The trip back was eventless. I was stuck with an itch I couldn't scratch. I know my mother and grandma infused me, I even know there is a memory of it in my core. But the actual events are just blanks inside of me. Gaps in the events of my life. I don't know what it even felt like.
When we passed the gates of Yetna, mother had left the carriage. I didn't get my fill of hugs.
Mags hands me another cup. I sigh and drink it down. Her blood felt diluted. My body warms again.
You have gained [Soul Etching] Apprentice 3
Gain 20 exp
You have gained [Blood Drinker] Intermediate 1
Intermediate - you decide if your victim is cursed or not
Gain 8 exp
They look at me expectantly. Damn them all.
All stats increased by forty-three temporarily.
They all shudder. Seems it works.
“Seems mixing the blood doesn't prevent me from using the skill.”
“There was a delay this time, Cat.”
“Mistress was right, my next tier allowed me to decide who is cursed, guess your threats of sneaking me blood will no longer work.”
I am relieved, working as a healer was already fraught without inadvertently cursing someone. Phenolp looks like I robbed her of her fun. I smile. When we arrive at Yetna we go to the guild counter.
“Well hun, would you like your pay placed in your account or have some on hand.”
“She is to transfer it to me.”
Antiquarian looks at me to confirm. I sigh and nod, at least I got eight contribution points. I was thinking of holding off leveling until I am tier four. The two thousand contribution for five just seems daunting.
“Could I get one large silver?”
“You still have morning clinic duty, Scratches.”
“That starts after breakfast, mistress.”
She looks annoyed as Antiquarian flips me my coin. I miss this time. Alicia hands it to me after it rolled to her. I thank her and head to the bakery.
With fifteen loaves in my bag, I visit Ren.
“Ah Scratches you seem to have decided to return in a previous form, what can I assist you with.”
“I could use some embroidery thread, a needle and four handkerchiefs.”
“Improving your needlework hatchling, an important skill to have. Seven small silvers and two large copper.”
“Maybe make that three then, I'll be back this afternoon to make some yarn, I promise this time.”
He removes one of the handkerchiefs, and I return to Mags.
-----
“Greetings mistress, I've returned with embroidery supplies.”
She raises an eyebrow.
“I smell the bakery in your bag again.”
“It is as you say, if you would ma'am please remove the magic preventing my hair from growing.”
She sighs and places a hand on my head. The forever itchiness is gone. I removed the geas I placed on myself to keep from scratching my head. Torture with no relief. Her gold tresses snap off, Mags incinerates them.
I stand behind Mags as I nibble my loaf. It is not long before my curly dirty blond hair is restored. It has Marie black streaks still in it. I braid my hair and then I take my knife and cut it. It goes in the bag as another loaf comes out. Mags looks at what I am doing. She raises an eyebrow.
“Mistress, it is part of my plan to repay you for your services.”
She picks up the hair and examines it.
“It is rather peculiar, ever think of switching metals.”
“When I am without my debt to you, perhaps, ma'am.”
She lets the hair fall back into the bag. The bread was good for another three collections, I had to braid my hair each time. I pull out my handkerchief, needle and thread, looking at her expectantly.
“Get your embroidery to Intermediate nine, then I will help you over. Also don't go zoning out while doing it, you're still on duty.”
“Is it alright if I devote one of my attention to the work.”
“Why are you acting as if you have [Parallel Mind]?”
“It is because I do, one of my soul etches was the major fifty intelligence boon.”
She looks very annoyed at me, “Fine, just one attention then, don't blame me if you get a headache from focusing only half your mind. And people don't refer to it by fifty, they just call it the first major intelligence boon.”
I start my work.
You have gained [Parallel Mind] Apprentice 1
Apprentice - you can share one of your senses with your second mind
Gain 2 exp
I shrug, I share my ears.
“Not that design.”
My other attention stops moving my hands.
“Eh?”
“You've gone and hid yourself, it is quite foolish to make their house heraldry on napkins.”
Oops, my hands go back and start undoing my work. It's weird to be focusing on conversations while I can't see. My eyes are being used by my other attention as it focuses.
“You said you would have exercises for training sense resists, mistress.”
You have gained the skill [Embroidery] Intermediate 7
Agility raised to 129
“Ah yes, what is your Illusion at?”
“A competent five, ma'am”
“Well when you hit intermediate do tell. Projecting sound is important.”
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“That is only one of the senses ma'am.”
“True but I'm not having you waste arcane until you ignite that life core of yours.”
I grumble at that. She turns and sticks her tongue out at me. A new patient arrives. Her clothing is torn and there are many gashes.
“Two small silver, my junior will seal the wounds while I will replenish your blood.”
I wrest my hands and eyes back, a headache blossoms. I use my life core and heal her wounds. I then back off as Mags places a hand on her and pushes more life magic into her.
“Make sure to eat plenty after this, blood generation is using your own body's reserves to accomplish it.”
“Thank you, my lady.”
She hands Mags the two small silvers and leaves. Mags burns the blood after trying to entice me to drink it. The annoyed look I gave her hopefully will prevent her from trying such again.
“You charged her less, mistress.”
“My order only demands what my patient is able to pay, I am sure you could hear the amount of money her coin pouch had.”
The adventurer was now down to one small silver. A day if you don't mind scrimping on food. I grew annoyed again.
“And yet you are charging me two hundred large gold, ma'am.”
“Which you are able to pay.”
“I did not see you enacting grand payment plans with anyone else.”
She gives me a rather sinister smile.
“Well to be honest, I expected you to balk at working at the clinic, I simply judged two hundred large gold debt enough to force you to beg for forgiveness. Frankly, I expected you to be my daughter by now.”
Perhaps if she had given me a deadline. So this is all just to rope me in.
“Probrably the wrong approach with me then, mistress.”
Her mood sours again.
You have gained [Embroidery] Intermediate 8
Agility raised to 133
“Are you making bunnies?”
My other attention answers.
“It is as you say, Ma'am.”
It's strange to hear through both attentions, especially when time is slowed for only one of them. We share memories so it's still both me. At the moment one hears and sees while the other just hears. I hear Mags draw closer.
“Your hands are moving very quickly.”
“My [Attention to Detail] with the minor perception boon are working together. I know from my other memories that the minor boon only halves one's perception of time.”
You have gained [Attention to Detail] Apprentice 5
Perception raised to 195
I smile. I never got a boosted skill for perception. I am curious what the two hundred will be.
“Mistress, do you know what the two hundred minor perception boon is?”
She scoffs at me because obviously she knows. I don't mention that it appears she is taking a moment to answer.
“It's a boosted slot.”
“Thank you, ma'am.”
My curiosity has resulted in depression. Not an interesting skill at all. Guess I shouldn't be greedy.
You have gained [Embroidery] Intermediate 9
Agility raised to 137
“Mistress, I've achieved intermediate nine.”
I look down and see my handkerchief utterly covered in embroidered bunnies. My focus is broken, and my headache gets worse. I grasp my forehead.
“Ah I did warn you trying to use [Parallel Mind] in such a way could be painful.”
“All the same, I am ready to learn.”
She shrugs. And turns to me. I hand her a new handkerchief and my needle and thread.
“Watch with your arcanes, Scratches.”
I do and she pushes mana through the needle as she makes a pattern. When she is done she hands the work back to me.
“That is the liquid repellent embroidery. Best to use a new cloth for this. I'll hold onto your bunny napkin.”
I arch an eyebrow but do as she says. I suspect I will never see the bunny handkerchief again. I get back to work.
You have gained the skill [Enchanted Embroidery] Basic 1
Enchanted Embroidery - apply mana designs to your embroidery
Basic - arcane mana designs can be applied to your embroidery
Gain 4 exp
I show my work to Mags.
“It's slightly disgusting when you progress.”
I give her a smile.
-----
“I haven't seen you walk this slow since you brought me a rabbit, hatchling.”
Four hundred pounds of hair was a lot. But I made it to Ren's. I fear for my bones if they weren't iron. Ren leads me to his spinning wheel. For one of the braids I made just regular thread. No imbuement.
You have gained [Craft Textiles] Apprentice 1
Apprentice - you can control the coarseness of your yarn
Gain 2 exp
I ended up with four spools of shiny soft yarn. I smiled at that. I then create a pocket of fire mana and start spinning the next braid.
You have gained the skill [Imbue] Basic 1
Imbue - the ability to push your mana into objects
Basic - you waste a lot of mana based on the compatibility of the object
Gain 1 exp
Doesn't feel like I am wasting mana. I'm half way through the braid when Ren opens the door in a hurry.
“Hatchling, the spinning wheel is smoking!”
I look over and find that it is indeed about ready to catch fire. I stop for a moment and feel the tool. Pretty hot. The thread itself appears to have a heat to it as well. Interesting.
“Scratches!”
“Yes, Ren?” He was surprised that he had my attention.
“I think you need to slow down when making fire imbued thread. My spinning wheel can't take the speed you are going at.”
I wish I had read into the fire section of my handbook. If I could pull the heat, I wouldn't be stalled at the moment. I shrug.
“Good time for a break, any idea what you would like to buy these at?”
My other attention forms an arcane construct and is waving it at the wheel to fan some air on it. Ren picks up one of the plain thread and examines it. He pulls some of the yarn out, finds it pliable but still hard.
“For the four spools I would give you a large silver.”
That's a pretty decent return on investment. He goes and picks up a fire spool. He feels the heat.
“If the heat doesn't dissipate I could see the popularity for winter clothes made in it. If it is still this warm tomorrow, I will pay you a large silver per spool.”
That's shocking, that's four times as much as the regular. Though perhaps it's premature.
“I'll leave that one with you then. You can verify its properties yourself.”
He nods to this. He notices the thread moving slightly on the wheel.
“What is going on there?”
“Oh, I'm just using an arcane construct to fan the wheel to cool it down.”
His eyes goes white for a moment, then he shakes his head and leaves me to my work. I finish the fire threads without setting the wheel on fire. The next braid, I spin mental energies. They seem like the first set of thread except when you look with mental eyes you can clearly see the mana. Four more spools done. For the final braid I decided to see what would happen if I pushed illusion magic into the thread. It's still mental but it has purpose. The first spool I gave the purpose of purple and the thread was purple. I made an all black and all gold yarn spool next. Finally I thought, why not clear, my mental core ran through all its mana doing it but the final spool looked as if there was nothing there at all. Until you grabbed it. I smiled. I went and showed Ren my work.
“You can make any color?”
I shrug, “We will need to see if it retains the magic like the fire thread.”
“Can you make fire thread any color then?”
“I tried but the magic wouldn't move. I suspect I need a higher level of [Imbue]. Here hold onto purple for testing”
He watches me place the other threads into my bag. When he sees me grasp the invisible thread he stops me.
“Scratches, I see your hand is grasping the air, yet the spool moves. Is there thread on that spool.”
I nod, “I was able to make a clear thread though it took a lot of mana to do so.”
“I would pay two large silver for that if the effect persists.”
If only my mental core was large enough to make just clear thread. It's going to be a lot of braids before I am debt free.
“For now hold onto purple and fire. And how bout you buy the plains for that large silver you quoted me.
He nods and hands me the large silver.
“I must admit Scratches, I can only spare a small gold worth on your threads. I hope to see you tomorrow.”
I smile and wave as I head back to the guild. Not quite dinner time yet. I deposit my large silver into my account. Back to three.
-----
“Quite decent to make a large silver from your four braids.”
“That was for just one of the braids, that was unimbued.”
“Meaning your other braids will bring in more.”
“Depends if the magic lasts.”
I hand her a fire spool.
“It's warm.”
“And worth a large silver itself, if the mana holds.”
She drops it, then slumps. She picks it up and hands me back the thread.
“It will hold, your hair is a perfect conduit for your mana.” She sighs, “Sara, you can't be doing this.”
Huh, “Why not.”
“You're just an adventurer with no backing. If you start making waves the merchants and tailoring guilds will start to investigate you. When they find out it's your hair, some fool will attempt to either kill you or capture you.”
I start to shudder.
“But I have to pay you back. I…”
My legs give out. It hurts to fall but I don't care. I start to make myself smaller, curled on the ground. It's not fair. I know what she wants. Mags scritches my ears. I whisper in a small voice.
“I'm Sara Maxwell.”
She gives me a sad smile. She goes into her personal room and comes back with a piece of paper. She places the contract in front of me. It has her name and mothers on it. It simply lacks my own. I look up at her.
“But…”
“You will be Sara Maxwell Magdeline. I will not deny you your heritage, only provide you the room to be more. Your mother told me of your plans, which was hilarious. I insist soon to be daughter that you continue them. I will sell your products for you and your debt will be cleared with me. A [Countess] daughter claiming a title of her own will have far more weight than just a disgraced [Lady]'s granddaughter. The powers that be will ensure you are better placed than a [Baron].”
I'm annoyed at the disgraced Lady jab, but her words are gentle, she knows the truth and she speaks the truth in how it would be perceived. I don't want to do it. But there is no escape either, I can't be stuck in Mags clinic forever. Mom clearly thinks this was for the best as well. I sigh and signed the paper. Its magic splits it into three again.
“I thought this was all to join your order.”
“My order only consists of me, Sara.”
“Thats not an order.”
She shrugs, “Every order starts with one.”
“Your unique soul title.”
She smiles and nods.
“I'm still earning you two hundred large gold, Mags.”
“Of course, you are.”
