When John logged back in Sally and Ex were nowhere to be seen and Grandma Loren once more had a gaggle of people all listening raptly as she explained what sounded like Mana Imprinting. Seeing that she wasn’t available for a question-and-answer session he wandered over to Frank’s booth.

“Hey Frank,” he said in greeting.

“John, what brings you around today?” the older man asked.

“I was wondering what to do with these, actually,” John said as he appeared a chooker egg in his hand.

The egg was hard but leathery, like a cross between that of a bird and a lizard, and as Frank looked at it his face turned sour. “Who sold you chookers, son? We don’t need that kind of person around here.”

“No one, they were a ‘reward’ from Ira for completing a quest,” John replied.

Frank grunted in displeasure. “Well if a goddess gave them to you, I guess there’s nothing to be done.” He looked at the egg and shook his head. “Their eggs are great for eating and cooking, but the beasts themselves are mean little cusses. The drakes are the worst, convincing them you’re the boss is an ongoing, daily effort, and they’ll harass any other animals you keep. Seen more than one chooker get itself killed because it harassed something bigger. Normally I’d tell you to kill and cook them, but with a goddess involved… Well, you’ll just have to figure it out, I guess.”

John sighed. “That sounds about as bad as I figured. I don’t suppose you’re in the market for chooker eggs?”

“Oh, I’ll happily buy your eggs son, but I can only eat so many, you’re going to be swimming in the things soon,” Frank replied. “How many have you got?”

“Nineteen,” John said.

“Well, I’ll take em, chooker eggs are a bit of a delicacy so you should be expecting them to sell for easily five to ten coppers per quality ranking in most places. I don’t have that kind of money, but I could do two or so an egg,” Frank said.

Nodding, John started appearing the eggs and passing them to the man, who in turn passed back 38 coppers.

“You said per quality ranking, how do I increase the quality of the eggs?” John asked even as he Inspected one of the eggs.

[Name: Chooker Egg]

[Quality: Common]

[Description: Considered a delicacy for their unique and savory flavor these eggs are difficult to obtain due to how hard it is to raise and deal with the creatures that spawn them.]

“I can’t rightly say, never tried raising chookers myself, I guess you’ll just have to experiment.” Frank told him.

“Alright, I know a few ways to preserve eggs, but do you have any suggestions?” John asked.

“You might consider brining or waxing the eggs to help them last. Though where you’re going to get wax around here I couldn’t tell you,” the older man suggested. “That, or maybe find someone to enchant a stasis box for you.”

“A stasis box?” John asked, intrigued.

Frank nodded. “It’s an engraved container that suspends time for the things put inside, it’s the best option for long term storage, but expensive to upkeep because you need a constant source of time mana. A cheaper option would be a preservation box, those just slow down decay though, not stop it.”

“That sounds super useful, it’s too bad we don’t have any enchanters yet,” John said with a frown.

“I’m sure someone will pick it up soon. Now, was there anything else I can do for you?” Frank asked.

“No, thanks though,” John replied.

“Good luck with the chookers then, you’re gonna need it,” the old man said in parting.

Turning back to the square John saw that Loren had just finished up with the group she was working with. Wandering over he sat down next to her.

“Ah, my erstwhile student returns, how’s the farm life?” she asked him.

“Not super great, Ira gave me chookers,” he responded.

Loren snorted a laugh. “Chookers, that’s beautiful. A legitimately magical farm creature for a magical farmer, and a backhanded gift if I’ve ever seen one.”

“Yeah, I’ve no idea what I’m doing with them,” John admitted.

“Build them a coop, feed them, and hope to the gods they don’t antagonize the rest of your animals too badly. That’s about all you can do,” Loren told him.

“Well, I don’t have any other animals yet, but I was hoping to have some at some point. I guess I’ll work with what I’ve got for now,” John said.

“All you can do,” Loren repeated. “Anything else I can help you with today?”

“I don’t suppose you could teach me Dirt to Stone?” John asked hopefully.

“I suppose I could, though you still haven’t brought Hasten Growth up to apprentice rank,” she said sounding slightly disappointed.

“I haven’t wanted to harm the growth of my plants, and there’s just been so little time otherwise,” John explained.

“Reasonable I suppose, though you shouldn’t let ignoring skills or spells become habit, you never know when you’re going to need one,” she admonished. “That said, I should have taught you this spell first thing, it’s very simple.”

Loren held up her hand and a pattern appeared above it as she cast the spell. John made sure to examine it closely and take a blueprint of it. He could clearly see that she was right, it was a very simple spell. He held up his own hand, projected the blueprint into it, and pushed his mana until it snapped into the correct shape; a process that took no more than 10 minutes.

[Spell Gained: Dirt to Stone]

[Name: Dirt to Stone]

[Description: This spell transmutes dirt, sand, clay, gravel, or other earth like substances into stone. Mass is preserved.]

[Current Rank: Novice]

[Amount: Small]

[Mana Cost: 5/second]

“I see you still haven’t ranked up Mana Manipulation either,” Loren tutted once he was done. “You’ll need to work on that, and everything else, you don’t have leveling points to spare at this point.”

“Yeah, it’s just finding the time,” John replied.

“You’d best find some time, or come level 10 you’ll be unable to purchase any new feats or upgrades, then you’ll have to wait until 15,” she admonished.

John sighed. “I’ll try,” he promised.

“Good,” she said emphatically. “Now, it’s been good talking to you, but there are already people waiting for me to teach them mana manipulation,” she said with a gesture to some people who were standing nearby. “So, unless you’re looking for a refresher, it’s probably time for you to get going. Besides, who knows what your chookers are up to.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” John grumbled as he stood up. “Thanks for everything grandma.”

“Any time dear,” Loren said with a smile.

John stood up and stepped out of the way, allowing several other people to wander in and close ranks around Loren. He then started heading back toward the farm.

The walk was quick and relatively uneventful and soon he could see the farm and shrine. He could also see a couple dozen people, squires and players, running around in the tall grass to either side of the road. As he watched one of them dove into the grass, and then a moment later came out holding aloft a chooker.

“GOT ONE!” The man, a young looking human, shouted, even as the chooker squawked in annoyance and struggled to break free.

“WATCH OUT! HE’S COMING!” Shouted one of the squires.

The man clutched the chooker to his chest and took off running, even as the thing bit and scratched at him. He’d just made it to the road and was running for the farm when the male chooker came crashing out of the grass nearby. The alpha took one look at the fleeing player, chooked out a rapid-fire battle cry, and gave chase. John watched as the chooker ran the player down and jumped onto his back with a cry of triumph. The shallow red slashes the claws left on his back made it clear the man didn’t have a very high constitution. With a gasp he released the female chooker which went tearing off into the tall grass again.

John stepped forward to put a stop to… whatever this was when the rumbling voice of Axia brought him up short. “They’ve got a quest.”

John looked to his left and then up. “A quest? To antagonize my chookers?”

“To catch them, here.” The big man made a gesture and new text appeared in front of John.

[Commander Second Class Axia would like to share a quest with you. Do you accept?]

[Y/N]

“Yes,” John said, wondering why it would ask if he wanted the quest shared.

[Deific Quest: The Great Chooker Chase!]

[Description: Farmer John keeps a flock of chookers, a species of highly aggressive reptiles the size of large chickens. These farm animals are temporarily unsupervised and wandering about the nearby plains. Commander Second Class Axia has declared their live capture a Training Exercise.]

[Rewards: 10 leveling points per live chooker captured and returned (for all parties involved in the quest)]

[Failure: Failing to participate will garner the Wrath of Axia and a mandatory 10-hour session on the obstacle course (yes, this does apply to you too).]

John just stared at Axia, who returned a wolf-like smile.

“Can you even do that?” John asked curiously.

“Do you really want to find out?” Axia rumbled back.

John sighed. “This is just going to make them hate me more,” he grumbled.

“They’ll get over it, after all, things out here are about to get interesting,” Axia said, his grin never shifting. “Now, are you going to help, or do I get to see what our groundskeeper can do in the obstacle course?”

“I’m going! I’m going!” John said as he took off at a run towards the downed player who was protecting his head from the chooker male.

As he approached the chooker let up its furious assault and whirled to face John. Upon seeing who it was, the drake let out an enraged chook and flung itself at him. John took the attack in the chest and clamped his arms around the thing, holding it tight as it squawked and squirmed. It continued to struggle even as he shifted around and got it tucked under his arm.

“That’s one down,” he muttered to himself, then raised his voice. “I’VE GOT THE DRAKE, GRAB THE HENS!”

A chorus of ragged cheers came from the nearby people, squires and players alike, and they dove into the grass with renewed enthusiasm; all but the player still on the ground and the squire tending him. The woman looked like a model and John wasn’t sure if she was just a very beautiful human or some other race.

“Never seen an angelkin before?” she asked waspishly, and John realized he’d been staring.

“Uh… no, actually,” he said as he adjusted the struggling chooker once more.

The woman glared at him as she continued to hold her hands over the wounded man, a green glow surrounding both them and his wounds.

“Sorry, I was just caught off guard,” he continued, averting his gaze.

She gave an inarticulate annoyed sound before she spoke again. “How is that thing not tearing you to shreds, your shirt is ruined but you’ve got nothing worse than welts.”

“I have a constitution of… um….” John paused and checked his status.

[Name: John]

[Race: Basajaun]

[Level: 6]

[Mana: 500]

[MRegen: 25/minute]

[Leveling Points: 250]

[Attributes]

Strength: 37 Constitution: 37 Dexterity 10 Intelligence: 50 Wisdom: 50

[Skills]

Alchemy – Novice Animal Husbandry – Novice Enchanting – Novice Engineering – Novice Farming – Apprentice Inspect – Novice Light Armor – Novice Mana Drawing – Journeyman Mana Imprinting – Journeyman Mana Manipulation – Apprentice Mana Sight – Journeyman Mathematics – Apprentice Measuring – Apprentice Meditation – Apprentice Ritual Magic – Apprentice Swordplay – Novice

[Spells]

Create Earth – Apprentice Create Water – Novice Create Mana Stone – Apprentice Control Flame – Novice Control Water – Apprentice Earth To Stone – Novice Evoke Flame – Novice Hasten Decay – Apprentice Hasten Growth – Novice Move Earth – Journeyman

[Racial Perks]

Disaster Prognosticator Megalith Mastery Plant Tender

[Feats]

Domain I Green Thumb I Magriculture Mana Stone Maker

“Thirty-seven,” he said finally. “I assume that has something to do with it?”

She grunted, still sounding annoyed. The glow around her hands died and the player she was working on got up and thanked her, then ran off back into the grass. Standing, the angelkin threw one last glare at John and then stalked out into the grass herself.

John shook his head, the attitude of the squires was getting out of hand, but he honestly didn’t know what to do about it. Speaking to their superiors would just make them resent him more, even if they didn’t outwardly show it afterward. With a sigh he readjusted the drake and turned to survey the ongoing chase.

Four people had managed to capture a chooker each, and were walking over to join him. As they approached the drake chooked angrily and tried to bite at John again, he studiously ignored the little tingling pinpricks its teeth left and nodded to the newcomers, all of whom were squires and one of which was the devilkin from the other day. They just gave him fulminating looks, and John sighed.

“You can’t possibly blame this one on me.” John grumbled.

“And who exactly should we blame it on?” the devilkin sneered.

John looked at him for a moment and then shrugged. “Yourselves,” he stated without animosity.

“Excuse me?” the devilkin said in outrage.

“I thought the chain of logic was pretty clear. You decided to become a knight, you accepted it’d mean training and doing what your god asked, and you decided to continue with your training even though you clearly have an issue with it. You literally have no one to blame but yourself.”

The devilkin looked furious now, and the other squires weren’t looking too pleased either. The man opened his mouth to speak, but John continued in that same level tone. “If you don’t like what’s asked of you, in your training or your duties, you can quit. You obviously have some problem, but the reality is that it’s entirely yours, no one is forcing you to be here, no one is making you become a knight. So, either deal with it like an adult or keep it to yourself.”

“Well said,” rumbled Axia, who seemed to appear out of thin air next to John.

John looked over in startlement, as did the squires, one of whom dropped his chooker. The lizard, for its part, took the opportunity at freedom and ran.

“How do you do that?” John asked.

Axia just smiled and turned to the squires, pinning them with his gaze. “When the exercise is over you four and I will discuss your… misgivings. Until then I expect you to treat our groundskeeper with respect as you would any other citizen of the empire,” the big man rumbled.

The four squires gave John a sour look, but remained silent. Axia stared at them for a few moments more, then returned to watching the people still running about in the grass. They stood there in silence for some time, and John took the opportunity to check the auction for a new shirt. There were several on offer and he took his time scrolling through them. Finally he settled on a shirt made of a material that was supposed to be highly resistant to piercing and slashing. He decided that if he was going to be attacked by chookers regularly it was worth the investment and paid a full silver for it.

By the time Sally and Ex came walking down the road the chookers had been captured, though the final one had been picked up only moments ago. The squires and players looked bedraggled and worn out.

“What happened here?” Ex said as he looked at the clump of people and the chookers several of them carried.

“Oh man! Are those chookers! They’re adorable!” Sally gushed even as she walked over to John. The drake he was holding hissed at her in warning and struggled to break free once more. John just tightened his grip.

“Yeah, the knights were given a training quest to capture them.” He said, giving Axia a look, the giant man seemed unphased. “I really hope you brought meat, because I’ve got no way to keep these guys from running off once people start letting them go.”

“Yeah! We got some bodies for you.” Sally said, then appeared a few giant rats. John disappeared them just as quickly, but the chookers had gotten a good look at their dinner and redoubled their attempts to escape.

“Alright, everyone with a chooker, please follow me.” John said and walked toward the wall the encircled his farm. With a motion of his hand, he opened a hole in it and walked inside, twelve other people, three players and nine squires, followed him in. John walked over to the coop and placed the four rodent corpses into the feeding trough, he then turned to the others. “Alright, you can put them down now.”

With sighs of relief the twelve people put down their angry reptiles and made their way for the exit, post-haste.

[Deific Quest “The Great Chooker Chase” complete]

[Rewards: 130 leveling points]

The chookers all squawked angrily and crowded into the coop to gather around the trough even as John gave a sharp whistle. He then put the drake down. It trumpeted at him, but made no move to attack. The chookers then fell on to the meat with a will and John walked back outside. The remaining players (aside from Ex and Sally) and the squires had all skedaddled.

“John!” Sally exclaimed excitedly.

“Sally!” He quipped back.

“Can I pet the chookers?!” She asked, bouncing from one foot to the other.

“You can try,” he said as he paid Ex.

With a whoop of excitement Sally ran into the coop, which elicited a cacophony of angry chooking.

“She going to be okay in there?” Ex asked.

“Eh, probably?” John replied.

“HELP! THE CHOOKERS ARE REVOLTING!” Sally yelled from inside, though her voice held no real notes of fear or worry.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine,” John affirmed. “Sorry for making you guys walk all the way out here.”

“Nah, I wanted to see what the road was like anyway. That movement bonus is nothing to scoff at. Think we can convince the knights to do that for the entire town and the road to the dungeon?” Ex asked.

“Maybe? They apparently do civic jobs from time to time. You do have to pay them though. The road cost me over two gold.

“Oof, never mind,” the elven player grumbled.

“Anyway, thanks for bringing the bodies, I’ll swing by town tomorrow morning and pick some more up if that’s okay?”

“Sure,” Ex said.

Sally came out of the coop, the bull strutting and squawking behind her, its feathers all puffed up.

“Alright! Alright! I’m leaving!” She said, even as the chooker gave another angry chook for good measure. It then stalked back into the coop.

“A door!” John suddenly exclaimed in an aggravated voice. “I forgot to get a door for the coop.”

“Guess you’ll have to pick one up tomorrow while you’re in town.” Ex said with a grin.

John just sighed.

“Anyway, I’m gonna head back before logging off. You coming Sally?” Ex asked.

“Yeah, thanks for letting me pet the chookers John!” Sally said as she followed Excelsior.

“Anytime!” John said as he closed the wall behind them. “Later!”

“Bye!” Sally exclaimed, and then the two started quickly down the road.

John watched them go for a few minutes. Then he returned to his cellar, changed out his damaged shirt for the new one, and logged out.