Bethany was unsurprised to see her cell had been cleared and opened in the time she'd been away, after all it had been a week and a half. She clutched her bag tight as she quickly read the updates to her status, excited to see the new affect her skill would have.

Name

Bethany Oakfenny

Title(s)

Solarslut

Mana Type

Cosmic (rare)

Level

2

Trial Credits

22

Skills:

Half-staff (common)

1 (5 Trial Credits)

Butter churning (uncommon)

2 (10 Trial Credits)

Busking (common)

0 (1 Trial Credit)

Bartering (common)

0 (1 Trial Credit)

Trial Taking (ultra-rare)

1 (5 Trial Credits)

Trial Taking (ultra-rare): Level 1 (5 Trials credits)

Having spent time evaluating other’s performances you are now able to summon Trials on your own.

At this level you may summon one per day, for a skill you have already unlocked. The same skill cannot be chosen more than once per Trial Cycle. This skill may also not level higher than your highest skill level. This will cost 2 Trial Credits to activate.

Bethany was shocked to see the new affect her skill had unlocked her. Even with her generally limited understanding she could immediately see the benefits this would hold in the long term, even if it wasn't all that useful in the short term. For one she would be able to focus only on unlocking new skills and strengthening her stronger skill, in this case that being butter churning. Further because they had one more weekly trial before she had to wait a month, she had time to boost the skills twice with fairly rapid turnover. Obviously Stilwart had recommended saving up her Trial Credits, but this seemed an extremely good use of them in her opinion. Especially as it was a way to use them now and a bird in the hand is always worth 2 in the bush.

The skill completely changed her short-term plan. She knew she had approximately 3 days before her next formal Trial, and the start of the next Trial Cycle. That gave her three Trial Credits she could earn in various skills, at a cost of 6 Trial Credits. Obviously, one would be her half-staff, and similarly despite her just leaving it getting closer to level two in Trial Taking couldn't hurt. Finally, she settled on bartering as it seemed more useful in both the short and long term. Before she vanished again though she wanted to get her affairs in order here. telling people about her new extremely strong ability seemed unwise too. If Lewis or the mayor understood how much momentum she was able to pick up they were sure to take her out of the picture completely.

She darted home and dropped off her bag and weapon. The plunger Susanna had dropped off for her had vanished which didn't bode well but Bethany was focused on ensuring her newfound riches weren't discovered. To that effect she got changed into her old clothes just for the time being. She considered the comfier, but similar looking outfit Harri had made her but elected against it, she didn't want to take any risks at this stage. She hadn't bumped into her mother in the house but assumed she was either in a Trial or just out. Either way the less witnesses to her being out of prison the better, even if it was just her mother.

Getting back and seeing there was still nobody around she settled onto the floor and waited, playing with her status as she did. She reordered the list of skills to be by number of trial credits. That way the important ones would be near the top. She was sat there for around half an hour before somebody peeked in and saw her sitting there. Bethany gave them a small wave and they skuttled away, assumedly to go grab the mayor. Sure, enough the mayor appeared with Lewis in tow. Sam had levelled up to level 3 but Lewis was still at level 2. Having arrived Lewis immediately pulled out his sword and practised his steps, assumedly planning to do so throughout the approaching conversation. Bethany idly wondered if either of them had ended up in a sponsored trial. Either way she assumed they'd been debriefed about those who had and so understood the concept of Trial Credits.

The mayor spoke up "Mrs Oakfenny, you have been missing for quite some time and as such missed the trial date for your assault case. Further we found contraband in your cell after you vanished to do a Trial. You also seem to have levelled up despite the village mandate to minimize number of Trials for your own safety. All of these on top of your already existing accusation of having assaulted a member of public do not add up to a favourable sentence. We had assumed you had passed and as such passed the punishment onto your mother. Unfortunately, she has already left to the capital to be imprisoned there. As such we will only try you for the more recent crimes as she is taking on the lifetime sentence that was given for the assault and contraband. You’re a lucky girl, Mrs Oakfenny."

Bethany felt blow after blow as the mayor spoke. Her mother was being punished for her crime. Susanna wasn't exactly young her chances of surviving very long in a prison camp were slim. Further they weren't exactly the most incorrupt city based on the stories. The general consensus was that once you are in the camp you aren't getting out again regardless of the original sentence. Neither the mayor nor Lewis had any reason to attack Bethany's mother and there wasn't exactly precedent of this kind of thing. Instead, this was clearly a plot to screw with her once again, but Lewis had gone way, way too far this time. She glanced at him, and he wasn’t reacting at all, there was no smirk or horrible words, instead he seemed completely focused on his blade.

Bethany's short-term plans once again changed, her mother was now the priority, everything, and everybody else was no longer a priority. Not even contact with Harri. Bethany clutched at her necklace as Sam kept talking, unconcerned about them finding out about it. She would fight till her hands bled if they tried to take it away.

Sam had kept talking while her mind whirled, "... the combined consequences of these crimes is not to be understated. We are in a time of change but that doesn't mean we can let people get away with crimes. We have to show a united front and not set any dangerous precedents..."

Bethany tuned him back out again. He wasn't saying anything of value instead he was merely excusing whatever trumped up punishment he was about to issue. It wasn't clear why he was bothering only the three of them were within earshot and none of them believed any of the rubbish he was spouting except maybe himself. Finally, he seemed to have worked himself up to his punishment. He couldn't get away with having her killed or shipped away so soon after getting rid of her mother, the village as a whole wouldn't stand for that regardless of what they thought about Bethany. Instead, he issued her a massive fine, the likes of which she couldn't feasibly afford to pay. So extreme a fine that her house would be taken as collateral, and she would be expected to work for the village to pay it off. When she enquired how long she would have to work Lewis seemed to come out of his trance and sneered and suggested a year or two would probably cover it. Unless of course she had any expenses like needing housing or food. In that sense it was clear they planned to trap her in much the same way the capital kept people at their prison.

Bethany agreed to all the terms uncaring for how extreme they felt. She wasn't going to be staying for long, the house she didn't plan to need, and she would buy her mother a new one, in a new more forward-thinking town once she freed her. After all, if she got far enough away nobody would know anything about her so called crime. Anyway, the world was changing, and this village was going to end up being in the past, both hers and the world's as a whole.

She was 'graciously' allowed to go home to pack a single bag of belongings. She obviously grabbed the bag of clothes she had received from Harri; she also grabbed a couple of pieces of paper and a pen from her mother's room. These were fairly expensive and rarely used. All children in the village were for the most part taught to read, write, and count by their parents primarily with the help of slate and chalk as well as a couple of village books that were shared out among the families to ensure every child had experience reading.

There wasn't much else Bethany valued from the house, at least not much that she could feasibly carry. She hunted around and ended up also rescuing a small doll her mother had once bought her that sat abandoned in a box in her room and a small pencil drawing of her and her mother. Again, from many years prior. Having grabbed everything of value she stepped out and headed back to the jailcell where she had been told she was going to be permanently situated.