Varewulf I was slightly drugged while proof-reading this, so if there are more mistakes than usual, I blame that.
[ Discovered Zone: Hanoleav - Marmant Border. ]
[ Discovered Area: Ildhena Entry. ]
Sara trotted alongside the survey team as they headed north of the forest. It was true that it wasn't very far. The fortress was probably 3 kilometres ahead at most, and the roads joined at roughly the halfway point. It was a very open area, but not quite as desolate as the Eronite border had been. Maybe because there was no buffer zone like Meerna between the forest, and the border here.
North of the intersection the terrain was entirely bare, but south of the intersection, where they currently were, there was still some shrubbery, and a few mobs wandering around. There were the wolves that Davril had mentioned, but also some boars, and hares. It reminded her a little of where she had started, but these ones weren't quite that low level. More in the 10-15 level range. Quite the drop compared to inside the forest.
She hadn't had much time to look at her popups during the escort, since she had needed to remain vigilant. She had been mostly watching how things went in the woods rather than on road, but she had made sure to take care of the Stalker Jaguars from above. A bunch of Poison Needle copies loaded with Paralysis Venom made them drop down, without causing much spectacle to be visible from below. The Needles were very discreet. The elves had probably wondered why cats were just falling out of the trees, which amused her to think about.
Mirielle did a better job with healing than Sara ever could, but Sara still had to watch over the various deer fights in the woods, and help with healing, cleansing, and firing Water Needles for damage. Sometimes one of the Marksman soldiers would join in as well.
She started sorting through the boxes, only taking note of the important ones.
[ Level Up: Level 26 Reached! ]
She had a feeling she didn't receive full experience per kill when just taking part of a big operation like this. Maybe that was different if you actually formed a raid party, but at least she had still received something, and had gotten a level up. She had probably been quite close to one anyway.
There had been a bunch of skill levelling too. Of course it had been across several hours, but taking part in an operation like this was fun in its own way. Escort quests had never been her favourite, but since the Residents seemed to be just as much people as anyone back on Earth, it didn't have the same annoyance factor attached to it. Plus Davril and his soldiers were very capable. It was as if they were all in a party regardless, covering each other's backs.
Her wolves were also doing really well. It was a shame they weren't able to gain any levels, but at least they got practical experience with working together with each other, and with people.
The ravens... were mainly doing their own things, but they were having a blast with blasting, so it was probably better to leave them to it. She wanted them to stay motivated. They were very eager with engaging the bears. Maybe too eager. They had probably ended up luring a couple of them that would have never detected the party on the road otherwise. The large fight between that bear, and that deer was unfortunately unavoidable. They had both been level 29, and very tough, so it had taken the combined efforts of wolves, ravens, and elves to make sure they were taken down with not too much damage suffered.
Laroni had also gone up a level by the time she came out of the forest.
[ Poison Needle Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Paralysis Venom Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Unlocked: Acid (Weak). 2 skill points gained. ]
[ Skill Unlocked: Liquid Materials Creation. Unlock condition: Reach level max with 3 or more hazardous liquid skills. 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Water Needle Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skills unlocked: Water Enchant, Water Bubble. 3 skill points gained. ]
[ Nature Element Up Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
Those were the ones that had maxed out, but there were several more that had levelled up to various degrees. She had probably 'wasted' some skill experience when she had kept using things she had already maxed out without evolving them first, but staying alert had taken precedence.
[ Skill Gained: Shred. ]
That was something she had seen on the bears back in Eron Hills. The claw attack. Nothing else though. Well, she had already noted that the deer didn't have anything left for her, and the cats probably didn't have anything either (or the dice had rolled very strongly against her), which left one of the bear fights. Hopefully the one she took the most active part in. It might be related to focus as well, since she hadn't been thinking about getting skills at all.
As they went along the road occasionally one of the wolves would come over, and Sara would have to head it off before the others could think to attack it. While they weren't part of her pack, she still didn't want to see wolves get needlessly killed.
Mostly they were just curious, and the conversation typically went something like:
"Are you not attacking the people?"
"No, I'm just escorting them."
"Why?"
"I think it's more interesting that way."
"Okay."
And then they'd run off again. As if they were thinking that if the big wolf wasn't attacking, then there was no reason for the smaller ones to do so either.
In the lulls where there was nothing in particular to do, she checked out the new max bonuses, evolutions, and unlocks.
[ Poison Needle (Active): Fire a magical needle that inflicts Poison(?) status on target for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Poison damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 2 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds.
Max level bonus: Poison status duration: +4 seconds. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Strong Poison Needle (Active): Fire a magical needle that inflicts Strong Poison(?) status on target for 12 seconds. Nature element property. Poison damage: (5+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
She assumed that would improve the paralysis effect too, so there was no real reason not to.
[ Poison Needle Skill Evolved Into Strong Poison Needle Skill. ]
[ Paralysis Venom (Passive): Able to use Paralysis(?) venom instead of regular poison/venom for all poison or venom related skills.
Max level bonus: Potency of venom, and duration of Paralysis status increased by 20%. ]
[ Acid (Weak) (Passive): Able to use Acid(?) instead of poison/venom for all poison or venom related skills. Price: 2 skill points. ]
[ Acid (Material): Liquid capable of dissolving, and burning through a variety of different materials, and substances. When used with weapons, traps, or attack skills it deals increased durability damage in addition to increased HP damage. ]
While it certainly had its uses, she figured she would be better off just sticking with poison. If any other utility for acid ever came up, she could just grab the skill then.
[ Liquid Materials Creation (Trade: Other): Able to produce various liquids. Can be placed in containers, or used as is. Variety of liquids depends on possessed skills, and collected formulas. MP is consumed to conjure liquids. Cost depends on the liquid. Quality improves with skill level. Cost: 2 skill points. ]
I can use this one, mother?
"Yes. You might not see much use for it, or be able to handle the containers to store it, but there is nothing stopping you from summoning a puddle of poison if you wish to."
Poison?
"Yes. Liquid Materials Creation is as the name says. It creates liquids intended to be used as materials for crafting, or to go with certain skills. It starts with simple Purified Water, an important component of potion making, among other things, but with your current skill set you would also be able to make Poison, Strong Poison, and Paralysis Venom. Acid would be added if you purchased it. It is a very versatile skill."
But not one that is very useful for me right now.
"Probably not."
At least it was another one she could purchase should she ever need it. It was a little exciting to finally have a Trade skill she could freely use, but it was probably a waste of skill points at the moment unless there was something she was missing, or overlooking.
[ Water Needle (Active): Fire a rapid needle with water element property that inflicts piercing damage. Hard to aim. Works well underwater. Damage value: (1.0+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. +50% damage when striking a vital point. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max level bonus: Penetrates deeper. Needle length: +50%. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Water Jet (Active): Fire a rapid jet with water element property that inflicts piercing damage. Hard to aim. Works well underwater. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. +60% damage when striking a vital point. Defence piercing: +(10+(1*skill level))%. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
She had been aiming for that one, so it wasn't a hard choice.
[ Water Needle Skill Evolved Into Water Jet Skill. ]
[ Water Enchant (Active): Enhances target's physical attacks with water element property for 10 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Scales with Intelligence. Base damage increase: (10+(2*skill level))%. Strikes may inflict Wet(?) status for 6 seconds. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 3 skill points. ]
[ Wet (Status Condition): Slightly slows the afflicted down, and leaves them open to elemental reactions. Being struck with a fire element skill causes a steam explosion that boosts splash radius and damage by 50%, and inflicts Scald(?) status for 10 seconds, while Burn(?) status is negated. Ice element skills will inflict Freeze(?) status for at least 10 seconds depending on the skill's power. Lightning element skills do double damage, and gain double Shock(?) status duration. Wet status is removed after reaction. ]
[ Scald (Status Condition): The afflicted's Dexterity is reduced by 50%. Very painful. ]
[ Freeze (Status Condition): The afflicted is unable to move, or act. Some skills still work. The ice can be broken. ]
[ Shock (Status Condition): The afflicted is periodically struck by jolts of electricity that interrupt their actions. ]
[ Water Bubble (Active): Creates a bubble of water around the user which shields them from attacks for (10+(0.5*skill level)) seconds. Shield strength value: (1+(0.1*skill level))*magic power. Very effective against magical attacks. Less effective against physical attacks, especially piercing attacks. Effect increases with skill level. Warning: it stops outgoing attacks, as well as incoming ones. Cost: 10 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 4 skill points. ]
She wondered if it was possible to still fire Water Needles/Jets through the bubble. That seemed like it could be a hidden effect considering how both skills were described. But Water Bubble mainly sounded like a skill to help you retreat, or find cover. Regardless, it was too expensive.
[ Nature Element Up (Passive): Increases the effect, and power of nature element skills. Increase: (10+(1*skill level))%.
Max level bonus: Refresh timer of nature element skills reduced by 20%. ]
And that was the last of it. All in all pretty good progress.
By the time she was done looking at everything, and after greeting several curious wolves along the way, they reached the intersection. Honestly the stretch from the forest to there was in good condition. It showed signs of lack of maintenance, but it hadn't been abused in any way, and there was no significant growth in the area that could encroach on it.
Everyone decided to take a break by the roadside, so the surveyors could have a very late lunch, and discuss their findings. There hadn't really been any spots in the forest for them to stop for very long if it hadn't been work-related.
Sara sat down with Mirielle, and Laroni. The ravens kept circling overhead, or found some spot to perch on where they could just watch what the people were doing. They still seemed strangely spirited. She didn't understand it, but it was probably better than the alternative.
A couple of merchant wagons with their escorts came rolling in from the east while they sat there. They were of course quite curious about this strange group, but their eyes truly went wide when they saw the large wolf sitting peacefully alongside a Priestess, and a Speaker.
Lieutenant Davril had to head them off before any of them tried to do anything at all, and was faced with a lot of questions.
Mirielle was too kind, so she went over there to try to help him out, since maybe the word, and presence of a Priestess would help out.
Sara was fine with leaving them to it. Her moving closer would just complicate things further. She idly wondered how many of those escorts were Wanderers, then remembered that they were all logged out at the moment. Hopefully that meant the group's members were less likely to act out when they were all Residents.
"Congratulations on your level up, Speaker," Sara said to the poor Druid who was looking a little lost.
"Huh? Uh... t-thank you." Laroni sighed. "I-I'm sorry for how I am... but today has been the most stressful day of my entire life..."
"Really?" Sara wasn't sure which day of her life in Moorhold had been the most stressful so far. Her first impulse would be to say her gruelling repeated fights against that bear, but honestly it was probably the earliest days when she'd still had no idea what to do, or how to cope.
"Y-yes." Laroni swallowed. "I've never been to Nyolund before. Or Sholan. I very rarely go to Wutsch, and I've only been to Haevren once. I'm honestly just a city girl who likes flowers, and cute animals. The only places I travel to are Ethuun, and Meerna. Th-then all of a sudden they tell me to go talk to wolves, which everyone knows you can't do, and..." She froze, apparently remembering who she was talking to. "I-I'm sorry..."
"It's okay," Sara said. "No one is good at dealing with stress, Speaker. Just some are better at hiding it than others." She wanted to pat her on the shoulder, or the head, but that was kinda awkward with her current limbs.
"Thank you..." Laroni pondered for a moment. "I guess I'll never forget the day I met the Guardian Beast, at least." She mustered a weak smile.
Sara chuckled. "I probably won't forget you either, Speaker Laroni." The Druid was a bit like a cute animal herself, so she stuck to your mind.
"You... it's okay to just call me Laroni, Guardian Beast..." Laroni mumbled.
"Hm... then, maybe I can tell you a little secret... one that you'll only be... let me think... the fourth person in the world to know, I think."
"A secret?" The Druid perked up a little.
"I have a name, you see. Sara. Not a very impressive one, but it's mine. That is definitely a secret though, okay?" Sara tried to wink.
Laroni blinked, and then giggled. "Okay, S- uh! Y-yes, Guardian Beast." She barely remembered to stop herself in time, considering there were people nearby who might overhear. Maybe telling her wasn't the smartest thing Sara had ever done, but at least it put a smile back on her face.
Mirielle came back, looking a little tired.
Sara asked, via Laroni: "Are you okay, Mirielle?"
"Yes," Mirielle answered a sigh that felt like she was saying 'no'. "The merchants just had a lot of questions. It didn't take long to calm them down, but afterwards there was so much they wanted to know about all of this." She sat down. "They're heading up to the trolls to trade, and if the North Way gets opened again, their journey back in a few days would be a lot faster. I don't think we'll get it done that fast, though."
"So the trolls are north of here?" Sara asked.
"Yes, the Kingdom of Marmant," Mirielle replied, and started explaining: "Our diplomatic relations are a little on the cool side, since a lot of elves look down on them compared to how they view the humans, or beastkin. But if we were able to establish this more direct route, maybe it would give people an incentive to improve things. The journey time could be cut in half, maybe more, but it might be a while before we get the road in good enough shape, and the patrols in place to guarantee their safety."
"It might be rough on the wagons in places, but an interim solution could be to hire my wolves and I to escort them, or others like them," Sara suggested. "They would need to acquire truce symbol accessories first, and have some way of letting us know when they want to enter the forest from the north. So it's not going to be possible for this trip. I'm not sure what we would ask for in payment, but... I also feel like we shouldn't just do it for free. If people become too dependent on us, and expect us to do everything for them, we'll just get exploited. For instance we don't intend to help hunters get their kills if they're not in danger, though I suppose the wolves might be open to teaming up if compensated for it."
Poor Laroni had to try to quickly convey Sara's words as accurately as possible.
"We do intend to keep an eye on the people wearing the symbol regardless, and help if we spot them in danger, but that isn't the same as a dedicated escort," Sara continued. "If none of us are nearby when something happens, it won't matter. And unfortunately one patrol of wolves couldn't stop a Dire Grizzly on their own anyway."
She did wonder if it was possible to use Bear Form to try to negotiate with the bears. The cats in the hills had seemed to treat her neutrally while in Cat Form. Maybe it was even possible to negotiate with the deer, but she would have to first find some way for them to not attack on sight. Sadly Deer Form was not a thing. Maybe there were deerkin among the beastkin.
On the other hand the deer were the easiest source of good experience in the forest.
Though if she could figure out what the bears wanted, and talk some sense into them, then the forest would calm down a lot. She would have to tackle the issue eventually, but at the moment she couldn't imagine a clear path towards that.
"But payment remains the big issue," she concluded.
"I see..." Mirielle gave the matter some thought, and Laroni tried to come up with something too. "There's nothing you really need, is there? The Oracle made a proclamation that mob behaviour is going to change from tomorrow onwards. Is there anything we can offer in that case?"
Sara shook her head. "No, it's just that we are all getting sleep cycles, not just the ones who are currently diurnal or nocturnal." It was interesting to hear how the Residents were informed of patch updates. A message from the gods was probably the best way to handle it. "We will be sleeping in shifts, so I suppose there will be generally less of us around."
Maybe being able to add more wolves wouldn't be such a bad idea anyway, since if all the wolves needed 8 hours every day, then their effective forces would be cut by a third. She estimated she had about 300 wolves across Nyolund, so only 200 of them would be up at any one time. Though unless the devs or Auntie System increased the spawn rates, they had to make do with what they had. And she wasn't sure how much sleep they needed in the first place. She seemed to sleep around 8-9 hours, but that might be a remnant of her human habits.
"Y-you know that so certainly?" Laroni asked with wide eyes.
"I sometimes get direct messages from my god. I was told about it," Sara said. Both of those things were true, but not as directly linked as she made it seem. "Anyway, I guess food would be the only thing of any value to us. Even if we don't need it, good food is still a nice treat. We have no use for money, or equipment, or luxuries. Maybe the wolves would like beds, that might be cute, but they also might not care. Food offerings are probably the safest bet."
And if she got that established now, then it would be future proofing against when the update that made them require food came into effect.
"I will be sure to mention it to Bishop Luneria when we return," Mirielle said.
"If I'm able to think of anything else, I will let you know," Sara said.
Break time was over, and it was time to get the group back to Komeron.
Varewulf I was slightly drugged while proof-reading this, so if there are more mistakes than usual, I blame that.
[ Discovered Zone: Hanoleav - Marmant Border. ]
[ Discovered Area: Ildhena Entry. ]
Sara trotted alongside the survey team as they headed north of the forest. It was true that it wasn't very far. The fortress was probably 3 kilometres ahead at most, and the roads joined at roughly the halfway point. It was a very open area, but not quite as desolate as the Eronite border had been. Maybe because there was no buffer zone like Meerna between the forest, and the border here.
North of the intersection the terrain was entirely bare, but south of the intersection, where they currently were, there was still some shrubbery, and a few mobs wandering around. There were the wolves that Davril had mentioned, but also some boars, and hares. It reminded her a little of where she had started, but these ones weren't quite that low level. More in the 10-15 level range. Quite the drop compared to inside the forest.
She hadn't had much time to look at her popups during the escort, since she had needed to remain vigilant. She had been mostly watching how things went in the woods rather than on road, but she had made sure to take care of the Stalker Jaguars from above. A bunch of Poison Needle copies loaded with Paralysis Venom made them drop down, without causing much spectacle to be visible from below. The Needles were very discreet. The elves had probably wondered why cats were just falling out of the trees, which amused her to think about.
Mirielle did a better job with healing than Sara ever could, but Sara still had to watch over the various deer fights in the woods, and help with healing, cleansing, and firing Water Needles for damage. Sometimes one of the Marksman soldiers would join in as well.
She started sorting through the boxes, only taking note of the important ones.
[ Level Up: Level 26 Reached! ]
She had a feeling she didn't receive full experience per kill when just taking part of a big operation like this. Maybe that was different if you actually formed a raid party, but at least she had still received something, and had gotten a level up. She had probably been quite close to one anyway.
There had been a bunch of skill levelling too. Of course it had been across several hours, but taking part in an operation like this was fun in its own way. Escort quests had never been her favourite, but since the Residents seemed to be just as much people as anyone back on Earth, it didn't have the same annoyance factor attached to it. Plus Davril and his soldiers were very capable. It was as if they were all in a party regardless, covering each other's backs.
Her wolves were also doing really well. It was a shame they weren't able to gain any levels, but at least they got practical experience with working together with each other, and with people.
The ravens... were mainly doing their own things, but they were having a blast with blasting, so it was probably better to leave them to it. She wanted them to stay motivated. They were very eager with engaging the bears. Maybe too eager. They had probably ended up luring a couple of them that would have never detected the party on the road otherwise. The large fight between that bear, and that deer was unfortunately unavoidable. They had both been level 29, and very tough, so it had taken the combined efforts of wolves, ravens, and elves to make sure they were taken down with not too much damage suffered.
Laroni had also gone up a level by the time she came out of the forest.
[ Poison Needle Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Paralysis Venom Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Unlocked: Acid (Weak). 2 skill points gained. ]
[ Skill Unlocked: Liquid Materials Creation. Unlock condition: Reach level max with 3 or more hazardous liquid skills. 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Water Needle Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skills unlocked: Water Enchant, Water Bubble. 3 skill points gained. ]
[ Nature Element Up Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
Those were the ones that had maxed out, but there were several more that had levelled up to various degrees. She had probably 'wasted' some skill experience when she had kept using things she had already maxed out without evolving them first, but staying alert had taken precedence.
[ Skill Gained: Shred. ]
That was something she had seen on the bears back in Eron Hills. The claw attack. Nothing else though. Well, she had already noted that the deer didn't have anything left for her, and the cats probably didn't have anything either (or the dice had rolled very strongly against her), which left one of the bear fights. Hopefully the one she took the most active part in. It might be related to focus as well, since she hadn't been thinking about getting skills at all.
As they went along the road occasionally one of the wolves would come over, and Sara would have to head it off before the others could think to attack it. While they weren't part of her pack, she still didn't want to see wolves get needlessly killed.
Mostly they were just curious, and the conversation typically went something like:
"Are you not attacking the people?"
"No, I'm just escorting them."
"Why?"
"I think it's more interesting that way."
"Okay."
And then they'd run off again. As if they were thinking that if the big wolf wasn't attacking, then there was no reason for the smaller ones to do so either.
In the lulls where there was nothing in particular to do, she checked out the new max bonuses, evolutions, and unlocks.
[ Poison Needle (Active): Fire a magical needle that inflicts Poison(?) status on target for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Poison damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 2 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds.
Max level bonus: Poison status duration: +4 seconds. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Strong Poison Needle (Active): Fire a magical needle that inflicts Strong Poison(?) status on target for 12 seconds. Nature element property. Poison damage: (5+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
She assumed that would improve the paralysis effect too, so there was no real reason not to.
[ Poison Needle Skill Evolved Into Strong Poison Needle Skill. ]
[ Paralysis Venom (Passive): Able to use Paralysis(?) venom instead of regular poison/venom for all poison or venom related skills.
Max level bonus: Potency of venom, and duration of Paralysis status increased by 20%. ]
[ Acid (Weak) (Passive): Able to use Acid(?) instead of poison/venom for all poison or venom related skills. Price: 2 skill points. ]
[ Acid (Material): Liquid capable of dissolving, and burning through a variety of different materials, and substances. When used with weapons, traps, or attack skills it deals increased durability damage in addition to increased HP damage. ]
While it certainly had its uses, she figured she would be better off just sticking with poison. If any other utility for acid ever came up, she could just grab the skill then.
[ Liquid Materials Creation (Trade: Other): Able to produce various liquids. Can be placed in containers, or used as is. Variety of liquids depends on possessed skills, and collected formulas. MP is consumed to conjure liquids. Cost depends on the liquid. Quality improves with skill level. Cost: 2 skill points. ]
I can use this one, mother?
"Yes. You might not see much use for it, or be able to handle the containers to store it, but there is nothing stopping you from summoning a puddle of poison if you wish to."
Poison?
"Yes. Liquid Materials Creation is as the name says. It creates liquids intended to be used as materials for crafting, or to go with certain skills. It starts with simple Purified Water, an important component of potion making, among other things, but with your current skill set you would also be able to make Poison, Strong Poison, and Paralysis Venom. Acid would be added if you purchased it. It is a very versatile skill."
But not one that is very useful for me right now.
"Probably not."
At least it was another one she could purchase should she ever need it. It was a little exciting to finally have a Trade skill she could freely use, but it was probably a waste of skill points at the moment unless there was something she was missing, or overlooking.
[ Water Needle (Active): Fire a rapid needle with water element property that inflicts piercing damage. Hard to aim. Works well underwater. Damage value: (1.0+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. +50% damage when striking a vital point. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max level bonus: Penetrates deeper. Needle length: +50%. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Water Jet (Active): Fire a rapid jet with water element property that inflicts piercing damage. Hard to aim. Works well underwater. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. +60% damage when striking a vital point. Defence piercing: +(10+(1*skill level))%. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
She had been aiming for that one, so it wasn't a hard choice.
[ Water Needle Skill Evolved Into Water Jet Skill. ]
[ Water Enchant (Active): Enhances target's physical attacks with water element property for 10 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Scales with Intelligence. Base damage increase: (10+(2*skill level))%. Strikes may inflict Wet(?) status for 6 seconds. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 3 skill points. ]
[ Wet (Status Condition): Slightly slows the afflicted down, and leaves them open to elemental reactions. Being struck with a fire element skill causes a steam explosion that boosts splash radius and damage by 50%, and inflicts Scald(?) status for 10 seconds, while Burn(?) status is negated. Ice element skills will inflict Freeze(?) status for at least 10 seconds depending on the skill's power. Lightning element skills do double damage, and gain double Shock(?) status duration. Wet status is removed after reaction. ]
[ Scald (Status Condition): The afflicted's Dexterity is reduced by 50%. Very painful. ]
[ Freeze (Status Condition): The afflicted is unable to move, or act. Some skills still work. The ice can be broken. ]
[ Shock (Status Condition): The afflicted is periodically struck by jolts of electricity that interrupt their actions. ]
[ Water Bubble (Active): Creates a bubble of water around the user which shields them from attacks for (10+(0.5*skill level)) seconds. Shield strength value: (1+(0.1*skill level))*magic power. Very effective against magical attacks. Less effective against physical attacks, especially piercing attacks. Effect increases with skill level. Warning: it stops outgoing attacks, as well as incoming ones. Cost: 10 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 4 skill points. ]
She wondered if it was possible to still fire Water Needles/Jets through the bubble. That seemed like it could be a hidden effect considering how both skills were described. But Water Bubble mainly sounded like a skill to help you retreat, or find cover. Regardless, it was too expensive.
[ Nature Element Up (Passive): Increases the effect, and power of nature element skills. Increase: (10+(1*skill level))%.
Max level bonus: Refresh timer of nature element skills reduced by 20%. ]
And that was the last of it. All in all pretty good progress.
By the time she was done looking at everything, and after greeting several curious wolves along the way, they reached the intersection. Honestly the stretch from the forest to there was in good condition. It showed signs of lack of maintenance, but it hadn't been abused in any way, and there was no significant growth in the area that could encroach on it.
Everyone decided to take a break by the roadside, so the surveyors could have a very late lunch, and discuss their findings. There hadn't really been any spots in the forest for them to stop for very long if it hadn't been work-related.
Sara sat down with Mirielle, and Laroni. The ravens kept circling overhead, or found some spot to perch on where they could just watch what the people were doing. They still seemed strangely spirited. She didn't understand it, but it was probably better than the alternative.
A couple of merchant wagons with their escorts came rolling in from the east while they sat there. They were of course quite curious about this strange group, but their eyes truly went wide when they saw the large wolf sitting peacefully alongside a Priestess, and a Speaker.
Lieutenant Davril had to head them off before any of them tried to do anything at all, and was faced with a lot of questions.
Mirielle was too kind, so she went over there to try to help him out, since maybe the word, and presence of a Priestess would help out.
Sara was fine with leaving them to it. Her moving closer would just complicate things further. She idly wondered how many of those escorts were Wanderers, then remembered that they were all logged out at the moment. Hopefully that meant the group's members were less likely to act out when they were all Residents.
"Congratulations on your level up, Speaker," Sara said to the poor Druid who was looking a little lost.
"Huh? Uh... t-thank you." Laroni sighed. "I-I'm sorry for how I am... but today has been the most stressful day of my entire life..."
"Really?" Sara wasn't sure which day of her life in Moorhold had been the most stressful so far. Her first impulse would be to say her gruelling repeated fights against that bear, but honestly it was probably the earliest days when she'd still had no idea what to do, or how to cope.
"Y-yes." Laroni swallowed. "I've never been to Nyolund before. Or Sholan. I very rarely go to Wutsch, and I've only been to Haevren once. I'm honestly just a city girl who likes flowers, and cute animals. The only places I travel to are Ethuun, and Meerna. Th-then all of a sudden they tell me to go talk to wolves, which everyone knows you can't do, and..." She froze, apparently remembering who she was talking to. "I-I'm sorry..."
"It's okay," Sara said. "No one is good at dealing with stress, Speaker. Just some are better at hiding it than others." She wanted to pat her on the shoulder, or the head, but that was kinda awkward with her current limbs.
"Thank you..." Laroni pondered for a moment. "I guess I'll never forget the day I met the Guardian Beast, at least." She mustered a weak smile.
Sara chuckled. "I probably won't forget you either, Speaker Laroni." The Druid was a bit like a cute animal herself, so she stuck to your mind.
"You... it's okay to just call me Laroni, Guardian Beast..." Laroni mumbled.
"Hm... then, maybe I can tell you a little secret... one that you'll only be... let me think... the fourth person in the world to know, I think."
"A secret?" The Druid perked up a little.
"I have a name, you see. Sara. Not a very impressive one, but it's mine. That is definitely a secret though, okay?" Sara tried to wink.
Laroni blinked, and then giggled. "Okay, S- uh! Y-yes, Guardian Beast." She barely remembered to stop herself in time, considering there were people nearby who might overhear. Maybe telling her wasn't the smartest thing Sara had ever done, but at least it put a smile back on her face.
Mirielle came back, looking a little tired.
Sara asked, via Laroni: "Are you okay, Mirielle?"
"Yes," Mirielle answered a sigh that felt like she was saying 'no'. "The merchants just had a lot of questions. It didn't take long to calm them down, but afterwards there was so much they wanted to know about all of this." She sat down. "They're heading up to the trolls to trade, and if the North Way gets opened again, their journey back in a few days would be a lot faster. I don't think we'll get it done that fast, though."
"So the trolls are north of here?" Sara asked.
"Yes, the Kingdom of Marmant," Mirielle replied, and started explaining: "Our diplomatic relations are a little on the cool side, since a lot of elves look down on them compared to how they view the humans, or beastkin. But if we were able to establish this more direct route, maybe it would give people an incentive to improve things. The journey time could be cut in half, maybe more, but it might be a while before we get the road in good enough shape, and the patrols in place to guarantee their safety."
"It might be rough on the wagons in places, but an interim solution could be to hire my wolves and I to escort them, or others like them," Sara suggested. "They would need to acquire truce symbol accessories first, and have some way of letting us know when they want to enter the forest from the north. So it's not going to be possible for this trip. I'm not sure what we would ask for in payment, but... I also feel like we shouldn't just do it for free. If people become too dependent on us, and expect us to do everything for them, we'll just get exploited. For instance we don't intend to help hunters get their kills if they're not in danger, though I suppose the wolves might be open to teaming up if compensated for it."
Poor Laroni had to try to quickly convey Sara's words as accurately as possible.
"We do intend to keep an eye on the people wearing the symbol regardless, and help if we spot them in danger, but that isn't the same as a dedicated escort," Sara continued. "If none of us are nearby when something happens, it won't matter. And unfortunately one patrol of wolves couldn't stop a Dire Grizzly on their own anyway."
She did wonder if it was possible to use Bear Form to try to negotiate with the bears. The cats in the hills had seemed to treat her neutrally while in Cat Form. Maybe it was even possible to negotiate with the deer, but she would have to first find some way for them to not attack on sight. Sadly Deer Form was not a thing. Maybe there were deerkin among the beastkin.
On the other hand the deer were the easiest source of good experience in the forest.
Though if she could figure out what the bears wanted, and talk some sense into them, then the forest would calm down a lot. She would have to tackle the issue eventually, but at the moment she couldn't imagine a clear path towards that.
"But payment remains the big issue," she concluded.
"I see..." Mirielle gave the matter some thought, and Laroni tried to come up with something too. "There's nothing you really need, is there? The Oracle made a proclamation that mob behaviour is going to change from tomorrow onwards. Is there anything we can offer in that case?"
Sara shook her head. "No, it's just that we are all getting sleep cycles, not just the ones who are currently diurnal or nocturnal." It was interesting to hear how the Residents were informed of patch updates. A message from the gods was probably the best way to handle it. "We will be sleeping in shifts, so I suppose there will be generally less of us around."
Maybe being able to add more wolves wouldn't be such a bad idea anyway, since if all the wolves needed 8 hours every day, then their effective forces would be cut by a third. She estimated she had about 300 wolves across Nyolund, so only 200 of them would be up at any one time. Though unless the devs or Auntie System increased the spawn rates, they had to make do with what they had. And she wasn't sure how much sleep they needed in the first place. She seemed to sleep around 8-9 hours, but that might be a remnant of her human habits.
"Y-you know that so certainly?" Laroni asked with wide eyes.
"I sometimes get direct messages from my god. I was told about it," Sara said. Both of those things were true, but not as directly linked as she made it seem. "Anyway, I guess food would be the only thing of any value to us. Even if we don't need it, good food is still a nice treat. We have no use for money, or equipment, or luxuries. Maybe the wolves would like beds, that might be cute, but they also might not care. Food offerings are probably the safest bet."
And if she got that established now, then it would be future proofing against when the update that made them require food came into effect.
"I will be sure to mention it to Bishop Luneria when we return," Mirielle said.
"If I'm able to think of anything else, I will let you know," Sara said.
Break time was over, and it was time to get the group back to Komeron.
