John logged in to darkness and the sound of heavy rain fall. Sighing he navigated to the doorway by light of a conjured flame. Walking up the steps the sound of pounding rain became clearer, and John realized this wasn’t just a normal spat. Slowly he pushed open the door to the cellar to be greeted by near torrential downpour. With a quick effort of will he shaped a stone umbrella above himself, but by that time he was already soaked so it merely served to keep his light source from sputtering. Stepping out of the cellar he kicked the door closed behind himself and began trudging through the already thick mud toward the Ritual of Cleansing where he collected all the cleaned bodies and started his trek toward the Gateway of Worlds.

As he approached he saw a large form in the rain, a few steps more and it resolved into the figure of Axia. He stood calmly outside the henge, looking completely unperturbed by the weather. John stopped short of the large man.

“Good morning?” he asked tentatively.

“Good morning,” Axia replied.

“Where are the normal guards?” John asked perplexed.

“Surely you don’t think we’d let the knights we brought with us continue such important duties when they failed to help in a task as simple as defeating some bandits?” the big man questioned back.

John paused and thought about it. It made sense, if they couldn’t be trusted to do one duty, how could they be trusted to do another? But weren’t there only three senior officers? They couldn’t possibly cover everything on their own, could they?

“It’s not yours to worry about, John,” Axia rumbled, not unkindly, as the moments stretched on. “It’s not the first time I’ve sat sentry duty, and it won’t be the last. Commander Helen and Knight Tet have both suffered such indignities as well, and are perfectly capable. In a few days more knights will arrive to take the place of those who will be leaving.”

John nodded his head, a little uncertainly. “Right, alright. I’m going to go sit with the tree then.” He gestured toward where the tree sat in the interior of the henge, now visible over the wall he’d placed to protect it from the rabbits what seemed like ages ago. Axia nodded in return, then returned his gaze to the rain shrouded land around them.

Stepping into the henge John shaped a bench in the wall for him to sit on and attached his rain shield above it, he then made contact with the tree. He felt his mana pouring into the sedate flow of the nearly six-foot sapling. Rapidly his power was swallowed up and he felt as it flowed through the tree to the ten fruits it had created. Looking at them he could see that they’d started to take on the coloration of the flowers that had birthed them. One white, two blue, three yellow, and four red. The fruits were small yet, but he could tell they’d be ready within a few days at the latest.

As he sat connected to the tree, he started taking out bodies and dumping them inside the wall. Once he had them piled up he brought his second hand up and started casting Hasten Decay. For the next five hours he just sat there, alternating between feeding the tree mana and decaying the bodies. By the time he was done he had a large pile of rich, smelly mulch and had, for some reason, gained another point in constitution. Now, of course, came the hard part. He needed to mix the new fertilizer in with the old dirt around the roots of the tree.

Carefully he connected with the tree once more, letting his mind teeter on the edge of being subsumed. He could feel the tree, and trace the flows of mana through it, and through those flows he could see what he wanted, where the roots were. Splitting his attention even further he used Control Earth to carefully clamp down on roots as he moved the dirt around them. Over the course of the next hour he mixed in the fertilizer with what felt like agonizing slowness. The tree was vaguely uncomfortable with the treatment, however it remained unharmed by the time he was finished.

Sighing and standing he whacked his head on the rain shield and, being thrown off balance more than hurt, was forced to sit back down. Giving an exasperated sigh John detached his shield, stood, and reformed the wall as he exited the shrine. Giving a nod to Axia in passing, he slogged back toward the farm. As he got closer he saw a very wet looking catkin and wolfkin taking advantage of the roofed table he’d built near the coop.

“You’re late!” Callie complained.

“Sorry,” John responded as he stopped in front of the duo.

“We have been here for almost two hours!” Callie continued.

John winced. “Sorry, I was fertilizing a tree,” he said by way of explanation.

“That the ‘magic tree’ people are saying you’ve got out here?” Ash asked, far less vexed sounding than his partner.

“Yeah, it’s growth is being magically accelerated, so it needs to be fertilized more regularly. I’m really sorry for the delay, but I swear it was important.”

Ash shrugged, “It’s fine, we don’t have another dungeon slot until tomorrow anyway, so it’s not like there’s much to do around here right now. Honestly, we’d have probably just logged off if we weren’t waiting for you.”

“What do you mean by ‘slot’?” John asked even as he took out ten coppers and handed them over in exchange for the two bodies, hoping the extra cash would alleviate their anger.

“Ugh, ever since the new people started showing up from the rest of the empire, we’ve had to go to an actual dungeon schedule,” Callie complained. “The dungeon can only instance itself so many times, something like three or four times per floor it has or something like that. So now there’s a big schedule and you have to put your name down ahead of time to get in.” The catkin woman sounded frustrated and annoyed and her tail was lashing all over the place.

John frowned. “That sucks, but don’t you guys have anything else you can do? Maybe take up one of the crafting skills?”

“I mean, I’d love to, but the only crafts folk in town are the rural kind, you know, wood crafters, weavers, seamsters, smithing, I think someone mentioned a mason? Though I understand you can just raise buildings with magic, so I’m not sure what the purpose of masonry is,” Ash said, his ears flicking in annoyance.

“Because everything has a quality rating, and the rating takes into account the amount of effort put into the construction, not just the skill level of the person constructing it,” John commented off hand as an idea started to take form.

“Huh,” Ash said, his ears shifting forward in interest. “That actually makes sense.”

“What about picking up skills off the forums?” John asked.

“Most everything is locked behind paywalls,” Callie complained. “And the stuff that isn’t is really basic. No one wants to give away stuff for free.” Ash just nodded his head.

John looked at the two of them and became more certain as he turned the idea over in his head, he just needed to figure out how to make it work. “Look, can you guys take the evening quest to bring me bodies? I have an idea, but I want to see what I’ll need to make it work before I start.”

The two exchanged glances and, John assumed, messages, then Callie nodded. “Yeah, I guess, but you’d better not be late this time!” She shook a warning finger at him. Then the two reluctantly started back toward town in the rain.

John took the bodies, fed and watered the chookers (who were not at all happy about the late timing) and collected the eggs (of which there were a full 72, all of them Common quality) and then returned to his cellar to sit and fiddle with the auction. First, he collected his earnings from chooker eggs (180 coppers), then he listed the new eggs at the same price as the old ones. Ordered a new shirt to replace his ruined one. Then he finally he started looking up books.

There weren’t a lot of options, there were only a few books on lore. Even the few books on farming he’d seen yesterday were gone. That was unfortunate, he had wanted to purchase text books about various crafts and loan them out to other players. If he could convince someone else, preferably several someones, to take up professions he needed (such as enchanting or alchemy) then he could just buy what he needed from them. It looked like that idea wasn’t going to pan out though.

Flicking open his inventory he started at the slot filled with ‘The Enchanter’s Handbook (Farming Edition)’. It would be invaluable to anyone trying to learn enchanting, even if it was geared in a specific direction. The problem was he only had the one, and he didn’t want to just hand it over to someone. He could try building a Library, but where would he put it? Who would staff it? How would he ensure people followed the rules? Not to mention, where would he get the books?

John ran his fingers through his beard as he contemplated. Maybe he was going about this wrong, he was trying to do everything himself again. But who could he ask for help this time? Loren was leaving, and the knights (or their rank and file at least) had shown themselves to be unreliable. Thinking of the knights sparked another idea and he hopped to his feet.

Making his way out of the cellar and into the pounding rain once more, John began walking toward the shrine for the second time that day. As he approached he could see Axia still standing watch and noticed that the big man was clearly as unperturbed by the rain now as he was before. Briefly John wondered how Axia wasn’t cold and miserable, then he realized he didn’t feel all that cold either, despite having been recently soaked. A moment of consideration led him to the idea that maybe his high constitution had something to do with it.

Passing Axia, John walked into the shrine and looked around. Now, the real question, how did one speak to a god? The normal answer was ‘prayer’, but John felt that a prayer he didn’t believe in was probably more disrespectful than not. Shrugging, he decided to try just talking, though he did wish there was some kind of altar or other structure he could speak at.

Looking around once more, John started speaking. “Alright Ledos, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m looking for a way to help people and spread knowledge. There are lots of people here who would like to learn the magical and mundane crafts available in this land, but the out of the way location, the greed of others, and the lack of suitable teachers makes it impossible for them. So, I’m looking for a way to teach them that everyone can access and use, like some kind of learning library, maybe?” John finished speaking and felt… silly. He felt really silly, this had sounded like a better idea in his head.

For a moment nothing happened, and then Axia rumbled from behind him. “When speaking at a shrine dedicated to more than one deity it is expected you will speak to all deities at once, unless directing your query to an alter denoting a specific deity. As there are currently no specific altars, nor even a generic altar, all requests must be to the three deities of the shrine, rather than to just one of them.”

John looked back at the titan. “Does that mean I’m going to need all three of them to agree with my request for assistance?” he asked uncertainly.

“Not necessarily, but they will all be aware of your request, and they may choose to intervene.” Axia replied, never once turning to look at John.

John turned back to the shrine and considered what he should do. If he was going to address all three of them, then he’d best have an argument for each. Ledos was easy, he was the god of knowledge and John wanted to spread knowledge. Ira wasn’t particularly difficult, she was the goddess of civilization, and many, if not all, crafts were the building blocks of civilization. Thuana… Thuana was harder. She was the goddess of chaos and void. What did chaos and void have to do with learning crafting? John stood and thought for several moments before he decided on an argument.

Taking a deep breath, John began speaking again, this time trying to put a bit of formality into his words. “Gods of the Gateway of Worlds, I come before you to request your aid. The people of my world, called players by many, are in needs of assistance and instructions, many seek the knowledge of trades and crafts that are not available to them due to location, lack of reliable teachers, and simple greed. Therefore I would like a way to teach them the crafts and trades they desire.”

John paused, mentally reviewing what he was about to say, then continued. “To Ledos, I say this is a thing you should desire, for it spreads knowledge, denying those who would see it held hostage to trade. To Ira, this should please you, for civilization is founded on the backs of those who learn and create. To Thuana, I say this is a thing you should seek, for what is chaos but change, and how much change will the players bring to this world if given the proper tools?”

As John finished speaking the shrine fell silent, despite the still pouring rain, and John could feel a familiar pressure brush against his consciousness. The touch was featherlight, yet John flinched away, remembering when it had fallen on him like a crushing weight. His physical response made no difference and from the pressure he could feel a mixture of interest, consideration, and contempt. After a few moments he could discern that each was coming from a different source, though he could not have said who was feeling what. A moment later he received a prompt.

[Deific Quest: Let Thy People Know]

[Description: A plea for knowledge has been made at the Gateway of Worlds on behalf of the ‘players’, and in their wisdom and beneficence the three gods of the shrine have seen fit to answer this request. However, such magnanimity is not free and must be obtained by effort of Mind, Body, or Spirit. Each supplicant can take the Trial of Mind (as determined by Ledos), the Trial of Body (as determined by Ira), and the Trial of Spirit (as determined by Thuana).]

[Reward: A training manual, item, or tool related to your chosen field of study.]

[Failure: Failure of a trail results in a Divine Curse appropriate to that trial.]

[This quest is accepted by attempting any of the three trials.]

The sound of rain came crashing back in as the moment passed, and John sighed with relief that he hadn’t been smitten on the spot. The quest didn’t seem unreasonable, although he wasn’t sure how many takers there would be for a trial that came with a failure clause that involved the words ‘divine curse’ but no one could fault him for that.

“You really know how to upset everyone don’t you?” Axia asked, his voice pitched loud to carry over the heavy rainfall.

“Huh?” John asked, looking to the big knight and then moving in his direction.

“Think about it John, in any society there are secrets that people keep, especially the kind that have monetary value. Why do you think information on things like crafts is so expensive and scarce? Anything special is a secret that someone, at some point, has died for. And here you are throwing the gates of knowledge open for all comers.” Axia explained.

John frowned. “That could make sense for Alchemy, and maybe Ritual Magic, but surely not for something like enchanting? Someone could just look at the enchantment and copy it, hell, I’ve done that.”

“Copy? Yes. But did you understand the enchantment? Why it worked? What it did? Similarly this ritual you set up for the shrine, can you tell me why everything is as it is, or did you just copy what you saw?” the Titan asked.

John paused and considered. The answer about enchanting was easy, he actually didn’t know much at all, the forum he’d copied the enchantment off of had been the barest of basics. Ritual magic was a bit better, he’d read a good portion of the primer he had, but it mostly just showed him existing rituals and minor ways they could be tweaked.

Axia took the long pause an admission and continued. “There are complexities to such crafts that you’ll never learn from just copying the work you see. You’ll gain skill ranks, and they’ll improve your instincts for the craft, letting them stretch further and giving you an idea of what different things will do. But it’s no substitute for actual teaching.” He tore his eyes away from the surrounding area for a moment and glanced down at John. “You can’t learn how mana flows through an enchantment or a ritual just by copying it. And you could spend a lifetime learning a fraction of what we already know by experimenting on your own.” His eyes returned to the road and the plains. “But now? You’ve opened a door that will let anyone learn what they want. People are going to want it destroyed, or controlled.”

“Oh,” John said quietly.

“Oh indeed,” rumbled Axia.

There was a long moment of silence before John spoke again. “Crap, what about the entrance fee? Are people going to have to pay to take the trial?”

“Yes,” Axia affirmed. “Normally one doesn’t make a supplicant pay to visit a shrine, but you also made it a place of business, so the norm doesn’t apply here.”

“Great, another thing for people to be mad about,” John said with some aggravation.

Axia just smiled.