestia. “What happens when we are fully settled and you’ve got more ingredients than you can use!”

  “Well, if that happens, I suppose I’ll have to make do! There’s no point in holding out if we all starve before we get there!” Tyra had gone back to stirring the pot but after a moment she looked up at Ash and smiled briefly. “On that note, thank for your fruit deliveries. Even working with one more ingredient is a godsend.”

  “No problem. I’ve been appreciating the bonuses from the well-cooked meals you’ve been making. They taste good too!”

  “Oh, if you like this, just imagine what I could do with a well-stocked kitchen!” Tyra laughed. “But thanks dear, it’s nice to be appreciated for one’s craft. I suppose, from your questions, you’ve not got a crafting specialty yet?”

  “No, nor an auxiliary either. For crafting, I’ve gotten harvesting and woodwork up a few levels but I’m not sure about them in the long term. Woodworking helped me create my club here, but metal weaponry is bound to be a lot stronger in the future.”

  “Thinking about becoming a blacksmith?” Tyra asked “Hmmm… With poor Jarvis falling yesterday… I think maybe only Kara has a few points in that. You could ask her to show you the ropes, not that we have a forge set up or anything.”

  “She would just, teach me her skills?” Ash asked, surprised.

  “Probably, if you asked nicely.” Tyra shrugged.

  “Actually Ash,” Hestia interjected “Maybe I can show you a few of the skills I know, see if any of then seem right to you?”

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “Sure, if that’s okay!” Ash replied brightly, grateful for any instruction. “What do you know?”

  “Oh, I have too many low levels skills really. Cooking and cleaning for example. But atop those, there are all the ones I learned at the academy. Alchemy, gardening, scribing, runic inscription and crystal shaping. I’m not very good at all those, but at least few points in each were hammered into me.”

  “That’s quite a few! I get the first two. I imagine Alchemy’s basically brewing potions and gardening is for growing magical ingredients.”

  “And carrots and potatoes too!” Interjected Tyra “Nothing wrong with mundane gardening.”

  “Alchemical gardening is a subskill after level 10.” Hestia said, “And that type of growing is what the academy focused on.”

  “Fancy idiots.” Tyra retorted “Good mundane ingredients are a godsend.”

  “Sure, sure.” Hestia rolled her eyes “Anyway, the other three skills are scribing, for writing magical scrolls” She paused, glancing at Tyra and rolling her eyes. “Fine! And letters and contracts and stuff too.” She sighed before continuing. “Runic inscription is like carving runes into one’s equipment to enhance or grant it extra properties. And finally crystal shaping is about growing crystals and imbuing spells into them and stuff.” She paused, considering “You were talking about getting a stronger metal weapon, but perhaps I could inscribe your current one for you. Or even teach you how if you want to learn that skill.”

  “Sure!” Ash responded, wondering just what that would entail. She had never paid too much attention to crafting in the previous game, focusing on adventuring and looting for what she needed, and using the marketplace for anything else.

  “Dinner is ready” Tyra announced, and they quickly filled their bowls with the mixture of hot beans and… other things. Ash decided to just think of it as a chilli.

  “Thanks Tyra, but we should leave you to serve the others. Why don’t you follow me to the workshop and I can show you a few things while we eat. That way Stavos can’t be mad about it!”

  Ash nodded and they waved farewell to Tyra, who was already being swarmed by the other villagers. They headed to the crafting workshop, where the two Ash had spotted before were still working. One was the bushy haired woman with the pitchfork from yesterday, who seemed to be repairing what looked to be Eric’s damaged armour. The pale, teenage-looking boy was working on patching up some trousers. Hestia called them by name, Kara and Alf, and let them know that dinner was ready. They both hurried out, leaving the two women alone in the space.

  Hestia pulled out a small slate and some chalk.

  “I suppose you haven’t learned to write either.”

  “Oh, no I can read and write.” Ash replied, taking the chalk and writing ‘Hello, my name is Ashley.’ on the slate.

  You have proven your skill in scribing. You are now scribing level 4.

  You will have 50% increased growth until scribing level 9.

  The notification surprised her, so much that she almost missed Hestia saying. “Oh! I didn’t realise you already had the scribing skill! That should make this easier.”

  Hestia pulled the slate to her. She began to draw a series of symbols down on it, the chalk scratching with each line. She wrote down 3 columns of intricate letters, before turning the slate to Ash and saying “these are the three inscriptions that I can remember. I was taught more but I was never very good at this sort of thing.” She smiled apologetically “This first column is an inscription for ease of movement, the second is for enhanced durability and the third was used for improving staves.”

  She went through each of the symbols individually, giving Ash what she remembered of their meaning and how that related to each full inscription’s function. About mid way through the explanation, Ash received a notification.

  Through instruction, you have unlocked the skill: Rune Lore. You are now level 1 in Rune Lore. Your progression through this skill will be heightened while instructed by someone of higher level in this skill.

  “Oh, I just unlocked Rune Lore!” Ash smiled.

  “Really? That was quick. You must be a good student.” Hestia grinned back. “Rune Lore is an auxiliary skill, related to knowledge about runes that you can use for the runic Inscription crafting skill.”

  She quickly finished her explanation of the symbols, then had Ash draw them out herself, bringing Ash up to level 2 in the lore skill.

  “Okay” Hestia continued. “Now for the craft we’ll want to inscribe onto your weapon. You could use a knife or something, but we have a better tool here.” She walked over to the rack and picked out a chisel, but the tip wasn’t flat. The end was L-shaped, extending up the tool so that it had a furrow in the middle. “Do you mind us trying this on your club?”

  “No, go ahead.”

  “Well, actually I thought you should try. That’s the best way to learn after all!” She winked at Ash, noting her nervous expression. “I’m sure I’ll be able to fix it up if you make too bad a mistake.”

  “Fine. But what am I inscribing? The ease of movement one?”

  “I was thinking that would be a good option, but you talked about channelling through the weapon right? I think the stave runes should be able to increase channelling efficiency in other items too. Which do you think would be more valuable?”

  “Oh, definitely that! I’m currently spending 3 times as much Will to cast. Any reduction in that would be great.” She hesitated, “As long as you think it will work.”

  “I’m pretty sure, but the best way to know is to try.”

  Hestia guided Ash through carving the first symbol in, which was harder than she thought it would be, trying to keep her lines straight with the hammer and chisel was infuriating. She also noticed her Will slowly drain as she carved, a little of her essence being infused into the work. With Hestia’s guidance, she quickly unlocked the Runic Inscription skill and her hands steadied a little better, allowing her to finish the symbol just as the other crafters came back in from dinner.

  “Oh… Maybe I should go.” Ash grimaced. “I don’t want to annoy Stavos too early on.”

  “Oh, but… Well, maybe it’s for the best.” Hestia sighed. “Hopefully we can finish this over breakfast tomorrow!”

  Ash nodded and waved farewell to her friend, eating the remains of her now-cold Chilli as she wandered back to her spot in the jungle.

  She had her usual nightly training routine with the club before sleeping, this time no skill increases greeted her, but that was fine. She was pretty sure she was still making progress, it was just slower now that her levels were higher. She resolved to do a little more training periodically throughout her days, especially when her mana levels were full. Having to wait for the recharge really limited the amount of conduit training she could manage.

  Waking with the first light that filtered through her entryway, Ash sat up and moved into her new routine. Strength training with the Heavy Club, followed by a jog to the river for a wash and drink. Then she headed into the village, Jori letting her in with a grin.

  She got food from Tyra, a mixture of egg and vegetables combined with some kind of starch she didn’t recognise, and headed to the crafting workshop.

  Hestia Found her there, trying to chisel in the next symbol she remembered and quickly took over instruction. With her help, her progress accelerated, rising to level 2 in runic inscription, then 3 as when she was finishing off the final rune. She even rose a level in woodwork. Knocking in the final section with renewed confidence, she finally finished the inscription, grinning at Hestia and examining the newly enhanced weapon.

  Large cut wooden club conduit – hammer / Great-hammer (2h) - damage modifier: 1.35x(physical)

  Seeing no change other than the name, she examined its conductive properties.

  Large cut wooden club conduit: conduit multiplier 2.25x.

  Ash beamed. That was a significant increase! Now her ice touch would cost 9 Will instead of 12. She could cast it 4 times in a fight without any breaks now.

  “What do you think? Is the effect useful? It should be even better when you inscribe with higher crafting materials too.”

  “It’s great!” Ash said happily. “Do you think I could progress enough to be able to make this my crafting specialty?”

  “Sure, if you put some effort into it. What level are you in it?

  “3.”

  Hestia groaned “You’re already 3? I’m only level 4… But it really was the thing I struggled with the most at the academy. I’m glad you’re taking to it.” She considered “You could even specialise in Runic Lore too if you really wanted to boost progression even more.”

  “Oh? How would that work?” Ash replied as she finished off the last of her breakfast.

  “Well, you’d get a 50% boost to your specialty skill, then because each one is closely linked, they both would boost the other one by another 25%. You’d level up nearly twice as fast!”

  “Wow! That’s crazy.”

  “Oh…” Hestia looked down. “But it wouldn’t be an option any time soon. You’d need a Rune Lore book or a better teacher to learn from to even hope to reach level 10 in that.” She sighed, shrugging “It would probably leave you too specialised anyway. Sure, you’d be great at this one thing, but there are lots of other useful skills that you’ll be stuck at base progression for. I think Runic Inscription will boost your woodwork by 10%, as well as blacksmithing, if I remember correctly. Lore skill specialties just tend to boost scribing a bit.”

  Ash nodded, considering “Well, I’ll think on it, but I’m definitely leaning towards inscription at least. I guess I should practice a bit more first though.”

  Well, you’ll need that to reach level 10 anyway!” Hestia laughed. Then leaned in, “Why don’t you borrow the hammer and chisel for a bit. Nobody is using them here currently, so as long as you know who doesn’t find out…”

  “That would be great!” Ash slid the tools into her basket and stood to leave. “Well, I’ll head off then, before ‘you know who’ comes and makes a fuss.”

  Hestia laughed and Ash stood, but as she did, she suddenly received a new notification.

  Your body has improved from your strength training. You now have the attribute ‘strength training(minor)’ granting +1 to strength.

  “What the hell.” Ash muttered, then turned back to Hestia “I just got a strength boost randomly.”

  “Oh, really? Hestia asked “Have you been working out or something?”

  “Yeah, for the past few days. But why is the boost coming now?”

  “Well, of course it would. This is when you body is rebuilding. Physical traits tend to improve after rest, especially after eating. That’s what Eric said at least. When I improved my education level from the academy, the boost always came when I was sleeping and absorbing the new knowledge. That’s just how it works, I guess.”

  Ash nodded “I suppose that makes sense.” She shrugged “Well, sweet. This is looking to be a good day!”

  Ash examined her stats as she left the village. That strength boost meant 2 more vital points in health as well as her hammer strikes hitting for almost 3 points extra physical damage.

  I really am looking to be a major glass cannon right now. She thought I could easily kill myself in 1 hit.

  Well, perhaps that would improve soon. With her endurance training and 2 recovery boosts from food a day, surely an increase to her constitution was imminent.

  For now, she wanted to focus on her new skill. She immediately started inscribing her heavy club, gaining a level by the time it too had the conduit modifier. She hefted it with her new strength, but unfortunately it was still a little too unwieldy. Perhaps when she was up to 5 it would be a viable weapon.

  She looked for other things to inscribe and decided she could probably do with a spare for her current weapon, as it was taking some damage from repeated use. She quicky set to smashing a fresh branch off of a nearby tree. A few hours later she had an extra level in woodworking and a new freshly inscribed large club of enhanced movement.

  This inscription buff didn’t seem to affect the weapon’s damage, but granted it 5% swifter strikes. She considered the option, then decided the conduit enhancement was better. She earned her 5th level in Inscription making a fresh spare large club conduit. She considered, then decided to swap to the new one, leaving her battered one to the side as the spare. She didn’t want to risk the weapon breaking in a fight.

  Now what? Ash thought, looking around her with her tool in hand. Her gaze alighted on her bamboo guards. Perfect.

  She chipped a large chunk off of one guard before getting the hang of working with the smaller, more finicky material. Several hours passed before she finished with this latest project. But by the time she was done she had another point in both inscription and woodwork and two newly enhanced guards.

  One she gave a durability enhancement, the other a movement one. The durability had no obvious effect, and she guessed it would just be a little bit more resilient now. For the other, she could feel her left leg move just a little more easily and quickly when she moved with it attached. It was actually a little unsettling to begin with, and it made her wish she had given both the same inscription. Unfortunately, it was only 1 inscription per item and they were the only guards she had. She’d just have to get used to it.

  By the time she had worked her way through all of that, it was getting late, but she still had a few hours left before dinner. She had been periodically interspersing a few casts of frost touch through her Great-hammer thought the day, whenever her will hadn’t been drained from inscribing. She had been slowly clearing the area near her shelter’s entrance of foliage. She fired off another icy attack into a nearby vine now, her diligence finally paying off as her conduit skill reached level 10.

  You have reached Arcane Conduit Level 10. Your potency multiplier has increased to 0.44x.

  You are now apprentice level in Arcane conduit. Your channelled spells will now be 10% more efficient.

  That was neat, an additional efficiency bonus was helpful. Now with her enhanced club she could get out 5 casts before running out of Will. That was 2 more than the day before! She wondered if this was a one-time bonus from reaching apprentice level or if it would improve with level like her potency multiplier did.

  Pleased with her progress, she emptied out her Will with a few more swings and went to check on her fruit trees. She worked her way through her list, visiting all but the one closest to ant territory. Unfortunately, she only found 1 more harvestable fruit of each type and concluded that checking on the trees every day was entirely a waste of time.

  Storing them in her shelter, she decided it was close enough to dinner to head to the village. She found Hestia at the workshop, bottling up some antivenom.

  “Your balm plants are doing well then?”

  “Oh yes.” Hestia replied happily. “They’ve been growing gorgeously. The Amantia herb too.”

  “You always seem so cheery when you talk about gardening, why are you so hesitant in specialising in it?”

  “Oh.” Hestia flushed a little “Well, it wasn’t really the most respected of disciplines at the academy. More of a necessary chore to get to alchemy.”

  “Well, you clearly enjoy it, and it seems invaluable in our current situation. Plus, won’t being able to grow the plants better be good for alchemy anyway? Who care what some stuffy old professors think. If you feel it, go for it!”

  Hestia laughed “Alright miss confident! I’ll consider it. You must have had a productive day or something if you’re feeling this upbeat!”

  “Yup!” Ash beamed “Level 6 already! Check out my inscribed guards.” She showed her carved shins to Hestia.

  “Wow, that is some serious progress. By the way, you should carve on the underside of armour when you can, if the inscription is damaged, the effect will break.” Hestia grimaced “Sorry, forgot to mention that. Still, at this rate, you’ll be a specialist in no time! I’m assuming you’re set on that now?”

  “Yeah, pretty much. But… I’ve kind of run out of things to inscribe. Is there nothing here that would be useful?”

  “Ummm… Well, sure. You could carve durability into any of these tools if you want, or maybe movement into some of the farming equipment. I’m sure it would be appreciated. I probably should have thought about doing that myself really…” She trailed off, then grinned “But now I’ve got you to do that for me instead! Great.”

  “What about things like tables or buildings?”

  “Ah, that’s a little different. I’m aware it is possible, but the inscriptions I showed you were designed for tools and weapons and handheld things like that. There are some differences if you want to inscribe anything larger.” She shrugged “Sorry that I don’t know more.”

  Ash nodded and got started. By the time dinner was ready, she had already worked though several tools, then pushed her luck after eating to work on the rest that were in the workshop, the ones that had wooden sections for her to inscribe at least. All that earned her yet another level in inscription and she felt she’d made significant progress to the next. She only stopped on her penultimate tool when Stavos stopped by and reminded her firmly to leave.

  The village leader had been angry, but he was mollified when he was shown the work she had been doing, even agreeing to gather up a few farming tools for her to work on around breakfast the next day.

  Content with her new skill and confident with her specialties, Ash continued her routine, heading home, weapons practice, sleeping then physical training before her customary shower at the waterfall. She continued towards the village for breakfast, looking forward to advancing her new skill.

  Only, on this day, the world would have other plans.