Natalie was trying to process Sam's last statement, then she decided to place it in the 'too hard' basket, and shove it as far back in her mind as she could. It had been a good morning, why ruin it with what if's.

"Log me into Freedom please Sam." Natalie said.

She was then transported to her cottage, wasting no time in heading outside to the exit. She had to sell these Blueguards. Once outside she looked around, more Sanctuaries had been raised overnight, all of them large ones like hers.

They must be players. Natalie walked briskly to the bridge, the guards made no move to stop her, as she crossed over to the Village. Once in the market square, she could see two tables of wild Blueguards and one of sanctuary grown Blueguards.

After watching for a bit, she found standing around waiting for a possible buyer, for her to introduce herself too, wasn't going to work. She watch two players in succession try the same tactics, and how the other buyers and sellers now shunned the pair of them.

This was going to be a tough market, it looked like she would have to rent a stall table, to be able to sell anything here. There were unspoken rules, that everyone seem to know, she would have to be very careful not to inadvertently do something wrong.

Natalie approach the offical looking guy, who was guarding the tables not rented.

"Excuse me, Sir." She asked respectfully. " Are you the one in charge of renting market stalls?"

"Yes." He said. "One half silver for the week or if it's just a day, three small silvers."

"Thank you Sir." Natalie replied. "I would like to rent one for the day please."

She fished out three silvers and held them out to the man. He nodded to a table in the back corner, it wasn't in a good spot, but she didn't say anything. She moved to it and started to lay out a few of her Blueguards. She didn't want to put all of them out at once, they would almost immediately start to lose potency.

At first, Natalie stood quietly and just watched everyone, to see how it was done. This however, gained her more then a few nods from the surrounding sellers. Natalie was confused, until she realised they took her hesitation as a sign of respect, for the ones who had been there longer.

Natalie was extremely glad she hadn't just started to belt it out for all she was worth, like she had planned to do. Another silent rule, and testing, for the uninitiated. This was harder then it looked!

She stood silently for most of the day, she changed out her displayed Blueguards often, to try and stop them from decaying to fast. But so far, no one was interested. As the afternoon worn on, she was starting to think she would have to pack up and leave. A wealthy looking man came up to her stall.

He glanced at her flowers as he was walking past, then stopped and backtracked, intensely scrutinising her flowers. He picked one up and tasted it, his eyebrows rising.

"How many do you have girl?" He asked. "If they are all of this quality or better I will give you 15 gold for the lot, now bring them out."

Natalie placed all of the flowers she was carrying onto the table, being careful not to let any slide off onto the ground. She watch him go though the same selection process Molly had done, so far he had rejected none of them.

"Yes, these are just what I was looking for," he said. "Here you go 15 gold as promised,"

He was holding out the gold, Natalie didn't take it, 15 gold for her whole stock at the prices she had seen wilds sell for? No wasn't happening.

Natalie put together a small bunch of the flowers and held them out, while making the rest disappear back into her inventory.

"15 gold will buy you these Sir," She told him.

"That's not even a full sheath," he blustered. "This is outrageous, do you know..."

"Shut it, Baxter," said one of the sellers to the other side of Natalie. "She has your number, stop trying to swindle the child."

Natalie was surprised, when the rich looking man in front of her dropped the outraged act immediately, he was chuckling.

"No harm in trying Stan," he said. "Now girl the real price, a fair one for you and me, is 70 gold for your whole crop, you would have gotten more, if they had been fresher."

Natalie looked at the seller that had spoken before, he smiled and nodded.

"It's a sale Sir." She said, once again placing all the flowers onto the table. "Sir how much would you pay for Chance Berries?"

All the sellers and quite a few buyers started to laugh uproariously at her question.

"If you had, even one of those, for sale you could ask your price." The merchant said. "But don't be a fool girl, if you are thinking of searching for them, you should know they are very rare."

"Only one person I know off, who has those berries, and she is miles away on the other continent." The rich buyer said.

"So I will be able to set my own price," Natalie asked.

"Yes but it would cause a bidding war to erupt," a seller told her. "You seem serious, are you really saying you have Chance Berries?"

"I have just planted a hundred bushes yesterday." Natalie said. "They will be ready for harvest tomorrow about midday."

There was complete silence around her, it was unnerving. The rich man hurriedly gave her the gold for the Blueguards. Nervously, he gathered up the flowers and put them into his inventory.

"Child be very careful how you transport the berries," he told her. " let the buyers come to you. If you do have any, I can afford about ten of them, if you charge only 200 gold for each berry."

Natalie gasped, staring in disbelief at the man.

"They are really worth that much?" She asked stunned.

"Child, a good Alchemist, can turn the seeds of just one berry, into a rejuvenating potion," he told her.

"Or a regeneration potion," another said.

"The ability to grow back limbs, and to shave off age, depending on the quality of the Sanctuary they are grown in." Whispered a woman near her.

Natalie was staggered, she had not thought they were that good, no wonder the game dev was against having to many of them in the game!

"I don't think I will be charging that much for them," Natalie said quietly. " I can grow more anytime, since I have seed bushes established in my Sanctuary."

Again it was quiet around her, then there was a commotion at the edge of the sizeable crowd around her. Reluctantly the crowd was parting for a very richly dressed person, with a bunch of guards surrounding him.

"You beast girl!" He shouted at her. "Your the one with the Chance berries?"

He was looking at her like she was something he had just stepped in, and in the process had ruined his slippers.

Natalie vaguely felt the feathers rise on top of her head, also around her neck and shoulders. If she hadn't felt suddenly so angry, this would have alarmed her. It certainly alarmed everyone who was watching her, as the quiet unassuming child, turned into a dangerous predator in front of them.

"I am a Caldron Raptor," Natalie snarled. "I am not a beast girl!"

"Yes, yes, what ever." Was the reply. "If you are the one boasting, about having Chance Berries, you will hand them over now, this instant!"

"If you knew what a Chance Berry actually does, you would not even dare whisper that out loud!" Natalie growled. "It makes me half wish I had some ready for harvest, but no that would be murder and you aren't worth it. Chance Berries, can not be taken by force, the owner can only sell them if they are willing, of their own free will."

"Nonsense, it is but a Berry," the noble said. "Guards arrest her, she will give me the berries or she will rot in my jail."

Natalie started to laugh, this was ridiculous, this oaf wasn't listening.

"How long do you think you can lock me up?" She asked. "I'm curious."

"You think we don't have something to stop law breakers, from just porting out to their Sanctuary?" The Noble scoffed. "I can hold you prisoner for as long as I like."

"Interesting, tell me have you heard of Travellers?" She asked.

"Of course I have, they started to appear across the realm about a year ago." He said.

"How many times has someone tryed to lock up a Traveller, and managed to succeed at it? " Natalie was back in a good mood now, and grinning. "You could try killing me, and while that would be unpleasant. I will just come back as good as ever, and you will still not have a single berry!"

"I shall ban you then, from entering the Village!" He shouted, petulantly. "You will trade here no more."

"Ok." Natalie said. "Sorry folks, this man here says I have to go, can't sell the berries in this, Village bye now."

With that she willed herself to her Sanctuary, well that hadn't gone well. At least she had 70 gold, that would help her buy the animals she needed. She would just have to travel to another Village to do it.

"I lost my temper Sam." Natalie said.

"Yes I was watching," Sam replied. "But under the circumstances is was understandable."

"Yes but now I can't sell in the Village," she said. "I only just got here."

"You can still stay here for a while, Natalie." Sam said. "Just take the opportunity to get some levels on yourself and your Sanctuary, not to mention stock to sell, for the next Village."

"I guess your right, but it's going to be hard without animals." Natalie thought about the plowing, hand tilling the fields was going to make the process much harder.

"I think you will have animals sooner then you think Natalie." Sam said. "You don't think that Noble will really be able to stop determined people from coming out here to trade with you do you?"

"Your right Sam!" She chortled. " He can stop me from entering and maybe stop anyone from coming here, but the others around me are not under his control."

"Now you are thinking." Their was almost a smug tone to Sam's voice.

"Ok Sam I'm hungry, it's time I logged for lunch isn't it?" She asked.

"Yes it is Natalie, logout in two seconds." He replied. Then she was in the pod watching the lid rise. Natalie went downstairs, it looked like someone else had already made inroads on the food laid out in the keeper. Natalie grabbed a plate and soon had it piled high. She sat at the table to eat.

Thinking about what to do next, she needed at least two sturdy horses for her plow, and a donkey for the thresher. Some sheep would be nice too. Natalie cleaned up her mess, went back to the pod and dived back into the game.

First though, she needed to assign her spare stats and skill points. Seeing the berry bushes needed some attention, Natalie decided to do the points after she had watered the Berrys. That took a fair chunk of time to do, naturally she remembered she had a tree lot as well, they would need to be watered.

She had hand tilled the rest of the field the Berries were planted in, and had seeded it with Sundaisys. She was halfway into the next field when she remembered points, she really had to do those, she was wasting experience.

Natalie called up her status and started to place her points.

Natalie

Level : 0

Race: Caldron Raptor (rare)

The species was thought extinct until until you emerged from the tall trees

Strength: 13 Stamina: 13 Wisdom : 14 Intellect : 16 Mana : 70 Unassigned stats : 0 Titles : Beta Achiever (hidden) 5% Experince gained on all activities Sanctuary: Tier 1 Copper rank 5 / 15 Sanctuary Skills Farming : 0 / 20 Skill points : 2 40% skill gain Herbalist : 0 / 20 skill points : 1 20% skill gain Alchemy : 0 / 20 Animal Husbandry : 0 / 20 Mining : 0 / 20 Fletcher : 0 / 20 Woodworker 0 / 20 Leatherworker 0 / 20 Blacksmith : 0 / 20 Tailor : 0 / 20

Weapon Skills

Bow : Beginner

Skill points : 0

Each skill point is worth 20% extra experience per skill to a maximum amount of 80% for the Copper Tier level

Natalie was very pleased with her stats, she should get a few levels a lot easier now. She returned to the hand tilling, another half field of Blueguards would be a nice addition.