9 Unfortunate Child
After dividing the loot, the team inquired about SayaShin's plans.
"Ohh... Apologies guys but I have a friend who is waiting for my arrival." - SayaShin
"Then can we add you as a friend? So we can help each other out." - VerBoss
"Sure!" - SayaShin
The group of druids headed towards Anna. The Herbalist glanced at the group and said to the Avaths; "So you have finally succeeded on my request?"
"Yes, thank you for your support. We would like to submit out find to the esteemed guardian." - AleyaNala
"Flattery wouldn't do you any good, hand over the items, and let me judge your efforts."
Anna was disappointed with the Avaths and doubted if these Druids are worthy of their title. So she gave them the strictest conditions. Originally the demerit points would only lower the chance of acquiring a rare skill from the random skill book, but because of their title, not only did they lose the chance to obtain rare skills, they are even required to fill an equivalent of ten requests.
"Here are the requested goods." - AleyaNala
After submitting the items and fulfilling the requirements of Anna. The Avaths received their rewards and were stunned when their price was deposited in their inventory.
[The Ire in the Herbalist's request (Completed)
Submit;
Wolves Bane: 200/100
Sunkissed Flowers: 100/100
Seeds of Shade: 400/100
Reward: Bear Transformation skill book, Search skill book, Random Skill book, EXP. +500, Gold +10, Anna's evaluation(Favorable).]
"You seem to have worked hard on my request, you can hand over the extra items that you have. I will, of course, buy them at a reasonable price" - Anna
The two unhurriedly withdrawn the extra Wolf's-Bane flowers, Wolves Bane, and Seeds of Shade, along with some other stuff that lifestyle players could use. With this exchange, the two Avaths obtained 25 golds each.
"Do you think she will buy these Vials?" GurinBare asked while looking at Sai.
"Why are you looking at me? Just ask if she is willing to purchase it, I mean you guys helped me a lot today, reaching lvl 8 for a none combatant is quite a feat and it's only been a few hours when I started playing. Besides, you could have left when you guys reached the lvl cap and head to the main city, but you stayed to boost me. I appreciate that... So do as you will, you earn it."
They indeed reached the lvl 10 cap in the town of beginnings, the group can not gain experience unless they finish their registration as a Druid Class and leave the town of beginnings.
The Group came to a silent agreement when they discovered the use of the Flowers Aura, that they would see to it that this friend of theirs would leave the town with them.
"As compensation to you, we will help you level until you reach lvl 10." Declare VerBoss.
"How about this, you help me find the NPC that gives the blacksmith sub-class. That's the compensation that I need right now."
While they were negotiations with each other. AleyaNala approached the herbalist showing the vial of purple Aura. And said; "Would the lady be willing to purchase this item from me?" which caught everyone's attention.
"You have such a valuable thing." the Dryad exclaimed, which interested everyone of the group.
[System: You have attracted the attention of the herbalist Anna. Grant her request and receive her praise.]
"A System notification appeared." Narrated the Avath.
"I will take every vial you have of that precious thing. A piece of gold for each." - Anna
Taking out all the vials she had from her inventory, and surrendering them to the Herbalist one by one. Then a when the tenth Vial was relinquished a the sound of the system was heard.
[You have unlocked the special exchange system with the Herbalist Anna.
Barter with the items that pique her interest to that which interests you. (Price Varies with Item Rarity)]
"Ohh... You can unlock a special function with this NPC if you submit 10 of the Purple Aura," noted AleyaNala.
"Young Druid you have brought me such a rare material, as a token of my gratitude please accept this gift." everyone was stunned when they heard Anna say this. Her interaction with the Avath earlier was quite indifferent, but now it was with a hint of appreciation.
[You received a gift from the Herbalist Anna. Open your inventory to see what you have received.]
Reading the notice, AleyaNala scrolled down her inventory and found strange glowing gloves.
[Herbalist Gloves lvl.10 (Inner garment)(Rare)
Stats:
Defense +100
HP +25%
Success Rate +10%
Casting speed +10%
Cool Down speed +10%
Personal Equipment; AleyaNala
Skill:
Gather (Passive)
- Any act of collecting would Grant a 50% success rate.
Refine (Passive)
- The quality of the materials obtained is enhanced.
Grow (Active)
- Sacrifice your Exp. To raise the gloves lvl and potential.
Firm Grasp (Special)(Sealed)
- Allow the user to wield a Two-Handed weapon with one hand, with no sub-hand restrictions.
Description:
A gift to the young Druid; AleyaNala, from the Herbalist Anna.
"May the Dryads blessing be with you."
(User Bound, Can Not Be Destroyed)]
Inner garments are items that most people would call fashion, used to cover their high-quality gears from prying eyes, without using any appraisal skills. Though some garments have the function to hide the equipment status underneath, the cost of such an item would be extravagant. The Inner garment was originally used to cover the figure or give comfort to the exposed parts of the players, especially worn under the immodest equipment in the game, But the discovery of inner garments with the passive skill to hide the status, it became the norm to hide equipment underneath instead.
Inner Garments with skills and status are hard to find and to think that one could be acquired in the town of beginnings is quite fond of the team. Much to the ability to grow with the equipment is unheard of.
To some rich players out there, the herbalist gloves are complete trash, with no notable stats, and some lifestyle skills, it is a waste of space. But for the lifestyle players out there its is a treasure. With the 10% success rate, it could boost their production by leaps and bounce, not to mention the Gather, Refine, and Grow skills.
What truly wonders AleyaNala was not the Lifestyle skills or the stats. It was the 'Special' that appears right next to the skill Firm Grasp. This would allow her to wield two two-handed weapons to fight, not to mention the skill and stat bonus from both weapons. 'This will be a game-breaking existence.' she thought to herself.
"Do you still have more of these Vials, I would be willing to trade gold or items." with this exchange a shelf appeared on the side of the Herbalist, only available to AleyaNala, no one else can see it.
On the shelf, were skill books exclusive for druids, instruments used by Herbalists, and an assortment of weapons and items.
Every item was exchangeable with their current bargain chip, Vial with purple liquid. Scanning the items on the shelf, AleyaNala spotted two items that piqued her interest, one is a sphere; Portal Orb, as the name states a teleportation device, that can store up to five coordinates. The other is a Crescent; a bladed weapon shaped like a crescent moon, exclusive to Druids. But on further observation, the item is used only to allow the player to have a feel on the crescents use and would later become useless because it can't be sold nor dismantled. Also, it is not a growth type of weapon.
So the leader decided to get the Portal Orb. And stepped back, whilst commanded: "Everyone should finish their quest now. So that we can see if Saya would still need a boost."
GurinBare steps forward and did the same thing as AleyaNala, he also took the same Portal Orb saying: " Saya! thanks a bunch, this thing will surely make our traveling time a lot shorter."
Listening to this the others questioned: "What are you talking about."
Which he responded: "See for your self." and stepped back not opening his mouth anymore.
The Azhil and the Eryu submitted their loots, exchanged their leftovers for gold which summed to 34.9 gold coins, 9.9 units higher than the Avaths because their requirements we're at the standard without penalty. Sold the Vials, received the same gloves with their respective names on it, not so surprisingly selected the Portal Orb.
Finally, it was SayaShins turn to finish his quest. When he approached the Quest NPC, it just stared at him for the longest time.
"Unfortunate child, what have you done to deserve such a fate?"-Anna
The others were stunned with the NPC tone. Then from the tip oh her hand appeared a globe the size of a tennis ball and entered SayaShins Body.
[Anna The Great Vates had seen through your Soul and started extracting the dead spirit within. Severe discomfort will be felt throughout this process, please do not turn off pain receptors or the process will fail.]
White light started to leak out of SayaShins body, and he slowly levitating from the ground. To the onlookers, this was a marvelous sight. But for Sai, this is the most terrible sensation, the young Wolf was slowly being pulled from his soul essence, a terrible feeling of loss was all he felt during the entire process. And when finally Anna stopped, everyone was stunned with what they saw.
A golden furred wolf was extracted from Sai's body, it was a sight to behold. But not for long, bared for everyone to see a red mark hovering above the creature [Golden Fur (Dead Spirit)], the rarest of the wolf spirit, lay there motionless.
"My deepest sympathy, to you young Vates. Perhaps you can grow yourself anew, from this calamity of your soul."
[The Wolf within you has perished:
Wolf Transformation is no longer available.
Wolf skills are no longer accessible.]
Following this, the wolf icon on his skill tab turned gray. The Wolf skill tree no longer appears on his skill interface.
It was devastating for every one of his friends to see. Their saving grace had received the greatest drawback. The loss of its spirit beast.
The Golden wolf that lay before him slowly vanishes leaving three items; A golden fur, a golden crystal, and a golden Book.
While everyone was following in the loss of such a precious beast. SayaShin promptly collected the drops and spoke to the dryad.
"I would like to exchange these vials."
He too reached the Dryads barter system, after receiving the gloves that contain his name. Fortunately, he has more than a hundred vials in hand, browsing the selection he found a strange skill book, after purchasing the Portal Orb, he still had enough to purchase the skill book.
"I saw a skill book for Aura Collection, why didn't you get it?" asked Sai.
"The orb costs 40 Vials, and that's all we had. Besides, the Random skill book became Aura Collection skill book." Said Shapeless.
"Yours too?" - VerBoss
"Dito." - AleyaNala
"Ting." - GurinBare
"Anyways condolences to your loss. To think that a Druid can not transform into a wolf." - someone said and everyone sympathizes.
It is indeed true that the wolf was the shape that symbolizes the Druids, and it is a symbol of their strength. And to further the loss it was one of the rarest, Golden furs.
" It's alright though." - SayaShin
His friends were puzzled with this response of his.
"Notice that I Never transformed even once."
To their realization. He indeed, not even once, transformed into the shape.
"The skill always read [unknown status affliction](Skill can not be used), since I left that library. Now at least I know the reason behind it."
"What is your Random book?" - VerBoss
"Just some animal transformation. Let me show you instead." -Sai
[Book Of Transformation (Sealed)
Class Restriction: Druid
- A book that contains the knowledge to transform into a certain beast.
-User: SayaShin (One-time use)]
"Wah... The system is quite generous to you, isn't it?" -VerBoss
"Not entirely, this book was on the shelf earlier." -SayaShin
"Yeah!... This was the one that costs about 200 vials right." - AleyaNala
"Was the one on the shelf 'SEALED' as well?" GurinBare emphasized the status that the others missed.
"No! I don't think..." - Shapeless
"Young Druids, you seem to be competent enough, gathering many materials for my research... Would you like to become my apprentices?" Anna asked while she stared at the group before her.
[You have received the recognition of the Herbalist. Would you like to be her apprentice?<Accept><Decline>]
Everyone in the team received this notification and looked at each other. Having a sub-class in this early stage of the game could spring many opportunities, But only select few are willing to do the arduous work to receive recognition from the master.
There are two ways to acquire a sub-class. One is to purchase a skill book from an NPC in the main city or kingdom. The other is to receive recognition from the masters or grandmasters located in each town of beginnings.
"Accept!" not letting the opportunity past them, they all agreed.
[System: You are now an apprentice of the Herbalist Anna.]
"A wise choice young ones. You have already proven your capabilities before me. Accept my blessing and spread the talent of Herbalist."
[System: You have received the Blessing of the Herbalist Anna.
You are now officially recognized as Herbalists.]
[System: You have received the Herbalist Guide Book.]
[System: You have unsealed the Herbalist's Glove Skill; Firm Grasp.]
This system prompt was received one after another, by the team.
