by Jamey Sultan
As she handed them to him, Nana gave James instructions. “You must place the charms around the edges of his garden. Makes sure to place them no more than 100 feet apart. They will emit an aura that removes the curse of any Rabban that enters the area of effect.”
Ferko thanked her and told James to meet him at the front gate of the village in the morning, then headed out.
Once he left, James looked at Nana. “Thank you for helping me,” he said sincerely. “I don’t know where I’d be if you hadn’t decided to help me as much as you have.”
She smiled. “Of course. Now get some rest, you have a lot to do tomorrow.”
James took the hint and left, heading back to the inn to spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing, his first day off in a while. This world was strange, terrifying at times, but he couldn’t get over the wonder of living in a world filled with magic.
Chapter 12
James met with Ferko at his cart in front of the city gates the next morning. He waved at Lamia as they pulled away and headed down the road to Ferko’s farm, bumping over small potholes in the road as they transitioned from the nice cobbles of the village to the rougher dirt of the path. They wound along the river toward the Crimson Mountains, painting the horizon ahead.
They spent the rest of the morning chatting companionably as James enjoyed his first full free day in a while. Ferko told James about his family. It was hard for him and his wife because their son had recently left for Fallmire to undergo his initiation. Experience could only be gained once a person turned 15-years old. When people turned 14, they underwent a ceremony called initiation, where they were brought to the capital for two years of mandatory military service. Without his son, Ferko and his wife had to do all the farm work themselves. Their daughter wasn’t old enough to help out yet.
“Hang on a second.” James hopped off the cart to inspect an interesting patch of flowers on the riverbank.
Dragon Ditch Weed:
Rank: Common
Come on… We both know that you know what it’s used for.
Ignoring the item description, James compared the plant to its picture in his book. Both plants had pastel purple petals and a slight red tint to their leaves.
Dragon Ditch Weed:
A more common and less effective version of the plant Dragon Weed, Dragon Ditch Weed is a necessary component in both the Potion of Thirst, and the Drought of Dizziness.
Continued on next page…
James chuckled at the item description and slipped a few flowers into his pouch, when he felt an uneasy shiver run down his spine. He glanced nervously at the foggy forest across the river.
He’d heard stories about the Witchwood in town, which was rumored to have led to the death of many overconfident adventurers who tried to brave its secrets.
The Witchwood was actually one reason that Riverside, a border town, was garrisoned so heavily. The Goblin clans living in the forests constantly launched attacks on the town in an attempt to expand their territory.
James didn’t know much about Goblins, other than what he’d heard from people in Riverside. But from what he understood, they didn’t have a cohesive government. Rather, they followed a hierarchical society where the strongest Goblins would create and lead different clans, the largest of which was the Shrieker clan.
A particularly heavy bump brought James back to the present. They were at a farmhouse in the center of an expansive field filled with cinderstalks poking their leafy heads out of the ground.
A young girl of five or six ran out of the farmhouse as if shot from a cannon. “Daddy!” she cried out in excitement, wrapping Ferko’s legs in a hug.
“Look how big you are!” Ferko responded as he scooped her up and started walking to the house. James waited for a second, unsure what to do, before following.
A plump, motherly woman holding a spatula greeted Ferko with a peck on the cheek before introducing herself to James.
Name: Mary Lassen
Race: Human
Level: 29
Class: Farmer
James smiled and introduced himself. “I’m James. You have a lovely home.”
“Aww, well thank you, honey.” She turned to her husband. “You brought home a polite one this time.”
Ferko smiled. “Let’s grab some dinner to warm our bellies before you get to work.” James agreed easily. He wasn’t going to argue with a nice warm meal.
He sat down at the table while Mary served up a savory pie filled with meat, vegetables, and cinderstalk bits. While they were eating, James made polite conversation, talking about what life was like on the farm and how he’d met Ferko.
On James’ first bite of pie, he felt relief in his travel-weary bones, and all the built-up tension in his body relaxed. An energy built up, but not the nervous energy from drinking too much coffee. Rather, this was more the type of energy you get during the peak of an intense workout. He could almost feel his muscles tightening, his lungs strengthening, his mind quickening.
A small icon popped up into the corner of his vision, and he focused on it.
You have eaten Mary’s Cinderstalk Pie
24:00:00 duration
+ 5 Strength
+ 5 Constitution
+ 5 Endurance
+ 5 Wisdom
+ 5 Dexterity
+ 5 Intelligence
For someone of James’ level that was an insanely powerful buff, and he smiled gratefully at Mary. Curiously, he asked her how she got her name on the prompt.
“I won the cooking competition in the fair at Carden last year, and the prize was that the system accepted my recipe as an official recipe,” she said with pride. Mary went to the other room and returned with a small index card, which she handed to James.
Mary’s Cinderstalk Pie:
Rank: Common
This recipe teaches you how to make Mary’s Cinderstalk Pie.
You have found a recipe. Would you like to learn the recipe?
James tried to hand the card back to her, but she shook her head. “It’s yours. I have a whole box full of them. Consider it thanks for helping us out.”
“In that case, thank you,” James responded, mentally accepting the prompt to learn the recipe.
You cannot learn this recipe: Mary’s Cinderstalk Pie.
Your skill in cooking is too low to learn an Advanced level recipe.
James sighed in disappointment and slipped the card into his pouch. He’d use it when his cooking level improved enough.
After dinner, she showed him to a room upstairs and set him up for bed.
The next morning after a delicious breakfast of eggs and sausage, Ferko approached James. “So, ready to do this?”
James nodded. The buff from Mary’s Pie was still going strong, and James felt confident.
“Good. Head around the border of the farm and place one of those charms down every hundred feet.” James removed the stack of parchment from his pouch. “It shouldn’t be too hard, but call out to me if you need me.”
“That’s it?” James asked.
“Yep. Watch out for the Rabban though. They normally don’t come out during the day, but they’ve been acting strange recently.”
Ferko’s farm was massive. Neat rows of green poked out of the earth as far as the eye could see. It wasn’t all cinderstalks. There were tons of other plants that James had no name for scattered all over the farm in organized chaos. James couldn’t help his amazement at the power of a high-level Farmer. He wondered what he would be able to do once he got his second or third class.
A warm breeze blew across the farm, rustling the tops of the vegetables and carrying the scent of nature to James’ nose. But there was something else—an energy to the air. It smelled like adventure.
James suspected he was feeling the high ambient Mana levels of the Fertile Expanse. Ferko’s farm perched on the edge of the expanse, but the Mana levels were still significantly higher than they were in Riverwood.
It was one of the reasons that
the plants and animals in this area were so large and powerful, and according to Ferko was the reason he’d chosen this land. It wasn’t deep enough in the Fertile Expanse that the farm was in danger from high-level enemies, but the ambient Mana did have a heavy effect on the vegetation.
The edge of the farm was easy to discern. There was a stark contrast between the organization of the farmland and the chaotic overgrowth of the land surrounding it.
Over the next few hours, James walked around the border of the farm, placing the charms on the ground as he went. Each time he placed one, it sank into the soil and a golden bubble expanded outward. All James had to do was walk until he found the edge of the previous bubble, walk a little longer, and repeat the process. It was slow, methodical work, mostly because of the massive size of the farm, but James enjoyed it.
About half an hour into his work, a rustling noise in the foliage interrupted him. He froze and strained his eyes, staring into the darkness for a glimpse of whatever was there. The rustling got closer until James could just barely make out a pair of long, fuzzy grey ears poking out of a nearby bush. He crept towards the ears, trying to make out the full creature.
You have gained 1 Skill Rank in Stealth.
You are now Skill Rank 5.
With his bonus from the Cinderstalk Pie, the equivalent of over seven additional levels of stats, James was finding it much easier to sneak up on his prey. Once the creature’s full face was in view, he could see its information.
Rabban (Level 13)
The Rabban was adorable. Weird, how what was in essence an enormous rabbit could be causing so much trouble. An enormous, cuddly, fluffy rabbit. If James had been paying attention, he might have wondered how such a cuddly prey animal could have reached level thirteen. Instead, he wondered if he could pet the Rabban.
James approached the Rabban, taking extra care to remain sneaky, but unfortunately, a life in the city didn’t exactly lend itself to a high level of skill in sneaking through the woods. Life as a prey animal had, however, lent itself to excellent reflexes on the Rabban’s part.
Before James had even taken ten steps, he stepped on a branch. Immediately the Rabban’s ears perked up, and its head swiveled to stare directly at James, who had frozen in place in an attempt to hide in plain sight. Needless to say, it didn’t work.
Slowly, James backed away from the fluffy beast, maintaining eye contact. He may have been a city boy, but he had seen enough nature documentaries that he had an inkling of what to do when facing a wild animal.
You have gained the skill: Sixth Sense
Sixth Sense (Skill Rank 1):
You don’t know how you know. You just know. Keep listening to that feeling! It is said that Masters of the Sixth Sense can predict an enemy attack before their enemy has decided on it.
The Rabban interrupted James’ reading as a crimson glow filled with pinpricks of black light surrounded it, temporarily obscuring it from sight. It blew outwards from the Rabban in a wave of force that pushed James back a few steps. The light faded away and James rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the bright spots from his vision.
When his vision cleared, the Rabban still stood in the same spot, only now it was in the center of a small crater of upturned earth and decayed vegetation. The creature was transforming. Bones splintered as the creature grew and reformed, its flesh melting and molding to the creature’s new skeleton.
Twisted Rabban (Level 13)
Malevolent eyes stared back at James, maddened by pain. The cute bunny was no more, replaced by a chest-height, broad-shouldered creature with a malformed mouth crammed with teeth that jutted in all directions. James eyed its two enormous white tusks nervously as he stepped back and drew his sword. The Rabban took a few steps forward but yelped in pain as its foot overlapped the golden dome created by the Charm of Cursebreaking.
It took another step towards James, golden sparks flashing off its body as the Charm of Cursebreaking attempted to either repel the creature or reverse the curse. But aside from the light show, the charm did nothing to stop the advancing creature.
It charged at him with a roar. James took a calming breath and sidestepped, swinging his sword and cutting deep into the Rabban’s flank.
The beast screamed in rage, spinning around to face James, who was feeling much more confident after the successful strike. Time to have a little fun.
James mimed waving a cape, like a matador taunting a bull. With a screech of rage, the Rabban charged at him again.
Again, James stepped to the side, attempting another cut to the Rabban’s flank. This time, the monster was expecting it and tossed its head to one side, driving a tusk deep into James’ thigh. A red-hot pain lanced across his side, driving away all thought. He’d gotten overconfident, and he’d paid for it.
For the past month, James hadn’t been sure how to feel about being brought into this world. Sure, he missed his life back on Earth. He missed his family.
But Novis was full of wonder. It was the land of magic he’d always dreamed about. For the past month, he’d floated through a dream. But the pain along his side hit like a bucket of ice water, the rudest of awakenings reminding him that the dangers of this place were all too real.
James stumbled back, clutching his wound as the Rabban pawed at the ground, preparing for another charge. He looked around for a place to dodge, but there was nowhere to go. He was trapped, the tree against his back blocking him from any evasive maneuvers. Not that he really had any in the first place.
As the Rabban charged, James braced himself and leapt, grabbing a branch a couple feet above his head. The Rabban crashed into the tree directly below him, the reverberation almost causing James to lose his grip. He hung there in silence, fresh blood flowing from his side and down his leg, where it dripped onto the Rabban’s head.
The Rabban was clearly stunned from the impact. When it recovered, it would most likely be able to jump high enough to reach him. It was basically a rabbit, after all. Even if it couldn’t, James wasn’t sure how long he could hang from the branch, especially at the rate he was losing blood. He was already starting to feel lightheaded.
As he saw it, there was one option—attack the Rabban before it recovered. James shifted his grip on his sword, so it pointed towards the ground. Taking a deep breath, he let go of the tree and wrapped his other hand around the handle over the first.
James fell straight down, his sword severing the beast’s spine, piercing through its body and into the dirt below. The Rabban had seen better days. James, on the other hand, was perfectly fine—he’d landed in a nice soft carpet of fur.
Well, mostly fine. Groaning, he pulled his shirt off and used it to bandage his side, tying it tight enough to hold pressure on the wound and hopefully staunch the bleeding until his health regenerated.
You have gained the skill: Medicine
Medicine (Skill Rank 1):
Not all healing requires magic, but it helps.
The corpse withered before his eyes, something he hadn’t seen from any of the other creatures he’d killed. There was a soft thud as something hit the ground next to the shriveled corpse.
You have killed a Rabban (Level 13)
+ 2 experience points
Well, that’s disappointing. James wondered why he hadn’t gotten much experience from the Rabban, when it was so powerful and high leveled.
The corpse was withered and dry, but James was pretty sure Nana would be interested in it, and as it had shriveled to the size of an actual rabbit, he stuffed it into his pouch to show her later.
He rooted around the ground, looking for whatever the creature had dropped, and found a black crystal hiding in a clump of grass.
The crystal emanated such a strong malevolence that James almost dropped it. It swirled with the same crimson and black light that had surrounded the Rabban when it had transformed.
Cursed Soul Gem:
Rank: Rare
A black gem crafted for an unknown purpose. You can feel the evil energ
ies swirling inside.
Shuddering, James tossed the crystal into his pouch to show Nana.
Help the Helpless III: (37/50 charms placed) (1/1 Rabban Corpse)
James made it back to the farmhouse before collapsing from the blood loss. The last thing he remembered was Mary and Ferko lifting him up and placing him on a cloud.
The next morning, James woke up with his leathers folded at the foot of his bed and a bandage wrapped around his side. He sat up and stretched, testing his range of motion. Everything felt great, and he’d healed up nicely. He unwrapped the bandage and saw unmarked flesh. Mary must have given him a potion or something.
James removed the bandage and got dressed, then headed downstairs. Ferko and Mary were glad that he was okay. He spent the rest of an uneventful day placing charms with the farmer, and they left for Riverside as the sun was setting behind the blood-red mountains to their backs.
Chapter 13
They arrived with the moon high overhead and made a beeline for Bartram’s inn. The revelry of villagers relaxing after a long day’s work filtered out of the swinging doors as they pulled up in the cart. Ferko unhitched the horse creatures—James still didn’t know what they were called—and brought them to the stables.
The slow melody of a harp drifting out from under the door. “Good night to stay at the inn,” Ferko commented as he returned. “Sounds like they have a bard.” James hadn’t heard music in forever. Although he’d never been particularly into music back on Earth, he still missed it.
