by A P Gore
Shocked, Jon glanced ahead, finding a ball of lady meat smiling at him. Wrapped in enough white cloth to build a small tent, a woman with no eyes and no contours between breasts and stomach flab, opened her mouth in a howl. Sorry, it was a laugh, but it definitely sounded like a wolf howl. And the woman had eyes, it was just that her cheeks and forehead had swallowed them.
“How can I help you, mister?” She asked him, baring yellowed teeth. And a gust of a meaty smell followed.
Jon straightened his back. “Madam, I'm here to make a trade.” His gaze jumped around, moving through the hundreds of shells filled with tiny seeds, stems, and whatnot. This shop held true to its name. Seed World. The fragrance of nature and the sheer number of seeds proved it to be true.
“A crop trader? What can you sell me, the Associate Farmer of the century?” A mocking smile spread on her thick lips
Pulling ten of his Excellent quality weed crop out of his bag, Jon placed it on the glass counter between them with a proud smile.
The fat woman pulled a metal hand out of thin air and picked one of the plants up. Her eyes lit a little when she stared at the plant.
“An Excellent quality plant. Not bad, but nothing to boast about. I can buy them from a lowly seller on the high street. A person named Weedman has been selling these for cheap.”
Jon’s lips formed a big O. Weedman? Grimish's fame had spread around.
She continued. “These crops are common these days, and I don't deal in ales, so frankly speaking these are of no use to me. You see, I'm on diet these days, so no ale for me.” Covering her fat lips with the metal hand, she snickered.
What the heck? Spanning his eyes as wide as possible, Jon tried to fit her in his vision. “I see, Madame. It's true then. The people around here said that you have lost too much weight recently.”
“They did? Is it noticeable already?” This time the woman stretched her trunk-width arms to bring hands to her face, pressing her palms to her cheeks. “Ain't I cute?”
Jon swallowed hard. If someone described her as cute, the goddess of beauty would die from diarrhea.
“But I wonder, what do you think about this plant?” Jon pulled out a plant from the second set of weed crop. The waist-length plant had a light green glow to it, and the fragrance of high-quality alcohol instantly filled the shop.
“This.” The woman couldn't betray her amusement and bent in an impossible way to pick up the plants.
Weed crop of Solemnity
Quality: Magic
Used in ale making. Provides +3 Intelligence for 3 hours for raw consumption and +4 Intelligence when converted into beer. 11% chance to gain +10 Intelligence for 10 days upon consumption.
“What is this?” The woman couldn't control her body shaking.
A wicked smile spread on Jon's mouth. After the painstaking effort of nearly one month, he had finally produced one hundred of these plants. Each plant took three stages for processing. First, he had to Spirit Imbue them, then use Mold Earth, and then Land Heal. And only after planting three batches in the God's Garden had he increased his stock to one hundred this morning.
“This is blasphemy. How can a mere commoner have this plant?” She grabbed Jon's collar and shook him violently.
-10, -20, -30 popped up over Jon's head.
“Damn you, lady! Stop right now, or I'll call the guard.”
Alerted by the commotion, the guard stepped into the shop.
Glancing at the guard, the woman let him go, but her acrimonious expression remained focused on Jon.
If not for his healing aura replenishing his life at 20 points per second and the fifty percent boost from his Ring of Light, the woman might have half-killed him in the span of ten seconds.
“Where did you got this, esteemed customer?” The woman’s entire demeanor changed with the guard standing inside the shop, but she still had an undertone of threat in her voice.
Rubbing his neck, Jon glared at her. “How much will you buy it for? I have ninety-nine Magic quality plants, and four thousand Excellent quality plants.”
“Ninety-nine more... give them to me right away.”
The guard stepped forward; his hand firmly placed on the sword attached to his belt. “Lord, do you need my help?”
The woman stepped backward. “No need, esteemed Imperial Guard. I'm just bewildered by the handsome face this gentleman has.”
Finally, someone who appreciated the beauty of a real man. Suddenly, Jon felt like gifting her all the magic plants. Magic plants, that was a fart in his arsenal of skills. He could get as many of them as he wanted.
“Sir, I can give you one gold for each plant...”
“One gold?”
The woman's face dropped. “I know the market value is two gold for each plant, but I only have nine thousand gold on me right now, so I can give you something else for the remaining five thousand gold.”
“Wait...” Jon raised his palm in the air. “What?”
The woman turned into a sheep by now. “Yes, Sir. Two gold each for the Excellent weed plant and fifty gold for each Magic plant. That's the highest I can pay you right now. And trust me, sir, no one in Chinari will pay you more than this.”
Nine thousand gold. Fifty gold for each magic plant. Again, money clouds had appeared in the sky. One thing was for sure, no one else would pay him more than this shop, and the mayor had told him personally the same, so the woman was telling the truth.
“What can you pay me for the remaining money?”
“Sir, may I know what you are looking for?”
“Rare seeds,” Jon replied before taking a breath. “Or a higher quality seed.”
The woman's face changed a myriad of colors. She must think he was a madman, but rest assured he wasn't. Rare or Unique seeds would help him reach his goals. What if he had an unlimited supply of Rare plants for his villagers? That would be Epic village's unique advantage.
“I'm sorry...”
Jon's face fell, as he’d expected more from Seed World. The name, the air he breathed, made him expect more from the shop.
“I don't have any Unique or Legendary seeds, but you might like these.”
Pulling a small tray from a hidden locker behind her, she placed it on the glass counter. “I have only three rare seeds, and each one is worth two thousand gold.”
Enticement ran through Jon's body as he glanced at the three lightly glowing seeds on the glass tray. The woman had three rare seeds. What would they produce?
Seed of Gluttony
Quality: Rare
20% chance to grow a rare plant that provides bonuses related to hunger.
Seed of Fasting
Quality: Rare
25% chance to grow a rare plant that provides bonuses related to fasting.
Seed of Water Plant
Quality: Rare
23% chance to grow a rare plant that will provide water to nearby plants.
System: You have discovered rare plants. +1 Herbalism.
“I'll take them all.” Jon wasn't so sure about the first two plants, but it increased his Herbalism by 1, so growing the actual plants might push him over level 10 of Herbalism, and he was looking forward to it. As for the twenty percent chance of success, he had something others didn't have. Sentient skills. “I'm also looking for grain seeds. Something that can feed my village. Even Low quality would work.” He only needed quantity and variety to increase his people's morale. Damn stat.
“Grain seeds. I can give them to you for free. Just look through them.” The woman pulled a tray from a nearby shelf and placed it in front of Jon. “Each seed is actually a stack of one hundred. Choose any ten for free. Others will cost you one gold per stack.”
Jon to quivered in shock. There were hundreds of different grains. If only he could steal the tray and run away, he might solve the food variety issue for his whole village. However, he didn't dare. He quickly sorted through ten different grains and bought ten stacks of each, spending ninety gold in total. Yet, he wasn't worried
because soon the fat woman would fork over a large amount of gold.
“What is this?” Jon picked up a small round seed which didn't have a name.
Chapter 44
The fat woman glanced at the stone-textured finger-width seed in Jon's hand before turning away. She didn't seem to care about it.
“Nothing useful. You can have it for one gold.”
Observing it carefully, Jon used his Intrinsic Vision, perception only resulted in another insult from the system.
Seed of Fire Tree
Quality: Rare
Grow into a Fire Tree of Arthiria. 20% chance to impact fire type creatures and heal them when in proximity. 45% chance to bare a rare Fire Fruit that can be used by a fire type creature to heal its injuries. 5% chance to bear two unique Fire Fruits once in a lifetime.
Requires Fire Element for initial growth.
Although Jon knew nothing about it, he would still plant a rare tree as it would increase his Herbalism level, or at least help with it.
“I'll take this.” Without showing a trace of happiness on his face, Jon placed the seed in his bag. “That will be it, then.”
The woman turned back and stared at Jon for a brief moment. “Handsome, would you sell me more Magic weed crop? I have to brew a special beer for the emperor, and having more Magic crop would help me. I'll reward you with plenty of rare seeds.”
System: Quest Alert
Serve the Emperor I
Brewer Elena wants to serve the emperor the finest beer brewed in Hurricane Empire. Provide her 1000 weed plants of Magic quality or higher in the next six months.
Quest Class: Unique
Quest Reward: 10000 EXP, 3 Rare Seeds, 50000 Gold.
Do you accept? Yes/No.
Wow! Even the gold reward sufficed to send excitement bolts across his heart.
He selected yes without a thought. With hard work, he would achieve this goal.
“Good choice. Take this.” Elena threw a white crystal at him. “That's my communication crystal. Contact me anytime you want to do business.” A sweet smile spread on her fat face.
Placing the crystal in his bag, Jon waved goodbye.
System: +500 reputation with Elena. +5% discount at Seed World.
But before he stepped out of the shop, he spotted the seed of Timil placed on a shelf. “Do you buy or sell Timil plants?” Jon asked, because he had around one hundred stems of Timil in his bag, and four hundred more were planted in God's Garden.
The fat woman shook her fat head in a very fat big no. “We sell them, but we only buy them from Herb World trading organization. If you want, you can buy a few seeds for research purposes, but don't try selling them to any vendor.” Her face darkened. “Don't tell me, you mass-produced that crop and are trying to sell it to me?”
Jon's jaw tightened. “No, I don't have any. But why can't someone grow them and sell?”
“My new friend. Don't do that, because Herb World is a high-level organization that holds the selling license for all common potion ingredients.” She paused. “If you want my frank answer, they have monopolized it with the king, and no one can go against them if they don't want to die.”
What the heck? Jon needed to do more research going forward if he wanted to raise a crop for commercial purposes.
TWO DAYS LATER, BACK in the warehouse, Jon was casting his Vine of Light on the one thousand tenth guard when a notification popped up in his vision.
System:
Research Workshop is completed.
Research Workshop
Building Class: Rare
Research ways to increase the efficiency and output of the buildings built in your empire.
Additional Skills:
EXP Boost: Doubles the EXP of your buildings. Maximum EXP gained: 100
Upgrade to gain new skills.
Great, a new skill had appeared in his Town Management menu.
“Lord, is there something wrong?” The guard sitting next to him asked.
Jon glanced at the guard and shook his head. Nothing was wrong. Everything seemed to be good. Quickly, he accessed his TM menu.
Current Resources:
BP: 575
Wood blocks: 3900
Stone blocks: 1550
Iron blocks: 600
Food: 1366
Resource Production:
Current BP Production: 45/day (Village buildings: 5, Population: 5, Associate Builder: 15, Basic Builders: 10, Temple of Atrizi: 5, Cloak of Zero: 5)
Now, with the new skill and the Cloak of Zero, he instantly added 90 BP to the total, bringing the total BP to 665. When he returned to his village, he was planning to invest 500 BP in the TM skill menu and take things further. Right now, he needed to build the warehouse as twenty wood workers were waiting for him in the village. Maggie had hired them, but without a warehouse they couldn't store the wood.
Jon sent a quick message to her through TM management window. “Maggie please build the warehouse and ask the wood workers to cut wood.”
“Yes, Lord.” Maggie's reply came within a moment, like she was sitting on the reply button. After he rescued her from the prison, her attitude had changed a lot. He wouldn't complain about it.
Back to healing.
A sudden notification pulled him out of his work.
System: You have healed 1000 damaged souls. Do you want to direct your healing souls to your Ring of Light or toward the Vine of Light?
Ahh, yes, he had forgotten that he needed to heal one thousand souls for his Vine of Light. However, he was surprised for a moment. When his vine devoured souls, the counter was visible in the skill menu. Here, it wasn't.
Tapping his knee, he thought about the pros and cons of redirecting his souls to both options. Finally, he chose Vine of Light because it had an exact requirement match. Maybe it would unlock a cool power like Vine of Darkness.
A glow surrounded the vine and imbued it slowly for almost a minute. All guards present in the room had an ecstatic expression on their face, like they were watching something divine. Jon guessed the vine was a godsend for those poor hurt souls.
Vine of Light
Tier: Semi-Sentient (Unique spell bound to the user. Can't be taught or converted into a skill book.)
A soul-healing vine. Heals injured souls to unlock seals. Each seal grants a new power to the wearer.
Current seals: 3
Opened seal: 2
Seal of the Healing (Seal 1): Heals a soul for 100 points per second. If planted in the ground, can provide healing effect in a 5-yard radius for 20 points per second. Vine returns to the caster after one minute of use unless recalled. Current healed souls: 0/1000. Cost: 250 spirit (500). Spirit cost halved if the next seal is unlocked. Next seal unlock requirement: 1000 healed souls.
Seal of Imprint (Seal 2): Imprints a seal on the caster's body for each 1000 souls healed. Caster can use the imprint power to provide healing effect without using the vine.
Imprint I: +10 to all attributes (Except Chance and Charisma).
Imprint II: +2 to all skills/spells (Except Rare/Unique/Epic/Sentient skills).
Imprint III: +1 to Burn Imprint
Burn Imprint: Burn all the imprints to imbue the Seal of Healing with the Greater Healing power. Greater Healing power enables the tree to heal 100000 soul damage per second in a radius of 1 mile for 1 minute. After 1 minute, the tree will remain in place until caster satisfies the unlocking requirements. If used, the caster suffers from 50% stat reduction for the next 180 days.
In a small text he read that the huge damage got there because of his Ring of Light set effect. As the healing power was composed of light magic, a raw damage of 50000 was awesome.
This was interesting. The measly skill had turned into a godly one. +10 to all attributes? Yay, baby.
Without another thought, Jon cast Soul of Imprint.
A white light flew out of the vine and fell on the back of Jon's right hand. White lines emerged from the light and waved around each other to form an intricat
e tattoo on his skin. After an itchy thirty seconds, the tattoo completed and formed a white phoenix glowing a faint white.
System:
Imprint I granted to user Jon. All attributes +10 (Except Chance and Charisma).
Jon stretched his hands, feeling the power of the attribute addition. Clear-headed and filled with vitality, he glanced at the guards.
“Call the remaining eighty guards. We’re working overtime.” With the quest completion EXP, he would achieve a good increase to his stats and powers, and now he was excited to gain those bonuses.
Chapter 45
System: Congratulations for completing Heal the Soul III. You have gained: 20000 EXP (Halved due to Divine Punishment), a favor and 3 resources from the mayor. Reputation with the town of Chinari increased by 3,617.
Congratulations, your total reputation with the town of Chinari has reached 4,317. You gain the status of Baron. Contact the town administration office to understand your benefits and obtain an insignia of the baron.
Congratulations, you have leveled up. You have reached level 12. You gain 6 skill points and 10 stat points to allocate.
Boom! A white light enveloped Jon as the notifications popped up in his vision. As expected, he had gained two levels. Yet the loss of experience pained him like a prick to the butt. If he didn't have that f-ing Death Aura, he would have reached level 16 or even 17 by now.
Anyway, he couldn’t do anything about it right now. First, he didn't know where to find the God's Seed, nor did he have a way to gain followers for Morpheus.
Damn you, god of light and death!
However, he was still happy with all the effects. With +10 to all attributes, 10 attribute points from level ups, and 8 points from the rare potion and level up allocation, he had reached a respectable level in the game. Especially his Spirit and Health values. He distributed 5 of his 10 attribute points in Charisma and 5 in Wisdom to bring his total to a comfortable level.
Name: Jon (Level 12)
Class: Arch Druid
Second Class: Formationist
Stats:
Strength 33
Dexterity 20
Constitution 50