Chapter 51 — A Day of Potion-making
The next morning, Toren was greeted by a trio of notifications.
The notifications were welcome and the Constitution increase validated his choice to hold off on assigning his Attribute Upgrade Points. The points would be needed for the high-tide, but every bit of conditioning and training he could get done over the next several days would increase the base he had to work with and how high he could push the eventual upgrade.
He was also feeling certain that pairing [Physical Conditioning] with [Burning Blood] was already letting him push himself in ways that would have caused more injury than benefit before. The Skill had been one he’d eyed many a time since his Skill Day. But other Skills had always been more immediately important with his limited resources as an orphan, the limited mana of a tier-1 area, and limited Core space.
In Greenvale, [Physical Conditioning] was mostly taken by those with the resources and drive to feed it—[Squires], sponsored [Gladiators], people with ready access to mana-rich food, potions, and [Trainers]. Now, while he’d still have to be his own [Trainer], the tier-2 jungle had provided the solution to sourcing mana-rich food, and [Burning Blood] reduced the need for potions.
Without [Burning Blood], the others weren’t so lucky and would need to rely more on potions to improve their survival chances in the short number of days that they had left before facing one of the regularly recurring terrors of this new jungle life. The alchemy book Emina had purchased for herself and Falma did include both muscle mending and stamina recovery potions, so that was the main goal planned for the day.
As expected, the Hatterwicks were groaning like they were dying when they roused themselves for breakfast. Having fully recovered from the prior day’s exertions, Toren took pity on them and had a hearty breakfast ready.
Emina didn’t even complain or try to take over from him. Further physical training other than stretching would likely be impossible until their muscles recovered. Allowing some natural recovery before using the potions was probably for the best as well. The potions weren’t miracles that could be used excessively without diminishing returns and increased risk of potion toxicity.
“You’re already heading out?” Emina asked him with surprise when she noticed him strapping on his gear and a pouch-shaped foraging basket.
“I am. The Ability that allows me to quickly recover from wounds also extends to muscle-fatigue and stamina. Rest up and focus on making the potions. I’ll try to be back around mid-day.” Toren paused at the door. “Warnel, you did well yesterday. I’ll have special [Sword] training for you later today. Be ready.”
An unenthused grunt was all the response from the [Haberdasher] as he spooned a mouthful of meat-filled porridge.
“Should I come?” Laiya asked, her voice sounding half-way to dreading that he would say ‘yes’ but determined to rise to the challenge to prove herself if required.
Falma looked shocked at her sister and made a ‘no way’ motion with her hands then winced at having moved her sore arms.
Toren denied the offer. “We’ll work on [Stealth] when you’ve recovered. Help your mother and sister with the potions today.”
Closing the door behind him, Toren let Horevi’s light warm his face and spread his senses out through the claim magic. Nothing was out of place.
There was one secluded location near the edge of the property that he had yet to visit in the rush to prepare and sell the tavi harvest.
He breathed in the humid air and listened to the sounds of the jungle. The walk among the quiet but industrious buzzing of the domesticated bees and the gentle rustling of the orchard’s trees was peaceful. If not for the dangers that surrounded them, the property he had claimed was almost idyllic, and he couldn’t help wondering if he and Yana would have chosen such a property after reaching tier-2 and settling down to raise their own children.
His musing was interrupted by delicate crunching beneath his feet as he progressed deeper into the orchard. Despite Warnel’s efforts to collect the saberbeak bones for grinding into powder to enrich the soil, bird skeletons still lay scattered amid the orchard’s grass and fallen leaves.
As he neared the edge of the property, the tavi trees yielded to an ancient oak. Four ovals of dirt disturbed the moss growing in the shade of the gnarled tree.
The graves made by the Hatterwicks showed a surprising amount of care. Somehow, they had found the names of Levish’s wife and two children, crafting them into the Skill-made memorial plaques marking each grave. A weathered toy had been placed for each child and fabric ribbon-flowers for the adults, preserved with a preservation enchantment from one of the Hatterwicks’ Abilities. Sending his [Mana Sensing] into the ground, it was easy to tell that similar preservation enchantments had been placed on the cloth the bones had been wrapped in.
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After this much time and with the adults’ Profession Cores and the children’s Skill Cores having been eaten by the zoots, there was little risk of the deceased family’s spirits being called back and rebound to their bones. The tavi orchard drawing up excess mana from the ground also should further ensure that the bones wouldn’t infuse with sufficient mana to animate with the memory of life, but the tradition of placing small enchanted items with the deceased to receive the bone’s mana was still nice to see—a thoughtfulness amid the barbarity of frontier survival.
Maybe it was a wish from Emina that whoever came next to these lands would treat her family’s remains with the same respect. After all, if the high-tide went wrong, he and the Hatterwicks could well be the next ones to be buried on the property.
The day wasn’t getting any younger. Toren said a prayer for the original claimants and set off into the jungle, alone.
Vigor-root.
Toren silently approached the telltale blue-veined leaves and worked the plant’s hand-length root from the loose soil at the side of a small dip in the jungle floor. Once the vigor-root was secured in the hip-basket with the other collected plants and mushrooms, he paused and listened for changes in the jungle’s sounds and the already identified threats.
The large carrion bird in the canopy continued to call for a mate, and the thumb-sized ants marching in a trail on the other side of the dip kept marching, his use of [Stealth] sufficient to keep him from notice.
Exploring a tier-2 jungle for forageables at level 5, Toren mentally snorted. While living in Greenvale, he would have thought it suicide.
But even in a tier-2 jungle, not everything was tier-2. There were plenty of tier-1 critters that made their home here. Each of them had a means to survive.
Admittedly, the most common methods seemed to be the same as most other places: stealth and numbers. The stealthy part he was fine with. The ‘you live today because enough of your buddies got eaten’ was less good.
Careful not to alert the ants, he slowly worked his way parallel to the trail until he passed the enormous dead tree the ants were using as a home and continued his circuit around the orchard’s hill. Other than an odd armored animal that could curl up into a ball, the level 17-ish carrion bird and the barely level 1 ants were the only beasts that he had found nearby—if ants even counted as beasts.
Toren let them be. What he had found would be better used to get the Hatterwicks more beast-fighting experience and XP to speed Skill gains and Ability breakthroughs.
One apparent benefit of the zoot infestation was that other potentially troublesome beasts had long been driven off. That might just leave the zoot nest itself as their only major threat, and leaving it in place might actually be the better choice depending on whether it was above the floodline or below it.
Just as he was preparing to return to the claim, a quieting of the local birds announced the arrival of a patrol of zoots. Putting a tree between him and the lizards’ approach, Toren readied his bow.
~~~
『Name: Toren of Theravos
Race: Human
Age: 20
Profession 1: Level 5 Burningblood Berserker (4300/10000)
Mana: 80/80
Strength: 16
Constitution: 13 → 14
Dexterity: 14
Agility: 12
Wisdom: 12
Intellect: 8
Will Power: 18
Perception 15
Appearance: 8
Charisma: 8
Luck: 10
Attribute Upgrade Points: 4
Traits:
Sacrificial Guardian
Abilities:
Burning Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Mid
Control Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low
Flurry of Blows (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low
Ability Upgrade Points: 4
Profession Skills:
Severe Wound Recovery 5
Focus Rage 3
Combat Awareness 5
Berserker Weapon Arts 1
Pain Tolerance 5
Physical Conditioning 5 → 6
Intimidate 3
Skills:
Danger Sensing 3
Stealth 18
Mana Sensing 14
Wilderness Harvesting 12
Theravos Language 11
Religion 10
Meditation 5
Bone Strengthening 3 → 4
Divided Focus 2
Hunting 20
Archery 19
Running 12
Wound Binding 8
Arithmetic 4』
