Proofreader: Pre-rewrite: Kagenesti

Act I Chapter 4 - The Herbalist Lore

Riin’s POV

Asperd Kingdoms - Asperd Isle - Spring, The Herbalist’s Hut.

At the spring of my fifth-year mother was humming all morning and generally seemed to be in a very excited mood. I sat quietly close by and kept an eye on her. She was spinning around the kitchen and letting out small laughs before continuing her happy humming. I finally gave up and found myself forcing the words out my mouth.

“Mother seems happy today, why?”

Her happiness seems to raise a few levels as I voiced my question, all the while I found myself wondering if she was sane in the head.

“Ah! Sweetie today is the official day that the soil welcomes our seeds again!”

Yeah, I have no clue what so ever she is talking about either… And apparently, my facial expression gave it away as she in a singsong voice explained it to me.

“Today is the day we as herbalists honor the goddess of the wild by planting seeds in our gardens! Today is the long-awaited day!”

Now, that got my interest very quickly. Does that mean what I think it means?

“Oh? Are we going to plant new seeds today?”

What? Better safe then sorry women’s brains are a place of mass confusion. With a rather girly sound being released from somewhere deep with her, she grabs my hands and starts to spin me around with her.

“Yes! Yes, it does! Are you not excited!?”

Well, I’m as excited as a can be under the current circumstances that are taking place but yes overall, I’m very happy by the events that are about to unfold. It is in this manner that I’m dragged out the front door by mother and out into the forest.

Normally she would be very much against me coming into the forest but I think that in her excitement, she seems to have forgotten that fact and I’m not about to ruin her mood with the information. So, here we are wandering the forest surrounding our home.

“Look!”

She says as I’m almost smacked into the ground by the force of her pulls me with as she points to a small thin deep blue colored flower that looks like weed to me.

“That is [Garden Flax], The seeds of this herb, will help to remove all pain from a wound. But it will also prevent the one who uses it from feeling anything, so when using it one must be very careful, they would not notice minor bruises or scratches, they could walk through a fire and feel no pain. That is why it is a [Drug] type of herb that is only allowed to be used for medical treatments, as it has that side effect.”

Ah, so drugs exist here and the fact that some are categorised as illegal but even the so called ‘illegal’ drugs are allowed to be used by some people… Their logic is flawed. A small pop up notice informs me that I’m two herbs from unlocking the skill, way to go mother keep it up.

We continue our walk after mother have gathered some of the Garden Flax growing in the small clearing or it would be more correct to say that once she was done she excitedly dragged me after her once more.

And so, by the end of the day I had learned of two new herbs or what the world systems saw as herbs it seems, I mean you can’t really call the bark of a tree a herb, but I guess in a sense it works… I f you don’t think to much about the logic behind it… The ones mother ended up showing and telling be about where;

[Terbas], the leaf of this plant must be applied to the site of nerve damage. When applied, the rate of healing for such damage will be doubled.

And the so-called ‘herb’.

[Ash], while it is really the bark of the ash tree that is used and not the tree itself the ‘herb’ is called [Ash]. The bark must be stripped of the ash tree from its branches and boiled in clear water for one day. It should then be drunk as a cure for fevers, especially those caused by diseases that bring about a high fever.

While it does not cure the cause of the fever but merely brings it under control within a few hours. The ash tree is sacred to worshipers of the Goddess of the Wild, who use its wood to make spears. The wood of the ash tree could possibly be used as an essential item in the manufacture of magical spears. Ash leaves should be boiled in water and drunk as a cure for the poison of viper bites. Ash trees are also by tradition used to make stakes for the purposes of killing vampires.

When I learned that vampires, while rare and very uncommon in our realm existed I was like, ‘Oh great, more shit that can kill me…’

After getting dragged around I saw a small ray of hope when I got the popup I had been waiting to see for almost two years. I had finally unlocked [The Herbalist’s Lore].

You have obtained the skill: [The Herbalist’s Lore], after careful studying live plants and reading. By remembering 10 kind of herbs, you have gained +1 to your [Wisdom] stat!

The skill grants me a ‘visual’ space for storing information about herbs, just as it keeps track of my stats. Now, with this rather helpful skill I still must reread the book that mother has on herbs to learn about them but that will give me something to do for at least a little while.

Keeping true to my promise, I start form the first herb in the thick book, [Adder’s Tongue] all the way to the last one being [Zur], a little cave fungus found in the cold climate, giving one the ability to increase one's sense of smell and hearing to the double. Being weaker than a natural born hunter but better than a plain human nose.

Having read and ‘absorbed’ the books knowledge I got one of those windows pop ups.

You have successfully obtained all the knowledge from the book: [The Herbalist’s Lore]! You have gained + 1 [Intelligent] and + 2 [Wisdom] stats!

In the time, it had taken me to fully read the book the winter had passed us by and I found myself at the age of six. While reading, I had come to realise another problem that was cursing me a small headache.

It seems that knowing about a certain herb and how to prepare it for use does not give you the skill to do so. It only grants you the skill to collect the herb without damaging it or in some cases yourself. Well, time to observe mother working once more. I find her at her work space in the kitchen. I walk to the table and take a seat. She greets me with a smile and a hello before turning back to her work. And so, I spent the next few weeks carefully observing mothers work, one hot summer day I finally decide to ask her.

“Mother, I have a question.”

Mother give me her signature smile when facing me.

“Yes? What is it sweetie.”

Yeah…My own personal nickname, what's not to love? But I got to wonder why in the world sweetie!? I can't get over that one, at least father's nickname for me is simple to understand I mean being called, boy is okay but sweetie? Come on, that verbal torture right there I tell you. Oh, on with the questioning.

“Knowing how to prepare a herb and preparing it, is that two different skill sets required?”

She looks at be for a short while before answering my question.

“Ah, yes. The first is the knowledge of the herb you are handling, that skill is known as [The Herbalist’s Lore] but it commonly referred to as herbalism. The skill needed to prepare and craft with a herb is [Alchemy], which lets you create creams and potions of the herb successfully.”

“I see, thank you mother.”

“Your welcome sweetie.”

Again with that nickname. I walk back to my room again; it seems I need to experiment with herbs in order to gain the skill [Alchemy]. That is a problem since no six-year-old would be able to think up the idea of crafting balms and potions, even with mother as a base idea.

I can't use mother’s tools since she will notice if it has been used by anyone else. That leaves me with one option left, to make my own set of tools. I need a list. I go scouting around the house for all of mothers' tools of the trade.

A basket for the full plants and some small bags for seeds and so on. Cutting board, for chopping the herbs on. A knife. Vials for the complete potion. Labels, for names the containers. Measuring cups and spoons. Mortar and Pestle. Pots for boiling the herbs in. Shears for cutting the stems and roots with.

I have seen mother has a simple sewing kit, I will borrow that for now. I can use one of my old shirts to make small bags out of. For cutting I will grab one of father’s old iron shears, he never uses the old ones anyway. Okay that's some of the list solved, now to complete it.

You have obtained an [Old Iron Shears]! That you have ‘borrowed’ from your father. Item: Old Iron Shears, Durability: 15/50

Well, what do we have here? In father’s pile of old tool, I also find a knife. why, thank you very much dear father. It is so kind of you to gift me with this, just what I was looking for.

You have obtained an [Old Iron Knife]! That you have ‘borrowed’ from your father. Item: Old Iron Knife, Durability: 5/50

Wrapping the knife and shears in an old shirt to keep them ‘out of the way’ I will have to find a way to fix them once I have all the items I need. Looking at the list it is now.

A basket for the full plants. Some small bags for seeds and so on. Cutting board, for chopping the herbs on. Vials for the complete potion. Labels, for naming the containers. Measuring cups and spoons. Mortar and Pestle. Pots for boiling the herbs in.

Now to work on the small bags. They can't be used as holders for the balm, but they will do the trick as seeds and berry holders just fine. The next evening, I take the sewing kit from mother’s basket, bringing it to my room to begin my work.

You gave gained the, [Tailor] crafting skill! By sewing small [Linen] bags made from an old shirt you have gained Sub-skill [Bag Craft]!

Hmm, a sub-skill interesting. So it seems each kind of crafting has its own skill, one can be an expert of crafting one kind of item but a complete beginner of another even if it is all in the same ‘crafting category’. Oh well, on with my work.