Lithco's answer about how to earn a legacy didn't surprise me, but it hit differently when he presented it. "If you want a god's legacy, you have to prove you're worthy of it. You've already gotten one that you'll be offered after the Trial of Worth. That said, for someone in your position, this is a job offer—and it may not be a fit for your passions or drive. So you need to attract the right god, and that means showcasing talent in their area of specialization. You have six more nights before the end of the Trial. During that time, you will be given resources and voluntary quests to showcase your talent in many areas. Complete the voluntary quests and prove you have what it takes to earn a soulmancy legacy. That's how you'll do it."
I felt a sudden pang of excitement—and dread. The last legacy quest I was offered was dangerous to the point of insanity. That meant other legacy quests would be the same. Despite that, I didn't even think about turning it down. I think, subconsciously, I had already dedicated myself to The Path.
"Okay," I said.
"Well, off you go. Find a soul, and I'll teach you then." Lithco snapped his fingers, and a piercing noise stabbed my brain. Suddenly, I woke up. The world returned to normal as I gripped my head.
"What the hell was that?" I yelled. But only the sound of Kline rushing around looking for Lithco greeted me. Once I calmed down, I lost my anger and felt a fire in my heart. Without delay, I unzipped my backpack, retrieved a notebook, and wrote the following passage:
Things I need to do:
Find a water source.
Obtain reliable shelter.
Get a better map.
Get a mana core to use my soul weapon and spells.
Determine what skills I need to survive.
Find a soul to practice soul manipulation.
Attract a patron god.
That felt incomplete, so I added an eighth: Punch lithco in the face.
I smirked in satisfaction and then sighed. "We have food and shelter right now," I mumbled to Kline like the good cat lady I was. "Let's get a map."
Upgrading the map required two pricey requests. The first was a platinum atlas of the Fourth Ring of the Areswood Forest, and I found that it was unfathomably large. I was on the other side of Galfer's Gate, a colossal wall that separated the Fourth Ring from civilization. It was fifty miles vertically from the wall to the end of the fourth ring and then two hundred miles horizontally.
There were seven of these rings!
I was twenty-five miles from Galfer's Gate, ensuring that I wouldn't run into humans.
Be careful what you wish for.
Anyway, the atlas provided me with topography, general areas, and landmarks—none with explanations.
That was useful, but there were ten thousand square miles, and the atlas only gave general areas for each. For that reason, I spent a gold request for a skill called Cartographer, which updated the map every time I saw something. It also allowed me to pull up pictures of what I saw, like Google Earth's Street View images. It also allowed me to draw paths and add markings. I used those to draw paths from the wandering reaper to the shelter. That was a certified safe area, minus animals. Then, I marked the paths near the river in red to labeled them no-go zones.
Map in hand, I sat down and listened to the bugs for a while, petting Kline in my lap before using an information request.
"I want to use an information request," I said to dead air. "Give me a list of the things that I should focus on." A pop-up came up.
Information Request Used
Obtain ingredients for a minor cleansing elixir.
Complete a voluntary alchemy quest to create a minor cleansing elixir.
Consume elixir to cleanse.
Buy a diamond-grade core-building tutorial.
Establish a mana core to use your bow and use spells to complete legacy quests.
Establish mana control.
Complete any legacy quests provided.
Information Requests Remaining: 23
Then, there was another chime.
Neophyte Mira Hill has been offered a new voluntary quest.
Quest: Cleanse your body.
Quest Summary: To develop a mana core, you must have a healthy body, and yours is a dumpster fire using Doritos as fuel. If it weren't, your kind wouldn't wither like raisins and die, now would they? Luckily, this forest has everything you need to shed the consequences of your poor diet. Collect the ingredients and make medicine that will cleanse your body. The better the cleanse, the stronger your mana core will become.
Requirement(s):
Obtain the ingredients for a minor cleansing elixir.
Travel to the alchemy station on your map.
Create a minor cleansing elixir with at least 15% purity.
Consume a minor cleansing elixir.
Survive
Rewards:
Quest Reward
"Looks like soulmancy's gotta wait," I sighed. "Question is… should I use an info request to find the ingredients? Or a book? What do you think?"
Kline realized I was talking to him and looked up at me with a dead face as if to say, Seriously?
"Sorry," I said. "It's just… it's hard. And I want to complain. Because I know that there's not enough time to use the book, but it kinda irks me that I might not get a diamond."
I'm not sure when I got competitive and ambitious, but it just seemed right. For the first time in my life, I got tangible rewards for doing things well. Soon I'd get rewards for working with plants. It was heaven.
I didn't have a choice, though. I had less than six days for this trial, and I had spent half of the day trying to figure out what I didn't know. Information requests would save me critical time.
"I'm doing this so I can concentrate on legacy quests," I said to the sky like a lunatic. Kline's ears twitched, and he looked up and around at the sky, making me giggle and pet him. "Info request. Give me everything I need to create this minor cleansing as fast as possible."
An hour later, Kline and I were walking through the woods, adding herbs to my net foraging bag, almost like I was going to the grocery store. I was also adding edible mushrooms, fruits, and berries.
With my new books, this forest that would kill me at every step was… inviting almost now. I knew what I could step on and what I couldn't at a glance, and edible items glowed, letting me know they were fresh. Most importantly, I could suppress the amount of information about things that I wanted so I didn't get overwhelmed. There was only one obvious disclaimer The Guide gave me:
Warning: Only requesting certain information or warnings can lull the neophyte and can bias the information by removing key facts. User discretion is advised.
That made sense. Just studying things at face value can leave out key facts. But after identifying a few hundred plants and mushrooms while seeking these herbs, I got very lazy. Soon, I became reliant upon the poison and edible warnings and only asked for warnings when picking up edible foods.
Naturally, that had swift consequences.
It started when I came across a natural orchard with fruits that looked like oranges, but the outer skin of a mango, if it was blue and green. It looked poisonous, but it lit up with golden light, letting me know that it was edible. So, I identified one.
Common Name: Shenai Fruit
Type: Citrus
Poison Tier: Edible
Description: Shenai fruit is kind of like your decisions: hard-shelled and unsettling at first but sweet and promising from within. The juice is a delicacy in the civilized world. Crack one open on a rock and learn the hype. P.S. Let the analogies stop at being hard-shelled but full of potential.
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" I muttered, scoffing at the analogy comment. Then, I picked one up and found that it was surprisingly heavy. "Guess we'll find out." I read the instructions but still decided to flick open my pocket knife and figure out why it needed to be cracked on a rock. Turned out it was a drupe, a fruit with seeds in a hard shell—but there was no fruit around the shell.
That was strange.
Other drupes—like cherries, peaches, and mangos—have fruit around the seeds to entice animals to chew on them and spit them out elsewhere. But this one was like a coconut—a drupe that isn't supposed to be eaten. Instead, they spread their seeds by floating in the ocean for many miles before washing on shore again and taking root—hence the reason they are near the ocean.
But this wasn't near the ocean. What could spread a fruit the size of an orange if animals didn't chew on it?
I decided to find out—and regretted it. I cracked that son of a bitch twice on a rock before it exploded like a can of soup in a campfire. Green juice and black seeds splattered my face and clothing, drenching me in sickly sweet aromas. Kline got hit, too, and started hissing and screeching.
"What…" I looked around, wiping some out of my eyes, "the fuck… was that? Why the fuck didn't you warn me that it explodes?" Just for spite, it replayed that same warning.
Warning: Only requesting certain information or warnings can lull the neophyte and can bias the information by removing key facts. User discretion is advised.
"I always ask for a warning!" I complained, but I knew that I didn't. I needed to actually ask for things in my thoughts to display the information. "Besides, you told me to do this!"
Puncturing a shenai fruit releases all the pressure in one area and can blind unsuspecting individuals.
I chuckled, feeling my body dropping deep into the depths of lunacy as I stared up at the trees. Then, I looked down and saw that there were hundreds of black seeds stuck to my skin. So that's how they produce. They fucking explode when animals step on them and glue the seeds to the animal.
I picked up a rock and threw it at a rotting shenai fruit under a tree. It hit and exploded like a frag grenade.
"I fucking hate this forest." I looked down and found Kline licking his body clean. Shorthair cats can lick almost every part of their body except the middle of the back of their head and, for some, the middle of their back and upper shoulders. And the fact that he couldn't do that was stressing him out.
"We'll take a bath later," I said as he groomed. Then, I fed him to ease his stress as I scoured the area for more of the herbs. Thankfully, they were all common herbs despite having heavy anti-toxin properties that seemed quite miraculous. They had anticoagulant effects, promoted vasodilation to improve circulation, opened pores, detoxification agents, and anti-inflammatories. Seeing so many concrete uses for plants gave a stark contrast to the forest. Miracle, life-saving plants in the forest of death. Classic.
Once I had picked the last of the herbs, I took a break. It was late afternoon; the sun would set soon.
"Plants down…" I pulled up the map and looked at the next area. There was a cauldron icon a few miles away. It was alchemy equipment for my test. "Knowing Lithco, it'll be a spider trap…" I chuckled bitterly. "I'll wait until tomorrow." I turned to Kline. "Wanna go read?"
He meowed.
"Okay," I said. We traveled back to the shelter casually, as if the forest were suddenly welcoming. We almost made it back without incident, but a half-mile out, we finally ran into an animal.
I hopped out of a bush a few hundred feet away, barely visible. Yet Kline sensed it, pausing and watching it hop over. It moved surprisingly quickly, getting closer without charging. The two animals stared each other down.
It wasn't until the creature got within fifty feet that I could see it clearly. It looked like a rabbit with brown fur and a beaver-like head. It was the size of a small corgi and kept smacking its jaws, exposing four razor-sharp teeth where bunnies would have two. And the killer animal guide warned me that the creature meant business.
Name: Reiga
Type: Spirit Beast
Evolution: Second
Summary: In the Areswood Forest, this little guy is as weak as a muskrat. That's why they breed like rabbits, have legs meant for running, and jaws that can do damage to attackers. While they are not powerful here, they might as well be a coked-out grizzly bear on rollerskates to you. So watch out.
Warning: Panicked reiga release a call to their brethren if they are in mortal danger. If you don't finish them off quickly, they will call for reinforcements.