Day 25 continued

Seriously, there is a time and place for everything. In the middle of a forest with multiple predators and one really hungry boss monster is not the place for a random hug. Although it does have a calming effect too...

Ugh. As much as I hate it, I untangle myself from my sister.

Mother is just laughing softly at our antics. She does seem to be keeping an ear out for danger, so that is comforting.

Niala tries to hug me again but I place a palm on her forehead and hold her at arms length until she calms down. My sister is really happy about her ability. When I asked her why, she just pointed at my tail.

Huh?! The bitten off end has regrown! It has been a sore spot for me for a while, since I had to keep it clean without anything sterile to use. But holy hell, she just regrew part of me directly connected to my spine like it was nothing!

These skills are damn close to being magic! Does everyone have these?!

…

Apparently they do...

Mother just invoked her own Detect Food skill. She has the 'Superior' version as opposed to the 'Lesser' that Niala has. The difference was explained as simply: Mother's version can automatically find all food items of 'Medium' quality or less. However her 'Gather' ability is also 'Superior' and this allows Mother to harvest food items of 'High' quality, if she can find them.

To put this in perspective, my own skill 'Detect Resources' is actually weaker than Niala's specialized food detection skill. I can only detect food items that are 'rancid', 'awful', 'lower' and 'lesser' quality automatically. However my 'Gather Resources' allows me to harvest 'low' quality food items as well as the automatically detected ones.

Niala's skill being specialized like Mother's allows her to find food of 'low' quality or less automatically and harvest 'moderate' quality food. The difference is I can also detect other resources. So far this has been limited to sticks, rocks, wood and bark. All of them 'lesser' or lower quality. However, they are all things I have a feeling I can use.

According to Mother, a healing skill is rare. The weapon skills, less so. Apparently everyone gets a skill or two that fits their personality or history.

In fact when I mentioned that I was a Forager rather than the Gatherer class Mother was slightly surprised. She hadn't heard of it before. Her lectures today had been part of the whole class learning system. As an experienced Gatherer Mother could train others to attain her class, so the fact I was something slightly different was quite odd. She laughed off the irregularity by assuming it was because I was too interested in all the shiny things.

Niala actually got a Jewelery Appraisal skill and instead I got Nourishment, probably to supplement the poor detection skill I had gained. Ironic Mother thinks I'm the one obsessed with gems and metal.

Niala first tested her Jewelery Appraisal skill on her ring (with attached hidden spike). She wasn't able to identify the item. All she learned was that it was a 'higher' tier ring. The ring I wore on the other hand was: A simple silver band, made with care and modified to conceal a weapon. Low tier.

In other words my ring was a cheap thing, hers was something special, perhaps even unique.

Aside from the seal, I wonder what makes it so different? They're both silver.

Mother managed to scrounge up a single blackberry of 'high' quality and shared it with us. It was the size of my fist and otherworldly sweet. Compared to the 'lesser' foods, which were tart, discolored fruits or partly eaten nuts the difference was heaven and earth. The seal ring was at least a tier better than this example...

To specify the tier system for food quality apparently goes:

Rancid

Awful

Lower

Lesser

Low

Moderate

Medium

Good

High

?Higher? (hypothesis)

?Highest? (assumption)

Based on this Mother is highly skilled in this area, close to the highest possible level. I assume. I don't have enough information yet to say this with certainty.

As we head south we eventually meet the river that passes by Rat Town. I know this is certainly the same one because it is straight as a line and doesn't seem to fluctuate in height either... very weird. I gather a bundle of reeds with an idea in mind for our next visit and observe with care everything around us, in the hopes of finding something useful.

I'm startled by movement in the reeds. I jump to the assumption it is predators, but to my surprise a small herd of giant caterpillars race away, inching along in a desperate bid for escape. I'm kind of stunned by the creatures, how utterly bizarre to see insects nearly my own size. I take a deep breath, trying to gauge the oxygen content. It has to be high for an insect like that to survive, unless they only outwardly resemble insects. Is it the forest habitat? I don't feel any different. I'll avoid trying to light a fire, on the off chance it consumes us all in a flash.

Mother confirms the caterpillars are edible, but says they are stringy. Ew.

Later as the sky above us turns black we start to head home. As we do I notice a metallic sheen under a prickly bush.

I approach slowly but Mother stops me, pointing out something I hadn't expected. A thread of transparent material. A snare, like a trip-wire.

I glance around and finally see the spider, a monstrous brute twice my size blending into the bark of a large tree, pretending to be a broken branch. Practically invisible, if not for the thread it held. It was watching, waiting for us to become entangled. Using the object as a lure.

We turn back and circle around that area, although I am sad I couldn't identify the item. I'd rather not cross that killer. It did serve to illustrate just how dangerous the forest is if you're unwary.

Anyway, I'm watching where I step now.

We are about to leave when my nose catches a scent of metal. It isn't what I'm used to; silver, platinum and gold. Iron perhaps? It is faint.

I scrape off soil and find a buried leather bag about the right size for me, perhaps filled with belongings or treasures hidden from thieves by some stranger.

Hmm. Whoever buried this was desperate at the time, there are ordinary provisions like food and a water-bottle in here, as well as clothes. The food is moldy. The water-bottle empty. The clothes musty and mildewed. At the bottom is a rusty compass, so rusty is doesn't even work. I snatch the magnetic needle, as it can be reused.

I empty the bag, clean the dirt off roughly, taking only the bottle and compass needle as they are useful.

We head down the passageway, back toward home. There are several rats around, we could see them in the distance in the forest but at the end of the day they are congested here, at least fifty or sixty of us trying to leave.

The walk is slow and we are quite congested and vulnerable in the tunnels, but thankfully nothing comes out to greet us.

Once we get home, I start sorting through my collection of useful things. First of all I use the reeds, threading them together to create a bag. From now on, we will be stocking up on food to avoid the regular monster rampage. To do that we need to be able to carry it.

After that I take a heavy stick and a giant needle binding them together using thread from the gem bag, creating a pick. I doubt it will do anything much to the rock around us, but as a weapon it should be decent.

The rest I stash in the corner of the room, I have some ideas for the rocks and bark.

I also have Niala examine every piece of treasure in our home, from the three tiny gems I found in the junk to the giant sized valuables in the safe.

The results were:

One red bead made of glass. Flawed quality.

One blue bead made of turquoise. Lesser quality.

One low quality yellow diamond.

Twenty five unidentified pieces of gold bullion, good quality.

One damaged piece of gold bullion, medium quality. (The one I used the rasp on.)

Fifteen broaches, miscellaneous materials, good quality.

Seven broaches, broken, moderate quality. (The ones I took needles from.)

Four plain rings, two silver and two gold, all low quality.

One ruby studded gold ring, good quality.

Forty two giant sized star sapphires, high quality.

Giant gold chain necklace, good quality.

Miscellaneous jewelery X 20

Most of it was out of her league in terms of identification. We also learned that the item scale had one difference from the food scale: 'flawed' quality instead of 'rancid'.

Interestingly, the glass bead actually had some background information. Apparently it was part of a larger necklace, created for a lady of the Carmitan species. What a Carmitan actually is I have no clue, but they at least have forges and know how to make crude glass. That says they are at least as advanced as the classical period on Earth. So probably copper or bronze weaponry, at least. The bead is still opaque and has grit floating in it, so the technique used was crude. Perhaps they are the same species as those merchants who died nearby recently.

Mother leaves, to attend some kind of regular meeting for adults. I assume this to be a governmental meeting, assuming this place is basically a community controlled town. Perhaps with information about recent events and threats thrown in.

In the mean time Niala and I play with one of the sapphires, rolling it around like a ball to pass the time.

Arbitrarily She declares herself the winner, despite the game having no rules. She then claims her prize as the winner, an extra long hug. This becomes a game of tag as I flee the hug. My training pays off, as she is forced to stop, panting and exhausted. She whines, disappointed as I take a victory lap.

I make my way back to bed and try to sleep, triumphant. Until she glomps onto me, refusing to let go. There is no escape from the sister-magnet of love... as she calls it. So I'm stuck being a hug pillow for the night.

P.S. She drools.

What we learned this chapter:

Rat society has some kind of loose structure.

Item identification tables.

There is no escape from hugs of love!