Chapter 36. We finally meet

POV: Froggy

I was taken into a room by this librarian almost with force.

The room was one that I would dream about from time to time. It had a few brewing stations, not some old cauldron like I had in my house.

There were chests full of ingredients for making potions, but not for all the potions.

Nobody knows all the potions besides the Stone Kingdom, and they're not too willing to share it with the other nations.

But this isn't a problem for me. Ever since I've become a witch my head was filled with information about every potion possible, and what every potion does.

That's why I knew that Trader's curing method would work.

My head is in a mist with all the information that I have, so I have to concentrate on the specific thing so I could remember what I want.

This may sound like an awesome ability to have. I suddenly got struck by lightning and I get my brewing skill up to level seven, which would make me a master in any kingdom that I'll go in.

But there's no such a thing as a free power, there had to be a downside as well.

My skin got lighter, I got uglier, and the most damaging of them all is that my system is now broken.

_______________________________________________        

                                     SKILLS

_Crafting lvl 3

     ERROR/ERROR

_Brewing lvl 7

   1.235.500/??????

_______________________________________________

I had never seen or heard about such a skill tab.

The ERROR message usually appears only when you reach the max level on a skill, but it appears on my crafting skill which is only level three, and the brewing skill just got even weirder.

Before I was changed, I had levels in my crafting skill like any regular villager. I was one of the few people that managed to get to level four, which was a rare sight to see in such a small village.

I could see a bright future for me with hardworking and my high-level skill combined, but everything changed on that stormy night which was a rare sight to see in the desert. I was outside taking care of the chickens so they could get back safely when all of a sudden I was in intense pain.

I heard the chickens dying around me with sounds of flame surrounding me. I was in pain for what felt like hours, but was most likely just a few minutes.

Once I was finally able to gather enough strength to get up I was greeted by another sight of horror.

Beyond the small wall of flame was my village which was getting attacked by a horde of monsters that appeared out of nowhere.

I started to panic and took my stone shovel from my inventory.

And in pain with my hands trembling I hit the first zombie that I saw.

But when I hit the zombie I was not overwhelmed by the horde as I expected, instead only the zombie that I hit started to attack me while the others ignored me like I wasn't even there.

After a few good swings, I finally managed to defeat the monster and quickly went to the next one.

But even after all of that, I was too late, the monsters managed to slaughter everyone in the Village except for me.

I could see familiar faces walking on the dirt path with empty and dead expressions.

They were infected and turned into monsters as well.

And when I thought that things couldn't get any worse the sun finally got out of the rainy clouds which brought light all over the broken village.

And with the sun out the zombies started to burn and whine in agony.

So even in death my friends and family had to suffer for one last time.

I shook my head as I tried to lack up those memories again.

"This is the place where you can try all the potions that you ever wanted to. I'm sure that even though you have such a high level you didn't have the resources to use to its full potential. Here we want to help you use it"

The librarian smiled at me like he was doing me a huge favor with this. But I'm more than sure that they'll take the potions that I make as soon as I finish them.

But even if I knew that, I couldn't complain to his face since I was a detained honor guest.

"I'm thankful for such an opportunity and I'm sure to use it fully."

I responded with a smile which seems to satisfy the librarian.

"I'll be here to answer any questions that you have, with recipes and with resources. You don't need to feel restrained."

I smiled at that, and for the next few hours, I was as clueless as possible about some of the recipes that I already knew.

But after everything was over and he stashed the potions in a chest I decided to go and meet with Trader to see how's he doing.

But once I got to his room I was surprised to see it empty. I then asked a guard that stood there.

"Sorry to bother you, but do you know by any chance where my friend could be?"

The guard looked surprised to see me.

"Sir witch! Your friend is at the library studying right now I believe."

That would make sense, he did request access to the library so he could gather some more information. This is a pretty good idea to request since the palace must have a vast library of knowledge of all sorts of things.

He is probably looking for a way to get us out of here, maybe I should visit him to see how's he doing.

"I'm glad that he's doing so well, where is the library by the way?"

The guard started to look more uncomfortable when I said that.

"Your friend said that he didn't want to meet with you now sir. He said that he wanted some privacy for a while."

That was a weird response. I'm more than sure that Trader doesn't want to isolate himself from me without a reason, which leaves out the only other option which is to separate the two of us as long as possible.

I wanted to insist on finding out the location of the library at least, but the guard's lips were pretty sealed on that matter, so I had to give up for now.

I decided to just stay in my room until he'll come back to his room or look for me as well.

But after a few hours of waiting I was starting to get tired so I decided to go to sleep.

The next day I was served a meal and then brought back into the brewing room where I made more potions, and the librarian tried to teach me my job, which he did a very bad job.

It kept going like that for a few days when I tried to meet with Trader, but he was too busy in the library or was increasing his level of crafting skill.

I tried to be more forceful with the guards and the servants, but that only ended up with me changing my rooms so I won't bother them so often.

But after a few days of this going on and off I got mad and decided to lock myself in a room and I told them that I won't get out until I will meet with my friend Trader.

I felt like a child that throws a tantrum to his parents that he didn't get the gift he wanted on his birthday.

They tried to reason with me with empty promises but I stood my ground, I didn't want to be manipulated anymore.

And after a few hours, I heard a knock on the door.

"I told you already, I won't come out until I can meet with my friend."

"Well congratulations, you managed to convince them. They finally let me meet you."

I was presently surprised to hear Trader's voice, so I quickly broke the blocks that held the door.

"How was your reading time? I heard you got tired of me and didn't want to be bothered while you studied."

I said that with a big smile on my face.

" I was too busy studying? What about you? I was told you were too busy with the training to meet me."

He came into the room and closed the door behind him right as someone else tried to come in, and he managed to block the door with two blocks at unbelievable speed.

"What are they making you do in that training course anyway?"

"Just potions, theirs trying to teach me how to brew potions from scratch like I haven't been doing this for the past few years. I already know all the potions recipes ever since I've become a witch. And the last gift you gave me it's more expensive than everything they have in that room. I mean do you know how hard is to get a pufferfish in this desert? They don't even have a recipe for that. They have an incomplete manual for brewing potions, which doesn't surprise me since the Stone Kingdom has a monopoly on that information."

"You seemed to have that pent-up for a long time. Are you feeling better now?"

I just sighed when he said that.

"You have no idea how much better I feel. I had to look dumb to that librarian so he wouldn't get too suspicious of me. How did your studying go? Managed to find a way out yet?"

Once I mentioned that, he started to look more uncomfortable which wasn't a good sign to see.

"Let's say that I didn't waste time and tried to find a way where we could escape. And the best thing that I came up with was a tunnel that would get us out."

"A tunnel, that would take us ages to get out!"

"That would be a problem if it was a normal person doing it, but here's another secret about me."

He then proceeded to take out an iron pickaxe and hit the stone floor. But what truly surprised me, was that after five hits the sandstone block broke, which is impossible since I'm more than sure that the pickaxe wasn't enchanted.

"How did you break the block so fast? it should take way more than this to break it normally."

"That's one of my secrets, I can brake blocks faster than the average person and I can also place blocks almost instantly."

He then covered the hole with the same block that he took in an instant, which again is a surprise since it would take around two seconds to place a block normally.

"How did you do that?"

"That's a little secret of mine for now. What I wanted to tell you is that even if I can brake the normal blocks fast I can't brake obsidian with this pickaxe."

"Why would you need to brake obsidian in the first place?"

He didn't respond to my question but instead, he started to make a hole in the ground again.

I looked confused at what he was doing, and when I wanted to ask what he was doing he finally responded.

"You can see it yourself."

He pointed at the obsidian under his feet, which surprised me.

"What's that obsidian doing there?"

"I don't know, but it's under the whole palace for sure."

"How did they find so much obsidian? I thought it was a rare block and very hard to break."

"I'm as confused as you my friend. For the past few days, I've been digging tunnels in hopes to find an exit, but it's too hard to do it without barking at someone's floor accidentally."

"I can see the problem as well. So what's the plan then?"

"I don't have that much of a plan, so for now I'll keep digging until I'll find a way out for us."

I didn't like the sound of that plan, but I guess it's better than nothing.

We had to stop our secret meeting there since the servants and the guards started to break the door with the barricade.

"We have to stop here for now. I'll dig a tunnel to your room and we can talk more often then."

Trader said, which I was quick to agree with.

He closed the hole he just made and the guards finally managed to break the door.

"Dear hero please don't scare us like that. if you needed some alone time with your friend you could've just said so, you didn't need to use such extreme measures. What if something happened to you and we couldn't help?"

The librarian looked at me worried which made me sigh.

"I'm sorry mister. I didn't want to scare you like this, fortunately, I just finished my discussion with my friend so I'm ready to get back to business as usual."

His face lit up once he heard what I said.

"We can forget such a small mistake as long as your getting back to training. Come this way, hero, time must not be wasted."

With a final sigh, I went after him.

It would be a boring few weeks for sure.