The commercial district of Bjora left much to be desired, with most shops being scattered around haphazardly with little in the way of a map or helpfully direction. There were probably more dockyards than actual buildings, but that made sense as the village relied on the ocean more than other professions.

His first stop was to find some sort of skill book shop. It didn’t take long to find the needed shop. And he was more than grateful to see that there were barely any folks inside. Stepping through the wooden door, Ambrose was greeted by the smell of paper and ink.

Rows of books were stacked neatly on shelves. Small glowing crystals were embedded in the walls and provided enough light to see the entirety of the shop. Ambrose looked at a few of the books as he traveled around the store, looking for the owner or someone who could help him. It didn’t take long to find a wizened old man behind a counter, scribbling away at a small journal in front of him. Ambrose coughed lightly to get the man’s attention.

Grey eyes looked up from the yellow paper to meet Ambrose’s blue. The white flecks of hair were disturbed as the man craned upwards from his hunched-over state. A few brown spots were scattered across his skin, obvious signs of his growing old age. For a moment Ambrose thought the man was blind but was interrupted when he spoke.

“So what can I do for you young man?” The elder had the airs of an experienced scribe, which would make sense as to make skill books probably involved a high level in the [Scribe] skill.

“Hi, sorry for disturbing you but I was recommended to get some skill books before I went off with my collective group. You wouldn’t happen to have any on hand would you?”

The man laid down his raven feather quill upon a small stone before leaning back in the wooden chair.

“Aye, I have some skill books. They aren’t spectacular or rare but they’ll get you started instead of you wasting your time trying to unlock the skill on your own. What are you looking for?”

Ambrose gave him a brief list of the skill books that the god had recommended. The old man rubbed the side of his face for a moment before replying.

“I have [Cooking], [Physical Fitness], [Identification], and [Wood Working]. You’ll have to get the rest from the other shops around the village.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you have the skill books and they do? Don’t you need a certain skill to make the skill books?” The man didn’t seem to have the same discrimination that most of the other villages had, which Ambrose tried to capitalize on.

“Hmm, to make a skill book you need at least a person with (Journeyman) rank in a skill and a person with the skill [Scribe (Journeyman)] too. I offer to buy the skill books off of them but they pay me for my service so they can sell them at their shops. It brings in more customers to them.” The old man gestured to the journal that he was currently working on.

“This one here is a [Writing] skill book, which is a skill that helps the [Scribe] skill. Since I have both at least (Journeyman) I don’t need another person to help me with it. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes, thank you.” Ambrose bowed his head gratefully to the man who had taken time to inform him. While Ambrose didn’t have any plans to gain the [Scribe] skill, it certainly helped to know that skill books weren’t only found in libraries and the like.

“But back to the reason I am here, how much would it be to purchase the four skills from you?” Ambrose had a purpose for being at the store, and he personally didn’t want to be the last person to meet back at the Floating Otter Inn.

“It's ten silver per book,” Ambrose sucked in a breath. Ambrose only had the starting two gold pieces that were given to every player, and he would need all of it to purchase the other skill books and items for his budding farm. But skills were too important, especially since unlocking them through natural means was too random, and skills would also grow over time as he used them. Which would pay off later down the road.

Pulling out a gold coin from his coin pouch, Ambrose placed it on the counter in front of the man.

“Can I get all four of the skill books, plus the latest bestiary on hand,” Ambrose asked as politely as he could, although to the man it probably sounded a bit off. Ambrose wasn’t used to purchasing things face to face. The man narrowed his eyes for a moment.

“You’re one of those new souls, correct?” Ambrose began to sweat, it had all been going so well but the old man’s blindness had obviously worn off and now Ambrose was about to get fleeced. But he really needed those skills. Deciding that he was too bad of a liar to try to conceal his identity, Ambrose told the truth.

“Yes, I arrived not more than an hour ago.” Ambrose hung his head downcasted but was shocked when the man’s voice let out a soft chuckle.

“No need to be dejected, I’m not about to chase you out of my store. It’s not like I could anyway,” it was only then that the man rolled away from his desk and Ambrose saw his current state.

His wooden chair wasn’t actually just a chair, it was a primitive form of a wheelchair that wheeled around on smoothed oak. The man was crippled.

“Not being from here or whatever else the other village folk hate you for doesn’t concern me. As long as you stay out of trouble and are a good person, then you and I will get along fine.” The old man paused to study Ambrose, taking in his current attire and bearings.

“You have the look of someone who is about to leave. Part of a collective are you?” Ambrose nodded mutely, waiting to see where the old man was heading.

“The thing about living on the Isles is that we don’t get a lot of luxury items here. Sure we get the necessities from the traveling merchant ships, but we hardly ever get visits from people with the items that a man of my wealth can afford.” Ambrose began to piece things together. The old man wanted something, something that he couldn’t easily acquire.

“I need paper, a lot of it. The merchant who used to sell it to me met an unfortunate end to a sea monster two years back and no other merchant has been willing to acquire it for me. Though, it's not like many people would be willing to buy the parchment here either,” the man grumbled for a bit about villagers not being able to write.

“Point is, I need paper. Freezes, it doesn’t even have to be made, it can just be the plant and my apprentice will do the rest. Will you do it?”

Ambrose was distracted by a sudden screen appearing in his vision.

[Quest Received!

Description: Help the book store owner get paper to create more books. Can be already made of paper or papyrus.

Time Limit: 6 months

Quest Minimum: At least 3 crates of paper (Common) OR ten bushels of papyrus (Common)

Quest Reward: 5 silver per crate of paper. 10 experience per crate of paper. 100 reputation with Nathaniel, the book store owner. 25 reputation with Bjora Village. OR 1 silver per bushel of papyrus plant. 2 experience per bushel of papyrus plant. 100 reputation with Nathaniel, the book store owner. 25 reputation with Bjora Village

Quest Failure: -50 reputation with Nathaniel, the book store owner. -10 reputation with Bjora Village]

Ambrose had a few questions before he would accept.

“Where could I find some papyrus seeds?” The old man once again narrowed his eyes on Ambrose.

“A farmer are you? Huh, not many of you on Norsege, it's a hard land to farm besides sturdy crops. If you’re planning to farm the papyrus, visit Agatha’s Herb Shop near the forest edge. She’ll have the seeds to get you started.” The old man nodded to himself.

“So, do you accept it?” The screen flashed once again.

Ambrose reached out his hand.

“I’ll try my best to get even more than you’ve asked. Your apprentice will wish he'll see another piece of papyrus again.” Ambrose joked and Nathaniel gave a short bark of laughter as he shook his hand.

“Let me get your books from the back so you can start making due on that promise.”

Ambrose left the bookstore forty-five silver coins poorer, but with four more skills and a book on the known wildlife. A prompt appeared in his vision as Ambrose touched the four books, they disappeared in a small flash of white lights as the rays were absorbed into Ambrose’s body.

He immediately felt himself become a little bit fitter, the minor soreness in his legs vanishing entirely as the [Physical Fitness (Novice I)] took effect. The other skills were less noticeable but Ambrose tried out his new [Identification (Novice I)] skill on a person walking by.

[Flamel Vers: Level 1 - Norse]

The Norse man continued walking along the dirt path, oblivious to Ambrose’s skill use.

The boy continued to use the skill as he wandered around the shops. Purchasing the [Archery] and [Bowcraft] skills was a frosty huntress. The fierce woman had to restrain the soul gem-bound wolf by her side from lashing out at Ambrose. Ambrose had learned that the woman bought any pelt about (Uncommon) rarity for a decent price. Though Ambrose might keep any pelts to himself for his own use.

The [Leatherworking] skill was also purchased from a woman who was practically soaked in tanning solution. Her store had been at the very edge of the village, probably due to the foul smell that constantly came from her. Ambrose had also purchased a few rolls of string and twine to try his hand as stitching with the skill.

The two skills [Wood Working] and [Construction] came from a beefy man that worked at a lumber mill near a stream that went off into the ocean. The man heaved entire logs upon his shoulder before placing them in the mill. It had taken a lot of pep talk and courage to approach the man but he had finally walked away with the two skills plus a [Logging (Novice I)] skill book after the man informed him that to cut down the [Heavy Pine Timber Tree] in the area. Ambrose wasn’t sure if he really needed the skill but the man seemed to become warmer to him after he had purchased it, giving a few tips on what to look out for when constructing his log cabin. Also selling him a few items like a drawknife which he was supposed to peel the bark of the tree with. The [Construction] skill filled in a few of the blanks and surprisingly the [Earth Manipulation] helped further with creating a stable foundation for his plans.

Ambrose was able to buy a few blueprints from the man too. Namely a small log cabin blueprint which could be modified, with a few adjoining blueprint buildings that could be built upon the cabin as time went on. Namely a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, crafting room, basement, etc. Ambrose also purchased a barn and smokehouse blueprint, the barn for the eventual animals, and the smokehouse for preserving meat through periods of time. Winter in Norsege was supposed to be brutal, and starving to death didn’t sound fun.

Ambrose would have created all these blueprints for himself instead of purchasing them, but his inexperience would cost him more than the coin he was spending. Ambrose bid the muscle monster of a man farewell before heading to one of his final stops.